The Witches of Grimbole, Book 1: Piecrust

Chapter 1

Bitter-sweet memories

"Hey honey, what can I get ya" For probably the thousandth time in her forty years behind the counter. Lila had been sleeping in the same booth she had for the last two years after school. Sara let her sleep there so she could get away from her dad; she knew it had been really hard since her mom had left. "Lila, honey.... "Lila finally woke from her slumber as she always had, puffy eyed with tears lingering in eyes. "There we go; you better eat the pie before it gets cold."She walked away after placing a much needed slice of a Piecrust original; sweet and sour barracuda pie in front of Lila.

As Sara reached the counter she knew that be the time she turned around Lila would be gone, this was their routine for the last few months, and things had gotten worse with her dad. Sara looked over and saw her sisters hard at work, Gwen behind the register, Talia in the kitchen and then there was Sara the people's person taking the orders as she had always done. They'd been working in this dinner since the day they opened it. Times had come and gone and so have the people, the one thing that's remained is Piecrust..

It was always a crazy time when a carnival rolled into town so, "The Sisters" as they've become known by the town's folk, always kept Piecrust open a little later when there were events in town. The headliner of this particular carnival was apparently a great magician. Around midnight the sisters decided to close up, the crowd was dying down and the last of the customers were either leaving or being put out by Talia, who apparently beside being "The Pie-Chef" as she'd wanted to be called lately was also the resident bouncer.

Sara was just about to lock up when she saw a light coming from one of the booths sitting in it was a man in a white suit, "Hey, Mister we're closing up you got to leave.", "I just have one matter to deal with before I leave." He disappeared as soon as the words left his mouth and reappeared behind her at the counter sitting in a stool. "I think it would be best if we had the entire family here, I don't like repeating myself." The sisters each looked at each other; they'd had enough experience to know nothing good would come of no acting immediately.

Talia acted first, lifting her hands into the air as all around her cutlery and whatever else was on the table raised slowly into the air, she clapped her hands together in front of here and the salt-shaker debris went flying through the air like a wave power swooping through the air. The man turned around unfazed by the attack looked at the sisters and smiled. "I see I've found the right ladies, now that you've seen your attacks are futile might we attend to the matter at hand."

He placed his feet on the ground and disappeared to reappear in the exact both he was sitting in when Sara found him. He lifted his right hand into the air "Come sit, I have no time to waste" as he placed his hand on the counter all three sisters appeared in the opposite side of the booth across from the stranger. "Now to the matter at hand, finally" He straightened out his suit and lifted his head, piercing each one of the ladies with his glowing purple eyes. "There have been certain developments, since you three decided to leave all those years ago..." ,"You know why we left, that place has long since been our home, and we've abided by the laws of this land and those given to us by the Kings, what do you want we have done nothing wrong!" Gwen could never hold her tongue in situations that required reservation, which most often got them in trouble in their youth. "Nevertheless, the Kings are dead and the new ruler has a different way of doing things to say the least. A problem has arisen and you three have been called on to handle it, before you speak this is none negotiable. Your existence in this world was a gift from the Kings for your years of service do not believe that your privileges in this world can't be revoked."

He took a deep breath "Now as I was saying the problem; a rebel fae militia has arisen and their only objectives are to reach this world and destroy it, even with all the resources our realm possesses division in our own ranks was unavoidable. As a result they've breach the south gate and have started infiltrating this world, we've plugged the hole so to speak but those that have already entered are beyond our reach. Which brings me to the reason that I've come to this decrepit world; your services are once again required." A ball of light started growing in the palm of his hand. All the lights in the restaurant went out and the only light came from the ball of energy in his hands. "Now, I think it's time we move this along don't you?" The ball of light spread throughout the room and blinded.

They were suddenly standing in a huge clearing in the middle of nowhere; Sara looked around and saw two bodies next to her. She turned the closest body over so she could see the persons face. As she looked into the eyes of the girl before her, her breath was taken away as she saw Talia, but it wasn't exactly the Talia she had come to know. This Talia, the one lying in the midst of this tall grass that they've found themselves in, looked like she did when they were teenagers.

Sara immediately looked at her hands and she knew that whatever happened to Talia happened to her too. Talia opened her eye and screamed when she laid eyes on Sara. Gwen sat up and looked at her sisters wide eyed, "OKAY WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED". Alarms went off in Sara's head "Be quiet, we don't know where we are, let's show some professionalism, please..." A roar broke through the clouds; the sisters looked up to see something they haven't in a very, very long time. "Really, a dragon that's what were after, okay get up let's get this done with, I've got a rhubarb pie in the oven that's in need of some T.L.C. "

The sisters stood up and started walking towards a nearby tree, each placed a hand on the tree and one at time long curved branches started coming out of the tree over their heads. Each took their hands off the tree and grabbed the branches above their heads, breaking it off from the tree. They placed the branches into the ground so that it stood on its own and waited. One by one the branches began to hum, a light started rising from the ground and up through the branches. Even in the glow of the energy now pulsating inside the branches a mark glowed even brighter, each of their markings.

The ladies looked at each other and knew that once they started this journey there would be no turning back. "Well, I guess it's now or never" They immediately took hold of the branches and the energy radiated through their bodies. By the time the energy faded all three sisters had already taken off and were on their way to kill a dragon. They flew through the air on their branches soaring through the clouds chasing after the dragon, who by the looks of this hadn't been out long enough to cause any harm. The sisters were each dressed in the battle uniform, of a black body suit made of a material from their homeland covered with a black trench coat. Each only wore their weapons of choice at their waist; Sara a sword, Talia two daggers strapped on each side and Gwen with a crossbow on her waist and a bow on her back .

"Natalia, I think it's time we make ourselves known, don't you?" all three sisters smiled at each other as Natalia flew ahead hovering high above the dragon as it flew unaware of their presence. Natalia stood up on her branch pulling her daggers out as her eyes began to glow green. She dives down off the branch and aims her daggers for the back of the dragon's neck. At the last minute the dragon flips around and breathes fire straight at Talia, she binds the two daggers into one at the hilt and faces it outward slicing a path through the fiery path before her and lunges her way straight through the dragon's mouth and out through the back of its head.

Talia lifted her hands above her head as she fell through the air; soon enough her branch came and stopped her fall by cradling itself under her feet. "Well, well I see we haven't lost a step along the way." Talia settled on her branch and the sisters made the way down to clean up the carcass that would surely be found if they didn't deal with it now. As they landed, Sara made her way toward the dragon's body Talia came up behind her and stopped her from destroying the body. "Wait... we haven't seen or heard of a dragon since we left centuries ago, we don't know when we see one again." Sara was interested, "What are you trying to say?" Talia knew this was what all of them wanted "I don't see why we can't take some for the road, I mean you would know you're gonna destroy it anyway. Come 'on you know you want two, I'll make the way I used to make it back home."

The three sisters each planted the branches into the ground and waited for Talia to grab her dragon skin sack filled with meat. The branches glowed even brighter than before as the sisters stood in the center of the triangle they had made with the branches. The glow from one branch connected with another as they made a barrier, the amber glow turned white and with an earth shattering boom they were back in the living room above Piecrust.