On the Road of the Dragons

[Lily of the Night]

Okay, before I start up this story, I should talk about it. Of course. So here's my intro:

This story takes place in a setting much like the opening scene of one of my favorite stories: "The Everyday Witch." It's a time and place of witches and wizards and warlocks, with magical creatures and broomsticks, and an awesome arrangement of botany. The main character is Tari (because I love that name), a young witch. This story is one of my greatest, even though I started it several years ago.

Imagine a Cinderella story. Although Miss Cinderella is not born a princess, but a witch child. And our Miss Cinderella is caught between a witch's family feud. So the day she is born, the eldest and wisest witch of the other family places a horrible ccurse upon the baby witch child. However, instead of making it a prick on the finger, the witch child shall become allergic to one of the Witch's Word's most ordinary and used plant: Hetneg-Mannel. Instead of a time when the witch child will die, there is an ever-for-going chance of the curse arising. And poor Miss Cinderella will not 'sleep' until her prince comes; oh no, she shall suffer intolerably until either a cure is brought to her, or Death itself. No-one knows what curse it shall be, what shall be wraught upon this poor witch child, so no counter-curse can be arranged until that date.

Now that all these terms have been put forth, we learn that the witch child has grown all these years, into a beautiful adult, married, and even had a child. And never once has she encountered Hetneg-Mannel. Now, instead of diligently following the acursed witch, we shall follow her daughter.

[Lily of the Night]

One day in the middle of June a witch sat in front of her TV. Many people have wondered how a witch could sit in front of a TV. Especially on such a nice day. But witches and wizards and even young warlocks are all quite alike to regular young children, as it so happens. This particular witch had short orange hiar and green eyes; her name was Tari Bengela.
Now, Tari had a normal life; well, for a witch, that is. All, except, that her family lived pretty far from the otherwitches; her family lived in the country-side. She was twelve years old (relatively young), had a mom and dad (like all children do), a decent broom (no witch or wizard could be without their brooom, now could they?), and a portway to the Witch's Wolrd in her backyard (for the Magical People lived in a quite different place; or at least their shops did. All Witch business was to be done in the Witch's World).

[Lily of the Night]

On this peculiar day Tari was feeling just oh-so tired, so she just sat around watching TV. There wasn't anything really, extraordinarily good on, but it didn't exactly faze her, so all was pretty well. However, this was not usual for Tari; Tari was normally particularly active for a witch child.
In fact, Tari would often do many things. She liked drawing and reading and dancing and listening to music. But she particularly enjoying writing or flying on her broom. Tari had a wonderful green,level 2 Broom (for all brooms had a system to them). She had often complained to her mother that her broom was too slow, or that she wanted the new, level 5 Broom. But all in all, she really loved her broom anyway.
"Tari!"
THe girl recognized her mother's voice.
"What?" she called (admittedly, in a whiny voice) down to her mother (since she sat in the upstairs room).
"I'm going to the Witch's World for some supplies. The house desperately needs a good scrub down. You know what you need to do, and you are not to rest until that's done, okay young lady?"
"Yes, MOm. But can I finish watching this show, at least?" Tari called down, mocking conviction.
"Oh, alright," her mother said, sighing, "But for Pete's sake, don't watch any more TV after that! You know I'll make sure you don't, right?" Then, with another stiff sigh, Tari heard her mother leave through the back door, toward's their portal in their back cellar.

[Lily of the Night]

Tari did attempt to finish watching the show. However, all interest was lost in the pointless rambling, so she merely got up and chided herself to get to work. Down stairs she first went, to clean out the cauldrons. Right away her spirits were crushed, upon seeing the entire kitchen nearly drowning in the dirty things. She moaned and groaned, yet got to work, sighing the whole time.
Scrubbing cauldrons wasn't exactly a very difficult job; no, it was just long and tiring and amazingly boring. For each cauldron Tari had to wash, scrub, and rinse at least twice, if not more, with several different types of soap. And, sadly, she didn't know enough of her magic just yet to use it for such a long period of time. And if she found the normal way of washing to be tiring, then that usually indicated the magical job would be a bit too much.

[Lily of the Night]

She finished the "useless pots" she moved on to her next chore. Tari was bushed, but she knew what she had to do; she walked upstairs to her messy, messy room. She glanced about the room, softly cursing herself for not keeping it more straightened. And then she went to work, picking up spell books and potion ingredients, and her mini broom models. Then she picked up the scattered clothes that littered her floor, so that one even wondered it such a floor did even exist. And when it was over, she couldn't believe she had picked it all up.
Tari looked around in relief, then laid herself down on her newly made bed; right onto a plastic basket that she had left there for her dirty laundry. She jumped up with a yelp, then walked away, off to do more of her mother's bidding.
Yet again she walked down the stairs, dirty laundry basket clamped firmly in her hands. After sorting out her clothes (yes, even witches had to deal with laundry), she walked into her father's study to review her magic. The bookshelf that lined most of the western wall held as many books as you could imagine. Tari, though, knew it quite well, and she picked out her book swiftly, sitting down in her father's work chair. As the book fell in her lap, one could just read the title: Quick Magic: A Guide to Easy Spell Learning[/i]. She sighed, opened the book, took a deep breath, and started her studies. The problem was that she was just too tired and could barely take any of it in.
"The Callenbren..." she read, "is one... of the most ... harmful ... plants...." she yawned, then threw down the book. "I can't do this," she said, yawning as she yelled. "I can't do this, I can't do this at all!"
She sat there for a while, her temper cooling off, then walked over and braught the book back. Opening it up again, she forged on. "The only way to... defeat it... is to hit it... with water...." And so on it went, just like that, on and on, until Tari's mom came back.
"So how did it go, while I was gone, hon?" Tari's mother asked, coming into the study. Tari stared at her mother's short, yet slender frame for a moment, wondering how anyone could ask such a thing so calmly. Her mother shifted her long, brunette pony tail off of her shoulders, and Tari finally sighed. "Wonderfully horrible," she replied. But she couldn't hold a grudge for long. "How about your time? There wasn't anything unusual, I presume?"

[Lily of the Night]

Mrs. Bengela nodded, saying, "Not much. There was a new sales man, though. It was his first time in business, so I bought quite a bit from him. It looked relatively good, and I got a nice bit of Baeggelwatz Bark from him."
Tari just nodded. She was about to go back upstiars to resume watching TV, when her mother impatiently reminded her of her no more TV ban. Tari groaned again.
"Tari, just go outside and ride your broom," her mother told her, "You always love that."

[Lily of the Night]

Tari smiled. Flying. Now there was something fun. She nodded to her mother and walked out the back door, heading towards their broom shed. As she left the house, she could hear her mother reciting the recipe for dinner aloud.
"One cup of powdered Brickle Berries, two teaspoons of Ickledouse Salts, one Baeggelwatz bark strip," she said, presumably adding each ingriediant as she said them.
Tari looked back at the kitchen window. Brickle Berries weren't exactly her favorite food, but that didn't matter. She could guess what her mother was making, and she knew the dish was tasty enough.
Tari came to her senses and remembered what she was doing. "To the shed!" she commanded herself, and smiled. She may have been tired just minutes before, but riding her broom was something that she could always do. She slowly raised her hand until it was level with the doors, then screwed up her face in concentration and said, "Isabu, Wasabu!" The door clanged open and Tari was free to walk in.
Each witching family, of course, had their own lock-spell. The Bengela's was "Isabu, Wasabu" as one could have guessed. To some, it's an interesting poem; others it's just stupid. To Tari, though, and the rest of the Bengela's it was like a family history. Their eldest ancestors were Isabu and Wasabu Bengela.

[Lily of the Night]

Tari walked to the back of the broom shed, where her precious broom was kept. She picked it up from it's thin rack on the wall and walked back outside. She held it in place as she got on, then she was ready to go.
She kicked off and felt the ground fleeting beneath her. Oh, flying was indeed the most wonderful sensation. She flew higher and higher, the air tempurature dropping as she rose. Then, with a whoop she dropped down in spirals, just pulling out of the dive.
"Dinner!"
As her mother's voice rang up to her, she groaned, which she seemed to be doing a lot that day. "Mom!" she cried, landing with a small thump on the soft grass, "I just got on! You told me to come out, so I'm staying just a while longer, alright?" Her mother shook her head. "Fine, ten minutes more. Then you come and eat!"
Tari became a bit upset with her mother's tone, even though she was the one causing problems. "Hey, you know I don't like Brickle Berries," she began to complain, "so I think I'll eat something else tonight, Mom!"
"Fine!" her mother threw back. Oh man, her mother was good at getting her daughter back if she wanted to.... "So I guess I made a meal for myself, huh? Your father is allergic to Brickle Berries, probably why you don't like them, but I thought you would at least enjoy this dish. But oh well, that's all as well, I guess!"

[Lily of the Night]

Then Tari was off again, doing loop-de-loops and corkskrews, death feigns and twirls. And all the while she kept certain to stay out of sight of the country road. For the road was Non-Mystical territory, and often the Non-Mystics would come to and fro upon it.
After a while, Tari realized it had been a while. She landed and went in to the shed, restoring her broom.

[Lily of the Night]

She walked back, her temper settled. Maybe, just maybe, she could eat the dish. Of course, her mother had worked hard to make it. Not that Tari herself hadn't worked hard all day long either, but she supposed it wouldn't be all that bad.
So she scooped up a bowl from the kitchen and dished out some casseroul from the pot. And besides, she did love Baeggelwatz. That was an upside, right? Tari picked up her spoon and tucked into her dinner, sitting down at the kitchen table. It was good! Although there was something a little differnt about it.
"Mom," she called, wondering where her mother had gotten off to. "Mom, this doesn't taste the same. What did you put in it?"
Tari pushed out from the table and started walking, slowly rolling the food around in her mouth. "Mom, hey, I don't taste the Beaggelwatz. What's up with that? I heard you put it in. It tastes like something else, though, I'm sure...." She turned into the hallway that led to the stairway.
"This tastes more like--Mom," she stomped her feet. "Mom, where the heck did you go? Mom? Mom! Are you home?" Tari grumbled a bit, then shovelled another spoonful into her mouth. "Well, mom, fine. I don't care. This tastes more like you used Hetneg-Mannal. BUt that's so silly. I mean, everyone knows you're allergic to the junk. Why would you buy Hetneg-Mannal if you're allergic? So what is it?" By now, Tari was more talking to herself alloud than trying to find her mother.
Slowly, however, a notion came upon her. "Mom? MOM! THat new guy! He didn't sell you the wrong stuff, did he? Did that stumbling idiot sell you Hetneg-Mannal?! Mom--" she cut herself off with a gasp as she found her mom collapsed in the study. "Mom!" she cried, dropping down to her side.

[Lily of the Night]

Mrs. Bengela looked horrible at best.
"Tari," she croaked as Tari came and sat her up against a shelf. "Tari, call Tad. That, that man... he must have sold me..." she said, followed by a rasping cough. Now Tari was truly worried. Tad? She never called Dad by his first name around her unless it was of high importance.
So she ran off, cursing, until she reached the end of the hallway. Stopping in front of a framed listing, she hit one of the small squares which read "Tad's work" and it rang. "Hello. Who would you like to talk to, Miss?" a voice rang out boredly.
"Mr. Bengela. Right now!" Tari yelled back, amazing that anyone could be so calm at such a time.
The voice let out a sniffing noise. "How rude," the man replied, "I will not connect you if you continue such rudeness. How old are you, little child? I believe that someone needs a lesson!" Tari stared dumbfounded at the picture-phone.
"You idiot!"
The man could be heard shifting upsettedly. "Now, Miss--"
"My mom is dying! So tell me, idiot, will you connect me now!? My mom dies and all you can do is try to teach me some manners?! If you don't connect me right now I'll press charges!"
The voice, slightly abashed, continued. "Oh, a matter of life and death here, huh? Now, where have I heard that before? Dispicable!"
Tari was about to scream. She really was. If anyone had been there they could testify. But just then she heard another voice come on. Another voice that was much calmer, and a lot more gratifying.
"Hello, Mr. Bengela here," her father said.
"Dad!" Tari yelled, so relieved and upset that she started crying. "Mom had Hetneg-Mannal! She ate it! That stupid man sold her the junk and now she's really sick and I don't know what to do and you need to come home right now so--"
"Wait. She ate... what? She's allergic to.... No, she ate Hetneg-Mannal? The stuff that she's ... uh, allergic to?"
Mr. Bengela, apparently, was a little slow catching up to matters; which might have been Tari's fault in her rush to explain everything in one sentence.
"Yes!" Tari screamed, "She's dying! Why doesn't anyone understand?"
"Okay, okay, dear! I'll be home; I'll be right there!" He defintely sounded worried now. The line went dead.

[Lily of the Night]

Tari nodded numbly, and sat down, her sobs choking up in the silence that fell.
Someone tapped her shoulder and she looked up into her father's brown eyes. She jumped up and hugged him. Anyone could tell that he was where she got her orange hair from.
"Hun, where's Mom?" he asked, giving ehr an extra squeeze. Tari let go and dragged him into the study, where he dropped down next to her. "Melissa?" he asked her, look her in the eye, "Oh, don't worry honey."
He slowly got off and walked towards the front door. "Tari, I'll be back. Melissa, I'll go call Beasel!"
Tari turned to her mother, her face reading quizical. "Beasel? Who the heck it he?" she asked, whiping away the last remnants of her tears.
"Oh," her mother said, lmanaging a laugh, "he's your father's friend. Vey nice man, that Beasel." Tari noticed that her voice was a mere whisp now.
They stayed like that, once again in silence, for a time. Suddenly, a soft echo of footsteps reached Tari's ear.

[Lily of the Night]

She turned to face a short old man with gray hair, balding now. His eyes were a light, shallow blue--so light that he wondered if he wasn't blind. And his wonderful smile sat on his face, almost seeming permanant.
Tari stood and went to her father and this man, who must have been BEasel. The two were talking earnestly, but only snatches floated over to Tari of what they were saying. She was too preoccupied with watching her mother, who she would have sworn was getting worse by the second.
Finally, Beasel's and Mr. BEngela's talk ceased. Tari's father looked harrased and panicked, but Beasel's face was lit up with excitement.
"Well?" Tari asked. Mr Bengela opened his mouth, but Beasel (who hadn't noticed) asnwered first. "You father and I have decided that you and I will go to the Mystical Healer of the Witches. It will be a long, fierce journey. But if we don't," his excitement fell from him like rain, "then your mother could die."

[Lily of the Night]

Tari stared, looking back and forth between the two men, thoroughly exasperated; her voice was all but gone. Finally, after a long, drawn moment, she looked to her mom; her mom who, admittedly, didn't look all that surprised. Almost like she had expected such an answer!
"If I don't," she said slowly, "she'll--Mom'll--die?" Mr. Bengela nodded slowly. "I would go, but I--I need to stay here. I know more about magic, to help keep her... healthy,"--somehow he pushed that last word a bit too hard--"than you would be able to."
Tari stared at them as though waiting for someone to shout out the joke. It never came. Slowly as everything else, she nodded, not even aware that she was moving. All she knew was that her mom was going to die and there was nothing that she could do. Tari? Go on a quest? To save her mother? Now when was that director going to shout "Cut and wrap?" This was just too dramatic.
Beasel smiled widely. "Hurray!" he called out, and for a moment, Tari truly believed that he was going to tell her that "the joke was on her."
"I love journeys!" he added instead, and she sank back down. "They're much more interesting than your average day. Adventure," he explained, getting into it, "knowledge, soaring through the air!"
'Wait, what?" Tari asked, perking up a little, "You mean we get to fly?"
"Well, what did you think you would do?" her father asked, not looking altogether as happy as Beasel, or even Tari. "This isn't just a road trip," he started to scold.
"What time should we leave?" Beasel cut in, "Tomorrow morning, may I presume?" and Tari's father nodded. "Probably around six, meet here," he replied, "Tari, go pack, okay? And only the essentials!"
Tari nodded and raced up the stairs to her still freshly cleaned room, still not sure whether she believe what was going on here.

[Lily of the Night]

*****

Tari stared at her clock: 4:30. She'd been there for at least an hour now, just sitting on her bed. She had gone upstairs last night so excited. So why was it that it hit her so hard right now--the middle of the night?
"I'm putting both my life and my mom's on the line," she whispered quietly to herself, mainly just to hear something. As she turned her attention to her small bag of luggage, last night replayed back in whole through her mind.