Magic Vs Science

Fourteen

I had to admit, Ben was a lot faster than I originally thought. He had already made in to the turnaround point and headed back to the house. I was a good distance behind him. Mind you, the look of determination on his face made me want to laugh. I went around the turnaround and bound forward. I was faster going downhill than up. I was about five feet behind Ben when a shiver went through my spine. It wasn't a good one either.

Out of pure adrenaline, I leapt in front of Ben and grabbed his scruff. He squeaked in surprise. "Mom? What's wrong?" I guess he could sense how tense I was.

I kept my ears perked. The forest was oddly quiet. I placed Ben at my feet. "Stay there." I whispered to him. I then lifted my snout to the sky and let out a loud and powerful howl. Birds few away in fright because of it.

"Mom? What's happening?" Ben trembled at my feet. I gently nuzzled him. He was quite a lot smaller than me. Ellie came running to me. Her small fox curled beside Ben. Nikki's red wolf was much bigger than them. Ursis and Kade came together.

"There is someone here. I feel it. We have to go back." I said. Turning back to the house, I kept my ears perked and all my senses alert. I was not going to lose anyone. Not today, not ever again.

We walked in silence so that anything could be heard. The soft thumps from Ben as he hopped along, the quick steps of Ellie's fox and the long strides of Nikki's red wolf. Kade and Ursis had heavier feet because of them being bears. I knew this mountain better than anyone here. I knew where all the hiding places were, I knew where the downed trees lay. We were walking along one of the safer paths back to the house, but still, the shiver kept coming back, running its way through my spine.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The Queen with her whole family in one spot. Oh Helena, you'll be so proud of me once you learn of what I am doing for you." A woman stepped out from behind a tree. Her black hair and red eyes stood out most to me. I'd never seen someone with such black hair and blood red eyes before. I growled, stepping in front of my children. Ursis followed my lead. "Awe! Isn't that sweet! Trying to protect them. I can tell you that it won't work. Not with the trap I've laid out in this forest. Oh Helena! I can already feel you giving me my reward!" She ran her hands across her breasts and down her stomach to her core.

I shuddered at the moans she made. "Onyx, what can you feel around here?" I spoke to him in my head.

"There's too much around here. There's only two ways out of here. We fight and possibly lose one of the children, or we take this path straight to the top and pray that my call to the phoenix was heard."

Onyx always gave it to me straight. I liked that about him. I groaned internally at the only two options that we had. "Tell the children to run straight up. We have to pray." Onyx relayed my message and soon enough we were all running toward the top.

A scream could be heard from the Witch as she chased after us. "You can't get away from me! I won't let you! I'll kill you all and finally get my reward from Helena!" She screeched. Her voice was hurting my ears at this point. I wanted to turn around a rip her head off, but I had to protect my children.

I saw Nikki starting to slow down. She was getting tired. I grabbed her scruff and kept running with her in my hold. "Mom. I'm scared." Ellie panted beside me. She too, was getting tired.

"Shift and hold on to me. You two can't keep going like this." I tossed Nikki onto my back. I felt her shift and grab Ellie. Once they were holding on tightly, I put on more speed. We were getting closer to the dangerous edges. I took a glace behind me and the Witch was closing in on us. "Ben!" I yelled he looked back at me and saw his sisters. I grabbed his scruff and pushed myself even harder.

I ended up having to shove Kade because he started to slow down. "I'm sorry Mom. I shouldn't have asked to go for a run. This is all my fault." Ben said. I could hear the fear and sadness in his voice. I growled at him, it was the only thing I could do as I was carrying him.

We pushed harder and with one last stretch, we were on top of the mountain. The girls shivered. "Shift girls. You'll be warmer that way. And Ben, no one could have known that this Witch was here. Not even I knew." We had just barely managed to get away from the witch. We were all tired and on the verge of collapsing.

"Ixora, the phoenix is here. He listened to my call." I looked around at the skies, but I couldn't see anything through the wind and the snow. I could barely make out the silhouette of my family.

A screech and a big flaming bird landed beside me. He was huge. We stood face to face with each other. I felt as if he was looking right into my soul. "I see. Yes. Yes, I see." He said.

I blinked a couple of times. "I'm sorry, but what do you see?"

Before she could even answer me, the Witch screeched once again, this time, she was right behind us. I spun around and stood in front of my children once again. There really was no where to run from here. "You stupid little b***h! How dare you try and escape from me!?" Her face was red with anger and her fingers curled into fists.

"That witch, is full of lust and anger. That is not pure at all. I shall help you this once, but you must give me something in return."

I kept my eyes on the witch. "What is it you want?"

"Your first born." He said bluntly.

I looked away from the witch this time. "Excuse me? What would you want my first born for?"

It was like the witch couldn't move. Like she was frozen in time or something. She didn't move or speak. I didn't even know if she was breathing. "Your first born shall hold my first born inside their body. A Phoenix can only be born through a deal. That is how I was born." I hesitated. "No to worry, your child will have no memory of it. There will be no pain and once my child is ready to be born, I will come remove my child myself. There will be no pain and you will keep your child afterwards."

"Alright fine, just please help us. I can't lose them just after getting them. Its only been a short time." The Phoenix nodded his head and then the witch began to move. Apparently he had stopped time.

Within seconds, the Phoenix had ripped apart the witch and ate her heart. I wanted to throw up, in fact, I almost did. "There you go. And here you go." He lowered his head in front of me and threw up and small orb of orange light. "This is my child's soul. Which ever gender your child will be, mine will be the opposite."

"How long will it be inside my child for?" I needed to know. I couldn't have my child become a Beast with this soul inside them.

"Your child will be ten years old before mine will be ready to be born. We are immortal beings. Only once every 100 years, do we make a deal to have a child born."

"Why only once every 100 years?"

"Because we do not die, we only ascend. Let me tell you a story." He paused and waited for us all to get comfortable. We used his heat to keep ourselves warm. He didn't seem to mind it either. "Once upon a time, the Earth was nothing but a ball of fire. My great, times 5, grandfather was born from the molten lava and flames that covered the Earth. He spent 100 years alone, feeding off the lava and flames. Once day while he was having a fly around his territory, he came across something he had never seen before. Water. In this water, there was life. My grandfather wanted to see what was in there for himself, so he landed beside it, and looked in. However, he couldn't see anything but his own reflection, so he dove in. Little did he know, he was weak to water as he had never drank it before. So his flames went out and he began to sink.

Just when he thought that he was going to die, a bird that looked like him, but blue and made form water pulled him out. She hurt herself taking him to the lava and flames in his land. You see, she could not be near the heat, or she would die, but she was willing to do so to save my Grandfather. It was a few days later that he found her again. They started out as friends, but soon they began to fall in love. Sadly, they could only touch their beaks together, and he was fire and she water.

The years went on and one day, they met two others that were like them, but different. Earth and Wind. They couldn't touch either as Earth would go right through Wind. They were all very good friends for a very long time. Then, when my Grandfather turned 100 years old, he felt a need to pull part of his soul out and give it to Water. Water however, was nearly 20 years younger than him, so he left part of his soul inside a cave just beside the water she lived in. My Grandfather headed to the skies then and became the first star.

When Water had turned 100 years, humans were now around. She didn't have long left to remain on the Earth before she too took her place in the sky. She put part of her soul with my grandfather's. She wanted to make sure that their child was born safely, so she made a deal with a human. That deal was, she would grant that human the power of water, if they carried her child inside them until it was time for them to be born. That human agreed and so, she ascended to the skies after telling Earth and Wind to help with her child in ten years. That human, became the first Witch."