Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Madison: The Lost Tra'lapp ❯ The Hag ( Chapter 4 )

4/?

 

The portal tunnel was like being in an underground subway. Soft, constant light cast an amber glow all around them, and the sense of falling was slightly unnerving.

 

Madison flipped wildly as the portal tunnel swept her off the parts unknown. Roxanna yelps echoed wildly as the backpack overbalanced her and she bounced off the “walls” of the portal tunnel. Demetrius pointed his feet toward the direction they were falling and slid calmly, solemnly watching Madison right herself. Madison grunted as Roxanna managed to snag her jacket sleeve and stop herself from slamming into the portal tunnel walls again. Madison managed to turn herself in the direction they had come—she couldn't see the entrance anymore. What had the Hag done with her mother? Madison swallowed hard and choked back a cry of pain. First her father, and now her mother…was she destined to lose all the people who love her?

 

Roxanna laid a hand on her shoulder and said softly “Maddy, it's going to be alright. We'll take down the Hag and get both of them back.”

 

“How can we?” Madison whispered. “How are we supposed to beat her? She's…strong, she has magic, she has an army…”

 

“The Flow will help us. It's an underground resistance group I'm associated with. We'll help you take down the Hag, and I can promise you that the populace will be more the willing to overthrow her. Still, we have to be careful. She has spies posing as citizens, and they'll report to her if they catch wind of what we're doing.”

 

Madison angrily dashed away her tears and took a deep breath. Her mother had raised her to stay calm and level headed during a crisis, and not to fall apart. The level headed thing didn't really stick, but the not falling apart thing did. She eyed Demetrius' posture and copied him, and her body quickly began sliding smoothly down the portal tunnel. Roxanna did the same, and they slid in terse silence toward Tra.

 

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The room was Spartan in design, bare of everything but a long table, an extensive wall covered in manacles and chains. Soldiers guarded the two doors leading to the room, and the Hag sat in the center of the room.

 

Terra hissed sharply through her teeth as she was viciously slapped by a blank faced soldier. The sleeve of his dark blue uniform was sprinkled with blood, and Terra was being held down on the concrete floor by more blue-clad soldiers. The Hag stood over Terra, staring at her with sharp yet clear eyes that stood out from the wrinkled face. She waved a cockle-shelled hand at the soldier and he immediately stepped back. Terra spat blood onto the floor and eyed the soldier with pity through the dark hair that had escaped from her sensible French braid. It wasn't the soldiers fault. The Hag had every army member under a continuous spell, forcing them to obey her every whim, all the while trapped within their own minds.

 

The Hag sat back and settled herself comfortably in the padded chair she had set up in the dreary interrogation room.

 

“The portal could have dropped them anywhere in Tra, and I don't want to have to go through the trouble of looking. Tell me where they are, and I'll let you go. There's no need to be so stubborn. I won't even hurt them; I'll simply bring them here and talk to them nicely.”

 

Terra pressed her bleeding lips together and said nothing.

 

The Hag shook her head with mock ruefulness and sighed gustily before saying “Oh, and here I had hoped you would help me, so that you could see your husband again.” The Hag's sharp eyes noticed Terra's shoulders go tense and she continued saying “I guess I will have to search for them everywhere…magically. Of course, my own magic reserves are a bit low, so I suppose I'll have to…borrow it.”

 

Terra knew what that meant. The Hag was going to suck the magic from Mathew, and the more magic she used the more pain it would cause him. I'm so sorry, my love, but I know what you would want me to do if our roles were reversed.

 

Terra slowly raised her fierce brown eyes to look straight into the shockingly clear eyes of The Hag's.

 

“I'll never tell you anything. Never.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Roxanna was the first to notice it, the way the portal tunnel seemed to abruptly come to an end.

 

“Hey, guys? Will we slam into that thing and go “pop” or something?”

 

“Oh my, I hate this part. Brace yourselves!” Demetrius said urgently, and then positioned himself so that he would hit the barrier shoulder first.

 

They slammed abruptly into the end and fell straight through onto a dirt path. The sudden sound of trees rustling, animals crying and various other sounds of a forest washed over them.

 

“Ouch, come on now!” Roxie whined “Demetrius get off my leg!”

 

“Sorry Roxie,” Demetrius said, and untangled himself from the tangle of limbs. Madison simply cursed and stood up, shaking the leaves out of her hair and trying to regain feeling in her legs. Sliding down the portal tunnel for who knows how long and made her legs go to sleep. She looked around and couldn't help but gape in awe. They were here! The entire situation had finally sunk in, and she felt the overwhelming wonder wash over her. They were in Tra, in a whole other world that contained magic and mythical creatures. It actually looked the same, or at least what she could see of it, but the air tasted clear and clean. No pollution, she realized suddenly. Or less, anyway, enough so that the air felt and looked cleaner.

 

Roxie helped brush leaves off Demetrius' shoulders and said “Where are we, and where do we go from here? Are there some road signs or something?”

 

Demetrius said “Terra said she'd drop us off near the Flow headquarters. It's hidden, but I know the entrance and the password. We just have to walk there.”

 

Demetrius followed the dirt path and looked down the road that carved its way over green grass and straight through a very bustling city. He pointed toward the city and motioned them to follow.

 

“Wow, that place looks…advanced. For some reason I expected huts and horse—drawn carriages.” Roxie said, adjusting the pack on her shoulders.

 

“No, we have technology! Nearly everything is solar powered, and magic also offers a great source of energy. That city is Kist, a large performing oriented city. Nobody should notice our strange clothes there, since almost everyone is in some sort of costume.”

 

Demetrius looked so putout that Roxie smiled sheepishly and said “Sorry.”

 

Madison rolled her eyes and headed toward Kist with steady strides.

 

“Shake a leg slow pokes, we haven't got forever! Snap too it and lets do it!”

 

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The lush room was ornate and highly extravagant. The walls were draped in blue velvet, and there were several pieces of furniture arranged through out. It was overdone and tasteless. In the center of the overdone room was a bed covered with dark blue silk. Shackled and gagged on the bed was a motionless male figure. He was pale, with dark circle under his eyes and an aura of weariness.

 

On of the doors creaked open, and in strode the Hag flanked by to listless soldiers. She stopped at the edge of the bed and said in a voice that was oily and sweet “Hello, my beloved. Wake up now.”

 

With a speed that didn't seem possible the man's head snapped up and he bared his teeth with a savage snarl. The Hag snapped back with a cry, and then calmed her temporary look of fear with a snarl of anger. The man only glared at her, his gray eyes sharp despite the fatigue written on his face.

 

With a sharp gesture that made the shell bracelets on her wrist jangle, the Hag forced a blue stream of magic from his body and into hers. His body bowed, and his face contorted with pain as the link of magic grew stronger. The Hag immediately began to stand straighter, and with a sigh of content she cut off the magic. He collapsed and panted for breath and she watched with amusement.

 

Her hand shot out and fastened atrophied fingers around his chin, forcing his face closer to hers, and she whispered cruelly “I have your wife. Soon I will have your daughter. Without them to give you hope, I will soon have you.” She laughed at the momentary fear she saw flash across his face as he whispered “They'll fight you to the end, just as I do.”

 

“Oh, yes.” The Hag whispered “I want them too. It will be fun, and I've been bored these past few years. I'm going to destroy them.”

 

“What do you think of that, Mattyu?”

 

 

 

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Dun dun dun! Well, now we have arrived in Tra! Did you see coming what was going to happen to Terra? How about Mattyu? Sucks for them, doesn't it? Tune in next time, when we arrive at Kist and see what The Hag has in store for our favorite world hoppers!

 

~Asaka Sama