Cinder X Bella ~ Forty-Five!

“You should know better than to anger a Witch!” Matringa’s howling voice convinced Bella to work harder to shift herself from under the table, but no matter how she pushed, she couldn't move the several hundred pounds of wood caging her in. “It can put you in a prickly situation!”

The house shook under Bella as the roof and mobile hedge slammed into the ground, damaging the walls of the main floor. Shredded and splintered items fell to the ground all around her, and the young woman let out a croaking shriek as the table ominously shifted closer to her.

“Over there!” a nearby voice called, and Bella weakly pounded on the table to show them where she was. Moments later, the obstacle between them was tossed out of the way as easily as the vile hedge had thrown it at her. Several hands reach down, scooping her off the floor and gently lifting her up and away.

In other circumstances, she may have been frustrated or embarrassed by being hauled around like a child, but between the wave of exhaustion from activating her Breakthrough Skill, the long sleepless night, and avoiding the searching thorns, she was more than ready to let someone else do the heavy lifting for a little while. “Isabella Vigatori, are you injured?”

“No,” she managed to croak out, getting handed a water skin a moment later. She gratefully grabbed it, sprayed a bit of the liquid into her mouth, and spit out what felt like a mouthful of black dust. Bella tried again, this time managing to moisten her throat enough to have a short conversation. “What happened? Did my creatures help?”

“That was you?” The guards looked at each other then turned and started picking their way across the debris of the attic. “The birds managed to find the Witch, who was cloaked with an illusion, but it was an illusion within an illusion. The oldest daughter was cut down upon appearing; the youngest is bleeding heavily from scratches and pecking of various birds.”

Bella woozily tried to make sense of what she was hearing. “How do you know? Weren't you in the house?”

“The Captain has a skill that keeps us apprised of the situation,” the second guard told her shortly. “Where are you going to be safest? There's a full-on battle against a Witch going on out there, but the house might collapse during it.” 

“I need to see what's going on!” Bella demanded as she finally mustered enough energy to push herself away from the guard and onto her own feet. “All I need is a clear line of sight. I'll be fine now, go help the prince!”

The first guard ran off without another word, sprinting to the hole in the ceiling and throwing himself out into open air. Hesitating slightly, the second guard took a deep breath and shook his head. “The prince wants you safe, and he sent us to protect you. But I agree with you; he needs help. It's not like the queen would accept that I listened to his orders over hers, so… stay safe.”

So saying, he followed his brother-in-arms through the opening, vanishing from sight a moment later. Bella ran after them, coming to a stop before going over the edge like the royal guardsman had, so she could have a clear view of the battle below.

And what a battle it was.

“Come now, surely you can do better than that!” Matringa, dressed in a voluminous, poofy, formal dress darted through the attacks raining down on her without allowing even one to scrape against the fabric of her gown. “What is this, Your Highness? First ever battle? Adorable.”

Moving with supernatural speed, Matringa spun away and leapt high in the air, casually evading a catastrophic burst of flame. Mocking laughter rang out over the torrent of flame, and she spun in the air, pointing at a half-dozen places around the yard. The hedges fully surrounding the estate uprooted themselves, joining into the fray as they were Masterfully puppeteered by the Witch.

Prince Cinder did his best to anticipate her movements, a thick layer of flame swirling around him as he tracked her insectile movements across the yard. Each time she moved back to avoid a swing of a sword, a spinning fireball landed just far enough away to engulf her while leaving his soldiers unsinged. “Keep her in place! We cannot allow someone like her to escape into the kingdom!”

“I'm not trying to escape, Cinder!” Matringa responded in her usual sickly sweet voice. “I'm just trying to teach you a lesson. Don't worry, I'll ensure you learn it well. First, I'll break your toys-” 

A huge wall of greenery crashed down onto a guard who was at the fringes of the fight, engulfing him for a long moment. There was a quickly cut-off scream before the hedges started moving forward again—leaving behind no sign of the man. Cinder let out a shout of grief then turned and amped up his flames.

His power lanced out, rushing into the greenery… and only ever so slowly beginning to char through it.

Matringa saw this and laughed. “You think your piddly little skill would be enough to destroy my working? You might find my magic overgrown with surprises. What an adorable little temper tantrum. Don't worry… I’ve been practicing on how to fix that. As I was saying, once we’re done playing with your toys, I'll introduce you to your new bride. It might take a few hours, maybe even a day or two, but eventually, you’ll come to realize that Cattiva is your best option. A little music might even help to set the mood!”

Matringa was once more on the move, a blur of graceful violence. She grabbed the wrist of a guard as he swung his sword down at her, stopping him cold as though he’d punched a wall. Her other hand shot forward, catching the man around the neck. She twisted and turned, swinging the heavily armored guard through the air as easily as if she were shaking out a towel. He hit the ground and bounced, rolling for half a dozen feet before slowing. 

The hedges had been edging closer, and a thick branch lashed out at the man. He got his bearings just in time, pulling his shield up and taking the blow on its surface—only to get tossed back the way he had come.

“Group together!” the captain of the guard shouted, positioning himself in front and just to the right of Cinder, so as to not block the powerful young man's line of sight. “Cinder, you were able to burn down a section of the hedges earlier; what's changed?”

“Her power must have a stabilizing influence!” Cinder shouted back, narrowing his eyes and focusing as sparks began dancing in the air around him. Each of them shot forward, transforming into a massive fireball and chasing Matringa across the lawn in a conflagratory barrage.

“Cinder, Cinder, you should really treat your future mother-in-law better!” Matringa called to him in a sing-song tone. “I’m going to have to take one of your fingers for that!”

Bella blanched at the memory of how her stepmother had been acting that morning and how close she’d come to losing her toes. Mustering her energy, she focused on the sprinting Witch and began to hum. She felt something burning deep inside her, like a muscle that had been worked too vigorously, but she pushed the sensation to the side and burst into song.

Serenade of the Swarm reactivated, and the sky above her began filling with birds. Once it had begun, it was easy to maintain, and Bella simply called as many creatures as her power would reach. For now, she didn't have them swoop at the deadly Witch far below, instead mustering them in one area. Birds began to circle in the sky, and small creatures began roiling over each other directly below them—all being pulled to one general location. 

In the distance, Cinder raised his hands, his left reaching out toward Matringa as if in supplication, while the right went above his head as though he were asking a question in a classroom. Then he twisted, and the ground around the Witch in a wide circle burst into a roaring flame.

Matringa simply stepped through them, shaking her head as she slapped the flames clinging to her dress, instantly snuffing them out. “If that's the only thing you can do, I suppose it's a good thing you're a prince. Useless for everything but your bloodline. Really, your parents should have made you branch out more!”

She moved her arms in a mockery of his exaggerated motions, but to much greater effect. Thick branches erupted from the hedges, which had been tightening their encirclement of the royal procession, slamming into the wagons and reducing them to splinters in mere moments. Most of the non-combatants had managed to flee by this point, but the soldiers were hard-pressed to maintain their formation.

Only the fact that they were wearing heavy armor instead of the ceremonial version at the insistence of the prince kept them standing as thorns scratched against their breastplates, and roots prodded at their boots and grieves, looking for weak points to push into. 

“Command, active blades!” the captain suddenly called out, and the swords of the men around him began to shine with light. On their next swings, the weapons cut through the wooden defenses of the hedges as if they were mundane plants. “Your Highness, the magical weapons have been activated; we are officially on a time limit!” 

In the attic, Bella was beginning to get light-headed as she sang out as long as she could. The swarm growing due to her power was becoming antsy, some of the larger creatures lashing out at the smaller ones. Even so, she knew it wasn't enough—not yet. She needed to wait to send them until they’d be able to do more than inconvenience her Witch of a stepmother. 

“Oh, look, they brought out the shiny toys!” Matringa mocked the guards who were slashing and parrying the thick thorns. “I can just keep them growing and growing and growing… because this is my power. Using captured energy to keep you alive won't work for long. Unless…! Prince Cinder!”

“Hold your silence, Witch!” the captain replied on Cinder’s behalf.

Matringa waved at the desperate guards casually, as if calling for silence. “Those magic swords, with their borrowed power, certainly look pretty as they shine like robin's eggs. I just have to ask, is that your something borrowed, something blue? Only two more little items, and we can have a proper wedding ceremony! Let me help by giving you something old!”

The hedges shifted to the side, rolling together and condensing. The wood latched onto itself, the thorns of one branch burrowing into the main trunk of another section. After only a few moments, hundreds upon hundreds of feet of hedges had condensed into a massive, writhing tumbleweed. It began rolling toward the group of guards protecting the prince, picking up speed far too quickly. 

“Then allow me to contribute!” a new voice rang out, just before a bolt of sparkling light arced through the air and sank into the hedge ball. “Something new!”

A detonation followed the proclamation, a soundless burst of energy that swept through the hedge and transformed a large chunk of it into hornets. With a threatening buzz, the newly created insects swarmed into the air and swept toward Matringa. For the first time in the battle, the Witch showed not only surprise but a hint of fear. 

“You dare to interfere?” she howled, lifting her hands and releasing a thick plume of green spores, catching most of the insects and causing them to drop out of the air with loud thuds which belied their small size. Then, in a moment which caused Bella no small amount of concern, Matringa turned and glared at her. “I was saving that for your little pets, my pet!” 

The tumbleweed had unraveled but was quickly reforming. But that wasn't the center of attention for the quickly tiring warriors; they were focused on the newcomer who was striding across the lawn with a stern expression on her face.

“Cinder, we may actually have a chance.” The Captain of the Guard hadn't bothered to deactivate his skill, which made his voice reach everyone in range. He gestured wearily at the ageless woman who was approaching the seething Witch far too casually. 

“That’s the Great Fairy… Bibbidy the Evoker.”