Page 3 of Bewitched

The dragon lurched and pulled hard at its chained tether, snorting and trying to shake her off.

“Now, now, just calm down. You’ll feel better once you’re out in the open sky.” Medea gripped on to its leathery mane, hoping she wouldn’t be thrown to the ground. She quickly eyed the chain holding the dragon prisoner. She needed to release it, but couldn’t reach it from her position. With no other way to do it, she used her magic once again. The chain dropped from the dragon’s neck, hitting the ground with a loud thud. The second dragon roared from the other end of the stables.

The dragon beneath her was now free, and it knew it. The beast made an awful sound and reared up, almost throwing her from its back. She gripped on tighter, feeling her body slipping down over the hard scales. Then the dragon turned around and darted out of the barn with her atop it. She had succeeded in freeing the beast, but she wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Wait!” she cried, having no idea how to control a dragon. “Calm down,” she shouted as its wings started flapping wildly around her sounding so loud that it reminded her of a tornado. Orson and Riggs saw what was happening and ran in fear to hide.

“Medea? Is that you?” came the voice of her sister from the direction of the castle. Medea turned her head to see Rapunzel running toward the stable. “Nay! What are you doing?” The look of shock and also frustration washed over her sister’s face.

“Stay back, Rap,” Medea yelled, using the shortened name for her sister that her siblings sometimes used. “I am finally going to get that ride on the dragon that Marco promised.”

“Medea, wait. I’ll call for Marco, and he’ll take you. He’s the only one besides his father who can command the dragons. Marco!” She shouted for her husband, but her eyes remained on Medea.

“Nay! I don’t want Marco to take me anymore. I’m tired of waiting for anyone to give me what I want. I’m getting it for myself.”

“Nay, don’t. It’s too dangerous,” warned Rapunzel, picking up her skirts and following as the dragon moved across the courtyard with Medea atop it. Rapunzel’s once extremely long hair was now cut shorter and only hung down to her waist. Her blond tresses were interwoven neatly with colorful ribbons into one long braid that trailed down her back. “Marco, come quickly,” Rapunzel shouted once again at the top of lungs.

“Goodbye, Sister,” said Medea, kicking her heels into the sides of the dragon the way she would do atop a horse. The beast snorted and groaned, flapping its wings furiously now. Before Medea realized what was happening, the dragon lifted into the air and flew off over the top of the castle, into the vast sky.

“Come back!” shouted Rapunzel from below, shading her eyes and looking upward.

“Sorry,” Medea leaned over and called out with a shrug. The dragon flew in a circle over Tavistock Castle, the wind biting against Medea’s face. She looked down to see soldiers and servants running in chaos, looking up at the sky. Then she saw Marco exit the keep and look up at her and raise his fist in the air. She could feel him calling to the dragon, and of course the dragon had to obey. “Nay!” she cried, not wanting the dragon to return to its master. Her ride had just started, and there was no way she was going to allow it to be over so soon.

Using her powers to block out the sounds of Marco’s command, she hummed loudly, filling the dragon’s head with her voice instead. Medea kept the dragon from hearing Marco or even his thoughts. The dragon swooped down and then back up to the sky, causing a flitting sensation in her stomach. As terrifying as it was, it made her feel alive and happy, which is something she had never felt before. Medea reached up and yanked the ribbon from her head, letting the wind blow her long, black hair freely up around her. It felt so good. This was exhilarating and more than exciting than anything she had ever done before. It was exactly what she needed to bring her out of the slump she was in.

“Wheeee!” she cried, throwing back her head and closing her eyes, feeling so free as she flew through the sky. Holding on with only her legs, she daringly threw her hands in the air. It was good to finally get her ride on the dragon, and she hadn’t had to depend on anyone else for her happiness this time.

The dragon swooped down one last time, not even hearing the Dragon Lord who shouted and waved his arms over his head now. This was working out perfectly and she didn’t even feel guilty for using her magic to steal the beast.

“Goodbye, Sister,” Medea called out to Rapunzel once more. But when they got higher above the castle, she felt someone’s presence behind her. She jerked around to look, almost losing her balance. “Rapunzel!” she screamed. “How did you get up here?”

Her sister sat behind her on the dragon, reaching out and wrapping her arms around Medea’s waist to hold on.

“You forget, little Sister, that you are not the only one with magic. I have newfound powers now as well. I used them to get up here.”

“Oh, that’s right,” she said with a sigh, knowing this was only going to cause trouble.

“We need to take the dragon down now, Medea,” scolded her sister. “You are being reckless. Someone is going to get hurt. You don’t know the first thing about dragons nor how to command the beast. You don’t know what you are doing.”

Medea supposed her sister was right, although she didn’t want to admit it. Even with Marco’s anticipated reprimanding her when she got back, the ride would still have been worth it.

“Fine,” she snapped. “Down, Dragon,” Medea commanded, but the dragon didn’t heed her words. She was figuring out quickly that only a Dragon Lord was able to control the beast after all, and that her magic might not be able to remedy this problem after all. Mayhap in her eagerness to take a ride, she hadn’t thought things through. “It won’t listen, Rap,” she cried, starting to feel anxious. She supposed she could just use magic to transport herself to the ground, but she didn’t want to leave the dragon or her sister.

“Medea? What is that?” Rapunzel gasped and pointed at a swirling mass of colors where the land and sky met at the lake.

“I don’t know,” said Medea. Her eyes grew wide as the dragon headed for the anomaly that looked like nothing she had ever seen before. Colors of blue and red swirled around and it almost seemed as if an opening was being created in the middle of the mass.

“Something is happening,” shouted Rapunzel.

“The dragon is headed right for it and I can’t stop him,” yelled Medea.

“It looks like some kind of portal.” Rapunzel gripped tighter to Medea.

“A portal?” Medea didn’t know anything about portals, but could sense that it wasn’t somewhere that they purposely wanted to go. “Turn around, Dragon,” she said, pulling at the beast’s leathery mane. It only seemed to anger the dragon even more. “Go down, I say,” she commanded. Of course, it didn’t listen to anyone but a Dragon Lord. “Rap, it’s not working!” She felt scared now. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. “The dragon is heading right for that—that portal. This isn’t good.”

“Nay! Don’t let it go through,” begged Rapunzel. “Try to use your magic again to stop it, Medea.”

“I did but it didn’t work. I don’t know what to do. This has never happened to me before. You try, Rap!”