Page 8 of Bewitched

“Stuck here?” asked Medea. “Well, for how long?”

“No one can answer that. Until that portal reappears and opens, you’re pretty much stranded on Mura,” Rhys told them.

“Well, that is unacceptable,” said Medea. “I need to get back to Tanglewood or my guards will be looking for me.”

“Your guards?” This took Rhys’ interest.

“My sister is Queen of Tanglewood Castle,” explained Rapunzel.

“A queen? Her?” Rhys chuckled lowly. “You could have fooled me.” He noticed the girl’s eyes going dark again when he said it, but it was too late. Once more, to his dismay, he found himself on his ass on the ground, even though she hadn’t even touched him. “I command you to stop doing that,” he said through gritted teeth.

“No one commands me,” she retorted. “I’m a queen. Didn’t you hear my sister?”

“Medea,” said Rapunzel under her breath, seeming as if she was trying to calm the woman down or keep her quiet.

The woman named Medea was a brash wench who seemed to fear no one and nothing. Well, Rhys was a knight who feared no one and nothing as well, and he was going to make sure she knew it.

“You might be queen of some castle from some faraway land we’ve never heard of, but here, you are nothing more than a simple wench.” Rhys climbed back atop his horse. “Well, mayhap not simple, but of no significance or importance, that’s for sure,” he mumbled, thinking this girl was complicated in more ways than one.

“He’s right,” agreed Zann. “Even though you have powers, there are a lot of others here on Mura with powers just as strong as yours, Medea.”

“I doubt it,” sniffed Medea, sounding as if they’d insulted her self-worth.

“I suggest we get out of here before those soldiers come back. Give us your hand and we’ll help you up. We’ll give you a ride to our brother Darium’s cottage.” Rhys held out his hand from atop his horse toward Rapunzel, but Zann rode forward, offering his hand instead.

“That might be good, so we can all figure this out.” Rapunzel let Zann help her atop his horse, and that left Rhys with Medea. Not what he wanted at all. Still, he had no choice and held out his hand, but Medea was a stubborn woman and would not take it. “Come on, Queenie, it’s a far climb up to the top of this huge horse. Let me help you,” he told her.

“Don’t call me Queenie,” she snapped. “My name is Medea and I don’t need your help.” She disappeared into thin air, and materialized in front of him on his horse, making Rhys jerk backward in surprise, almost losing his balance. He hadn’t expected her to do that at all.

“You are the one who had better hold on to the reins of this big horse,” she told him. “After all, it seems to me you fall a lot.”

“Only when I’m being pushed,” Rhys told her. “I’m not sure how you behave back in the land of Tanglewood, but it won’t be tolerated here on Mura, I assure you.”

Medea giggled. “Tanglewood is the castle. Our land is called England,” she informed him.

“Whatever you say.” Rhys headed through the woods to his brother Darium’s house, feeling it in his gut that this woman and her dragon were going to bring nothing but trouble to Mura. And trouble was the last thing they needed right now.

Three

“Rap, I don’t like it here,” said Medea, after the girls had dismounted. As they waited for the men to tend to their horses, they looked around. It was a beautiful land from what she could see. On the way over here, besides the lake, she noticed little cottages and a lush forest of evergreens.

“Well, you should have thought of that before you stole Marco’s dragon,” scolded Rapunzel. “Medea, what were you thinking?”

“I was bored, Sister. Besides, Marco promised me a ride on the dragon and he never gave it to me.”

“If you had shown up for even one of our family events or the births of any of our children over the past few years, mayhap he would have. Medea, since your mother died, you have been hiding at Tanglewood, refusing to come see any of us, and not allowing any of your siblings or even Father inside your castle. You have made it impossible for any of us to reach you.”

“I wasn’t hiding. Not really. Besides, I have my reasons,” Medea answered, feeling that pang of loneliness inside her heart. Seeing her father and siblings only made the guilt she was harboring over the death of her mother even worse. When one wasn’t happy, it only hurt to see others happy or in love. She didn’t bother to try to explain this to Rapunzel since she was sure she wouldn’t understand it. None of her family would understand her, because they all hated Hecuba for the curses she bestowed upon them. No matter how awful the woman was, she had still been Medea’s mother. The only person who could have possibly understood Medea was now gone, and she was to blame.

“Father was very hurt when you all but ignored him when he discovered he had another daughter.”

“What does it matter?” Medea thought her sister was making too much of a fuss over this. “I know all of you hate me for what my mother did to you.”

“Nay, don’t say that.”

“It’s true and you know it. After all, you know better than the rest that I did Mother’s bidding, and wasn’t very nice, either.”

“Mayhap so, but it wasn’t your fault that we were all cursed, or even that Hecuba tricked Father into lying with her and having... you.”