The air crackled and hissed as a circle of fire as big as a four-person carriage came into being on the ground level below. The faint blue lights within the Talisman of Lenfris began to glow brighter and brighter, their luminescence swelling. A sound like an entire forest of trees falling at once split the air and the area within the burning circle began to bellow huge plumes of black smoke. Nearby, Robert continued to fling flurries of fire as well as a rabid string of insults.

  “Come and catch a hot death, you fodder!” he yelled in between throws. “Pig lickers! Slug suckers!” As he did so, his older brother continued to chant the incantations written in the black tome.

  “Bountiful void of secrets profane, mother and father of powers arcane

  Grant me entrance to power passed, from generation to generation, let me cast

  To break the gate of barriers hidden, grant me passage through paths forbidden!”

  The smoke coughed once and the plumes parted to reveal a fractured set of surroundings within the circle. Like a pair of mirrors facing one another, the area inside the circle began to create a deeper chamber within. Ignatius had done it. He’d managed to open a portal. The others became more frantic as they came rushing back from the places where they’d been spying out the windows.

  “They’re coming in from all directions at once!” Panicked Loxo.

  “We’re going to be overrun!” yelled Atticus

  “What do we do?” asked Prince Damron and Morell at the same time. Everyone looked to Hoxley.

  “Gather your things!” she pointed to the open portal below the ledge they stood upon. “Ignatius has shown us the way to go!”

  “We’re going in there?” asked Loxo.

  “If you have better plans you are welcome to share them!” Hoxley said over the growing sounds of soldiers yelling wars cries as they began to approach the entrances to the ruin.

  “Do we jump through?” asked Morell, the boy frightened beyond belief.

  “Yes!” said Ignatius. “Leap into it as though it were a pond and you’ll come out the other side!”

  “Where does it emerge?” asked the boy.

  “Not here!” said Atticus, scooping up Morell under one of his arms. “All the more reason!”

  “Hurry!” Yelled Ignatius “It won’t stay open much longer!”

  “Come on then, pirate!” said Atticus “You first!”

  “Do you really think I should?” asked Loxo, looking a bit unnerved at the glowing circle. “Wouldn’t it be more prudent to- Aaauuughhh!” the pirate cried as Atticus grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pitched him off the ledge. Loxo tumbled downward and vanished within the glowing ring as Atticus flung himself and poor Morell off the lip as well. Once through the plane, they vanished completely. Ignatius looked to Hoxley

  “Go!” he yelled.

  “Come with me, your highness.” She said to Prince Damron. “Take my hand.” The boy did and Hoxley looked to the witch one last time who waved. The war cries grew louder and soldiers began to pour into view ten at a time.

  “Into the unknown!” Hoxley shouted over the magic and shouting. The boy and faun leapt out into the air and upon breaking the plane of the portal…and vanished.

  “Robert!” Ignatius called over the havoc around them. “Get Siouxsie! Get to the ledge!”

  “I will!” Robert stopped throwing insults and curses long enough to gather up their belongings and take the exhausted girl upon his back.

  “Come sister, ungh.” He grunted as he hefted her onto his back. “This is no place for us to be. She locked her arms around his neck before he put the tips of his winklepickers over the edge. And just as the soldiers and archers sighted Ignatius and Robert, the tall witch tucked away the book. He then scooped up the extra brooms, took the hand of his brother, and together the three leapt away into the thin air. Those in attendance gasped in disbelief as the trio didn’t land upon solid ground but disappeared altogether! Before any of the soldiers could piece together about what to do next, the burning circle of fire extinguished itself leaving only burnt stone and scorch marks in the shape of sigils arcane.

  And as each of the companions fell through the blinding void, there was no down or up or day or night. There was only a stomach-turning flail, like being pitched over the top of a high waterfall with no bottom in sight. Desperate and frantic hands reached out for others in hopes of finding something solid or familiar to cling to. All if it was in vain.

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  The first portal yawned wide and spit out the three witches it had consumed. Unnatural lights within the circle pulsed and ejected the twins first to send them plummeting into a vast field of wheat. Each one quickly succumbed to a terrible pain as each of their powers came alive and out of their control. Siouxsie toppled off her brothers back and rolled like a log, her hands unleashing wild arcs of lightning that swam between the rows of wheat like so many schools of swimming fish.

  After her, Robert tumbled and sprawled, wild shots of fire ejecting themselves from his palms to fly in all directions. Frantic and confused he jumped to his feet and did his best to keep the seemingly endless flow of fire coming out of him from scorching his siblings. For his effort, the fire went everywhere else, torching grasses upon grasses of the golden plant. Summer dry, the plants caught fire and began to spread.

  “Stop robert stop!” Siouxsie yelled, holding her hands to the sky to keep the lightning from electrocuting them both.

  “I’M trying! I’M trying! the fire is casting itself!” he yelled in a panic as his hands spewed more and more fire into the field around them. “How do i make it stop?! help me!”

  “I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S happening! hold our hands up like me!” Robert did as she told him but after only a few seconds of watching the fireballs launch themselves into the sky he realized the error of his ways. The fountain of fire was spreading the scorching faster by arcing shots high and far in every direction. Their decision was making things worse than before. Not wanting to be left out in the process of perpetuating the disaster, Ignatius came flailing out of the innerspace to land winklepicker first. With him came the power of gale force winds that erupted from within and circled the trio like a tornado. Frightened at his power being let loose without his summoning, the tall witch froze in place with the others to behold the consequences of untamed magic. He could find no words to speak. Never in his life had the power within ever been allowed to spew forth without being called upon. As less dangerous as the power of high winds could be compared to that of fire or lightning, the combination of all three venting in such a manner at the same time fashioned a crisis unlike anything he or the others had ever witnessed before. The fires ignited by the twins was being whipped into a hellish fury that appeared as a cyclone of fire eating everything around them. Siouxsie and Robert appeared just as frightened as he.

  “What do we do?!” The twins yelled together at him over the deafening sound of the storm. At first, he had no ideas. Then, an inkling found his brain that might be something resembling a sane solution.

  “Quickly!” he said to them. “Clap your hands twice then press them to the ground as hard as you can!”

  “Will that work?!” yelled Robert.

  “I trust big brother!” Siouxsie yelled back. “Do as he says! one! two! three!” At her count, all three clapped their hands to dispel and slapped their palms hard upon the ground. Instantly, the storm lessoned but didn’t disperse. Each of their hands seemed possessed, fighting and resisting the smothering of power jetting from the fingertips. “Why is this happening?” asked Siouxsie.

  “I know not!” he answered. “Keep them held fast!” Their fingers bucked and danced to keep the magic contained. Sparks and fire churned the ground beneath the twins. For their effort, the catastrophe was lessoning and lessoning until finally all six appendages ceased their erratic behavior at the same time. Once quiet, they carefully lifted their hands to find them still and quiet.

  “What’s happened to us?” asked Robert. “Why has our magic a mind of its own?”

  “I have no answers!” said Ignatius, eyeing the walls of fire around them in every direction. “But for the moment we need to escape this place before the flames consume us all! Grab your packs, we must depart without delay!” Each of the witches snatched up their belongings and mounted their brooms before blasting off into the cloud of smoke permeating everything in all directions. Once away from danger, the three huddled together fifty paces above in the sky to look upon the aftermath. From their lofty lookout, the small fire had spread to begin consuming the wheat fields at an amazing rate. In the distance a small village of people came running from their tiny homes to observe what had taken place. Some scattered to grab buckets and head toward a nearby stream while others gesticulated and pointed at the witches.