IN THE LAND OF FANTASIA

Foreveryoung and others have asked me to write Chapter 3 of my fantasty, IN THE LAND OF FANTASIA, so at their request, here it is:

IN THE LAND OF FANTASIA
C 2010 JOJO

CHAPTER 3

Elvistra walked quickly out of her hut and up the twisting winding road towards Bugan the Witch’s hut, perched right on top of the mountain.

“Just wait until I get my hands on her,” she ranted, as she ran. “Not only will she give me my money back, but pay me extra compensation for the misery she’s caused me! It’s all HER FAULT! If she’d done her job PROPERLY, Delphistra wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed, much less cast a spell on ME! Oh she’ll pay, she’ll pay THROUGH HER UGLY BEAKY NOSE!”

Half way up the steep mountain she ran out of breath and had to sit on a nearby rock while she caught her breath. Such was her rage, that her hair not only stood up all around her head, but it shot out little mini bolts of lightening. She’d never been this angry before that she could remember. Well maybe once, she thought, when she realized Coalis loved Delphistra and not her. Remembering this, made her even angrier. She gnashed her teeth in rage, before remembering that gnashing her teeth made her nose run – another of Delphistra’s spells.

Getting up, she plodded up the rest of the mountain, trying to contain her anger, but not succeeding.

Finally she arrived at Bugan’s hut and barged in without knocking.

The inside of the hut was dark, and consisted of just one room, filled with all manner of herbs, amulets and bottles filled with mysterious substances that nobody knew about excepting Bugan the Witch, who protected her potions and the recipes of her spells, as if her life depended on it – which it probably did.

Bugan the Witch was bending over a cauldron brewing something with a really horrid smell to it, and chanting while she did it. She was only 2 feet tall, and no one could’ve mistaken her as being anything but a witch. She had close set beady little black eyes, a big hook nose and a thin lipped mouth. Her hair was long, gray and always matted. It seemed unlikely that she’d ever combed it in her life. She wore a long black gown which covered her body entirely, which was probably just as well because she had a hump back, scrawny, bony torso and knobbly knees.

She glanced up from her cauldron briefly, saw Elvistra and knew immediately that her spell had gone wrong.

“Go away,” she said stirring her evil pot vigorously. “I did my best, now go away.”

“OH NO YOU DON’T” Elvistra shrieked, lunging across the room and grabbing Bugan by her neck. “YOU PROMISED ME IT WOULD WORK, AND IT DIDN’T! NOW ELVISTRA HAS PUT ANOTHER SPELL ON ME AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT.” She was completely out of control and in a furious rage.

“AAARG… LEGGO… OF MY … NECK!” Bugan howled. “LE….GGO!”

Elvistra lifted Bugan off her feet and shook her vigorously. “NOT… UNTIL … YOU … PAY ME …BACK” she shrieked. “WITH INTEREST.”

Bugan quickly realized she had to do something to break Elvistra’s grip on her throat, so she brought all her witch’s power to bear and caused her neck to become fiery hot to the touch.

Elvistra screamed and her hands flew off Bugan’s neck. Rushing she ran over to the sink, turned on the cold tap and plunged her blistered hands under it.

As she bent over to pick up the towel to pat dry her hands, she let out a resounding fart!

“SEE?” she yelled. “SEE WHAT ELVISTRA HAS DONE TO ME NOW? AND IT’ ALL YOUR FAULT!!”

Bugan the witch grabbed a cloth from the sink and stuck it into her mouth in an attempt to quell her laughter. She started gasping behind the cloth, and finally had to pull it out in order to be able to breathe. Bending over, she hugged her sides as laughter overcame her. The harder she tried to stop laughing, the worse it became. She laughed until purple tears poured down her gray face and formed puddles on the floor.

Elvistra started jumping up and down in an uncontrolled fury. “SO YOU THINK IT’S FUNNY DO YOU? HOW FUNNY DO YOU THINK THIS IS?” Turning, she grabbed Bugan the Witch’s broomstick off the wall, rushed over and thwacked her hard on the head.

That was a mistake. Bugan the Witch turned around, pointed a bony finger at Elvistra. The broom magically whipped itself out of Elvistra’s hands, and started whacking her across her tiny bottom.

“OUCH!” Elvistra howled “OUCH – STOP IT!”

“Are you ready to calm down and stop being such a badly behaved, schnoodle?” Bugan the Witch asked.

“ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT – JUST MAKE IT STOP!”

Bugan the Witch pointed her bony finger at the broom. It immediately stopped whacking Elvistra, straightened up and went back to the wall where it attached itself to its usual resting place.

Elvistra stood panting heavily, her hair bristling around her tiny face letting off sparks.

“I want my money back!” Elvistra said trying hard not to gnash her teeth. “And I want it back RIGHT NOW!”

“I can’t give it back Elvistra, I’ve already spent it buying zygmos,” she said pointing at the simmering pot.

“ZYGMOS? What are ZYGMOS?”

“That’s for me to know and you to wonder,” Bugan the Witch said with a nasty smile.

“Well, it smells like festering rats,” Elvistra shouted. “What’s it for?”

Bugan the Witch sighed. “It’s a love potion,” she said.

“How can anything smelling so dreadful be a love potion? Who in their right minds would drink that swill?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Bugan the Witch said. “You pour some over the feet of the pixie of your choice, and the first thing he sees after that he will fall in love with.”

Elvistra stopped and thought about that for a while. She thought of Coalis and how love shone out of his eyes every time he looked at Delphistra. She’d dreamed for so long that he would look at HER that way. What if she took some of Bugan the Witch’s noxious potion and spilled it on Coalis feet, while standing up in front of him? Yes indeed, then he’d love HER, he’d forget Delphistra and never look at her with eyes filled with adoration again. Coalis would be hers, just hers.

But she mustn’t let Bugan the Witch know how much she wanted some of that love potion.

The scuffled her feet on the floor, raising a small cloud of dust. “So what can you give me in exchange for my money?” she asked trying to sound casual.

“What do you want?” Bugan the Witch said looking over her bottles of potions. “I have all sorts of potions here you could choose from. I have anti dandruff potions, bad breath potions… athlete’s foot potions… I have …

“Well …” Elvistra coughed. “How about some of that … love potion you’re stirring up there?”

Bugan the Witch’s eyes started to gleam and glisten. An evil smile tugged at her thin lips.

“AHA!” she cried triumphantly. “Sooo, you want to charm Coalis then?” she chuckled.

Elvista went beet red. “No I don’t! I have a friend who needs some of the potion, and I’m going to give it to her for her birthday.

“Yes, OF COURSE, you are,” Bugan the Witch said with a sneer. “Alright, I’ll let you have some, but be warned. When this potion is poured onto anyone’s feet, they will fall in love with the first person or thing they see afterwards.”

“Yes yes, I understand that. So give me some RIGHT NOW!”

“Alright, for goodness sake take a breath or something. You’re wearing me out.” Slowly, Bugan the Witch shuffled over to her cabinet, removed a bottle then waddled over to the cauldron. Wearing oven mitts, she carefully ladled some of the boiling mixture into the bottle. Next she wrapped several layers of paper around the bottle to insulate it, and handed it over to Elvistra.

“Here then, off you go. Careful now, this is hot. Good luck with this potion – goodness knows you’re going to need it.” Cackling to herself she turned her back on Elvistra and went back to stirring her evil concoction.

Elvistra turned and ran out of the witch’s hut in a fever of excitement. She couldn’t wait to take it over to Coalis’s tree house, and make him love her! Not Delphistra, love HER. Balancing it carefully in her hands she made her way down the hill and into the forest.