Derek
Gabriel
Losty
Wendy
Witches-gab
Prince Darius and Ghae-bie rode non-stop for hours... Around them the landscape slowly changed from the kingdom's familiar soothing greenery to a darker, more sinister surrounding. Trees soon enclosed the travellers and blocked out the afternoon sun. They had reached the murky Forest of Tempanese. The travellers soon had no sense of time. They did not know if it was day or night, just blindly riding onwards. When their steeds could travel no more, they took a break and had some Rayshens. They lit a fire that did little to provide light to their surroundings. Thousands of tiny lights kept flickering around them. They were eyes of unknown beasts that lurked in the forest. The travellers did not dare let the fire burn out and slept in shifts.
When they had rested enough, they proceeded onwards. Prince Darius had rings around his eyes and his usually neat hair was like a birds nest. Ghae-bie's headache worsened and he could barely stay conscious. He drifted between the two worlds until he finally succumbed under the forest's spell.
When he awoke, Ghae-bie found himself on a clean bed. He looked around and it appeared that he was in a cosy room with a warm fire and a caldron happily sitting over it. As he got up to inspect it, a large woman clothed entirely in black with a pointy hat hurried over.
"You've just recovered! You shouldn't be up yet!" she screeched.
She pushed Ghae-Bie back to the bed and gave him an annoyed look.
"Where am I?? Where's Prince Darius? Who or what are you?" Ghae-bie inquired
"Oh if that will get you to settle down then I suppose I have no choice but to answer your questions. Prince Darius is recovering well in another room. Yes, you can visit him as soon as you are better. This is PYSS, short for Professor Young's School of Socery. And yes, I am a witch. Well, we're all either witches or wizards. Only if we've passed the 'O' (occulting)levels then we can become sorcerers. "
"Do you brew potions to work your magic in there?" Ghae-bie pointed at the caldron.
"No silly, that just for cooking porridge. We cast spells by using our magic wands to write magical symbols that we've memorised on special spelling books called 'Ting Xie' books. So the more symbols u memorise, the more magic u can work. And the faster and more skillfully you write it will of course affect the time taken to cast the spell and the spell's duration."
Ghae-bie stared at the woman in disbelief.
"Oh and well class is starting, I must leave!" the woman hurried to the door.
"Wait! Who have I just spoken to?"
the woman glanced back and said
"Joy, leader of the house of herbs and healing"