she'd waited some time, preparing her revenge. she'd built up her ability to take that revenge carefully, and now, it was time. she'd decided it was fitting to land near the village disguised as a hawk. she knew where to go. she knew how to lure them in. and she knew she would win...

cylene was confident of her victory.

***

crystal was alone at home this hour. mordan and her children, biological son jake and adopted daughter bianca, were out. she was preparing dinner for when they returned, so she didn't hear the door open, nor did she hear the soft footsteps sneak in behind her.

suddenly, though, she heard a noise, but too late. the noise was the scroll being used, as it turned her flesh to stone in an instant.

what? what's happened? she thought, and then the answer walked in front of her, laughing with delight. it was a woman, dressed in robes that hid her face

'ahahaha! all alone, sugah? suits me just fine. but we need you somewhere you'll be seen...' the woman said, and began shifting crystal's petrified form into a more obvious location...

***

mordan had felt uneasy, and so, they had decided to return early. he did not want to alarm jake and bianca, but he decided to enter his home first. something felt wrong.

he was shocked to see crystal petrified standing behind the door, his wife looking surprised in her stone form. mordan recovered his composure and was about to cure his love when her attacker revealed herself from her concealment.

'surprise!' she said, holding a scroll. mordan realised what it was.

'a petrification scroll... you did this!' he said.

'that's right. i'm doing this.' the woman said gleefully as she used the scroll.

run, jake! mordan thought frantically. he had been too slow to stop this woman, but he could save his son.

outside, jake was running, but into the house. he was stunned to see his parents petrified.

'who are you?!' he asked the woman, as she drew a dagger.

'your death, boy. but not yet. i want you to run.'

in his anger, though, jake simply attacked. bianca had caught up, and her scream of surprise distracted jake. his attack was parried, and one of his daggers flew from his grasp, sticking into the wall. before he could
react again, the woman had snatched the second dagger too, dropping it out of his reach.

'i want my fun. you and little miss screamalot, into the forest. i'll hunt you down.' the woman said evilly, before leaving.

jake stood up, unharmed by his attack and confused to be left that way. he recovered his daggers and went to his parents and bianca

'did that woman do this?' bianca asked. jake nodded.

'i think so. dad, is there anything we can do?'

you have to run to safety. leave us. his father instructed him with his mind.

'we can't do that! we have to help you...' jake fretted.

it is the only way. the scroll she used requires either a powerful magic, potions or specific counterscrolls. only the temple has such scrolls or potions.

jake reluctantly conceded.

'we'll be back soon, father. back to save you and mother.' he said. bianca nodded and followed him as the pair ran into the forest, heading to the temple.

***

they had been going through the forest for only a few moments when they heard a roar. the two froze in surprise, then saw the source of the roar. it was a huge bear!

'a bear?! we don't have bears in this forest!' bianca said.

'we do now! run for it!' jake said. he felt he might be able to beat the animal with his psionic abilites, but it was too great a risk. he couldn't become a bear's dinner when his parents were in need.

the two fled, the bear gave chase. it got so close that a swipe from its massive paw almost sliced down a tree, which was far better to jake than had it hit the original target, as he didn't fancy the idea of being sliced down instead. it slowed the creature down too, as it dodged trees while jake, being smaller than it, could stay beside them. bianca was further ahead, having taken a straight line as jake led the creature off on small detours.

however, they had been running for a long time, and were both exhausted until jake had an idea. there was a rock face near a tall tree...

'that big tree! climb it!' jake told bianca. she nodded, and was quickly up. jake leapt up too, and hoped bears couldn't climb trees. but even if they could, his plan was better.

'climb onto the rocks, bi!' jake said.

bianca was already heading for them. he glanced down and saw the bear could climb. but he was climbing first and faster, the bear's paw that had hit the tree earlier seemed to give it trouble. jake joined bianca on the rockface, and picked up a small boulder.

'eat this instead!' jake said, throwing it. the bear roared as it was struck by the rock and fell off the tree. the two had sped away as the bear shook her head and changed back into cylene.

'ow... little brat. that hurt.' she moaned, but also felt like laughing.

it was all going to plan. apart from the rock to the face, of course, but that was only an inconvience. a sore one that gave her a headache, but cylene could live with it. grin and 'bear' it, even...


***

jake was glad to see mia and saren as they entered the village. he hadn't planned to get their help but fate seemingly decided to have them both be near where they entered the village.

'are you two all right? you look exhausted.' mia said.

'it's a long story, but we need to get to the temple fast.' jake replied.

'that's weird. the priest told us to go fetch you...' saren said.

'what?'

'yeah. you'd better come see...' mia said.

they soon reached the temple, and found a scene of desolation. every scroll, every potion, every relic was gone. the priest greeted jake with a note.

'this was left by whoever stole everything. it mentions you by name.'

'who did this?' mia asked.

'i've got an idea. a woman attacked us in our house. she petrified our parents.' jake said.

'then whoever this woman is, she planned this. the letter wants you to head to the ruins to the south. if you're not there by sunset tonight she says she'll posion the river and wells with what she stole' the priest said.

'it's a trap.' saren added.

'obvious trap.' bianca agreed.

'but this woman stole all the ways we can cure our parents too. we've got no choice, do we?' jake said.

'yeah. it's not just the village at risk, if she poisons the river there are a lot of towns downstream. a lot of people would be poisoned.' bianca said sadly.

'we'll go with you.' mia said.

'you don't have to.' jake said. the preist sighed.

'perhaps i should clarify. the note asked for all four of you.'

'oh. sorry.'

'no problem, we should have told you. on the bright side it's not like we need to get any potions before we set off...' saren said.

'i should also add the letter says only you. she claims anyone else will not be able to enter.' the priest added.

'i bet it doesn't say how.' bianca noted.

'it doesn't. but i guess there's only one way we can find out.' mia said. the four soon left, with only

***

the ruins were an old mansion that had been built over a cavern entrance. it had been abandoned for reasons unknown, but when it had been occupied the cavern had been dug out and built into a strange temple. the ivy-covered piles of stones marked where the mansion walls once stood, but beyond was only a skeletal ruin. but crossing the boundary of the former wall, a hapless deer stood petrified. the four watched as a low-flying bird swooped over the line and was turned to stone in mid air for its troubles.

'that must be the way she's stopping anyone else getting in.' mia said.

'how do we know it won't petrify us when we cross?' bianca voiced the obvious concern.

'we don't.' jake said.

suddenly, a noise from behind cause them to spin around. it was just another deer.

'chase it away. stop it from wandering in.' mia said. the two boys nodded and ran at it, causing the animal to run the other way.

'well, what now? cross and hope?' saren asked.

'i guess so. on three...'

they counted. they crossed. they didn't petrify. they went into the ruins, and found the hole leading into the cavern/abandoned temple.

behind them, the deer watched, and then changed.

'welcome to my parlour.' cylene grinned, and followed.

the old catacombs were blocked off in many places, and the route to the main chamber of the old temple was now somewhat linear. unknown to the four venturing inside, there was a faster way to reach the main chamber, but only cylene could use it. shapeshifting into smaller animals to get through small gaps, she could simply go by every single trap. the four she sought revenge on would have to go through them.

***

the first sign of trouble inside was a click. jake had taken the lead, and had felt his foot brush something.

'a tripwire! i've set off a trap!' jake shouted. the four ran to the end of the corridor as a gas cloud emerged from the walls. they narrowly evaded it, but some of it melted off a small part of bianca's skirt.

'acidic gas. that's a nasty trap.' mia said.

'and there's bound to be other tricks ahead.'

***

jake had been right. the next trick, was a sealed door. on the door, a note telling them the only way to open it, was to take the golden arrow beside the door and fire it across a chasm into a small hole.

'can you make the shot, mia?' jake said.

'easy.' she replied, picking it up. there was another click, and then the roof creaked. the door behind them sealed closed as well, trapping them as the roof descended.

'no pressure to this one then.' saren noted.

'lame trap unless this arrow thing was a trick too.' mia said calmly as she aimed. she shot the arrow true, and the roof halted. both doors unlocked, but the door where the arrow had been glowed. a beam of light shot out and hit mia.

'aaah!' she cried out as smoke surrounded her. when it faded, she was gone, replaced by a confused looking dog with her hair colour.

'mia? is that you?' bianca asked. the dog whined sadly.

'the door was two traps. the best archer would take the shot, so the door got rid of her. dogs can't shoot bows.' jake said.

'still, you make a cute dog...' saren said, getting a growl in response.

***

the next trap was not a locked door, but a warning.

'enter this hall, and take the sword of destiny. face the immortal knight of stone, and pass.' jake read aloud.

'sword... that's mine.' saren said. mia barked.

'it's another trap i bet. i think these traps existed before but this woman has modified them with the extra curses. even if you win in there you'll have something else happen.'

'what else can we do?' saren said, opening the door. the sword lay before him. the immortal knight was presumably the statue blocking the other door. it sprang to life as he picked up the sword.

luckily, it was slow. saren dodged it's ponderous swings as he sought a weak spot, realising hacking at the stone with this blade was pointless. he tried out attack the back of it's knee, and the stone statue's leg crumbled below the impact. the whole thing collapsed and shattered.

saren regarded the defeated stone automaton. he then realised there had been no beam of light or curse.

'see, jake, there was nothing to...' he said. the beam interrupted.

the smoke revealed saren, normal except that he was now a six month old baby.

'i guess i have to carry him.' bianca said.

***

next was an unusual trap, not really a trap at all at first glance . it told them exactly what would happen. three platforms. two silver, one gold

'we can walk past this one.' jake realised, but wondered why it was here. it claimed that the gold platform took the curses of the other two.

'wait. if that's true, mia and saren can go to normal. this woman is a strong fighter so you three stand a better chance. i'm not as strong.' bianca said.

'but it would turn you into a puppy!' jake guessed.

'well, you three will win and turn me back. but if it's just us and i have to carry saren, we're doomed.'

'well, okay... but be careful.'

bianca placed saren on his platform, and mia sat on hers. as soon as bianca stepped onto the golden platform, the three were hidden by smoke. as claimed, the expected exchange occurred. mia and saren were back, but bianca was now a puppy.

'now we've got three people to save as well as get all the stuff this woman stole back.' saren said. the three and the puppy moved onwards.

***

they finally reached the former main chamber, now empty of everything except the stolen items, and the woman.

'glad to see you made it. i've got three scrolls here. three victims, your statue parents and the puppy there. we're gonna go one on one. each of you fights me, and if you win you get the scroll.'

'and if you win?' mia asked.

'i get to keep the loser. oh, if all three lose, i'll take your new puppy there and train her to be mine. she's thinking human thoughs now but a few hours training and she'll be a docile pooch through and through.'

'what stops us from fighting you all at once?' saren asked, drawing his sword.

'this.' the woman said, using a fourth scroll. jake, saren, and bianca were turned to stone.

'you and me first, girl. archery contest.'

the target was across the hall. mia tried her best, but somehow the woman won.

'now you're mine.' the woman said as she petrified mia and restored saren.

'and you're mine.' saren said, launching an attack. the woman sighed and dodged, producing a sword of her own.

'well, it was going to be a duel, whoever got the first hit, but i guess we can have a real swordfight. first one to stop breathing loses.' the woman said.

the two fought well. each parried the others attacks, each saw through the other's feints, and each avoided those swings they could not parry. but saren wasn't aware of his disadvantage. he managed to get a hit in, cutting the woman's arm slightly, but left himself open. the woman managed to hit his torso, a small injury, and normally nothing to worry about, but he felt himself slowing down.

'a poisoned blade? you like cheating, don't you?' saren protested.

'not poisoned. enchanted. it's called a gorgon blade.' the woman smirked. saren realised he was indeed petrifying. and statues didn't breathe.

'i win that one too. and i think i'm gonna keep cheating. me and the last brat, our duel is, whoever isn't a statue at the end wins. oh, i win already!' she said, and approached jakes statue.

she turned bianca back first, and grabbed the angry girl turned puppy as she tried to bite the woman. holding the struggling transmogrified girl, the woman leaned in close to jake and stared at his stone eyes.

'i'll make her into a good guard dog first. then turn you and your parents back, and make you all my slaves. how does that feel?' she taunted.

how does this feel? jake taunted back as he exploited her mistake. as a statue, his mind was stronger, and that meant his psychic power was too. he managed to reach into the woman's mind and control her.

'wait, what is this? this isn't fair!' she protested as she was manipulated into using the scrolls to turn the three statues and one puppy back to normal. the four grabbed items from the pile as she reeled from the confusion of having her body controlled.

'i'll get you for that!' she shouted, pulling a scroll. three of the four winced, expecting petrification. but bianca was smiling as the air glowed around them, and the woman cried out.

'a reflection charm. i grabbed it from the pile.' she explained, as the woman became stone with a cry of anger and anguish

the four approached the woman, given a taste of her own medicene.

'so... who was she anyway?' mia wondered, looking at the statue. the robes still hid her face.

'i don't know. but she wanted revenge for something...' bianca said.

'well, she knew us. but i guess it doesn't matter who she is. she's not a threat anymore.' jake said, and the four left, taking back everything the now-petrified woman had stolen.

get back here! what do you mean you don't know me?! i'll get you all as soon as i free myself from this petrification! cylene raged at the departing heroes.

the penny dropped at this thought.

wait. how am i going to free myself? she realised.