Chapter Text
Thunder clapped and rain came down heavily, bouncing off Queen Elizabeth’s armor as she stood in the mud and roaring wind on the edge of a cliff. Across from her she could see the witch. A beautiful raven haired woman appearing in her mid 20’s with magenta eyes glared at her from across the way, a spell forming at the tip of her two pronged spear. She glared at Elizabeth as she prepared to fire and Liz quickly moved to take cover behind a rock and get out of the way of whatever spell the witch was about to fire but before she could get there a blinding flash of light engulfed her vision and a piercing scream filled the air until the crack of thunder silenced it. She reached out to grab the rock and instead found air as she felt her feet give way to gravity as the ledge separated from the rest of the cliff. Liz felt her body let out a cry of shock as she plummeted to the ground, looking for anything she could hold onto to brace her fall. Had she fallen by herself? Was the witch falling with her? Her mind raced with questions she knew she had to put to the side before- darkness. Liz’s body hit the ground and quickly she lost consciousness.
The chirp of birds was the next thing she heard as she awoke in an unfamiliar bed in what appeared to be a wooden cabin, the morning sun bathing her face from the window across from her. Hadn’t she just been falling? How was she here in a bed relatively unharmed, albeit still feeling very weak.
“I see you’re awake queen” a melancholic voice called out with a tint of smugness. Elizabeth’s head snapped in the direction of the voice, her eyes meeting the witches as the witch leaned against the door frame, her arms crossed against her chest and a smirk adorning her face. “That was quite the fall, you know if it wasn’t for my magic you wouldn’t even be alive right now.”
“Why save me? We were fighting to kill each other a moment before the cliff gave way. Why not just let me die?” Liz asked cautiously, not wanting to give away how weak she was. She wasn’t ready for a fight right now. Especially not when the witch seemed like she wasn’t affected the same way.
“Why did I save you? Hmmm I almost wonder that myself. I’ve had plenty of chances. I could have let you die in the fall, I could have poisoned you while or slept, or even simply smothered you. Lord knows you’re not strong enough to stop me right now.” Elizabeth blushed, she had hoped it wouldn’t have been that obvious to the witch but clearly her prayers had gone unanswered. “Awww are you embarrassed Queen?” The witch giggled, a hand coming up to cover her mouth. “The truth is I just wanted to be the one to kill you myself. But there’s no joy in it while you’re weak. It doesn’t prove anything. I want a more satisfying death from you.” The witch flicked her wrist and a plate of sausage and eggs floated over to Elizabeth. “Eat up your majesty. You’re going to need your strength.”
“Wait, please” Liz asked as she reached for the plate “I don’t even know your name or why you’re doing this, why are you so set on killing me and destroying my kingdom?”
The witch stood there for a moment, tapping her foot as she contemplated. “Names have power Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame, you should know this as queen. But since you’re too noble to ever do anything with it I may as well tell you. You may call me Nerissa. Nerissa Ravencroft.”
Elizabeth’s throat tightened “Nerissa…Ravencroft” she spoke, tasting the words on her tongue. The name was sweet, powerful. It half suited the witch set on destroying the kingdom. “That only answers one of my questions though. It doesn’t tell me why you’re determined to destroy the Bloodflame kingdom though.”
“I’m not sure you deserve that answer yet” The witch, no Nerissa, scowled. Animosity was clear across her features as her eyebrows furled and her eyes squinted. Clearly there was bad blood between them but Liz hadn’t ever met the witch before the attack. How had she ever done anything against her? Both she and her late parents had been kind to everyone they had ever met, always doing their best for their kingdom and the people living there. Had some action inadvertently caused harm to Nerissa? Hate was clear across her face so something MUST have caused that.
“Eat” Nerissa snapped at Elizabeth. “I don’t have time to wait around all day. I have things to do, potions to enchant and-” She was cut off by a chirp as a blue fluffy object flew over to her. Was that a bird? If so it was unlike any kind Liz had ever seen before. It was round, blue and… fluffy? Bird feathers didn’t normally look that soft but clearly this was no normal bird. “Hiya Darling” Nerissa cooed as she embraced the bird that nuzzled into her chest. She played with it a bit before unravelling the ribbon around its leg that kept a small bag attached to the bird. Liz chuckled And Nerissa’s eyes snapped to her immediately a blush flush across her cheeks.
“Shut up” she snapped, quickly regaining her composure but not releasing the bird.
“What is that silly thing?” Liz asked, motioning toward the bird.
“This is one of my jailbirds and it is NOT silly, it’s cute.” Nerissa growled at her, hugging the bird tighter. “It’s one of my magical familiars and you will not insult it.” The bird chirped again, happy to receive attention from its mistress. “They tend to run errands for me gathering ingredients for my spells and enchantments.” Liz chuckled again.
“Will you stop laughing?!” Nerissa was obviously flustered, her evil sorceress persona falling away as she was caught with the cute bird.
“I’m sorry” Liz said as her chuckle turned into giggles “I just never…I never expected to see this from the evil witch” Elizabeth was full on laughing now. Unable to hold it in as the witch she had spent hours fighting melted into a sweet girl in front of her and all because of a bird.
“Well fine! If you’re just going to laugh you can eat your breakfast alone!” Nerissa’s composure had completely fallen at this point and she looked as if she was almost on the verge of tears from the embarrassment.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” Liz said as she caught her breath. Pushing her laughter down. “I truly meant nothing by it, seeing you act so affectionate to the bird- the jailbird” Liz quickly corrected herself as she saw Nerissa narrow her eyes “was such a drastic change from the woman who was trying to kill me yesterday that I couldn’t help myself. I truly meant nothing by it”.
“I’m allowed to like things.” Nerissa said defensively “it just so happens you caught me with my favorite thing of all.”
“I hadn’t realized they were that special to you, may I pet it?” Liz reached out, a warm smile aimed at the bird to let it know she meant no harm.
“Absolutely not” Nerissa pulled the bird closer to her, almost protectively. “He’s mine and you can’t have him.”
“He?” the gender caught Elizabeth off guard, as far as she knew magical creations were genderless, how did this one have a gender?
“Yes he. What did you think someone as powerful as me would have a basic familiar that doesn’t have a gender or personality? Please, all of my jailbirds are special. Some are male, some are female. Some like attention, some like to stay to themselves. They’re not just cookie cutter familiars that disappear as soon as I’m done with them. All of my jailbirds have a soul of their own.”
Liz was floored, even her court wizards and witches couldn’t accomplish a feat as impressive as that and they were the best mages in the entire kingdom. “Don’t look so surprised” Nerissa giggled “when you’ve been around for over ten thousand years you learn a thing or two.”
Ten THOUSAND years? How was that possible? Nerissa looked like she had to be around the same age as Liz herself was and Liz was plenty young, though still old enough to run her own kingdom and drink with her closest friends.
“I’m half demon darling, my lifespan is much longer than you silly humans.” That made sense, it also explained why Nerissa was capable of such incredible feats of magic. The demon blood in her would of course make her magic much stronger than any humans. Was that why she was attacking the Bloodflame kingdom? Because she was a demon?
“No you silly girl” Nerissa frowned at her, had Liz said that part out loud? She must have if Nerissa replied. “Now eat, your food must be cold and I have things to do, I’ll come back in a bit, you’re clearly not going to get anything done while I stick around” Nerissa smirked as she flipped her hair over her shoulder before turning to leave. Her elegant hips swayed as she exited the room and Liz’s eyes couldn’t help but be drawn towards Nerissa’s- Liz shook her head. Where did those thoughts come from? This was her enemy not someone to look at that way. This was a problem for later Liz decided, for now she had a breakfast that needed to get eaten.