xp_logs | Asgard - Amanda, Enchantress, Frank, Alison, Miles, Manuel, Jubilee and George the were-light.

Posting for offline people.

Amora's inner sanctum was warded, but not against her 'daughter' - so confident was the Enchantress in her spells she had allowed Amanda full run of the castle. Besides, where could she go? One step outside the boundaries of Amora's filtering wards adn she was dead, or as good as. So it was with relative ease that Amanda feigned a headache and excused herself from yet another banquet, and, accopanied by her not-so-willing slave Manuel, had made her way to where Amora was keeping Miles.

The door was locked, physically and magically, but Amanda made short work of that. Leaving Manuel to watch the corridor - she had to command him in the end, which hadn't gone over well at all - Amanda cracked open the door and slipped inside. There was a muffled gasp and a jingle of chain, and Amanda summoned up her werelight to see by. Miles was huddled in the corner, trying to make himself as small as possible. The jingle came from the manacle around his neck, attached to a chain bolted to the wall. At the sight Amanda felt a rush of fierce, protective fury, and an answering proble of curiosity and concern from Manuel's end of the link.

"Miles? 'S all right, squirt, I'm not gunna hurt you," she said, swallowing the anger as best she could and keeping her tone low and reassuring. 'Bitch is gunna pay, all right,' she thought blackly.

A whimper was all the reply she got, and she came closer, moving slowly and sending the werelight bobbing over to Miles so he could see who was coming. "'S me, Miles, Amanda. From the school. We've got maths together, remember? An' you always beat me at the time tables..." By the faint greenish light Amanda saw Miles' head lift a little, the boy peering cautiously at both the merrily-bobbing ball of light and its owner.

"'Manda?" he asked suspiciously. Amanda nodded and knelt down close by him, feeling the odd, smothered sensation of her powers being nulled by his - she'd been restrained before, but never fully blocked, and it was not pleasant. He flinched back as he saw her more clearly. "Miles does not think you are 'Manda. 'Manda has black hair and lots of earrings," he said, almost accusingly.

"Yeah, well, someone thought they liked me better this way, didn't they?" Amanda said wryly, inwardly cursing the Enchantress for the hundreth time that day. "'S me, squirt, honest. Who else knows you keep pennies in yer ears?" With that, Amanda 'pulled' a small copper Asgardian coin from Miles' ear and showed it to him - it wasn't actual magic, but one of the slieght-of-hand tricks she'd learned on the street. "See?" She was thickening her accent on purpose, knowing it had softened somewhat in the isolation, and she saw the wariness lifting from Miles' face. "Manny's here too, just outside the door, an' we're gunna get you out of here, cross me heart an' hope t' die."

She didn't get any futher, because there was a muffled sob and suddenly her arms were full of small green child. Awkwardly she returned the hug, the warm wetness of tears soaking into the velvet dress identifying the odd snuffling noises he was making. All she could do was rock him slightly, making comforting noises and ignoring Manuel's amusement at the inadvertant maternal feelings she was projecting down the link.

"Miles wants his mama," the boy managed eventually. "The bad lady took Miles away just when Miles had found mama, and the lady wants to hurt Miles."

"She won't - Manny an' I won't let her," Amanda promised, not entirely sure how she would keep that promise, but determined to try. "I'll turn her into a toad first."

"Like Jake?" Miles asked, the fainstest glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Like Jake," Amanda agreed. "Only smaller an' more warty. A little hopping toad, how's that? An' you can can keep her in a jam jar when we get home, yeah?"

"Miles wouldn't do that, it's cruel," he said solemnly. "But will 'Manda and Manny take Miles to mama?"

Taught ethics by a seven year old, Amanda thought wryly. "Yeah. Only not just yet. I need t' find the way home first."

Miles' face fell. "But Miles wants to leave now," he said, voice trembling a little. "Miles is scared of the bad lady, and mama will be sad if she doesn't find me soon."

"It won't take long - I'm nearly there. Only, if I don't find this spell, we're all stuck here for good, and there's a lot of people back home who miss us, yeah?" Amanda replied, desperately hoping she was right about being close. Time was wearing thin, as was Manuel's patience about the binding spell and her own ability to play dutiful daughter to the woman who had brainwashed her. Miles' presence both simplified and complicated things. She'd be able to leave the castle with his help, but they had to act quickly, before Amora did whatever it was she intended to do with him.

With a sigh, Miles nodded. He understood. The chains would only be temporary and not a return to what his life had previously been. Amanda had promised, and he believed her. "Soon?" he asked hopefully.

"As soon as I can. A day, maybe two. But I swear, I won't let her touch you. Never." Amanda's vehemence surprised her, but it felt right - she couldn't let anything happen to him, and not just because he was her ticket out of the castle. She gave him a tight hug. "Now, I've gotta go, squirt, 'fore they miss me an' come lookin'."

Miles' arms locked around her neck momentarily, unwilling to let her go, before he remembered he was a brave boy and Amanda had promised nothing bad would happen. "O-okay," he wavered.

Amanda's heart went out to him. "I'm sorry, squirt, I'd stay if I could."

"Miles knows. Miles will be brave." Then he added, almost confessionally. "Only it's easier to be brave when it's not so dark and scary."

Looking at the werelight still bobbing around their heads, Amanda made a decision. "Hold out your hands," she instructed, easing him off her lap and cupping her hands in front of her to show him. "Like this, see?"

Miles copied her, his face solemn. He'd seen Amanda cast spells before, usually when she was bored in class, but something in her voice and posture make this seem more serious than floating pencils and making pennies come out of his ears.

Reaching up, Amanda caught the werelight in her hand, careful not to extinguish it. "This is George," she said, holding it in her loosely-clasped hand. "When I was just a little kid, a bit younger 'n you, I was scared of the dark. But then I made George, an' he protected me." She turned her hand over, dropping the little ball of greenish light into Miles' cupped hands. "'M givin' him t' you now." As she said it, she was mentally tweaking the spell so the light would stay with Miles. "He'll keep you company, as long as it's dark."

Miles scrunched up his face as the werelight tingled his skin, not in a bad way, but it tickled a little. "Miles will look after George for 'Manda," he agreed, following the light's path as it rose from his hands to float companiably by his shoulder.

"Good lad." Amanda smiled, hiding her tiredness - without access to her mutant power, her magical ability was drastically reduced. She reached out and stroked his cheek briefly, wondering at herself. "Yer very brave. An' we'll get you out of here soon, I promise."

"Miles believes you," the child said, looking up at her with trust in his face. "And Miles will be brave. As brave as lions."

Teenagers these days… no gratitude for their parents!

The Enchantress looked up from her scrying crystal, fixing her cold, emerald gaze on where Miles was sitting huddled in the corner, a manacle around his ankle affixed to a chain bolted to the wall. "So, your friends are coming for you," she said, gloatingly. "They think to challenge me in my stronghold. Fools, since I have you and you have the power to render them helpless. Or you will, once my spells increase that power..." She glanced across at Amanda, who was standing, quiet and obedient on the outside, seething within, and instructed: "Keep a close watch on the scrying crystal. Let me know if anyone approaches. I must go prepare for the ritual."

"Yes, Mother," Amanda said meekly, taking the Enchantress's place at the stand where the large piece of greenish crystal sat. She snuck a wink at Miles, and his look of abject terror eased, but only a little. She'd have risked speaking to him, but the Enchantress hadn't gone far, and it wouldn't do to have her walk in on them. Instead, Amanda turned her attention to the crystal, focusing on its surface and allowing the images she wanted to form. Her friends. Her... well, not enemies, not exactly, but her not-so-friends. And Alison, Alison coming to the rescue, as she undoubtedly was, Alison on the back of... a dragon? Amanda frowned as the image appeared, small yet clear. Where on earth had Alison gotten the power to subdue a dragon?

Frank had been, up to that point, quite content with doing whatever the nice human hot lamp asked. She'd kept him warm in the really cold place they'd met up in weeks ago, actually showed him how to use his wings (though he was still a bit irked about the laser sting at the butt to get him to hop over the edge) and most important of all - she'd found him food. Nice delicious food of the non squirming variety, which everyone else here insisted on feeding him for some inane reason.

So really, asking him to fly towards that big castle off in the distance? No problem. In fact he was chirping to himself contentedly as they flew, perfectly content with letting out a more profound roar when she thumped his shoulder lightly - roars meant more of the warming light, he had figured out. The bigger and better the roar, the more longer the light stayed and so there was usually a hint of Frank-like glee in the trumpeting calls.

Alison, hanging on to the leather straps of the "dragon" saddle, grimly stared ahead. Her mood was far less pleasant to behold and the light sparking at the edges of her body heralded something even worse to come. She was, in fact, overcharged - had been for a while and yet wasn't letting any of it go, instead asking for that much more from Frank every now and then, the additional decibels feeling as though they were curling up under her skin, protesting the way she was hoarding them. The fetch clasped in Frank's claws made itself very, very small.

It didn't matter. She knew where Miles was and she had a promise to keep to Amanda and she was going to pay the Enchantress a visit if she had to laser the place down around the bitch's ears to do so.

Amanda glanced back the way the Enchantress had gone, a small ante-chamber where she did fuck-knows-what in terms of 'preparation'. The door remained closed, and quickly the young witch lay her hands on the scrying crystal, casting a clouding spell on it. Images would still appear, but they'd be fuzzy and hard to see, and so if the Enchantress decided to double-check things, she wouldn't be able to get a reading.

There were still the wards, 'though. Mouthing "help's coming" at Miles, Amanda cast another glance at the door and edged her way to the pattern of runes inscribed on the floor. It wouldn't take much, just removing a couple of crucial marks, and the castle would be wide-open to whoever came calling. It would also remove the spell that filtered the amount of power coming into the place, but Miles could help her with that. Kneeling, Amanda began chanting quietly, laying her hand over the central rune and concentrating on breaking the spell.

There was a flicker around the Enchantress' castle and then another, a dimming in intensity that that wasn't noticed at all by the inhabitants of the place - never, after all, had the protective spells
failed.

It was more than enough to allow several tons on dragon to bull his way through, with a more than irked roar at the impediment to his flight, as he headed towards the courtyard.

Chaos reigned in Amora's castle. Ignoring it as best she could without copping a stray forcebolt or arrow in the back, Amanda made her way to where Miles was still chained to the wall, watching Alison battle the Enchantress with a look that was a mix of fear, awe and hope. "C'mon munchkin, time t' get you out of here an' somewhere safe," Amanda muttered through the buzzing in her head - with the wards faltering, she was drawing in Asgard's power again. At least her tolerances had increased to the point she could stand it for... oh, a good couple of minutes before her head exploded. And Miles was there. If she could get that bloody chain off him. Enchanted, of course, and a strong spell. But not so strong she couldn't cancel it. Quickly grabbing a small earthern bowl and the ingredients she needed, Amanda sat herself under a handy table just out of Miles' range.

"~Spirits of the Aesir, hear me now. Break the bonds that bind the unwilling, remove the chains that trap the spirit,~" she chanted in Asgardian. It was a general unbinding spell, not specifically aimed at the chain, but it was the strongest spell she had. She tossed a rune stone in the bowl, sprinkled multi-coloured sand over the top of it. "~Hear my words, break the bonds, loose the chains." Grabbing the ceremonial knife hung on her belt, she reversed it, and smashed the handle onto the stone, shattering it. "~Release them!~"

A small shockwave, Amanda at its centre, shot through the castle, barely noticed by most of the combatants. Most, that is, except for three of the Midgardians. Even as the chain dropped from Miles' neck with a clatter, Alison, Jubilee and Manuel were making certain discoveries...

---

Manuel blinked as his entire face and head erupted into a gigantic itch. Raising his hand to scratch his face, he swore feelingly in Castillian as he encountered a beard. A full, itchy, hot, untrimmed beard.

"Bloody hell!" he swore as he pawed at the three months of growth that had just erupted onto his face. More importantly, he felt the mental chains that had choked him into subservience fall away. Turning away to hide the tears of relief, he drew Needle and pondered the sharpness of its edge. Deciding that his ego had taken enough of a beating, he resheathed his blade and looked around to the others.

"Anyone have a knife I can borrow? This has just _got_ to go." he asked.

Jubilee was suddenly a lot taller then she'd been before. She also didn't have wings, or any clothing it would seem. She looked at the fight going on around her and realized she didn't have the time, or safety to indulge in modesty. Sighing, she raised her hands and shot a burst of sparks at the nearest troll, blinding it.

"Dude, knife smife, if anyone has any clothes I'd be damned grateful."