The branches however did not get to Lily as they immediately scattered, falling on the ground. What followed were other branches flying towards the witches. "Look sisters, her boyfriend comes to her rescue?" the blonde witch asked with amusement.The witches cackled looking at the man approaching from a close distance.
Lily turned around and saw Leo standing a few yards from them. "Are you kidding me," Lily quietly remarked under gritted teeth. She stared unbelievably at Leo who was now walking towards them.
"Well then little bird, introduce us to your knight," the green haired sister uttered mockingly moving back a little, ready to launch another attack. The blonde witch then directed to Leo, "let us take what we want then we might just be on our way and let you and your little bird go."
Lily looked at the witches and got infuriated at how ridiculous they were sounding. Did they just claim her pendant? The irritation in Lily's eyes was very evident, and Leo noticed it. Leo got closer and asked Lily to walk to him.
The sisters noticed this and quickly reacted by launching an attack towards Lily and Leo. Their attack was however neutralized by Leo halfway before they could properly mobilize their strength. This again sent tossed them backwards as they landed on the huge tree trunks coughing up blood.
Struggling to get up again, the eldest witch remarked bitterly, " you interrupt our little fun and for that you must pay!" She struggled and sat herself up and stretched her hand to the ground. The moment she touched the ground, her eyes gleamed bright purple.
Then suddenly black spiders began spreading to the area swarming from every corner as if they were in hiding and only waiting to be summoned. Lily looked at the spiders circling them wondering if the witch thought that was scary.
She was immediately proved wrong when she heard the blonde witch shout, "sisters now!" What followed were purple smoke that were being directed to the ground by all the three witches. Within no time at all, the tiny spiders were all enveloped in the smoke and became still.
Then in the next moment, the ground began trembling as the spiders began enlarging in size. The witches cackled at the look of disbelief that was in Lily and Leo's faces. The darkness of the creatures that had just began enlarging in size seeped through the air.
This was Lily's chance, she silently grinned and focused on the creatures. Within the contaminated atmosphere, she could channel a little bit of her power without being detected. And if at all she was to do that, then she had to be swift about it before things got out of hand.
The gigantic spiders shrieked terrifyingly at the two figures that they surrounded. Leo was not tensed at all and the same could be said about Lily as she just stood there also making sure she did not act too rigid or else Leo would sense something.
Lily then within a second fixed her stare on one of the gigantic spiders and suddenly the spider began attacking another spider. The unplanned scene shocked even the witches as they looked at the spiders with confused expressions.
"Sister what is this!" The black haired witch shouted with irritation as other spiders also began attacking each other ferociously. The witches thought that perhaps they made a mistake somewhere when casting the spell on the spiders to try and control them.
After not figuring out why things were happening in that manner, the witches decided to use their remaining strength in finishing off the two humans that were before them. Just when they were about to use their staffs to launch their final attack, they froze in fear with dreadful expressions.
What they had witnessed was Leo slightly unsheathing the athame. Any dark creature was able to sense the destructive power of a guardian's weapon. Leo stopped after revealing only close to four inches of the blade.
The inscriptions on the blade gleamed with a bright golden light as the golden light spread across the surface of the blade that had been revealed by Leo. He then opened his palm and the bright golden light as if being absorbed by him, migrated to his hand.
The golden glow on his hand was deem but it looked like metal that had absorbed a lot of heat. And in a split second, Leo swang his hand in the air, causing countless loud explosions as the gigantic spiders that were still standing scattered all over exploding in the air as their green blood were all over.
Lily was not at all surprised since by now she was well aware of who Leo was and had already witnessed at least a fraction of what he was capable of. She was sure that there was more to his power and that the witches were not even close to a weak match for him.
"Guardian, what do you seek on this side of the forest," the blonde witch stammered with fear in her voice. " We do not intrude on your grounds and yet you seek us out," the witch continued, cursing under her breath.
"You talk as though you own these woods witch, you are a pest that this forest just harbours," Lily interrupted the blonde witch.
The dark energy had already filled the area and Lily was busking in her opportunity.
She deeply stared at the eldest witch and soon managed to invade her mind, ' you do not speak of me yet you worship me, you do not follow my steps yet you bow down to me, you do not seek me out yet I still find you.. who am I...' Lily echoed in the witch's mind.
The witch froze and whimpered as she crumbled on the ground with her head down as she covered it in fear. She looked even more scared than she was before. Leo noticed this and wondered just how much of an effect his little destruction had dealt on that particular witch.
He could sense the immense fear in her which was quite different from the other witches. This confused Leo since among the three witches, this particular one was the one that looked and was even acting tougher and more commanding.Now she was the most scared? Leo could not place it at all.
Lily continued staring at the eldest witch who was still shaking with fear. "I know who you are, have mercy, spare me and my sisters. Spare us and we shall forever bow to you and serve you. Or better still, take us with you as your prisoners and we will gladly serve you for the rest of our mortal lives," The eldest witch wailed out loud without looking up.
Her sisters were shocked at what they heard. They looked at their sister with disbelief at what she had just uttered. At this point, the only parties that knew what exactly was happening was only Lily and the eldest witch.
Leo then interrupted the heartfelt moment that Lily was having with the eldest witch, " you cannot be useful in any way to me witch," he spoke back intending to reply to the witch's request. To Leo, he was sure that the witch was addressing him.
Before he could continue, Lily interrupted, " I could use a little help here." Leo immediately looked at her with a confused expression. He wondered if at all Lily always got in trouble for a living. He slowly reached to touch Lily's hand and Lily immediately looked at him, meeting his eyes already on her.
"They know what I'm looking for, I need to be fast before it's too late for me," Lily answered Leo without him even asking a question. The truth is that his expression sold out what he might have been thinking about after hearing Lily talk to the witches.
"Ask of us anything, " the witch replied with her head still bowed. The other two witches studied their sister and had no other option than to go ahead and follow her lead. After all, the blonde witch was the eldest and strongest and if she was that submissive before Leo and Lily then they did not stand a chance against them.
"The bridge I seek, where can I find it." Lily spoke direction her question to none of them in particular. The other two witches looked at their eldest sister and noticed that she was not at all even attempting to trick Lily.
"The shell you have in your possession..." She hesitated then continued, " after a one day walk deeper into the forest, you will see wild roses. Beneath the wild roses, you will need to pluck a petal and rub it on the shell.
Once you do that, the petal will melt out of sight and the bridge will reveal itself before you. There you will meet the keeper who will ask for a price in return for your safe passage. You must however not let him know what you seek," the witch paused and looked at her sisters, " just like my sisters and I, he too loves having a little trick game with visitors."
"Please spare us guardian!" The other two sisters cried out. Leo had no intention of doing such thing but still decided to let them off easy. After all they wouldn't succeed if by any chance they attempted to sneak up on them.
Lily looked at the witches as they disappeared into the woods and before they could completely fade out of sight, she whispered something under her breath. What followed were sights of the other two witches being unable to speak and being swallowed whole in the ground. The blonde witch stared fearfully and went into hiding knowing very well what had just happened.