by Heather Burk
"Locking me up in chains? What were you thinking?" Sadira called from the entrance to her home, the palace of the Witches of the Sand. In her hands she held the Staff of Doom while she spoke to Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, and the others, who had all been captured with magical bonds made of sand. "I'm a street rat; I've been picking locks since I was five! I'm through with you creeps." She glared down at them with disdain.
"Good going, sister!" cried Razili, one of the three Witches of the Sand, who had been watching this display.
"Now to be done with these fools!" announced the witches' leader, Shakanta.
"No, don't kill them," Sadira interrupted, "I have a better idea. Open the portal to the Realm of Mists!" As she spoke, she spun the staff in her hand.
"What an utterly twisted idea!" remarked Razili to the other witch, Farita, "I like this girl."
Shakanta smiled with obvious pride in her new recruit. She strode over to where the portal lay on the floor. She spread her arms, took a deep breath, and called, "Portal to the Realm of Mists, I bid you open!" The portal opened, and a swirl of red mist escaped from it. Shakanta gestured, and Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie were dragged towards the portal by their manacles.
"Prepare to spend an eternity of agony in the Realm of Mists!" Shakanta announced to them, but before she could do anything, Sadira pushed the other two witches through the portal with the staff. Shakanta watched in shock as Sadira knocked her in as well. But Shakanta grabbed Sadira's ankle as she fell. Sadira screamed, and was pulled halfway through the portal, fumbling for a grip to keep herself from being dragged inside, but all she could find to hold on to was the white sand that made up the floor of the palace.
"Betrayer!" Shakanta shouted with rage, "You will pay!" As Sadira slipped further through the portal, the sand bindings that had trapped Aladdin and his friends dissolved away.
"Sadira!" Aladdin cried, and he ran and slid towards the portal and grabbed Sadira's hand just as she was about to fall through. However, Sadira and Shakanta's combined weight was too much for Aladdin, and he began to lose his grip. "Aladdin!" Sadira screamed just before she slipped from his grasp, "No!" Sadira and Shakanta fell through the portal, and it shut behind them.
The two sorceresses plummeted through the mist. Now that the portal was closed, there was no light in this realm, and no sound save Sadira's own screams. Then, she saw suddenly through the scarlet mist a glow of witchlight and the distant, faintly illuminated figures of the three witches levitating somewhere above her. Remembering her powers, Sadira stopped her fall as well. She held the Staff of Doom above her head and quickly changed directions, flying straight up past the witches.
"There she is!" Shakanta cried as she saw Sadira pass, "Don't let the traitor escape!" All three shot a burst of magic at Sadira, but she shielded herself with the staff and sent their magic back at them. Razili and Farita were hit and thrown back, but Shakanta dodged the blast and raced up after Sadira, close on her heels.
Suddenly, Sadira thought of a way to escape. "Staff, reopen the portal!" she ordered, and a portal back to her home opened above her head. "Portal, close now!" she yelled quickly, and the portal closed just before Shakanta could get through. "No!" she cried as the portal closed on her.
"Razili! Farita! Sisters, where are you?" Shakanta called in the dark. There was no answer, and she was too weak to make any light to look for them. She started to cough as the choking mist began to enter her lungs. Eventually, Shakanta became too exhausted to hold herself up any longer and began falling through the mist once again, before she finally blacked out.
The first thing Shakanta saw when she came to was a glowing red light. As the world slowly came into focus, she saw Razili and Farita sitting on cushions on either side of a flaming ball of red witchlight, in lieu of a campfire. They were munching happily on, respectively, a cartoonishly large, evil-looking drumstick, and a loaf of bread sliced in half with roast beef in between. Glancing above her, the reflection of the light onto red, swirling clouds told her that they were still trapped in the Realm. The ground she lay on was smooth, unbroken slab of black rock which continued as far as Shakanta could see. She started to sit up, but pain seared through her right side, and she let out a moan.
Razili and Farita heard this and turned to look at her. "She's awake!" Farita exclaimed.
"How long was I unconscious?" Shakanta groaned.
"From the time we awoke, it has been about six hours," Razili replied, "But it is hard to tell time in here."
Shakanta gritted her teeth against the pain and limped to where the others were sitting.
"Careful," said Farita, "We used our magic to heal some of your injuries, but you're not completely healed yet. Here," she said, conjuring up a bowl of steaming broth, "Drink this. It will help you regain your strength."
Shakanta took a few sips of the broth, but eventually noticed the other two witches watching her.
"What?" she asked.
"What happened to Sadira?" Farita said softly.
"She reopened the portal and escaped," Shakanta replied bitterly.
"Traitorous wench!" Razili growled, "How dare she banish us to this cursed realm!"
"Oh!" cried Farita, turning purple with anger, "May her flesh rot! May maggots eat her heart! May her soul be burnt out in the Realm of Perpetual Torment! Oh, I wish I was out of here so I could back up my curses!"
"Don't worry," Shakanta stated, resolute, "We will return."
Razili and Farita looked doubtful.
"Believe it!" Shakanta continued, "We have been through worse than this. You remember, of course, the time we changed ourselves into sand to attack those two wizards by surprise, and they put a spell on us to keep us from changing back?"
"Oh, I wish I could forget," Farita whined, "I can still hear those two bickering over how to divide our lands and power. My only consolation is knowing that they killed each other and set their families and nations at war for centuries."
"Yes, sisters, that may be," Shakanta added, "But we escaped! It may have taken a thousand years, but we were finally free!"
"Well, for a little while, anyway," Razili muttered as she glanced up at the swirling mist.
"We are the Witches of the Sand!" Shakanta stated proudly, "We ruled the Seven Deserts. We were all powerful. And we will be again! We just need to find a way out of this Realm. We can't use the portal, because it can only be opened from the other side; Sadira could only do it because she had the Staff of Doom's magic to help her. But, if we hid the Staff here, then it is possible that others may have hidden things here as well. Maybe we can find something that can help us escape, like another portal, or a scepter, or a crystal, or. . ."
"A spellbook!" Farita cried, pointing at something far off in front of her. She ran off, and quickly returned with what did appear to be a spellbook. It was bound in a brown leather cover, and looked to be in fairly good condition. Also, it seemed to glow slightly with its own light. Razili ran her hand over the four runes on the cover. "I wonder what these mean," she mused aloud.
"Be careful!" warned Shakanta, "I have heard of books like this being used to trap people inside. Let's not forget what happened to our 'good friend' Khartoum!"
"Nonsense," dismissed Razili, "By Lucifer, can't you just feel the magic emanating from it? It must contain some powerful spells." Razili stared at the book in awe, and Farita opened it to the first page.
"Oh, Razili, look at this painting!" exclaimed Farita, "Isn't it beautiful? The trees, the ocean, the buildings, it all looks so real..." Farita lifted her hand to touch the illustration.
"No! Wait!" Shakanta cried, but it was too late. When Farita touched the picture, all three women were sucked into the book.
With a thud, the witches hit a wooden platform. Looking around, it seemed to be some sort of dock. Tall, green trees towered over their heads. It was obviously the same scene from the book.
"Oh, Shakanta, I'm sorry," Farita whined, "I don't know why I did that. . ."
Shakanta sighed, seeming uncharacteristically patient. "it's probably not your fault. The book probably had a spell on it that made you want to do that; many magical traps have similar spells on them. Wherever that book was a portal to, it's bound to be better than the Realm of Mists. Come on." She led the others up the steps on the edge of the dock.
Near the dock was a dirt path that led up a hill; the witches walked along it in silence. They passed a structure that looked like cogs sticking up out of the earth. They stopped only a moment, then continued, still silent. They finally reached the top of the hill. There were two buildings, one of which looked like a Greek temple. There were trees with golden plaques with symbols on them, and in the distance could be seen a giant clock. Above them stood a mountain, on top of which stood a dark tower. Razili finally spoke:
"Where are we?"
"I don't know," Shakanta replied quietly, staring at the tower, "I don't know."
December 15, 1999
All characters are property of the Walt Disney Company; Myst is the property of Cyan Inc. Both are used without permission.