Beary Tales Read online

  “I will find the pelts,” she whispered to Sabine on her way through the curtain.

  Sabine nodded. “Just remember, young witch, when you use dark magic … it changes you, you will grow a darkness inside that cannot easily be extinguished. Your powers will grow, and eat away at you like a disease. You will become very powerful, but it is you who’ll be hurt in the end.”

  Goldalynn left the shop knowing that Sabine did not believe that she would ever be able to obtain the pelts of three bears and cast the dark spell.

  ***

  In the weeks that followed, Goldalynn researched and plotted. She tried finding bears at the zoo, but with its guards and security systems, stealing them would have been impossible. She finally came to the realization she would have to find bears in the wild.

  The mere thought of having to trap a wild bear frightened her something fierce. She would never be able to obtain the pelts on her own, she knew this, so she hired on some help. All it took was several phone calls to local huntsmen, and she had herself three big, strong hunters who would each obtain a bear of a different color.

  While she waited for her precious bears to come to her, she scoured the family grimoire for a spell that would separate the bears from their skin and fur. The library of their home was large and contained books as old as her family lineage. However, finding a dark spell within a white magic family library wasn’t easy.

  Eventually, the day came when she found it. She quickly copied the spell onto her own paper and held it against her chest. “William,” she whispered, closing her eyes and remembering the image of his freckled face, “we will be together again. I promise. I only have to wait for the three bears to come to me and we can begin again.”

  ***

  As mentioned before, Goldalynn is merely a portion of this story. The next part of the story belongs to the prisoners of Goldalynn.

  The night of the long-awaited blue moon finally arrived, its luminescence shone down on the dark cemetery and bathed William’s headstone with an eerie glow. Goldalynn, with her crimson cloak wrapped securely around her, stood beside William’s grave, anxious to get started.

  The three bears lay unconscious around the gravesite. They had been housed in individual, cages for safety. The cages had hitches so they could be linked together, like something you would expect to see at a circus, big wheels and all.

  The hunters delivered the bears, and never once questioned why she needed them. They only cared about their money, so she ordered them to tranquilize the bears and then dismissed them with the final installment of their pay.

  Within the confines of the cage, a dark bear with coarse brown fur opened her eyes and saw the thick bars surrounding her. She attempted to jump to her feet, roaring in confusion because she did not know why her body felt so weak and rubbery. Frightened by the realization that she was in a cage and could not run, she pulled back her lips to expose her sharp, dangerous teeth and growled. A large paw, with razor claws, swiped at the black steel that enclosed her.

  A human woman stood on the other side of the bars staring at her. It made her even angrier that this human would simply stare at her instead of helping. This was precisely the reason she did not like humans.

  From beside her, she heard a rumbling growl and swung her head to look and see who was making the sound. To her left, was another bear in her own wheeled cage. Her fur was white as fresh snow and her eyes were a stunning ice blue, which was rare for any of their species.

  The white bear growled and swiped at the bars, just as she had done. When she spotted the human woman standing before the cages, she roared even louder and slammed her whole body up against the bars in anger.

  The dark bear roared at the white bear, making her presence known. The ice blue eyes met her brown ones and a silent message was sent. We are in trouble.

  Suddenly, both bears were drawn away from each others’ gaze when they heard yet another small growl, more of a moaning. The brown bear spun around in the small tight confines of the cage and saw yet another bear trapped within iron bars. The light of the blue moon reflected off of her reddish brown coat and shimmered as she rolled over in the cage, trying to find her footing.

  Unlike the previous two bears, she did not fight against her confines, her eyes widened and she drew back against the rear of the cage, whimpering in fear. The white bear let out a loud growl, signaling to her that they were also in cages, that she was not alone.

  “It is time,” the human said to them as she extracted a small sheet of paper from within her cloak. She unfolded the paper and held one hand high in the air, her palm facing in the direction of the bears.

  As foreign words emerged from her lips a small purple glow began to form at her palm. The bears silenced and stared, enthralled by the magic but not entirely sure what was happening. The glow grew, expanding out from the human’s palm and forming three separate lines of magic that sizzled and glittered with energy.

  The human’s voice became louder as she spoke the words and the magic continued creeping its way toward the bears. The lines separated and spread, each one making its way to a cage.

  The white bear suddenly broke the silence, realizing something bad was happening. She roared and growled, tossing her head and then charging the bars once again as the glittering purple line found the bars of the cage and wound its way around the thick iron like a snake on a branch.

  The dark bear and the reddish brown bear understood their friend’s warning. They both began thrashing about in their cages, roaring for help as loudly as their lungs would let them while the magic continued to encase them.

  Suddenly, the bars began to break away. Chunks of black iron began to crumble beneath the glimmering purple magic and rained down upon the bears. They backed away and cowered as the spell continued beyond the bars, but their calls for help did not silence.

  Their voices echoed over the graveyard and into the clear, night sky. The sound of the three bears was a medley of helplessness and fear, but also of fight.

  Even though the bars were crumbling, they were trapped. The magic kept growing, enclosing them just as the bars had done. The dark bear looked down and saw the shimmering purple thread developing new strands which reached out for her from every angle.

  There was no escaping it. The magic stretched out its powerful fingers and finally found her paw.

  A loud roar erupted from deep within the dark bear. She frantically struggled against the spell as it wound around one paw, and then another, and then another, coming at her from all sides. It crept up her legs, completely encircling her in dark magic.

  She heard growls from either side, and looked back and forth, only to see they were experiencing the same thing. The white bear fought against it, waving her paws and trying to leap from her broken cage. The magic wouldn’t let her. The reddish brown bear appeared to be entranced by the beauty of the spell. She stood still, her legs and body wound tight with the deceiving beauty of the dark magic.

  The dark bear called to her with a growl, telling her to snap out of it and fight!

  With a start, the reddish brown bear raised her nose into the night and roared.

  What happened next occurred within mere seconds.

  Kablam!

  On the opposite side of the bear’s cages, between them and the human casting the spell, the air wavered and shimmered with a silver mist and someone appeared from where there was once only air, dropping abruptly to the ground with a thud.

  To the bears he appeared part human, part bird, and part animal. He had four extremities, like a human, but his top half was fur and a glimmering set of almost transparent wings protruded from his back.

  The bears roared and growled, Help us, they were telling him.

  He rolled over and picked himself up off the ground, brushing dirt away from the pink frilly tutu he wore over his jeans. He was a rather plump man who, to a human, appeared to be of Hispanic descent.

  “What the…” he muttered groggily. He flapped his wings c
urtly in an attempt to rid them of the pesky dirt particles. Then, he looked up and saw dark magic flowing through the air, headed straight toward him. His eyes followed the shimmering line over the bears and then landed on the human it stemmed from. Even in his delirium, he knew the spell was of the dark and acting on simple instinct, he threw his hands up and set free his own magic.

  The dark bear felt something inside of her pull and pain began to rip through her from deep inside. She and the others desperately watched as the creature’s hands rose and released a silver, misty magic which differed only in color from the dark spell. It wasn’t in strands like the human’s was either; it exploded in a burst from this strange creature and collided with the human’s dark spell.

  The purple and silver rained down on them, crackling like the smoldering embers of a fire and glowing just as brightly. The light of the blue moon had nothing on the glorious illumination the battling spells created.

  The dark bear felt the purple enchantment release her. A rubber band like feeling happened as she was snapped back into her body. But then, she began to feel strange, her muscles felt as if they were failing her. She looked to the white bear and saw her fall to the floor of what was left of her cage, and a glance the other way told her the same was happening to the reddish brown bear.

  “I will not lose you after this long!” the human screamed as the spell began to dissipate.

  The dark bear heard the shouts of the human and then heard the creature shout back, “Leave them be.” And then she sensed him beside her.

  “Oh, for crying out loud,” he muttered.

  Suddenly her bones felt like they were breaking. Cracking and stretching … shifting. She growled, wanting it to be fierce, but it came out as a whimper and then her world faded to black as she lost consciousness.

  She awoke to the human and the creature arguing.

  “Leave them be!” the creature hollered.

  “I can change them back, there has to be a way.”

  “Take your crazy ass and your darkness and go.”

  “I don’t know who—or what—you are, but you have no right to interfere with my dealings here. I must have these bears … they must be bears!”

  “Believe me, lady, I don’t want anything to do with this bullshit, I’m supposed to be retired!”

  “Retired from what? Oh, never mind. I don’t care what it is. You have to leave here or I will use the spell on you. I am Goldalynn, my family comes from power, do not cross me.”

  The creature expelled a long sigh and the dark bear’s eyes fluttered open just in time to see the creature reach into a pouch at his side, extract a bunch of glittering gold dust, and fling it onto the human.

  “Ack! What have you done! I can’t see!” the human cried out, staggering around in a circle until she tripped on her red cloak and fell over the top of one of the graves. “You have blinded me!”

  The dark bear shuddered and wondered how her friends were doing. She felt different, something was terribly, terribly wrong. When she moved her paw to lick the blood from one of the wounds the broken steel had given her, she saw something that was perhaps worse than if she had died.

  Her large paw was now a delicate human hand.

  She growled in fear and a feminine scream erupted from deep within her. Surprised at the difference in her voice, she snapped her mouth shut quickly. Looking down, she saw naked human feet.

  What has happened? she thought just as a paralyzing screech pierced her eardrums. On instinct her hands went to her ears and she discovered a soft mane of dark brown hair. The screeching came from the reddish brown bear who had been transformed into a female human, like herself.

  The woman who was once a reddish brown bear was now a beautiful human with pale skin and her hair was the same striking color that her coat had been. She sat on her knees with her hands on the floor of the cage in front of her.

  On the other side of her, the white bear stood on two human legs. Her bright, ice blue eyes murderously glared at the creature who stood before them. Unlike herself and the reddish brown bear, she did not have a long main of hair to replace her coat. Her white-blonde hair was short and close to her head, but spiked up a little, similar to the way their fur rose up when they sensed danger.

  “What is this you have done?” The woman spoke, but then her eyes widened in surprise at the words that came forth.

  The creature eyed all of them with his dark brown eyes. “Ladies, it’s time to go. We don’t have much time.”

  “Nooooo!” the human screamed from her place in the dirt.

  The creature shook his head. “Oh, shut up,” he called down to her and then clapped his hands together. “Let’s move. Her vision loss is only temporary.” When none of them moved, he snapped his fingers at the woman who was once the reddish brown bear. “Girl, you get your fine ass down here right this second!”

  “Who are you?” the blonde woman questioned.

  He sighed. “We really don’t have time for this. Long story short, I’m a fairy. More directly, I’m your Fairy Godfather, but that sounds old so I prefer uncle. You can call me Butchy, Uncle Butchy.”

  “Why are you here now?” she asked again.

  “Girl, you haven’t figured that out yet? You called me.” He eyed each of them. “You all called me.”

  “I will kill you! Heaven help me, if it is the last thing I do, I will kill you!” the human cried out as she tried to stand.

  Uncle Butchy shook his head in frustration. “Hold on a minute.” He turned to face the human witch and reached into the little pouch at his side again. He flung the golden fairy dust at her once more and this time she landed on the ground with a thump. “All right, we only have about a minute before she wakes up, so anyway…” he continued, “You called me when you called for help. Apparently, the higher ups,” he rolled his eyes to the sky, “decided to assign you to me. So, until you no longer need me, you are my charges and I have to take care of you, so can we go now?”

  The dark-haired woman tried her voice. “H … h … how, how are we able to speak your language?”

  Uncle Butchy rolled his eyes. “I don’t have a freaking clue. I guess it must just transfer over to human … or something. Now get down from there.” He pointed to the ground beside him.

  Slowly, they climbed down from what was left of their cages to meet him … except the blonde. She leapt and landed on her feet while the other two had to test the proverbial waters of their steps.

  Their minute was up, Goldalynn moaned as she oriented herself. Standing, she moved a few steps and tripped over a small tombstone. Righting herself quickly, she resumed her pace, but lost her footing again.

  The blonde immediately marched over to where Goldalynn had fallen. “You’re dead!” the blonde bit out as she dove onto Goldalynn.

  Goldalynn screamed and felt for the blonde’s chest. She pushed as hard as she could and muttered a few words. The blonde let out shriek as a sizzling noise ripped through the night and she was sent flying across the graveyard.

  Uncle Butchy rolled his eyes and sighed. “Of all the cases, they pick this one. Get over here,” he called to the blonde, who lay sprawled across a fresh mound of dirt. She jumped to her feet and stalked over to Uncle Butchy and the girls. “She is evil. We can take care of this now.”

  Uncle Butchy shook his head and tossed more fairy dust to knock her out again. Goldalynn promptly slumped to the ground without getting another word in. “No, we can’t. She might be part of why you aren’t in your animal forms anymore and we may need her to help change you back later, but first we must figure out exactly how it happened and how to change you back.”

  The blonde growled in response.

  Secretly, the two others wished that the blonde had been able to continue her assault on the human.

  Uncle Butchy scratched his head. “All right, quickly, before she regains consciousness, do you ladies have names?”

  Each of the former bears gave him looks of confusion. “What is a … n
ame?” the redhead asked.

  “What did they call you, did your bear buddies have a word for you?”

  This time the women looked at each other in confusion.

  Shaking his head again, Uncle Butchy pointed at the blonde. “I’m taking care of this right now then ... you ... you are, Leilanni.”

  He pointed at the redhead, “You are, Katya, and you,” his finger moved to the one with dark hair, “You are, Nita. Got it. If I call that name, I am speaking to you.”

  The girls nodded.

  He eyed each of the girl’s naked bodies. “Damn, we need to get some clothes on you ladies first. As much as some might like it, we can’t have you running around with your boobies hanging out.” He chuckled and then pulled some more glitter from his pouch. With a wave of his hand he tossed it over them and the girls were suddenly clothed.

  Nita looked down and saw that the bare skin of her legs was covered with blue denim and a pair of flat leather boots. Her top half was clothed in a cream colored blouse that fit loose and tilted off of one shoulder.

  Leilanni wore tight white pants with black boots and a tight, white tank top with a leather coat of the same color hanging to her thighs. Looking down, Leilanni smoothed her hands over her legs. “What is this? It feels strange.”

  “They are clothes, you cannot go running around with no fur covering your hoo-ha, this is like your fur.”

  “Mine has fur! I saw it!” Katya was admiring her pink skirt with black spots and the purple button up blouse that appeared over her skin. She pointed one of her toes. “Ohhhh!” she exclaimed at the sight of her new pink high heeled shoes.

  Leilanni scowled down at her boots. “I do not like this.” She reached down and hopped on one foot to remove one boot and then repeated the process on the other side. When both feet were once again free and bare, she tossed the shoes as hard as she could into the nearby trees.

  “Okay ...” Uncle Butchy drug out the word.

  “One more question,” Nita told him softly. “Are you part animal as well? Why do you have fur?”