Read Online The Daughters Daring (The Daughters Daring & The Enchanted Forest Book 1) by Steven J. Thompson - Free Book Online Page B

darkness. Azalea had shown her the way into the witch's lair through a small tunnel in the woods. It had the appearance of a big badger hole, and was just as creepy. Emily would never have guessed that this might lead down into the caverns below, but the faeries knew the forest well, and Azalea had assured her this was the way.
         As she worked her way farther down, the tunnel opened up a bit, to where she no longer had to shinny along and could actually crawl. But as the tunnel widened it also seemed to be filled with more and more spider webs, which Emily could have happily done without! It was dark and she couldn't see any spiders, but just the thought of them skittering around made her skin crawl. She pushed her staff and her pack ahead of her to break through, and kept going. Spiders or not she was going to rescue her sister!
         The tunnel was fairly straight, allowing her to see a faint light up ahead. She also thought she heard a voice. She would need to be careful now, and quiet. She inched forward until she came to a wall of webbing. The light was coming from the other side.
         With her dagger, Emily carefully cut back the webbing enough to peek through. It was a large chamber with tables and a workbench holding bottles labeled in a hand she could not read. Strange globes of a mysterious light provided a soft illumination that barely reached the cave walls. She didn't see the witch, but on the opposite wall from her, covered in webs, she saw her sister.
         Elizabeth! Emily covered her mouth to keep from calling out. Elizabeth was alive, or at least she appeared to be. She looked like she was asleep. She was also stuck to the wall with icky spider webs! Emily cut through the rest of the webbing blocking the shaft, and crawled into the open cave. There was rubble on the cave floor in front of the hole she came through, as if it had only recently been opened. There was still no sign of the witch, but she crawled the rest of the way to Elizabeth to avoid being detected.
         The webs holding Elizabeth were strong but cut easily. Emily set her staff down and worked to free her sister's arms and legs, leaving the webs around her sister's body to hold her up. She then put her hand over Liz's mouth and whispered to wake her up.
         “Mmmph,” Elizabeth groaned through Emily's hand.
         “Shhh,” Emily whispered. “I'm cutting you free, keep watch over my shoulder.”
         “Miiiih!” Elizabeth groaned again, more urgently.
         “Liz, be quiet!” Emily whispered again. “You're going to get us caught!”
         “It's a bit late for that,” a voice said from behind Emily. The witch was there, after all.
         “I tried to tell you!” Elizabeth exclaimed, after Emily moved her hand.
         Emily had turned with her dagger in hand to face the witch.
         With a wave of her hand, the witch sent an energy bolt, knocked away the dagger, then lifted Emily and pulled her to within inches of the witch. As the witch waved her hand, Emily noticed an intricate ring on her finger. It was silver with a purple stone that seemed to swirl with black energy.
         “So there was another one,” the witch said. “My goblins were right. What is your name, child?"
         “My name,” she shouted, “is Emily Daring! Release me now or you will face the wrath of my father!"
         “Emily, no!” Elizabeth shouted.
         “Daring?” the witch asked, casting Elizabeth a knowing glance, "as in Duke Daring? So you are his daughters. How delightful! I thought you two were nobility, perhaps even worth a nice ransom, but the Daughters Daring are worth far more than that, to me!”
         “You won't be getting any ransom!” Emily exclaimed. “When our father finds out you have us, he will come to rescue us, personally!”
         “And I am counting on that, my dear,” the witch said. “I've waited a long time to get my revenge on your