"Look! The hut!" Leon yelled.

"It's coming!" Briar yelled back, fear tightening her voice.

"Right at us!" Leon pointed out.

"To kill us!" Briar couldn't tear her gaze away from the lumbering hut.

Between the trees and over the rocks, the hut bounded toward them. Surprisingly fast for a hut with chicken legs.

"Return the book immediately!" The hut boomed. Its door, half-melted, swung with the force of its voice.

The magic book whimpered inside Briar's satchel.

"The book belongs to Baba Yaga," the hut yelled.

"The book belongs to the forest fairies," Briar shot back. "Your witch had taken it."

"Thieves!" the hut accused, its anger echoing through the trees.

In an instant, the windows burst open, and knives flew out from the hut.

Briar and Leon screamed, diving for cover. The knives zipped through the air, stabbing into the trees. One blade grazed Briar, missing her arm by a hair's breadth.

After the knives, the hut began hurling logs their way. And when it ran out of logs, it started flinging whatever else it could find.

The hut hurled a wooden chair, and it smacked Leon on the back. The force of the blow knocked the prince to the ground, the breath rushing out of him in a pained gasp.

Before he could recover, the hut dashed toward him. One massive leg rose into the air, poised to strike.

"Leon, get up!" Briar screamed. She darted toward him. Just as the hut's leg began its descent, Briar grabbed Leon by the arm, yanking him up with all her strength.

"I didn't know the hut could run!" the prince yelled, his voice strained with exertion as they stumbled onto a rocky path.

"Leon, it has legs!" Briar said as she dared a glance behind them. The hut barreled after them, its chicken legs navigating the rocky terrain with unsettling quickness. Shards of broken glass flew from its windows, whizzing past them and clattering on the forest floor.

"Return the book," the hut kept chanting. Its voice echoed through the forest. "Return the book."

Briar and Leon ran blindly, their surroundings swallowed by darkness. The pale light of the moon was consumed by the thick canopy of trees, leaving them in near-complete darkness. Navigating the forest in daylight was challenging enough. Now, it felt like an impossible task.

Briar's breaths came in wheezing gasps, her legs burning with exhaustion. It felt like they had been running for hours. The hut showed no signs of slowing down. Why would it? It was magical. And the hut wouldn't give until it got the book. It ran after them, yelling and waking up the wild animals of the forest. Briar was scared it would wake up more trouble for them.

"We can't run from the hut forever," Briar yelled. "And it knows every inch of the forest by heart. We have to do something."

"I want to chop its legs off," Leon said furiously. "Yes, let's do that."

"I don't know if chopping the legs will hurt it," Briar replied. "It's magical."

"But it cried when we burned the door," the prince pointed out.

"Oh yes. I didn't think about that," Briar said, her mind racing. The hut was just a few feet away from them, its monstrous legs thudding heavily on the ground.

"If the hut doesn't have legs, it can't follow us," Leon said menacingly, his hands tightening around the hilt of his sword.

"I don't want to cut the entire leg," Briar said softly. Despite the danger, she felt a pang of pity for the hut. It was only doing its job, following orders from Baba Yaga.

They stopped running and turned to face the hut, their hearts pounding. The hut reached them, its windows gleaming with a malicious light. It seemed pleased that they had stopped running.

"So, ready to give up?" the hut said smugly, its voice echoing with a sinister glee.

"Yes," Briar said, gripping the handle of her sword tightly.

"We are tired of running," Leon said, pretending to be sad.

"We want to give up," Briar added as they walked toward the hut.

The hut laughed, a chilling sound that sent shivers down their spines. "You foolish humans. You thought you could steal from Baba Yaga."

"Yes, we are fools," Briar nodded. They were standing just next to the chicken legs now, their swords at the ready.

"Very well," said the hut. "Now return the book. Maybe we can think of a less painful punishment for you."

"Certainly," Briar replied, her voice steady despite the pounding of her heart. She looked at Leon and nodded.

Quickly, they drew their swords and lunged at the chicken legs. The blades struck with a sickening thud, sinking into the tough, leathery flesh. Black blood gushed out, coating the ground in an inky pool. The hut howled in agony, its cry reverberating through the forest and shaking the trees.

Birds burst from the branches, their frantic chirping filling the night air as they fled the commotion. Briar yanked her sword free. The hut's wails continued to pierce the silence.

"Hurry!" Briar shouted, glancing at Leon who stood transfixed, watching the hut writhe in pain.

"But the legs aren't broken," Leon protested, pulling his sword free with a grunt.

"It's injured. It can't follow us anymore," Briar insisted, already sprinting away from the hut.

"Baba Yaga!" the hut cried out in a desperate, haunting wail. "Baba Yaga! Baba Yaga!"

"Yeah, keep yelling. The witch will never help you," Leon taunted, catching up to Briar.

Suddenly, a dark shadow swept over them, blotting out the pale light of the moon. Briar looked up, her breath catching in her throat. The sky was clear and star-studded but against the backdrop of twinkling stars, a sinister figure shot toward them with alarming speed.

Briar gasped, her eyes widening as she took in the sight before her. A woman was riding a mortar and pestle, a broom trailing behind her, sweeping the air automatically. Hanging from the side of the mortar was a large fishnet, and within it, the forms of what seemed like a human and a horse struggled in vain.

The woman descended, her mortar and pestle coming to rest on the ground with a dull thud. She fixed Briar and Leon with a glare that could freeze blood. She was a gaunt, wrinkled old woman with a large hooked nose and bloodshot red eyes. Her green robe flowed around her like a shroud, adding to her menacing presence. She was more gruesome than all the stories described her.

Unmistakably, they were facing the infamous, child-eating, heartless, most evil witch of all time. They were facing Baba Yaga.

Briar and Leon stood rooted to the spot, their breath caught in their throats as the witch sneered at them, her eyes gleaming with malice.

"Baba Yaga," a voice whimpered from behind them. "Save me."

All of them turned to see the hut, its chicken legs buckling, attempting to drag itself towards the witch. With a final groan, it collapsed to the ground. Life seemed to drain from its structure.

Briar closed her eyes.

As if it wasn't enough, the Ancient Book of Spells suddenly sprang from Briar's satchel. The book flipped through the air and landed at Baba Yaga's feet.

Baba Yaga let out an angry scream that reverberated through the entire forest, causing the trees to shiver and the ground to tremble beneath their feet. Her eyes blazed with fury, and her hooked nose flared with each enraged breath.

The witch raised her fist, and the blue stone on her ring began to glow, crackling with electric energy that danced around her gnarled fingers like restless serpents. She shouted an incantation in a guttural, ancient language and pointed the ring directly at Leon and Briar.

Before Briar could react, a bolt of blue lightning shot from the ring, striking her with such force that it felt like being hit by a speeding carriage. The impact was so powerful it knocked the air out of her lungs, and she was sent flying backward.

Everything around Briar blurred into the darkness. The last thing she saw was the witch's horrible face. The world faded into a void, the sounds of the forest and the witch's laughter growing distant and faint.

___