"How did the chief's elder react?” “They supported me, but not because they had moral burdens. Lucinda was disturbed about the pragmatic outcomes. The only beginning for so many witches would be sacrificing ourselves. The power within us was slowing down and we can't risk that just for the sake of our men. Every month we gather dozens of witches' parts but we eventually stopped. A good number of those maybe a couple of dozen and would be large enough for our purposes. But even if we could privately obtain some of those genes, we couldn’t keep the arrangements secret for very long.""That is beyond creepy. You guys sacrifice too much for that purpose alone? And yet have nothing in return?" Tommy thought. No wonder almost half of the natives have their peculiarities, some without limbs, eyes, toes, fingers, and many more. Such foolish sacrifice."Yes, our spell was beyond powerful but we couldn't regenerate ourselves. And the nonnatives would eventually realize what we were doing. So t
Within a week, after Celestina and Diana's group went on their journey, dozens of witches were dead in the villages of Munster, Winterberg, and Redberg. Bodies full of bloated, pus-filled boils, and half-burned-filled the alleys and waste trash yard.The human knights were ordered to move them away from the borough and burn them all. But the people accused them of trying to kill them with such insolence. They had gotten wind of the diseases and deaths that followed the witches. It was believed that their corpses could bring famine, plague, and illness to the village.Leo and some of his men within the church knights' ranks implied that he and Ambrose be demoted for bringing the carcass of this condemnation upon the village people. But the village's Lords knew the Knight Ambrose and his troop ranks were too important to their accomplishment as a battalion, so rather, they agreed to accept the burden and get rid of the obnoxious error.They brought the cadavers away on a carriage pulled
Ambrose got furious. He stood, motivated to hunt the little traitor.But Leo let out, “Let him go. We have hurt him enough. He will need time to get over it.”Tristan wept. Leo watched his younger friend. He knew this was like separating his wife from himself. But Tristan had to become strong.“Dry those tears, knight. You are not a woman. You are a fighter, a knight. Now you will be our second in command. It is time for your initiation.”Above them, pink lemonade clouds wrap the sky as if Earth were a child's party gift. Passed leaf, upon the moss, softened rock, come the sun rays that were promised us by the starlit sky. Yet, Tristan didn't feel pleased about it. He felt the opposite.Hours later, Leo had his eyes blindfolded with soft animal skin leather. He was led to another region not far from where he and Tomas had been. He stood in the warm breeze of sunset, but a coolness crept through his bones as he heard the appearance of about two or three other men. He was focused. Trist
Redberg VillageNear the mangroves little moor, the panhandler rested his back against the post of the keelhaul and stared up at the afternoon tangerine sky. The clouds were parting and, after a few moments, the sun was exposed and he felt warmed by it. Nevertheless, he kept his shroud tightly draped around his body against the early spring wind. As he stared up, the ebony crow appeared, straddling on the keelhaul's leveled extension above."I have nothing for you little crow," let out the panhandler. "Not a single traveler has departed by these last few hours you know."The man longed for that crow's parents - or perhaps his friends - might have dined on caged bodies of witches that hung and half-burned at the crossroads by the Old Father. And some of the corrupt chaplains, reverends of Redberg who forbade recanting, shunned lovers, betrayers - both true and fictitious - their cadavers had been presented from the keelhauling as a warning to others.But no insignificant individuals ha
“We’re good,” Celestina told them, holding onto her wooden tray. She had used it to defend herself if she had to, no matter how much the patrol leader might lecture her about ‘inappropriate weapons’ later. Even now, she could feel the soldier's and the jester's regards burning across the area wearying into them.“You don’t look fine Celestina, are you alright?” Diana grumbled. She sat there almost unmoved and a sliver of moonlight coming through the window, blond hair, a blazing faded gray tunic and kilt, and one foot covering untied. Making her so vulnerable yet in truth she was the predator in this aisle.She was a close second to Tommy in times of unconditional loathsomeness. Her look flickered to Jenna who was smirking at them, understanding full well Diana wasn't comfortable with so many humans in the enclosure. She could almost feel her fangs slowly coming to life as Jenna's spell to make her reek like a human was almost coming to end. 'Dammit! I missed taking a shower' Diana th
The mangroves region was a tremendous inhospitable habitat that would kill travelers unfamiliar with its capricious territory. It was the sort of cold winter that would freeze the blood of those who didn't take sufficient care to be warm in heart and core.Drifters and travelers confronted a lack of rest, especially with the wet, alligator and slug-infested wetland, scorching hot days, freezing snow-cold nights, and unforeseen storms at a moment’s notice. The cold weather that seeps through any thin cloth to drain the soul instead feeds the soul of those well wrapped in warm layers of well-insulated fabrics.Fortunately, the panhandler at the moor knew the landscape because he had been through its jaws in the past during his alligator killing days with his father and brothers. They had crossed the barren terrain on their way to the floating cavern of the Battleaxe tribe. Winter mangrove trees line the next route. Their thin-clothed forms stand starkly against the snow, almost like cha
Inside the stone villa walls of Camella, Lord Andrew Lawvosky was confused and dazed for weeks and not with himself, he looked out and saw the hillside in flames and Camellana's people's hamlet destroyed. Undisclosed to him, the old woman had been enhancing him for weeks and made him fast asleep, oblivious in his chamber.But this time, he had awakened. He knew his time was short. He would take no more chances at waiting, he would find that woman. The woman in his dreams. He would take what was his before he lost it again.Furious and annoyed, he slammed open the door to Camellana’s chamber and found her in a corner weeping and with a woman on her side on the floor praying with the long white sheet gathered over her in useless defense.He grunted pleasure to himself and walked over to the unmoved woman. He grabbed the white sheet and whisked it off of her.But it was not Camellana underneath. It was her servant. Andrew turned and threw a dagger at her side, hitting the other woman in
The sight which met Diana's eyes after yet another episode of her sudden collapse at the dining hall had the horror of a dream within a dream, with the reality of sensibility added.The dim-lit chamber was as she had seen it last at the dark natives' cavern; except that the shadowy look had gone in the glare of the many lantern lights, and every piece of each oil lamp stood stark and solidly real in the niche of the chamber she was in.By the empty mattress sat young Celestina, as Diana's eyes had last seen her, sitting bolt upright in the chair beside the bed. She had placed a pillow behind her so that her back might be erect, but her neck was tightened as that of one in a warrior trance. She was, to all pursuits and goals, turned into stone as she surveyed her.There was no outstanding attitude on her face--no anxiety, no horridness; nothing such as might be anticipated of one in such a circumstance. "Celestina, where is Jenna? I haven't seen her in the dining hall."The young woman