The Taxidermy Man

Part Four

When the witch had looked inside her book of prophecies, she had been correct. There was indeed something familiar about the girl. It took her a while to find the correct prophecy but after a while, she did. And what was written shocked her at first but then she began to laugh. It said that there will be a girl who will stand in the way of a witch with her un-dead friend who the witch had helped to create. This bit had already come true. The rest of it said that they would lead an ambush and get rid of the witch. Then it said that in the process, the girl would also die. And that was the bit that she loved the most. The girl had already led an ambush and failed so that was that and she had her locked away and that is probably how she’d die. Well, she didn’t want to delay the prophecy from coming true so she went down in to the kitchen, took out her precious knife and started to descend in to the dungeon.

When she got to the dungeon, she walked up to the cell but she couldn’t see the girl. She put a candle on but the girl wasn’t there, neither was the taxidermy animal who had become her companion. How could this have happened? She stroked the handle of her knife. She had acquired it many years ago when she had first become a witch. It was after her first killing and she knew that she’d need a better knife to kill more people, while enjoying it. She had also needed something to put her soul in to so she had put the diamond of her wedding ring on to the handle and enchanted it so that it wouldn’t ever come off. The witch decided that it was better for the girl to stupidly reveal herself, leading the witch to her than to go after her herself. Who knew if she’d have an ambush ready, but she doubted it.

Right now, the witch was among the taxidermy creatures. They were surrounding the whole camp site which meant that there could be no-one else around to get them. There was also no way for the girl to communicate with anybody else without the witch seeing so she was trapped. The only thing behind the girl was a river and it wasn’t flowing so there was no threat at all. She had been right, the girl wasn’t a threat and wasn’t very bright either. She could easily take her down.

The two humans were in the middle of the camp site, which had a fire burning in the middle. They were both bent down, collecting sticks. They tried not to show any signs of knowing about the small army of deadly creatures that stood a few feet away. They strained their ears to listen for the tiniest of sounds and peered out from the corner of their eyes. The weapons were carefully hidden but easily accessible.  The witch had now gained all of her confidence, after accessing the situation and decided to start an attack and end the lives of these pitiful beings in an hour’s time.

She had most of her taxidermy animals with her and they were better than humans in every way so there was no need for any weapons. They would all do as she wanted so they didn’t need to discus too much of a strategy either. The job would be done quickly and simply. The hour went by very fast for the witch because she was busy preparing but it seemed to take forever for the two mortals. Finally, the time came and they were able to see a few figures coming out of the dark thicket and in to the light. When they had fully emerged, they began to run forward and charge at Spunk and Noah. They thought that they were going to be carrying out a surprise attack but the humans were ready and quickly stood up and got out the knives. They both held a knife in each hand. There were more chances of wounding the already dead, if that was possible, and protecting themselves this way, not that they thought they’d need too. When the taxidermy animals came to a certain distance, they couldn’t seem to walk anymore. It was as if an invisible barrier was holding them back, and that’s exactly what it was. The witch sent out more taxidermy animals and they all tried to get through. They charged at it, beat it and tried to burn their way through it but none of that would work. In the end, all of the monsters had been deployed but none had been successful. The witch began to become irritated and came forward herself. She walked forward and just walked right through the barrier. She told the animals to try again but they still couldn’t come. She didn’t acre though. She was much stronger than all of them combined and could finish the work herself. She spun around and faced the two children, both looked oddly calm. Their determined eyes set straight at her and their bodies ready for anything. She saw that she might have been wrong about the girl but she pushed that thought aside and strode forward.