How To Burn A Witch |DISCONTINUED|

Chapter 5

"Y-you!" exclaimed Nehir, unable to get anything else out of her mouth. She quickly grabbed the witch by the elbow and dragged her to an empty classroom. "What in the nine hells are you doing here, witch?!" she exclaimed, taking a furious step towards Alev.

"For now, you will address me as Namita Kumar. My parents paid for my tuition to attend this school and join the Witch-Hunting Course."

Alev handed her a sheet of paper, "You, my dear, are to show me around the school." she concluded with a smile, causing Nehir to let out a groan before running her thumb over the jewels embedded on the hilt of her curved dagger, a nervous tick she had picked up from Aether.

"You're a witch who has managed to enter our school grounds, I should kill you right now."

"But you won't."

"And why is that?" asked Nehir, unsheathing her curved dagger and slowly walking towards the witch, watching for any sign she was about to cast a spell. "Here to collect that favor of yours?"

"You catch up quickly." replied the witch, a smile on her face, "I'm going to stay here, in this school, as a normal student and you are to keep your mouth shut about it."

Nehir's hand instinctively went to her pendant, rubbing her thumb over the glass' smooth surface as she summoned a furious look to her face.

"Why. Are. You. Here?"

Alev smirked. "Got something against tourists?"

"I should kill you right now, I've got the upper hand."

The witch let out a laugh, tipping her head back and slapping her knee as she gasped for air. She wiped a few tears that had seeped out of her golden-brown eyes. "You are going to kill me? Oh please, you couldn't kill a witch if she were covered in oil and tied to a stake!"

Nehir let out a snarl, the only thing she would do besides threaten to kill the witch.

Alev grinned, seemingly satisfied with the reaction she had gotten out of the trainee. "Now, now, I'm not here to harm anyone, I just want to get to know my new friend Nehir better. Is that so bad?"

"It is when you break into my school disguised as a student."

"How cold, Nehir." she stroked her cheek with the back of her knuckles. "That behavior won't do if we're going to be spending time together from now on."

"I would rather die than be in the same room as you for even a second." she slapped her hand away in disgust and took a few steps back.

The witch clenched her heart, an expression of mock hurt on her face. "It's not like you have a choice, my dear. After all, you've been branded with the symbol of The Oath." she pointed at Nehir's collar bone, "Ever notice that before?"

The girl let out a gasp, fumbling with the buttons of her tunic as she tried to take a pocket mirror out of her skirt's pocket at the same time.

In the end, she pushed the collar of her white tunic down only to reveal a circle made of eight arrows pointing in all directions in varying lengths with an eye in the middle.

A sigil that tied the souls of the two parties together. A bond of mutual servitude. One of the most sacred bonds in Amavran culture and that gods forsaken witch had branded it onto the skin of her collar bone.

"What have you done to me?" she asked, her panic evident in her voice as she rubbed on the mark, only managing to create an angry red spot where it was.

"The sigil will not go away until I deem your debt paid. You cannot rat me out or kill me since you will die as well." she shot her a cruel smile, "But you already knew that didn't you?"