Witch of wolves

Anna

Back at Anna's cabin he lifted his fist but she opened before he could knock and stood aside so he could enter, then she closed quickly to keep the cold out.

"You are desperate" She said passing him with a glare.

"No shit hey! It my father's life is on the line"

"Chances are he's already dead" She stirred soup in a caldron over the fire.

"Don't give me that shit!"

She glared at him again "You speak foul to a host, have more respect"

"Benson came here yesterday to ask the same question, why did you shut him out?"

"Disrespect, he addressed me foully"

"Well then..." Phillip took a breath "I'm sorry, on his behalf as well"

She nodded slowly "The wolves in this area are unsettled, the elk are gone, they hunt anything that moves now"

"Why is the elk gone?"

She took a sip of her soup then slowly looked at him with her dark purple eyes "The witch of the forest"

Phillip watched her closely for any sign of a joke. Benson was right, she had this exotic beauty about her, the kind you find in an fhm magazine, but not quite in a playboy.

Her dark purple eyes a colour he has never seen in a set of eyes, and her tan native skin gave them perfect contrast.

Her silk black hair wasn't dark, but not grey as well, it was thick and twisted around her neck like a scarf, he estimated it to be at least the length of her back. Finding nothing but serious on her face he started laughing.

"Witch hey? How do I know you're not the witch?"

She looked up from her soup again, that blank expression finally got a smile, but that smile made his gut knot, as pretty as she was her smile was something out of a Stephen King novel.

"What makes you think that? Is it my cauldron on the fire? My eye color? Or that I knew of your Kalashnikov?" She asked.

Phillip admitted to himself, all were traits of a witch, she did know of his rifle, which was odd, but those eyes, he'd give those beauties a slip.

"What about your house in the woods? The fact that you know so much about the wolves?"

Her smile disappeared and Phillip's guts untwined.

"I'm not her" She stood upright "Sit?" She asked.

He slowly took a seat and she handed him a bowl of soup.

"You didn't put a spell in this?" He smiled.

"I can smell it..." She took a bowl herself and filled it "It's unmistakable... Kalashnikov, it's horrid bark, still sounding in my nightmares, kah kah, kah-kah-kah, I hate it! It's the devil's weapon"

"I take it you had a bad run in with it?"

She glanced at him "Yes"

Phillip expected more of an explanation, he knew what she spoke of in fact, all the insurgents he fought against in the Angola war had AK's, that sound was unmistakable, and it haunted his dreams as well, but unlike Anna the things he saw and done back in the day wasn't something he spoke of easily, not even Suzette knew of half the things he went through, the hell of the bushwar was a burden soldiers seldomly like to share, sharing it alone brings the nightmares back.

"The more I made distance, the more rapid the gunfire became, it was like they got more desperate to kill me" She spoke to her bowl of soup "Rrrr, in the distance" her voice almost went to a whisper "rrrr" She glanced up at him then stayed quiet.

"Little weird aren't you?" He said frowning.

"Say what you want, don't bring that weapon here again, you will not be welcome"

He subconsciously tasted the soup, and it was wonderful.

"This..." He said and she looked up.

He went into a pretend "Ugh! I! I can't breath!" He pretended to choke, falling back and gagging, but Anna made no move, showed no sign of remorse. He stopped his act.

"That was cold?"

"If you really did choke you would have dropped the bowl of soup" She said and continued eating.

"It's great"

She looked up at him again, he lifted the bowl "This is probably the best I had, well done"

"I, never had guests before, I've been here all my life, never had guests, especially a man"

'She's a hippie' he thought "Why?" He asked, thinking he might as well befriend her, if he was to get her to help him with his father, for better or worse.

"People really do think I'm a witch"

He grunted "Let them think what they want, I'm not convinced that you're a witch"

"Convinced you say?"

"Yes, your soup is good, your house is warm, and, well, you're a little weird but I can relate... A little" Shit! He hoped she wouldn't ask him about the related part.

"Relate?"

Him and his big mouth!

"I, well, I don't speak easily about this, the only people who really know, were the ones who served with me"

She looked at him, that blank expression told him to continue, he would have to ask Suzette to give him a good spicy session tonight if he was to forget again.

"I was in an undeclared war, we fought against an enemy who preferred using AK-47 as their weapons, that bark you talk of, I had it day in day out for weeks on end, many, many soldiers on the other side, all with that distinct sounding rifle firing on full auto, desperately trying to kill me and my men..."

Her blank expression changed slightly to a sorrowful one.

"Imagine hundreds of barks, thousands! That noise like cicadas in your ears long after the battle stopped, it was so bad at one stage any noise that had similarity to an AK's noise made me dive to the floor... So I can relate to your experience, after the war as well I remained alone for years, too afraid of myself, I wake up from nightmares grabbing my sidearm and firing at anything in the room" He chucked "I wanted to be alone, because I was afraid my nightmares might kill someone"

Her gaze went back to her bowl of soup.

"You lie, if that weapon gave you nightmares, why bring it with you?"

"It's reliable"

She frowned at him.

"It doesn't jam, you don't have to oil it, as much as it was a symbol of fear to me, it was also a weapon I respected"

Her face had no change and he sighed.

"So, this witch? What makes her, well, does she exist?"

"She might, but I don't want to speak about her"

He rubbed his face, it seemed this conversion reached it's peak.

"I'm, rather enjoying your company" She surprisingly said and peeked up at him through her fringe.

"If, you can accompany me tonight, I will help you with anything you need"

"Of course, I'll bring my girlfriend with, she's also good company"

"No, you alone"

Phillip knew Suzette won't like this, but it was for the sake of his father.

"Ok then"