Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON ONE (Completed!)

Part 5.20

A WEEK BEFORE THE DARK AGES
BETHANY

Bethany only knew Taneria from stories. A kingdom to the northwest of Kadrea, Taneria was a land of ice and snow. Its people, according to the stories, were just as cold and even more unyielding. They lived by a set of rules coded into law. All people had to wake at the same time, eat meals at set intervals, and retire to their beds two hours after sunset. They didn't trade with other kingdoms, nor did they let others cross into their borders.

Bethany considered them whimsical, something of a fairytale, before their raiding groups had arrived in the south. They took food, medicine, even young children. Anyone who stood in their way was dealt with swiftly. If you were unlucky enough to spot the white hair and velvet eyes of a Tanerian, misfortune was surely coming your way.

Bethany was afraid the raiders would come to Aberdeen.

Mama, however, was prepared. "Those barbarians aren't taking anything of mine," she'd said, peridot eyes flashing dangerously. "I have hiding spots their pea brains couldn't fathom dreaming of. "I'll leave a few things out to distract them. Old herbs. That magnamite spoon that turned out to be little more than glossed wood. They can raid to their heart's content, but they're not getting my valuables."

It's not that Bethany doubted Mama's plan. Mama was sly.

"I can stop the raiders, Onyx." She plucked a glocha slug out of her hair. It hobbled away with Onyx in hot pursuit.

You have mastered many magical skills, Bethany, of that I am confident. The glocha hopped into the bushes and disappeared with a smirk. Onyx growled with annoyance.

"But?" Bethany sighed. "Don't bother, Onyx. I know what you are going to say. I still have those attacks of fear. A scared witch is a useless witch."

Not useless. Onyx spotted the glocha grinning at him from a nearby palm frond. He swiped, but missed. You need to master the fear.

"How, Onyx? I tried meditating like you said. It works sometimes, but at other times it doesn't. I even wake up in the middle of the night shaking with panic, for no reason. No reason, Onyx."

Onyx regarded her with those black eyes of his. It is true what the heart keeper said. Mama's behaviour has shaped your heart.

Bethany grimaced. "What does that mean, Onyx? She truly was a strange old woman."

When you were small, Mama would shout at you...no?

"Well...yes."

Every day, in and out. Yes?

"Yes..."

And it made you feel scared, did it not?

"Of course. I didn't know what I was going to do to make Mama angry next. Everything I did was wrong."

Our hearts are shaped when we are still young. Yours was shaped with fear. Years later, it is all your heart knows.

Bethany's eyes trailed the distance as she remembered all that Onyx spoke of. "I need to reshape my heart," she said. "I must protect the villagers, Onyx. I have magic and I must use it."

Reshaping a heart is not something done overnight.

"But I must do it overnight." Bethany set her jaw, though it still trembled. "The raiders will come. They will hurt the ones I love. I cannot let them do that, Onyx. I must stop them. My heart will not hold me back."