The Witch's Relay

Chapter 2: The Clearing

"Number one. You will obey every word and every whim of mine. You must do whatever I tell you, otherwise this will not work."

"Makes sense." First term accepted.

"Secondly. You will live out here in the forest with me for the entire duration of your training. Your obligatory training lasts for as long as I say it does, and until the day I say you are ready, you may not leave this forest. In other words, your old life is gone for as long as say." At finishing she tucks her wand into her belt and crosses her arms together.

"When you say for as long as you say-..." I want to hear her estimation on how long training will last. It had better be reasonable.

"For as long as I say. Accept it or don't." She lowers her chin and looks straight into my eyes.

"I accept." Terrified, I rush to answer.

"Now swear it." She crosses her arms together. "On your life and everything you hold dear."

I swallow hesitantly. "I swear it, on my life and everything I hold dear."

"Good." She suddenly turns and walks past me and down a little animal path. "Follow me."

...

We end up emerging at a larger clearing with a small cabin in the one corner, and right next to the cabin is a woodshed, as well as a decent pile of uncut logs.

The sun is beginning to set, making the shadows long, which in combination with the large grey pine trees, produces a rather eerie feel. In contrast to the gloomy looking forest however, the green clearing looked a bit more cheerful, with rows of strawberry shrubs and a herb garden on the opposite side to the cabin.

As we walk towards the cabin, the woman points towards an empty spot of grass.

"Until you build your own cabin over there-." she switches to point towards the woodshed. "You will be housing over in that structure."

"B-build?!" I exclaim, I don't know what I expected, but not this.

"Yes, you obviously won't be living under the same roof as I, but once autumn and winter hits, you will want a more substantial shelter. On the side of some other tasks I will have you do, you'll be steadily constructing a second cabin after my instructions."

Well at least I get instructions.. But hey! This is sounding more like a master and servant arrangement than an apprenticeship!

"Aand what about learning magic?.." I ask expectantly. While I do want to get back home as soon as possible, I have to admit.. Forgetting for a second about the fact that this woman is terrifying, learning magic is an exciting thought. Might as well make the best out of the current situation?

"That will come eventually, but you must see that I myself must get something out of this arrangement. I will not spend countless hours and days of my time and efforts on you, only to have you eventually disappear. No, I will have you know that you will be completing lots of other tasks too. The time you cause me to lose by teaching you, you must help me gain back through other means."

I guess that makes sense? I am going to be getting some pretty serious abilities after this, although it is sad to have to hide it. But countless days? How long does it take for something to become countless?

About 200 years ago now, a large historical event took place called "The Great Witch-hunt" where the King, with support from the Church, made the decision to outlaw any form of magic, as well as those who wielded it. While it only started as a law forbidding anyone from actually using magic, people started reporting others who they had seen still in practice. At first the punishment was only prison, but the King and the Church had seen the eagerness of the people as support to take the hunt a step further, adding a capital punishment as the consequence of being a mage. There also was added a significant bounty on the heads of mages which of course aided in creating further inspiration to complete "the hunt".

By now, nearly 200 years later, all mages are thought to be extinct, much to the bounty hunters dismay.

The fact that I am to become one, fills me with both fear, but also a great deal of excitement, I will be able to achieve feats unobtainable by regular means.

"To start off with" I am drawn out of my thoughts. "You will take that ax over there, and begin to chop up that whole pile of firewood, and once you finish, please stack it up outside of your temporary living quarters with the bark facing upwards." She glances at my arms and snickers. "That is if you can handle it."

"..." That's uncalled for. "I can do it. No problem."

I walk over towards the ax, and grunt as I pull it from the stump. Had I looked back, I would have seen her cover her mouth in order to hide a smile from escaping.

The ax is heavy, but there is no way I can give up after that comment. After placing a piece of wood on the stump I lift the ax above my head and let it crash down. The piece of wood splits in two pieces and tumble down in two opposite directions. That.. was a bit easier than I had imagined. But glancing at the pile remaining I sigh. I take that back. After today, I won't have any arms left, no matter how many healing spells are used.