A Young Witch In The Lands: Witch Hunt

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The sound of horse hooves hitting the ground at a fast pace with the wind whipping through her hair, she rode onward farther away from where she had just been. Her hood covering her face and bright pink hair as she fled. In the background behind her she could hear the townsfolk screaming, " After her! Quickly! She went this way! Don't lose the witch! Burn her alive!" Doom and death seemed to be hot on her and her stallions trail so she hurried faster wanting to leave the single noose and all the rioting townsfolk behind.

She had seen them coming, heard their furious cries as they came closer and closer. She had gathered what little she could, a sad smile on her face as tears rushed down her cheeks. She took the small child's face in her hands and looked her in the eyes saying softly, urgently, and firmly, " You must tell them you were under my spell. You don't remember anything for I  have wiped your memories by kissing you on the forehead . You must tell no one of what i have taught you here in this home. Do you understand Elizabeth? If you do not tell them you will be spared your life. If you were to utter a single word about what I have taught you, you will suffer the same fate as I, if they catch me. I can not live on knowing your death was my fault." More tears rushed down her face as she kissed Elizabeth one last time on her forehead, swiftly leaving out the back door of the building.

Elizabeth knew all too well what would happen if she stayed any longer than she had. She watched as Luna left taking with her so many great memories, but her attention was quickly drawn to the door being forcefully kicked in. A scream had escaped from her lips driven by fear to rise from her lungs. Men and women alike were all starting to swarm in the house yelling at her, " Where is she? Where is the witch? We know she lives her so tell us where she is!" Elizabeth hadn't answered soon enough and was forcefully shoved to the ground. Tears started to run down her face again heavily sobbing as it shook her entire body.

A woman towards the back had piped up softly " She must have had her memories wiped by the wretched witch. Leave her be, if she knew anything of the witches whereabouts she would have spoken by now." A brute middle aged man snapped at the woman ," Yeah and how do we know shes not protecting the witch from us?!" He grabbed Elizabeth by the hair tugging her to her knees as she screamed softly in pain. She knew by now that Luna had at least made it into the woods so she started to ramble on, " I don't know where the witch is she left me here after she kissed my forehead." she would let out another cry of pain " I don't remember anything before that. I'm sorry."

"Go check the stables out around back!", the middle aged man would yell. Looking down upon Elizabeth he slowly let go of the girls hair roughly grabbing her arm to stand her up then throwing her at the woman who had spoken earlier in her defense."Here you take care of her until we get things all settled."

The old woman nodded and murmured soft quieting words to her as the sobbing slowly subsided. When from the stables a yell could be heard, " She left on the horse the tracks are still fresh!" In that single moment with that yell everything broke lose again. Screaming and barking of orders could be heard as the best trackers in the town rushed to ready their horses for a witch hunt.

Luna could hear the cries of the townsfolk as she hastily made her way through the night using the forest as cover. The night air was cold and crisp, heavy with the promise of rain. Rain would be good for Luna it would wash away the tracks and any scent of her they would have for the dogs. She kicked Midnight's sides as he whinnied at her and started to race even faster toward safer lands where no one would know her name or her true identity.

The cries had died off after a while, but they still echoed through her head. She wanted to scream her fury to the world, she wanted to kill every last person who had hurt her and betrayed her, but she knew too well that she would never bring herself to that, she'd  rather die than harm someone. Midnight had slowed down to a light trotting, but still quick enough to where they made some distance.

Once Luna was sure enough that they were far away from the town and deep in the woods she stopped Midnight dismounting him, taking the reins in her cold shaking hands. Her breath could be seen before her coming out in frantic white puffs that matched her quick breathing. Leading Midnight to a tall willow tree whose branches hung low to the ground and thick enough to not be able to see the trunk through them, she separated a chunk of the branches using her free hand guiding Midnight within its cover.

It seemed quite funny to Luna that they had managed to stumble upon this tree; which so perfectly sheltered them from anyone who might happen to pass by or stumble upon the tree themselves. She quickly and quietly sent up a thanks to the earth for leading her to such shelter. When she turned to look back at where she had left Midnight she had found him laying on the floor knees tucked under his chest as he perked his ears at her and nodded his head, almost as if calling her forward to him. So she went to him and pulled out a roll she always kept tucked away on one of the pouches to his saddle and slept.

When Luna woke the sun was shining through the branches enough to let her know it was light up. She sat up slowly rubbing at her eyes and then at her aching and sore back. Sleeping on the ground wasn't something she particularly enjoyed, because she always got a cramped back afterwards.

Looking around at her surroundings she tried to wipe clear the fogginess of sleep and remember where she was. As she remembered she jumped up spooking Midnight at the sudden movement who was standing next to her as he neighed at her she hushed him soothing his fear by stroking his soft muzzle. He replied by blowing his breath on the palm of her hand and nudging her loving on the shoulder.

Luna spent no time at all rolling up the blanket and tucking it safely away again as she mounted Midnight and started trotting on their journey to find a new home. Luna didn't stop often, she only stopped when Midnight or herself needed to be fed.She never stayed overnight in any little Inn or Lodge they came across on their travels. Luna always kept an ear out for any rumors of witches and their whereabouts to keep track of whether or not her old town was still following her.

Luna and Midnight had traveled for months, sitting in a meadow deserted by everyone for it had once been a witches favorite spot for sacrifices. She sat in the dead center of the clearing in the meadow knowing exactly what had been done there. It was a simple casting circle, a circle casted to the shape of the pentacle. Each point representing something different. With the tip of it being spirit and moving to air then water, fire, and lastly earth. What the witch had been doing here was sending a thanks up to the goddess. For what reasons she didn't know, but at least she knew the truth behind the clearing and what it was truly used for.

Luna had finally come up with the decision to settle into a new life in the next big town she came across. So far no rumors of a witch with her description had reached this far, so she thought it would be safe to settle down again, to restart.