The Familiars of the Lost Witch (ONC 2024)

4. Kyrell

He sat on the back of the chair next to Cybele, singing to her. She hummed with him like she always did when she was happy. After his performance she laughed, applauded and then softly stroked his head with her fingers. Her hands were always warm, but now her touch felt so... cold. As he looked at her, her image seemed to slowly fade away and her voice grew so distant he couldn't understand what she was saying, he could only see her lips moving.

Just as he wanted to reach out to her, she vanished completely. As he opened his eyes the first thing he saw were the empty chairs surrounding the table. There was no trace of Cybele. It had only been a dream. But then he shouldn't be able to see the chairs from his nest, was it still a dram? Everything stayed the same after he blinked a few times and he couldn't "wake up", so he was already awake. Then he remembered where he was and why.

Cybele was gone. He had spent the night next to Asha on the windowsill, but she wasn't there anymore. A quick look on the empty armchair showed him that the boy wasn't here either. Kyrell was alone in this room that seemed to be bigger than usual. Only the flames in the fireplace indicated that someone must have fed them recently. They couldn't have been gone long, he reassured himself.

There was no familiar humming filling the house, but he did hear voices coming from the kitchen. He flapped his wings twice, then flew the few paces into the kitchen and landed in the middle of the floor, a white cloud engulfing him.

"You stupid bird! Don't flap your wings here!", came Asha's hissing voice out of the white cloud. "He just swept the entire flour off the floor and now you spread it again."

He tried to look apologetical, but remnants of the dream still clung to him and all he could think about was Cybele. Hopefully the dream wasn't a vision or a bad omen and just a regular nightmare.

"I'm sorry", he muttered halfheartedly and wanted to fly on the shelves. As he opened his wings, he quickly changed his mind before Asha could rip a few of his feathers out and instead hopped over the floor and out of the kitchen.

It was his fault that Cybele's kitchen was white like snow, but it wasn't like he had meant to do that. He just wanted to help. Wanting to help and actually helping sadly wasn't the same thing. The least he could do now was to not cause any more trouble.

Behind his back he could hear the boy sweeping the kitchen floor with Cybele's old broom that she only used for cleaning purposes. She had another one for flying, although she didn't use it that often. Now her flying broom was gone with her.

Just as he thought about leaving trough the open window and taking a flight, he heard Asha's soft footsteps approaching from behind. "You don't look so good, is something wrong?"

Why was she always this perseptive? Could she read his expressions or his mind? Eitherway, it wasn't easy to keep something from her. So he told her about his dream. "What if something happened to Cybele?"

"You don't need to worry about her, I'm sure everything's fine. You probably think like that because it's the first time she will be gone for so long, but you'll see, she'll be back sooner than you realise", she reassured him with a purr. Sometimes she could be really nice too.

 For a moment Asha seemed to listen to the sound of the broom, twisting her ears in the direction of the kitchen. Then she lowered her voice and whispered: "I want you to keep an eye on him for a while. I need to take care of something."

"You're leaving?" No, she couldn't leave him alone too! He wanted to block her way, but she had already turned around and jumped on the windowsill where one window was always left upon for them as long as it wasn't too cold outside.

"I'm only going to town and I'll be back soon. In the meantime you can have fun with the boy, sing him a song, tell him about your collection of shiny things or whatever", she snipped her tail, then looked at him with narrowed eyes, "I don't care as long as you don't tell him any secrets and don't cause another mess. And don't let him out of your sight."

Asha hadn't seemed to mistrust the boy, but he could understand why she was cautious. Cybele spezialised in harmless magic for baking and cooking, but she also had a collection of spellbooks and potions that shouldn't end up in the wrong hands. That she had allowed the boy to stay with them meant that she trusted him, but more importantly she trusted them to keep everything safe.

He nodded, although he wasn't sure if Asha had seen his response, as she had already disappeared trough the window. He wouldn't let her or Cybele down, he thought to himself and flew back into the kitchen.

The flour was gone, everything looked clean again. "Good job!", he croaked and landed on the shelf next to the boy. "How about I sing you a song as a thank you for your hard work?"

Kyrell didn't wait for an answer and began to sing loudly. His audience didn't seem to appreciate his musical talent, covering their ears. He stopped, feeling a little offended. Cybele loved his singing, it seemed like Asha and the boy just had poor taste.

"Thank you, but that really wasn't neccessary. Your song sounded very... interesting, I've never heard something quite like it." Yes, his singing was unique, even when it came to other birds, so how could the boy have ever heard something comparable?

Appeased by the boy's words Kyrell stopped sulking and offered: "I can show you where you can empty that", pointing at the bucket with flour and other waste, "follow me."

Kyrell lead him to the front door, waited till the boy opened it, and then flew around the house followed by him. Next to a veggetable patch where Cybele grew her own veggetables and herbs was a garbage heap where they emptied the bucket with the kitchen waste.

Afterwards he showed him some of his shinies and gave him a tour of the house and garden. They talked a lot, or more like Kyrell did the talking and the boy listened to his stories about Cybele. He would sometimes ask questions, although avoiding a answer when Kyrell asked him about his life.

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Wordcount:
chapter: 1124 words
in total: 5972 words

Now we finally have a chapter showing Kyrell's POV! (It wasn't initially planned, I just decided he should be more included too. ^^)

So, how do you like Kyrell, now that you got to hear his thoughts?

Next chapter you'll get a little more info on the mysterious boy. ;D

Hope you like the story so far and c you very soon!