The Familiars of the Lost Witch (ONC 2024)

14. Asha

Waiting for the boy and Kyrell to come back felt like an eternity. Asha wandered around, looking for clues on her own.

Although she was used to venturing outside alone, she always knew where Kyrell and Cybele would be and she also had her feline friends that kept her company on the rooftops of Jericho. She had never felt so alone, with Cybele missing and left alone in an unknown area.

Why hadn't she just gone with the boy? Why did they go different ways in the first place, she asked herself. They had thought that they would atract too much attention as a group and that they would find out more if they moved seperately. But there was nothing really suspicious about the village.

Asha hoped, the boy would find out something useful, any piece of information would be great.

As she reached the destination where they agreed to meet, she let herself take a small nap under a lonely tree. There wasn't anything else she could do.

Not long after the sun had reached her highest point, she heard the familiar flapping of Kyrell's wings. They had a different sound than other birds. She stretched before he landed before her. Shortly after that the boy arrived.

"I asked a child if they had seen a red haired woman and they asked me if I meant the witch. It seems like she could be in this village", the boy announced straight away.

"She's here? Where?", Kyrell croaked excited. Cybele was really here? If that was true, they were really lucky.

"I don't know, the little boy said he would show me at sunset." There still was some time until then, but Asha's paws prickled as if they wanted to run there right now.

They were so close to finding Cybele, she could feel it in her whiskers. But she also felt that there was something the boy didn't say, but she had that feeling since they had left the clearing.

If he wanted them to know, he would say it eventually. It was in her nature to be curious, but some secrets needed to ripen for them to be revealed at the perfect moment. The act of waiting for that was the hardest part, but there was nothing worse than a bad timed revelation. So she didn't ask him about it.

But now there was something different, something she didn't want to know. She couldn't exactly say why, but she knew that it would tarnish their new found hope.

She followed the boy through the village and as they finally reached their destination and a small child appeared before them, she felt truly hopeful. Because of that she even let the child pet her, even though she hated the touch of other humans, but the little boy was their only lead to Cybele.

His tiny hands rubbed her fur very awkwardly, but at least he did it softly. She kept purring and rubbing herself at his knees. What she didn't have to endure to reach their goal.

"You said you can show us, me, were the witch is staying, right?", the boy said to the child. Finally he stopped stroking her and stood up too.

The little boy seemed unsure, but one look at Asha and a timid smile appeared on his face. "Does the cat belong to the witch? Someone said witches have black cats as pets."

"We are familiars, not pets", she corrected him, not thinking that she could scare him with her sudden talking.

The smile on the child's face grew even wider and he exclaimed: "I knew it! Then are you a friend of the witch who's come to save her like a knight his princess?"

The little boy had heard too many storys, Asha thought, but at least he didn't seem scared of them and didn't immediately run away to tell his parents.

Asha saw a soft smile appear on the older boys face and he nodded. "Yes, so will you help me?" 

---

They followed the little boy around the building and along the street towards the end of the village where Asha hadn't been yet. As they walked, the child whispered: "I don't like what the eldest want to do with the witch. She didn't do anything wrong and I think she looked nice."

"What do they want to do with her?", the boy asked what Asha would have liked too.

The little boy winced, but answered them in a soft whisper: "Burn her."

They stopped in their tracks, staring at the child. They wanted to burn Cybele? Asha's heart stopped for a second, before it started to race again.

"Come, don't keep standing around! We need to get there before my parents realise that I'm not in my bed", the little boy urged them to follow him.

Faster than before they sneaked between the alleys till they reached a strange building at the outskirt of the village. It was tall with very small windows that were barred. A dark aura surrounded it that made Asha shiver.

"The witch is in there. I can't accompany you any further, if someone sees me, I will get in huge trouble", the little boy announced, "I wish you luck." Then he waved at them and vanished in the darkness again.

Asha wanted to run away and run towards the building at the same time, some part of her wanted to be as far away from it as possible, but she also knew that they needed to go there. Her heart and her head were fighting, her heart winning.

Kyrell landed on the boy's shoulder, he had waited on the building next to them until the child was gone. "So, did he say where Cybele is?", he asked hopefully, looking around as if he expected her to appear right in front of them.

The boy pointed to the building the child had pointed to earlier, but as Kyrell wanted to take off and fly there, he held him back. "Wait."

Kyrell gave him a confused look, but folded his wings back together. "Why?"

Asha answered for the boy: "There is a possibility that Cybele is locked inside. We need a plan on how to get her out before we rush there. If someone catches us, we can't rescue her."

"But why would she be locked up? Why would the villagers do something like that to her? What do they even want with her?", Kyrell asked the right questions. Cybele would never do anything to hurt anyone, she was just too good for that.

Neither Asha nor the boy could answer his questions and neither did they want to. But there was no use keeping important information from Kyrell, they needed his help too and he had a right to know. "It seems like they have a hatred against witches", Asha speculated. "They want to burn her."

She could hear how the air escaped Kyrell's lungs as she revealed the villagers plan. "Burn, burn, burn", he whispered in shock. "No, no, no!", he croaked hoarsly. 

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wordcount:
chapter: 1177 words
in total: 15.282 words

How high is the tension now? What do you think? 0.o