The Familiars of the Lost Witch (ONC 2024)

15. Kyrell

Burn the witch! Burn her! End her!

The singsang of his dreams echoed in his head. Cybele devoured by the flames, her crys, her pleas, grew ever more painful until they were drowned out by the crackling of the fire and the villagers voices.

He saw everything he had tried to bann in the farthest part of his mind before his eyes. It's not real, it isn't real, he tried to comfort himself, but Asha's words had painted the vision again before him.

"We need to get her out, now! What are we waiting for?", Kyrell croaked hysterically, his eyes blank from fear. He wanted to fly to the building, flapping his wings frantically, but not coming any further and only realising after a moment, that the boy held his claws with one hand.

"You need to calm down first", Asha's soft voice reached his ear and pierced through his clouded mind. "You can't help her if you make so much noice that someone will hear you and catch us. If we are locked away too, then how are we supposed to get out?", she tried to reason with him and it worked.

Slowly he calmed down a little, breathing more evenly, but he was still ready to fly at any moment. He wanted to counter that if they were to be caught he could simply fly away and they couldn't catch him, but then he would have to free all of them by himself and he had no idea how to do that. He didn't even know how to free Cybele now, he had to admit.

Asha purred soothingly and meowed with a calm voice. "We need you to find out where exactly Cybele is and if possible how to get there. You need to be really quiet, understood?"

He nodded in response, glad that they included him in the plan and didn't just leave him out. The boy nodded too and let go of his claws.

Kyrell shook his body, then opened his wings and flew to the building. The moon had aready risen and shined on his grey feathers, making him look like a small ghost. Hopefully there weren't any real ghosts around. They were one of the reasons he didn't like to fly during nighttime, apart from his poor night vision. He also couldn't fly as silent as an owl, but he gave his best to make as little noise as possible.

He landed on a windowsill, looking into the darkness inside. There was not a single light and even though there wasn't a glass in the window, he couldn't enter because it was barred with iron bares too close for him to fit through. The moon didn't shine enough to illuminate the inside and his eyesight coulnd't compare to Asha's when it came to darkness, so he couldn't make out anything. How was he supposed to find Cybele if he couldn't see her?

But then he had an idea. Asha had said that he should be as quiet as possible, but it was the only way he could identify Cybele. Kyrell let out a few croaks, a part of a melody he and Cybele often sang together, waiting for a response. Nothing.

He flew to the next window, trying the same, then the next. Just as he was about to give up hope, he heard a familiar humm. To make sure, he croaked again. The humming continued the melody. There was no doubt.

"Cybele!", he wanted to scream, but called out as silently as possible. They had finally found her! A warmth flooded his body as a familiar face appeared in the window.

"Kyrell!", she whispered back, "what are you doing here? And what about Asha, is she here too? And the boy?" She stretched out her hand to scratch him under his beak and he leaned towards her as far as he could.

It was unfair that he couldn't purr like Asha and see as good as her. If he was a cat he would purr so loud the whole village would hear how happy he was now. "Yes, they are both here, not far away. We want to get you out of here and I should find out where exactly you are."

"How did you find that out and how did you come here? Nevermind, you can tell me that another time." Barely audible she added: "If there is another time."

Kyrell didn't want to leave Cybele, but he knew that he needed to, to let Asha and the boy know where she was. "We'll get you out very soon and then we will all go home together!", he proclaimed before leaving.

Before he even landed on the boy's shoulder, he exclaimed: "I've found her, I know where Cybele is!" The boy and Asha looked at each other and nodded in sync. It seemed like they had already made a plan while he was looking for Cybele.

"Show us, then we will try to get inside and get her out", Asha declared in that specific tone that didn't leave any room for objections.

No humans where around and Kyrell hadn't heard anything from inside the building as well, maybe they were lucky and Cybele was the only one inside. He lead them around the building to the back side to the window where Cybele was.

The window was too high to jump for Asha so she let the boy gracefully help her up. As she stood next to Kyrell and as she saw Cybele, Kyrell could hear the purr coming out of her throat. They were finally united again, but they still needed to free Cybele.

After a moment the boy's voice sounded from behind them. "Is there anyone besides you in there? Do you know how we can get you out?"

Cybele now let her attention go past her familiars and fixate on the boy. "There are two or three other witches here, but I don't know where they are kept. There is also a man standing guard. He must have the keys, but I'm not sure."

There hadn't been anyone in the windows Kyrell had checked, but they could be sleeping too, so he wasn't sure. It was a problem that a guard was there, but if they could get the keys from him, they could rescue all of them. But how?

Maybe he or Asha could sneak in and steal the keys, but they wouldn't be able to use them. Only a human could. He, Asha and Cybele seemed to have the exact same idea, looking at the boy at the same time. He could open Cybele's door and also release the other witches. Then they could simply flee and travel back home.

But what about the guard? They didn't want to alert the whole village, so either the guard needed to be silenced or he shouldn't notice them entering and leaving at all. They really needed a plan and lots of luck.

Kyrell tried to locate the other witches first while the boy, Cybele and Asha made a plan. They needed to act quickly.

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wordcount:
chapter: 1185 words
in total: 16.814 words

They have finally found Cybele, yay! ;D

But how will they free her? o.O

Let's find out in the next chapter!