Night Witch

Chapter 2

"Oh, ancestors dear,

Hold us tight and near,

Keep watch in the night,

And help us fight,

Against yagas and others

Evils galore,

Oh, ancestors dear,

To you we implore."

Karina watched the last trills of the safesong from the back of the crowd. All of the eligible girls and boys were gathered on the stage, which had previously been a gallows, to sing the Ancestor's rejuvenation ritual songs. 

All of them except her, that is.

Karina watched in envy as Gertie and Helga pranced off of the stage, their arms entwined with two boys'. Helga was in thick conversation with Hans Pinkerton, the undisgraced son of the accused warlock, and Gertie was coyly batting her eyelashes at one of Hans's friends while sneaking glances at the fellow himself. Hans was nothing if not eligible, despite his just-as-questionable past.

He wasn't yaga-marked, though. He didn't have an ugly birthmark that stretched across half of his face. And he still had a mother and two brothers to vouch for him and his goodness.

Karina had no one.

No, not true. She had Lilith, a doll who would aid her whenever she could. Karina slipped her hand in her pocket for the odd comfort that the doll gave her before going a bit ways off the help with Feast preparations.

The sun was lowering in the sky and preparing to dip beneath the horizon. Karina walked over to the fire pits where grandmothers and young girls were cooking the meat the men and their sons had hunted for the Feast just that week. The men hunted meat like thick-pelted bear and ruffled-feather geese, passing the arrow and the knife among the generations. The cooking was the female form of the same tradition, a passing of the ladle from generation to generation.

It was also rather exclusive in Karina's opinion.

Karina watched a girl and her grandmother sip broth and moan in appreciation of their own cooking. It must have been nearly done, and thank the Ancestors; they had to bless the Feast at the exact moment dusk fell over their world. 

Karina found the already arranged and created food and heaved a platter of what looked like a roasted bird up to carry it to the center of the village, where the Feast was being held. As she walked, she hummed the safesong under her breath and tried to ignore the resentment that boiled in her gut. She should have been singing that. The only reason that Gertie and Helga had any serious suitors was because of her stitching on their clothes that made them look like good seamstresses and homemakers.

Karina carefully lay the platter onto the splintery wooden table. There were multiple tables that lay around the village center, in the middle of which was a fire pit that would be lit at dusk.

Karina continued her task of bringing food to the tables as the sun shrank even more and the square began to fill up. Once the food was all set up, she picked up a broom and began to sweep the empty cooking area. 

"Karina."

Olga. Karina stared at the dirt that coated her too-small boots. 

"You are needed to serve at the Feast."

Karina's head gave a slight nod. 

"Speak to me! Yaga-marked wench." Olga's thick fingers grabbed Karina's chin, forcing the servant to look into her violet eyes. Olga was a seer; she was special.