The Witch and The Shifter

The Witch

            The earth was damp and haunted, fog forming low in the air painting the ground beneath her feet a ghostly white. Kairen walked over the burial ground, her eyes sweeping from side to side making sure she was alone in the cemetery where her High Priestess lay resting in eternal slumber. She hadn't planned on coming here and vandalizing the grave, but she needed access to the grimoire that had been passed down to her. At the time when they buried their Priestess she felt it was only right that the grimoire lay buried with her after her untimely passing. Now, the fates were forcing her hand.

            Checking that the coast was clear of other grave robbers, cryptkeepers and other prowlers of the night, Kairen bent down on one knee in front of the grave that she needed. It was more like a mausoleum, a big stone building with roman styled pillars, a triangular roof and a giant oak door with multiple locks, latches and seals that only those highly ranked in the coven had access to. Kairen closed her eyes, chanting a incantation that would not only bless the ground but ward off dark spirits and forces that would enter when the doors were opened. While she chanted she drew a complex pentagram in the dirt outside the wrought iron gate that protected the mausoleum. It was charmed, hexed, enchanted and cursed with any and everything that could affect those that tried to disturb this land. The pentagram she used, would only disarm the spells long enough for one person to get through the gate then they would go back up, those who came from the inside wouldn't be affected by them. The witches believed highly in reanimation of the deceased because the living always needed a lesson.

          The iron gate popped open when Kairen finished the incantation, she stood and walked through, the gate shutting with an audible clank, keeping the rest out. She was worried however, that it might wake something she hadn't come for so she prayed to the Goddess for protection. She turned back to the heavy wooden door in front of her, watched as all the locks turned, twisted and unwound themselves and the doors slowly groaned open. Goose flesh formed on her arms, the cold night air kissing her skin, giving signs of foreboding. 

          Taking a deep breath, Kairen placed one foot in front of the other as she walked in, saying a prayer to the very first High Priestess of their coven that lay to rest in the center of the tomb. Her mother always taught her never to disturb the dead, but if need be, always send blessed prayers their way. She never explained why, and Kairen knew better than to want to find out. Inscribing her family rune at the base of the grave with her fingertip, she waited for it to slide open. It sputtered dust and dirt as it slid soundlessly away from the opening to the crypts below. 

            Kairen looked down at the stone steps leading to the lower levels, watching her step on the unstable cement that would probably twist her ankle if she wasn't careful. She trailed her hands down the walls on either side of her, feeling the dirt and engravings under her fingers. Each engraving left and intricate tale of the past, to help in the future, their were many ancient pictures and words that even she, one of the best, wouldn't know how to decipher. She hesitated at the bottom, seeing all the crypts lined from wall to wall of her ancestors, her sisters and the ones before her. She sent another silent prayer up to the Goddess, apologizing for disturbing the dead at their final resting place. Slowly, she walked down the aisle, trying to find the name of her High Priestess below her grave. She figured it would be easy, the newest burials in the back.  She frowned, seeing all the unfamiliar names and then the ones of those she had heard about in their history.

            Finally coming to Anaila's she thanked the Goddess. Inscribing her rune on the foot stone of her grave, she stepped aside and waited for the stone to pull out of the hole to reveal the objects inside. Popping out with a frightening crack and then sliding down the wall the dark hole was revealed, the urn with Anaila's ashes as well as the things that were sent to the after life with her where dark silhouettes in the shadows.