Witch Hunt #Wattys2018

Chapter 5

The man and I had no more conversations as I followed him through the forest. A part of me wanted to ask for his name, another part of me wanted to know as little as possible about him. The less I knew the more likely I was to not be tricked. Though deep down I knew it was silly, almost childish, I didn't want a repeat of Thomas.

The forest slowly became easier to see in, as we came into a less dense portion, and the sun began to rise. I kept my focus in the sunrise, and not the man I was following blindly, to a place I didn't know existed until a few hours before.

The sun streaked through the trees, different colors streaked the sky.

As a child my sister and I would watch the sunrise, if we woke up early enough, and the sunset from our window. The same window I snuck out of nearly every night for six months.

My already aching feet wanted nothing but to stop, but the man walked with such a sense of urgency, I didn't dare.

He slowed as we came across a small village. As far as I knew there wasn't a village in the forest, but there was also a society of people of people that hunted witches, so what did I know?

As we grew closer a girl in a red dress came running to us.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be back for another week! Were you discovered?" She asked looking him over

"Something like that." He said shrugging in my direction.

The girl, looked at me as if just seeing me, "Oh!" Was all she said

"This is," He looked at me, waiting for a name

"Rose." I supplied

"Rose," He continued, "She's on Mira's watch." He explained

This seemed to be a perfect explanation for the girl who looked at my with a pitying expression.

"I see," she nodded, "You'll be needing to see someone about those wounds. I can take you-"

"No." The man interrupted "I'll take her. I need to hear her story anyway." The girl nodded, and walked into the village with us. She trailed off and walked into a giant building where several people were standing and talking.

As the saw me they stopped their conversations and stared at me. I looked down at my feet, and followed the man as he led me to a small three roomed building.

He led me to a room with a woman in it. She sat on the cot folding bandages. When she saw us she stood up and gave us a warm smile. A lock of curly black hair falling in her face as she stood up.

"Hello Michael." She said warmly "You're back early."

"Eliana." He greeted, "I ran into a problem." She nodded his head at me

She looked me over, her eyes lingering on the cut on my cheek.

"Ovcours." She replied, "Give me a moment, I need to fetch some water." She picked up a bowl and left the room.

I noticed the way Michael watched her leave. Almost longingly.

"Sit down." He instructed, gesturing to the cot.

The cot was stiff and uncomfortable, but it was a relief to sit down.

Eliana came bustling in, her bowl now full, and her brown eyes looked me over again.

"While Eliana does her work," Michael said sitting on a wooden stool, "Tell me how you ended up with the witches."

For the second time I told my story, this time adding the part about my being kidnapped. Though, I left out my conversation with my father, deciding I needed to keep somethings to myself.

When I was done Eliana had bandaged up my cheek and hands. Michael sat still taking in all the information I had given him.

"I'm surprised a nail could kill him. They usually are able to cast a spell or something to save themselves." He said finally

"Perhaps she took him by surprise and he was unable to gather his wits." Eliana supplied

Michael nodded, "Perhaps." He looked back at me, "Are you sure that was everything?"
I nodded tiredly, "I didn't leave anything out."

Eliana seemed to notice how exhausted I was, "You two can talk later, right now she needs to sleep, and I'm sure you do too!" She said pulling Michael to his feet

He tried to argue, "Bu-"

"No!" She cut him off, "As of now, she is my patient, and she needs her sleep!" She pushed him out of the room and closed the door. She turned to me, "You can sleep, while you do I'll work on finding you a clean dress, I'm positive we have some in your size."

I nodded, to exhausted to say anything, and laid down.

I found I surprising easy to fall asleep. I had no dreams, it felt like I had had simply blinked.

When I woke up the light in the room had shifted. Shadows facing a different direction. I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, but I knew it had been for a sizable amount of time. On the wooden chair, a brown dress laid, along with a bonnet and shoes.

I removed the torn stained nightgown from my body and put on the clean dress. I tied up my grimy hair and put on the bonnet. I made a mental reminder to ask Eliana if there was somewhere I could bathe.

Once completely dressed, I walked out of the small building. I knew immediately that I had slept for a great amount of time, the sun being on the other side of the sky.

Eliana, who had been walking towards the building with a bundle of sheets in her arms smiled when she saw me.

"I'm happy you're awake, it's almost dinner." She said "Come back inside, let me check you wound."

I followed her back into the building and say back down on the cot. She removed the bandage to examine my cheek.

"It'll heal nicely," She told me, "but I must warn you, you may have a nasty scar." She warned

I nodded my head, not concerned about scars, my focus was on the dinner she had mentioned earlier. It had been nearly two days since I'd had a decent meal.

After she finished bandaging my wound, I followed her back outside. The size of the village struck me as I followed her to the giant building where many people stood outside of.

The village consisted of the small building I was previously in, the giant building we were walking to, a building in the middle of the village that I assumed was their church. Around the sides were several one room buildings.

Eliana and I walked to a small group of people. The group consisted of Michael, a girl that resembled Eliana and the girl in red from before.

"Eliana, Rose." Michael greeted as we approached, "I was telling them about Rose."

"Yes!" The girl in red said excitedly, "I'm very excited to have you with us!" She said looking at me

"I don't understand." I said looking at Michael

"You'll be living in their cabin." Michael said looking at me

"Living?" I asked still not understanding what was going on

"You can't exactly go back home." Eliana said looking at me, "I thought you would have wanted to stay here and become-"

"A witch hunter?" I asked

All four of the group nodded their heads.

Until that moment it hadn't occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to go home. They still thought I was a witch. If Brusco knew I was alive, he wouldn't hesitate to have me hung on the spot.

"If you really want to," Michael said sounding far away, "you can go back, but I wouldn't recommend it."