Witch Hunt #Wattys2018

Chapter 7

For the next week I started to hit the tree. Except, only with the side or handle. I had begun to feel as if I would never succeed.

"You're too stiff!" Seraphina would yell at me, "Loosen your muscles!"

I threw again, the knife landed much closer to the tree, though still not hitting it. I repeated the cycle, several times before the knife hit the side of the tree. Except the handle hit it. Not the blade.

"Better." Seraphina encouraged, "Get in position, and throw again."

"Again?" I groaned "I've been doing the same thing for a week!"

Her face turned stern, resembling Michaels, "You've been doing it for a week because you haven't done it right." She crossed her arms, "You have gotten better, but it's still not right, get in position and throw it again."

I did as she told me and threw again, determined to do it again, the knife flew through the air, and landed on the tree. The blade cut into the wood, and stuck it's landing. I stared at the tree in shock, and looked at Seraphina. She gave me a smile, and said, "Go get it, and do that again."

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I only hit the tree twice again that day, but I was much more confident in my ability. Three scars now marked the tree, and I had put them there. A few weeks later, when I could hit the tree every time, Seraphina had us move on to. Hand to hand combat. It started small, she would throw a punch, and I was to dodge it. The first couple of times I ended up with a bruised face.

My wound healed nicely like Eliana predicted. Also like the predicted, I ended up with a scar. A thin white line from the top corner of my cheek, to my jaw.

"You look exhausted." Aliza commented one night, after dinner. That week it was our job to clean the dinning hall.

"Today I had to try to punch Seraphina," I told her as I scrubbed a table, "and not get punched back."

Aliza winced, "I remember that part of training, it's hard. Although none of it's necessarily easy, I suppose it's easier when you're younger."

In my time here I learned that Eliana and Aliza had come to the Witch Hunters at only ten years old. All I knew of as of why, what because their father sent them. I didn't know why he sent them. They didn't tell, and I didn't ask. I could understand wanting to keep somethings private.

Seraphina still kept everything a secret. I didn't know when she had gotten here, or why. I had assumed she would tell me eventually, as I had told her everything about me, but after a month, I had started to wonder.

"Perhaps for you!" Eliana yelled from the other side of the dining hall, "There's a reason I'm a nurse!"

"Because you can't throw a punch?" Seraphina asked

"Precisely!"

The four of us started to laugh, my stomach was so sore it hurt, but it didn't matter. I was happy.

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I fell back on my bottom, Seraphina's hit knocking me to the ground.

"Your mind is somewhere else today." She said helping me up, "Is everything alright?"

She was right, my mind was somewhere else, "It's my sister's birthday today." I admitted

"Janes?"

No Janes birthday wasn't for another couple of months, and I told her as such, "My other sisters."

"I didn't know you had another sister." She said furrowing her eyebrows

"An older one." I said simply put, "Let's try this again."

I got into the stance she had taught me, and got ready.

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I slipped off my dress, my sides screaming in pain as I did so. Seraphina had knocked me down several times, and I had bruises to prove it. It made me miss throwing knives.

Eliana walked into the room just as we were finishing getting dressed for bed. Her darker skin making it harder to see her in the dim candle light.

"Where were you?" I asked teasingly as she had been missing since before dinner

"It wasn't what you think." She said seriously, "A group got back before dinner, a lot of them were injured."

"What happened?" Aliza asked

"Mira." Eliana replied. The three of us stared at her in shock

"Mira?" I choked out

Eliana looked at me, and even in the dark I saw the fear in her eyes, "She's looking for you." She told me.

Aliza gasped, and Seraphina looked at me with pity.

"She wants you dead." Eliana continued

I wasn't filled with the fear I was expecting. I felt a sudden burst of courage instead.

"Nothing's changed." I told them "She already wanted me dead.There's no reason for me to be afraid."

Without another word, Eliana changed, and we got into bed.

I didn't tell them I wasn't afraid because a part of me still felt as if I deserved to die.