Barnania and the Twisted Tales

Prologue

Forest Feesh's Witches

The music of the forest was a lullaby to her ears: the sound of the muffled rustling of leaves caused by the blowing of wind, the soft chirping of birds and the caws from the distant crows. The song was soft, but the symphony she'd thought that would ease her pain did no good, her heart clenched, not from the elating song sang by the birds but from the sadness of its anonymous lyrics.

Ariadne had walked this very forest a thousand times, she has even memorized the shortcuts and hidden trails to where she wanted to go, its outskirts and even the narrow paths and their destination. She even memorized the animals that inhabited the forest: the beavers, squirrels, the birds. She even knows where the herbs and plants grow.

The afternoon sun shone from far above the almost cloudless sky which now had few cottony cumulus clouds accumulating.

She walks wobbly as both of her feet are growing weary. She follows the secretly hidden trail to the hut albeit the muscles on her thigh throbbed quite painfully that it causes her to walk slowly, yet she still had managed to walk as far as her feet would, deeper into the thick forest. She had just finished her quite perilous task, orders are orders so she obeyed it a bit forcefully. She brought with her the exotic leaves and plants her master had demanded her to bring.

She rolled her eyes at the far edge of the forest's trail. Her auburn hair dangles from her head as it covers her face. Erected on that far edge is the crappy-looking hut that was built from the finest bamboo slants and perfectly fine woods, it is roofed with dried cogon grasses that were in deep brown colors.

Waiting inside was Ariadne's master, a curly-black-haired woman with eyes a pure black and a skin of a fairly light brown. Colleen was her name. Ariadne had finally arrived in front of the hut which looked like a bungalow house except for its features and how it is designed, the hut looks sketchy and classy. She inched closer towards the antic looking door and gripped the silver knob with her hand, twisted it and pushed the door open. Ariadne walked inside and found Colleen standing at a corner, in an elongated rectangular long table. Colleen was stirring potions busily like she was some sort of an apothecary in a shop, behind her were the sets of cabinets and hanging exotic leaves hung on an aluminum wire. Not far from the corner of where the empty bottles, cauldrons, and other witch's paraphernalia are placed, at the next corner, next to it, is placed the white mattress.

The overall impact of the hut was cozy, its outside appearance could be called a deception and what matters most is the inside which looks like a mini version of a mansion with its mini intricacy: its dome shaped ceiling, glassed windows, a well-furnished floor, fabulous kitchen that is only divided by green knitted curtains and two identical rooms for each witch.

"Seems like I need to find another maiden to complete this potion," Colleen uttered in a hiss as she scooped another handful of bone powder in a brown shabby bag and poured the white powder down into the sizzling pot of sludge. The mixture popped which then was followed with an oozing of green smoke on top of it. Ariadne moved herself at the table, pulled the shabby satchel from her neck and put it on top of the long table, her gangly figure faced the average build of her master. Ariadne's face was covered with the slightest traces of exhaustion while her master's on the other hand was relentlessly blooming. Ariadne wore a green hooded cloak with its tattered hems while Colleen wore a black one with red velvety stripes knitted from its sides.

"Right in time Ariadne," Colleen said as she stirs a teaspoon into the small shot glass with a murky red water inside.

"Just right in time Master," Ariadne replied tiredly. She opened the satchel and pulled out the things she had brought from her perilous mission: the golden sparkling odd-shapen leaves that were edgy, magically growing basil leaves, herbs and vials of serpents' blood that are green in color. Ariadne then joined her master in mixing ingredients on the pot full of brown goo.