Guns and Witches

Prologue

   The candle's flame flickered slowly by the door as the wax dripped silently onto the candelabrum. The light of the small flame just barely lit the edges of the wooden box-like room though it was fairly tightly compacted. In the corner a young girl laid with her mother beside her, both mother and daughter having robes around them for the meeting they planned to attend to within the early morning. The mother gently placed her lips on the sleeping child's forehead before pulling away to let her daughter rest. She stood up and adjusted her cloak before placing the chair back in its original position. She took one more glance at her daughter before carefully heading out the door and quietly closing the door after blowing out the candle. From there she proceeded down the stairwell and into the kitchen where her husband had been waiting.

   She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him in an embrace as they sat in silence. An occasional noise from outside made them feel uncomfortable with the heavy footsteps heard with metal clanking. Their hearts beated loudly, pounding against their chest as they listened to the guards of the kingdom walking by. "I'm sorry I put you at risk," the woman said quietly as her grip tightened slightly.

   "Never mind that, are you two going into Weighmont tomorrow?" He questioned as he gave her a genuine smile. He grasped her hands lightly to attempt to comfort his wife, playing with the ring on her finger.

   She nodded with a sigh. "Yes, we are. In a couple of hours I want to be on the road so we don't get caught."

   "Yeah, the guards are heavy tonight," he replied before hearing the painful screams of a woman just down the street from their home. He let out a sigh and shook his head before turning towards his wife. "Are you sure that you do not want me to be with you? I can protect you."

   "I'm sure, no humans are allowed and guards will get suspicious if all of us leave," she replied simply as she attempted to ignore the screams. Her eyes suddenly widened as a window broke open and a lit match was thrown into the house.

   "Witch! Kill the family! They're witches! They're out to seek our children to murder!" A man shouted without remorse from outside the home. The mother quickly sprinted to attempt to reach the stairs, but was blocked off by towering flames that came in from the window. Her husband's shouts to conciliate the people from outside were quickly quieted with the sound of a gun.

   The blast of the gunpowder was like a harsh crash. She covered her ears and began praying desperately. She let out a scream as she watched her husband's lifeless body dropped to the floor and blood slowly come from his chest from the bullet. She began piling as much as she could towards the front of the house to block their bullets from hitting her before attempting to put out the fire.

   Seeing no way past it, she shouted and screamed for her daughter, ignoring the painful burns she was getting and the smoke that was filling the entire room. She didn't want to make an escape; she wanted to save her little girl. She bit her lip and took a deep breath before sprinting to the stairs and through the fire, screeching from the flames that hit any skin.

   She climbed up the stairs slowly, not letting anything stop her as she pushed past the table in the hallway. The mother then let out a piercing scream as she felt a bullet pierce into her shoulder. She continued stumbling as she desperately reached out to her daughter's room and opened the door. "Get out of bed now!" She yelled, but the room had been empty with the freezing midnight air coming through the window. The mother was in relief, but also worry about what happened to her daughter. Surely it couldn't be a fate worse than death?

   The wound began having an irritated feeling as she gripped it tightly with her hand that had not been burnt yet. She collapsed on the floor, trying to calm her breathing as she made her way towards the window. Why were they putting her family through such torture such as this?

   Soon she began hearing footsteps come up the stairs. Knowing it was her end, the mother closed the window tightly so they wouldn't know which way her daughter had gone. She got up and threw herself towards the door and shut it tightly while trying to ignore the blistering burns. She locked it tightly and began to forcefully lift a floorboard from beneath the floor, ripping out its sharp nails before bending them to make it seem like that board was out of place for an escape. She then smiled weakly as the door was kicked open and the guard walked out to the wounded witch who was holding the floorboard down. "Your torture is what we feel when you take our children, so now we will take your life in retribution!" He shouted at the mother who didn't bother even cowering.

   "I never took a child, nor would I ever think about it. You know the only way we can die is by a bullet, why torture us?" She asked as she looked at him with dull eyes. She slowly began using her magic to attempt to heal the wounds as she waited for an answer, but received a bullet to the head instead.