Eliza and the Queen

Four Years Later Chapter Five

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The air was cold and the forestwas quiet. Flowers bloomed all around the cottage making the cottagelook more alive. Vines grew along the cottage walls hiding it fromthe world. Water was being repeatedly taken from the well and takeninside. No visits from strangers anymore except the animals wholooked for shelter in the cottage. The witches all ran for theirlives. So many were captured and perished and the ones not capturedhid from the world.

Potions lined the shelves alongthe walls of the cottage. A big black pot sat over the fire with apotion cooking. The smell smelt like roses, but the potion was deadlyto anyone who drank it. Spell books lay all over the table opened andclean.

Eliza scooped some of thepotion from the pot and poured it in the small bottle in her hands.Then she closed it and held it in the palms of her hands. She studiedthe bottle and smiled. She would save this for when she really neededit. She sat it gently beside the others and stepped back stillsmiling. She closed her spell books and looked at the window to seethe rose she saved dying. She gently touched the rose and made itcome alive. She smiled and went to gather some water from the well.

"I see your work is alldone."

Eliza looked up to see thewoman who took her in and taught her everything she needed to learn.Agnes. Agnes taught her how to control her powers and how to makespells. Eliza was grateful for her.

"Yes mother and now it istime for supper."

Agnes smiled and pushed herlong dark hair back. She was a very beautiful woman who had lost herfamily to the queen. She had escaped barely alive and moved to thehidden cottage in the forest. She knew every spell and potion andtaught Eliza most of them.

Eliza grabbed the bucket ofwater and sat it on the edge of the well. Agnes sat her basket offruit down and wiped her hands on her apron.

"There is news from thepalace. The soldiers are leaving in a few days to continue theirsearch for more witches. They will ride through the forest to makesure no one hides here. We must prepare for the raid."

Eliza nodded and followed Agnesinside to prepare dinner. They ended up making a stew and ate itquietly. When the dishes were done and the table was cleaned, Agnesgrabbed her spell book and sat it atop the table and opened to page110. Eliza watched as Agnes scanned the page until she found what shewas looking for. When she found it, she smiled and pointed.

"The invisible spell. Thiswill protect our home when they come searching. We must make itquickly. It is a long spell."

Eliza nodded and grabbed herbasket. Off to gather everything they needed. The first thing sheneeded was roses. Eliza knew where to gather those. She was alwayspicking a rose to keep inside. This time, she was to pick seven. Thelist was not very long but Eliza was happy to be walking freely inthe forest humming to herself like her mother once had.

Sevenroses

Birdfeathers(2)

4mushrooms

5magic mushrooms

Abucket of water

1item from what will be invisible

Agnes was already getting thepot ready when Eliza came in with the ingredients. She had the firewarming the pot and the water inside and she was hard at work readinghow to brew it. Eliza handed her the ingredients and let Agnes do therest. Agnes warned Eliza that using too much magic would weaken herand sometimes making potions did the same. So Eliza got to read whileAgnes worked.