Daughter of the Healing Witch

The Escape

I completed one last lap around the cottage that I had been living in for the last hundred years. I shifted into my human form, at last I was sure that the mortal 'lawbringers' weren't arriving anytime soon. I reached into my AnyElsewhere bag to ensure that everything as there. My four grimoires, two spellbooks, a couple potions and cures, and my mother's favorite chair. The bag could hold all this and more while still maintaining its facade of a coin purse.

I strolled into my skin garden. The only things that were truly planted there were my memories. I plucked a bloom from each flower or shrub and slipped them into my bag. I exhaled and all of the plants in the garden wilted. A sickening feeling filled my stomach . I steeled myself and ran.

It took me a few minutes, but I finally reached the meadow where I had kept my pony. I saddled her and followed the road into the woods a ways. I heard the baying of hounds and reached into my bag. I sprinkled some cayenne pepper on the ground. I spurred Marina into action and she set off into the woods like greased glass out of your hand. We went a little ways at top speed until I saw the beginnings of a town.

I rode into town and stopped at an inn to get a room for the night. It was a homey little place. It had robin's egg blue walls and a white and navy blue carpet lined the parlor floor. The innkeeper was a pleasant looking lady. She had mousy brown hair and freckles all about her tanned skin. She would have seemed otherwise ordinary if it weren't for her shocking green eyes. I had no word for the color then, but I would now compare it to the color of antifreeze.

She beckoned me over, "How can I help you? My name is Aoibhín Greenhilt. I own this inn." She had an Irish lilt to her voice that appeared as if it was fading. I smiled and approached the counter.

"Hello. I need a room for three nights, if that is fine with you," I responded, my heavy French accent making my voice thick. She raised a brow. I laughed. She was as confused as most were with my mastery of english with a thick of an accent that I had yet to lose. I had lived in England for three hundred years and the accent of my mother's people had yet to fade.

"That will be one gold. May I have a name for your room?," she smiled. I sighed and nodded. I pulled out my coin purse and pulled out a gold piece and slid it over to her.

"I am Léonie Brodeur. Which room will be staying in?," I responded. I followed her as she strode down the hall and up a small staircase. She unlocked a room and stepped inside to let me pass. She shut the door behind her and I stood bracing myself for an attack.

"Calm yourself, I mean you no harm. I just mean to tell you that this place is a haven for people like you, like us." Aoibhin gave me a smile and sat in a chair across the room. I reached into my pouched and pulled out my wand in the event that she was lying.

"And what exactly do you think I am, Miss Greenhilt?",I asked warily my voice shaking. I felt like a leaf in the wind, shaking and scared.

"I know what you are. You're a witch." I must have looked terrified, for what she said next surprised me. "I am a druid. My father was of the high fey of the seelie court and my mother was a witch just like you. The baker is a were-creature and his wife is some sort of faery. Everyone in the town is something like you. There is no need to be frightened, humans can't come here either," she said with the utmost sincerity. The were three options for what she was doing. She was either: absolutely off her nut, she was lying and I was so scared and tired of running that I wanted to believe her, or she was telling the truth. That was what scared me most of all, that all of these people were people just like myself and my mother, and I could have been here merely two months ago and mother would not have had to burn to save me. The grief washed over me anew as thick and as blinding as the day when it happened. But I shoved it down to the pit of my stomach were it had been residing for two months and sighed.

"Show me," I pleaded. She nodded and extended her hand palm down. I took three steps back, which was comparatively as far as I could get away from her. In a flurry of movement she flipped over her hand and all of the flames from the lanterns in the room leapt from their place of containment and settled into a ball resting in the palm of her hand. I gasped and tears sprang into my eyes and I told myself that it was only from the light.

"I'll take your horse to the stable out back. Get some rest. I'll come get you in the morning and take you to get some breakfast," she stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. I put on my night clothes and settled down for a restless night's sleep.

She came for me in the morning just after dawn. I had already gotten dressed and written down yesterday's events in my grimoire when she came to the door. I closed the book and placed it into my bag before opening the door. I welcomed her into my room.

"Good morning, I hope you had a nice rest. I'll show you around town and then I'll take you to Raven's bakery for some breakfast," she said smiling.

"That really isn't necces-", I began.

"I insist. Besides, if I'm the one showing you around then they are more likely to trust you," she interrupted as she took my arm in hers and walked me downstairs. "I already fed Marina earlier this morning, so you don't have to worry." I raised my brow and she laughed. She walked me out of the inn and down the street. We had barely walked ten paces when a man ran up to me and seized me by the shoulders, but it was his visage that surprised me most of all. He was a scarlet red color. The entirety of his eyes were blue and he had horns that curl behind his ears through his dark hair.

"Océane! Où étiez-vous? On m'a dit que tu étais mort!", he shouted in my face. He looked frantic, so I stepped out of his grip.

"Océane est ma mère. Je suis Léonie. Qui es-tu?'' I retorted, trying to keep the peace. I hadn't realised how much I looked like my mother. We had the same crimson hair and the same nose, but that was where my similarity to my mother ended. She had much darker skin and a scar flecked face. She was much thinner than I was as well. Her friends called me voluptuous to my face and 'heavy' behind my back when I was young, although wasn't even remotely overweight.

"Aoibhín, what are you doing with this girl?", the scarlet man asked her. She shrugged and shook her head. She gave him a tight lipped smile and gave me and hopeful smile.

I began, "My mother is dead. She was burned to death by some humans in order to let me escape," I took a breath to steady myself. I hadn't said it since. "I escaped to a nearby town and lived there for a week until things calmed down. I went back home and put things into order. Then the men discovered that I was still living there and I had to run. Now I will ask again, who are you?", I responded. The man looked stricken and I felt terrible for being as rude as I was, but what had been done would not be erased. So, I waited for his reply.

"I am Wyot. I was a friend of your mother's when I was young. I am sorry to hear that you have lost her. Might I accompany you?", he rushed. I smiled at him and then looked down having for some reason a very keen interest in my boots. I nodded and we went around town and Aoibhín explained to me where everything was and told me all of the gossip that she could remember.

I stayed in the town for several days and lived as one of the residents. I walked into the inn after healing and young boy's arm after he fell out of a tree. I took a bath and then settled into sleep.

I awoke to the smell of smoke and an intense heat burned around. I was in my mother's bed in the cottage that I had shared with her. Men were shouting outside, and I dressed in a hurry. I ran rampant around the cottage searching for an exit I had just reached the door when a rafter collapsed and trapped me under it. I tried pushing off of myself, but it burned my hands. I screamed for anyone, for someone to just help me. I screamed for my mother and cursed the men who had trapped me here I started to seize and I heard a man calling my name.