Daughter of the Healing Witch

My Mother's People

I sat up in a cold sweat, "Maman!" I whipped my head around. There was a shadow looming over me and in a panic I lit all of the lanterns in the room and flung out my fist. Wyot caught it in his palm. I realized my state of dress and pulled up my sheet to cover my night clothes. He also had just noticed this and his cheeks turned a deeper crimson color.

"I-I apologize. I just live in the house next to this building, and I heard you screaming, so I teleported in here to ensure that you weren't being tortured," he murmured abashed.

I was about to respond when we heard a scream come from outside. I made my clothes appear on my body and I pulled my wand out of the tiroir. I ran downstairs and I saw Aoibhín ran out with a small crossbow in her hand. The three of us ran out into the streets. A

woman lay there bleeding clutching a piece of parchment in her left hand, for the other one had been severed and lay just past her several paces away. Aoibhín and Wyot knelt beside her to see if anything could be done for her. I handed Aoibhín a potion and walked towards an alley between the butchers and an elderly woman's home. I vaguely heard someone speaking and I walked down the path as if I was in some sort of a trance. I saw a large figure hunched over something and I leveled my wand at him.

"Step aside or I will be forced to move you to the shadow realm," I said with all of the assuredness that I did not feel. It stood and looked at me. It had antlers like a deer and eyes like and lantern flame, and it was the last thing that I saw.

I opened my eyes and the room swayed, and then sat up and my vision cleared. I walked down stairs to the inn's parlor. Aoibhín handed me a plate and I ate faster than my mouth could process the taste. I looked to her again and the was a sickly green aura around her. I tried to remember my mother's teachings about auras.

"What are you hiding?", she sighed and shook her head. I said nothing and walked out of the inn. I walked to the alley where I found the creature and saw Wyot and another smaller Wyot standing next to him with their backs turned to me.

"Wyot?", I beckoned from the opening of the alleyway. The two Wyots whirled around. Upon their rotation I realized that neither of them were Wyot. Although, The man looked eerily similar to him and the girl could have been his sister. The woman leveled a crossbow at me and the man put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Who are you?"the man asked in a deep cool voice. I took a step back and raised my hands. I gave them what I hoped to be a comforting smile.

"My name is Léonie. I am sorry to interrupt whatever it is that you may be doing. I'll just be on my way," I said as I slowly backed out of the alley. He gave me a look that clearly said 'stop'.

"How do you know Wyot? What are you doing here?''she asked in a thick Slavic accent.

"He was friends with my mother. What I am doing is none of your concern if I am not bothering you," I retorted. She smirked and leveled the crossbow at my head. I looked her dead in the eyes.

"Do not harm her Eveina. Perhaps it is time to pay our older brother a visit," the man said. He extended his hand. "I am Nicol. Wyot is my brother. Please lead us to him, we mean you no harm."

I turned and motioned for them to follow. I stepped onto Wyot's porch and knocked on his door.

"Wyot?", I called. "It is Léonie Brodeur. I am here with your siblings." I heard the door click and Wyot stepped out. I smiled up at him and he leveled a wand at me. I barely had time to scream before I was teleported. I looked around and I saw the back of Wyot's head as he shut the door.

"Qu'est-ce que tu fais, Wyot? Qui sont-ils? Quoi-" I rushed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you- and to have brought you into this, but here we are. So, I guess that we will both have to travel together," he said as if an apology.

"Où- Where are we going?" My heart was beating faster with every second. The door bursts open.

"I guess you will have to see Léonie Brodeur", Wyot's brother said as he walked in through the splintered door. I faltered back, but then I realized there was no place to go.

"Je suis désolé, Léonie. Vraiment désolé," Wyot said looking back at me and suddenly there was a light, blinding and pure. Then we were standing in the middle of a street surrounded by people that looked, in make not manner, like Wyot and his siblings. I had the common sense not to scream.

"What is happening?" I looked to Wyot for answers. His eyes were downcast and he was now a shade of maroon. So, I looked to his brother and he sighed. Nicol, I reminded myself, his name is Nicol. "You at least owe me an explanation as to why you have brought me here. M. Nicol, can you tell me?", I rushed in a panic.

I flinched when he placed his hand on my shoulder. "It's alright. We have been looking for you for sometime. We thought you had perished with your mother. Please, come with us we can set up your lodgings in a nearby inn. Then you can meet with the King," he explained though none of it actually made sense.

"Why would I need to speak with a king? What would he need from me?''I asked Eviena and Nicol. Wyot did not appear to be very forthcoming. At this point all three siblings looked at me confused. "Am I in trouble?"