I traveled to the gnarled old oak tree on the large hill near Lord Fane's estate. As a child it had seemed like such a magical place, more so than the rest of the woods, and so as an adult it seemed to be the best place to find the faeries at. Now that I was this close to their lands once again, it was unsettling to sense this great lack of faeries. I took few steps past the old oak when I heard a loud cry. I turned to see what was happening and saw the sons of Lord Fane, the local nobility, throwing stones at a much younger girl with dirty brown hair and ripped old clothes curled up in to a little ball a ways into the woods.
“Get out of here, witch! Work your fell magic in some other town!” The tall, lanky one said, throwing a few stones at the cowering girl.
“Yeah! Stop doing weird stuff, witch girl!” said the shorter, fatter boy, throwing another stone as he did so.
I scowled at the pair of them. I had encountered few wicked witches in my life, and the poor girl they were tormenting seemed to be doing them no great harm. “Leave the poor girl alone!” I shouted. The two boys looked around for a moment, shrugged and threw more stones. I picked up a couple stones myself and threw them at the boys to get their attention.
Each stone pegged the back of the head of one of the boys. They dropped their stones and looked around with wild terror in their eyes. “What did you do, witch?” asked the tall one.
“I bet it was some kind of witch magic!” Said fat boy.
The girl said nothing and just quivered where she lay, curled up. I picked up two more stones and when it looked like the boys were about to start throwing stones again I pegged both boys in the small of their backs.
The boys looked around again, their terror rising. I picked up two more rocks and pegged them in the head again. “Not very fun, is it boys?” I shouted at them as I began to march up to where they were. The two boys were frozen with fear, unsure of what was going on. The girl stayed curled up where she was.
“Is that some conjuration, witch? Father says that Sir Derek is off hounding for the king, so there's not luck in trying to trick us, witch girl!” Said the fat boy, kicking some dust as the girl.
“I am no conjuration,” I said, gripping the boys by the ears and dragging them away from the girl. Once they were out of kicking range, I threw them loose. “Now, what has this poor girl done that warrants your casting stones at her?”
“She was doing witch magic!” Said tall boy.
“So you both keep saying. What particular kind of witch magic was she doing?” I asked.
“She was growing poison plants with her witch powers!” The fat boy replied. “And conjuring up evil spirits!” The tall boy nodded in agreement.
“Evil spirits and plants. And you know this how?”
“We saw them!” Said the tall boy with a smug grin.
“If you saw them, where are they now?” I asked as I looked around for the signs of evil.
“She got rid of them when she saw us coming! That's why we started throwing the rocks, so she couldn't bring them back,” said the fat boy.
“And you're quite sure of this? What type of spirit and kind of poison plant?”
“Um … devils and witch bane! Worst of the worst!” Said the fat boy, now dancing with glee.
“And you say that she destroyed the witch bane and banished the spirits?”
“Uh Huh,” they said in unison.
“Well, then a congratulations must be in order, if you really have stopped her.” I said. Their faces puffed up with pride and all notions of my having thrown rocks at them went away. “Yes, you two must be very brave, confronting such a powerful witch. I know that I certainly couldn't have defeated such a dangerous witch alone.”
