The Witch's Retribution

Chapter 8

No gates protected the small castle of Anura, an orange banner flying from the top of its single turret. Similar banners decorated the crowded town that Violet and Acacia tried to navigate, the cobblestones smooth and slick with water from the nearby docks. A man with a huge net of fish pushed past them, making Violet wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"This entire town smells like fish." She complained, kicking a piece of seaweed off one of her sandals. She and her sister had dismounted from their horses, tying them to a tree on the outskirts of the town. It would have been near impossible to bring them along; there was barely enough room on the crowded streets for the two women themselves.

"I like fish." Acacia said, but Violet didn't reply, still muttering about how disgusting fish were.

Merchants lined both sides of the street, some selling various fruits and meat, others selling fans and brightly colored clothing. Violet, seeing her sister's hesitation, grabbed Acacia's hand and tugged her along. She pushed past the people blocking their way, earning several annoyed glares as they passed.

After a little more shoving, they finally made it to the small bridge at the end of the street, the courtyard and castle just beyond. A heavy sword descended before them, blocking their path the moment they stepped forward. An unarmored knight glared down at them with a viciousness that most likely came from being a retired pirate. Violet recognized the battle scars on his face and arms, and though her fingers itched for the dagger strapped to her thigh, she didn't move. Beside her, Acacia tensed. She pulled out a pink fan from the bodice of her dress and spread it out in her hand in a timid, nonchalant way.

"We need to see King Char." Violet said. "It's important."

"He's not accepting any visitors." The knight sneered down at them.

"He'll accept us." Acacia spoke up in her tremulous voice, the fan at the knight's throat with a single quick motion. He swallowed as the fan pressed deeper into his throat, small red droplets dripping down to mar the beautiful pink.

"Alright. Alright!" He said. "You can go on through."

Acacia stepped back, flicking the blood off the fan with a snap of her wrist. "Thank you."

The knight moved out of their way, watching them warily as they passed. Acacia closed the fan and hid it away again, pulling up the top of her dress that had begun to slip down. Violet snickered, glancing back at the knight whose shoulders were now slumped with relief. "Did you see his face? He was terrified!"

Acacia blinked at her. "Is that good?"

Violet nodded her head, her eyes twinkling with mirth. "Let's see if Char is sober enough to speak with us."

They met no other knights in the courtyard, to their surprise, although they did pass by a few shifty servants. They didn't appear to be quite as respectable as their own servants, and Violet watched them to make sure none tried to rob them with their backs turned. The sound of raised voices had them both cringing as they entered the castle, and they followed the cracked marble corridors to the throne room where a half-drunk king sat with a crooked crown and giant belly.

A much younger man stood before the king, his tanned face red with fury. "You call yourself a king? All you do is drink and mess with those women! How many illegitimate children do you have already? And yet, you won't do anything for your own wife."

"Ex-wife." Char grumbled, but he wouldn't look the other man in the eyes.

"His son." Violet mumbled.

King Char had once been happily married with three children--two boys and a girl--but somewhere along nine or ten years ago, things turned sour. His wife and children left him to go live in a village on the edge of the kingdom, as far away from him as she could get without actually leaving. Rumor had it she claimed she would only come back after his death to make sure the kingdom ended up in the hands of its rightful heir and not one of his bastard children, which he had quite a few of. No one really knew how many. He probably didn't even know.