The Witch of Northester

A Sign that we can't Unsee

I keep running through the woods, unsure as to where I'm going. I can hear Northester behind me, but I can't get over what I had just watched.

Has it all been a lie? Had Fresca been in on it the whole time? Did she know? Did her mother know?

Did Kelan know?

Confusion has warped my brain, fragmenting my thoughts in a thousand parts. I feel as if I never knew anything. That even though I was a healer, and a gifted one at that, for all the smarts I thought I had it turns out I've been the fool. I'm no less naive than a young child.

That same young child, who didn't understand the perspective of an entire town could be skewed beyond comprehension. I've been lied to again and again, betrayed again and again...

And I feel like I have nothing and noone left.

"There she is!" I hear the voices, and know I've been spotted.

There's no way I can outrun them, but I have to try. My feet continue to stumble, and my breath comes out in short puffs against the nighttime cold. I bump into a large form and know I've been caught. Hands catch on my arms and I look up to see who has caught me in their grasp-

"Kelan!"

Only, it's not Kelan. The kindness is gone from his eyes. "I'm sorry to have to do this to you," he muttered.

I looked confused, but as soon as the others catch up, surrounding us in a ring, I realize what he's about to do. The gravity of the situation falls on me, like my head being slammed on an anvil, awaiting the blow to come. "No-"

"We have her!" Kelan shouted. "There's nowhere to go!"

"She HAS been using witchcraft!" The reverend hollered. "The stone, my girl! Produce the stone that we might dispose of it."

I shook my head, looking up to Kelan pleadingly. "You searched my home yourself. I don't have it."

He glared down at me, hardly the man I remembered days or even mere moments ago. "Lies."

"It was in my jewelry box! Surely you checked there. It's gone!"

"We must look for ourselves!"

And they dragged me all the way back to my house, Kelan's hand tightening on my arm. "What do you think you are doing?"

"One final atempt to get what I came for."

And I realize something. "You never intended to help your mother...did you?"

He didn't answer.

"You meant to take the stone for yourself!"

Silence.

"But WHY?"

"Why would anyone give away the stone that gives immortal life," he breathed.

I would've laughed if the time weren't so serious. We stand before my home, and I watch as it is ravaged again by strangers, by those people I had once hoped to win over. I wince as I hear windows shatter, wooden furniture being thrown around inside. My home. Mom's home.

"You still believe in that, huh?" I asked quietly.

"Would I have come back here if I didn't?"

"You're wasting your time." I shook my head. "Noone and nothing can grant eternal life on this world. It's against the moral code."

"And I'm an immoral person," he looked to me, grinning evilly. "Wouldn't you say?"

I flinched, but he pulled me tighter to him, closer, his teeth grazing my ear as he hissed in a gravelly voice, "You're a might pretty lass to be watching hanging at the end of my rope. If I didn't know any better, you might fare better as a corpse than a woman in my sheets."

I grimaced, trying to fight him off to which he threw his head back and laughed.

"There's nothing inside." The men came back out of the house. "What do we do now?"

Kelan looked from me to them. "Burn it."

I wanted to object, but I knew there was no point. I watched with a heavy heart as they lit the four corners of my home on fire, which caught flame faster than even I expected. We all stood in front of the blaze for several minutes, the men whooping and hollering and my tears silently falling.

This was going to be a long night, even if it didn't already feel like an eternity now.

"What about her?" They motioned.

The reverend raised his arms, approaching me with a look that might resemble solace, but I knew it to be false. "Do you recant, child?"

I scowled. "From WHAT?"

"From...your life? From being gifted. Even, dare I say...being born." He sneered, "Since you carry the blood of a witch."

This is too far. Convincing me to feel guilty for my birthright? My blood. I stepped forward, looking him straight in the eye and said the words I knew would solidify my death warrant- "Go to hell."

The men behind him cursed, muttered, and moaned.

Kelan murmured at my side, "I believe the lady has spoken."

And the reverend turned to the others before shouting, "To the Gallows Tree!"