The Witches of Cedar Spice

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. The dainty village of Cedar Spice was draped in an opaque, lavender mist that blanketed the ground. The mist lingered until the sun emerged from its refuge, rising in glowing ascension from behind the mountains. While the villagers slept, the witches of Cedar Spice restored balance and harmony.

Agrona and Tashina stood beside a steaming cauldron filled with a thick, plum-colored liquid. Vapor rose from the cauldron, winding its way around tree branches, and finally blending with the clouds. Dionisia, Anuli, and Skuld held hands, forming a circle around the cauldron. The vapor was warm as it caressed their faces, rising through the middle of their small circle. Anuli began chanting in her soft, melodious tone. Dionisia’s tinkling lilt joined Anuli’s and was followed by Skuld’s deeper voice. Their utterances rose with the steam as they chanted faster and louder.

Agrona and Tashina stepped a few feet away from the other three witches. They weren’t needed for this particular part of the spell. They were experts in potions, whereas Anuli, Dionisia, and Skuld, were accomplished in spell casting.

Tashina glanced at Agrona, her chocolate brown eyes brimming with tears. She twirled a piece of her black hair around her finger nervously.

“What is it, Tashina?” Agrona asked.

“It’s little Kate. I can’t keep her content, and I am beginning to worry that I am simply losing my power. I am supposed to bring comfort to our people. I have never failed before, Agrona. What if it is my time? I am nearing 500 witch years.”

Agrona placed her hand on Tashina’s shoulder and gave her a comforting smile. “No. I don’t believe that your magic is getting weak. The girl is strong. She has stronger blood than the rest in the village. She is different. I suspect that she has the witches’ blood running through her veins. She is one of us. And as to your age, dear, you are young still. I am nearing 950. You have plenty of time left.” Agrona smiled and her pale green eyes twinkled.

“I can’t keep her curiosity at bay. She wants to know what is outside. There has not been a new witch since Dionisia, and that was 300 years ago. Why now? After so many generations?” asked Tashina.

Agrona looked pensive as the wind blew strands of her dark auburn hair across her face. “There used to be other villages just like ours. They were maintained by other covens. Somewhere along the way, it is possible that children were born of one witch, and one human parent. The magic is often subdued for generations, and I have seen a full three centuries pass before another witch is born.”

Tashina gawked at Agrona. “You think we will have another sister for the coven?”

“I am not yet certain that she is one of us. I have a gut feeling, but that is all. Watch her closely, gather more information on her,” Agrona said.

Tashina gave a sharp nod, and sauntered back to Anuli, Dionisia, and Skuld. They had completed the spell and Dionisia and Skuld were discussing one of the villagers, Eric Ashman.

Skuld made her opinion known of Dionisia’s craft. “I know you are to make them enjoy pleasure, but this man is skirting all of his responsibilities because of his love for wine. Yes, Dionisia, I know he seems happy when he is drunk, but he is also battling depression when he is not drunk. I have to place the importance of responsibility in his mind every night now. And Anuli has to visit him as well, to sprinkle happiness over his soul. Stay away from Eric, or you will disturb the harmony even further.”

Dionisia rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she whined.

Anuli lent her opinion. “Maybe we shouldn’t be controlling them at all. It seems wrong.”

“I agree with Anuli,” Tashina said.

Agrona and Skuld were emphatically shaking their heads. Dionisia perched on a moss-covered log with her jug of mulberry wine.

Agrona spoke to all, looking each of them in the eye. “It would be madness if we didn’t maintain the balance. You have seen what they can do to each other. It is their nature. They are a danger to themselves. We do what we must.”

Skuld clasped hands with Anuli and seemed sympathetic. “She is right. She is the oldest and wisest of us, and she knows best. It has been this way for centuries. To change now, would be to bring destruction and suffering to our people.”

Agrona looked at her sister Skuld and smiled as she said, “Now is not the time to be discussing matters that cannot be changed. On my nightly rounds, I have seen bright lights from the forest beyond the fence. At first it was just one or two faint glows, but they have grown brighter and multiplied. There are close to twenty out there now. Tonight, I must venture outside of our walls. I don’t have a clue what it could be, but it could be a threat and must be assessed as such.”

Agrona gestured to each witch in turn as she told them of their jobs for the night. “Tashina, stay close by Kate; Skuld, Anuli, pay your visit to Eric; Dionisia, visit old Ms. Payne, give her something to keep her unnecessary worries at bay, and stay away from Eric! I will make my way to the perimeter. I will send a message if I need help. Good luck.”

Agrona sprinted toward the palisade, her long russet hair flowing behind her as she ran, and her velvet cloak whipping in the wind. She reached her destination and didn’t hesitate but bounded over the fence in one quick leap. On the other side, she crouched, her daggers pulled from their sheathes and poised in a defensive position. She squinted into the darkness and saw nothing.

She crouched perfectly still for a few more moments, and then the lights appeared. They weren’t flashing tonight, but instead they hovered among the trees, not moving. They resembled menacing eyes. They had more than doubled in number tonight. Thirty pairs of eyes were scattered and smoldering among the trees.

Agrona had never encountered anything like this. She started sidling deeper into the black forest. The eyes began to move fast. She hazarded a look behind her and saw that the eyes had already formed a circle, closing her in, and blocking her way back to the village. They moved closer, making the circle tighter.

Agrona’s heart stuttered. She was strong, but she was not entirely immortal. She was extremely hard to kill, but if a force stronger than herself were to come with the violent intent, she may not be able to fight it off. She was afraid that her greatest fear, of failing the village, had come to fruition.

She didn’t want the others involved in this, but she had to at least warn them. She sent a message to the others, riding on the wings of a spell she uttered, telling them that she would be okay and not to come looking for her; telling her sisters to protect the villagers, because something sinister was in the woods.

Agrona searched for a break in the circle of eyes. There was a small opening where she could possibly dart through, if she was quick enough. That way led deeper into the dark forest, but she had no other option.

She dashed for the break in the circle. She saw the things that the eyes were attached to, and she shuddered. She had never seen anything like this before. They looked human, but where skin should be, they were shiny, silver metal. When she tried to break free of them, the metal humans made odd, jerky movements to snatch her. She sliced with her knife and heard a scraping noise as it grated across metal. The eyes focused on her and began glowing red.

Agrona ran and she didn’t look back. She heard a strange, low humming behind her. If she made it to the warded meadow, she would be safe. The magic line would not let anything inside the meadow that meant harm to the witch it protected. The wards surrounding the meadow were ancient magic and they did not fade over time.

Agrona could feel the things gaining on her. She was almost to the wards now. With a burst of speed, she made it over the line to the protected meadow. She sat down hard on a boulder in the middle of the clearing, facing the oncoming metal beings, and catching her breath. The unfamiliar monstrosities approached the line but did not cross. They stood erect and silent. There were only five of the things standing at the edge of the meadow. There had been more than that. Where did they go?

The village was in trouble, but if Agrona stepped one foot outside of the witches’ meadow she would perish.

Tashina received the message from Agrona as it slithered into her ear. She heard the fear in Agrona’s voice.

Tashina had been following Kate when the message came. The little girl had been creeping along the fence line for over an hour now. She seemed to be looking for something; she moved with purpose. Tashina would have to figure all of that out later. She had to find the others now.

Tashina hurried to the spot Agrona had mentioned earlier. Anuli and Skuld should be finished at Eric Ashman’s house by now and heading back to their home in the forest on the south side of the village. They would have heard the message from Agrona at the same time she had, and they would then double-back and make their way to the north side of the fence, where Agrona had gone.

Dionisia wouldn’t have had to spend much time at old Mrs. Payne’s adobe hut. The woman was certifiable. When Mrs. Payne walked along the winding dirt roads, she ranted of portentous events soon to come. “Could she have been right all along?” Tashina pondered.

The last time that any of the sisters had been outside of the fence was the year 1692, in the midst of the witch trials. Tashina tried to keep track of time, but it was hard when your life span could stretch beyond one thousand years. She was fairly certain that the year was now close to 2100. She supposed that a lot could change in 400 years.

She spotted Dionisia walking briskly back toward home. Tashina sprinted over to her, questioning in her eyes as she asked her, “Where are you going? Didn’t you get Agrona’s message?”

Tashina took in Dionisia’s appearance and realized that something was wrong. Dionisia appeared to be dazed and her hair was a matted mess. Streaks of what looked like blood painted her arms. Dionisia rubbed her hands up and down her arms self-consciously.

Dionisia stared at the ground and answered Tashina in a whisper, “I was looking for you. Let’s go.”

As they continued on their way to the palisade Tashina asked, “How did everything go with Ms. Payne?”

Dionisia hesitated a moment. “I hadn’t made it to her house yet when Agrona’s message came.”

“Where have you been this whole time?”

“I had to make a quick stop over on the east side of the village. Another worrier. You know how it is.”

When Dionisia and Tashina arrived at the bulwark, Anuli and Skuld were there waiting for them.

“Eric wasn’t in his home,” Skuld told Tashina. “How is that possible, unless someone moved him? He should have been sleeping. Where is he?”

“Kate wasn’t asleep either. The spell didn’t work on her this time. I don’t know if it’s because our magic is getting weaker or because there is something odd about the child. Things are not going as planned tonight,” Tashina said.

The witches peered anxiously into the darkness through a small hole in the fence. They saw the glowing lights that Agrona had told them about, but they did not see Agrona. They backed away from the hole in the fence and noticed Tashina staring at something on the cobblestones. There was a mysterious, black lump lying motionless a few yards away.

Dionisia ambled over to the lump on the ground. When she was within two feet of the lump, she shrieked. “It’s Eric! There’s so much blood!” She knelt on the ground, her head bowed as she held the dead man’s hands and sobbed.

Tashina wondered why Dionisia was so distraught. She was usually impervious to troubling matters, unlike the others, but here she was crying her heart out over a man she was supposed to stay away from.

Tashina approached to stand beside Dionisia, who didn’t acknowledge her presence, but continued to cry openly.

Tashina gaped at the mangled body of Eric Ashman. His legs were bent at unnatural angles, like he had been trying to climb the fence and fell. There was a perfectly round hole in the middle of his forehead and blood still oozed from the back of his head, sinking into the cracks in the cobblestone.

“What is this? Why is he out? He should have been sleeping,” Skuld said as she and Anuli joined them beside Eric.

“I don’t know. We have to find Agrona now,” Tashina answered.

“But… she said not to come looking for her,” Dionisia got out in between sobs.

“We have no choice. Something is happening here. We are losing all of our control in one night, and it makes no sense.”

Dionisia stood and looked Tashina in the eye, not crying anymore, but determined. “Let’s go. We will find Agrona, then hunt down and kill whatever did this to Eric.”

Anuli, Dionisia, Skuld, and Tashina vaulted over the fence and disappeared into the thick forest.

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