Witch In The Wild

She peered through the thick green foliage, barely allowing herself to breathe. The birds had stopped singing. The animals that had been scampering about suddenly scurried off. She waited with her arrow nocked and ready. The brush in the distance was rustling. Then she saw the man, not even trying to hide his approach. When he was within range, she pulled back on the bowstring and let her arrow fly, whispering a prayer for the Air to let it fly true. The arrow went through the eye slit of the soldier’s helmet. Dead before he hit the ground, he never even saw it coming. She waited to be sure that there had been no one else following behind him then, quietly slid out of the tree. She yanked the arrow out of his face, gagging slightly when his eyeball came with it. She cleaned the weapon on his cloak and took his sword with her. She couldn’t afford to lose any arrows. She kept moving. She had to get out of Shoniel before they caught her.

Just a moon ago, she had been like the other girls in her village. At twelve, she was beginning to be interested in boys. Dalen had been her friend since they were small. They had spent countless hours playing together under her mother’s pear tree. She had just started to realize that she thought he was cute but wasn’t sure she wanted anything to change between them. She had thought there was plenty of time. No matter me would expect her to be married before she was at least sixteen anyway. Dalen was her best friend, and he had died for her. His only crime was that he had helped her escape.

Carys had prepared for this her whole life but had hoped she would never need to use the skills her father had taught her. He had taught her to fight. Not that she was all that skilled at it, but it was enough that she could hold her own long enough to get away, especially when they weren’t expecting it from a little girl. She was small for her age so, most people thought she was younger. Her father had taught her to shoot an arrow as well. He took her with him when he hunted for food. Her mother had been like any mother should be. She had loved and nurtured her. She had taught her to cook and clean and sew. Everything an ordinary girl should know. Carys had loved her parents, and they had died for her as well.

They had taken their chances staying on the outskirts of the village when they discovered what Carys was. They would have probably been better off living in the wilderness by themselves. If anyone found out her secret, they could betray her to the King. Which must have been what happened. A traveler must have seen her when she had thought she was alone. Otherwise, word would have spread through the village like wildfire. She couldn’t think of any other way the soldiers would have known. It’s not like the King would have employed a witch to find her. Now the soldiers had razed the entire village for harboring her.

King Bertol was a very insecure man. He was terrified of witchcraft. There were indeed some very dangerous witches out there, but he had taken his fear too far. He had outlawed witchcraft in the kingdom. Anyone even suspected of being a witch was put to death, even the harmless hedge witches who brewed medicines to help the people. By law, her parents should have killed her as soon as they knew because Carys was a witch. She couldn’t cast spells against people like turning them into toads or anything, but her abilities fell under the laws against witchcraft. She could control the elements.

Her parents had discovered her abilities when her they found her playing with a salamander by the fireplace as a toddler. It was not the run-of-the-mill salamander from the forest. No, this one had wandered directly out of the fire. Then there were the times when the winds would whip around their cottage when she was upset. Her parents had taught her to calm her emotions, to separate the part that controlled the elements from the rest of her so by the time she was old enough to attend school, she wouldn’t cause any strange reactions if she got upset. Most of her use of the elements was by instinct. With no other natural witches around to teach her, she was entirely on her own to learn how to use it. By the time they came for her, the entire village was benefitting from her presence. Their gardens grew more robust and more abundant. There was never too much or too little rain. No one went hungry.

Now Carys was running for her life. If she could only get across the border, she might have a chance at survival, but she still had a long way to travel. Not all of the route was wooded. She would have to be out in the open at times. That was when she was in the most danger. Whenever she could, Carys walked through waterways to throw off her scent for the soldiers’ dogs trying to sniff her out. She had hoped that after being on the run for a whole moon that they would have given, up but she still kept narrowly escaping.

At one point, she had reached the Ashwell River. It was flowing quickly, engorged from recent heavy rains. Carys was trying to figure out how to get across when she heard the sound of horses approaching. She was pretty sure the men’s voices she heard were soldiers. Whoever they were, they were looking for her. She knew if she jumped in the river, she wouldn’t drown. The Water would protect her, but she would end up damaging her bow and arrows and her supplies. And the swift waters would drag her a good way down the river in the wrong direction before she managed to get across. She looked up into the trees. The river was slightly more narrow there, the trees nearly touching on both sides. Carys quickly climbed the tree directly behind her. She was pretty sure, while it would be difficult, the horses could make it across the river. As engorged as the river was, she wished there was more water to make it more difficult for her pursuers. Suddenly a surge of water flowed down the river flooding the entire area. She scrambled as far towards the tree on the other side of the river as she could. She reached towards the tree even though she knew it was a little too far away. She hoped the branch she was on wouldn’t break. The other limb began moving towards her, widening as it grew. Soon Carys was climbing down the other tree and running as far away as she could. The fact that she had just called up a flood frightened her. What else could she do? Not that she would ever use these abilities against innocent people. If she had just been allowed to live her life in peace, she probably never even would have figured this out.

Carys was heading towards the Draconae Mountain range that formed the western border of the kingdom. They were rugged mountains, difficult to climb but impossible for anyone to follow on horseback. And once she was on the other side, she’d be free. Of course, she’d have to avoid the dragons as well, which led to the name for them. The mountains, riddled with their lairs, were. Even though they were familiar with humans, she didn’t exactly trust their riders not to allow them to eat her. She was finally nearing the base of the mountains. Unfortunately, she would have to cross a vast plain to get there.

She skirted the forest as long as she could before setting off across the plain. Carys kept herself as low to the ground as possible, hoping the tall grasses would hide her. She moved along slowly, cursing the amount of time it would to take her to get to the mountains at this speed. She could see a dragon flying high above her.

Carys was about halfway across the plain when she heard a horse whinny from a distance, followed by the sound of several hooves pounding the ground. She straightened up and took off running. As the horses galloped nearer, she knew she wasn’t going to make it. She was so close to the mountains. So close to freedom. Carys turned towards her pursuers, holding her hands out towards them. She said a prayer to the Earth to delay them, turning to run without waiting to see if it worked. The sounds of the horses struggling gave her some hope. If she had looked back, she would have seen them tripping over holes that suddenly opened in the ground or plants that grew up under their hooves to entangle them.

Suddenly she heard the piercing screech of the dragon. The horses began to scream and panic. She felt a presence above her as the dragon’s shadow covered her, becoming more prominent by the moment. She tried to throw herself to the side, but there was no escape. She let out a shriek as the dragon’s talons wrapped around her waist. The razor-sharp tips stopped short of piercing her skin, but the dragon had her locked tight in his grip. Her stomach churned as the flying lizard lifted high into the sky. She wasn’t sure if she was more terrified at becoming its meal or at being dropped from this height.

She watched as the mountains rapidly approached and braced to be dashed to pieces on the rocks as the dragon landed on a ledge high up on the peak. Carys was surprised when the dragon held its arm up as it landed and set her gently on her feet. She reversed until her back was to the sheer stones of the mountainside as soon as the claws released her. The dragon just looked at her curiously. Carys shouldn’t have been so surprised. Animals had always been at ease around her. She had assumed it was because of her abilities as if the animals viewed her to be a part of nature.

The rider slid down from his saddle and patted the dragon. He was a slightly grizzled older man with short brown hair shot with grey. His dark eyes surveyed Carys with interest.

The man didn’t look entirely friendly. Who knows, maybe they were saving her for a dragon snack later, or worse. She glanced around for something she could use to protect herself. It was very rocky up there. She could cause a rockslide if needed, but she didn’t want to get that drastic. The dragon turned away from her for a moment to snort out a spark. That was enough for Carys. She pulled the spark towards her and created a ball of flame in each hand, fully prepared to throw the fire at the man. She didn’t like herself very much at the moment. There had been too many moments of using her abilities to hurt people, but her survival was more important.

“Whoa. There’s no need for that.” The rider said. “I can see why the soldiers are after you. You have nothing to fear from us. We aren’t exactly the King’s biggest supporters. He fears dragons nearly as much as witches. You can hide out here as long as you need to. Gareth will eat any soldiers that try to get up here.”

Carys contemplated his offer then let the flames die. She was exhausted. She didn’t entirely trust the man, but she wasn’t without defenses. She nodded her consent, not realizing what their acquaintance would bring to her future.