the children run their hands on Bane’s, Colten’s wolf, head. He tilts to the side, enjoying the scratch. I chuckle as his back legs lifts and begins to scratch at air. Hudson is off to the side, leaning on a crudely made fence, watching them intently. I never thought I would be standing in Witches Rest while children pat a wolf’s head, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.
I walk past them with Belldame, smiling at the children as they giggle with Colten’s licks. Patting his head as I pass, sadness fills me as I wonder if Runa would have loved the attention had we not gone through what we did.
Crossing a bridge to stroll along the dirt path, I take in the gloomy beauty of the witches home. It may be waterlogged, and the ground soggy in places, but the bright, purple flowers of the plants wrapping around the trees and the small sounds of the bugs make me feel close to the lands. The white mist floats high above us, which I now know is the barrier around the home for protection, doesn’t stop the warmth of the sun hitting my cheeks.
“How are you with your wolf, child?” Belldame asks, taking a turn to another path. We’re searching for the last ingredient needed for a spell that will hopefully get these damn cuffs off my wrists. I’ve been helping to gather the last items while I process over the last week with everything Belldame had told me. I have read my mom’s letter multiple times a day, just wanting to feel closer to her whilst everything swirls around inside my head that has happened. It’s a gift I will treasure for as long as I live, not only hearing her last words to me, but also seeing them.
I’ve been somewhat in a state of shock about the knowledge I have learned. Barely speaking and being generally quiet around everyone, even when they try to engage with me in conversations. My mind has been a mess of grief and anger over everything that has happened and all we have lost, but I’m determined to press on, to do what I vowed to the Gods.
“My wolf?” I glance over at her. “Runa is fine, she can be a bit grumpy, but we’re okay, most of the time.” She perks her ears up within me, huffing before rolling onto her back, her eyes falling shut.
Using her tall stick to help her, Belldame trudges up a small hill as I follow behind her, ready to catch her if she slips. She may be an older woman who can move easily if she wants to, but I don’t want to see her hurt. She has told me so much about my mom, stories and mischief they used to get up to. I feel closer to her than I have in a long time, and I love hearing Belldame talk about her, it feels like she is still with us.
“I don’t mean inside,” she tuts at me. “I mean when you call her out.”
Oh. “She’s only been out once.”
Belldame comes to an abrupt stop and turns toward me sharply, her violet eyes filled with shock. “Once?” she repeats, and I nod, looking down as shame washers over me. “Why has she only been out once?”
I pinch my lower lip and continue to walk down the other side of the small hill. It’s just about the beginning of summer now, and the slight, warm breeze that gently caresses me is a testament to that. The trees are droopy over here, swaying to their own breeze. I reach the bottom and wait for Belldame before she leads me to a bridge to cross the murky water below.
“I was fourteen,” I start, looking over the wooden railing to the water. “She came earlier than normal. I was shocked, but I welcomed her. I think she came when I needed her the most.” I watch the water rush underneath the bridge, concentrating on the ripples as fish pop their heads out.
A hand on my arm makes me pause as she brings me to a stop. Her eyes are soft and full of concern. “Why did she come when you needed her most?” I look away from her prying eyes and lean against the railing, my eyes scanning the lily pads and reeds that grow along the bank. Small, winged insects float above the water as I wonder how to answer. “Tell me, child.”
I squeeze the wood beneath my hands and blow out a slow breath, my eyes unseeing. “They took me,” I eventually whisper, and I hear her suck in a sharp breath, coming to stand next to me. “They came to our house. Dad was missing, Mom and I were alone. She tried to fight them off, trying to help me so I could run. But they got us anyway, there were too many of them.” My grip tightens at the memory. “It was my fault.”
“How could it possibly be your fault?” I feel her gaze on me, but I continue to look out over the water.
“I was playing in the woods a few days before. I overheard something.” Memories flash before my eyes, hearing them, running, the wolf, telling my parents what I heard.
“What?”
“They said it was time to move things forward, they had waited long enough, and Mom wasn’t going to accept his offer. I don’t know what he offered Mom, but I didn’t like this man. He was…. dangerous, and had an air about him that you knew was just wrong. He said it was now or never and he needed to get Mom. I turned to go home and I stepped on a branch, crunching it. They heard, both of them looking at me but I couldn’t see their faces because of their hooded cloaks. I ran. They chased me, shouting at me to stop.”
“Did you manage to get home?”
“Yeah, a dark wolf with two tails came out of nowhere from the trees and there was a person there.” I laugh. “I’m not sure if I just imagined it, but neither the wolf, nor the other person came for me, instead they went in the direction of those hooded men.”
“A wolf with two tails? That’s interesting.” She brings the tall stick in front of her as we both watch a yellow cilo bird lands on the bank on its long legs, its black beak dipping into the water.
“It is, I think I must have imagined it in my panic. I was so scared.”
“What happened when you got home, did you tell your mom?” she asks.
“I did, she said everything was going to be okay and hugged me so tightly. She made dinner, we ate as a family, and I went to bed. I heard Mom and Dad speaking though, but I don’t know what about. It was like that for a few days and then one day, Dad didn’t come back, and they came.”
“Who?” she questions.
“The Highers.”
She curses under her breath. “Rat bastards.” I nod.
“Charles had been around since I was little, but when I saw him grab Mom by her hair and start to drag her away, I knew right then what a horrible man he was. Afterward, I learned even more of just how sick and twisted Charles’s mind really was.
“Where did they take you?”
“Our basement. They knocked me out and when I woke up, I was in a cage.” She goes to grab my hand quickly and I can’t suppress the little flinch I make with the memories rushing through me.
“Oh, child.” I shake my hand out and open my palm to her, apologizing with my gaze. Her weathered hand falls into mine and she squeezes gently, her warmth calming me, and I give her a small smile.
I don’t speak about my time in the basement with anyone, only Josh, as he saw the state I was in when he helped me escape, but with Belldame it comes out a little, like I’ve known her forever. I guess I feel close to her because she was close to my mom. We have formed a bond quickly from that. So much so, that I have told her about Eridian, the people that lived there and what our life had been like.
“They hurt me a lot, especially when Runa came out. She hasn’t been out since. I’ve gotten much better with being touched now, and I need it at times. At first, I would scream when anyone came near me apart from Josh or Kade, folding in on myself wanting to hide. Over the years, Josh, Kade and Josie,” I choke out her name, tears stinging the back of my eyes. I push them back. “Josie helped me so much with it. I could never repay her, and now I never can.”
Belldame turns me toward her, bringing her hands to my cheeks. “You strong, brave girl.” A tear escapes and she wipes it away with a soft touch. “They will pay for what they did,” she swears vehemently, and I squeeze my eyes shut and nod. “Now is the time, child. Show them the Heir of Zahariss and The Bielsorcia will be right behind you. It’s time the Highers were disbanded, and their heads stuck on a pike.” Her small growl makes me chuckle.
“So bloodthirsty,” I whisper through a smile.
She grins, all teeth. “I am a Blood Witch after all, child. What do you expect?” We continue walking across the bridge and further into the droopy trees. Light shines through the canopy of leaves above, making the dew on the ground sparkle.
“Why do the Highers want to kill Blood Witches on sight?” I wonder.
“Many believe it’s because we are dangerous, which we can be of course, but can’t anyone?” I nod. “The real reason is because we have an alliance with the wolf Gods and they know that, and we have refused to align ourselves with the Highers. They don’t like that of course, and therefore decided to kill any that they see out in the lands and not protected here.” Of course they did. Dickheads. “They don’t like the fact they can’t control us, use us as they see fit like their own witches, and their Elites.”
At the mention of the Elites my stomach turns, my mind instantly going to Darius. The male who can give me a boyish smile, and then harden his eyes as he holds a whip. The male that made me confused by the look in his eye as he mouthed a single word to me.
He’s the Heir of Cazier, my counterpart. Are the Highers going to start training him in some way? I doubt they could control him if he didn’t want to do something, but he was in The Deadlands on their order. Now that both of our Heir status is out in the open, I wonder what he will do, apart from hunting me that is. I assumed he kept hidden for the same reason I had, survival. But did I get it all wrong if the Highers knew?
“The Elites will be a problem for me and mine,” I tell her. “I need to get Kade, Sarah, and the rest of my pack, but I’m not strong enough. If I had my Heir power, I feel I could stand a chance, but it’s not there.” I kick a booted foot through the blades of grass.
“Those cuffs of yours are suppressing your power. I was amazed you even managed to use any power at all with them on. It must have been because it was the first time it came through in a long time, and you got a huge surge of it. When we get those cuffs off, the real test will come in taming it. We also need to get that wolf of yours out.”
Runa stirs inside of me again, rolling on her belly and cocking her head. Will she come out? She hasn’t in years so I doubt she will. “I don’t think she will ever come out again. Her first experience was awful.”
“She just needs a little nudge, or a forceful shove. You need to be fully connected to your wolf to reach your full potential, whatever that may be. You cannot be of use to anyone without doing so, and I say that kindly. It will take time of course, but time is not on our side.”
“It is not.” I feel like life hangs in the balance, it’s like I can sense it in the very air I breathe.
“What do you know of the Vahaliel?”
“The plane of the Gods?” I ask, startled. She nods. “It is a myth, just stories my mom used to tell me as a child to go to sleep.” She would tell me of wolves running freely though blossoms, chasing them before resting under a large tree that was as big as the sky.
“It is very real.”
“How do you know?” I wonder.
“Heirs before you have told me of it, but not of its location.” I wonder if Mom went there.
“It’s strange they had their own place?”
“I don’t think that, even Gods need their rest. It is said to be that which is between these lands and the ones below, and that Cazier and Zahariss used to spend a lot of time in there, as that was the only place they could be together for longer periods of time.”
“It’s sad that Cazier couldn’t be with his mate, I imagine it would have been difficult.”
“You would be correct.” I follow behind her, watching my step. “Though I suspect they wouldn’t change it, regardless of their circumstances. Nothing worth fighting for is an easy battle, an easy route to take. If you have to crawl and scratch and bite to get there, then so be it.” She looks over her shoulder at me and I swallow, looking away. I feel her words are meant for me, but I’m not ready to digest them yet.
She shuffles forward and looks below a hollowed-out tree trunk. “Ahh, here it is.”
I look over her shoulder and see a small bunch of yellow flowers with drops of black, like water flowing from them. “What are they?”
“These, child.” She plucks three stems and puts them gently in her satchel. “Are the Crying Forever flower. Rare, but full of properties that break bindings.” She nods to my cuffs. “Now let’s get back and prepare, and hope we can get those cuffs off of you.”
