THE WITCH

 

THE WITCH

V

The sun hung low in the midlands of the Dark Forest. Its iridescent rays piercing through the furze to give off a spectacle. Ironically the Dark Forest was completely had luck-lustre and remained all the more morbid and evil. Above, the moon was covered in a scarlet hue of crimson red…a blood moon that signified rebirth.

Deep within the conclave of the Witch cult, Clarice Von Dyke was coronated as the Red Queen, the Queen Reagent of the Witch sect. Brandished with an antler crown she ruled, giving orders and overseeing all the rituals that made the secret community have life once again.

After the rituals Meryl, her handler, gave her a grand tour of the caves that stretched below the bowels of the Earth. It was an old mining cave and that was the epicenter for their practices. It was abandoned many years ago by man due to the evil spirits that lingered there.

Rumor had it that the old miners would hear voices deep within the caves. Making some of them go mad with insanity. Some went into the caves only not to emerge back to the surface stories of a tall demon eyed creature that ate the miners spread across the small city near the forest.

The people who lived close to the mine, abandoned it and its effects.

But not the witches, who had initially performed gypsy magic and had now advanced into the dark arts. The gypsy magic started by their ancestors gave birth to what is now the dark magic that they practiced today.

Back in the days of old…The gypsies wore colorful garments and had their own language, they immigrated to the Dark Forest as the small town of Rivia did not accommodate them kindly and were sought to be aliens by the people there.

Here in the Dark Forest they made their home. They would practice tarot readings, fortune telling and astronomy for men crossing through the Dark Forest who went to war and sought refuge in neighboring small towns. They would sleep in the forest only to be awoken by harrowing voices.

Some would say they were skin walkers’ others said it was ghosts.

The mayor at the time after hearing much complaints from the retired veterans, banned the forest and deemed it uninhabitable and placed a curse on the Dark Forest. Little did they not know a small community was already living there and had called it home.

Clarice von Dyke after the ceremonial sacrifice of the Red Moon crept down into the dungeons to see what kind of evil lurked in its bowels. To her shock she found the caves that looked like jail cells. Where countless women were chained to the hard rock.

She approached on of the ill-stricken women. Her skin pale like the moon and bony like a skeleton.

“What atrocities have you committed to be judged so?” the Red Queen asked.

“None, my Queen, the people that have given you the power of the Red Queen have deceived for I was once a Red Queen myself. Many have come before and many will come after you. For the Red Queen is used a powerful tool to conjure evil spirits and once that is done, they will strip you of your power and hierarchy and be thrown into the dungeons to rot like our fellow sisters…” the pale skinned woman said.

Clarice after hearing these words was shocked and could not believe her eyes.

Was she just another cog in the machine?

A pet to be used to at her own peril?

To be later discarded by her own sisters?

Later, she approached Meryl the chief priestess and confronted her with the new discovery.

“Do not ever go into the dungeons without me my Queen. The heretics will poison your mind…” she defended herself.

“Watch your tone! Need I remind you who you are talking to!” Clarice commanded.

And with that Meryl humbly asked for her leave.

 

The Knights’ Council

 

“We have word of Bravo’s demise…and came as quickly as possible” said Sir Kingsley one of the Knights council and brother to Bravos.

They all sat round a table ruminating over the news that had echoed through the walls. Bravos was dead, his body was found in the river beaten and dismaimed. This angered the great knights greatly for Bravos was an esteemed knight who would not dare hurt anyone.

“It’s those damned witches!” A voice emerged from the back of the hall.

“Order! Order! Order!” said Sir Kingsley using his hilt of his sword as a gavel.

Mummers lingered in the air and an array of confusion followed it.

“The Dark Forest is banned from the likes of men and women of Rivia. If we declare war there will be bloodshed,” said another Knight.

They sat in the town hall discussing strategies and who would be held responsible for the murder of their own. They wore their armor as if preparing for war, their shiny breast plates radiating over the dim glow of the fire with brandished sigils of the great houses of Rivia.

Some wore the sigil of a lion which was the highest rank. And that was which Bravos’ sigil. The low hum of the fire together with its crackling sound provided warmth in the small shelter of the heath. The Knights talking over each other, others shouting once again until they reached a consensus.

They must send an emissary to the Dark Forest declaring war on the witches if they did not stop the killings of innocent men. They chose Quintin a young Knight to take up the role. He was a very handsome knight square jawed and well built.

He accepted the mission with grace.

He rose as his name was called with great pride. The squirrel sigil across his chest.

He received a written role that was to be presented to the Red Queen of which they did not know who exactly it was at the time but rumor had it that Clarice Von Dyke had usurped the role after fleeing the clutches of her late husband.

Awakening the beginning of the one thousand year war against the witches and man once again.