MARBLE & SALT (Lesbian)

Chapter 5 (Part 2) HARE HOPPING

Closer to the Green Navel, more and more witches are seen on our way, but the marble-eyed girl has stopped dragging me and was walking relaxed, letting go of my hand to the great pleasure of her apprentice who, like a mad squirrel, was spinning around us. Nobody really paid attention to me: the witches greeted us, nodded or simply passed us by, carried away by a conversation with their friends. The atmosphere seemed somehow not very sabbatical, more like a get-together in a spiritual recreation park. Many came down the hill and formed small groups, sitting in a circle; some witches were sitting separately, cross-legged with their eyes closed as if meditating in the bosom of nature.

"Maybe everything is not so bad and scary?" I thought, calming myself. "They seem quite nice. The witch probably shouldn't have been worried about me. Although, it is unlikely that she was worried about me." Feeling a little more at ease, I began to look at the witches at my leisure. There were many of them, and they were different: dark-skinned and fair-skinned, short and tall, thin, curvy, athletic. In general, all sorts of forms and shapes, but they were all united by two things that instantly caught the eye: the women were young, not older than thirty-five, and insanely attractive, like actresses from foreign films.

"I want this over as soon as possible," my witch mutters as we get closer to the top of the hill.

I do not share her mood, as I still want to see something really witchy – a flying broomstick, for example, or boiling cauldrons with a multi-colored potion, but so far, I have not noticed anything like that. But wait... What is this?

At the very top, I notice a blue flame that began to appear out of nowhere and form a perfect sphere. Several women are standing in a circle, examining the contents with a thoughtful look – some of them shake their heads, someone rubs their chin. It all looks like a council of doctors gathered at patient's bed.

A few meters from the "council" there is a real throne that looks like an old bone. In the dark, I would not even have noticed it, if not for the light from the appeared sphere. A woman is sitting majestically on the throne, observing everyone from the height of her place. Her back is straight and flexible, and her clothes are light and long, just like her black hair, they are pouring down to her knees in a waterfall.

"Look after her!" the witch casually throws her command to the apprentice and leaves Mika and me alone.

"Where is she going?" I ask, watching the witch, folding her arms on her chest as if chilled. She's stiffly heading towards the throne.

"None of your business! You shouldn't be here at all! The mistress has enough trouble without you, human."

"Hey Mika! Come to us! We need one more witch for the spell," the apprentice is called by several witches who have perched near some small boulders.

"I can't," Mika mumbles with disappointment in her voice. "Mistress ordered to protect her... familiar."

"Damn this familiar. She is always changing them. I'll bring her another one if something happens to this," the dark silhouette says.

"Mika, why is she so strange? She doesn't look like a shifter at all," another silhouette asks.

"Exactly! She has been here for a while, but she keeps her human form."

"Yeah, it's just creepy. Is she under a spell or what?"

"Does your teacher want to make a human out of her shape-shifter?"

The witches burst into laughter, and everything inside me is trembling, "What if they understand who I am? I can't expect help from Mika: she would rather hand me over to them, and then, when they finally find my strangled corpse, she will say that she did everything she could."