Affinity Witch

Chapter 15: The Zurasammen Coven

After lunch, Sabrina reached the Verbinden Bridge, a wide wood and metal bridge that spanned the Neckar River. Dismounting, she patted Schön's neck, deciding to lead her over as she recalled reading how horses sometimes became scared at the different sound their footsteps made when there wasn't solid earth beneath their hooves.

"It's perfectly safe," she assured the horse, whose nostrils flared. "We'll do it together. See, everyone else is going across just fine."

Sabrina couldn't be sure, but it certainly looked like Schön purposefully watched another horse go past, deciding for herself the bridge was truly safe. Unlike the bridge near the Hexen castle, which wasn't very wide, this bridge was meant to allow the passage of numerous carts and wagons each day, transporting goods or travelers from one destination to another. Sabrina was grateful for her map, as she'd only seen the bridge once before, years ago, when she'd come here on a school outing with Maedra and Gerta.

"This is the farthest I've ever been from the castle," she continued in a low, steady voice as she and Schön began to walk. The horse's hooves rang loudly against the iron strips criss-crossing the wooden planks. "I'm glad I'm not doing it alone and that we're here together."

Schön butted her head against Sabrina's shoulder, which made her smile. "I'm also excited to visit another coven," added Sabrina, speaking more from the sheer enjoyment of feeling like someone was listening rather than an immediate need to calm Schön. "Usually everyone comes to visit us, probably because we've got so much space in the castle. But it's going to be fun seeing how other witches live. And not just witches, but warlocks, too!"

Each coven was different, and that meant the makeup of each coven was different. Some, like the Hexen, were comprised solely of female witches or those who identified as female. Other covens were home to male magic users, known as warlocks, as well as those who identified as male. And still other covens were home to anyone who could use magic, regardless of how they identified.

"I wonder why the Hexen are the way they are," mused Sabrina, glancing over the edge of the bridge at the river flowing swiftly past, small flecks of white gurgling up where the water skirted a large rock. "I know the original founders of the coven were witches who left the Schwarzwald when the Waldkonig forced them out, but I don't know much more than that."

She frowned, suddenly annoyed with herself for not knowing more about the history of the Hexen. She'd studied it in school, of course, and easily recalled the basics, such as the Waldkonig banishing all magic-users from his forest before ultimately banishing everyone, including Nichts.

The witches who had managed to escape the Schwarzwald had come upon an abandoned castle where they'd found solitude, restoring the castle to its former grandeur and creating a sanctuary for those who had been displaced from their homes in the Black Forest.

But she didn't know why the Hexen was arranged as it was, formed only of witches, nor could she say how the High Council had been established to govern the castle's inhabitants. Her stomach tightened as she realized she wasn't even truly sure how the Sprechen was chosen...her mother had been the Hexen's leader for so long, Sabrina hadn't known anything else, and she struggled to even imagine a world where her mother wasn't in charge of the coven.

Of course, the information she lacked could most likely be gained through a conversation with the Sprechen, but as always, that ran the risk of indicating more interest in leadership than she felt.

Sabrina scowled, then patted Schön's neck as they neared the far side of the bridge.

"I'm sorry," she said, having lapsed into a silence she hoped the horse didn't take personally. "I was just thinking about how, even when you know where to go for answers, you might as well be completely clueless because of what it's going to cost you to get the information you want."