The Dark Witch And Her Knights

43 | Belenos

Undoubtedly they would have recognized a noblewoman of her repute at the burning of a witch bright and early in the morn. But did they see her dawn a cloak of powder blue in a town full of brown and gray? Did they see a lovely woman of wealth whisk away the wailing witch's daughter? Did they see her give Tibby gold shields and return cloakless to her carriage?

"Would you like to sell me the manor now? I promise I will pay fairly."

Lady Citrine looked from Amarum, to me, and back to her daughter who looked confused. "I will sell for a fair price but my debt is still owed to Soirriella. Amarum you must take the coin from the sale of the property and leave this city. Find a safe place to settle far from here. Marry a good man and never look back."

"No. Mother, what are you saying?" The confusion on Amarum's face was quickly changing to something else as she turned to glare at me. A glare I was familiar with. A glare I was accustomed to. A glare that didn't make my skin crawl with falsehoods. Lady Citrine's frail fingers gripped her daughter's chin forcing Amarum to face her before she could fully turn on me.

"Have you seen with your eyes as you walk through the city's crumbling streets? Or have you been searching with your pockets for the frilliest of gowns and other pleasantries to spend shield and wheel on that you have not earned thyself?"

Lady Citrine's grip visibly grew tighter. Amarum grabbed her mother's wrist trying to pry her face free. "Mother!"

"Have you seen the way The Guard destroys and pillages everything in site?"

"Yes!"

"Have you seen the crows all around the city, on the highest of rooves and trees watching and waiting?"

"Yes." Amarum began to tremble. "Witches birds," she whispered.

"They are messengers of death and they can sense when a great war is near. Soon this whole city will burn as every neighbor points to the other and whispers witch. When that day comes and that day is now, those blackbirds will swoop in and eat whatever remains on the bones of our rotting corpses."

"Why are you saying this? It scares me. I've never seen you like this before." Her mother released her with a bit of a push causing Amarum to stumble over long skirts into a heap on the grass.

"You have lived a life too sheltered and blind to the chaos and disorder around you. Compliant in many ways. You may have helped Tibby today but tomorrow countless more will burn or drown across the kingdom. The Witch Hunt is a plague and any can point a finger and claim witch without recompense."

Lady Citrine's eyes flared with anger. She pressed her palm to a tree and whispered her condemning words, "Crescere ac florere." The tree beneath her palm began to grow and bloom flowers of white. They were first buds then blossoms and soon they wilted and apples grew in their place but they too began to wilt from the tree and rained from the branches like a short thunderstorm. Amarum was shocked gaping at the tree as the apples began falling violently on her legs while she scurried back. Her gaze fell on her mother with mistrust and deceit. "Do you understand now the danger we are all in? Witch or not- We will hang."

The Widow Gladiola Citrine and the young Lady Amarum spoke in the parlor for several hours as she divulged their darkest family secret and her daughter's mistrust slowly dissolved. Tovias drew up paperwork for the sale of the property. With the money I paid for the manor, Amarum was sent to live in the country several weeks' ride from here. Gladiola's distant cousin Renard owned several vacant acres of farmland in the east. Amarum was set to find him, acquire property, and set down roots.