The Witches Four

1- The Letter

The sun shown through a shop window as it began to set, the plants and wears inside reflecting and soaking up the slowly dimming sunlight. A figure moved around the shop, shifting some things on shelves, sweeping some broken glass on the floor, and cleaning off the counterspace.

Almira was cleaning up for the day after having closed her little apothecary up for the weekend. It was Friday and a well earned break was on its way. She'd worked hard all week with travelers coming in and keeping her ever so busy. This month had been the busiest she'd ever been all year and the year was already halfway over.

In the middle of sweeping up the last of some dirt from a pot that had tipped over during the bustling day, Almira heard a tap on the glass from the shop door's window behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a figure standing outside with a dark cloak peaking in from behind the "closed" sign she'd hung up earlier.

Curious, Almira set the broom down and moved over to open the door and greet the person on the other side. "Good afternoon" she spoke "I'm sorry, but we're closed now. You'll have to come back next week if there's something I can still do for you by then." The woman informed the dark stranger.

The cloaked stranger shook their head and Almira could see light amber eyes contrasting to her own from under the gold embroidered hood. This person could be of nobility from the looks of the clothing they wore. "No miss, it will be brief I promise. Ive just comes to deliver to you a message-er-You are the witch, Almira, of this village, yes? I was directed to this shop when I asked for you." The stranger spoke softly but with an undertone of importance.

"Yes...that's me. And you are?" the witch rose an eyebrow in interest and further curiosity.

"May I step inside a moment? I'll introduce myself then." They promised her.

"Ah-Yes, yes come in." Almira side stepped, holding the door open for the person to step in and closing it carefully behind them. "Please mind the mess, we had quite the busy day and I was just cleaning up."

The stranger looked about carefully before removing their hood, exposing dark skin and short, course black hair in the setting sunlight. "My name is Eavenicie. I'm an apprentice of the witch from Blightwood Hill in the kingdom of" They began to introduce themselves but Almira cut them off.

"Please, if Shira sent you here to try to convince me to come home, I'll tell you what I told her for the last five years. No. End of story." Almira said firmly with a huff.

Eavenicie gave a puzzled look in response. "Shira? No miss...His name is Carian. And he sent me to ask for your help. I'm sure you've heard rumors of the rising dangers in the north." They pressed.

"Carian..? the north?" Almira's brows were knit tight with confusion. "No, I have no idea what youre talking about. Who's this Carian, what happened to Shira? And whats this about dangers in the north?" Perhaps she'd been too busy with her apothecary to hear talk of the north let alone any rumors going around the village at all.

"There's darkness in the north headed this way. Some call it a plague of ill intentioned magic. Carian is trying to put together a group of witches to protect the four kingdoms from it as much as possible but, its hard to find other witches, most have hidden and gone silent without leaving behind any sort of reason-and...as for this Shira, I know nothing of her I'm sorry." Eavenicie did their best not to rush over the explanation.

"Witches gone into hiding, a plague of magic from the north..." Almira mumbled in thought as she processed this information, bringing a dark tanned finger to her rouge lips with a hum.

"Oh! Here miss, he gave me a letter, it should give you some more information." The apprentice pulled out a white sealed envelope from under their cloak and held it out to her. "I'll leave you with this and return tomorrow for your answer. Those were my instructions." Eavenicie informed her as Almira took the letter.