A Word a Day

Day Two: Ash

Dedicated to @galexi, the real Josefine. I told you there'd be a witch burning tonight! c;

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        So it's come to this, Lou thought, tears burning her eyes cruelly. Her arms were secured tightly behind her back, a pair of young men from the village standing at her either side in case she somehow escaped. They were fools in that way. Lou looked to a young woman with blood red hair being held a few yards away. Well... Maybe they weren't fools as she thought.

        Lou had been taken care of by her older sister since the former was four and the latter was ten. Neither were legal adults, but they had lived on their own in a cabin in the woods for six blissful years. The seclusion was inconvenient, but at the very least it gave them the privacy that Josephine had insisted that they needed.

        Lou didn't quite understand why people were looking at her like that; they appeared to fear her, to fear her sister, and heaven only knew why. Neither of them had ever hurt anybody, so why were they condemned to death so unjustly? Josephine had said that society was quite unfair, but Lou had never expected this.

        They had called the girls witches. They had called them demons, sentenced them as Satan's spawn. Such an injustice brought tears to Lou's silvery green eyes. Why were she and Josephine such special cases? Everyone had magic, surely. Why would they be condemned?

        Josephine had always taught her sister to value her gifts, but never to rely on them. Such reliance, she had said, was fatal indeed. She had told her sister avidly that if they relied on their powers too much, they wouldn't know what to do if something ever took that magic away from them. That was why they had to be careful. That was why they had to keep their hearts and heads in the right place at all times. Nothing was more important.

        That was rule number one: use magic only when absolutely necessary. Rule number two was just as hard to follow, if not harder: Lou was forbidden to go to the village in the valley, no matter what.

        Lou shivered, wanting nothing more than to draw her thin cloak around her as her skirts billowed in the wind. But her hands were tied hopelessly behind her back. A little bit of magic would release her from her bounds, she knew. Yet Josephine had hissed at her even as the men had come with ropes and torches, and her instructions were clear. Lou was not to use her magic. Her sister would take care of everything, the way she always did.

        If only she hadn't broken the rules. If only Lou hadn't sneakily followed her sister down to the village. If only she hadn't magicked up a nice, plump apple for that little boy, even if he had looked as though he was starving to death. If only she could shut it all out like her sister. If only she was heartless.

        But no. Josephine wasn't heartless, not by a long shot. How could she think of her older sister in such a manner? Josephine had done everything for her, right down to rescuing her from the housefire that killed their parents all those years ago. She would have been dead or worse if it weeren't for Josephine. She owed Josephine her life; the least she coul've done was abide by her sister's rules, no matter how unfair they might seem.

        Even so, Lou did not understand why this town hated her, why they hated Josephine. They weren't anything special, and their powers weren't overly magnificent. Josephine had said that Lou's powers were about average for her age; indeed, it seemed to disappoint her. And Lou had seen her sister's own powers in action a multitude of times; surely she wasn't considered a terribly skilled witch.

        The crowd around Lou began to hoot and holler, and she looked up, pulling herself out of her own thoughts just in time to see two brutish men leading Josephine toward a tall stake that had been driven firmly into the ground. The men, more than anything, baffled Lou. Wasn't this a woman's job? Weren't they expected to tend to the children and the farmwork while the women dealt with politics and the like? Wasn't that their place in the world, as Josephine had told her countless times, in countless manners?

        Lou shrugged the questions away and cursed herself silently for letting her mind waver in such a careless manner. There were more important matters at hand, and she had better face them head on. Josephine had scolded her for disobeying, but then she had softened slightly as the men had approached before telling her sister that it could be a learning experience. So Lou stayed quiet and waited to learn.

        The onlookers jeered as one of the men secured Josephine to the stake, which Lou quickly noticed had logs and kindling stacked around the base. Lou's blood went cold. Josephine had said that fire drained powers; did they intend to kill her in such a painful manner? Was that even legal or, more importantly, moral?

        Lou's faith in her own kind left her as one of the men stepped forward, torch burning brightly. Josephine's eyes were colder than usual as she gazed over the crowd, pure-silver eyes finally coming to rest on Lou's own. Then, Josephine smiled. It was a faint, chilling smile that somehow suited her pale, mysterious beauty. Even as she slumped against her stake lazily, there was an undeniable elegance about her.

        The men seemed to notice, and they quieted suddenly. The man holding the torch lowered it slightly, giving Josephine a dubious look. Her smile broadened to reveal the razor-sharp canines that Lou often wished she had inherited as her Gift instead of her unnaturally white locks. Somehow, though, the sight of her fangs aggravated the man with the torch.

        "Filthy witch!" he shrieked terribly, throwing the torch down to light the wood beneath.

        Josephine made not a sound as the fire crept toward her, but her gaze reconnected with Lou's own as she continued to bare her teeth. Lou felt her own blood run cold. Shouldn't Josephine have freed herself by now? Shouldn't they be fleeing through a Portal, never to return to this wretched building again?

        And yet Josephine only stood there as the fire drew near, content to stare down her own sister. Only when the cursed flames reach her was the silence broken, and only then by Josphine's piercing screams.

        "No!" Lou shrieked as the flames crawled up her sister's thin frame. "You bastards! Stop it! Josie, break away! Break away,  please!" She fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. "Don't leave me, Josie," she whimpered.

        But the flames burned on, and Josephine continued to scream. The sickening smell of burnt flesh flavored the air, and Lou very well gagged, imagining that she tasted her own sister on her tongue. This couldn't be happening. And yet... It was.

        Soon, the only thing left of her beloved sister was a pile of ashes.

        Lou turned away, knowing very well that she was next.

        But before they could set her aflame, before they could even lead her over to that wretched place of death, a loud screech was heard, causing the men to let out various hollers and screams of horror. Lou looked up bitterly, just in time to see a huge firebird swooping down toward her.

        It scooped her up and carried her far away, until the day she would return.

        Until the day she would avenge her sister's death.