Deathwitch

Deep in shadow, the cart passed through piercing rods of dying sunlight. Jenny Lewis steered Ruggiero around a winding path where an unusually large white Wolf slept peacefully. The Wolf was gigantic by any standards. Roughly the size of a whale, its mid-section contained a small red door with a stained-glass window on either side. Jumping off the cart, Jane gripped her Javelin tightly.

"Skittish isn't she?" The Mouse said. "Hey, Hoplite, come help me with this body."

"Body?" Isaac said, wincing. "I'm not dead yet."

"Keep this up and I'll make it official."

"Don't threaten me with a good time." He said. They laughed, and Jane helped the injured Knight down off the cart. Taking a look at the door, he took a deep breath. "It has to be me. Daphne will only see me."

"This is a bad idea."

"Don't start," Isaac said. "It’s awkward enough."

Jane looked around, exasperated.

~Is nobody going to say something about the Dog? Why is there a door? ~

"Later," Isaac said, clutching his stomach. "Now comes the hard part."

The door burst open, and a young, red-headed Scottish woman appeared, pointing a finger at Jenny.

"Yooou!" The Witch said.

"Allô."

The Redhead focused her fury on Isaac. "And you! Bringing your fancy woman to my doorstep? How dare thee!"

"Technically, she's not a woman," Isaac said.

"I'm really not."

The woman finally levelled a glare at Jane.

"And you!" A beat. And shook her head. "I have no idea who this is."

"Isaac is in trouble," Jenny said.

"I. Don't. Care!" The woman snarled and slammed the door. Isaac winced audibly and clutched his side. One of the little windows opened up. "Why are you standing like that? Do you need a poo?"

"No, I don't need..." Isaac said, but pain cut him off.

"He's badly injured."

Overwhelmed with concern, Daphne opened the door.

"Bring him in." She said, waving frantically. "Come on, come on!"

The Wolf's interior was surprisingly cosy. A small fireplace lit the place up with a warm glow. To the left, an overstuffed bookcase stood next to an Alchemist table with scattered Earthenware. They set Isaac down on a red chaise-lounge couch while the Witch finished squeezing an orange clay-like substance in her hand.

"Right, stay there," Daphne said. "Chippie the mouse, go and stand by the door." Jenny smiled and moved to the front. The Witch finally settled her gaze upon the girl. "You...are new."

"Her name's Jane," Isaac said, half-whispering. "She's a kid. I'm trying to...keep her safe. Jane, this is Daphne. She's very passionate."

"Who isn't?" Jenny said, with a sly smile.

"Shut it," Daphne said, dabbing orange clay on the wound. "A kid, huh? You kept that quiet."

"It's not mine."

"Ahh, shirking responsibility already? Will wonders never cease?" There followed a low moan from above. "I'm on it!" Daphne told the ceiling. "One of you will have to go. Missy hates too many visitors; it gives her a tummy ache."

Jane looked around.

~Why are we inside a Dog?~

"It's not a Dog, it's a Wolf," Isaac said, wincing. "Wolf-God, to be exact. Hiraeth the Dreamer."

"I made her invisible," Daphne said. "In return, I can live comfortably, as long as I build an outhouse. She was very insistent on that." There was another rumble, which shook all the decorations. "Look, one of you needs to scoot, like now."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I was going anyway," Jenny said. "Daphne, a pleasure as always. Isaac, good luck, Monsieur; don't be a stranger."

She left with a twirl of her hand and closed the door behind her.

Daphne snorted. "Monsieur. Very chummy, aren't we?"

“Can we do this later?"

"No risk of you running out in the middle of the night."

"I was running to put out the forest fire you started!" Isaac said.

"That wasn't me," Daphne said, avoiding eye contact. "It was another witch, who was never seen again. Very bad manners." She watched Jane slump down on the wing-backed chair. "Speaking of manners, your friend here has yet to say anything."

"She's a mute."

"The quiet type, eh? While you're here, you might as well have something to eat." Daphne offered up a plate of pale, triangle-shaped biscuits. "I don't know why I have these, they taste like Lego made of sand."

The girl pointed to a nearby photograph, taken in the Highlands of Scotland, featuring two girls wearing oversized hats.

"She wants to know who that is," Isaac said.

Picking up the frame, the Witch smiled.

"I can't for the life of me remember." She said. "I know she was someone close. For some reason, it brings me comfort. That's the thing about this place; it takes everything you used to be, leaving you with nothing but a blank slate. How did this one get here?"

"I fell from the sky. I think?" Isaac translated. "Or did I? It doesn't sound real."

"There you have it. When I arrived, I was crying, and suddenly I couldn't remember why. Now I've got no one. Well, except when that damn Mouse who comes around with her delicious teas."

"I knew you couldn't resist," Jenny said, from the open window.

"Out!"

Jane looked away. She could feel parts of her memory drifting away like embers on a passing breeze. Soon, the faces of her family would disappear forever. Shaking her head, she posed a question. Isaac waited for her to finish.

"She wants to know which part of Scotland you are from." He said.

Daphne looked at the girl and then back at Isaac.

"What's Scotland?" She said. "Is it the island with those talking books? They give me the creeps."

"That's where she is from."

"How is she getting back?"

"We were supposed to use the two Beacons," Isaac said and shot Jane an accusatory look. "But someone burst the damn."

"Ahh, I wondered why the dry bed was suddenly a babbling brook."

"All hope of getting back is lost."

"You sound like your Blacksmith, he's also a barrel of laughs."

~You said the Witch would help us!~

"Ooh, look at her go!" Daphne said, quietly impressed, "She's all hands today."

~Wait. You understand me?~

The Witch nodded and then shook her head.

"I have no idea what she's doing. She could be calling me names for all I know." Daphne dropped a pad and pen onto the girl's lap. "Here, write it down. I don't like people talking behind my back, or in front of it…or to the side?" The Redhead checked herself in the mirror. "I am so pretty."

"I see your priorities are in order," Isaac said.

Daphne spun around, annoyed.

"Don't have a go at me, mate; you're the one who got himself beat up. I thought you were supposed to be..." The Witch stopped herself and looked at Jane, who was fully invested in the conversation. "...all Shiny ‘round these parts.”

"I got sloppy. Years of low-level enemies will do that."

The Redhead slumped into a nearby armchair and picked up a toasting fork.

"And now you come crawling back to me. Ironic."

"I can always go to the Apothecaries," Isaac said. "They have a good healer named Myceroy."

"Firstly, anything with 'Mice' in the name is bound to be trouble."

"My ears are burning!" Jenny said.

"So dunk yer head!" Daphne shouted back, then leaned in. "Secondly, modern magic is so sterile, there's no heart. Unless we're talking Necromancy, which has way too much heart in it, if you know what I mean."

"I really don't."

"My point is, you're too old to be fighting, which means Craven Keep will be all but defenceless. I suggest you take your apprentice and bring her up a notch."

"How far up are we talking?".

"Put it this way, when's the last time you visited a Funfair?"

***

'Funfair' was the most inaccurate description of a place Jane had ever heard. Past the weathered turnstiles was an empty, rain-swept park filled with abandoned rides and boarded-up stalls. Anything that wasn’t rusted, sat overgrown and hollowed out. Daphne took the lead, toting a dome umbrella.

“It’s funny,” She said. “I don’t remember much, except my Dad bringing me to a funfair when he wasn’t competing for trophies.”

“Was he an Athlete?” Isaac asked.

“No, a Golfer,” Daphne said. Jane shot her a look. “What? You walk around a park while someone else carries your stuff. How is that a sport?“

Isaac sighed deeply. “Can we focus on the mission?”

“Sure, sure,” Daphne said. “Come for the fun, stay for the blood poisoning. I hope your precious Apothecary can magic up Tetanus shots."

"This was your idea.".

"Which wouldn't have been the case, had you not fallen foul of injury. I'm doing this for the girl's benefit as well."

Jane wrote on the pad:

I'm fine, thanks.

"Ha!" Daphne said, with a snort. "People who say they are fine are the first to catch a cold. Except in your case, it will be an axe to the face. So, the question is...do you want to die of apathy or move your body in ways you can't believe?"

Jane reluctantly held up two fingers, indicating the second choice.

"Exactly. And so brave companions, let us sally forth to History Town!"