Witches and Warlocks
The first thing I do is run. I run as fast as I can into the woods. I want to escape the howls and footsteps j behind me. My split lip throbbed. My feet ached as the sharp rocks and sticks pierced my feet. My lungs burned as I ran out of breath. I can hear the beating of my heart and the rhythm of my feet pounding on the sodden ground. I don’t look back. I don’t take my eyes of the overgrown path in front of me. I know that if I do I may trip. If I do I may stop and let them take me. If I look back now I won’t have freedom. So I run. I run away from my kingdom. Escaping it.
Then I realize I can’t escape. I can’t get away. At least not forever. I momentarily stop, hesitate, pause. I stop for too long. A sickening feeling invades my body. I falter, but continue my sprint through the fog filled forest. I must escape. I have to. I can’t. I shake my head and continue. Suddenly my knees give out and I fall to the ground with a thud. I hear an awful crack. Then the pain courses through me like a tidal wave. It seeps over me making me scream out in pain. I locate the source. My ankle of all things! Shit! I have to escape, but I can’t not now.
I notice a hole at the bottom of a hollowed out tree. I crawl towards every movement releasing an intense throb in my ankle. I won’t escape, specially now. There is no hope. I can hide though. I can wait them out. Lies! I fall into the steep hole that I fit into perfectly. The hounds will find me if they don’t. Sticks and mud filled my tangled hair. I can’t see my ankle through the soul-filling darkness. I do not wish to either. The hounds howl and bark. Each time they do I sense them getting close. The pounding of paws on the ground and howls that could crack the moon like glass fill my ears. I close my eyes and pray that I wouldn’t be found.
“Come out, come out wherever you are. You can’t escape us,” I hear one of them say
His voice was ghastly and low. The voice was frightening. It made me want to run again. No, I can’t move. I’ll be found. I force myself to stay still. I mustn’t be found. I try and forget the pain and even out my breath.
“I bet you think you can run,” the voice says sounding distant. I start to think that he left.
Suddenly his the man’s face popped in front of the hole entrance, “You can’t.”
I scramble backwards, but the man grabs my uninjured ankle and yanks me out of my hiding spot. I feel my nails chip, break, and bleed as I try to grasp at every object in my reach. I scream and pound on the man’s back. I knew it wouldn’t stop him, I was a child. I try to kick and hit and bite and scratch, but nothing worked. All my attempts, all my tries failed. They all failed miserably.
“Bethaline, knock the child out. I will not deal with his thrashing all the way back,” the man carrying me says
“He puts up quite a fight, doesn’t he? A fighter I see. How I wish I could have had a child. Will we kill him?” a female voice says through the mist. Being upside-down was making my head ache and I was losing conciseness. No, don’t give up.
“We shall see, Beth. Just cast the spell already,” the man says back
I see a flash of purple. Then a larger pounding enters my mind. I my heads starts to become incredibly heavy. I couldn’t hold it up in longer. I lose conciseness. The blackness takes over.
I wake up my mind foggy. I open my eyes and look around the room. I first notice that it was my room. I look around thinking it was all a dream. I slowly sit up and the door swings open. A woman, not one of the servants or maids, walks in looking at me. She had silver/white hair, but she wasn’t old. She had bright green eyes with a star tattoo beside the left one. She walks up to me and sits on the edge of the bed.
“Hello child, my name is Bethaline,” the woman says
I don’t speak. I don’t blink. I don’t even breath. It wasn’t a dream. I couldn’t escape. I look at her with scared expression. She blinks then smiles at me. She reaches a hand out towards me and I flinch away. I din’t want her to touch me.
“I’m not going to hurt you, child. I’d never hurt you,” she says
“Where is my mother and father?” I ask my voice weak
“That I cannot tell you. Now, you need to get up and follow me. We have to start the spells,” she smiles
I shake my head and cower away from her.
“Listen, if you do not come by choice; the others will force you. Now please? I don’t want to use my spell on you again,” she says
I nod and get up. She stands with me and walks with me to the door. I had to look up at the dangerous woman. I wanted to run out of the castle. To get away from all of these dangerous people, but I can’t. She leads me to the living chambers. I knew every room in the castle grounds. This was the most familiar. I look at the woman’s silver hair that rolled down her back. She gestures for me to sit on the couch. I sit and curl my legs to my chest. I look to the right as another figure walks into the room.
“A very good job, Bethaline. I’m surprised you got him to come with you,” I recognize the gravelly voice from last night
“Hush, Gavriel. You scare the child,” Bethaline says
“He should be scared. Lay down, child,” Gavriel says
I shake my head and try to stand up. I knew it was foolish, but he didn’t just frighten me. He was like the nightmare that you never want to have or your worst fear come to life. He was that one thing you never want to come across for the sake of your life. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I couldn’t move. Not because I didn’t want to, but I actually could not move.
“I’m sorry, but I must keep you still,” Bethaline says to me
“Stop acting that way, Beth. He is not your child and never will be,” Gavriel hisses
Everything about Gavriel was intimidating. His blonde hair seemed greasy and his dark green eyes could boil holes threw iron. The scar across his left eye didn’t help much either. I wanted to run and get away from these ‘people.’ They were anything but people. Warlocks and witches y mother would call them. Evil creatures that only crawled out of the dark to feed. My father always taught me strange and horrifying stories about the warlocks. I now knew that they were true.
Bethaline rolls her eyes and asks, ” What shall we do with him then?”
“Kill him, I suppose,” Gavriel suggests
My eyes go wide and I struggle to move. I wouldn’t let them kill me. I had to find my parents.
“We’re not killing the boy, Gavriel. How about we change him?” Beth asks
I give them a puzzled look. I didn’t know what they were talking about. A new kind of sorcery. All I could do was stare since running was out of the question. I could talk, but talking was about as safe as cutting my own tongue out. I stare at the both of them thinking of the things that they were talking about.
“Child, what is your favorite animal? What’s the animal you just wish that you could be right now?” Bethaline asks with a sincere smile
I think, but I don’t speak. I stare around the room thinking. Then remember one thing. THe one thing that would always remind me of my past. The one thing I would never forget. I stare at my family emblem. Dark blue and black mixed with silver and white made up the emblem. The family colors. I look across the room at my country flag. The black and blue swirled together. I think of my name.
Harlem Crow- peacemaker of magic.
I look at Bethaline. She’d been gazing at me as I looked around the room. I look at her. She knew my answer. She nods. Then everything goes black.
My eyes rip open. I look at the ceiling. The same dream as always. Never anything new; always the same dream. The day my life was changed forever. I sit up and look at the mirror.
Another day. Fun.
Hope you like this story!
