“You okay?” Mahdyia held her at arms’ length, concern all over her face.
“Yeah, I’m okay, or I will be. Tell ya later.” Hazel leaned in closer. “You will not believe what I just saw, or rather, who I just saw…together…barely clothed.”
“Oh, do tell.” Mahdyia linked arms with her. “Do tell it all…”
8
“We’ve got two or so days of hard trekking to get to the Storm Hag village. Thanks to Hazel, we didn’t lose a day to recovery so we can get moving sooner than I’d planned.” Bridget was standing over the crowd of them on top of a boulder, looking commanding as usual. “Be vigilant and aware. There are Rogues in these woods who scout for innocent Healers to capture.”
Duke smirked at the commonly believed myth, and the reaction of the interns. Bridget had them scared, as they should be. He’d done some travelling over the years in the highlands, visiting different remote clans and tribes so he had some familiarity. The woods could be treacherous. Especially these woods. The magic from centuries of concentrated spell casting had given them a haunted atmosphere, which at times could be deadly.
“Eyes on anything that moves. Even if it looks innocent,” Bridget continued. “And be wary of cries for help. There are creatures that live close to the Hag village that feed on witch blood and can mimic human noises. They will drain you dry in minutes.”
“But the Rogues…” Chanda said, wringing her hands as she looked fretfully around. “I’ve heard that they’ve ramped up their attacks lately.”
“They have,” Bridget confirmed. “Which is why I’m telling you to be vigilant.”
Rogues were indeed in the woods, roaming, scavenging, sometimes hunting. But they typically didn’t attack large groups. They weren’t organized enough, their parties were scattered, not unified and their magic was equally so. Not much practical training, no theory at all. The Rogues were known for chaotic bursts that could be deadly for sure, but were more likely to be misdirected and self-harmful. It was a lot of hype and for all his time spent in the field, Duke hadn’t encountered any Rogue he couldn’t handle.
Duke surveyed the group again, keeping his gaze from settling on Hazel. Her words earlier had hurt him. The truth behind them had hurt more. She wanted him to believe that she was fully pledged to her destiny. He could see that she was…except for thud of her heart that spoke differently to Duke. He wasn’t the type of man to try to impose his beliefs on others. While he didn’t agree with Hazel’s choice, he wouldn’t try to change her mind if he didn’t hear a different story from her heart. It called to him, longed for him, just as his did for her. She wasn’t being true to herself, not completely, and he needed her to open her eyes to that before she made a final decision that could keep them apart for the rest of their lives.
So he wasn’t going to give up on her, no matter what she said. Was he mad at her? Hell yes. Furious actually. She’d misled the other interns to believe he was lecherous. A dirty game to create distance between them. It wasn’t what he’d expected from his little village girl, it wasn’t something he really liked much either. But he understood why she’d done it. In her mind, he was dangerous. He created dissonance and she was going to do whatever she could to correct that. Rocking what she’d accepted as truth her whole life. He knew how scary that could be. When the foundation of your beliefs were challenged at a gut level.
So he was going to keep his distance for now. Give her time to acclimate to the trip. Stop pushing for conversation and let her come to him. That didn’t mean he was going to take a back seat. No. It meant he was going to be smarter about his plan of attack. No matter what, he wasn’t ready to let Hazel go, not when he hadn’t had a chance to prove to her that there was more than one way to look at a situation. More than one path to a destination. And more than one way to play the game.
And so they trekked. There was a clear path, well beaten and wide enough to accommodate pairs but moving with such a large group was slower than he was used to. Duke kept himself busy by studying the interns. People watching was something he liked to do. You could learn a lot about a person from quietly observing them.
Like Chanda, the pretty dark haired one with the full pouty lips and pale blue eyes. Her easy smile and flirty words didn’t match the hard edge in her expression. The way she flinched at every little twig crack or howl from the woods. Tension ran high in that one; he could feel it with every breath she took. He wouldn’t be surprised to learn she had some deep dark story with tragic twists and turns. She was smart—all the interns were, the best of the best—but she was also sassy, independent in a loner kind of way. She walked close to the pack of them but not too close, listening like he was and interjecting a comment here and there as she weaved closer then pushed herself away. Tentative of getting too entrenched in the group. She would see danger before the others.
Tate, the mysterious Elemental. Elementals were usually female, descendants of Storm Hags, another mythical story that ran as truth among Healer-kind. The Hags they were travelling to see now were an off-shoot. If you were one to believe in the purity of witch lineage, Elementals were one of the original sects. Endowed with Earth magic that could transcend barriers, the Elementals got to the root of all spells with their innate ability to talk to the Earth. Tate’s skill with electrical impulses suggested that he was gifted in only that aspect, which meant he wasn’t of a pure line necessarily. Or it could be that he just hadn’t gotten the proper encouragement yet. With the right kind of mentor, that kid could be a super power among the interns. Not quite as powerful as Hazel—he didn’t really know of any witch who could touch her in terms of magics—but Tate could get close if he could manipulate more than just electrical pulses.
Tate was also keeping close proximity to Hazel. He was chatting quietly with her, making her smile. Duke tamped down the rise of jealousy that came. It was immature but surprisingly sharp. Just the night before, he had been the one to make her laugh. He had been the one she’d shone that smile at, those dimples of hers to die for. When she stumbled, Tate wrapped his arm around her waist and helped right her. Duke didn’t particularly like that either. In fact, he thought the intern needed to keep his hands to himself.
“Hey, Healer Hart.” Hazel’s cousin, Mahdyia stepped to his side, preventing him from moving to Hazel on their awkward path. “I’ve heard some things about you.”
Duke cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “Oh yeah? All good I hope.”
Mahdyia gave him a once over and smirked back at him. “Yep. Mostly fan-freakin-tastic.” She coughed as her gaze slid to Hazel. “So anyway, I’ve heard you’ve worked extensively with the humans, like with the outreach program that never really gets talked about at school...because, you know…humans…ick.” She snickered at the disapproving look he gave her.
“Mahdyia,” Hazel snapped without looking back at them. “Be quiet.”
“What? Like it’s a secret. You human sympathizers are rare. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater, but I don’t totally get the point. It’s not like we can help them at White Willow, right? Their presence is strictly forbidden. My medical training interests rest solely in speciality arts, like counter curses. So no human interaction for me.” She winked at Duke and he frowned in return. “But, I digress. Like I was saying—or rather, asking—you’ve been working with humans, right?”
“For ten years actually,” Duke said, confused by the attention. It wasn’t often that Healers willingly started a conversation about human witches and clearly Mahdyia wasn’t interested for her own pursuits. It was a taboo subject at the best of times. Even if you weren’t traditionally minded, or a purist, polite conversation didn’t have room for the humans. It stemmed from the Burning Times, when the humans had hunted and killed witches without compassion, and although Duke didn’t think it was ever a good idea to forget what had happened then, he didn’t feel that forgiveness was out of the question. “Humans, magically inclined humans, have a lot to offer. Not only for the magic worship but they ar
e innovative in how they approach spells. They aren’t bound by the traditional teachings we are. They haven’t been conditioned like we have so their minds are free from those burdens. Working with them is always rewarding.”
“That’s what my cousin says all the time,” Mahdyia said. “Right Haz? The humans you know—they’ve given you some unique spells, haven’t they?”
Duke studied Mahdyia’s face, her expression appearing earnest while her tone suggested something else. He frowned, glanced over at Hazel.
“Right Hazel?” she persisted. “She insists that they have so much to offer. That they can bolster our power with theirs. As if they have anything to offer a witch like me. I find it hard to believe but she’s so insistent sometimes.”
“They can!” Duke and Hazel both said at the same time.
Hazel locked eyes with him, her cheeks red, a look of exasperation on her face. She quickly moved her eyes to the others. “They have so much to offer!” Hazel said. “I’ve seen humans do miraculous things, manipulating magic in a way that witches couldn’t fathom because we’re so locked in to the right way. The proper way.”
“Oh right, you expect us to believe that humans can wield magic like you do? Miss Superstar?” Bas scoffed. “Or wait, better than you?” He screwed up his face and Duke kind of wanted to punch him to straighten it out.
“Yeah, I’ve seen it too. Maybe not as direct as what we’ve seen Hazel do, but humans look beyond the boundaries,” Duke said. “Just last night we…er…I saw a human use an alchemist’s spell that transformed human blood to something very close to witch blood.”
“Great, so the humans are manipulating their blood now? For what purpose? To hunt us better?” Bas sneered. “Think of what that can do. Dangerous magic with no one to monitor it. Humans have no right playing with spells.”
Bridget snapped her head to look at him. “You’re not serious, are you?” Her frown deepened. “I never took you for a purist.”
“I’m not, but like Mahdyia, I just don’t see the point in wasting our time on humans at all. I mean, I get it, we have to put the hours in for a well-rounded internship and appease whatever tender-hearted witch made the requirement, but I have no interest in spending any more time with them than I need to.”
“You lost family to them, didn’t you?” Hazel blurted, her expression softening.
Bas growled in her direction. “You pull that out of my head when you were snooping around?”
“No, I…just… I mean…”
“Everyone lost someone during those times,” Duke snapped. “You don’t have the market cornered on loss, my friend. Besides, it was hundreds of years ago. Don’t you think it’s time to give the benefit of the doubt, meet on common ground?”
Bas stopped walking. “It wasn’t hundreds of years ago for my family, Healer Hart,” he said with a sneer. “It was my mother and it was ten years ago and they watched her burn, so fuck you very much. Me and the humans, we have no common ground.”
He stormed off as best he could, moving through the thick foliage and disappearing within seconds.
“I’m going to make sure he’s okay,” Bridget said as she started after him. “Don’t want to lose an intern this early in the game.” She nodded at Duke. “You got the coordinates for the stones?”
Duke tapped his watch to project the map he’d downloaded before they’d left. “Got it.”
“We’ll meet there at dusk. I’m going to educate young Bas with some human lore.”
Duke nodded. Fuck him into the right state of mind is what that meant. She had a way with words when she was in the zone. He didn’t think she’d be able to conquer this particular case, but Duke knew from personal experience that when she set her mind on a task, she was dogmatic about completing it.
Good riddance to that one for a while.
“Any other strong opinions regarding humans?” Duke moved to the head of the group and continued onward, not bothering to look back at them for answers. “Because I have to say, that kind of attitude, a display like that could land us some trouble with the Hags. The humans, they’re not always proficient with magic but when they are, they can floor you with their powers. Even if it’s just with insight. Soothsayers in particular—they’re really good at getting to the truth of things.”
And perhaps that was the way to go with Hazel. Let her sit down with one of the soothsayers in the village, get them to dose her with a bit of reality. Their understanding of destiny was very different than the majority of witch-kind. Not something to be revered but something to be consulted, judged and altered or discarded as necessary. Nothing was set in stone.
“Just the usual prejudice,” Mahdyia said from the back. “No closed minds though, right guys?”
A mummer went up from the group.
“We’re here to learn from the best. Human or witch, doesn’t matter. Some of us weren’t born to be, you know? We need some educating.” She chuckled. “Hazel’s been playing with the humans since she was a teenager. She can help us adjust.”
Oh really? Duke glanced over his shoulder, eyebrow cocked.
“Enough, Mads,” Hazel said, blushing again.
“Her mother thought she had an invisible friend but really it was a human girl she used to visit—”
“Enough!” Hazel stomped to her cousin and yanked her back a few more paces, leaning in close to whisper at her furiously.
“What? We’re all friends here, right? Right?” She was waving her hands toward the others. “Code of silence, right? It’s not like I’m going to spill the beans about your love affa—”
Hazel knocked Mahdyia off the path, garnering a startled gasp as they both rolled down the small hill.
Duke laughed. He was beginning to really like Hazel’s cousin. She was just the right kind of shit disturber and, he realized, maybe not completely in line with Hazel’s version of destiny.
9
“So what’s it like, being the Promised One?” Tate asked as they walked.
It was midday, the sun streaking through dense foliage in concentrated beams of light. It wasn’t hot in the forest, not much of a breeze penetrating but that didn’t make things stifling. It was nice. Pleasant even. Except for the bugs. The bugs were kind of a pain in the ass.
“It’s the only thing I’ve ever known.” Hazel didn’t look at anything but the ground, keeping track of where she was putting her feet, swatting away whatever buzzed in her face. She was still finding pieces of twigs and leaves in her hair and clothes from her tumble with Mahdyia earlier. She didn’t want that to happen again and tried to keep Tate in between her and the slope of the hill.
“The only thing you’ve ever known?” Duke’s voice was kind of like a razor blade down her spine. “Really?”
The others probably wouldn’t pick up on the tone. She did though and she winced, wanting to curl up into herself.
“But isn’t it a burden? Knowing that you have such a heavy destiny to fulfill?” Chanda was walking parallel with Duke. Occasionally her arm brushed his. Hazel noticed every single time it happened.
“It’s an honor to know that I will be serving Healer-kind.” Hazel could practically hear her mother’s voice in that statement. It was the mantra she’d memorized from the time that she’d been a child.
“So there’s a destiny etched in stone,” Chanda continued, glancing over her shoulder at Hazel. “And that’s how your mother knew it was meant for you?”
“My mother sought out a Mystic once she learned she was pregnant with me.”
“A Mystic?” Duke asked, then snorted.
Chanda smirked at him, and her arm brushed his. Again.
“The Mystic gave Mother a prophecy as well as a prediction. When the prediction came true, Mother knew that the prophecy would as well.”
“What was the prediction?” Tate asked.
“That I would possess exceptional powers from birth.”
“And from birth she has. It’s all I’ve ever known,” Mahdyia said, her tone chal
lenging. She was walking behind the group, keeping her distance from Hazel.
They’d probably both be black and blue from the roll down the hill they’d taken and Mahdyia was limping a bit. Hazel had offered to take care of it but Mads was sulking. She thought she had a right to tease Hazel with her secret life; Hazel didn’t agree. She’d threatened to cast a silencing spell on Mahdyia if she spoke about it again. And Hazel would—she’d bind her to her promise to keep her secret if she must. She was tired of everyone thinking they knew what was best for her.
“The story goes, when Hazel was born, her mother was haemorrhaging and the midwife Healers couldn’t seem to control it. Baby Hazel was crying and making such a fuss that they laid her on her mother’s chest to try to calm her while they tended to the bleeding. Once there, Hazel’s whole body heated, as my aunt says, like a little furnace and her magic just pumped out, healing her mother’s tearing, repairing the damage and stopping the bleeding. A miracle from birth.”
Silence.
When her mother told that story it didn’t sound so preposterous. It did sound like a miracle. All of the midwives who were there attested that that’s what had actually happened. For most of her childhood, that story had been Hazel’s favorite.
“That’s pretty amazing. What does the prophecy say?” Tate asked, nudging her a little with his arm.
Hazel hesitated for a moment, feeling a jolt of anticipation mixed with trepidation. This was always the exciting part.
“A Healer child born of the Great Mother will come to learn sacrifice and great devotions when she commits herself to all witch-kind. Uniting the Circle with powerful purpose,” Mahdyia said, her tone bland.
Hazel had it memorized from the time she was a child—their whole family had. She’d cherished those words, feeling so special because she had been chosen as a Promised One from birth and now Mahdyia was tainting it by sharing it like this.
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, the sounds of the forest suddenly amplified. Hazel’s normal bubble of excitement at the reception of the prophecy had turned to a weird kind of anxiety. Why weren’t they saying anything? Why wasn’t there a reaction? This was the punch line, the thing that always got the gasps, the ewws and ahhs
The Witches of White Willow Page 7
