I use the word witch in a different way than is normally thought of. To me, a witch is a person that follows a certain code that I've made up and that uses magic. It is not a feminine term for me. If you have read "The wolf that fell in love with Little Red Riding Hood" I follow the same thinking of witches there, only I've added on things for it to fit the story. It's like that. Hopefully I'll be able to get the idea across with this too.

Inspired by the word 'shortage'.

Mathew could see the answer to the question everyone had been asking each other on the faces of the men who had gone to the city. There would be no food coming from that direction. This would be another season where they would all starve.

At least his magic would take away the hunger pains of as many people as he could until he too collapsed in exhaustion.

Their king should be taking better care of his citizens. But, who was Mathew to question him, even in his thoughts, when he was nothing more than a witch?

That didn't change the fact that everyone in the province had gathered to try to spread out the food supplies, only to find that there really wasn't anything to share. His province was going to starve, and nothing was being done about it.

Then Mathew saw down the road behind the returning townsmen a second cloud of dust much bigger than the one kicked up by the carts his people were using. Whoever it was were riding horses. Only the king's emissaries used were allowed to use them now that everyone's supplies were dwindling so low.

Had the king rethought his decision and had sent men to tell his people that food would be sent to them?

The townsmen had made it inside the town while Mathew had been thinking and were shaking their heads at the questions sent at them. Wails of grief and pain at their answer was going up. Gradually these changed to shouts of anger. Mathew looked up from the ground at his feet. So, they had finally noticed the king's men coming towards them. It didn't sound like they would receive a very warm welcome.

Mathew shrugged, he had only come out here to find out if something was going to be done about the province's starvation, and that had been answered. He didn't care to hear what the king's men had to say. It wasn't likely to be good, and he truly didn't care for the king at all.

As far as he could tell, the king was rotten scum that didn't care about anyone else. So, why should he care about him?

Mathew ducked inside his home just as the horse riders came in through the town's gate. He'd decided to have a nap to replenish his energy before going out later that evening to heal as many people as he could.

He was woken by a man he recognized from healing a scrape on the guy's daughter's leg from the day before. What confused him was one, it was still light out, and two no one had ever gone in to wake him before. No one really wanted to come very close to him despite how much he helped them or how highly his kind were thought of. Mathew had always figured it was a kind of respect. So, something must be terribly wrong for this man to come in and wake him up.

"Witch," The man said. Mathew suddenly remembered that his name was Justin. "The men outside are asking if we have a witch. We said no, of course, they had also asked for our remaining food so it was obvious they meant to take you too. But, now you have to hide, the men are searching the houses for you."

Mathew hurried to get up and sneak outside of the house when a man filled the doorway with his height.

"Are you the Witch?" He asked.

"No," Mathew said even as he winced for telling the lie.

"I don't believe you." The man said. "Your house is the only one set apart from everyone else, not to mention what you have in here as well." He continued while sweeping his hand around the room to indicate the drying herbs on the desks and in the rafters and the bookshelves lining every wall overflowing with grimoires.

Mathew winced. His possessions were pretty incriminating in his current situation. They marked him as a witch, and as the man had said, he was the only one here.

The man stomped forward across the room and grabbed Mathew's arm hard enough that bruises started to blossom immediately.

Justin stepped forward too ready to protest the man's action, but Mathew waved him off.

"It's alright, Justin. I'm sure he only wants to talk." Mathew said turning to look back at the guard, as he must be considering his strength, after he'd addressed Justin.

"No, Witch," The guard said. "We are not here just to talk. The king has ordered that the witch known as Mathew Williams be brought to the castle, and we have reason to believe this is the…village the witch is residing in, and you are the only witch here."

Mathew spared a thought to think about how the people that lived here would have been greatly insulted by what the man said. Everyone here was proud that their population had gone up so that they were no longer classified as a village, and this man had just called them that. They would be pissed when they heard about this. Justin looked ready to punch the guard, though that could still just be because of Mathew's bruises, which were really starting to hurt.

Then he thought about other things.

How did they manage to figure out his name though? How could they have known which witch in particular he is? Only the three most powerful witches knew where everyone was stationed, and he was one of them. He was the Maiden. Was it the Crone or Matron that had given up this information? Had one of the younger witches accidentally overheard his name being spoken?

This wasn't good.

A note on the Maiden, Matron, and Crone thing. The three most powerful witches are selected based on a necklace they are all born with as a child, only other witches can see it around their necks. Its first job is that it shows how old the Witch is down to the second, and its second function is that shows a number on the top of the locket that shows the strength of the Witch at any one point in time. Witches can learn more and become more powerful, so this number can change. After the three most powerful Witches have been found they are given their title as Maiden, Matron, and Crone based on their age. Mathew is the youngest out of the three, therefore he is the Maiden.