"Who are you, child?" The witch spoke with a soft European accent while asking Camila as she looked at her almost like she was examining her for something important.
"Small light followed to a cave," Camila stated as the witch sighed.
"I should find a way for those not to simply float away." The witch muttered before letting Camila go. "Are you starving?"
("This was it.") Camila thought the witch was offering her food so she would be fattened enough to be eaten with her blood being served in a cup. "No..." Her stomach then betrayed her as it then grumbled in hunger.
"Your body seems to differ no worries! There's enough meat for the both of us unless you don't like I have some berries." The witch stated pulling a few squashed berries out of her pocket. "Should have thought of that before picking them."
The witch tossed the berries away as she took out a knife and began cutting into the pig feeding Camila a few pieces before reaching into a pouch and pulling out a book which she opened before pulling a quill out of her hair as she wrote inside it while narrating.
"Day... unknown, it has been a week since I've arrived on the realm of existence known by my fellow witches as The Human Realm! I've even encountered a so-called human, although she seems disturbed by my presence, never the less I hope I'll be able to show her my side of things and maybe get her to show me a human village though I've heard that the humans have a strong hatred for our kind."
The witch then closed the book and put the quill back in her hair where it vanished. "Oh, I just realized that I haven't properly introduced myself, Lilia Clawthorne the 3rd," Lilla said handing out her hand which Camila nervously shook.
"Camila." She said as Lilla was silent.
"No last name?" She asked raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"That's what I always responded to." Lilla then bent down and hugged her which Camila embraced. "So why are you here?"
"I was just getting to that, I'm more or less an explorer from the Boiling Isles expedition society, I'm not a verified member of said society you have to document and show your findings first but I'm sure that my research of this place will knock them off their high royal arses!" She exclaimed raising her fist as Camila laughed.
"Anyway I haven't managed to document that much only the trees and rocks, interesting but they'd just scoff at it as boring."
"I can help," Camila told her as Lilla's eyes widened. "I live with a community nearby."
"Fascinating! That will surely make a good discovery for my dairy!" Lilla stated as she then put her dairy into a leather satchel that hung on her shoulder as the two then walked into the forest and near a market, Lilla was about to go near but Camila tugged her shoulder before pointing to her ears.
"Oh right, just need a proper... there!" She then grabbed a cavalier hat with a red feather on it as the two then walked into the market.
They stopped by a local hunter who was selling furs Lilla then took a raccoon fur as she felt it. "Soft and the smell of grass, eyes are a bit terrifying but this could be made into a hat with the right materials and time." She quickly began writing it as the hunter glared at her.
"Excuse me Ma'am but are you going to buy something?" He asked with an annoyed tone as Lilla took one skin from each animal.
"How much?" She asked.
"Fifty shillings." Lilla then took out a pouch before dumping a handful of odd coins and placing them on the merchants' table.
"That should cover it no?" She put the furs into her satchel before tripping and falling to the ground losing her hat and exposing her ears a bit before quickly putting her hat back on and walking away as the man was in slight shock before he examined the coins and saw that they weren't shillings as he then left his stand to alert the constable and sheriff. In the town hall, Reverend Samuel, General Tompson, the town mayor, constable, sheriff, and a few judges were having a meeting when one of Tompson's men burst into the room.
"Sir, Mayor, Reverend sorry to interrupt you but you must hear this man's testimony!" The witch hunter said as Tompson stood up and walked towards the merchant.
"What is it, Harold?"
Harold managed to calm himself a bit before speaking. "I saw a witch."
"Great, let the constable here write the warrant for..."
"A REAL witch, she wasn't human!" The room was silent as Tompson's eyes widened before putting his hand on Harold's shoulder pulling him close to him.
"What do you mean not human?" Tompson questioned.
"She was wandering in the market with a girl... the one Reverend Samuel watches over."
Samuel quickly spat out a cup of wine he was drinking staining his robes and white collar as Tompson looked at him with a small smile forming on his face before turning to the constable "I don't believe that you can protect now, she broke away from the lord's will, she has no place being in God's home."
Tompson stated before leaving with a few of his men as well along with the constable and sheriff with the word quickly spreading around the town. Elsewhere Lilla and Camila were sitting on a bench as Lilla drew a bouquet.
"Oh look at the colors and a flower that won't try to bite off your nose when you smell it." She placed a flower in her dairy before munching on an apple she shared with Camila.
"You've been of such good help with my exploration, I want you to have this." Lilla then pulled something out of her pocket and placed it in Camila's hands. It was a bracelet that had been made of twigs and beads strung up together with runes around it.
"Made it myself when I was a girl and never had the chance to wear it with my studies but now I want you to have it as a reminder of me," Lilla stated.
"Your leaving?" Camila asked.
"Oh no not yet I'll stay for a month or two to get my findings and them back to the Boiling Ilses I go," Lilla stated while flipping to a drawing of the place which was an island covered in large bones around it.
"I climbed the titan's knee to get the view all by myself, maybe you could come with me if it's alright with your family of course." Lilla looked at Camila who quickly began to sob and cry while using her dress to wipe away the tears. "Oh titan, was it something I said? I didn't mean to hurt you!"
Camila stopped a bit. "It's not you, I never really had a family."
"I thought this Reverend person was your father?" She asked as Camila shook her head.
"He simply takes care and watches over me." Lilla then had a bit of remorse for the young girl as she placed her arm around her before hugging her tightly.
"In the name of the titan, I'll take care of you as my child till death!" Camila sniffed and let out a few tears. "Say no more Camila, I'll be the mother you always wanted." The young girl smiled with joy.
"Now I must go buy a weapon to catch better prey, believe me, it hard trying to catch a hog with just spells." Camila nodded as Lilla then left to grab hunting supplies. She simply waited a bit before seeing that Lilla had left her diary on the bench and opened it and started reading seeing the journal go as back as 1622 from Lilla's first entries to her adult years alongside the writing were sigils as well as alchemy recipes.
"Camy!" A voice called out as Camila turned around to see Philip and Caleb walking toward her as she hid the diary by wrapping it in her bonnet letting her long black hair loose.
"What is it, Philip?" Camila asked her friend as Philip took a while to respond as Caleb spoke for him.
"It's the witch hunters, they claim that you've been running around with a witch, but that's a lie right?" Before Camila could answer she saw one of the witch hunters pointed in her direction.
"I must go." She stated before running off as the Wittebane brothers gave chase, Camila ran past a few people before stopping to catch her breath and began drinking water from a nearby well before being grabbed and tossed to the floor by Oliver and his group as the boy smirked before Camila quickly smacked his face with the book before being punched to the ground resulting in her getting a black eye. At the same time, Oliver stood up holding his nose as it was bleeding before spitting into his hand revealing a tooth as his mouth also bleed staining his white shirt and jacket just as Philip and Caleb arrived.
"You BITCH!" He screamed as Caleb quickly tackled Oliver as the two got into a struggle and began beating each other while Philip helped Camila stand up. Oliver quickly dug into his pocket and pulled out a flintlock causing Caleb to back away while Oliver's friends quickly took back Camila as they ruthlessly kicked and beat Philip leaving him with bruises.
"Philip!" She yelled.
"Shut up!" Oliver shouted wiping the blood off his face with a handkerchief as he stared at the young Wittebane brother and spat at him. "This town is cursed enough, it doesn't need witch sympathizers like you, but after I join the witch-hunters I swear I'll watch you hang," Oliver stated before aiming the gun at the young girl. "Forget waiting five years, I'll start right..." The sizzling sound of heating was heard as Oliver screamed before dropping the pistol to the floor as he held his hand watching his palm being branded by an invisible force forming a circled pentagram as the teen looked and looked into the forest seeing a pair of glaring eyes starring back at him and it didn't stop at just him.
Another was covered with bubbling boils all over his body, One was submerged to the ground with only his arms and head sticking out, and the final boy quickly sprouted large amounts of hair that it reached to his legs covering him as the sound of buzzing got their attention followed by fire as Lilla emerged from the forest, a mad glare in her eyes, surrounded by several bees.
"If I ever see you boys hurt these children ever again I will melt the skin off your bodies and use your bones as powder!" The bees then quickly started swarming them as Philip, Caleb, and Camila ducked while Oliver and his group screamed and ran off while being stung.
"Camila!" Lilla shouted as she ran up to them with a musket strapped to her back as well as a powder flask and bullet pouch tied to her waist. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine Ma'am thank you," Caleb said as Lilla looked at Philip before moving her finger around him making a circle out of thin air which glowed blue, and soon all of the boy's injuries were completely healed. The two boys were in complete shock as Philip backed away from her.
"What's the matter?" The witch asked as Caleb quickly lifted his brother off the ground as the two backed away before running off. "Strange boys, wouldn't you agree Camila?" Camila stood silent for a bit before Lilla took her hand as the two walked away and near the forest.
BOOM! A loud shot ran out as Lilla fired a round into a deer as she blew the smoke from the barrel of her musket while Camila took the gun and began loading a new round into it. "Not a bad shot," Lilla said as she used a spell to carry the deer in mid-air as the two returned to the cave now cooking their latest kill. "Camila your quiet again, are you alright?"
"What you did, you did it to protect me right?"
"Why of course, I'm not a monster, believe me, I am slightly overprotective of people I care about, my sister says the same thing about me all the time," Lilla stated while writing in her diary. "It's cost me a few friendships, I barely get enough time to visit my niece, adorable thing about half your age, walking around, nearly burning down the house again..." She shivered at the thought of it. "But she's supportive of my expedition though she's barely said a few words, I left her a letter promising to bring her something that she's never seen before but almost everything here is similar to the Boiling Isles."
A thought lit up in Camila's head. "Not everything, I know something she might like a book of morals, stories, and history, and... I know where to find it."
After waiting till it rained (All thought Lilla was being afraid that it would burn her alive) They walked to the church with Camila opening the door as they walked in their clothing slightly soaked. Camila lead Lilla into her room as they waited for the Reverand when the doors opened Samuel, Tompson, and a man with Brutus-style blonde hair, sideburns, and a beard wearing clothing similar to Tompson as a heated argument went on.
"Your witness claims my children are responsible for this!?" The man said his face turning red in anger as Samuel tried to calm him down.
"Now, now Joseph I properly baptized them when they were born remember?" Samuel stated.
"And yet you let that girl stay in your church without baptizing her once, this place might be tainted with her evil presence!" Joseph claimed as Tompson nodded his head in agreement.
"Not to mention that she's been wandering around with a witch, the same witch who attacked and marked four boys! We already have about five men digging up one of them from the ground and the doctor says that the boils continue to swell, not to mention that the Copper family are breathing down our necks to find this witch!" Tompson yelled at the Reverend's face causing him to fall to the floor.
"You have to turn her in Revreand otherwise I'd hate to see a man of god be hanged for aiding and hiding a witch." Joseph threatened as he and Tompson left leaving Samuel on his own he went to the cross that hung on the wall as he bent down and prayed.
"My lord, please forgive me and my decision, I know that you bless us all when you give us life but listen to my pleas and protect my child with your holly body and spirit, give her the life she never had, a new chance of living, something other than this place, Amen."
He stood up as Camila opened the door."Sir?"
"Camila... how much have you heard?" Samuel asked.
"Are you going to hand me in?" Samuel sighed before placing his arms around her.
"No, I'm not."
"But they said that..."
Samuel then shushed her. "I'd rather that you be free and live your life than see it end with a rope around your neck." He then used a key to open the local poor box and quickly handed her a few coins from it mostly shillings and a few pounds. "Take it, it's enough to move away to Vermont, I hear that they rarely use slaves there, take it and leave with the local fur traders tomorrow."
Tears once again came out of her eyes as she cried Samuel hugged her as Lilla stepped out and asked: "Is it a bad time to come out now?" Samuel then looked at Lilla before noticing her ears once again falling to the floor in shock.
"Who are you?"
"I'm just someone traveling around, and you really care for her a lot," Lilla stated.
"Took her in when no one else would, lived with me most of her life, I act like a father to her." He replied holding Camila in his arms as Lilla took out her Diary and began drawing.
"Hold still, this is art, you can see the emotion all around it." She finished and showed it to Samuel by levitating the book near him.
"You're the witch..." He muttered before slowly holding Camilla tightly while pulling out a small carving knife out of his pocket as Lilla slowly approached.
Let me know what you think of this chapter