The Witches Liberation Front
In early February of 1694, Tabitha had set about preparations for the baby's coming. She would be delivering her child by herself in March, and as far as she knew she would deliver it alone. She made sure there were ample blankets, special herbs to quell the bleeding and enough fresh water so she didn't have to go to the well during her laying in. She had helped deliver babies in the past, alongside Maizee Russell, who was considered an excellent midwife, but had no idea what would happen to her, all alone.
When all seemed satisfactory and in order, she stared down at the empty cradle beside her bed and hoped for the best. There was a certain amount of fondness for the unborn child inside of her. It was half hers, and she would protect it from harm. There was no way she could let such a cruel man as Alistar Stoke Crane touch her innocent baby.
"Party Time!"
Tabitha turned round to find Hecuba grinning at her. Not only was Hecuba standing inside her small cottage, but there were two other older women she did not recognize. One was short, petite with a nervous looking scowl and a long nose; and the other stood tall, with stern beady eyes.
"What are you doing here, Hecuba?" Tabitha eyed her suspiciously.
Hecuba pouted. "Oh, Tabby love-- The gals and I just thought we'd throw you a baby shower."
Tabitha's eyes surveyed the other two women. There was something odd about them that she didn't trust. Their eyes seemed to pierce through every stitch of clothing, examining her under strident scrutiny.
"Let me introduce you to my friends. This here," She elbowed the short one, "is Zelda, who covers the North Country Covens. And my other associate, Prosperina, she's been been working Salem for kicks, but represents the tidewater region."
The women nodded coolly to Tabitha, and then shared glances with each other.
"I didn't invite you or your friends here, Hecuba. Kindly leave." Tabitha said, showing them the door.
"Of course you didn't silly! This is a surprize party! SURPRIZE! Girls---let's make this festive!" Hecuba made an incantation while the other women followed suit. The room suddenly filled with plates of delectible food and wine. Chandeliers appeared out of nowhere with fine drapery replacing the burlap curtains. The wooden plank table became a mahogany dining table dressed in Irish lace with silver candelabras holding black candles already flickering.
"So, she's the chosen one, is she?" Prosperina remarked staring at Tabitha.
"She is." Hecuba said "Once my understudy. And you'll show a little respect." She glared at the woman threateningly.
"Prosperina is--no doubt, a little green behind the gills with envy that the Grand Warlock chose you instead of her." Hecuba said to Tabitha.
"Chose me? For what?" Tabitha didn't like the unkind looks they were giving her. She'd had enough disapproval from the towns people to last a lifetime.
Hecuba's eyes rolled up to the ceiling for a moment, feigning her exasperation. "She's such an innocent! Why, you've been chosen to bear his son! As if you didn't know." Hecuba took up a cut crystal glass of wine. "Here's a toast to the next Imperial Wizard! Long may he reign in infamy!"
The other two witches lifted their glasses. "To the Wizard!"
"Long may the Master Rule!" Prosperina raised her glass again.
"Long may he rule!" They enjoined her.
Tabitha had to sit down. The realization that she had been part of Alistar's plot was coming all too clear to her now. Alistar was indeed a Warlock. "Why me?"
"Why indeed!" Zelda sneered off handedly, peering down her long nose at Tabitha's fair and youthful beauty.
"Oh, don't be such a wet rag, Zelda. You're both too old and ugly." Then she turned to Tabitha. "The dark powers will often do that to a witch, you see, it will make her age. Similar to when mortals eat too many rich foods and drink and get the Gout. Unfortunately, that is the price of power." Hecuba was still a handsome woman who had been able to stop the aging process by her own secret spell, once she hit a human appearance of 46. She kept her spell to herself, using it as an influence among the Warlocks, who were driven by lust for beauty and power.
And yet, Tabitha could still not believe that she was carrying a child of the dark side inside of her. She herself had not allied herself to their Master, nor any master. She felt sick at the thought that she had been betrayed. And she didn't even have to sell her soul for this sinister business.
"The prophecy foretold that his eminence, the Grand Warlock of the New World was to take unto him, a virgin. That's where you came in." Hecuba nudged Tabitha. "A young woman, pure of heart who also showed extraordinary potential magical powers. You see the volitile mixture is very powerful." Hecuba, who had been initially jealous of Alistar's choice, had come to grips with the rightness of the prophecy in the last few months. She decided to accept his choice of women and glean what she could to boost her own position of power in this new country. "So, innocent and as you were....Alistar chose you."
"Is that why he wants my child?"
"Of course, sweetie!" Hecuba said. "He will be raised befitting the rank of an Imperial Wizard." Hecuba sat down next to Tabitha, patting her arm. "Now you see, you've no reason to suffer any more this perverse self-sacrifice. That's for stupid mortals. You don't have to live like a barn animal any more. Join up with the dark side and enjoy some of life's pleasures for once in your life. You'll be able to take pleasure in the company of men...." She smiled sympathetically, patting her hand. "All you need to do is invoke the powers within you, and ally them with the Master. I can't stand to see you suffer any more of that Warlock's abuse. I know he's been after you since the first time. That is not generally allowed. Your free to make love to any man you choose. Show him what a real witch is made of!" Hecuba threw her arm around Tabitha comforting her like mother.
"Yes," Zelda rallied in agreement. "It's shameful how these Warlocks throw their weight around, treating witches like hand maidens, ravishing the fledglings over and over. It makes me furious!"
"Alistar Stoke Crane has abused his power, and witches are his victims." Prosperina added. "The witch covens all over the globe are demanding witches rights, equality with the Warlocks, and that's been an uphill battle, I tell you. This horrid way he's abused your naivete has incited out and out rebellion against the Warlocks."
"Witches Rights! Equality for All!" Zelda shouted, raising her arm in a fist. Prosperina raised hers in solidarity.
Hecuba threw a glance at them. "Now, now. All in good time. Diplomacy, girls. You know how self-centered these Warlocks are. Play up to their Warlock vanity, that's what I say. After all, Rome didn't fall in a day."
"That's because the Warlocks were having too much fun at those orgies!" Zelda munched on a sweet cake.
Hecuba laughed, smoothing Tabitha's golden tresses off her forehead as if she were her daughter. "Now, my dear. You know that if you refuse to join us, Alistar will toss you into that most unspeakable place! What is it called?"
"The Home for the Feeble Minded!" Prosperina said with disgust.
"Lord of Darkness, Help us!" Zelda said. "This is too much for any witch to take. No witch should be treated like that, even if she is only a fledgling."
"Sweetie, Alistar doesn't care whether you have your powers or not. It means nothing to a Warlock like him. He's had his fun with you, and now your carrying the only thing he wants. The next Imperial Wizard!"
"Long may he reign!" The witches said in Unison then tossed another drink down.
"He'd just as soon see you see you chained to the wall of that loony bin till your mortal end. All that he wants is to claim being the father of the next Imperial Wizard. You mean nothing to him, depend on it." Hecuba laid her head on Tabitha's shoulder.
Zelda stamped her foot on the new oriental carpet. "These Warlocks are treating our fledglings like breeding cows. Something must be done!"
"He means nothing to me. What should I care what he thinks of me. He's the lowest of vermin!" Tabitha said.
"Of course he is dear, the lowest." Hecuba said soothingly. "But he will see you die a mortal death, if you are not careful."
"I can't believe you didn't turn him into a rat. That's what I would have done, the minute he laid a hand on me." Zelda said.
"I would have put witches bane in all his drawers, and then called upon the Master to invoke a spell that would leave him impotent. That'd fix him where it hurts!" Proserina smiled for the first time since she came into the cottage. "Oh, lets do that! Alistar Stoke Crane, the Impotent!"
Hecuba was the voice of reason. "Don't get carried away, ladies. It's all up to Tabitha. It's her call, after all." Hecuba kissed the top of Tabitha's head. "Poor dear, she's overworked with all this mortal drugery. She's been treated like a slave by this town, when she only wanted to help the sick and infirm. But...it's by her own choice."
"Yes, it's by her own design." Zelda agreed conservatively, curious about the fair young fledgling.
"Your fate is in your own hands, Tabitha. You've been trained by the best witches in Europe. Your natural abilities are so extraordinarily developed...that to refuse the invocation of the Master, is a waste of your existence...in my opinion. You could live forever!" Prosperina said wistfully. "I wish I had your talent when I was your age."
"It is a shame, isn't it?" Zelda joined in. "And to think what she had to endure from that bull of a Warlock, soiling and abusing her fine fledgling body into submission---it makes my essence BOIL!"
"Tabitha is made of stronger stuff than that." Hecuba said with wisdom. "Her suffering at his hands, has made her strong. It has made her outlast any ordinary fledgling witch. Her having held out from joining the Master has actually given her wisdom, and heightened her ability for focusing power once she does Invoke the Master."
All this talk about her powers, about the Master. It depressed Tabitha. A great sigh came over her. She hadn't given the Craft too much thought lately, since she found she was going to have a baby. However, these ladies, these witches were supportive and kind to her, after so lonely a time without any morsel of human compassion since captain Fitzgerald reached out to her. She was starved for affection, and at the same time feared giving birth all on her own as mortal woman and as mother to an Imperial Wizard.
"I tell you what," Hecuba said. "I've been up to a bit of mischief, myself."
Zelda and Prosperina giggled like school girls. "Do tell! Fess up, Hecuba."
Hecuba hunkered down on the couch grinning at Tabitha, she kicked her shoes off and wiggled her toes. "Well, for starters...I've doused some of Crane's future plans. His barren wife, Susanna....she will bear him a daughter next Winter."
That did not get too much of a response from the witches.
"I've undone his spell over her, repairing her ability to conceive, to the extent of Susanna's being able to produce a child of her own." Hecuba threw her hands up in the air waving them back and forth. "However, the birth will take its toll on her mortal body, and she will die a much earlier death. Can't be helped. It's not personal, actually. Magic isn't a perfect science...Yet!"
The witches screamed with laughter. Tabitha didn't understand the mirth over Susanna Crane's sooner than later demise. "Doesn't Alistar wish to have other children? He's crazed about taking mine. Perhaps he will be happy to have the one his wife bears him."
"No-your not following this, Tabitha. You will bear him the next Imperial Wizard." Hecuba said.
"Long may he reign!" The witches were getting drunk.
"You see Tabitha, that Warlock, he detests women, except as play-things and social decorations. He loathes having them around except to satisfy his physical needs. Women remind him too much of the witch's powers. He's not going to be too fond of having a Crane daughter, especially a pretty and intelligent one, even if she possess no power, she's still a threat. It's a primitive throw back to the early Warlocks."
The witches looked puzzled. "What is so wicked about the Warlock having a mortal daughter?"
Hecuba smiled. "It's not wicked at all. The daughter will give him so much trouble in female offspring throughout the centuries, passing on her independent traits to any future females in the Crane line. He will be too busy trying to reign her in to abuse any more witches."
"Hurray!!" The witches cheered.
"Hecuba, that's Brilliant!" Prosperina spilled wine on her dress.
"The Crane female line will be willful and obstinate, and never obey his orders. There was something I once read in a book of prophecy having to do with the mortal daughter of a Warlock."
"Oh-I heard that too." Prosperina said, her intoxicated mind attempted to recall the ancient tract by memory, "If a Warlock sires a mortal female, it will drain him of his power."
"Yes, that's it!" Zelda said. "It's more than Brilliant! It's Justice!"
"That is why a Warlock is ever so careful to make sure he sires male offspring only." Prosperina said. "If he is aware, he will usually have the unborn female child killed, along with the mother."
"It's delicious, when you think about it. Warlocks are so treacherously lustful, dogging after all the women, and yet...they must not sire females." Zelda clapped her hands in merriment. "It's Divine Justice at work."
"Thank the Master for that bit of Irony!" Prosperina clutched her hands together in salutation.
Zelda squinted her eyebrows together in thought. "But what is to stop him from killing his wife, once he discovers she is to bear him a daughter?"
Hecuba sat back with satisfaction. "I've taken care of that. I've put "the midwives spell" upon her, so that he will not be able detect her pregnancy during the first few months. I've hypnotized Susanna into keeping her pregnancy a secret from him so she won't tell. She's not too fond of his excesses with other women anyway, and she will be out of the country when she is to deliver. By the time the girl-child is born, he will be powerless."
"Hecuba rules!" The witches cried out.
Hecuba turned upon Tabitha once again. "So you see my dear, you may as well Invoke the Master now and save yourself pain and suffering. Join us, tonight. We can do nothing to help fend off Alistar until that girl-child is born. By that time, he will have you put into that dreadful asylum and the next Imperial Wizard---well, he must go with his destiny."
"I'm an independent woman." Tabitha said cooly.
"Independence-Bah! These fledglings think they can operate without the Master." Zelda said with contempt.
"You'll break, sooner or later." Prosperina's eyes were bloodshot now. "If you want to build more character by putting yourself through torture, that's all very well and good...but I wouldn't."
"No matter how perfected your own natural abilities are, Tabitha," Hecuba said. "You must ally yourself with us. Invoke the covenant with the Master." She brought Tabitha a glass of wine.
Tabitha shook her head. "I'll not give my soul or my child to your Master, nor to anyone else."
Hecuba shook her head, knowing that she could persuade her no further. Tabitha was a stubborn young woman, Hecuba thought. She will have to suffer a bit more to see the witches logic. "Well, it's been fun Tabitha, but we must be on our way. You can keep the trinkets." For all that was said here tonight, Hecuba felt sorry for the next few months of misery that Tabitha insisted on enduring. She kissed Tabitha's cheek and vanished.
Proserina smirked, tossed down the last of her glass of wine and disappeared. Zelda waved her hand as if Tabitha were a fly, dismissing Tabitha as a fool. "Why is youth is wasted on the fledglings?" She said before she vanished.
Fatigued, Tabitha sunk back into the couch pillow, ready to faint. Tis a very sad world, full of sorrows. She thought. Alas! I knew nothing of the mysterious world at all, to have it offered at my very feet, and not want it. I am accursed, that is what I am. To sell my soul, what a cost! How will I see this through? Oh--Unhappy girl! Tabitha had one last thought cross her thoughts before falling asleep. The Minister! I will see the Minister tomorrow. For surely, a servant of God will be able to guide my soul down the right path! With that, Tabitha slept the first peaceful night without nightmares since her unlucky meeting with Alistar Crane upon the road that summer day.
In early February of 1694, Tabitha had set about preparations for the baby's coming. She would be delivering her child by herself in March, and as far as she knew she would deliver it alone. She made sure there were ample blankets, special herbs to quell the bleeding and enough fresh water so she didn't have to go to the well during her laying in. She had helped deliver babies in the past, alongside Maizee Russell, who was considered an excellent midwife, but had no idea what would happen to her, all alone.
When all seemed satisfactory and in order, she stared down at the empty cradle beside her bed and hoped for the best. There was a certain amount of fondness for the unborn child inside of her. It was half hers, and she would protect it from harm. There was no way she could let such a cruel man as Alistar Stoke Crane touch her innocent baby.
"Party Time!"
Tabitha turned round to find Hecuba grinning at her. Not only was Hecuba standing inside her small cottage, but there were two other older women she did not recognize. One was short, petite with a nervous looking scowl and a long nose; and the other stood tall, with stern beady eyes.
"What are you doing here, Hecuba?" Tabitha eyed her suspiciously.
Hecuba pouted. "Oh, Tabby love-- The gals and I just thought we'd throw you a baby shower."
Tabitha's eyes surveyed the other two women. There was something odd about them that she didn't trust. Their eyes seemed to pierce through every stitch of clothing, examining her under strident scrutiny.
"Let me introduce you to my friends. This here," She elbowed the short one, "is Zelda, who covers the North Country Covens. And my other associate, Prosperina, she's been been working Salem for kicks, but represents the tidewater region."
The women nodded coolly to Tabitha, and then shared glances with each other.
"I didn't invite you or your friends here, Hecuba. Kindly leave." Tabitha said, showing them the door.
"Of course you didn't silly! This is a surprize party! SURPRIZE! Girls---let's make this festive!" Hecuba made an incantation while the other women followed suit. The room suddenly filled with plates of delectible food and wine. Chandeliers appeared out of nowhere with fine drapery replacing the burlap curtains. The wooden plank table became a mahogany dining table dressed in Irish lace with silver candelabras holding black candles already flickering.
"So, she's the chosen one, is she?" Prosperina remarked staring at Tabitha.
"She is." Hecuba said "Once my understudy. And you'll show a little respect." She glared at the woman threateningly.
"Prosperina is--no doubt, a little green behind the gills with envy that the Grand Warlock chose you instead of her." Hecuba said to Tabitha.
"Chose me? For what?" Tabitha didn't like the unkind looks they were giving her. She'd had enough disapproval from the towns people to last a lifetime.
Hecuba's eyes rolled up to the ceiling for a moment, feigning her exasperation. "She's such an innocent! Why, you've been chosen to bear his son! As if you didn't know." Hecuba took up a cut crystal glass of wine. "Here's a toast to the next Imperial Wizard! Long may he reign in infamy!"
The other two witches lifted their glasses. "To the Wizard!"
"Long may the Master Rule!" Prosperina raised her glass again.
"Long may he rule!" They enjoined her.
Tabitha had to sit down. The realization that she had been part of Alistar's plot was coming all too clear to her now. Alistar was indeed a Warlock. "Why me?"
"Why indeed!" Zelda sneered off handedly, peering down her long nose at Tabitha's fair and youthful beauty.
"Oh, don't be such a wet rag, Zelda. You're both too old and ugly." Then she turned to Tabitha. "The dark powers will often do that to a witch, you see, it will make her age. Similar to when mortals eat too many rich foods and drink and get the Gout. Unfortunately, that is the price of power." Hecuba was still a handsome woman who had been able to stop the aging process by her own secret spell, once she hit a human appearance of 46. She kept her spell to herself, using it as an influence among the Warlocks, who were driven by lust for beauty and power.
And yet, Tabitha could still not believe that she was carrying a child of the dark side inside of her. She herself had not allied herself to their Master, nor any master. She felt sick at the thought that she had been betrayed. And she didn't even have to sell her soul for this sinister business.
"The prophecy foretold that his eminence, the Grand Warlock of the New World was to take unto him, a virgin. That's where you came in." Hecuba nudged Tabitha. "A young woman, pure of heart who also showed extraordinary potential magical powers. You see the volitile mixture is very powerful." Hecuba, who had been initially jealous of Alistar's choice, had come to grips with the rightness of the prophecy in the last few months. She decided to accept his choice of women and glean what she could to boost her own position of power in this new country. "So, innocent and as you were....Alistar chose you."
"Is that why he wants my child?"
"Of course, sweetie!" Hecuba said. "He will be raised befitting the rank of an Imperial Wizard." Hecuba sat down next to Tabitha, patting her arm. "Now you see, you've no reason to suffer any more this perverse self-sacrifice. That's for stupid mortals. You don't have to live like a barn animal any more. Join up with the dark side and enjoy some of life's pleasures for once in your life. You'll be able to take pleasure in the company of men...." She smiled sympathetically, patting her hand. "All you need to do is invoke the powers within you, and ally them with the Master. I can't stand to see you suffer any more of that Warlock's abuse. I know he's been after you since the first time. That is not generally allowed. Your free to make love to any man you choose. Show him what a real witch is made of!" Hecuba threw her arm around Tabitha comforting her like mother.
"Yes," Zelda rallied in agreement. "It's shameful how these Warlocks throw their weight around, treating witches like hand maidens, ravishing the fledglings over and over. It makes me furious!"
"Alistar Stoke Crane has abused his power, and witches are his victims." Prosperina added. "The witch covens all over the globe are demanding witches rights, equality with the Warlocks, and that's been an uphill battle, I tell you. This horrid way he's abused your naivete has incited out and out rebellion against the Warlocks."
"Witches Rights! Equality for All!" Zelda shouted, raising her arm in a fist. Prosperina raised hers in solidarity.
Hecuba threw a glance at them. "Now, now. All in good time. Diplomacy, girls. You know how self-centered these Warlocks are. Play up to their Warlock vanity, that's what I say. After all, Rome didn't fall in a day."
"That's because the Warlocks were having too much fun at those orgies!" Zelda munched on a sweet cake.
Hecuba laughed, smoothing Tabitha's golden tresses off her forehead as if she were her daughter. "Now, my dear. You know that if you refuse to join us, Alistar will toss you into that most unspeakable place! What is it called?"
"The Home for the Feeble Minded!" Prosperina said with disgust.
"Lord of Darkness, Help us!" Zelda said. "This is too much for any witch to take. No witch should be treated like that, even if she is only a fledgling."
"Sweetie, Alistar doesn't care whether you have your powers or not. It means nothing to a Warlock like him. He's had his fun with you, and now your carrying the only thing he wants. The next Imperial Wizard!"
"Long may he reign!" The witches said in Unison then tossed another drink down.
"He'd just as soon see you see you chained to the wall of that loony bin till your mortal end. All that he wants is to claim being the father of the next Imperial Wizard. You mean nothing to him, depend on it." Hecuba laid her head on Tabitha's shoulder.
Zelda stamped her foot on the new oriental carpet. "These Warlocks are treating our fledglings like breeding cows. Something must be done!"
"He means nothing to me. What should I care what he thinks of me. He's the lowest of vermin!" Tabitha said.
"Of course he is dear, the lowest." Hecuba said soothingly. "But he will see you die a mortal death, if you are not careful."
"I can't believe you didn't turn him into a rat. That's what I would have done, the minute he laid a hand on me." Zelda said.
"I would have put witches bane in all his drawers, and then called upon the Master to invoke a spell that would leave him impotent. That'd fix him where it hurts!" Proserina smiled for the first time since she came into the cottage. "Oh, lets do that! Alistar Stoke Crane, the Impotent!"
Hecuba was the voice of reason. "Don't get carried away, ladies. It's all up to Tabitha. It's her call, after all." Hecuba kissed the top of Tabitha's head. "Poor dear, she's overworked with all this mortal drugery. She's been treated like a slave by this town, when she only wanted to help the sick and infirm. But...it's by her own choice."
"Yes, it's by her own design." Zelda agreed conservatively, curious about the fair young fledgling.
"Your fate is in your own hands, Tabitha. You've been trained by the best witches in Europe. Your natural abilities are so extraordinarily developed...that to refuse the invocation of the Master, is a waste of your existence...in my opinion. You could live forever!" Prosperina said wistfully. "I wish I had your talent when I was your age."
"It is a shame, isn't it?" Zelda joined in. "And to think what she had to endure from that bull of a Warlock, soiling and abusing her fine fledgling body into submission---it makes my essence BOIL!"
"Tabitha is made of stronger stuff than that." Hecuba said with wisdom. "Her suffering at his hands, has made her strong. It has made her outlast any ordinary fledgling witch. Her having held out from joining the Master has actually given her wisdom, and heightened her ability for focusing power once she does Invoke the Master."
All this talk about her powers, about the Master. It depressed Tabitha. A great sigh came over her. She hadn't given the Craft too much thought lately, since she found she was going to have a baby. However, these ladies, these witches were supportive and kind to her, after so lonely a time without any morsel of human compassion since captain Fitzgerald reached out to her. She was starved for affection, and at the same time feared giving birth all on her own as mortal woman and as mother to an Imperial Wizard.
"I tell you what," Hecuba said. "I've been up to a bit of mischief, myself."
Zelda and Prosperina giggled like school girls. "Do tell! Fess up, Hecuba."
Hecuba hunkered down on the couch grinning at Tabitha, she kicked her shoes off and wiggled her toes. "Well, for starters...I've doused some of Crane's future plans. His barren wife, Susanna....she will bear him a daughter next Winter."
That did not get too much of a response from the witches.
"I've undone his spell over her, repairing her ability to conceive, to the extent of Susanna's being able to produce a child of her own." Hecuba threw her hands up in the air waving them back and forth. "However, the birth will take its toll on her mortal body, and she will die a much earlier death. Can't be helped. It's not personal, actually. Magic isn't a perfect science...Yet!"
The witches screamed with laughter. Tabitha didn't understand the mirth over Susanna Crane's sooner than later demise. "Doesn't Alistar wish to have other children? He's crazed about taking mine. Perhaps he will be happy to have the one his wife bears him."
"No-your not following this, Tabitha. You will bear him the next Imperial Wizard." Hecuba said.
"Long may he reign!" The witches were getting drunk.
"You see Tabitha, that Warlock, he detests women, except as play-things and social decorations. He loathes having them around except to satisfy his physical needs. Women remind him too much of the witch's powers. He's not going to be too fond of having a Crane daughter, especially a pretty and intelligent one, even if she possess no power, she's still a threat. It's a primitive throw back to the early Warlocks."
The witches looked puzzled. "What is so wicked about the Warlock having a mortal daughter?"
Hecuba smiled. "It's not wicked at all. The daughter will give him so much trouble in female offspring throughout the centuries, passing on her independent traits to any future females in the Crane line. He will be too busy trying to reign her in to abuse any more witches."
"Hurray!!" The witches cheered.
"Hecuba, that's Brilliant!" Prosperina spilled wine on her dress.
"The Crane female line will be willful and obstinate, and never obey his orders. There was something I once read in a book of prophecy having to do with the mortal daughter of a Warlock."
"Oh-I heard that too." Prosperina said, her intoxicated mind attempted to recall the ancient tract by memory, "If a Warlock sires a mortal female, it will drain him of his power."
"Yes, that's it!" Zelda said. "It's more than Brilliant! It's Justice!"
"That is why a Warlock is ever so careful to make sure he sires male offspring only." Prosperina said. "If he is aware, he will usually have the unborn female child killed, along with the mother."
"It's delicious, when you think about it. Warlocks are so treacherously lustful, dogging after all the women, and yet...they must not sire females." Zelda clapped her hands in merriment. "It's Divine Justice at work."
"Thank the Master for that bit of Irony!" Prosperina clutched her hands together in salutation.
Zelda squinted her eyebrows together in thought. "But what is to stop him from killing his wife, once he discovers she is to bear him a daughter?"
Hecuba sat back with satisfaction. "I've taken care of that. I've put "the midwives spell" upon her, so that he will not be able detect her pregnancy during the first few months. I've hypnotized Susanna into keeping her pregnancy a secret from him so she won't tell. She's not too fond of his excesses with other women anyway, and she will be out of the country when she is to deliver. By the time the girl-child is born, he will be powerless."
"Hecuba rules!" The witches cried out.
Hecuba turned upon Tabitha once again. "So you see my dear, you may as well Invoke the Master now and save yourself pain and suffering. Join us, tonight. We can do nothing to help fend off Alistar until that girl-child is born. By that time, he will have you put into that dreadful asylum and the next Imperial Wizard---well, he must go with his destiny."
"I'm an independent woman." Tabitha said cooly.
"Independence-Bah! These fledglings think they can operate without the Master." Zelda said with contempt.
"You'll break, sooner or later." Prosperina's eyes were bloodshot now. "If you want to build more character by putting yourself through torture, that's all very well and good...but I wouldn't."
"No matter how perfected your own natural abilities are, Tabitha," Hecuba said. "You must ally yourself with us. Invoke the covenant with the Master." She brought Tabitha a glass of wine.
Tabitha shook her head. "I'll not give my soul or my child to your Master, nor to anyone else."
Hecuba shook her head, knowing that she could persuade her no further. Tabitha was a stubborn young woman, Hecuba thought. She will have to suffer a bit more to see the witches logic. "Well, it's been fun Tabitha, but we must be on our way. You can keep the trinkets." For all that was said here tonight, Hecuba felt sorry for the next few months of misery that Tabitha insisted on enduring. She kissed Tabitha's cheek and vanished.
Proserina smirked, tossed down the last of her glass of wine and disappeared. Zelda waved her hand as if Tabitha were a fly, dismissing Tabitha as a fool. "Why is youth is wasted on the fledglings?" She said before she vanished.
Fatigued, Tabitha sunk back into the couch pillow, ready to faint. Tis a very sad world, full of sorrows. She thought. Alas! I knew nothing of the mysterious world at all, to have it offered at my very feet, and not want it. I am accursed, that is what I am. To sell my soul, what a cost! How will I see this through? Oh--Unhappy girl! Tabitha had one last thought cross her thoughts before falling asleep. The Minister! I will see the Minister tomorrow. For surely, a servant of God will be able to guide my soul down the right path! With that, Tabitha slept the first peaceful night without nightmares since her unlucky meeting with Alistar Crane upon the road that summer day.