My parents often told stories of how witches were evil, and could tempt people into doing things against their will. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to tell them what happened to me today.
Remorse Of An Adventurer II
Tangled Paths
By DaringDanger
V: The Witch
"Three more bodies were found drained of their blood overnight, the safety patrol urges citizens to close their windows at night, while they sort-" I shut off the radio, too depressing. Who can just get into people's houses and kill them in such a way without getting caught? Though, what can do that might be a better question than who. Either way, a library trip was well overdue for David and Hilda, and I could do research while I'm there as well.
"Frida, I already have a book out of the library," David complained.
"You know, learning is important," I smiled as we approached the old building. "We'll just find the librarian and get going on each of our projects."
"Fine," David said, following me through the doors in sluggish defeat. We approached the counter and I turned around.
"Wait, she's always right behind me." This is a first. No librarian.
"She never makes us wait," Hilda agreed.
"Maybe she's about to show up with the perfect book on Ahlberg behind me!" David jumped to look behind him. No librarian, but he did scare another reader, who walked away nervously.
"Her cart's over here," Hilda pointed. We all shuffled over as quietly but quickly as possible, it still being a library after all.
"It shouldn't be that messy," David said, pointing out the large stacks of books.
"She's really organized normally. We should check the secret room." Hilda gestured us up to the second floor, then to the secret bookcase. It slid open as expected and the lights were already on, but no books were to be found on the table.
"She must've dropped this." Hilda picked up one of those library checkout cards which show who last had a given book. We checked around the room for a few minutes.
"Has anyone ever noticed this rug looks like an arrow?" David pointed. He moved forward and grabbed the shelf, which opened like a door. "What the flip!?" He exclaimed stepping back. A new dark room lay behind it.
"Who puts a secret room in a secret room?" I wondered.
We proceeded on, finding another similar rug and hidden door. Three rooms became five, the puzzles became more bizarre, and the books became older as if we were winding our way through history.
Finally we found a proper door, which opened into a long hallway full of robed statues.
"They look like sages of some sort," I noted, moving my head from statue to statue. As we entered the main room I became awed at the size of it, the number of books, the animals running around and of course the people, dressed in black uniform and all with strange colors in their hair, like Hilda.
"What is this?" Hilda gasped.
"Their hair looks like mine," David nervously pat his blue streak.
"I think I read about this," I realized. "It's the witches tower! It's supposed to be in the Huldrawood though."
"So, these are witches?" Hilda asked.
"Like us?" David added.
"That must be why the librarian has all those magic books! She's a witch!" Hilda concluded. We stumbled into a small connecting hallway and ducked behind bookshelves and urns as we caught sight of the back of the librarian's head. She was speaking the same sort of old language Hilda had spoken over her various spells, and in front of her the wall became a portal, alight in purple. I pulled my friends behind her and we all proceeded through.
We exited into an enormous room, books stacked higher than I can imagine. In the center was a pillar, with three witches on top, all with matching red hair. Hilda pulled us behind a book cart.
"I assume you've shelved the missing book if you've come before us?" The shortest of the three announced in a booming voice.
"I don't have the book yet, but I'm working on it," The librarian explained.
"You're running out of time dear," This witch was left of the short one, and spoke nervously, eyes never settling.
"It's been 29 years, 364 days, and 22 hours," The last witch sounded like someone who asks for the manager in a restaurant.
"It's unacceptable for a book to be checked out so long," The first complained.
"But-"
"No buts!"
"But! Shouldn't the borrower be held responsible?"
"You are the keeper of books!" The third witch held a riding crop, making her presence even more terrifying.
"Yes, I'm the keeper."
"You know very well after thirty years the blame for the missing book falls on the keeper, for losing sensitive magical texts!" The nervous one pulled a book away from our cart, with a tractor beam of red magic, her voice reaching a shrill yell as she spoke.
"You know the punishment is being cast into the void of no return," The first said.
"We don't do that kind of thing anymore," The librarian said nervously, but no sooner did magical red ropes entangle her.
"Lloyd!" The first yelled. A male witch appeared and played a single low note on his instrument. The floor became alight with triangles, which vanished, leaving a large circular hole in the ground, the librarian floating over it.
"We do do that kind of thing anymore," The nervous one bellowed.
"In two hours, if the book is not returned-"
"Two hours?!"
"Time doesn't lie." The hole closed and the librarian dropped to her knees.
"You know who has the book I assume?" The third asked.
"I have the card." She began checking her pockets.
"It says M. Pilqvist!" David held up the card.
"David, what the-" The three witches gasped before Hilda could finish. We ran up to the librarian, who took the card and smiled.
"Do you know these children?" The first demanded.
"This is irregular, non-witches tainting these sacred halls!" The nervous one added, glancing about.
"Technically I am a witch," David noted.
"Wait. Is she the one who tried necromancy!?" The third pointed at Hilda in an accusatory tone.
"Just throw them in the void and be done with it!" The nervous one insisted.
"No one is going in the void! We will get that book back!" The librarian insisted.
"Two Hours!" The first yelled as the three of us got pushed back through the portal.
"You all did a very stupid thing coming here."
"We saved you with that card!" I insisted.
"I know full well who has the book."
"Then why not collect it?" Hilda asked.
"Hilda look!" David yelled. "All the witches in these pictures have familiars."
"Like you two, right?" I pointed out.
"Over here," The librarian pointed at a large picture belonging to arch-sorceress Matilda Pilqvist.
"She doesn't like visitors, you have to go through this labyrinth." The librarian picked out a secret magic wand from the picture, and began speaking magic words as she drew a door in the center of the hall. The door materialized and the wand became it's doorknob. We entered as it opened.
"Ever been through this before?" I asked.
"No"
"Know anyone who has?" David asked.
"No." The door shut behind us. We entered a greenhouse next filled with all sorts of plants, none of which I had ever seen before, some in raised beds, others in pots, and still others were hanging from the ceiling. All were unique and separated into their own bed of soil. in the center of the room was a fountain from which water sprang, and a gleaming sword rose out of its waters in the firm grip of a thick vine.
"We need to open this, clearly," The librarian stated, having walked straight past all that to a door intricately decorated with runes of various plants and a sword at its top. That was when I noticed a vine coming at us, and pushed the librarian away just in time.
"I got this!" David stood in front of us with the sword from the fountain. He swung at the plant, severing a few limbs, which continued to writhe. I watched and quickly realized the sword had keys engraved in it.
"David! The door!" I yelled and pointed. He noticed what I had and shoved the blade in an open hole on the door. We all sprinted at the door and shoved it closed.
"Very observant Frida," The librarian complemented. David kept the sword as we moved forward, slowly getting more control as he practiced swings. We worked through various rooms, David writing poetry, the librarian and I mixing potions, and a portal room Hilda managed to brute force. Finally after being inside the mouth of a fish, we were spat out at what appeared to be the final door.
"Couldn't we have used more magic in there?" David asked.
"Being a witch is about knowledge, and knowing when to use magic."
We entered a snowy room with a pillar at it's end. As we approached, steam blew from the pillar, and a creature made of rock and fire emerged.
"Fire! In the snow!?" David complained.
"Just get the book! I'll get him," The librarian instructed, and we ran to the door. We exited into a cluttered room of books and old furniture.
"Cornelius, we have guests," An older woman pet a small creature with the shape and apparent texture of a cloud, and stepped out of her chair.
"Are you Matilda Pilqvist?" I asked.
"Call me Tildy, dear," she replied. "Would you like tea?"
"We're actually in a hurry-" I insisted. Suddenly she produced a crossbow.
"It's easier to find things looking down the sight of a crossbow," She explained.
"Can you look for a library book you borrowed thirty years ago?" David asked.
"Did the council send you all the way here for a book?"
"The Skeleton Whisperer," Hilda said.
"Tell them I'll find it and return when I'm ready."
"They're threatening to banish us to the void of no return, as well as the librarian."
"Librarian?"
"She's fighting your flame monster," I said.
"Fighting Eldrid? He's just my landscaper." Tildy made a whooshing motion with a small flower from her hair and her wall vanished, revealing the librarian playing chess with Eldrid.
"Kaisa?" Tildy adjusted her glasses. The Librarian jumped out of her seat.
"Tildy," She said sheepishly.
"You know each other?" I asked.
"Kaisa was my most promising student. Why didn't you come say hi dear?"
"We really need to find the book!" David interjected.
"Just cast a finding spell!" Hilda added.
"You should do it Kaisa, your magic will be most effective," Tildy gestured. Kaisa produced a wand with a gem on the end, but froze.
"I can't! That's why I didn't come in or get the book all this time. I didn't want you to know I'm not the witch you taught me to be. I'm just the keeper of the books."
"Kaisa, nothing turns out like we expect, being the keeper of the books is a wonderful surprise."
"Is there a chance your familiar has it?" David asked. The cloud creature suddenly looked nervous. Tildy approached and pressed on him, causing him to vomit up a room's worth of books.
"It's here!" Hilda held it up. "With time to spare!"
"Let's go then!" Tildy gained a blue aura and took to the sky. Suddenly everything snapped back and snapped again into the large room with the council. We were now joined by a woman with green hair, who floated in the air and was well under-dressed with shorts and a t-shirt.
"We got the book!" Hilda cheered.
"About two minutes too late it appears," The main witch said.
"How?" David complained.
"Time can get messy when you translocate," Tildy apologized.
"Tell me about it," The green haired witch added.
"Enough out of you Ms. Oket," The riding crop wielding council member complained, clearly annoyed with the newly arrived witch.
"Lloyd, open the void!" The nervous witch ordered. A rope entangled me and I heard that low string note play.
"Oh come on!" We suddenly became free as Tildy spoke. "No one is going to the void over a library book. Aren't you impressed they completed my maze? So many of your witches failed."
"We can't leave the void open this long," Lloyd complained.
"It is impressive," The main witch noted.
"This changes nothing!" The second yelled. "This isn't about the book! There are dark forces below us that must be kept at bay!" As she spoke I began noticing something bulge from the glowing floor.
"The void needs to be fed!" Black hands with eyes began surrounding us as the council vanished. It began grabbing bookshelves and pulling them in. The floor shattered and we began falling, the circular hole of library light shrinking fast as we went into the void.
"Kaisa help us!" I screamed.
"Use your magic!" Hilda added.
She produced her wand and pointed it to a bookshelf, it glowed and moved under us.
"We're still falling!" David noted.
"Not on my watch." The green haired witch flew under us and we slowed, no longer falling but not rising either. "Need some help," She groaned under the weight.
"I know a spell, but I don't remember the incantation!" Kaisa yelled. The three of us began looking for books as the two witches shot spells at the hands. "Look for Form Casting!" David quickly pointed to a far away bookshelf. The green haired witch strained and began moving the bookcase closer to the one that has just fallen past us.
"I'm going to drop you and get the book!" She yelled. We began falling and my stomach churned. She flew over and threw a book down. I began flipping through it before passing it below Kaisa's feet. She read the incantation and we slammed to a stop.
"She has to keep reading that or we'll fall, we need a plan," The green haired witch instructed. David began swinging his sword at the hands as he defended Kaisa with the other witch.
"I have an idea," I explained. "I need a wand!"
"Take mine!" The new witch tossed her wand, a simple stick, "I don't need it!" The woman pulled off her gloves to reveal her right hand had metal disgustingly melted to her fingertips, like claws.
"Gross," I said.
"Cool!" Hilda said. The woman began fighting the monsters with her hands as I recalled the door spell from earlier and drew the door, opening Tildy's maze.
"Let's go!" Hilda followed me in and we opened the doors to the plant room and the vines began flooding the hallway. We ran out to see the hands beating the two defenders further back.
"David! Go crazy!" The vines entered the void as I spoke and David began slashing, the vines filled the room, eventually drowning the void, so Kaisa could stop her spell.
"Clever!" She said. "Now let me take us up, hold still." She began spell-casting and we began floating. The green haired witch seemed to be floating on her own power as well, in a laid back position.
"How don't you need an incantation for that?" Hilda asked.
"Different types of magic," She smiled. We crested the top of the void and Tildy whisked it closed; the council had since returned.
"As long as that thing is a vegetarian, it should be fed for a long time," David noted.
"Excellent display of witchcraft," Tildy smiled.
"It's so good you made it out," The second witch lied through her teeth.
"There's still the charge of trespassing for the non-witches!"
"Oh you nitpickers! I wave the charges. Can't you see one of them has great potential as a witch? Isn't that right Frida?"
"Me!?" I asked Tildy "I don't do magic."
"You have the aptitude to learn, especially with these two as your familiars." Tildy flew between David and Hilda. "As long as no one puts her off of it." The council backed away a bit.
"Human familiars huh?" The green witch pondered. "Weird."
"Who will teach her?" The first witch asked.
"Me of course," Tildy smiled.
"Great another Tildy," The third witch whispered.
"I can hear you," Tildy complained. We began to walk out but I overheard the council speaking to the other witch.
"So you still won't heed my warning?" The witch complained.
"You're lucky we let you in here," The whiny second witch complained. Shortly after a green marra wisp flew by us.
"Was she a witch and a marra?" I asked Hilda, but she just shrugged.
"She's kind of cool though," Hilda noted.
To Be Continued in: The Eternal Warriors