Danielle and Clara sat closely together on the sofa as Willow collected a decanter with three glasses placed them on the long glass table then took her seat opposite.
“Please, feel free to help yourself. You’re probably going to need it”.
Danielle picked up the bottle and inspected it. “What is it?”
Willow coughed after taking a sip. “Very…Strong”. She coughed between words.
Danielle poured a shot and downed it in one. “Holy…” She coughed violently. “You weren’t kidding”. She laughed as she poured another glass.
Clara stared at her in amazement. Danielle turned to her amused. “What? Its good stuff, just damn sharp going down”.
Clara shook her head and grinned as she poured herself a glass and took a sip, before coughing violently. “Smooth”. She managed to croak out.
The three of them laughed before adopting a more serious tone.
“Ok, this is a long story”. Willow began. “Do either of you know anything about the ‘The witches trial’?”
Clara shrugged. “It doesn’t ring a bell, is that an initiation into a coven or something?”
Danielle intervened. “Do you mean the weird cult thing in the newspapers at the moment?”
Willow nodded. “Yes, the news has managed to spin it to be a ritualistic cult making human sacrifices to cover up for the bodies being found. What they have failed to mention however, is that the bodies are only a drop in the ocean in comparison to the truth”.
“I read it’s somewhere between forty to fifty people so far across the world. I mean, if there’s a cover up they’ve done a pretty poor job so far”. Danielle commented.
Willow nodded again. “Yes, that’s what’s been released to the public. The actual numbers are closer to forty to fifty thousand”.
Danielle looked at Willow with bewilderment. “That can’t be right! Why would they cover up that many murders? How could they?”
Willow stood and approached a large bookshelf. “This is the part you’ll need your drinks”.
Clara and Danielle looked at each other in confusion but topped off their glasses.
Willow returned with a large leatherbound book. “Ok, I need you to both place your hands on this book and please, don’t remove your hand until I say so. Clara you know what I mean”.
Clara nodded and reassured Danielle. They both placed a hand on the book as Willow knelt on the other side of the table and placed both of her hands atop, their fingers lightly touching. Willow closed her eyes and breathed slow and deep. “Are you both ready?”
Clara and Danielle nodded their agreement in unison.
Willow responded, calm and collected. “Ok, brace yourselves” before beginning to chant.
“Tales of the past return to me, stories left or forever buried, a lapse in time in need of recollection, memories lost but never forgotten”.
Their surroundings began to shift as if the area was radiating intense heat. A vibrant blue mist descended around them.
Danielle was about to move away but Clara placed her free hand upon her arm to reassure her. Danielle nodded nervously as the mists climbed up their legs, the sofa and the table.
Within minutes the entire room was engulfed in the mist. Willow raised one hand above her head gently circling her wrist, causing the mists above her to swirl and collect. The mists began rising up towards the center of the ceiling, slowly adding to the small typhoon as it grew larger and larger. As the floor became visible again, it became dark and hard, no longer wood, now solid tarmac. The furniture dissolved and morphed, revealing a large row of vehicles parked up on the side of the road. Houses formed where the walls once were and the ceiling revealed a bright night sky, the stars and moon glistening brightly.
Willow lowered her arm and opened her eyes, the last of the mists disappeared as she stood, releasing her touch on the book.
“You can let go now, come, we need to move quickly”. Willow stepped behind a large van further down the street. Clara and Danielle released the book and followed.
When they reached the van, Willow placed a finger to her lips and pointed off into the distance towards another set of cars.
The three of them watched and waited in silence. A dark slender figure emerged from between two cars, they were small in height and appeared to be limping badly.
Clara’s instincts kicked in but as she was about to run towards the injured person Willow grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. She put her finger to her lips again and shushed her. Clara nodded, her concern was obvious, but she moved back and waited.
The injured figure moved beneath a streetlight, revealing his face. It was scaled, and the nose prolonged slightly like a snake or lizard. Large claws visible on one hand as he clutched something against his chest.
The figure began looking around frantically as a loud whistle pierced the air and a bolt shot into his leg. Danielle and Clara jolted backwards in shock as the figure cried out in pain while still trying to run away.
Another whistle was followed by another bolt impaling his other leg, causing him to collapse and drop the object he was holding as it rolled into the darkness.
A demented, cruel laugh cut through the cries of pain. “Looks like we got lucky tonight boys, this is the one that’s been eluding us all these months”.
Three men entered into the weak light of the streetlamp, one was reloading a crossbow while the other two carried a large sword and a long spear.
Danielle whispered softly. “I know that voice”.
Clara shook Willow. “We have to do something”.
Willow shook her head. “This is just a memory; we cannot intervene in events that have already passed”.
Clara and Danielle looked at Willow, they could just barely make out a tear forming in the corner of her eye.
Willow’s whisper was pained. “I’m so sorry Draxa”.
The man wielding the spear laughed. “Ahhh for crying out loud Max, you took out both of his legs, now he’s useless, he can’t fight if he can’t walk, I had good money bet on him”.
The man he’d called Max grunted. “Piss off, he shouldn’t have stabbed me. Lizard scum deserved it”.
The man in the middle was evidently the leader of the group. He shouted at the pair. “Shut up, both of you, he’s not dead yet, we can still have our fun with him even if he can’t go to the pits”.
All three laughed as their voices echoed through the street.
They stood over Draxa, the one with the spear stood on his leg causing him to cry out again.
Clara whispered. “Why is no one doing anything? There’s houses all around us, surely they must hear what’s going on?” She gestured along the entire row of housing.
Willow shook her head. “From the report I read, a spell was cast on the area. This was a trap, only those attuned would be able to see anything more than an empty street. The same magic was used on the building you entered”.
Another cry broke out in front of them, the man with the spear had flipped Draxa onto his back and impaled his waist.
Danielle quietly cried out before turning away. “I can’t watch this, this is torture”.
Willow’s tears were flowing freely now but her face remained firm as she continued to watch in silence.
Max punched the man with the spear in the arm causing him to topple slightly. “Oi Garok you idiot, watch where your stabbing that thing, if you kill him before we get any information, it’ll be your head on the block next”.
Garok twisted the point into the wound before pulling it free. “Oops, my bad”. His sickening grin making Clara feel queezy.
The leader knelt down over Draxa, bringing them face to face. “So scum, how is it you’ve manage to avoid us all this time? I must say I am impressed. So allow me to grant you a curtesy, if you share your secrets with us, we’ll give you and your little one a quick death, what do you say?”
Danielle turned her back to the scene as Clara whispered urgently to Willow. “What did he just say?”
The three of them looked over at the object that had rolled away, it was barely noticeable in the darkness, but they could see slight movement coming from within the bundle.
Willow whispered to herself. “No”. Her breathing grew sharp. “This wasn’t reported, Draxa’s family escaped”.
Clara placed a hand on Willows shoulder. “Willow what do you know? Please don’t say…”
Danielle pulled at Clara’s arm interrupting her. “I know this is going to sound insane, but I think that might be…”
A huge explosion drew their attention further up the street as one of the cars burst into a fireball causing the three torturers to jump up and turn to the source.
Draxa used this moment to react, he pulled a knife from his belt and slashed across the tendon of Garoks foot, sending him toppling to the ground. Draxa grabbed his spear and span back onto his feet with incredible agility despite his wounds, Max turned back just in time to have Draxa impale him through the throat with the end of the spear. The crossbow in Max’s grasp fired, striking Draxa in the chest and barely missing his heart. The force of the impact threw him back to the ground.
The leader turned back to the commotion, without even acknowledging his fallen brethren he paced over to Draxa and stood over him again. “Well, well, well, looks like I didn’t give you enough credit after all, at first I was impressed, now I’m disappointed. It’s a real shame you had to go against us. We could have used someone with your skill in our group”.
Draxa spat blood on the man’s shoe laughing through his pain. “The biggest shame for you will be that I’ll be long dead before you can get anything out of me”.
The leader grinned as he knelt beside Draxa. “You may die before we can acquire information”. He pointed his long blade towards the bundle in the distance. “But your little one wont, and neither will your wife…Not yet anyway”.
Draxa’s eyes widened as he coughed up more blood. “No! Not my daughter, I’ll tell you what you want to know, just leave her alone”.
The leader laughed again as he wiped the blood from his shoe. “I don’t think so, we played that game and look what happened”. He gestured behind him at his comrades. “I think we’ll take this loss, finish you off, then pick up your wife and see if she’ll be more cooperative when she sees we have her daughter”.
Draxa coughed violently as he tried to pull another knife from his belt. The leader grabbed his wrist and took the blade from his grasp. “Ah so that’s how you did it…interesting”. He kicked the bolt hard causing Draxa to scream in agony, then turned around and collected the crossbow from Max’s corpse. “Well then, looks like I’ll just have to kill you from the safety of a long shot”. He loaded another bolt into the bow. “Scum like you always have tricks up your sleeve”.
The three girls winced at the sight of the horror before their eyes. Draxa continued to cough violently as he lay awaiting his inevitable death, his fight lost, his resistance gone.
The leader took a few steps back from where Draxa lay before speaking one last time. “Wherever your kind end up, tell them Edmund Blackmane sent you”.
Danielle gasped loudly as she grabbed at Clara’s arm, shaking her violently.
Clara turned to her. “What, what is it?”
As his finger hovered over the trigger, a sweet soft voice echoed up the street. Edward’s eyes followed the incoming sound. Draxa attempted to shift himself to see. Meanwhile the three girls all turned in unison.
A black cat ran out from the darkness into view under a streetlamp, then back into the darkness, repeating this over and over until it reached the group and skittered underneath the nearest car. The soft voice hummed in the distance as a childlike figure came into view, then disappeared back into the darkness just like the cat before. Over and over until she reached the streetlamp closest to them.
The female figure was small in height but not a child as initially thought.
Long pointed ears poked through her fluorescent rainbow hair as it shimmered under the flickering lamp, one side completely shaved depicting an ice white crescent moon and various other markings, while the rest slid down her back reaching down to her hips. Bright white eyes gazed out upon the scene in front of her as she stopped and seemed to hover above the floor. Her figure hugged tightly by her corseted dress, the skirts flowed with the gentle breeze across her thighs leaving her long slender legs bare to its touch.
Her sweet voice broke the silence “Oh, I’m so sorry to intrude, I was looking for my cat. Well it’s not my cat, but I was petting it and then it ran off when som…”
The sound of a bolt whistled through the air as the woman twisted her head sideways, one hand held up beside her, the bolt between her fingers.
Willow gasped, her hands covering her mouth. “Oh my god”.
Edward threw the crossbow aside and pointed his blade towards the newcomer. “Well, well, well, looks like I’m getting three for the price of one today, I won’t be underestimating you like I did that one over there however, come, lets end this quickly.”
The woman giggled playfully, twirling the bolt between her fingers. “I only came here to play with the lil kitties, I’ve been interrupted thrice already today, and I don’t thi…”
A blade flew towards her face. She raised her eyebrows at her attacker as she easily caught it between her fingers like the bolt previously.
The playful smile upon her face faltered slightly, one of the markings adorning her head shifted towards the moon causing it to expand and become thicker and brighter. She tilted her head, throwing the blade in the air before grasping the handle twirling it with ease.
“Please, don’t interrupt a lady, it’s very rude”.
Clara nudged Willow. “Who is that?”
Willow shook her head, her eyes never leaving the new arrival. “I honestly have no idea”.
Danielle interrupted them. “Who cares who she is. Clara, don’t you recognize that Edward guy?”
Willow looked at Clara as she focused harder on Edward, for the first time really seeing him. “No, no it can’t be!”
Willow whispered to them both. “What, what is it?”
Danielle whispered. “That guy, the leader or whatever, he comes to our shop every day, he’s been really creepy with us for a while, then we had a weird incident yesterday”.
Edward‘s laugh broke through their conversation. “HA a lady, I think not, you’re merely a different breed of scum to this one”. He pointed behind him towards Draxa, his eyes never leaving the newcomer.
“You’ll make a fine addition to the prisoners, with skills like yours, you might be lucky enough to go to the fighting pits”. He eyed her up and down. “hmm yes, you’ll make a fine addition indeed”.
The woman laughed again, more sinister than playful this time. “Well aren’t you sweet, you think I want to play with a talentless fool like you, I’ve seen mice with more fight in them”. She continued to twirl the bolt between her fingers, ignoring Edwards slow advance towards her.
Edward laughed again, his anger beginning to show. “Come now, make it easier on yourself, come with me peacefully and I may show you mercy”. Edward was only a few feet away from her now.
Willow watched intently as the forgotten Draxa was attempted to crawl towards his child.
Speaking more to herself than anyone else she whispered. “The recordings specified only Draxa’s corpse and the two soldiers found. Who is this woman?”
The woman turned to lock eyes with Edward putting him on guard. “How about a trade?”
Edward snickered. “What could you possibly have to trade?”
The woman gazed around him at Draxa and his child. “You leave now, allow him and the child to go free and I’ll allow you to leave with your life and your friends corpse and…I’ll give you my name so that your kind learn to never stand in my way again”.
Edward laughed almost hysterically. “How about a different trade?”
The woman raised her eyebrow’s tilting her head to the side, waiting.
Edward cleared his throat. “I’ll give that scum a quick death, I’ll spare the little one and it can join you in our prison. However, I’ll personally ensure you are both treated with the respect you deserve”.
The woman’s face didn’t change. “And what do you believe we deserve?”
Edward smiled sadistically. “You will be used in the fighting pits for our entertainment of course, then when the little one comes of age…She will be used for other entert…”
A flash of white light flew past Edward faster than the blink of an eye.
The woman was no longer standing in front of Edward, she was directly behind him, her back to his, the blade she held dripping with blood. Edward’s eyes grew wide, he placed his free hand over his mouth as blood dripped out through his fingers.
“I can handle a lot of things, I can let a lot go, but something as disgusting as that, no one should hear”. She threw the remains of his tongue to the ground and stomped on it with her bare feet.
Edward turned, his eyes ablaze with fury and pain as he held his sword up to attack.
Her eyes twitched towards him. “I gave you a choice, you didn’t want it. I’ll offer you another, after that, the choice is mine”. She remained calm and passive, facing away from him as she spoke.
“You’ve given up the right to your comrades bodies, they are mine now”. She turned her head towards him, the crescent moon had expanded further, now a half moon that had grown even brighter.
“So, leave the man, leave the child, leave the bodies, and be gone before I count to five”. She paused and turned to fully face him. “Or remain…And join rhem in death”.
Edward spat out a mouthful of blood and grinned at her, grasping his blade with both hands.
The woman shook her head. “I’ll allow you a five second head start. Believe me though, I won’t be killing you quickly”.
She threw the blade into the corpse of the man behind her, the blade piercing his skull with a loud crack. She twirled the bolt between her fingers again. “You seem to think you have a giant set of balls on you, how quickly do you think the truth will be revealed when I embed this bolt down there and give you a new hole to piss through?”
Edwards face went pure white, either from the blood loss or the sudden threat. Before the woman made good on her promise she began to count.
“One”. She turned her gaze to meet his, continuing to twirl the bolt between her fingers.
“Two”. The moon on her head absorbed more of the markings and began waxing.
“Three”. Sweat dripped down Edwards brow as he spat blood to the floor. The woman gripped the bolt in her hand.
“Four”. A sadistic smile grew slowly upon her face as she brought the bolt down to her side and crouched low. Edwards hands were shaking violently as he watched her.
“F…” Before the woman could finish the final count Edward dropped his sword, it clattered to the ground in front of him, his hands raised high as he bowed his head down in surrender.
The woman chuckled deeply. “Well, you’re not as stupid as you look, kick the sword away and leave before I change my mind”.
Edward kicked the sword into the street, turned and slowly began walking back the way they had come.
The woman waited for him to pass her. “Oh and I promised you my name, I’ll still grant you that. She twirled the bolt in the air again before catching it.
“I carved it into this bolt of yours, so you won’t forget me when you get back”.
Edward turned his head towards her and scowled, his eyes shot open suddenly as he gargled a cry of pain, the bolt embedded into his left butt cheek so deep only a small heart and the start of her name were visible. It read ‘Nyx M’.
Edward began hobbling into the darkness, gripping his butt cheek as he continued to gurgle in pain.
Nyx snickered to herself. “Hmm, I was aiming for his asshole but I’m sure he got the point”.
Nyx rushed over to Draxa as he lay dying, his child still clutched to his chest.
Draxa struggled as he attempted to prop himself up to speak. “Tha…Thank…You”.
Nyx put a hand to his lips. “Don’t thank me yet, you’ve lost a lot of blood and healing is not my forte”. She looked him over to address the wounds.
Draxa grabbed her arm. “It was too late…before”. He coughed up more blood as Nyx rested him upon her lap. “He kicked the bolt…My heart was pierced..When I tried to…” He coughed violently, almost losing consciousness.
Nyx gently slapped his face. “Stay with me, where is your family, where will your child be safe?”
Draxa’s eyes flickered open and closed. “My…My wife…Separated…The woman of red saved her…”
Nyx gently slapped him again to keep him awake. “Come on, I need names, yours, your wife, the red woman?”
Draxa’s eyes closed. “I, Draxa…Eyes and hair of fire…”
Nyx checked his pulse, he was gone. “Damn it”. She gently rested his head down upon the ground and placed his hands upon his chest. Exhaling deeply she collected the child up into her arms.
As she turned Willow saw the waxing moon upon her head had faded back to a crescent moon again, it continued to fade until only dark markings remained.
Nyx cooed at the baby in the bundle of cloths. “So, what we gonna do with you little one?”
The tiny reptilian baby reached out to grabbed Nyx’s finger as she waggled it in front of her. She pulled away playfully, prodding towards her repeatedly. The baby squealed with excitement.
“Okay, lets go find your family shall we?”. Nyx tucked the baby back into its blanket and made her way back through the street, as the scene began to fade around them.
Droo's dramatic world of fanatical fiction 