Nasty Little Witchling

I blew into the steam rolling off my stew. The rest of the bowl was nestled in my lap as I sat cross-legged on the roof of the train. I’d had plenty of practice climbing ladders with my hands full so I’d managed not to spill any of it on my way up.

For some reason, I was served first at the same time as the captains. The lack of meat in mine pointed to it being Annalise and I appreciated it.

Even after more walls had been partly raised to sit on there was still little space left after everyone gathered around for dinner. So, when Samuel’s dad had come back over with other passengers and started talking to Annalise again—who was next to me—I decided to move out of everyone’s way.

The mage lights had been extinguished once they arrived so as to not attract unwanted attention. From what, I wasn’t sure.

The full moon helped to keep the area outside of the flickering firelight illuminated. I could even see the outlines of the horses lying about. Many were asleep but Missy at least was awake from what I felt.

I saw the moment Samuel turned from the conversation with a woman who had to be his mother and noticed I wasn’t there. He looked about but didn’t see me in the shadows above. His mother waved him off and spread out a square of white cloth on my previous seat and sat down. She and the other new guests were served next.

She frowned after taking a sip and I agreed, it needed more salt, marjoram and a number of other spices. But it was better than rehydrated ration bars.

Aaron left the group around him and walked up to the carriage I was on. I expected to hear the clang of boots hitting the metal rungs, but didn’t. A spell formed below me, the captain jumped up and gently landed next to me. He didn’t offer a greeting as he grunted and plopped down so I went back to cooling my next spoonful.

I felt a faint curiosity right as Missy perked up about the approaching creatures. I dragged my eyes across the area they were in and tried to locate them. Dog-like animals with dark patterns in their fur ambled through the brush. Perking up whenever there was a round of laughter or shout.

Two presences were stronger than the rest as they coordinated the large group closer to us. Missy was fully concentrating on them now and had stood up.

I opened my mouth to speak but stopped when I locked eyes with Aaron. He was smirking at me. “Perceptive one aren’t you? Don’t worry about it, they’re just passing by.”

“But the horses?” I asked, slightly panicked on their behalf.

“Painted dogs are hardly a threat, just curious about the smell.”—he pointed down to Annalise, Bowfore and Damof near the passengers—“See, they already know and are waiting for the apprentices to notice.”

Curiosity was also mostly what I felt from them so I turned back to watch them slink through the moonlight.

Barick stood up, put his bowl down on his seat and looked to be encouraging those around him to get up. By then most of the apprentices had noticed the painted dogs or the neighs of the disgruntled horses

They stepped over their seats and formed a line against the curious intruders. The dogs yipped and barked while Annalise and the Knights were trying to keep the passengers calm and seated.

I tried to persuade the dogs to move on but they ignored me in favour of the two stronger presences encouraging them. It was annoying that they were going against their own interests and worrying that spells might start to be thrown.

My stomach dropped as mana started to tangle together.

The spells launched into the air and loud bangs responded across the area. The curiosity turned to fear for a moment and the stronger ones couldn’t stop the rest from fleeing. They followed soon after.

Aaron sighed. “We need to stop coddling them. Late response, no coordination, too many spells when one would do. Lectures and a few days of wilderness training isn’t enough to teach them properly. Soon all were going to be good for is looking pretty by castle gates.”

He seemed to be talking to himself more than me so I let him be and went back to my stew.

…

Even through the haze of the shield, I could see the large reddish trees that reached up past where I could see through the window. I was alone with my thoughts since the others were needed to make sure nothing was approaching the train. Damof had wanted to try to get me used to being on a train but after we started gaining speed I was feeling sick. Not as bad as the day prior but Annalise still cast the spell around me.

My body was pushed as the train slowed down and the shield was dropped a while later. I shivered as my senses came back and at the feelings of fear towards the train from the forest's inhabitants. We were only moving as fast as a trotting horse so I didn’t feel strained.

I got my first real look at the massive trees of the Red Forest for only a moment before we exited the shade of their leaves. Stumps that looked like they could fit an entire home were left behind at the edge.

I just about pressed my cheeks into the glass to see ahead of us. The train was about to pass through a small gap in a very steep hill that extended far across and out of sight. It wasn’t clear from further away but as we crossed I could see that the grassy hill dipped into a deep ditch facing the forest.

Behind the natural wall was a wooden platform and ladders, made out of the same red wood as the forest trees. Pairs of people wielding crossbows walked the length of it.

Beyond the wall was an extensive complex of buildings and roadways covered in activity.

Organised rows of people walked with their arms and legs swinging in time with each other on the road beside the tracks. The ones in the back or front rows tended to be mages but I wouldn’t have been able to tell by sight alone.

They wore metallic helmets and armour that glinted in the morning sun, except for someone walking ahead of them wearing a black beret. A forest of long pikes came up from one group while another carried nothing but short swords strapped to their sides. Those carrying nothing looked out of step while others moved and turned corners at the same moment.

Their uniform appearance and coordinated movements reminded me of a cloud of blackbirds swooping and swirling together.

“On three!” someone inside called. “One, two,—”

“Oh no,” Annalise said and blocked her eyes.

“Where’s your beret?!” the apprentices all shouted, leant up against the openings at the top of the window. “Where’s your beret?!”

The weird chant was noticed by the closest group who didn’t falter in their stride. The person at the front said something I couldn’t hear but the entire group behind made it clear.

“Where were you?.”

“At the pass.”

“We were there.”

“Where wer—”

The apprentices groaned and shouted over them.

The quick and confusing exchange ended as our carriage passed the turn-off for the road. A large stone building surrounding a courtyard replaced it. Three different flags were raised on a pole in the centre, surrounded by well-trimmed hedges and gravel pathways.

I got up on my knees and leaned on Annalise to look out the opposite window. There was a large open field filled with less-dressed groups running together or down on their stomachs or backs. Horses and their riders were moving around an enclosed sandy area. At the end of it all was the same wooden platform and slope.

“If anyone asks, it was only Damof here,” Annalise said to the others.

“C’mon, what’s wrong with a little rivalry?” Damof asked. “That group was only new recruits.”

“It’s embarrassing,” Annalise said and looked to Aaron for support.

“Eh,” Aaron said and shrugged. “We don’t play nice with the Military, they don’t like The Watch and The Watch thinks we’re out to fuck with them at every turn. Just how it is.”

“And no one likes the Navy,” Bowfore added.

“And no one likes the Navy.”

We crossed through the area until the train passed another gap in the surrounding defences. We started to speed up again and Annalise watched me to see if I needed the shield. I held up a hand to stop her and tried to not let it overwhelm me.

The sheep pen we passed made my eye twitch but we started slowing down again before I threw up. Annalise dabbed at my face with a cloth and pulled it away with a red splotch on it. I touched below my nose and looked at the blood covering my fingers.

“Lean forward,” Annalise said and put the cloth back. I tilted my head so I could still see out of the corner of my eye.

Outside were fields of flax, linen and cotton rather than the grain I was used to seeing. Sheep hadn’t fully replaced the other grazing animals but there were a lot of them. In the distance, I could still see the obviously mage-made slop separating the farmland from the forest.

The single set of tracks we were on split up into multiple with other trains occupying them. Buildings had just started to take over the land as the train came to a stop beside them.

Orders were issued and apprentices prepared to leave. The ripple from the front came and someone opened the door from the outside.

I followed behind Annalise onto a similar, but larger station than Kiteer. There was a regular grey stone wall surrounding us rather than the large slabs of sandstone. I waited as people ran around me, collecting bags and horses and unloading crates.

We were going to be riding the rest of the way into the city and I made sure Daral attached the satchel with the doll onto Missy. The other passengers were already walking off with their luggage but Mister Manafold came over to offer Annalise a ride in their carriage. She declined but we were going to be riding with them to his residence near the castle.

All the knights and aspirants would be coming with us since they were stationed in the outer area of the castle.

We left through a larger doorway and onto a street lined with carriages. Annalise helped me onto Missy and then jumped up behind me.

The Manafolds got into a decorated carriage pulled by two horses. Annalise and I rode in the centre behind the coach, up the wide streets.

There was more variety to the types of buildings here than in Kiteer. Many were made out of the redwood but some stood taller or spread out more. Areas of greenery and trees appeared often with market squares beside them.

I looked back and forth, up and down the new sights. The buildings and homes kept changing with seemingly no pattern as we travelled further in. Fenced in gardens and glass displays on storefronts to stalls and homes stacked on top of one another. A large stone castle stood out between ordinary buildings with Watch members moving in and out.

A piercing wave of pain and fear had my head snap to a particular inn. It stood five storeys tall but my eyes were stuck to the area below the street. Every creature I tried to gain insight from was behind a set of metal bars, looking at others behind another set of bars.

“What’s that?” I asked, my hand shaking slightly as I pointed.

“Not a good place for you or anyone to go,” Annalise said and didn’t offer anything else besides a frown.

I kept looking at the building even as we rode past, there was one of the clearest minds I’d felt so far there but they were sleeping and in pain. I understood hunters and prey but that building was nothing of the sort.

We rode far enough away that I didn’t feel the other animals and further until the sleeping one’s pain faded from my thoughts. The people crowded around us and the clothes they wore distracted me enough to not dwell on the inn.

I saw some wearing only vests and others with skirts to just their knees. I could see where all the wool and cotton went since clothing stores dominated the shopping choices. But there were also more people sitting on the street or running about in rags than I’d seen in other settlements.

The Manafold’s carriage and others rode up to a gated street guarded by Watch officers. Past the iron bars of the gate were extravagant manors sitting inside manicured gardens with Lake Drasda sitting nearly visible in the distance.

We carried on through the streets until a large wall overshadowed us. Square towers jutted out and upwards every so often and at the edge far off in the distance. There was a wide river that ran the entire length and under a large wooden bridge with chains connecting it to inside the wall. The reflection on the water could almost be mistaken for the real thing.

Two knights sat atop horses at the far end of the bridge with more talking to people moving into the castle.

“Welcome to Drasda,” Annalise said as she watched me gawk at the scale of everything.

“Haven't we been in Drasda a while now?”

“The city, yes, but this is Drasda Castle. The Red Forest used to be the border of Werl a long time ago so the city is just named after the castle since it was here first.”

We rode across with the Knights stopping to salute Annalise and Aaron. A few were apprentices but the two on horseback had the silver bar on their beret. They waved us through after a bit of back and forth.

On the right of the exit was what looked like another small town with most of the people moving about wearing the same green and grey clothing. Most waved when they noticed Annalise who smiled and waved back. Children played in a field on the other side, near a large wooded area that went all the way to the wall. A lot of the trees looked to be fruit bearing with small groups of farm animals penned nearby.

At the end of our path was a five storey building that looked like half castle, half inn.

“That’s where most of the castle staff and knight’s families stay,” Annalise said, pointing to the small town and then to the weird inn. “That’s The Bastion, it’s where Knight command is and where the Knights and apprentices stay.”

There was another wall beyond that, taller and disconnected from the other surrounding the small town and wooded area. More knights stood to the side of the entrance though they seemed unbothered by the uniformed staff moving in and out.

Annalise and Bowfore talked to their apprentices before they all split off with Damof towards the Bastion. All still needed to be paid for their time doing work outside of the castle but understood their captains had an urgent task, a third knowing exactly how important that task was.

Daral waved back at me. Alisa also turned to wave. “See you around, Valeria!”

I waved back and smiled at Alisa in particular.

Annalise, Aaron, Bowfore, Ian and I carried on riding through the next wall and under iron gates ready to drop down. A passing staff member was asked to inform the palace of Captain Leonarda and Captain Riker’s return.

“They’ll be there for the next few days before starting their next year at Equitier if you want to see them,” Annalise said.

“Ah, maybe,” I said, just now starting to realise my journey was coming to an end. I was nervous but eager to finally cure the duke who’d been suffering through an excruciating amount of pain for weeks. And see what awaited me after.

‘Building’ felt like a very inept description for the palace in front of us. It was the complete opposite of the boring blocky walls of the castle. Those were made to stop something from getting in. This was made to admire.

Sculpted and textured walls layered over each other with circular towers jutting out to try to pierce the sky. The wall was white in most areas with red brick showing through on the bottom. Windows covered the entire building in columns and four rows. Occasionally there was a fifth when a triangular area protruded from the slanted rooftop.

I liked the vines that crept all the way to the roof. And the trees that covered most of the grass in shade, the beds of flowers in patterns around a fountain in the middle, and the pond with a stream running into it from the far wall.

More brick buildings with fewer towers and more regularity stood to the side and were separated by pathways and hedges. We were heading towards a stable that was far off to the side of the main building.

All its inhabitants were well-groomed and seemed pleasant enough to be around. None were going to be as great as Missy but it didn’t seem like a bad place to work, as long as I could get fresh air often.

Annalise dismounted and helped me down. A few staff had followed us down the path and were now carrying Annalise’s baggage, except for the doll and the cursed items that she held. The other’s wouldn’t be staying so their horses were kept saddled.

I told Missy I would miss her as we started walking up the path to the palace. We didn’t go through the large front entrance but around to the side. Annalise was smiling and talking with the staff members who she seemed to know well. I tried paying attention to their names, how their kids were and which staff member was with whom but the blood pounding in my ears made it difficult.

We walked through a small corridor and into a room full of sofas and a carpet covering the entirety of the food. Intricate patterns were woven into it at every point. Annalise asked me to wait while she went to see what was going on with her father. Ian and Aaron would follow along with their respective cures to explain why they wouldn't work while Bowfore waited with me.

“I’ll take the doll down to the family vault, it’ll be safe there and it might help disrupt whatever links it to you,” Annalise whispered to me. “I'll come get you to perform whatever ritual you need to do once we've explained. The healers and Knights won't be happy unless we do.” I nodded, barely able to feel my limbs.

I argued with the accusations I was making towards Annalise in my mind.

It’s alright. Annalise isn’t like them. She wouldn’t do that to me. She’s helping.

Most of the critters in the building didn’t have much feel to them except for a few that I thought could be pets.

Bowfore accepted tea on my behalf since it took me too long to understand they were asking me as well. They brought out delicate white cups on small green and gold plates. I carefully pinched the small handle between my fingers and held up the cup from the bottom to take a few sips. It was still too hot but tasted wonderful and felt like it helped calm me.

My dirty boots had been left by the entrance so I lifted my legs atop the sofa to curl up and wait.