Nasty Little Witchling

“Yistopher, how did you get one of your granddaughters to come with you?” Bernard asked, one of two people in a dress uniform besides Yis, his in military colours. “Share your secrets. Mine give me so much attitude over the mere insinuation I might invite them.”

“That’s not our granddaughter. They’re not even the same age, let alone look alike,” Donna said, introduced to me as ‘the mother of my children’ by Yis and wearing the same uniform as him.

“Why do you have a young girl accompanying you to the opera,” Charlotte asked from her seat with a simpering smile.

“Ma’am—Charlie,” Yis said, the shorter name sounding like it physically hurt him to say. “Let’s not slander my good character before I’ve even introduced her.”

“Good?” Donna scoffed over a sip from her flute glass.

We were on a balcony that angled towards and gave us a close-up view of a stage made out of the red polished wood from the nearby forest. Rows of cushioned seating ran in lines below us, with more on a second floor at the back of the opera house—a space between the stage and the audience for the collection of instruments. Theatregoers were filtering in and talking to each other amongst the half-filled seats.

“Val here is taking care of Sweeka for me,” Yis said, ignoring Donna.

“Blink twice if you want us to save you,” Chirai said, wearing a regular black suit with a colourful ascot tucked into his button-up vest. “No child willingly comes to the opera, especially with this oaf.”

I leaned towards Yis. “Aren’t these your friends?”

He pushed my shoulder away. “I warned her about it all. She still wanted to come see, and we always have extra seats, so I didn’t think it would be an issue.”

“It’s not,” Charlotte said. “Come sit by me, dear.”

She unfolded her long legs, party-covered by a green dress made from a material with a sheen to it, and got a glass for me while I sank into the seat between her and Donna. I shuffled Sweeka into a more comfortable position while she pretended to sleep and picked off more of her fur that had got stuck to my sweater—a futile effort.

The person at the entrance initially baulked at letting an animal inside, and my attire was also a point of contention until Yis mentioned where his seat was.

“Thank you.” The liquid inside the glass handed to me had the effervescence of a bad alchemical reaction. I looked for reassurance before taking a sip, the bubbles tingling in my mouth.

“Ha,” Bernard laughed at the face I pulled and swirled around his crystal glass of amber liquid. “Sparkling wine is an abomination of an already poor drink. Want some of this instead?”

“Is no one going to make comments about giving a young girl liquor?” Yis asked…and no one did.

“So, are you a neighbour?” Charlotte asked. “How do you know our grouchy Yis?”

The man in question went to talk to the other two while Donna and Charlotte leaned in around me.

“He let me into his house the other night and said I could sleep on his couch,” I said, trying not to mention the watch who were chasing me.

The woman leaning over me and the two men, eavesdropping during their conversation with Yis, all turned to stare at him.

“No. No, no,” Yis said, pointing an accusatory finger at me. “You made that sound so much worse than it was. Tell the full story, girl.”

“Did you or did you not bring her into your house in the middle of the night?” Donna asked, pointing an empty glass at him.

“No—somewhat, but the watch was after her, and she looked terrified with bruises all up her arm,” Yis said quickly. “I invited her inside to get away from them, and she decided to stay despite my insinuation that she should go back home.”

There was a drawn-out discussion about where the bruising came from and why the watch was after me, which I avoided for the most part. Then Charoltte noticed the dried ointment on my hands and offered to heal the scabbed cuts, which I had to deny since she wouldn’t have been able to.

The dimming lights broke off the conversation about my current living situation, as I had been forbidden from sleeping on his couch again tonight.

The curtains opened, and cloaked figures dragged thin renditions of barns and fencing onto the stage, with another shadowy figure standing in the middle. The audience settled down before they started speaking.

“Sirs and Madams, thank you for joining us tonight in our celebration of our military members with a story of how our great nation was formed from a small farm town in a forgotten area of the continental empire into the giant it now is, able to stand tall despite its flaws.”

…

I had not been prepared for that to be the only speaking part of the event. I kept waiting for the figure to return and explain what was going on between the singing, which was still enjoyable to listen to. My body and heart felt like they swayed to the highs and lows even when I had no clue what words they were drawing out to extremes that I did not know the voice could go to.

Yis was correct that I didn’t understand the story, and the people dressed as sheep with a whole song to themselves certainly didn’t help. It was still entertaining to see the people representing the kings throughout Werl’s history wear different outrageous costumes with long fur and gem-covered capes that they practically dragged on stage. I also got excited when one period had everyone in frills like Trissa’s drawing.

The lights came back on, and the shadowy figure finally came back on stage while the most recent castle props were removed. “Thus concludes our first act. Please feel free to stretch your legs and take advantage of our food and beverage service through the back doors. The second act will begin in half an hour.”

I froze mid-stretch. “Second act?”

Bernard snickered as he left the balcony with Chirai, both having made their hunger well known to us.

“I did warn you,” Yis said, holding the door open for Charlotte, Donna, and I. Sweeka wanted to stretch her legs and kept weaving between all of ours as we got to the balconies’ more private spread of finger foods.

“Are they going through every single king?” I asked.

“Only the most interesting ones,” Charlotte said, patting my shoulder. “There’s few left till we get to the finale.”

Each of them took turns pointing to foods they wanted me to try. And since I hadn’t eaten in two days I made quick work of the offerings before the next was placed on my plate.

“What’s that?” I asked to a weird amalgamation of…something inside of a shell sitting on my plate.

“Ah, oysters. They certainly aren’t for everyone,” Charlotte said while stabbing a small fork into one. On top of my aversion to eating creatures that were once alive, it looked and smelled gross, so I placed it on her plate instead of trying it like encouraged.

Sweeka enjoyed the attention of the older guests and was on her best behaviour until someone put sticky hands in her fur. She made a hasty retreat to Yis for a spell to clean it off and then to me for a brush since he wasn’t doing it correctly.

Every other conversation around us was about the gambling house and the ‘horrible accident’ that had occurred. I quickly shuffled away from them since they threatened to ruin the fragile peace I’d found, which made it very unfortunate that Yis brought it up in our own group.

“The duke should get involved. He was there, and it was an elf that lost their life, it’s the perfect excuse for a sweeping ban,” Yis said.

“The owners are two of the votes he’s going to need in a few months,” Donna said. “You cannot expect him to upset them over a mishap.”

Yis scoffed. “As if they will ever be voted out. You know how many protections were woven into the deal. You have to be monstrous, truly monstrous, for the barons to agree to even consider voting in someone besides themselves.”

“I wonder what the old duke would have done,” Chirai said, raising a glass and grinning.

“She would have stayed out of it,” Charlotte said, clinking the raised glass with her own. “But I’m sure now that she doesn’t have to worry about whiny barons, it would get taxed into the ground.”

“You also have to consider the public sentiment,” Bernard added. “Entertainment and free healing are quite the motivator. And, might I add, it gets some people interested in military service. Not many places to see spellwork and the beasts we face outside the city limits.”

Sweeka protested that I was squeezing her too hard, and I took a deep breath to calm myself for her sake.

“You look pale,” Donna said, pressing her palm to my forehead. “Was it the oysters?”

“No…I’m fine,” I said and continued since I didn’t want them to look at me with concern I didn’t deserve. “I was at the arena when it happened, so I’m just feeling a little queasy.”

Donna took her hand off my forehead to whack Yis in the shoulder. “Why would you bring it up.”

“How was I supposed to know?”

Charlotte draped her arm around my neck, her dark blonde curls settling onto my head, and led me away from the ensuing argument towards a pitcher of water. “Do you want to sit down?”

“I’ll just go back to the balcony with Sweeka. Thank you.”

She squeezed my shoulder before letting me head back down the hallway to their balcony.

I fell into one of the chairs, sending a jolt through Sweeka that she didn’t appreciate. Placating her was as simple as digging my nails into the base of her antlers, but my fingers froze for long enough that she turned to nip at them.

Two people were sitting near the front row of the emptied-out theatre floor; two people I recognised.

Fergie and Jay sat somewhere near the middle aisle. The former sipping his glass and trying his best to ignore Jay, who gesticulated wildly while speaking into the other’s ear. I spotted Brigette on her own a few rows back with another one of their group on the other side of the aisle. I could only see the heads of the patrons below me, so I was unsure if there were more.

The nipping at my fingers distracted me from wondering why they were there, especially since most of the guests I interacted with found it surprising someone my age was. They also didn’t seem the type to sit still for hours.

I slowly ran my hands through her fur again, watching their discussion play out. The chairs being stuck to the floor helped dissuade me from throwing one down at Jay for leaving me alone with the watch, Alister not being around to share in my ire.

Yis came back in to sit down, which was next to me since I’d taken Bernard’s chair in the front. “Sorry about the morbid topic. I sometimes forget to…reign myself in around younger company.”

“It’s fine,” I said, comforted by Sweeka’s presence to continue what was actually on my mind. “I can’t get the memory of her body falling out of my head.”

“Ah,” Yis said, quiet for a long time. “I don’t know you well, or at all, really. And I’m not exactly known for sensitive conversations, but would you like to talk about it? Donna seems to think you’re from an orphanage and might not have anyone else to talk with.”

I tilted my head from side to side, debating my answer since he was only party right.

“Oh, crap. You are? I’m sorry. I told her she was just being nosey,” he said, pulling at his grey hair and burying his face in his hands. “I suppose that makes sense…is someone there hurting you cause the offer to hack limbs is still on the table.”

“No, those really are self-inflicted,” I said, smiling at the offer and thinking back to the opera for a way to ask an insensitive question. “There were a lot of wars in that first act—at least, I think that’s what it was about. Did you ever…fight other people when you were a knight?”

“Not often. Our conflicts aren’t bloody battles on open fields worthy of operas anymore, but they still exist.”

“How did you…?” I asked, not finding the right word to express my hope of finding a more permanent solace than Sweeka’s fur.

He folded his legs and leaned back into the chair, considering what to say. “Cope? This won’t help too much with your situation since you only witnessed it, not saying that isn’t traumatic. But the short answer is we do it slowly; we do it together. Us knights experience a lot of the same things, so we have a good group to talk to that will understand.

Not to gloat, but to talk. People on the outside don't understand what it’s like. The guilt and shame can be overwhelming, and not everyone gets why you’re suddenly angry over your partner buying the wrong type of naartjie.”

I hummed my agreement and forgot to respond with all the thoughts crowding my mind, along with watching Fergie get up and leave behind an exasperated Jay.

Yis didn’t try to continue the conversation anymore, and we sat in silence until everyone came back to their seats. Bernard didn’t mind me keeping his chair up in the front, so I kept an eye on Jay as the curtains opened on the second act.

The scene from the fall of the capital was up next, with the person portraying the king singing somberly and people depicting witches sneaking around behind him. I had to ask Yis to make sure since the performers had their backs hunched and wore masks that looked like their skin was falling off. A tune of triumph and loss came next as the knights pushed back against an opposing song that was supposed to represent the ghouls.

That was when Jay decided to get up and go to the side of the theatre below me.

“Where’s the lavatory?” I whispered to Yis.

“Out the door, take a right, and you’ll find it at the end.”

I carefully picked up Sweeka to deposit her onto his lap, quietly exited, and turned right down the hallway till I was far enough away. I drained the mana crystal around my neck and quickly ran back past the doorway in hopes no one would open it since all five of them were mages and would be able to tell something was wrong with my mana.

The stairs down were easy enough to find, but now that I was in a hallway adjacent to the theatre and far behind Jay, I had no idea where he had gone. The thought that he was just in the lavatory and was here to enjoy the opera did cross my mind. However, that was at the bottom of my list of possibilities.

The singing abruptly stopped and was replaced by shouting and screaming coming from the direction of the stage.

“Everyone relax.” A sleazy voice came over the amplification enchantment that had been flooding the building with a beautiful melody moments before. “Any more screaming, and I open up her pretty neck. Any spells or movement I didn’t approve, same result.”

“Now, me and my friends here have the entire cast well wrapped up. We know there are a lot of old traitors in the audience, so squash any thoughts of heroics. I have people that might be sitting right next to you, ready to act, so careful who you talk to.”

I imagined he was talking directly to Yis with the part about the heroics, who was probably standing at the railing, ready to jump. I started to move slowly towards where I thought the access to the stage would be, although every hallway looked the same.

“Everyone on the balconies, while I’d love to auction you off back to your thieving families, I need you all to go before your corrupt cronies come in to save you over all of us down here. Leave.

“To the old man in the uniform glaring at me, you really want to be responsible for her death? Yeah, that’s what I thought. We have our own mages, so any thoughts of hiding will lead to dead opera singers. Any of my people go missing, dead opera singers.”

Doors bashed open, and people stormed down the stairs. It would be smart to turn around and go with them, yet I carried on towards past signs directing me backstage.

The twang of a crossbow echoed over the enchantment, and a muffled scream followed.

“Ah, ah, ah. I didn’t say any you could leave yet.”

Ahead of me was a door that sat ajar, with a whole section missing where the handle and lock should have been. The sound from that direction was less muffled, and I poked my head to check despite not sensing any people on the other side. Mages had been getting easier to pick out, but regular people were still easy to miss in a place packed with enchantments distracting me.

The lights had been turned on again, but most didn't reach behind the curtains to the cluttered side of the stage I was now in. I ducked behind a covered object I couldn’t make out in the dark to peer onto the stage.

From the limited section I could see around all the props and clothing, were people dressed like any other I had seen throughout the night but in clothes that didn’t fit them best. They had the performers on the ground or with arms around their necks with blades and crossbows pinning them in place.

Now that I had come this far, I had to confront the fact that I had no plan for what to do next. Putting on one of the nearby cloaks and mask came to mind and sounded like a good idea until I imagined what Jeremy would do when the mages in the crowd reported someone they couldn’t sense.

Hurting the attackers was out of the question, and it made me sick to my stomach thinking about what it could cause for the people they were holding. Overall, I regretted coming this far.

“I need a good little messenger to write down a list of demands and warnings for me,” said a lanky man with his arm wrapped around one of the opera singers, a knife pressing up against her throat. “See, we don’t care about you. No one’s going to get hurt as long as the people outside give us what we want.”

He pointed the knife out to the crowd. “I saw those looks. You all think that person getting shot is my fault? After I said not to move? What is wrong with you people? When our oppressors tell citizens to stop running and use disobeying that to justify flinging spells, you all clap and cheer. Where are my cheers?”

“WHERE ARE THEY?”

A single clap came from beyond the stage, turning sporadic for a moment.

The man sighed. “You with the pad and pencil in the front row, yes, you. Were you reviewing the show? Did you like it?”

“I-I did, sir.”

“You enjoyed watching them rewrite our history? As if it wasn’t the nobility that invited catastrophe upon us. Nobility that still exists today, no matter what they make us call them. You enjoyed that?”

“N-No? Sir?”

He sighed again, dragging the woman with him as he walked across the stage. “That’s the problem with people these days. No convictions. Someone gets up on a podium and tells you to think a certain way, and you’re so eager to do so.”

“I-I-I was undecided since we, umm, did not get to finish the whole performance,” the audience member said.

“I-I-I,” the man mocked. “Are you blaming me for your lack of morals? Never mind, start writing. I need you to be a good boy and run an errand for me.”

The obvious leader to this mess started listing off names he wanted to be released from the watch. Each name was in exchange for one they were holding inside. He was even ‘kind enough’ to offer two children from the opera for one adult from the watch.

“And Alister,” Jay’s voice interrupted as the man was about to move on to more demands.

“Sure, why not? Write that name down and ten thousand roe for each of our leftover captives after the exchange,” he said. “Also, tell them we have some of this lying around the premises.”

He gestured to someone with a crossbow who brought out a small jar of wet cotton wool.

“Cannonwool, or as the Andrakans more eloquently put it, dragon’s breath. A nice deterrent for our oppressors storming in here, don’t you think?”