The Chronicles of Chemmis: Awake: Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT

STONE

Vira-na-Nog Province

 1800 Sunday

My lungs burned as I took a deep breath. Odd, I didn’t think you were suppose to feel pain when you were dead. So, the obvious answer was I was still alive because someone saved me. My eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and I could only opened them a fraction. Everything was black and against my own accord, my eyes fell shut again. Panicking, I touched my face and felt something wet and cold, over my forehead and eyes.

‘Don’t take it off unless you want to be blind,’ a sweet female voice said.

That voice sounded young, not the croaky voice of the Willow Witch that I remembered.

‘Where am I?’ I asked.

I felt a movement near me.

‘In a safe place,’ she said.

I remembered falling into the marsh and thinking there was no way, I was surviving this, but here I am. Where that was I did not know exactly, but I was alive.

‘You saved me from the Marsh?’ It was more of an admission than a question.

‘Yes,’ she said, and I felt the wet thing that covered my face being lifted.

It felt a little slimy and it stung as she peeled it of my face.

Blinking, I looked up at the owner of that sweet voice. She was young and fair with hair of spun gold. The Grimm Brother’s stories of Rapunzel came to mind as I gaze up at her. I was definitely not the Willow Witch.

‘Who are you?’ I asked.

‘Kennis,’ she replied and smiled sweetly.

My brow furrowed and I tried to sit up. As far as I knew only the witch lived near the Mellow Marsh. Looking around, the room I recognized the cottage. It was the Willow Witch’s receiving room. I was lying on a cream and pink couch in what looked like a ladies sitting room. Tea cups and a tea pot sat on a marble coffee table, and the beige walls were decorated will family photos and breath taking landscapes. However, I knew just beyond this cosy room was the Witch’s Workshop. A room filled with ampules of potions and dried dead things. It was were the witch created her spells and helped the ill or unlucky. The girl was watching me with a thoughtful expression.

‘Why have you come Prince Stone?’, she asked.

Sitting up on the sofa, I felt better. Talking the cloth she handed me I wiped my face, considering what to say next. I didn’t know her but she seemed to know me.

‘I need to see the Willow Witch. I need some advice.’ I finally said.

Kennis sighed and poured steaming tea into the tea cups. Lifting one up with delicately long fingers she held it to me. Not wanting to drink the tea, but also not wanting to upset the girl I accepted the cup and waited for her to drink first.

 ‘My Aunt, is away and will only return in the next two weeks,’ she replied.

So, she was the niece of the Willow Witch. She drank from her tea cup and smiled and me, seemingly unaware of my predicament. I took an ever so small sip. The tea was sweet and did not taste of any poison I knew. Still, with the witch away, I could not find out about the prophecy.

‘Maybe I could help you? I know a few spells and have read and the books,’ she said brightly.

A sliver of hope shone through at her words. Maybe, there was a chance after all. Still I was going to be cautious.

‘I am looking for a myth or prophecy about the witches,’I said.

She laughed at my words, shaking her head.

‘The books are full of myths and prophecy of the witches. Are you looking for something specific?’ she asked.

Scowling, I thought again of what I should say.

‘A prophecy with a faery connection. A witch that has power over faeries,’ I said.

Kennis’ eyes grew large, and she quickly got up opened the door to the workshop.

‘I think know such a story,’ she said.

 I rose to follow her, but she held up her hand. Sitting back down, I remembered grana doing the same to me when we came here before. ‘The workshop has things that cannot be unseen,’ she told me.

The sounds of shelves shaking and books being moved drifted to me as I sipped my tea and tried to wait patiently. My head still ached but the pain was easing. So, I stood up and paced around the sitting room. It really did look like a lady’s lounge in any noble house. Peering inside a needle box on the mantle, I marveled at the simple cotton and needles it contained. Who would have known, a powerful witch still had to darn her clothes.The sound of the door opening, brought me back to the reason for my visit. Also, I should know that things were not always what they seemed.

‘I found it,’ Kennis said.

She was holding an old tome with leather binding and the golden Celtic symbol for family on the cover. The three entwined leaves surrounded by a circle were etched in gold and glinted as she moved the book. Laying it down on the tea table Kennis opened the book and I caught a whiff of jasmine from the pages.

‘I thought it strange when you spoke about a prophecy involving witches and faeries, because my aunt had me look for such a story just last week,’ she said.

I arched an eyebrow at this declaration. My visit here was definitely productive, if the Willow Witch was interested in the same prophecy as me, it was definitely important.

‘Why did she want you to find the myth?’ I asked.

Shaking her head, she paged through the book.

‘She never told me why. Just that it was research,’ she said.

The book was very old.  Pages of carefully documented stories were dotted with etchings of the magical creatures together with strange symbols. Some symbols were new to me and the languages and writing varied, as if they were transcribed by many different witches. Kennis stopped and gasped at a page with a Celtic cross and a faery rune.

‘This is it,’ she said.

I leaned over the book but could not make out the language the story was in.

‘What does it say?’ I asked.

She was pointing at each word and mumbling under her breathe.

‘Its in Aramaic and I’m still learning the language.’ She said.

Great, I tried to be patient, but time was running out. I had already lost a day and I had to leave in a few hours.

‘It says…at the dawn of a new era a child will be born that has power over faery…’ she said. A tiny crease had formed at the middle of her brow as she scanned the words again.

‘Does it say what the child will do with her power?’ I asked drumming my fingers on the table.

She glared at me and ran her finger over the next paragraph and the next.

‘It doesn’t say anything about that.’

Running a hand through my hair I closed my eyes. This was a waste of time. The book was not of any help. If only the witch was still here.

‘Wait, this is interesting,’ she said and beamed at me. ‘It says that a group of the witches and faeries cast a spell over the child, to stunt its magic,’ she said.

I moved nearer and listen closely. This was a new and very interesting development. I could not think of a time when the witches and faery worked to together. The races have been at war for centuries, this mission was the first time we were working together.

‘A spell, what spell?’ I asked.

‘It doesn’t quite say…wait…its some kind of dividing…maybe diminishing spell, and it seems to have worked,’ she said her eyes sparkling with excitement.

I moved back in surprise.It can’t be. If it worked, why was Grana still having visions? Also, it didn’t explain the missing faeries. Kennis did not notice my reaction. She was almost at the end of the page.

‘Does it say anything else?’ I asked.

She looked at me and the smile she just had was gone.

‘It says the spell had a side effect,’ she said.

Intrigued I pressed on.

‘What side effect?’ I asked.

She pointed at the last paragraph.

‘It says after the spell was cast the embryo divided in two,’ she said.

I sat up amazed.

‘There were two witchlings born,’ I said.

Kennis nodded.

‘Twins and with the power divided the risk was no more,’ she said.

Twins. Two witches. A powerful witch divided. It made sense that the group would have thought there was no problem with the power divided. Still, it didn’t add up. Fearies were still missing, so something must have went wrong. Something the group did not foresee. Kennis was looking at me oddly and I covered up my feelings with a smile.

‘Well, thank you for finding the story. It seems I was worried for no reason,’ I said.

Kennis smiled again and closed the book.

‘I was happy to be of assistance,’ she said.

Standing up I looked out the window, dawn was approaching fast. I needed to leave before somebody found me here. Gathering my weapons and bag, I pulled out a pouch with gems and I handed it to Kennis.

‘Payment for your help,’ I handed it to her.

Kennis took the pouch reluctantly and nodded.

‘Keep to the left of the marsh, I will distract the goblins until you get to the other side.’

Giving her a smile I bade her goodbye, let me out. This air was crisp but still reeked of swamp muck. I took several small breathes to get in enough air without drawing on the stench. Walking down to the swamp edge, I secured my quiver to my back and swung my bow over my arm. My path plotted, I leapt to the first piece of land and then the next, stopping for only a moment to rest then continuing to the other side. I never looked back and never saw the old women who, came to the door when I reached the other side.

‘Did you tell me what I asked you to tell him?’ she asked Kennis.

The young women bowed her head, face remorseful.

‘Yes,’ she said and gazed longingly at me as I reached the other side.

The old women patted her arm.

‘You did well then, she said

‘I don’t understand why I couldn’t tell him the whole story?’ Kennis asked.

‘Somethings must be left to fate,’ The Willow Witch said and walked back inside.