The Apprentice of the Witch
The Apprentice of the WitchBy Quinn FletcherIn a land cut off from all others, there was an old castle made of black stone. The imposing fortress was all needle-like points and sharp edges. It remained isolated from the world, solemn, unapproachable, and impregnable.Suddenly a massive explosion tore through a window and a good chunk of the wall.Shoving open the wooden door and tripping out was a nine-year-old girl coughing and sputtering to relieve herself. With a loud bang, the smoke in the room instantly evaporated. Stepping out of the potions room was the master of the castle, Lady Jezebel, “The Lady of the Bones”.The little freckled brunette girl got up and forced on a nervous smile, showing off a large gap from where her missing tooth was. She took off her witch hat and started to squeeze the rim nervously “Sorry for the mess Mistress Jezebel.”Her mistress stared down at her with her usual unreadable expression before raising her sceptre into the air, a long piece of pitch-black metal that could very easily be used as a bludgeon. The apprentice curled up in terror before the sceptre released a thin beam of light from the ruby on top. After the spell enveloped her it cleaned off all the grime that came from the recent disaster.“Esther, I told you three drops of griffon blood, not two.” Lady Jezebel said in her signature apathetic drawl. In all the time that Esther had known her mistress, she had never seen her angry, sad, or happy. Esther had never seen her lady show any kind of emotion at all.The Lady of the Bones was a contradictory mixture of ghoulishness and elegance. She was very tall for a woman with long slender limbs ending in sharp points. Her skin was smooth and pale as bone (thus earning her epithet) and her long hair was as black and shiny as obsidian. She wore a black corset dress of the finest quality, adorned with jewelry of macabre design.Her apprentice Esther was not such an impressive sight. Wearing a raggedy hand-me-down witches robe that was meant for much older students, the robes were so big in fact that she had to roll up the sleeves to be able to use her hands, and she constantly tripped on the hem of her robe since it covered her feet. Her wand was a small piece of wood carved from a blackthorn tree, hardly a comparison to Lady Jezebel's mighty sceptre.“Go to the courtyard and practise combat magic while I clean up yet another one of your messes.” Lady Jezebel said as she pointed her sceptre towards the courtyard.“Yes, Mistress Jezebel,” Esther said while bowing causing her oversized hat to fall off yet again. She picked it up and rushed away awkwardly.While navigating the castle, she could never get over just how massive everything was. The shack she and her mother used to live in could only fill up a single room within the dark castle. If the size alone was not intimidating, the snarling statues and glaring decorations certainly were. Most intimidating of all was the giant portrait of the previous master of the castle. The Dark Lord Aldebaran “The Iron King”, a terrifying warlock dressed head to toe in jagged steel armour, adorned with spikes and horns. His mere picture was enough to make Esther quiver in terror, it always impressed her how her mistress could just move by without even looking at it.In the courtyard there was a straw dummy used for target practice, today she decided to try her hand at a simple fire spell. She stood on the designated spot (an X carved into the ground), waved her wand as she was taught and fired.All that came out of her wand was some feeble sparks.Frustrated she tried again. Next time some actual fire came out but not enough to do anything. Each attempt at the spell ended in failure, most of the time the spell would fizzle out midflight, other times the flame would be so small it could barely count as an ember. During her last try, she made a fireball; it was small and weak and moved slower than it should, but it progressed all the same. As the fireball ambled towards the target, she grinned with wide sparkling eyes hoping for good results.The fireball puffed out inches before hitting the dummy.Esther screamed in frustration as she pounced on the dummy, biting it, clawing it, and using her wand as a shiv.“Esther” hearing her mistress’s voice she slowly turned around to see Jezebel standing behind her with her usual stoic expression. She hopped down from the dummy hoping her mistress would not be upset with her.“As I have explained many times before, magic is connected to its user's mental state of mind. In order to control magic, one’s mind must be disciplined and refined.” As a demonstration, she raised one of her long claws like fingers to create a fireball. Esther was awed by the fireball; it was so smooth and round that it almost looked like a marble, a far cry from the feeble flames Esther could produce “Control your emotions and you control the magic.”“Now then since you’re failing in combat practice, it may be prudent to study texts for a while.”A short while later Esther was sitting on her lady’s lap in the library. They were sitting on an armchair next to a fireplace as Jezebel read to her from an apothecary tome. As expected from someone raised in a fisherman village that never had a lot of fish, Esther was illiterate. So, Jezebel had to read the texts herself until such a time that Esther could do it herself.Her lady turned the page revealing a picture of a bright azure flower. Esther gasped at how beautiful the picture was.“This little one is called the Blue Moon Flower, a rare flower that grows in the crystal forest far far to the north. It said that it can be used to craft a potion that can unlock a witch's true potential.”“Wow, hey mistress Jezebel, maybe if I get that flower I could…”Jezebel suddenly slammed the book shut with an overwhelmingly loud bang. Esther jumped off and cowered on the ground. When she realized that nothing was going to happen, she looked up towards her stern mistress.“The crystal forest is a place of ancient magic, an experienced witch such as me would find the journey treacherous, a witchling like you would not last a minute.”Esther racked her brain for a moment “Maybe I can go to the herbalist in town I am sure she should have…”“Are you speaking of the same town that is occupied by Inquisitors? Those zealots despise people in our profession if they get so much as a whiff of a magic-user, they will tear the whole town apart to find them. And you know perfectly well what they do to witches when they find them.”Esther paled up at the mention of Inquisitors, she knew all too well what the Inquisitors did to witches “But mistress if I don’t get that flower how will I ever become a witch?”“Same way all witches do, through study and perseverance.”“BUT I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR SIX MONTHS AND STILL…” Esther closed her mouth in shock. Her eyes started welling up with tears when she realized what she just did “Please mistress I’m sorry I didn’t mean to raise my voice.”Jezebel raised her hand to silence Esther “As I have told you many times little one you need to be patient; it is no fault of mine that you are no magical prodigy. Now we are done with this conversation. I believe now is time for supper.” Jezebel left to start cooking dinner for the two of them.Esther remained on the floor clenching her tiny fists. She hated the idea of people thinking that she was weak or inept, Esther made up her mind right then and there that she would go into town get the flower and prove to her mistress that she was worth keeping around.The next day was Sunday and on Sundays, her mistress spent the day secluded doing her private research so Esther was left to her own devices. This gave her ample time to sneak into the castle storeroom and steal a magical artifact. Specifically, a magic carpet. She also replaced her hat with a hooded robe to conceal her identity, her wand to protect herself, and a small bag of gold she got from the castle treasury.The previous master Aldebaran hoarded gold from the raids he did on cities, after Jezebel took control, she stopped the raids, this meant that she had to be frugal since she could not get any more gold.Remembering her mistress’s instructions, she did her best to pilot, but due to her lack of skill, the flight was much rockier than it should have been. A short bit of flying later she was disappointed the trip was taking so long, if her mistress was powering the carpet, then it could have made the trip and back in a matter of minutes but with an amateur like her, not so much.Eventually, she came across the town. She landed clumsily in the woods next to the road. She knew she could not land inside the city else the Inquisitors would spot her. She peaked out of the bushes to see two Inquisitors guarding the gate into the city. The Inquisitors in question were soldiers dressed in armour and blue tunics with yellow lions on the chest, armed with spears.She got off her carpet and started to stroke it as if it were some sort of pet. She knew it was not actually alive but since she had no friends it helped to imagine it as some sort of steed. “Thanks a lot, buddy, looks like I’ll have to take it from here.” She rolled up the carpet and placed it against a tree safely out of sight of anyone who would want to steal it “Don’t worry once I get the flower I’ll come right back; you just stay out of trouble.” She cooed.It was easier said than done. The city was surrounded by a massive brick wall and the only way in or out on foot would be through the front gate. Esther had to think of a way to sneak by the guards. She pulled out her wand and figured she would try an invisibility spell.Of course, she had never been successful in casting said spell, on the few times it worked it only made her half-invisible. And if the spell failed the Inquisitors would catch her, cut her hair, lock her in a dungeon, drown her in holy water, burn her at the stake in front of a cheering crowd. The thought of all that caused Esther to hyperventilate and panic.“Control your emotions and you control the magic.”In her panic, the voice of her mistress echoed through her mind. Remembering the mediation technique, Esther calmed herself. Once she was sufficiently calm, she cast the spell on herself. Some small sparkles enveloped her causing her body to become completely transparent. She wanted to jump for joy knowing that the spell succeeded for once but knew that she needed to be focused or else the spell would not work. Keeping that in mind she moved slowly and steadily towards the gates hoping the guards would not notice anything. Thankfully for her, the guards were such dullards that they did not notice the slight footprints in the ground as the invisible child walked by.Once she managed to pass them. She deactivated the spell and cheered in delight, the guards heard this and turned to see but Esther had jumped out of the way at the last minute, so they saw nothing. The guards shrugged their shoulders and went back to inadequately guarding the city.A short while later Esther found herself in front of the Herbalist shop, she could not read but she could recognize a herbalist store when she saw one. Back when she lived with her mom Esther would go to the local herbalist in order to get stuff to cure her hangovers.Esther had to admit as she went inside the shop was much nicer than the rundown shop she had back in her village. Everything was clean, organized and the whole shop had a soothing scent of flowers. The shop keeper was a plump, squishy woman with a large round head and a small, pleasant face.“Why hello sweetie, what’s a cute little munchkin like you doing in my humble little store.” The shopkeeper practically sang.“I am here on behalf of my mistress to acquire the Blue Moon Flower.” Said Esther she knew in these exchanges it was important to sound professional.The shopkeeper cocked her head curiously “Blue Moon Flower? That is not the type of thing any old store would have. And even if they did it would cost quite a lot.”Esther held out her bag of gold “Will this be enough?” she asked.The shopkeeper grabbed the sack of coins and inspected it “Come with me” she said in a sugary sweet voice.Esther followed the pleasantly plump woman to the back of the store, all the while pleased to see that for once in her life everything was going to work out.“In here.” Said the shopkeeper gesturing into the storage room. Esther skipped into the room imagining presenting the flower to her mistress. Jezebel would be so proud of her she would hug her and kiss her and never let her…Suddenly the door slammed shut and Esther heard it lock. Esther panicked and started to bang her little fists against the thick wooden doors “You dumb little brat; you didn’t think I’d know that only a witchling would want the Blue Moon Flower? Once I sell you to the Inquisitors, I will not only have the gold you so graciously gave me but reward money from the Inquisitors.”“No please not the Inquisitors! I’ll do anything you want just don’t give me to them.” The shopkeeper did not listen to her pleas and instead left to tell the Inquisitors cackling all the way.Esther curled up on the door and started to weep. As she cried a plethora of traumatic memories, stabbing her mother with a fork to protect herself, accused of being possessed by evil spirits, the Inquisitors dumping her in freezing water, flogging her, locking her in a cage, parading her across the village as they cheered for her demise. She subconsciously put her hand through her hair which was still short after they cut it.Sharpening her sorrow into a rage she stood up stepped as far back from the door before pointing her wand and shouting “I WILL NOT LET ANYONE HURT ME EVER AGAIN!”Suddenly a great fireball shot out of the wand blasting the wooden door to smithereens. She rushed through the destroyed doorway and headed for the exit in the back of the store. Hearing the explosion, the shopkeeper rushed back into her shop with the Inquisitors behind her.“Don’t let her get away!” The shopkeeper shouted. The Inquisitors trampled over the shopkeeper clogging up the hallway as they tried to chase Esther. She rushed out of the store as fast as her stubby legs could carry her. She ran out of the store and into an alleyway before rushing into the streets. But another platoon of Inquisitors intercepted her and started to chase her. By this time, the people of the city had locked themselves into their homes to avoid the chaos.As she ran one of the Inquisitors threw a lasso at her, the lasso caught her and made her fall to the ground. As she struggled on the ground the Inquisitors dogpiled her and then tied her up. She remembered from past experience that the ropes were blessed with holy water so that they could neutralize any witch’s magic. A powerful witch would be rendered helpless, a novice like Esther stood no chance.“Hey, I got her!” one of the Inquisitors cheered while holding her aloft by the ropes. The other Inquisitors celebrated their victory, while Esther struggled desperately to get free.“BURN THE WITCH!” Shouted one of them, they all cheered in agreement.“NO! PLEASE NO!” Esther pleaded.As they carried her towards the church they chanted “BURN THE WITCH!” Esther kept pleading for mercy. She begged and cried and squealed with all her might, but it all fell on deaf ears. As they gleefully got her closer to her execution, she struggled and sobbed before finally shouting:“PLEASE SAVE ME, JEZEBEL!”A great thunderous force smashed into the ground creating a massive shockwave of dust. The Inquisitor carrying Esther was knocked off his feet, curiously Esther herself was unharmed. A collection of sparkles kept her softly floating in the air. Once Esther was safely in the air away from any potential danger the dust settled.Standing in the crater was Lady Jezebel with lighting magic crackling around her hands. She furiously pointed her hands at the nearest Inquisitor blasting him with potent lightning magic. The Inquisitor screamed for a few seconds before bursting into ash.The Inquisitors were far too brave (or thick) to be deterred by her power. So, they charged forward weapons drawn. Jezebel blasted the soldiers one by one turning them to dust. A particularly talented Inquisitor managed to dodge her bolts and get in close enough to use his mace. In a puff of smoke, Jezebel conjured her staff and used it as a weapon to knock him away. Once he was down, she blasted him with magic.Esther had never seen Jezebel like this, usually, her magic was composed and regal. But this magic was different; it was wild, feral, unrestrained. Within minutes she managed to disintegrate the entire platoon.Once the battle was over, she summoned Esther towards her, then conjuring a dagger with a puff of smoke she cut the ropes. Esther then fell to the ground with an “oof”.“ESTHER WHAT WERE YOU THINKING COMING OUT HERE WHEN I TOLD YOU IT WAS TOO DANGEROUS! YOU ARE LUCKY I WAS ABLE TO FIND YOU WITH MY CRYSTAL BALL OR YOU WOULD BE DEAD BY NOW!”Esther stood up her face concealed by her hood.“WELL, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!” Jezebel shouted.Esther burst into tears and grabbed Jezebel's legs shouting “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU”Jezebel was caught completely of guard. Jezebel spent the majority of her life alone in the castle. Giving and receiving affection were both alien concepts to her. Not sure what else to do she started to awkwardly stroke her terrified apprentice.The town's alarm bells started to ring loudly, and Jezebel could hear an army of Inquisitors rushing towards them “We have to go now, Esther!”“No, we can’t leave the carpet behind!” Esther retorted.“The carpet?” Jezebel hissed.“I left him in the woods outside of town and I promised him I would not abandon him.” She said. Jezebel was tempted to remind her that the carpet was not actually alive therefore unworthy of her concern, but the approaching army of Inquisitors made her realize she did not have time to argue. So, she picked her up and flew towards the mentioned location. She soared past the two idiot guards causing them to fall into the moat with a startle. After all that she placed Esther on the ground, and she searched through the trees for the carpet.“Hurry Esther.” She pleaded as Inquisitors armed with crossbows started to advance on them.“Got it!” she said as she carried the carpet towards Jezebel. She rushed towards her teacher and held Jezebel's bony claw like hand in her own small fragile one.In a flash of light, the two of them were teleported back to the castle. Crossbow bolts passed over where they once stood.In a flash of light, the duo was back at the castle and Jezebel collapsed onto the floor struggling to breathe “Mistress, mistress are you OK?” Esther panicked.“Do not worry little one, I’m just tired. Using so many powerful spells in succession like that really wears you out.” Jezebel propped herself against the wall as she said that. Esther had always believed that her mentor was invincible, it never occurred to her that Jezebel might be fallible, that she could get hurt or even die. Does that mean she risked her life to save her?Wanting to feel safe Esther sat on Jezebel's lap and curled up to her, she mustered up the courage to ask her a question that had been plaguing her since the day she moved into the castle.“Mistress, why did you agree to let me be your apprentice?”“You asked me too,” Jezebel said tiredly.“That’s all?” Esther asked, Esther was disappointed with such a simple answer. She thought that perhaps she was chosen by some sort of higher power or that her mistress could see some sort of latent potential “I guess you were just in the right place at the right time.”“I scry my crystal ball in search of those being harmed by the witch hunts, it is how I knew you were in danger both this time and last.” Jezebel explained, “Most just leave afterwards yet you begged to be my apprentice, why is that little one.”Esther curled up and started shaking “I was so tired of always being ignored and cast aside. I wanted to be so much more than just the bastard child of the town drunk. She would beat me and the whole village would cheer her on, I stab her with a fork and all of a sudden I am a witch that needs to be burned. I wasn’t possessed by evil spirits I just wanted her to stop hitting me.” Esther started sobbing “I want to be powerful as you, so powerful that no one will ever be able to hurt me, but it's not working, I have been here for months and I’m still weak and stupid and talentless and…” by now Esther had broken down and started crying.Jezebel gently stroked her hair. Jezebel had no idea why she felt the need to do such a thing, her own master would never have tolerated such emotional outbursts. Maybe it was because she understood what Esther was feeling. She herself dealt with feelings of inadequacy at a young age so she could empathize with the witchling.Eventually, Esther cried herself to sleep cuddling up to Jezebel. Jezebel dozed off holding Esther in her arms.
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