The darkness of the night had covered all the way back home. It was difficult to walk on those dirt trails with no light to illuminate you. But Eliot could guide the horses perfectly through the gloom without losing a stone.
A horse walked side by side quietly. They had been riding for hours and you could already see the first rays of light from far away. The town had been left behind for hours and the woman was starting to get impatient. Why did they get away from the town so much? Are you sure they were taking you to the right place? Would not they be kidnapping her? A thousand questions flooded her head, but in reality, those were the most insignificant.
She had a worse problem to worried about. And those two men are the best chance that she had.
-So, "Girl without a name", Don't you remember your name? - Eliot said from his horse, affirming what he was saying.
-Aha -confirmed the "Girl without a name".
- Neither where do you come from, how old are you, or if you have a family, or how you ended up in the tavern?
-No, either.
- And you do not know how to use your powers. -Kain remark with irony.
-I didn't even know that I have powers, do I? Why do you say that?
-You suddenly appeared in the tavern. -Kain answered.- That nobody does. And then there are your eyes as well.
-My eyes? What happens to them? -She touched her eyelids under her eyes with one hand, while with the other she held on to Kain to keep from falling off the horse.
-It isn't colour like normal people.- Kain replied in a calm tone.
The girl did not respond. She just thought to herself, that it would have happened to her so she could not remember anything of her past. All his memory was completely blank after he appeared in the tavern. She wasn't even able to recognize his own existence. Was someone looking for her? Did someone outside love her? Do you have a name why be called that was not "Girl without Name"? She got head ached just from trying to remember the smallest detail.
Again, she observed her hands, the clothes, the pendant that shone as if it contained magic inside, ... She put her hands in her pockets and found nothing but a small key that she didn't know there would be, and a paper that put "MintFresh." What was that supposed to mean? I wanted to be frustrated, She wanted to scream with rage or to cry, but she didn't have a reason for, because she did not even remember why she should cry. Her mind was empty.
-What about you guys? -she dared to ask. - I'm not blind either. I know my memory is empty but what you did guys down there, I wasn't something really normal.
-Is a long story. -Kain said. He didn't want to talk.
-We will tell you when you are an adult. - Eliot joked looking to her.
She wasn't satisfied with that answer but she didn't want to try either. She was just so tired. Without realizing it, she leaned back on Kain's back and closed her eyes for a few moments trying to calm his mind.
-Don't sleep, we've arrived.
The "Nameless Girl" looked over Kain's shoulder, and was able to dazzle a small hut, hidden behind some trees that separated her from the road. It was slightly illuminated by two torches of fire that hung from the door, and a faint light that came from within. It was completely made of wood, from some tree like oak, but with a more reddish tone that characterized it. On one side you could see the fireplace, built with stones and mud and next to it, a wooden pole where they left the horses tied.
Kain helped the woman get off the horse and then untie the bag that was tied to the horse's seat. Eliot took advantage and was entering the house. The woman stayed to wait for Kain while observing the place where they had brought her. Through the darkness of the night, she could distinguish the skins that surrounded the entrance of the house of some animals, some tanned and others to be tanned. Like logs of wood that were scattered even lateral of the cabin. It looked like a normal country house, quite removed from the town.
Kain entered the house and the woman noticed the seconds that she had been left alone, so she followed him inside.
Upon entering the small light that gave the almost extinguished flames of the fireplace, still lit the gloom of the house along with a few candles that were about to be consumed. The cabin wasn't very big. With a wooden dining table in the centre, and some chairs that accompanied it together. A stone and iron kitchen occupied the left corner of the house, with frying pans and pots that needed washing. Several shelves full of messy utensils, plus animal skins accumulated on a chest of drawers. Bouquets of flowers and dried plants hung on the walls. And next to the fireplace, an old and large armchair, of animal skins, where an old man was sleeping peacefully.
-Ey old bear! Awake!
In the background, Eliot's words were heard waking the old man as the girl ran her eyes around every corner of the house and Kain left the bags he was carrying on the dining room table
-Ah! What? What happen!? - Said the old man over jumped by the noise. - Ah, it's you two, wake me up at dawn, now go bothered somewhere else. - The old man settled back into his old chair.
-We have a visit, Grandpa.
-What? -he asked bewildered to turn towards the door where the girl waited in silence. - Who is she? What is she doing here? Why did you bring it?
- Ask Kain -Eliot said, smiling sarcastically at his brother.
-It's a long story grandpa, but she is lost, doesn't remember anything of who she is, or where it comes from. We think she's a witch, but she does not know either, maybe you can give us better ideas.
- A witch eh ... Strange clothes dear -said the curious old man and got up from the chair to observe the girl.
The woman cringed when she saw the man when he stood up. He was tall and big, almost tripling his tiny body or that's how she felt for a second. A long, thick grey beard adorned his face with metal accessories that decorated the braids or dragons that decorated it. Her hair fell down the side of her shoulder, pulled back in a braid, with the occasional stray strand. Wrinkles filled his face, but nevertheless, he looked like a completely healthy man. She did not know why, but that man was not human, it was ... Nordic? Those words echoed in her head, but she didn't know what it does mean.
-Tell me girl, what's your name?
The old man had a voice both serious and serene. Her words sounded so kind compared to her appearance that she could not tell if it was the same person.
- I-I do not remember. -hesitated when answering. The old man stared at her for a few seconds with his arms crossed as if waiting for another answer. - I do not remember anything, it's like if my life had started a few hours ago ...
The woman's voice sounded insecure and at the same time sad.
-Ohm. How do you know what a witch is then? - the old man asked the brothers without taking his eyes off the girl, examining her up and down.
- We don't know- Eliot answered from the kitchen, where he was looking for something to put in his mouth.
- She suddenly appeared in the tavern - Kain explained. -And then is her eyes.
The old man hadn't noticed the woman's eyes until Kain mentioned it.
- Right.- he paused for a few seconds, looking at the woman who was still standing in the same place, next to the door. - Well, let's see if we find out something.
The old man turned to go through one of the doors next to the fireplace and disappear for a few seconds. The three remained silent while the old man returned. Eliot managed to find a piece of cooked pheasant thigh from the previous night that he devoured quietly reclining on one of the chairs and legs raised on a stool. Kain opened his bag and pulled out animals which he examined one by one. She, however, in the house of strangers, or, rather, in an unknown life, stayed at the door, quiet and shy without saying a word.
After a few minutes, the old man returned with a small notebook with a brown cover, very worn. While looking through the pages of the notebook, I look for a piece of charred wood by the fireplace. Then I walk to the dining room table and remove all the utensils, pots and utensils that covered it to leave it completely empty.
The woman followed every movement of the curious old man for what he did, while the brothers had concentrated on their things.
The old man began to draw on the table what he was seeing on his notebook: drawing a small five-pointed star in the middle of the table, and from each point of the star he drew a straight line, each of a different size, and at the end of the lines she wrote different symbols that she was not sure if they were letters or words. He followed the drawing, writing some letters of an unknown language, forming a circle to surround the rest of the drawing.
The old man left the coal on the table and went looking for things around the room. The woman, curious, waited for the old man to find what he needed while she tried to read what he had written, but each letter or word, sounded stranger to the previous one and no one sounded familiar.
-What do they mean? he dared to ask.
The old man came back to the table with some objects that he had in his hands. I look at the girl for a second and as she watched the drawing.
- Eterum - the first symbol, where the old man placed a lighted candle on top. - Vietum -continued in another symbol, leaving a bird feather. - Soecrem -He left a glass of water on the next one. Then he went away again to take some soil from the pot of a plant near the window and returned with the girl.- Fircerom, -he said as he left the handful of dirt on the next symbol. - And ... - the man paused and looked around for what he needed.
Then he saw Eliot, who was still enjoying his delicious pheasant leg, which already had only bones left.
-Ah! -exclaimed the old man before taking the pheasant bone from Eliot's hands. Eliot complained after taking his finished meal but the old man did not pay much attention. - And ... Exoerut. -concluding leaving the bone on the last symbol. -Fire, Air, Water, Earth and life or death,... They are the only symbols that I know
-And what is it supposed to do?
-Well, the witches get their power or abilities from all the elements, not like the nymphs that only react to one in particular. My wife used this ... a spell or whatever is this, to baptize witches or newborn magicians. With it, she discovered if they were born with or without powers and even what their level of power was.
-Your wife was a witch? - She dared to ask.
- She was, not very powerful, but she was ... until she was taken away from me... - His voice was sad for a second and silence was made in the room.
The two brothers did not say anything about it, they preferred to be deaf, and she didn't if dig deeper into the wound that seemed to have.
-Well, let's see if I remember how to do this. Come here.
The old man pointed to a space in front of the drawing. He walked to the dresser, where he had a small knife. He approached her again and extended his own hand as if to the woman who lent him his. She looked at him a second missed but still gave him his hand. He made a small cut in the palm of his hand, not very deep, enough for it to bleed. Then I closed the woman's hand and accompanied her to the centre of the drawing where the five-pointed star was. I drop a few drops of blood on the star and then withdraw his hand.
They both watched expectantly for a few seconds where the blood had fallen waiting for something to happen.
Then, smoke started coming out of the table. The wood turned bright red where the star lay, and when it was filled, little by little the fire spread across the ends of the points until reaching where the objects were.
-Well, yes, you're a witch. -said the old man, and turned his face away, as if finishing the process of looking for a piece of cloth for the woman to bandage her hand.
But then something caught his attention and he looked at the drawing again, something that he didn't see before. It was strange the wise one that had to go out but nevertheless continued to expand. Both the letters that surrounded the drawing and lines that were not even drawn on the table burned the wood, until completing a larger star that connected with each end of the path.
-Well, well, this is weird ...
-What? -asked intrigued to see the reaction of the old man who was still watching as the wood burned bright red.
-Yes, you're a witch, and quite powerful ...
The old man's expression changed when he thought of the thousands of possible cases.
"What was a witch of that power here? How come he does not remember anything? Even more, as it is still alive ... "the old man thought.
-And... Are you sure that don't you know how to use your powers? I mean, if you look at that candle there, would you know how to increase the flame?
-Shouldn't I?
-Even though you have lost your memory, magic for witches is like for any living being to walk. You can forget about spells and language, but for things as basic as raising a flame, you should not forget how to do it ... -he was intrigued, they were bad times for the witches of that power, or even for those who did not have great power. Who was she? - What is the last thing do you remember? Even the smallest detail…Since the beginning.
-Ah well, I only remember appearing in the tavern, I did not know where I was or who was so scare me, although I could not explain very well why ... I wanted to flee from fear so I left outside, but there were some drunken guards who caught me-and-then...
Kain motioned to the woman from her seat, waving and waving her hands as if denying something, but she did not know what it was.
-They saved me ... -Kain continued to make frantic signs, but she did not understand the message. - ... from the guards and they brought me here ...
Kain hid his face with his hands giving up. Eliot looked away as if pretending not to have heard any words. And the old man paled. Silence reigns in the cabin until you hear the echo of the birds chirping at dawn.
- What have you done ... what? - his words sounded slow, and the quietest that he could control.
It was about to unleash a storm.