Chapter 1:
Desdemona lived in the small town of Tyne; in the countryside, quiet and tranquil. Far from either of the main cities in the south of the great isles, Tyne had a small market and not much else.
One summer afternoon at the young age of six, she played tag with her friends David and Juno in a nearby grassy field. Juno was a half elf, her hair gold as the sun and eyes were pools of blue tinted mischief. David was a strapping young boy with shaggy light brown hair. They were all three closer than family, the trio did everything together.
"Tag! You're it Desdemona!" David shouted, tagging her and sprinting away. We laughed as they chased each other across the field. Juno was slower so Desdemona caught her quickly. She reached out, tagged Juno and lost her footing. She fell scraping her knee and cried out in pain.
"Desdemona!" Juno and David shouted turning back to tend to their wounded friend. Desdemona started howling and crying ferociously, tears running down her rosy cheeks.
Juno looked at the scraped knee and wiped the dirt off with her handkerchief. Juno helped Desdemona up onto her feet and David helped by grabbing her and putting her on his back. They ran back to Desdemona's mother while Desdemona cried into David's tunic.
They hadn't been far from her home and it wasn't long before they came to the small cottage. David put the bawling Desdemona down on the grass in front of the house and called for her mother.
When Desdemona's mother set eyes on her howling child she picked her up and comforted her by stroking her long red hair.
"Oh child, be careful when you are playing. Lets get your knee all clean." she said turning into the home and leaving the door open. "Come along you two, you can come in as well." she called from the kitchen where she had placed Desdemona on the table.
Juno looked at David before following them in. inside was modest, one room with everything in. The bed they shared was at the back seperated with a thick wool curtain and the kitchen was a simple stove and counter. Desdemona's mother was putting a wet rag on the little one's knee and soothing her by humming a tune.
"Aunty can desdemona play after?" Juno said curiously tugging at Desdemona's mother's apron. she nodded and patted Junos blonde little head.
"I have to go home now, it's almost time for dinner. Bye desdemona, bye Juno!" David shouted as he vanished from the door waving.
Juno ran to the door but stopped short waving to David who was running home.
"Desdemona shall we braid each other's hair? Can't scrape your knee doing that!" Juno said cheerfully. Desdemona nodded, lip still quivering but trying to smile.
They both went outside and sat on the cool grass not far from the door.
Desdemona was very good at braiding, she found it very relaxing even at her young age. She twisted and twirled it into a beautiful, albeit slightly messy, braid that ran all the way down Juno's back. She tied it with a small strap of leather and patted her friends back.
Juno felt all the way down and grinned, she loved having her hair braided by her best friend. They turned around and Juno began twisting her hair the way her elven mother taught her. Small twists held with shoots of grass and daisies made her look like she had a flower crown.
"Oh you two look lovely!" Desdemona's mother said, leaning against the door frame. "Like a pair of little fairies from the tales!" she cooed. Desdemona gave her mother the biggest grin she could, tales of fairies were her favorite.
That night Juno stayed over with Desdemona and her mother, there was plenty of room for two little ones on the bed.
"Psst, are you still awake?" Juno whispered to Desdemona, it was late but they hadn't fallen asleep like Desdemona's mother. The little redhead opened her eyes and smiled. They held hands and snuggled close together. Both girls were closer than sisters and right at that moment they thought they'd never be apart. How wrong they were.
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Ten years later.
David had begun training to be a town guard, Juno was practising her mother's trade of healing, only Desdemona hadn't found a purpose. She wanted to be free, running through the grassy fields.
"Desdemona! Where are you going?" Her mother called in futility. She had become increasingly exasperated in recent years.
"It's a secret mama" Desdemona called back as she ran out the door, her dress fluttering behind her. She ran straight through the field to some ruins she had arranged to meet Juno at. They were halfway between their homes and it was their secret. They hadn't told even David where it was.
The ruins were just some broken walls covered in moss but you could almost tell it had been a building once. Birds nested on some of the higher remaining walls and ivy creeped up were rooms once stood.
"Juno!" Desdemona called as she approached her friend waving. Juno turned and smiled brightly.
"I have a surprise for you Dez!" She said, holding out a thick old book. Desdemona took it gently and looked at the cover in awe. Thick aged leather bound the pages and made it heavy, with swirling patterns burned into the front. "It's a book of magic, I wanted to learn it but it says humans can learn it too! Isn't that exciting?" Juno giggled excitedly.
Desdemona's eyes nearly popped right out as she gasped. They sat on the earthy ground and opened the first page on her lap. She ran her fingers over the page with reverence, it was surely older than anything they had seen before.
"Do you want to try something easy? Like how to make your wand?" Juno offered, taking the book and turning to the next page. Desdemona nodded enthusiastically and leaned forward. "So we need a piece of wood, a crystal and a part of our body. Like hair or skin." she read aloud, frowning slightly.
They looked for some wood they could make into wands.
After a few minutes they both found thick pieces of oak and Desdemona pulled a small knife from her apron. She began shaping it into a wand, carefully whittling the bark and making it straight and taper at the end. Once it was done Desdemona handed the knife to Juno and she copied the shape.
Once that was done, Juno pulled two small clear crystals from her bag.
"These are crystals, for the wands." Juno said with glee. Handing and the long almost rectangular quartz to Desdemona. In turn, Desdemona took the small knife and cut a small chunk of hair from her nape and handed the knife to Juno who did the same. They used their hair to hold the quartz chunks to the end of their wands. Desdemona used some cloth from her scarf to hold everything together.
"There! All done!" Desdemona declared excitedly. She pointed it out away from the pair and tried to make something happen.
Nothing.
"Maybe you have to say a spell aloud, or think it really hard?" Juno suggested. Desdemona pulled the book over and opened at a random page, a torchbug spell.
"Tachenlampe!" Desdemona announced, flicking her wand towards the looming darkness of the forest.
A ball of light emerged from her wand, just brighter than a candle flame.
"Juno! I did magic!" She shouted with glee, pointing at the light now dimming and dwindling. Juno had a look of awe in her eyes. Juno opened her mouth to speak but only flapped like a fish. "Let's do another one!" Desdemona announced, eager to learn more.
Juno gave the book to Desdemona and told her to pick a spell, and they'd do it together, eager to see if it was a fluke.
They continued with a spell that was nice and simple, making a small object change shape.
Desdemona read the page carefully and chose a small stone to morph, the size of her fist.
"unbilden." she said confidently. As soon as she spoke the words the stone began to pull and bend into shape.
"It's a little doll!" Juno gasped when the stone stopped moving. Desdemona only beamed with pride. "Dez that's amazing!" She exclaimed, picking up the tiny figurine. It was a little rough but it was a beautiful little figure of a woman.
Desdemona was so proud of her magic, she wanted to tell her mother and david. Until Juno pointed out that she shouldn't tell anyone about the book, or about her magic.
"But why not? Imagine the things we could do, we could make enough money for a doctor for my mother for starters!" Desdemona said forcefully. Juno shook her head.
"Just don't tell anyone for now ok? Let it be our secret." Juno pleaded desperately. Dedemona reluctantly agreed, all she needed to do is find a way to practice in secret.
Juno placed the book and her wand back into her satchel. Desdemona put her wand and stone into her apron.
Hand in hand, they walked to the market. They spent every day they could together, much to the dismay of their parents.
They came to the only bookstore and they began to search for anything related to magic. The single shelf of books didn't hold anything of use so they moved on to the other items in the store.
"Sir, is this sewing kit the same my mother has already?" Desdemona asked, pointing to a small box of needles and pins. The owner admitted it was but he had a new tailor model if she was interested, he pulled it out from the back room and presented it to Desdemona. "How much?" She quizzed.
"For your mother my dear I'd sell it for three crowns." He offered a slight discount as her mother was the only seamstress in town. She reached into her purse on her belt and retrieved five crowns, handed the salesman three and put the other two back.
Desdemona dragged the model back to her cottage and said goodbye to Juno.
Desdemona's mother had fallen asleep in her chair by the fireplace, Pile of unfinished sewing on her lap. Desdemona cleared it off and put it on the table before shaking her awake.
"Mother I got you a surprise." she whispered as her mother sleepily rubbed her eyes, waking up and yawning.
"What? Is it night already?" she yawned. Desdemona pointed to the model she had placed next to the curtain, grinning proudly. Her mother blinked and gasped.
"Oh I've been waiting for one of these to come into the shop!" she exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together with glee.
Desdemona filled the kettle and placed it by the fire. While she waited for it to heat up, she sat on a stool. She removed her shawl and a knock on the door startled her and she jumped slightly.
"Who is it?" she said nervously.
"It's me, I'm coming in." She recognized the low voice, David who had been training for months. He opened the door and stepped in quietly. His father's breastplate looked a little loose on his lean figure, making him look almost innocent. He sat on a stool next to Desdemona and he cleared his throat.
"I hope you don't mind me coming by this late, I just wanted to see how you were doing." he said in a hushed tone, so as not to disturb her mother, who was now fawning over her new model.
"It's alright I missed your company these past few months." she whispered, patting his knee. They shared a quiet moment until Desdemona took the kettle off the stove and prepared some tea.
"Desdemona I want you to stay home for a few days. Don't go into the woods for a while at least." David said finally with a sigh. Desdemona looked at him as she handed the flowery tea with suspicious eyes. He sighed again and rubbed the back of his neck before he spoke again. "There's been sightings of witches in the forest. I don't want you to run into any, they are dangerous." he pleaded grabbing Desdemona's hand. She fell back on the stool in shock.
"Witches? Like curse the sheep and murder babies witches?" She said, shocked. There hadn't been witch hunts for years and certainly not in their small town.
David nodded solemnly and squeezed her hand once more.
"I want to keep you safe so if you need anything from the market or anything from the forest you have to go with someone, preferably me or another guard." he said in a low tone. Desdemona took her hand away and scowled. She glared at him and he put his fingers through his messy brown mop of hair nervously.
"I can take care of myself. You know that." Desdemona assured, sipping her tea struggling not to grin; remembering the many times Desdemona beat David at most physical activities. David rolled his eyes and stood up.
"Fine but if you see anything let me know. We need to keep our families safe." David reassured, getting up to leave. He paused a moment before finally, he left.
Her mother scoffed to herself and called him an obscenity under her breath. She sighed quietly and finished her tea before putting her cup down on the table. It didn't take her long to become tired.
Both her mother and herself retired to bed and as she slept, she dreamed of magic and all she could do if she knew more.
The next morning she awoke to find her mother already up. She was washing clothes and hanging them on the washing line tied to one side of the cottage. Desdemona smiled and watched her mother for a while, peacefully wondering how her mother could be so strong, even without Desdemona's father around. Desdemona never met her father, and she was never made to think it was a problem. But her mother must have struggled so much to feed them both without help. She made clothes and repaired them to make money to buy food so she had not let her family suffer.
Desdemona decided that the cottage needed a good sweep, and picked up the broom next to the door. She started sweeping under the table and as she swept debris outside she heard a commotion coming from the field.
"That's her! That's the witch!" a man hollered, panting.
Desdemona looked over to see a young man she had never met pointing in her direction and screaming. Two guards ran behind him and pulled out their swords. They looked menacing marching towards her with weapons drawn. Desdemona froze in fear not knowing what to do. She looked to her mother and her mother had already stood up and grabbed the nearest thing to her, the stool she had been sitting on.
The guards reached the cottage and pointed their swords at Desdemona and her mother.
"Desdemona. Granny Causer. You have been accused of using magic to cause mayhem. How do you plead?" The older and gruffer guard growled.
"Of all the ignorant-" Desdemona's mother began before the guard silenced her.
"Are you witches as This man claims?" he demanded bluntly. "If you deny it we have to search your home. If you admit it then you will be tried." Both guards had scowls on their faces. The man accusing them only had a smug grin on his face.
"Of course we aren't you idiots!" The older woman scolded. The guards took this in their stride however and shoved past the pair. They began by rummaging through the cupboard next to the stove and pulling everything out, searching for anything that would suggest witchcraft. Desdemona felt sick. Strange men were rifling through her personal belongings without regard.
Once the cupboard was empty they moved on to Desdemona's trunk beside the bed, they pulled out all the clothes and undergarments.
They pulled her apron from the peg next to the fireplace and pulled the wand and little stone from the pocket.
The guard showed it to the other and they shoved it into Desdemona's face.
"witchcraft." he spat angrily. Desdemona looked to her mother with fear.
"How on earth would you know if it was?" her mother scoffed. The guard grabbed her arm and dragged her outside.
"You know what happens to witches?" the other guard snarled. He grabbed her other arm and they frogmarched her away from the cottage. "They get hanged in the middle of town square." he hissed into Desdemona's ear.
She felt her blood run cold. She Screamed as she tried to pull away, struggling and wriggling but they held her tighter. They Grunted with the effort it took to drag her. She looked back at her mother, the older woman had begun to shout obscenities at the two men as the accuser held her back.
In total and utter terror Desdemona felt her body go limp. They dragged her halfway to town when she remembered a spell she read in Juno's book. She grabbed the wand from the guards belt and closed her eyes.
"Shchlamm" she whispered, desperately concentrating on what she wanted.
A split second passed before the soil turned to wet mud and both guards sank like rocks into it, loosening their grip in shock just enough to let Desdemona wriggle free. As soon as she could feel solid ground once more she ran.
She ran as fast as she could, as far as she could.
Eventually her legs gave out and she fell, tumbling down and landing on the ground. She lay as still as she could, not knowing if they could catch up to her. Terrified she sobbed into the grass, not knowing if she would ever be able to see her mother again.
When she had calmed down enough to stop crying, she waited in the grass until she was sure no one had followed her. She carefully sat up and looked around, not a soul around she had run farther than she realized. She dusted herself off as best she could and stood up. She looked around once more, not knowing what direction to go.
She couldn't go home, and she didn't know anything other than the small town. She took a calming breath and decided to just continue in the direction she ran before, she would come across something eventually; she hoped.
After a full day's walking Desdemona came across a large dirt road. She looked both ways, trying to decide which way to go. In the end she sat on the grassy edge of the road and hugged her knees. She had nowhere to go and no one to turn to.