I have been in this hut for a month doing nothing but eat and sleep for days in a repeated pattern. During the few hours when I was awake Kira would stay with me and tell me stories of so many places they have been to and of the people she had met there.
She would tell stories of humans, kingdoms, and creatures I didn't even know existed and I was forced to ask her one day.
"How old are you Kira?"
she laughed, "I don't know, I stopped counting when I was a hundred years old. That was centuries ago."
my eyes widened in surprise. Okay, so I knew that witches lived long but that long? She must be joking, I thought as I sat up.
Oh yes, I could sit up now, the healing had been as slow as Rona had said but little by little I had regained the use of my arms and my upper body and by the end of the second month of being there I was able to sit on my own. The lower part of my body however was not quite there yet.
I couldn't feel anything from my waist down and I could only pray that this doesn't take another month to heal but it probably would. Rona had said to stop worrying about how long it would take but to be glad that I was alive.
I still haven't told them my story, well I never had the chance to since all I basically did was sleep but they never asked either and I was grateful for that. I had pushed everything down to a place deep within me and had shut the door against it somewhere in my heart. I was going to move on, I had decided that I was going to forget everything and move on.
But my subconscious didn't seem to be having it. I still dreamt of that day every other night and I woke up crying silently, the pain from Eric's betrayal and my hatred for him still fresh in my heart, but I pretended I pushed it down so that the witches wouldn't see and they didn't or maybe they just pretended not to see.
"A hundred! You look like a sixteen-year-old!" I exclaimed and she laughed.
"I know. We witches age differently. Rona is over three hundred and she looks just twenty-five." she said and I nodded finally understanding why there was always this air of maturity around her. She had lived in the world that long? She must have seen a lot of things and know a lot of things.
Could she know why I couldn't reach out to my wolf?
No, I wouldn't burden them with it, they had done enough to help me already.
"How about you?" Kira asked and I puffed air at how irrelevant my age was.
"Eighteen."
"you're pretty young" She joked
"And so are you," I replied and she laughed again.
I frowned a little as I stared at the green forest from the opened door, a desire to go out there and walk the forest barefooted filled me. I had never had the desire to be in the forest as I felt here and I made myself a promise that, that was the first thing I would do when I regained the use of my feet. I just hoped the bite on my left foot doesn't give me a limp.
All the injuries I had gotten from Layla's torture had actually healed on their own, leaving nothing but a scar in their wake, making me wonder if the medicine the witches fed me was actually responsible for this because I didn't heal fast. I never did. I never got that ability.
I didn't ask however, Rona was the serious one and was always busy with things I had no idea of. The only time she came into the hut when she wasn't feeding me my medicine or brewing the medicine was when she was making other potions.
On the right corner of the hut, the roof was filled with tiny white bags which were hanging down from a rope on one side, they had names written on them that I couldn't make out from the small bed on which I laid most of the times. Kira had told me that the white pouches contained herbs of all kinds needed to make potions or spells and that a magic barrier was surrounding the hut which kept them safe and fresh for use. On that side of the room where the white pouches hung from the ceiling, there was a large table and shelf filled with all shapes and kinds of jars containing different liquids.
On the far end of the hut, by the door, sat a fireplace with a large cauldron where they probably made all their potions and maybe the meals I ate. The left side had two sofas that faced each other and a small tea table between them.
After questioning Kira, I had come to know that I was in their greenhouse. That was what Rona liked to call it, it was the place where they kept all their portions and herbs and also prepared more. Their own huts according to Kira, were on the left side of this greenhouse. I made a mental note to check it out when I was strong enough to walk on my own two feet.
Now that I think of it, I still don't know where I was or where we were. Apart from these two ladies, I haven't heard any sign of human life.
"Kira?" I called and she turned to me from a book she seemed engrossed in. It had symbols and a language I couldn't understand written behind it, probably a book of magic.
"Where are we, really?" I asked again.
"Winter hollows." She said matter of factly and I looked at her confused but she looked at me oblivious of my confusion as if I was to know where winter hollows was.
"Where is that?" I asked as I saw she wasn't going to explain further.
"Far north." she said and my eyes widened as fear began to creep into my heart, and she seemed to have noticed the pale look on my face, "very far from where we found you." She said and I sighed in relief.
"Close to the dark mistress lair."
"The dark mistress?" I asked surprised, but she also looked surprised.
"You've not heard of the dark mistress?"
I shook my head wondering if there was something important I should have heard about her. Kira sighed and shook her head too.
"I can't believe this." She said and dropped her book.
"The dark mistress is a very powerful she-wolf that resides in the Ice Mountains at the edge of this forest. She could be considered an alpha but her pack is filled with rogue warriors. They are very strong and influential and are connected to even real packs. They are the dream band every rogue wants to join. How can you not have heard of them when you are a werewolf yourself? I mean shouldn't the news of them be constantly buzzing around your kind?"
"I don't know, I was of a very low rank in my pack. I guess that is why I never heard a thing."
She raised a brow then frowned for a moment and I realized that that was the first thing I had told her about myself in over two months of being here.
"If you are from a very low rank, then why would the high and mighty try to kill you?" Kira asked frowning more to herself than me.
"High and mighty?" I asked not sure what she meant.
"The venom used can only be gotten from powerful witches, no ordinary bully can possess it. And then the lady who was there that day...."
"Kira!" I heard Rona say sternly and Kira immediately turned around and smiled at her sister. Picking up her book she turned me and wrinkled her nose before whispering,
"There is something really odd about you though, Sillveen. I don't know what it is but I hope I'd find out."
She said and I knew her sister couldn't hear her. It was meant for me alone to hear and I stared at her retreating form as she left, turning back to her excited childish self.
She was really a surprising person. I thought to myself then I realized that the lady she was talking about was Layla.
She had seen Layla that day? She must have also seen Eric too. Did she know something about Layla that I didn't? Why won't Rona let her tell me?
Anyway, I would ask her the next time she comes along.
"Here, drink," Rona said as her eyes studied me. I collected the ceramic bowl from her hand and downed it, wincing a little as I had now gotten used to the taste of the awful medicine.
I handed back the bowl to her as I laid down to sleep.