The witch woman strode confidently towards the mansion, flanked by her sinister companions whose fiery red eyes glowed in the shadows. The gnarled trees encircling the edifice bowed their boughs before the threshold, creating a verdant archway. As she reached the entrance porch, the magical beasts beside her suddenly halted, unable to penetrate the invisible magic wall. Despite a few tenacious attempts, their bodies were seared by the barrier, eliciting ear-splitting shrieks as they scampered away.
Undeterred, Leandra pulled out a black cat from her dark blue robe, and placed it on the ground. "Go, Belize. Be my eyes and tell me what you see," she whispered to the feline.
The black cat, with tail held high, squinted twice to indicate its understanding, and then set off towards the door with stealthy steps. Leandra muttered incantations, and the door swung open, surprising her. "So, it's not locked," she mused. "He must have truly high self-confidence. Perhaps it is more than one person."
The black cat disappeared up the stairs, and Leandra closed her eyes, focusing on her familiar. The cat soon appeared at the top of the stairs, and Leandra saw that everything was in its place. There had been no conflict. "To the master bedroom," Leandra commanded confidently.
The feline obeyed, padding towards the bedroom door crafted from richly inlaid walnut wood. The portal was firmly shut, but the creature leaped up with alacrity and pressed the handle, landing back on her four paws. With a gentle nudge, the door swung open, revealing a narrow gap for her to slip through.
As Belize slipped inside, her eyes scanned the room. The head of a grand bed caught her gaze first, followed by a barred window and a crackling fireplace.
"Stride to the bed with caution, Belize," Leandra whispered.
With a graceful leap, the feline ascended the bed and surveyed the room. Her keen senses quickly detected a pale-faced twin sister lying motionless on the bed, Alex dozing off in a brown leather armchair, and an old man cloaked in gray robes, clutching an ebony mahogany cane, perched on a rocking chair. The retired knight had built the seat for his beloved wife, but now it cradled a babe in an unexpected guest's arms.
The elderly man fixed his gaze and greeted the witch woman, looking straight at her through the cat's eyes with a warm smile.
"Hail and well-met, Leandra Alia Jollords. We have been expecting your arrival. Please don't tarry, ascend to the upper floor," he beckoned.
The witch woman's muscles tensed. The man's gaze was piercing, fearless, and indifferent to the elements, yet cold enough to cause earthquakes and fires.
Leandra could hold her prudence and prefer speaking through the cat. But for some inexplicable reason, the witch woman knew that she had no right to decline this invitation. The request was as implacable as a royal command, leaving no room for argument. She sensed that all her questions would be answered if she complied.
With a will of its own, Leandra's body ascended the staircase, step by step, until she reached the upper floor. She found herself standing before a door, which opened effortlessly with a gentle push. She strode inside without hesitation.
"How did I get here?" Leandra inquired, struggling to shake off her astonishment. Along the way, she had meticulously concocted a myriad of protective spells and even mapped out a plan of attack. But all those preparations vanished from her mind in an instant. The witch couldn't recall any of the magical incantations.
The old man punctuated the silence with a single tap of his curved, ebony walking stick on the ground.
"Listen closely, Leandra Alia Jollords. Time is scarce, and my patience is limited. I won't repeat myself. Answer truthfully," he instructed, his voice laced with an unyielding edge.
As she surveyed her surroundings, Leandra's gaze fell upon her twin sister's serene yet pallid face, causing her to freeze.
"Ah, I see. Is Alleyna deceased?" Leandra inquired while his eyes pierced her.
The old man nodded,
"Why do you seek the child?" the old man inquired, his eyes unwavering.
Leandra glanced at Alex, whose eyes were wide but vacant. It was then that she realized the severity of the old man's gaze and recollected the question.
"I am the child's aunt, and Alleyna had appointed me as her successor's guardian," she stuttered timidly.
"Has Alex lost his sanity?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.
The old man nodded again patiently.
"And what of the child?" Leandra asked finally, a tinge of anxiety creeping into her voice.
With a slight bow and a smile, the old man pointed to the slumbering infant in his arms and replied, "She is hale, dry, sated, and slumbering soundly."
The old man rose to his feet, drawing strength from his cane, and fixed a stern gaze on the witch woman.
"And if I entrust this child to you, what do you intend to do with her? Don't ever presume to tell me what others think. Be forthright. Speak your true intentions. This is your last chance," he demanded.
Leandra lowered her head, seething with frustration. She yearned to scream, to protest, to unleash a volley of death spells she had recently learned. But that would not be so easy.
"Yes, I am aware that you are a practitioner of the dark arts. More accurately, you are a witch. And you are still at the beginning of the path," the old wizard taunted her.
"You, sir. My master will make you…" The woman's words were stifled by an invisible force. She surmised that the old wizard had halted her with magic. When did he cast it? She could not even discern it. Did he weave a spell by rapping his cane on the floor? She was once again dazzled by the old man's power.
"No one can make me regret anything. And I will not even accept the man you call master as an apprentice. Don't you dare issue empty threats again, lowly witch. Do not test my patience, or you will face dire consequences. If the abominations you claim serve your master were so powerful, they would have already breached this place," the old man rebuked her.
The woman's footing faltered at once. The old man's words carried so much weight that she struggled to stand under his imposing presence.
"Whom am I dealing with?" she mused to herself.
"If you ever manage to survive this night, convey a message to the creature you call your master, and if you can ever encounter him again. That I am unlike Roland; that my patience has its limits. That I vow to expel him to Araphia if he gets close to the child. He will comprehend what I mean," the old man warned.
The nocturnal beasts surrounding the Cahosse Mansion let out mournful moans, their agony piercing the stillness of the night. Unbeknownst to even Leandra, the missive had already been dispatched. Elaphar smirked with smug self-satisfaction, relishing in the knowledge of his cunning maneuver.
Dawn was on the verge of breaking, and the last hour of darkness had ebbed away, leaving a dark, slightly red sky in its wake. Leandra gazed at the steaming mountains in the distance, lost in thought and fear.
"Why do I want to raise this child?" she muttered to herself. "Because she..."
"Yes?" the old sage prompted.
"Because she has the potential to be different from her mother. Because she needs ambition, the kind of ambition her mother lacked," Leandra replied.
"And what of the darkness?" the powerful sage inquired.
"With ambition comes the strength to face the darkness. Alleyna had power but no ambition, and I had ambition but lacked the strength," Leandra explained.
"And yet, in the end, you succumbed to that same darkness. You drove your sister to her death and her husband to madness. For what purpose?" the old man spoke mercilessly.
Leandra began to weep, but the old sage was unrelenting.
"You and Alleyna fled Xarus to avoid becoming someone's slave, crossed the treacherous Barren Heights and the Snake Tongue Valleys to reach this place. Both of you, descendants of the first witch, Helia'arda, crawled into the shadows of Barnachia, once then the Cursed City, all for a loaf of bread. Roland found you there, albeit too late. He watched over and protected you., But without Alleyna's strength, you would not have survived those streets ruled by banshees, vampires, ghouls, and other foul creatures. You spent months in the clutches of those dark beings, but how did you make it out alive? By your sister's guidance. And you let go of your sister's hand, and surrendered yourself to a greedy, power-hungry fool, Leandra Alia Jollords. Alleyna took you out of sight for a moment, and now we are gathered here to celebrate your enslavement to an execrable freak."
The woman collapsed to the ground, her sobs now uncontrollable, thumping her knees in anguish. The deluge of memories that had just surged through her had battered her spirit. The forgotten tales of her past, the realities she had subconsciously brushed aside, all flooded back to her conscious mind.
"I, I…" she stammered.
"Yes, you?" The old man's tone was harsh, unforgiving. "You have forgotten everything, haven't you? Such is the frailty of the human mind, it quickly erases the darkest days. How can I entrust you with this innocent blood of your sister, when you betrayed your twin who had saved your life countless times? And who backstabbed her every time she turned her back on you? Speak!"
"I was weak then," she whispered in a barely audible, cracking voice.
The woman crawled towards the window, her eyes fixated on the growing redness of the sky, reminiscent of the shade of cherry bruise, like her hair. She turned her back, pulling her white tresses dyed raven-black, and glanced at the sheet on the floor, stained with dark blood.
"The child needs one of her bloodlines to remind her origins," she implored, falling to her knees.
The old man approached her, pulling the sheet off the baby's shoulder. The witch woman noticed the fork-like birthmark on the infant's skin.
"What is this?" she asked.
"This seal is the reason why the creature you call master is after this child, and why it is out of reach. And if you want to live, if you promise to take care of this child without harming a single hair on her head or making any contact with that creature, I will let you take care of her. Because that is your sister's final wish."
"I swear to you, sir. I will not contact anyone. I beg you, give me a chance. I accept all your terms," she pleaded.
The old man looked at her with disdain, gently placing the child on the bed. "We will see," he murmured and slammed his cane on the ground and gestured for the woman to follow him.
They walked out of the door, leaving Leandra feeling defeated once again. She didn't remember getting up, descending the stairs, or opening the main door. All she felt was the overwhelming sense of surrender.
The old man roughly grasped Leandra's hair and pushed her outside.
"Your so-called master has unleashed those hellhounds you see lurking at the door."
The crimson hues of dawn cast eerie shadows across the porch. In the first rays of light, the sinister beasts' grotesque features were revealed: disproportionate limbs, gnarled heads, and slobbering, wart-covered maws. Their skin was a patchwork of scorched, pus-filled sores that made the woman's stomach churn.
"Make your choice, Leandra Alia Jollords. Either depart with those beasts or vow before them that you will not hand over this child to their master or any of his minions."
Terror-stricken, Leandra whimpered, "They'll shred me to pieces. Please, don't abandon me!"
The old man raised his cane and, without touching her, pushed her outside before slamming the door shut.
Leandra fell to her knees, pounding frantically on the door and wailing, "Please don't leave me, sir! They'll devour me whole and consume my very soul!"
The hounds of darkness began to growl, bark, and advance. The circle of protection seemed to be shrinking inward from the porch of the house, as if the shadows were growing to shield the hideous dogs.
The woman twisted into a fetal position, about to make the most difficult decision of her life. On one side stood the most powerful necromancer she had ever known, and on the other, an old mage who had already shown enough strength to make Leandra wet herself in fear. At best, Leandra was a mediocre witch, with only a few curse spells to her name, and a reputation in a small town for occasionally causing pain and showing off. But the men who had shaped continents and defied fate were far beyond her meager abilities. Leandra cursed her ill-fated life and that of her twin sister. As her execution loomed mere inches away, between the bloody, crooked teeth of the beasts, only one thought entered her mind.
"What is the baby girl's name?" she demanded.
"Allendra Elia Cahosse," came the answer.
"I am Leandra Alia Jollords. I swear upon my life, soul, mind, and body that for the remainder of my days, I shall defend my niece Allendra Elia Cahosse from any who seek to harm, use, intimidate, or enslave her."
The hounds of blackened spirit were released from their leash, and their bloody jaws latched onto Leandra's hands and legs as she tried to protect her face.
"Accepted," a voice said.
And then, the sound of a wooden staff hitting the ground echoed through the air.
"In a heartbeat, a deafening sonic boom tore through the air, lasting only a second but shattering the calm of the forest. The shadowy beasts that encircled Leandra recoiled and fled in all directions, their organs, skins, and blood splattering over her like a grotesque rain. The woods were awash with carnage, the beasts cut down as if by an invisible saw. The sight was a horror beyond words. Leandra retched whatever was left in her stomach onto the doorstep, her gaze fixed on the teeth marks etched deep into her wrists and ankles. Those black spots remained like seals and handcuffs for the rest of her days. She thought of the old man's spell, cast with such immense power that if it had lasted even a few seconds longer, she would have been deafened for life if not dead. Her ears continued to ring long after the chaos had subsided. Both men had left scars that cut deep into her soul.
Then the door creaked open, and a sleek black cat emerged, followed by the sound of a baby's cries. At long last, the sun rose in all its crimson glory, cutting through the thick veil of dark clouds.