The night air carried the scent of soil and pines. Priscilla scrunched her nose trying to stop the earthy smell from seeping through. Darkness quickly covered her like a blanket as the batteries ran out in her cheap flashlight. Even a few slaps to the side of it didn't have an effect. It was the worst time for this to happen when exploring the woods.
'Meow.' Her flesh nearly jumped from her skin before two beady yellow eyes met her own. It was a cat with fur darker than the forest around them. A puffy tail stuck to the side of her legs as the cat got comfortable between her legs. She took the cat into her arms; it was not like she needed the flashlight anymore.
'Are you lost, little guy?' She played with the cat's puffy ears before continuing through the forest, however, it didn't take long for her eyes to adjust. The moonlight rays struggled through the dense leaves, but they illuminated the path slightly. Beneath Priscilla's feet, she could feel the shift between mud to cobblestones. The clack of her shoes against the stones rang through the forest. Her eyes wandered around until a glint flashed across her face.
It was a small house sitting between more than a dozen trees, the roof covered in moss and large mushrooms. A red door with four holes that formed a circle allowed the inside light to seep out. A crooked chimney sat atop the house, small puffs of white smoke floating into the moonlight of the clearing.
The black cat jumped from her arms and followed the meandering path toward the house, but Priscilla remained hesitant, taking a second to think about the dangers of heading into a stranger's home. A wolf's howl cleared any previous concerns. Creaking filled her ear as the door slowly swung open and creaked just as loudly when closed.
Priscilla's eyes lit up as she explored the messy shelves filled with glasses of different proportions and sizes with more colours than a rainbow's. Bookshelves filled with tomes of different quality, some clearly bought today while others nearly ripped apart. Her fingers pranced through the different strange titles, a burning curiosity filling her heart.
Her little fingers dragged out a large slightly worn down tome titled 'What Hides in The Fog?' Among the other books, this one seemed the most tame, not that she could read novels in different languages anyway. The person who lives here must be a scholar, she thought. A smell caught her nose, dragging her towards the dishevelled fireplace with framed pictures you could purchase at the supermarket. It was a young girl sitting on the lap of a much older, very dignified woman with a large pointy hat.
'Little kitty? This seems a lot like a witch's hut, doesn't it?' The cat simply stared up at her and meowd. 'What did I expect..' Her eyes wandered around more before finding a large chair with hundreds of needles stuck into the cushions. Several needles pricked her finger, sinking deep into the flesh. 'Shit shit shit…ow!' Priscilla slipped on some dirty pieces of paper and smacked her head across a wooden table.
From the floor, she could see a pair of red boots at the entrance of the door, which was now open. The high heels clacked against the floor, marching around the table until they were eye to eye. A mature and dignified woman with a wand in her hand waving through the air, sparkling dust following each movement.
Priscilla's mind raced until finally realising who the lady was. 'Uh- uhm. Oh-uh'
'Get up!' Two words were all it took for Priscilla to forget about the pain. Purple eyes glanced across the room looking for the damages done, only a missing book which was in the free hand of the younger girl. A smile spread across her devilish lips before sitting down on the needled couch.
'You got balls girl. Walking into a witch's hut takes a lot of bravery, and to think you could even make it to mine. Your spell proficiency must be quite high. Tell me, what school do you go to? Patagonia? Vorca?' The witch laughed to herself while lighting a cigar, but she waited for an answer that never came.
Several minutes passed by, and Priscilla remained still, the cat perched itself on her head and purred as it licked itself.
'So are you going to say something or do you want to go in the pot?'
Priscilla looked up at her, a newfound bravery in her heart. 'Ma'am, I don't know what those schools are, I was exploring these woods because of a rumour in town saying that a wish would be granted if you find a pond with a talking fish. Stumbling upon your house was a miracle since my flashlight stopped working.'
The witch looked at her, dumbfounded. 'You walked in this forest to look for a pond?'
'Yes'
'And this pond has a fish that talks?'
'Yes'
'And this talking fish grants wishes?'
'Yes'
'Are you an idiot?'
Silence clung to the air. The witch rubbed the wrinkles which formed between her eyes. Sitting up, she swiped away the tome from Priscilla's hands and headed toward the cauldron. A large stick emerged from her dress, one which could not physically fit in that short of a dress.
Priscilla moved a little, taking the cat off her head and walking toward the witch who stirred the pot over the lively flames. She gently poked her shoulder, trying to get a reaction, but the witch chose to ignore it as if Priscilla were some kind of fly.
'What do you want?' Even a powerful witch would succumb to annoyance.
Priscilla looked at her, fixing her hair and tugging at her knee-length skirt. 'C-could you teach me magic?' The witch's head snapped back, hoping she heard the girl wrong. Her eyes scanned the young girl, who seemed genuine about her request. It was the first time in a century someone had asked for such a thing.
'Don't joke around like that, once you step on this path you can never leave it. Having the mark of a coven is a lifetime commitment.' She was trying to dissuade the young one, but a long-suppressed instinct told her that this girl was a diamond in the rough.
'Pretty please?' Priscilla batted her eyelashes, and even the black cat meowed empathetically at the tall witch.
'Ugh, whatever. Just don't cry to me when this is too much to handle!'
'Yay! My name is Priscilla, what's yours?'
The witch glided towards the door, knocking it closed. 'Lucia.'
Priscilla noted it down on her arm with a pen she found on a small dresser in the corner of the room. Her eyes couldn't take in all the information from where her eyes wandered. Lucia noticed this but continued to throw random ingredients into the black pot, the smell growing in putridness.
'You can head home for today, I don't have anything to teach you right now. On top of that, you need to register with a coven so that you can utilize this magic outside of a witch's hut.' Lucia looked through several drawers before offering up a large file with different coven locations in the nearest town. Priscilla's eyes lit up as she scanned the pages, various buildings and institutions that seemed regular had covens connected to them. Each place offered different benefits and required various random requirements.
Priscilla nodded before heading towards the red door, fog seeped through the small holes, the outside appearing much more ominous than before. She wanted to ask for a bit of help but the words couldn't escape her throat. The door creaked open revealing a tall hooded man with a cycle and lantern.
'Hello there miss. Got a question for you.' A jagged smile cracked through his pale skin.
'Close that damn door now!!' A book flew towards the side of the door. 'Shit, they know your face now.' Lucia pulled the younger girl onto the table, inspecting her body for something.
'Who was that?' Priscilla shivered at the memory of him. Lucia ignored her question for a moment before finally finding what she was looking for. Just below her elbow, a mark appeared of a lantern and sickle. She quickly searched the workshop for a little vile containing some kind of trapped smoke, aside from that, she equipped a small crossbow to her forearm. Three feathers were stuck onto her foot with an additional one being loaded into the crossbow.
'Uhm, what are all of these things?'
'Right. So this is a crossbow.'
'I could figure that out myself.'
'Then why ask?'
'Maybe because the rest of the items are weird?! And who was that?'
'Fuck, you are stupid.'
She took a large puff of her cigar before sitting on her armchair. 'It's not a who, it's a what. That thing is a Vaundr, a hunter that had been immortalised by slaughtering a great deal of witches. What I gave you is your only chance at survival.'
Priscilla struggled to wrap her head around what a Vaundr was, or how some feather and a glass bottle could do to someone. She picked up the book that was flung across the room previously and opened up the index.
Introduction…
About the Author…
The Fog…
History of the Fog…
Vaundr...
Perfect she thought.
'Now is not the time to read! Listen to me, on the way out I will stall him for a few seconds. You must make your way through the fog and make it to the electrical light, that is the only way for you to survive in the fog. I will give you an oil lamp, do not let it go out or you will die. The feathers can be loaded into the crossbow, upon impact with a Vaundr they will be launched several meters back.'
Priscilla looked down at the feathers with some newfound curiosity. The cat meowed at her, rubbing itself against her leg, trying to be picked up by the young girl.
'The vile will temporarily make you invisible to them. It creates a pocket of zero mist where you can not be touched or seen. They also move very slowly, but they are completely silent. One last thing, they mimic voices, under no circumstance should you listen to anything you hear.'
Lantern light leaked from the outside through the small holes in the door. Loud and obnoxious knocking reverberated from every wall in the house.
'Sweetie Priscilla? Please come out, let's head home.'
'Mom?'