Chapter 4

The sharp sound of knives against stones fills my mother's ears as she walks through the forge, her long coat made from witch hair trails behind her. One of the many blacksmiths shows her the new armor being made, which she nods her approval of,

"This is made with a special metal that will break a witch's teeth or nails or even her horns if she tries to hurt one of us," the smith said, beaming at his work. Mother offers him the tiniest smile before she goes to make sure the Hunters are training properly. She stands next to Gajiel as he's watching the trainees; a mixture of boys and girls.

"Is everything ready? Has the plan been figured out?" She leaned her head towards Gajiel and he smiled a little. "Yes. We are going to the Council of Witches to end them before Wren does"

Mother smiles her cold, dark smile.

...

"We're going up to the village now" is the first thing Astrid says when I wake up. She's been staring at the stairs since last night when my eyes finally closed. She's been awake for hours and is exhausted. So, I walk over and lace up her boots that she unlaced in her anxious, nightless sleep.

"What are you doing?" The small witch looks at me as I sit in front of her, gently taking her foot and lacing up her boots, noting her pants leg has been hiked up and her skin is dark, like coconut skin.

I keep lacing her boots and then gently pull the pant leg into the boot so it's all snug and protected. She raises an eyebrow,

"Is this an excuse to touch me?"

"No" the words leave my lips with innocence.

She rolls her eyes. "The only way you'll ever touch me is if you have a knife pressed to my neck"

"Are you into that?" I tease as she gets up, grabs her small parcel, stomps out the lingering embers of our fire, and makes her way to the stairs that lead up to the secluded village.

After what feels like hours, and a few stops on the cliff sides that are stopping points next to the stairs, we enter the village. Astrid strides through, stopping only to give a rude gesture with her hand to a tree. I learn after a minute of thought that a Watchman is in the tree and must know the witch.

She leads us to a small hut at the edge of the other houses and opens the door to reveal a small room full of plants, rocks, dirt, and jars full of things that only a Healer would use.

"This is my home when I stay here" she says proudly, setting her things down.

"Do you stay here a lot?"

"Once or twice a year," she says calmly.

"So every year you take this journey just to see these people?" I put emphasis on the word 'this'.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" she raises an eyebrow and I can't help but smile at the fact she has to look up to talk to me.

I shake my head before setting my small pack down, casting my eyes on the jars.

"We'll sleep in the inn. This is just where I do my work, preparing medicines and remedies for the villagers for the upcoming winter," she states, "I have to make my rounds to see how everyone is doing" She pushes past me and out of the hut, nodding for me to follow so I do and watch as she locks the door and makes her way to a stone house where two little girls run up to her and let out a spiral of words as she bends down onto her knees and checks them for injuries. I've seen healers do this; go to people's homes and check on each person, but never with such kindness and focus as Astrid does.

The children push the hood from her cloak off her head and I let out a soft gasp as her sharp, pointed, curved small horns glint in the sunlight. They're beautiful. Beautiful beyond the possibility of being taken away from her. I think as the children run their hands over the curved bones that stick out atop her head. She gently takes the children by the hands and they help her up, leading her into the house. I follow and watch as she makes sure a pregnant woman is healthy.

She does this for the rest of the day, going to houses and making sure the people are healthy and giving them remedies if needed. Finally we stop at a barn house, where two young men accompanied by a much older one, are lugging wood out. They stop when the witch approaches. Her cloak flaps in the wind, and strands of ginger hair tug free from being tucked into her hood.

"Astrid! Welcome back!" the old man embraces her and places a kiss on her forehead. She smiles a real, warm smile, and nods to him, "Gerald. How are you? Arthur and Lan aren't giving you trouble, right?" She winks at the two boys, his sons most likely, and Gerald laughs, "They always shape up when they know you're coming to visit"

The boys look down sheepishly, and she looks at Gerald "You really need to stop filling their heads with the idea of marrying me. You all know my thoughts on men," Astrid says kindly as he nods, "Ah yes. You enjoy a woman's soft bre-" One of his sons, Lan, is stopped by one of his fathers hitting him in the back of the head.

"Forgive my boy. You know he got his mother's sharp tongue," Gerald apologizes, glaring at his sons.

"Consider it done," Astrid says before noticing Arthur staring at me. "This is Wren, my, um... travel companion," she doesn't bother to elaborate.

"Ah yes, I see" Arthur winks at me, "Let me know if she's any good in bed"

For the first time since I've met her, Astrid's cheeks heat up as she storms away from the three men. I glare at the boys before walking up to Arthur, who purrs softly and smiles as I reach my hand down. He must be thinking of me grabbing something different than what I actually grab, because in three seconds he's on the ground, his nose bleeding and a knife scraping on his neck.

"Speak to her or me that way again, and you'll learn just how good I am at other things that don't involve beds but do involve graves," I hissed into his ear before getting up and following Astrid.

...

Once we get into our inn room, she slams the door and begins to walk towards me, green eyes burning with anger.

"Why did you do that!?" She doesn't shout, but her tone is enough to make her seem angrier.

"Why are you so mad? I was defending you' I protest, now sitting on the bed because there isn't much room for us to argue without one of us running into something.

"I don't need defending. Everyone here knows about my...preferences...the jokes don't bother me"

She keeps her eyes trained on me before speaking again. "I don't cause fights here because I'm a witch. They are very right to not trust me, but it's taken years for me to even be given a hut here for my practice. These people trust me. When one man is covered in blood, who do you think they'll point an accusatory finger at?"

"I'm sorry. I-I'm not used to people being so...calm about a woman's preferences," I say, eyes now cast to the ground, "I'm sorry"

"Let's go. There's a lake just down through the woods. We can wash up there," she says, ignoring my apology as she stands and picks up her pack, nodding for me to follow.