Release that Witch

The corridor was shed by the moonlight which fell through the windows, yet only half of Anna’s face was visible. Her eyes reflected the faint blue light, looking like two stars within the dark. Anna leaned against the door, with most of her body hidden in the shadows, but her outline was still visible – good nutrition had completely changed her previous thin and skinny body, turning it into the body of an adult woman. Her body was just perfect, containing the right curves of her age but also the unique charm of youth.

Roland put on a calm face, stepped slowly forward until he was discovered by Anna. Finally, he stood in front of her and they looked each other into the eyes.

“It was just an accident, I didn’t know she would do – ” Roland began.

“I know.”

“The other is still a minor, so I didn’t care –”

“This, I also understood.”

Anna reacted completely differently than Roland had expected. It didn’t seem like Anna was at odds with him, he couldn’t detect any trace of displeasure on her face, there was only a serious look. There weren’t any waves within her lake-like blue eyes, Roland realized that she was still a straightforward woman, she didn’t like any camouflage and didn’t need to hide anything. Sure enough, she took the initiative, and said: “I cannot be like Lightning, in front of so many people I don’t dare to show such… bold behavior, so I had to wait for you here.”

After this sentence, her cheeks gained a touch of blush, but even so, she didn’t shrink back and her eyes were still focussed straight on Roland’s. Her look could even be said to be incomparably serious.

For two beats Roland’s heart set out, he wanted to say something, but he felt that at the moment everything he could say would be meaningless. She may mind the action of Lightning, but grieving or complaining wasn’t her way of acting, she would simply express her own feelings.

Upright and hard-working children shouldn’t be rejected, he thought. So Roland bent down, coming close to Anna’s cheek, even feeling her breath on his face, like a spring breath fiddling his heartstrings. Within the quiet environment they could clearly hear each other’s nervous breathing, then, soft lips slightly touched Roland’s cheeks.

“Good night, Your Highness,” Anna whispered.

*

Wendy set on the bed looking at some books.

For her, moments like this where she had leisure time were very rare. During her time in the Witch Cooperation Association, she also would have never thought about leading such a life.

It wasn’t long since she started staying within the town, but she had already developed the habit to: Before going to sleep she would clean her body. And then she would put on a silk gown, which wasn’t fastened around the waist nor wasn’t buttoned up. Sit cross-legged in the bed, with a soft pillow between her back and the wall, read books she had borrowed from His Highness.

It had taken her a lot of time until she got Lightning to rest, so afterward she did not intend to return to the back garden to continue the celebration, and instead she washed herself and went to bed.

At the moment she was reading a history book about the origin of the Church.

Although she grew up in a monastery, yet this was a theme that she didn’t know much about. The nuns had always warned them to obey the teaching of God, but they never mentioned God’s name – during her childhood this discrepancy had always puzzled her. Everything had a name, so why of all the things does the noblest God not have one?

What was recorded within the books she had read and the rumors she had later heard told of basically the same thing. At the beginning of the history of the mainland, there were three major religions, which thought of each other as heretics, believing that their gods were the only ones. This battle of faith lasted for nearly a hundred years, and in the end, the Church took the final victory. They declared that the other Gods had been destroyed, and that calling God with any other name was forbidden, this was the word of God itself.

The following pages described the glory and immortality of the church, including the building of the Old Holy City and the New Holy City, and their victory over the evil witches. To Wendy this all seemed very strange.

She had also borrowed the books, “The History of the Kingdom of Graycastle” and “A brief History of the Mainland” from Roland. The first one almost unequivocally recorded the Kingdom’s establishment, development and major events. Such as the name of each king and the marital status and whereabouts of their children. The family with all their branches were described in such details, that it nearly looked like a detailed genealogy.

“The brief History of the Mainland” focused more on the evolution of the four kingdoms, their alternations in handling their powers and the inner and outer political struggles. However, they still put very much importance into the ruling families.

Yet within the History book about the Church, there wasn’t mentioned any of the Popes’ names, or it could be said that it was the same thing they had done with God’s name. They just replaced their former names with the title Pope. So throughout the whole book, it just looked like there was only one Pope during all of the hundreds of years of history. This wasn’t consistent with common sense, instead of calling it a record, it would be better to say it was a deliberate delusion.

At this moment, Nightingale suddenly appeared within Wendy’s room. When Wendy discovered her she put down her book and looked at the other one with interest: “It’s already so late, and you’re only now free to talk to me?”

Nightingale rubbed her tensed neck, and went to the bedside to sit down, “I just finished my job of bringing Nana home, how did you fare with Lightning?”

“On the way she was nonstop talking about her father, yet when she hit the bed, she immediately fell asleep, I didn’t even need to read some stories to her.” Wendy shrugged. “She always acts like she is already a big girl, but in truth, she is still a little child.”

“In your eyes, everyone is still a child,” said the Nightingale teasingly and took the book Wendy had previously in her hand. “His Royal Highness had said that you shouldn’t read at night, especially that you shouldn’t read when sitting in bed. The lighting isn’t good enough and will hurt your eyes.”

“Yes, your Royal Highness did say that.”

The two of them talked for a long time. They talked about the time when they traveled together from Silver City to the Impassable Mountain Range, what happened when they heard about a soon to killed witches, how they survived the Months of Demons. Nightingale had a lot to say, so much so that Wendy was only occasionally able to throw in one or two sentences. During the last five years, this two were so inseparable that they had developed a tacit understanding between each other. So the time passed slowly until finally the candles were about to extinguish. Seeing this Wendy began to laugh and asked, “How is it? Can’t you sleep because of Lightning’s actions today?”

“What are you talking about…?”

“What else can it be,” Wendy smiled and shook her head. “Veronica, we are witches, you should know what that means.”

“…” Nightingale kept silent, and even after a long time she didn’t know what to say, “Well.”

This fate, there was no witch who could escape it. Wendy put away her smile, sighed and then said, “Roland Wimbledon it the kingdoms 4th Prince, and we have to do everything possible to ensure that he will take over the throne. Then when he rules the kingdom, he will be able to present us sisters with a shelter against the Church.

But that would also mean that he has become the King, and then there will come the time, where he has to marry a Duke’s daughter or the princess of another kingdom. Then they will get children, maybe one or several. If it’s a boy, he will inherit the country, and if it’s a girl she will be married off to another noble family.”

Here Wendy paused for a moment, giving Nightingale time to prepare since she had to say words, which no witch wanted to hear, “Veronica, we are witches, witches cannot give birth to children.”

“Even with the most optimistic outcome, where there is no difference between a ordinary people and us witches, where we can freely walk along every road through the kingdom even after the death of His Highness. With occasional cases of outstanding witches gaining the right to enter the upper ranks of society, maybe even get canonized as nobles. There will still always be the case that we witches will never be able to have any descendants. And without any descendants, we are unable to continue the family’s glory, so the nobles won’t even consider marrying any witch. So we will gain some things, but at the same time, an important part will be taken from us. ‘This is our fate,’ she whispered, “I wish I didn’t need to tell you this.”

“I see,” Nightingale whispered.

…

When Nightingale had finally left, Wendy didn’t feel so good. But she believed that Nightingale would still be able to overcome this setback, after all, she had already crossed so many difficulties, she surely will also be able to cross this threshold.

Of this, Wendy was convinced.