“I need you to understand something and prepare for how this will play out in the end.”
Okay, I’m uncomfortable…
“I have lived a long life. An extraordinary life filled with blessing after blessing. My life has been enriched by magic and all the things it has done for me. But most of all, my life’s work was this…” She gestured to Hazel. “You. You were always the end goal, Hazel. The one who would bring us out of the darkness, back into the light. The Fated one. My job was only to get youto the point where you could stand on your own two feet.” She looked over Hazel appraisingly. “Safe to say I’ve accomplished my task here. It is time for me to return home.”
“Auntie, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but your home is gone. There was a horrible fire and…” She faded off, unable to relive the searingly raw pain of the night that resulted in her father’s death.
Agnes nodded. “Yes, dear. I know. I know.” She reached through the bars and placed one calloused, time-worn hand on Hazel’s arm. Their gazes met and Agnes’s eyes were glistening, but not with sadness. No, instead, her eyes sparkled with hope.
“What are you not telling me?” Hazel’s voice was shaky and uneven.
Agnes smiled mischievously then. “All will be revealed in time, my child. Fret not, for the future that awaits me was written in the blood of those who came before. You are a Moonwater daughter, and a special one at that. It has been my honor to serve as your guide. When tomorrow comes, shed no tears for me. Instead, know that I feel no pain as I take the ash road home to the Otherrealm. Rejoice in the knowledge that my life was well spent and that I have successfully completed the task I was sent here to do. I love you, Hazel, Moonwater witch.”
THE SHADOWS
The world tilted as Hazel grappled with reality. As Agnes spoke, she might as well have been floating outside her body, a spectator to her own life. Her head swam with all the new information, but mostly, that Agnes was resigned to her fate. That she knew she would perish and was at peace with that fact. Hazel, however, was not.
Her eyes welled over, and she pulled Agnes into as much of an embrace as she could with the cold iron bars between them and the chains restraining their extremities. The other questions, though burning, could wait. She never wanted to let this moment go.
Agnes pulled out of the hug slightly to look at Hazel. She always had that knowing gaze about her. The one that wrapped around Hazel’s soul like a warm wool cloak.
She sighed softly. “We all have a role to play in this life, my dear, and mine has been a higher honor than I ever could have asked for. When I looked upon you as a babe, it was difficult to imagine what you were to become. But looking at you now, it’s unmistakable.”
“I-I don’t understand, Agnes. I am no one,” she whimpered.
“You, my dear Hazel, are going to break the chains holding witches back. You will shatter the world as we know it, and you will reforge it into something better. The Thousand Years War occurred so that one day a descendant of Adelladonna Moonwater would rise and reclaim what was taken from us, restoring our people and our homeland, and repairing the broken bonds between us and other peoples. That descendant is you, Hazel.” She paused abruptly. “Now, back to your side, over there. Someone comes.” And with that Agnes retreated to the far side of her cell.
A lone guard entered the dungeon and removed his helm. Oswald One-eye. Hazel’s locket heated as he entered.
“Heh, if it isn’t the dog’s pet, got herself caught in quite the mess. Where’s mister dark and broody now, pet? Have you figured it out? Slaide is a dog, not just in name, but by nature. He uses a bitch while she’s easy, and when the going gets rough, he moves on to the next. Face it, pet, you’ve been forgotten.”
She wanted to grow talons just as Slaide did so she could claw Oswald’s remaining eye out herself.
“Oh, don’t you worry, pet. Oswald here is going to take good care of you, eh? And when I’m through with you, we can see if anyone else would like a turn. You’ll never be lonely, and you can forget about that Fallenborn bastard whelp. How’s that sound?”
Hazel backed away from the cell door, trying to create space between them. She would fight him if she had to, but she would likely lose. And then everyone would know she was a fraud, that she was not some prophesied hero.
Oswald palmed the cudgel at his side, unhooking it from the loop on his belt. He caught her eyeing the movement. “Oh, don’t you worry your pretty little face about this here. Just a precaution. But you’re gonna be a good girl and not make me use it, eh? That’s right. Just be a good little witch whore, and you get out of here alive.”
He stepped toward her, undoing his belt and the top button of his breeches.
Gods, give me strength. Goddesses, hear me.Agnes somehow knew Hazel made it out of here alive. If prophesies could be believed, maybe she did. But no one said anything about getting out unscathed. And no one, not even Agnes, could pull her from this living nightmare.
He stalked toward her, his demented, one-eyed gaze peeling the clothes from her body.
No. I will not be a victim today. But I will play one.
“Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll do anything you ask,” Hazel whined.
“Now there’s a good girl. Come to your senses at last. Be good and sit for me.” He put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her down. She obliged, though her stomach roiled at the proximity of him. He stood over her, gesturing for her to lie back.
This better work, you idiot,she scolded herself, trying to keep the underlying panic from taking over. She feigned a whimper. “Please…”
His breeches dropped to the floor, and Hazel was thankful his guard’s uniform was long enough to obscure the view. When he straddled her, trying to get her to look, she averted her eyes. She just had to hang on to her sanity a little longer.
But then he made an unexpected move, throttling Hazel’s only plan to survive this encounter. He grabbed the chain between her manacled wrists and hooked it to an eyelet in the floor.So much for strangling him with the chain,she thought, arms pulled tight overhead.
Oswald tsked at her, wagging a finger. “Can’t have you getting any ideas now, can we?” Then he pulled her shift up above her breasts, exposing them to the brisk dungeon air. Beneath her underclothes, her nipples peaked in response tothe chill on her skin. A slimy grin crawled across his face as he mistook it for eagerness.
