THE RISING OF THE WICCA

Father

She was then pulled to her feet and out of her trance as the king stood up to announce his decision. She watched his lips move as he banished her and threatened her with the same judgment as the rest of her family if she was ever to come back.

Then they started dragging her outside of the kingdom, she held on to people's feet and begged them to let her go back to her house one last time. They kicked her over and over till she reached the outskirts of the kingdom and then kept pushing her till she stood at the edge of the enchanted forest, the forest none of them dared to set foot in.

She felt shivers run through her body at the sight of the huge trees standing tall at the entrance of the forest, mist covered the inside of it and she could barely see the stony path leading to the forest. She closed her eyes and took a step forward however she was still determined to go back to her house.

She hid inside the forest, at the trunk of a large tree and waited till the night fell then sneaked back to her house. She was rummaging through her mother's stuff when she heard the wood crack. She glanced back and saw the flames devouring the place.

Burning her mother and her two sisters didn't satisfy the people and they were now burning their house down. She grabbed a few things and rushed outside before the smoke could suffocate her. She was tired and hungry as she dragged her body across the forest and fell under a giant tree.

Remembering these agonizing events, Evanora bent forward and hid her head between her knees."It was him, mother, he did it, father refused to protect us." She kept mumbling to the empty house.

-----

Rokan walked hastily around the houses and checked every figure he saw lurking in the shadows. Now he knew she hadn't gone back to the forest, Aragorn would have found her if she did. She must have been hiding in the village. The fact that she read a message that was left for her by someone they didn't know made him think of all the worst possible scenarios.

What if she was hurt? Kidnapped? He struggled to keep his mind straight. Where could she be if she were in the kingdom? Somewhere in town where she would feel safe- his train of thoughts came to a stop as he realized where to find her.

He ran towards the burnt house and took a few strides before hearing someone blubbering. He looked around urgently till he spotted her shaking figure sitting on the floor, she was rocking back and forth and sobbing into her palms.

"Evanora.." He whispered in a broken voice and approached her slowly. He sat down in front of her and stretched his feet on both sides of her body, then he reached carefully for her head, he felt as if he was dealing with a heavily wounded beast, one wrong move and she would be gone forever.

His heartbeat slowed down dangerously and his hand shook as he patted her hair. At that moment she looked up and pulled away from him, a purple light shining in her eyes. She glared and hissed at him.

"Evanora." He whispered and caressed her hair again. She watched him closely and soon her face softened.

 
It took her a moment to realize who it was and once she could see the faint features of his face, she started sobbing harder, her tears seemed to never end as it rained down her cheeks, her cries pulled on the strings of his heart and pain almost cribbled him.

"It's okay.." he whispered and opened his arms for her. Seeing his arms unfold in front of her, she launched herself forward and wrapped hers around his neck.

"It's my own family, Rokan, Silas made the decision and my father just watched." She could barely speak as waves of sadness shook her body and her voice kept cracking.

"Shhh It's okay...everything will be okay, I promise.." He kept repeating to her as he tightened his arms around her and caressed her dark locks.

He held her body tightly as she bawled into his chest. He wanted to tear Silas's throat at that moment, to watch him suffocate in his own blood. How could he be so heartless, causing his own granddaughter to suffer this much.

When her body started relaxing and only faint cries were leaving her lips, he gathered her in his arms and stood up. Her hand fisted his shirt and pulled on it, she had no strength to ask him out loud where he was taking her but he could understand the confused look on her face.

"We are going home." Hearing his voice and seeing the tender smile he gave her, her muscles started relaxing.

"Home?" She wondered. She closed her eyes and tried to shut away all the worries and ghosts of the past hunting her.

----

Rokan was pacing around the room as the physician examined Evanora.

"Nothing seems to be wrong with her body other than the few blisters on her feet. Her pulse is steady, she is just exhausted."

"Examine her again, she keeps trembling like a leaf." Rokan's anger was seeping through his body, causing the physician to sweat.

"That is not related to physical pain, she may be experiencing shock or mental stress which is why she keeps shivering." The man tried explaining again.

"I already told you to examine her again!" Rokan roared and Brianna rose from her seated position on the bed where Evanora was lying.

"Can you please give her something to help her relax and sleep well without any trouble?" She asked kindly.

"Yes, that I can do." The physician started going through his bag and pulled out a bottle with red liquid. "If she has trouble sleeping later she can have some of this but I can recommend some herbs too to relax her muscles."

"Okay, it would be great if you could give a list of those herbs to the maids so they can prepare something quickly," Brianna added.

"Of course." The man said as he packed his stuff and walked outside sensing the hostility directed towards him from the king.

"You need to calm down, the man has nothing to do with her current state." Brianna looked sadly at Rokan. He sighed and fell into a chair next to the bed.

"Why isn't she waking up?" His eyes looked lost.

 He was never this helpless, he wanted her to open her eyes and look at him, to yell at him and go against his orders but she was lying still on his bed not making the smallest of sounds. If not for the small movements of her chest rising and falling and the random shivers, one would say she was a corpse. Her face was as white as a ghost and held no expression. Her black hair was a tangled sprawl over his white pillow in her sleep.

"Evanora is strong, she just needs some rest, let her have it. Where did you find her?" Brianna shifted her gaze back to Evanora.

"She was at her old house, she was hysterical, saying stuff about her father betraying her family.."

"I thought he was dead?"

"I thought so. She thought so too. She-she was.." Rokan stopped talking as images of her hugging her knees and rocking back and forth while mumbling stuff to herself in the darkness crossed his mind.

"We will get through this too. I'm going to see if the maids prepared the herbs for her." Brianna walked to his side and squeezed his shoulder.

Rokan said nothing and sank deeper into his chair, his face turning dark. Her words kept echoing in his ears, a thousand questions crossed his mind as he leaned closer to her and brushed her hair out of her face. Her pupils seemed restless under her closed eyelids.