The Watchers Book 1: Knight of Light

Chapter 6 part 1

Chapter Six

I awoke and rubbed bits of the straw bed from my hair. Since I discovered Cassi last week, I spent every private moment searching for a key or trying to open the cage without one.

The dying fire lit the cottage with an eerie red glow. Hazella's bed lay empty, and the table where Cassi's cage usually rested stood vacant. Where could Hazella have taken Cassi in the middle of the night?

My heart dropped, and my stomach twisted. My fingers trembled as I searched the cottage for the pixie. What if I was too late and Hazella had killed Cassi?

Hazella's angry voice came from behind the door of the backroom. Candlelight beamed between the cracks. I dropped to my knees and peered through a crack in the door. I couldn't see Hazella or Cassi, but I heard the witch shout a furious string of threats.

From a small knot hole in the door, I saw two sets of feet standing in the forbidden room. I covered my mouth to muffle my gasp. Someone else was here, but no one ever came to the cottage, at least not on their own free will.

Hazella's book lay open on a tabletop, and she muttered instructions from a page. I distinctly heard the words: "gold," "pixie," and "ruby necklace." What did Cassi have to do with Hazella's old necklace? I tilted my head and tried to get a better look at the stranger. His hands moved as he talked. He was short and hairy, like a wolf, but he had the build of a man. Flickering candlelight distorted the features on his shadowy face.

Something the man said must have made Hazella mad because she let out a blood-chilling shriek and threw a bottle on the floor. I sprang to my feet as shards of sparkling glass sprayed under the door. I sprinted across the room and dove into my bed. My trembling hands clutched the blanket. My heart pounded like a warning drum. I was afraid Hazella would hear it and know I had been snooping.

The harder I tried to still my body, the more violently I quavered. The door to the back room creaked open. I pulled the blanket over my head and held my breath until the door closed again. I didn't dare fall asleep until later that night after the stranger left.

Two long days passed before Hazella departed for the villages and I could talk to Cassi in private. "Oh, Cassi, are you all right? What did they do to you?"

Cassi's face lit up, and she sparkled even brighter. "Cassi so happy to see Auriella!"

I quickly evaluated the pixie. She still had her wings, limbs, and hair. I sighed with relief, then asked the next question weighing on my mind. "Who was that stranger?"

Cassi shrugged. "Cassi could not see. Mean old witch takes Cassi's dust and hide Cassi from big bad wolf-man."

"Wolf-man," I repeated uneasily. "We have to get out of here." I pushed on the stick frame, careful not to touch the smelly wolf fur and sticky spider webbing. Why did it have to be wolves and spiders, the two things Cassi and I were afraid of most?

"Try opening it from the inside," I instructed Cassi.

Cassi shook her head. "Cassi sees fairy friend get stuck in sticky web. Big spider comes and bites into fairy." Cassi wrung her hands together.

I softened my eyes. "Did this really happen?"

Cassi sat in the corner, pulled her knees close to her chest, and nodded.

"I'm so sorry. What was your friend's name?"

"Morning Dew." Cassi looked away and sighed. "Did wolfie eat Auriella's friend?"

I shook my head. "No, I was almost eaten by the wolves."

Cassi gasped.

"See these scars?" I brushed back my tangled hair and pointed to a faint scar on my temple. I lifted my ragged dress to show Cassi the jagged scar on my leg in the narrow crescent shape of a wolf's jaw.

Cassi's eyes were vivid with horror. "Auriella got away?"

"Hazella saved me. She said I owed her for saving my life. That's why I'm her slave." I paused, my brave façade melted, and tears welled in my eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if it would have been better if the wolves had eaten me."

Cassi stood and reached through the cage to pat my hair. "It's all right. Cassi help Auriella escape."

I lifted my gaze. "Cassi, your arm—. You can reach out!"

Cassi's wings fluttered. She grinned and pushed both arms out of the cage.

"The magic must be weakening." I wiped my face dry. "Let's try to open it now." 

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