Bewitched

Chapter 3 - Elvira

Witch trials were held in special courts. The nearest one was only a few hours away when traveling with horses and haste. I'd learned everything about it I needed to know, which came down to this: without weapons and multiple people on my side, I'd never be able to break Asha out.

Which meant that I wasn't getting out, either.

Which meant I'd die. 

I was about to be put on trial for witchcraft, and I couldn't do much to prove my innocence without incriminating Asha. They'd declare me guilty.

And then I'd die.

Would it be the pyre? Hanging? 

My stomach churned as two guards led me inside a stone building. The witch trials were held away from the public eye. The risk of a witch charming or manipulating the common people was simply too great.

What would happen to Asha without me? Would she find a way to burn the magic out of her, so she'd be safe once and for all? I wouldn't die in vain, would I?

"I'm sorry," I whispered, and if I'd ever wished for any magic, it was at that moment, so that she'd hear my words. But instead, our footsteps drowned them out as we crossed dim hallways, all lined with heavily armed guards. It wouldn't be the first time a witch had prepared magic to escape.

We arrived in an equally dim room. Windows were replaced by candlelight, probably to get rid of possible escape routes.

On one side of the room was a table with three men seated at it. On the other side, a plateau which the guards made me stand on. They raised my arms and chained my wrists together above my head, the chain affixed to a beam above me.

There was a woman next to me. Her brown hair obscured her face. Was she... a witch? A real one?

It had to be. Sure, I was here by mistake, but how often did that really happen?

I'd studied these trials, and people who were brought here, rarely made it out alive. So, they had to be really sure when they arrested someone.

Right?

The middle of the three men at the table stood up. "Those who stand before us have been charged with tampering with nature and the natural order of things, also known as witchcraft. For the safety of the people and the harmony in this world, they shall be put to death."

My breath caught in my throat. This was real, this was happening, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

The woman next to me clicked her tongue. The traces of a smile graced her lips.

The man took a breath and held up the paper he was reading off. He spoke with the energy of someone drained by routine. "As magic trapped inside a witch's body will seep into the soil upon burial, the magic must be eradicated from the body first."

Through fire, or drowning, or some poisons. I may not have been able to read all of the texts on banishing witchcraft I'd managed to find, but many pictures spoke louder than words.

"We will determine the proper method of purging based on the evidence."

"I don't know about you," the woman next to me whispered, "but I'm not going to wait around for that."

The man kept reading off formalities, but I barely heard a word of it over the pounding in my ears. 

Does it hurt to burn alive?

Of course it does, idiot.

Maybe they'll choose burning after hanging. It's becoming a common method nowadays.

Don't get your hopes up.

"Ready to make a run for it, dear?"

I could barely see the woman through the haze before my eyes. "What?"

"We're leaving here, you and I. Alive."

I looked up at my restraints. There was no way we'd get out of them.

The woman grinned. "What's your name?"

"Elvira." It'd always been too dangerous to introduce myself to people. But now, it didn't seem to matter anymore.

"Well, Elvira, I'm Malise. I'm going to need you to follow my lead, okay?"

Her eyes lured me in, begged me to trust her. It's what witches were infamous for. It was a trap, nothing more.

But it was also my only chance at making it out alive, and I had to take it, for Asha.

So, I nodded.

"Great. I'm going to give you something. Press it against the chains. It will burn right through them."

"What are you talking about? We're both tied up."

"We're witches. Those humans can't keep us down."

Of course. She thought I was a witch, too. I kept my mouth shut; I wasn't going to let her change her mind.

"We shall perform the standard procedure to purge the body from the wickedness of magic," the judge continued. "As fire is still proven to be the best method, that is what we shall use."

My head already filled with the sizzling of sparks taking hold. 

But it wasn't just in my head.

The witch was muttering something under her breath, her eyes closed. Her arms, bared by her sleeves sagging down, lit up in symbols and patterns that hadn't been there before.  Sweat glistened on her forehead as smoke started rising from between her tied wrists.

"What's that?" one of the judges asked, interrupting his colleague.

"It's magic!"

"Witch, cease your evil tricks!"

But she was faster. In a flash, she was in front of me, her hands pressing against mine. A clay-like material pressed against my skin and I closed my fingers around it, more out of shock than compliance. I'd barely taken hold of it before she leaped away.

Guards approached from all corners, drawing swords and spears. The witch, Malise, threw her head forward, and small particles flew from her hair. She raised her hands, muttered a spell, and the particles exploded in smoke that spread and rapidly filled up the room, swallowing up everyone in front of me.

Time to leave.

I fumbled with the clay in my hands, wrapped it around the chains as best I could. Soon I heard a distinct hissing sound, even over the shouting of the guards. I tugged at my restraints. The iron around my wrists started getting hot and I feared it might burn my skin.

Smoke filled my nose. It wasn't suffocating like real smoke, and yet, it blocked my sight and made my head fuzzy. I tugged harder, again, and again, until I crashed to the ground. The chains fell off my wrists like old rope. I ignored the pain from my fall and crawled away, further into the smoke, trying to remember where the doors were.

Shouts came from all around me, but there was no one to be seen behind the wall of smoke. A blow to my stomach pushed the air out of my lungs, and yet I forced myself to roll away from the guard that had tripped over me.

My head bumped against something solid. The wall. I followed it to the first entrance I could find. Footsteps came from the other side and I pressed myself against the wall until they'd passed, cursing and stumbling without vision. Screams sounded from somewhere in the room.

Once the guards had passed, I slipped through the door. The smoke had spread to the rest of the building, but the further away I went from the courtroom, the more I could distinguish. Some people ran back and forth and I evaded them, my heart pounding faster with every guard that was close to spotting me.

Someone had opened a window in one of the outer hallways, probably to let the smoke out. I slipped through it in the midst of the chaos. Once I was outside, I broke into a run.

Because she was right behind me.