Bewitched

Chapter 5 - Elvira

We managed to find a relatively sheltered spot to spend the night. Malise sat down and stretched out. "I'll light the fire," she said. 

"Then I suppose I'm the one looking for firewood?"

"Preferably, yes."

I didn't make the effort to protest, either to my task or the prospect of magic. I carried back some wood and stacked it up.

"Perfect," Malise said. She moved forward and rubbed her hands together. She muttered a spell against her knuckles, blew air between her palms and waited as a small light flickered to live. She dropped the light onto the wood and a fire crackled to life.

I'd come across this spell during my studies. I knew what it was and how it worked, and yet, seeing it happen in front of me felt different. Just like being near a real witch. Asha was different; with a bit of luck, she wouldn't be a witch for long anymore. But Malise...

The flames playing on her face made her even more unreal, like something out of a dream. Witches possessed a powerful attraction. They were a live trap. I tried to strengthen myself against it, and yet, I couldn't deny the pull, begging me to move closer to her and watch her more closely. Instead, I tried not to stare at the curve of her lips, and certainly not the one of her hip as she laid down. 

I rolled up my sleeves and poked the fire with a stick, mostly to have something else to focus my eyes on.

"It's infecting."

"What?"

Malise nodded to my arm. I followed her gaze to the incision. The skin around it was an angry red, even in the dim light. 

"That's not possible," I said. "It hasn't even been a day."

"This isn't a normal wound. Here, let me help."

I hugged my arm to my chest and leaned away. "There's no need." The wound was created by magic. I didn't see how magic could make it any better.

"Let me slow down the infection before it gets any worse."

"I'll treat it with non-magic medicine."

"And you'll die."

A familiar feeling crashed through my body. Fear. Suffocating despair. My body frozen and shaking at the same time.

Just like the night my parents died.

No, the night they were murdered.

By witches. Witches looking for Asha.

"I'll figure something out."

"If you wish. Goodnight." She fully reclined, her hair falling over her face.

I laid down as well, but one question plagued my mind too much to be able to sleep. "Malise?"

"Yes, Elvira?"

"I was just wondering..."

"Yes?"

"Don't you have a coven? Don't all witches flock together?"

Her chuckle ran down my spine. It had to be some sort of spell. "We're not birds." She yawned. "Some of us prefer to live on our own."

"You sound very familiar with the coven that is after Asha."

"I am."

"Did you live with them?"

"I did."

She went silent, but I couldn't let her go to sleep just yet. "So you know how to escape from them?"