Chương 58: The Good Witch

"Uh… that is a finger." The witch's hut stood outside the hamlet, but not so far that it could not be seen from the settlement. It leaned against a large tree, which had already slightly pushed the sagging roof away. The outside was filled with charms made of twigs, feathers, and bones, probably from animals. …And the inside was not any better.

"No wonder people call you a witch!" Tiny pointed at the witch while staring at the finger inside a jar.

"That… is a monkey's finger, M'lord."

"... I'm not a lord." Enel and the group immediately let their eyes trail across the room. Lamb still had her hand on her sword, while Guinevere seemed to be taking notes of whatever she could. As for old man Bernard, he chose to stay in the inn as he was not feeling well. But he wasn't the only one, Lamb was also not feeling well at all, staring at all the weird, disgusting things around them.

"Heh…" she scoffed, looking at Enel behind her.

"Good witch, he says."

"She still might be."

"That head disagrees with you."

"That is a goat's head," Enel said, turning toward the head Lamb was pointing to.

"It might be feralfolk."

"There are no feralfolk that look like that."

"It is only goat's head, M'lady!" The witch moved closer to Lamb, making her back away a few steps. The witch then quickly moved toward one of the shelves, nearly dropping her basket as she gathered several jars and placed them on the table.

"H-here, M'lord. These are all animal blood! Goat, chicken. Monsters, sometimes. Never men or children!" Enel and everyone stepped closer to look at the jars. The blood inside had darkened, all of them mixed with some sort of herb. There were also powder and roots inside. Enel looked at the witch.

"How would we know that all these came from animals?"

"It… It is not from men, M'lord!" Tiny squinted.

"... What about women?"

"N-no. I am willing to go under Oath! I swear under the Urtmother!"

"Very well." Enel shrugged. He moved around the hut again, careful not to touch anything.

"And where did you learn this?" The witch's hands stopped moving at the question, her eyes lowering.

"I… learned from other witches."

"From other forest witches?" Guinevere asked. The witch's answer, however, made her stop writing in her book.

"No. I… learned from Veil witches," the forest witch's voice lowered.

"I once lived in a sect."

"A sect of witches?" Tiny trembled, remembering the witches they encountered several months back.

"No… a sect worshipping the Veil." Lamb immediately drew her sword, but Enel blocked the hilt of her sword before she could fully unsheathe it.

"Wait."

"Enel."

"Wait." Lamb stared into his eyes for a moment, then bowed her head and stepped back. The old woman stared at Lamb's sword, and she clutched her shawl with both hands.

"I… I left that life. I swear, M'lady!"

"Why did you leave?" Enel asked.

"A-at first, they feared the Veil," she whispered.

"We… we all did. We live in a place a bit far from the forest, and our village… mostly earned its trade from rocks bought by Veyrmark Duchy."

"... Why would Veyrmark be buying rocks?" Tiny asked.

"Vulkan salt," Guinevere answered.

"They use it for mining, mostly. Veyrmark also uses it at sea. And I—no. Please, continue with your story, Forest Witch."

"When… our rocks became depleted two decades ago, the duchy removed their soldiers and left us to fend for ourselves," the witch closed her eyes.

"And we were not that far off from a Veil."

"Tch. These dukes and their family really do get on my nerves." Lamb clicked her tongue, but lightly gasped as her eyes fell onto Guinevere.

"N-not you." Guinevere did not seem to mind her words at all, and only focused on the witch's story.

"The people tried to survive at first, but the vemons came…" The witch shook her head.

"We tried to fight them off, but we were a small settlement. And when we were about to give up, the men in masks came."

"Men… in masks?"

"Yes." The witch nodded.

"They taught us that the Veil could be talked to, and we listened to them. And… and they were right. The Veil started giving us food." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Giving you food?" Enel squinted.

"Yes," the witch whispered, and her voice started to tremble again.

"But in return, the Veil asked something of us. It started out as simple… but then became too much."

"What does that mean?" Lamb asked.

"It means I left," the witch gritted her teeth.

"They—" Before the witch could continue her story, someone hammered on the door.

"Witch!" The person barged through the door before anyone could even turn to it, and one of the women from earlier stumbled inside while carrying someone. But it was not her son she was carrying, it was a much smaller child, a little girl, perhaps only three or four. The little girl was wrapped in a blanket, her cheeks too pale and her lips dry. The woman froze for a moment when she saw Enel, but Enel only moved to the side. The witch moved as soon as Enel glanced at her, all fear leaving her face.

"Put her on the bed! Mara, put her on the bed!" The woman hesitated for a moment when she saw the jars resting next to the bed, but quickly hurried anyway and laid the child down. The little girl whimpered, but her eyes remained closed. Her breathing was quick and shallow, and her hands curled tightly against her chest.

"Alma. Can you talk?" The witch quickly sat beside the child, gently placing a hand on her forehead.

"The fever has gone deep. Her bones ache too, do they not?"

"Y-yes." Mara nodded.

"I think… she broke her arm. She has also been crying whenever she tries to stand for a few days now."

"A few days?! Why did you only bring her now?!" The witch screamed, causing almost everyone in the room to flinch.

"What have you been feeding her?"

"P-pumpkin. Bread when we have it."

"Milk. Eggs? Meat?" Mara looked down.

"You… know we do not eat those things."

"Fool! Each one of you is!" The witch cursed, then moved to her shelves, grabbing a bowl and several bundles of herbs. Enel watched her crush leaves between her fingers.

"What… is wrong with her?"

"Pumpkin fills the belly, M'lord. But it builds weak bones—the people of this settlement do not eat anything that comes from things that move." Tiny frowned.

"Food… builds bones?" The witch did not look at him.

"Marrow, liver, milk, eggs. Sun, if the gods provide. Children need more than a full stomach… as I have explained to the people of this village!" She glared at Mara, and Mara looked away in response.

"But… but the gods will punish us if we eat—""Fool!" The witch screamed at her again, then grabbed a small knife and looked at her jars. But after a few moments, she clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"I… I do not have what I need." Enel stepped closer then, and so did Lamb.

"Are you able to heal her?" he asked Lamb. Lamb looked at the child, then at her own hands.

"Heal… what? There is no cut. I… do not know what I am supposed to heal."

"Afraid this cannot be healed by simple Breath, M'lord…" The witch whispered.

"This is sickness deep into one's belly." Enel glanced at Guinevere, who had been writing everything the witch had been saying.

"Do you think we can trust her, my lady? Is she truly not cursing these people?"

"I do not have the answer to that, my lord." Enel gripped his hand tight, closed his eyes, then finally glanced back at the witch.

"What do you require?" he asked.

"Stonehare liver, and its blood," she said.

"I… need it alive."

"Where?"

"M'lord…?"

"Where can I find one?"

"That…" The witch stared at him, then pointed toward the trees behind the hut.

"They burrow near the roots in that forest. But they are fast, M'lord. Once they see you, they would either dig down or bite—" Enel was already gone, leaving the door swinging.

"What… happened?" The witch's eyes turned wide, and even Mara was confused about what was happening.

"He likes running," Lamb said, staring at the swinging door.

"It is annoying. You should start preparing. He will be back soon." The hut fell into silence after that. Mara sat beside her daughter and held the child's hand. The witch no longer asked any questions and started preparing her remedy. She stopped, however, when she felt the ground shake. And after a minute had passed, the door swung again. Everyone turned, but Enel was already right beside the witch, holding three limp stonehares by their ears. Well, holding three. One was hanging from his wrist, biting it.

The witch stared at him, then at the stonehares, then back at him.

"O-one would have been enough, M'lord."

"Oh…" Enel blinked, then grabbed the hare biting onto his wrist and handed it to the witch. As for the others, he gently placed them on the floor. The witch quickly laid the stonehare on her table, pinning it there. She lowered her head and touched two fingers to the animal's brow.

"Urtmudre," she whispered.

"Tagap mo iton bihay. Dalin at giwin akas." Enel blinked, and his eyebrows that had been a little lowered since earlier started to relax. The witch finished her prayer, then let out a Breath and wrote in the air. [Ulog,] she whispered, and as she grabbed the words and placed them on the animal's head, the hare closed its eyes and fell asleep. She wasted no time cutting the animal open, pouring its blood into a bowl, letting it bleed until the last drop before cutting it again.

Tiny winced a little, but Guinevere leaned closer as she watched the witch remove its liver, then mixed it with the paste she had made. She crushed the liver, then added a few drops of goat blood, then… to Enel and everyone else's shock, she cut her own hand and let the blood drip into the bowl.

"That…" Mara recoiled when she saw that.

"Do not—""Do you want her to live?" the witch asked, and Mara's lips closed. The witch sat beside the child again, dipping her thumb into the bowl.

"Slowly. Hold her." Mara did, and the little girl whimpered as the witch rubbed the paste onto her forehead, then the chin, and then on the stomach. She wrote something with it, and for a while, nothing actually happened. And then the words sank into the little girl's flesh. The child started coughing vehemently. Surprisingly, this time, Lamb did not move at all and only watched as the child continued to cough—because color was returning to the little girl's face.

They all then watched as a faint green line appeared beneath the skin of her stomach. Mara's eyes widened with horror.

"No…" The witch nodded and sighed in relief.

"The mark means her body accepted it."

"You… you marked her."

"She kept her alive," Enel said, causing Mara to lower her head. She looked at her daughter, then at the old woman. She had a lot to say, but kept her mouth shut. The hut went quiet again. Enel looked at the child for a while, listening to her breathe. It was still weak, but steadier now. Then he turned toward the door.

"Call the others." Mara looked up.

"M'lord?"

"The villagers," Enel said.

"Call them here. We will make sure your child is safe." Mara stared at him for a moment, then bowed her head and quickly left the hut. As soon as she was gone, Enel turned his focus back to the witch.

"You lied," he said.

"You told us you do not use men's blood. You used yours."

"I…" the witch whispered.

"I do not consider myself to be one of the humos, M'lord. I am a witch, my blood is no longer that of men." Lamb and Tiny lowered their heads at her words, their eyes once again trailing around the hut before finding the little girl. The villagers gathered outside the hut not long after. None of them came too close, but all of them came. Some stared at the witch with hate, but none of them could say anything since Enel was there. Enel stood between them and the witch, all of them in front of the ominous hut.

"This woman healed your children," he said. A few people lowered their heads. Others did not.

"She also used things you feared," Enel glanced back at the witch.

"And she did not tell you enough. That is also true." The witch lowered her eyes, and Enel turned to the villagers.

"But you also did not listen to her. So…" Enel stepped aside and looked at the witch.

"You will make an Oath to this village and its people." The villagers smiled at that, and some even looked relieved. But then Enel turned back to them.

"And those of you who still wish to seek her aid will make one as well." And their smiles instantly vanished.

"... Us?"