the witch

The witch

She awoke to the smell of damp mud filling her lungs. She lifted herself up and tried to see where she was. It was a small room with no windows. A large iron door stood on one wall. It was dark and difficult to make anything out. Shylo moved towards to the door. It was cold to the touch and most definitely locked. She tried to remember what had happened. The last thing before the room was a steam carriage. She was on her way to the headquarters when she was ambushed by the royal guard. How could she have been so stupid? She had known the guard were in that area on patrol. What a fool she was. From the corner of the room she heard a faint sound. She spun around and strained to see. In the shadows a movement so slight most would have never seen, Shylo had an augmented eye and even she strained to see. “Who is there?” her voice was uneasy.
“You can’t get out you know.” the voice replied but the owner was still nowhere to be seen.
“Where are you?”
There was a faint giggle, almost childlike “I am in the same place as you silly.” This time the voice was right next to Shylo’s ear.
Shylo leapt forward and turned on her heel to see a young woman standing by the door. She had hair as white as snow and skin to match. She was dressed in a ragged black dress that looked as though it was held together by willpower alone. She had definitely not been there before but Shylo could not see where she had come from. The girl stared at Shylo with eyes as green as emeralds, and a manic grin on her face.
“Who are you?” Shylo struggled to keep the fear from her voice. There was something about this woman that made her uneasy.
The smile never left the woman’s face and with a chuckle she said “I am me. You are you and we are we.”
Shylo was becoming very uneasy now. It was the way the woman was staring at her, almost as if she was looking into her. “I am...” but before she could finish the woman said
“Shylo.”
Shylo was taken aback by this. “How did you know who I am?”
“I know who I am and you know who you are and I know who we are” the woman laughed.
She started to sway very slowly on the spot then sprang across the room dancing around Shylo.
“Well what should I call you?” Shylo tried to keep an eye on the woman but she moved so fast and made no sound.
“Some call me Varvara, some just call me Var, but most people call me witch.”
“Witch?” Shylo moved to put the wall at her back, not once taking her eyes off of the dancing, giggling woman. “As in ‘the’ witch?” She had heard of a woman that could see into the souls of the bravest of men and leave them in a heap, crying in fear without ever having laid a hand on them.
Varvara spun on the spot with her hands out stretched. “Yes, that’s what they call me.” Var stopped dead and stared straight at Shylo, with a horrifying look in her eyes she hissed “People can be very mean!” Like a shot Var was an inch from Shylo’s face. The grin was back and her emerald eyes pierced into Shylo’s very being. In a sweet voice she leaned in and whispered “You’re not mean are you?”
Shylo had never felt fear like this in her life. She opened her mouth to speak but before a word formed, Varvara spun off across the room and into the shadows.
“The guards are coming.” Varvara’s voice was back to the sweet childlike voice it had started with.
There was a clicking of a key in the lock. The stiff metal door swung open and light flooded in to the dank room. The doorway was filled by two guards dragging a beaten man into the cell.
Shylo burst forward “What do you want with us!?” The butt of one of the guard’s rifles met her across the side of her head. Shylo fell to the floor, blood running from her lips.
“Shut up scum! You will only speak when spoken to.” The guards turned and the metal door slammed shut behind them.
“Shylo? Is that you?” The beaten man struggled to speak as he tried to pick himself up.
“Yes it’s me Rob. What happened?”
“We were ambushed on the way to HQ.” Rob coughed up a bit of blood. “We never saw those bastards coming. Sorry Shy.”
Shylo moved over to her comrade “its ok Rob, we will get out of here don’t worry”
From the shadows of the cell the faint giggling of Varvara echoed.
“What the hell was that?”
“It’s ok, it’s just Varvara.” Shylo was trying hard to make this as reassuring as possible for her sake as well as his.
Over the next few hours Shylo and Rob tried to catch up on what had happened. They had been traveling with three others but neither knew what had happened to them. As they talked, from the shadows Varvara walked forward. “This is boring now. I am leaving.”
“Ha! That’s great the crazy one wants to leave. Well honey how do you plan on doing that?” Rob snorted as he watched Varvara.
“There’s no way out. We have looked.”
Varvara looked at Shylo and a faint smile crept across her face again. “It’s ok my puppy is on his way he will get us out.”
Rob burst out laughing, “Her fucking puppy! That’s what’s going to save her from this hell hole. ARE YOU MENTAL!?”
Rob didn’t even have time to blink before Varvara was two inches from his face. The smile had disappeared but her eyes were fixed on Rob.
He tried to move but his body would not listen to his will. Shylo rushed over and grabbed the witch’s arm. “Please let him go. He did not mean to be cruel”
Varvara turned to Shylo and smiled softly “I like you.” she said then walked back to the door.
Rob fell to the ground and as quickly as possible scurried as far from the witch as he could.
“What the hell did she do to me? It felt like I vice was crushing my entire body.”
Shylo stooped next to him and in a voice as low as she could manage whispered “she is the witch of the woods.” shy looked over to Varvara who was sitting watching the door with great resolution.
Rob sagged into the dirt “You didn’t think that was worth mentioning before I pissed her off?”
“Sorry Rob, I wasn’t sure what to make of her.”
From down the hall came a rumbling noise fallowed by the screams of men. There was a crashing sound met with a lot of gun fire. A few minutes passed before the sounds of the guards death screams faded. Footsteps so heavy they sounded like a whole army approached the door. Varvara’s smile grew and she stood facing the metal door. The sound of iron bending and masonry crumbling filled the cell. The door burst from the wall in a cloud of shattered stone. When the dust settled a monstrous machine filled the doorway.
Varvara jumped up and down on the spot. “Puppy you came!”
The bronze machine stepped into the cell. Varvara ran to it and climbed on to its shoulders.
“Well are you two coming or are you staying”
Shylo and Rob looked at the woman perched on top of a war bot then to one another. A smile crossed both their faces. They ran to the door to join their new friend leaving the dark cell behind them.
No one looked back.