Call Out My Name

EPISODE 17

I watched the witches dance around the bonfire we had brought to life a few moments ago. This was beautiful. They sang and twirled their hips as they thanked the goddess for her mercy. Their torn and filthy clothes did not bother them as they laughed.

I was angry with the goddess right now. She did nothing to save us.

Sarani came to sit by me, one of the healer witches had worked on her cuts and bruises and she looked much better. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and drew her closer to me. We had to leave soon. My friends and Grace would be worried sick by now.

A few feet away from us, my dragons slept soundly in the snow but I knew if they heard the least amount of noise, they would be ready to attack and protect.

"You did well. I'm proud of you and so is your mother," Sarani said, staring into the fire.

My mother. Goddess! Was she alive?

"Is she alive?" I asked, my voice strained. She had to be. She didn't even tell me where she was going.

"Perhaps but I wish you will not hope. It will be very painful if she is dead," Sarani said, her eyes finding mine.

I understood her perfectly well. If my mother was not alive, I would be shattered when I found out. For now, I had to figure out how to send everyone back home to Valrok. We didn't belong here. We had imposed on humans for too long.

"How will we get back?" I asked, watching the women laugh and chat.

"We'll need Damarys's blood but she's dead" Sarani whispered.

"What?" I gasped, standing to my feet.

"That can't be right" I shook my head, staring at the happy witches as dread filled me. If Damarys was dead, we were all stuck here. Forever.

"She had a premonition. In a few years, everyone who escaped Valrok would die and Valrok would crumble-lost to us forever. When she told King Rikki about it, he wasn't happy. He grew paranoid as the days crept by. Damarys snuck into the tunnel one day to see me. She wanted me to help her cast a spell that would send every Valrokian back. The next day, her severed head was placed outside my cell." Sarani explained.

Damarys was really dead. How were we going to get back? I had freed the witches with the promise of sending them home and now, I couldn't do that. They were so happy. If they found out the truth about how to get back home and the fact that the only way to get back home was dead, they would be devastated.

Realm travel was a dangerous game. To reverse the spell, you needed the blood of whoever cast it in the first place. Damarys cast the spell. We needed her blood and her blood needed to be warm which meant, she had to be alive.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. If only my brother, Hagath was alive. He would have easily found a way around this problem.

A little girl walked up to me, stumbling over her feet when I stared questioningly at her. She took my hand and dragged me towards the bonfire where the women were dancing.

"I can't dance" I hissed, trying to yank my hand out of hers but for a six-year-old, she had a really strong grip.

What did she eat? Men?

The women stared at me with smiles on their faces as I stopped in front of the fire and the little girl giggled. I bent down to pinch her nose playfully before straightening up and looking around at the witches.

These were my people. They were all relying heavily on me. I was their queen now and the seven hells be damned if I ever let them down. They couldn't know about Damarys. Not until I was certain that there was no other way. Even then, I'd make a way.

I was my mother's daughter after all.

I clapped my hand slowly, remembering a song witches used to sing when we were back in Valrok. A song that made fun of the stereotypes people had of us.

"Hide your children, the moon is near. Lock your doors, darkness approaches. Mark your doorposts with the blood of sheep. You'll hear cackling voices echoing loud. You"ll hear brooms sweeping, the witches are here" I paused, looking expectantly at the women.

"The witches, the witches, they fly on long brooms with hats that bite and nails that scratch," the little girl sang the chorus of the song and soon, everyone joined.

Two witches conjured a flute and a drum out of thin air. They played it fast and the little girl grabbed my hand. We danced around the fire as we sang. Other women joined and I let out a loud laugh. Even thought I did not know all of them, I couldn't help but love them all.

I smiled up at the moon. Mother would have been happy to see this. Maybe, she was seeing this.

The night came to a stop when a witch fainted from exhaustion. We hurried inside the barracks and slept in groups in the rooms.

The sun shone brightly, burning my eyes. I groaned, sitting up in bed. I had the most brilliant idea at dawn. I had woken up from the same stupid nightmare but this time, the dream had given me an idea. A damn good one I hoped.

I jumped out of bed and run out to find Sarani. If anyone could help, it was her or Aysa.

Aysa.

My heart ached as I thought of his purple eyes. He had left me. Aysa abandoned me for another girl. He said his people came first. Maybe if I had never remmebered, he would have loved me still but that was a selfish thing to wish for when an endangered species called witches depended on me.

Sarani was handing out food from a storage room we had found. She wrapped her scarf tightly around her neck as the wind whipped her hair. A snowstorm was coming. I'd find a way to transport us all safely out of the North pole but I had a problem. I had nowhere to hide eight hundred women.

I hoped that there were more than eight hundred women. If Grace had managed to saty hidden all these years, other witches could have done the same.

I tucked my white hair behind my ears as I stood beside Sarani.

"I had an idea," I told her, excitement shing in my blue eyes.

"I'm listening," Sarani said, handing out a small sack of oats to an elderly woman.

"What if Damarys had children? Her blood would flow through their veins. We could use her child's blood to open the portal and return to Valrok," I smiled, bouncing on my toes as the wind blew snow into my hair.

Sarani tensed. Was she uncomfortable with the idea or did she know Damarys' children?

"It may not work," Sarani said, handing over her duty of sharing the food to Laraeya.

I smiled politely at Laraeya and followed Sarani who walked too quickly for y liking. It felt like she was trying to avoid me.

"Why not? The spell clearly states that the blood of the caster is needed to reopen the portal and send everyone back. Damarys was that caster and if she had children, her blood would flow through their veins. We don't need Damarys, we need her blood." I explained, helping Sarani to carry a huge sack of wheat from the storeroom.

"Just stop. Okay. We'll find another way," she snapped.

I frowned. Sarani never lost her cool. Something was up.

"Damarys has a child and you know who it is,"

Sarani dropped the sack and I followed suit.

I scoffed, folding my arms and glaring at her.

"This is about our people!" I yelled, pissed. This was not the time for what was morally right or whatever feeling she was harbouring.

Sarani paused, startled at my raised voice.

"This will hurt you and it will break you," Sarani warned.

"Whatever it takes. I'm sacrifice anything and everything to see the done. My mother died for this s**t. That's how high she set the bar"

"Her name is Maya. She's the girl Aysa came to rescue. Maya is Aysa's lover. He'll kill you before you even breathe the same air she does," she hissed.

I staggered back and tears filled my eyes. Aysa loved someone else. My heart twisted and constricted in my chest. I let the tear flow until I was sobbing. I fell to my knees in the cold bitter snow.

Sarani knelt in the snow with me, taking me in her arms. I let her hold me as I sobbed. I had chosen him over my own mate without a second thought and he couldn't give me a chance to explain and make things right.

My heart broke over and over again as I cried. Laraeya knelt beside us and wrapped her arms around us. One by one, the witches joined us and soon, all eight hundred of us were huddled in the snow in a huge circle. As I run out of tears, I understood why my mother risked it all.

These witches were my home now. Aysa wasn't. Not anymore.