The Four

A Witch in Boys Clothing

Starling handed her the water skin and Kalicka took it without looking at or thanking her. In fact, she stared at it as though she had never seen one before. Eventually she started talking again but was still staring at the water skin.

“Every time I saw you I became furious. At first, I didn’t know why, but one day it clicked. You were like me, tall and large and manly. You were me in a few years’ time only you weren’t afraid to be who you were. You almost flaunted it around the village, and there were men that would look at you the way the boys looked at the other girls in the village…” she trailed off here, and her cheeks pinkened.

Sighing, she spoke again. “I was jealous.” She stated this matter of factly and finally turned to face Starling. “How did you have so much confidence in yourself?”

Her question started Starling and she took a moment to reply. “I don’t know if I can explain that to you, Kalicka. I have always been like this, I learned a long time ago to accept my body and use its strength rather than fight against who I am.”

Kalicka thought this over for a time and Starling began to wonder at the girls’ thoughts. “This doesn’t seem like a very strong reason to follow me so far from your home, Kalicka. What’s really going on?” She saw her start a bit, when her face turned back to Starling it was deadly serious.

“There is more, you’re right, but I am not sure how to explain it to you.” She seemed to be searching Starling’s face for something, what she had no idea, but finally she nodded to herself and spoke.

“I am a witch.” Kalicka said this with absolutely no emotion, and then waited, as if waiting for Starling to strike her down or laugh. She did neither.

“How are you a witch, Kalicka.” This response seemed to increase the child’s discomfort and she turned her gaze away from Starling.

Sighing, “The way that I turn up everywhere. How no one knows that I am in a place unless I let them know. It started when I was about ten, and I have been practicing ever since.” A lot of things made sense to Starling all at once and she turned to Kalicka in earnest.

“Did anyone ever catch you at this, Kalicka?” she’d gotten the girl to face her with question and saw her signature swagger return briefly.

“No!” She proclaimed proudly. “Never once, though I may have had a close call or two at the start.” She looked back at the ground and sighed. “I followed you out here because I wanted to know how you had the confidence you had, but also because things had started happening. Stranger things even than my abilities. Dreams, I kept having these dreams of you and three others, fighting…. Fighting something! I didn’t know what they were, I still don’t, but I knew when you left that I had to follow you. I knew that I needed to be with you, to help you fight these… these... things!”

Kalicka’s chest heaved with her emotions once more and Starling stared at her as if trying to see inside her head. After a moment or two she nodded and stood. Gesturing to the girl she collected her horse and returned to Jacobi.