Chapter #4Which witch is this witch? by: Trampltrum   “Hmm.”
“Hmmmm…”
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…”
Chessa furrowed her brow as a fourth, longer concerned noise buzzed out from her closed lips. She was on her daily hunt for ingredients, and was struggling to find chanterelle mushrooms. Normally the yellow fungus wasn’t too difficult to procure, but it seemed something had gobbled them up!
As the tall woman sashayed between the trees, she heard a noise.
“Rnk rnk…oink oink.”
Around the corner was a large boar, its back covered in thick bristles and its tusk-lined snout buried deep in the undergrowth. As Chessa watched, the front-loaded animal raised its head, yellow item locked between its jaws, before knocking its head back and gulping the item down.
“Aha! So you’re my little thief…” The tall woman purred as she approached. Instinctively the animal turned around and began to snarl and grunt at the presumed attacker.
Chessa’s wry smile became a scowl. “Still.” She stated firmly, waving her left arm in an arc, leaving a sparkling glow behind in a trail. The boar’s eyes became dulled, its angry noises silenced and it stood stock still, completely in a trance.
“Now, let’s see where those mushrooms are…” Chessa stated to nobody in particular as she moved her basket to the crook of her elbow, rolled up a long black sleeve and placed a hand on the boar’s head.
Her eyes rolled backwards, turning from an emerald green to the same amber-brown color as the boar’s. She then saw a flash of images, of a snout digging in the undergrowth, here and there it went, spotting mushroom after mushroom. Then all of a sudden the images stopped, and Chessa’s eyes returned to normal.
“Just South of here…good work little pig.” The magical woman remarked, returning to an upright stance.
Leaving the stricken animal, Chessa turned southwards and headed deeper into the forest. A sound of scuffling and annoyed grunts hinting that her spell had worn off, and the boar had gone on its way.
The tall woman’s life as a druid had certainly left her with some useful tricks, but she had fallen out with the order over various things, not least her use of magic that the druids had called “forbidden”. But Chessa’s pursuit of the arcane arts had become a bottomless well that she could not fill, and so had parted ways with her former friends and family to hone her craft her own way.
There was no way she was going to enrol into some magical academy either, she would just meet the same stubborn individuals that forbid parts of the art for nonsensical reasons of decency or safety or whatever. No, Chessa was happy learning magic by hand and nature’s guiding touch. Her move to Racovania had certainly aided in furthering her abilities as well. The locals called her “The Witch of the Fens”, a title she warmed up to pretty well.
Often she would get gormless unenlightened peasants coming to her door, asking her to fix this problem or that. She certainly wasn’t going to pass up excuses to try new spells or cure-alls out, and if the peasants stopped coming for a bit…well then, they would make the perfect test subjects for a new curse or hex she had concocted. In fact, this was her favourite method, as then she not only got to test her new spell, but also figure out how to cure it as well when the local pantaloon-soiled morons hobbled up begging for a cure for this mysterious plague that had befallen them.
“Hmm hmm hmm…those fat cows in the dewdrop forest would never know the true power of magic…” Chessa purred as she found the spot she saw in the boar’s visions.
As she began to peer through the leaflitter, a loud rumble churned in the distance, and the witch felt a wet spot splash on the back of her outstretched hand.
“Ugh…typical…” She grumbled, putting her hand to her waist and removing a large black hat she kept to her side. Unfurling the large article of clothing, Chessa plonked it on her head, the high point making her witchy appearance all the more convincing.
The rain started to come down in earnest as the brunette finally spotted something yellow hidden behind a bunch of ferns. Plucking the fungi, the lanky witch dropped them in the basket with the rest of the days takings and began to head home.
As the rain really began to thunder down, Chessa’s pace quickened. She hadn’t discovered any spell that manipulated the weather, that would be something truly powerful and currently beyond her.
Thankfully Chessa wasn’t too far from her cottage, and the familiar abode came into view. It was a fairly ordinary-looking building with a single floor, a thatched roof and walls built from an outer layer of bricks and an inner layer of wood. The place had been an abandoned shack when the witch found it, but she had done it up to make it somewhat more liveable and homely.
The front door had no lock on it, as few dared venture this far into the forest with the intention of stealing specifically from her hut, and any that did come in to find her knew she was capable of magic and not to be messed with. But since those were the case…why was the door wide open?
Her brow furrowing once more, Chessa’s run became an angry march as she stormed into her home like an angry whirlwind, her long black dress billowing in the updraft as she slammed the door what little distance it had left to open with a loud bang.
Inside she found…   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2025 Trampltrum (UN: tyrann0 at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Trampltrum has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author