The mother and the witch
This must be it, she thought, as they approached the cabin, the little boy clinging to her arm.
The cabin was surrounded by a white-fenced yard, itself enclosed with the same scarlet-leafed trees that made Rotwald what it is. Except these were adorned by flowers that gradually shifted in glowing colors, giving a surreal illumination to the whole garden. It was a beautiful sight, nothing like the old man had described. Maybe the witch wasn’t as bad also? Surely an evil being cannot create something this beautiful.
While she was lost in admiration of the garden, she felt the boy’s grip tightening around her arm, hiding his little body behind her leg. And then she felt something wet on her thigh. The warmth and smell that came with it told her that the boy had just pissed himself.
She was ready to admonish him when she noticed the creature in front of her. It looked like a tall slim human covered in feathers, large head impossibly balanced on a bird-like neck. It’s beak was open, showing sharp teeth below. It started hissing at them, dark eyes shining with avian intelligence. She nearly pissed herself as well.
“Mirna, Kikimora”. It was a voice of a child that came from somewhere behind the monstrosity. “You are going to scare our guests, and that is rude.”
The Kikimora let out one more hiss, and stepped aside, retreating to the door of the cabin in a stride as human-like as a bird’s one shouldn’t be.
Behind the beast was a little girl, not much older than the boy’s age. She was dressed in an all-white dress, her skin almost translucent, milky hair flowing behind her almost touching the ground. She gazed at them with impossibly purple eyes that the woman found herself fixated upon.
“What brings you to my cabin, lady?” - the girl asked.
The woman stood still, mesmerized by the apparition before her. This was a child in front of her. And yet, with every bone in her body, she knew it wasn’t. Her mind wasn’t able to process the sight exactly.
“I...” - she finally started - “I am looking for the white witch, I was told she lived somewhere in a cabin like this in Rotwald.”
The little girl cocked her head to the side, and smiled. “A witch? Now, that's an ugly word lady, especially the thoughts that you carry with it.” She now bowed her head slightly, looking up at her, eyes turning dark. “And I doubt the old fool described my cabin like this.”
Terror started creeping into the woman now. Thoughts raced inside her how this was a great mistake, how she should grab the boy and just run away, how she should have tried to do things herself…
But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t look away.
“Nonsense.” - the girl interrupted her thoughts. “You cannot do what you want on your own, you need the old witch.” Her smile now got wider, showing her shiny white teeth bellow. “Now, tell me why you are here, and why have you brought this spawn of yours to soil my garden.”
The woman felt as if she was ready to vomit out her hearth, and yet she found out that words came surprisingly easy out of her. “I want a safe passage to the northern lands for me and my boy.”
The girl looked at her, the smile frozen on the icy face. “Don’t you have kings, knights in shiny armor, or mercenaries to help you with that? Why do you need a which’s help for traveling?”
“The Kherpi...”
“Ah… yes.” the little girl laughed. “Your people had stumbled upon the Kherpi, haven’t they, how could I’ve forgotten that!” - she continued giggling.
“And what makes you think that I could help you? Or that I want to?”
“The old man said that you would be able to help me, he said that you had horses that can travel undetected through the land.”
The little girl’s face grew serious, her stare turning into a gaze of a person of immense age. “And how would the old fool know that?” the girl snarled, and the woman took a step back. “It seems I'll have to have a conversation with his wife about this later.” The cold stare stayed for a moment more before her eyes turned purple once again, along with the smile. “Look at me, I’m a terrible host. Please, come into my cabin, and we’ll discuss your request.”
The girl turned towards the house, and the woman was finally able to divert her attention to the boy, that was now clinging so hard to her leg he was almost turning it blue. “Come on son, let’s follow the girl, it will be alright.”
“Don’t lie to the boy.” The girl said, opening the door. The Kikimora stood right next to the entrance, preening its feathers. The woman’s feeling of terror increased and she again considered turning and running away, but the girl continued - “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you. But there are other powers that could do harm. The Kherpi will change the world as you know it, and the boy will live in a world that won’t be alright in a long time. Now, please, enter, sit down. You’ve come just in time for dinner.”
The cabin inside was ordinary compared to the splendor of the garden. A stove, a cauldron, a wooden table with four chairs, some garlic, onions, and hundreds of other herbs the woman couldn’t recognize where hanging around and enriched the smell of the whole place. The strongest, sweetest smell came from the bubbling liquid in the cauldron. Her mouth watered at the thought of tasting what’s inside.
“Please, sit down, and I’ll will bring you some of my broth. I promise it's delicious, and you must be hungry from your travels.”
The woman sat down, and the boy followed on the seat next to her. The little girl poured from the steaming cauldron into two wooden bowls, and served it to her guests. Then, she climbed the table and sat cross-legged in front of them.
“Eat, tell me what you think.” - she said, with her smile a bit more pleasant, projecting innocence and sweetness one would expect from a little girl.
There was a part of the woman’s mind that rebelled at the thought of eating whatever the witch served her. She glanced at the boy, and he was already ravenously devouring his serving. She tried stopping him, but the trying really stopped after the thought. And then she felt hunger consuming her, and started eating from her bowl with great relish.
It was the best stew she had ever tasted.
“There, you see, it isn’t so bad!” The girl exclaimed. “Now, while you enjoy your meal, let me go through my rules. It is something the old man should have told you before sending you to my place. But that’s not his fault, as much as I hate to admit it. I’d have to speak to his wife... ”
“But I’m going off topic. Here is how things will go from now on. You have brought a boy in my little part of the woods, and I guess you have no idea how dangerous that can be. You are extremely lucky that the centuries I’ve spent here had made me… forgiving and restrained.”
There was a thump on the table and the woman looked in horror as the boy’s head lay motionless on the table.
“Oh, don’t worry, he is only asleep. As I said, forgiveness and restraint. He must be asleep during our little conversation, I’m afraid.”
The woman now was back at looking transfixed straight into the eyes of the little girl. She could see the purple irises getting larger ever slightly, and there was something wiggling inside them that was more apparent as the girl brought her face closer.
“Now, you want one of my horses. The old man is right, my horse can take you across the land, all the way to the northern realms, without the Kherpi noticing you.”
The girl’s face was now so close that the woman could feel her cold breath as she seemed to study her face.
“However, you will see the Kherpi, and you would be traveling through their camps, maybe even through the cities that they’ve transformed. Do you understand what that means?”
“It means, you better not be afraid of bugs.” the little girl burst out laughing.
“I’ve never seen the Kherpi...” the woman managed to mutter.
“So I see, so I see. They’re quite an interesting development, I must say they've got me surprised. I never thought that I would see something new like that emerging on this world…” The girl looked up a bit in thought “Or have I seen them already? Ah, it doesn’t matter, even if they’re not new, they haven’t emerged in ages. But, I welcome change, always.”
“But, they’re killing people. They’ve killed whole cities!”
The girl pierced her with her stare “And humans have never done that to any other living being, right.” She was laughing again. “That’s what I like about you, when you come near extinction, you suddenly start worrying about the morality of it.”
“Extinction?”
“Oh, you worry again. You will not go extinct. Your kind has defeated much more dangerous foes than the Kherpi.” Laughter again. “You even managed to defeat me once, and here I am, confined to my little world, forced to think about the consequences of accepting your little boy as an offering.”
“He is not an offering...”
“Once upon a time, I decided what’s an offering and what isn’t.” Her grin now opened up, and the woman noticed six pairs of canines among the shiny teeth.
“Since I cannot take him though, we have to agree on something else. I would gladly ask you to stand up.”
The woman did so almost involuntarily. The girl rose to her feet and jumped from the table and into a grown woman with the same features. The change was so smooth it looked as if the little girl flowed into a bigger mold.
“We can be both adult, now that the boy is sleeping. Plus, it would be more comfortable for you for what’s going to happen next.” As the witch said that, she started sniffing the woman’s neck, while gently touching her sides. The woman was uncomfortable, and a further unease crept into her as she started feeling aroused by the witch's touch.
“So much fear, confusion, dread, worry… you’ve been through a lot, even though your body doesn’t show much wear.” She stopped her sniffing and touching, and the woman immediately felt a pang of longing for her to continue. “But your mind is strong, and that’s most important. So, here is my proposition.”
“As I’ve said, I’m confined to this little part of the woods. That doesn’t mean that I can’t be outside though. I’ll just need your help with that.”
“After our little transaction, you’ll get your horse, and you’ll be able to go through the Kherpi armies and to the safety of the North. You can even keep the horse, if you promise to take good care of it. That’s my part of the deal.”
“For your part, you will provide me with a place in your dreams. Your waking hours will be the same as they ever were. I will visit you from time to time in your dreams, mainly just to gather info about the North. You will be sort of my eyes and ears, since I don’t have many over there. Is that agreable?”
The woman nodded.
“From time to time, although I promise not too much, I might ask you to do something for me. You will feel a soft compulsion to do it.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then you will feel a hard compulsion.” the witch grinned. “This is the time when I mention that giving compulsions to people spends their mind a bit. A soft one only slightly degenerates your neural pathways. That is your mind matter, as you would crudely refer to it. This degeneration is no greater than a night of heavy drinking.”
“But a hard compulsion will burn your mind pretty fast, and neither of us wants that, believe me. It’s hard to find a willing and strong mind such as yours.”
“Now, you are still thinking of backing out but you care for that boy, and although you might escape on your own, I’m offering a way that will work for sure.”
The woman stood in though for a moment, looked at the sleeping boy, and then nodded. “Alright, I’ll do it.”
The witch’s grin widened. “Excellent! Now come to me, this will hurt a bit, but endorphins can help with that.” Saying that, the witch pressed her lips gently to the woman’s and she started kissing her, and the woman felt the longing and arousal return with full force, right before a burning sensation that started at the back of her head and then had engulfed her whole mind in fire. She tried to concentrate on the witch’s lips, finding it helpful to substitute some of the pain with pleasure and lust. The whole ordeal lasted a few seconds, but the woman was as tired as it had taken hours. Once it all stopped, she felt nothing else unusual. She seemed to be back to her former self.
“Good, now that that’s over, take your boy with you, your horse is waiting for you outside. I take my horses seriously, so make sure nothing happens to it, or I will take it from you, and the deal is over. Safe voyages, and mind the bugs.” she laughed. “Oh, I almost forgot, only you, the boy and the horse are protected. If you decide to bring anyone else, it won’t work.”
The woman wanted to ask more questions, but the Kikimora had already opened the door, chirping at her, showing her the way outside. Before the door, there stood a black horse, already saddled and with bags hanging from it.
“I’ve also prepared some rations, so you can start the journey right away. The sooner you start riding, the less likely you are to witness what you would consider the atrocities of the Kherpi.”
The woman turned around to say thanks, but the door had already been closed, and the Kikimora watched her intently. Her welcome seemed to be wearing off. It was time to begin the ride.
The cabin was surrounded by a white-fenced yard, itself enclosed with the same scarlet-leafed trees that made Rotwald what it is. Except these were adorned by flowers that gradually shifted in glowing colors, giving a surreal illumination to the whole garden. It was a beautiful sight, nothing like the old man had described. Maybe the witch wasn’t as bad also? Surely an evil being cannot create something this beautiful.
While she was lost in admiration of the garden, she felt the boy’s grip tightening around her arm, hiding his little body behind her leg. And then she felt something wet on her thigh. The warmth and smell that came with it told her that the boy had just pissed himself.
She was ready to admonish him when she noticed the creature in front of her. It looked like a tall slim human covered in feathers, large head impossibly balanced on a bird-like neck. It’s beak was open, showing sharp teeth below. It started hissing at them, dark eyes shining with avian intelligence. She nearly pissed herself as well.
“Mirna, Kikimora”. It was a voice of a child that came from somewhere behind the monstrosity. “You are going to scare our guests, and that is rude.”
The Kikimora let out one more hiss, and stepped aside, retreating to the door of the cabin in a stride as human-like as a bird’s one shouldn’t be.
Behind the beast was a little girl, not much older than the boy’s age. She was dressed in an all-white dress, her skin almost translucent, milky hair flowing behind her almost touching the ground. She gazed at them with impossibly purple eyes that the woman found herself fixated upon.
“What brings you to my cabin, lady?” - the girl asked.
The woman stood still, mesmerized by the apparition before her. This was a child in front of her. And yet, with every bone in her body, she knew it wasn’t. Her mind wasn’t able to process the sight exactly.
“I...” - she finally started - “I am looking for the white witch, I was told she lived somewhere in a cabin like this in Rotwald.”
The little girl cocked her head to the side, and smiled. “A witch? Now, that's an ugly word lady, especially the thoughts that you carry with it.” She now bowed her head slightly, looking up at her, eyes turning dark. “And I doubt the old fool described my cabin like this.”
Terror started creeping into the woman now. Thoughts raced inside her how this was a great mistake, how she should grab the boy and just run away, how she should have tried to do things herself…
But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t look away.
“Nonsense.” - the girl interrupted her thoughts. “You cannot do what you want on your own, you need the old witch.” Her smile now got wider, showing her shiny white teeth bellow. “Now, tell me why you are here, and why have you brought this spawn of yours to soil my garden.”
The woman felt as if she was ready to vomit out her hearth, and yet she found out that words came surprisingly easy out of her. “I want a safe passage to the northern lands for me and my boy.”
The girl looked at her, the smile frozen on the icy face. “Don’t you have kings, knights in shiny armor, or mercenaries to help you with that? Why do you need a which’s help for traveling?”
“The Kherpi...”
“Ah… yes.” the little girl laughed. “Your people had stumbled upon the Kherpi, haven’t they, how could I’ve forgotten that!” - she continued giggling.
“And what makes you think that I could help you? Or that I want to?”
“The old man said that you would be able to help me, he said that you had horses that can travel undetected through the land.”
The little girl’s face grew serious, her stare turning into a gaze of a person of immense age. “And how would the old fool know that?” the girl snarled, and the woman took a step back. “It seems I'll have to have a conversation with his wife about this later.” The cold stare stayed for a moment more before her eyes turned purple once again, along with the smile. “Look at me, I’m a terrible host. Please, come into my cabin, and we’ll discuss your request.”
The girl turned towards the house, and the woman was finally able to divert her attention to the boy, that was now clinging so hard to her leg he was almost turning it blue. “Come on son, let’s follow the girl, it will be alright.”
“Don’t lie to the boy.” The girl said, opening the door. The Kikimora stood right next to the entrance, preening its feathers. The woman’s feeling of terror increased and she again considered turning and running away, but the girl continued - “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you. But there are other powers that could do harm. The Kherpi will change the world as you know it, and the boy will live in a world that won’t be alright in a long time. Now, please, enter, sit down. You’ve come just in time for dinner.”
The cabin inside was ordinary compared to the splendor of the garden. A stove, a cauldron, a wooden table with four chairs, some garlic, onions, and hundreds of other herbs the woman couldn’t recognize where hanging around and enriched the smell of the whole place. The strongest, sweetest smell came from the bubbling liquid in the cauldron. Her mouth watered at the thought of tasting what’s inside.
“Please, sit down, and I’ll will bring you some of my broth. I promise it's delicious, and you must be hungry from your travels.”
The woman sat down, and the boy followed on the seat next to her. The little girl poured from the steaming cauldron into two wooden bowls, and served it to her guests. Then, she climbed the table and sat cross-legged in front of them.
“Eat, tell me what you think.” - she said, with her smile a bit more pleasant, projecting innocence and sweetness one would expect from a little girl.
There was a part of the woman’s mind that rebelled at the thought of eating whatever the witch served her. She glanced at the boy, and he was already ravenously devouring his serving. She tried stopping him, but the trying really stopped after the thought. And then she felt hunger consuming her, and started eating from her bowl with great relish.
It was the best stew she had ever tasted.
“There, you see, it isn’t so bad!” The girl exclaimed. “Now, while you enjoy your meal, let me go through my rules. It is something the old man should have told you before sending you to my place. But that’s not his fault, as much as I hate to admit it. I’d have to speak to his wife... ”
“But I’m going off topic. Here is how things will go from now on. You have brought a boy in my little part of the woods, and I guess you have no idea how dangerous that can be. You are extremely lucky that the centuries I’ve spent here had made me… forgiving and restrained.”
There was a thump on the table and the woman looked in horror as the boy’s head lay motionless on the table.
“Oh, don’t worry, he is only asleep. As I said, forgiveness and restraint. He must be asleep during our little conversation, I’m afraid.”
The woman now was back at looking transfixed straight into the eyes of the little girl. She could see the purple irises getting larger ever slightly, and there was something wiggling inside them that was more apparent as the girl brought her face closer.
“Now, you want one of my horses. The old man is right, my horse can take you across the land, all the way to the northern realms, without the Kherpi noticing you.”
The girl’s face was now so close that the woman could feel her cold breath as she seemed to study her face.
“However, you will see the Kherpi, and you would be traveling through their camps, maybe even through the cities that they’ve transformed. Do you understand what that means?”
“It means, you better not be afraid of bugs.” the little girl burst out laughing.
“I’ve never seen the Kherpi...” the woman managed to mutter.
“So I see, so I see. They’re quite an interesting development, I must say they've got me surprised. I never thought that I would see something new like that emerging on this world…” The girl looked up a bit in thought “Or have I seen them already? Ah, it doesn’t matter, even if they’re not new, they haven’t emerged in ages. But, I welcome change, always.”
“But, they’re killing people. They’ve killed whole cities!”
The girl pierced her with her stare “And humans have never done that to any other living being, right.” She was laughing again. “That’s what I like about you, when you come near extinction, you suddenly start worrying about the morality of it.”
“Extinction?”
“Oh, you worry again. You will not go extinct. Your kind has defeated much more dangerous foes than the Kherpi.” Laughter again. “You even managed to defeat me once, and here I am, confined to my little world, forced to think about the consequences of accepting your little boy as an offering.”
“He is not an offering...”
“Once upon a time, I decided what’s an offering and what isn’t.” Her grin now opened up, and the woman noticed six pairs of canines among the shiny teeth.
“Since I cannot take him though, we have to agree on something else. I would gladly ask you to stand up.”
The woman did so almost involuntarily. The girl rose to her feet and jumped from the table and into a grown woman with the same features. The change was so smooth it looked as if the little girl flowed into a bigger mold.
“We can be both adult, now that the boy is sleeping. Plus, it would be more comfortable for you for what’s going to happen next.” As the witch said that, she started sniffing the woman’s neck, while gently touching her sides. The woman was uncomfortable, and a further unease crept into her as she started feeling aroused by the witch's touch.
“So much fear, confusion, dread, worry… you’ve been through a lot, even though your body doesn’t show much wear.” She stopped her sniffing and touching, and the woman immediately felt a pang of longing for her to continue. “But your mind is strong, and that’s most important. So, here is my proposition.”
“As I’ve said, I’m confined to this little part of the woods. That doesn’t mean that I can’t be outside though. I’ll just need your help with that.”
“After our little transaction, you’ll get your horse, and you’ll be able to go through the Kherpi armies and to the safety of the North. You can even keep the horse, if you promise to take good care of it. That’s my part of the deal.”
“For your part, you will provide me with a place in your dreams. Your waking hours will be the same as they ever were. I will visit you from time to time in your dreams, mainly just to gather info about the North. You will be sort of my eyes and ears, since I don’t have many over there. Is that agreable?”
The woman nodded.
“From time to time, although I promise not too much, I might ask you to do something for me. You will feel a soft compulsion to do it.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then you will feel a hard compulsion.” the witch grinned. “This is the time when I mention that giving compulsions to people spends their mind a bit. A soft one only slightly degenerates your neural pathways. That is your mind matter, as you would crudely refer to it. This degeneration is no greater than a night of heavy drinking.”
“But a hard compulsion will burn your mind pretty fast, and neither of us wants that, believe me. It’s hard to find a willing and strong mind such as yours.”
“Now, you are still thinking of backing out but you care for that boy, and although you might escape on your own, I’m offering a way that will work for sure.”
The woman stood in though for a moment, looked at the sleeping boy, and then nodded. “Alright, I’ll do it.”
The witch’s grin widened. “Excellent! Now come to me, this will hurt a bit, but endorphins can help with that.” Saying that, the witch pressed her lips gently to the woman’s and she started kissing her, and the woman felt the longing and arousal return with full force, right before a burning sensation that started at the back of her head and then had engulfed her whole mind in fire. She tried to concentrate on the witch’s lips, finding it helpful to substitute some of the pain with pleasure and lust. The whole ordeal lasted a few seconds, but the woman was as tired as it had taken hours. Once it all stopped, she felt nothing else unusual. She seemed to be back to her former self.
“Good, now that that’s over, take your boy with you, your horse is waiting for you outside. I take my horses seriously, so make sure nothing happens to it, or I will take it from you, and the deal is over. Safe voyages, and mind the bugs.” she laughed. “Oh, I almost forgot, only you, the boy and the horse are protected. If you decide to bring anyone else, it won’t work.”
The woman wanted to ask more questions, but the Kikimora had already opened the door, chirping at her, showing her the way outside. Before the door, there stood a black horse, already saddled and with bags hanging from it.
“I’ve also prepared some rations, so you can start the journey right away. The sooner you start riding, the less likely you are to witness what you would consider the atrocities of the Kherpi.”
The woman turned around to say thanks, but the door had already been closed, and the Kikimora watched her intently. Her welcome seemed to be wearing off. It was time to begin the ride.
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