Witch Hunters

Lilly could tell that there was something going on with Liam, but she was much too afraid to ask what. All she and Harry could do was watch in silence as Liam spent hours sharpening his axe well past what was necessary. She’d never seen such a look of determination in his eyes, and even as frightening as it was, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

They had just gotten what was hopefully a big lead and were going to be spending the night hunting. With any luck, they’d find something worth going out for, because as of late they’d found nothing worth noting, and it wasn’t helping any of their egos.

Every night they’d come up short, they’d suffer through the cackling of Sheriff Malik, and the entire group could tell that the village was beginning to lost faith in them. Hell, they were beginning to lose faith in themselves.

Tossing his axe over his shoulder, Liam looked over at Lilly and Harry, a stern look on his face. “Let’s go.”

Harry and Lilly nodded, him grabbing his satchel and her grabbing her smaller axe. The three of them walked silently to the forest as the sun began to disappear in the sky.

When the big, yellow beacon was replaced by the white of the moon, they had just reached their destination: a small river bend which ended just below a cliff. The three of them knew that the water, like the moon, could be a source of power for some witches, so the bend was already a good sign.

The forest seemed both silent and hopeless as they stood, waiting for some sort of clue. Harry’s eyes were brushing around the area, looking for some sign of the witch, while Lilly and Liam looked through the plants to see if they’d been touched by the burn of a witch.

They were all so focused on looking for little clues that they missed the biggest one right in front of them.

Caught off guard, Lilly collapsed to the ground as a witch flew above her, kicking her clear in the back of the head. She laid unmoving as Liam pulled his axe out more quickly than eyes could follow and wielded it in his hands. He shifted back and forth, attempting to catch sight of the witch who had hurt Lilly, and barely caught her out of the corner of his eye.

She flew deeper into the woods, where the moon didn’t shine as brightly, and he darted after her, though his chances of catching up were very slim.

When Liam and the witch slipped out of Harry’s sight, he ran over to Lilly, immediately falling to the ground next to her. His hand moved to her face, gently shaking her, and shouted at her.

“Lilly, wake up. Please, wake up.”

When she didn’t move, he reached into his bag and pulled out the first thing he saw, which was a small case of mint cream. He slid the top off and grabbed a dob with his finger, before brushing it under her nose. The second the cream flew in with her breath, her eyes shot open and she began blinking them quickly.

Harry couldn’t stop the smile that fell to his face, and she gave him a small one back before rubbing the back of her head.

“What happened?” she asked, moving to sit up. Harry pressed his hand to her back in his attempt to help her and guided her into a sitting position.

“You were hit,” Harry said, looking into her eyes for any sign of deliria. “You’ll be okay though.”
“Hit by what?”

“A witch,” Harry said, biting his lip as he spoke. He knew she wasn’t going to be pleased. “But Liam went after it.”

At that, she shot up immediately, making herself get dizzy. She pressed her hand to the side of her head to steady herself before speaking again.

“By himself? He’s going to get hurt. We have to go get him.”

Harry shook his head. “He’s going to be fine, Lil, and you’re in no shape to go hunting for a witch.”

Lilly opened her mouth to speak, but before she could Liam popped through the trees, causing both her and Harry to breathe a sigh of relief. Liam didn’t look as pleased, though. In fact, he looked even more upset than he had before.

“It was a trap,” Liam said, kicking the grass as he cursed to the ground. “They had it all planned.”

“So?” Lilly said, standing up with Harry’s help. “It’s no surprise. They knew we were here.”

Liam shook his head, letting out a deep, exasperated breath.

“It’s not that,” he said, looking up at Harry and Lilly with tired eyes. “We were sent out here on purpose. By someone who was supposed to be helping us.”

“We’ve got a mole,” Harry said, looking to the ground as he shifted with his bag.

Liam nodded, his eyes growing tight. “And I know exactly who it is.”