Wood Witch and the Bounty Hunter
Ten
“Yup. Get it all out.”
Flora woke up feeling like death, and Ronan had been holding her hair back while she vomited into a bucket all morning. She was just gagging now, with not a whole lot left to puke up. She lifted her head up and wiped out the tears that came out when she was vomiting, then sniffed and sat down hard on the floor. Ronan released her hair and offered her a handkerchief. She wiped her mouth and let her head fall back against the wall.
“Why didn’t he just poison me?” she whined.
“He wanted the bloodshed,” Ronan told her as he offered her some bread. “Poison is too clean. He may as well have poisoned you though, with that massive drug dose he put in your food. He must have overestimated your size.”
“Can’t blame him,” Flora said, taking a bite of the bread. “With that list of crimes, I’d expect someone big and scary, too.”
“Regardless, we have to get out of here,” Ronan said. “We have the information we need anyways. You’re sure your the smith was talking about your sister?”
“Yeah,” Flora nodded. “Blonde with a bad attitude. Does enchantments. Can’t imagine it being anyone else.”
“Bad attitude, huh?”
“She means well,” Flora shrugged. “Our mentor was a little harsh when he taught us, and we reacted differently. I became kind of a pushover who just apologized and listened, but she was stubborn and fought back. Maybe that’s why he always liked her more. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still snippy and rude.”
“She shouldn’t be hard to find, then,” Ronan said. “Feeling well enough to travel?
“Yeah, let’s go.”
She kept her hood on, partially to hide and partially because the bright light from the sun felt like it was pounding down on her. She knew she probably looked as awful as she felt. She watched Ronan put their packs on Briar, and was surprised to see Chip nestled in the horse’s mane. She thought the finch would have been gone by now, but apparently he had made fast friends with Briar. She was so distracted by the sight that she didn’t even notice a stable hand sidle up to her.
“Hello, pretty thing,” he said with a grin. “You like horses, do you?”
Flora didn’t bother answering. She was usually rude, but she had a pounding headache and didn’t feel like it today.
“Whatever you want, just get on with it,” she grumbled.
“I like a little sass,” he smirked. “And such pretty lips, too. What can those lips do, I wonder? Shall we go to the tool shed and find out?”
Ronan whipped around when the stable boy said this, shooting the man a glare. It really was a nasty thing to say. He was about to respond, but Flora snapped at him without thinking much of it.
“Take me to the tool shed and I’ll show you how I can bite it clean off,” she said, glaring at him. “Go. Away.”
The stableboy turned a bit pale and shuffled away from her, and she just rolled her eyes. When she looked at Ronan, he looked surprisingly amused. It was almost startling when he laughed. He almost seemed incapable of doing so, but he actually had a really nice and warm laugh. Even Flora cracked a smile.
“I didn’t expect that from you,” he said. “Snap like that more often. Hold your ground.”
“I don’t like to be rude.”
“Some people deserve it,” he said. “Ready?”
He helped her get up on Briar, then sat behind her this time. He had his arms around her to hold on to the reigns. She hoped the cloak covered her face when she blushed a bright red.
“You’re still queasy,” he said. “I don’t want you to fall off.”
“Of course,” she said, her voice betraying her when it came out as a squeak.
Northead was a fairly short trip, and one they were able to make in a single day with Briar at a steady gallop. It wasn’t the greatest for Flora’s stomach, but she held it together as best she could. It was a larger town, and even as it got later in the day there were still people bustling about. As Ronan tied up Briar in the stables, Flora found herself getting a little nervous at the idea of seeing Elise again after so many years.
“I’m being told the enchantment shop is right around the corner,” Ronan told her. “Come on.”
“Right,” Flora said with a deep breath. “How do I look?”
“What?”
“Sorry,” she said, shifting awkwardly. “It’s just… been so long since I’ve seen her. And I’ve always looked up to her. And I-“
“Yeah, I get it,” Ronan said. “You look fine.”
“Sickly?”
“You look nice.”
They paused for a moment, then he quickly turned away from her.
“Come on, before she closes shop.”
Flora followed him, but had an uneasy feeling the closer they got to the shop. Not as much because she was nervous, but because she had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right. She felt cold and weak.
The door jingled when they walked inside, this time with Flora taking the lead. A young woman came out of the back, and Flora’s breath hitched when she saw the only sister she had ever known.
Elise was the same age as Flora, and she always glittered just a bit more than her. She was beautiful with her sharp green eyes and golden curls, and she always made a point of dressing herself to the nines. She stopped and stared at Flora for a moment, seemingly trying to process what she was seeing.
“Elise,” Flora said with a choked sob.
“Oh, my sweet Flora,” Elise said.
She threw her arms around Flora and they both tightly hugged each other after years of being apart. Elise stepped back to look at her, holding Flora’s hands.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t easy,” Flora admitted. “We had to ask around.”
“And who’s this?” Elise asked, warily looking at Ronan.
“He’s a friend,” Flora said. “He’s been helping me out. Oh, Elise, you have no idea what I’ve been through. It’s been a nightmare.”
“Why don’t you two come to the back and have some tea?” Elise suggested.
Ronan seemed a little skeptical as they followed to a back lounge room and sat down on a couch. The room was fancy, much suiting Elise’s expensive taste. Flora noticed the silk and lace gloves she wore as she poured out the tea for them.
“I’m being accused of so many awful things,” Flora said. “Like murder. I have no idea how it happened or what I did to upset someone. Or who I possibly could have upset. I was living so far from town.”
“Your poor thing,” Elise said sympathetically. “What a terrible accusation.”
“You always helped me out of these tangles,” Flora told her. “I thought maybe you could help me with one more.”
“This is more than a tangle, Flora,” Elise frowned. “I don’t know what I can do. Have you considered going directly to the authorities? Explain what happened and ask them to reconsider?”
“Ask them to reconsider,” Flora repeated in a flat tone. “Elise, that’s ridiculous. They’ll publicly hang me before I can even hope to tell them anything.”
“Maybe you can find some help through connections,” Elise suggested. “I’m sure Ronan has plenty of connections in his guild.”
“I don’t know if-“
Ronan put a hand on Flora’s arm to stop her. She looked over and saw he had his eyes narrowed at Elise.
“I never told you my name,” he said.
“Didn’t you?” Elise said, raising a brow. “Hm, maybe Flora did.”
“I never told you I was in any sort of guild, either.”
Elise slowly set her teacup down and looked to Flora.
“You know I trust your judgement in most places, my love, but your friend is a little standoffish,” she said with a light laugh.
Flora didn’t return the laugh, the gut feeling returning that something was wrong.
“He’s right,” Flora said slowly. “I only told you he was a friend. Why are you lying?”
“Flora,” Elise said in disbelief. “You’ve known me for years, but now you want to call me a liar because pretty-boy has a problem with me?”
“Answer the question.”
Flora’s gaze moved back to Elise’s gloves, and she had a horrible feeling in her stomach. She suddenly grabbed Elise’s hand and yanked the glove off. When she did, it revealed her hand was blackened to her wrists like it had been charred with fire. Flora stood up so quickly that the chair was knocked back and she nearly fell over it. Ronan caught her and set her back on her feet. Elise looked at her hand, then back at Flora. She calmly put the glove back on with a sigh.
“It’s unsightly,” she said. “That’s why I keep them covered.”
“You’re practicing dark magic,” Flora said. “Why? What are you trying to do?”
“We learned nothing from Master Louis,” she scoffed. “And then he died and we were dumped out here to be servants for the rest of our lives. We’re so much more powerful than the average person. Why should we serve them? We should be the ones being served.”
“It was you,” Flora said softly. “You did all of those horrible things, didn’t you?”
“Some of them,” Elise shrugged. “Dark magic requires sacrifice. More than just my own decaying soul. Some of the things I just made up for fun. The higher your bounty got, the more people would be after you.”
“But why me?”
“You’re not doing anything else with your life,” she smirked. “Louis was always so disappointed in what a waste you were. I heard you were run out of town, so people were ready to blame you anyways. If I put all my crimes on your head, they’d be erased with you and I’d be free to keep working without suspicion. I have a new master, and we’re working on something big. If you survive long enough, maybe you’ll see how we change the way they look at magic users.”
“We’re sisters,” Flora said, her voice cracking.
“We are two kidnapped babies who were enslaved together,” Elise said. “Get over it.”
“Flora, we need to go,” Ronan said, tugging on Flora’s arm.
She was frozen to where she stood, and she felt like her heart was about to burst.
“No need to leave,” Elise told him. “I’m about to leave, myself. I’m not going to kill you. I’ve been watching this little cat and mouse game, and I’d love to see how far it can go.”
“What makes you think we won’t turn you in?” Ronan snapped.
“Try it, handsome,” Elise teased. “See how far you can get before they take Flora and accuse you of being an accomplice. Anyways, best of luck to you two.”
Ronan pulled a knife and threw it in her direction, but she disappeared in a puff of black smoke and the knife buried itself into the wall. He cursed and walked over to pull it back out. Flora fell to her knees, holding herself as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her expression was still frozen in shock.
“I really don’t have a family.”
Flora woke up feeling like death, and Ronan had been holding her hair back while she vomited into a bucket all morning. She was just gagging now, with not a whole lot left to puke up. She lifted her head up and wiped out the tears that came out when she was vomiting, then sniffed and sat down hard on the floor. Ronan released her hair and offered her a handkerchief. She wiped her mouth and let her head fall back against the wall.
“Why didn’t he just poison me?” she whined.
“He wanted the bloodshed,” Ronan told her as he offered her some bread. “Poison is too clean. He may as well have poisoned you though, with that massive drug dose he put in your food. He must have overestimated your size.”
“Can’t blame him,” Flora said, taking a bite of the bread. “With that list of crimes, I’d expect someone big and scary, too.”
“Regardless, we have to get out of here,” Ronan said. “We have the information we need anyways. You’re sure your the smith was talking about your sister?”
“Yeah,” Flora nodded. “Blonde with a bad attitude. Does enchantments. Can’t imagine it being anyone else.”
“Bad attitude, huh?”
“She means well,” Flora shrugged. “Our mentor was a little harsh when he taught us, and we reacted differently. I became kind of a pushover who just apologized and listened, but she was stubborn and fought back. Maybe that’s why he always liked her more. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s still snippy and rude.”
“She shouldn’t be hard to find, then,” Ronan said. “Feeling well enough to travel?
“Yeah, let’s go.”
She kept her hood on, partially to hide and partially because the bright light from the sun felt like it was pounding down on her. She knew she probably looked as awful as she felt. She watched Ronan put their packs on Briar, and was surprised to see Chip nestled in the horse’s mane. She thought the finch would have been gone by now, but apparently he had made fast friends with Briar. She was so distracted by the sight that she didn’t even notice a stable hand sidle up to her.
“Hello, pretty thing,” he said with a grin. “You like horses, do you?”
Flora didn’t bother answering. She was usually rude, but she had a pounding headache and didn’t feel like it today.
“Whatever you want, just get on with it,” she grumbled.
“I like a little sass,” he smirked. “And such pretty lips, too. What can those lips do, I wonder? Shall we go to the tool shed and find out?”
Ronan whipped around when the stable boy said this, shooting the man a glare. It really was a nasty thing to say. He was about to respond, but Flora snapped at him without thinking much of it.
“Take me to the tool shed and I’ll show you how I can bite it clean off,” she said, glaring at him. “Go. Away.”
The stableboy turned a bit pale and shuffled away from her, and she just rolled her eyes. When she looked at Ronan, he looked surprisingly amused. It was almost startling when he laughed. He almost seemed incapable of doing so, but he actually had a really nice and warm laugh. Even Flora cracked a smile.
“I didn’t expect that from you,” he said. “Snap like that more often. Hold your ground.”
“I don’t like to be rude.”
“Some people deserve it,” he said. “Ready?”
He helped her get up on Briar, then sat behind her this time. He had his arms around her to hold on to the reigns. She hoped the cloak covered her face when she blushed a bright red.
“You’re still queasy,” he said. “I don’t want you to fall off.”
“Of course,” she said, her voice betraying her when it came out as a squeak.
Northead was a fairly short trip, and one they were able to make in a single day with Briar at a steady gallop. It wasn’t the greatest for Flora’s stomach, but she held it together as best she could. It was a larger town, and even as it got later in the day there were still people bustling about. As Ronan tied up Briar in the stables, Flora found herself getting a little nervous at the idea of seeing Elise again after so many years.
“I’m being told the enchantment shop is right around the corner,” Ronan told her. “Come on.”
“Right,” Flora said with a deep breath. “How do I look?”
“What?”
“Sorry,” she said, shifting awkwardly. “It’s just… been so long since I’ve seen her. And I’ve always looked up to her. And I-“
“Yeah, I get it,” Ronan said. “You look fine.”
“Sickly?”
“You look nice.”
They paused for a moment, then he quickly turned away from her.
“Come on, before she closes shop.”
Flora followed him, but had an uneasy feeling the closer they got to the shop. Not as much because she was nervous, but because she had a gut feeling that something wasn’t right. She felt cold and weak.
The door jingled when they walked inside, this time with Flora taking the lead. A young woman came out of the back, and Flora’s breath hitched when she saw the only sister she had ever known.
Elise was the same age as Flora, and she always glittered just a bit more than her. She was beautiful with her sharp green eyes and golden curls, and she always made a point of dressing herself to the nines. She stopped and stared at Flora for a moment, seemingly trying to process what she was seeing.
“Elise,” Flora said with a choked sob.
“Oh, my sweet Flora,” Elise said.
She threw her arms around Flora and they both tightly hugged each other after years of being apart. Elise stepped back to look at her, holding Flora’s hands.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t easy,” Flora admitted. “We had to ask around.”
“And who’s this?” Elise asked, warily looking at Ronan.
“He’s a friend,” Flora said. “He’s been helping me out. Oh, Elise, you have no idea what I’ve been through. It’s been a nightmare.”
“Why don’t you two come to the back and have some tea?” Elise suggested.
Ronan seemed a little skeptical as they followed to a back lounge room and sat down on a couch. The room was fancy, much suiting Elise’s expensive taste. Flora noticed the silk and lace gloves she wore as she poured out the tea for them.
“I’m being accused of so many awful things,” Flora said. “Like murder. I have no idea how it happened or what I did to upset someone. Or who I possibly could have upset. I was living so far from town.”
“Your poor thing,” Elise said sympathetically. “What a terrible accusation.”
“You always helped me out of these tangles,” Flora told her. “I thought maybe you could help me with one more.”
“This is more than a tangle, Flora,” Elise frowned. “I don’t know what I can do. Have you considered going directly to the authorities? Explain what happened and ask them to reconsider?”
“Ask them to reconsider,” Flora repeated in a flat tone. “Elise, that’s ridiculous. They’ll publicly hang me before I can even hope to tell them anything.”
“Maybe you can find some help through connections,” Elise suggested. “I’m sure Ronan has plenty of connections in his guild.”
“I don’t know if-“
Ronan put a hand on Flora’s arm to stop her. She looked over and saw he had his eyes narrowed at Elise.
“I never told you my name,” he said.
“Didn’t you?” Elise said, raising a brow. “Hm, maybe Flora did.”
“I never told you I was in any sort of guild, either.”
Elise slowly set her teacup down and looked to Flora.
“You know I trust your judgement in most places, my love, but your friend is a little standoffish,” she said with a light laugh.
Flora didn’t return the laugh, the gut feeling returning that something was wrong.
“He’s right,” Flora said slowly. “I only told you he was a friend. Why are you lying?”
“Flora,” Elise said in disbelief. “You’ve known me for years, but now you want to call me a liar because pretty-boy has a problem with me?”
“Answer the question.”
Flora’s gaze moved back to Elise’s gloves, and she had a horrible feeling in her stomach. She suddenly grabbed Elise’s hand and yanked the glove off. When she did, it revealed her hand was blackened to her wrists like it had been charred with fire. Flora stood up so quickly that the chair was knocked back and she nearly fell over it. Ronan caught her and set her back on her feet. Elise looked at her hand, then back at Flora. She calmly put the glove back on with a sigh.
“It’s unsightly,” she said. “That’s why I keep them covered.”
“You’re practicing dark magic,” Flora said. “Why? What are you trying to do?”
“We learned nothing from Master Louis,” she scoffed. “And then he died and we were dumped out here to be servants for the rest of our lives. We’re so much more powerful than the average person. Why should we serve them? We should be the ones being served.”
“It was you,” Flora said softly. “You did all of those horrible things, didn’t you?”
“Some of them,” Elise shrugged. “Dark magic requires sacrifice. More than just my own decaying soul. Some of the things I just made up for fun. The higher your bounty got, the more people would be after you.”
“But why me?”
“You’re not doing anything else with your life,” she smirked. “Louis was always so disappointed in what a waste you were. I heard you were run out of town, so people were ready to blame you anyways. If I put all my crimes on your head, they’d be erased with you and I’d be free to keep working without suspicion. I have a new master, and we’re working on something big. If you survive long enough, maybe you’ll see how we change the way they look at magic users.”
“We’re sisters,” Flora said, her voice cracking.
“We are two kidnapped babies who were enslaved together,” Elise said. “Get over it.”
“Flora, we need to go,” Ronan said, tugging on Flora’s arm.
She was frozen to where she stood, and she felt like her heart was about to burst.
“No need to leave,” Elise told him. “I’m about to leave, myself. I’m not going to kill you. I’ve been watching this little cat and mouse game, and I’d love to see how far it can go.”
“What makes you think we won’t turn you in?” Ronan snapped.
“Try it, handsome,” Elise teased. “See how far you can get before they take Flora and accuse you of being an accomplice. Anyways, best of luck to you two.”
Ronan pulled a knife and threw it in her direction, but she disappeared in a puff of black smoke and the knife buried itself into the wall. He cursed and walked over to pull it back out. Flora fell to her knees, holding herself as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her expression was still frozen in shock.
“I really don’t have a family.”