Witch - Prologue

It was the crack of dawn. People were awakened from their dreams by the loud rhythmic drumbeats. They knew what it meant. The workers, who worked through the night, were now putting their final touches at the stake. People gathered around to watch the Burning of the Witches. Five women dressed in black were brought into the village centre in carts; five women �" all beautiful, none ugly �" with high crimes in their names. They were pulled out of the carts one by one. With chains jangling from their wrists and ankles, they were led towards the stake. People near them took a step backwards fearing that their Dark Magic would rub onto them.

From afar, five women dressed in white arrived. Their heads were covered with a hood that even covered their faces. They silently joined the crowd. The leader of the five prisoners looked at the crowd and noticed the new arrivals and smirked. Their attendance was expected. Men grabbed the Women in Black with their trembling hands and tied them to the stake. The village head stood at the edge �" as far from the women as possible �" of the stake and announced the reasons of these five women’s burning. He droned for ten minutes reading the acts committed by these five women from a scroll but no one understood what he said. All they could understand was the last sentence, “… and the most important reason is that these women practice witchcraft, they are witches.”

The torch bearers came forward and brought forth the flames. The witches did not show signs of struggle and awaited their doom. Not a flinch, nor a twitch; they were calm in the face of fire. The flames licked the haystack under the wooden stake and then engulfed it. Suddenly there was a loud cackle in the air. The leader of the Black Witches cackled. There was loud humming and the crowd took a few fearful steps backwards. Only the Women in White did not move.

The other four began to chant something not understood by the ordinary village folk, in a trance. And the leader translated the language of witchcraft in a loud deep voice, “There is no redemption for what you have done to us; you shall all pay. Our spirits will leave these bodies and reincarnate for revenge another day. My sisters and I will return; we will return with powers unknown to any Man. You shall all pay!”

It was a curse, a curse of reincarnation, a promise to return for revenge. The village folk watched in fear. The fire burnt for the entire day, the ashes were put into a jar and buried far away in a cave. But the fear of their return did not leave until many centuries to come. The village folk wondered, “Even with the witches gone, could we not live in peace?”

The Women in White left after only an hour of the show. They went to their home; a little cave in the mountains where others just like them stayed for sanction. Their teacher waited for news. “Tell me White Witches, what news have you brought from the Burning of the Black Witches?” he said.

The White Witches retold the situation that occurred at the Burning of the Witches. They told him of the Curse of Reincarnation. The old wizard looked worried. This was what he was afraid of. “It seems our work will never be complete until we can stop those Black Witches. They have caused great trouble, and I have allowed all this to happen,” he sighed. “Even in death they will now torment us.”

The leader of the five White Witches came closer and put her hand on his, “Father, we will not stop our mission. We will stop these witches from reincarnating.”

The wizard put his hand on her head, “My dear daughter, it is not possible to stop the reincarnation. We have to let them come back and fight.”

“Then we will teach our daughters,” she said. A little girl ran towards her and wrapped her arms around her waist.

“This is all we can hope for,” the old man said slowly. “Come, we should inform the others of this news.”

These were the five White Witches who helped apprehend, anonymously, the five Black Witches. Just as they had thought their work was complete they realized that they still have a lot of work to do. They have to await the advent of the Black Witches’ reincarnated forms and there was no telling when they would return.

Author's Note

first draft of the story Witch.