Sabbi stepped away from the house with Judith trailing closely behind her, walking towards the forest while she waited for Mila to arrive back as she was still digging Avalon’s body. She hadn’t spoken a word since they had left the house but she could sense the little girl’s gaze on her.
Judith smiled, the smile going back to ear to ear, she asked Sabbi, “Did you love him, mistress?” The girl didn’t mind the death, the more the merrier and she preferred it this way where her mistress wouldn’t have distractions. Though both Sabbi and Judith appeared to look young, they were far from that age.
The blue-eyed girl didn’t respond to Judith’s question and instead stood quietly looking at the trees that shook around them, “Who is the next witch in line?”
“There’s Gratten. He had some issues with humans. I think he will join us without a problem,” Judith gave out the information with her hand that was placed next to her face.
The three females left for the next white witch’s house and like Judith had said, the man was on board easily. On their way back, Sabbi asked, “What is Laurae up to?”
“I haven’t heard from her, mistress. Didn’t she go on the job you gave her?” Judith asked as they made their way back to the abandoned church.
When Sabbi turned to look towards Mila, the woman shook her head, “She hasn’t reported back since she left here. Would you want me to find out?”
“Please do. The book I gave her is an important one. It took me years to find it but I haven’t been able to read it. There’s something in there which will help in unbinding the magic,” Sabbi stated, still walking, “Find what she is doing and where she is. We are too close to finding the answers and unbinding the magic. We cannot have slip-ups,” and they stepped inside the witch’s lair that they had created in the abandoned church.
Back in the land of Bonelake, Laurae walked with her head that was covered in the cloak, walking through the dark alley’s while making sure no one spotted her. For the past few days, walking anywhere had been difficult even when it came to buying any food.
The face she had prized for so many years, using it to deceive people was of no use anymore. Every single corner of the towns and villages, her face was posted for everyone to be able to see it. It didn’t help that a bounty was placed on her head.
Walking through the dark alley, she found another poster of herself that was stuck on the wall. Her hand reached to pull down the post from there, tearing it unevenly as part of the paper was glued to the wall tightly. Her hand crumpled the paper in her hand and she glared in anger.
She had been so close to finding the truth about the task but instead of completing her work and returning back to Mythweald, she was stuck here in Bonelake. She had not only lost the book that Sabbi had given her but her picture in the post was everywhere that made it difficult for her to be able to search the book.
Every time someone caught her face as if it were familiar it made it difficult for her to walk again there. Stealing was all she knew and had to rely on. Laurae had to find the book quickly and get back to Mythweald, if not, there was no telling if she would be killed by the humans and the vampires for money or if she would be killed by Sabbi herself.
Laurae continued to walk, hoping to get the aid she needed and just before she left the alley, the men who had been standing around the corner of the alley tried to mug her and while fighting them off, her hood came off and one of the men noticed to say,
“Isn’t she the one in the poster!”
The other one who had been holding her, stared at the woman as she appeared to be familiar. Before they could catch hold of her and drag her, the woman quickly slipped out of their hands by throwing a bean that burst out as gas that made their eyes tear up. She ran as quickly as she could, away from the crowd to stop after some distance.
Turning to look at the curtained dusty window, she saw how her appearance had changed. Her cheeks had turned hollow and her skin dry, gone was her beauty that she had cherished and she looked old right now as if her real age was trying to catch up with her body.
Anger rose further on who dared to put a bounty on her.
Knowing there was only one place where she could get shelter in this whole of Bonelake, she started to travel there to only be pushed down further and further away as she was being chased away by humans who swore to torch her without the need to have a bounty.
After a few days, Mila received the report of what Laurae was up to and she came back to Sabbi to let the black witch know,
“They said she’s in Bonelake and her face is on every side of the walls and trees.”
Sabbi was sipping her tea and she stopped to look up at Mila, “What did she do?”
“There’s no report about where the smoke came from. No events that have been registered,” Mila replied back.
Sabbi sighed softly, “There is smoke only when there’s a fire. I don’t care about where the fire came. What about the book?”
Mila pursed her lips when Sabbi questioned, she then said, “The witch hunters said they followed her for more than three days. But they didn’t find any book on her,” though the young girl didn’t change her facial expression, she could tell that she wasn’t happy with this news, “I don’t think she has it.”
“Ask them to find who she gave the book to if she’s playing on both sides. Kill her,” Sabbi said and Mila nodded her head, going back to inform the news so that some of the witch hunters could receive the information.
