Penny could have walked on the bridge as where she wanted to go was near to the mansion but at the same time, she knew there were people in the mansion who were watching her footsteps. People like Lady Fleurance, her daughter Grace, and some servant’s eyes which she felt followed her every time she walked past them.
Once the carriage she was sitting in crossed the bridge and moved towards the forest which appeared as if it had disappeared, “Stop, right here,” she instructed the coachman who pulled the reins of the horses on her word, “Stay here, I will be back,” she said after stepping down to see the man bow.
She started to walk back towards the mansion before taking a different route with the food the butler had packed for her. Making her way towards the dungeon, she stepped inside there that passed light every now and then due to the way it was constructed.
Penny then came to the prison-like cell that held the scrawny black witcher who was tied by his legs.
More than a man he appeared to be a boy or maybe they shared the same age, thought Penny looking down at the boy as she stood in front of the bars of the cell that separated both the white and the black witch.
“You shouldn’t be here, milady. Your lover wouldn’t take it well,” said the scrawny boy looking up at her who looked utterly tired and exhausted. It made her question if Damien had beaten him up but looking at his body for any possible signs, she found none.
“Why not?” Penny was interested in knowing why Damien wouldn’t like her being here. She noticed how the black witcher looked at her hand that held the containers with food in it. The boxes couldn’t hold in the flavor and smell of the food that started to invade the place around her.
“You came here to meet me during the absence of the councilman. Isn’t that obvious?” the witcher’s appearance was one with the scale-like appearance where he hadn’t turned back to his human self.
“I don’t think he would mind. I had a few things to ask and wanted to surprise him,” on this, the scrawny man couldn’t help but stare at her in curiosity, “But before that, I thought to treat you to a meal. Have you been eating?” she asked him.
The man shook his head while his eyes darted back to her hand, his eyes hungrily looking at it. She placed the food at the front and pushed it through the space between the bars by titling them while making sure the man wouldn’t grab her hand. Compared to the other black witches she had met, Penny saw how this person was young. Maybe one of the youngest she had met.
The black witcher stared at the box for a few seconds before scrambling on his feet and went to get hold of the box. The cell and from where Penny stood at, she heard the harsh sound of the chains around his feet making noise as he moved around the small room.
This place was hidden close to the forest which was the Quinn family’s own prison which could hold a maximum of three people as there were only three cell rooms. Damien had told her it was his mother who had got it built and people who didn’t fit in here always had space in the sea which was the result of skeletons that now decorated the sea bed around the mansion.
The witcher picking up the boxes started to open them to start eating one after another without caring how he ate. Penny could guess that the man was barely able to get anything to eat with the way he looked. It made her also question how Damien was torturing him without raising a finger on him. Was it possible?
“You didn’t change yourself to the human form,” Penny commented at him while looking away from him.
“I am not able to change myself,” replied the witcher in between his intake of food, “This food is so delicious,” he said, licking his fingers before starting to eat again. The way he behaved right now, it reminded her of the time when her own home didn’t have food to eat.
“How did you end up with the witches? That partner of yours,” Penny asked wanting to build a conversation before she would ask what she had come here for.
“I was picked up telling I would be given money. They gave me a quarter of it, telling me the rest would be given on the completion.”
“You never met the other people then,” she saw him shake his head, “And he was the only one you have known. Did he tell you why he took you to the mansion there?”
The scrawny witcher stopped eating to give her a nod. For some odd reason, the boy reminded her of a puppy, “He told it was for the ritual and I would be benefited once we found the parchment and gave it to the other witches who would be able to make use of it.”
Penny had burned the parchment in the mansion which would mean the black witches who were looking for it would never be able to finish that particular piece of code.
When the witcher was done eating one portion of the meal she had packed, Penny twisted her lips in wonderment. Pulling out the parchment that she carried everywhere and she raised it in front of the witcher so that he could see it.
“Have you seen this writing before?”
The witcher stared at it, flinching his eyes as he tried to read to say, “No.”
She waited for him to complete his meal and when he was done, he said, “I don’t think I have ever had such a good meal as this before in my life.”
She stared at the empty containers when he said, “Was there something you wanted from me?” now that his stomach was filled he looked up at the lady who had been strangely kind at him. While the councilman had locked him here in the cell without letting him go, this lady had brought him food.
Penny smiled, “I do…”
