Witches From Under

[ILLYRIAN]

My thanks to they who gave their permissions for all us writers of Fan Fiction to promote our variations of what they their characters of the television show could do.

Witches From Under part 1

Willow looked out of her bedroom window not long after the bedside cabinet alarm had woken her, it was 7: 30 am. She saw how the tree branches were swaying in the wind. She knew to wear her dungarees over a ‘T’ shirt and her old faded blue jumper. After she had thought about doing her exercises then thought better of the waste of her energy. Going to the front door she put her walking boots on and opened the door.

At that very moment Mikey was driving his car up her driveway he stopped adjacent to the house. Mikey got out of the car and acknowledged Willow’s presence, “Now that is what I call good timing, I see you haven’t found your jacket yet,” he said. Willow went to stand beside Mikey, “I want you to come with me to the other side of the house there is something I want to show you.”

As they were walking around the house Mikey asked Willow when her mother would be moving to the house, “At some point this afternoon,” Willow looked to the house, “I felt at home here, no scary strange sounds,” said Willow. They followed the lane to the back of the house following the wheel marks between the trees, as they neared the side of the house Willow told Mikey, “Look at the side door.”

Mikey did so but wasn’t sure what he was meant to see. “Under the bottom of the door, is that a window? if it is should there be an air vent as that might indicate there is another level under the door.” Mikey walked with her until they reached the door. Looking underneath the door he admitted she might be right Mikey looked at Willow then at the house, “Why would anyone try to hide another level of the house?”

Willow asked why it was there, she could not think what it might be used for, Mikey suggested there was no point guessing so he pushed the door open and went inside, Willow followed him then put her hand on the edge of the door to close it, she felt an active lock. Mikey opened the door to the left, he saw the outside daylight, then entering a passage to the right he stepped down a flight of steps to a lower level.

Willow looked at where they were, “At a guess I’d say this level is a wine cellar,” said Willow. went toward a mural of a house on the wall she faced. “Look at this.” She indicated the mural but this door handle is real, she turned the handle and the door opened to reveal the top of a spiral staircase. She looked about to try and get her bearings to see which way they were headed or where they had just come from.

Mikey followed the steps down to the bottom of the staircase then looked at where he was. “That did seem odd, I felt that I went around twice so I should be headed in the direction that I was going in at the top of the spiral staircase but I am not, the top step is behind us but to the left.” In front of me now are two doors. Willow opened one of the doors. “What kind of room is this one?” he asked, “It appears empty.”

Mikey asked Willow to look at the dimensions of the room then look a bit more closely at what is the rooms width it is the length of the passage. Should I go straight forward I will be walking the width of the room straight toward the outer wall into the darkness of the room. Mikey bumped into three trolleys in the darkness, “These are not the trollies one might use in a hospital to move a living person about but they are more suited to move a coffin.”

Notice the construction of these coffins, they are more suited for people who need to breath, “The handles on the coffins, are all hollow does that mean they are built that way so the contents can breath?” The woman in one of the coffins stood up and faced them. “Coffins with air vents, what sort of person needs to have air vents?” Mikey faced Willow, “Someone who is not dead yet?”

Mikey opened each coffin, he saw a woman lying in each one, seemingly dead. “Are those poor girls to be disposed of here or are they taken to another place where they are buried?” asked Willow. The woman in the first coffin stood up Mikey looked to her and spoke to her, “I thought you were unconscious, would I be right to think you are a witch,” said Mikey. “What is it about her that would make you even think that she was a witch?” asked Willow.

“In much the same way as I knew you were when we first met I felt as though you were.” Willow faced him, “So what else do you know about these girls?” she asked. Mikey looked to Willow and grinned, “The rest of the women I saw in the coffins were all witches. The first ones name is Melissa, I see her as a very capable healer,” said Mikey. Willow was surprised by what he said, “She is a faith healer?” asked Willow.

“No, she is a witch, a healer whose energy come from nature, a beginner of her kind is often referred to as having a green thumb, one who continues to develop the ability like the entity of nature itself can get a tree to be born and grow from a seed,” said Mikey. Mikey led Willow to stand at the back of the house, from there she could see the circular areas of broken soil. Willow pointed at the areas of broken ground. “What are they for?” she asked.

Mikey grinned to her. “If you had counted the coffins we found before you’d have noticed there were only twelve.” Willow was puzzled, “What does that number refer to?” she asked. Mikey smiled, “You are the thirteenth witch, I am not a witch though I am here to help you all, to become understanding of the time you are in, some of the witches who have come from a time that is several centuries in the past,” said Mikey.

Both Willow and Mikey looked at the countryside that surrounded the house, Willow studied the view from various places eventually she asked Mikey to stand beside her, she pointed to the direction that she first looked. Mikey saw the stone archway to a graveyard, he asked Willow if that was what she wanted him to see. They both went down through the shrubs overland to where the archway was.

Wandering through the greenery of the shrubs and bushes Mikey surprised Willow when he pointed to the women who were walking from behind them towards them, “They are they who are from the coffins. Their names are Carissa, Marnie, Brayleigh and Niamh as they reached part way across the lawn, they went to join Christie, Angharad, Victoria and Marissa. They stated the traditional witches greeting to each other, “Bless-sed Be.”

Willow informed the newcomers who Mikey was and what connection he had with the coven. Mikey explained to the women that they were required the begin the trail of those who had left no trail and to discover the whereabouts of the them. Willow invited each of them into the house and suggested they each choose a room to use as their own while in this time. While the women were in the house a commotion was heard coming from the back of the house.

Mikey and Willow watched what the noise was about, they found four more coffins were being taken into the rooms. Willow noted that each of the coffins had a pipe coming from it. “There was a living breathing person in the coffin, and when I say person I do mean a witch,” said Mikey. He took the exercise book from his jeans pocket, “Of those who are missing it could mean that those in the coffins are Kim, Christina, Mallory and Gwen.”



To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under part 2


Mikey was glad they could all live in a house they could all refer to as home. Willow directed them to a large room where she opened both of the roller doors to let the light into the room, he waved everyone’s attention to the woman by the pillar between the doors, to let the light in and for them to see the woman who was by the pillar. “This is Marissa, you should regard her as the High Priestess of our coven that is until we get a better title for her position,” said Mikey. Marissa stepped forward towards the coven dragging a small chair with her.

“And this is Mikey, though he is not an official member of the coven his role for the coven is important, someone that each of you should try to be a friend to,1 he will always be available to any of you to tell you how to live in this time. Though he is not a witch he is a wizard, the fourteenth member of us. And should a witch need transport to or from a place he would be able to provide that transport.”

“All he requires to know is the location of where you are, for that some planning will be needed, each group that goes from here will need a telepath or one who can travel through the element you are near,” said Willow. Melissa told them that a record of each of their abilities was logged so that in the event of any difficulty help could be provided.

Their first case involved several Asian girls who had been the waitresses at an Asian restaurant, though the girls had lost their freedom they were being taken care of, they were taken by truck to an import/ export business located on a river on the coast. A few river dignitaries had made false claims on the shipping manifests for that ship. Though the river police did not know what the girls were going to be used for there was hope that someone would.

Melissa beckoned Mikey to take Angharad to find out what they could from the police. Going to meet with Andrew who was a mechanic on one of the police launches. Mikey said he would assisted several women who had access to powers of tracking that no-one else had, Andrew seemed taken aback until Mikey told him that the Asian girls had been driven to a river where they were loaded onto a boat,

“If you can tell us which boats have been registered as moving freight?” asked Mikey. Andrew wasn’t sure about Mikey’s claims but told him a small motorised cutter had left two hours prior, bound for a sea port three hours away. Andrew witnessed Angharad speak to no-one about the girls, almost instantly she was joined by three women. Andrew asked Mikey who they were. “Witches they are all witches of great power, pulled through time to help us in the now.”

“But who are they?” asked Andrew. Mikey indicated Revenar, “She is a mind reader who was brought here from the year seventeen thirty two. Brayleigh was brought into this country from Britain where she helped Merlin assist King Arthur. She can track a ship or a fishes movement through water. Then we have Kaim, she led the forces of the Illyrians against Genghis Khan they were the only band of women who stopped him.”

“What power does an Illyrian have?” asked Andrew. Mikey Smiled, “An Illyrian could project her thoughts into another person’s mind to tell them how to help or onto another person’s psyche to force them to stop what they are doing. She has the ability to float on the surface of the water for as long as needs be or move over the water very fast, together they can track where the ship has gone and tell others to stop the ship,” stated Mikey.

Not knowing if Mikey was telling him the truth Andrew thought about what the alternatives could be, he told Mikey to do the best he could.

Willow and Melissa were able to find where the girls were taken to. With the knowledge of the police and the help of the witches that leg of the girls future could be altered. The parents of the girls were notified that they had been rescued. Stood on the deck of a fishing boat Andrew accompanied Mikey and the witches. “Which way are we going to be headed?” asked Andrew. “That is up to those in the water, Kaim and Brayleigh,” said Mikey.

As soon as he had said their names the ship began to move into the center of the channel, going towards the sea. Curious about the ships movement Andrew looked over the stern of the ship, he then looked up and saw that no sail had been unfurled. It was at that point he started to realise that the witches Mikey had spoken of were effective and probably as powerful as Mikey had said. He began to smile, he felt the girls would soon be freed.

What Andrew had not considered was what would happen to those who had taken the choice to trap and capture the girls, he asked Mikey about them. “In time after the ship is boarded by the police they will become puzzled as to how the girls came to be locked in a room when the lock was on the outside yet no crewmen were found alive on the ship. A few of the crew were taken to the home of the witches, deep under the home a cavern had been created for the men.

A witch has already been called to dispose of the men, a task the witch Maria is looking forward to. A young woman was hung burnt then buried by a crowd who had accused the woman of witchcraft. Unfortunately for the crowd Maria was powerful and made herself vanish then had the man who tortured her be caused to pay the price for his misdeeds to her, Maria made him appear as she was, accused and tortured, he fell foul of his own misdeeds, then died.

Another of our women was brought to here, she can change a person’s mind to be whatever the witch wants, this time she convinced one of the crew to look and behave like a vampire. Can you imagine the strange sight the police found, discovering all of the crew that remained on board had died by what looked like teeth marks from what was likened to a vampire those missing crew were not aboard the ship which bore the name Vesta.

Andrew wondered if any of those who originally found the ship realised that was the name of the ship that took Dracula to England at the start of the nineteen thirties. Did any of them wonder about how the Asian girls had been locked into a hold where the lock was on the outside of the door. Mikey suggested to Marissa that a message was left for the rescuers telling them about the Asian girls who had been imprisoned in the hold.

Stood by the roller doors in the back room of their home each one of the witches delighted at the sight of the countryside, even though several of them were from other countries the look of the topography of the ground was the same even though many of the trees looked different. Melissa suggested that a building should be erected for them all to see as home. Conversations were made and eventually an agreement was reached, a chapel would be built.

On a hill not too far from the house the wooden chapel was built with many of the advantages that a building built by witches might bring. A larder that never ran out of food as long as the provisions requested were written on the order pad. Even the cooker could heat the food perfectly as long as what was wanted to be cooked was written on a pad and left on the table. Even the chapel’s bell would be rung when the hour was full, even though the chapel had no bell.

But the witches were happy.


To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under part 3


Specifying that all members of the coven were to meet at the back of the house, where when the witches entered the room the closure of the roller doors was evident. Chairs were positioned facing where the meeting was to be: facing a wall that could be used to highlight a needed film. Mikey was called upon to announce to each witch the importance of helping all other members of their society, Mikey told the witches they were there to promote future benefit for all.

When Marissa called the meeting to order and explained why they were there the witches agreed in unison that knowledge of the future of the coven should be needed. Melissa stood, she promised to each of the members of the coven that the promise would be done. Mikey explained that long ago there was a witch from another coven who had been accused of witchery because she had been seen to cause one of the accuser’s daughter to die.

Members of the coven were chosen to plead she was not guilty in court. A Druid who owed Melissa a favour had produced a spell on her that caused the witch to become a vampire at will, consequently when the woman was presented to the court and the charges read out to her, she gave the proof that she was a vampire. The magistrate did not appreciate there being a vampire in his court he had to pronounce the vampire innocent of being a witch.

That gave rise to further complications when each witch of the coven had the ability to be born a witch yet after two decades the witch could present herself as a vampire. The Druid was found to have copied one of the last remaining of God’s vampires meaning that none of them could be able to make new versions of itself. Mikey stated that the time was right for them now to change back from a witch to a vampire.

Mikey said that the transformation from being witches would take place at the Manor. A plethora of vehicle’s pulled up in the parking are opposite the steps to the impressive front doors. Of the thirteen young women who entered the stately home each of them had directions given to them in the vast room by Mikey and Marissa. Inside the room a great many shelves adorned the walls on which a plethora of books filled each shelf.

Mikey beckoned to each one of the young women to sit on one of the chairs provided. “Girls, it is in your best interests to listen as carefully as you can to what you are about to be told. There is a few shelves near the door that will tell you about the countryside we are now in, initially you will be taught a few old beliefs from about this area. It is rumoured that you might even see people, beings or witches from times gone past.

Marissa said the intention was for the Druid who caused all of us witches to be able to pass to here. She beckoned Willow to join her as she led her to the empty room at the back lower levels at the back of the house, to one of the roller doors. After opening the roller door Marissa had Willow look to the gardens and they walked along the paths between the flower beds. Marissa told Willow to look underneath the paths.

Marissa informed Mikey to get the physical knowledge of what lay under the paths. Though Mikey was amazed to see that the discovery was of a series of upright empty graves. The graves were created upright for witches who were said to be returned to life. The witch was laid to rest upright so she would not get grains of soil in her eyes, Willow was especially surprised to learn that many of the witches she knew were once said to be dead.

Melissa suggested to Mikey that he arrange for Willow to call a meeting of the witches to be at the room they were in and for her to arrange the needed extra rooms be provided for the witches from previous years. Considering how to provide those rooms Willow and Mikey agreed to call on those magical community rather than calling on teams of builders, there was no need to let those outside the witches to know what they were doing.

Taking their agreement to Melissa a clearing was obtained and a wooden church like construction erected to house them all, with rooms provided for entertainments and a kitchen created for meal times and the hoarding of foods and for whatever utensils might be needed. All heating and lighting was to be provided from natural sources, be they natural sources from the earth or from the universe.

Melissa deemed it necessary that the coven was to seek any information it could about those who sent massages with no reference to who they were. Willow suggested it would be for anyone in the coven to seek who might be responsible. Mikey said to Melissa that to find who said what they should seek the message that caused the offence then back track to who was responsible for the infringement. Not seeking any real argument on any social media a forum was to be sought.

Agreeing where no real harm would come to the sender of a message and ignoring the persons notification of who they are to the owners of the site a message was chosen. At first a healer sought knowledge from the post itself as to who the perpetrator was ignoring the avatar. Calling on Brayleigh for her ability to follower through water and Niamh who could follow through the air with Revenar’s knowledge to read minds Willow was called for her wisdom for healing.

Settling on a posting on a site known as Buffy-Boards.com Revenar studied the mention of specific words, how the words were spelt and how the strings of words were put together, that gave them an identification of a person of a country though not what country the person was in. Brayleigh and Niamh joined paths to seek the lines the message was sent along. They followed movement through the air in the cables from which direction it was sent.

Following that flow they were able to ascertain which cable it was presented from though tracking its forward movement in pipes deep in salt water brought Brayleigh many unwanted concerns. That problem of the cables being in salt water was understood when a comparison between salted and unsalted butter was compared though different to what the cables passed through the changes created were found to be relevant.

Even where the cables had allowed salt water to breach the outer protectives no effect on the fibre optics was measured. The optics could be traced back to a country where the message originated, part due to the usage of words and grammar. Greater knowledge was sought from Kaim to direct them to where in the country that being from due to the spoken dialect that gave the spelling of certain words a distinct flavour.

Following knowledge of the age a being would use a likelihood was directed to an area of the country and then which part of what city. The being was likened due to the use of certain words and used, the coven was able to specifically direct their attentions to where the cable in question came from which gave them knowledge of understanding of which house based on the age of the perpetrator. A house was identified so now the witches had to infiltrate the house.

Seeking who in the house was most likely to follow those beliefs Revenar read the mind of the person at that address who was said to be who they were interested in. Reading that beings mind Revenar was able to confirm that person was who they suspected. With the knowledge of their success they approached the authorities who governed the breaches of insults and threats to people all they had to agree to was which posts to work against first.



To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under part 4

At a meeting to plan the future of the coven, Marissa, Willow, Mikey and Niamh decided it was right that they not should disclose their involvement with the case of tracking the persons who had said of another during the discloser in a post on the internet. Agreeing that all future times the coven should use its abilities they should wait until a sufficient amount of harm had been identified as being directed to the general populace.

While any cases of one person being targeted was usually enough to warrant their involvement it was suggested they ought to remain away from any threat to individual persons until they the knowledge of how or what they needed to do became evident. In addition to that it should be considered that church groups who wanted to target them would only the coven out to be an easy target due to its magical workings on the outdoors altar.

The witches decided it would be best to save themselves the unknown mounds of hatred for saying whom they were, leaving the circle of the four Mikey went to answer the phone that had just begun to ring. He heard the Druid say his daughter had just died in a head on bus crash with a car, the driver of the car had done a runner from the scene of the accident, he wanted the coven to find who the driver of the car was.

Niamh said that although only the Druid has requested them to be involved for his daughter they should consider the other thirty one people on the bus. The meeting quickly agreed with Niamh. Marissa asked Niamh to try and follow where the driver of the car had gone. Mikey was told to inform the police that the coven would attempt to follow then inform them of who they should apprehend as the driver of the car.

A superintendent at the station that was contacted suggested that one officer be their contact and as a group had just been started to deal with psychics the officer in charge should be the one. Agreeing with the Superintendent Mikey received a telephone call a few hours later from a Detective Inspector Leonard Masterfile, he said he was interested how they could possibly track or trace the driver of the car that had caused the accident.

D.I. Masterfile wanted to know how they intended to follow the car when the road had been used by many ambulances, fire trucks and several police cars. Mikey said the coven was not limited to physical attributes. He explained that the coven’s first inquiry was to be invoked by a witch whose ability was to follow the movement of air when the accident occurred helping her was a witch who was known to have green fingers.

D.I. Masterfile wanted to know how a witch with green fingers was right for them. Mikey explained that Maria was the witch, that her ability stemmed from the values of the earth itself, that her form of witchcraft bore the power of nature. Mikey continued to explain that Maria could follow the path of a leaf as it spiraled its way to earth when no wind was about and she could follow a twig as it was blown by a strong gale.

Following an object the size of a car would not provide her with any hardship. An should the car leave the road it would be easy enough for her to understand the movements the tyres treads caused the soil to be parted away from their path. Following their trail could be quite simple, knowing where the car left the road though that was where the difficulty would be felt as many witches might need to be used depending on how many driveways to houses were on that road.

Mikey told D.I. Masterfile that telepaths would be used to hear if a thought had been used before making a turn from the road that Victoria might be employed to know if a series of stones had been moved in the tyre pattern of that car. D.I. Masterfile offered Mikey to send the officers in his group to assist them in any way they could though those officers were rather puzzled to see the three women comparing pebbles having been shed from the track.

The officers started to become confused when the women lay down on the lane as another woman appeared and began to point to other pebbles being thrown away from the track. The police officers were very confused until the women began to tell them what they were doing and why. One of the officers was surprised, he had joined the group thinking they’d be following normal men or women who said they were psychic.

Being placed with the women to care and do what they required the police officers thought it was strange until they were told what the witches were doing and why. Realising there was a reason why the women continually moving forward from them, following pebbles and dust from the track to the verges which appeared odd suddenly the officers understood what the witches were doing, even though they didn’t understand how they did what they were doing.

Eventually the officers were beckoned to go to the front, when they got there one of the women pointed to a heavily disguised house. They waited while other people drove along the track some appeared near the witches. The police officers were told to wait there while the witches went to have a look at the house, several of the officers stated how they were trained to move unseen towards as house then the witches vanished from in front of them.

Willow asked the police officers to move their cars to be out of sight from the track, once the police had that the witch told them it was just in case one tried to leave the house. The police officers were sat near the edge of the road verge as Mikey appeared next to them. An officer asked Mikey how he could vanish and become invisible, “I can’t but there are a few in the coven who can they hold us so that we appear to disappear,” said Mikey.

“So what is happening at the house?” asked one of the police officers. Mikey looked to her, “Those of the coven are wandering about the house looking for evidence of the girl, when they know where she is you will be notified so that she can be rescued, until then we need to be complacent to just wait here,” said Mikey. An officer asked Mikey if they were positive the girl was in the house?” Another officer asked Mikey, “How he knew about the case so quick?”

Mikey was a tactful as the situation allowed, “Members of the coven are friends with the girls father, he is a valued friend.” An officer was about to use the radio, but Mikey interrupted him and asked him to stop. “What if they have a scanner?” The officer started to use his phone asking for a SWAT to be sent to their position so they could all break into the house. The Druids daughter Mazie, was protected by two of the witches, one of whom caused them to vanish.

Able to keep away from those tracking them they helped the Druids daughter clamber to the top of a hill, as the light of the day failed Mikey looked to the valley below to watch where those following them were. When they woke as the sun crossed the horizon, Willow and Marie led Mazie to see the ocean glinting just beyond the land. Seeing where their pursuers were Mikey dug a hole for a fire and lit it knowing the smoke would not give their position away.

When they had finished the meal they carefully climbed down the hill to the river deep in the valley, all the time watching their pursuers resting against a tree. Mikey cupped his hands in the river and tasted the water, he told the others how clear and crisp the water was. Willow watched as a bird flew onto the branch of a tree, she did not recognize what sort of bird it was though it was good to see the bird fly about, she gazed at the bird for a few minutes before it flew away.

As soon as they had quenched their thirst they began to walk alongside the river away from their pursuers, slowly and quietly walking along a track, whenever Mazie felt her mouth getting a bit dry she knelt at the river’s edge and cupped her hands. The further the group progressed along the valley the more they all noted the feeling that someone or something was beckoning them to keep going beside the river.

All through the day they kept an eye out for their pursuers but no sight of them was reported, towards the middle of the day Mikey looked for a good place for them to rest, when he found a place and the other sat down near him he noticed two women sat on a rock on the other side of the river. Telling Willow of the women Willow waved to them, there was something about the way they returned the wave though she didn’t know what it was.

After they had rested they kept going along the path, listening as the river warbled between rocks, without realizing how long they had been walking Mazie said her shadow was on the ground in front of her, Mikey pointed to an area that looked as though it had been cleared of bushes. While Willow looked about her, she saw several small bushes lying on the ground, away from the cleared area. Mikey became aware that there were no leaves on the ground either.

On closer inspection he found the bushes were broken branches stuck in the ground for effect Marie said she had become aware of stone that was placed in a circle, placed by people whose feet were shoeless and so many of the feet seemed to be like those of children. Mazie drew everyone’s attention to the footprints they all appeared to have webbed feet and they led from and back into the river.

Mikey saw several small rock circles around the central stone. “Do you think they had small fires in those circles?” He collected some kindling and placed the small bundles by each one. Being the last of them to leave the area Mikey felt a wave of happiness at what he had done. Willow pointed up the hill on the other side of the river to a rock formation. As the neared the rock formation Marie looked back into the valley but saw no one.

As the day began to merge into the evening and the light faded to become twilight the rocks wall around the fire hid its glare in the darkness. A full moon caused the light to be reflected from the rivers surface. Cooking some fish they had caught in the river they settled and relaxed in the makeshift camp. Without realizing he had fallen asleep Mikey woke up he looked to the river and saw two women in the river, wading where the wading birds wandered with them.

Mikey didn’t expect them to return his wave but they did, he was about to stand and wave again when he heard a twig snap nearby. He feared that Mazie’s pursuers had caught up with them he started to panic just as he heard another twig snap, he quickly looked around him but didn’t see anyone. He whispered to anyone who could hear him. “You’d better show yourself, I can hear your breathing.”

As soon as he heard the grass being ripped from the ground it became obvious to him what had caused the twigs to snap; both sheep were happily grazing on the grass unaware of his reaction. Mikey laughed to himself he jokingly spoke to them both, “Are you get to get Mazie?” Smiling to himself he noticed that one of the two women was smiling to him.


To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under part 5


He wondered from where Mazie came, she had said but over time he had forgotten and he found himself to be too embarrassed to ask her again. It never occurred to him that he was in the valley where many of the witches came from though he came to meet more of them when two children were forced off the side of a bridge into the river below.

By the time Mikey had raced down to the banks of the river the brother was diving underwater to try a see his sister. Even Mikey could see no movement of her in the clear water, he wasn’t aware that a young woman had venture from the bushes to the water she stepped from the rivers bank onto the water ready to receive the sister from the brother.

Mikey was glad she had been laid on the rivers bank though he failed to understand how a small fire had been built and lit. Mikey faced the young woman, it was only after he had been staring at her that he realised she was the one he had seen on the boulder beside the river. He wanted to ask her who the other was though he grew scared of what the answer might be.

Mikey and Mazie wandered through the town that day, Mikey was unsure why five men had begun to follow them, were they the same as those who followed them into the valley or were these men after any money they might have. So they drove along road on the other side of town roads that led to tracks leading away from the town.

Seeking to keep themselves away from the five men they were also careful not to get mixed up with the local police. Mikey found that each member of the coven of them was bound to keep the secrecy as no matter how they measured their monetary value they found themselves unable to make a phone call such was the limit of their finances.

Not that Mikey should have considered the covens finances as from the ground began to be seen witches walking upwards, Melissa the High Priestess of the coven led the procession from the earth, Angharad, Christi, Katie, Maria, Marissa, Niamh, Revenar and Victoria wandered from the trees as Mikey witnessed another eight members of the coven appear.

Mikey turned to face Mazie, he wanted to ask her why so many of the coven had risen to be there and what was about to happen. The only thing Mazie questioned was given that the witches were all from an age gone by was Angharad a real name and if so where did the name come from? Mikey smiled to her, he didn’t expect a question of that substance.

The name Angharad is the name of a member of the coven the name was first noticed when used by the covens telepath, a child from the tin mines in the United Kingdom’s land of Cornwall. Admittedly it was a chilling area known for tales of the Devil, some of him as a good person some of him pronouncing fear as a virtually hateful being.

The coven stopped by the side of the track as a group of horse riders was seen to be heading straight towards them. Melissa went to stand in front of the riders though when it appeared as though they were not going to stop Christi (who could control any item she chose to) as she stepped forward to be beside her and raised her hands and the band of horse riders stopped.

The leader of whom ordered them to move as they were taking a magistrate to test why the local magistrate had been attacked by two children. Christi faced Angharad expressing a need to know the truth, Angharad told Christi that the towns magistrate was lying so that no one would think ill of him, telling a lie was not his concern.

Mikey whispered to Angharad and asked her to tell Melissa so no one else could hear that the towns magistrate had forced the children from the bridge. Melissa held her ground, “Should you wish to tell such lies to the people here do not expect we will allow you to pass.” She lowered a hand to the ground and the witch Kaim entered the world.

Melissa approached the first two riders, she asked them if they were willing not to tell their tall tales to the people of the town, when they refused not to do as she wanted Melissa forced them to get off their horses. Kaim opened a gateway into the ground and accompanied the two men down from all who could breathe the fresh life giving air.

Melissa began to approach the second pair who withdrew their swords and positioned themselves as if to threaten Melissa, Christi waved a hand in front of her and the swords vanished while the horses joined the other two. The magistrate looked at Melissa, “While I will not do the Devils work I do fear you.” Melissa indignantly told them she did not work for the Devil.

“Even if I did, you do not accept that the Devil works for God. God had him watch over the dead when he was the Angel Lucifer, now The Devil. Yet still God wants him to remain: The Devil and God are friends so if you continue to do as the other magistrate wants you will be going against God and as such he will not continue to see you as his friend,” said Melissa.

Have you even begun to consider that it was God who started hell, that it was God who sent the Angel Lucifer to govern hell, that God sends those into hell for the Devil to watch over them. Melissa continued to look solemnly to the magistrate. The magistrate thought about what he was being told, “No I will not listen and believe a witch,” he said.

“Shame, God had high hopes for you,” said Melissa. Katie went towards the magistrate, stopped in front of him then they both vanished. Melissa looked to the members of the coven, “I feel the time is now right, I see that we can work well with each other, now we can go to the present.”
Mikey was confused he faced Melissa to see what her reaction was.

“We go back into the earth so when we breathe the air again it will be in the time you now there we will begin to seek those who like to take peoples possessions by the computer.” Willow grinned, “About time that was sorted it has been a long time coming for them to get their dues.” The members of the coven began to walk down into the ground,

incredulously watched by Mazie she was scared that anyone could walk into the earth, she had long considered it a domain of the Devil, it had hardly ever been considered as being ruled by God, nor had her words of the Devil and God being friends. The first Mikey knew of his return to his time was when he was discovered that he was sat in the drivers seat in his car.

He turned to face his passenger, mainly to see who it was. Willow grinned, “First stop should be a computer I want to know what falsehood has been perpetrated.” Finding a company had its security system files breached and massive loads of the peoples details made available for anyone who wanted to buy them to contact them Mikey said they needed to make an offer.

Niamh permitted herself to follow the computer from where the files had been taken. With Brayleigh they began to trace them through the caustic salt water until the cables breached the next continent. Christina, Katie and Melissa started to trace the content written on the many multitudes of keyboards until they found themselves close to where they needed to be,

Willow positioned herself with Carissa and Victoria to find the area the threat originated. When they found the block of flats Revenar and Angharad were given freedom to follow the mindsets of anyone they sought details from. Initially they tracked those who appeared to be wealthy then it became obvious that the thief was being threatened by others.

It was quickly found clear who was the perpetrator, Melissa was told but she suggested that the group who forced the perpetrator to break so many peoples dreams was dragged through the gutters. The other who had threatened the perpetrator were found quite easily, they did not expect anyone to know who they were.

The first they knew of any problem to their freedom was when their building was surrounded and the doors breached by hundreds of armed police. At the same time a squad of police took the perpetrator into custody, he was arrested while he was at a supermarket. The police were not bothered if the arrest was made in the open for the general public to see.

It wasn’t expected that he would be in a situation where knowledge of what he had done was broadly known. Melissa decided that the coven should gather at the house for the following few days. Willow suggested to her that the police were to be given details of how the perpetrator had been caught and an offer made for them to help again.



To Be Continue

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under part 6
(Inspiration gained from Game of Life – What are you listening to page 4 #77)

It was almost thirty minutes past four in the afternoon when Melissa, Willow, Mikey and Niamh were stood on the back veranda, they were idly looking into the forest. Melissa pointed to a long building between the trees. “I haven’t noticed that place before.” Mikey looked at it, “I have it looks as though those trees over that way have lost a lot of leaves,” he continued.

Melissa kept looking at the building, “What sort of place is it?” she asked. “It used to be a church but the vicar took on the role of teaching the children of the parish even though there was only a eight kids. Word began to spread that the vicar of the church was unresponsive to any child who sought forgiveness for failing to remember the tasks he had set them.

Although none of the people of the parish listened to any child’s reports of the vicars misbehaviours. It was not until the unknown witches of nearby believed the parents of the children. They found why none of the children had been heard to complain during the day. The vicar had secretly moved the classroom away from the hearing range of the town site.

Unable to hear their children’s screams the parents thought all was well with the schoolchildren yet he only chose to teach them what he thought the forcefulness of the church disciplinarians would want the children to know. With the school’s classrooms now situated away from the front of the church, only he and the schools children knew of the punishments.

Could the vicar wish to hear the children’s screams he never chose to repeat their protestations, the vicar often lost his patience with the children: he thought they deliberately omitted to memorize what he had repeatedly told them to repeat to him. Many times the five year olds were given several lashes of his leather belt and many times did droplets of blood fall on the floor.

Offering to house the children in his boarding school, though he said it was for the benefit of the children it really was for him, he found an excuse to raise the drastic measures of punishment though unknown to him over time the children he had punished beyond need had found their favour with the witches. The favour that allowed the children to return from the grave.

The vicar was unaware he would face a room of many dead who hated what he the vicar had taught them. The vicars tales of a forgiving deity failed to help their wish to heal the dead or to pass the sickness forced on them by the vicar. The only ones the children could ask for help with the promise that they might receive the help was the witches the witches the vicar berated.

As soon as the vicar had unknowingly killed each of the children they would often go for walks with the witches. Melissa smiled as she and Willow with Niamh and Mikey led the ghostly procession of the schoolchildren from the schools boarding room along the tracks that led away from the rooms they had once been taught in.

Getting closer to a stone archway the children slowed and stopped. “You are right to stop this time but only until they get to know you and trust you,” said Melissa. She who was once the daughter of the town’s magistrate stood up to Melissa, though she only wanted to know why she and the other dead should stop. Melissa smiled to her.

Bear in mind the fate of all the unknown who enter beyond the gate for they face those who protect the witches. Should they who protect the inhabitants of the graveyard become known to those who glare then joy will encompass you as you wander towards the central structure circling the enlarged pond that had crows governed it acreage.

Do not look up beyond the treetops and into the sky. You might ask why you can hear the thunder crackle around the trees. Even though there is a clear blue sky. As you pass into the threshold of the church do not look up to see what is missing in the belfry or you might want to know where the sound of the bells came from.

Finding times when the crows allowed demon’s to smile to the visitors to the graveyard and the bells did not feel the bells to become loud. The demons knew the witches would protect the secret they had held hidden from the knowledge of the public.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under Part 6 – B

Mikey motioned Melissa to listen closely to what he had to say, with her Willow and Niamh they strode towards Mikey. He asked if anyone had mentioned the children from the school had been mentioned of late. The witches looked towards each other, none of them could recall any mentions of the children, Niamh suggested that one of them learnt the name of each child.

It was decided that Willow be volunteered to seek details of the children when the vicar was out tending to the graves in the graveyard. Willow was surprised when a figure of a child wandered through a desk in front of her. She asked the child her name and how many other were like her; dead. The ghost replied that more sightings of a the dead from there would be likely.

The coven of witches proceeded to the back of the school to stand at the back of the classroom, the vicar stood at the head of the class, he looked somewhat embarrassed as Tahlia appeared at one of the front row of desks. “I was chastised by this so called man of God, he took a liking to wrap my hands with a metal ruler, one day he hit me a little too hard

he cut the skin on three knuckles, it caused the bleeding to not stop until a long time after I had died. Such was his religious pomp that he discarded my please for help. So began his fall from grace until the time that God was removed from where he ventured in the school, even when the other schoolchildren joined me in the classroom Hell rose to him.”

Tahlia was ever so embarrassed when she spoke to Mikey, even though she was twelve year old she had never spoken to a boy before. Her mother had always kept her protected from boys, having said they only wanted to cause evil to Tahlia, and if the boy could not he would spread the word that she was more than willing to be a happy participant in the ways of the male.

While talking to Mikey and hearing his replies other female children walked through the walls, allowing themselves to be seen in the company of a living boy. Mikey smiled to the ghosts making it obvious that he sought their friendship, though he refrained from standing to close to any of them the ghostly boys were not given the same offer of companionship.

Seeing the segregation of the young ghostly males and females Mikey let them see him put an arm over Melissa’s shoulder. Tahlia stared at Melissa, “How could you allow a boy to treat you like that?” asked Tahlia. Melissa smiled, “”It is a way for Mikey to let his friendship with me be known, if he wanted a greater form of friendship there are other ways to show that to me. Let it

be known that if he did he would regret it, as the leader of this coven of witches I have great power enough to transform him into a frog with a sore throat,” said Melissa. Two of the other female ghosts stepped closer to Mikey, Maude and Elspet. “They were happy that not all men were seen as horrible to them as the vicar was.” They were confused as Mikey was the only one.

“As a coven of witches we prefer to keep a limit of thirteen women to a coven. Mikey was invited to join the coven but not as one of its members Mikey teaches each witch about the time they are in as comparison to when they were. Two of our members were falsely accused of a death by witchcraft yet they admitted to us they knew they did worse and are glad to be with us.”

“Who would that be?” asked Tahlia. Melissa faced to her right handside “That would be Brayleigh and her sister Revenar, joining her sister in our afterlife as opposed to the afterlife that those in the school have,” said Melissa. About to respond to her Tahlia was interrupted by a commotion from the back of the chapel in the open area behind the classroom.

Willow and Mikey stepped outside to see what the noise was, they saw several wooden crates were on the ground in the alley. “We saw three ghostly children run from the rooms, they ran into the wooden crates.” “Are you saying the ghosts knocked the crates over and caused the din,” asked Mikey. “No the ghosts ran through the crates, knocking them over was us,” said Maude.

Willow looked to them then to the alley, “How can ghosts run out of here?” Elspet smiled then said, “The ghosts are able to run around as long as they stay on the land owned by their religion and that totals well over five hundred acres, such is the worry as the ghosts can travel throughout the town searching for relatives of the vicar. It is said they are unmarried but many have children

Who grew up and have families of their own.” When Melissa was told of the ever increasing size of the ghosts area to search she spoke to Tahlia she asked her to keep the ghosts of the children behind the church yet within the classrooms of the chapel expressing her fear that the ghosts might spread panic through the townsfolk by running through their homes.

Brayleigh asked Tahlia if she knew why the ghost children had run out of the classroom into the town. Tahlia was thoughtful for a few moments, “A few days ago they asked me if any other children were taught by the vicar without thinking I said I thought that he had been to another school in the town. Melissa said he had lately been going to the local high school.

It could be that the ghosts wanted to warn those children about the vicar. Mikey Willow accompanied Tahlia when they visited the principal Mrs. Valerie Swanepoel of the high school. “We have a problem for you to prevent from becoming a great problem, it has come to my attention that the vicar who teach religious Education is a murderer.”

Mrs. Swanepoel was adamant he had been verified as suitable to teach at her school. “I am in charge of the class that he used to teach and I do tell you he murdered each one of the class.” “Very funny and what is your excuse?” asked Mrs. Swanepoel as she faced Tahlia. Tahlia grinned then slowly vanished only to reapear in front of Valerie.

“Yes I do include myself, what I fear is that others from the class I was in are searching for victims of the vicar who was born a couple of hundred years ago, so no the checks on his ability to teach at your high school were flawed.” Tahlia looked to Mikey, “He seeks to better those in the coven who found us and led us to safety.”

“I only seek to help any who have died and need special help getting used to todays accepted mannerisms and what clothing one can wear, which can be greatly different from when they were alive. Just compare how an unmarried woman in seventeen hundred was expected to behave compared with how a woman of today can be,” said Mikey.

Valeria thought about what he said, the accepted the value of his words, “Could he be seen as a Sin Eater for a woman who had not sinned?” she asked. “Yes you could say that only now he needs to come with us to try and find the dead children from the classes, the victims old and new of the vicar. What would help us is the addresses of those being taught by him,” said Tahlia.

Melissa led her coven to seek who had visited each of the addresses, though they took their time when considering who and what had visited the home. They were deeply reliable in regard to seeking any other undead visitors to the home. By keeping the owners knowledge of them in the discreet search to a minimum they could seek a quick search of the list.

Only one home was found to have undead visitors in the house. Two of the children were found to be initial victims of the vicar, they had been set aside as his targets. Melissa, Niamh and Willow found they could push the ability to conflict the false judgement by the vicar. Ending the vicars control of the victims gave them the successful will to be happy again.

Mrs. Swanepoel was happy she had been warned about the ghostly vicar and her children had been saved. Valerie took them to the chapel and asked them to be friends with the ghostly children, to find who the ghosts had and are related to.


To Be Continued

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under Part 7

(just in case you get confused The Entity that has capital letters is from out of town, the entity without capital letters is the local one.)

Melissa asked Niamh, Willow and Tahlia to form the first group of witches, she wanted them to patrol the town and find out where the ghost children were. After an hour of wandering the back streets where some of the houses were located Tahlia spotted about five of the ghost children. Niamh and Willow ran with Tahlia to greet them,

the children were pleased to see the witches but not for the reasons the witches thought the eldest of the ghosts said word had been given to her about The Entity which was travelling to the city on a train. The ghost knew of now reason why the entity was on travelling to the city, she guessed that the reason for the journey was not a good one.

Melissa quickly passed that message to each of the coven, she wanted to know which train the entity was on and when it would arrive in the city. Several of the witches had requested they be told what sort of entity it is, good, bad or downright evil and if it was downright evil was it out for blood, what was the reason for The Entity to be in the city.

Niamh had sent many messages to the other members of their coven, not expecting any answers she was surprised when she did. Niamh was very surprised to learn that Brayleigh had changed her name several times, as Brayleigh stated, I have four graves each one has a different year written on it with a different name.

I always used a name that fitted the century I was in, the names I had began with are Brai-un, which became Bridle, then Braileegh I changed the spelling for the latest version to be Brayleigh. I was first born in the year thirteen twenty four and made it to the year thirteen forty six before I was killed for being a witch.

Several people had accused me of doing witchcraft none of their claims were true. I was I knew who they were not that it would matter now, mmm that is a thought how about we go to the graveyard for the coven as there would be an entity who would watch over our graves. Some of our kind used to be very security conscious.

Our entity might even know about The Entity who is coming to the city. Niamh is pleasantly surprised by Brayleighs revelation. Niamh passed on the good news to Melissa. The next day Brayleigh told Niamh that The Entity had only started its journey to the city because I had just been awoken, The Entity wanted to discover if any dependants of those who falsely accused me were alive.

Niamh faces Brayleigh, did the entity here know if the other entity was good, bad, or indifferent to human life? Brayleigh grinned, “I doubt that an entity who was intentionally seeking the dependents of any who had killed a witch by making false claims could possibly be out to do good by everyone concerned, The Entity might be on a par with the Angel of Death.”

Niamh sent a quick message to Melissa to get her to arrange for a group of us to confront the entity. Melissa quickly replied, she said she would get some witches together though she didn’t think a confrontation with The Entity was a particularly good idea. The chosen witches were Brayleigh, Niamh, Willow, Mikey and the entity from the local graveyard.

Deciding what the best way to find The Entity from the other place Mikey listened to the entity from the graveyard, either meets it at the railway station or at the entrance of the forest. It was decided they would go to the railway station after they borrowed Mikey’s car. Niamh rested the knowledge from the air what time The Entity would arrive at the city railway station.

Melissa was able to send Mikey using an advanced form of Astral Projection to be in the same carriage of the train as the entity. Keeping near without being close Mikey was given the permission of Angharad’s to borrow her gift of reading a mind, not wasting any time Mikey got close enough to hear the entity’s thoughts on his plan of action.

Mikey wasn’t overly surprised at what the entity had planned to do though he was a bit shocked at the entity’s willingness to make whatever descendent of Brai-un’s accuser he could find to force the person to speak the truth. Mikey was unsure if he should say something to that entity, to convince him not to torture the descendent to tell the truth.

Mikey suddenly realised that The Entity was staring straight at him, he gulped. The Entity then smiled to Mikey, “If you do let your feelings build up inside you speaking aloud might be an unforeseen consequence. Luckily for you there is an answer as being a magical being I can make a person say the truth without having to succumb to violence.”

Mikey had not thought of that, “How will you find where the present descendent might be living?” asked Mikey. Once again the entity smiles to Mikey, “A quick trip to Brai-un’s grave should enable me to find the accuser then seeking the life force of the accuser in the ground should begin to lead me any of the current members of that family.

Mikey told the entity that he would have a car at the railway station, “It will make getting to the graveyard easier.” The train began to slow, looking from the window Mikey recognized the buildings that passed by. “We will be at the station in a few minutes,” said Mikey. “Good, nothing can stop me know, literally nothing,” said the entity.

Wandering along the platform to the exit the walls began to close in on each other, there were three bollards that were there to slow the people down as the left the station. Mikey was stunned as The Entity continued to walk right through the bollards on his way out of the station. Mikey stepped in front of him and directed him to where he was told his car would be parked.

Mikey was quite thankful the car was parked where he was told it would be. Mikey asked Melissa if she wanted to know what they had been talking about, Melissa grinned to Mikey. “Oh the joys of using witchy – woos, we heard your conversations though Niamh was upset as there was no colourful language used between you two.”

Getting into the car the entity remarked about the quality of the driving being done, Melissa replied saying that Brayleigh was being taught how to drive, she remarked that Brayleigh’s driving was quite good considering her first lesson was getting to the railway station. The Entity was impressed that Mikey would let a complete novice drive his car.

“What are you on about?” asked Brayleigh, “I have been driving cars for fifty years, admittedly this is the first time in an automatic, but even so.” The Entity looks to Brayleigh, “Oh right, the last time you were lifted from the grave, how did you change the date on your drivers license? Hang on, my mistake, you used witchcraft to alter the figures,” said the entity.

“That is one thing I never thought I’d be competent at,” said Brayleigh. “What?” asked The Entity. “Who’d have thought that a witch would be taught how to be a forger?” asked Brayleigh. At the grave yard the entity learned that Brayleigh had changed grave a couple of times, when she was accused and found guilty of being a witch she was hung then buried.

“Not the best way to kill a witch, initially though, when she was first buried her name was Brai-un, though she was soon moved to be at the present graveyard. “Then I learnt the art of grave robbing though no one from the authorities nor from the church bothered about anyone taking witches from their graves.

The Entity enquired who moved her. Brayleigh raised her hand but before she could say anything entity said there is a toilet in the church. The Entity wandered onto the grave where Brai-un was initially buried. Revenar was able to follow movement through the ground, it lead her to the local town of Balishavon.

The Entity smiled, he said to find the initial accuser would be quite easy as even he knew that in days gone by the name of the village had been changed a few times, “It used to be known as Bals Haven and before that it was the, Home of Baal. “There is a possibility that the accuser was a follower of the Demon Baal,” said The Entity.

A church in Balishavon had records of every descendent of everyone who once lived in the village, the accuser was found to be Martyn Bradshaw. Melissa took a team of witches to lift his skeleton from his grave for demon lovers and put it in consecrated ground. Then it was a simple case of following each descendent through the years.

The present descendent of the demon worshipper was Matthew Bradshaw a priest for the Methodist church in Welisdon. A couple of the witches walked near him after a service one Sunday, they learnt that he had no knowledge of who his ancestors were not that the ignorance of his ancestral line was an excuse of innocence.

Brayleigh was given the first opportunity to announce to his congregation who his ancestor was yet before she could list her ancestors false accusation Niamh let The Entity know of the doubt the witches had. The Entity had no such qualms. He asked the priest during the following morning about how a family of a demon worshipper became a priest during a Sunday service.

The embarrassment that was dropped onto him in front of the congregation was too much for him to ignore, he resigned from the church after the following fortnight. Not that anyone from the church realised how close the church had been to being caste out of all Christianity. The Entity saw he had done his worth.


TO BE CONTINUED

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Witches From Under Part 8


Melissa wandered along the well trodden path that led along the side of the hill which overlooked the chapel where a few members of the coven had taken to stay in, looking down to an outcrop of rocks she saw Mikey sat on them. By the time Melissa had approached Mikey she had been able to call him and ask him what he was looking at. “Nothing really,” he called to her.

“Then what are you thinking of?” asked Melissa. “I am contemplating about those members of the coven who had taken a new direction of late,” answered Mikey. He glanced at the mushrooms that grew in the moisture laden grass, “There are several members of the coven who have secret agendas. Some of whom may have possibly worked to encourage a new protection.”

Mikey suggested, “Melissa should question Revenar who had taken over from Marnie although she still uses her name when a surprise was required.” Melissa was quite impressed that they had been discovered this soon. “Oh and Mikey, you have got the wrong notion about Revenar it wasn’t that Revenar was taken over as much as she was completely replaced.

With the personalities of Kaim, Maria and Gwen the coven was long foreshadowed to a grouping of a gracious mixture of predominantly white witches. The fine lady who was once known as Carissa removed her being by changing who she was known as to be Melissa. Mikey began to understand what had become of the coven he was sure he had once known.

It was not that a new coven had been built, more that the older members of the coven had chosen to replace themselves or had simply found a new name to be known as. Smiling at Mikey’s awareness of who the coven had become, Melissa started to tell him what she wanted him to know and not to fear. As he started to know members for who they once were.

It became known that women who had once been accused of witchcraft were not witches but the men who controlled the well being of the populace had paid children to tell the adults of the community who they thought a witch was. The adult then accused the woman and while undergoing vile torture the woman would admit to anything thought to set them free.

Not that was the end result as the women would be put to death in a most gruesome manner, for which a man would often declare himself a Witchfinder and take money for the help he presented to the community. Should a woman prove adept at making her innocence beyond reproach the Witchfinder General could be brought in. A man with a reputation such as him was

regarded as being above reproach. Only a very clever woman was able to promote her innocence either that or she was a proficient witch. Only a proficient witch could control the amount of pain the Witchfinder and his team could perpetrate on an elderly woman. It was often the elderly women who would often fail to be known as a friend to the children of the village.

The change of the law in England did not come soon enough for many an elderly spinster and those who claimed themselves to be religious took proud recognition for protecting the people of the village. As many of the women who were accused of being a witch gave themselves to the Devil to teach the church not to falsely accuse the friend of the community.

Mikey looked into the accusations of Christiana, Katie and Maria and found that each of the three women went about their daily chores by helping members of the community who had ailments. They had separate way of procuring the materials of nature to make the ingredients to cause them to make the poultice. One of them would use the wood of a tree, one would seek certain types of leaves from a tree.

Katie chose to dig into the ground to find specific produce of plants, depending on what was found to be wrong she could dig up potatoes, carrots, turnips, beetroot or a mixture of them. Another type of cure could be found when she took fruit from various types of fruit trees. Even though on one time she failed to cure the ailment of a woman and while the woman did not get any worse Katie was accused and put to death by the family.

Christiana was found guilty after being accused by the mothers daughter. The magistrate was told that a common poultice had been made and put on each of the woman’s boils and her condition had been rectified. Even so the other healers in the village agreed with how the woman was treated Christiana was found guilty of being a witch, and as such she was killed.

Maria took her accusation that she was a witch in her stride, she had even told the magistrate how proficient she was. The magistrate didn’t know how to relate to her statement. The clerk of the court told him to get the accused to admit being a witch. So Marian cut open an apple then placed two seeds in some soil. Before the magistrates eyes an apple tree began to grow.

Maria was pleased with herself when the apple tree bore fruit, one fruit was tasted by the clerk of the court. Before sentence could be passed on Maria she warned the magistrate to adhere to the law of the land regarding her death. The magistrate responded, “That you will be hung then buried.” Maria was pleased she would not be burnt alive. “Why?” asked the magistrate.

“If I am going to be reborn in this body many years from now my not being burnt will assist my returning,” said Maria. The magistrate was dubious about Maria’s claim saying the church knew nothing of what she said. “It is nothing to do with the church as the punishment is from your court. Now if this country was ruled by the Catholic church maybe but it is a protestant country.”

Wanting to know the difference the magistrate asked how the name of a religion could change the punishment. “It is like this, if this country of England was run by the Catholic a witch would be burnt to cause the Devil to be released from her body but as England is a Protestant country there needs be proof of witchcraft or heresy cannot be proven burning a criminal is not allowed.

Mikey began to know why the graves of the Ashwordly coven were all for witches who had been buried upright. What Mikey failed to understand was how the earliest of Witches were not burnt to death. Melissa explained to him that either the woman had been found to have killed the person normally or no one had accused her of being a witch.

One or two had scared the torturer so much that proof of guilt was often offered by them but not proven. Mikey wanted to know how that could be. Melissa told him of an accusation of witchcraft being performed to stop a woman’s hand being burnt when placed in a metal cauldron. Melissa said the woman’s hand showed no evidence of being put into a cauldron of boiling water.

Members of the coven had gathered to do their favourite trick during the late evenings hours. A fire would be built in a clearing amongst the trees and set alight once the darkness was evident. People from the church rode their horses to capture the witch but to no avail. Melissa explained that several were placed near the fire each one with a copious amount of water in several cauldrons to put the fire out.

With the light of the fire having been extinguished each member of the coven would then cover their body with the heavy woolen blanket and covered it over their head. Even with torches the men from the church would not see them the people with heavy woolen blankets as they escaped between the trees. To the men from the church the witches had vanished.

All that was left to do was to find who had accused the women of being witches, often the clerk to the magistrate had written of those who had accused the women of witchcraft. Much time was spent by the entity who searched the descendents of those the accusers, they were traced along the eons of time to find the current descendants. Much fun was found to cause them to live in fear about what they were to face. Though nothing need be done just spoken of.



To Be Continued