Spoiler! :
Chapter 6
Malvera Town, 1856
“Mother, I’m scared.” Young Rufus said, holding tightly to his mother. He was only five, and the experience to see something horrifying for him was never needed.
The execution of culprits was held in the city, in front of everyone. There were many people gathered, surrounding the wrongdoer. The tradition which was still applied until then was originated long ago by a Hunter.
“That’s the witches!” Edna informed his son. The witches were all blindfolded, chained under the fiery sun in the afternoon.
“Kill them!” “Don’t give them chance!” audience shouted, showing how much they hated the Witches.
“Mother, let’s go home.” he cried. He turned his head to his mother legs so he couldn’t see the execution.
“We can’t. They asked us to stay here.” She said.
“O Citizen of Malvera! If any of you dare to be like this devil-worshipper, you’ll surely get your punishment!” a speaker
proclaimed.
The crowds were obnoxious, even the ladies were being so damn frantic.
“You wait here sweetie.” Edna said suddenly, looking at the opposite side, “Someone’s calling me.”
“Mother, don’t!” Rufus pleaded, pulling her mother closer.
“Sweetheart, just a little while, Aunt Prudence over there is calling me,” Edna reassured him, “Remember, the only thing we have to is the fear itself so don’t you be scared. Men are tough.” A smile drawn by her, giving Rufus confidence, he never found in life.
He watched as she left him in the middle of the crowd, and she was struggling through the crowds, going somewhere Rufus was uncertain.
He was holding his tears back, ashamed of other people. All that he wished by the time was that for his mother to come back.
“Rufus, here!” a voice heard, it was a child voice. In bewilderment, Rufus looked right and left, trying to detect where was it came from. But as the sound repeated, he finally recognized who it was.
“Rufus, what are you doing here? Where’s mum?” his older brother Tom, asked loudly so that his question was clear.
“I don’t where she’s going. She said to Aunt Prudence.” Rufus stated. His voice became clearer as he wiped off his tears. He wanted to hide on how coward he was to Tom.
“Let’s go. There’s no point waiting here!” Tom suggested, taking Rufus hand and pulled it.
“No! Mum asked me to stay,” Rufus continued, “She said we can’t leave because we are forced to see this.”
“There’s no such thing as forced to see this witch trial!” Tom argued. From the beginning of their conversation, they seemed to be nothing but argument.
“Do you go here alone?” Rufus shouted as his voice was overshadowed by the crowds-seemed endless-noise.
“No, I’m with my friend!”
“Then go, you don’t have to worry about me. I am not scared.” Rufus said, turning a deaf ear on Tom.
“Whatever!” he said annoyed. Then he left, leaving Rufus alone again.
But it wasn’t long until Edna came back, bringing a basket which Rufus didn’t know it’s contain. Rufus ran towards her.
“Aunt Prudence gave us this.” She said, taking off the basket cover, revealing many fresh-red apples inside it.
“Okay mum now let’s go home!” Rufus suggested.
“Not yet. I already told you we can’t leave,” she reminded him. A flash of grin was drawn by her.
“Tom was here and he left without problem.”
“T...Tom? He’s here? He’s a child Rufus, like you. Ladies like us are forced to because the chance one of us are a witch
is high and they don’t want it to happen.”
Enough explanation. Rufus was tired and he waited reluctantly. Suddenly, there was a loud shouting voice, directly caught everyone’s attention, as if it was an alarm.
“Watch out!” a man screamed, trying to warn everybody.
At first, everybody had no idea what was he trying to warn of. But there was a scream, or more precisely a squeak and sinister laugh.
From the sky, a witch was falling quickly, sending a trail of explosion underneath her. The witch was in a gown, a typical witches’ dress. But her power was no typical witches’ ability. As she landed on the ground, in between the crowds and the culprits, the earth cracked.
Peoples screamed and scattered away. Only armed guards pursued, surrounding her as if they knew what more could the witch do. But they didn’t.
“Mortals are weak. You can’t even touch me.” She announced in the middle of the chaos, “Emma will take you all down.” She introduced herself.
Emma was beautiful, magnificent in her white gown, blue eyes, brown hair with many golden necklaces on her neck. She was tall and slender, with round eyes and fair complexion.
Meanwhile, Edna was busy running away, taking Rufus, who was crying heavily with her. The streaming throngs made her difficult to get away. Endless scream followed with cry, as if the witch surely would kill them.
One spell took every guard down. Bullets – even if shot rapidly towards her – didn’t hurt her, not even close. Blood was spattering on the ground. She killed them all and set the other witches free.
“Till we meet again!” she said, and vanished through thin air, leaving silence to the central town.
Tick. Tock. Tick.
Then there were other guards coming, surprised to see his friends on the ground.
“No!” one of the man said. But he noticed, between the dead bodies, there was someone, still alive.
“Ethan, can you hear me?” he asked in panic, taking Ethan’s head, placing it on his lap. He was relieved to hear his breath.
“Take him to The Barracks!” he ordered.
Edna arrived at home safety, grateful. She locked the door behind him. She stepped into the bedroom, leaving Rufus on the other room.
She closed the wooden door of her bedroom – once a bedroom of her and Marcus. Sitting on the fluffy bed, she took a photograph from the drawer and held it closely to her chest.
“Marcus, I missed you.” She murmured. Tears flowed vigorously upon her rosy cheeks. It had been three years since his husband death and her love for him still strong that even a light memorable moment they shared flashed in her mind, she would cry.
Then, she noticed, from the slightly-opened door, Rufus was watching her, perplexed.
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