Chapter 606 - Interlude - Quartus Nix - The Witch of the Woods (Patreon)

Quartus Nix’s five-year old sister was sick, and it was his job as her big seven-year old brother to look after her. A solemn duty he took on with pride! 

“Can you drink?” He whispered to his sister, trying to wipe back her sweaty bangs. “Can you say ‘healer?’”

That would fix everything, if she could just break out of her delirious state long enough to say the literal magic word. That was the way the world worked. The gods hadn’t been so cruel as to create disease and injury without an easy way to fix them. Nix put one arm under her head and tilted her up in her bed, wrinkling his nose at the smell of sweat-soaked sheets. He put the wooden mug of water up to her lips.

“Please drink please drink.” He whispered in prayer as he tilted the mug up. A few swallows went down her throat, and most dribbled down her neck, soaking her tunic. Nix carefully laid her back down, got a rag, and started to wipe her down, debating if he needed to change her. Again. The sheets needed to be changed for sure, but Nix didn’t think he could roll his sister out of bed without dropping her. He put the mug away, which was when she spoke.

“Brother…?” She gasped out. Nix was back by her bedside in a flash, gripping her hand with his.

“Hey sis, it’s me. Just say ‘healer’ and you’ll be alright. Can you say it for me? ‘Healer’?”

“Alright…?” She said, her eyes unfocused. Her hand went limp and her eyes drooped close. Nix squeezed her hand and stood up, then started to pace. He cursed, one of the foul words his ma would beat him black and blue if she heard.

“Fu…dge.” Nix chickened out at the last moment, eyes darting around wildly. His ma wasn’t here, right? She hadn’t heard? She hadn’t read his mind to know what he was thinking? He wouldn’t need to eat soap?

Healing was supposed to be easy. Nobody got really sick, no injuries stuck around. All somebody had to do was say ‘healer’, and that was it! They were cured! Fixed! All better! The sickness had struck his sister down so quickly that she hadn’t had a chance to utter the fateful word, and she kept drifting in and out.

What to do, what to do? It was his responsibility to look after his sister, his parents had said so. His grandpa Secondus was a [Healer], but he was on a trip. He’d said something about service for taxes, whatever that meant. Everyone was real quiet about it. What could he do? She was getting worse, and still not saying ‘healer’. She’d just gone to sleep, and sitting here waiting wasn’t helping her at all.

He had to do something. But what?

He paced back and forth before an Idea struck him.

The witch! There were rumors of a witch living up in the mountain! She could fix it all!

He tucked his sister in more, flipping her pillows over and making sure she had a new mug of water nearby. Just in case she woke up. Then Nix snuck out of the house, eyeing the fields.

He’d get caned so hard if they caught him ‘shirking’ his duties. What did that goblin with the animal name say again? Oh right! The best way to sneak around was to look like he belonged, or was busy with something. Nobody ever checked on the boy industriously running an errand, while the sneak checking over his shoulder would get caught and interrogated every time. Nix ducked back inside, grabbed a basket, and headed out again. Doing his best to look busy, he entered the woods at the edge of the field, heading up the mountain.

… Where did the witch live exactly? Nix thought about it as he faced the utter lack of a path, immediately dumping his basket. The rumors were mixed, but everyone agreed she lived high up on the mountain. Maybe he’d climb to the top, and see if he could spot her from there. Yeah, that made sense! He could see everything from the top of a mountain, that would include her… what did witches live in anyway? It was a house, right…?

Nix started to climb up the mountain, going around trees and occasionally fighting his way through bushes. Mushrooms and moss grew freely, and a little creek burbled happily. Nix cupped his hands around his mouth once he thought he was far away enough that his family wouldn’t hear him.

“Helllooooooo.” He called out. “Wiiiitch. Are you here? Helllloooooooo.”

Nix paused and strained his ears, hoping for a friendly reply, or maybe a cackling laugh to show him the way. There was nothing.

He kept going, and it was like the forest started to loom in on him. Branches grew thin, cobwebs larger than he was had looming spiders with sparkling eyes watching him hungrily, and crows started to circle, cawing loudly. Nix glanced over his shoulder, a bright and grassy path leading all the way back to the base of the mountain.

He shivered, put his head down and started running as fast as his little legs could carry him, deeper into the mountain. He spotted a narrow trail that went between the dead trees and creepy spiders and slid through them, panting as he raced over wet rocks. A fallen tree was in the way and he hurdled over it, only to lose his balance on the slippery moss on the other side. He landed with a sickening crack of his ankle.

“Ahhhhhh!” He screamed out in pain, the agony overwriting any other thoughts he had. Nix screamed once more before a spider scuttling along the edge of his vision was like a bucket of ice water over his head.

I am in the woods. Alone. Injured. With predators. What am I doing?!

Sis. He remembered, his mind tumbling down the very short path of memory.

He slapped his forehead.

“I’m an idiot.” He muttered to himself, then called out. “Healer!”

He’d never broken anything as badly as his ankle, and it was disconcerting to see it snap back into place. His hand sank in the deep moss as he levered himself back up, and started to cautiously pick his way forward. The forest started to loom in on him. Branches grew thin, cobwebs larger than he was had looming spiders with sparkling eyes watching him hungrily, and crows started to circle, cawing loudly. Nix glanced over his shoulder, a bright and grassy path leading all the way back to the base of the mountain.

Wait, what?! He thought to himself. This all seemed so… familiar. How was there a clear path back when he’d been working his way through dead trees and cobwebs for so long? What was going on here?

He shivered.

Magic.

Dark, powerful magic was at play here, more evidence of the [Witch’s] power. That’s why I’m here. Nix reminded himself.

Over wet rocks again, and another giant log. Nix landed smoothly this time, and went pale at the handprint in the moss. There was no denying it - in spite of going uphill the entire time, he had been turned around, gone back the way he came.

Nix bravely forged onward, creeping Mist engulfing him. He couldn’t see more than an arm’s length ahead of him… but looking back for the third time, the Mist wasn’t encroaching behind him, a clear and sunny path inviting him back home.

He continued on. The forest abruptly gave way to an open clearing, the Mist receding a bit in the hollowed confines of the plateau. Great obelisks were neatly ordered like soldiers, thousands upon thousands of words engraved onto the surface. The words faintly glowed with power, and Nix carefully picked his way through them, figuring the way to stay as far away as possible from them.

At the end of the clearing was a wall of vines, and they writhed and parted as he approached, revealing a gloomy cottage lying in a clearing. Even to Nix’s inexperienced eye, the entire thing screamed ‘death trap, do not enter.’

He swallowed a lump in his throat and pushed on, hesitating before the door. Nix cleared his throat.

“Excuse me!” He called out. “Is anyone home?”

For all he knew, the door was cursed and would suck his soul into it if he touched without permission, or something even more heinous. He didn’t know what it would be, just that it would be bad.

The door creaked open without a word, a path of dark flames inviting him in.

Nix nearly bolted and ran, but steadied himself and walked in. A second door opened, lights shining from inside as smoke filtered out.

“Come in.” A musical voice invited him in. Nix was already in the maw of the beast, hesitating might offend the [Witch]. He stepped in and muffled a gasp.

The place was every inch a [Witch’s] lair. A cauldron dominated the room, multi-colored fumes coming off it as a large spoon stirred without any physical assistance. Strings of dried herbs and vegetables hung from the ceiling in long strands, smoke curling around them. Jars of eyeballs and other organs were neatly filed on a cabinet, dust and fingerprints marred the otherwise smooth surface. Books were littered around, some opened, many filed on the shelves, and one keeping the cauldron from tipping over. A clouded mirror sat in a corner, reflecting only the mists. A gigantic skull glared down from a corner. There were rumors that a wyvern had been killed many years ago, was that it?

And then there was the [Witch] herself. Clad in deep blue robes sprinkled with stars, a long pipe hung from her fingers. A wide-brimmed hat helped hide her eyes, and a crow whose wings flickered and shifted like flames was on her shoulder.

Nix peeked a little below her hat to get a better look at the [Witch] and gasped in horror.

“Something wrong, little one?” The [Witch] asked, amusement twitching at her lips. 

Nix’s good senses had fled him.

“You… you… you stole the [Librarian’s] face!” He shouted out. 

Oh my gods. It had been weeks since he’d last seen her. Maybe this was why. The [Witch] had killed her and-

She laughed at Nix’s declaration, finding it hilarious. The crow started to laugh as well as best he could.

“Caw! Caw!” The bird laughed.

“Oh little one!” The witch regained control of herself. “You could say she lets me use her face now and then.” Her lips twitched again, as if some great cosmic joke was being played.

“Caw! Brrrpt! Caw!” The bird continued to laugh.

The [Witch] turned to her familiar, a dark and furious expression crossing her face.

“Brrrpt?” She asked her familiar.

“Caw?” The bird said back.

Faster than Nix could properly see, the [Witch] flicked the bird off her shoulder, the crow exploding. Nix’s eyes went huge as only a single black feather remained, gently drifting to the ground. He swallowed.

Lesson. Learned. Do not annoy the witch in the slightest. If she was willing to murder her familiar over a single misspoken word, what was he worth?

“Caw!” 

Nix blinked. The bird was back, flying down from the rafters and taking his place on the [Witch’s] shoulder once again. Her attention turned to Nix again.

“What brings you here today, through the dark and perilous woods?”

Nix felt a trickle of sweat going down his back.

“Um, well, you see, my sister’s sick, and not getting better, and…” He trailed off as the witch’s presence seemed to press down on him. It felt like she towered five hundred and twelve miles into the sky, that her mere presence was trying to crush him. 

There was a long pause while she puffed on her pipe, clearly thinking, and Nix wasn’t going to interrupt her. 

“I assume,” She carefully said. “You’d like some potion to make her better, yeah?”

Nix nodded furiously.

“Yes please! Um.” He hadn’t thought this far. “I don’t have anything to pay you with…” He said quietly.

The witch waved her hand dismissively.

“I’ll just take two-eighths of your soul.” She said.

“What!” Nix gasped.

“Oh don’t be such a baby, souls grow back. You’ll barely feel a thing.” She grasped with her hand, and Nix felt a chill stab through him. The lights grew dim, and the crow flapped down to the lip of the cauldron. The bird started to hop around the cauldron in time to the witch’s conducting finger. The fire flared up in a multitude of colors, and the witch started to chant over the brew as she tossed in various items. 

“Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble!”

Nix’s eyes went wide at the items being tossed in. A mass of eyeballs pulped and plopped. A lizard skin was wrapped in glowing moss before it was dropped in. At each item added, the cauldron spat and hissed, sparks being thrown off and the color of the brew changing. 

The witch sneezed, and a spider shot out of her nose into the brew. The witch broke off her chanting for a moment.

“No no no, that doesn’t belong. Get back here!” She plunged her hand into the mess and fished out the spider, spots and warts molting all over her hand. Nix continued to stare in open-mouthed horror.

“Demon horn and wyvern tear,

Elf heart and kitsune tail!”

The last part had the house yelp and shake, as a handful of furs were dropped in. Nix barely noticed - the heart she’d put in looked like it had still been beating.

Just what had he gotten himself into? Maybe it would've been a better idea to wait for gramps… too late now. The [Witch] had two-eighths of his soul.

The ingredients got more and more extravagant as the flames reached higher, the bird hopped faster, and the witch chanted all the louder.

“Head of man and philosopher’s stone,

The last hope of giants and a splash of reality.”

Nix’s eyes were wide as saucers as what looked like a baby unicorn, pages from a book - that got a jar of something thrown into a corner of the room, where the witch’s magic promptly made it vanish - and a large pink object that was thrown into a different corner. 

A bottle with the word “DANGER” on it and a skull and crossbones was produced. The witch paused and eyed it suspiciously. She opened it and sniffed. Recoiled away in disgusted horror. "Eugh, what was this?!" She then shrugged, dumped the contents into the potion, then eyed the bottle and smashed it against the side of the cauldron and allowed its fragments to fall in.

“ALAKAZAM!” The witch shouted at the climax. Nothing happened.

“Always going on the fritz, can never get good help these days…” She muttered, kicked a chair with particular viciousness, and glared at the mirror. “There we go! ALAKAZAM!”

A bolt of Lightning as thick as Nix’s wrist came out of the ceiling and hit the cauldron with a blinding flash. As Nix blinked his eyes clear, the witch offered him a stoppered vial, filled with potion.

“Now, make sure she drinks all of that, and your sister will be right as rain.” 

Nix nodded, but didn’t dare move without permission. The witch looked at him thoughtfully.

“You know, one day, you might try to look at joining the Rangers. You’ve got the spark and the gumption.”

Nix nodded again, his feet rooted to the floor. Another spell? He didn’t dare check.

“Now go!” The witch ordered, and Nix fled.