Goddes's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Goddes wanted one hidden coven where witches, fairies, and gnomes could work magic without human eyes finding them. Tonight that dream nearly died. A farmer had seen loose magic burning blue over his field, and now the whole village whispered about it. Her raven brought the news at dusk. The bird dropped onto her windowsill, feathers dark as shadow, and rattled his beak until she listened. She had raised him from an egg. She read his moods better than most people's words. "How many saw it?" she asked. The raven bobbed twice, then thrust his beak toward the road. Goddes understood. Two men. And they were already moving. She pulled her cloak on. The stray magic had leaked from a spell a young fairy botched near the fence line. The glow had faded, but the memory in those men had not. If they brought others with torches and questions, every hidden witch nearby would be exposed. Her coven would never form. It would be hunted before it began. Goddes left through the back and cut across wet grass. The raven flew ahead, low and fast, and led her to the field. She found the scorched patch where the spell had burned. Blue frost still clung to the dead stalks. Any curious man would know this was no lightning. Voices carried from the road. Lantern light swung between the trees. The two farmers were close. She had one chance. She knelt and pressed both palms to the burned ground. She did not try to hide the magic. She spoke a spell to change what it looked like. The blue frost warmed. It spread into a wide black scar, the kind a grass fire leaves. She pulled the burnt smell up into the air until it stung her own nose. The lanterns reached the fence. Goddes dropped flat behind a low stone wall. The raven landed silent beside her. A farmer lifted his lantern over the field. "Here. This is where the glow was." The second man walked the black scar and kicked the ash. "Burnt grass. Somebody's cook fire jumped the wind." "I saw blue." "You saw a fire at night. Blue, green, who knows. There's no witch here." He spat and turned back toward the road. After a moment the first man followed. Their lights shrank and vanished. Goddes let out her breath. The immediate danger was gone. But she stared at the fake scar and knew the truth. The fairy who cast that spell was careless, and she was not the only one. Scattered and untaught, they would keep leaking magic until no lie could cover it. She could not fix this village by village. She needed them gathered, trained, and sworn to one roof. "We start tomorrow," she told the raven. "We find that fairy first." The bird clicked once and lifted into the dark, already flying the way they would go.