Page 56 of His Blazing Witch (The Silver City #3)

Two witches and an army of human women ready to get to us. It doesn't look like they have any weapons, but it doesn't feel like this is going to be easy, either... However, right now, I'm more worried about that Water Witch than Ravena or those women. She controls a stronger element than mine, and without the barrier anymore, she will now be free to attack us at full strength...

"Why are you helping Ravena?!" I shout at her.

This isn't about simply understanding her intentions, but helping us gain time. If we have more werewolves around, we might be able to rally them to stop the human women from attacking us. I have no idea what's going to happen next, and I don't like it. It feels like we're dancing in Ravena's palm, and I'm not having it.

The Water Witch glares at me in a familiar stance. She really can't stand the sight of me...

"You damn Cursed One," she hisses. "You still have the guts to stand here..."

"This is my home and my city," I growl. "I don't care if you have a problem with Cursed Ones, but if you have an issue with me, at least leave the werewolves alone!"

"I don't owe you anything, and I don't care about your dogs, either. It's so typical of Cursed Ones to hide behind others... You're really the worst of us!"

"What the hell is your issue with Cursed Ones?!" I yell back, fed up. "You think I chose to be cursed? You think any witch chose to be betrayed?"

"They chose to lay with dogs! They betrayed their own blood when they gave in to those greedy dogs!"

So that's her problem, huh? She doesn't give a damn about the curse or its victims. She resents the witches who made the same mistake of falling for werewolf men in the first place... However, something doesn't sit quite right with her earlier words.

"But you didn't hate Nephera, did you?" I retort. "You knew she was Mara's mother, and you blamed me for the curse that took the first Mara, her unborn child. Still, you knew Nephera fell for a werewolf man twice, didn't you?! So why do you hate me so much when you know what she went through?!"

She suddenly looks like I slapped her. Yeah, I hit a nerve, didn't I?

I can't help but glance at Ravena, still waiting on the side. She doesn't look so arrogant anymore, and she's glaring at the Water Witch, her eyes full of doubt. It looks like their alliance is paper thin, isn't it? What deal did Ravena strike with her for them to be on the same side? Something's not right here. Ravena is after the curse's Dark Magic, but what is the Water Witch after? She loathes that curse and whatever it created. So, why would she agree to help Ravena? Why would she stay so close to Silver City too? She's not powerless, she could have picked any other place, but she stayed around... simply to attack me? No, it doesn't feel as simple as that.

“ Mara… ”

I glance over my shoulder. The human women are coming forward.

“ Are they armed? ”

“ I don't know… ”

I don't like this. If Ravena really wanted to make a mess, she would have given them some weapons or something... but I feel like that cunning bitch of a witch would have an even more twisted plan in mind, and I don't like this at all... I turn back to the Water Witch and that imposing wave still threatening to fall over us. I need to sort this out. If I can maybe reason with her, we could get ourselves in a better position, perhaps...

"You really hate me because I'm a Cursed One? What of the other Mara, then?"

"You are not Nephera's daughter!" she shouts.

"So it's about every Cursed One but Nephera? I wouldn't exist if it wasn't for her!"

"You insolent little witch!"

She waves her arm as if to slap me, but from the distance and her stance, it won't be as nice and easy. As I feared, the movement has the water move instead, and a portion of the huge wave comes right at us. All the wolves growl, but it's not going to change things. It washes over us and we roll on the asphalt. That thing hit us like a huge wall, much heavier than I anticipated. If we take more of those, she's going to smash us on the ground like ants!

“ Mara, you may not want to anger her, ” Selena growls.

“ Sorry. ”

However, I know she's pissed because I touched a nerve. That Water Witch isn't motivated by greed like Ravena. If I can find out what she's really here for and what her deal is with Nephera, maybe I can turn things around...

Suddenly, a growl behind me gets our attention. One of the women just jumped at Ben with a little knife in hand. Oh, shit... He bites her wrist without being too brutal, just enough to make her drop it, and pushes her back, but I feel like this isn't over. Quickly, another one moves, and begins doing the same, attacking Nathaniel's flank. He growls and easily steps away.

“ Don't injure the humans. ”

“ I know! ”

The bantering between the Black Brothers is echoed by several growls. The human women are all moving forward, but... strangely, they seem to mostly want to attack the male werewolves of our group. Ravena definitely used a portion of the curse to misguide them...

The women are closing in on us, and I don't like how we're cornered by the edge of the water.

“ Mara, ” says Selena, “ we can handle the human chicks, but you have to do something about the witches. ”

I know. I increase my fire, slowly and steadily, but enough to hold back a second wave, I think. The Water Witch is still glaring at me from above. What do I do? I know I have to provoke her to make her talk, but that might not be the wisest move either if I want to avoid getting all of us killed...

"What do you have to gain by allying yourself with Ravena?" I growl. "She wants the curse's Dark Magic! How is that better than me being a Cursed One?! At least I didn't choose it!"

"I do not care about that witch's ambitions," she retorts. "That curse has to disappear!"

"And what's your genius plan, then? Killing me, and then what? You think you can break the curse by yourself?"

"I'm closer than anyone else!" she retorts.

"Yeah, that's why you've been hanging around Silver City, in the same waters for weeks? Face it, you don't know any more than we do! Ravena is just using you and you're too blinded by anger to even realize!"

"Enough!"

This time, she moves both arms, and the waves grow much bigger. My blood leaves my face. If we're hit by that...!

“ Mara! ”

I prepare my fire, growing it as big and as fast as I can. Just like I learned earlier, I add runes, the best I can think of. I need to protect us, but if I don't control this, she'll hit the human women too, and I'm not okay with that. I need to stop her! I increase my flames, channeling all of my inner energy, animating my fire furiously. No more restraints.

When the wave appears above us, covering the sky, I take a deep breath, and extend my fire like a wall in front of us. It's large, but not broad enough...

"You're one stubborn little..."

I extend my arms, and to my surprise, my wall of fire is much larger than I thought. I keep it up, and feel the water hit against it. I intensify the heat, and an impressive cloud of steam appears above, but nothing hits us.

I stand my ground, and the pressure continues, but I know we've made it. How...? I glance to the side, and to my surprise, Ayesha is standing a few steps from me, in a similar stance. She's fueling my fire with hers, helping me stand against the wave. She's groaning, frowning and visibly having a hard time, but she stays there.

"You're really a whole bunch of trouble, aren't you…?"

"Ayesha! Why…?"

"You haven't killed me yet and the wolves gave me food too. I'm many things but not an ungrateful bitch."

I can't help but smile despite the situation. I don't know if it's because we're both Fire Witches, but I do feel we have a few things in common... including stubbornness and too much sense of pride. She helps me withstand the wave until it's over, and although my arms are aching once we're done, I feel relieved. Both wolves and humans only felt a few harmless droplets, and the air is filled with steam, but at least no harm was done.

“ Mara! ”

I turn around just in time to see the wooden spike flying our way. I react quickly and create a magic circle just fast enough to stop it. The wood explodes against my circle, and a few shards hit me. I growl and lose my focus. I hear furious growling, and my inner wolf echoes them angrily. Another spike is coming at me, but I realize it too late. For a second, I'm sure it will hit me, but a dark shadow suddenly appears in front of me.

Damian Black lands on all fours, the spike in his fangs, and growls while breaking it with a snap. We both glare at Ravena, looking upset.

"You're really one cunning bitch..." I hiss.

She purposely waited for me to be focused elsewhere to strike. Ayesha lights up her fire next to me too, ready to send her blue fire Ravena’s way.

"How about we do this face to face, you damn raven?" she says with a smirk.

"You should have stayed out of this," Ravena shouts back at her. "Nothing here is of any concern to you!"

"Too bad for you, I’ve kind of grown attached here. Their witch is a promising one, and the wolves make some mean barbecue..."

As if this was some funny pun, she chuckles and increases her fire with a smirk. Ravena doesn't look so happy.

"Well, then, I guess we'll have to get rid of you too!"

She moves her arms, and since I've learned from the last attack, I prepare a new magic circle, ready for her attack. We must have upset her because she doesn't wait to strike. New wooden spikes fly our way. She's not just targeting me now, but the wolves as well. I quickly prepare several fireballs, and Ayesha imitates me. We manage to break those wooden peaks before more reach us, and our werewolf allies only have to jump to avoid those we couldn't get rid of in time. I feel a bit better knowing we can easily avoid her attacks, but it doesn't change the fact we're stuck sandwiched between two angry witches, a group of innocent women very willing to attack us, and the sea...

"Stop being so tame, little witch!" laughs Ayesha. "You think you're still in kindergarten?"

Before I can say a thing, she prepares a new fire ball of her own, and angrily throws it at Ravena. It makes me wonder if she doesn't have more against the Earth Witch, but she's right; I can't simply stand still and take attack after attack. Ayesha doesn't ease her fire at Ravena, forcing the Earth Witch to retreat. I guess she can handle Ravena for now, but I'm more worried about the water one...

I turn around, and sure enough, she's still there, surfing strangely on that wave above the sea. It surprises me she hasn't attacked again, but she's still glaring at us like we're some ants...

"I want to solve that curse too!" I yell at her. "What is wrong with you? You're just going to attack me, get rid of me, then what? This is still a city of werewolves! And that curse? You won't be able to get rid of it so easily, either! You think you're the first witch to want to get rid of this? Hundreds of witches have tried, and you know what? I'm sure you'll fail too, because you're already so angry and blind!"

"Shut it!"

She sends another wave my way, but it's not as strong as before; I use my fire and stop it just before it hits me. She looks furious, and sends another one, but I won't back down. Her blows are not as powerful; is it because she's doubtful now? I even have time to glance to the side. Ayesha is doing just fine, and she's obviously trying to make Ravena step farther away from us. It would be good to separate her from that Water Witch indeed... She's probably the one who convinced her to attack us. If we can ruin that alliance between them, that would be a good thing for us...

I'm more worried about the werewolves. It would be a piece of cake if they could seriously attack the human women attacking them, but for now, they can only avoid and try to scatter them while not being hit. Thankfully, those women look haggard, and they don't throw any big blows or seem to attack seriously. Compared to the werewolves' speed, this is more like them attacking blindly and slowly, waving their blades around with a low chance of hitting anything... So far, only Selena and Ben have small cuts, nothing too big. But there are too many of those women. They keep forcing the werewolves to retreat toward the sea, and I don't like how we're getting more and more cornered...

"Naptera, stop playing around!" suddenly shouts Ravena from the other side. "Just get rid of the wolves!"

Naptera...?

The Water Witch glares at me, a new wave of anger rising. She sends another wave of water my way, much stronger this time. I take a deep breath and block it the best I can, ready for the blow. I can barely stand my ground, but I push it, focusing on her water.

A Water Witch named Naptera. She hates the curse, she hates me, but she was even more furious about the fact that I took over little Mara's power. She got absolutely furious when I mentioned Nephera. Why didn't I see it before? Even angrier, I send a fireball back, making the wave disperse.

"Don't you think you forgot to mention something?!" I shout at her, pissed. "This isn't about Ravena or beating the curse, is it? You're so mad at me because of what happened to Nephera! She was raised by Danica, but Danica wasn't her mother, was she? Her mother was no witch, but a descendant of that witch named Sadia Jones... I bet if I looked at the Witches’ Ancestral Tree again, your name wouldn't be so far from them!"

"Enough!"

This time, I don't have much time to avoid the new wave that hits me. It comes so fast, and much slimmer than before, but I manage to prepare a fireball just in time... and then, I get a furious hit in the stomach. I hear myself shouting in pain, like an echo from far away.

“ Mara! ”

Before I can do a thing, a new wave hits me at full strength, and I get swept off the ground. I don’t control anything, I’m thrown in all directions. I try to fight it, do something, anything, but the pressure is too intense. I try to ignore the pain and gasp for air, but before I can, I swallow a huge amount of salty water, and I feel myself dropping in the sea. Something that tastes like iron on my tongue, and red in the water above me. I want to throw up furiously, and my body feels terribly heavy. Damn it… She got me. I try to swim back to the surface, fight the pressure, but as I open my eyes, Naptera is angrily facing me in the water.

Oh, f-...

"I told you," she says, speaking despite the two of us being underwater, "you should have known better..."

This is the worst. I'm completely defenseless in the worst environment possible for a Fire Witch. Underwater. How could I be so stupid to let myself get sunk so easily?! I shouldn't have underestimated Naptera. I'm a fucking idiot.

“...ara! Mara, are you okay?”

Half a dozen voices suddenly echo in my mind, and although they're ringing quite annoyingly, at least they're helping me stay awake and focused. I have to fight this hellish nausea coming up, but my whole body is shivering like crazy.

“Yeah, I'm... still alive for now.”

I can't guarantee how long that'll be the case, though. Not when my enemy is facing me just a few strokes away, glaringly obvious that she's got a much larger hand in this fight now. Can I even get out of here or defend myself? I try to light my fire, but underwater, it's a bit depressing... I insist. This is magic fire, I should at least be able to do something! I got sick when it was raining, but I wasn't completely powerless. It can't be that simple. Elements can work together, can't they? It has to work somehow. I'm not stupidly dying here, hell no.

I look around, hoping to find a clue, a solution, but Moon Goddess, it would take something akin to a freaking miracle now.

“ Liam, don't! ” suddenly yells Nathaniel's voice.

“ Mara, hold on, I'm coming! ”

“ Liam, stay out of here! ” I shout back mentally.

“ I'm fine, I can swim! ”

“ I don't doubt that, babe, but I wouldn't bet on you saving me while avoiding getting killed by an angry Water Witch! Stay the hell out of here! I'll manage! ”

That's one big fat lie, but I really don't want to have to worry about my mate on top of everything else. I can't, I already need to focus on saving my own ass first. Oh hell, why can't Spark come out when I really need a huge clue…?

"You're such a big mouth," says Naptera, with visibly no issue talking underwater. "Now you'll finally shut up!"

I growl. I can't talk, but I can certainly growl, although it would be more convincing if I didn't continuously feel like throwing up... I feel weird. This isn't just about this nausea, but my whole body is going nuts, making me feel like I'm going to pass out, yet feeling electrified at the same time. There's something completely weird going on with me, and I have no idea what it is, where it comes from, or how to handle it. It's driving me crazy.

Naptera moves her hand, and I'm suddenly blown away by a new wave. Is it bad if I throw up now? Because I sure feel like I’m about to, and I think it would help.

"You're right," she continues. "Sadia was my closest friend, and she chose to give her daughter a name close to mine... It was before she was betrayed by one of those bastard wolves though!"

Is she really going to tell her story now? Couldn't it have been done when I was above the surface and not when I am trying not to drown?!

"She was so in love, and when that man left, she was so broken... She knew of the curse, of course. So many of us have fallen to it, and we keep making those mistakes, over and over again like pitiful dolls. Yet, Sadia wanted to believe in love more. She thought she and her partner could break it once and for all. She had meant to find its origin, which she thought belonged with her ancestors."

She wasn't wrong. Nephera came from the line of the original witch that was the first one betrayed... I wonder how Sadia failed? She ought to know where her family was from, wouldn’t she? If she belonged to the Purple Moon Clan, to the Jones family, she should have belonged here in Silver City. How did she fail? Then again, we always meet a dead end. Even witches who knew of the location didn't succeed in breaking that wretched curse. So, how...?

"When she arrived at my door, she was exhausted and a wreck. Even worse, she was weeping at the thought of her daughter being cursed as well. Sadia wanted to try and save her baby at all costs, so she thought she ought to send her to another witch, to perhaps break that fate of hers."

So that's why Nephera was sent into Danica's care. Because her mother was cursed, and while looking for a way to break that curse, she had to keep her baby away... This is just too sad to think about. I feel bad for Sadia. Judging by how Naptera speaks and her expression, Sadia couldn't have been very old when she passed.

"She died before she could accomplish anything. Such a foolish girl... I tried to persuade her to give up, but she was obsessed with saving herself and her daughter. Sadia had always been a dreamer, and she believed too much, once again."