Page 86 of Witchbane

‘We let them set up their spell.’

He didn’t argue and we watched in silence as an older woman took a mirror from a bag and placed it down with the other objects.

‘Who has the paper with his name written on it?’ she asked.

Rue’s grandmother held something up in front of them all. ‘I do.’

‘Good,’ said the woman I assumed was their leader, or maybe high priestess. ‘Read it to us and we will begin.’

‘By the light of the moon we ask the spirits of our ancestors to wipe her name from the memory of Elias Le Cerf.’

What did she say? I looked at Garnier, who seemed as perplexed as me.

I slid my hand into the smaller branches in front of me and pulled them back slightly to make sure I missed nothing. Rue had her eyes closed and was holding hands with the women on either side of her.

I saw Rue’s grandmother walk up to Sorrel and place her hands lightly on either side of her face. ‘We need to make this happen tonight. Everything is ready.’

Sorrel nodded. ‘I am ready for you to wipe me from his memory.’

They were talking about my father. I should move and stop them immediately, but I wanted to hear more.

‘You’re doing the right thing, Sorrel,’ a younger woman said. I missed her following words because Garnier gasped and went to leap to his feet.

I grabbed him and pulled him down, hoping the women had been too involved with what they were doing to notice us.

‘What in the name of all that’s holy do you think you’re doing?’ I asked, then realised I had covered his mouth with my gloved hand, so he could not answer. I slowly withdrew my hand keeping my steely gaze on his. ‘Tell me quietly.’

He stared at me in shock, all previous amusement gone. Then he covered his eyes with one hand and I realised he was humiliated by something.

‘What is it?’ I couldn’t understand why he was behaving so oddly.

He cocked his head towards the women. ‘The young woman who just spoke is my cousin Iris.’ His voice was shaky. ‘Iris can’t be a witch.’ He looked up at me. ‘Can she?’

I didn’t like to reply that she seemed to be at ease with these women in this woodland setting. I decided to make him focus on the orders we had been given, hoping his training as one of my father’s men would have given him some measure of control over his actions.

‘We must do our job, Garnier. If your cousin is a witch, as she appears to be, then she must not be your focus.’ I softened my voice. ‘We are both at odds with what we do here today but need to do our job.’

He gave a resigned sigh.

No one spoke for a few seconds. Or maybe they did and I was struck deaf by the strangeness of the situation.

Someone rang what sounded like a tiny bell and the women became silent. They stepped into their places, all of them entranced.

‘Let us begin before we run out of time.’

I stared at Rue. Suddenly her eyes darted in my direction. I held my breath. Did she know I was here after all?

As if in answer to my thoughts, there was a sound of branches snapping behind me somewhere. It wasn’t me she was looking at but someone or something else. I tensed.

‘Arrest these women,’ I heard my father order, as four or maybe five men darted forward, parting bushes and branches as they charged at the women.

‘Run,’ one of the women shouted.

Another screamed as one of the men barged into her. She staggered and ran into the flames.

Rue looked around her then made for her grandmother. She went to take her hand, but Ophelia Tredwell snatched it back. ‘Run. Get away from here. Now!’

Desperate to help her, I broke cover and raced forward, the chaos of screaming women and bellowing male voices filling the air as the witches fought frantically for their freedom. I heard my father’s voice bellowing orders, but ignored him, determined to get Rue away from him.