krystalkatzficz | The Witch part 4

Satoshi was dragged from the palace compound and left at the outskirts of the forbidden forest. As heir he couldn’t be outright killed but it was clear that the elder Satoshi hoped that his son would be lost in the sickness that was raging through the common folk. He was given a horse and a small amount of money and had been given no firm orders as to where he was meant to go but he was forbidden from re-entering the royal city. Satoshi had often longed to leave the prison of the palace behind and to travel out into the world but now his mind was on the young girl in the tower and the perpetual hell that she must be living. His stomach churned with the idea of it and his eyes showed his anger as he looked up at his uncle. The man was delighted with the turn of events, he had often thought it a shame that his own child had not the right to rule and he had eager acted to carry out his father’s punishment on him.

“Continue to glare at me boy and I will run you through...” He snarled clearly uncomfortable when the younger man continued to stare at him with his mouth drawn into a thin line.

“I will return uncle, and when I do, I will run my blade into your fat throat before slicing out my father’s heart...”

“Is that a threat on the life of the emperor, boy?”

“No, not a threat, Uncle...A promise that one day you and that monster I once called father will get what is owed to them...” Satoshi stopped as the man pulled out his sword. Satoshi tried to with draw his own but the older man’s reactions were quicker than he had been expecting. It didn’t help that his uncle had the advantage of height. There wasn’t even a chance for a battle before the blade was cold and painful over his neck.

“Have a care...Boy...You have no power here...The safety you had as your father’s heir is lax, I doubt he would care if I were to end your miserable life...In fact, perhaps it would just be easier to kill you here and now...”

Satoshi’s own hand moved to his sword once again but it was too late. He had been too rash and he felt the sharp blade slice into his skin and he thought it was all over until the horse startled at the sound of a scream from within the forest sending his uncle falling to the floor. There was a sickening crunch, the sword against Satoshi’s throat slicing upwards to cut his chin and the fleshy part of his cheek. The solders around looked nervously at one another whispering about the witch as Satoshi’s uncle howled in pain. He was unable to stand and Satoshi realised that the fall had broken his back.

Blood pouring from the wounds in his throat and cheek Satoshi grabbed the reins of his own horse and pulled it forward into the cover of the forest. Nobody would follow him in there. Monsters dwelled within they said, reports of a woman in white had been seen howling at the moon on cold nights when the moon was high. Satoshi had dismissed the stories when he had been in the relative safety of the palace but out here in the forests an undeniable chill flowed up and down his back.

He knew that he couldn’t make it far with the wounds on his face and neck but he also knew he had to lose himself as quickly as he could. There was no doubt that he would be blamed for his uncle’s fall and when his uncle told his father of his threat his punishment of banishment would be upgraded to death as an enemy of the emperor. His anger had caused him to act stupidly he should have stayed quiet, he knew that, but he hadn’t been able to hold his tongue. The girl in the tower was right, he wasn’t a match for his father.

Satoshi didn’t know how far he walked or in what direction but eventually he knew he could go no further. His head was spinning, blood had soaked its way through the layers of his clothing and his feet were sore. The horse too was flagging, having not wanted to come into the forest at all, and eventually Satoshi slumped down into the earth his head meeting a pillow of soft fallen leaves. He breathed deeply through his nose his pain increasing at the action.

He was about to lose all consciousness when he heard the soft sweet sound of a woman singing. He blinked, slowly turning his head to the sound his heart jumping as he saw a woman, barefoot with long flowing hair and a white gown walking towards him her feet making no sound on the twigs and leaves as though she wasn’t walking on them at all. She was about to reach him when Satoshi fell into the blissful blanket of blackness and he was sure he heard;

“Sleep little prince...I will take care of you...”

*+*+*+*+*+*

Satoshi awoke to the scent of lavender and a burning sensation in his throat. He pulled his eyes open quickly and found himself to be in a ramshackle house that had lavender, jasmine, and orchids, dried and hung from the ceiling. The blanket wrapped around his body was scented with Lavender and it felt warmer than anything he had used at the palace. A fire was lit in the centre of the building and in the distance he saw the woman in white working at a table.

“My lady...” He whispered trying to get her attention knowing that she had saved his life. His hand went to his throat as more pain, a hot burning of liquid fire, seared through him. His hand met fabric, and a poultice that ran to the cut under his eye.

“You should still be sleeping, little prince, the gods have not yet cured you fully” The woman smiled walking slowly towards him. Her voice was as soft and sweet as honeydew and it seemed to fill the house with the tinkling sound.

“You...Saved me...In the forest”

“I suppose that you could say I did, but it was not I that thought you worthy of being saved. The god’s have plans for you little prince, I was sent to be your guide...At least for part of the journey” The woman came to sit beside him on the bed her hand, small and cute, moved to stroke the uninjured side of his cheek. She was easily the second most beautiful person he had ever seen and her eyes looked at him power he couldn’t describe. “Another greater than I will serve you far better in the coming years, but both you and he, need to gain strength. Something is coming to the world, something far greater than the threat your father holds, Little prince, but for now, Sleep and be still. Let the Gods do their will and know nothing will harm you in the house of Ninomiya”

TBC

A/N: I hope that this is okay >.<