Short Story - The Flying Witch - Grant Eagar
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Prompt: She floated on the air
Angelica, a twelve-year-old witch thought since she had the afternoon all
to herself this would be a good time to experiment with her magic. The black haired girl walked
to a secluded meadow surrounded by oak trees. She closed her eyes and extended
her hands.
When she was around Granny, she felt so
inhibited, constantly told to control her magic and plan out beforehand how she
was going to use the magic and what the counter-spells were. So many wonderful
spells were off-limits simply because there were no counter-spells for them. Did
it hurt to have a love spell when there was no good remedy other than lots and lots of time? Ugh.
Today with no one around she was going to play
with one of those forbidden spells, what harm could come from a little breeze?
She concentrated and lifted her hands high in the air and began dancing about
the clearing and offering incantations, "Kansaw obediah, kansaw cordeah, kansaw quirrel". Soon the leaves on the ground were
being blown about her. She spun and the wind spun around her and she felt a
lifting sensation then opened her lavender eyes and she was fifty feet in the air. She
shrieked and tried to slow the wind-down but it continued to build until it was
a small tornado and she was several hundred feet in the air, going around and
around. Mayhap the wind thing was not a good idea. She tried
to steady herself so she could stop spinning and finally stopped with the wind
spinning around her. She now could see for miles around. This would be a
grand adventure if I wasn’t about to die.
So, what is the opposite of wind?... Calm, she had
remembered how she had calmed an angry goat, it had taken a bit of magic, but
in the end he was as calm as a lamb. As if lambs were calm, more like frolicking which is
what the wind was. She extended her hands and could feel the spirit of the wind
and offered a calming incarnation, "Pax sile." She relaxed, and let a calmness spell go into
the wind. This was difficult since she did not feel at all calm, terrified instead. The wind did not change right away but after a minute she could sense it slowing and she started dropping. She glanced down
at the ground rushing toward her, am I going to be planted like a tree.
She frantically tried to whip up a little wind and there was a whoosh just
before she hit the ground.
Angelica looked up from the ground and removed
the mud and leaves from her face. It took a minute for her to catch her breath.
Granny was standing in the clearing with her arms folded and a scowl on her
face. “And what do you think you are doing young lady?”
Angelica offered a sheepish
smile. “I was just making a little breeze and it got out of hand.” She
stood and limped up to her grandmother.
"It appears you have sprained
your ankle, what am I going to do with you? Have a seat on this stump and I’ll
bind up your foot.” Granny removed Angelica's shoe and felt her ankle.
Angelica winced, "Granny could you be more gentle."
Granny offered a wan smile. "It would not hurt at all if you had stayed at home." She pulled some cloth out of her pocket and began
dressing the young witch’s ankle.
The girl closed her eyes. “How did you find me?”
“I have a sense for how long it takes you to get
in trouble once left alone. You are lucky to be alive. ”
Angelica opened her eyes and grinned. “The wind was incredible; I could see for miles
around. Of course when I thought I was going to die it was also scary. I’ve always wanted to
make a breeze and I even discovered a counter-spell.”
Granny slid Angelica's shoe back on. “Yes, it is fortunate you did
the counter-spell, that tornado could have gotten out of hand. Now promise me you will never experiment with magic without a count-spell." She rolled her eyes and sighed, "forget it. There is no use having your make promises you have no intention of keeping.”
Angelica winced again. “Granny, I’ve decided not to make any more promises; the problem with making promises is that I feel guilty when I break them.”
Granny chuckled. “That is how you're supposed to feel. That is why you’re supposed to keep them.”
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