Before (12 page)

Her throat felt raw as Tabitha’s hands stroked her hair. Cora
couldn’t say how long they’d sat on the floor next to the puddle of
sick. She had only stopped weeping because she couldn’t muster the
energy to continue. She felt emotionally and physically
drained.

“
Cora?”

“
Hmm...” she croaked, the movement of her throat nearly broke
the dam again.

“
We have to move”

“
I know.”

Before Cora could fully realise the meaning of the move, her
body was consumed by a deep coldness. One that struck deep inside
her. She felt it stretch along her body. This wasn’t normal, she
felt her heart clench, stop and then instantly start to
gallop.

“
Oh my god!” Her body shook so much that she was in danger of
biting her tongue.

An intense fire grabbed her heart, painfully burning
it.

“
Cora, what is it?”

“
I can’t...” she panted. “It hurts so much!”

Tabitha let go and rushed to her supplies. Cora was unable to
breathe, panic making it worse. She ground her teeth together,
growling as she tried to conjure up the strength to push the scream
back down.

“
Here, drink this,” Tabitha said holding what looked to be a
drink close to her mouth. It smelt like rotting eggs but she drank
it knowing that Tabitha’s potions always worked.

Despite the drink, Cora still felt her body shake violently.
The look that crossed Tabitha’s face concerned her. The look told
her that the potion wasn’t working. Before she could ask what they
could do next, a blood curdling scream shot out of her mouth. She
shook her body, trying to push the pain out, but she felt as if a
boulder had been dropped onto her body. The bones were bending like
flimsy straw. She screamed as Tabitha held her to the floor. She
thrashed as the fire consumed her. What was happening to
her?

Kicking her legs, the fire moved up into her stomach, devoured
her chest and began clawing at her throat until it left her mouth
in another scream of pain. She’d never had a reaction like this to
Tabitha’s potions before. What had gone wrong?

“
Cora, you have to breathe, please breathe...” Tabitha
soothed.

Cora gasped for breath realising that she was holding it. She
bit her tongue as the pain gripped her head pushing her skull to
within an inch of crumbling under the pressure. She growled low in
her already sore throat.

“
Tabitha... what... is.... happening,” she cried out in between
convulsions.

“
You are going through the change.”

Cora had heard of this. Witches, powerful ones, went through a
change forcing them to remain the same age at the moment they die.
Cora knew that going through the change kills you. It’s your strong
power as a witch that brings you back. It is also your strong power
than enables you to change in the first place. Less powerful
witches continue to live their life until they reach old age and
then finally die.

This change was only ever triggered by something powerful,
something that affects you so intensely there is no way to come
back from it. The death of her mother had begun the change in her.
Even something as life shattering as their daughter’s death
wouldn’t have brought the change for her grandparents. They simply
weren’t strong enough to begin the change and survive
it.

“
Where are my grandparents?” she asked as the fire licked at
her throat.

“
They are safe in France,” Tabitha assured her.

She felt some small measure of peace knowing her grandparents
weren’t here to witness their daughter’s death and her change.
There was a possibility she wouldn’t make it through this change.
If she wasn’t strong enough, she would die.

She growled as another jolt of pain surged through her body.
She whimpered fearing the next jolt would take her to another
place. She couldn’t survive this, surely?

“
Make...it...stop...”

“
I cannot, child. You must feel it, your body needs to go
through this, you cannot stop it. Let it take you.”

Cora kicked and fought until she feared her bones would break.
She lay in Tabitha arms and felt the build up to the final jolt,
the one that would take her. Holding her breath as it surged
through her body, the world went black.

13

24
^th
August 1612

Cora stirred and shielded her eyes as the sun shone down into
the room illuminating her broken body. She welcomed the heat as the
cold in her bones felt like it would hold its grip for the rest of
her life. She was either dead, or she’d made it through the change.
She could hear movement around the room, she didn’t fear another
attack, she knew that Tabitha would care for her in the living
world, and what was there to fear after death anyway?

Turning over, she opened her eyes and saw Tabitha packing
their things. It suddenly dawned on her that she would have to
move. Tabitha had mentioned this before she’d lost control of the
change.

She’d lived here her whole life, her memories were here.
Thinking of her mother, of those final moments, made what was left
of her heart shrivel and fall into her stomach, the acid attacking
it like the commoners had attacked her and her family.

She knew she couldn’t stay here but she wanted to, for selfish
reasons. She wanted to feel close to her mother and this was the
only place she could do it.

When she walked into the room she could envisage her mother
weaving by the fire. She remembered the nights in their shared
bedroom having long conversations about life, about what her mother
wanted for her. But Cora knew that Tabitha’s spell couldn’t keep
them safe forever. The commoners would enter the house by force. If
they entered by force, the protective spell that Tabitha had weaved
would be broken, revealing them. Perhaps the commoners would stay
clear of her home believing it to be cursed? Cora still knew that
they couldn’t stay here.

Sitting up, she looked at the room that was now empty of all
their belongings. How long had Tabitha been doing this?

“
How are you feeling?” Tabitha asked, her leaf green eyes
watched her with fascination. No one in their family had been
through the change before.

“
I’m...” She didn’t have an answer to that question. How did
she feel? She mostly felt lost, lonely, and afraid. She missed her
mother so desperately that the thought of her not being here stole
the breath from her lungs. Instead of answering the question, she
asked one of her own. “Are we leaving now?”

“
Yes,” Tabitha whispered. “We cannot stay here any
longer.”

“
How long I have been out of it?”

“
4 days.”

“
Goddess! How did you know I was alright?”

“
You were breathing.”

They heard a noise outside and stilled, listening.

“
Have they found us?” she asked urgently. Remembering they were
now on the most wanted list. The villagers would come.

“
No, we are safe for the moment.”

“
Where are we going?”

“
I have someone you need to meet.”

Cora dressed in silence; usually she liked to make pointless
conversation which was better than thinking. Thinking brought her
all kinds of pain, but Tabitha’s mood was putting her on edge. She
sensed it wasn’t the time to talk. Who did Tabitha want her to
meet? They didn’t know anyone. The friends they’d had for their
whole lives had just been lost to them. Their extended family,
their coven, was broken.

“
Do I know the witches we are visiting?”

Tabitha’s hand stilled as she bundled their belongings into
parcels that would make them easy to carry. She seemed quite
nervous which was unlike her. Tabitha was always very controlled
and confident which suggested that something big was about to
happen, and Cora didn’t know if she had the strength to get through
it.

“
No, you have never met them before.”

Tabitha knew witches, other than her grandparents, but she had
never made a move to visit them before. Times had changed, Cora
knew that as well as anyone, and maybe Tabitha needed their help.
The commoners were hell bent on hunting for witches, they were so
utterly lost in their search for witches that commoners didn’t know
they were killing their own kind. Cora didn’t know when this was
going to end so maybe they did need help from other witches. Could
they band together and finally protect themselves?

Gathering her small pouch of belongings, she looked at her
cottage one last time. The wedding dress remained hung up on the
wall. There was no need to take it. She couldn’t believe her life
had come to this. She knew it was just a shell of a home but it had
been her home with her mother, her grandparents. She held back the
tears and followed Tabitha out through the front door and across
the field to the neighbouring village.

They made their way on foot, careful to avoid any commoners
that might recognise them. She wasn’t sure if the whole country was
looking for them, but she knew the village was. The commoners had
finally made the connection regarding their blood. They only knew
about their findings because Tabitha had stumbled upon a
conversation between three women.

They knew that the elemental power moved through the
generations and now they were searching for the children. According
to Tabitha one woman was adamant that a four month old child had to
be murdered through fear of the witch gene moving through the
generations.

And the commoners said that witches worked for the Devil. Cora
was disgusted by their behaviour, it couldn’t continue, commoners
had a lot to answer for.

“
Where are we going?” Cora asked, breaking up the silence that
had enshrouded them since leaving her home.

“
London.”

Cora felt a jolt of surprise. Why travel that far? Surely
London would be worse for witches. There would be more people
searching.

“
Why London, won’t it be dangerous?”

“
No, due to the population, the King cannot keep tabs on
everyone.”

“
How do you know?”

“
I have been in contact with people down there.”

“
Oh.”

“
Cora, everything is in hand. I have it under
control.”

Cora didn’t doubt this. But at moments like this, it concerned
her. Tabitha had yet to crack, had yet to show heartbreak over
losing her best friend. It would come, it had to, otherwise it
would eat away at her.

“
Why are we travelling so far?”

“
We need to get you away from here. No one will go looking for
you there.”

The sun was rising as they made their way south. She didn’t
think it was a good idea to head to London but Tabitha was adamant
that they would travel unnoticed there. As the early morning sun
rose, casting its lovely warmth across the fields, she admired the
way the dew glistened, the way the beautiful rainbow of flowers
yawned, stretching to meet the warmth and light.

“
How long will it take to get to London?”

“
Two days, maybe longer if we slow our pace,” Tabitha
responded.

“
Won’t we be stopping for breaks?” she asked hopefully. She
didn’t enjoy exercise. Walking was considered a form of this. She
couldn’t continue at this pace for more than two days, that was
ludicrous.

“
I do not believe so, we need to make good headway today, maybe
we could have a break over night.”

She tried not to grumble but she did moan under her breath.
She wasn’t happy about walking the distance to London.

“
We need to sleep, Tabitha.”

“
Right now, Cora, it is very important that I get you to
London.”

“
Why?” Why was it only London? Surely Tabitha knew witches who
lived closer to home.

“
Because there are others there who can help us.”

“
We can find witches who live close by.”

“
We must meet the ones there. You will find out why
soon.”

*

They made their way through the tiny streets and alleys under
the cover of the night. Her legs hurt, her head hurt and she’d
caught too much sun as her skin tightened at her neck. They’d made
it to the outskirts of London after sleeping for the whole of two
hours in two days. She hadn’t believed the body could survive on so
little sleep. It had survived but in sleep mode. Cora couldn’t
remember how they had reached London. The journey had been a bit of
a blur.

Luckily, no one approached them but she was sure that was
Tabitha’s doing. Tabitha knew a variety of spells that forced
commoners to turn away so they didn’t see certain things. Why
hadn’t she used the spell to help her mother? She didn’t ask. She
was sure Tabitha would have an answer, one that would still the
words on her tongue.

“
We will stay here for the night,” Tabitha said motioning to a
small cottage that looked to be abandoned.