Master Maker

Chapter 19 - Hag or Beauty

“you have returned,” the woman said “where is my baby?” she snapped, I held out the baby towards her and she snatched it from my hands, anding me a few pieces of gold and silver coins

“There is extra for bring her back alive” the woman turned and walked towards, a half-burnt down house, she stopped and looked back.

“my dears” she looked at me then at Amanda “you have done well, but you need to look out for each other. The road gets harder now, keep your men close and keep the enemy closer” she turned again soothing her baby that started to cry.

“what was that about?” Amanda whispered behind me

“This place has tones of weird people” I shrugged “whats next?” seeing a shadow fly over us. Draco hovered in the air

“looks like he knows the way” Lucis said walking up next to me. Draco started to move again and I ran trying to keep in his shadow. He stopped and disappeared higher up into the sky. I looked back to see that the others were running towards me out of breath, except for Amanda who looked more like she was simply walking rather than running.

“troy is on his way,” Justin said taking huge gulps of air as he stopped, collapsing to his knees

“you alright there bud,” I asked trying no to laugh.

“you damn f*****g elves” he panted taking a swig of something

“I second that” Lucis sat down on the ground putting his arms around his raised knees. He looked up at me with his eyebrow raised.

“Hey guys” I recognized Troy’s voice and turned to greet him. a huge smile was on his face

“you going good?” I asked looking him up and down

“what? Oh yeah, they gave me a drip and I was sent back home after a few hours

“I see” I crossed my arms and looked back at the two on the ground

“what's with them?” Troy asked

“they are not elves who can run nonstop to keep up with a freaking dragon” Justin snapped getting up and looking around.

I followed suit and looked around. Frowning.

“where the f**k are we?” I asked looking at the cows that and sheep that were in the fields around us

“I’m assuming the farmlands” Lucis stood up and ran his fingers through his long tangled hair.

“I think this is going to be a hard one”

“how many more people do you think we are going to need,” Justin asked as I  walked away towards a post that had a note nailed to it

Missing:

Farmer Melon

Accompanying the text was a photo of an old-looking man. Amanda walked up to me and looked at the note herself.

“I think we need to go to the farmhouse,” I told her, automatically moving towards it. I opened the gate slowly, the wind blowing had a foul smell to it. I looked back to see the others were all standing at the post that had the missing poster on it. I looked back at the door. Hesitating before I knocked on it three times. An old woman opened it slightly, the stench of death drifting through the door from the inside, she looked at me with one brown eye and one eye that looked like a cloudy sky.

“Who are you” the old woman snapped “what do you want?”

“I want to ask about the farm, where is the old man”

“gone, has been for years?” she snapped

“How did he disappear?” the old woman's face dropped and tears ran down her face, she opened the door more, so I could see her skinny hunched frame.

“Mrs.” I started when she stared out towards the farm fields, she looked back at me, the gaze taking me back as tears of blood ran down her face.

“a woman” she whispered “ a beautiful woman, she… she” the old woman walked a few steps, pointing towards the east most field. Turned around, went back into her, and shut the door. Lucis walked over to me, concern in his face.

“she said a woman, I guess took him?” I looked up at him,

“f**k we are gonna need some back up”

                                                                           *****

Three more me appeared in what felt like ten minutes of waiting, all the while I couldn’t help a strange feeling that kept coming over me. I noticed Amanda looking over her shoulders every now and then like she was uncomfortable too. I bumped her with my hip.

“do you feel it too?” I asked softly, she didn’t answer she only nodded her head

“The guys have this right?” she asked looking towards the east

“Yeah, I think so” watching as the men plotted out the way we were going to go

“what is it?”

“a hag” Lucis said quickly, they are sneaky as hell but easy enough to get through

“the old lady said she had been gone for years, is it possible he still alive?”

“somehow don’t think that is possible, hags tend to kill after they have something”

“wait, wait.” I put my hands up as everyone looked at me, “the woman started crying blood, and she couldn’t tell me exactly what happened. Are you sure it’s a hag? There has to be something we are missing, someone else we need to speak to?”

“wait her eyes bled?” one of the new guys said looking up at me.

“can you guys not feel it?” Amanda suddenly shouted “there is something close, something horrible”

“feel what,” Justin asked walking up to her

“I feel it too, but it seems to be affecting her more,” I said nodding my head towards Amanda. Lucis looked up from the drawing he had in the sand, his eyes flashed a weird emotion in them.

“it's not a Hag,” he said slowly “not really, anyway,” he said almost tripping over his own feet to get to me. “she appears to a woman as a hag, but to men, she appears as his innermost desires for a woman” he looked over at Justin who was standing next to Amanda.

“Amanda is feeling her spell strong than you because they only started dating, they don’t know much about each other, the old woman still feels her strong as well become she knew something about her husband something that kept their marriage hanging on my a threat.

“Why doesn't it affect her?” it was a man that was playing a dwarf, his voice was low and almost aggressive.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Lucis said looking at me, as I looked up at him, then he suddenly smiled

“she trusts me” the happiness in his voice was hard to hide. I whacked him on the shoulder and walked to look at his drawing in the sand.

“what exactly is the plan here”

“well considering, that you two can feel her, you are going to be our advantage here, the more uncomfortable you get, the closer we are. You up for that?”

“bring it on,” I said looking back at Amanda that stood looking like she was about to cry

“I’m in,” she said slowly taking in a deep breath and standing tall.

On the edge of the east most field, everything was… dead. The trees were crumbling under their own weight, there was no grass and the smell in the air was old and musty. I walked ahead of everyone. c*****g my head to the side as I got closer to the dead land. Touching an old tree, its barking coming off in my hand. I could feel it as I crumbled it in hand. I could feel the sadness coming from the area, there was nothing around, no birds, no small animals, and this time, there was really nothing unlike in the forest of the Dead. The only sound was distant whaling. I looked back at the group, the wind whipping my hair around.  

“Lilith!” Lucis shouted, A heavy smell of death hit me in the face, I turned, just to be hit in the face with a thick piece of wood.  

I woke up in a disgusting looking room, it was dark and looked like it was falling apart, the smell of mold. I tried to move, the sound of metal clanged as I tried to get up.

“oh for f**k sakes”