The Witch

Chapter five: Third person POV

A week had passed and Aziza was still being held captive in that village. They tried to make her use her magic, but it was all in vain. She refused every time. Even if she was tortured, even if they pierced her skin with whips, or burned her, she was not going to give them what they wanted.

She had tried to free herself several times, but the shackles that she had on didn’t let her use her magic. Furthermore, she lacked the experience and knowledge to use her magic. It was a miracle that she could control it in the first place, but that only proved her ability and strength. She was a prodigy, now she needed to find someone that showed her the right way to use her magic.

They were now looking for a way to mentally break her. The problem was that they had nothing to use as leverage. They had killed her mothers and she had no one else that she loved. Except… the lioness and her cubs.

The son remembered how she took care of them, like they were family, and got a horrible idea. They could manipulate her with that. And so, he went back to Aziza’s home, and patiently waited for days until he saw one of the cubs approach the territory.

What he was going to do was horrible. He was going to use a poor animal for his evil benefit. To hurt someone so innocent as a baby, and even worse a baby animal, was something that condemns his soul automatically.

He wanted to feel that his father cherished him once again. That he gave him the recognition he deserved, but every time Aziza refused to cooperate his father reminded him how useless he was. He told him constantly that he was a disgrace, as he couldn’t even make his sister cooperate.

That was another low blow for him. The witch that he found, the one that was so powerful that she evaporated his man from his earth with a blast, was her sister. He knew his father would never tell him why his sister lived apart. And why she had accused him of murdering her mother and trying to kill her as well. No, his father was not going to reveal his secrets to him.

And so he made one decision, and captured the cub. Eventually, the mother would follow, and if not, at least he would have proven to Aziza that he was a monster as well. He was slowly losing himself, to seek approval from his father.

He returned to his village, bringing the cub in a bag. The small lion tried to fight back, but he was too small, and the man was too evil. When he reached his home he went straight to Aziza’s cell, he was going to get what he wanted now, and no one would stop him.

“Sister.” He said as she entered the cell. Aziza didn’t even look at him, she was having her own battle with the demon inside of her.

But the man was inpatient, so he took the cub out of the bag and cut his little paw. In response, the lion whimpered in pain, catching Aziza’s attention.

“What do you want?” Her eyes showed her ferocity, but when she looked at the cub it was replaced with worry.

The man smirked at her response, he had gotten what he wanted. This lion was her weakness, and he could finally get what he wanted. All he needed to do was press the right buttons.

“The same as every day, sister. I want you to help our father.” She stopped looking at the cub, only to fixate her sight on the man. If the shackles weren’t blocking her magic, he would be dead by now.

“And let me guess, you are going to threaten me with Zohar’s life.” A smirk formed in her brother’s face.

“Seems like you aren’t stupid at all, big sis.” Aziza smiled, she wasn’t going to let them see her defeat, and even if she held the cub dear to her, she was going to play them like she wanted.

“Yes, but it seems intelligence only got to one side of the family.” The smirk in the man’s face dropped. He had to admit it, Aziza was a hard nut to crack.

“Very funny, but remember, I have the cub in my possession, and if you don’t behave he is going to pay.” He sliced the cub’s paw, making Aziza furious. She felt a surge of energy inside her, and the voice spoke once again, trying to get her to do what it wanted.

“Kill him, you can kill him now.” If what the voice said was right, then it meant that the shackles were becoming obsolete, she only had to wait until she could access her true power.

And so, she had to play with them for a little while. She needed to gain their trust to give them the final blow when they least expected it.

“I need to see your father then. I can’t treat what I don’t know.” The man didn’t want to be deceived so easily, and he thought she didn’t need more information. She could do what she had done to the cub back then.

“You don’t need to, just do the same thing you did in your house.” Aziza rolled her eyes, this man was stupid. Even if she did want to help them, she still needed to determine the disease. But, of course, this man didn’t know how her magic worked.

“Your father isn’t dead yet. It is not the same thing. I need to determine what is going on with his body.” The man was weary of her, he didn’t want to give her the chance to escape.

Aziza was eager to escape and kill them all for what they did to her mother, but she had to be smart about it. She had to be smarter than them, and so she was going to make them believe that she was on their side, for Zohar’s sake.

“Let’s go, but I’m not removing the shackles.” Aziza wanted to bang his head to see if he got some common sense.

“If these shackles block my power, how am I going to tell what your father has?” The man didn’t think about that. But… she had shown to be more intelligent than he was, and it could be a trap.

“Figure it out.”

Aziza could only think that the man was really stupid. But she couldn’t argue much, not when the life of Naya’s cub was at stake. But she also needed to work fast. She knew that Naya would come right after her cub, and so it was only a matter of time until they captured her as well. She couldn't let that happen. Naya was probably the only family that she had left, and she was going to fight for it.

The man took her to a room where the chief laid on the bed. He didn't look like someone strong when he was like that, but she had seen him when she arrived. Even if he was sick, he still possessed great strength. If he wasn't such an evil person, Aziza would have admired him.

"So, you finally convinced her son." The man smiled wickedly, it was clear that they thought they had finally broken her, but they couldn't have been further from the truth. She was a fighter, and she was going to make them pay. Now she just had to fight the voice inside of her, because if she gave into it, she would perish.

The thing about the demon that resided in her body was that it could give her a lot of power, but it would consume her from the inside, until she died. That was the demon's plan, to make her want to give in, so he could finally get her. But she knew that she was not going to be an easy nut to crack, her spirit was huge, and so he had to break her, piece by piece.

"I used another method." The other man gloated as he showed the cub to his father. They smiled with malice, of course they would, they were rotten on the inside, and even if the son wasn't an evil person at first, he was slowly becoming one.

"Well, let's get started, you wouldn't want anything to happen to this cub, wouldn't you?" The man said while he pressed the knife once again at the little lion. Aziza was burning with rage, and she realized once again that she could feel the flame of her power.

"Leave him, now!" She said while her eyes glowed. The chief knew that his son was taking it too far, and if he didn't stop they might lose Aziza.

"Chike, stop. She will cooperate." The chief spoke. Chike didn't want to, he loved to see the reaction that he caused in Aziza. He loved it because she acted so strongly that he was going to love breaking her.

The thing about strong women is that people always try to hurt them, they love to try their limits to see if they are stronger. A strong woman had a lot of obstacles throughout her life, and Aziza was not the exception.

She looked at the man and extended her hands to feel what was wrong with him. It took her a while, but she found the problem. Another demon was feeding from him, and it probably was because of some pact that he had made. Could she break it? Most likely, but for that she needed to know what demon it was. But she knew the chief was never going to admit that he gained power, money or strength through a pact, so her only option was to try to get the demon's name on her own. Unfortunately, this would take a while, and time was something she didn't have.

"Your sickness is very profound, meaning that I have to do several healing sessions." Chike didn't like this answer, he wanted her gone as quickly as possible. But if she was the only one who could cure his father, he would endure his feelings towards Aziza.

And so another week passed. Aziza had to go to the chief's room every night to do healing sessions. They took one of her hands off the cuffs, so she could perform her spells. The chief felt better, but something was telling him that Aziza was playing them, and so he wanted to prove to her once again who had the power there.

The thing was, he knew that physical damage wouldn't break her, but emotional could. They couldn't kill the cub. It was the only leverage they had for her to cooperate, but that day the answer knocked on his door. Naya had arrived.