THE SHIELD AND THE SWORD

Chapter 2 - COLD CREEK COVEN

John

My name is John Magnus, and I am 10 years old. I live in Cold Creek Coven with my mother, Hazel, my father, Simon, and my little sister, Elizabeth, who is 9. We are currently on the south side of the coven in the field of wildflowers playing a game of tag. The only peace we get is when we are away from everyone.

My mother, Hazel, is the high priestess of the coven and one of the coldest women I have ever known. I think my father is afraid of her because he seems to go along with whatever she wants to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong or who she hurts.

During the day, my sister and I do our best to stay away from my parents and our home. Since my sister and I are too young to have our powers or know what they are, we are treated with disdain.

Weak, pathetic children until we prove otherwise. Witches and warlocks don’t get their gifts until the age of 18. Then, we find out what we have been blessed with by Hecate. Those who end up with weak powers, or what my mother deems useless, are treated as enslaved people and beaten.

Witches and warlocks with what she considers vital gifts or when she can use them to her benefit are brought into her inner circle to do her bidding.

I overheard talk that when my mother met my father, her beloved, the only reason she accepted him was because he had what she considered valuable gifts. My father can call air or wind. Not based on a spell but as a natural element. If you combine that with my mother's ability to summon fire, it makes them an almost unbeatable pair.

The Cold Creek coven has been in our family for generations. From what I remember, my grandparents were wonderful people. However, my mother was greedy and power-hungry. When I was six, I was woken one morning by a loud commotion.

Everyone was saying that my grandparents were killed. My mother didn’t even look upset. She just had this weird smile on her face. I noticed others looking at her with an odd look. I started to cry. Immediately, I was yelled at and sent to my room for being weak. The day after they were buried, she called a coven meeting and announced that there would be changes within the coven.

The changes started slowly. There have always been wards around our coven to keep it hidden. However, after my grandparents died, I started seeing strange people meeting with my mother in her office. They always looked shady. And within the last year or two, I noticed many more rituals. My mother's Inner Circle always held them, and no one else was allowed. It was all very secretive. As time passed, my mother became more ruthless and my father more withdrawn.

Last week, we were eating dinner, and my sister accidentally knocked her milk over. My mother jumped from her chair, came around the table, and smacked her so hard on the side of her head that she fell out of her chair onto the floor.

I immediately jumped up and wrapped her in my arms. I couldn’t believe my mother had struck my sister. She has always been cold with her words, but to get physical shocked me. She immediately told us to both get out of her sight and that we didn’t deserve to go to bed with a full stomach since we provided no purpose to the coven.

I walked my sister to her room, lay with her, and held her to my chest. I just kept whispering to her that one day, I would get my gifts from Hecate, and I would make them all pay for their cruelty. I repeatedly told her that I loved her and I would always do my best to protect her and remind her every day that she is loved.

Every day since then, I make sure I am up early before my parents. By doing this, I can ensure my sister is up so we can eat breakfast together and leave the house as quickly as possible. We always make a sandwich and grab a bottle of water. We can head to the Meadows or down by the creek. On days we have school, we hurry to school, and as soon as it lets out, I get my sister, and we go back to the meadow or creek until sunset.

It’s a Saturday morning, and I see the first rays of the sun coming in through my bedroom window. I quickly get up, go to my bathroom for a shower, and get dressed.

Rushing into my sister's room, I quietly wake her and tell her to get ready. We sneak down the hall to the kitchen and fix ourselves a bowl of cereal. Once finished, we set the bowls in the sink. We quietly exit the front door and head towards the creek.

Elizabeth is carrying her favorite sketch pad with her this morning. As we are about 20 feet from the house, I suddenly hear my mother's screeching voice telling us to get back in the house. “Oh, crap! Munchkin, please try to be quiet and stay in your room today, ok?” She looks at me with sadness in her eyes and says, “OK, Bubba.” “I love you, munchkin,” I say with a slow smile. “I love you too, Bubba,” She replies.

As we enter the house, I keep myself between Elizabeth and Mother as we pass. I never trust her with Elizabeth anymore. I know I am nothing yet as far as strength compared to her, and I don’t have my powers yet. However, I still feel it’s my job to try and protect her.

Mother stops us and states that she has coven meetings today, and with strangers being here, she wants us in our rooms, not out roaming the coven grounds. “OK, mother,” I state.

I walk Elizabeth to her room. “I’ll be right back,” I say as I head to my room, grab a book, and return to her. There’s no way I’ll leave my sister alone with the kind of people my mother associates with here in the house or at the coven.

It’s a couple of hours later, whenever I hear arguing between my mother and father. She must not have the door shut to her office. I quietly leave the chair, walk over to my sister's door, and open it.

What were muffled voices is now reasonably clear. My father is yelling at my mother, stating that she can’t keep hurting people for money. Doing black magic is turning her cold and unrecognizable. I see her immediately lift her right hand and conjure fire. Her maniacal laughter echoes down the hall to me. It was sending cold chills down my spine.

The next words that came out of her mouth shocked me to my core. “If I can murder my own blood, what makes you think I won’t do it to a weak, pathetic man like you?” Ha ha ha. “If you ever think of growing a pair of balls again, remember that,” she states.

Holy s**t! I guess I have always known that my mother killed our grandparents. But hearing it come out of her mouth that she did it is something else.

Elizabeth and I are in more danger than I thought we were. Tears form in my eyes as I think I must protect Elizabeth. We will never be like our mother and father. When I get my powers, I must become strong, proficient, smarter, and protect us at all costs.

We learned in school at an early age how important it is to respect hecate's laws. Bring harm to none unless it’s self-defense or to protect the weak. Our gifts are given to us by the gods, and they can be taken away. The bonds with our beloved are to be cherished, not abused. My mother is the worst leader any coven could have, a cruel mate to my father, and she has been nothing more than a nightmare to my sister and me.

I have often wondered why my father doesn’t reject her. From what we have been taught, yes, we cherish our beloved bond. However, there are circumstances in which you can reject them. Cruelty or betraying the bond is among those reasons. I have always seen my father as a weak man following my mother, no matter what. I guess I’m right.