The storm waited for the villagers to come out of The Hall. The air was charged with its power.

As soon as Roor collapsed Breen knew what would happen. There was a moment where everyone was stunned, then Kena screamed and pointed towards Marcie,

"She killed him, she killed him! Kill her!"

And so all Breen could do was watch helplessly as Marcie was half carried out of the hall on a flood of bodies. He himself was swept along with them.

He tried to reason with the people around him but his voice failed him. Not that his pleas would have been heard anyway.

In front of The Hall a pyre had been raised in preparation for Junca's funeral. And yet Breen could only watch, horrified, as men rushed around and erected a stake in the middle of the mound of branches.

A cheer went up when they had finished and the crowd spread themselves out around the site.

Breen, his family and all those who had stood with Marcie were cruelly thrust to the front of the crowd and held there.

Then Marcie was dragged in front of the pyre.

The villager who had held the knife to her throat grabbed her hair again and lifted her head to show her the pyre,

"Look towards your fate Witch! May you find redemption within the flames" he cackled then threw her onto the piled sticks, she did not resist.

A few of the men climbed onto the pyre and dragged her up onto her knees so her skin and cloths were torn by the sharp twigs. Her shirt ripped and her collarbone and shoulder were bared. The villagers gasped at the swirling flame like pattern that was revealed. It now wrapped round her upper arm.

"There!" Kena shouted, pointing to the black marks, "There is your proof! The Witch carries a mark upon her after all!"

Breen could only stare.

"Do you see now dear brother?" Kena asked him, " Do you now see her true nature?" her tone would seem to all except him to be sad and yet all he could hear was her victory.

He tried to catch Marcie's eye but she was staring at nothing. She raised her hand, the manacles rattling along with her shaking, and tried to pull her shirt closed, to cover the proof of her strangeness, only to have her hands yanked over her head painfully. One of the men produced a large nail and a hammer and he banged the nail into the wood between the chain links of the manacles, securing them to the post. Silent tears of pain fell from Marcie's eyes as each blow of the hammer jarred her arms.

She slumped forward on her knees, her arms pulled on the manacles and Breen saw blood drip slowly down her arm from where the bracelet dug into the skin of her wrist. He wanted to shout at her, to stand up, to take the weight off her wrists and yet he did not. He stood, stunned. He did not know what to do.

Thunder boomed across the sky on the tail of a multi limbed spike of lightning through the sky.

Someone shouted "Get on with it!" and a Perick hurried off, returning shortly with a lit torch.

Kena cleared her throat and spoke loudly so everyone could hear her,

"Marcie No Ones Bride, is there anything you wish to say before you are put to the flame?"

Marcie slowly raised her head, her face half covered by her hair. Her lips moved as though she was saying something but at that moment there was huge crack of thunder and a string of pure white light connected the sky and the ground near the pyre for a split second, momentarily blinding and deafening everyone.

Cries and screams filled the air, the villagers began to panic and a few stumbled off home without a backwards glance.

As always, Kena saw an opportunity,

"Fear not!" she cried, "Fear not your Goddess! She calls for the Witches death also! We must sate her fury. Burn her!"

She pointed to Perick, he nodded at her and stepped forward, walking towards the pyre, torch held before him.

Marcie watched him come with dead eyes.

He reached the pyre and bent at the waist, bringing the flame close to the dry sticks.

A gust of wind blew the torch out.

The villagers stared.

Perick gaped at the torch in disbelief.

Then the wind rose and battered the waiting villagers. Raising the dust of the earth in great plumes, it filled eyes, noses, blew hair and sent it flying, lifted skirts and sent shawls spinning off into the dark.

Breen cowered and hid his face from the wind, Justyna clutching at him,holding a rag to her nose and mouth, eyes squeezed shut. Through his streaming eyes, Breen saw Marcie raise her face to the wind, her long golden hair dancing around her head and take a deep breath. Then she looked through the crowd and Breen heard her say, even over all the noise,

"Dafne?"

The wind died down suddenly and sure enough...

"Whats all this then?" an angry voice proclaimed.

Lightning hit the ground again, with a crack and the scattered villagers flinched.

"Leave yer alone for a few minutes an look what you got yourself into" The Witch Dafne said as she stomped into the collapsed circle,

"Why you let em put you up there girl eh?" her voice lowered in anger and Breen realised she was addressing Marcie, who stared at her, an unreadable expression on her deathly pale face.

"Oi bitch" Dafne said crisply pointing her knobbly walking stick at Kena, "This your doing bitch?"

Kena picked herself up off the floor and smoothed down her skirts, raising her head she opened her mouth to speak,

"Yeah I bet you been workin yer hooks inta all these lovely folks, betrayin yer blood an spreadin yer seed, revelin in er humiliation, well it stops now" Dafne stated, cutting Kena off with a brusk wave of her hand,

She surveyed the villagers, most of whom were slowly recovering and not meeting her eyes.

Breen had to admit she cut a terrifying figure. Her long black skirts swirled around her in the breeze, her pale bony hands sat upon the top of a walking stick he had never known her to need and her pale eyes judged all.

She caught his eye and he tried not to flinch, but she smiled at him, something she had never done before,

"Dont need ta worry now Breen my boy, ole Dafne's ere an aint nobody burnin tonight!"

She released him from her gaze and instead directed it towards the rest of the crowd, many of whom wilted beneath her fury.

"How dare you" she said sofly, "How dare you claim to hold the powers of life and death within your hands. To judge and find guilty on nothin but the word of a lyin harlot whos taken so many men to her bed that ye know at least some of em gotta be wed" she cackled and Kena raised her hands to her face as if to ward off Dafne's words as though they were physical blows,

"I aint a harlot" she mumbled pathetically, "You cant listen to the W-"

"Witch is it!" Dafne said sharply, "Oh aye, I be a Witch" she stood straighter still, as the villagers gasped,

"But ye forget what this witch does with er magic! Tis magic that keeps you all safe in yer beds at night, that keeps the beast from howlin at your door, that keeps yer crops safe from critters and be blessed with good harvest year after year! Tis Witchcraft that allows me ta cure any ill, ta deliver babes meant for the next world inta this one, allows mothers to survive birthin! Thats what a Witch does with er magic an it seems ta me that yer need a lesson on respect for the things tha keeps yer all alive!"

Lightning crashed to the ground again, this time it hit the stone steps of The Hall and the stone cracked.

"All this girl ere done is be born with green eyes!" lightning slammed into a chimney, "She stayed and cared for a drunkard who did nay deserve her love!" lightning hit The Tavern roof and a small fire sprung up, "Fixed yer cloths!" a fence post was reduced to charcoal with another blast of light fire, "Fed yer!" the hard baked earth near Kena's feet erupted, showering her in soil, she squealed,

"And this is how yer repay her" Dafne snarled, "She's better an all o you put together"

Breen watched Marcie slump, but thought that this time It might be with relief, he very nearly smiled, tension leaving his shoulders.

That was when Perick managed to relight the torch he had been attempting to since it was blown out. He barked out a short laugh then thrust the torch into the base of the pyre, where the incredibly dry sticks caught immediately and wooshed into life.

"No!" Dafne and Breen both cried while Perick laughed. Dafne strode forward, raised her walking stick over her head and brought it down two handed across Pericks cheek. He spun around in the dirt then fell still.

Thunder roared and lighting crashed all over the village, starting small fires on roofs, fences, in gardens and fields.

Breen ignored everything and scrambled towards the pyre,

"Marcie!"he cried.

And it was as though his cry brought her back to life.

She shuddered and took in another deep breath, then pushed herself off her knees, first with one foot then the other.

Breen tried to reach her but the flames jumped higher and surrounded her, the wood catching too quickly and she was still chained. With a hand out to shield himself from the flames, Breen shouted frantically to her, "Where are the keys!?"

Marcie stared at him, then she looked straight ahead, gritted her teeth and leaned forward and down. The bracelets for the manacles ripped new gashes on her wrists but she pulled and strained and gasped through the pain,

"What are you doing?" Breen cried,

But then the rusted chain between her wrists groaned and tore free of the thick nail securing it to the post, the chain shattering and her arms jerked, she gasped and cradled them to her chest then looked around wildly at the rapidly approaching flames,

"Jump" Breen shouted, and without hesitation, her arms still folded to her chest, Marcie jumped over the flames. Breen caught her and they both fell to the ground, his arms around her, holding her tight,

"I got you, I got you" he kept on repeating before hauling them both off the ground.

His family rushed to them. Marcie was embraced by many small weeping bodies, everyone seemed shocked and afraid still, Luce clutched at her and cried and Miss Maiden just held her hand tightly. Merrick, Ryna, Justyna and The Barman stood awkwardly off to one side.

Dafne stomped over,

"Not the time for celebrating now child, you need ta get out of here"she said briskly, she held out a pack that Breen had not realised she'd had on her back,

Marcie made no move to take it, staring at it quietly,

"Why does she have to leave?" Miss Maiden said quietly, placing her hand on Marcie's marked shoulder, ignoring her flinch.

"They wont forgive er, not fer this" Dafne said darkly, eyeing the remaining villagers who were slowly coming to their senses and creeping closer,

"She cannot leave" Luce said tearfully, "Where will she go?"

"Everywhere"

Luce blinked and stared at Marcie, who smiled down at her sadly,

"I can go anywhere"

Luce gasped and shook her head, "No, no, Marcie, think about this please" she begged,

Miss Maiden took Luce gently by the shoulder, "She has been thinking about leaving for a long time dear" then she looked back at Marcie,searching her face closely for any sign of hesitance and found none, she smiled sadly, "I realise I should not have tried to make you stay now. If only I had let you go sooner, maybe all of this could have been avoided" she gestured around the smoking village.

Marcie smiled sadly also,

"I love you all" she said quietly.

The children hugged her tighter and cried harder, Breen and Miss Maiden tightened their grip on her hands.

After several long moments, Dafne coughed, "Gotta go now girly" she suggested,

"Do you have to go now?" Callia asked sobbing,

"Yes right now" Dafne snapped, then she broke into a satisfied grin and a sound rose over the noise of the thunder and the crackle of the flames.

A roar of pure rage.

"About damn time" she said happily,

Breen blinked and stared up at the lightning strewn sky.

The roar sounded again, echoing across the village, causing all the villagers to stop whatever they were doing (trying to sneak up on the people saying goodbye, staring at the empty flames of the pyre,rushing off to find water to put out the fires or trying to get The Tavern door open to steal a drink) and all stare up and around them.

There was another almighty roar, much louder and closer this time. And then there was an sound like the flapping of wings, but...bigger, coming closer and closer, the villagers cowered, Luce clutched Marcie, "What is it?" she whispered, horrified,

Then a black shape rose up out of the trees of the forest and opened up great, huge wings across the sky, flying up towards the clouds. It turned and began heading towards the village. It opened its mouth and a roar left it and crashed down upon the village, causing everyone to clutch their ears in pain. Everyone except for Marcie and Dafne who both stared at the creature without fear.

Breen watched the enormous creature come towards him and wished to wake up. He longed for a sign that he was dreaming and yet none would come. The creature flew over the buildings low, villagers screaming and jumping out of the way as it passed, the ground shook as its great leathery wings, covered in spikes, beat the air.

It passed over their heads as they remained cowering and yet rooted to the spot. It twisted then lowered its back legs and landed with a crunch of tiles, stone and wood on the roof of The Hall next to where they stood, the ground trembled as it landed. Its huge long talons gripped the edges of the roof, gouging great big holes in the impeccable stone work while its great spiked tail thrashed behind it, seeming not to notice when it smashed a chimney off another building.

It raised its wings above it in an unmistakably aggressive gesture and swooped its head down low to survey all the prey before it, smoke plumed from both its nostrils and its eyes were black holes of fury within a face covered in sharp protrusions.

One of his siblings had fainted and his mother did not look to be faraway from collapsing herself, Breen wondered how he himself was still conscious.

It, whatever it was, lifted its head towards the sky, opened its mouth and let loose a concentrated stream of bright orange flames from between its maws. The flames rose from its lips them fell around it, great drops of flame, catching roof thatch and dried grass, causing yet more fires to spring up.

When it had finished this terrifying display, the creature lowered its body threateningly then crawled off the roof, one leg at a time, the tiles of the roof were scraped off by the scales of the creatures belly and fell down like a shower of slate. It placed one sharply clawed foot down on the ground then another, oblivious to the damage it did in the process.

Once it was squeezed into the village square it snarled, more smoke falling from its nose and mouth and shook from side to side, its bulk crashing into the buildings all around it, brick, stone, wood and slate went flying and crashed all around.

Everyone seemed to find their legs at the same time and they scurried away from the beast as fast as they could, grabbing children and helping each other as they went, until they were far enough away to realise that Marcie and Dafne had not fled with them, and the creature was stalking towards the two of them hungrily, lashing out with its tail at anything in its way, its front claw came down on the smouldering pyre and squashed it flat, seemingly immune to the heat of the flames.

It stopped in front of Marcie, its breath coming out harsh and noisy, while lightning crashed around it, almost muffled next to the creatures bulk.

Breen was too terrified to move, he could only watch, heart in his throat as he lost Marcie for the second time.

But then, something extraordinary happened.

In front of the whole cowering village, Marcie reached out her hand and held it up to the monster.

And the monster moved forward and pressed its snout into her palm.

Marcie threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around the creatures great head with sigh of relief.

The creature held very still then seemed to relax, folding its wings down and lowering itself onto its belly with its own satisfied sigh.

Marcie gasped as she felt Dara push against the barriers she had erected to keep him away.

And she found that, now the fear had gone, she was able to let him back in.

She felt his anger, his hurt, his anxiety, his worry and worst of all, his fear, crash over her and she tried to soothe him as best she could, holding him tight and sending him calming loving thoughts,

Dafne coughed, causing Marcie to jump, she had forgotten she was there, forgotten anyone except for herself and Dara existed.

"Sorry girly, gonna ave to wait for the reunion. Gotta get you out of here fast, alright?" She handed the pack over and Marcie took it, her face a question, Dafne shrugged, "Just some stuff, probably wont need it, but better safe an sorry"

Marcie stared at the woman who was so old she had seen hundreds of generations live and die in her village and she felt emotion swell inside her, heightened by Dara's obvious love for the woman also,

"Dafne..." she started to say, voice thick with emotion but The Witch snapped, "Dara, get er out of ere!"

And Dara grabbed the back of Marcie's shirt without preamble, lifted her up, leaned around and plonked her down on his back, at the base of his neck, where the little dip between his shoulder blades made a perfect seat. She gripped the spikes in front of her to hold on.

Dara pressed his snout to Dafne's forehead and breathed gently on her face causing her to smile,

"Go on" she said, sobering quickly, "Get!"

Dara took her at her word and twisted awkwardly around, knocking over more buildings, and used another building as a stepping stone to get back onto the roof of The Hall. Marcie held onto the spikes with all her might as Dara moved underneath her.

She heard a shout from the ground and looked down.

Kena, her hair dirty and tangled, her face streaked with dirt and tears was screaming wordlessly at her, holding a flaming torch over her head, her mouth was stretched open wide and her eyes looked past mad.

Marcie felt a deep abiding loathing overtake her suddenly and she took her hand off the spike she was gripping very hard and waved it at Kena in a dismissive gesture.

The torch in her hand exploded, sending flames rushing out to grab anything they could. This included Kena's head. She screamed as her hair caught alight and the flames licked her face, the torch fell from her hand as she thrashed around on the ground in blind agony.

Marcie stared at what she had done but had no time to think about it because Dara spread his wings and began to beat them rhythmically and slowly, building up speed.

Marcie grabbed the spikes in front of her and held on for dear life, the reality of what was about to happen suddenly terrifying. Dafne had spoken briefly of flying and yet she had never actually thought about ever doing it.

Dara worked up enough speed that his feet lifted off the roof, Marcie felt her stomach disappear as fast as the ground did and she began to feel more and more weightless with every lurch.

Lightning still crashed around them, but it did not seem as frightening and seemed to move around them, she thought it strange that a storm would react this way and she noticed a strange tingle across her skin, magic perhaps?

Dara rose above the village then swooped over the trees, Marcie closed her eyes but then remembered she was leaving the only home she had ever known and turned around carefully to watch the battered rooftops and plumbs of smoke disappear behind the trees and be swallowed up by the forest.

She turned and faced in front, over Dara's head she saw the forest spread out before her.

All the wonders beyond now calling to her.

                                                                                      The End

                                                                                   Of Part One.