We are the blood of the witches you thought were dead. We carry witchcraft in our bones whilst the magic still sings inside our heads. When the witch hunters imprisoned our ancestors, when they tried to burn the magic away, someone should have warned them that magic cannot be tarned. Because you cannot burn away what has always been aflame.
- Nikita Gill

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- Nicolas -

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The bars in front of me dissolved into thin air as if by magic. Testing, I took a small step forward. I was indeed free, while all chaos broke out in front of me. A single sentence had caused complete panic.

"He wants the heart of the mountains."

He wants the heart of the mountains? Not to the heart of the mountains?

"We'll all keep calm for now. Arm yourselves. Then we'll meet at the entrance and be on our way," ordered the apparent leader of the witches. She was called Vindicta earlier.

All the witches poured out of the dungeon. The leader turned to Victorine and me. "Follow me," she said, whereupon Victorine gathered her helmet and weapons and we ran after her with quick steps.

My head ached, but I was glad to be out of this dungeon at last.

"Are you all right?", Victorine asked me from the side as we walked through a narrow, barely lit corridor.

"Yes, I am," I answered her, "Now would you please explain to me what is going on here?"

We entered a huge room with two floors and several corridors. In my haste, I recognized tables, shelves, and canning jars with body parts.

It was hard to believe. I was a man and yet I found myself alive in a witch's nest.

I had little time to realize this fact because witch leader Vindicta suddenly turned off, even though all the other witches were hurrying in another direction.

"My mother used to tell me legends," Victorine now told me in a voice filled with pain. "About an object that could be used to create life. No one knew where it was hidden or who possessed it."

"Except it's not just an object," the witch replied in a dark voice, and all at once she turned to face us, making us slow down abruptly to avoid running into her. "But rather a heart. The heart of the mountains."

Victorine turned to me. "Back when you ordered me to enter the mind of the spy, that's when I saw it. The spy heard rumors he should never have heard. That Cephas was apparently going to the Heart of the Mountains. I remembered this legend from my mother, so of course I was alarmed, but I never really believed it completely. But then there were more and more signs. The horde of Wendigos, which actually do not exist in nature in this size. The mermaids, in whose souls I saw that they fled from Tenebris. You just had to put one and one together. Cephas tried to create beings in Tenebris. Transformed humans into Wendigos, did experiments on mermaids. And that's just what we know."

"He wants to create magical beings, and that's why he stole the heart of the Primal Witch," Vindicta concluded the king's daughter's remarks.

"We have to stop him," I countered. My hand reflexively twitched toward my sword until I remembered that I had been stripped of all my weapons.

"It's too late," the witch whispered, staring at me with her expressionless black eyes. "She's dead. I feel it."

We fell silent. Again, Cephas had gotten what he wanted. I felt the anger welling up inside me so strongly that I almost turned around and smashed all the shelves. My hands heated up and I tried to take deep breaths in and out so they wouldn't catch fire.

"They made it to the Primal Witch, even though she was guarded by countless of the strongest beings here in the land. Cephas came with an insurmountable army. We can't get the heart back."

"What exactly does that mean now?", I needed to know from the witch.

"For that, you must understand our history. The Primal Witch received a gift from the mountains thousands of years ago. She was born with a heart of life, with which she could create new beings and put them into the world again and again. That's how our system worked here away from humans. There was a reason why you did not know this and knew this story as a legend at most. As soon as people even glimpse the word power, they take no heed to get that power as well." Vindicta's eyes seemed to grow even darker, though that could not be possible at all.

She raised her hands and slowly pulled the hood off her head. The shadows on her face disappeared. Scars and wounds could be seen on her face and on her hairless scalp. Burn scars.

"There were times when we had lived among men. Hundreds of years ago, men were still trying to exert power over us. And at some point we fought back. Masses of us were burned, at the stake, at public events, in forests, in houses, in barns. Sooner or later, every surviving witch found her way to the holy lands."

"But you never stayed here long," I added, remembering my prior knowledge. "You came back to the murderers, rapists, thugs. You are feared for a reason."

"That's right. We searched for every of our sisters and freed them", the leader confirmed with piercing eye contact. „We know about some of the things that happen here. We knew that your troops have entered the holy lands. When we learned that Cephas was approaching the sacred lands as well, we suspected he was looking for you, King Nicolas. So we captured you and planned to hang you out to Cephas. In return, we wanted protection from his troops, who were constantly crossing the holy lands to wipe us out because of our vengeful deeds."

"But that wasn't what Cephas wanted," Victorine murmured beside me.

"Vindicta," I now addressed the leader of the witches in a respectful tone. "With the help of Victorine's ability, we may be able to penetrate the castle of Tenebris. But we need your help. We must band together to stop Cephas."

For the first time, I saw a witch smile. The corners of her mouth pulled upward, exposing a row of pointed teeth as she grinned wickedly. "Cephas has just declared war on us. Of course we're going to stop him. His entire kingdom will be in flames."

I avoided daring to glance at Victorine. It was clear to feel her tense up. After all, she still had one more person to rescue from Cephas' captivity before everything there was reduced to ashes.

Vindicta turned around and rummaged through the shelves for something. Then she pulled out two small, empty jars and held one out to each of us.

"Witches can communicate with other beings over long distances as long as they touch something of their bodies," she told us.

Hesitantly, we accepted the jars. Vindicta noticed our uncertainty, whereupon she grinned even more diabolically than before. "A few hairs should be enough."

Firmly expecting to have had to cut off a finger, I relaxed my muscles again.

Victorine picked up her sword to cut off a strand of her dark hair. I plucked out hairs one by one until I could fill about a dozen into the jar.

The witch took both jars, but left their lids in our hands. Vindicta muttered something incomprehensible to me, then purple vapor formed in it and enveloped our hair. The lid in my hand lost gravity until it became lighter than a single feather. I watched as it slowly rose into the air, flying toward the jar and closing it as if by invisible, magical wizardry.

"We witches have some business to attend to here, you guys go ahead and make your way to Tenebris. Our plan is to create enough of a distraction so we can infiltrate the kingdom. With which Victorine can actually be of great help to us." Vindicta stowed the jars somewhere under her cloak.

The witch looked at both of us, but then again, she didn't. It was as if she was looking straight through us. Her expression was one of the cruelest, most terrifying things I had ever beheld. Coldness shot through my body and seemed to bore right into my bones. "First we're going to get the heart back, and then I'm going to rip each organ out of Cepha's body one by one."

"So we'll meet in Tenebris. And you will maintain telepathic contact with us," I said, trying not to let my fear of this witch show.

"Right. You can have two of our shadow horses and we'll follow."

"Thank you, but I don't need one," Victorine waved the offer off.

I looked at the king's daughter with a serious expression, hoping she would just accept Vindicta's offer.

Victorine looked at me expressionlessly. "Why do I need a horse when I have a dragon?"

Of course, she reacted just as I feared she would. "The dragons are gone, as are the rest of our troops. They are on their way to Tenebris to finish the mission because they declared us dead," I spoke the facts.

"Deidamia would never have flown away without me. She is as much a sister to me as Crescentia is." Victorine had averted her eyes, as she so often did when speaking of her sister. As if she still wanted to hide her weakness.

"So be it, then." The witch turned to me now. "A shadow horse is waiting for you at the exit. Your weapons are back there." Vindicta pointed to a corner of the huge room.

"Thank you, Vindicta. The Kingdom of Sanguis will not forget your support," I spoke in an automatic, diplomatic business tone.

The witch regarded me with a serious look. "And we will not forget our agreement. Your support in the fight against Cephas. And I advise you by God to keep that bargain as well."

I shuddered. Of course I would keep the bargain. Not only because it made my hope of Cephas' death more realistic, but also because this witch was one of the last beings I wanted as my enemy.

We turned, gathered my weapons, and left the room. In the corridors of the exit were witches. Countless of them. They backed away, made room for us, and let us pass. The same witches who had forcibly dragged me in here and thrown me into the dungeon. For a split second, I wondered if I was dreaming. Me leaving this witches nest was just near impossible.

Eventually we came to the end of the hallway, but before I could say anything, the stone wall opened on its own, letting in brilliant, bright daylight that I had thought I would never see again.

"Highness Victorine," I called the king's daughter to my attention, who stepped over the threshold of the exit and was about to put on her helmet.

"Why did you do that?"

She stopped in her movement and looked back at me. "What, refused the offer? I already told you that-"

"No. I mean that you came back," I interrupted her. "Why?"

"Because I couldn't leave you behind. So simple," she answered in a firm voice, as if it really had all been that simple.

"You could have lost your life," I spoke, taking several steps toward her. "But certainly worse for you: You could have lost your sister's life."

"But I didn't," she replied curtly, turning away from me.

"You saved my life, Victorine. I don't know how I can ever thank you for that."

"By doing me a favor that is not my favor. Save my sister in case I don't make it to Tenebris." Victorine donned her helmet and led the way as I watched her go for a moment. It had to be a true honor to ever receive the loyalty of this person.

While she called for Deidamia, I mounted the black horse with the smoking mane of hair, which had already been standing by the entrance.

We waited. And indeed, after some time, I could hear the powerful sound of a dragon's wings flapping. Victorine's dragon appeared far up in the sky and flew down to us in a dive. I could hardly believe that the creature had actually stayed here and not flown along with the others. A dragon had chosen a human over its fellow dragons.

Deidamia landed magnificently in front of Victorine with her massive wings outstretched, and the two greeted each other. I had never seen such a connection between human and animal.

Victorine took a card from the pocket around Deidamia's body and got on her back. "Just follow us, we will always stay in sight. I'll choose a small detour so we can't run into Cepha's army. If we hurry and take few breaks, we could be in Tenebris in five days."

With that, the two took off into the air and I began to ride after them as fast as I could.

The shadow horse was a lot faster than ordinary horses and also seemed to have much better endurance.

We crossed the mountain ranges at a brisk pace. The sun showed me that we had just passed half of the day, yet I felt tired and exhausted. And yet I was grateful to still be alive.

Soon we had left the mountainous area behind us and a vast expanse stretched out before us, dry, covered in dirt, dust and sand. Now we would be able to move even faster.

I was seriously concerned that Cephas now possessed the Heart of the Primal Witch. Of which I had never heard in my life. Victorine had only heard legends and stories. But Cephas must have had certainty, since he had come here prepared and with a huge army. Where did he get the certainty about the heart of the mountains?

Thoughtfully, I looked back as if the mountains themselves could provide me with the answer. But what I saw was not an idyllic landscape.

Famished, giant, bat-like flying creatures were formatting themselves by the dozens and racing absolutely silently toward Deidamia and Victorine.

"Victorine!", I screamed as loud as I could.

The king's daughter turned around and spotted the danger. Deidamia flew faster and faster. But the creatures began to catch up.

They raced over me at incredible speed. Of course, they focused first on the dragon, which would be the largest amount of food for them.

Damn, damn, damn.

"Faster!", I commanded the shadow horse until it picked up speed. We almost flew over the meadow while I kept an eye on what was happening above me.

If the creatures reached Deidamia, Victorine would die too.

The horse braked abruptly and nearly threw me off of it. We stopped short of a deep precipice whose fall we would never have survived.

To ride on, we would have to walk a long detour.

When I looked up again, the creatures had reached Deidamia and Victorine. They surrounded the two until Deidamia could no longer fly properly. Several beings rushed toward the wings to bring the dragon to the ground.

Horrified, I watched what was happening. And there was nothing at all that I could do.

The dragon was hit hard on the wing and crashed. With a loud, dull thud, her body hit the ground, sending sand swirling into the air.

"No!" a dry, guttural cry escaped me.

In all the chaos, Victorine was no longer recognizable. I could only hope that she had survived this fall.

I squinted my eyes to see better. My heart was pounding so hard against my ribcage, as if it were trying to break out of it. Terrifyingly long seconds ticked by in which I could see absolutely nothing. Then the swirling sand and dust settled. In fact, the dragon seemed to be protecting something under its wing.

Suddenly Deidamia looked at me. Across all the distance, our eye contact met exactly.

And I understood Deidamia's look.

We would save Victorine's life.