Book 4: Chapter 16

Tafel had a frown on her face as she stared up at the moon. It was different from the moon back at home, a bit smaller. The stars in the sky were shining, but none of the familiar constellations could be seen. She sighed and rolled over onto her side. Currently, she was camping out in the open next to the river. There were a few curtains underneath her that she had liberated from the church. The church had blankets, but they were dirtier than the curtains, so the choice was obvious. Nearby, there was a woman sitting on a tree stump. She was staring into the campfire in front of herself, occasionally nudging it with a stick. The woman sighed and looked towards Tafel. “Are you awake?”

“What’s up?” Tafel asked and yawned.

“I just….” The woman pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. “What’s going to happen to me now?”

“I’m not going to eat you or steal your soul, okay?” Tafel asked. “Haven’t I already told you this?”

“No, no, I know,” the woman said. “But…, I can’t go home now. Everyone will think I’m a witch even if I’m not. The church will definitely hear about this, and they’ll send people to capture me.”

Tafel frowned. “You don’t have anywhere else to go? A distant cousin or something?”

“No,” the woman shook her head. “I’m a widow with no relatives. That’s why I was accused of being a witch in the first place. I have no one I can rely on.”

Tafel sat up and sighed. It seemed like saving this woman was going to be trickier than she thought. Even if the woman was pulled out of the immediate danger, wouldn’t it be pointless if she went back and died? Threaten everyone in the village? That might work temporarily, but once she left the woman alone, the villagers would take action then. Kill everyone? Tafel shook her head. She wasn’t evil. Destroy the church? That was a possibility. Destroying it would probably do good for the world considering how corrupt it seemed. They were picking on a widow for goodness’ sake. But did she have time to do that? She already had her own mission, which was to find everyone, and the world actually seemed pretty darn large. However, she couldn’t leave this woman to die, and it wouldn’t be right to drag her around while looking for Vur and them. Tafel scratched her head. “How about other witches?”

“Other witches? What do you mean?” the woman asked.

“Witches are being persecuted for a reason, right?” Tafel asked. “Since you’re now a witch, even though you actually aren’t, why don’t you seek shelter from other witches? Isn’t there a main witch organization that counters the church or something along those lines?”

The woman furrowed her brow. “Witches don’t actually exist….” The woman’s sentence trailed off as she stared at Tafel. Maybe they did exist? Everyone around her was certain people were only falsely accused of being witches by vengeful neighbors and the greedy church. After all, wouldn’t it be super obvious if the church’s propaganda was true? No one in the community gathered together and recited verses praising Satan in the dark of night. It’d be impossible to keep a group like that a secret, not with how gossipy everyone was. If one asked around enough, they could figure out what color underwear the local priest wore three nights ago. Everyone’s lips were too loose for a major organization of witches to exist in secret! However, there was a literal demon in front of her. If a demon could exist, why couldn’t there be a secret organization of mute witches? “Do you know where the other witches are?”

“Err, no,” Tafel said. “I just arrived here. I really don’t know much about how this world works.”

“Then who summoned you?” the woman asked.

Tafel thought back to the lonely red dragon that was too eager for a mate to listen to instructions. “It’s a long story, but I basically came here of my own volition.” Tafel nodded. “Oh, that reminds me,” she said. “I’ve been meaning to ask, but how strong is the strongest human?”

The woman tilted her head. “Strong? What do you mean by strongest human? I’ve seen someone walking around with four logs of wood on his shoulders before.”

“No, not like that,” Tafel said. “Combat wise, like, um, can anyone slay a dragon?”

“Dragons aren’t real….” The woman stared at Tafel again as her sentence trailed off. Maybe dragons were real? Were the legends and stories not actually stories but history instead? If that was the case, then … she didn’t know much about myths, but she did know a lot about the bible. “There was a man named Samson. He tore apart a young lion with his bare hands.”

“A lion,” Tafel said. “A normal lion?”

The woman pursed her lips. “What’s an example of an abnormal lion?”

“Shoots electricity out of its fangs?” Tafel asked. “Generates wind blades that can cut through rock when it swings its paws?”

“I…, I think it was a normal lion,” the woman said. “We, uh, don’t have any of those abnormal lions here.”

“Oh.” Tafel nodded. “Wait. Does that mean the lion is the most dangerous beast you know?”

“Personally, the scariest thing I’ve seen was a particularly large dog.” The woman sighed. “It was almost as tall as my waist.”

Tafel scratched her head. “How about magic…? What’s the strongest magic spell you’ve ever seen?”

The woman shook her head. “I’ve seen a wandering monk bless an ill person once.”

“Oh? Healing magic, is it?” Tafel nodded. “How strong was it? Was the ill person instantly healed?”

The woman blushed. “He passed away three days later.”

“Uh….” Tafel’s brow furrowed. Were the people here … unbelievably weak? “That Samson guy…, just one lion?”

The woman cleared her throat. “Humans might be weak, but we’re intelligent. Take the story of David and Goliath for example. Goliath was a giant man with a sword and spear while David was a young boy with a sling. The two fought, but David won by stunning Goliath with a rock using his sling. He took Goliath’s sword and cut the giant’s head off. It’s not always about stature and strength that determines who wins and who loses.”

Tafel frowned. “Isn’t that just a mismatch of weapons? If Goliath had the sling while David had the sword and spear, I bet Goliath could’ve killed David instantly with a rock instead of just stunning him.”

“T-that’s not the point of the story….”