🌙 A Witch’s Funeral

Six days after her mother’s murder, the elder women of the family argued over who would get the liver. White-haired and silver-eyed, they surrounded the rosewood dais where Shai and her grandmother stood, throwing suggestions at her as if they were commands. Shai glared down at them with annoyance. It was her right to lead her mother’s partition. The old bats could not push her judgment. She had a plan to defy all expectations.

Younger witches, her cousins, and members of other families shot pitying looks from the back of the crowd. From even further back, the husbands of the family stood silently. Many of the newer ones visibly nauseated by the topic of conversation.

Flowers opened their petals to catch the noon drizzle; their sweet smell filled the Hall of the Ancestors. The hall was built in a cavity of a giant tree that had long fallen. The walls were carved with ancient runes. The ceiling was a canopy of ancient branches. In her mother’s absence, the place felt unfamiliar. Everything seemed diminished. The colors were less vibrant. The murals of her ancestors mystified her without her mother to explain them. What had been grand was now dull.

The High Witch of the Amaryllis Coven lay in a coffin of silk sheets and flowers, glistening with anointed oils, with only a gossamer sheet shielding her modesty. Shai was hers down to the bone. They shared the same deep brown skin, raven black curls, and green eyes. The only thing truly separating the two was her lack of her mother’s elegance. This face was hers alone now. Shai bent down and placed a gentle kiss on the corpse; the oils tasted sweet. The smell sent her into a childhood memory. The world around her faded away.

She sat on the lush earth, twisting clovers between her fingers. Mother leaned over her with a comb. Shai winced as her mama grabbed another length of her wild hair and began to detangle.

"My brave girl," said Mother so sweetly it might’ve been a song. "I should’ve warned the forest spirits before I set you loose."

Shai's cheeks grew warm. "It was just being dumb, I only wanted to ride it for a second," said Shai, her voice filled with annoyance. The lesser wind spirit didn't need to throw her so harshly.

The high witch giggled. Shai turned pleading eyes towards her. She stopped and stroked her daughter's head.

"In this world, you must respect nature to get respect back. A balance. What would the spirit have gotten from taking you on a joy ride?"

The woman got to her feet and gestured for Shai to do the same. They tracked through the forest, over logs, around groves, and under towering elder trees, back to the clearing where the wind spirit had thrown her. Shai felt an ache in her back at the sight.

"Ready," said Mother with a smile.

Shai tilted her head in confusion. Mother closed her eyes and flung her arms out. Confusion fled on the heels of overwhelming excitement. Magic. An ember glow radiated under her mother’s skin. The world around them buzzed. Then the high witch spoke:

"COME," her word echoed all around.

The wind shifted direction and sped up like before a storm. Before she knew it, the wind spirit that had flung her was among them. Only detectable by the air currents that made up its form. Shai stuck her tongue out at the stupid spirit. No doubt, Mother was about to give it a spanking. A hand wrapped hers. Shai looked up at her mother.

Holding hands, they walked to the spirit. Shai gasped as her mother bowed to the dastardly thing. "Dear honored wind, I deeply apologize for my daughter’s slight. I offer to shift the currents in your favor."

Shai had not yet developed spiritual sense to communicate with spirits, but the thing seemed satisfied at the offer. Mother tugged Shai towards the spirit and thrust the comb, still filled with loose hair, into her hands.

"This one would like a trade. Young witch's hair for a moment of flight," said Mother. Shai looked up in amazement at the woman. The bestest mom in the world.

A wind jolted the comb out of her hands. Then, before she could speak, a gust blew Shai into the air. She screamed in joy. The ground was fading away as she got higher. A dot began to rise from below to meet her. The form grew closer until Shai saw it was her mother flying on wings made of ember fire. They clasped hands as they soared.

She had been stuck in a cycle of burning fury and bone-deep misery. Mother was not meant to be this still. The sight burned her with rage. How dare they take her away? A flame of her gift sparked in her chest. She could burn the world with her hatred. Her grandmother caressed her arm with quiet love.

"Calm yourself, child," said her grandmother, as she had thousands of times before. Slowly, Shai came to her senses. Success required an iron heart and a still mind. The coven depended on her.

Like Shai, her grandmother wore gray robes of mourning, her wild hair captured in a bun and crowned with flowers. Tool-laden leather belts circled both their waists. The emblem of the Amaryllis Coven, crossed crescent moons, hung from her chest, marking her as the High Witch Regent after her daughter’s death. The title Shai intended to claim sooner rather than later.

The body would be divided in humble communion, starting with the internal organs. A witch’s body was a valuable magical resource: the eyes for divination, the ovaries for fertility brews, and the blood as rune ink. She had given all the magic she could in life; it was now their job to wring the rest from her corpse.

"I will crush the liver into a salve that can trap youth in your skin for decades. You will keep the beauty your mother gave you," said Great Aunt Aster, staring into Shai's eyes as if her idea was the most brilliant thing. Somehow, the odor of the woman's gaudy perfume invaded Shai's nose all the way from the crowd. No doubt the salve was not only for her. Another crow here to feed.

"This is Lyana’s daughter, a warrior’s daughter. She has no use for your vanity," croaked Aunty Gaia, peering at Shai with her one remaining milky eye.

"I will brew you a curse to blight the artificer’s bloodline, to claim your revenge." Shai’s fury stirred. She was all too acquainted with the idea of revenge.

Not a day passed that she did not imagine torturing Head Artificer Mazar Khalik. Cursing him until his insides rotted. Controlling his own family to tear him apart. Summoning beasts from the underworld to feed on his very soul.

Witches were handmaidens of Mother Earth. Obligated to maintain the balance between humanity and nature. Artificers defied that order. Digging metal-clawed machines into the Mother Earth to sap her lifeblood. Parasites on the natural magical matrix. They were here for the witches’ forest. The bastard cowards had killed her mother with a devilish new invention. A metal apparatus that shot shrapnel faster than the eye could see.

The coven had to halt the artificers’ momentum before they bowled them over. The time for luxury magic was over. Adapt or die. Victory or destruction. The mantle of High Witch was hers, and she would sculpt the coven into a weapon to burn their enemies to ash.

Shai considered the response that would lead to the question she wanted. Better to speak her desire as an answer rather than a statement. Her heart thrashed against her ribs. She steeled herself for appraisal. Took a deep breath.

"Those are great suggestions, but I have a different wish for my dear mother," said Shai, feeling her grandmother’s questioning gaze at her side. She had been rejecting appeals; her mother had yet to be dissected, and the crowd was growing restless.

Aunt Gaia’s sharp voice cut through the rising clamor. "What do you plan to do with her then, girl? I fear your aggrieved heart is clouding your judgment." She snarled at Shai, disgusted at her hypothetical weakness.

"The body must be used for the coven." Gaia lectured as if Shai were still a child. Voices of all ages echoed in agreement.

"Honorable elder, I will use my mother as the vessel for my familiar, a superior spirit to be contacted and bound in the reflecting pool." The announcement sent shock and anger through the throng.

Some husbands slipped out of the hall under the cover of the commotion, Aunt Gaia spat on the ground, and many so-called friends covered their mouths to hide laughter. It took powerful magic to entrap a superior spirit.

They wouldn't be laughing for long. It was time to prove herself. At a snap of her grandmother’s fingers, a group of five men slid through the mass of witches onto the dais. "We march to the pool. Carry the vessel. Pray to Earthidess, you do not drop her." Her voice cracked like a whip, causing the men to wince.

The men surrounded the silken deathbed with eyes averted. They enfolded the body in the undersheet and lifted. The procession began, Shai and her grandmother right behind the carriers of the Vessel. Tradition was the thing that bonded the Forest witches together. The crowd followed behind, a respectful distance away.

The march was a blur to Shai. So consumed by the thought of her mother. Before she realized it, they had arrived.

Fog covered the ground. Swallowing her from the waist down. The constant buzz of animals was nowhere to be found here. As if they knew it was sacred.

The pond shimmered a pale blue, the dusk light reflecting. The water seemed bottomless. Silver bells hung from the branches of the shoreline trees, singing a symphony in the wind. She heard the clamor as witches jostled each other for a better view.

"Lower the Vessel," the carriers followed the high witch’s order. Slipping the enwrapped body into the sacred water. Sparks of light formed on the water’s surface. The bells grew into a crescendo. Currents pulled the corpse to the middle of the pond. There she bobbed, waiting for her part of the ritual. Shai stretched her fingers apart. She had to succeed.

Grandmother handed her a small bell carved with intricate runes. A spirit calling bell. She stared into the older woman's eyes. This was her shedding of innocence. Her first taste of real adulthood. A whetstone against a dull blade.

"I’ll make us proud," Shai’s last words before she followed her destiny into the pond. The cold of the water transcended flesh. A chill down to the core of her being. The bell had a weight not suggested by its size. She held it over her head. A sign of respect to the spirits. They were all about ceremonies and posturing. Curious fish bit at her as she strolled. Feet sinking into soft sediment. The silk wrap had come undone at the corpse's head. She floated face down. Black hair danced in the currents that bowled her.

A pain bloomed her chest at the sight. Breath came short and rapid. The bell rang at her shaking. Icy vapor exploded from out of the corpse. The water around her mother began to freeze. A scream built in her throat but was swallowed before release. A thousand frigid needles pierced her with cold. It was a frost spirit.

Spirits were manifestations of Mother Earth’s emotions. Frost was the element of isolation and renewal. Her spiritual sense opened, and immediately images flooded her mind. A rabbit freezing to death in thick snow, unable to find its burrow. A starving hawk scouring the land for camouflaged prey. A tree that closed its flowers to the world. She was still processing the influx when her mother stood. The water beneath her feet was frozen solid. Her eyes were completely white. Sclera overtaking the pupil and iris. A cry threatened to escape Shai’s mouth. She bent over and huffed out a breath. She couldn’t let this stop her.

"I am here to seek a pact of bonding service, great spirit. State yourself and the core of your being," said Shai, willing her voice not to shake.

"I am the slow death of things. The great chill before a renewal spring. A spirit that seeks to obliterate to change," spoke the spirit. It was like her mother’s song voice was layered beneath that of an unfeeling wraith, echoing and croaking.

She drew a blade from her pocket. This thing had an endless hunger. Powerful? Yes. Trustworthy? No.

"I apologize for disturbing you, grand spirit. This young witch dares not mess with your work. I will not seek a contract," said Shai. The spirit smiled with her mother’s lips. Shai tensed, ready for a battle of will with the spirit. Her concern evaporated as the body suddenly slumped and fell back into the water. She peered at it. The eyes were back to normal. Goddess Earth be blessed.

A wind blew over the pond as the spirit left. She raised the bell over her head and rang it again. Black detritus formed on the surface of the water. An odor burned Shai’s senses. The taste of rot on her tongue. It grew like mold, creating a film. She shrank back. Words flew at her from the shoreline.

This was the great transformation after death. The decay that life devoured. In the soil of every land. This was a death spirit. Her mother was twisting in a nightmare. Blackened veins swelled under ashen skin. Unnatural Grey climbing up strands of hair. The human eyes, replaced by an unpierceable darkness. Shai shaped her intention into a hammer. Blood trickled from her nose. She was the summoner here; the thing had to listen.

"BE GONE," roared Shai.

Shai smashed the command into spirit. Panic set in as the command sled off like water meeting oil. Shai flinched at the terrible laugh that echoed from puppeted lips.

"Oh, my small, wilting child. I am inevitable, and I am here. I wish to taste the morsels of this forest. Take my contract and let me feed," spoke the death spirit. The voice was indescribable. Like the combination of a thousand death wails. A rasp that dug into her ears like knives.

Shai gathered herself. This thing would not disgrace her presence. This was a battle of will between the summoner and the summoned. She uttered a single word with all that she had. "AWAY."

The corpse collapsed at the word, the spirit inside tearing at her authority.

The water became a tempest around her. The wind howled. Shai focused on the will working, teeth gritted in fury. This was her mother. Her familiar bond. A last gift. This beast of endings could not have her.

The two wills struggled for dominance. A blackened hand tightening around her mind, trying to shatter it. She pulled from her memories. The sight of a loving smile. This wouldn't be the end. I deny you. With a final mental push, she forced the spirit out. It dissolved back into raw emotion. The pond calmed. The black detritus shrank before vanishing.

"Goddess, help me," mumbled Shai. She could only handle so many spirits. If the next one is unsuitable, this would truly prove her attempt a failure.

Earth, if you can hear me, please. Let this be the one. Shai positioned the bell above her head for the last time. Closed her eyes and sent a quick prayer to every ancestor she had. Then rang it.

A green shimmer danced over the pond water. Small algae gained bioluminescence as they propagated. Tears fell from her eyes. This was a feeling Shai knew well. A lioness licks the afterbirth from a newborn cub. A seed finally pierces through the soil. A mother holds her baby for the first time. The manifestation of nature’s protective grace. Mother’s duty. A life spirit.

The body stood with burning green eyes. Vines crawled up her arms. The facial expression was so familiar that Shai could cry.

"There is no fear and sadness, my child. I am the bulwark against the wild harms of this world. The stone that split the waves to protect the shore."

No words were needed. With a flex of her will, Shai accepted the familiar bond.

"COME, follow me, great honorable spirit," spoke Shai, her magic whipping around her as sparks of light trapped in a ghostly wind.

Her mother. No. Her familiar followed her to the shore. It moved in a pattern of clumsy steps and lurches. The witches were just at the boundary of land and water, muttering between themselves. Shai would attend to them later. There was only one witch she wanted to see.

"Grandmother, I did it. A grand spirit bonded in contract," the witches at the shore parted to make a path for her. She flicked water from her arms, chin high. Her head held up, she marched to her grandmother.

"I will be the-" Shai's words were cut off when the High Witch pulled her into a tight hug. Shai smothered her face into her shoulder. Tears rained onto her head.

"I'm unspeakably proud to call you my granddaughter," said her grandmother in a voice that sounded almost as sweet as her mother's. Shai pulled away with a nod. A hundred eyes on her. She turned to the crowd and said the only words that mattered.

"I am announcing my candidacy for High Witch."