The Emerald Witch Returns
Journey Home
Cordelia believed in her heart and soul that she was cursed. She was not one to relish the idea of standing out, in fact she was a notably shy person. She was aware however that the world and life would not allow her that luxury. Her current circumstances were evidence of that. She waited patiently on the docks for the cargo ship to be loaded by the various workers and crewmen. A lone figure in an embroidered cloak matching the green of the sea in its brilliance. An iron spear in her grasp matching her stalwart patience.
So many things about her made her stand out that she had given up and decided to become as brilliant as possible so that onlookers would simply ignore her as someone beyond their station. She was a foreigner thrown into a war in a foreign land now a former soldier returning home. It had been five years since her master brought her... sold her into service in the eastern empire of Sule and her contract was over.
She jad changed so much. She wondered if the others would recognize her. Would Justine still welcome her with a warm embrace as she always did? Would Turei still smile free spiritedly upon seeing her? Oswald and Ergh, she remembered Oswald’s sullen expressions seeming to endlessly tolerate her, and Ergh’s tremendous bulk and endless appetite that always amazed her. And Naut... What became of Naut? How would he look at her now? She was no longer the little girl hiding behind him. Was he still the feral child with no attachments to anything? The endless troublemaker and the leader of their little band of outcasts amongst the already outcast mathematicians.
She changed, so why wouldn’t he. She watched the young men scuttling to and fro across the docks and up and down the gangplanks in the light clothing of ship hands, trying to imagine what Naut looked like so many years later. He had always been the hero protecting her and she imagined him maintaining that image in her mind. Broad shouldered and long dark hair...
Her ruminations interrupted, she turned quickly to face the incoming threat. A dock urchin speeding towards her with ill intent. Realizing he had been noticed he tried to turn but his footing was off and he careened forward. Cordelia shifted her spear and the child crashed into it with a clunk. The child collapsed into a sitting position rubbing the growing knot on his forehead. Before the child could recover himself and escape, she brought the butt of the spear into his chest pinning him to the ground. The child yelped and the pair that had garnered a few side glances now became the center of a small crowd.
“Bold or stupid child, which is it that provokes you to steal from the likes of me?” Cordelia asked.
The child glared back in anger, “I won’t mean nothing. I was hurr’n to me master fore I gets da floggin’.”
“Is that right little frog,” Cordelia smiled from beneath her hood, “Then tell me the name of your master, I wish a word with him.”
The child looked desperate as he tried to shift the weight of the spear on his chest. Whoever she was, she was an adult and bigger than him, but she was extremely strong, stronger than any of the matrons he managed to elude. The woman pushed back her hood revealing a youthful face practically still a girl’s. She was pretty, and clean, unlike the ones around the tavern or selling their ‘goods’ around the ships. With hair long and black as hers, she was definitely a foreigner. The gathering crowd began to shout and jeer for the boy’s release, even if he was a scamp he was still one of theirs.
“Tell me boy, do you know who just tried to steal from?” she asked.
“Why would I know about some for’en high fallutin nob like you. You’re just a high priced hoor for one of the cap’ns.”
Cordelia belted out a belly laugh that lacked any menace and swept over the crowd like a wave.
“My name is Cordelia of the Iron Shields, Cordelia the Iron Spear.”
A panic came into the boy’s voice, “The Emerald Witch.”
An evil grin crossed Cordelia’s face, “Very astute, little frog.”
She allowed her inner power to flow through her arm and into the iron spear. It wrapped itself around the haft like glowing vines and accumulated at the tip of the blade. With nowhere else to go it shot of green sparks into the air.
Showmanship was never pointless and hers made it across to the boy and the encircling crowd that took a step back like a giant exhaling. If her old master had taught her anything it was that her next moves were the most critical.
“Tell me boy, can you swim?”
“N-no ma’m.”
The sudden reverence in the boy’s tone excited her, “So if I hadn’t stopped you with my spear just now, where would you be?” she stepped aside allowing the view of the edge of the dock and the sound of the mild waves crashing into them to sink in.
“I’d be...”
“You’d be halfway to Marsho’s deep by now,” she suddenly yelled at him.
Cordelia moved the spear from his chest and the boy sat up but instead of leaving he sat there hanging his head.
“Either learn to swim or stop stealing near the docks, fool.”
The boy absolutely withered in his shame in front of the crowd. Did she go too far? No, she was still in control of the situation.
“I know, I can turn you into a frog,” she said excitedly.
The crowd took another step back. The boy didn’t share her excitement and and tried to get up and run but his hand slipped as he tried to back away.
“Wouldn’t that be lovely? There’s plenty to eat. You wouldn’t have to steal anymore. And you wouldn’t have to worry about falling into the sea anymore, you’d make a splendid swimmer, wouldn’t you little frog?”
“NOOOOO! Frogs die in salt water.” the boy screamed.
An awkward silence fell over the crowd and even Cordelia was stunned. She didn’t know what she was more impressed by, the fact that the boy had that level of knowledge or that he was able to think as much while panicked. Naut was like th... She caught herself in her musings. The thought of Naut caught her and tickled her in a way she hadn’t felt in forever and an uncontrollable laugh overcame her. A disarming youthful laugh that seemed to calm the crowd and even the boy to some degree.
She shifted her spear to her left hand and reached into her cloak to a pouch that hung from her belt where she had squirreled away some sustenance for her journey. From the pouch she pulled an apple and choking up on the shaft of the spear she dipped the blade close enough to split the apple on it offering half to the child. The child was noticeably hesitant to accept the gift.
Cordelia smiled at him, “Child, I am a former soldier, sworn to the emperor, and murdering children with poisoned apples is not something I’m inclined to do. At least not in front of so many witnesses,” she pointed to the crowd surrounding them.
The boy begrudgingly accepted the apple, his obvious hunger offsetting any sense of danger. Cordelia bit into her half to help ease his scruples.
“Stay with me awhile. While I wait for my ship to get ready” she turned to the crowd, “Assuming there are enough crabs to load the damn thing.” The crowd of onlookers quickly dispersed.
Cordelia resumed her stance at the edge of the dock. With a mouthful of fruit and the beguiling prospect of more food the young boy stood beside her. The vagabonds of the docks of the eastern shore were beyond the state of survival. They knew full well when they were outmatched by a threat and had learned to resolve themselves to their fate, whatever it may be, the boy was no exception.
“Say, ma’m. Are you really the Emerald Witch?” he asked.
“That is what they called me.”
“Did you really fight with the iron women?”
Cordelia giggled, “The Sisters of the Iron Lady, yes, I fought alongside the shield maidens.”
“You really fought the giant lizards,” the boy was so excited he forgot about the last bite of his apple.
“The Hun’dal,” Cordelia said with a wan smile, “Yes we fought them.”
The quickly chomped the last bite and tossed the core into the water with a plunk, “Are you going to the magic city?”
“Magic city?” Cordelia asked.
“The magic city on the magic island in the middle of the sea. It’s filled with all the wizards and witches,” the boy was really excited now, “And they all fly around and the roofs are covered in gems, and... and...”
Cordelia began to laugh, “It’s hardly a city. It’s nothing but a small village full of normal people, fishermen and sailors.”
The boy looked crestfallen, “But, isn’t there a magic castle where all the wizards live.”
“An old fortress, old and crumbling.”
“But it’s ruled over by the most powerful wizard ever. Seba... Sybil... Saba.”
“Sebas, yes, he lives there. But he doesn’t rule it. There’s a bunch of old mathematicians who all live there. Teaching kids like you how to wield mystical powers.”
“You met Sebas?” the boy’s eyes seemed to sparkle, “I heard he’s really powerful but also really evil and cruel.”
Cordelia’s demeanor turned dark and the boy felt a chill wind from the sea pass over him.
“Aye, that part is true. The man is an evil of a sort not fit to wear the skin of humans. He is cold and insulting and he tortures children,” Cordelia shuddered, “And when I get my hands on him, I’m going to wrap my hands around his throat until his pale face turns blue.”
Cordelia shook old memories from her mind and the world around her seemed to brighten. She turned to the boy who was cowering.
She did her best at a disarming smile, “My apologies. I have bad memories of that man.”
The boy settled down but lacked the animus he had before. Cordelia offered up another apple and he regained his youthful exuberance as he bit into it. She stared out at the distant horizon dividing the sapphire sea from the topaz sky believing she could see the distant island close to the western shore, and nowhere near the center. The clamoring of birds became that of children hollering through the halls of an old fortress, the shipwrights charging to and fro became her friends and fellow students on their way to the next lesson.
“Someday,” the boy said through mouthfuls of fruit, “I’m going to go on an adventure.”
Cordelia was shaken from her reverie by the boy’s sudden declaration. “Is that so,” she said.
“Yes’m. And I’ll fight pirates, and sea monsters, and there’ll be treasure, mountains of gold.”
“And will you rescue fair damsels from dark towers.”
“Why would I rescue some girl. She shouldna have gon captured in first place.”
Cordelia laughed and the boy pouted at this, “Perhaps you’re right little adventurer. But maybe you should try and be a hero and save those in need, just a little.”
The boy tossed the decimated apple core into the sea with a plunk before bobbing to the top and settling in with its fellow, pressed by the waves.
“I guess I can save them. If they’re as pretty as you.”
Cordelia was shocked by the boy’s compliment and fixed him with a quizzical look, the boy responded by staring into the water, cheeks as bright as the apple he had torn through. Cordelia understanding the situation stifled a giggle. She pulled the last of her snacks from the pouch and offered it to the boy. A crumbling corn-cake wrapped in corn leaf. The boy had seen the bakers make them but had never received one, he hadn’t bothered dreaming of having the money for one either. He looked up at her looking for a final affirmation for such a lavish gift. She smiled and nodded. She watched him hold the cake in his hands beside himself with deciding whether to devour it in one go or nibble it slowly and savor it.
A shrill whistle rang out and Cordelia turned to the sound, her eyes stopping on a tall elderly man in finer attire than the rest and a crimson sash around his head waving to her that it was time to board.
“It is time for me to depart. Farewell little adventurer.”
The boy scarfed the last bit of cake, “Goodbye Miss Witch. Far weather on yer journey.”
The boy’s farewell faded in her ears as she trotted down the docks towards the boarding plank. The red sashed captain was showing a level of impatience but it didn’t hurry her. His men had tarried with their loading. Her journey home was almost done and the anxiety of reaching her final destination slowed her pace and robbed her of her appetite.