Tymely News
Work In Progress #20: Starwitch #3
"Do not test me, ladies. I am the very best war witch this country has ever produced. I would find it particularly easy to blow this entire house to splinters, followed by telekinetically dragging the three of you away."
– Captain Scarth Denholm, an excerpt from Starwitch.
Starwitch is a novel about space-faring witches that I plan to release first as a web series, then for sale in online stores.
You can read short summaries of each day's writing on Mastodon.
Here's a list of previous blog entries on this work in progress novel, in order from oldest to newest:
Chapter 8: Parting Ways
Amelia lies in her bed, aching all over. She's resting to heal, but her mind is quite busy. She still has no option for cushioning wheels, but an alternative has occurred to her: an airship.
The only trouble with that is her best bet for lifting an airship into the air is 'metal phlogiston', which is better known in the modern world as hydrogen, but she's concerned about the explosive qualities of the gas.
After a knock at the door, Mrs. Maccle enters. She expresses her concern for Amelia's health, but when Amelia tells her it's just bruises, her expression doesn't change.
Mrs. Maccle explains that Amelia has been accused of witchcraft. The older woman also reveals that she's a witch, though even weaker than Amelia. This admission earns the older woman even greater trust from Amelia. As it turns out, the mayor's wife has been subtly guiding the locals toward greater tolerant, but this backfired with Amelia, because it was too much, too soon.
Mrs. Maccle says she'll delay things as much as she can and her husband will investigate the accusation, but ultimately find Amelia and her sisters innocent, though they both know that won't be enough. However, it will be plenty of time for the Blackwell family to pack up and leave, before a mob can take action.
Mrs. Maccle tells Amelia of a far off country to the west, beyond the ominously named mountain range known as 'The Burning Slopes', which is presumably volcanically active.
Dugaria, as the nation is named, is (in)famous for publicly accepting witches, though she knows nothing more about it. The journey will take months if they cross the volcanic range or as much as a year, if they go around.
Mrs. Maccle wishes there was more she could do for them and Amelia smiles, because she's gotten an idea, suggesting the mayor's wife can help them some more by buying a bit more time.
In the next scene, Marta is on the roof of Amelia's warehouse/workshop, surreptitiously watching a mob that's gathered by the front door to protest the presence of an accused witch.
Marta heads back inside after reading their signs and hearing them shout about burning witches. She joins Amelia, Iris, their Father and Mrs. Maccle in working on a crude airship that's little more than a big, flat platform with a railing and a building in the middle, though there's enough room for the family's vehicles at either end.
The whole thing is on wheels and has a steam engine that can drive it on the ground or run a pair of propellors.
They finish structurally reinforcing it and Amelia asks Mrs. Maccle to open the back doors.
The ship is rolled outside and Iris ties it off to prepared stakes, while Amelia gets the process of filling the gas bag started. Marta and their father prepare to catch the bag as it unfolds, to avoid punctures, since they've only got one shot at this.
Mrs. Maccle heads off to join her husband, the sheriff and eight of his largest men on the other side of the building.
To serve as a distraction, the sheriff approaches the mob and demands to see their permit for the public gathering. The conversation with the leader of the mob (a lawyer, by the way) implies they don't have one and as they go back and forth about the current situation, people from the mob begin sneaking away.
They argue the merits of whether Amelia is a witch or not, because "Oh my, she flew!" The mayor tosses a paper airplane (they would probably call it a paper bird) through the air and makes a rather logical argument that what Amelia did was a scaled up version of the same. He even insists there was no magic, just science.
There's more arguing as, in the background, the gas bag inflates and Amelia does some work on the control fins attached to it, though the mob is fortunately to distracted to notice.
Again, the matter of the permit is raised by the sheriff, including a threat to arrest everyone. More of the crowd peels off, while the sheriff's men start circling the crowd.
The leader of the mob accuses the mayor and the sheriff of a conspiracy to help a witch (amusingly, this is quite true), but he makes the mistake of jabbing the sheriff with a finger.
She sheriff turns that finger into a serious point of pain and arrests the man for a variety of charges: assaulting an officer of the watch, disturbing the peace, incitement to riot and conspiracy to murder an innocent woman, a circumvention of justice.
The sheriff's men arrest what little remains of the mob.
Meanwhile, the airship takes to the air, flying west. The mayor asks his wife if she knows where they're headed. She tells him they're going to Dugaria, where they hope they'll be accepted, and he groans.
Mrs. Maccle loses some confidence as she asks, "Witches are accepted in Dugaria, aren't they?"
Her husband's response is chilling: "Only because the government uses them as weapons!"
Sadly, Mrs. Maccle hadn't heard that part of the rumors.
Unfortunately, it's far too late to warn the Blackwell family.
Chapter 9: Burning Slopes
Amelia's airship, Airwitch, has been in the air for about two and a half days and with Amelia at the helm at dawn, she finally spots The Burning Slopes, which live up to their name.
The mountain range is a line of volcanoes, which are currently not violently erupting, though lava pours down the sides of some. I think of this similar to the volcanoes of Hawaii, which have been mildly active for generations.
Amelia is concerned about the danger of going over them in an airship that's lifted by explosive hydrogen gas, though the alternative of going around will take at least a month, if not longer, because they'll have to fight against the west-blowing prevailing wind they've been riding so far, if they turn.
They have a family meeting in which Amelia explains her concerns and calls for a vote. She votes to go around the mountains.
Their father abstains from voting, to avoid a potential tie. As a male born to a family of witches, Tim is quite used to letting the women in his life take charge.
Marta votes to go over, because their map shows no civilization anywhere nearby (too many volcanoes, which can be far more active on the moon of a gas giant, compared to Earth) and they only have a month's rations.
Iris agrees, because while they could theoretically forage for food, their mother trained them in a totally different kind of terrain than they've been flying over.
Amelia doesn't like the decision, but accepts it and pushes the engine to maximum power, because she wants to get over the volcanoes as fast as possible, even at the cost of wasting water. She aims them between a pair of volcanoes that seem less active than the others, to maximize safety.
As Airwitch passes between a pair of volcanoes, one of them begins to erupt, but it's too late for Amelia to turn aside, lest she crash the airship into one of them!
Lava pours down the side and pools in the valley beneath Airwitch, producing a powerful updraft that carries them to a dangerous altitude that threatens to make the gas bag brittle enough to burst, because it's only cotton fabric coated and sealed with rubber.
Iris takes the helm, while Marta starts climbing a knotted rope to reach the top of the gas bag, where an emergency valve can be used to release some of the hydrogen, which would reduce their buoyancy. Amelia heads inside, in preparation to refill the gas bag, once they're out of danger.
As it turns out, their father, Tim, hasn't been taking a turn at the helm, because he's scared of all the controls, too nervous to ever touch them. Amelia has been taking his turns, despite the fact she has so much work to do on the ship.
Due to this fact, the system designed to re-compress the hydrogen for later reuse isn't done, forcing this crazy emergency procedure. Thus, he feels responsible.
Tim punches Marta, leaving her lying on the deck with a dislocated jaw (Tim doesn't know his own strength and that was definitely unintended). He climbs in her place and releases some of the hydrogen, while Iris shouts to direct him, though she thinks she's talking to Marta. They lose most of their altitude, until they're just hundreds of feet above the treetops of a jungle.
During his climb back down, Iris and Amelia begin refilling the gas bag and the sudden change in acceleration causes Tim loses his grip on the rope! As he falls to his death, he says a final prayer to the Gods for the safety of his daughters, feeling content his final act in life was saving their lives.
Amelia emerges from the interior, finding Marta lying on the deck, unable to speak. Amelia takes the place of Iris at the helm and Iris treats Marta's injury with a mixture of doctoring and a healing potion. Naturally, putting Marta's jaw back in place produces a scream of agony.
Marta explains what happened and Amelia despairs, because she knows the fall wasn't survivable.
Iris runs to the back of the ship and looks the way they came, hoping to see her father, desperate for a chance to rescue him, but the volcano's eruption has gotten worse and the jungle is aflame. It would not be safe to go back, forcing them to leave their father behind.
Iris collapses and sobs. Marta scoops Iris up in her arms (remember, she's a big woman, built like a lumberjack) and carries her to the front of Airwitch, where the sisters mourn together.
Chapter 10: The Welcome Village
After a day's travel and almost 700 miles crossed, the sisters come to a small village and tether Airwitch to some trees, via a grappling hook.
The villagers stare up as Amelia looks down and one of them asks, "Are you a witch?"
She initially says "No, I'm an engineer!", but the man's wife says they like witches and when Amelia's sisters join her at the railing, they vote to be honest and Amelia admits they're witches.
The villagers were initially nervous about the airship, but the moment Amelia admits she's a witch, they go back to their business, as if women flying around in airships was normal.
They're invited to a lunch of fish and something akin to spinach in the tiny hovel that serves as the couple's home. The man is named Davit and he's the village administrator. He turns out to be very friendly and eager to convince the sisters to settle in the village, because they've been looking for a witch for years.
He shows them the house the villagers have built for their future witch and it turns out to be a rather wonderful home, a small mansion, in fact. His people have been living as paupers, so they can afford to make some lucky witch exceptionally comfortable.
He claims the "humble home" is the best they can do, but it's larger than the one the sisters grew up in!
Amelia questions him about this and he claims the sisters are likely to find far better living arrangements in a larger city.
They ask why Davit's people would put themselves out for a witch like this and he explains:
"When a witch is needed, but there isn't one available, people suffer. Witches heal and brew potions. They help others, because that’s what witches do." Davit bowed his head, "With a witch in the village, we would prosper and know great peace. Witches are a blessing from the Gods."
After a few days to relax and mourn the loss of their father, Amelia and her sisters move on, intent on traveling Dugaria to find a good place to settle down (the village is nice, but too poor for their liking).
Davit gives them a map of the nation to help them on their way.
Chapter 11: A New Home
Six months later, Amelia wakes and walks the halls of the mansion she bought in Rimestar, the capitol of Dugaria. Servants greet her in the halls and she has breakfast with her sisters, while waited on by their butler.
Amelia had no need for such a large house, but bought it for the 40 aches of fenced yard and the location, outside the city, though still within easy reach.
She also had no need for servants, but their salaries (aside from the gardeners) are paid for by the city, as an added incentive for witches to settle in the city.
Her sisters have been working in a local hospital, as doctors/healers. There was a big accident and tending to the injured kept them up all night, so once they're done eating, they head off to bed, for some long-overdue sleep.
Amelia heads out to her workshop, which is on the land she bought. She checks over the construction work taking place at one end. The place is ready to be used, but not finished, since Amelia wants enough room to work on rockets intended to get her to orbit.
She briefly checks on her apprentices, who work on small devices intended for sale in the local market, then heads for the corner dedicated to her current project: Blackbird II. The aircraft is nearly finished and the custom tires arrived the night before.
Vulcanized rubber is the big innovation of Dugaria, something Amelia has been studying, though she's not quite up to the level of the local craftsman that made the tires for her plane.
She cracks open the crate holding the tires and checks them over, quite pleased. She begins working mount them.
Amelia is happy and content to be accepted and beloved by the locals. She's also happy to have so many amazing resources available to her. She reflects on the fact her sisters are also doing well, both of whom have been getting attention from men.
Amelia has also been catching the eye of hopeful young men, but she's always too lost in thought to notice.
However, despite how much Amelia loves Dugaria, she's been cautious about her greatest secrets, including runic enchantments, though that's is mostly a matter of her life-long habit of hiding her magic.
Amelia's work is interrupted by Hobard, the chief butler, who informs her that she and her sisters have guests that insisted on seeing all three of them.
Chapter 12: Assignments
Amelia goes with Hobard and is led to the sitting room.
One of the couches is occupied by a woman in a dark green army uniform and a matching pointed hat, marking her as both a soldier and a witch. Her collar bears a captain's insignia, with the addition of a little, pointed hat, because a witch always has greater authority than any non-witch of the same rank.
Seated opposite the woman are Iris and Marta, who were woken for the meeting. Amelia sits between them.
The military witch introduces herself as Captain Scarth Denholm. She goes on to tell them Dugaria is now at war. By law and declaration of the King, all citizen witches have been conscripted into the army.
Iris objects, saying they've taken a vow of non-violence.
Amelia claims they never agreed to that and the Captain hands her a copy of the constitution of Dugaria. Amelaia reads and learns that they automatically became citizens when they became home/land owners. This is the reason Dugaria gives free homes and land to witches. Amelia reads further, learning the King does have the right to conscript witches, whenever needed for the protection of Dugaria.
Marta demands to know what happens if they refuse, leading to a scene that speaks for itself:
The military woman leaned forward and her hat produced a looming shadow over her face as her eyes glowed like those of a demon, a deep, red shade, like glowing blood, "Do not test me, ladies." Her icy tone was heavy with the promise of dangerous icebergs that could sink a ship, "I am the very best war witch this country has ever produced. I would find it particularly easy to blow this entire house to splinters, followed by telekinetically dragging the three of you away." Her eyes stopped glowing and she leaned back in the couch, "However, that would be tedious," she glanced around herself, eyeing the fine furniture and the many paintings on the walls, "and an insult to the many witches that lived in this house before the three of you.
"Oh, and even if you think you might be able to overpower me with your combined magic, keep this little tidbit in mind: outside, the other six witches of my coven stand ready to support me and each of them is at least two-thirds as powerful as I am, all of them military trained for battle. No little hedge witch could possibly win such a fight, and three would fare no better."
Amelia's eyes narrowed with anger, "So we're to be dogs of the military, whether we like it or not?"
The captain sighed, "Ladies, this isn't much different from the men of this country, many of whom are having a similar conversation, right now, though that's determined by random chance. To make up for the fact that all witches are being conscripted, the King is offering commensurate rewards. The pay is excellent and you'll have whatever materials you desire for personal magical research. Just about anything can be within reach for a military witch. We have but to ask, especially since we're going to war."
"But we have to be the King's magical assassins, right?" Iris glared, her voice filling with contempt.
"If that's where your talents lie." Captain Denholm stood and went on, "So, ladies, what will it be? Do you come quietly, or do we brawl?" Again, her eyes glowed and she smiled, revealing a wild expression that hinted the woman was secretly hoping for a fight.
Waves of murderous intent carried by magic charged the air and the men behind her took a couple steps back.
Marta stood and hung her head, "It would seem we have no choice."
"What about our vow of non-violence?" Iris also stood, but remained slightly defiant.
Denholm shrugged, "Another casualty of war, I suppose, but you'll serve, either way. Go quietly and you won’t have to wear chains."
In the end, the sisters go quietly, because it's obvious they're no match for Captain Denholm. She leads them to Fort Stand, a military post just outside the city, where their magical talents will be tested and they'll receive their assignments.
While the sisters are busy being tested, Captain Denholm returns to their property and Hobard is revealed to be a secret military spy, as are the rest of the house servants.
Hobard leads her to Amelia's airship, inside the workshop, and it's taken away, for study and to ensure the main characters don't fly away. Little does Denholm know, the steam engines have all been removed to power the machines of the workshop (Denholm doesn't even know what a steam engine is) and the canisters of hydrogen have been emptied for the sake of safety, making it totally useless.
The sisters finish testing totally soaked in sweat, because they were pushed to their absolute limits. They're lined up along with six other witches, to hear the results and receive assignments.
Marta's greatest magical talents lie in Fire and Earth magic. Her assignment is to become a front-line Artillery Witch.
Iris has talents for long-range Sensory and Communication magic. Her assignment can't be spoken publicly, implying she'll be doing something secretive, perhaps intelligence work. The other witches glare at Iris with envy, because whatever her assignment will be, they think it's going to be a cushy one.
Amelia is declared to basically have no particular talent for magic and lacks power, a fact she already knew.
Denholm doesn't quite know what to do with her and asks, "What talents besides magic do you possess?"
Amelia answers honestly, by saying she's an engineer, a builder of machines, particularly vehicles, like her airship.
Denholm is shocked by this and briefly loses her composure.
They discuss her airship and Amelia points out the fact she used science to make it fly, rather than magic.
The Captain is quiet for a time, before she assigns Amelia to the basic physical training every War Witch receives, saying she'll have to discuss Amelia's final assignment with her superiors.
Amelia quietly makes up her mind to escape Dugaria, but since they're in the center of the country and will surely be watched, that will not be easy. She hopes to distract people with technobabble and accomplish her true goals behind the backs of those watching her.
Current Progress
Starwitch is about one-quarter finished, with the first three episodes of material in a rough draft state. So far, I'm averaging about one episode a week. I've written about 33,000 words, so far.
This piece will probably end up at 120,000 words or less. Early chapters were heavy with descriptive detail and I was forced to write longer chapters (3,000+ words), due to how intricate everything Amelia builds is, but now that things are starting to move along with more action and slightly less science/engineering, the chapters are slimming down to my more typical average (2,000-2,500 words).
Future Plans
Episode four will begin with a five year skip forward, during which the sisters have been working for the army. My intent with the episode is to produce a lot of character growth for the main characters.
Marta and Iris will get their own chapters dedicated to them, to show how much they've changed and how difficult their circumstances are.
Marta will be shown in the field, using her magic to destroy entire fortifications, while her conscience stings her for harming others with magic.
Iris will be seen using scrying magic (think CIA remote-viewing programs, only far more effective) to get instant results from distant battlefields, so her superiors can make better decisions. I will probably end that chapter with Iris' superiors using her unit of black-ops witches to assassinate high-ranking officers of the enemy army, with extreme-range magic.
Meanwhile, in her own chapter, Amelia will be seen squirreling away resources for a secret project, while Hobard tries very hard to find out what she's up to. During the skip forward, she'll have been working as a government contractor, tasked with designing a horseless, armored "war wagon", a project Amelia has been delaying for years, intentionally detonating prototype after prototype, with the explanation that "steam engines are very hard to stabilize, a design flaw I hope to fix, soon."
The last chapter of the episode will bring them back together, because Amelia insists she needs her sisters on hand, claiming Iris is the best driver and Marta's magic is strong enough to control the blast if the prototype explodes.
They'll drive the new war wagon and go on the run across Amelia's land, toward a tower she's built, while Captain Denholm gives chase, via broomstick. When they arrive, Marta will hold off the other War Witch, while Amelia and Iris blow one whole side off the tower, revealing the hidden shape of Starwitch, while the other half of the tower serves as the rocket's support gantry.
Marta will lose her fight with Denholm, but will have bought just enough time for her sisters to load the war wagon inside the base of the rocket and the three of them will blast off. Denholm will probably try to follow, but she'll be unable to chase them out of the atmosphere.
After that, all future episodes will take place in space.
Tags: writing, work-in-progress, starwitch
Work In Progress #19: Starwitch #2
"I declare to all: if any of you ever harms so much as one hair on the heads of my daughters, I will return as a vengeful spirit, with bloody intention to wipe out this entire village, guilty and innocent alike, because evil triumphs when good men do nothing!"
– Erika Blackwell, the mother of Amelia, an Excerpt from Starwitch.
Starwitch is a novel about space-faring witches that I plan to release first as a web series, then for sale in online stores.
You can read short summaries of each day's writing on Mastodon.
Here's a list of previous blog entries on this work in progress novel, in order from oldest to newest:
Chapter 3: Steam Without Flame
Most of this chapter was descriptive details on Amelia's projects, to slowly demonstrate what she can do, despite her primitive surroundings.
Amelia is 14 in this chapter and now has a small shack to work in. She pays for things by making and selling high-quality steel ingots to the village smith.
She's working on parts for a steam engine that lacks a firebox, a series of metal plates she's chiseling runes into, including the runes for 'metal', 'boil' and 'water'.
She finishes her work, assembles the plates with some rods to form something reminiscent of a heat sink, though with larger gaps between the plate. She pours some water on it, which boils off as if the metal was hot, though it's cool to the touch.
I imagine the runes to be the written form of the language of magic, which just about anyone can use, though they need the right knowledge to make use of it: only runes marking metal and stone will work, because metal and stone act as mediums in which magic condenses.
Any previously living material, like wood or paper, will fail, because dead things strive to live again and use up the magic in that attempt. Effectively, this means dead wood is very slightly zombie (maybe about 0.001%).
Marta (Amelia's oldest sister) joins her, curious to see what she's working on and they have a brief discussion of runes covering the above information. It's stated that Marta's husband died around the time Amelia was four years old. She's 12 years older than Amelia. Marta is a rather large woman and built like a lumberjack, but she's not unattractive.
After they're done talking, Amelia puts the enchanted device inside the little engine's steam chamber and seals it. She fills it with water and the belt wheel on the side spins, demonstrating that it works. Thus, Amelia is capable of making extremely compact steam engines with a level of power that rivals that of a modern gasoline engine.
Marta asks what's next and Amelia says she needs a carriage. Marta is confused, because they don't even own a horse, but Amelia insists she needs only the carriage.
In the next scene, months have passed and Amelia has heavily modified a carriage into a horseless carriage and her sisters help her mount a heavy, magic-powered steam engine to the frame.
Amelia's Sister, Iris, is described. She's a little taller than their mother, who's average height. She's also exceptionally beautiful. Her personal history is briefly illuminated as part of her description.
She'd been engaged to the mayor's son, but just days after they announced this to the whole village, he was murdered. It isn't entirely clear how he died, though he was tied to a tree and wolves got him. It isn't stated whether the wolves killed him or just ate him.
Iris has been very sad for the past three years, due to losing her betrothed.
With the work done, their mother gives them a picnic basket of food and the three of them head off for a test drive, with Iris in the driver's seat. She turns out to be a crazy speed-demon and smiles for the first time in years.
Unknown to our main characters, the local smith and his son, both named Rolf Mossflaw (senior and junior, to be clear), were sneaking onto their land while they drove off. The two of them witness the horseless carriage and Rolf senior concludes that it's witchcraft, despite multiple attempts to justify it as non-magical.
Eventually, the lack of smoke from the steam engine's firebox (it doesn't even have one, but he doesn't know that) forces him to accept the idea it's magic.
The smith and his son head back to the village, to "do the right thing" and tell the mayor, even though they don't want to.
Chapter 4: A Terrible Choice
Erika, Amelia's mother, is at home, working to prepare ingredients for potions, since healing potions are how the family made their money before Amelia started making steel.
Her husband, Tim, is a woodcutter, but it's a weekend and he's taken a day off to spend time with his wife, though he's fallen asleep in a rocking chair.
There's a heavy knock on the door, far too loud to be a social visit and Erika concludes the mayor is back to accuse her of being a witch, for the sixteenth time, even though it has been more than a decade since he last accused her.
The mayor once witnessed her using magic while he was drunk and has never let the subject go.
Tim wakes and offers to beat the man, but Erika decides another round of intellectual jousting will be enough to take care of the problem, so he sits down again. In other words, she decides to handle it herself, since the mayor is an idiot and she normally runs mental circles around him.
She opens the door and Mayor Godfrey Rumblecleaver points the accusatory finger, saying, "She's a witch! I've seen it with my own eyes! This woman, Erika Blackwell, has had congress with the devil! I saw her dance in the forest, naked, alongside a demon!"
He has an entire lynch mob with him, including his deputy. The mayor is, by ignorant and stupid tradition (according to Erika's internal monologue) also sheriff and judge, though he's bound by law to follow certain procedures.
This involves giving the accused witch a chance to refute his claims.
As an avid reader, Amelia has both read and understood the village's entire law book, having committed it to memory, consequently making the mayor look like a fool once already. She also taught her mother something: the law book says accusations require two or three witnesses.
Erika points this out, so the mayor provides another witness: the village moonshiner and local drunkard, who claims he saw Erika dance naked with a goat-horned demon!
Erika remembers the only occasion she saw him that week, in which he was drunk off his butt and likely hallucinating, so she isn't surprised he imagined her naked and a passing goat as a demon.
She asks the crowd to raise their hands if they believe the man to be a reliable witness when he's drunk, which is basically whenever he's awake. No one raises a hand.
Likewise, she refutes the mayor's claim, because everyone knows how drunk he was the night in question, which was when Erika was 15. She's now 42.
The incident took place during a harvest festival and moonshine had been freely available. The young man that later became the mayor had been drinking heavily, despite the fact he'd never had any alcohol before.
The smith, Rolf, steps up next, reluctantly telling the tale of seeing Erika's daughters drive a bewitched carriage. They argue for a time and he presents his irrefutable, expert opinion that it could only have been magically-powered.
Erika demands a second witness and Rolf junior confirms the story.
Seeing he's caught Erika in a situation she can't talk her way out of, the mayor offers a pair of awful alternatives: either Erika's daughters burn as witches, or she does in their place, because the law says a parent can pay for the crimes of a child.
He even goes on to call it a good bargain. Meanwhile, his face is full of sick glee, because he's finally caught the witch he's chased most of his life. If Erika agrees, then all she has to do is say out loud that she's a witch.
She says, "I'm a witch" so softly, no one but Tim hears and he rushes to attack the mayor, only to get shot in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt from the deputy.
Erika patches him up and he passes out.
Absolutely reveling in her torment, the mayor says he didn't hear her and she needs to speak up.
Erika speaks louder, but he still isn't satisfied, demanding that she speak loud enough for everyone to hear.
Finally, she shouts her true feelings to the world, including how proud she is to be a witch, making a verbal list of all the good things she's done for the villagers, much of it with secret magic.
She finishes by saying magic isn't evil, but the mayor is, having persecuted her over nothing, for decades.
As her hands are bound by the deputy, she considers torching her accusers with magic, but remembers her grandmother's words on the matter, which were basically, "Do no harm with magic."
She follows the vow of pacifism she made to her grandmother, going quietly to the pile of wood and the stake, to be tied to it, while moonshine is dumped all over the wood to make it burn better.
Before she's lit aflame, the mayor whispers to her, "I had to kill my own son, because one of your whore-of-the-devil daughters bewitched him, just like I did with that poor fool that married Marta! I'm glad I finally get to see you burn for what you took from me!"
Finally seeing the depth of the man's depravity, Erika speaks her final words:
She spoke at a volume comparable to a megaphone, her voice magically enhanced to ensure all ears present would take notice, "Know this day, Mayor Godfrey Rumblecleaver, that your sins will follow you to your very last day, while the gates of the infernal realm gape open and ready to take your soul!
"I declare to all: if any of you ever harms so much as one hair on the heads of my daughters, I will return as a vengeful spirit, with bloody intention to wipe out this entire village, guilty and innocent alike, because evil triumphs when good men do nothing!" Erika gave Rolf and his son a particularly scathing glare, before she looked once more at the now cowering mayor, to speak so softly only he should have heard her final words, though the magic still took them far and wide, "With my last, dying breath, I curse you to never know peace!"
All of that was just words to mess with everyone's heads, but who knows, maybe the last words of a witch have power beyond mere magic?
Erika uses magic to light the pyre herself, to take control out of his hands of the mob and steal from the mayor the option to believe he killed her.
Shortly after, her daughters arrive, just as a wagon full of men departs. Marta is driving, barely managing to stop the carriage before succumbing to a numb and helpless silence, while Amelia sputters.
Iris, on the other hand, rushes to the aid of their mother, using magic to part the flame and loosen the ropes, so she can haul Erika free of the blaze, but it's all for naught, because she's already dead.
Chapter 5: Salt in the Wound
While Amelia's family are reeling at the loss of their wife/mother, a few days pass and the town crier shows up with a proclamation from the mayor: all property of the confessed witch is to be forfeit to the village and auctioned to pay for the firewood used.
The auction is scheduled for the next day at dawn, though they will have four full days to actually willingly give up the land or make arguments that they should be allowed to keep it.
Amelia's father produces a stack of old wills from her ancestors and she reads them all, discovering that every one of the Blackwell women for the past few centuries has used the same wording in their last will and testament.
The essence of it is that the home and land were given to a specific individual, but everything else became the collective property of their female progeny.
In essence, they foresaw the issue of being discovered as witches and had a strong legal defense in mind to dodge the seizure of property. They would have done the same with the land and house, but local law forbids joint ownership of real estate, to prevent family arguments from spilling into court.
Amelia attends the auction and makes an attempt to buy their land back, but the mayor out-bids her, paying double the actual value of the land. Amelia make herself publicly weep by thinking about her mother, but smiles on her way out of the courthouse, because the auction went just the way she planned.
Over the next few days, wagon loads of salt, alchemical waste and lye arrive at the Blackwell family home and their father directs the work of poisoning the land, to make it worthless to the mayor. At night, the sisters use magic to summon rains storms, so the contamination will sink into the soil.
Their last day on the land, they pack up their belongings and Iris uses fire magic to burn the house's thatch, followed by Marta employing earth magic to make the mortar and stones of the walls crumble. Last of all, Amelia jams the pressure relief valves of a small steam engine and activates it inside her workshop, before they all run away to avoid the explosion.
Effectively, there's nothing of value left behind. They stay in a tent that night, but no one can sleep and their father goes out.
He visits the village smith and brow-beats the man into joining him. They gather others that hate the mayor.
Together, the group throws a blanket over the mayor's head and haul him out of his house for the beating of his life, but before they get going, they tell him why, including among the accusation both everything they know and suspect. He's warned that if he ever twists the law again, they'll come back to seek vengeance for the three people he's killed (Erika, his own son Conrad, and Marta's husband, Zayne).
In the morning, the mayor fails to show up for the deed to the Blackwell family's land and the subject of where their father went in the night is raised. He admits nothing, but promises the man is still alive, followed by this little gem: "On those cold, winter nights, I imagine his knee will really ache and I hope he'll be reminded of all the bad things he’s done."
The sisters decide they can live with that and, in fact, it makes them feel slightly better.
They leave the deed to the land under a rock and depart for what they hope will be a land without persecution and prejudice.
Chapter 6: The Stuff of Dreams
After two years of off-and-on travel, Amelia and her family are near the city of Macclesfield, a prosperous farming community, where they've been camping long-term, to rest from their travels.
Amelia has built herself a horseless portable workshop in a wagon/shack similar to the one Mr. Pinewater lived in. Inside, she's built herself a lathe that she's been using to make table legs, because no one in the city has ever seen the results of a lathe before.
Her table legs are all the rage in town with wealthy ladies, even though Amelia thinks the existing legs are better, but she's not going to argue with wealthy people giving her their money to do a job.
Amelia is depressed, because she wants a more permanent home and a much larger workshop, but most towns won't let them buy real estate, because they're outsiders. Even worse, in the few towns that did, rumor reached all the way from the prejudice-filled village they left behind, causing them to flee for their lives, lest the Blackwell sisters be burned at the stake.
As she works on an order, Amelia reflects that she has wealth, but what she may actually need is influence, to change a few minds, that she might buy land, since she believes she's now beyond the reach of the rumors; it's been eight months since she last heard rumors about her family.
She finishes work and heads for town.
While she's there, she waives her fees in exchange for the the wives of the three members of the city council speaking to their husbands on her behalf, to make an exception to city law, so she can buy land.
It works and she even becomes friends with the mayor's wife, Mrs. Maccle, who has very forward-thinking views of women and thinks Amelia will be just the thing she needs to shake things up, in a good way. It's never quite stated that way, but Mrs. Maccle is a feminist.
In the next scene, Amelia is shown a huge, disused warehouse, one option among many properties she might buy and she's soon seeing all the possibilities the place holds for her. It even has an office area that could easily be converted into a comfortable home for her family, solving both issues.
She's soon lost in imaginary visions of what could be, eventually seeing in her mind not just the flying machines she been wanting to experiment with, but airships and eventually, a steel tower rising through the air on a column of super-heated steam!
The tower pierces the heavens and then turns at the apogee of it's flight, producing another burst of steam that carries if forward, until it's falling all the way around the world, always dropping, but never hitting ground, an orbit.
The word 'orbit' sticks in her mind, because she's never heard it before and she realizes the imaginary vision she just had wasn't her own.
She haggles over the price and buys the warehouse, before heading back to her little workshop, where she looks at The Book of Newts and asks, "What are you?"
The book flips of its own accord to the last page, which is blank. Next, it flips to a page showing a diagram of the solar system. Finally, it shows her star charts, and she finally realizes the sun the gas giant her little moon orbits is one star among many thousands of named stars, which are mapped in meticulous detail in the book.
She doesn't understand what it's telling her, but she feels exhausted, because the book has been manipulating the magic her body produces to flip it's pages, a feat that has left her with a headache, because her magic is rather weak. It isn't able to finish what it was telling her, because she doesn't have the magic required for it to finish.
She recognizes the book has some kind of dream or desire, which mostly lines up with her own dreams, though it clearly thinks on a larger scale than she does. She questions whether she should trust the book, since that was so very strange. It has never harmed her, so she decides to continue on her current path.
She also reasons that perhaps she owes it something for the knowledge shared, deciding to try and fulfill the book's dream of flying to the stars.
At this point, I finally named the gas giant Amelia's moon orbits: Junas. Amelia believes it's the home of her world's gods, a much bigger world for giant, divine people. By the way, it looks a lot like Jupiter, but let me make it clear: it isn't. Junas is orbited by many worlds the size of Earth, plus lots of little ice moons.
Chapter 7: Wings
Amelia and her sisters work to haul her first full-size flying machine out of Macclesfield, while townsfolk look on, in wonder.
Blackbird, as Amelia named it, is a fixed-wing aircraft with a single propellor, using another of her enchanted steam engines. Amelia jokingly refers to the cockpit as a 'the witchpit', which is where the term was originally coined. The aircraft is black and Amelia compares it to a raven.
It's winter and the ground is covered in snow, because Amelia hasn't yet learned about vulcanized rubber and didn't want to deal with metal or wood wheels at such high velocity, thinking the ride would be dangerously bumpy.
Marta drives the plane out into a farm field using another of Amelia's recent inventions, a steam-powered vehicle designed for heavy hauling, a tractor.
When they're ready, Amelia and Iris act as pilot and co-pilot, taking Blackbird into the air! It's an exhilarating moment as they lift off the ground and Amelia cautiously gets them some altitude in a slow circle around the city, before turning control over to Iris, who does some crazy dives and sharp turns, until Amelia is sick.
Amelia takes them down for a landing, which is the part she's most nervous about, because she expects to crash the first time.
The landing goes smoothly, right up to the point they hit a boulder hidden by the snow! Since everything is white, Amelia never saw it.
The prop smashes on it, then the engine hits it, producing a spray of hot water and steam, followed by the belly of Blackbird getting torn to shreds on it, while one of the skis is torn right off. They're briefly forced back into the air, because the boulder somewhat acts like a ramp.
When they come back down, the left wing dips into the snow, due to the missing ski, lurching them to the side, until the wing rips off. Next, the right wing does much the same, a whiplash-inducing sudden shift from twisting one direction to the other!
The wing also tears off, then the other ski breaks, leaving snow, ice and dirt spraying all over them through the torn bottom of the witchpit.
Amelia pukes, while Iris laughs hysterically and sobs at the same time.
Marta drives up to check on them, but fortunately, the only injuries they've got are lots of bruises and Amelia is motion sick.
There's some discussion of what went wrong and Amelia decides wheels are a must, after all, so she'll be seeking a way to cushion them.
Tags: writing, work-in-progress, starwitch
Work In Progress #18: Starwitch #1
"Needs must, when evil, dead witches drive…"
– Excerpt from Starwitch.
Starwitch is a novel about space-faring witches that I plan to release first as a web series, then for sale in online stores.
You can read short summaries of each day's writing on Mastodon.
About Starwitch
Starwitch is about three sisters that launch themselves into space with magic. The novel has been named for their ship. The setting will be primarily fantasy, though with some minor scientific elements, mostly in the form of mathematics, orbital dynamics and steam-powered machines.
I intend to publish this first as an episodic web series, then as a novel, so keep an eye on the webpage for Starwitch for more details.
Chapter 1: Lonely
The light sail ship, Starwitch, is sixty meters in length, with a tube-like hull similar to a rocket, though each side has aerodynamic lines that come to a peak and the tail includes control fins for atmospheric flight.
Out of those peaks, as well as the top and bottom, four masts can be extended and various types of spells can be strung between them for any purpose a witch could imagine. Most often, they'll be used for a light sail that catches light to produce thrust from the solar wind of a star.
The side masts can also be extended and magically enhanced to function as wings during atmospheric flight.
Most of the interior is taken up by water tanks, both for drinking water and use as reaction mass for maneuvering thrusters, though the water can also be used as rocket propellant in combination with magic to heat it, since there's something akin to rocket nozzles at the back.
The entire ship is mechanical in nature, with the most complex non-magical device on board being a clock. Everything else is based on enchantments or the magic of the witches that fly the ship.
Starwitch has to be flown entirely manually, with a set of winches inside the 'witchpit' (cockpit) used to control the angle of the four masts.
As the story begins, the youngest of the sisters, Amelia, is alone and she's had only two hours sleep in three days. She's hot on the heels of a far larger ship owned by the infamous pirate, the Dead Queen. The other ship is a massive block of granite floating in space, which Amelia refers to as a monolith, since it's all one piece of rock.
Starwitch was attacked by the monolith and the Dead Queen stole the enchanted mythril spell-core of Starwitch that allows even a weak witch like Amelia to perform high-intensity magic. The Queen also kidnapped Amelia's sisters, to consume their magic and their souls, that she might extend her undead existence.
Amelia was intentionally left for dead, with just enough resources to follow the monolith, but not enough to reach safety, a sort of sport the Dead Queen has engaged in for centuries, just to see what a desperate and weak witch might do.
Amelia watches the monolith entering orbit of an icy moon, presumably to take on water for propellant, and she takes a somewhat different path, heading for a polar orbit.
She intends to meet the monolith on the other side of the moon, where she'll attack.
As she awaits her moment, which is days away, Amelia looks back on her memories with regret. It all started so innocently, with a book...
Chapter 2: The Book of Newts
Amelia is ten years old and practically vibrates with excitement. She's read every book available in the house and her mother has promised her that when Mr. Pinewater next visits, she'll get a book of her very own.
The old man comes to visit her family and in exchange for a healing potion from Amelia's mother, Mr. Pinewater allows Amelia to select a book from the collection he keeps in his wagon, which is basically a shack on wheels.
While the old guy digs for books on magic to entice her with, Amelia is asked to temporarily hold an old tome titled The Book of Newts. Initially, it appears to be a book all about the water-dwelling amphibians, but for one brief instant, it shows its true nature to her. The title is actually 'Newton's Mechanics'. She blinks and it goes back to being The Book of Newts.
The old guy tries to get her to look at the books on magic, but Amelia decides she'd rather have a magical book, than a book about magic. In fact, she insists, despite his every attempt to guide her to one of his books on magic, mimicking a very witchy tone of command her mother uses (Amelia's mother is also a witch).
She leaves the wagon/shack and the old guy drops his illusion. He's still old, but no longer disheveled and his clothes become the fine, black robes of a wizard, while his hat turns pointy and black.
For a time, he worries he's done the wrong thing, because the book will raise Amelia to the stars, where a dangerous enemy lurks, but having seen the girl's insatiable thirst for knowledge, he decides it would be far more cruel to stifle the girl's potential, because he considers her a prodigy. After all, she's already smarter than he is.
He's confident the child will succeed where he failed, though he's uncomfortable about the path he's set her on.
Tags: writing, work-in-progress, starwitch