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Work In Progress #21: Starwitch #4
"Keep in mind that if this test fails, I'm not going to let you live." Her eyes glowed, bathing Amelia's face in red light, before she went on, "I'll get an earful form His Majesty over it, but ultimately, I can argue I acted in his best interest, because you're definitely not."
– Lieutenant Colonel 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 13: Marta's Mission
Five years have passed and Marta is on a mission in the jungles between Dugaria and Skobia, along with a small squad of men that include a Lieutenant and Sergeant. Marta has been promoted to Corporal.
She's in her accustomed place in line, between the Lieutenant and Sergeant, who put her life above their own, since witches are so few, compared to regular soldiers.
Marta suspects Dugaria's claim that Skobia attacked first is total garbage, because the constitution only allows using witches for defensive purposes. Hypothetically, the claim that Skobia attacked first and refuses to give up, even though it's one-third the size, is propaganda, to allow using witches for an invasion.
Marta grows depressed and her thoughts follow this pattern:
Five years as a dog of the military. Five years as an Artillery Witch. Five years of violating the vow she'd taken as a child, leaving her feeling so dirty, no amount of soap ever made her feel clean. Five years of looking for a way out, only for no solution to present itself. She was trapped in the worst kind of nightmare, in which she took the starring role, as the monster that burned men alive.
She secretly hopes to become numb to that pain, but knows when that day comes, it will be the worst so far, because she'll know she's become nothing more than a mass-murderer.
Her thoughts are interrupted by their quiet and secret arrival at the edge of a clearing that holds an enemy fort. It's Marta's time to do her job and she begins charging a wide-area fire spell carefully tuned to burn only soldiers.
While she waits for the magic to gather in her spell, she looks on the fort, seeing some men come back from patrols looking tired, with their guard down. They're all rather young, about sixteen years old, roughly the same age as the private standing beside Marta.
She decides she can't kill them and starts draining the magic from her spell.
She flashes back to when she was thirteen years old and standing in the corner, because her mother had caught her casting a spell to give a boy pimples and boils, an offense that got Marta slapped, even though her mother had never struck her before.
They've been arguing and Marta demands to know why her Mother quietly serves the villagers, when she could use magic to make herself their ruler.
Her Mother's explanation:
"I love them. They're my friends and neighbors. I went to school with them and I deliver their babies. I agree that they're stupid and ignorant, but that will never change the fact that I love them all, aside from the Mayor, but I make an exception for him, because he's so frustrating, but he's just doing what he feels is right, even if it should be wrong."
She also points out that if she used magic to take over, then she'd never know another moment's peace and calls politics a thresher for the thumb; better to stay out of it.
Marta is forced to admit her mother has a point.
Her mother asks if Marta remembers the first thing she was taught about doctoring.
"The right way to bandage a wound?" Marta asks.
Her mother answers, "No, before that."
Marta is confused, because bandaging was first.
Still, her mother insists that something came first and Marta thinks it over, finally saying, " 'Do no harm.' "
Mother explains that Marta not only used magic to do harm, but also involved her medical training in the offense, which was the reason she got slapped.
Marta apologizes and her Mother extracts a vow that Marta will never harm anyone with magic again.
Back in the present, the Sergeant sees Marta bleeding off the power in her spell and asks, "Corporal, what's the holdup?"
Marta reasons that if she fights back and refuses to follow orders, then Amelia's plans for escape might be ruined, because Marta will be forced to serve in chains, rather than a uniform. Marta has no idea what those plans are, because Amelia has kept them to herself and asked Marta to play along with the army.
Marta reluctantly releases her spell on the people in the fort, who die screaming, burned alive. She feels no remorse and doesn't cry, despite witnessing it with hr own eyes.
Her small squad occupies the large fort, in preparation for reinforcements, who will arrive in five minutes.
Meanwhile, Marta is exhausted and dumps the ashes off a chair, so she can sit down. She realizes for the first time, ever, she didn't cry for those she's killed. At this point, she cries for the loss of her own remorse. She begins considering immolating both herself and her squad the next time she's called on to harm anyone, reasoning that will save lives.
Her skull begins vibrating to produce sound only she can hear and the voice of a witch from the WIA (Witch Intelligence Agency) back in Rimestar reaches her ears. Marta reports the success of the mission (the witch's spell is two-way).
The witch relays word that Marta's next assignment will be back home, due to some demonstration. Marta reasons that will involve one of Amelia's prototypes. Marta is glad to hear it, because she wants to have a word with Amelia; if Amelia doesn't get them out of Dugaria soon, then she'll lose her oldest sister.
The WIA witch ends the communication spell and Marta feels the eerie calm of one that's decided to end their life.
Chapter 14: Iris and Intrigue
The body of Iris floats in a sensory deprivation tank in one of the remote-viewing rooms of Fort Stand. At the same time, her mind is far away, at the front lines, where a battle recently concluded.
The area is full of bodies, most of them Skobian soldiers, who wear yellow sashes over their armor. Iris is overwhelmed by the sight, sounds and smell of the battlefield, bothered by the stench of blood and burnt human flesh.
She hears a soft cry for help and investigates, finding a Skobian soldier, who was blinded by the same explosion that took his legs off and he's blubbering about the war, asking why Dugaria refuses to let Skobia surrender.
Iris is disturbed by the implications, because she has her doubts about the propaganda the government spews out as an excuse for a witch-assisted invasion of a resource-rich neighboring country.
Just as she's considering the soldier's words, another witch steps through Iris' mental projection, briefly making her vision go out of focus, though she had a quick look through the other woman's sinus cavities, showing her mostly red, with lines for bones and blood vessels.
The witch screams, "Shut your lying mouth!" as she claps a hand on his forehead and uses magic to make his head explode!
Iris looks away, but is still disturbed to see blood rain down.
The evil witch rattles off the number 1299, then asks Iris if she'd found any more survivors, because shew wants her kill count to be a nice, round number. By way of explanation, the two of them are linked with a Bone Transduction spell, similar to the one Marta experienced with a WIA witch.
Iris has seen other survivors, but chooses to lie to Captain "Killer" Krauss, because Krauss is totally gone in the head, far too obsessed with counting her personal kills. Additionally, standing orders are to always take a few prisoners for interrogation and Iris has no desire to see more death.
Krauss runs off to find another victim and Iris returns to getting an accurate casualty count on both sides, which has been her primary responsibility, so far.
She ends her spells and emerges from the tank, reporting the numbers to her superior officer, who tells her to dry off and head for Room Nine, an infamous room surrounded by ominous rumors.
Iris obeys and knocks on the door. After identifying herself, she's ushered into a dark room lit by a single, dim candle that doesn't reveal the witches hidden around the edges of the room.
They question her for a time and Iris confirms she can not only remote-view, but also remote-hear and remote-smell while she's at it.
They test her by tricking her into remote-viewing the men's washroom, which makes her go bright red, but she confirms her ability to smell the other room by revealing the men are using lavender soap.
Next, Captain Denholm and a witch general in a black uniform step into the light, beginning a discussion that Iris doesn't quite follow, as they talk about the King of Skobia and his court vizier, a wizard of no small reputation.
The old General orders Iris to remote-view the washroom again and orders her to try picking up a bar of soap. She does so and much to her surprise, it works. She lifts it high into the air and the men run screaming from the room, a commotion that can be heard in the halls.
Iris is initially pleased to learn she has the power to remote-touch, which has never been seen before.
She's ordered to rest for the night, because she'll be working rather hard for some new training in the morning.
She asks if she can be told the purpose and Captain Denholm reveals the plan is for Iris to kill King Bayard of Skobia, without going anywhere near him. She's hopeful Iris will be able to reach into his chest, to crush his heart.
Iris heads home, as ordered, but about halfway there, she begins to cry, totally unable to stop, because they're finally going to force her to kill, against her vows.
Chapter 15: Amelia Assembles
Amelia sneaks out of her bedroom using a knotted rope, meeting her chief assistant, Dawkin, on the ground. Amelia is totally oblivious of the fact, but Dawkin is in love with her.
He tells her Hobard is busy on the other side of the house, dealing with a group of drunks that were anonymously given free beer, a key to the front gate and an invitation to party there.
As it turns out, Amelia has been trying to give Hobard and the house servants the slip for more than a week, because they've gotten really problematic, continually following her around.
When her basic training was complete, Amelia was sent home to work as a military contractor against her will, with the task of producing a horseless, armored war wagon.
Lately, however, Amelia has come to think of the house staff as her enemies, because she doesn't pay them and even if she fires them, they're immediately replaced, all on top of the fact they're effectively spying on nearly every move she makes.
The two of them sneak off to a corner of the property where Amelia had a granite tower of exceptional height built (probably about 70 meters tall and 11 wide), to serve as her private sanctuary, where she supposedly experiments with magic and therefore everyone is supposed to keep out.
Amelia opens the custom combination lock she built and they step inside. The interior is obviously mortared almost everywhere, except along two tooth-like lines on either side, where the tower is instead joined with steel plates.
Stairs run upward along the interior, but the center of the large, open space is filled with a slightly smaller tower of gleaming, brushed metal, which is Starwitch. One side toward the bottom and facing the door has a panel off, revealing an empty cavity, which a wooden ramp gives access to. Inside the cavity, tracks might allow rolling something inside and a hook on a chain dangles, presumably for lifting.
Amelia and Dawkin spend most of the night working, because Starwitch isn't quite ready to launch. Amelia decides to bring the other apprentices in to finish the project, because there's very little time left before the next demonstration of a prototype war wagon.
Dawkin is sent off with the plans for Starwitch in hand, so the others can study them, before laying hands on the vehicle.
Amelia heads back to her room in the predawn light and hides the rope under the floorboards. She turns in, hoping to get a couple hours of sleep, but she's woken an hour later.
Apparently, there was a big ruckus in the night (drunks with lots of free beer), but the sheriff is convinced the sisters were being targeted.
Amelia dresses for the day and sends the man off with no extra information, while suppressing laughter.
Iris can read her far better than the servants and questions her in the hall as they head to the dining room. Amelia reassures her sister that it was just a distraction.
Iris asks to have a private word with Amelia and informs her that Marta wants the same, additionally telling Amelia their sister will be back that afternoon.
Amelia agrees to speak with them both and that's the end of the conversation, though she can tell Iris is extremely upset.
Chapter 16: Starwitch
The sisters head to Amelia's tower for their family meeting. Hobard tries to follow them, but Amelia orders him to leave them alone, going so far as to say he hovers too much.
Their butler looks mildly offended, but obeys, because if he defies their orders, it will give away the fact he's been spying on them, all along.
The sisters enter the tower, then bar the door.
Iris gets things going by asking what Starwitch is.
Amelia names the rocket and explains it's both their method of escape from Dugaria and possibly, their new home.
Marta asks when it will be ready and explains that she plans to immolate herself rather than burning another target for the army.
Her sisters are stunned by her words for a time and Iris goes next, saying she's being trained to kill remote targets with magic, because she has a unique talent for remote-touch, which is an extension of remote-viewing magic. Her intent is to kill Captain Denholm, then the old general witch if they ever order her to harm someone with magic. Needless to say, that's not likely to end well and Iris is unlikely to win the fight.
Amelia apologizes for how long her plan has taken and the things her sisters have been forced to endure. She tells them Starwitch will be ready after one more all-nighter, at least with all her apprentices helping.
However, she'll need a distraction. Marta decides she'll get drunk and trash the house, a mess no butler or maid could resist dealing with. This also has the advantage of being somewhat expected, because Marta has been obviously depressed for a long time.
They discuss Hobard and Amelia is told by Iris that he's military, a fact she figured out ages ago, as are the other house servants. In essence, they've been in a gilded cage all along.
This leads to a discussion of how dense Amelia can be, considering how intelligent she is, and her sisters tease her a bit about Dawkin being in love with her, though she doesn't quite grasp their meaning, because they don't spell it out; they want to see what happens without too much interference.
However, Marta does suggest Amelia look at Dawkin with the eyes of a woman, rather than those of an engineer or witch.
They begin discussing the escape plan and Amelia begins with a tour of Starwitch.
After a scene break, they're in the last of the living spaces, near the bottom of the rocket, where Marta asks why what's obviously supposed to be the floor is currently serving as a wall.
Amelia gives a poor explanation and says they'll have to make their own gravity, in flight. The short version is that the rocket is pointing straight up, just for launch.
Iris interrupts by demanding, "What is this thing? I can sense incredible magic pouring from it!"
Iris points at a device set into the middle of the wall that currently serves as the floor. It's made of gleaming metal, with six long rods linking thirty metal plates together. Each of the plates is crammed full of runes and yes, the whole thing radiates incredible magic.
Amelia begins explaining the "spell-core", as she calls it, trying to leap into a technobabble-filled explanation, though her sisters get her to explain more simply. It's a runic enchantment designed to cast arbitrary spells based on the imagination of a human that touches the top plate, which has a magic circle etched into it.
The whole thing is made of five pounds of a rare, magic metal called mythril, which continually draws magic into itself from its surroundings. storing it away for future use. Effectively, the spell-core is a magic battery that will allow even Amelia to cast powerful spells, if needed.
Her sisters are concerned by the very idea and Amelia further explains that she made it to only work for the Blackwell sisters, which reassures them.
With that out of the way, Marta points out a wheel of cheese and some milk sitting in the corner, which appears to have been nibbled by rats. Amelia quickly kneels beside it and removes the note her sisters hadn't noticed yet, which had been on top of the cheese.
The note reads as:
"This milk and cheese is an offering to any Brownies that would like a home. Feel free to eat and drink as much as you like. I'll get more cheese when it runs out, but won't be able to get you more milk."
Amelia puts her finger to her lips, calling for silence. She finds a tiny hand print in the cheese, where a Brownie braced themselves against it, to tear a chunk off. Amelia does some math based on the size and concludes Brownies are no more than three inches tall.
She silently shows her sisters the hand print and they smile, because they were all aware their home in Daleshade had at least one Brownie, which their mother always fed dairy products to, though no one ever saw it/them. As a result, their shoes were always in good repair, every morning, regardless of the state they were in at bedtime.
Iris and Marta openly mock Amelia for her strange habit of feeding "rats". From this point on, when the sisters talk about rats, they'll be talking about the Brownie(s) in code, to avoid offending them, because Brownies won't stay if they're openly talked about.
The sisters begin the long climb back up and out.
Chapter 17: Final Touches
Marta spends the night drinking all the wine she can get her hands on, while kept sober by an enchanted necklace Amelia made for her, which features amethysts.
The necklace magically keeps her sober, but also makes her increasingly clumsy, the more she drinks, allowing her to play the part well, without forgetting her job.
She's been smashing furniture, due to her natural strength and the clumsiness, while Hobard has stood ready to refill her glass, though he keeps trying to sneak out of the room.
In the end, Marta demands that he dance with her and he reluctantly joins her atop a table. Marta whirls him around at high speed, intentionally making herself sick.
As she starts to cough, Marta holds him very tight and vomits down his backside, ruining his uniform and filling his shoes! She lets him go, stumbles, then falls backwards, which breaks the legs off the table!
Hobard falls into the vomit puddle, then rises, ineffectually wiping himself off.
Marta rises, claiming she feels better, then shouts for more wine!
Before he storms off, Hobard shouts, "I don't care what the military does to me, no one should have to endure this kind of abuse! I quit!"
Marta is extremely amused that the man broke his cover as she grabs the bottle of wine and heads for a new room, because the one she's in has become a little too dangerous for bare feet.
Meanwhile, Amelia and her apprentices are hard at work putting final touches on Starwitch, while they fill the rocket's various water tanks.
As Amelia works in the witchpit to mount the scrying crystals used for viewing outside the rocket, Dawkin reports to her that the tanks will be full in a matter of minutes.
Amelia steps beside him and takes a moment to follow Marta's advice, looking at the man as a woman.
She has a strong desire she doesn't understand, to get closer to him, and as she leans toward him, he closes his eyes and slightly puckers his lips. Amelia follows suit and leans even closer, curious to learn what her unexplored feelings mean...
The moment is ruined by one of Amelia's female apprentices climbing the ladder, to tell her the water tanks are full.
With the moment ruined, they get back to work.
After a scene break, Amelia gets back to her bedroom and prepares for bed, in the hopes of getting an hour of sleep, despite the fact dawn is happening outside. Unfortunately, her hopes are dashed by a knock on the door.
The Head of Housekeeping informs her that Hobard quit in the night, along with most of the night staff, due to Hurricane Marta's behavior. Amelia is occupied dealing with the consequences, until Iris takes over for her, because Amelia has a busy day of work ahead.
Amelia goes to her workshop, where her apprentices work to unpack the crate of tires that just arrived and the war wagon is described.
It's effectively a four-seat car with armored plating that's angled to maximize thickness against projectiles from the front and rear. Currently, it lacks side armor, because the tires still need mounting and the plates are intended to protect the wheel wells.
It has four "spring-gonnes", which are basically guns that used springs to launch round stone or metal bullets. Three fire bullets weighing just ounces, while the big one mounted on the roof uses one pound projectiles. All are cocked by the vehicle's steam engine and they're semi-automatic.
Each seat has a weapon, with the driver's being fixed to face forward, while two face forward and back, able to turn up to 45 degrees to either side. The big one, however, uses a periscope with a trigger for aiming and firing. It faces forward, but is able to turn ninety degrees to either side.
Amelia dons some gloves and gets to work.
Chapter 18: The Demonstration
Incidentally, in writing this chapter, I decided that Captain Denholm needed to be a Lieutenant Colonel, so she could out-rank Captain Krauss, which required me to edit several previous chapters.
Amelia is unable to sleep, due to nervousness/excitement about the coming day and rises early. She wastes a little time around the house, checking into preparations for the lunch party the sisters are supposed to host, even though Amelia has no intention of sticking around that long.
Eventually, she heads out to the workshop, where most of her apprentices are finally taking a break, after spending all night putting final touches on the war wagon, because this one isn't destined to explode and it needs to work right on the first try.
Dawkin, on the other hand, is buffing the wagon's armor, to make it shine.
Amelia has another quiet moment with Dawkin and very nearly kisses him, but the same young, female apprentice as last time interrupts.
Amelia thanks them all for her work and asks if they've made the preparations she asked of them.
Dawkin reports that all the plans for Amelia's inventions are secure in the carriage she gave him, which is the same wagon that Amelia's father turned into a mobile house, though Amelia has since made it horseless.
The female apprentice reports that Amelia's old portable workshop has a few of their families crammed into it, along with all the steam engines from the workshop. They're ready to go.
Another reports they're ready to drive the tractor away, which has been hitched to a large wagon, full of the rest of their families. He says his sister has the backup copies of Amelia's plans.
Amelia orders them to get on the road. The intent is for them to get themselves to Skobia, where they'll meet up and offer to build Amelia's war wagon for the other side, because nothing about the war has been just (Dugaria attacked Skobia for resources, then lied about it, to justify using conscripted witches offensively).
Once more, Amelia and Dawkin have a quiet little moment, in which they nearly kiss, but this time, Marta is the one to interrupt, because Colonel Denholm is getting impatient, having sent a messenger.
In the next scene, Dawkin is on a horse, which is hitched to the war wagon. It can move under its own power, but it's supposed to be publicly tested in front of the top brass.
Meanwhile, the Blackwell sisters are inside, talking.
They first discuss the fact that Captain Krauss will be at the demonstration and Iris reacts with naked terror, claiming the woman is a blood witch.
As it turns out, witches with a talent for manipulating blood are the reason witches are feared and reviled, because a blood witch's powers react to their emotions, usually in a violent, explosive manner. This normally leads a young girl just coming into her magic powers to accidentally kill people, followed by the realization they're to blame.
Most turn their powers inward at that point, due to the emotion of such a thought and tend to self-destruct, but a very few survive. The rarest of them become healers, but the rest tend to become serial killers.
Krauss just happened to be in a country that's willing to make use of a deranged whack-job whose only talent is murder, or she would have been hunted down and burned at the stake, most likely by other witches. Aside from that awfulness, Krauss is also fond of fire and probably a pyromaniac.
The fact that should terrify everyone, however, is that Denholm keeps the woman on a short leash, which indicates she's even more powerful, likely capable of killing Krauss with ease.
In the end, Iris decides she'll try to hold off Krauss, while the plan has always been for Marta to hold off Denholm. Amelia takes the wheel (Iris was originally supposed to drive).
Iris requests, "Remind me why we didn't just launch in the night? This is starting to sound like a bad plan."
Amelia reminds them that the apprentices have to get to Skobia and the longer the delay, the further away they'll get, quite possibly ahead of rumor. She also says their Mother would never approve of the way they've probably made things worse, so they have to at least try to help Skobia.
They arrive at the field set aside for the test, which is next to Fort Stand. Folding chairs are occupied by some rather senior military personnel, including Captain Krauss, Lieutenant Colonel Denholm and the old General that's been training Iris to kill with remote-touch.
While Dawkin removes the hitching mechanism linking the front axle to the horse, Amelia exits the vehicle and salutes her superior officers. Denholm rises and this scene happens:
The Lieutenant Colonel returned the salute and gave Amelia an icy glare as she spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear, "This is your last chance, Private Blackwell. You've been given rather more latitude than I'm comfortable with, due to the potential of the weapon you've promised His Highness, but the King's patience is growing thin." She looked over Amelia's shoulder, to the wagon, "Are you quite certain you need your sisters for this demonstration? I'm almost certain they're not actually required."
"You weren't here for the previous two tests!" Amelia protested, "Iris is always calm under pressure and quick enough to pull me out if I freeze, and Marta is powerful enough to control the blast if the engine becomes unstable! I need them both, or I could die!"
"Very well," Denholm nodded, apparently accepting the lies, "but one more catastrophic failure and your new home will feature chains and bars, at the very deepest portion of the King's most vile dungeon."
"I've done my best to please the King," Amelia bowed her head, "but compact steam engines can be quite volatile and difficult to stabilize. After recent research, however, I think I know what's been going wrong and this one will do…better…" Amelia trailed off in the face of the intense glare the taller woman gave her.
"So you say," Denholm leaned until she towered over Amelia, forcing the small woman to look straight up as Denholm hissed so quietly no one but them might hear the rest of her words, "but I don't believe you. You think you're always the smartest woman in the room, you smug, little-" Denholm sharply cursed in Amelia's face, spittle landing on her cheeks, "but I'm on to you and the King agrees you've rope enough to hang yourself with, so if you'd like to make any final adjustments, to assure this prototype works, now's the time. Keep in mind that if this test fails, I'm not going to let you live." Her eyes glowed, bathing Amelia's face in red light, before she went on, "I'll get an earful from His Majesty over it, but ultimately, I can argue I acted in his best interest, because you're definitely not."
Amelia gulped and quietly nodded as she slowly backed away, though their eyes remained locked. Before Amelia finally dared to look away, Denholm gave her a sick smile that was full of menace and anticipation very like that of a hunter, just before a good kill.
Dawkin drags her attention away from the scary Colonel by asking if she needs anything else.
Feeling close to the edge, emotionally speaking, Amelia grabs Dawkin and kisses him, because it's her last chance, leading to a pair of paragraphs that speak for themselves:
It was a moment that was both short and sweet, but which also seemed to stretch into a subjective eternity, because it was charged with magic beyond that of anything Amelia had ever experienced, making actual magic feel like a cheap stage magician's trick by comparison, while the kiss she shared with Dawkin felt like the genuine article.
When the kiss ended, Dawkin gave Amelia a huge smile and planted a kiss of his own on her lips, which went on far longer than the first, leaving Amelia feeling absolutely giddy with delight, as if her blood had lost all its weight and become lighter than air, threatening to lift her into the sky. In short, it was even more magical than the first.
In the wagon, her sisters are happy Amelia finally figured it out, but sad they can't take Dawkin with them.
Denholm and Krauss, on the other hand, are not amused and also somewhat annoyed, but the witch General seated beside them tells them to lighten up, because if things go wrong with the demonstration, then Amelia will never see the man again and they should give her a little slack, since the King wants her jailed in that case.
Dawkin and Amelia both say, "I love you" and Dawkin rides the horse away. As soon as he's around the wall, he urges it into a gallop, because he needs to put as much distance between himself and Rimestar as he can.
Amelia gets into the wagon, in tears over the loss of what she only just realized she had. The sisters discuss the possibility of taking Dawkin with them, but Amelia defeats their arguments with logic she hates: the other apprentices aren't as skilled and they need him to rebuild the war wagon on a reasonable time scale, the only way Skobia might hold their own in the war.
Amelia wipes away her tears and starts the engine. The wagon runs flawlessly and they demonstrate the smaller weapons on some defenseless wood cutouts of Skobian soldiers. The big spring-gonne is tested on a small brick wall, which it obliterates. They make a victory lap around the field at a slow pace, then go round the corner of the fort instead of stopping, then accelerate away!
Seeing them flee, Denholm and Krauss use broomsticks to fly after them and the two decide to kill the Blackwell sisters as traitors, because they're stealing the King's property (the war wagon). They dive for an attack run!
Tags: writing, work-in-progress, starwitch