Page 175 of The Black Witch

“It’s like another world,” I muse. “It reminds me of my home.” I hold up my hand, covering up the University city, which is rendered small by our distance from it. “It’s like you can almost pretend the University doesn’t exist.”

“I try to do that sometimes,” he admits.

I turn to look at him. “You don’t like it here?”

He shakes his head. “My mother and I used to live on the outskirts of Western Keltania. I much prefer it.”

“Oh,” I say softly, momentarily at a loss for what else to say. Then my eyes alight on the intricate designs on his tunic. “Your runes,” I observe hesitantly. “They glow.”

He glances down at the marks and nods. “Amaz runes. They’re crafted from a melding of several runic systems. They enhance our power—”

Andras breaks off suddenly, eyes darting to look at something behind me, and his whole body stiffens.

I turn to see Andras’s mother, Professor Volya, standing in the stable’s back entranceway. Fear swamps over me.How long has she been standing there? Did she hear us?

I can see it in her shrewd gaze—she did hear us. My heart hammers out my dire concern.

“Mother,” Andras says, his deep voice guarded.

“My son,” she replies tersely.

We all stare at each other for a long moment, the silence thick and uncomfortable.

“Mage Gardner,” Professor Volya finally says, her black eyes sharp on me. “I just had the most intriguing visit from the area’s Vu Trin commander and the Verpax groundskeeper. It seems as if the groundskeeper’s Selkie has gone missing.”

I stare back at her like a deer caught in the torchlight.

Her eyes tight on mine, she takes a seat on a hay bale. She sits like a man. Legs spread apart, arms crossed.

“Relax, Mage Gardner,” she tells me. “I, too, will keep your secret.”

I let out a heavy breath, relief washing over me.

“So,” Professor Volya says, peering at me, “Carnissa Gardner’s granddaughter has rescued a Selkie.”

“Her body,” I tell them, my voice low. “It’s covered in lash marks. He must have whipped her over and over again.”

Andras makes a sound of disgust and looks away.

Professor Volya doesn’t look the least bit surprised. “It is the nature of men.”

Andras’s head jerks toward his mother, his brow tight with offense.

“To beat women senseless?” I question, incredulous.

“To be cruel,” she replies. “To attempt to dominate women in any way possible.”

Andras’s jaw tenses, and his face takes on a hard look. He throws down his cloth and stalks out.

His mother ignores him. “It has been this way since the beginning of time,” she continues, her eyes steady on me.

I shift uncomfortably on the prickly hay bale beneath me. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“It is not surprising,” she observes, “that you are ignorant of your own history. Sad, but not surprising.” Professor Volya regards me coolly for a moment. “This world,” she says, leaning forward, “and everything in it, was made by the Great Mother. And the first people she made were the Three Sisters.Thisis your history.” She waits a moment for this to sink in as I stare back at her. “After they were created,Ama, the Great Mother, saw that the Sisters were lonely, so she took a bone from each of their fists and made the First Men.” She holds her fist straight up as she tells me this, then lowers it again. “The First Men were not grateful for all the Goddess had done for them. Instead, they tried to convince the Three Sisters to join them and slay the Great Mother, so that they could rule over all of Erthia.” Again she pauses.

I’m amazed at how different this creation story is from the one I’ve grown up knowing.

“One of the Sisters refused to betray the Goddess. She went to her and warned her of the terrible plan. The Great Mother renamed this First Sister Amaz, and set down a curse on the others.”

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