Wizich Trilogy : Gwen : Chapter 1 - Taurus

Hilta sat hunched over her cauldron. She was surprised to hear a knock on her door. Usually she could sense a mind coming a mile away but some how this visitor had eluded her. Cautiously she got up and opened it. On her doorstep stood a chubby girl of about fifteen. “What do you want?” Hilta inquired genuinely. She was surprised that she was unable to read the girls mind. Hilta had expected someone powerful and well trained in the arts of magic but instead nothing but a child.
Hilta stood for a second measuring her up. The girl’s hair was the colour of straw and brushed back behind her ears. Her nose was turned up and her eyes where dark. She wasn’t wildly beautiful but she wasn’t terribly ugly. The girl breathed out slowly. “I want to become an apprentice witch,” said the girl slowly but surely.
Hilta starred for a moment. It was unusual for a person to answer a question first go when talking to Hilta. Usually people stood gaping, starring into her deep black eyes. “What’s your name?” she asked, still slightly suspicious of the girl.
“Gwen, Gwen Smith, ma’am,” she said curtseying.
“No one calls me ‘ma’am’. I’m Granny, Granny Hilta. Who are your parents? You seem vaguely familiar.”
“You know my mum. She was ill with chicken pox and you came down to cure her a few years ago.”
“Hmm…. Nancy Smith?”
“Yes Granny.”
“Your father died earlier in the year though,” Hilta said, talking as much to herself as to the girl, “Your father left a small bag of silver in my position. I must give that back to your mother.”
Gwen waited patiently for Hilta to speak.
The old woman stood for a moment thinking. “How old are you?”
“Fifteen Granny, nearly sixteen.”
“Shall we go down into Oakley and see your mother about you being a witch?”
Hilta wasn’t too sure whether she should take on Gwen. Hilta had never liked other people, certainly not in human form anyway.

Hilta had started by telling Nancy about the money. The young widow was overjoyed at her new found fortune. Hilta came into the main room to talk to Gwen. Nancy went into her kitchen to find some where to hide the money. Hilta explained to Gwen the dangers of being a witch.
“Being a witch isn’t all about mixing magic potions. We have powerful enemies. Even the part which is magic potions is extremely dangerous. Adding the wrong ingredient might cause all types of things to happen.”
“I know the dangers but I just feel it’s the thing for me. I’ve no interest in being a mother. I know what the women here have to live through. This is my only way out. Please, help me,” she begged. Hilta had to admit Gwen was right, there was no future for her here and there was a shortage of young witches. The problem was the privacy. She liked to be alone. It meant she had time to do what she wanted and never had to worry about her secrets.
In the end, after a lot of pleading, begging and grovelling Hilta took Gwen on as her apprentice. Gwen went to live in Hilta’s small, dusty, thatched house.

When they got to the house, Gwen was led to the dark, damp room in the loft. There was a small trap door in the middle with a rickety ladder which Hilta found difficult to get up. The thatch was visible and the bed had a straw stuffed mattress, which was hard and uncomfortable. Gwen placed her few clothes into the drawers. She looked round at her knew life and lay down to sleep.

Hilta stayed up late that night. Gwen was powerful. But could she really be more powerful than Hilta? The potential was there for magic but ambition burnt deep in Gwen’s heart. It was like a keg of gunpowder, safe until that single spark sets it of. If she were ever to discover that ambition then who could know what would happen? Hilta could hazard a guess. She had seen potential turn to power. Hilta had seen entire civilisations destroy themselves. Still, perhaps times where ready for change. Maybe this girl could be the cure to what is wrong with the world. Maybe….