Aidan seethed as the Physician stitched his shoulder closed. Fortunately, while the wound was deep, it hadn’t done any permanent damage. In fact, considering his abrupt return back to the ships, he was remarkably lucky to have returned with only a few scratches and bruises aside from the arrow wound.

When the fire witch had been launched back towards the Alcide sea, he had been about to crash headfirst into the masts of one of the ships, when an air witch had caught him and managed to reroute him and slow his descent.

His familiar, the dragon, was taking up the entire deck of the vessel beside Aidan and the Physician’s, and while sunning himself, was clawing at every inch of his being every chance he could in an effort to rid himself of the salt that had worked its way under his beautiful scales.

“I hear the King’s ship will reach land in another two hours or so, will your beast be back on its feet by then?” the Physician, a reedy man with a pair of small wire spectacles asked as he took a dampened cloth and cleaned more blood off of the fire witch.

“He’ll need a day to warm himself properly. Then I am going to raize this city to the ground and have him tear down that castle until it is nothing but rubble,” Aidan declared as the heat in the ship’s cabin rose drastically.

“All of the witches aboard our ships are rather surprised that there is a Coven of Wittica member powerful enough to have expelled you both off to this distance. I know nothing of magic, but was it truly so impressive?”

The Chief of Troivackian Military grit his teeth. “It was a grossly mismanaged use of power. He will probably be unconscious or unable to use magic for days as a result.”

“Hmm… even so. Against a surprise attack from a dragon, they did buy themselves a day as you say.”

“Not from the soldiers and the Coven they didn’t,” Aidan snapped back while pushing himself to his feet. “I am going to confer with the Captain and the Coven elders now, you said they’d assembled on the deck?”

“Yes, sir. Be careful about reopening your stitches if you can. I’m afraid that while no permanent damage is done, it will scar.”

The fire witch didn’t bother responding as he stepped out of the cabin and began climbing up to the deck where three Troivackian witches, along with his assistant, Mr. Kraft, stood in a circle. The military Captain, however, had placed himself off to the side, his gaze fixed on the nearing shore.

“All finished?” the air witch, an older woman with long white hair, leathery olive skin, and milky eyes asked as she leaned heavily on her staff.

“Just a scratch. Thank you for catching me,” Aidan remarked quickly before turning his gaze to the military man who still hadn’t joined them. “Captain Orion, come here,” the fire witch ordered darkly.

The Captain turned his scarred face to Aidan, and glowered. The two had never gotten along.

Nonetheless, he moved over to the witch’s circle wordlessly.

“I told you not to let your son return to the shore,” Mr. Kraft began calmly.

“That power was from a single witch?! Including the shield? A fire witch?” the water witch elder, a woman with long flowing black hair, and unnaturally bright blue eyes set against her olive skin, demanded with great alarm.

Aidan felt angry waves of heat roll off of himself as his black eyes met hers, making her stiffen before he then looked to his assistant. “I did not let him return. He was dead and forcefully removed.”

Mr. Kraft only responded by nodding his chin briefly in apology, before turning his attention to the water witch. “Mr. Helmer’s son is a House Witch, Ms. Lozitta.”

“A… House… Witch. Do you mean to tell me, that that was the work of a deficient witch?" The third and final woman present, an earth witch, remarked with a mixture of astonishment and wonder on her warm yet lined features.

“He’s my son, so even as a deficient witch he bears some amount of power,” Aidan replied before straightening his shoulders. “We need to discuss how we will combat the Coven on shore. It is hard to say how many members are in the city, but while I was at the castle, I only noted two aside from my son.”

“It is… surprising the Coven has begun to move on its own accord with the Daxairan monarchy. One begins to speculate what they received in return for their contributions,” the water witch pondered aloud before continuing. “The landscape is to our advantage. I will flood the city and wash as many of the soldiers away with it as possible. Ms. Aetos, if you manage to simply block the archers, that will be beneficial. The witches under your command can help create larger waves and spare some of my own as well. We can see about potentially freezing the water to further incapacitate them.”

“There is a chance we will inhibit the Troivackian soldiers in doing this; however, they can always stay on the ships,” the earth witch added with a serious nod.

“The soldiers came for a war, and a war is what they will be getting,” Captain Orion interjected with a growl. “You witches keep underestimating Daxaria from what I’ve been hearing. They have their own hags to combat you, what about them? Not to mention, making that hill pure ice is going to not be a problem just for the Daxarian army, but our own.”

Aidan turned to face the man while pressing his hands into his pockets, and staring down his long nose at him. “The fire witches along the shoreline have ceased their firing, which means they are either running out of magic, or waiting until they are in front of the docks. In which case, we will have our own fire witches taking care of them. The air witches are capable of flying over the firing squad. Some may even be able to carry the water witches over. From there, we battle, but our objective of flooding the city will be met one way or another.”

“What of the men?” Orion insisted again.

“They’ll have their war. They’ll be the scavengers to pick off any nuisances to save our magics. Don’t worry, Captain. There will be plenty of bloodshed, as we pillage the entire kingdom,” the fire witch’s black eyes glowed faintly before he turned and stared at the nearing shores.

The rest of the Coven did the same, except for Mr. Kraft who was watching the Captain carefully. He could see that as confident and powerful as Aidan Helmer was, his growing desperation for victory and absolute power was beginning to create more enemies than even he may be able to handle.

Not to mention the matter of his son, who, by all accounts, was far more powerful than anyone had anticipated.

*

Norman watched the two ships that the dragon had totalled upon his crash with his mouth hanging open. Though he was in similar company as mage Lee, and Mr. Howard stood shoulder to shoulder behind him in equal awe.

“Godsdamn… I might have to agree with Ashowan for once…” Lee muttered to himself as he recounted the Viscount’s many smug comments on the superiority of witches.

“Lee, what’re the odds that that beast is dead?” the King called over his shoulder.

“I doubt it’s dead, Your Majesty, but it most likely won’t be able to fly at us again today. It was just submerged in the sea. Red dragon’s like that, I learned long ago are incredibly sensitive to cold water temperatures… I also heard that the salt is rather itchy on their scales…”

The mage was beginning to shake his head and come back to the present as he stepped forward to the King.

“Alright… and what’re the odds Aidan Helmer is alive?” the King inquired darkly

“Less likely… unless a witch or mage aboard one of the ships managed to save his fall.”

“Call me mad but, I get the distinct impression that the fire witch is a lot harder to kill than most…” Mr. Howard added dazedly.

“I hate to say it, but I’m inclined to agree,” Norman admitted, his fingers longing to curl into a fist.

Just then, Lord Fuks came darting out from the front of the castle towards them- showing off a frightening speed for a man his age. “Sire! Ashowan is unconscious and burned up badly! He’s been taken inside!”

Everyone save for the Captain who was in Austice commanding soldiers immediately broke into a run.

As soon as they maneuvered their way through the growing crowd of witches and soldiers at the front of the castle, they burst through the front doors. Norman was surprised to see past the guards standing inside however, that there was a ring of people surrounding someone laying on the floor.

Norman’s heart skipped a beat when he noticed the worn leather boots on the body he glimpsed between a set of maids. He immediately pressed through the speculators until he was in the centre. Physician Durand was kneeling on the floor beside the Fin, removing what looked to be the singed remains of his black tunic, while Annika had his head in her lap with a cold cloth pressed to the side of his head.

“What is his condition?” the King demanded as Mr. Howard and mage Lee began directing the crowd away frantically.

“Severe burn wounds down his arm, his chest, and right side of his neck and face. He will be in immense pain upon awaking, and I doubt he will be able to-”

Physician Durand’s explanation was cut short as Fin suddenly drew a very loud gasping breath, and his eyes flew open, bright with pain.

“SON OF A MAGE!” he shouted, his hands balling into fists at his side.

“Oh Gods, we need to apply ointment and administer something for the pain. We may need to hold him down-”

“Wait a moment,” Annika interrupted suddenly as the Physician began to reach for his leather satchel he had brought with him. Her eyes were fixed on Fin’s bare chest where a strange dark symbol suddenly grew darker.

They all then noticed, that beginning from the symbol, the burned flesh was beginning to… heal, and a golden glow was emulating from his skin…

Everyone watched in awe as the healing moved up further over his chest, then his neck and face, and eventually his arm. The entire time, Fin drew shaky breaths and clenched his teeth as the pain gradually subsided.

After a matter of minutes, every speck of burn on the redhead was completely healed, and aside from old scars, there wasn’t any sign of any new damage.

“How in the world did this happen?” Physician Durand murmured in awe.

Fin lay on his back staring blindly up at the ceiling for a perfectly still moment, before Annika bent down and gently kissed his forehead. The physical touch made him reach up and gently grasp his wife’s hand that still had the cool cloth pressed to his face. Gently stroking the back of her hand, he then slowly sat up, not bothering to care that he was bare chested in the castle’s front entrance.

“I think… my mother when she brought me back… cursed me.”

“Well that is quite the curse, Lord Ashowan,” Physician Durand chuckled in wonder.

“Do you mean to tell me that you now possess the ability to magically heal yourself?! What about others?” mage Lee demanded excitedly.

“Her dying spell was to bring me back alive and healthy, so I think it would… just apply to me, but I can’t say I’ve tried it out extensively,” Fin added dryly.

Bringing himself up carefully until standing, the witch let out a long breath before the group was interrupted once again.

Captain Antonio burst through the front doors.

“Your Majesty! The Troivackian ships are set to arrive in the next hour or so. I saw the dragon and Helmer sailing across the sky, just what- Viscount, where is your tunic?”

Fin cleared his throat awkwardly, and was thankful when a shy young maid reached out and handed him a peasants cream colored tunic. The material felt more like what he was used to wearing, and he was grateful for it when everything else in his body felt strange...

Going from blinding pain to perfectly fine again in a matter of moments was more than a little jarring.

“We all just discovered that Lord Ashowan here is a mite harder to kill or injure than before thanks to… you called it a curse?” Mr. Howard remarked while still examining Fin’s torso and arms interestedly.

Antonio’s lone blue eye fixed on the redhead and frowned. “I think I can figure out roughly what that all means, but right now I’m here to report that the witches and soldiers have all retreated up the hill. No one should be in the city at this time. I have commanded all archers to be at the ready at all times and to aim for the eyes of the beast. There also-”

The Captain halted his report as a growing roar outside the castle’s front doors reached their ears.

“What is that?” Annika asked with a frown as she grasped Fin’s hand.

“It sounds like… it sounds like… the men are all yelling something?” Mr. Howard noted while frowning.

Norman stepped over to the doors, Antonio at his side. After sharing a frowned glance with the Captain, they tentatively pulled them open.

Before the castle steps were the Knights, common soldiers, guards, and the Coven of Wittica members. They were all facing the doors shouting at the top of their lungs, their fists and weapons thrust in the air as they called out over and over…

Fin stepped forward, Annika’s hand in his own as he faced the thousand or more people that filled the castle grounds, and every single one of them boomed even louder as he stepped into the light.

It took him a moment, but Fin finally understood what they were all chorusing…

“HOUSE WITCH! HOUSE WITCH! HOUSE WITCH! HOUSE WITCH!”

Despite their impassioned shouts, they weren't out for his blood...

No. They roared in absolute praise and cheer for him.

They cheered and rallied for the witch who could take on a dragon, and win.

The same one who had saved the guards from a fire witch, and who also happened to be the best cook in the entire kingdom.

Their very own House Witch who they believed in with all their hearts.