Twenty days have passed since the twins fled from the Taylor estate. Aside from their meeting with Bruna and the incident with the witch known as ‘The Mother of Maggots’, their trip thus far had been a rather uneventful one. Though Camille did end up catching a cold along the way, probably because she stayed out in the rain for too long.

For some reason, the baron’s men did not give chase. Since the day that Bruna had joined them, their group didn’t even run into a single one of the baron’s checkpoints. It was like their enemies had completely vanished. Perhaps the little witch had something to do with it? She was a rather mysterious person, after all.

They had finally arrived at the coast of Trentin, where they boarded a ship whose captain was an old friend of Sir Gareth’s. It was an old but sturdy looking ship, built out of well aged oak wood, with tall masts and many beautiful white sails decorated by the crest of their merchant company. This kind of ship was usually called a carabela.

The trip to Alcara would take them about three to four more months to complete, since the ship would have to make a few stops along the way in order to restock supplies. During this time, Bruna had decided that she would try and teach the twins more about witches and magic in general, for even though they were incredibly talented mages, the two didn’t know a thing about their heritage and the implications of being witches.

But things don’t always go as planned…

“Ugh…” Iris’ visage was sickly pale. She was sitting in a corner of the ship’s deck, under the shade of a parasol. Her body bent over a wooden bucket that she was holding—

“Blaaaaarghhhh~!"

While puking her guts out.

Seasickness, or so she was told. Something related to the vessel’s erratic movements. As this was her first time on a ship, she was quite literally caught by surprise.

“This… Damn swaying! Ugh...” Iris was feeling extremely sick, even though only four hours had passed since the ship had set sail from Trentin.

“There, there… You’ll get better soon.” Alice was by her side, lightly tapping on her back. Bruna was there too, though she was busying herself with a book. Camille was nowhere to be found, she was probably chatting with the captain at his cabin.

“I can’t… Three months… Blaaaaaarghhhh~!” Iris started puking once more.

If not even a day had passed and she already felt like she was dying, gods only know what would happen in these three months.

“You will get used to it.” Bruna remarked, as if it had nothing to do it her— and it really didn’t.

Before Iris got too sick to keep studying, Bruna had taught them a little more about the witches and their power structure. It seems like most witches belong to one of three main factions, those being ‘The Occult Circle’, ‘The Black Tower’ and ‘The Daughters of Nemethea’.

The Occult Circle consists mainly of aristocrats and others with likewise high societal standing. They act in secret, manipulating things behind the scenes. This faction is mostly involved in politics and tends to avoid direct confrontations, though they still have some very powerful witches.

The Black Tower has a solidified power structure based on ranks, their witches are all very disciplined and usually strong. Their work is comparable to those of spies and assassins, though they are not for hire. They are often referred to as being ‘Keepers of Forbidden Knowledge’, since their faction’s main goal is to ‘protect’ others by expropriating any books, artifacts or any other kind of magical paraphernalia that could be considered ‘too dangerous’.

The Daughters of Nemethea are the ones responsible for witches being universally hated and seen as evil. They are more like a cult than a faction, and most of their members act like homicidal maniacs. They have the most powerful witches by far though, and a sizable amount of them have been around since as early as the third holy war— which means they are over 3000 years old. Elder witches, the most dangerous kind there is.

As far as history goes— or so Bruna told them, it was a witch called Nemethea that brought about the age of darkness that preceded the third holy war. Since then, all witches were branded as devil worshipers and enemies of humankind.

A great inquisition was launched by the Church of Irithel and most witches were hunted down and sentenced to death, regardless of their guilt. The few that somehow escaped ended up scattering across the continent and giving birth to the factions that exist today. Bruna’s family is unrelated to any of those factions.

“Ugh… I will head back inside. I’m gonna try to get some sleep…” Saying so, Iris left the deck. She was likely going to take a nap in the cabin that had been designated for their use. Hopefully she wouldn’t fill it with puke.

“Say, Bruna… Can you tell me more about your family? I’m a little curious...” Alice asked, her back turned while she peered into the ocean.

“Why, yes, of course. What is it you wish to know?” The little witch answered, closing her book and glancing towards Alice.

“Anything, really… I just feel like listening to something.” Alice smiled, letting a little bit of sadness show through her face. Abandoning your home and heading for distant unknown lands… There’s no way it would be easy.

“Very well, let’s see…” Bruna mused. “Our family— our clan, has it’s origins at about the same time as the great inquisition. Three witches bearing the name Ashwall fled north, crossing the frozen seas with inquisitors in close pursuit.”

Bruna smiled, as if reminiscing. Likely she had heard this tale from her mother or grandmother… Or great-great-grandmother, who knows?

“After sailing for more than a thousand kilometers away from the mainland, the three witches arrived at the Vinterøya archipelago— also known as the Islands of Winter. There they were offered protection by the Jarl that ruled over the land.”

At this point Alice’s interest had been completely caught, as she listened intently to the girl’s story.

“A long, bloody battle ensued. At that time the forces of the church were near endless, and the Jarl commanded but eighty two men. For days on end they fought, until eventually the church decided to withdraw their forces. Though the Jarl had won the battle and kept the witches safe, his men had all died and he was left gravely wounded.”

Bruna’s words paused for a second, her cheeks blushing a little.

“Seeing the brave warrior that had saved them near to his death, the witches decided to ‘embrace’ him so that they could preserve his bloodline. And from the wombs of those three witches our clan was born, and survives to this day… Or so the story goes.”

“How romantic!” Alice practically glowed, one could even imagine that her eyes had taken the shape of hearts.

“You think? That’s really ancient history, there’s no way of knowing if it happened exactly like that.” Bruna noted, although she was visibly happy that Alice had enjoyed the tale.

“You mentioned you had brothers didn’t you? Could you tell me a little more about them as well?” Alice asked with flushed cheeks.

“Oh my…” Bruna smirked mischievously. “For you to be interested in my brothers… I did not expect such a thing from you, Alice.”

To that Alice just offered a nervous giggle in response, with cheeks flushing a deeper shade of pink.

“No matter…” Bruna shrugged. “Well, I have three brothers. The eldest one is called Eirik, he is a giant of man but also very gentle. Though he already has three wives and many children, so I don’t think he would interest you much.”

“D-Don’t say that…!” Alice stuttered, her face blushing like a tomato. “I-I’m just curious.”

“Riiiight~.” Bruna scoffed, amused at Alice’s reaction. “Anyway, my second brother is the one that came with me. He is called Steinar, and is a bit of a difficult person to deal with. He is single, as far as I can tell, but I would advise you against harboring any such ‘intentions’ towards him. And since you will likely meet him some time soon, let me make it crystal clear. He is violent, unpredictable and dangerous. Unless you want to end up wearing a dog collar, stay away from him.”

“A dog collar…?” Alice asked, intrigued by the prospect.

“Please, do not ask.” But Bruna cut her off.

“My third brother is called Lars, his age should be close to yours. He is a very good looking man and tends to get along well with people, but I would advise you to stay away from him as well.”

“Why?” Alice wondered.

“Because—“ Bruna’s tone of voice rose as she clearly couldn’t hold back her anger. “He is a good for nothing playboy that keeps getting all the housemaids pregnant! I cannot stand him, just the thought of him makes my skin crawl! That damned idiot of a brother! And worse, he thinks he is sooooooo funny! Keeps hiding my books, my dolls, messing with my notes—“

She kept complaining about Lars for around twelve more minutes, until she suddenly stopped as if something had jolted her body.

“Ah—!“ The little girl jumped up from her chair. “Alice, we shall talk more latter. Something requires my immediate attention.”

##

A man crept through the halls that led towards the ship’s passenger cabins. His name was Orson, one of the sailors working aboard that vessel. About an hour ago he heard chatter that one of the passengers that had boarded at Trentin was feeling seasick, so they gave her some sleeping medicine. Not something that unusual, since sleeping helps alleviate the symptoms. What was unusual was the fact that a noble lady such as herself, was all alone and drugged up inside of a cabin that he just so ‘happened’ to have a copy of the key to open.

He licked his lips as he turned the doorknob, his pants already bulging in anticipation. Such an opportunity was hard to come by, he knew he just had to take it. The tough looking lady was busy talking with the captain and the other two were merrily chatting on the ship’s deck. No one would be able to bother them right now.

And as soon as he opened the door he was greeted by a most beautiful scene. The petite blonde was asleep wearing only a pure white negligee, it’s fabric so thin that it was basically see through. Though she had practically no chest, her perky nipples were poking through the delicate fabric. They were a light pink color and more sizable than he could have ever imagined. Her areolas as well were on the larger side, though not exaggeratedly. It seems that what she lacks for breasts she makes up with the beauty of her perfect nipples.

The man could not wait any longer, so he closed the door behind him and started removing his clothes. His erect member now exposed, he was ready to pounce her.

But then—

The door opened behind him, and a little girl was standing in the hallway.

She was beautiful, incredible so. Her features were perfect like those of a masterfully crafted doll, her skin so pale it seemed like she had never seen the sun. Though she was a little smaller than the twins and a bit more childish, she certainly would not lose to them when it came to overall beauty. Given a few more years she would certainly blossom into a gorgeous woman.

She had raven black hair and was equally dressed all in black. Her most prominent features were a pair of crimson eyes that seemed to glow in the poorly lit hallways. They stared at Orson coldly.

“What do you think you are doing here, mister?” She asked, politely but with a stern and threatening tone.

“I-I… Never mind that, little girl. Move along, it’s an adult thing.” The man tried to shoo her way, waving his hands like one would to a dog.

Her eyebrows twitched, and for a second Orson could swear her pupils had turned into vertical slits instead of the normal rounded ones.

“My… That will not do. You need her permission in order to do such things.” She spoke, as she walked into the cabin and closed the door behind her.

“Y-You fucking child! Stop blue balling m—“

A clean slicing sound echoed through the cabin.

“Eh…?”

And the next thing Orson noticed was his member falling to the ground, while blood spurted from his castrated crotch.

“…!”

He tried to scream in both surprise and pain, but no voice came out. A dark, shadowy tendril had entangled itself around his body and was now covering his mouth.

“Do not make any noise, can you not see that she is trying to sleep?” Bruna spoke, in a very serious tone.

The man was trembling in absolute terror as countless crimson eyes, like hers— though much larger, as well as enormous maws full of serrated teeth started morphing out of the darkness. Now that he looked at the little girl again, her eyes too had completely changed to have vertical slits for pupils and sharp looking serrated teeth inside her mouth.

“You should not have attempted such a foolish thing.” Bruna’s voice has changed, now to a much graver tone. “She is one of us. Her womb is meant to bear children for our clan.”

The tendril around Orson’s body tightened it’s grasp, cracking a few of his bones.

“To dare try defiling her purity…” Bruna muttered, disgust apparent in her voice. “Such a thing cannot be forgiven.”

A large maw opened itself bellow where Orson was standing. Is seemed like it was born from the shadows cast by Bruna’s body.

“Well then—“ Bruna had a diabolical ear to ear smile, showing her serrated teeth. “Bye bye.” She waved him goodbye merrily, though her voice still sounded ominously grave.

The maw swallowed Orson whole, and only the faint, wet sounds of his body being shredded could be heard inside the cabin. Once the maw was done, not even his blood remained as proof that he once lived.

End of Chapter 5: Setting Sail.