Chapter Text
To the east the moon weighed heavy on the shoulders of the mountains, so large and bright that it washed the little town below in silver and blue. All was brilliant light, all was threadbare shadow. Neat rows of whitewashed houses with slate roofs dominated the district where she began, but it wasn’t long before her downward path lead her to the lower regions of the city, where coarse wood and narrow cobblestone streets dominated the architecture.
The full moon resonated with the leylines under her feet, making power bubble to the surface like a spring. Diana’s very skin fairly hummed. According to legend, her namesake was one of the first true witches, and the moon was her symbol and source of power. On nights like this Diana could believe it. She probably looked like a moon spirit herself in this blue dress.
Strictly speaking she didn’t need to patrol here in the heart of the city, but between the full moon’s siren call and restless energy, she couldn’t rest.
Diana’s fingers skimmed the length of a low stone wall, feeling the dormant spirits in time-smoothed stone. Almost everything here brimmed with life, electric and vibrant in her mind’s eye. It soothed her troubled mind to feel them close even though they slept so deeply. Privately she was honest enough to admit that she was lonely.
Hannah and Barbara, usually her constant companions, didn’t have time for their lady when the full moon sang through their veins. She only hoped they would be awake enough to perform the purification rites tomorrow. Her lips twitched despite herself. Diana was also honest enough to admit she would cover for them both regardless. The life of a witch was often joyless duty. She was happy they found some small measure of peace in each other.
Speaking of duty.
Just a few feet in front of Diana, a figure vaulted over a fence with a quiet thump, then began creeping down the lane. They couldn’t be very old based on the slim frame. Diana sighed inwardly. So much for escaping her troubles for a moment. She swore she spent more nights shooing teenagers out of the streets than she ever did fighting enemy witches. “You!”
The girl jumped in surprise and spun to meet Diana, holding up her hands in a defensive posture. Diana could only make out a lanky frame that didn’t quite fill out the dark trousers and loose white shirt. It was a strange fashion choice for a girl in this day and age.“Y-yeah? I mean. Yeah? What is it?”
Diana softened a little. She was odd but at least the girl wasn’t rude in her fear.
“Didn’t you hear the proclamation this morning? There’s an… event in the town square this night. You’re over the age of twelve, I’m sure? You’re required to attend.”
“Yeah. I’ll just… I’ll just go. To the thing.” The girl shuffled in place, already backing away. Diana wasn’t truly surprised - there was a reason she could walk alone at night in any part of the city without fear. The citizens that held her in such contempt weren’t so brave when she had them alone.
“The square is that way.” Diana reminded her gently, gesturing the way she came. “Take care, the streets aren’t safe tonight.”
“...I will.” The girl hurried to scurry past, ducking her head with anxious submission.
Suddenly that prickling feeling crystallized into a single insight. Diana could feel the girl as she drew near. She could feel the subtle ripple of power, responding to the leylines like a lesser reflection of the moon above. She was a witch , and not one of Diana’s sisters. Diana jumped back with a shout dying in her throat.
The girl froze, but the surprise faded quickly. She lifted her chin with a grin, a flash of amber eyes and a too-sharp grin in the moonlight. Then she straightened fully, and for the first time Diana realized that the other girl was a good head taller. “Aww, you caught me.”
That wasn’t the voice of someone who was afraid.
Diana’s hand twitched toward the wand at her belt, but the girl was faster. Her wand was already in her hand: a short, brutish staff of metal inset with round blue gems. Diana stared at it uncomprehending. She only rarely came across someone faster and there was certainly no caster of that skill in this city. She raised her hands slowly, frustration blooming in her chest. “Who are you?”
“You can call me Akko!” Those golden eyes were at odds with her bright words. They were sharp enough to cut like a blade. “And I already know you, Diana.”
She hefted the staff in her hand like club.
Then the screaming started in the distance, and the girl’s head shot up to follow the sound. The blue night sky gave way to red, thick black smoke curling over the rooftops bringing with it the acrid taste in the back of Diana’s throat. Her stomach churned. This part only got harder year by year. Yet she couldn’t look away, couldn’t forget, couldn’t deny that this was the fruits of her labors.
“No.”
Diana’s gaze shot to the other woman, stunned at the raw desperation in her voice. That entire lean frame bristled with indignation, the strange staff dropped to her side. She didn’t even look at Diana when she reached for her own wand. A foolish mistake.
“Murowa!” Diana spat, flinging the spell blindly as she rolled behind a wagon for cover. Stone splintered and rained down from above from the magic she’d sunk into the spell. Silence. Diana immediately started turning this way and that to scan for her opponent, cursing her own arrogance. Just because a rogue witch never breached Appleton it didn’t mean they never would.
“I haven’t got time for you today, Cavendish.” The voice whispered against her ear, tickling against the back of her neck. Akko dodged a thrown elbow with a grin, casually twirling her staff like a baton. “Arae Aryrha!”
Strange, pale roots burst from the earth and wound around Diana’s legs and arms, dragging and pinning her to the ground so firmly she could taste dirt. She cried out as a swift kick to her hand sent her wand skittering across the pavement. Pain shot up her arm, and her pride was only just enough to bite back a sob. A short but painfully long pause. Then a surprisingly gentle hand settled on the top of her head, so briefly that later she would be certain she imagined it. “Goodbye.”
If she twisted her head against the roots winding around her head, she could just make out this girl - Akko - running down the middle of the street. There were some kinds of magic the human mind wasn’t equipped to perceive. One moment the girl hung mid-leap, and the next a lanky wolf bounded down the darkened street.
“They got away. A single girl beat back all our guards, immobilized a supposedly undefeatable witch, and left with every prisoner from the execution.”
Diana’s folded hands tightened at his tone, ignoring the ache of newly healed bone. She didn’t dare look away from the young man pacing back of forth in front of the fireplace. His silk jacket was still covered in soot, his hair mussed from his hand running through it again and again. She didn’t think he knew it was a nervous habit of his, but it wasn’t apparent except when he was under tremendous pressure.
She was one of the few who ever saw him this way though she couldn’t say that it was a privilege. Diana chose to remain silent, waiting for him to process the information so that she could actually act on it.
“You will find them,” he said finally. Behind his voice was the force of an order, the only magic that would ever pass the man’s lips. Even that was only because of an oath her parents made to his, before either of them were old enough to know what such things meant. Her family would live freely despite their unclean magic, and she would serve the crown.
“You will find all of them, and bring them back here. Alive.” His back was turned to her, but she could see the way his hands curled into the back of his favorite chair. She wasn’t sure if it was anger or fear that made him tremble. “They won’t escape the fire a second time.”
She inclined her head slightly, accepting the command with the grace expected of her station. In some parts of the valley there were trees that grew bent from a wind that blew always in one direction. That oath was her wind. It pushed her down, forced her to bow until her very bones grew into the shape. “When have I ever failed you, my lord?”
Diana. That was what Hanbridge family named her when she was promised to them. Not for the witch, but after the huntress. Even she knew what the witches called her - Lord Hanbridge’s merciless silver hound, the destroyer of covens. Traitor.