The witch stepped out from the shadows of the barn and lifted the dark green hood of her cloak to reveal herself. She was young in looks, her hair cascading down in thick waves of red auburn and her skin being as pale and smooth as porcelain. Although she was beautiful, her presence hardly signified anything good for anyone, especially not the new mother relaxing in a bed of straw with her newborn son in her arms. “Please, Cadence,” the mother begged the witch. “I’ll give you anything you want in return. All the Imperial Dragons you could ever dream of owning! Just not my son.” “You foolish woman!” Cadence snapped. “The boy belongs to me. No amount of Imperial Dragons in the empire would be enough to pay your debt to me. Knowing that you will suffer much more at the loss of a child than in poverty is enough to satisfy that debt. You are lucky I’m not asking for more.” …show more content…
“He’ll be here soon and he’ll be terribly angry when he sees you here. And if you take our Dovomir, nothing will get in the way of him hunting you down.” Cadence shook her head. If the woman was foolish enough to believe that a witch like her couldn’t deal with an enraged father turned witch-hunter, she could hardly be in the right mind to care for a child properly. Cadence was doing her a service. And besides, the deal was set with magic. The witch had to take the baby or terrible things would follow everyone involved. “What is this?” A sharp voice called from the ajar door. “You would think a fellow witch would know not to mess with another’s deal. That child belongs to