From every direction came a thick fog that rolled down the street towards Ffion, cutting off every exit and obscuring everything from view. The obscured shadow of the General was lit in part by the glowing streetlights. Each time Ffion tried to turn and face her assailant his shadow vanished. The fog began to shift and Ffion was confronted by a distorted view of the village, lit by a strange orange-yellow hue from lit torches. As the fog finally faded, she saw she was standing at the end of a large cobbled road, surrounded by a circle of shadows. The sky was filled with loud shouts and screams coming out of the dense vapour.
“Burn her!”
“Kill the witch!”
Ffion began to see people standing around the edges of the circle, holding pitchforks and waving them violently in the air.
Ahead, but still inside the wall of fog, she heard the crackle of flames and felt the intense heat coming from a huge fire. From the other side of the flames came The Witchfinder’s voice.
“Move a little closer, witch. Come and meet the family!”
Ffion walked around the fire to see a woman’s body appearing amongst the shimmering heat. Upon the bonfire, the woman struggled to get free of the ropes. The flames licked and tormented her body as the wooden stake burnt intensely. Her screams grew louder by the second. They were the screams of her mother.
“Halt!” yelled The Witchfinder.
Both the shouting and fire stopped instantly, as if frozen in time as the General moved closer to Ffion.
“Does this scene look familiar to you? I too remember it, witch. As your mother burned, I saw a cat watching. How fitting is it that it turned out to be you…the same black cat that scratched my face…” as he said this, he saw the hatred brewing in Ffion. “Ah! I see you remember. Good! Now perhaps, we should continue with your mother’s trial?”
“Trial you say? I call it murder! And not just the murder of my mother and father, but the murder of all those that stood before you!” she extended her claws.
“First you’re going to pay with blood and then I’m going to break this spell and hunt down every single one of your accomplices!”
The Witchfinder began to laugh and pace around Ffion.
“And how do you plan to do that? You’ll never find Jack in time. And, you will never break the spell that binds you as that flea bitten animal. You will lose and disappear forever more, knowing that your one and only chance to break the spell and gain your retribution has gone. Nothing can save you now witch."
“Begin!” shouted The Witchfinder.
The fire continued to rage and erupt into higher flames, her mother's screams drowned out the crowd’s shouting.
“This will be your trail by fire little witch!” he grabbed a nearby pitchfork and set alight the end.
Ffion ran for cover as The Witchfinder took aim. A second later he threw his first shot, which sparked on the cobbled ground and missed her by an inch. Without wasting any time the General let fly another shot, this flew past Ffion in a fiery blaze and stood upright in the ground in-between the cobbles in front of her.
“That was a little too close for comfort” she thought, darting away from a third attempt.
The little cat panted for breath but she kept showing her face to the Witchfinder, resolute and with no fear. The General picked up another pitchfork and ran towards her.
“Stand still witch! I’ll make it quick!” The snarl of hate in his voice was quite evident.
Instead of running away, Ffion ran straight for him. He swiped at her with his pitchfork but hit the cobbles as sparks flew into the air. Blow after blow, came for Ffion, but she twisted and turned to dodge the flurry of attacks. She managed to jump onto the Witchfinder’s bent knee and pounced upwards, over his shoulder, scratching wildly at his face as she had done before.
She landed shakily, noticing the cobbles were loose from the number of blows they had taken.
An idea came to her and, deciding to take a risk, she ran around the bonfire, close to it's flames. The Witchfinder gave chase as she'd hoped. She stopped, luring him in. He ran around the blaze halting directly in front of her. The fresh scratches on his face oozed and his eye gave a twitch of pain.
“What’s the matter? No more sticks to throw?” taunted Ffion.
“You’ll be sorry!” He warned with a pointed, rotting finger. “I won’t be beaten by a cat!”
“Don’t point that at me! I don’t know where it’s been.” Jibed Ffion. “Do you like your new scratches? Come closer and I’ll give you a few more!”
He lumbered towards Ffion in a fit of blind rage, gaining momentum with each stride he took. Charging wildly, he reached forward and hurled himself at her with outstretched arms, making a grab for her. She leapt out of the way at the very last moment. The Witchfinder treading upon the unsure cobbles stumbled, losing his balance and fell headfirst into the blazing bonfire.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” he screamed in agony as the flames burnt into the remaining rotten meat upon his bones. Hand over hand he crawled out of the fire, still ablaze as pieces of his burnt skin dropped to the floor. His bony fingers gripped the cobbles drawing himself toward Ffion.
“Come here witch, feel what your mother felt within my fiery embrace and let us both journey to the afterlife together in blissful torment."
Ffion steadily drew away from his grasp as the fire destroyed the last of the muscle and tendons leaving all but the skeleton of the defeated Witchfinder. The skeleton hand gave one last reach out toward Ffion before it stopped dead and began to turn to ash. The skeletal frame crumbled, blowing away on the wind until there was barely anything left other than a pile of burnt remains as the ground began to tremble. The power that had once brought him to life, escaped in an explosion of light and flame.
The bonfire and people were gone and the fog immediately cleared. The air, no longer pungent and raw with the smell of burnt flesh, was now fresh and clean as the first drops of rain began to fall.
Ffion noticed her necklace on the floor undamaged. It must have fallen from his grip during the fight. She picked it up with her claws and pushed it over her head and wished. In the twinkling of an eye, she was human…
Chapter 12
The pumpkins
As the light dimmed, Ffion found herself sitting upright in the middle of the road, drenched by a raging thunderstorm that was now cascading on the village.
“Great, one extreme to the other!” She said rolling her eyes.
She could hear the distant chime of the church clock which now rang out 10 o’clock.
“I’ve got to get those pumpkins in place before it’s too late.” She ran to the Watermill. The river had swollen with the sudden heavy rainfall, ripping the mill’s waterwheel off and sending it downstream. At the edge of the rising riverbank, Ffion could see the orange shapes of the pumpkins through the rain, it was clear they were close to being swept away. She ran and pulled each pumpkin away from the threat of the water and placed them inside the mill. As the lightning and thunder raged overhead, Ffion took a deep breath and set off across the village. She did this for each one and positioned them accordingly. Each pumpkin had to be placed in an exact spot, which followed the lay lines that ran through the village area. She dangled her necklace like a dowsing crystal, walking around each lay line source until the necklace glowed at it's strongest. She then began to position the pumpkins. One was placed by the town hall in the northwest, one by the witching stones in the northeast, another by the mansion gates to the north and one to the southwest in the churchyard. The fifth was placed by the remains of the witches shack in the south east, with the sixth at the heart of the village. This precise setting out had created the shape of a pentagram, that Ffion was now standing at the centre of. The pumpkins, powering up with energy, glowed orange, brightening to expose a Jack O’ Lantern face. Each quite different from the next, ignited with a magical flame that engulfed the entire lantern but did not burn it. Looking toward the church Ffion checked the time as the clock’s bell
rang out, 11pm.
Chapter 13
Final meeting
Ffion began to set off the final part of the trap in her plan to capture Jack. Each pumpkin was in its right place and, for her position at the heart of the pentagram, she began the incantation which she had memorised from her mother’s spell book. Her necklace burnt with energy, showing it’s light through her hands as the sixth pumpkin resonated in a strong orange hue. She repeated her chant over and over with more conviction in every breath; hands shaking and eyes turning white with the amount of immense power building up within. With one last effort of concentration the pumpkin erupted, shooting an orange beam of light into the night sky. One by one the others around the village followed suit like searchlights into space. Then the angle of the outer five beams lowered to connect to the pumpkin opposite, turning the whole village area into a huge pentagram. There was a mild quake beneath Ffion’s feet as the outer beams began to shift again upward to join the central column of light.
When the six beams met the ground shook again as the energy of the Jack O’ Lantern lights swelled into a large spherical bubble. The static energy disrupted all the electrical power within the village, cutting off all the house and street lights, leaving the sphere glowing in the night sky overhead as the only light source.
Ffion looked up at the orange ball, to see it was moving. From the top of the ball of energy rolled over a huge grinning face of a pumpkin lantern, which seemed to look over the entire village. Giving a big wide grin the huge face looked down upon Ffion, it's mouth opened as it fell to the ground illuminating the wet streets which reflected the orange light. Ffion covered herself as the huge lantern crashed harmlessly to the floor smashing into millions of smaller Jack O’ Lantern bubbles, which seemed to hover in the air silently glowing. In the distance Jack stumbled through the streets as if in a drunken rage from the spell's power which surrounded him.
“What have you done?” he yelled at Ffion as he came into view.
Ffion morphed back to her cat form and ran, heading for the mansion’s old attic room. Jack chased after her, aiming volleys of powerful attack shots, which she tried to dodge by running through back streets and alleyways. Jack was throwing everything he could at her. Stray magic flew past hitting trees close to her, causing them to fall in her path. Cars exploded sending them into the air, as each bolt of energy struck, causing them to land on their roofs. Glass was shattering around Ffion, all the while Jack was gaining on her following closely even in his confused agitation, following her across the village toward the mansion.
Running swiftly through the main gates, Ffion gave a quick glance behind to check that Jack was still in pursuit. Storming through the front door she made a dash for the attic and hid. Jack too, still in a delirious rage, burst in through the mansion's doors and up the creaking staircase to the attic, searching for his prey. Ffion quickly shut the door behind him and sealed it with magic, trapping him within the portal's reach. Realisation brought him to his senses as Jack saw the spinning gateway in front of him. Accepting there is no way out he turned his furious gaze toward Ffion who was still by the door.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS WITCH" he yelled and began to charge at her firing several more shots her way.
She dived for cover as she changed to human form. Jack’s heavy footsteps rattled the old decayed floorboards as he searched for. He fired several more blasts smashing into stacked storage boxes sending dust clouds into the thick musty air. Others impacted against the ceiling shattering tiles, sending sharp shards shooting into the wooden floor. Ffion fired back, catching him square in the chest sending him reeling across the attic floor into a stack of old papers. He picked himself up, raising himself on to his knee and cackled,
“If that’s all you’ve got little witch, one of us is in big trouble. Tell you what, I’ll give you a clue…IT’S NOT ME, HA HA ha ha ha!”
He reared up from the floor and fired again. Ffion jumped out of the way but this time wasn’t so lucky. Her leg was cut in several places by the splinters from a wooden box Jack had blown up.
“Oooohh oooh ohhhh” he belly laughed. “I bet that hurt!” he continued to gloat as he walked to where she had stood. Ffion had moved away, silently in pain, hiding behind a stack of old ornaments. She peered cautiously through the gaps, always keeping her eyes on Jack.
Jack was no fool. Having spent several lifetimes in the darkness, he knew when something or someone was nearby. He turned sharply to look directly at her and grinned.
“You’ll have to do better than that witch!” he scoffed.
He sent out another burst of energy using the lantern’s power, smashing into the boxes of junk, sending Ffion to the floor with a bump. On her back, she could see the church clock through a hole in the wall, 11.42pm. The clock's hand clicked to the next minute as Jack made his way through the debris to where Ffion lay winded and motionless.
“Had enough yet? In the next few minutes it will be too late and that’s if you last that long.”
Jack held out his lantern to launch another attack but Ffion had been waiting for the right moment. Quickly changing into a cat, she leapt out of the way to avoid the blast. She jumped up onto Jack’s shoulder, scratching his face.
He flinched and she fell to the floor, claws extended.
She jumped again, this time deeply digging her claws into his shoulders. He let out a cry of agony and the cuts started to bleed.
“You know there is something worse than a paper cut… the scratch of a cat!” As she mocked him she changed back to a human. Jack laughed off her remark, “stupid creature, the fact that I am bleeding is merely proof that I am becoming mortal again and that you are running out of time.”
Outside, storm clouds were engulfing the village, thunder boomed as the first flash of lightning bathed the old attic room. Jack faced Ffion but she was already attacking. Cupping her hands she threw two large blasts but this time she was not aiming at Jack. The shots rocked the lantern he carried and the magic ember splintered and scattered over the floor. Jack retaliated with shots of his own, but they carried less force than before. His power was beginning to fade. Jack dropped to knees in disbelief, surrounded by the glowing ember fragments.
“What have you done?” he screamed and he shook the lantern, trying to rejuvenate the ember back to it's full power again.
Ffion circled around for a better vantage point to strike, but Jack was quicker than she thought. Turning to Ffion he hit the floor sending a shockwave across the old wooden boards, which splintered as they travelled toward her finally knocking Ffion off her feet. With a wave of his hand a pile of splintered wood and rusty nails raised up in front of him then he fired them off toward Ffion. She was still on her side when the barrage of wood and nails flew at her. Grabbing a nearby suitcase, she shielded herself from being torn apart by the debris, the largest pieces piercing through the case just short of her face. In the distraction Jack had his eye on the hole in the roof as a means of escape. Ffion raced to her feet “Oh no you don’t” she spat as she lifted the broken wood and nails with her magic and fired it toward the hole. The wood stuck itself to the wall as the nails flew past Jack, one of them clipping his arm, as it secured the wood tight over the escape route. Jack turned and hissed marching toward Ffion, knocking over any item in his way to the side or toward Ffion.
She staggered backward dodging each object thrown at her.
“You little witch, you're going to pay and your time is getting short. I lived for over 140 years tricking the Devil until I could last no longer thanks to another meddling witch. I’ve spent what feels like an eternity in that black hole he put me in with those unimaginable things. There is no day or night, no way of gauging the passing of time because you hold the only light source and everything that lives in that hole was attracted to it like a moth to a flame. The one thing that protected me was also the thing that made me a target.”
Ffion fell to the floor as she stumbled over the missiles Jack had thrown at her. H
e stood over her leaning down screaming “I’ve waited so long for this moment and no one, not even you, is going to take it away from me.” Ffion looked for something to fight with but there was nothing of use. As Jack drew close to her she pulled back her foot and kicked him between the legs then changed into a cat and ran off as Jack fell to the floor in pain. She circled around to the other end of the attic when she caught sight of the church clock,11:56pm when another flash of lightening struck close by.
Making the most of her advantage, Ffion renewed her attack by firing once again at Jack's ember. Further fragments littered the floor, glowing bright red, yellow and orange, hardening like crystallised candle flames. He returned fire, surge after surge, but he was evidently growing tired and weak with each depletion of the ember's power. The church clock’s hand swept to 11:58. Ffion was losing time, fast. She changed back to a cat, making it easier to dodge the bursts of magic emerging from the lantern and jumped on to some nearby boxes to gain higher ground. Before she could turn to look around, she was sent to the floor with a bolt of power that penetrated the box below her with force.
The grinning silhouette of Jack closed in, lit only by the blue portal behind him, the remains of his pumpkins orange ember and the sporadic thunder and lightning from the raging storm, which was growing in intensity. Ffion feared the worst and prepared herself. Suddenly from nowhere, George jumped from a high beam onto Jack’s back. His claws ripped through his shirt, causing him to yell out in pain.
“NOW!” cried George. But as he spoke, he was knocked down by a clubbing blow from Jack. George slid across the floor from the impact as Jack turned back to focus his attention on Ffion. He was met by her human form, her face filled with anger caused by watching her friend get hurt. Ffion reared back with both hands cupped together to create a ball of energy, fizzing in her grasp. At point blank range and with all her might she punched it towards Jack. He reeled across the attic once more this time straight into the mouth of the spinning portal. Holding onto the edge of the doorway with his spindly fingers, Jack reached out with a last surge of power from the diminished ember and drew Ffion toward him. Her feet scraped across the floor as she managed to stop just short of him. With his bony fingers outstretched, he took one last swipe at her and grabbed the necklace from around her neck, but in doing so he lost his grip. Ffion changed quickly back into the little black cat. As he clutched his souvenir, Jack was pulled back into the portal.