Under Her Mercy

Goodbye

MYRA

Myra was in her mid-twenties when she grew interested in the darker shades of magic. Saranya's mother had left them almost a year earlier. It had been hard for their coven to cope up with the untimely death of their High Priestess. Saranya was too young to take the reins and even though their father agreed to be the regent, he was not enjoying the position. Leadership was certainly not one of the strong sides of Myra's father. He was more of a muscle.

Many times, her father had hinted her to take the burden of the coven from him. But Myra had always denied the lucrative offer. Her young blood was more inclined towards discovering the dreaded horizons of the arts she was gifted with.

The strange aspect of dark arts was that as you grow attached to them, they also grow inside you. Learning more and more about them became an obsession for Myra from mere curiosity.

She learned about this certain coven leader from a stoner warlock. The woman was a gifted sorceress of the forbidden arts. The stoner gave her the address but also warned her against the High Witch.

"She doesn't take any disciples outside her coven. And the woman has questionable work and teaching ethics..." But whatever he told Myra seemed to go in one ear and out the other. She had gone to quite a few sorcerers and sorceresses by then and none were able to satisfy her hunger for learning more and more about dark arts.

Myra set out for the new coven a day later. It was hard for both Saranya and her to part from each other as the teenager had grown very fond of her. She wanted to accompany Myra but Myra promptly refused.

At that time the coven was residing in a town of Sundarbans, the famous land of mangroves. Myra had spent a week locating the pack. She had almost given up when a forest dweller told her about the divine figure staying in their village who could tame the man-eater tigers of the jungles with a snap of her fingers.

The man refused to take her to their local Goddess as she didn't prefer the company of the outsiders. But a boy agreed to show her the location from afar--- in exchange for the binoculars Myra was carrying.

The coven leader was staying in an old bungalow of the village. And as expected the sidekicks of the High Witch did not let Myra in at one go. It was her sheer luck that from the balcony of the second floor the High Witch spotted her and asked her coven to leave her alone.

Her name was Ira. She was a tall woman; with sharp grey eyes and a hawk-like nose. She had an intimidating aura around her. She asked Myra about her purpose and advised her to go away when she heard that Myra was there to learn dark magic from her.

Myra refused. Ira told her that no one would let her in. one thing which Myra had in common with Saranya was obstinacy. She waited outside the bungalow for two days to get approval from the witch. Even after that as the witch continued ignoring her, Myra took up the twisted way.

As she couldn't get an entry inside the witch's den, she didn't let anyone else go inside. She cast a spell of hallucinations around the gate of the bungalow and only a few were able to move past it. Others failed to spot the gate.

It caught Ira's attention. Myra was called inside. Ira questioned her about her coven. She was still not ready to take Myra under her wings until Myra told her about the deceased High Priestess of her coven. Something clicked inside Ira's mind knowing the piece of information. She immediately agreed to share her wisdom with Myra.

The next moment arrangements were made inside the bungalow for Myra's stay. Ira formally invited her to accompany her to the village carnival that night.

Myra was suspicious of the sudden shift of events but kept her mouth shut for the sake of learning. The witch did not let Myra out of her sight for the entire night. She was singing, dancing, drinking, worshipping and celebrating the forest goddess with the villagers. Initially, Myra preferred to keep her distance but soon the witch dragged her to her circle.