The Forest Witch's Home for Magical Creatures

Chapter 2: The Little Bird

She vaguely wondered if the silence was uncomfortable.

Her hand stretched out. "Hello, I'm Massie."

He didn't reach out to shake her hand but she didn't drop it. He looked disgusted. "What the fuck is a massie?" He spat the words at her in a growl.

She kept her hand raised between them. "I'm a Massie." She flashed him her biggest smile. The one she gives to baby ducks waddling after their mother. She tried to ignore the blood trailing into her mouth.

He did not look impressed by it. His nose wrinkled up further.

She prided herself on not being a quitter. Her hand shook but she kept it up. She gestured back at Ursa. "This is my familiar-"

"That's a fucking grizzly bear." He interrupted.

She finally dropped her hand and looked over her shoulder at Ursa. They made eye contact. She tried to nod a little too eagerly and she had a brief flash of pain. "Yes, she is in fact a grizzly bear. Ursa is my familiar."

"You're a witch-"

"Yup!"

"Named daisy-"

"It's actually Massie."

"And your familiar is a freakin' grizzly bear?" He asked looking appalled.

She remembered not to nod. "That's right."

He started snarling again. "And you're the witch who's been hunting me down."

It was Massie's turn to be shocked. "I'm not hunting you!"

"You've been hunting me with your magic." He scoffed, lips curled back.

"I was checking on you!" She can't believe he thought she was hunting him. She would never.

He hissed at her. He literally bared his teeth and hissed at her, like a giant cat. That was over 6 feet, with wings, and talons—a very large, muscular cat.

"Oh yes, I'm sure a witch was only checking on me with her magic."

"Yes! That's exactly what I was doing!" Finally, he understood her.

"Lies!" He roared out, extending to his full height. "Witches all want the same thing. They will use anyone and anything to get power. They don't care who they hurt or kill."

Massie shrank back. She was flushed against Ursa. "I've never hurt anyone." She insisted.

He puffed himself up. "Witches are bloodthirsty, evil hunters! I will kill you before I let a witch capture me again."

"Witches aren't evil." She said weakly. Deep down she knew that wasn't true. Her parents were pretty close to evil. "Not all witches are evil." She said with a little more strength.

He wasn't listening. He continued to rage. "You've been watching me since I entered this forest. You want to use me for your magic."

She was leaning all her body weight on Ursa. Massie could feel her grumbling.

"What did you want to take first ?" He yelled at her, his face turning red. "My blood?" He shoved up his sleeves revealing thick, raised scars extending up from his wrist.

She gasped in shock. His forearm was covered in a lattice of scars.

"Or how about some feathers?" He shot his wings out and bared them for her to see. She hadn't noticed the fine black feathers that covered his wings. He had whole sections of his wings plucked clean. She could see the shine of scar tissue in the bare spots. She felt sick to her stomach when she saw the hole in his wings. He had holes through his wings. Some of the holes were small like a hole punch, others were the size of her fist. The worst ones were the viscous vertical tears in both wings. Massie slapped a hand over her mouth. She didn't have it in her to throw up again. Ursa whined low in her throat behind her.

Massie has never hurt a living creature for her own gain. It was one of the reasons she had such a tumultuous relationship with her family. She came from a long line of old and powerful witches. Massie had never been powerful or overly ambitious. Her family wanted and wanted until the greed burned inside them. Even if it burned through their own children. Massie and her brother ran from that life.

She felt unbelievable sorrow for the creature in front of her. She felt ashamed to be a witch. He was red in the face and breathing heavily. He was snarling at her, he looked absolutely vicious. His fangs could rip her apart. But it was his eyes that she focused on. She saw the anger, but she also saw the fear. He was terrified of her. She was a 5'2 barefooted witch, who talked to flowers in her spare time, and he was afraid of her. She wiped away some of the tears that escaped her eyes. She wiped away the blood on her face and she fell to her knees. Ursa followed her. She scrunched her giant body down and laid her head on her paws.

He stood over her in all his glory. His chest was heaving. His dark hair and feathers bristled softly from the breeze. She placed her bloodied hand on the ground in front of her and the other over her heart.

"I swear to you that I mean you no harm." She swore to him earnestly.

He scoffed at her and rolled his shoulders back.

"I swear that you, or any magical creature or being, is safe from me and my magic." She tried again. Her voice came out a little stronger.

He had stopped growling but his body was still incredibly tense. He stared down at her with suspicion written all over his face.

She had to try harder. She had to make him see that she wasn't a threat to him or anybody for that matter. "I sweat that my forest is a safe place for all magical beings with good intent. I swear to heal and protect those seeking refuge. " She declared loudly and clearly in the glade. She held his intense eye contact.

"I promise that you're safe with me." She took a shaky breath. "I promise I won't hurt you." She begged him. Massie was absolutely not above begging.

The Earth beneath her rumbled a bit but she ignored it. She didn't want to break eye contact with him while he was figuring out her intentions. Neither he nor Ursa seemed bothered by the little ground rattle so she was sure it was okay. Probably. You never knew with magic.

He was studying her. His face was set in stone as he stared down at her. She took the opportunity to study him back. He was pretty handsome in an ethereal way. His long black hair curled over his forehead. She noticed textured pieces of something across his forehead. She didn't notice them with the intense scowling he had his face set in. She noticed more of the texture pattern across his high cheekbones and down his long neck. She squinted at them.

Scales. He had scales across his forehead hiding under his wisps of hair. She could see the ones across his cheeks more clearly. She tried to keep the absolute glee off her face when she saw them shimmer an irradiance black. She hadn't known him for very long but she didn't think he would appreciate her admiring his sparkly scales.

His body relaxed in increments. First, his dark wings folded against his back gracefully. His broad dropped as he released his tension. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Wren."

She looked around the glade and didn't see a wren. "Where?"

He sighed with his whole body. "I'm Wren."

She side-eyed Ursa. They were both a little shocked. "You're a bird?"

He clenched his teeth together. His jaw jumped from the force. "No, you idiot. I'm a dragon."

Ursa flinched next to her. Massie excitedly stood up, only swaying slightly. "You're a dragon?" She had never met a dragon before. They were exceedingly rare.

"What the hell did you think I was?" He demanded, angrily flipping his hands in the air.

She shrugged. "A bird?"

He growled, but it wasn't like before where it shot through the glade with force. This was more of an unhappy rumbling coming from his throat. "My name is Wren."

Massie brought her hand up to hide her smile. She was absolutely delighted that this massive dragon was named after such a little bird.

She smiled brightly at him. "It's nice to meet you, Wren."