The Spellbreaker's Sin

First Hunt

The Kyari tribe never went to war without first touching the light of Giji. With their kind of business, divine favour was the one thing that stood between life and death. Jaalo kept a brave face as Muktar, the chief who was going to lead tonight's raid muttered prayers under his breath and touched the bare chest of his men with prayer leaves.Jaalo glanced at his father with his side eye and then faced forward when Muktar stood in front of him.

"Are you ready for your first battle boy?" he asked, his eyes were difficult to read. Jaalo nodded and he thrust his chest forward bravely. Muktar couldn't help but smile. He chanted a prayer of protection over the boy and then turned his attention to his father.Later that night, Jaalo trailed behind his father as their troop moved through the tall grass, using only the pale light of the full moon as a guide. "We are close, be ready for anything," Muktar told his men.

Jaalo felt something like electricity pass through his fingers, he could also tell, magic was close. Soon, they saw smoke rise up to the sky and heard faint chanting.

Kings paid the Kyari tribe to do what their armies could not: walk into a witch den and come out alive. It is believed that all witches were daughters of Seydaa, who was a sworn enemy of Giji, the god the Kyari's owed their existence to. For this reason, they were always at war. This time, the services of the tribe had been solicited by a king, looking to topple his enemy, a vicious neighbouring king who had a coven of witches backing him.

The Kyaris' job was simple. Sneak into the land, find the witches, destroy all of them and leave. The kings would battle it out after, but at least one of them won't have the unfair advantage of witchcraft.

The witches were not hard to find. They moved freely in the kingdom and did whatever they liked. Every full moon, they made sacrifices and sang all through the night at their meeting spot. It scared the villagers and upset the tranquility of night time but who was going to tell them to stop?

Jaalo's hands lingered on the hilt of his short blade and he felt his heart rate increase. Muktar raised his hand and all the men stopped. They started to listen, Jaalo was not sure what they were listening for and then it hit him. It was too quiet. The witches had stopped singing.

"They know we're here," Muktar started to yell and a giant shadow appeared in their midst. It grew as tall as a tree and moved like nothing born with flesh and bone, a Sharo, Jaalo had only heard of them in his mother's stories. He stood transfixed by the sight and his father pushed him out of the way of what would have been a fatal swipe.

"This is not the time to freeze," father said and drew his own blade. Jaalo turned and saw an eerily disfigured woman, screaming and sinking her teeth into the neck of one of the other men. In a split second, they were surrounded.

The women charged at them looking monstrous. Their hair stood on its roots, their teeth extended into sharp fangs, their nails as long as eagle talons. Jaalo noticed in horror that somehow, their shadows moved before their bodies. The Sharo was still standing, taking big swings at the other men.

Jaalo's mind raced as he tried to remember his training. From what he could remember, witches rarely took the physical approach when it came to battling, but since magic was useless against their tribe, they took this form, to scare the men first and lower their defence long enough for a deadly strike.