The High Priestess of our Coven was still alive, but barely so. She had narrowly escaped the village after healing one of the farmer's daughters of her illness. They had chased her out after a catholic priest came out of nowhere and declared that these under-populated lands would no longer have to rely on the services of us witches in the woods. Someone had taken an arrow and pierced her through the back near her heart as the crowd turned on her. She managed to run to us and explain everything before collapsing at our hideout home. Those sons of bitches', monks or Friars, whatever the hell they were, couldn't do shit for these poor sick villagers. It was our priestess who saved the farmer's daughter and many others, not God or his minions. It was her and us who were these villages' saviors and yet they all quickly betrayed us for this pompous religion.
Us witches in the woods could do anything under the sun with our combined powers. But Catholicism had now taken over in these parts when we thought we wouldn't have to worry about it in a long time due to how secluded it was.
We were lucky for a time to have avoided persecution knowing very well that other covens and witches had been executed. But those carefree days were over.
I have lived here in the coven since turning eighteen in the gentle, small mountains of the French countryside nestled into the deep heart of the thick forests. I am now twenty-one years old. Before that, I was working as a maid in a nearby kingdom but was banished once they had discovered that I was not Italian but a mixed breed result of a love affair my trader father had committed with an Asian woman on his travels. Both were dead and I had kept the secret well hidden until it was discovered after my father's death. Banishment was a lucky thing as I could have been killed as the king did not like foreigners let alone those of nearby countries. I was soon found by my High Priestess as I was travelling east of France coming across these lonely lands filled with small villages and farmhouses.
Things had only begun to grow worse for our coven as we soon discovered through our High Priestess' dying words that the friar priests were settling in. They were building their monastery near our coven just a few miles away. This meant danger for us and our sisters. We didn't suspect them of knowing where we were, but they were too close for comfort.
"What shall we do?" One sister had cried out as we surrounded our dying high priestess. The Eldest Sister shooed us away from her body.
"Our priestess has put me in charge." She turned to us. The Eldest Sister told us it was time for me to make a virgin sacrifice. I was a virgin myself and thought I would remain so forever. My sisters in our coven also had sworn off men though some of them had already experienced the love of a man. Many of them turned to the coven out of spite once finding out their lovers had cheated on them.
"She may not survive the week, let alone tonight. Here is our plan. We must gather ingredients to salvage her as much as possible. I will conduct a spell on her. This spell won't work unless we have the blood of a virgin."
We all looked at each other.
"But Elder Sister. We are banished from the villages. How can we find a virgin to sacrifice?"
The Elder Sister paused and then said. "We could take any virgin. A male even."
"There are plenty at that friary nearby." I said.
But the Elder Sister shook her head at me. "It's too dangerous. You stay away from that place. All of you. Tonight, we will make a plan to journey to the secluded areas of this land to find a virgin daughter or son from one of the farms."
I thought this was a silly plan for it would take much longer to venture out into the secluded farms when we had a goldmine of virgin men only a few miles away. We slightly outnumbered them too. We had about sixty women and they had about fifty men. I thought with all the magic potions we had we could easily subdue them if we had planned thoroughly. And because of the deep hatred I felt towards the friars and what they had done to my priestess I felt compelled to kill two birds with one stone. Revenge and a sacrifice to heal my priestess.
One of my favorite things to do in these woods was to walk naked, collecting items for spells and potions. I had actually ventured out to the friary already weeks ago doing this as they were building. I had reported this to my priestess later on but she didn't seem too worried and mistakenly thought that the villages would protect us just as we had done for them. Clearly, she was wrong.
I was warned not to go back there by my Eldest Sister. To not take a virgin male from the monastery nearby. And she said it's not like I could. I had seen a few men from the village that stopped by the friary for whatever reason. But I didn't want to take a male from the village. The men there were rough and most of them were already married and bred out by their wives. And I doubt any of them were virgins or even their teenage sons for that matter who often fucked village girls closest to their age.
The men at the friary weren't armed. There were no guards as they thought they were too far off the path to run into bandits but close enough to the village to call for help by their bell tower.
One day when I had crept up a hidden tree that overlooked their garden in the back filled with a variety of red blossoms, I saw the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life.
He had caught my eye as I spied on the friars from the trees. He was in their luscious garden of red roses, carnations, and red poppies. They had assigned him to gardener role I assumed as he was always alone there tending to the buds of the flowers and cutting them up in bouquets for funerals and parties for the village.Despite my hatred for the friars, I think I hated this one the least. He was the youngest of them and had this delicate sweet look to him when he tended at the roses and poppies that I secretly adored. Just this mere glimpse of him in the garden was enough to make me keep coming back secretly for the next few weeks. I observed his every move, most of them showing a tender and kind heart. There were these stray cats that would hang out at the gate and sometimes he would leave them a bowl of milk and pet them gently as they lapped up each drop. When villagers came by with their children, he would give them all flowers and even sing along with their childish songs. Though the songs were juvenile I could tell he was musically inclined and had a beautiful voice and that he cared deeply for innocent beings.
I loved seeing him tend to the blood red roses, watching him finger the silk petals carefully to avoid the thorns. There were plenty of handsome men among the friars. But to me he was perfection in human form. His wavy locks of hair were black flames in the sun, almost as black as my hair. His skin got darker each time he stepped out into the garden, tanning him into a rich brown that I found much more beautiful than my own pale skin. His eyes were wide and gentle, and they reminded me of paintings of angels' eyes I had once seen at the castle. I hadn't stood close to him yet, but he was very tall compared to me. Everything about his face I loved from afar: his mouth, his nose, his face shape. My insides became very warm whenever I saw him. It almost made me believe in his God. His blood would have been divine in a sacrifice. The Eldest Sister didn't understand that I needed him. His blood and no other man's. I had planned an attack on him. To take him and drag him back to our coven.
I noticed in those weeks he sometimes took a stroll out to the stream to sit and meditate. It was far enough to not be heard if he were to scream out. He did this every Sunday before the afternoon bell rang.
The day I planned to bring him back I rose early that morning and went out to the tree where I could easily watch him. I stole the arrow from the Eldest Sister's hut that nearly pierced my High Priestess's heart and dipped it in poison that wouldn't kill him but would knock him out and make him too weak to move for a long while. Just as I peered out, I saw him coming out the back door into the garden only this time his face slightly red. Another friar soon came out from behind him and started raising his voice. The beautiful black-haired friar spun around and raised his voice even louder. Though he was furious from the sounds of it his accent was lovely, but for some reason didn't sound entirely French. Most French speakers lived here but his sounded distinct and more exotic. Before the shouting between the two men could grow louder an older friar stumbled out and stepped in between them, turning his attention to my targeted friar. The friar who had antagonized him threw up a dismissive hand and left, leaving the dark-haired friar and the older man alone. The older friar's hands were now pressed down on his shoulders as my beautiful friar had his eyes lowered to the ground with fists so tight I could see his veins straining out.
I had no idea what conflict was going on, but it seemed as if the older friar was on his side. I leaned back into the tree and watched the old man talk him down some more before patting him on the back and leaving him alone in the garden. My nameless friar took a deep breath and looked up into the sky, his eyes welling up with tears, but none spilled out. Then he turned to the roses and poppies, working for about an hour until the bell rang. Once the bell rang instead of going back in he went out the gate and into the woods.
I thought this was strange as he didn't usually go out around this time to the stream but this was my chance now.
I crept as quietly as I could down the tree and made sure not to fall behind so soon. He was already far down the path where the friars went to meditate near the stream. I took out the poisoned arrow that had pierced my High Priestess. Just a little jab and he would be knocked out. I knew I wouldn't be able to carry him, so I planned to leave him where he fell and come back with the sisters as quickly as possible to fetch him.