nola

Standing before the Council, Nola was shaking so hard her teeth were rattling inside her head.  She wondered if the nine council members could hear the noise.  It seemed like hours she stood there, shivering and shaking, wondering what would happen to her.  She hadn’t meant to do it.  She didn’t even know she could do it.  Magic was only given to the men of their world, she knew that, accepted it, same as the rest of her kind.  It wasn’t her place to know anything about the ancient arts of palmistry, fortune telling, or anything concerning the mystical realm.  Truth be told, she magic didn’t even interest her that much.  Of course Nola had seen her father perform magic around the house, and watched her two older brothers go through their training, but it held no appeal for her.  Nola was too busy with other things that were expected of her.  Seldom did she have time for daydreaming, for wasting time with silly incantations. There was work to be done.  A house to be kept clean, animals to be fed, meals to cook, sewing, stitching, and a whole host of other chores to keep Nola busy from sun up to sun down.  1

But now here she was, standing before the Grand Warlock.  She had committed a serious crime by wizarding standards.  She had done magic.  Whether it was intentional or not was not an issue here.  She was disgraced.  Even if her punishment were light (and she knew it would be anything but) she would be banished from her family.  They would not claim her as kin.  They would forget about her, unwilling to forgive her transgressions, for putting a black mark on their good name.2

Yet Nola still held hope.  She glanced behind her at the rows of unfamiliar faces, searching for the faces of her family.  No one.  No one there she recognized.  She wasn’t surprised.  Rarely did her family come into the town, and if they did, it was her father and her brothers.   Too much work at home for her and her mother to do.  She wouldn’t have known anybody.  They all stared back at her. Mean, angry faces looking at her like she were the lowest form of life.  There was something else there too.  Nola finally recognized it as fear.  As angry as they were, they were afraid of her too.  And why shouldn’t they be?  There hadn’t been a witch in their midst for a hundred years.  Nola knew the story well.  A young girl, Serine, slightly older than Nola, was caught practicing magic in the woods near her home.  The men of the village came and arrested her, brought her to the Council of Wizards.  Their punishment had been harsh.  They had banished Serine from their world, and wiped away all documentation that she had ever existed.  Her name was forbidden in the community, and anyone who spoke of “the witch” as they called her would be put in prison without food and only a meager water supply for three days.  That was incentive enough for the community to stay away from trouble.3

Now it was Nola’s name that would be forbidden, no one would ever speak of it again.  A sudden loud pounding noise brought Nola away from her thoughts as she looked up at the towering bench in front of her.  There sat the nine members of the Council of Wizards, all gazing at her menacingly.  She could still see the fear in their eyes, but being wise, they hid it better than the rest of the visitors in the courtroom.  Her stomach churned as she met their gaze, surprising herself at her own bravery.  She held her hands behind her back, twisting them together, desperate to hold onto something, even if it were her own sweaty palms.  Her hair lay disheveled about her face, having become tangled as the men drug her through the thick undergrowth on their way from the woods into the village. 4

“Witch!” thundered the voice of the Chief Wizard.  Nola didn’t have to wonder who he was talking to.  “Witch!” he repeated loudly, “You have been charged with the crime of practicing magic.  As you know, only males may perform magic of any kind.  You have committed a serious crime.  What have you to say for yourself?”5