The Witch's Awakening

Katherine crashed through the underbrush, all thoughts of dignity long gone from her mind. She could hear her pursuers now, angry shouts and the baying of hounds as the witch was hunted through the woods. They would catch her soon. Katherine couldn't outrun a horse, and with their ears tamped with wax and bows at the ready there was no chance she could bring them all under her sway before she was brought down. She had precious little time to enact her final spell. They might burn her like the rest, but her legacy would live on long after she had been reunited with her sisters from the coven...

As she ran along the dry creek bed she scooped up a smooth stone and carefully began tracing sigils along it with a bloodied fingertip. She couldn't pass along her knowledge of the arcane, so the might and power of a witch would have to do. She just had to hope that whoever found it would prove to be a worthy successor.

As the stone grew heavy in her hands, she could feel her magic slipping away. Despite her injuries, she smiled, knowing that her was complete. The world would have a new witch to fear, to love, to obey, however long it would take.

She hurled the stone away into the woods before it grew too large to carry, swollen with her slumbering magic. Who would look for a lone rock in a forest? Or even know that it contained all of her power? They would never know she had outplayed them until it was far, far too late...

And when they finally caught her and dragged her to the pyre, all Katherine could do was laugh, for she had already won...