The Witch of the Castle of Glass

Milly and Rain spent the remainder of the morning in the northern mountains, harvesting plants and growing closer as friends. Twice they crossed paths with small goblin patrols and dispatched them with ease. By the time they returned to the tower when the sun was at its zenith, Rain had leveled up again and was full of fire, excited to begin experimenting with her alchemy.

“They had better not have trashed my shop while I were gone, or there will be heck to pay,” promised Rain as she stood outside the glass doorways leading to the lobby. “It looks like they finished the town hall. The lobby is empty, except for a couple people getting instructed by their Tutorias. Are you sure you will not come in for a break?”

Milly shook her head. “I’m going to head back out there. We need food, and I’d rather not risk running into Mr. Stone. Not yet. You take care of your shop and keep an ear to the ground. I’ll stop by for a cup of tea when I get back tonight.”

Rain chuckled softly, then grew serious and pulled her new friend into a tight hug. “Be careful out there Milly.” She released her and headed towards the doors, before calling back with a jazz hand flair, “And remember. Be flashy!” With that, Rain went inside the tower, leaving Milly standing alone underneath the shadow of the northern mountains.

Milly felt the chill of the cold mountain breeze cascade across her gown, alone once again. The loneliness and the silence used to be all she knew. Yet these past two days had given her a taste of true friendship, and it shined a light on the emptiness that she had experienced in her life until now.

“You have friends now, Milly,” she told herself. “Don’t fuck it up.”

Milly started to walk along the perimeter of the Castle of Glass, watching the hustle of activity happening around it. There were dozens of people outside, though few seemed willing to go more than a hundred paces from the towers. A somber mood permeated around the tower, expressions filled with loss and grim determination.

In the forest of the mountains, people were collecting fallen pine branches, using rusted axes to cut them into manageable pieces before carrying them over to the prairie. In the grasses, away from the tower, a second group was assembling a pyre from the wood. The bodies of the dead lay gently beside the pyre, three more added since yesterday. Milly walked past the group with gentle steps, but several looked up and were shocked to see her walk by. By the time she turned the corner into the rainforest, she had left behind growing whispers and stares.

“Just ignore it, Milly,” she whispered, feeling her face growing red. “Remember what Rain said, 'Rumors and stories are powerful things.' I just wish being the character in them did not make me so uncomfortable."

The rainforest was hopping with activity. There were two middle-aged women with clipboards, the Carthage twins from the 11th floor, directing eight teams of six that scurried around the terrain. She watched as the closest team, using a makeshift pole with a dagger tied on the end, cut down several bunches of bananas from a nearby tree and promptly delivered them to the twins. Heaps of bananas, mangoes, papaya, and a half dozen fruits that Milly did not know were piled alongside the doors to the lobby, the twins making detailed records of each.

A smaller team was slowly moving the fruit into the lobby after it was catalogued. Milly looked through the glass and saw that they had opened the storefront of Tower Two, storing the fruit inside a still-functioning walk-in fridge. Another team was cleaning the space, thick dust cascading onto the floor. A third manager with a clipboard, who she did not recognize, directed the workers at the storefront.

Milly smiled, until she saw an elderly man with a limp turned away by the storefront manager. “James, you need to work to get fed. If you want food, you need to make yourself useful.” Milly heard the manager say, and the man limped away, dejected.

“Not your fight, Milly,” she whispered, but the man’s hungry and desperate face only renewed her anxiety about Mr. Stone and the other CEOs.

One of the twins walked up to Milly, given a polite but firm cough to draw Milly’s attention. Milly turned, and saw the woman giving her, and her outfit, a disapproving glare. “Excuse me, Miss. I am Ms. Edna Carthage, designated manager for Rainforest Gathering. Which work team are you assigned to?”

Milly frowned, “I’m not on a work team.”

“All employees must be part of a work team if they wish to have access to food and the tower’s facilities,” Edna said, bureaucratically. “Can I have your name please, so I can add you to a team?”

Milly looked across the rainforest, then back at the elderly man. She took a deep breath. “Be brave, Milly,” she told herself. “Remember what Rain said.”

“No. I don’t wish to be part of a work team,” Milly said, her voice only shaking a little.

Edna raised an eyebrow, “Who is your employer? I will be reporting this to your CEO. He or she may decide to deny you access to your workplace because of non-compliance.” The woman had turned to a fresh piece of paper and was furiously jotting notes. “You’ll be sleeping outside if you do not comply.”

Milly’s blood boiled. The CEOs were denying access to the only shelter people had, just because they were not following their orders? Milly knew what Rain meant now about the importance of a show of strength. The CEOs were not hesitating to show theirs.

Edna was writing words like ‘insubordinate’, ‘dressed like a witch’, and ‘non-compliant’ furiously on the page. Then Milly had an idea.

Milly tapped into her magic, focusing on the paper, and snapped her fingers. The paper went up in flames. Edna jumped back with a yelp, dropping the clipboard to the ground. In moments, the page of notes on Milly had been reduced to ash, leaving the other pages untouched.

“I’m not employed by any of your CEOs,” she stated, trying to sound confident, “and I don’t believe anyone else is either. So you’ll forgive me if I do not accept their opinion on who may access the Castle of Glass.”

Milly stalked away, swaying her hips, and adjusting her witch’s hat, leaving Edna behind with her mouth hanging open in utter shock. Half the work teams had stopped what they were doing and stared, murmurs spreading as Milly rounded the corner into the ocean terrain. Once she was out of sight, she leaned against a nearby palm tree and gave a massive sigh of relief. Her heart was pounding, her hands clammy, and sweat was beading on her brow.

It was a small act, but a big step. And for the first time in a long while, Milly felt proud of herself.

She rested against the palm tree until she calmed down, staring out at the ocean and listening to the cries of the gulls in the air. The warm breeze was such a contrast to the cold from the mountains just around the corner, and she relished the heat on her skin. This world was miraculous, and despite what it was, Milly let herself enjoy its beauty.

“When it’s cooked, you are to bring the meat to the second tower storehouse,” came a demanding voice from further down the beach, interrupting Milly’s peace. “Those are Judy’s orders.”

Milly glanced over. The voice came from a young woman wearing a bright green skirt and black top, blond hair tied back in a simple ponytail. She carried a clipboard like the Carthage sisters but lacked their intimidating presence. She stood over three men who looked the worse for wear. They were digging a pit in the sand and lining it with wood and stone, a dead boar beside them.

“Hana, we don’t give a shit what Judy’s orders are,” came a dismissive reply from a skinny man with a torn dress shirt and bloodied trousers. “If the managing partner of Legal Eagles wants meat, she can come down and wait in line like everyone else. We are not going to be a part of their plan to horde food to try to control us.”

“She’s your boss,” shouted Hana desperately.

The man stood up, swinging his arms in a circle, “Really? Did she buy all this land in the past day? Did she buy the Castle of Glass? Last time I checked, she has got as much authority here as I do.”

“We need order,” tried Hana, “Everyone must work for food. It will be chaos if we do not have rules.”

“You mean control, not order. Her control. You go tell your boss we do not have any interest in playing by her rules. We will feed everyone we can.”

“But…you can’t…she’s the boss!” stammered Hana.

The man ignored her and resumed building the firepit in the sand.

“You’ll regret this, Elmer. She won’t stand for it,” threatened Hana as she walked towards the entrance to the tower. “And you know what she is like when she is angry.” The man laughed as the doors closed behind her.

Milly strolled over, relieved she was not the only one fighting back.

“Looks like a few people are trying to keep the Tower fed,” she said, passing Elmer the next stone from the pile stacked next to him. He took it without looking at her, distracted, and gently placed it next to the others.

“If you are asking for boar, miss, you will need to wait until tonight. It will take a while to…” Elmer looked up and trailed off, staring at Milly’s outfit. “You…you’re the one who took down that monster yesterday.”

“Umm….it was a team effort,” she said, uncomfortable with the recognition.

“I saw her spear that thing through the eye,” said the second man, standing over the boar with a small kitchen knife, trying to prepare the carcass for the spit. “It was a hell of a throw.” He grew silent for a moment, then added, “Thank you for what you did. Anthony was a good man. So was Phil. They should never had tried to be heroes.”

His voice rang will the hollowness of someone exhausted from grief.

“You’re welcome, I guess,” Milly said shyly, not knowing how else to respond. Her eyes drifted to the third man, laying on the ground with his shirt off and a thick bandage across his midriff. “Is he alright?”

“I’m fine,” said the man, trying to sit and hissing in pain before he got halfway up. He fell back down with a weak, frustrated laugh.

“Billy got slashed by that boar before we took it down,” Elmer said, then glared at Billy. “And he will be fine if he just holds. Fucking. Still.”

“Here, let me see,” said Milly, kneeling beside the man and peeling back his bandage despite the protests of the men. The gash was deep and still bleeding, making Milly concerned.

“We did the best we could,” explained Elmer apologetically, “The first aid kits were the first things the CEOs horded. ‘To preserve them for emergencies,’ they said, as if Billy’s stomach being gashed open wasn’t an emergency. I had to trade my watch just to get that bandage.”

Milly grew angry again, and laid her hands above Billy’s wound. Her hands shone with her blue healing light and the men gasped in surprise. Milly focused on the wound and it began to close, little by little, until it was red and swollen but no longer posing a danger.

“There. It will take a while to heal the rest of the way, but that should keep it from getting infected.” Milly said as her healing glow faded.

The men stood there, mouths open in disbelief. “How…how did you…” Elmer stuttered.

“Magic, I guess,” Milly said, shrugging. She did not elaborate, trying to be mysterious.

“I…I don’t know what to say to that,” Elmer stammered. “If you ever need anything from us, just ask. We owe you.”

Milly tried to smile sweetly at the men and failed miserably. Based on their sudden grimaces, her smile came across more sinister than sweet. “Roll with it,” Milly thought, “Witch of the Castle of Glass, remember?”

Elmer threw the last piece of kindling into the pit. “At the very least, we will save you the best piece of boar tonight,” he chuckled weakly. “Once we figure out how to get this fire started.”

Milly opened her palm towards the pit of wood and stones and summoned her fire. Her hands encased in blue flame, and it shot out towards the pit. The fire crashed against the stone, and moments later the fire was crackling, ready for the boar. The men leapt back, startled, eyes wider than ever.

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” Milly said, trying to sound nonchalant. “For starters, why don’t you tell me where you found the boar.”

“Umm…well, honestly, umm….”

“Milly.”

“Umm…Milly…to be honest, Milly, we didn’t find it. There was a woman with us when we left the tower. Long red hair and drop dead gorgeous, with an attitude to match.”

Milly didn’t like where this was going.

“We were searching for food up the north side of the beach near the water, and she spotted the tracks in the sand. Just in from a rocky outcropping shaped like an arrowhead. We got the one boar, but Billy was hurt and we had to come back. She…she wouldn’t listen and wanted to keep hunting. We had to head back without her.” Elmer sounded concerned and ashamed.

“I’ll go look for her, Elmer,” Milly said, and he gave a sigh of relief.

“Thank you. We will owe you twice.”

“And I plan on collecting,” Milly promised, turning and walking towards the beach.

She left the men wondering what she meant by that, the crackling fire adding a new rhythm to the beach.

Milly steeled herself, looking to the north. A gorgeous woman with red hair and an attitude to match? There was only one person who fit that description.

“Calista, what the hell are you doing?”

Mildred Persephone Brown

Player

Level: 6

Specialty: Survival

Strength: 10 (+4 from Wedding Ring of Phillip the Ogre)

Agility: 11 (+5 from Gown of Moon and Stars)

Toughness: 10

Magic: 15 (+5 from Gown of Moon and Stars, +2 from Milly's First Witch's Hat)

Talents: Healer's Touch, Fire Magic (Beginner), Reanimate Rodent (Witch's Hat)

Rain Desjarlais

Player

Level: 4

Specialty: Brewing, Experimentation

Strength: 8

Agility: 8

Toughness: 6

Magic: 6

Talents: Nature's Bounty, Alchemy (Beginner)