The Last Enchantress

She lifted her face, letting the light and shadow dance across the skin. Bees hummed in and out of the penny royal. She inhaled its minty smell and continued on, delighting in the sound of her feet sliding through the leaves. Upon the forest floor lie trees of yesteryear, fallen in storms long forgotten. The seasons have been harsh, stripping away the bark and outer layers, yet rendering them all the more beautiful.

They have the appearance of driftwood, twisting in patterns that remind Brietta of seaside waves; even the color of the moss is kelp-like. They are soft, damp, yet her fingers come away dry. She tilts her head upward, feeling her red hair tumble further down her back; the pines are several houses tall, reaching toward the golden rays of spring.

Birdsong comes in lulls and bursts, the silence and the singing working together as well as any improvised melody. A new smile paints itself upon her pale face, rose-pink lips semi-illuminated by the dappled light. Before she knows it her feet have begun to walk, body and mind both on autopilot.

“Hello there!” Salem, a male shapeshifter from the northern mountains, shouted from the trees above her.

“Hello to you Salem” She says, helping a baby bird back to its nest. He dropped from the tree and slung an arm around her neck.

“Where are we off to today?” He huffed.

“Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye.”

“Ugh we go there all the time!” He groaned.

“And you still come even though I have never forced you to, and also we have to go to the Purple Heather Valley.” That made Salem jump with excitement.

“Seriously?” His smile was so wide and bright, she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“If you complain or bother me while I am working at the pools, we won’t go at all.”

“Cross my heart,” he crossed his heart, “hope to fly,” and mimicked the act of flapping wings by moving his wrists, and finally put his right hand over his right eye stating, “stick a cupcake in my eye!”

“Well, wasn’t that intriguing.” Sarcasm is one of her best traits. They walked down the rubble path towards the luminescent, transparent waterfalls. The ponds were over a thousand years old, fish of all kinds lived in these waters. The Flower horn, Aulonocara, Ram Cichlid, Boeseman’s rainbow fish, and some Neon tetra. Salem sat on the rocky bank of the river, soaking his unsanitary feet, instantly pulling them back out due to the piercing crisp of the Siberian aqua.

“You know, you do that every time we come here right?” Brietta laughed as she glided her way across the water.

“You do that every time we come here.” He mimicked her, sticking his tongue out. Her back was now completely facing him, hinting that she was about to work so he stayed quiet.

It was dead quiet. You could barely hear Brietta singing her spell, not that you could understand her anyways, in her dead language. Even Salem didn’t understand her, and he hears her say it all the time.

“Os iusti meditabitur sapientiam Et lingua eius loquetur indicium, Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem Quoniam cum probates fuerit accipiet coronam vitae.” She vocalized her enchantment, small bubbles start to rise from beneath her. The wind had started to pick up, bringing autumn colored leaves and flower petals along with it. Circling around her were stands of sunlight, the leaves and petals mixing along.

“She’s beautiful,” Salem thought to himself, “too bad she has such a huge responsibility to notice my feelings.” Salem had recently felt more serious feelings for his dear friend but was too shy to say anything in fear she would turn him down. Everything had begun to settle down, Brietta walking over to her shifter friend.

“All done?” He asked.

“Yep, that should help the place recover from the recent storms.”

“Why do you do it?” He inquired, “I know this place is very important to you, but it can handle a few storms, after all, it was your ancestors that made this land. I’m pretty sure they would’ve put some protection spells for things like this.” He gestured to the land laid out before them. Brietta only signed, shook her head and started walking to the valley, Salem joined up with her.

“I just feel like it’s my job to help out. I am the last of the enchanters, therefore I have been given some responsibilities, including caring for our home. Besides, I don’t really mind the trouble”

“Sorry,” He apologized. “You do seem to enjoy yourself whenever we come here.” She hummed. After a few minutes you could hear Salem panting from climbing up the hills.

“I’m gonna shift, wanna ride?” He stated, getting into his sprinting position.

“No, I can just whip up a broom to ride on, you know this.” He just laughed and started to jog a couple feet before jumping into the air. As quick as a flash, his appearance altered into a beautiful wolf with white fur. Eyes of piercing blue, pearly whites, and a long black snout. He landed softly on all fours before sprinting up the hill. Brietta had already beat him to the top, admiring the top. The summery aurora from the sky casted wonderful stands of lights on the land before them. Salem sprinted down the hill, Brietta following him on her broom. As they reached the bottom, they were greeted with some of the most beautiful, the more rare flowers. Small critters, such as bunnies and squirrels came up to greet them. They spent hours in the majestic valley. But Salem couldn’t hide his feelings forever. He knew he’d have to admit them sooner or later.

“Before you say anything I need to tell you something.” Brietta suddenly said, they hadn’t spoken for a while, they were just enjoying each other's company.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Your thoughts are really loud.” She stated, indicating she knew about his feelings towards her. He sighed, but nodded for her to say what needed to be said.

“When I was born, I wasn’t born “properly” I guess. So my parents put a spell on me, which is highly frowned upon-“

“Putting spells on other enchanters?” Salem asked, she sighed.

“No, putting spells on others is a given. Putting spells on newborns is frowned upon, because then you are altering with the appearance they were given. Anyways, by doing this, they were banished to the rainforest taking me with them. In doing so, my parents started to study black magic to get back to the village. After 18 years of their torment, they had finally conducted a plan to get revenge. I couldn’t just stand there and watch them destroy those innocent people, so that night I tried to sneak out but my parents caught me. They cast a black spell on me, to…… to kill every living thing in the village. When I snapped back to reality I was so disgusted in what they made me do, I killed them, and so, I try to go back to that village as much as I can to help the land grow and forget those memories.” Tears fell from her blue jeweled eyes. Salem lifted his hand to rub them away.

“So that is why you always go to the Isle of Skye, because that’s not only your home but it's the home of your kind. You feel that if you don’t go, you are neglecting the fact of what you did.” Brietta nodded.

Salem wrapped his arms around her, “Don’t worry, that won’t stop me from caring about you.”

She leaned up and placed a soft kiss to his cheek, then they both cuddled and stared at the sun setting before them.