Aryzath and the Witches

Submitted into Contest #65 in response to: Write about a group of witches meeting up on Halloween night.... view prompt

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Fiction Drama Middle School

Author’s note- I wrote this for a Literature assignment, and the prompt matched, so I figured, why not put it on Reedsy?

But I have to give a head’s up to y’all.

We’re covering The Lady of Shalott (Alfred Lord Tennyson) in Lit and the assignment was to write a story on what Lancelot would do after the Lady’s death (spoiler of the poem) and how he would find more about her. I do not own any of the characters, just the storyline. My parents were lost as to who these characters were, so have a list of them-

1. King Arthur- King of Camelot

2. Guinevere- Queen of Camelot, Lancelot’s lover (love triangle!!)

3. Lancelot- Arthur’s most trusted knight

4. Elaine/Lady of Shalott- go read the original poem before reading this, it’ll help you understand a bit more about what’s happening

I definitely recommend reading The Lady of Shalott and King Arthur. I’ve added a new character, but I won’t list her here. I hope you enjoy the story!

~Priya

**

The lone knight fought the winds and rallied his horse up the steep cliff. To any on-lookers, the cliff was too high to even see the top, which was exactly why Lancelot was climbing it. Cold hills attract witches like moths to a flame. He’d get a coven if he was lucky.

Lancelot wiped his brow, his coal-black curls waving. His horse snorted with disapproval but they kept on going.

This was no time to give up.

He knew the journey to Aryzath would be a difficult one, perilous, even, but his curiosity was overwhelming. It was like an itch that grew and grew, and was not satisfied with scratches. It was rather suspicious, of course, given that the haunting Lady of Shalott had only died yesterday, Hallow’s Eve.

It was even worse that tonight was Halloween, a time of witches and evil.

It was a miracle that Arthur let go of his favorite knight, but Guinevere was thoroughly disappointed. It actually showed through her fake smile at dinner, and after wiping away tears induced by the cutting winds, he let his subconscious worry about Arthur finding out about their secret.

The winds stopped suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He was finally at Aryzath.

**

It used to go by many names, but now it had been reduced to Aryzath.

In the olden days, when witches roamed freely, it was a social hub of sorts. Huge stone slabs were propped vertically in a circle, and Merlin always suspected that they used it to draw their magic.

A famous coven had made it. Only one of the original three had survived throughout the witch hunts over the centuries. Her name was Rowen and she was widely feared. She joined another coven, and rumor had it that her coven met every Halloween at Aryzath.

Why was Lancelot going there?

He was going there because Rowen made the mirror that the Lady of Shalott looked into every day.

After inspecting her tower after her body was reported, Merlin told Arthur and Lancelot that the now broken mirror was magic and probably what cursed the Lady, if she had been cursed at all.

**

Lancelot climbed up a stone pillar after comforting his horse (who turned and ran after Lancelot told him to). The witches surely wouldn’t suspect being spied from above.

A single flame burst in thin air. Lancelot stiflied his almost audible gasp as the light revealed a hand… then a body… then a jagged grin and two purple eyes so dark they almost look red.

Staring right at him.

The witches had been waiting for him all along.

The fire spread, rapidly bluing, until all three witches were visible.

“What do you seek?”

Lancelot gulped. He knew better than to take any information from a witch, but his options ran out. No one ever saw the Lady, only maybe heard her singing every once in a while.

“I seek the tale of the Lady of Shalott.”

The witches cackled as they took in his request and his heart started to sink.

“Rowy, dear, you were right! Took the bait as easy as that!”

“If it was that easy to get him up here, I’d have just tied a hog to stick and waved it!”

The witch with the purple-red eyes raised a hand and the other two silenced immediately.

“I’m feeling kind today, so I think we’ll let him live.”

Her voice was nothing like what Lancelot had ever heard before. It was… between green and black. It made no sense that a sound had a color, but that was Witch Rowen’s voice. Between black and green, the color of evil, something banished from the world a long time ago.

Clearly, her “kindness” was a big thing.

**

“You seek the story of little Elaine of Astolat? Well, how can I not tell? It’s very entertaining…”

Her voice filled with malice and cruelty. Lancelot gulped and tried to cover his beading forehead. It was getting unbearably hot, and a strange smell was filling the air. Somewhere in his soggy mind, Lancelot suspected a spell was being put on him. He shook his head and put his magic wall up.

Merlin had taught him how to protect himself from magic spells.

“Little Elaine was so full of hope, so annoying. Her love blinded her so much, she was sure of her happy ending. I was a young witch at the time, and I’ll let you in on a little secret. I was jealous of Elaine because of her love. No one knew who it was, but she came to me one day, tear stained.”

“She found out that her love loved someone else. She was so heartbroken; she came to me. Little Elaine begged to find out who he loved, and to destroy her.”

Lancelot found himself edging closer and closer to the witches. Snapping back to reality from the trace that Rowen’s words weaved, he stumbled back. Rowen didn’t notice, so lost in her memories.

“Over here, my jealousy bubbled. I made her a mirror, that would force her to forget about her lover and memories of me until she saw him again, properly. I whispered to the slumbering king to lock her up, and he did. I didn’t expect that she would see him through the mirror; if she hadn’t been as dense to look away into the window, she’d have remembered everything about me and would know to report it to the king.”

“But she was that dense, and even more dense that she left the tower and froze to death on a boat. The end! Such a funny story, I know.”

It became very cold all of a sudden.

“I did promise to keep you alive, didn’t I? Well, I can’t have you blabbering to everyone where we meet up, so it’s time to wipe your memories!”

The other two witches, who had oohed and aahed throughout the story and applauded at the end, started grinning their jagged smiles. It was unnerving, and Lancelot further backed away.

“Who-who was the love?”

He reached for his sword, only to find that it wasn’t there. He fell through the ground, and into an entire hall of mirrors. A thousand terrified faces stared right back at him.

Rowen’s voice loomed from above. “You’re looking at him.”

Lancelot then realized everything. He wouldn’t remember any of it, but he prayed for the soul of Elaine of Astolat.

When he returned to Camelot that night, he respectfully bowed to Guinevere, confused, after she beckoned to him to join her in the tea room without Arthur, for he had no memory of any relationship, ever.

Witch Rowen would always tell the stories of barbaric endings of several prey, but she’d never once mention that she’d righted a wrong, a fateful night when she shed light on the Lady of Shalott.

Good witches don’t exist, but some witches are less evil than others.

October 27, 2020 12:18

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11 comments

Claudia Morgan
06:53 Mar 16, 2021

🤩 love it! The ending line is perfect :)

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<inactive> .
08:19 Mar 16, 2021

YEI thank you!!! I read your short series that was about the robot freedom like a week ago but just remembered to like it!! It’s the most unique sci-fi story I have ever read and I’ve read a lot :D

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Claudia Morgan
09:53 Mar 16, 2021

Woah, thanks so much Priya! (Casually re-uses Raima's name because it's the best)

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Barbara Burgess
14:05 Nov 05, 2020

What a lovely story. Well done! I hope you do well with your assignment. I found the story very interesting and exciting and it read well. Just one thing and that is to maybe change this sentence" 'It became very cold all of a sudden.' could read better as - 'Suddenly it became very cold.' Good luck with all your future work.

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<inactive> .
06:29 Nov 07, 2020

Aww, thanks! My teacher is actually still grading :0 Unfortunately it got approved, and I can't actually change anything now. But I'll be on the lookout for more mistakes like that in the future! Best of luck to you too! :)

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13:58 Oct 30, 2020

Great job! I’ve always been interested in King Authors stories. I’ve never heard this before or anything like it. You have a very good skill for writing and the story flowed well. Keep up the good work. Robert

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<inactive> .
04:26 Nov 01, 2020

Wow, thanks so much! Sweetness aside, are you sure you don't any bones to pick with this story? Grammar, sentence structure, anything? Also I'm really happy you love King Arthur too! Most people (at least in my class in school) think he's boring. Again, thanks so much! You're a very wonderful person to take the time to read and comment ^w^ :) <3 <3

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K. Antonio
17:18 Nov 01, 2020

What I noticed: - Stifilied (is that supposed to be stifled?) Everything seems pretty well edited grammatically, but I did see some commas that were unnecessary and others places that needed them (but commas are evil). I think the story is interesting, but as I read it, I felt like it was very... how can I say..."stiff". It seemed like you could have given us more details, went in deeper with the interactions, with the characters personas. To me the story has a good foundation but I feel like there are things missing. Honestly ...

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<inactive> .
13:34 Nov 02, 2020

It got approved, so now I can't change it T-T My parents basically forced me to put the beginning bit in, the original didn't have that. Thanks so much for your insightful comment! It helped point out a lot more mistakes. I'll be sure to keep them in mind!

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Prathamesh Chavan
16:39 Nov 11, 2020

Hii, Sorry to intervene, in this brutal manner, I have a request for you would be kind to give a single glance over the vehicle which my team had been working over months. https://www.instagram.com/p/CHX5VUPBJOp/?igshid=5f72nb3cgg30 Sorry to take your time and If possible like the post.Because this would help team to win

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<inactive> .
04:55 Nov 16, 2020

Heya! Thanks for sharing, but I'd have really liked it if you read the story as well. I don't have Instagram, unfortunately, but I hope your team wins! I was doing a invention convention thing at school and we got selected too! Wow coincidence

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