The mist continued to drift lazily around the witch’s feet, curling and uncurling like sothing alive.
Kael and Edris stood still, their chests rising and falling as they struggled to steady their breathing after the brutal chase through the forest.
The woman watched them.
Her eyes were dark and sharp, studying them with quiet curiosity.
Then her faint smile widened slightly.
"Well," she said, her voice soft but carrying easily through the clearing, "that was quite the journey."
Neither brother lowered his guard completely.
Edris stepped slightly forward while Kael remained half a step behind him, his blade still loosely held at his side.
"You knew we were coming," Edris said.
The witch tilted her head.
"Of course I did."
She lifted one hand slowly and gestured toward the forest behind them.
"Few travelers reach my domain. Fewer still arrive while being chased by half the creatures that live within it."
Her eyes flicked briefly toward the trees.
"And almost none survive long enough to stand before ."
Kael exhaled slowly.
"Your welco committee was not exactly friendly."
A quiet laugh escaped the witch.
"No," she agreed. "They rarely are."
Her gaze returned to the two brothers, studying them more carefully now.
"You ran far," she continued. "You fought when you had to, and you used your wits when strength alone would not save you."
Her eyes lingered on the faint bloodstain along Kael’s blade where he had struck the wolf earlier.
"Most who enter my forest turn back long before reaching this clearing."
She folded her hands loosely in front of her.
"But you did not."
Edris’s voice remained steady.
"We could not."
The witch raised one thin brow.
"Interesting."
Kael finally spoke again.
"Soone we care about is dying."
The words hung heavily in the quiet air.
The witch’s expression did not change, but sothing flickered briefly in her eyes.
"And that is why you ca to ."
Edris nodded.
"We are looking an antidote for poison and we were told you might have have it."
At that, the witch’s smile deepened slightly.
"Yes," she said softly. "There is."
She began to walk slowly across the clearing.
The mice parted around her feet like water moving around a stone.
"Vermora poison," she continued calmly. "A cruel thing. Slow. Painful. It burrows into the blood and eats away at the body from the inside."
Kael’s jaw tightened.
"How do you know it’s what we ca for."
"I know many things," the witch replied.
She stopped a few paces in front of them.
"And I know that those poisoned by Vermora rarely survive long enough to seek help."
Her gaze sharpened slightly.
"Tell . Who is it?"
Edris answered without hesitation.
"The princess, Selena."
The witch’s eyes flickered again.
"Ah."
She seed to consider the na for a mont before speaking again.
"And she matters to you."
It was not a question.
Kael’s voice hardened.
"She is everything to us."
For the first ti, the witch looked genuinely interested.
"How splendid."
She turned slowly, her robes brushing softly against the grass.
"Two powerful warriors, leaving their third brother behind, crossing half the forest and nearly dying to save a single girl."
Her smile returned.
"Love is a fascinating thing."
Edris did not react to the comnt.
"If you have the entidote, can you give us, we don’t have ti to waste."
The witch stopped walking.
For a mont she said nothing.
Then she looked back at them.
"Yes," she said simply.
"I have the antidote."
Both brothers stiffened slightly.
Kael took an eager step forward.
"Then give it to us."
The witch’s smile widened again, though this ti there was sothing colder beneath it.
"Oh, my dear boy," she said gently.
"Nothing in this forest is ever given freely."
Kael’s grip tightened on his blade.
"What do you want?"
Edris lifted a hand slightly, silently signaling Kael to remain calm.
The witch watched the exchange with amusent.
"You are quick to offer paynt," she said. "That is wise."
She began walking again, circling them slowly.
"Antidotes for Vermora are rare," she continued. "The flower that produces the poison grows only in places where death has touched the soil."
Her fingers brushed lightly over the mist as she walked.
"And the root that cures it is even rarer."
She stopped once more and faced them.
"But yes," she said softly.
"I have what you seek."
Kael’s voice grew impatient.
"Then na your price."
The witch studied them both carefully.
For several seconds she said nothing.
Then she spoke.
"I want a piece of your heart."
Silence fell across the clearing.
Kael blinked once.
"That is all?"
The witch nodded calmly.
"A small piece," she said.
"Nothing more."
Edris frowned slightly.
"You an blood?"
The witch chuckled softly.
"No."
Her eyes glead faintly.
"I an exactly what I said."
She tapped a long finger lightly against her chest.
"A piece of your heart."
Kael exchanged a brief glance with Edris.
The request sounded strange, but not particularly dangerous.
"You are a witch," Kael said slowly. "You use strange ingredients for your spells."
"Sothing like that," she replied.
Edris considered her words carefully.
"And in exchange you will give us the antidote?"
"Yes."
"And it will save her?"
The witch nodded.
"If she drinks it soon enough, the poison will leave her body."
Kael stepped forward again imdiately.
"Then take it."
Edris looked at him briefly.
"You are certain?"
Kael’s voice hardened.
"What choice do we have?"
Images of Selena lying weak and pale flashed through his mind.
Every mont they wasted here was another mont the poison continued to spread through her body.
"We did not co this far to leave empty-handed," Kael said.
Edris turned his gaze back to the witch.
"If we give you what you ask for," he said carefully, "you will give us the antidote imdiately."
"Of course," she replied sweetly.
Kael shrugged slightly.
"If a small piece of our heart is the price, then take it."
The witch’s smile deepened.
"You are very brave," she said.
"Or very desperate."
"Both," Kael answered.
For the first ti since they had entered the clearing, the witch’s expression softened slightly.
"Love makes mortals do extraordinary things," she murmured.
Then she lifted her hand.
"Co closer."
The brothers stepped forward.
The mist thickened slightly around their feet as they approached her.
The mice scattered briefly before settling again near the edges of the clearing.
The witch raised both hands slowly.
Her fingers hovered just inches from their chests.
"You will feel only a small sting," she said calmly.
"Nothing more."
Kael barely reacted.
"Do it."
The witch’s fingers moved.
A faint pulse of cold energy spread through the air.
For a mont, both brothers felt a strange tightening deep inside their chests.
It was not pain.
More like pressure.
Like sothing invisible reaching inside them and pulling gently.
Kael frowned.
"That feels strange—"
Then the sensation vanished.
The witch lowered her hands.
"There," she said.
"It is done."
Kael blinked once.
"That was it?"
"Yes."
Edris studied her carefully.
"And the antidote?"
The witch reached into the folds of her robe.
When her hand erged again, she held a small glass vial filled with dark liquid that shimred faintly in the mist.
She extended it toward them.
"This will cleanse the poison from her blood."
Kael took the vial imdiately.
He turned it carefully in his hand, watching the dark liquid swirl inside.
Relief washed across his face.
"We need to get back to her."
Edris gave the witch one final look.
"You have what you asked for."
"Yes," she said softly.
"And you have what you ca for."
Kael had already begun moving toward the forest.
"Co on," he said.
"We have wasted enough ti."
Edris followed him toward the trees.
Just before they disappeared into the mist, he glanced back once.
The witch still stood in the center of the clearing.
Watching them.
Her faint smile remained.
And at her feet, the small mice gathered closer together as though drawn by sothing unseen.
The witch looked down at her hand.
Three faint glowing fragnts rested in her palm.
Tiny pieces of light that pulsed slowly like distant heartbeats.
Her smile widened.
"Yes," she whispered softly to herself.
"This will do nicely."
The mist thickened again as the brothers disappeared into the forest.
And the witch’s quiet laughter followed them long after they were gone.
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