Witches by Phil Stern Read Free Book Online Page B

wizard hauled Bethany to her feet. “Come, whore!”
    “Wait!” Keyla called out, walking up to the iron gate. Clearly broken, Bethany couldn’t take much more abuse. “Let her be! I will come with you.”
    Even in the poor light, the wizard’s black stone pulsed strongly. “I see.” Peremptorily dropping Bethany again, the wizard darted forward, reaching through the iron gate to grab Keyla by the back of the head. “You will do as I say?” he snarled.
    “Yes!” Keyla snapped, her face pulled into the rough bars. “Just stop torturing them!”
    “Fine.” Magically lifted from the floor, Bethany was tossed back into her cell, the door slamming shut. “She can see again, and the rats are gone. As for you...”
    Instantly, Keyla was transported from the dark dungeon. She was now standing on a sunny beach, without clothing of any kind. People played on the sand and in the water, dressed in traditional swim wear. First one turned to stare, then another. Soon hundreds of men, women, and children were staring at her nakedness, some pointing and giggling. “Well, I never!” announced one woman, turning away in disgust.
    Of course it was all illusion, crackling with dark magic, yet in her weakened condition Keyla was hopelessly disoriented. “No, please, I don’t want to be here! I don’t want this!” she called out, turning about, hiding her body as best she could.
    “My, my. Aren’t we modest?”
    Spinning around, Keyla was horrified to see the tall, gangly wizard, wearing nothing but a tiny bathing suit, sun glasses, and an absurd, floppy beach hat. Eyeing her appreciatively, the magician’s black stone hung loosely at his side. In the bright light, she could see that his face was horribly misshapen, his nose turned almost sideways. The crowd erupted in applause, as if a rock star had just walked out on stage.
    “Get away from me!” Keyla cried out. Terrified, she stumbled backwards, tripping and falling onto the sand. People laughed. Now the sun turned dark, bathing her in it’s depraved aura.
    “Now, now,” the wizard murmured, almost soothingly. Throwing the hat aside, he magically held the horrified girl down on the sand, laying down beside her. “You dirty witches!” he snarled, stroking her arm. “Your kind has lost. Soon you will all be my slaves!”
    Afterwards, feeling immensely satisfied, lounging on the illusory beach with his hand still on the naked girl’s smooth hip, the magician considered the enormity of all that lay before him.
    The natural balance was being restored. Soon, the Coven’s power would be completely eradicated, the age of female magical dominance coming to an end.
    And soon, put in their proper place, the witches would bear him an army of powerful children. Under his loving guidance, his minions would then come to rule every known dimension, bringing the entire universe under his complete control.
     
    ***
     
    BORN AS EVAN GENSROW nearly four decades before, the future wizard had been like any other boy in the medieval realm of Jain. In fact, as the proprietors of a prosperous tavern, the Gensrows had lived a life of relative luxury, owning a half-dozen horses and sitting near the front of church every Sunday.
    Mr. Gensrow had been a good man, beating his family only when necessary, the barmaids thoughtfully sent away when impregnated with his bastard children. Yes, there had been unfortunate incidents, like the time a young girl, in resisting his drunken advances, had accidently sliced her own throat on a glass bottle, or when his mother had been crippled after being thrown down the stairs.
    These things will happen. Actually, his mother had been much calmer after that, sleeping most of the day away in her own drunken stupor, while Evan’s older sister had been spared the tedium of school by staying home to care for her.
    Everything had been quite bucolic, actually, until the year of Evan’s tenth birthday. A pretty woman had shown up at the Gensrow home one