Witch Extinguished
"She's of no use to us!" I demand.
"I'll decide who is valuable here," the King replies.
"Aren't I valuable to the kingdom, my lord?" I ask.
"Yes, you serve your lord well," the goblin king admits, "and part of that service is to turn witches practicing white magic to the dark path."
"It was my job to train her, but she's turned against us. I must protect you from her," I argue.
"I don't need protection from her, and I don't need your protection. I am the king!" He challenges back.
"I warned you about her and you didn't listen. Now look at you. You still won't listen. What am I doing here? I'm here to help," I try to plead with him.
"Then help by letting me decide what's best," the king argues back.
"You don't know what I know. I've seen her dark magic, and she uses it against us," I state, "she can't be allowed to continue unchecked."
"I'm aware of her magic and her powers. The only one she uses them against is you, not me," the king argues again.
"Then you don't care what she does as long as I take the brunt of it and not you?" I ask.
"I didn't say that," the king replies.
"Then what are you saying?" I ask. There's a silence. Perhaps he doesn't know what he's saying or perhaps he's afraid to be honest with me that I don't matter to him after all. Has the king turned against me? "Are you suggesting this witch is free to run around casting spells without any form of discipline? I won't allow it. Not when its my ass on the line!"
"It's always your ass on the line. You put yourself in this situation. Now that she's a dark witch that's turned against you, you want to eliminate her and violate goblin law! How many times will this happen again?" The great king asks.
"I don't know my lord," I admit, "I didn't expect this, but it happened. My zen flow can only protect me for so long against her. Eventually she will find a weakness and then..."
"Then take care of that!" The king barks at me, "isn't that what I told you in the first place? You're the one who insisted she can be turned. I never asked for this. Now you have to live with the consequences or extinguish the flame yourself. Nobody will do it for you. It's your mess, you clean it up." His mercy hidden behind his anger.
"Is that my only option?" I ask the king with my head bowed low, knowing the consequences for taking the life of a witch, or any living being.
"You know it isn't," he answers.
"She's of no value to us...to you," I correct myself, "she still believes in the light despite the darkness eating her up from the inside."
"So what will you do? Defy God?" The goblin king asks me.
"I have no choice my lord. She has reached the end of her path and threatens ours," I admit.
"Then let the darkness prevail," orders the king.
"Yes my lord," I answer.
This post first appeared on Prelude To The Distraction Fiction Collections, please read the originial post: here
