Free The Black Wolf's Mark by Pet Torres Page B

time? Where did you meet her?”
    “I approached her last night, she continually said − Fire ! Wolf !”
    Norton shakes his head and twirls his wine mug over the table and says, “Amarilis is not normal.”
    Zidane raises his head and stares at the face of his friend and Norton continues talking. “Besides being blind she is a witch.”
    “Witch?” Zidane’s voice sounded surprised.
    “Therefore she was born blind.”
    “Wait a moment! Explain to me the entire story!”
    Norton takes a gulp of wine and looks at his friend and begins to relate the story from the beginning.
    “Amarilis was born blind, and all the people in the village believe she was born this way because she is a witch.”
    “That is absurd!” Zidane says shaking his head.
    “But she is a witch because her mother was also a witch.”
    “Then that’s why she has that strange behaviour,” Zidane concludes, looking at the table’s dark wood.
    “The worst in all this, you don’t know yet.”
    Zidane stares into his friend’s eyes hoping he will tell him the worst part of the story.
    “Amarilis is condemned to die in the prime of her life.”
    “How so ‘condemned to die’?” he crosses his arms in front of his chest.
    “She’ll be burned as soon as she comes of age.”
    Zidane’s gaze widens as he listens to the words of his friend that is weaving the story.
    “Won’t you and your mother do anything to prevent this?”
    “We cannot do anything; the people in this village are still generous to her because she is blind. If it was not for that, she would have been dead a long time ago.”
    “She is a defenseless person. What harm would she do to anyone? The poor girl is blind!” his voice echoed with indignation and re pulse.
    “The people here don’t see her as a poor blind girl , but as a witch .”
    “She doesn’t deserve to die this way − I feel she is a good person.”
    “And she is, but her destiny is traced with fire and we cannot change that.”
    Norton shows himself to be realistic.
    “Then, that’s the reason why she says the word ‘ fire’ all the time.”
    “She does not know this yet, that she’ll be burned by fire. My mother and I feel it’s better to spare her from this suffering.”
    “You need to spare her from this stupid death too. She does not deserve this sad end.”
    Zidane drinks the rest of his wine and strongly thumps his mug over the table as if he is giving a final point on the death sentence of the poor blind woman.
    “Nothing can be done − she’ll face her death like her mother did.”
     

Chapter 7
     
     
     
    One afternoon, Zidane is walking by the village and some children are playing outside of their homes.
    He observes the children for a time and after that he looks in front and sees Amarilis c oming, walking slowly trying to feel the ground with her own feet. The children stop playing and they look at the witch that is approaching with some flowers that she brings from the prairie. Then a rain of stone falls over the young woman because the children throw all the objects that they see straight ahead against the blind girl.
     
    “BLIND WITCH!”
    Zidane runs up to the girl and protects her from the stones and wood pieces that the children throw towards her.
    “Stop it!” he shouts annoyed. “Go into your homes!”
    The children run desperate to enter their houses. And Amarilis glances at all sides, trying to calm herself from the fright she just received.
    Zidane touches the afflicted face of the young woman and asks, “Are you okay?”
    She holds his hand with all her strength and answers, “I think so, yes.”
    “Come, I’ll escort you back to your home.” He holds the blind girl’s arm and she continues holding her flowers.
    He leaves her in front of her door and she gazes in the direction of the boy. For an instant he thinks she can really see him with her white eyes. He feels sorry for the girl when his mind remembers about the stupid death sentence hanging over