Chapter 3

Ren blinked and opened her eyes. It was almost dawn. Where was she? She glanced around, trying to make out her surroundings. A muddled thought surfaced in her hazy mind. Her bag... She fumbled in search of the rough textile but instead, her finger latched on to something soft. A blanket? She... wasn't on the ground any longer. Had the witch taken her in? She squinted. The sun was slowly rising, and the grey morning light gradually revealed a small room. A table stood by the side of the bed, and a rug lay on the floor. Outside, the sky was clear, with no ground or treetops below. She must be high up.

She sat up with a start. She must be in the tower! The witch had taken her in! She'd made it!

Her body protested as she pushed herself up and clambered out of bed. She stumbled to the window, and leaned against the wall with a sigh, her head spinning from the effort. Her ancestors had heard her prayers... She would learn magic. She'd study hard, and learn every spell the witch would show her and...

She turned to the door. Someone was coming, she could hear footsteps outside. Moments later, a woman entered. She was dressed in black, and she scowled as she saw Ren.

"You're awake. Good. You can make yourself useful and clean."

Ren cocked her head. Had she said clean? The woman pointed at the corner.

"There's the broom. Once you finish here, I'll show you the other rooms."

Ren looked at her, confused. Wouldn't she teach her magic? Wasn't that why she had let her in? A sudden thought hit her.

"Are... Are you the witch?"

"Who else would I be?"

Ren went quiet. So she had come to the right place. She opened her mouth to speak and the witch frowned.

"What are you waiting for?"

Ren hesitated.

"I've come to learn magic..."

"Well, I need someone to clean. "

She pointed at the door, and Ren walked over to it to pick up the broom, too confused to argue.

"What's your name?, the witch continued."

"Ren."

The witch nodded.

"You better be quick."

She left without another word, and Ren was left staring at the door. What was happening? Hadn't she come here to learn? She glanced around the room. The room wasn't even filthy, it didn't need to be swept.

She heard a thud outside, and a black cat peered through the door. She glanced around before crouching down and beckoned for it to come closer. It glared at her and disappeared back into the corridor.

"I didn't mean to scare you, she mumbled."

She pushed herself up and began to sweep. Her little brother would have liked this place, she thought. There were a lot of places to play hide and seek. She could almost hear him calling her, as he always did when he saw her. She slumped against the wall. He was with the ancestors now, together with her mother, father, and uncle. She closed her eyes, tears burning behind her eyelids. She would avenge them, the rival clan wouldn't get away with it.

She heard footsteps outside and quickly dried her eyes. Moments later, the witch entered and looked around.

"That will do. But you're too slow, you'll never get everything done at this rate."

She pointed at the door.

"Next room to the right, now go."

Ren swept that room too, and then another, and then another. Every time the witch inspected it, she scowled and told her she was too slow. She only paused for lunch, when the witch came in with a plate of sandwiches.

"Eat."

She put the plate on the table and left, and Ren ate in silence. Her hands had blisters and her back ached from the cleaning. Why was the witch doing this? Was this a trial she had to go through before learning magic? A way to show that she was worthy of the responsibility? She had never heard of anyone learning magic before, maybe this was meant to test her strength of will?

She continued cleaning the whole day and in the evening, the witch said,

"There will be more to do tomorrow. I hope you'll do a better job than today".

Ren left for her room, her body aching from the day's work. If this was a trial, how could she pass it? Wouldn't the witch teach her until she did?

As she lay in bed that night, she clutched the stuffed horse in her pocket. She'd got it from her uncle as a child. It was the only thing she had left from her home, apart from the clothes. She sobbed. It wasn't supposed to be like this, she shouldn't be sweeping rooms that were already clean. She should be learning magic, preparing herself for her revenge. She would never succeed if the witch wouldn't teach her. She buried her face in the pillow and sobbed.

The witch woke her up the next day by kicking the bed.

"Get up! You can't spend the whole day sleeping."

The sun was barely over the horizon, but Ren got up and got dressed without a word.

"You'll go to the upper tower today, and clean the other rooms."

Ren nodded.

"The broom is at the bottom of the staircase, now go."

Ren found her way through the dark corridors of the tower. At lunchtime, the witch brought a plate of sandwiches.

"Eat. You're cleaning too slowly. "

Ren ate in silence. She couldn't afford to lose this chance. She had to learn magic. Slowly she felt her mood shifting. She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to have to ask the witch to teach her. She wanted to be in her Kingdom, with her family. But they were gone. It wasn't fair, and the witch shouldn't treat her like this, but Ren had no choice but to stay. If she wanted to avenge her family, she had to endure the witch.

She cleaned faster as she came back from lunch, a newfound anger flaring in her. The witch could ask her to clean all day long, and even be rude to her, but she wouldn't stop her from learning magic.

That night, she didn't cry herself to sleep but fell asleep with her family in her mind's eyes, and the revenge she would take.