The yells came closer now, and I put the rest of my cheese sandwich into my pocket, ready to run if I needed to. Hurried footsteps and laboured breathing disturbed the peace of the grassy rise, and soon a witch with wild hair and bare ankles came into view, running up the slope. She was closely followed, and by the time she had reached the tree under which I sat, I could see the horses of her pursuers.
"If you help them, I shall kill you," the witch said, noticing me.
I shrugged. "It isn't likely," I said.
The horses arrived, their hooves cutting cruelly into the turf as they pranced to a halt. Lord Renwel, the owner of our lands, rode the leading horse, closely followed by Father Mansei. Lord Renwel jumped down off the saddle, drawing his sword.
"Surrender, witch," he said.
"Repent your evil ways," Father Mansei added from his horse.
"Certainly not for you," the witch said insolently, putting her hands into the pockets of her skirt.
Lord Renwel stepped forward, sword in hand, and the witch pulled out her hands. Both held unusual, identical, shiny-white objects.
"Give up now, or die wishing you had," the witch told them, holding her hands slightly apart and glaring at Lord Renwel.
Renwel snarled, "Insolent wench!"
The witch's eyes narrowed.
"Fine, then," she said, and started her magic. The smell of thunder permeated the area, and gusts of air blew from every direction. The witch ignored the wind tugging at her hair and skirt, and concentrated on the space between her hands, as if willing the space to disappear. Her hair crackled and stood on end as a tiny pinprick of light appeared between her palms. Purple lightning danced out from that spot as the brilliant light grew into a blue-streaked globe seething with energy and impatience. The witch looked at her opponents, madness obscuring her eyes. "I'll see you in hell!" she shrieked, as a dark purple stain ran across the air and burnt the grass at her feet.
I ran, then — ran as fast as I could, ignoring the shouts of fear and rage coming from Lord Renwel and Father Mansei's terrified prayers. At the bottom of the rise I stumbled, fell, and turned just in time to be blinded by a purple flash of light that mercifully obscured the horrors I could hear through the hole in reality the witch had made —
— Peace. Quiet. After a pause, the birds in the trees nearby started singing again. I stood shakily, staring at the smoking crater that sat where the hill had once been. The witch had wormholed. Right in the middle of an inhabited area, she had wormholed! Probably on another planet by now, the lucky heathen.
I mumbled a few half-hearted prayers for Father Mansei and my Lord, both lost between space. I then took out my cheese sandwich, and sighed. Just my luck — it was utterly squashed.