Cassie did her best to step carefully and slowly, trying not to crunch twigs and dry leaves as she walked through the ancient woods. She followed the hooded figure for what felt like hours, though it was half of one at most. By the time they came to a stop in the woods, long after the sound of the Autumn Equinox Festival faded into the distance, Cassie was holding one hand on a stitch that had formed in her left side, and the other hand over her mouth to stifle her panting breath. She crouched down behind a tree trunk and a large bush of undergrowth, ten feet away from the clearing where the stranger was unloading their pack onto the ground.
Cassie noted the items being laid out on the ground: a large, ornate gold goblet, a sheet of parchment containing what was undoubtedly a spell, and a long, sharp dagger with a silver crusted handle. The figure then walked further into the woods, out of the clearing, leaving the items behind. Cassie was considering going after them, but after a few minutes, a small sheep entered the clearing, being led on a rope leash by the hooded stranger. Cassie felt her blood run cold.
She didn't need to read what was on that piece of parchment to know what the spell entailed. It was clear from the dagger and the sheep. This was an animal sacrifice ritual. Only the darkest kinds of magic would require a ritual so gruesome. Whatever this person was up to was more than just unsavoury and illegal, but very likely extremely dangerous. Cassie knew she should leave. She should turn around, run back to town, to the estate, to find anyone that could stop whatever evil might be unleashed from this ritual. But her feet kept her rooted to the spot, watching as the stranger tied the sheep's lead to a stake jutting out from the ground near where they knelt.
When the stranger lowered their hood, Cassie had expected to see a wizened old sorcerer, capable of the dark and sophisticated magic laid out in the clearing, but was instead met with the face of one of her classmates from the Sorcerers Institute. There was no mistaking the light olive skin, short wavy black hair, long sharp nose, and green eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight. It was Cymbeline Townsend, the sole heir to the Townsend Estate currently hosting the lavish Equinox celebration, and a constant thorn in Cassie's side at the Institute.
Cymbeline was barely an adult, practically a child, performing animal sacrifice magic on the night of Autumn Equinox. The odds that this would end well, Cassie considered, were next to zero. But matter how much Cassie knew she should run, she couldn't let go of the idea that she needed to stay to watch. To understand.
Cassie was so consumed with thoughts of why Cymbeline would be performing this kind of magic, that she didn't even hear the details of the spell. Cymbeline finished reciting the incantation, raising the dagger to the sheep's throat, an arm hooked around the sheep's neck as it thrashed and kicked for its life. The blood came first in a spray, as the blade sliced through fur and skin and flesh until the bone beneath was nearly visible, and then in a slow, steady spill of thick, dark red liquid that flowed like molten metal.
Cymbeline tucked the rim of the gold goblet under the flow of blood, collecting a full cup, and, with a carelessness that made Cassie's bile rise to her esophagus, tossed the still-twitching body of the sheep to the ground. Cymbeline stirred a single finger in a circular motion in the blood and continued the remainder of the incantation. Cassie couldn't pay attention to the words as she watched the edge of the goblet rise to her classmate's lips.
She wasn't sure how she got out of the woods. Wasn't sure if she managed to stay quiet as she backed away from the clearing and ran blindly through the dark trees, tripping over vines and exposed roots. Cassie didn't know if she'd been heard or seen. She just ran as fast as she could and didn't stop until she ran headlong into a pair of courtiers strolling along the edge of the estate property.
Cassie's panic-stricken face and dirty, disheveled appearance stood in stark contrast with the clean, regal attire of the couple. Still panting for breath, Cassie collapsed onto the grass at their feet. She only realized she had lost consciousness when she felt a set of arms gently lift her from the ground and begin carrying her back to the party. Cassie let herself slip away.
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