The Witch's Hunt by Misty Cogburn (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

It was only then, that Trávn realized the Sirens had never smelled a flower.

All around him each of the Sirens followed suit. Mimicking the actions of their Queen, the Sirens’ melodies began to hum as each of the fair maidens basked in the scent of the earthly blooms.

Their songs carried no words, only high beautiful pitches that expressed their emotions; yet from which, Trávn could tell that he had pleased them.

Satisfied he had done his best, Trávn once again lowered his face. Even as he gently replied, "I'm happy the gift pleases you. Yet, no flower could match the beauty of your smiles." The Sirens began to coo once more as he shamelessly flattered them. Yet, Trávn found he meant each word with the deepest sincerity.

They were the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen, yet he wasn't foolish enough not to fear them...

Feeling the Queen kneel before him, Trávn dared to glance upwards. Only to find his head bowed between the parted thighs of the bare Siren. Eyes locked, he found it impossible to break his gaze, even as his face burned. He bore witness to every womanly curve the Siren's body had to offer.

Finding the power to meet the teasing gaze of her silver eyes, Trávn's face flushed as he looked down abashed at what he had done.

"Wizard...," a voice sung with such raw beauty, it quelled his unease enough to where Trávn could look back into the Siren Queen’s eyes.

The Queen's lush lips hadn't moved from the smirk partially hidden behind the jasmine's vine, but Trávn knew it was the voice of the Queen. For no other on Earth could have such a beautiful voice...

"... you please my kind. –And as a reward, we will take you to what you seek. Yet, be warned. For enemies lurk within the storm," the being's melody continued.

"We will deliver you from their reach."

At their Queen’s words, happy melodies began to fill the air, and the younger Sirens approached him without any hesitation. In response, Trávn slumped gratefully down to the earth, thanking them repeatedly. Within him, his magic hummed with his relief, playing in tune with the Siren's now peaceful melodies.

They flocked to him unabashed by their nudity, pulling at his strange clothing and working together to unravel his potion's bindings. It took three of them to accomplish the task, and soon all of the dried plants he had gathered from his journey began to be passed around from Siren to Siren.

They stripped him bare, their eager eyes and hands roaming over everything he owned... even parts of his body he noted with a jump! Gingerly he rubbed at his backside where a Siren's claws had dug into his rump.

As he stood before them nude as day, with only his hands to hide himself from their prying eyes, Trávn couldn’t help but think it should be impossible for his face to burn this brightly. Yet, the creatures were undeterred, all around him the Sirens pilfered through his belongings, smelling his things, and trying on his clothing to model before the others with gleeful expressions.

One beauty had stolen his coat and slid it on, its sleeves going past her hands and its length below her knees, swallowing her tiny form. His hat did nearly the same...

Trávn had never been a large man, but seeing his clothes envelop the beautiful Sirens brought a manly sense of pride to his heart; until another tried on his trousers and they fit perfectly... as well as his boots.

However, he wouldn't let his slight form bother him, not when the Sirens seemed so excited by his strange belongings. Overtime their songs had lost their eerie tune, and had become more chirping as the moments drew longer.

They seemed enthralled by his many things, and somehow they developed a habit of smelling them as well, Trávn noted, wincing as one Siren sniffed inside his boot only to recoil in disgust. Turning his head like he had not saw, Trávn hoped the beautiful creature was okay.

It wasn't until he recognized the chill seeping into his bare flesh and heard the surprised hiss from a nearby Siren that Trávn even realized Kalsilk was missing.

Slithering from his stolen coattail like a snake, the dragon ran to him. Causing the, women to erupt in ear piercing screeches as the creature fled. Clutching his ears, Trávn cringed from the horrid sound.

Even as Kalsilk clawed up his leg like a cat would a tree, his ears hurt worse than the marks left behind by the small dragon’s talons.

Yet, Kalsilk ignored Trávn’s distress.

Upon, reaching his usual perch the tiny Dragon coiled around Trávn's neck with a bruising force, choking Trávn, as he glared at the Sirens to stay away.

Tugging at the dragon’s coils, Trávn fought for air. Instead of showing his ire at his small companion’s actions, Trávn smiled sheepishly at the Sirens, apologizing generously for the small dragon's impolite behavior.

Turning his back on the many glowering eyes that watched the dragon, Trávn leaned towards the creature. "Coward," he hissed sourly at Kalsilk, knowing the Dragon had disappeared from sight as soon as the Sirens had appeared.

A forked tongue flicked in his direction, but that was the only indication Kalsilk cared about the accusation. Huffing gruffly, Trávn turned back to the surrounding Sirens, more than willing to apologize once more... However, the appearance of the Dragon seemed to have snapped the Sirens from their odd behavior.

Almost instantly they began to return his belongings to him, their beautiful eyes downcast and faces seemingly sorry for their actions.

He was thankful for his clothing, grateful even when they returned his potions binding. Yet, when they began to return the jasmine blooms, Trávn blatantly refused to accept them. "Keep them," he replied to their ardent attempts.

"Flowers shall always be a tribute to your beauty," he smiled as he dressed, and coos rained down all around him from the sated Sirens. Even their Queen seemed pleased by his sincere words.

Yet the serene moment was cut short as the rolling thunder began to pick up. Lightning cracked in the darkening sky above them as they dallied.

He could tell the Sirens wished to return to the sea in the midst of such a storm.

Trávn had long since noticed the longer the Sirens strayed from the water the more pallor their looks became. Their bodies must not be equipped to remain outside the waters for long, he noted.

By their own control a large wave washed up into the bluff, solidly enough for the Sirens to step into the water and swim out to sea. One by one they left the cliff, until Trávn stood on the sheer bluff alone with only Kalsilk in his company.

From beneath the cliff the Sirens swam, once more beckoning him to leap into the waters below. Yet, Trávn feared he could not. Even staring down into the sea's dark depths of rolling waves brought a terror like he'd never known.

He stood morbidly at the edge of the staggering bluff.

Too weak and cowardly to move from where his feet seemed firmly placed. To jump from such a height would be suicide, but that's just what his magic bid him to do… One moment he sat comfortably debating if it was worth the risk and in the next moment his feet blasted off the cliff's edge with no heed or warning.

One would think what with magic, came choices... Yet, they'd be wrong.

Magic has a will of its own... Yet, somehow, Trávn thought murderously, the will of his magic always seemed to supersede his own.

As he fell ever downwards, Trávn screamed wildly, failing through the air. He wished with his entire core he could fly, even as he hit the water with a solid thunk. He hadn't dove, like anyone with any intelligence would have, but instead landed flat on his rear. The pain was instant, as if he had been flogged by the placid waters.

For a moment everything was dark, as he clutched at his rear, he had sunk far into the sea’s depths. So deep he was blind within the dark waters, yet his magic reacted to his sudden panic, giving him sight beneath the sea’s waves.

Yet, his sight only made his situation worse. Gagging, Trávn’s frightened eyes burned from the sea’s salt and what he saw lay under the cliff's watery edge.

Centuries of stockpiled bones lay littered around the sea floor.

More Sirens than he could ever hope to count swarmed around him with sing-song voices. Both ships and treasure littered the sea around them, and briefly Trávn wondered if he'd been tricked.

Yet, no attack came, instead a girl Siren in a child's form swam to him. Just like the other Sirens, her long black hair surrounded her like a halo of ethereal beauty. The girl, he noticed, was unfamiliar to him...

She wasn't one of the Sirens he had already met. Trávn had only one jasmine blossom left, and in an offer of peace he held it out towards the child, almost tentatively.

However, the girl's eyes never once looked towards the offered blossom. Instead her blue eyes focused on the flesh of his arm.

Then in a flash of fangs and claws the tiny Siren bit into the meat of Trávn's forearm. The reaction was instant, as his blood flowed from both his arm and the little Siren's mouth the others began to circle them like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

Realizing what was about to happen, Trávn's heart thudded wildly.

In a foolish move, Trávn tore his arm from the child's mouth, ripping his arm open against her deadly sharp teeth and filling the sea around them with his blood.

Cradling his wounded arm, Trávn kicked desperately, fleeing the swimming Sirens in an attempt to reach the surface of the water. Yet, knowing all the while, even without the heavy weight of his clothing the sheer cliff that awaited him outside the sea’s waves would be impossible to climb.

Though even before he could break the surface of the sea’s black depths, Trávn flinched as another Siren dove towards him. His magic was rushed, the spell was weak, but he threw up a shield to protect himself from the creature's claws.

Unaware that another was circling behind him to attack his throat. Trávn cringed as he felt her claws sink into his arm and side, catching a glimpse of her fanged filled mouth over his shoulder. Trávn wondered if this would be how he would die, just before the beautiful creature lunged at his throat.

It happened in a whirling moment of pain and agony.

He clutched at his ears, alongside every Siren beneath the sea's watery depths. His chest had long since begun to burn from his lack of air. Yet, suddenly Trávn found it was no longer a problem.

Trávn now felt the absence of the sea’s chill and the burning ache in his lungs; to his surprise, he was breathing while under water! He was locked within a swirling bubble of contained air that separated him from the sea, and thankfully, the Siren's from him.

Trávn coughed up what little water he had inhaled under his attack. He looked up sharply as his prison of swirling air began to drift towards the angered form of the Sirens’ Queen. He knew it had been by her command that his attack was halted, and it was by her power he now sat dry and warm beneath the sea's waves.

Once more he was stunned by the Siren, completely unsure of her motives.

Yet, even still he was bewitched by her beauty, …it was all the more remarkable under the sea's currents, he noted with a soft smile in her direction.

As the beautiful Queen returned his smile with a deadly grin, Trávn was once again reminded of his danger. Beautiful or not, the lethalness of the Queens teeth was surely much greater than the small mouth of the child Siren, he gulped.

"I hope you are well," she murmured in her rich song.

Fighting back his ire as he clutched his bleeding arm, Trávn nodded. He knew it