' You are not from here are you, young lady?', The vendor is a large
man with a heavy moustache and a stomach that had felt the benefit of
one too many drinking sessions, ' Your accent is good, but not that
good.'
' Actually I am from around here. I was born up ..... in the
mountains, but I have been away from a number of years. I guess it has
softened since I was a young girl.' Wanda bites into the chicken leg
as she hands over a bundle of crinkled notes. The Transian economy is
suffering like so many in Eastern Europe and the inflation rate was
high. For someone who was used to a credit card culture, piles of
notes could be confusing.
" Ach, for you pretty one it is a gift. To a returning daughter of
Transia, yes?' Wanda giggles as the grease from the chicken runs down
her chin.
***********************************
Wanda settles down on the soft bed in the hotel room that she has
booked.earlier and lies her head back into the soft duck feather
pillows. She is still wary of going to sleep lest the recent events
with Kariooq repeat themselves. Both Willy and Shaman offered her
charms to ward off evil spirits but she refused. If evil and wicked
beings were to attack her she wanted to be able to handle them
herself.
The journey had taken a lot out of her but she was adamant that she
would not waste this first day in Transia. After a few hours sleep she
wants to go for a meal and then have a look around the town at night,
maybe have a drink with some of the locals and her fellow travellers.
She wanted to immerse herself in the Transian culture and find her
roots, just as Dr Twoyoungmen had suggested. Later she wants to find
the band of travelling gypsies that raised her as a child.
As she drifts off to sleep she begins to reflect on her childhood and
her lineage. Her true father, Magneto had not truly loved his wife (
and her true mother) Magda. She had given birth with the aid of
beloved Bova, on Wundagore, but had then left the children with the
bovine midwife and the High Evolutionary. Robert Frank, the Whizzer
and his wife arrived at the Evolutionaries sanctuary and were offered
both her and Pietro but he refused so the High Evolutionary passed the
children onto the shaman of a local gypsy tribe, Django Maximoff, to
raise in the place of their two lost children. She has fond memories
of that time and initially of the time when she and Pietro's mutant
abilities began to manifest. Then the people of the area learned of
their presence and .... she shudders to remember those dark days and
drifts off into a fitful sleep.
***********************************
Outside another woman approaches the chicken vendor. This one is tall
and dark, even her eyes are pools of inky darkness.
' Your food smells wonderful. However, not as fine as than man's over
there,' she says glancing at a nut seller,' maybe he is trying to
drive you out of business? Out of the town?' She stares at the vendor
and inky tendrils begin to flow through his eyes.
' Maybe he is? Maybe he deserves a piece of my mind!' He begins to
storm over to the nut seller as the mysterious woman moves further
though the village, seemingly oblivious to the argument brewing behind
her.
***********************************
Ebony strolls down the dusty road that leads into the Balkan village.
This little 'task' that Agatha gave him to fulfil is proving tedious.
If only the human woman would stay still for a day at a time Ebony
would be able to catch up with her. Hope fully she will stay in this
village and Ebony will be able to rest.
A large brown dog barks noisily, baring it's teeth at the small, thin
cat. Ebony looks at the dog with utter contempt. Why? Dogs - just why?
The dog begins to bound towards Ebony. The cat familiar opens it's
mouth and roars a hellish warning. The dog stops dead in it's tracks
and runs away whimpering.
Pathetic.
***********************************
Wanda moves through the night as if she had never left this place and
lived for years in the hustle and bustle of New York and Los Angeles.
Even her accent was returning. Well, maybe, but she certainly felt at
home. There were smells and tastes and sounds that she had completely
forgotten. Maybe this was the sort of experience that Agatha Harkness
had meant when she told her to find herself. She definitely felt as
far from the life of an Avenger as she possibly could. She was also
finding the glancing attentions of the local men flattering. And the
local wine was warm inside her. All in all she was very happy.
Settling down at an outside bench, she orders a new glass of wine and
relaxes.
' Wanda Lensher? Scarlet Witch?' The voice stunned Wanda as the darkly
dressed woman slid into the seat beside her at the table.
' What? Who are you? What do you want?'
' Be quiet, Daughter of Magneto. You would not be wanting to attract
attention to yourself, would you?.' Wanda stares at the woman. She is
tall and slim, maybe a little too slim. She is dressed in black
clothing, not matt black, but layered black. Her hair is raven black
and her dark skin and jet black eyes finish a spooky picture.
' Do not call me that! I am Wanda Maximoff, not Wanda Lensher!'
' Do not deny your heritage to someone who has dedicated their life to
the worship of your Father, the saviour of all mutantkind.'
' You are an Acolyte,' it was a statement rather than a question,'
what do you want with me? I will have nothing to do with you people.
Magneto may be my father but he is not a man to be worshipped.'
' You are unenlightened, Wanda Lensher. You will learn to take your
rightful place at the right hand of your fathers chosen warriors. You
will join the Acolytes.'
' I will not, and there is nothing you can do that will make me do
that.' As if to emphasise her threat Wanda's eyes glow with an eerie
red fire.
' I know of your powers, Scarlet Witch. I am also aware of your past.
I am Umbra, mistress of the shadow-mind. Look around you, Wanda
Lensher and see why you will join the Acolytes.'
Wanda glances up at the crowd of townsfolk that have gathered around
her. Their eyes are glazed over with the same jet black shadow. She
jumps to her feet.
"What have you done!?' Instinctively she fires her mutant power and
her hands glow scarlet.
' See! It is as I told you. It is the mutant girl that terrorised the
area those many years ago. Her brother may not be here and her gypsy
collaborators may have escaped but you can get revenge now!'
The crowd descends howling and screaming at Wanda. She disappears
under a pile of bodies
" Burn the Witch!'
****************************************************************
Next Issue in The Scarlet Witch
Shown for the mutant she is by the Acolyte Umbra Wanda must face the
wrath of an enraged village once again. When one of them reveals a
murderous past will they survive ' The Fury of the Witch.'?
****************************************************************
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