Here is an excerpt from the Adventures of Phippen Abercrombie, Book I: the Dragon Egg Curse...
Chapter 17
Phippen's Request
Majella could see the shadow of the Witch under her door. She closed her eyes tightly and wished she would carry on. Go to another cell and just leave her alone. She held her eyes so tight the effort of it hurt. She felt if she squeezed her lids any harder they would begin to bleed.
"Don't hurt your pretty little face Princess," a cool reptilian voice hissed an inch from her nose.
Majella recoiled in shock. She could smell the Witch's rotten breath wash over her face. She gagged hard to keep from being sick. She could feel a hot, sulfuric energy emanating from her grey skin. Majella squeezed her eyes even tighter.
"You will eat Princess," the Witch said coolly.
Majella's hands were flat on the ground beside her hips. She suddenly felt a searing pain in the back of her right hand. Her eyes opened and she could see the Witch hunched over her. She had the end of her staff pushing into the top of Majella's hand, pinning it to the floor. Her hand burned under the staff as if it were acid tipped. It felt to Majella it would soon eat its way through her hand to the filthy floor beneath.
Majella reached over with her left hand and grabbed the staff trying to pull it from her hand. Her mind reeled with the pain; she could barely think through the agony.
The Witch laughed a low vicious laugh which sent chills down the young girl’s spine.
"Now, now Princess," the Witch hissed as she lowered her head back to Majella's. "Struggling will not save you."
Majella felt a pain in her forehead that overshadowed the burning in her hand. She squeezed tighter on the staff in her left hand and bit her lip to stifle a scream. Blood ran down her chin. The Witch was in her mind. She could feel her there like an animal slithering around in her head.
She could hear the Witch speaking in her mind. Let go Princess, she growled. Majella released her grip on the staff. She was not in control of her own body. Now look at me.
Involuntarily, Majella's head turned up to look at the monstrous face before her. Yellow eyed rage and hate, the Witch curled her lips back to reveal her sharpened, rotting teeth, more like an ancient animal than a human.
I could make your lovely little red haired friend leap off a cliff. Her voice whispered inside Majella's mind. Or I could make her cut the throat of that idiot father of yours in his sleep. Do you think she could live with that Princess?
Majella shook her head. Her greasy hair slapped against her cheeks.
"I can't hear you," the Witch spoke aloud, her voice a low menacing growl.
"No," Majella croaked out quietly, her clouded mind, numb with the pain.
"THEN EAT!" the Witch howled as she kicked a mouldy piece of bread across the floor to Majella.
Majella picked the bread up with her left hand and took a small bite. She gagged as she swallowed, trying again not to throw up.
"Very good girl," the Witch sneered as she lifted the staff from Majella's hand. "If I need to make this trip down here again, it will be to show you the misery I have inflicted on that hideous little friend of yours. She will endure a suffering you can scarcely imagine."
Majella held her wounded hand to her chest.
"Have I explained my position convincingly Princess?" The Witch was clearly enjoying herself.
Majella nodded slowly.
"Very well," The Witch turned and her inky black form seeped under the door like an oil spill.
Majella could see her shadow on the other side of the door for a moment. Then it moved away and the scratching sound from the staff grew distant. Majella held her hand close to her chest and began to weep uncontrollably.
If you enjoyed that, get the rest of the story here...
Image credit, Evil Witch by deathmedic