HEARTHWANE · WITCH
a witch of the old wood, 900
Took three riders into her service, one for the dawn, one for the sun and one for the night, and has kept…
THEIR STORY
Baba Yaga lives in the Blackwood in a hut that stands on hen's legs, behind a fence of bones with a skull on every post. Three riders serve her: one in white, one in red and one in black. She keeps the only fire in the wood that never goes out, and she will give it to whoever works for it. Folk on the Marches farms call her Grandmother, and they do not say it fondly.
FROM
the Blackwood, beyond the Marches farms
HOW THEY LOOK
A bony old woman with iron teeth and a nose that hangs to her chin. She flies in an iron mortar and sweeps her tracks away with a birch broom.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“Did you come of your own will, or were you sent?”
“Ask about what you saw outside. Not every question does you good.”
BEFORE THE TALE
600 years ago · the riders' road
Took three riders into her service, one for the dawn, one for the sun and one for the night, and has kept them since.
300 years ago · the witch's yard in the Blackwood
Built her fence from the bones of guests who broke their word to her, and set their skulls on the posts to light the yard.
this year · the bone fence
Heard a woman in pattens ask her skulls whether girls sent for fire ever go home, and smelled brine on her skirts.