Strom's Triumphant Journey

The witch’s home was a tall tower built in the center of the village. It was made of stone and stained glass, with jutting spires and crooked towers. The villagers had once tried to burn it down, but the witch had put up a barrier around the entire place and no flame could get through.

The magic that protected her fortress was strong magic, powerful magic. But it was also old magic, and Strom knew that old magic can be undone by new ways. The witch had lived in the world for many years, a curse like hers could not be easy to cast or break.

Strom knew he needed to go in sneakily, if he walked in through the door marked with a skull, she would see him from her lookout tower. So he took off his armor and shifted into the form of a brown mouse. He scurried up to the window ledge, then into an open window that smelled strongly of cat droppings. Once he got inside he shifted back into his human form and hid underneath a bed.

A few minutes later the witch arrived home, loud and proud as always with her wooden staff banging on the floor as she hobbled into her bedroom and flopped onto her bed. Strom waited a few moments more until she started snoring loudly before creeping out from under the bed and looking around. This room was much nicer than his own bedroom at home, with soft blankets on the bed and rich tapestries hanging on the walls. A large mirror sat on one wall between two windows, casting the room in gloomy shadows despite being midday outside. A piece of paper on one of the windows caught his eye and he went over to investigate:

* <> * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * ** * ** ********** ********** ********** ********* ************ ************ *******************

"She's asleep," whispered Strom to himself as he read through the words again. "Now what?" He looked around for something useful to steal when his eyes fell upon another interesting thing: an old scroll sitting on top of a pile of other scrolls and books next to her bedside table. He picked it up and unrolled it carefully without waking up the witch, then began to read:

* <> * * ** ** *** **** ***** ***** ** *** **** **** ** *** **** *** ** *** **** ****** *** ****** ** *** ***** **** *** ***** ** *** ********* ** *** ********* ** *** ********** ***

"Curse," thought Strom aloud as he finished reading through all of it. "I never knew she had such wickedness in here." He looked back up at the witch's sleeping face and felt pity for what she must have suffered at some point in life to make her so bitter now. Then something else caught his eye in the book:

* <> * * ** ** *** *************** *********************** ********************* *********************** ****************** ***************** ****************** *************************************** ************************************* ************************************ **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Strom's eyes widened as he stared at this passage for several moments before understanding dawned on him and he went running out of there as fast as he could run back down to where his horse was tied up in front of her house. When he got back he threw all of his armor back on over his regular clothes, mounted Sockskinner, then whipped him hard until they were both covered in sweat and puffing heavily from exertion. After they had finally catch their breath they slowed down to a trot until they were just out of sight of town before picking up speed again until they were only slightly slower than a gallop while still keeping quiet enough not to wake any sleeping dogs or passing bears who might be hibernating right now during this time of year when bears sleep more than usual. When they finally reached home, Strom jumped off Sockskinner's back before tying him up outside so that nobody would hear them knocking around inside when they got inside their house; his mother would not appreciate having her afternoon nap interrupted like that unless it was an emergency or something like that, which this most certainly was not.

His mother was surprised when she found Strom huffing and puffing inside their own home after being gone for hours already today already without saying anything about going anywhere today; normally if Strom left home he would say something first like "I'm going out" or "I'm hunting", but nothing today except "see ya later". She asked why didn't you say anything first but Strom just ignored her questions while throwing everything off his body except his boots so that he could leave again quickly if need be; getting caught by anyone inside their own house right now would be disastrous right now with how dangerous everything currently was right now so instead of answering questions right now like "where are you going?" or "what's wrong?", all Strom did instead was throw down that old scroll next to where she stood folding clothes near their stove while yelling "read this!" before bolting out their front door again while leaving behind only pieces of armor lying on the floor everywhere along with traces of mud from outside where Strom had been riding bareback earlier after leaving home earlier today without saying anything about going anywhere today...