The Pyre of Persecution

Rhian was a witch who lived at the edge of the forest. Her mother had taught her how to steal a person's will, and how to curse a person with bees. Her mother had been an evil old witch, but Rhian decided from an early age to go her own way when it came to magic. She knew how to make a hundred butterflies land on her arm and face. Their little feet made her giggle like a little girl. The town's people chose her to burn at the steak, because she was pretty, and too many old nags saw their husbands looking at her when she walked through town on the way to the grocer. She made love potions for ugly girls, who paid her in secret, but never enough. She knew how to put a curse on people, but all she said before they lit the pyre on fire was: "I've never looked back, ask any of them. You know what I'm talking about."