This story is an Honorable Mention of Wattpad lowfantasy profile's "Then Comes Magic" 2022 contest.

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The moon was brighter than usual and it radiated an energy I could recognize.

It's coming.

I tried to free myself from my binds--the thick ropes tying my body tightly to a wooden pole in the middle of an unlit pyre.

The smell of death hung in the air, waiting.

"Set me free!" My voice was lost in the noise of the crowd. Cold and angry, the people shouted curses at me, calling me the devil's child.

The King rises from his magnificent chair. His voice boomed at the crowded plaza. "This woman is guilty of sorcery and bringing evil upon our good kingdom! With the devil's aid, she taught nonsense and dark magic to the innocent, healed men in hell's name, and bewitched--"

"You're wrong!" I shouted to defend myself. "Everything I did, I did for the kingdom out of love! I am no bringer of evil! You know that." Above, the moon rose with its strange glow. The stars hid behind the dark clouds. It's near. "Release me if you value your lives!"

The people gasped.

"She's cursing us!" I heard an old woman say. "Kill her!" The voices of the crowd soon echoed. "Burn the witch!" "Burn the witch!"

With a torch in his hand, the King walked down from the wooden platform. The crowd parted as he approached. Then, barely looking at me, he dropped the fire unto the pile of wood beneath my feet.

Wilhelm...

Feeling betrayed, I should have cast magic against this mortal and his kind, but I did not have that much power.

As soon as the pyre was lit, a roar was heard from the night sky.

It's here.

The people in the plaza shuddered and shouted in fright as they saw a gigantic, hideous monster--with the body of a dragon and the face of a bat--descend from the moon. Even the soldiers, with their swords and shields, almost ran away from fear.

I was tempted to let them be, let the monster kill and devour the people who I once called friends, let it end Wilhelm's life.

But I couldn't do that.

So, at the top of my lungs, I sang in a language older than any mortal in sight. Not certain if it would reach the monster, but I tried.

Slowly, the beast seemed to calm down.

One townfolk realized what was happening and abruptly released me from my binds.

I continued singing while approaching the wild beast until it sat down on the earth and nuzzled my hand. "Go back!" I gently commanded and it turned to moon stones.

Facing the crowd, I shouted, "You, with your cruelty and evil deeds, had bewitched the evil power spreading in your land, giving birth to monsters! I only wanted to protect you but you put me on the pyre! And, now, I choose to leave this place." King Wilhelm's eyes met mine. I put a hand on the center of my belly. "With your child."