Tinker Witch

A Year in Craft and Chaos #3

by Stephanie A. Gillis

In the kingdom of Laurellia, stories of an old crone with extraordinary powers spread faster than the magical fire she controls. Protecting villages from invading lands and taking nothing in return for her service, the woman they call "Tinker Witch" disappears into the forests and appears whenever trouble is afoot. Prince Auric Fendrid is determined to unmask the mysterious woman and find the source of her magic but when he finds a young and strange woman instead of the old crone, the old tales of Laurellia's origins begin to unfold and risk upending the kingdom forever.

This is the third installment in a year long project experimenting in a variety of genres and short form writing. Each month in 2022 I chose a genre at random and spent the month crafting the story. This was written in March of 2022 under the genre of High Fantasy.

69 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 21, 2023

About the author

Stephanie Gillis is the author of the SPFBOX finalist The Humane Society for Creatures & Cryptids, the urban fantasy series The Ashport Archives, and several short stories of varying genres! On YouTube she's known as Qwordy (Q) and regularly hosts productivity livestreams and posts bookish content. You can often find her breaking out into song at random or petting the nearest dog.

Reviews

[Riley Touris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story quite a bit. I like the mystery surrounding the Tinker Witch, even at the end, and that she gets exactly what she wants while Auric is left with the consequences of his own actions. I do wish we got a little more scenes of them, like more clues to the reader that she was manipulating him.

[Corbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Betrayed