The Witch Within

Gripping mystical tale set in medieval Bohemia.After she has been charged with witchcraft, sixteen-year-old Talitha escapes to the abandoned Cursed Lands and seeks the ancient cave of her ancestors. In the deep woods, she starts to remember her ancestral lore of healing and magical symbolism and receives guidance on how to survive from the local spirits. Soon after she's captured by two men, who were sent to take her to the local justice. One is a brute while the other is fatally attracted to her. Once Talitha manages to escape them, she finds her ancestral cave, but also another one at the highest peak of the forest where a group of refugee women have established a camp. By facing both the dark and bright side of her kin, Talitha learns that what she thought was her curse, may yet become her gift.The novel was inspired by natural magic, runes, paganism and the mystical legends of South Bohemia. It's written in first-person present tense and is lyrical in some parts. It also contains a runic riddle to be solved for those who are interested in runic magic.