Curse of Magic

by Michael Brightburn

  I went to the bars.

  It was her. She was still wearing the clothes the angel had made for her. And, thank the fathers, she had keys.

  She studied the jail cells.

  What was she doing?

  She inspected the two closest to the door, then mine. But her eyes flitted over me.

  “Alva?” I said again.

  But it didn’t seem that she could hear me.

  What was going on? I banged at the bars, but she still didn’t look at me.

  She turned to leave, and frantically I grabbed the shackles that had bound me and tried tossing them out of the cell.

  My hands couldn’t pass through the spaces between the bars, but these could.

  Alva spun at the noise of them clattering to the stone floor, teeth bared, scanning the dark room.

  She approached where the shackles lay and studied them.

  She looked up at my cell and frowned.

  She cautiously stepped forward and pressed her hand against the bar, then tried to slip it through the gap.

  She met resistance.

  Shaking her head, she slid the key into the lock and twisted it.

  She let the cell door open a crack and then leapt backward, dashing toward the door.

  I pushed the jail-cell door open and stepped out.

  Alva let out a sigh, the tension going out of her. “Oh good, it’s you. I was worried it was going to be a monster or something.”

  “How’d you get in here?”

  She held up the keys.

  “I mean, after the net.”

  “I crawled out. The holes weren’t sized for people like me, and whatever it was coated with didn’t affect me.”

  “What about the others?”

  “Yeah, it affected them.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Can’t say for sure.” She looked around nervously. “Can we get out of here? As much as I like being out of the sun with you like this, I’d prefer to do it somewhere else.”

  I followed her out into the main room, and saw it wasn’t just keys that had gotten her in.

  Several guards lay lifeless on the floor, a few in pools of their own blood.

  I studied Alva and noticed that those parts of her body that swelled when she drank blood were now very swollen, stretching the fabric of her clothes. “Wow. Did you drink so much that you couldn’t finish?”

  She groaned. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’d be happy if I never saw blood again. I am so full. And tired. My breasts hurt so bad. Like they need to be blooded.” She looked up at me, her eyes settling on my uncovered crotch. “Maybe you could help with that.”

  “We’ve got bigger problems.”

  She shook her head. “Right.”

  My bag and clothes were still on the table and I grabbed the latter and started to get dressed.

  Halfway through pulling on my pants, I stopped, looking at the guards.

  And smiled as I got an idea.

  50

  “I don’t like you like this,” Alva said, studying me in my stolen guard’s uniform.

  I’d taken it from one of the guards who had been drained enough to not leak his blood everywhere.

  It was a set of light armor with thin plates of metal over the chest, back, and front of the thighs. A couple of the guards had worn helms with facemasks that could be lifted, and I’d donned one of these as well. Would be good to avoid being recognized.

  If there were any guards left alive to recognize me.

  “I don’t know what we’re going to do with you. You might have to get in my satchel.”

  She sighed. “Normally I’d protest… But I’m so full of blood right now, that I wouldn’t mind that.”

  I stuffed the clothes the angel had made me into the bag she’d given us.

  All my items were still in there: the clothes we were supposed to deliver, the potion case and scroll from the man who’d fallen from the sky. Even his sword, which only just barely fit, the hilt sticking out the top.

  They hadn’t even taken my little sack of pennies.

  I secured all the items then swung the bag over my shoulder, hoping it wouldn’t draw too much attention for a guard to be carrying a satchel.

  “You said you didn’t know where the others are?”

  “I saw Vi. She seemed pretty upset that I didn’t let her go.”

  “Why didn’t you let her go?”

  “I needed to save you first,” she said happily. “Plus,” she added, “without you there, I was worried she might eat me.”

  “Fair enough. What about the others? Trin and Sienna?”

  “No, I don’t know where they are. But we can go get Vi… If you want.”

  “Yes, I want. Where is she?”

  “A different jail.”

  I jerked my head at the other door. “What about that?”

  “Storage.”

  “Anything useful?”

  “Hay, a cask of ale. Some other stuff. Junk. Nothing we could use.”

  “Let’s go get Vi then.”

  We ascended the stairs out of the below-ground jail that wasn’t quite a dungeon.

  More time than I’d realized had passed when I’d dozed off, and while it wasn’t near dark yet, the day was well on.

  I followed her to another door a few hundred paces away. This one wasn’t below ground and as we entered I saw more drained corpses.

  “Wow,” I said, looking at them.

  “Yeah. I had to take on more than I expected to find you.”

  “How’d you manage to take them all out?”

  “Took them by surprise. It’s my specialty.”

  “Glad you’re on my side.” It definitely was a bad idea to underestimate her simply because of her size. She was a fierce opponent, as the copious corpses around us attested.

  Besides the entrance, this room had three doors leading off of it, one of which was already open.

  As we approached, a gravelly voice said, “Is that you little vampire? Come here so I can eat you.”

  Alva stopped and held out the keys to me. “Why don’t you go get her. I’ll wait here.”

  “She’s not going to eat you.”

  “All the same.”

  I took the keys from her and entered the room.

  There were ten cells here, but all of them except the one holding Vi were empty of people. Though they did contain beds, unlike the one Vi was in.

  The place seemed more like a barracks than a jail.

  They had her chained to a wall with thick shackles and heavy chains.

  Her clothes had been taken as well, and I didn’t know if it was my imagination or not, but I thought she looked more animal than usual, like she was partially transformed.

  She growled at me as I opened the cell.

  I realized she couldn’t see my face and took off the helm. “It’s me. It’s okay.” I freed her from her chains, feeling like she might bite my head off at any moment.

  She snarled as I undid the final shackle and went to her hands and feet.

  I took a step back. “Vi?”

  She dashed past me out of the cell on all fours.

  Then out the door.

  To the room with Alva.

  Fuck.

  I ran after her.

  I heard a shriek, and I reached the other room to find Alva clinging to the ceiling, nails dug in and holding her in place, Vi on two legs, swiping up at her.

  “Vi!” I scolded.

  She spun to face me, and her yellow eyes showed not humanity, but an animal rage.

  A deep growl issued from her chest and she got down on all fours, looking ready to lunge.

  “Vi!” I said again. “Stop it. Get control of yourself.”

  She continued growling.

  “Vi. It’s—”

  She lunged.

  I Pulled on instinct, but another instinct made me stop, and so instead of passing through my phased body, she collided with me.

  We went to the ground and she ended
up on top of me, snout—for it was a snout now, not a mouth—a handsbreadth from my face.

  I locked eyes with her. Bad idea with a wild animal, but while Vi was a wild, she was no animal. “It’s me. Darthos. Stop this.”

  She moved closer, her snout almost touching my face.

  Then her hackles lowered and she sniffed at me.

  Then immediately raised them again.

  I phased just as she lunged for my neck.

  Like I had in the forest when I’d first met her, I dumped energy backward and launched myself through her.

  Then I solidified and collapsed on top of her.

  She scrambled around under me, managing to get on her back before I could pin her.

  I pressed my forearm hard into her neck as she snapped at my face. “Stop it!”

  She didn’t stop.

  We didn’t have time for this.

  But I didn’t know how to calm her down.

  If only Sienna were here.

  Unable to think of anything else to do, I punched her as hard as I could with my free hand, my forearm against her neck coming dangerously close to sliding away and letting her up.

  She seemed unfazed by the hit.

  I hit her again, but it just made her madder.

  It was a struggle to keep her down, a struggle that I would soon lose.

  “A little help!” I called to Alva.

  There was no response.

  “Raping gods!” I cursed. “Vi! Snap out of it!”

  Instead, she snapped at me again.

  No, she wasn’t an animal, but she was acting like one.

  So what would I do if she were?

  I took a deep breath, and against all instinct, calmed myself. I purposely slowed my breathing, taking steady breaths.

  “Vi,” I said calmly. “Stop this.” I locked my eyes onto hers, and didn’t look away. “Listen to what I’m saying. Control yourself. Obey me.”

  Her legs twitched and she nearly bucked me off, but then stopped moving.

  She still bared her long sharp teeth at me, but no longer growled.

  “Yes. Good. It’s okay. Calm down. I’m friend, not food. Remember?”

  Her hackles lowered, and she started sniffing again.

  She blinked, her eyes still a violent yellow.

  I eased up on her neck, then leaned back entirely, relaxing, letting my panic seep away.

  She couldn’t hurt me. I had nothing to fear from her.

  I sat astride her hips, eyes locked on hers.

  She lay there now, not limply, but no longer struggling.

  “It’s me,” I repeated softly.

  Her eyes dimmed, and her snout retracted, flattening, turning into nose and mouth.

  “Darthos,” she rasped, in a rough, high voice.

  “Yes.”

  “I… They bound me. I couldn’t transform. They caged me!” Her eyes began to glow brighter.

  “Vi,” I said. “It’s okay. We need you. I need you. I need your help.”

  Her eyes dimmed, and she blinked again.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

  I smiled at her. “You can’t hurt me.”

  She chuffed. It was almost a laugh.

  51

  Vi’s clothes were nowhere in sight, but that was okay as I had her dress in a guard’s uniform.

  There were plenty to choose from. The trick was finding one that wasn’t soaked in blood.

  While she dressed, I worked on my other wild.

  “It’s safe now,” I assured Alva as she clung to the ceiling, her whole body shivering. “Come down.”

  She shook her head.

  “Come on Alva, we need to go.”

  “It’s okay little creature, I won’t eat you,” Vi told her, pulling on a guard’s tunic. It was mostly clean of blood.

  “That’s not what your actions say.”

  “I’m better now. Come down.”

  I held up my arms to the little vampire. “It’s okay. I’ll protect you.”

  “Promise?” she asked in a high, almost childish, voice.

  “I promise.” I motioned to her.

  She pried one hand free, then the other, splinters of wood falling out as she did.

  Then she finally climbed down into my embrace, hugging herself tightly against me.

  “A little looser,” I choked out. “Can’t breathe.”

  She loosened up, but only a little.

  I turned to find Vi now staring at the guard she’d stripped of his uniform. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m hungry.”

  Alva squeaked, and once again started choking me.

  I pulled at her to get her to loosen up. To Vi I said, “No, you’re not eating him.”

  “He’s already dead.”

  “We don’t have time.”

  She growled, and it was a serious one, not those cute little ones she’d given me before. She stared at me.

  By the fathers, I hoped she didn’t transform again.

  Finally she looked away. “Fine. The little beast tainted him anyway.”

  I relaxed. She was obeying me. That was good. “Let’s check these other doors.”

  Vi nodded her head at one of them. “Trin’s in there.”

  She was. And she was unconscious. Bloodied as well.

  There were again ten cells, but these were all full.

  Mostly with what seemed like drunk old men dressed in rather fine clothes, though one had what looked to be a dirty teenage girl dressed in rags and mumbling to herself.

  A few of the other prisoners looked at me, but to them I looked like a guard, so they quickly looked away again.

  The girl’s eyes, however, stayed locked on me, even as she continued mumbling to herself.

  Ignoring her, I unlocked and opened Trin’s cell and attempted to wake her.

  It took a few tries, but finally she came to, blinking up at me. She half-grunted, half-whimpered. “My head…”

  “It’s okay.” To Alva I said, “Move to my shoulder.”

  “Why?” she asked, fear in her voice.

  “So I can help her up.”

  She did, and I got my other shoulder under Trin’s arm and got her standing.

  They had taken her clothes and given her a remarkably clean-looking set of rough-hewn ones.

  I helped her out to the main room where Vi waited.

  “Can you stand on your own?”

  “I feel dizzy,” she said, but tried anyway.

  She wobbled, but didn’t fall over.

  Then she looked at me and nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Take those off and put on a guard’s uniform.” I pointed to one of the smaller guards. “Those will probably fit you.”

  The way he was lying had caused the blood from the wound in his neck to flow away from him, and so his uniform wasn’t soaked in the stuff.

  She stared blankly at the body for a moment, then wrinkled her nose.

  But she knelt beside him and began removing his tunic.

  After a few fumbling attempts, Vi went over to help her.

  “Thanks.”

  Vi grunted, looking at the dead guard with a look of hunger. She didn’t ask to eat him this time, though.

  “What did they do to you?” I asked.

  “Tried to interrogate me,” Trin answered. They’d gotten the guard’s tunic off and were now working on his boots. “Thought I wasn’t a mage. They were too afraid to try it with the others. That’s what I heard them saying.”

  “That they were scared?”

  “Not directly. They wouldn’t admit to that. But I could tell they were. Especially with her.” She nodded at the lycanthrope. “But with me… They weren’t scared at all. It was so hard not to enthrall them. Knowing I could make them all kill each other, and not doing it… It took all my willpower.”

  “You did good,” I assured her. “What’d you tell them?”

  “Nothing.”

  I nodded. “Good.”

  She stared down at the
clothing she and Vi had removed from the guard, then pulled off her own, tossing it to the ground where it landed in a puddle of blood.

  I couldn’t help but take in her body. Lean, though not as lean as Vi. She had an obvious scar near the top of her inner thigh.

  She knelt and picked up the pants, pulling them on. They were a bit too long for her. “After I didn’t give them anything, they knocked me out. Then you were waking me up.”

  “So they still don’t know who we are. Or what you are.”

  She shook her head, pulling on the boots, also a bit oversized.

  “Good, good. Once you get the rest of that on, we’ll go look for Sienna.”

  She looked up at me. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “Getting us into this.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  She nodded, but I could tell she didn’t believe it. “What happened in there? At the warden’s. You said the trail disappeared, like she teleported?”

  “Yes.”

  “You think that’s what happened? That someone teleported her?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know anymore.”

  While Trin finished dressing, I went to the third door, the one we hadn’t been in, and opened it.

  It was a miniature armory. In addition to a rack of swords and spears and shields, there were stacks of fresh uniforms.

  I looked down at my own dirty one, at the one Vi wore, then at the one Trin almost had on.

  “Well… damn.”

  Vi came over to look. “That would have been useful to find earlier.”

  I shook my head. “Yeah. But we’re dressed now, so let’s get out of here and find Sienna.”

  52

  Once Trin was fully dressed, we left, locking the door behind us.

  “You need to get in my bag,” I told Alva.

  She surprisingly did this without comment or complaint.

  But after only a few paces, she started moving around back there.

  “What are you doing?”

  “There’s a sword. It’s not very comfortable.”

  “Keep still.”

  She grunted, but stopped squirming.

  “Can you smell Sienna?” I asked Vi.

  She sniffed the air. “Not right now. If we walk around I might catch her scent and be able to track her.”

  We kept to the shadows and alleys as we roamed the city, hoping Vi picked up Sienna’s scent.

  The city was eerily empty. It wasn’t quiet, but the noise came from far away. Almost like in that dead city.