by Jasmine Walt
The moment I did, a glowing green form materialized above the skeleton. "By the Ur-God!" I yelped, leaping away from the apparition. I was rewarded by more throbbing stabs of pain from my ass and my ankle, but I barely noticed, my eyes nearly bugging out of their skull as I beheld the form. It solidified into a beautiful, regal woman with dark skin, striking gold eyes, and exotic features. She wore embroidered leather clothes and a magnificent headdress, her skin painted with geometric patterns not dissimilar to the ones I'd seen the Southian mages wearing.
The woman opened her mouth and began speaking in a foreign language, gesturing expressively with her hands. The gold torque around her neck told me she was the owner of the skeleton on the ground, but I couldn't for the life of me understand what she wanted.
“Get back!” At my wit’s end, I threw the pebble at her, hoping that Tia Maluca’s magic would drive the spirit back. To my dismay, the stone passed through the spirit harmlessly, and I earned only a glare for my trouble.
“What are you trying to do?” she snapped, switching to heavily accented Northian. “I am only trying to speak with you. You are the first person I’ve talked to in hundreds of years!”
Hundreds of years? I shut my gaping mouth and cleared my throat, then tried again. “Sorry. It’s just that I thought you were an evil spirit. Are you an evil spirit?” I asked, a little anxiously. By the Ur-God, I really hoped she wasn’t. That pebble clearly hadn’t had any effect on her, and I didn’t know anything about fighting ghosts. “If you're trying to get out of here, possessing me isn't going to do much good," I added. "I've got a broken ankle and I can't climb."
The ghost gave a derisive snort. "I am not an evil spirit so much as an angry one," she said. "My name is Garalina, and I was the priestess of the Ymal tribe, and the living avatar of our goddess, Syris, when I lived. Unfortunately, my lover murdered me so he could try to steal my power, and then he left me trapped in this accursed pit."
"Your power?" I asked. "Are you a mage, then?"
"If you like," she said. "Though my power comes from a different source than theirs. I think your people would liken me more to a shaman."
"Right." I thought back to the shaman Sunaya and I had fought when we'd gone searching through the wilderness for Iannis—she was a tribal leader who had managed to snare Iannis with a love spell. Admittedly, he’d been close to death after narrowly surviving an airship crash, but for her to be able to bewitch one of the most powerful mages in the Northia Federation meant she'd been powerful indeed. "That's really terrible, what happened between you and your lover."
"Terrible doesn't begin to describe it. His name was Ortanos, and I thought we were in love. He led me into the cave for a romantic interlude, then cut my throat and tossed me into this pit to die instead." Her hand brushed against the column of her neck, and a horrific gash briefly appeared before she vanished it. "Fortunately, my goddess did not allow him to take my power from me. She put it in the torque instead, and it burned his hand when he tried to take it from me." A tiny smirk curved her lips.
"Is that why you're here?" I asked tentatively. "Because you want vengeance?"
"Oh yes," she hissed, baring her teeth. "I have waited a very long time for someone to find me here so I might strike a bargain. At first I thought it might be the man who comes to these caves to harvest the fungus"—she gestured dismissively at Emilio's body—"but he clearly wasn't worthy. You, on the other hand, have managed to stay alive." Her gold eyes glinted as she looked me up and down.
Nervous energy rippled through me, and I had to stop myself from backing away. "Strike a bargain?" I asked tentatively. "What does that mean?"
Garalina tapped her chin as she considered. "I will heal you and help you escape this cave, if you in turn help me find and punish the man who wronged me."
I frowned. "Just how long have you been in here?"
"Over three hundred years."
I winced. That was a long time ago, back when the Castalians had come over from the Central Continent to colonize parts of Southia. "How can you be sure he's still alive?"
"Oh, I know he is," Garalina said. "Stealing power from shamans and other magic users increases longevity. Not that I've ever done it myself," she hastened to add when I gave her a look, "but I know the theory. In any case, if we find proof that he is dead, I will consider the bargain fulfilled."
"Fair enough." I bit my lip as I mulled the idea over. There was no way I was getting out of the cave on my own, and yet, what was I getting into by making a bargain with a ghost? "How exactly would this...collaboration work?"
Garalina smiled, pleased that I was considering her offer. "You must put on the torque," she said, gesturing to the skeleton. "It will bind us together, allowing me to leave this place with you."
"And?" I pressed. "There's got to be a catch."
She sighed. "Once you put the torque on, it cannot be taken off until our bargain is fulfilled and I leave this plane for the afterlife. I will also have access to your memories and thoughts, which will be quite helpful, as I imagine the world has changed a lot in the past few centuries. In return, you will have access to my magic, and I will perform any spell you like that is within my power, so long as it does not violate any of my core beliefs."
"I see." I glanced apprehensively at the torque circling the skeleton's neck. Never be able to take it off? Aside from limiting my wardrobe choices, a flashy jewelry piece like that would be hard to hide. People would ask questions. "Would this also mean that you're able to control my body?"
"Yes," she said. "But I am not a monster. I wouldn't do such a thing unless there was dire need."
I scowled at that. "Dire need" could mean something very different to her than it did to me. "If we're going to do this, we need to set some ground rules."
Her brow furrowed. "Ground rules? What does that mean?"
"It means basic agreements that neither of us can break," I said. "First rule: you can't take possession of my body without my express permission. I don't care if you think it's an emergency—unless I'm unconscious or something and I'm going to die if you don't move me, you must ask me before you do anything with my body."
"Done," she said immediately.
"Good. Also, I reserve the right to kick you out of my head when I want alone time." The last thing I needed was Garalina hanging around while I was trying to have a private conversation or get laid. "You can do that, right? Go somewhere else where you can't hear me?"
She sighed. "I am able to visit the astral plane where my goddess resides, which I have done often in an attempt to alleviate centuries of boredom. So yes, I can give you privacy when needed."
"Great." Putting on my brightest smile, I got to my hands and knees and crawled over to the skeleton. The torque seemed to glow brighter as I approached, and I steeled myself for what was to come. "Let's do this."
8
Quickly, before I could talk myself out of it, I grasped the torque with both hands. A click echoed through the pit as it came free, and I carefully placed it around my own neck. Cold metal kissed my skin, making me shudder, but a second later warm golden light burst from the torque, illuminating the walls and warming up the artifact.
Garalina vanished from view, and I was suddenly aware of another presence in my head, sifting through my memories. Warm energy rippled through my body as the connection between us solidified, and in an instant, all my aches and pains vanished. Foreign emotions rippled through me: triumph, relief, burning curiosity. Garalina’s emotions, I realized, a bit dazed.
"Well?" I asked after a moment, arrowing a thought toward her to see if she would respond to it. "What do you think?"
"I think your people are disgusting," she said, her voice echoing in my head. "Who relieves themselves inside their own dwellings?"
I nearly laughed, then choked back the sound as I heard something rumble down the path above us. Garalina went still in my head, and I flattened myself against the wall. A moment later, loose stones and a length of thin wir
e tumbled into the pit.
"The trap," I said, anger flaring deep inside me. "Someone is trying to cover their tracks." I glared up at the pit opening but didn't see anyone peering in. Whoever it was had probably tossed this stuff down the path, far enough away that they didn't notice the light from my flashlight emanating from the pit. I wanted to go after them, make them pay for what they did.
The moment I had that thought, my stomach dropped like I was free-falling, and the world went black for a split second. When it reappeared, I found myself standing just outside the cave’s main entrance.
"What the hell?" I yelped, then clapped my hand over my mouth. Shit, I'd given away my position!
"Who's there?" a familiar voice cried, shining a light in my direction. Shock rippled through me as the flashlight illuminated the tall man standing in front of me—it was Sorbano!
“You said you wanted to get out of the pit,” Garalina said impatiently. “Now catch this pendejo!”
"You!" I drew my sword and knocked his flashlight to the ground before he could blind me with it. I shone my own light on him. "You're the one who killed Emilio!"
"S-Señorita Melcott!” he stammered, not looking nearly as handsome or well put together anymore. His face was pasty pale with sweat sliding down his cheeks, and his dark eyes were wide with terror. "I d-didn't realize you were a mage!"
Oh. Right. He’d probably wet his pants after I materialized right in front of him. "You asshole," I said. "On your knees, or I'll run you through!"
Sorbano's gaze flickered to the sealed entrance behind me and then back to my face before he slowly sank to his knees.
Scowling, I walked around behind him, then kicked him in the back and smashed his chest into the ground with my boot. His cries of pain bounced off the cavern walls as I used the rope to hog-tie him.
"You don’t have to do this,” Sorbano begged, struggling against me.
"Do what?" I snarled, yanking his hair back so he could look me in the eye. "Take you back to your uncle so I can tell him it was his piece-of-shit nephew who killed his son-in-law, and almost killed me?"
Sorbano's eyes hardened. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said coldly. "I came down here to help you after Señor Tarras told me that you’d left for the caves by yourself."
I rolled my eyes. "You’re a terrible liar, Sorbano. Who was it that set the trip wire up, then threw it into the pit just now?"
"Annia," Garalina said. "Let's not waste time with this piece of filth. Allow me to use my magic on him so that he will tell the truth.”
A wave of apprehension rippled through me at the thought of using magic. “That won’t be necessary. I can get him to talk without magic.”
“I don’t know anything about a trip wire,” Sorbano protested.
Shaking my head, I grabbed Sorbano’s left hand and yanked one of his fingers straight back. “Let’s try that again,” I said coldly as his scream echoed off the walls. “Did you set the trap?”
“Yes,” he choked out, his voice vibrating with rage and pain.
“There we go.” I gripped another finger, ready to deal out more pain. “Why did you do it?”
Sorbano quivered beneath me. "Because I was tired of the mages in my family taking all the wealth and leaving me with nothing! Señor Tarras should have hired me to harvest the fungus, but he gave the job to my sister’s husband instead. Emilio is not even a Tarras! Why should he get the money?"
"Wait a minute." I held up a hand, confused. "What do you mean, your sister? I thought you were cousins?"
"That's what Señor Tarras tells everybody," Sorbano spat, "but I am his bastard son. He treated me well when I was a child, but when he found out that I had no magic, he forgot about me and had me raised as a servant. Meanwhile, my sister was raised in the lap of luxury. She and Emilio received ten percent of the profits from the fungus—a sum that would have gone to me, if you hadn't caught me."
Reluctantly, I felt my heart twist with pity for Sorbano's predicament. Not because I'd thwarted his plan but because of the way his father had treated him. "So were you faking your head injury this entire time?"
"Not quite...but it was not nearly as bad as I had led you to believe."
Well, that explained how he’d been able to return so quickly. "So you came here, and when you found out I'd gone to the caves, you rushed down here to do what? Kill me?"
"I'd assumed you were already dead, since it had been so many hours since you'd left. It’s nightfall now,” he added when I gave him a quizzical look.
Damn. How long had I been out?
"I wish I'd known you were still alive," he added bitterly. "I would have left you to die and saved myself a lot of trouble."
"Charming." My pity vanished in a wave of disgust as I stood up.
"We have what we need from him," Garalina said, impatient once more. "Let's leave him here to die, as he would have done to you. I am eager to see the night sky again."
I crossed my arms, considering him. "We can't do that," I said. "I have to tell Señor Tarras that Emilio is down here, and whoever he sends to retrieve the body will find Sorbano as well. We should take him back to the hacienda, but it’s not going to be easy to drag him all the way back with him struggling.” Besides, I thought, was it really right for Señor Tarras to judge him? Yes, Sorbano needed to answer for his crime, but it should be from an impartial source, not a man who’d cast him aside and failed to be his father.
Garalina huffed. "Enough dithering. I have a solution that should satisfy everyone.”
A flash of searing light lit the entire cavern, and I threw up my hand to shield my eyes. Sorbano screamed, but the sharp cry cut off abruptly, turning my stomach into a ball of lead.
"What did you do to him?" I demanded, lowering my arm. I expected to see a dead body on the ground. Instead, a fox crouched where Sorbano had been standing, its entire body quivering with terror. "Did...did you..."
"Yes, I turned him into a fox." Garalina appeared next to me, an apparition once more. "It's permanent, and a fitting punishment, I think. He won't be able to harm anyone, and your client won't have to kill him."
"You can't just turn people into animals!" I sputtered, astonished and, quite frankly, a little terrified. I didn't think even Iannis had this kind of power—or, if he did, it probably required more effort than a mere snap of his fingers! "This is extremely illegal, Garalina!"
She cocked her head. "Illegal? There were very few laws regulating magic in my time."
I bit back a frustrated growl. "I don't know what the laws are in Southia," I said as patiently as I could, "but back in Solantha, my home city, I could get into a lot of trouble for doing something like this. Hell, I'm not even supposed to have magic at all. You can't just do magic whenever you feel like it, Garalina. From now on, you have to consult me before performing a spell."
Garalina rolled her eyes. "I won't have time to do that if your life is in danger," she said, crossing her arms. "But I suppose in non-life-threatening situations I can do so."
I gnashed my teeth together but decided to let it go. We'd discuss this later.
Now that our business was concluded, I rolled the boulder out of the way so we could head home. Fresh mountain air and a starry night sky greeted me, confirming what Sorbano had said about how long I'd been gone. Relief swept over me as I stepped out of the cave, and I felt Sorbano brush by my legs as he shot out of the entrance and scampered into the night.
I couldn't imagine how horrible it would be to be trapped in an animal body like that for the rest of my life. But...at least he had a life, didn't he? If I'd brought him back to the hacienda, Señor Tarras would have ordered his execution.
Maybe Garalina was right. Maybe this was better for everyone involved.
The mule was waiting for me right where I'd left him, lying peacefully in the grass. “Good boy,” I said as he lumbered to his feet. I gave him a good chin scratch, then tied the burlap sacks onto his saddle.
As we made the three-ho
ur trek back to the hacienda, I quizzed Garalina about her abilities. It turned out she had quite an array of talents: she was a talented healer and could influence many aspects of nature, including plants, animals, and to some extent the earth and the weather. She could also weave powerful illusions and charm people into doing her bidding —though, she admitted, the more strong-willed the person, the harder it was to fool them.
"Is it always permanent when you change someone into an animal?" I asked. "Or are you sometimes able to change them back?"
"It depends on how great the change is," she said. "If I turned you into an ape, for example, something with a similar body mass to yours, it would be easy enough to change you back. But if I turned you into a fox, as I did to that cretin, then the change would be irreversible."
I shuddered. "Please don't ever change me into an animal. The last thing I need is to end up stuck permanently as a monkey."
Garalina laughed. "I wouldn't do that—I need you as a human. Besides," she added, "I can use illusion magic to change your appearance if you need a disguise. Permanently altering you is unnecessary."
We made the rest of the journey in relative silence, Garalina retreating into my head so she could learn from my memories while the mule and I plodded along in companionable silence. It was a beautiful night, and the kiss of fresh mountain air on my cheeks was a blessing after spending hours upon hours trapped in the cave. I couldn’t deny that I was apprehensive about my future—I had just made a deal with a powerful spirit and now had access to magical abilities I most definitely did not want—but my gratitude toward her for saving my life outweighed those fears right now.
"This place is magnificent," Garalina said as we approached the hacienda. I could feel her wonder as she beheld the huge house and sprawling gardens. "If I hadn't seen your memories, I would assume we were visiting an emperor."
I laughed softly. "He might as well be the emperor around these parts." Señor Tarras was the richest landowner around for miles and miles and was basically the law. Sorbano's fate would have been entirely left in his hands if I'd brought him back. "Things have changed quite a bit. The poor have access to amenities that would have been considered kingly back in your time." Or at least they did in Northia.
