by Lisa Ladew
It was a comfortable looking resting spot, cozy and well-worn with a high back and carved flowers along the sides, orange magicks lining the seat. The switch would have to sweep them off or just squash them flat to sit in that chair. Near it, but not as near as Anna would have thought, was a seat that looked similar, but bigger, and meaner with thorns instead of flowers. This one had to be for the alpha of Bond element.
The cosh was divided in the same way the switches were, which was by element. Bond, Bone, Breath, Belief, and Blood. These elements lived inside each switch, the wellsprings of their individual magic, determining how the switches behaved, felt, looked, and how their magic came forth, both in color and in delivery.
The shifters had no magic, but their eyes glowed the same color as their switches did, telling them what element they belonged to, if their preferences in females hadn’t already done so. Shifter’s element assignments were moldable by Fate and changed sometimes, but a switch’s never did. Anna was born Bond, and she would die Bond and she was glad.
Theresa came up behind her, but did not venture as far into the circle as Anna. She sat on one of the outermost benches, pressing her hands between her knees and looking behind her every time a new voice sounded. Switches and children were wandering in from out of the forest and of the cosh, heading toward them in groups, laughing and talking, and all eyes were on Theresa and Anna. Anna went to sit beside her sister.
She saw no males. The shifters had not followed them out of the forest, but she could feel them out there, watching. The meadow itself was quiet other than the voices of the switches, but still in the forest, the animals were snarling and growling and fighting. Birds flew in a flock from one section of the forest as a tree cracked loud in the warm mid-morning air.
All at once, everyone stopped talking, even the children stopped their noises. Anna looked around quickly, nervous. Switches did not meet her eyes, did not even look at her. All except for one.
A Bond switch, tall, long brown hair tied back in a twist, with the prettiest lavender eyes Anna had ever seen, dressed in the same simple dress they all wore. Hers was clean and impeccably mended, as were both Theresa and Anna’s. Bond switches were good at that kind of thing, even outside of the cosh. She waved at them, opening her right hand once, and Anna saw the ingrav there, the magically carved scar that looked like a dagger slice through fabric, placed by Fate, that showed all which switch was the First Switch of each element.
She smiled at Anna and Theresa and pulled them up from the bench. “You can’t be here. You have to be over here.” She pulled them to the innermost bench, then pushed them past it right up next to the carved stand Anna would not touch. “She’ll be here soon. Don’t smile, she hates that. I’m Polly, but we can’t talk until you’ve been accepted. Prepare thy supportive spells, the stronger the better.”
Anna shot Theresa a look. Theresa had some supportive spells, but Anna had never been good at them, had never even tried to lend strength to anyone’s magic, except for Theresa’s, which had never gone well.
Polly hurried away, heading for her seat. Theresa leaned in close and spoke softly. “I’ll help you if I can.”
Anna shook her head and whispered back. “I’ll do my own magic. Bond switches are good for more than just support.”
Theresa’s eyes went wide. “Anna, no, not here. This is not the place for your ravings. You have to fit in here.”
Anna wanted to fit in, she really did, she knew Theresa was right, but it was so hard to give up what she was good at for something Fate said she should be good at. She nodded at Theresa once, sharply, relieved from thinking anymore about it when the switches started talking again. A low murmur here, a laugh there, a baby crying. The females were gathering loosely, some flopping down in the flowers instead of entering the circle, some gathering near the rain barrels and a wooden stage to the rear of it all. A few of them met Anna’s eyes. Anna smiled. None smiled back.
A bear ran from the forest, coming straight for them. Anna held her ground, willing Theresa to do the same, until she realized this might be the first test. It didn’t matter if it was a shifter or not, if she was knocked down, she lost. But she’d prepared nothing!
Anna held up her hands and faced off with the bear, shielding her sister, orange magicks swirling in her palms, orange magicks that could do absolutely nothing to that bear in front of her… unless she coated his eyes and nose and glued his mouth shut with his own saliva, bonding with her magic. Yes. She whispered into her palms, ready, but the bear peeled off, revealing another, bigger one behind it.
On top of this bear’s back was a female who could only be the famed Antimony. The ruler of the cosh, which meant the ruler of the forest and all it contained except the vampires. Which she aimed to obliterate.
She rode sideways on the bear, not even jostled, held there magically, pink magicks flowing around her, her face hard, cruel, beautiful with blood red lips and wild dark hair, braided through in spots with sharp rocks and sticks, exactly as Anna had heard. She was wearing pants. Thick cotton breeches exactly like a man would wear. Anna could not decide if she would want to do the same if she were allowed.
Antimony pushed off the bear while it was still running, landing lightly on the ground. Without a word, the two bears disappeared into the forest. Antimony stalked toward them, stopping only a few feet away. She raised her hand, staring into Anna’s eyes, then Theresa’s her fingers curled like she was waiting for something.
Anna wanted to smile, but Polly had said not to. Anna held fast, only watching, waiting, as her sister did the same next to her.
A book dropped from the sky, seeming from nowhere, a thick book bound with flashing metal, glowing the same pink that Antimony did. It landed first in Antimony’s palm, then she cocked her arm down and it floated to the stand next to Anna and Theresa, where it settled.
“Anna of the Forest, and Theresa of the Forest. Your names are written in that book, which means Fate has called you to the cosh. Do you deserve such?”
Anna nodded immediately. She was an ordinary female, never done anything special in her life, but Fate had seen something special in her, and she would not argue against it. “Yes,” she said, her voice strong. She looked sideways at Theresa, who was standing there, gaping at Antimony still. Anna elbowed her. “Yes,” Theresa said, but softly.
“Show me,” Antimony said simply, her face saying she believed it not at all. She stepped aside and motioned to the stage behind the benches, almost at the forest line, where three switches had gathered, facing the meadow. All were older than Theresa and Anna, all were strong and shrewd-looking, and all were swirling magicks in their palms. Anna saw the blue magicks of Belief, purple magicks of Bone, and green magicks of Breath. There was no Bond switch up there. Did that mean all Bond switches in the cosh truly were expected to only do supportive magic? Anna held her breath. She could fail this test.
Antimony motioned toward Anna. “Anna of the Forest, you are first. Let us see a feat of magic befitting a Bond switch, with sufficient power to convince all present that you belong here.”
Anna stepped away from Theresa, with no idea what magic she would bring. She’d know there would be tests, but she had not known she had to put on a performance. On the stage, the magicks expanded out of the hands of the switches, spreading quickly. Anna tracked them in fascination, forgetting for a moment what she was supposed to be doing. The blue magicks of the Belief switch spread over the meadow, passing between all gathering in the circle and the cosh at their backs. When it reached the center of the meadow, it sizzled high and scarily, slicing into the sky and meadow as lightning, scorching flowers and earth. The bolts of blue-tinged lightning came faster and faster, an electric humming jolting through the meadow with each, until several were hitting a second, all contained in one square in the center of the meadow the size of a farmhouse. It gave the illusion of a storm sitting perfectly still in one spot, but pulsing hotly. No thunder sounded, and after a few moments, Anna was able t
o watch the terrifying storm without squeezing her eyes shut after every bolt.
The green magicks of the Breath switch whooshed over the same path the lightning storm had made, meeting the lightning where it stood, ripping an icy wind through it, so strong, the lightning was pulled sideways in some spots, having to curve before it hit the ground. The Bone switch’s purple magicks had disappeared from her hands and Anna looked around wildly for them. She’d never seen magic like this, never dreamed of the strength and fury of it. Purple energy came barreling through the far side of the meadow then, just in front of a river that did not belong. The earth twisted and furrowed in front of the raging water until a new riverbed was wrought, then filled, directly through the center of the storm, before twisting off into the forest, away from the switches and the cosh.
The mini tempest and new stream path rolled strangely through the meadow, shifting slightly from side to side, sounding like a storm of the ages, even thunder parceling across the field now. Anna’s breath caught in her throat. It was so beautiful, with so much power rushing through it. She wanted to support these powerful spells, suddenly sorry that she had never practiced, never figured out how to make such work for her.
She raised her hands and called forth her own magicks, still unsure of her spell. Bigger, she wanted it bigger, but as soon as the thought entered her mind she dislodged it. With her track record she would consume the cosh with it. What about smaller? She would shrink the spells to a only a foot’s width wide, contain the magic, squeeze it.
“Spells, switch, let’s see them now,” Antimony called. “Vampires do not wait for your thoughts.” Switches laughed openly. Anna bit her lip. Theresa whispered behind her. Anna couldn’t catch her words.
Her planned spell was schit and she had no time to think of another. And she would never pull it off, anyway, and it wasn’t even supportive… unless the narrowing of the storm focused its energy. Mayhap it would carve the streambed deeper, shoot thicker lightning, pull trees into the vortex of the wind. Decided, she whispered to her magicks. “Focus all into a smaller path, focus and direct, stronger than any has ever seen.”
She pushed her magic toward the storm, watched it, wished it true…
6 – Growler Receives a Present
Growler took his beatings from the other two alphas, still trying to best them, but no longer believing he could. He was twice as big as all of them, but they were older, stronger, wiser, fought vampires for fun, then wrestled down vampire-hungry switches, savage witches, savage to their core when vampires were about. Growler was naught but a simple tracker. He had much to learn. Good thing he was a fast learner.
He shifted, painfully healing his latest wounds, then shifted back into his bear, waiting for what came next, watching for a sign of his alpha, who could not be present. None of these shifters glowed, and wouldn’t unless their switches needed them, but he did not think any of these would glow orange. From what he had heard, Bond females preferred bears, because bears fit them. Bears liked to bed down, rock babies, stay close to family, and Bond switches were said to like males who liked those things. Growler growled softly, unable to help himself. He wanted those things.
From the north, a whisper of information came in fast, ears, nose, instinct all warning him at once. Two males moving in fast, bears, with a vampire femur each clasped in strong teeth. The vampire flailed and fought but did not cry out.
Growler turned to face them, growled into the forest, dug at the dirt in front of him with massive claws, gathering himself. He’d seen vampires before in the shadows, everyone who lived in the forest had, but he’d never fought one, did not know what to expect.
The smell hit him first. The bitter pine of diseased or poisoned trees that stood slowly dying. More in there, too, but Growler did not analyze. He tensed, prepared. Two big bears burst in the small clearing he and the alphas had made with their fighting, a vampire in between them, his eyes on Growler like he knew exactly what was about to happen, knives in both hands as he hacked at the bears relentlessly and they did not notice. The males let go of the vampire, who looked like an ordinary male when his fangs were hidden, and he rolled on the ground, then was up and running, knives flashing.
Growler was after him as fast as he could go, no time to go around trees, he plowed right through the smallest ones, shaking the forest in pursuit. He was not angry, did not have the same inborn hate for the vampires as the switches did, but he’d seen firsthand the murder vampires wrought on those unable to fight back, using them for food or fun, then discarding them. It was how they lived, and that was what The Cause fought against. Their very existence. So no, Growler was not angry, but he was committed. He was a cosh-shifter now, and this is what cosh-shifters did.
He dug in and ran faster than he’d ever run before, not knowing if the vampire would pop out of existence. He’d heard they could, but never seen it. The vampire was fast, but Growler was faster. He caught the bloodsucker around the ankle and yanked him back, and that was when the real fight started. The vampire laid into him with the knives, going for eyes and throat and soft nose, and right in the ears, searching down deep for brain.
Growler growled and shook his head, growling and biting at the knife. He swatted the vampire around the middle, pinning him to the ground with one big paw, that front leg now being sliced and diced.
The vampire cursed and hissed at him, all voice lost in his furor. Blood stained the corners of his mouth, making Growler growl. The vampire was weak from the sun filtering through the trees that soared overhead, and the trip in the bears’ mouths. Growler would not toy with him. He dropped onto the vampire and separated head from body, then grabbed up head in his jaws and stepped over body.
Instinct, The Cause, the forest, something called to him, told him that his test was not complete. He could not kill a vampire, and this body would eventually find this head, as vampires were known to do. He must find a switch.
He turned to the east, where he could both feel and scent the switches waiting for him.
Toward his new home.
7 – Bad Magic, Really Bad Magic
Anna dug her fingernails into her palms, resisting the urge to hide her eyes as her spell rocketed through the three spells, not focusing them, but tipping them off balance, rolling them into the forest. Lightning sprayed everywhere, trees caught on fire and uprooted with the spray of wind and lightning, and the river flooded the meadow. A big bear flew through the storm, arms flailing wildly, before he bounced in the meadow, shifting on the up-bounce, clothes forming around him, then disappearing as he shifted again in mid-air, and came down covered only in fur, on all four feet, then ran back into the forest, far away from storm.
The magical storm was smaller. A little. But it was completely out of control. Antimony’s hands were on her hips, and she was shaking her head. Disaster. Mess. Anna’s thoughts spun. It could not have gone worse.
Her hands were already working. She had to stop it. Switches tittered everywhere, not a supportive voice in the bunch, but Anna didn’t have time to think about that. She whispered into her palms over the roar of the storm crashing through the forest, water and lightning being whipped every which way by uncontrollable wind, unable to be anything but desperate. “Stop it, stop it all.” She released the ball to speed over the meadow to her disaster and threw a look at the stage. The three switches who had done the magic were watching without directing their own, two were laughing, the other only staring hard, a sour look on her face. No help there.
More of Anna’s magic joined the storm in progress in a huge orange sphere, which Anna almost thought was going to work, but when orange magic touched what was already spinning out of control, it only got bigger, tearing up more of the forest, sending more animals flying.
Theresa stepped next to Anna, her face stricken. “Oh no, should I try to help?”
Anna shook her head. “Don’t ruin your chances, too.”
Theresa worked magicks in her palms anyway, wanting to help her sister, b
ut before she could loose any of them, Antimony, dark hair flying overhead in invisible storm or her own rage, Anna did not know, raised a hand, no magicks at the ready. The night flared pink, and the storm collapsed like it had never been. Only the downed trees confirmed it had really happened.
Antimony strolled in front of them, back and forth, as the switches fell quiet. Anna bit the inside of her lip hard. She knew what was coming. She had lost her chance. Would be sent home without another chance. Finally Antimony faced her. “You will work on your support magic day and night until it lends strength rather than what I just saw.”
Anna could not believe what she had heard. Theresa gasped and smiled and grabbed at Anna’s arm, wanting a hug, but Antimony stopped her with a cold look. “Now you, Theresa of the Forest.”
Theresa nodded, wiped the smile from her face and stepped forward as Anna fell back. Anna lent her all the love she had in her thoughts, which was a lot. Theresa was a year older and had always been there for her with whatever she needed. Theresa had been a baby rocking a baby when their mother left for good. Theresa re-formed the ball of magicks she had let dissipate, looking around for a spell. The switches on the stage sent out the exact same spells again, blue lightning, purple river cutting through meadow, and green vortex, whipping it all into a gale.
Theresa didn’t whisper to her magicks, she said her spells in her mind, so Anna didn’t know what she’d done until it happened. Theresa released her orange magicks, which stretched thin and whipped to the storm so fast only a switch eye could track it. It swirled around the blue lightning, coating it, and the lighting strengthened perceptibly for a moment, coming thicker and faster, thunder booming one time as it cracked. Then it stopped. The lightning shrunk down to normal size, still coming from nowhere, too bright to look at for long.
