by Vance Huxley
“Sorry, I’ve already emptied the kitchen bin. Thank you for helping but you may as well go home now.” Kelis stayed polite, even though the Goblin obsession with food could be annoying.
“But more sticky nice stuff and we will watch the stinky.” The Goblin’s glance at Claris wasn’t strictly necessary. “If you tie it up, we can stop little stinky crawling away. A little stinky might even be tasty.”
That put a whole new gremlin in among the pigeons. “What sticky stuff exactly? What was in the bin, Kelis?” Abel eyed up the Goblins. Three of them could probably deal with even the large Leech Abel had seen, and they ate rats and Globhoblins so a Leech really might be on the menu.
“Maybe it means cake? You gave the dryad the icing.” Rob’s face fell. “Sticky, sweet and fruity, it’s your mum’s fruit cake Abel.”
Abel’s face fell as well, he really had been enjoying the extra fruitcake his mum made from the ingredients left over after the birthday party. Though if the goblins would guard Claris and the Leech? “We could put her in the church, if the rest of the goblins don’t mind? It’ll be a bit chilly but I’ll bring a coat.”
“I can take a quilt from one of the spare bedrooms?” Kelis turned to the Goblins. “You have to watch all night, no snoozing or nipping off for a snack.” She turned back to Abel and Rob. “We’ll need rope.”
“Gaffer tape would be better. There’s a roll in the shed.” Abel glanced at the Goblins. “I’ll give up half the cake we’ve got left, though I’d best take off the marzipan for mum.”
“That’ll do for tonight, then I can use what’s left of the wedge your mum gave us if it takes another night.” Kelis relaxed with a big sigh. “Now let’s get Claris and it tucked up before mum sends out a search party.” She brandished her phone. “I’ve already had to reassure her I’ve not been kidnapped by aliens.” Kelis cautiously prodded Claris. “Come on you, we’ve got you a room for the night.”
Claris seemed much stronger, walking through Brinsford to the church without any help. On the way the Leech gloated about how much richer and stronger chicken blood was than expected, probably because the carton had said ox blood. Despite its promises, Abel didn’t expect it to survive long enough to take him to meet the Firstseed. That must be the woman on the phone and Abel would love to meet her, if only to stop her opening Castle House. Ferryl wanted the key because after inspecting the door to Castle House, the sorceress couldn’t see any other way to turn off the cluster of protective glyphs. While Rob and Kelis took Claris into the churchyard, Abel ran home to fetch the Gaffer tape.
On the way back dryad Chestnut called out. “Careful, that one has a blood bag. Just a small one, but it will grow.” The creaking had to be humour this time when it continued. “If you let it walk under my tree I can deal with it?”
“No thank you. We want to get the Leech out but save Claris. We hope Ferryl knows how.” Abel turned to go, then a thought struck him. If he’d been able to cast a veil like the dryad used, that would have kept the goblins hidden from Stan. “I wonder how much honey a dryad might ask for, to teach me the glyph for a veil?” Abel didn’t look at the dryad, taking care not to ask a question that would require payment.
“If anyone wanted to know that, they would ask the sorceress who trained them. If she still trained them.” Dryad wanted answers as well, without paying.
“Perhaps a sorceress would tell students they should be able to find out themselves, that it would be good practice.” The truth, that Ferryl hadn’t found the bone wit containing the right glyph, would embarrass her.
“It might be worth it, to a dryad, just to spoil her fun. There would be a whole pot of honey as well, the larger size, in case Braeth Huntian didn’t like the joke.” That almost diverted Abel, because he wanted to know why dryad Chestnut kept calling Ferryl that.
“A student would find that a good deal.” Abel laughed and headed for the churchyard, hearing the creak of dryad laughter behind him.
“Another glyph? Will I be able to cast this one?”
Abel answered silently in case the dryad could still hear. “I’ve no idea Zephyr. We’ll have to work on your control first, to see if you can draw and activate rather than imagine the glyph. Don’t mention me buying the glyph to anyone but Ferryl Shayde, Kelis and Rob.”
Gaffer tape did a really good job, trussing Claris up at her ankles, wrists and knees with a couple of turns round her body. As Rob remarked, they’d have felt guilty taping up most people but they all owed Claris a bit of payback. Even so Abel felt a tug of sympathy for her, lying helpless on the floor in a ragged, stained dress with her painfully thin limbs in plain view. From the look of her clothing she’d been going to a party or on a night out. Rob and Abel laid her on the quilt behind the altar and wrapped it around her. The three goblins perched on top, looking down at Claris. “I’ll bring cake in the morning.” Abel turned to Claris. “Leech, remember what they said.” He looked round at a small crowd of goblins who had come to have a look. “A small Leech might be tasty.”
“The Firstseed told me to stay. You will feed me every day to strengthen the host, so that we can go to collect the key.” Abel didn’t argue - not tonight. He walked back home fervently hoping Ferryl could force the thing out.
∼∼
Ferryl/Jenny finally arrived just before midday on Saturday, curious about the “Claris, leech seed, safe, waiting” text. After greeting Abel’s mum she went straight to the church to have a look at the captive. Unfortunately Ferryl couldn’t physically rip the Leech out, not without seriously damaging Claris.
All four went to Kelis’ house so the Leech didn’t hear them plotting. If the creature could make Claris walk and talk, it already had tendrils into and through major organs including her brain. Even immediate intensive care wouldn’t save Claris if the Leech was destroyed, because Leeches always connected themselves to large blood vessels. Ferryl admitted she had seen both the church and sorcerers remove them forcibly, but even if the seed was very small the hosts died.
Ferryl might kill the Leech and save Claris by leaving Jenny and possessing the older girl, but she couldn’t do that immediately. Jenny had now spent months in a deep sleep, one expected to last for twenty years. Before leaving, Ferryl had to wake Jenny gradually so she could assimilate memories of what happened since the accident. That would be slow, delicate work, altering each memory to remove magical knowledge. Normally Ferryl didn’t give back detailed memories because the host’s old life, friends and family lay far behind them. In the early eighteen hundreds most people died before reaching forty, and two villages away was a whole new world.
All the work had to be done at night because Jenny must stay functional for school and her family. The whole process would take about two weeks, and even then Jenny might still be a little confused as her memories settled in around the gaps. She would also be aware, magically, so Ferryl would leave enough knowledge to flutter a leaf. From there Jenny had to learn glyphs and magic the same as anyone else.
That left the Leech still growing in Claris for the next two weeks. Worse, they’d have to find enough blood until then, though they all found it funny the Leech liked the refrigerated stuff. That still left one big problem, where to buy and store the stuff. “It can’t go in our fridge. Mum would go crazy.” Kelis shook her head. “Not even the little fridge in here. She’d think I’d flipped.” The rest agreed. Cartons of blood would lead to pointed questions for any of them.
“We could put a second-hand fridge in the church? In that little office bit at the side, the vestry or whatever. If the electricity still works we’d be set and the church will pay the bill.” Rob glanced towards the cash box. “Can we spend Tavern money on a fridge? We could put a camp bed in there for Claris, and pay the goblins to be guards. Cursing bogglewigs, we’d need a shedload of cake.”
“Or two shedloads of pizza.” Serious discussion led to the conclusion that saving a life had to be a good use for the donations. Some searching on the internet led to two
local butchers who sold blood for sausages or pudding, and a slaughterhouse ten miles the wrong side of Stourton. Ferryl/Jenny on her moped or maybe a Taverner with transport could go there in an emergency.
The big flaw kept coming up again and again. No matter how much they disliked Claris none of them liked the idea of a Blood Leech growing inside her, twisting itself throughout her body, inflicting more pain and terror. Maybe this Leech could be persuaded or forced to slow down, and repair what damage it had done. Ferryl asked about that several times, how terrified Claris had been, and couldn’t understand it. The Leeches supposedly kept their victims unaware, then released them at the end of forty years.
“At the least it could let Claris sleep. She can obviously remember everything it does, and the pain.” Kelis shuddered, her face screwed up in disgust. “Who knows how it got the blood, but even feeling it growing inside and drinking fresh blood from a glass?” She shuddered again.
“It wanted to kill the chicken, really wanted to.” Abel shook his head. “We’ve got to work out how keep it as small as possible, stop it hurting Claris, and keep it restrained. If we can’t, Jenny will just have to be badly confused and lose a few memories.”
“We can do a deal, promise not to kill it if it’s nice to Claris and comes out peacefully at the end?” Rob made a half-gesture with his bat. “Though I don’t fancy turning it loose.”
“Can you think of any way to persuade it to leave instead of pulling it out, Ferryl?” Kelis sounded desperate now. “Has it ever happened?”
“Never, not unless the Leech chose another host. Even then, Claris will have those memories forever and she’ll end up babbling to the wrong person. Then the church will be looking for the Leech nest and kill them all. It just doesn’t make sense for Leeches to risk that.” Ferryl/Jenny thought for a long time before coming to some decision. “There is one chance. The Leech seed will have been given memories, implanted by the Firstseed. If it has the right memories, I might stop it hurting Claris.” She stood up. “I can frighten it, and maybe persuade it to come out voluntarily, but only if I really will let it live. Our communication will not allow me to lie.”
“Would it agree to help us get the key to Castle House once it’s out? That would be a reason for us to let it live.” At the look from Ferryl/Jenny, Abel realised he’d missed out that part. “Claris is here to arrange a meeting, for me to get the key. The Leech inside her has a phone number and an address.”
“That would be a very good reason for me to show mercy. If there is a key out there, I’d rather have it than some creature or sorcerer turn up with it and let out whatever is locked inside Castle House. Let’s go and find out if that sounds like a good enough reason.” Ferryl/Jenny paused. “Though we will still have to restrain it for two weeks, because after we have spoken it will want to escape.”
“It’s a pity we don’t know a punk or a Hell’s Angel. They’d have plenty of chains.” Rob sniggered and nudged Abel, “Maybe handcuffs. Do you reckon your girlfriend’s dad would mind her buying some?”
At least wrangling and teasing each other over who might buy handcuffs for who kept them occupied all the way to the church.
∼∼
Goblins were a lot stronger than they looked, and gentle when Abel insisted. Two of them soon had Claris laid in the little side room off the church that held an old desk and a couple of chairs. “I want everyone to leave except Abel Bernard Conroy, please.” Ferryl/Jenny’s look wasn’t accepting any argument. “I must show my true-self. I may need him to remind me of who I am now.”
“What about Zephyr?” Kelis glanced at Abel’s arm.
“She knows what I am, but will never speak of it. We have our own bargain.” Ferryl/Jenny stood, waiting, until a puzzled and slightly miffed Kelis and Rob followed the goblins out.
“True-self?”
Ferryl/Jenny took Abel’s hand. “The Leech must not hear this. You met me when I had faded down almost to nothing. In that state I would have done anything to survive. What did I ask you to do, to give me strength?”
Abel thought, and she had to mean… He asked Zephyr to connect him. “Give you blood, or hold Henry down on the slab so you could drain him. You were angry Cooch didn’t bleed more.”
“The Leech must see that side of me, know who I am, that it is prey not the hunter. I need you here in case the hunger becomes too strong. I really am a hunter, Abel, usually of magical creatures but I sometimes drained blood for the magic. Hunter is what the dryad’s name for me, Huntian, means. Our agreement means I have forsaken that life for ninety years.” Ferryl/Jenny looked uneasy. “But I still feel the need, sometimes.”
“But you can control it.”
“Maybe not if I show the Leech my true nature. Be ready to stop me.” Ferryl/Jenny hesitated. “It must be a command but you must not use my true-name, Pungh Hmmshtfun. If you say that name I will kill Claris to keep it secret. Do not let Zephyr stay in contact or I may turn on even her in frustration, and she is perhaps the only creature I would grieve for.”
“What about me? Am I safe?”
The little smile looked totally natural, even if it wasn’t Jenny’s. “I cannot hurt you, Abel, and not just because of your ward or our bargain. Some part of me still lives in that tattoo.” Ferryl/Jenny turned to Claris, letting go of Abel’s hand and kneeling next to the trussed-up girl. “Leech, look at me. I will touch you, and show my true-self. If you survive, it will be because this human wishes it. Remember that when we talk afterwards.”
The Leech wasn’t impressed. Claris’ face sneered. “If you kill me, the host dies.”
“In a moment you will know just how little that matters to me.” Ferryl knelt astride Claris, clamped Jenny’s hands either side of Claris’ head and looked down into her eyes. “Behold the hunter.”
Abel knew the exact moment Ferryl connected her true-self, because Claris’ eyes bugged out and her body arched. Her bound heels drummed on the floor as she tried to tear herself away but Ferryl/Jenny stayed right there, pinning her. “No! No! No. No…” The last one became more of a whimper. “Braeth Huntian. The hunter in the shadows. You were gone. I did not know. Spare me?” Claris dragged her eyes to a shocked Abel, her voice a bare whisper. “Help me, please?”
“Maybe.” Abel tried not to be swayed by the sheer terror looking at him, or the sudden surge of hope at the maybe. The Leech totally and absolutely believed in Ferryl, or whatever she was. “Remember this.”
“Too late.” Abel didn’t need more than the tone to tell him what he needed to do, he could hear the hunger in Jenny’s voice.
“Ferryl Shayde! Stop! Now!” For long moments Abel didn’t think she’d heard, watching the flash of hope fading in Claris’ eyes as the Leech waited to die. “Ferryl! No! We need it alive! Stop!” The Leech wasn’t even trying to get away now.
Ferryl/Jenny shuddered, and the tension slowly left her arms and body. She took several deep breaths, then released Claris’ head and stood up with her back still turned to Abel. She turned slowly, apprehension and guilt stamped all over her face. “I am sorry.”
“You warned me, and you stopped.” Abel glanced down at Claris but her eyes were screwed tight shut and she’d curled up as best she could with her arms behind her. “Are you under control again?”
“Yes. I truly am sorry. I thought I could control it but I had to show the hunger, and the Leech tried to escape. When the prey flees from the hunter?” She stopped, hesitating over what to say next.
Abel thought he’d got most of the shock off his face, though his voice wasn’t quite firm. “It’s a natural thing in hunters. All the wildlife programmes show the same thing. Mrs. Tabitha can’t resist chasing moving things, even a dot of light.” He took a deep breath. “I’m convinced, and from Claris’ eyes so is that thing.”
Ferryl/Jenny reached out, tentatively, so Abel took her hand and asked Zephyr to connect him. “Will you tell Kelis and Rob?”
Ferryl wasn’t forbidding him. Abel struggled with it f
or a few moments, but if Kelis pushed he’d end up confessing. Telling her part of it straight away might stop her prying. “They’ll have heard me shout. I’ll just say that you are very, very scary to Leeches, but I couldn’t see exactly what you did.” A sudden thought hit him. “Are they safe, Kelis and Rob?”
“I once told you, and them. I will never harm anyone Abel Bernard Conroy cares for.” Ferryl/Jenny straightened properly. “Leech! Turn this way and open your eyes.”
Claris’ body turned, reluctantly, and her eyes went from Ferryl/Jenny to Abel. “You will not let it kill me?”
“I might not be able to stop her if you run, though I can persuade her to let you live if you give me what I want.” Abel waited for a tiny, reluctant nod. “You will not tell anyone exactly who the hunter is, or I will not stand in her way. You understand?” After another tiny nod Abel relaxed a bit. “Zephyr, ask Kelis and Rob to come in, please.”
Claris looked startled when a shimmer flew out to hover threateningly over her. “A tethered Hunter? I was told none of you are real sorcerers. The Firstseed knew nothing of hunters, of any sort.” Now the Leech seemed nervous of Abel as well, a welcome change because most people and things sneered. Though actually it seemed frightened of Zephyr, which sort of restored Abel’s sense of right.
Which did bring one question to mind. “It seems to think you and Zephyr are the same.”
“Warning the seeds about me prepares them for other, lesser hunters. It recognises the urge to chase. You know Zephyr does that, but she has some of you in her. She will never be like me.” Ferryl’s mental voice didn’t seem upset about that.
A wary Claris watched Zephyr leave, then return with Kelis and Rob. “I told you. They hold hands in private as well.” Rob looked triumphant, but Kelis seemed worried.
“Not private.” Abel looked pointedly at Claris. “The Leech has got the message. It will negotiate, if we let it live.” Rob took that in and opened his mouth. “Shut up Rob. We don’t have to say what sort of life.” Not a good one, Abel thought, not going by the look Kelis gave Claris.
