Please don’t be boiling water to torture me with, I thought frantically as the footsteps returned. I prepared myself to have scalding liquid thrown in my face, but when the old woman reappeared before me, she was holding a handmade ceramic mug with the tag from a bag of tea dangling off the side.
“What am I going to do with you two?” she asked.
I tried to answer, but of course no sound came out of my mouth. The question seemed to have been rhetorical, since the old woman didn’t stick around to wait for an answer. She blew on her tea before taking a small sip, then she set the cup down on a table and disappeared from my line of sight again. When she returned, she held a wide and shallow basin that looked like it had been hand carved from wood. The basin was filled was crystal clear water. She set it down next to her tea, and like a college student putting hands to keyboard in order to start a term paper, she dipped her fingers into the surface and began muttering to herself.
The hermitess worked for several minutes. Every once in a while she’d frown then look my way. At one point she seemed to be looking past me, then she stood up and walked around me to where Chase was most likely stuck just like I was. If he wasn’t, then he was in much worse shape than I thought. When she’d completed her inspection, she stopped in front of me, then reached out and made a gesture over my face. I felt the tension around my eyes and mouth relax, and I blinked several times even though my eyes weren’t actually irritated from being open so long.
“What are you doing here?” the old woman asked.
“That’s complicated,” I told her. It wasn’t that far off the truth.
“Is it now?” She clasped her hands behind her back. “Your friend there is half dead and reeking of that pig, Slaski’s magic. You’re a practitioner of not-inconsiderable strength — although you’ve clearly overextended yourself like a foolish child — and you’re in my home, where you most definitely do not belong. Are you here to kill me?”
“Okay, so I guess it’s not that complicated after all.” I tried to figure out how to best explain myself without coming across like I was desperate to save my neck. “We did tell Slaski we’d kill you, but only because he’s holding my friend’s life hostage. Truthfully, I hadn’t decided what I was going to do yet.”
“You’d kill a harmless old woman?”
“First of all, I doubt you’re anything remotely approaching harmless,” I said. “And second, I’d do almost anything to keep Chase from dying. If you turn out to be anything resembling the wicked old witch Slaski made you out to be, I’ll cut your throat in a heartbeat.”
The woman spit on the floor and made a gesture that reminded me of a gypsy warding off evil. “Slaski is an idiot and a drunk,” she said bitterly. “He knows full well I’ve been protecting these lands for decades. I don’t know what he told you, but I guarantee it’s nothing but lies.”
“So you’re not killing hikers and sabotaging logging trucks?”
I’ve met some extremely talented liars, but the look of confusion on the hermitess’s face was genuine enough to make me believe her when she shook her head emphatically. “Absolutely not. Well, I have sabotaged a few logging trucks, but never in a way that would harm anyone. I draw my power from these lands and have too much respect for the gift of life to ever consider taking it away from anyone.”
“What about the trap on that log that nearly drowned me?” I asked. “It didn’t seem very benign to me.”
“Ah, yes. I really should have dismantled that with the river running so high these last few days. That stretch of water is usually nothing more than a gentle stream a child could wade free of with nothing more than soggy pants. The trap was never meant to hurt anyone, only to dissuade them from wandering this way.”
This is where things got tricky. Once you peeled back the veil obscuring magic and fae creatures, you either learned very quickly that almost anyone or anything who seems sweet and caring is probably hiding several rows of razor-sharp teeth they’d like to introduce you to. For all I knew, this woman was toying with me before unhinging her jaw and swallowing me whole. Don’t laugh, I’ve seen it happen. Poor girl scout didn’t even see it coming. If I hadn’t been staking the old biddy out, that kid would never have made it out of there alive. I had to take her to a hypnotist to erase the memory just so she could function afterward. As to my current predicament, was this old woman really the kindly forest protector she claimed to be? Or was she biding her time to see how truly helpless I was without my magic? Either way, there wasn’t much I could do about it except try to talk my way out of the situation.
“I’ve heard Slaski’s side of the story,” I said. “What’s yours?”
The hermitess retrieved her mug and sipped thoughtfully a moment before replying.
“There’s really not much to tell,” she began. “My father raised me in this cabin — well, a more rustic version of this cabin, actually — and I’ve been the caretaker of this valley ever since. I almost never go into town, and I’ve done my level best to avoid personal business with that hack, Slaski.”
“You can’t think of a single reason he might want to have you killed?”
The woman wrinkled her nose and stared into her mug like she was looking for answers.
“I can think of one thing,” she said hesitantly. “It might have to do with the source of my power.”
Now we were getting to the heart of it. If ever there was a reason for conflict where at first there appeared none, it was some idiot wanting more power for themselves.
“Care to elaborate?” I asked.
“There’s a network of natural caves under the mountains here.” She paused and bit her lip. It looked like she was trying to decide how much to tell me. “Inside those caves is a… substance from which my father taught me to draw power when I was just a young girl. Slaski wouldn’t have the ability to draw magic from the source the way I do, but this substance is quite valuable in the world beyond this valley.”
Valuable substance found in a cave? My first thought was a wellspring of some sort, but the concept of bottling spring water to sell at eight bucks a pop seemed like a stretch on the definition of the word ‘valuable’. Then it struck me.
“Gold,” I said.
The woman nodded. “Quite a lot of it, really. When I was young, I had to go to the exposed veins down in the caves and could only hold the energy for a short period, but now I can tap into it from anywhere in the valley.”
I tried to imagine how massive the networks of gold crisscrossing the bedrock would have to be in order for her to have that kind of access to whatever power she was drawing from them.
“We must be talking millions of dollars worth of gold,” I said. “No wonder Slaski wants you dead. How does he even know about it, though?”
“I really couldn’t say. I’ve never harmed a hiker or surveyor attempting to pass through these lands, but I do have plenty of little surprises in place to deter anyone from coming even remotely near the cave entrances.” She frowned as if reading my mind. “Humane surprises.”
I frowned and rolled my eyes downward to indicate my present state of incapacitation. “You don’t strike me as the overly social type,” I said. “Don’t suppose you get into town for bingo or book club very often? Maybe over-share a little after one too many glasses of sherry?”
“You’d be surprised,” she said with a smirk. “I never miss a Bridge night. If, however, you are trying to imply that I might have let slip the true nature of my role here, you’d be wading up the wrong stream. My family has kept the source of our power secret for more than a hundred years. I’m more of a gin girl, but there are no amount of martinis in that would loosen my tongue enough to speak of such things.”
“But… you’re telling me now?”
“Yes.” She pursed her lips. “I have not yet decided what to do about you. Oh, don’t look at me like that. No need for violence. Simple enough matter to make you forget you had ever been here. There’s no pile of bones out back for you and yo
ur friend to join.”
“So what’s stopping you from doing a brain wipe and kicking us to the curb?”
“The state of your friend there disturbs me quite deeply. Slaski has gone too far in this. I spoke truth when I said I despised violence, but sometimes we are left with little recourse, eh?”
Great. Under any other circumstances, I’d walk away and let these two idiots battle things out themselves. With Chase’s life on the line, I didn't have that luxury.
“Can you heal my friend?” I asked.
Though I expected it, my stomach still dropped when she shook her head. “Had he been brought to me immediately, I could have saved him with little difficulty. Slaski has left him in a very dangerous state. With a few days, I might be able to peel back the layers of Slaski’s magic to get at the underlying injuries.”
“But Chase doesn’t have a few days,” I said for her.
“No, he most certainly does not. With his recent exertions, I’d imagine his lifespan has been reduced to hours at best.”
“There’s nothing you can do?”
As suddenly as I’d been immobilized, I felt the forces holding me in place weaken enough that I was able to regain my balance and turn to watch while the hermitess inspected Chase. Not one to waste an opportunity, I flicked my right hand out quickly and discovered that although I was free to move again, the spell holding me in place made the air around me act like mud. What should have been a split second flick was more like a lazy wave. Worse, the hermitess turned and glared at me immediately. Motion sensing alert built into the spell. I supposed if I was her, I wouldn’t take any chances either.
Even though my magic reserves were as empty at a bottle of Jägermeister at a frat party, I had to test my restraints. Dialing down the output on my taser spell by about a thousand percent, I conjured the tiniest of sparks between thumb and forefinger. Minuscule as it was, I felt the power surge to my fingertips. That’s where it ended. It’s hard to explain what an interrupted spell feels like, but I guess it’s a little like a sneeze disappearing just as you’re about to let loose.
“I don’t blame you for testing your bonds, but if you persist, I will have to take more drastic measures in securing you,” the hermitess said without looking up from where she was pressing her fingers to the soft underside of Chase’s jaw.
“Why should I trust you over Slaski?” I asked.
The woman ignored me, continuing to poke and prod Chase. After a few minutes she placed her palms on Chase’s temples, closed her eyes, and stood completely still. With mage sight, I was able to see the magic flowing from her hands into my friends. I tensed and made ready for a desperate attack, but she didn’t seem to be harming him. In fact, she was doing the opposite. The surplus magic radiating away from her spell was light and comforting. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was sweet in the air, like spring flowers and fresh-baked cookies. Chase’s ghostly pale skin flushed pink and healthy beneath her ministrations. She’d already said she couldn’t heal him, but she was doing her damnedest to help as much as she could.
“Sit now, child,” she told Chase, taking his elbow as she released him from the spell that had been holding him in place. She guided him to a chair and placed a knit blanket over him. “I’m afraid it’s the best I can do. I’ll warm up that pie so you don’t have to eat it cold. A cup of tea wouldn’t hurt anyone either.”
I didn’t bother trying to move while the hermitess was in the kitchen, except to scratch my nose. I was happy to see she’d brought three plates and sets of cutlery back out with her when she returned. She relaxed the remainder of my restriction with a slight wave of her hand, then said, “Come help in the kitchen. I’ll pour the tea. There’s fresh bread beneath that cloth, and butter in that crock there.”
A few minutes later, the three of us were sitting around her dinner table, tucking in to hearty portions of re-warmed vegetable pot pie and a soup she’d produced from her fridge. Chase sipped at the soup with slightly more enthusiasm than I’d seen him exhibit towards food since leaving Slaski’s place, and I put away as much of everything as I could manage without making myself feel like I was taking food out of our hosts’s mouth. The herbal tea was hot and refreshing, sweetened with a touch of honey. The room was cozy and warm now that the fire had been going for a while and a warm afternoon light was spilling through the windows to pool across the hardwood floors. Under different circumstances, I could have happily spent a week lazing around the cottage reading, eating, and sleeping.
“As to your earlier question,” the hermitess said, “I don’t believe there is anything I can say or do to satisfactorily assure you of my good intentions. You have trespassed on my home, and yet I’ve done what I could to provide succor without judgement. Your friend’s ailments are beyond my abilities to cure, but I’ve done what I can to extend his life and improve the quality of those hours he has remaining to him. Of course, this could all be an elaborate ploy to convince you to murder Slaski and whoever is pulling his strings because they have something I want, but those are the games we play when our kind meets for tea, are they not?”
Chase set is spoon down in his half empty soup bowl. “For what it’s worth, I appreciate the help. Can’t really say I feel good, but I feel less terrible. Not nearly so much like all I want to do is go to sleep and never wake up again, anyway.”
The woman had a point. The one thing more valuable than gold or power in my world was trust. I hoarded mine like it was a priceless resource I might run out of at any second. Chase was probably the only living person who had free rein to draw on that account as liberally as he needed. I didn’t exactly trust the hermitess, but I trusted Slaski even less. I mean, the guy had taken my best friend’s life hostage in order to blackmail me. That was pretty bad even by mage standards.
“Alright,” I finally said. “Let’s say I believe you. What now?”
“I kind of have an idea there,” Chase offered. “How do you feel about slapping that pathetic excuse for a healer, Slaski, around a bit?”
I smiled for the first time since before Chase and I had gone into that accursed lumber mill where he’d been injured. Bullying the duplicitous gnome a bit was exactly what I was in the mood for.
Chapter Nine
With the help of a bit of kinetic magic oomph, I kicked the door to Slaski’s trailer so hard it twisted off the hinges and collapsed sideways into the small room, partially blocking the door. I felt like a bit of an idiot having to stomp on it with my heel just so I could walk inside, but it was worth it when I saw the look on the gnome’s face. Bologna sandwich in hand, crumb-covered plate in his lap, the healer sat in front of an ultrawide flat-screen TV that was the only thing in the place that had been made after 1979. Frozen with his mouth hanging open, partially chewed bread and deli meat visible behind his stained teeth, Slaski looked like he was about to piss himself in fear. The only thing that kept me from grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him to his feet was the absurdly loud volume of what seemed to be a spaghetti western blaring from the TV.
I didn’t have much magic to waste, but I didn’t want Slaski to know that. Measuring the expenditure against a bit of showmanship, I cast a small electrical surge in the direction of the TV, frying it so completely the screen shattered with a pop and hiss of sparks and smoke. The acrid stench of burnt electronics filled the narrow little trailer.
“We killed the old woman,” I said in as menacing a tone as I could manage. Threatening people wasn’t generally part of my job description, but in this case, I was warming to it quickly. “The old hag nearly took my head off with her damn booby-traps.”
Slaski seemed to come to his senses. He swallowed the food in his mouth, then set the remainder of his sandwich down on his plate. If his hands hadn’t been shaking the entire time, his little act of reaching for the glass of rye beside his armchair might have been a convincing act of nonchalance.
He took a hearty gulp of the whiskey, grimacing as it went down. “Did you have to break th
e TV?”
I laughed, letting my very real frustration add a touch of unbalanced hysteria. “You’re lucky I don’t destroy this entire shithole you call a home. Actually, if you don’t heal my friend right this instant, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I had a lot time to think while I was trudging around in the woods today, and I’m not entirely convinced you ever planned to heal him. If he’s going to die anyway, I’m going to take this place down around your head, then break every bone in your body. One. By. One. Tell you what, though. Point me to someone who can help him, and I’ll bury your remains beside all that gold the old woman was sitting on.”
Slaski threw his hands up defensively. “Woah, woah. You’ve got it all wrong. I never had any intention of double-crossing you. I can heal your friend right now, okay? It’ll only take a second. I promise!”
I looked at Chase where he stood waiting by the broken door. This was where everything could go wrong. If Slaski had even a second to think about it and decided to make sure the woman was dead before finishing the healing procedure, or if he thought his life was forfeit and tried one desperate act to save himself, Chase would be dead. The entire plan hinged on Slaski being too cowardly to do anything but follow through on his end of the deal now that he thought he had what he wanted.
Black Gold Page 5
