by S. L. Prater
“Not a good start . . .” the priest muttered.
“It’s my doing.” Shar raised her arms. “There is a good explanation for it. Come and I will show you—”
“Don’t move!” The young watchman shifted the revolver and drew back the hammer, the barrel aimed at the alchemist’s heart.
Shar froze.
“Put. Down. Your. Gun.” Alec’s tone threatened violence.
The watchman hesitated. The scar above his eye stood out as color filled his face. Jack stepped in front of Shar, in front of the aimed revolver, his palms raised.
Marnie’s stomach tied in knots. “If you pull that trigger . . .” she growled, jaw clenched.
“Holster your weapon, and let them go,” Alec said.
The watchman with the short beard climbed to his feet, releasing the witch beneath him. He retrieved his peaked hat off the ground nearby, clamping it over his cropped hair. His free hand was at his revolver. His pale eyes darted around at the growing, grumbling throng. He moved in closer, too close, bumping his companion’s arm.
Startled, the young watchman fired. Sparks erupted from the end of his gun.
Jack dropped.
Marnie screamed. She threw her hands up in the air, and the magic, everywhere, obeyed her.
* * *
“Marnie? You have to put them down now,” Jack said. He hugged her shoulders, trying to calm her.
It wasn’t working.
Her breaths came in spiky rasps that hurt her throat. Her pulse danced unpleasantly in her wrists.
“They shot you,” Marnie whined. “How are you not dead right now?”
The watchmen, Alec included, floated upside-down, a few feet above the ground. Long glowing bands of magic wrapped their legs, pinning them in the air. They hung like slabs of meat in a butcher shop. Their revolvers were on the ground, pooled with their crimson stoles and peaked hats. One of them had lost his boots.
“He missed,” Jack said.
Marnie stabbed a finger through the gaping hole in the top of his boiler suit. The skin beneath was unbroken, unmarked. “They did not miss.”
“I’m uninjured.” Jack’s grin was crooked. “You wouldn’t eat the goat eye I tried to give you, so I made a bath of it with a mixture of walnut shavings and rat tumors this morning. Have I ever told you about the multifaceted magical properties of rodent tumors?”
“Incredible,” Shar sang. Her smile was upside-down along with the rest of her. “I can feel the magic warm around my ankles. Just incredible!”
“Sorry, Shar,” Marnie chewed her bottom lip. “You were standing too close.”
“Don’t apologize, child! It’s like I’m flying,” the alchemist said. “I’ve never had so much fun.”
The crowd whispered and pointed. Marnie heard their curious voices, felt their astonished eyes drinking her in.
The trigger-pulling watchman whimpered. His arms hung limply, grasping at the ground below. With a twirl of her fingers, Marnie had him spinning like a top.
“I’m going to be sick.” He squeezed his eyes shut as he rotated faster.
Brother Doyle planted a hand on the back of Marnie’s neck. He shook her gently. “You’re scaring them,” he said in her ear.
“Good,” she muttered.
“Not good,” the priest chided. “You’re trying to prove a point, show them a different way of interacting with you. This feels like revenge. You have to put them down now. All of them.”
“I’d like to be on my own two feet again, Sophia,” Alec said. “Give me their firearms. No one else will be shot, on my honor. We have to listen to each other if we’re going to make this work. Forgive them this so we can move on.”
“If I had shot a watchman, you’d be stringing me up from a tree right now, but because I’m a witch I’m supposed to just let him go,” Marnie huffed. “The residents here are only trying to protect the island and make a place of their own. And you—”
“I’m sorry,” the young one said, blood rushing into his face. His scar stood out stark, darkening in color. “Truly, I am! My nerves got to me. Please let me go. I was scared.”
“You’re scared?!” Marnie narrowed her eyes at him, her voice rising. “Do you see all the families here? This place is stuffed with them, but there isn’t a playing child in sight. Know why? Because their terrified mothers hid them away the moment they got a look at you!” She spun the watchman faster. “And a good thing too—you might have shot them in the heart!”
“Marnie . . .” the priest cautioned.
Jack squeezed her shoulder. His amity, their bond, slowly calmed her.
Marnie took several breaths, then lowered Shar and the others. The trigger-pulling watchman, she dropped. He landed with a satisfying thud in the dirt, stumbled to his feet, and vomited in the grass.
Alec collected the firearms, returning his to its holster. The others he tucked into his belt. The crowd began to disperse. The young blond watchman reclaimed his boots, staring at them in confusion like he couldn’t remember what they were for.
“Explain the box to us, Shar Zerba,” Alec said. “We are all ears now.”
The alchemist led them back to the blazing blue bonfire. “This flame is a cleansing spell. There is a great evil in these trees.” She gestured animatedly as she spoke, her voice like smoke.
“A witch,” the blond said, his tone accusatory. His fingers flexed around his empty holster.
“Not a witch,” Shar said patiently. “A demon has taken possession of a beast.”
The alchemist explained the cleansing spell, describing the different runes etched into precisely cut logs. The watchmen followed in a tight huddle around their constable, casting long glances over their shoulders. Carefully, Shar told them how the demon magic needed somewhere to go, somewhere safe, to keep it out of the clearing, out of their water and their food sources. The wooden chest with its symbol was where they trapped it. She tried to explain the warding, but their eyes were glazed over, lost. Marnie barely understood it, having no experience herself with wards.
She thought of her blade stuffed with demons, wondering if Shar could help rid her of it the way she purged the area of demon magic. She and Jack knew nothing of wards. Neither practiced with them. In her case, maybe they could be the answer. The knife squirmed uneasily in her boot like it knew her thoughts.
“We won’t be able to get rid of this evil completely until we destroy the foul magic at the source,” Shar concluded.
Alec ordered his unarmed watchmen to conduct a search of the camp. “If they are uncooperative, seek Marnie and me out first. You are outnumbered here.”
Brother Doyle agreed to accompany them. “I will keep the peace.”
The sun rose high and hot in a cloudless sky. Marnie, Jack, Shar, and the constable shared a lunch of beans and rice in Shar’s tent. Wet, brightly-colored laundry hung from a wire over Marnie’s head. She sat on a simple cot with a woolen blanket. A metal bathtub was tucked in the corner, empty.
Alec scraped the last of his beans off a clay plate. He sat in a wooden rocking chair. “Let’s pretend for the sake of argument that I believe there is a bear demon out there. How do we kill it?”
“It’s a demon,” Marnie said. “You won’t be killing anything.”
Shar and Jack agreed. They shared an overturned barrel in the grass just outside the tent flap.
“I need to face this creature myself,” Alec said. “The bishop won’t accept anything less. To convince anyone, I’ll have to take something of it back with me.”
“If you want to stay alive, you’ll let the witches continue their work.” Marnie moved food about her plate, not eating anything. Her appetite hadn’t recovered from the shock of watching Jack shot. “You’ll let them cleanse this area slowly.”
Alec listened, but his eyes told Marnie his mind was set—or had been made up for him. “The bishop wants the demon dealt with and its accomplice in custody. If that accomplice is a mindless animal, all the better. Either way, my men
aren’t leaving until this is done, and you and I both know the peace here will remain uneasy until they are gone.”
Marnie jabbed her food with her fork. “The last person to face off against this creature was pummeled by poisoned trees. You sound suicidal to me right now, Constable.”
“Then, is there no way to kill this thing?” Alec asked.
Shar scooped the beans Jack neglected off his plate and into her mouth. “The combined magics of Amigtas de Magus are your best chance, Alec. Jack’s spell of strength and protection saved him from a bullet. After prolonged contact with his Amigtas . . . it might do the trick.”
Marnie stabbed her food more aggressively. “I’m not risking Jack’s life or mine for the Cloth, Constable, but perhaps we can come to a compromise. Demon magic leaves behind traces, and so do bears. Let’s go have a look at the last place this creature was spotted. We’ll find something for you to take back to the Bishop.”
* * *
“We might use spells,” Marnie said. “A lot of spells. You’ll hear strange noises, smell strange smells, and sometimes see wild colors and lights. Don’t shoot us in the back over it.”
“I’m not going to shoot anyone,” the constable grumped.
Shar led them beyond the tree line on horseback. The trail was narrow and tangled with vines. The constable rode a borrowed stallion, while Shar sat on a painted horse. She had advised them that their Amigtas was strengthened by their touch, so Jack and Marnie shared a mount, a silver mare. The farther they rode, the stronger the scent of Jack’s spell became. She sniffed him. He smelled like cabbage and beer.
The sounds of insects grew louder the closer they drew to a collection of ceiba trees and matted ivy, where the mud was covered in soft green moss. The roots of trees had been clawed at by something huge. Pawprints the size of trash bin lids spotted the mossy undergrowth. Jagged demon markings were carved into the bark of the trees. The upside-down fox was prominent.
Marnie made a quick study of the markings, the paw prints, and the growing scent of demon rot. She, a witch, was immediately convinced a bear demon was responsible, but how would anyone make a suspicious watchman understand? They experienced so little magic.
Jack climbed down off the horse and hitched the reins to a swooping tree branch. After sharing a saddle so long, his spell was strong. He lifted Marnie easily off the mare’s back, sitting her on her feet.
“It’s bigger than my foot, and I’m not small,” Jack said, stepping alongside the nearest paw print. “We could dig this out, make a mold of it. You’re sure that’s not enough to convince you?”
Alec swallowed. “I have to see the creature.”
“Don’t touch anything,” Shar cautioned him.
The snap of branches began gently at first, then the trees rose up and came together, smashing Alec’s stallion between their trunks. The sound of their movement was hollow and loud, like a clap of thunder. The constable cried out. The horse crumpled beneath him. Roots encircled its body, jerking it deeper into the forest, the constable’s leg trapped beneath the heavy beast.
Shar screamed. She kicked her horse into a canter after him. Marnie and Jack’s silver mare reared up, snapping a swooping branch. It bolted.
“Marnie, get on my back.” Jack crouched before her.
“Why?” She shook her head, bewildered.
“Because I’ve seen you run, and I’m as strong as a horse right now! Hurry up.”
Clutching his shoulders, she climbed onto his back, hooking her legs around his hips. The spell on his skin was strongest in his wild hair. It stunk like cabbage.
“Giddy-up,” Marnie said in his ear.
Jack leaped into the trees. Marnie clutched him tight, holding her breath as branches snapped and swayed, swatting at them. Roots left the ground and reached after her. The trees would like to make them lost, Marnie sensed. Their trunks huddled together, blinding them.
“I don’t see Alec,” Marnie said, panicked. “Or Shar!”
“I can hear them. Hang on.”
She did. She hung on so tight her knuckles were white, and had he not been spelled with strength and protection, she surely would have strangled him. The demon blade vibrated against her ankle so intensely, her foot went numb.
Jack sprinted into a clearing. A cave opened like a mouth in the side of a cliff face, surrounded by jagged rocks. Shar struggled to calm her rearing horse, then dismounted. The forest was eerily quiet. Even the trees had stilled. The horse whinnied and stomped in dismay, alarmed by something unseen.
“He’s in the cave!” Shar pointed, her arm trembling. “Quickly, Amigtas, you must save him! I will pray for you. Go, go!”
Jack hefted Marnie to the opening. She covered her nose as she stepped down off his back. The smell of rot was so thick, it gagged her. They entered the cave, Jack in the lead, Marnie clutching his shoulder.
The air was thin, growing thinner the farther in they traveled. Marnie coughed, needing to clear her lungs. Patches of light broke through rocks. In tighter areas, the tunnels were too dark. They stayed close together, leaning a shoulder against the rock walls as they shuffled forward.
The narrow tunnels opened into a cavernous space. Jack stopped abruptly, and Marnie bumped into him. She whispered a prayer to Tortua. Firelight sprang up in the pile of stone at their feet. Shadows cast by the blue flames crept along the walls, raising Marnie’s blood pressure. Water dripped into a shallow pool.
“Alec?” Marnie’s voice was small. Bones crunched beneath her boots. The sound froze her blood and made her skin crawl.
A massive boulder impeded their progress. It was blacker than night, absorbing the blue firelight.
“Witches,” said a slow, deep voice that made Marnie’s heart stutter. It boomed out of the boulder, rumbling around the cave. “I’m so pleased that you’ve come. You see, I’m dreadfully hungry. Have been for days, and this body of mine is so, so tired.”
The blade squirmed against Marnie’s ankle so hard, it hurt. Her hand went to her boot to still it.
“We aren’t offering to feed you,” Jack said.
The demon chuckled. The sound shook the floors. The boulder shifted its weight, stretching, revealing itself. It towered over Jack and was twice as wide as the two of them together. It appeared as hard as stone, with rounded shoulders and matted fur, a bear with hulking arms and legs.
“Warrior witch,” it said to Jack, “are you any good at spotting a bargain? I’d wager you are. You seem the clever sort.”
“I like to think so,” he said.
Warrior witch?
Marnie was grateful it was still talking. Talking and not eating anyone. She searched the dark for signs of life. Eyes squinted, she focused and saw the bands of her golden magic. She reached out with it, feeling for Alec.
“Wonderful,” said the demon. “My kind values a good bargain. We’re always looking to trade.”
“Don’t trade anything with it,” Alec shouted. His voice echoed from the foot of the bear demon where the shadows pooled thickest. Marnie’s magic found him, alighting on his face with its golden threads. His russet cheek was discolored and cut. His lip was bleeding. Vines wrapped his torso.
The stallion was in pieces.
The demon brought down a massive paw, pinning Alec to the floor. The constable squirmed and grunted, his face purpling.
When it chuckled, the floor thundered. “The one they call ‘hero witch’ carries something I want. I have someone you want. Don’t you see the bargain?”
“You want the knife?” Marnie dug the blade out of her boot. It was hot to the touch. “That is a bargain. I’d give it to you for free.”
Another chuckle rumbled the ground.
“If only I could,” Marnie said. “It’s bound itself to me.”
“That could be rectified”—the demon yawned, stretching its jaws—“with your death.”
“Give you this blade, and you’ll what?” Jack asked. “Hand over the constable?”
“Correct.�
� It laid another heavy paw on Alec’s gut. His clothing was in tatters, red stole knotted and torn around his neck. “Let’s get on with it if you’re in agreement. You’re holding up my meal.”
“We’ve come to an impasse, then,” Jack said. “I won’t let you kill Marnie.”
“Such a shame,” the demon said, its voice tired. “I’m afraid I’ll simply have to take what I desire, then, though it pains me to do it. I prefer to have my meals delivered, not to battle for them like a common animal. It’s too much work, and I can already tell you’ll be a great deal of work, warrior witch.” The demon sighed. “I detest labor.”
“I will be work.” Jack lowered his stance and spread his arms, and Marnie prayed his spell continued to do more than just make everything smell like cabbage.
“Before we begin,” said the demon, “it’s tradition for one of my kind to offer an answer to a soul before we take it. An answer to anything, any question any mortal could imagine. An answer only beings born of magic and not of this dimension would know. Ask me one question, and out of the kindness of my very large heart, I may answer you before I devour you.”
“All right,” Jack said. He shifted his weight, searching for the best footing. “What’s the quickest way to kill a bear demon?”
The creature roared, and the floor shook. When it lunged, its weight hit Jack in the chest like a falling tree. Marnie held her breath.
Thank God!
Jack held his ground. Gritting his teeth, he pushed back against the demon. Marnie dove for Alec, locking her arms around his torso. He smelled like blood. She focused on the magic, telling it to encircle the constable. She pictured the camp, Shar’s tent, the cot, her colorful clothes, and in a heartbeat, Alec was gone.
Jack threw his arms as far around the demon’s broad body as they’d go. He squeezed tight, and the demon roared and swiped at his head. Its heavy paw knocked against his skull. Jack blinked like stars were popping before his eyes, but he held strong, digging his heels into loose rock.
Marnie began chanting, something nonsensical and soft, a child’s blessing. The star symbol on her breast warmed and brightened. She prayed to Sidra. Then, a high ringing drowned out the comforting sounds, reverberating out of the demon blade Marnie clutched.
