A Witch's Path

by N. E. Conneely

  "I don't know. We could bust the door, deal with Adder, and find Amber," Tiffany offered.

  "Oh, I love it. As easy as one, two, three."

  She poked me in the ribs, "Well, what do you suggest?"

  "It would be good if we knew who's in the house, and where Amber is being kept."

  "I'm going to look in windows until I find her." She took a few steps forward.

  "Tiffany, stop. You can't do that. He'll hear you. Then you'll be dead and Amber will still be his captive." Like standing outside his house whispering wouldn't call his attention. We might as well have been shining a spotlight on his place and using loud speakers.

  The front door opened, blocking our view of the light, sending the porch into a shadow my eyes couldn't penetrate. A voice drifted out, "You said you wanted to talk. Let's go for a walk. I need the fresh air, and she can't hear us out here."

  I nudged Tiffany and mouthed Adder since it was a man's voice.

  "I don't see why we need to talk outside. Can't you do something about her?" A woman replied.

  I looked at Tiffany. She shook her head. She didn't know the voice either.

  "She's in her own room. There isn't much I can do about sound traveling."

  "Render her unconscious."

  "I will not hurt her. She's mine."

  "Careful, Adder. I can take away what I helped you gain."

  "It's a nice night. Let's take a walk and talk."

  I didn't think it was a nice night, but werewolves enjoyed the cold. Heavy footsteps, like a man in work boots sounded, followed by the sharp thwack of high heels. The footsteps moved across the porch, down the stairs and onto the gravel.

  Adder's mysterious partner was a woman. Any woman capable of bringing a werewolf to heel wasn't one I wanted to cross, though I couldn't help but wonder how she was managing the gravel driveway in heels.

  I bumped Tiffany with my elbow, and made a walking motion with my fingers before pointing at us and the house. She nodded, and we quietly moved towards the house.

  This was our best shot. The two of them were walking down the driveway, going away from us, and the house, with every step. There was a chance they could hear us, but I was banking on the wildlife and wind covering up our movements. If we were really lucky, Amber would be alone and we could do a rescue and escape without a fight.

  We tiptoed out of the woods, and across the grass surrounding the house. I paused to listen, but I couldn't hear Adder and his friend any more. The driveway wasn't that long. Unless they stopped to talk, they would be back in minutes.

  The house was a doublewide, with bricks along the bottom, and clean siding.

  Tiffany slowly twisted the doorknob, and the door popped open. With a smirk she pulled it back enough to peek inside. I pulled out my wand. This was the dangerous part. Tiffany opened the door and we stepped onto a strip of vinyl floor separating the kitchen on our left from the living room on our right. Luckily, both rooms were empty.

  We walked into a living room with a large tv, an old couch, and a battered wooden coffee table. There were posters from football teams and popular movies on the walls. Beer bottles, stale nachos, and old macaroni and cheese sat on the coffee table. Behind the couch was a large window, partially covered by curtains.

  The window was wrong. It was strange to have a window between two rooms of a house. The frilly white curtains didn't match the movie posters and sports memorabilia decorating the room.

  I walked over, and pushed back an edge of the fabric. The window looked into a room. It was lacking furniture, with only a twin bed covered in rumbled blankets in sight. The blankets twitched, and light red hair fell across the pillow.

  Dropping the curtains, I grabbed Tiffany, and pulled her around the corner. Luck was on our side, because this door was open too. When I walked into Amber's prison, emotions and thoughts rushed through me. It was so good to see her. I wanted her to be unharmed. Adder was a piece of garbage that deserved to be put down. The emptiness of the room would drive me crazy. The walls were white, and the outside window had been boarded up from the exterior. The inside window had a view of white, unless Adder opened the curtains, at which point she would have a lovely view of the living room and her abductor.

  Tiffany and I reached the bed at the same time, seeing the tears in her eyes, I let her wake Amber.

  "Amber? Can you hear me? It's Tiffany. Michelle and I are here to save you."

  Amber didn't move.

  Tiffany touched her shoulder. "Amber, wake up."

  Amber rolled over, eyes unfocused, and a soft smile on her lips. "I knew you would save me." She closed her eyes and appeared to go back to sleep.

  "Narzel, she's been drugged," I said.

  "We are not leaving her here," Tiffany hissed.

  "I didn't say we were. Let's get her up. This is going to slow down our escape."

  We untangled Amber from the sheets. A shackle was attached to her arm, and I unlocked it with a tap of my wand. Now that I could see Amber, or the parts of her that weren't covered by her flannel pants, and long-sleeved shirt, she looked surprisingly healthy. Her hair was tangled, and her eyes glassy, but she didn't have any visible bruises and her clothes were clean. The lack of visible injuries didn't mean she was unharmed. There were plenty of injuries, to the body and mind, that I wouldn't be able to see.

  Amber was in and out of consciousness. When she was aware she would smile and help us, when she wasn't she turned into dead weight. We got her upright, propped between us, but we weren't going to fit through the doors.

  "I'll take her," Tiffany said.

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, you're better in a fight." I moved away so Tiffany could get a grip on Amber's waist. Then, Tiffany draped Amber's arm over her shoulders, holding onto her wrist. For us, this was better than a fireman's carry. I could take most of Amber's other side if I wasn't hurling spells, and if Tiffany tripped Amber wouldn't fall as far.

  Amber opened her eyes. "Good to see ya. I help," she said before leaning her head against Tiffany.

  "Ready?"

  Tiffany nodded. I walked out of the bedroom, giving Tiffany room to maneuver. Amber had to be more aware than she looked because she was taking haphazard steps, keeping herself moving. Swaying, and stumbling, they made it to the living room.

  If the situation wasn't dire, it would have been funny. I whispered, "Do you want help?"

  "No, I've got her. Get the door."

  I held the door open as Tiffany helped Amber step down to the concrete. I joined them, pulling the door closed behind me. We stayed there, hunched over, trying to figure out where Adder and the woman had gone. Finally, I shrugged, and motioned for us to head back to the woods.

  We made it to the woods without incident. Once we were in the trees, our formerly slow pace was reduced to a crawl, and we made ten times the noise because Amber wasn't aware enough to be useful. She managed to crack every dry twig, and whack two holly bushes. After twenty unsuccessful feet, I took Amber's other side, and the two of us snaked through the woods, going from one large gap between trees to the next. I heard gravel crunching, and we froze.

  "Stupid woman. 'You owe me because I helped you.' That may be, but I'm no dog," a deep voice drifted to us.

  My eyes darted around, trying to find Adder. It took me a moment, but I spotted the dark shape walking down the drive way, to the house. I knew we didn't have much time. He'd smell us the moment he got inside. I started creeping forward, dragging the two of them with me. This had been a heroic, but stupid plan from the start.

  We managed to make it a few feet before Adder walked up the stairs. As soon as we heard the door open, I started moving faster. I leaned around Amber to talk to Tiffany. "We've seconds before he realizes something's wrong, we have to hurry. He can track us and we can't outrun him without the car. Let's move to the driveway since we can move faster on a clear path." Tiffany nodded and we crashed through the brush at the edge of the woods.

  The car was a rather fooli
sh hope. We weren't close and it had taken us a long time to get here. It was going to take us even longer to get back since Amber wasn't up to moving on her own. I heard a howl and a crash.

  "Forget quiet, we have to run," I told Tiffany. She nodded, and we took off like a drunk couple running a three-legged race.

  Took off was an exaggeration. We upgraded our lopsided walk to a painful staggering motion. With every step we lurched from one side to another, gravel skidding out from under our feet and the weight of Amber's body hanging off our shoulders.

  There were a few more crashes from the house, but we kept running down the driveway. It was faster than the woods, and it wasn't like he would have trouble finding us. There was a loud crash, and the sound of rocks hitting other rocks.

  Tiffany came to a stop, looking around frantically like a savior was going to pop out from behind a tree. "What do we do?"

  "We hope the woman is gone. You take her, and get away. I'll hold him off."

  "Take the stun gun." Tiffany held it out to me.

  "Keep it. You might need it. Now, go!"

  I turned around and started sketching runes in the air. Crazy had to run in my family, or I wouldn't be doing this. I spotted a dark shape rushing at me, and hurried my casting. I wasn't going to finish in time.

  Adder launched at me, and I got stuck. I was too far into the one spell to do another. Unsure what to do, I tried to force the spell into action, and nothing happened. My magic sputtered, and flowed back into me. I blinked, with confusion, and realized Adder was going to hit me any second. I scrunched my eyes closed and hoped for a quick death.

  I heard a thump, the thick sound of bodies colliding, and a yelp, but I was fine. Peeking through my eyelashes, I saw Adder on the ground fifteen feet away. I was confused and trying to figure out how he'd gotten there, when I saw silver hair. Elron was standing up, a long dagger in his right hand and wearing chain mail.

  Even the elf knew to wear chain mail when fighting something toothy.

  Adder stood up, shook, and lunged at Elron. Elron dodged, laying a shallow slice on the wolf's side. Adder turned, and his jaws snapped shut on air, missing Elron's arm.

  "Get out of here," Elron ordered.

  "Michelle, what's going on?" Tiffany yelled.

  "Narzel if I know, but get Amber to safety, and call the police," I yelled.

  Taking a deep breath, I pushed my power around inside my body. The fizzing out hadn't hurt me. I could still cast.

  My attention returned to the fight as Adder went for Elron's throat. Elron landed a kick to the wolf's chest, and Adder fell to the ground for the second time. I had to stop this fight before Elron got hurt. A containment spell, that would do it.

  I jabbed my wand at Adder, "Sowil." A bubble appeared around the prone wolf.

  Elron stumbled back as he walked into the outside of the spell. "What did you do?"

  "Containment spell. He can't get out. We can call the police and they'll take it from here."

  "If you call the police we'll all go to jail. We broke laws."

  "Do you have a better idea?" I demanded.

  "No, but if you give me a moment to think, I might." He picked up a few leaves and started scrubbing the blood off his knife.

  "How did you get here?" I asked.

  He waved his hand. "I followed you. It's not important."

  "You followed me? Why?"

  "I had to. The Call made me. Besides, for being a witch, and in touch with the earth, you're not much of a nature girl."

  "What's that got to do with anything?" I sputtered. "And since when do you have a Call."

  His eyes narrowed, and he pointed at himself, then me. "Elf, good with nature. Witch, can't walk through the woods without dancing with mud. If you had told me what you were doing I would have helped you. I told you I would help."

  I blushed, and hoped he couldn't see it in this light. "Not all of us are naturally gifted with ability to walk through the woods without breaking a twig. Get over yourself." He glared at me, but I continued my rant. "How would I know you'd help? Having fun on a date hardly puts us in a level of friendship were I can knock on your door and say, 'Would you mind giving me a hand? I need to kill a werewolf.' And, when did you get a Call?"

  He put the knife away and pulled a hand through his hair. "I've had the Call for a while. It's what drove me out of the woods. I'm glad it did. I care about you."

  "Right."

  Elron put a hand on each arm and pulled me forward. I squawked in protest, but it was too late. He was giving me another knee melting kiss. When he broke the kiss we were both breathing heavily. He rested his head against mine. "Arguing with you has always been fun, but not productive. You need to know I care."

  Air whooshed out of my chest and my legs went limp. For a moment, I lost control of my body. I couldn't take a breath or make my legs work. Elron caught me before I could hit the ground.

  "What happened?" He asked, examining me.

  I shook my head, trying to get my bearings. It felt like I'd been punched, but no one had touched me.

  It smashed into me again. The force was external, a push of energy. Then it clicked, I was feeling the energy flux of a spell under assault. "The containment spell…"

  I looked at the bubble around Adder. The spell had visible lines, like cracked glass. As I watched Adder backed up, and threw himself at the spell again. This time I was prepared for it, and absorbed the power rather than feeling the physical blow.

  "I thought you said the spell would hold him?" Elron pulled the knife out with his left hand, and twisted his right hand, his sword appearing.

  "I-it should." I stammered. "He shouldn't be able to break it. Those jumps shouldn't be able to overload it physically, and he doesn't have magic. He'd need some type of magic." Unless the woman had given him magic.

  "Do we wait for him to break out or can you do something?"

  "I'll try to fix it." Building a spell to contain magic and spells wasn't as easy as containing a werewolf. The spell I'd used on him should have withstood any physical assault Adder had mounted, and minor magic.

  I started a series of runes, drawing them in the air with my wand. I needed a stronger spell, one that was more resilient to magic, and wasn't tied to my personal energy. If he did manage to break it, I didn't want to be hit with the backlash. The sudden energy fluctuation would mess with my head, making it difficult to cast spells for a few seconds.

  Repairing the damaged shield and adding the additional features to the spell wasn't easy. It would have been simpler to break the spell and recast it, but I didn't want an angry werewolf on the loose until I was able to cast the next spell.

  "Could you hurry? The spell is breaking."

  "I'm-" I never got to say trying. The house exploded, knocking me on my butt. A second later a magical shock wave hit. For precious seconds I couldn't feel my magic, and I didn't know if Adder was still contained.

  Someone patted my cheek. "Wake up, Michelle. Are you hurt?"

  "What?" I blinked a few times, trying to focus my eyes. "Elron? I think I'm good."

  "Are you sure? The force of the blast seems to have hit you harder than it hit me."

  "There was a magical shock wave too," I said.

  "Oh."

  "Elron, is there a woman in the flames?" He turned to look at the flaming house. I could see the figure of a woman walking out of the house, with flames gliding up and down her skin. She was tall, with pointed ears, blond hair, and a small pink line on her cheek.

  The second the effects of the blast faded enough for me to feel my power, I knew the containment spells was gone. The spells I'd been working on before the explosion were gone too.

  Looking around, I found Adder a few feet away. Bracing his feet, he shook himself. Sinking down, he growled. This was bad.

  "Elron?" Nothing. "Elron?" Darting my eyes over to him I realized he was still staring at the woman walking towards us. Trust a man to focus on the less immediate danger.

  I patted
the ground, trying to find my wand. It had fallen out of my hand when the house exploded. My hands rolled over sharp stones, twigs, leaves, but not a wand.

  Adder charged at Elron, at us. My fingers found the smooth wood of my wand. "Ah, ha!" I raised it, ready to cast another spell, only to realize that it would be too late, again. In desperation, I shot a blast of energy at Adder.

  It hit him in the chest, knocking him back a few steps. The air felt tingly, the woman was casting a spell. Adder settled on to his haunches, ready to jump. I shot a stun spell at him, but he managed to dodge it.

  Elron snapped out of his funk and threw a knife at Adder, tearing a strip off his shoulder and making him yelp. Gripping his sword, Elron started after Adder.

  I turned my attention to the elf casting spells. Elves couldn't cast spells, not like a witch could, but this one was standing there, casting a spell as if she was a witch. I reached out, trying to determine what she was casting.

  A bit of gravel smacked my arm, distracting me. Elron was on the ground with Adder leaning over him. Elron got a foot in the wolf's gut, throwing him back. Adder hit the ground hard, but twisted, gaining his feet. Elron got up, but Adder was in the air, headed for Elron's throat.

  Elron ducked and twisted, saving himself from teeth, taking most of the impact on his shoulder. The force of the impact sent Elron to the ground, where he laid limp and defenseless. Adder landed next to him. Turning, he took a step back, jaws open, ready to tear into Elron. A furry blur knocked Adder off Elron, and tumbled the two of them across the road. I caught a glimpse of red fur in the rolling wolf ball. Liam had come to help.

  With Elron safer, I turned my attention to the woman. The spells building around her had a nasty feel. I was done using runes, being energy efficient, and separating myself from the spells. It wasn't working for me tonight, and a witch without spells was useless. It was time to be useful.

  Thrusting my power around the elf, I found the first spell she was trying to cast. It would fling the burning bits of the building in our direction. Since I didn't feel like being flame grilled, I thrust my power into the spell and expanded it until her spell ruptured.