An Obstinate Witch

by E M Graham

  I had no feeling in my body, the impulses of mere seconds ago were now dead, and I had no strength to move my feet no matter what my mind was telling me. But I had to speak.

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘So much, my dear one, so much to tell you,’ she said, then she stood up. The action sent the dust and light sand into a flurry in the air currents. ‘Goblin, come out and be seen,’ she commanded.

  I felt rather than saw Trevor’s reluctant movements. His candle guttered and hissed, almost burnt to the end.

  ‘You have done your work well, and will be rewarded.’

  His eyes were open wide with terror and I could see his body was shaking too much for him to speak. A dark stain appeared on his pants as his bladder let go.

  ‘Now, Dara, take the Chronicle.’ With a gnarled finger she nudged the book closer to me. I shook my head. Her claw-like nail, begrimed with the dirt of years, tapped on the thick paper of the pages. ‘You cannot refuse,’ she told me calmly, her voice like a million fingers on chalkboards. ‘Through your actions, you have set these events in motion, and there is no turning back.’

  ‘No,’ I said bravely, though my heart was thudding in my ears and my body was yearning to run, run straight back through that underground corridor and up the stairs. ‘This is a mistake. I have not chosen this, I was led here under false pretences, the goblin...’ I was stuttering by now.

  ‘The goblin has played his unwitting role,’ she said. Her smile on that ancient face was almost gentle despite the harshness of her voice and words. ‘He has led you to me, to your destiny. You and I, Dara, will change the world of the Kin. We are the only souls brave enough to seize the Stone and make its power our destiny.’

  ‘No, you’re wrong.’ I somehow found the courage deep within me to refute her words. ‘I never set out to do this. I didn’t do it on purpose.’

  She ignored me as she continued. ‘You alone can free me from this curse.’

  ‘NO.’ This defiance burst out of me unbidden. We stared at each other in shock, the crone and I, and although every nerve in my body was screaming at me to run, right now, I was paralyzed with fear.

  12

  ‘NO.’

  I didn’t know I’d said the word until it was out of my mouth and hanging in the dust and phosphorescence all around us. First Willem, now this ancient crone wanted to use me for their own ends, and it was not going to happen. Not again. This road could only lead to my own ruination, and thank you very much, but I could cause enough trouble for me by myself. I didn’t need her help. ‘No. I refuse.’

  She didn’t appear to be angered by my words, instead, she looked on me as if I were a beloved child throwing a tantrum. ‘But think what is at stake,’ she said.

  ‘What’s at stake?’ I burst out. ‘What is at stake is my future as a witch. My acceptance into the Kin. My... my not being cursed to live underground for centuries! I am not you. I have no intention of following your path, whatever awful things you did to lead you to being cursed. No way!’

  Auld Meg merely laughed. ‘So why did you brave the Vaults if not to reach out to me? Why did you follow the goblin?’

  ‘Because,’ I bit my lip. ‘Because you have the knowledge to help me.’

  ‘Yes. We will work together,’ she said in a very patient voice. ‘You will learn all I know.’

  ‘No, I can’t work with you. But my mother. I need you to help me free Mom from the Ice Kingdom.’

  ‘Then you must first free me from this curse!’ A sudden breeze whipped the dust around, a foetid wind from the depths of the charnel house.

  ‘No,’ I whispered. Then in a stronger voice, again. She was bound by the curse, she couldn’t touch me. And she needed me more than I needed her. ‘No.’ The price was too great. Perhaps she could help me, but the cost was an uncertain future of being an outlaw from the Kin, forever on the run.

  ‘No,’ I said for the third time and found the courage to turn to leave the chamber.

  ‘Think of your mother.’ Her voice cut clearly through the dust motes, stirring them up again. She was calm again, and self-assured.

  ‘I am,’ I replied, equally calmly now and standing tall. ‘I’m thinking of her, and our future. I will not lift the curse.’

  ‘And who will help you reach your goal? Your precious Hugh Sabarin, he who is so ambitious in the Kin? He’ll not lift a hand if it means scuppering his chances. The oh-so Venerable Nachtan? You think he’ll lose his prejudices?’

  I drew a deep breath. ‘I will find my own way.’ And stepped through the portal.

  ‘Or perhaps your old friend Willem can assist you,’ she said. ‘He’s not so far away, you know. Ask the goblin.’

  Her bitter laugh haunted me as we stumbled back through the foetid hallway, the candle guttering and on its last leg. We ran all the way back, Trevor scarpering ahead of me, even in his red heeled boots covering the distance faster than me.

  What did she mean, Trevor knew about Willem? If my heart could sink any lower I’d be leaving it behind.

  WE REACHED THE PORTAL to the Vaults to find the troll still fast asleep, the empty whisky bottle smashed into shards beside him. We carefully picked our way and slipped out the heavy oak door.

  What did she mean about Willem? It must have been him I spotted, after all. What was he doing in Edinburgh?

  And what ties did Trevor have to that sorcerer? I turned to him, still breathless from our escape and reached out to grab him as the heavy door slammed behind us.

  ‘What do you know about Willem?’

  He squealed with fright, his mouth open wide so I could see the rows of needle like teeth as he slithered through my grasp. ‘I don’t know any Willem, I never heard of him before! I don’t know what you’re talking about!’

  Trevor was terrified of something, and so terrified that I figured he could only be speaking the truth. I dropped my arms and sighed from the depths of my being. The events of the night were catching up with me, my entire body was aching and my mind whirling. I needed to go to bed and lose myself in sleep, but I knew there was no way I could settle, not yet. ‘I need a drink.’

  Confused, tired, with the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, I needed to sort things out in my head. I so needed that drink. Or three of them, preferably in a quiet place where I could marshal my thoughts.

  ‘I know a place,’ Trevor wheedled at my elbow. He flicked his eyes nervously behind me. ‘I know the very place! You’re buying, right?’

  He’d quickly recovered all his old verve and confidence now that we were safely away from the Vaults and the terror of Auld Meg. I stared down at the shit-eating grin on his face. He had gotten me into all this. It was his doing, his role. If it wasn’t for him offering, I’d never have known where to find the witch, would never have descended to those depths of hell to risk everything. I paused and looked at him, trying to gather up the spite in me to find the nastiest tone in which to tell him to get lost.

  ‘Only, they won’t usually let me in,’ he said, his goblin mouth turning down into a sad frown. ‘Even Bert, the barkeep, he’s an elf, but he pretends he can’t see me. He thinks he’s better’n me ‘cause I’m just a goblin, like.’

  That made me pause. The adrenaline was still firing through my system, and maybe I wasn’t thinking straight, but after the conversation with Hugh I was still pissed that there was so much inequality in this world I’d found myself in. Of course, it was everywhere, it wasn’t just a Kin / super natural thing, but my eyes had been really opened to it today. I couldn’t do much about saving my mother tonight, or undoing Margaret Forsythe’s curse (not that I wanted to – I wasn’t going to open that can of worms) but the pettiness of an elf turning up his nose at a fellow being?

  ‘Really? An elf thinks he’s too good for you?’ There were levels of snobbery everywhere, it would appear. It wasn’t just the Kin. I set my mouth firmly. ‘Well, let’s just see what he says when this witch shows up. I bet y
ou he’ll serve you then.’

  I might be too chicken to free Auld Meg and I was certainly no closer to getting my mother from the clutches of the Ice King, but I was still a pretty powerful witch, even if it wasn’t a full moon, and I felt like showing someone just how powerful I really was. ‘Let’s go have a word with this Bert.’

  IT WAS THE PLACE he’d pointed out earlier, the one with loud thumping discordant beat coming through the steel door. It creaked open suddenly, letting out a small amount of light and two drunken students.

  ‘Got a light, then?’

  I considered summoning up a flare from my fingers, but decided it was best not to show off. I ignored the drunks and stepped inside, Trevor close at my heels.

  Judging by the noise level, I would have said the place was packed to the rafters, but on closer look I saw that there were a few empty tables scattered here and there. The majority of the patrons choose to crowd around the bar to keep it within easy access for the next round, yelling at each other over the music as they sloshed their ale mugs, never minding where the liquid spilt.

  A band played in a corner with a single spotlight, three lads wearing kilts and Doc Martins and very little else. Two had their heads shaved to show the tattoos on their skulls, while the other had dreads almost reaching to his waist. Their music was a Celtic punk bluegrass mix, and loud, and while they may not have been in perfect harmony, they more than made up for it with their frenetic energy.

  On second thought, maybe this was the perfect place for my mood tonight. Quiet thinking wouldn’t help me free my mother, not right at this moment. I knew my options, and they were few. There was little I could do on that front, so I might as well just give up trying. But on the other hand, there weren’t many people who braved Auld Meg in her dungeon, now were there? And had the balls to refuse her. I might not be as powerful as her right now, but give it a couple of weeks.

  ‘Watch it,’ I scowled as a young redheaded man bumped into me. We made eye contact and, even drunk as he was, he got the message and scurried away out of my path.

  I walked up with a bit of a swagger and clicked my fingers, fixing the tall skinny bartender with my eagle eye. With his long straight hair covering his ears, you could hardly tell he was an elf.

  When the burning force of my gaze caused him to look up, I nodded, and said ‘two.’ Despite the noise, he understood, and drew up the glasses of beer. He put them on the bar, then looked down.

  Trevor was leering up at him in triumph, his lips drawn back to show his needle-like teeth.

  ‘Oi!’ Bert said as he took the glasses off the bar again and held them out of reach. ‘You! Get out. I told you the last time you’re barred for life.’

  He looked at me accusingly. ‘Whatcha bringing the likes of him in here for? He’s a nasty piece of work, and that’s really sayin’ something for this place.’

  ‘Give us the beer,’ I told him shortly, keeping my eyes steady on him. ‘You don’t want to mess with me. Not tonight.’

  Bert’s adam’s apple quivered just a little, then he nodded and laid the glasses back on the bar. He waved away my shimmering credit card, but said, ‘Just the one. Then get out of here, and take that little gobshite with you.’

  We moved through the crowd to a small table tucked away in the corner, away from the loudspeakers and sat, not minding the various spills from the table’s previous inhabitants. Trevor sipped using both hands to hold the glass, and looked proudly around, hoping to be seen.

  ‘Nice place,’ I said loudly.

  He nodded. Totally missing the sarcasm. ‘It’s the only place that super naturals can really come in,’ he said. ‘The only other patrons are students, and they’re too drunk to notice us.’

  It was true, I saw as I looked around at the patrons. There were some witches, you could tell by the air of glamour they’d cast about themselves, making their faces softly out of focus and airbrushed. They were trust fund Kin kids slumming it for the evening, I could tell just by looking at them, like my half-sister Sasha and her friends at home. There was even a vampire drinking what I hoped was red wine.

  Trevor turned to me and put his beer down, his face excited. ‘I can’t believe we did that. We went down to Auld Meg’s dungeon. She moved and spoke to us, and we lived!’

  ‘Keep a lid on it!’ I darted a glance around to make sure he hadn’t been overheard. ‘We don’t want to spread that around. There’s Kin kids in here, you know.’

  I took a sip and considered our night’s work. ‘Besides, dude, I don’t think it’s something you want to boast about, not in this town.’

  I glanced up at him, about to continue, when I saw his face change from boastful to guarded all of a sudden, as if he’d seen danger in the air. This wasn’t the same fear he’d shown in Auld Meg’s underground cell, that had been sheer terror at the unknown. No, this new expression was fear of something known, a real threat to his well-being.

  ‘I’ve got to go.’

  I could barely hear him over the music, but he didn’t give me a chance to ask what was up, he grabbed his pint as he slipped down from his seat and slithered off between the tables, leaving me alone in a strange bar.

  I didn’t have time to express my outrage either, for all of a sudden I wasn’t alone.

  ‘Dara, you come here often?’

  I recognized that voice, it still haunted my nightmares. His voice in my head, the terror of that night on Scarp when I’d carried the Crystal Charm Stone and changed the course of my life forever. But he wasn’t in my mind right now, I looked up, and yes he was here, right beside me. Wearing a trench coat and that red ball-cap which he removed before taking the goblin’s seat.

  ‘Willem, it... it was you, both those times,’ I sputtered. ‘I saw you in the crowds, but I couldn’t believe you’d have the balls to still be in Scotland!’

  He bowed his head in acknowledgement. His short blond brush cut glistened in the purple and green flashing lights by the dance floor. ‘I showed myself to you on purpose, you know,’ he said, lifting his head again. His flat grey eyes on mine caused shivers up my spine.

  ‘I’ll turn you in to the Kin,’ I said, my fists clenching.

  He laughed. It wasn’t pleasant. ‘You say you will, but will you really?’ And he leaned closer to me. ‘I can get you to the Ice Kingdom, without all the terror of unleashing the horror of Auld Meg. It will be far less messy. My offer still stands, Dara. Imagine the things we could do, together, you and me.’

  ‘Never in a million years, Willem,’ I said firmly. ‘Simply no.’

  His pale grey eyes bored into mine, and perhaps the alcohol I’d imbibed had relaxed my guard, but he knew his way into my head and I could feel him there, the seduction of his cold touch brushing against my most inner thoughts. I’d just pulled myself together enough to expel him when he introduced a new feeling or path, I’m not sure what it was, but he took me along with him, just like that.

  And we were standing in the Ice King’s throne room again. Of course we weren’t really there, it was just a thought visitation or whatever you call it, but it was pretty realistic. I could see my breath before me in the freezing air, and huddled my hands into my hoody pocket for warmth.

  And Mom was there. She couldn’t see me, of course, for we weren’t really present. She looked even older, her hair lank and lustreless, as she stirred a huge cauldron of liquid.

  It was over in a flash and suddenly the bar was all around me again, the deep bass vibrations thudding through my chair.

  Willem was sitting back in his chair, full of his old confidence, his eyebrow lifted. ‘I repeat, I can get you there. No one else is willing to help you but me.’

  ‘How can you span the dimensions?’ I was still shaking, but stalling, searching my mind for a plan. I needed to get word to the Kin that the sorcerer had appeared again, and right in their midst. Was it possible that Trevor had disappeared so quickly in order to go to alert the authorities?

 
No, the goblin would have no idea of the struggles we’d had on Scarp, or Willem’s role in it all, the Kin would not have advertised that they let a sorcerer almost get the better of them. It was all up to me.

  Willem laughed at my question. ‘I’ll not tell you my secrets, Dara, at least not yet,’ he said. ‘There’ll be time enough for that later, when we are partners.’

  ‘I’ve told you before. I will never, ever, work with you,’ I said. ‘I despise you.’

  ‘Don’t be so hasty.’ He leaned his elbows on the table, his pale eyes glittering. ‘You saw for yourself what the Kin did to Margaret Forsythe, because her power scared them. Don’t fool yourself, they’ll do the same to you. Of course, it will be in a much more civilized, twenty-first century fashion, but it will be a dungeon all the same.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You know they’re just waiting for an excuse, Cromwell and his band of merry Uncommons,’ he continued, ignoring me. ‘They are no better than the witches who went before them. Scared shitless of a female witch’s power, so much that they’d rather subdue her than have her be useful to the clan.’

  ‘No!’ I shouted, standing up with such force that the table rocked, the rest of the beer in my pint glass splashing over the top. ‘Get out of my life, Willem de Vriezs.’ With that I turned and left the bar, walking the streets of Edinburgh till I found my way home again, thinking hard all the way.

  Jesus, what a night. I’d met and refused to free the dreaded Auld Meg, then had a confrontation with my arch enemy Willem. I was no closer to being able to get to the Ice Kingdom.

  But during my stumblings in the darkened cobbled streets, I finally had the space to allow the heart clenching memory of my mother to arise in my head and to allow myself to feel the deep sadness it evoked. The years of missing her, and wanting her by my side, and then knowing she was so close and I could work with the sorcerer and free her...