A Familiar Problem

by Sam Cheever

  “How long have you been watching us,” Deg asked on a frown.

  Mabel shrugged. “A decade, I think. Time is a construct we don’t pay much attention to, I’m afraid.”

  “Okay, what’s the play here?” Mandy asked. “I assume there’s a reason you’re here with us now.”

  “Yes. I’ve been watching over you. I wasn’t supposed to step in but I couldn’t just watch the demons extinguish you all.” She frowned. “If only I’d gotten here soon enough to protect Brock.”

  A wave of sadness overcame me. We all stood in silence for a long moment, none of us willing to ask the question that would finalize his end.

  Mabel’s light began to fade. “We must move. The demons will be aware of the disturbance in their pathway. More will be coming.”

  “Can’t you just blast them again?” Mandy asked with a crooked smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. I knew she and Brock were close. If he was dead…

  I sliced that thought away before it could take hold. If I let myself think about Brock’s demise, I’d be incapable of moving forward because of my grief.

  “I don’t know what your council told you but those of us who form the rebellion are on precarious ground here. We have only survived by keeping a very low profile. I’m afraid I’ve already done great damage by intervening in such a spectacular way.”

  We fell into step behind Mabel. She moved away from the lighted pathway, taking us into the deep darkness of the surrounding countryside. The Nephilim didn’t exactly light our way, but her filmy white robes were like a beacon in the darkness, making it possible to follow where otherwise we’d be blind.

  “At least I don’t have to suck on that nasty stick anymore,” I said to Deg. “It tasted horrible.”

  He frowned. “Really? Mine tasted like mint.”

  I stared at him for a moment and then scanned a scathing look toward Mandy. She grinned wickedly. “What? They’re assorted flavors. Mine tasted like ice cream.”

  “Let me guess, I got the one that tasted like poop?”

  Her eyes went wide. “I wouldn’t know what poop tastes like, LA. I’m appalled that you do.”

  I glared at her for a moment before turning away in disgust.

  She had to cover her lips with a hand in an attempt to hide her smile.

  I’d been had.

  And that is why I call her a “Witch with a B”.

  A long while later, the ground beneath our feet started to feel boggy. Mabel warned us several times to walk exactly in her footsteps, not deviating even an inch. “If you fall off this narrow path you will sink beneath the surface of that black water and be lost.”

  I cast a terrified gaze toward the glossy blackness on either side of the path and fought an urge to grab hold of Mabel’s robes and let her tow me safely to the other side.

  Drowning was my greatest fear in life. Particularly when the liquid I’d be drowning in was inky with malevolence, with an oily surface that undulated constantly as if filled with writhing snakes.

  My companions were silent, which told me they were as tense as I was about where we were. It didn’t help that we could hear the strange cries of some kind of creature in the near distance, punctuated by an occasional shriek that made my skin crawl with fear.

  Mabel stopped suddenly and I almost ran into her back. She threw up a hand, indicating we should wait. She’d done this a couple of times since we’d entered the bog, and after a moment she’d gone on.

  I didn’t know what she was tracking, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it if it found us.

  My gaze slid briefly to the skyline and I was devastated to see that the glow in the sky hadn’t moved any closer, despite the fact that it felt like we’d been traveling for hours. I was concerned that we wouldn’t get to our destination before light started to peer over the horizon.

  Then I realized I had no idea if that would even happen. We were in a whole different dimension, with possibly different world rules and realities I couldn’t anticipate.

  Morning might never come.

  Mabel stood perfectly still before me. The moment stretched out, with only the roll and slap of the thick black water moving around our feet. I cast my gaze over the surface, squinting when the movement along its surface seemed to grow, the rolling liquid breaking higher from the surface than a moment earlier.

  I was so focused on watching it that I forgot not to move. I shifted sideways, my foot slipping off the edge of the path and barely touching the black liquid.

  I gave a little scream but a strong hand grasped my arm, yanking me upright before I could topple into the bog.

  My heart thudding in my chest, I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and trying to calm my senses.

  “Don’t be such a klutz,” Mandy whispered harshly.

  I bit back a retort. After spending the last several weeks in her near constant presence, I was starting to understand the cranky Witch. She usually snapped when she was scared. Otherwise she relied mostly on snotty superiority and mean jokes.

  Something splashed nearby and my eyes flew open.

  Our gazes swung in the direction of the sound and Mabel sucked air in a gasp. “You’ve awoken it.”

  I frowned. “Awoken what?”

  With a breathy roar that stunk of sulfur, the inky water rose straight up into the air in a long, slender column and, before we realized what was happening, fell toward the path, hitting it like an explosion and shaking the surface so hard we stumbled.

  “Run!” Mabel screamed and took off, her feet barely touching the ground as she fairly flew along the narrow, twisting pathway.

  Nobody had to tell me twice. I didn’t know what I was running from but, after seeing an example of Mabel’s power, if she was afraid of it, I was terrified.

  Deg’s heavy footsteps pounded along behind me, so close he clipped the back of my heels a couple of times. I realized I was holding him back.

  That thought came home to me even more stridently when the black liquid rose up just behind him, towering over his head by easily ten feet, and then started downward.

  It was going to smash into him and he’d go down, plunging into the terrifying bog.

  “Deg, watch out!”

  Not even taking the time to look back, he lifted a hand and screamed a power word, shortcut magic, sending a fiery arrow of energy into the thing descending on him. The energy severed the top four feet of the ebony column and it toppled sideways, hitting the path with a heavy splash and a roar that shook the pathway.

  Deg cried out as some of it hit him in the back.

  I didn’t waste any time thinking about whether what I was going to do was smart. I just knew I had to do it. I yanked my magic forward and felt the shift take hold, ripping painfully through me as I gave the unaccustomed magic full rein. Leaping into the air, I writhed and screamed and came down on the other side of my shift as a cat. I bounded forward, three times faster than I could have run as a human.

  I twisted my head backward and saw a lean, streamlined charcoal grey dog where Deg had been.

  I almost fell off the path.

  Another monstrous roar made my fur stand on end.

  The pathway rumbled as the thing in the bog rose up again. It split into three massive columns that stunk of sulfur. The ominous protrusions crashed simultaneously onto the marshy path, ripping it into pieces behind us.

  The path grew more narrow as we ran, to the point where I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to stick to it if I’d been in my humanoid shape. I had a sudden, razor-sharp worry that it would stop before we reached the end of the bog.

  Far ahead of us, Mabel suddenly disappeared. I almost screeched to a stop, surprise and panic swamping me.

  Had she fallen in?

  Only Deg’s harsh panting and heavy paw-steps behind me spurred me on. Whatever was ahead I’d have to deal with it when I got there.

  The thing in the bog was snaking along the pathway now, compressing the boggy ground with its weight and shaking it apar
t.

  To my everlasting horror, the marshy earth started to tremble apart under our paws.

  I bounded forward and nearly leapt right off the pathway before I realized that it had made a sharp turn. The curve was hidden by some kind of fold in the atmosphere. A deadly trick that probably cost many an unsuspecting traveler their lives.

  I yowled as my paws stepped off the path, looking helplessly down at the roiling black liquid reaching for me.

  Just before my paws touched the bog, Deg snatched me out of the air with his teeth and flung me none too gently back onto the path. I hit the relatively firm ground in a dead run, my shoulders screaming in pain from where his teeth had pierced my flesh.

  After a few beats I spotted Mabel up ahead. She hadn’t fallen off after all. She must have known about the treacherous fold.

  I silently thanked Deg for saving me. His quick reflexes had clearly saved my life.

  Again.

  We finally hit solid ground and ran several more yards before skidding to a panting stop.

  We found Mabel resting against a tree, her face flushed and her robes still bunched in her small hands from when she’d been running.

  Deg and I shifted quickly back.

  The Nephilim handed us each a layer of her robes to cover up in and Deg winced as he eased his over his tall, spectacularly naked form.

  Not that I noticed.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him, moving quickly to his side.

  “Nothing. I just got burned by some of that stuff. Mandy can heal me…” His head came up and his eyes went wide. “Mandy!”

  We both looked back toward the ruined pathway and the bog, still roiling with agitation.

  There was no Mandy.

  She was gone.

  Chapter Eight

  To say that our footsteps were heavy as we continued on, would be a vast understatement. Consumed by guilt, I’d tried to run back to find Mandy. Deg had barely been able to stop me. I couldn’t believe she was gone. I’d lost two of my friends in the space of a few hours.

  And Mandy’s loss was all on me. If I hadn’t accidentally touched the black liquid in the bog...

  After Deg stopped me from going back, I’d collapsed alongside the black water and given in to the exhaustion riding me. But tears and desperate sobs only served to entrench me deeper into the cocoon of fear and loss I’d built for myself.

  If Mabel and Deg hadn’t hauled me to my feet, even scolding me about risking everybody’s lives with my noise, I’d have probably thrown myself to the ground and indulged in an extended pity party for one.

  As it was, I barely cared anymore if we were discovered. I felt so defeated, so worthless as a friend, that I could barely move.

  Why hadn’t I been able to help them? Why hadn’t I been more careful with their lives. Why were they gone?

  I drew a shuddering breath, fighting tears, and felt Deg’s soothing energy washing over me.

  Stop beating yourself up, LA. None of this is your fault.

  I just shook my head, sniffling. I was too depressed even to share our mutual communication channel with him.

  Ahead of us, Mabel suddenly stopped. She turned to us and put a finger over her lips, jerking her head toward a rocky area not too far away. “We have company,” she whispered softly. “Hide.”

  I was halfway to the rock before I realized she wasn’t coming with us. I turned with a small sound of alarm and started back. Deg grabbed my arm and dragged me behind a large rock. “She belongs here,” he whispered. “We don’t.”

  I understood what he was telling me, though I didn’t like it one bit.

  We crouched behind the landscape of big, black rocks and watched as the night shifted and puked three very large, man-like creatures out of it. They were well over six feet tall and wore armor crafted of blackened metal. The helmets they wore covered their heads from above the ears and were topped off with short horns that curved dangerously forward.

  Mabel allowed her light to glow softly as they approached, her posture relaxed. She lifted her hands in greeting. “Hello. What are you doing out here tonight? Isn’t the coronation about to begin?”

  The soldiers stood in a triangle, the largest of them, whose armor was marked with a blood-red slash across the front, stood at the rear apex of the formation. He rested a long, spear-like weapon on the ground and leaned into it, cocking his head slightly. “More importantly, Nephilim, what are you doing out here. You aren’t planning to disrupt the ceremony, are you?”

  Mabel laughed, the sound pitched high and pleasantly musical. It sounded like a child’s laugh, which I guessed it was. “Why would I do that. Has not Queen Trudy been good to my brothers and I? We have no complaints with her rule. And those who would work against her have tried, repeatedly to kill us. Does that not speak to our loyalty?”

  The guard didn’t say anything for a long moment, then he nodded, straightening and pounding the hilt of his spear on the hard ground three times.

  I blinked at Deg. Was that some kind of message?

  Must be. I only hope he told them there was nothing to see here.

  Mabel’s form tightened just enough for me to notice, because I was watching her carefully. Not good, I told Deg.

  Apparently not, he agreed.

  “We felt a large energy use in this sector. Was that you, Nephilim?”

  Mabel nodded. “Demons attacked. I was alone and had no choice but to use a show of force.” She stopped talking and waited for him to react. A smart move. Liars generally babbled on, creating details they didn’t need because they were nervous.

  Mabel was clearly an accomplished liar.

  Although, technically, what she said was true. She’d just neglected to mention us.

  Tension filled the air for a long moment as the guard stared at Mabel and she folded her hands and forced her shoulders to relax. I couldn’t see her expression but I got the impression she was probably smiling.

  Finally, the guard inclined his head. “Very well. Though the ceremony’s been cancelled, we’ll accompany you to Mundala.”

  To her credit, Mabel barely hesitated. She nodded, moving swiftly toward the men and sliding between them to lead the way.

  If her steps were a bit choppy, her posture slightly stiff, I hoped only I would notice. When the three guards were out of sight, I collapsed to my butt and leaned against the rock, expelling air. “Well, that was terrifying. Those guys didn’t look any friendlier than the demons.”

  Deg’s gaze still scoured the night, his expression tense. “I’m sure they’re not. I wonder why the ceremony’s been cancelled this time.”

  I pushed to my feet, brushing black dust off my jeans. “I guess we’d better follow them. As soon as we get a chance we’ll have to spring Mabel.”

  Deg nodded. “She can lose herself in the assembled crowd once she gets there. I assume even if it’s been cancelled there will be people there who’d expected to watch the ceremony. It should be easy to move around without being noticed.”

  We started walking quickly in the direction Mabel and the guards had gone. I was worried about being able to see them in the dark but Mabel had helpfully kept her glow and I could see the flush of it on the air ahead.

  Unfortunately, we were so busy trying to follow Mabel we forgot to worry about what might be around us.

  Big mistake.

  The shadows in front of us shifted suddenly and I found myself with the razor-sharp point of a spear at my throat.

  “Don’t move.”

  I went very still as I felt the tip of the spear pinching against my skin. A slight burning sensation accompanied the sting of the blade and I smelled a whiff of something floral and not unpleasant.

  “Devil’s Bloom,” a gravelly voice said from behind me. I rolled my eyes to the side as the guard with the red slash in his armor strolled into view. “A particularly horrible way to die. We coat all our blades in the stuff.” He stopped in front of me, scanning a glance from my head to my toes and then back again. H
e barely skimmed Deg a look, dismissing him. That was good. It would hopefully prove to be a fatal mistake. “I don’t recommend you give us cause to use it. I knew the Nephilim was hiding something.” He jerked a head toward the darkness and Mabel stumbled into view, her hands bound and two of the huge guards bracketing her. Their spears formed a deadly arrow toward her heart.

  She held my gaze for a long moment and then let her gaze drop to the ground. There had been some message there, but I wasn’t sure I could interpret it.

  Don’t speak, don’t struggle. Just play along, Deg told me on our private channel. Apparently, he was better at reading Nephilim-ese than I was. Or he was just winging it.

  Either way, stalling for time seemed like the best move. Unfortunately, staying silent wasn’t my forte. “I’m here to see Trudy.”

  The guard stiffened slightly, two furrows appearing between his cold eyes. “What business would you have with the queen?”

  I had a brief moment of panic. The moment of truth was upon me. I was in a strange land, surrounded by weird and deadly creatures and mired in even deadlier politics. I had no idea whom I could trust or what allegiances anybody held. Telling him who I was could be the end of me and Deg.

  But I really had no choice. I tipped my chin up, hoping I looked sure of myself. And maybe just a touch arrogant, like the niece of a queen would. “She’s my aunt.”

  I thought he’d be surprised. Or at least skeptical. But he only scanned me another long look. “Yes. I see the resemblance.” To my vast surprise, he inclined his head to the guard whose spear burned against my skin. The spear disappeared from my throat.

  I had only a heartbeat in time to breathe my relief before the deadly blade was repositioned under Deg’s chin.

  “His fate is in your hands,” the head guard told me. He didn’t even bother to look at Deg as he proclaimed his sentence. “If you make one wrong move he dies first.” He jerked his head toward Mabel. “She’s next.”

  I slowly lifted my hands, terror slicing through me. What even constituted a wrong move to the creature threatening my friends? What if I accidentally crossed some invisible line and it cost them their lives? I decided I couldn’t risk it. I had to win him over to my side before something I couldn’t live with happened. “I’m not here to cause trouble,” I told him with a stiff smile. “I just want to speak to my aunt about a possible spot in her court.” Until the words slipped from between my lips, I hadn’t known I would speak them.