A Witch's Rite

by N. E. Conneely

  I took another look around and decided this wasn't the best area. There was nothing wrong with it, but I had the strangest feeling that I should keep moving. Hoping I wasn't making a mistake, I adjusted my backpack and kept going. The corridor turned and dumped me into a clearing. My eyes caught on a rusted old fire truck. The body shape declared that it was from the 1950s and proud of it, while the little red paint that hadn't given way to rust proclaimed it hadn't been taken care of in a long time. How it ended up out here was an excellent question, one I didn't plan on finding the answer to.

  Darting back into the maze, I kept glancing behind me to see if anything was following me. When I was a good distance away and nothing bad had happened, I started to relax. Relaxation was quickly followed by fatigue.

  Before long I was going to have to stop for the night. Desire wasn't an issue anymore, but I wanted to be well away from the fire truck before I tried to sleep.

  A few turns and a long corridor later, the view up ahead looked different. In the low light, it was hard to tell what was going on over there, but I didn't think there was a hedge wall at the end.

  The logical part of me knew it was likely a trap. However, that didn't stop me from hoping I'd found the end of the maze, could rescue Gudger, free the rest of the group, and go home. I didn't care if we had to walk all night, it would be worth it to get off this damn mountain.

  As much as I wanted to run forward and get out of there, I knew better. Pulling my wand out of my arm sheath, I got ready to defend myself and crept forward. Every few steps I would pause, check behind me, and give the ground a quick scan to see if there were any traps.

  I went down half the hallway like that, and as far as I could tell there were no monsters after me or traps waiting to catch me. As Michelle would say, I didn't trust this stretch of good luck to last.

  The sunlight was fading, and the shadows were obscuring what was ahead of me, but I could hear splashes that sounded like moving water. Giving the path ahead of me one last check for traps, I hurried forward. The rhododendron walls fell back, and I was in a sizable clearing with a gently tumbling stream.

  It wasn't the exit. That much became clear rather quickly. The far bank of the stream was lined with rhododendrons. As disappointed as I was that I was still stuck in this place, water was a welcome sight. I was down to the last couple of ounces in my canteen.

  As I made my way over to the stream, I kept glancing around, waiting to see if there was something out of place. As far as I could tell, it was a very lovely area with much-needed water and not a single trick. I was well aware that something could leap out of the rhododendrons at any time, but that was true of anywhere in this place. So all in all I was doing well.

  There was a large rock at the edge of the stream. Normally such a thing wouldn't have caught my attention, but I couldn't see another rock of that size in or along the stream. It wasn't enough of an oddity to discourage me from getting water, so I shrugged out of my pack, unclipped my canteens, and slowly approached.

  Walking over to the stream, I couldn't take my eyes off that rock. There was something about it that just didn't look right. For one, the shape was odd. Now, I knew rocks could have some crazy shapes, but this one reminded me of something alive. A creature just lurking in the shallows.

  Reminding myself that danger could come from anywhere, I looked around, examining my surroundings carefully. It was just me. Me and that rock.

  Trying to shake off the feeling that there was more going on than what I was seeing, I kept moving closer to the stream. I edged into the long shadows cast by the hedges and paused to give my eyes time to adjust. When I was used to the dimmer light, I looked at the stream again. That rock wasn't a rock. It was a person.

  The canteens fell out of my hand as I raced over to the stream. That was a naked man. As I knelt down next to him, I realized it was Wells.

  He was draped awkwardly, his face just above the water. Grabbing him under the arms, I heaved him onto solid ground and laid him on his side. His skin was cold, but that didn't mean he was dead. I hoped he wasn't dead. Wells had always been good to me, helped me learn the ropes. I didn't want to see him like that.

  I sucked in a deep breath and checked his neck for a pulse. It felt like it took forever, but I finally found one. It was faint and widely spaced, but he was alive. Closing my eyes, I thanked the good Lord above. It was a short prayer of thanks. If Wells was going to stay alive, there was more work to do.

  Rolling him onto his back, I checked to see if he was breathing. Sure enough, he was taking slow and steady breaths. I quietly debated what to do, but there was still a chance he'd swallowed some water, so I rolled him back on his side in case he tried to cough something up.

  Wells was alive, but I had new concerns. The temperature had been falling steadily, and as soon as the sun went down it, was going to get cold. I needed to get Wells warm, build a fire, make clean water to drink, and prepare some food.

  Some of those things were going to take more effort than others. After checking Wells's pulse one more time, I hunted down the water bottles, filled them up, and dropped an iodine tablet in each of them. With that taken care of, I unfolded the emergency blanket and laid it out on the ground next to Wells. I dragged him onto it, rolled him up, and propped him on his side. It was a little surprising that he'd stayed asleep through all that, but I didn't know what had happened to him before I stumbled upon him.

  Now that Wells was working on getting warm, or at least not getting any colder, I started looking for wood. Most of the deadfall in the maze was pretty small, something else that was strange about this place. I gathered together what I could find while staying close to Wells.

  When I'd finished collecting wood, I found a couple of rocks and used them as makeshift shovels. It wasn't long before I had a hole about two and a half feet in diameter and a few inches deep. I piled the soil along the edges of the cleared ground before hunting down some rocks and setting them in a ring around the fire pit.

  I checked on Wells again. He was still breathing and had a pulse, but he hadn't awakened. Figuring there wasn't a good reason to move him until I had the fire going, I quickly stacked twigs in the fire pit. Now that I was ready to light the fire, I went digging through my backpack. I might not be as well prepared as Michelle, but I did have matches.

  Luckily, the kindling caught with the first match and I was able to coax it into a small but reasonably sized fire. When it was doing well enough to be left alone for a little while, I hauled Wells over, checked his pulse and respiration again, and went back to growing the fire.

  This time of year the nights got cold, cold enough that hypothermia and death were a possibility. In his condition, it wouldn't take much to finish Wells off. While the fire would help, I didn't have enough wood to keep the fire going long enough to get Wells good and warm, never mind keep us cozy all night. Gudger and Wells had been carrying the two tents, so the emergency blanket was the closest thing we had to a shelter, and it was busy keeping Wells alive. Once he dried off, I could put him in the sleeping bag, but until then I needed to find more wood.

  Reluctantly I started venturing farther away from Wells in my search for wood. It was slow work, and the entire time I worried about him. Unless there was an injury I hadn't seen when I examined him, he should've awakened by now. While I had a first aid kit in my bag, it wasn't going to be a huge help. I could put ointment on his cuts, but I didn't have advanced equipment with me. Internal injuries were out of my league.

  As I started back to camp with an armful of deadfall, I decided I would try to wake him up if he was still out of it when I returned. The last emergency medical training was still fresh in my mind, and I knew that there were plenty of reasons to leave him alone, but this wasn't a typical situation. At any point Ned could send something after us. Michelle and I hadn't gotten any warning before the tractor came bursting out of the hedge. Something like that could happen again. Wells needed to be alert enough to react if we were attac
ked.

  When I returned, it didn't look like he'd so much as twitched. I tended the fire, dug a small pot out of my pack, filled it with water, and set it just out of reach of the flames. My remaining food required hot water, preferably boiling. The fire could do its thing while I tried to rouse Wells.

  I walked around to the other side of the pit, then squatted down next to my friend. "Wells, wake up!"

  He didn't twitch.

  I shook him gently. "Wake up, Wells. Wake up!"

  He groaned faintly.

  "That's it. Wake up. We need to problem-solve. Ned is still out there, and we aren't going to die in this…" Not only was there a code of conduct that specifically addressed the inappropriate nature of profanity on the job, but my grandmother would be irate if she heard me talk like that. "…this place."

  Wells blinked a couple of times and groaned.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. "How are you feeling?"

  "Westmoreland, is that you?" Wells's voice was scratchy and faint.

  "Yes, sir." In the firelight it was hard to tell, but I thought his pupils looked equal. That was a good sign. "How are you feeling?"

  "Considering all, not bad."

  My eyebrows shot up. Looking at him, I wouldn't have said that. "Does anything hurt?"

  "Patrick, everything hurts, but since my last memory was of dying, I'm feeling better than I'd anticipated."

  "What happened?"

  "It's rather a long story. Do you have anything to drink? Food would be good too." He pulled the blanket away from his skin. "What are the chances that I could get some clothing?"

  I smiled as I handed him a canteen. If he was hungry he couldn't be feeling that badly. "Food is going to take a little bit. I've got some freeze-dried meals, but I need the water to boil before I can fix them."

  Wells nodded and took a long drink from the canteen.

  "Clothing is a maybe. I've got an extra set of everything but boots." I eyed him through the blanket. "Should fit you well enough."

  He sighed. "We'll make it work. I don't fancy being naked out here."

  I couldn't blame him.

  We waited in comfortable silence for the water to boil. When it was ready, I quickly dumped it into the bags of freeze-dried food before sealing them up. In a few minutes we'd have a nice big meal, a treat for both of us after this terrible day.

  Wells's day had been even worse than mine, but his color was coming back, he was more alert, and overall appeared to be bouncing back rather well.

  Leaning against my pack, I asked the question he'd already brushed off once. "How did you end up in the river?"

  Wells sighed. "A lot of stupidity and a little luck. Elron and I found a pond, and there was a woman in it who seemed to be drowning. I couldn't think about anything but helping her. It was the most important thing in the whole world. Elron tried to stop me, but I charged right into the water. Next thing I knew, she was dragging me to the bottom of the pond, trying to drown me. I remember starting to run out of oxygen, and I shifted. Don't know what I was thinking. My parents told me from the time I was a kid that shifting into an octopus in freshwater would kill me."

  Wells shook his head. "I'm really not sure what happened after that. I'm guessing I only partly shifted or didn't stay shifted long. I must've floated downstream and ended up here."

  "Wow." I didn't even know what to say. "Any idea what kind of creature tried to drown you?"

  "Maybe a nixe." He shrugged. "But I can't be sure."

  Sending the river a suspicious look, I said, "Well, hopefully she's got other places to be tonight."

  "Amen to that." Wells took a deep breath. "Is the food ready? I really need to eat some salt."

  Leaning forward, I opened up the bags of food and poked a spoon around. "Looks good." I passed him a bag and a spork.

  Wells took a bite and groaned softly. "I needed this."

  My mouth was too full for me to say anything, but I nodded. Most days freeze-dried stew wouldn't be exciting, but tonight it tasted like heaven.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Ned

  It was sheer luck that Hayato hadn't called yet. If he knew how badly I'd been shaken by what we'd done… Well, someone would be here overseeing my every move. Since I didn't want that, I needed to make up for lost time.

  While I'd found a good location for the snails, it wouldn't be easy to relocate them. When I'd started the colony in the stream, the snails had been babies. Now there were hundreds of fully grown snails. That was too many for me to haul through the woods alone. I needed centaurs.

  If I could contact the centaurs directly, it would be a simple matter, but they were represented by the witches. To get the witches to contract the work on my behalf would require payment, and there was only one thing they wanted. Snail powder.

  After writing a letter that outlined my needs, I picked up a one-pound bag of powder. This and one other equally sized bag was the last of what was easy to reach. Most of my stock was in a giant container under the building. If the witches had done their job properly, it was safe from outside influence, but that couldn't be said for these bags.

  In the back of a cabinet, I found a very special container. It looked like a plastic bin but had cost me a pretty penny, but it had been worth every cent to purchase this from a more reliable source than the witches Hayato trusted. This container was certified against magical attacks and tampering. In theory, an entire clan could try to get into this thing and fail. Setting one of the two bags in the container, I hoped I wouldn't need that much protection. But with the witch around, I wanted to be sure I was never without my own magic.

  My emergency stash safe, I stuffed the remaining bag of powder and the note into my backpack. I needed to get those to the drop point so I could get the help I needed to relocate my precious snails.

  Before I could make that trip, there was something else I needed to attend to. Hayato wanted the witch—well, all of them—dead. Sending a nervous glance at the back room where the body was lying, I sat down at my desk. Next time Hayato talked to me, he would want a progress report, and I had no intention of disappointing him.

  Picking up a long, slender rod of iron with a flat, decorative tip, I smiled. This should take care of the witch and the rest of her group. I whispered my instructions, including one that would trigger later, and felt the metal warm. Satisfied with that, I returned it to the shelf. It was always good to keep the better weapons in reserve. My only regret was that I wouldn't be able to watch the entire situation unfold.

  The scrying bowl clouded over and cleared, showing Hayato.

  I took a steadying breath. "How may I help you?"

  Hayato frowned. "Simply do as I've instructed."

  "As you wish."

  He nodded sharply. "It will take me a day or so, but I'll be joining you shortly. As I said before, keep all the bodies. I need to examine them when I arrive."

  "Of course." I kept my face devoid of any emotion. He didn't need to know how little I liked being around dead people. "Do I need to make any special preparations for your arrival?"

  "No."

  I bowed my head.

  "Ned?"

  I glanced up, and flame-filled eyes held my own. "Do not fail me."

  His picture faded away, leaving me with nothing but a bowl of water.

  Hopefully that wasn't a warning. He didn't need to know that I'd been giving him diluted powder or that I had been slow to follow his orders regarding the witch. My eyes slid to the motionless form on the cot. I had no desire to end up like him.

  I reminded myself of what I needed to do. A walk through the woods to drop my request off with the witches, a quick check to ensure my plans for the witch were going as desired, then to bed. After all, tomorrow would be busy what with relocating the snails, finishing off any of the police that remained, and Hayato's arrival.

  Picking up my pack, I checked the note and powder before pulling on a headlamp. As much as I wanted to watch what was going on in the maze, I had wor
k to do. Giving the metal rod one last look, I felt satisfied with what I'd accomplished. At least one of my guests would have a fascinating evening while I slept.

  I smiled as I walked into the night. I couldn't wait to see the results in the morning.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Michelle

  I can't say I slept well, but I drifted in and out. Something, I was never sure exactly what, awakened me. Summoning my wand, I looked around, but there was nothing there, or nothing that I could see. When I glanced up, I could see a few stars, and they reassured me that whatever else had happened, I wasn't that far from home.

  For a while I kept looking around, trying to figure out what had awakened me, but it didn't do any good. Finally I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. As I drifted off, I heard wood snap. My eyes sprang open, but it was too late. Something had picked me up right off the ground and was carrying me away.

  "What the— Put me down!" I shrieked.

  Whoever—whatever—had picked me up and was carrying me through the maze didn't bother to respond. Like that was new.

  I tried a stun spell on my abductor, but it didn't do any good. It was like the creature just fed the magic right into the ground. And I was fairly sure it was a creature. From what I could tell, it walked upright and I was tossed over its shoulder. It had an odd odor, one that reminded me of the cow farm I'd visited a couple of weeks ago. Under my hands I could feel fur, and the way muscles moved under it indicated that the fur was attached to the creature.

  With that spell's failure, I tried to shrink the creature, set it on fire, or really anything. None of the spells I cast on the monster were doing what they were designed to do, so I came up with a new plan. I would cast a spell on something else, and the effect would work on the monster. That had a better chance of success.