A Witch's Rite

by N. E. Conneely

  Ropes twisted around the ice block and hauled it to the ground, holding it down where it couldn't hurt anyone.

  With one problem taken care of, I raced around the fire truck.

  Patrick screamed, "I don't believe you."

  "The minotaur is on our side." Elron kept his voice calm. "He is helping us."

  Patrick's eyes darted from side to side as if he was looking for the best escape. "No, it's another trick."

  Lowering my wand, I tried to reason with him. "Patrick, I've never lied to you. Trust me."

  He didn't look convinced.

  I tried a different tactic. "If the minotaur was going to hurt you, wouldn't he be here now? We've been through enough of the maze together that you and I both know anything that wants to hurt you won't stop once it gets going."

  His eyes narrowed. "Michelle?"

  "Yes?"

  Patrick closed his eyes, shook his head, then opened them and looked at me again. "You look strange, scary."

  That was probably a side effect of having removed the magic from Elron and myself but not from him. "I can fix that. Will you trust us for a few more minutes?"

  He thought about it longer than I liked. "Yes."

  "All right. Sit down, and I'll get the magic off you."

  He slowly lowered himself to the ground. Once he was settled, I sat down a few feet away. While it would've been nice to sit with him, it seemed better to leave some distance. I didn't want to scare him.

  There was a crack behind me, and I twisted around to see the empursa squeezing out of the ice block. She'd gotten her head and shoulders free before Elron's sword sliced through her neck, lopping off her head and a corner of the ice. That sword of his never ceased to amaze me.

  With a twinge of regret, I watched her head roll away. I would've liked to help her, but I couldn't save everyone. Only seconds later, the two parts of her body vanished in a dazzle of little light flashes. Her remains had turned into pure energy.

  I looked up to see Elron using the ends of his shirt to dry his blade. "Thank you."

  He shrugged. "You were managing Westmoreland, so I kept an eye on her."

  Reaching up, I took his hand in mine. "Good thing too. I think she would've tried to kill someone."

  "I will always guard your back."

  I squeezed his hand. "I shall be there to protect yours as well, my elf."

  "Oh, cut it out." Patrick rolled his eyes. "It's bad enough when you two look like yourselves, but right now you look rather like rotting zombies. It's revolting."

  Laughing, I let go of Elron's hand. "Let me fix that."

  The spells on him were harder to remove. Not only were they more intact, but they seemed to have sunk deeper into him. Maybe it was because he was young, or maybe because he was human, but either way, the spells were stubborn. With more effort than I was happy to expend, I freed him.

  Opening my eyes, I focused on Patrick. He looked the same to me, but since his eyes were closed, I didn't know if I'd helped his view of everything else. "You can look now. You should be back to your usual self."

  He opened one eye at a time and, after a flash of surprise, grinned. "Well, the two of you look good. The hedges are gone. Trees are a nice change of scenery."

  "Then I think you're good." I couldn't help but smile. He already looked better than he had a few minutes ago. Though he was still oozing blood. "How's your chest?"

  He looked down and touched the wounds. "They look worse than they are. I'll be fine."

  "We have bandages. We'll at least get it covered up."

  Elron cut into the conversation. "We need to get back to Burly and Wells. I am unsure how the officer is doing. I was in a hurry when I left."

  Patrick blushed. "Sorry."

  Elron waved off his concerns. "You are not at fault. Ned is the one who caused all these problems."

  I stood up and brushed off my pants, more out of habit than an attempt to keep them clean. "Let's get back so I can help Wells, and then I need to rest before I do any more magic. Those spells on Patrick fought back."

  Elron raised an eyebrow. "They did not do that when you removed the spells from the two of us."

  Shrugging, I followed him over to our packs. "I know, but we had the medallions. And I think we'd done some damage to our spells, or more damage than Patrick did to his."

  Elron helped me put on my pack but had his in the air before I could offer to return the favor.

  Patrick grumbled. "Why would the spells stick to me better than they stick to you?"

  "If you can think of a good reason, I'd love to hear it." I sighed. "All I have are bad guesses."

  Elron took us through the rhododendron thicket and headed in the direction of a giant pine. I could see Burly's shoulder peeking out from behind the tree. As we neared, I could hear snippets of a casual conversation on the merits of different cheeses. Wells seemed to be doing just fine.

  "Hey, Wells. I heard a rumor that you'd died." I shrugged out of my pack and knelt down next to him. "Good to see that the report was exaggerated."

  He smiled. "There aren't many benefits of being a wereoctopus, but on rare occasions it does come in handy."

  "I'll say." I checked the wounds on his chest, which weren't bad, and dug around in my pack for the first aid kit. When I found it, I pulled out a couple of bandages and some ointment. I kept the conversation going as I patched him up. "So, when Patrick saw Elron and me, he said we looked like monsters. What do you see?"

  He grimaced. "Well, I can tell it's you, but it's not your best look."

  I passed the ointment to Elron so he could work on Patrick. "I believe I can fix that. I've been able to remove the spells from the three of us. Just know that when the spells come off, things will look different."

  Wells closed his eyes. "Go for it. I'm so damn tired of these rhododendrons."

  "You and me both." With that I settled down and started digging into the spells. It wasn't as difficult as removing the ones on Patrick, but it wasn't easy either. However, practice really did pay off, and I spent less time on his spells than on any of the others.

  "You should be good." I grabbed one of my canteens as he opened his eyes.

  Wells looked around and smiled. "I've never been so happy to see trees."

  Elron was there to ruin the moment. "There are still more than a few unusually large rhododendrons in these woods."

  Wells gave me a look that clearly begged me to disagree with Elron.

  "Sadly, I have to admit to seeing more rhododendrons than I'm accustomed to."

  Wells sighed. "Oh well. I can't have everything."

  Nodding, I pulled out a spoon and the jar of peanut butter glop Elron had insisted I pack. It was my last remaining bit of food, and I was finally hungry enough to eat it. Odds were that no matter what plan we came up with to track down Ned and stop him, Burly and I would be taking point.

  While I ate, Elron reintroduced Patrick to Burly. After that, the men took stock of the remaining food and handed out portions. Burly found some greenery he could eat. I wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed to satisfy him.

  I let the guys talk over the different plans without adding my input, but it all boiled down to the same result. Find Ned, arrest Ned, rescue Gudger, get down the mountain. As great as that sounded, there were a few areas I was fuzzy on. Mostly exactly how we were going to find Ned and what would stop him from killing Gudger when he saw us coming.

  There was also his magic to consider. When I finished eating, I excused myself to take care of some personal needs. On the way back from using the restroom, I probed the big thicket of rhododendrons. Sure enough, there was more of the powder there. I scooped up a handful of dirt and carried it back to our impromptu camp so I could examine it more closely.

  When I returned, Elron started to ask me what I had, but I shook my head and he let it go. The other guys took note and left me alone. I set the dirt on a plastic bag from my pack and separated some of the white flecks out. With that done, I closed my ey
es and fell into a light trance.

  I didn't usually go that deep into my magic, but I needed to make sure my theories about the powder were actually true. The only way to do that was to dig down into the depths of those little flecks. First I examined the soil. As I'd suspected, everything but the flecks was run-of-the-mill dirt that could be found anywhere. There was nothing unique about it.

  Focusing on the flecks, I took a very different approach than I had before, surrounding them in magic and disconnecting it from myself. That provided a cushion of energy to absorb any spells I accidentally activated and would help prevent any accidental energy drainage. Now that I wasn't worried about them harming me, I didn't mind getting close to them. I focused in on one fleck that was devoid of power. It certainly felt and looked like a tiny fragment of a snail shell. However, either losing the magic had changed it, or it had gone through some type of process to make the magic more accessible. I didn't have a good way of knowing which without draining the energy from one of the other shards.

  I probed the pile of shell pieces until I found one that was full of energy. When I examined it, it was clear that both of my previous assumptions were true. Not only had it been treated with something, but when the magic was used, it did look different. Without being able to go back to my workroom and reference books, I didn't have a good way of figuring out what the shell fragments had been treated with. To even start to guess, I would need to see the shell from a recently deceased snail. We didn't have one of those at hand.

  Now that I had verified what the flecks were from, I tried to figure out how Ned was using the magic. There was rather a lot of energy stored in such a small package, but that wasn't the most notable thing. The magic was unstructured. Which was a bad way of describing a rare form of magic. The power in these shells could remain there indefinitely, not doing much of anything; however, it could also be given a form.

  This was where it got interesting. It needed two things to make it work in a way most people would find desirable. The first was a connection to the caster; touching it momentarily would accomplish that. The second was some type of direction. Now, because it was unstructured, that direction could take any form with only the vaguest instructions.

  The way most humans would use this, and the way I'd seen Ned use it, would be to touch the power, direct it at the target, and then tell it what to do. The magic would understand how to behave from the words and the desires of the caster. With that type of power, most anybody could do magic, though most people shouldn't.

  Witches, like me, could use the power to augment our own. Rather than tell the magic what to do and losing some in the process, I could simply pull the magic out of the shells and use it. Though that wouldn't be a smart idea. It would put me at risk for addiction and physical damage.

  I pulled my magic away from the shell pieces and slowly started to come out of my trance. From a tactical point of view, I should start sucking power out of any shard I could find. I was running low on available energy, and this could help. I would need every bit of energy I could muster to prevent Ned from spelling us again. The problem was that I didn't want to use this magic. Aside from the obvious side-effect issues, creatures had died to make this magic. To me that made it a tainted power, and I didn't want any part of that.

  When I finally opened my eyes, I found all the men looking at me.

  Elron was the only one who didn't look concerned, but he knew me better than the rest.

  Wells's brow was furrowed, and he was frowning. "Westmoreland said you were doing some type of magic?"

  I took a sip from my canteen as I debated the best way to answer the question. Part of me didn't want to tell him anything, but Wells deserved better than that. He'd stood with Elron and me when we faced down a demon. He could handle this. And should someone try to use this type of magic in the future, he'd know about it and would be able to stop them. As for Patrick, he was a cop, and Burly had every reason to live a quiet life after this.

  "I had some theories I needed to verify." I took a deep breath, knowing there was no easy way to say it. "Ned has found out how to get magic from the snails' shells. I don't know how the magic is getting into the snails in the first place, or what type of snails they are, but he takes the shells, grinds them up, treats them with something to make the magic more available, and then he has a very powerful weapon. This magic can be used by anyone. Which means no matter what else happens, we have to take down Ned and get all the snails."

  Burly just looked disgusted. I think being half creature, which some people thought made him less intelligent and less valuable to society, gave him more sympathy for the snails. Elron… Well, I knew my elf, and behind that carefully controlled façade was burning anger and a desire for justice. Wells and Patrick both looked fairly appalled, probably because they were imagining how much damage this could do if everyone had access to magic.

  Wells grimaced. "Assuming we can capture Ned and rescue Gudger, what are we going to do about all the powder Ned spread all over this mountain?"

  "Once we've done all the cleanup we can, including removing the snails, I think I can take care of the remaining powder. I might need Elron's help, but it shouldn't be an issue." That's what I hoped anyway. I wouldn't know for sure until I tried.

  Elron gave the entire group a once-over. "I know you are fatigued and injured, but we must attack soon. All we are doing right now is giving Ned time to marshal his defense, and we are not prepared to fight the type of battle he could put together with time. There is also the possibility that he would choose to flee, and I have great doubts that we would be able to track him."

  Burly nodded. "I am ready to fight."

  "Me too." Patrick's voice wobbled, but I didn't doubt his sincerity.

  "We have a plan." Wells's voice was grim. "Let's do it."

  The men all looked ready to charge off into battle, but there was one problem. "Can you fill me in on the plan? I think I missed something when I was in the trance."

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  As it turned out, I had missed a few things. Elron and I trailed along behind the rest of the group. Burly was leading us to Ned's hideout. Since the primary goals were apparent, Elron had filled me in on the fuzzy details. He went through the plan with me twice just to make sure I had it. All the discussion had amounted to something rather simple.

  Simple bothered me. I'd had a few teachers who were strong believers in keeping it simple. After all, what could go wrong with a nice, bare-bones approach?

  That last question was the one that worried me. There was always something that could go wrong.

  It wasn't long before Burly turned to look back at us. "We're getting close."

  I summoned my wand and hoped I had enough magic to get through this. Since I didn't have any energy-boosting teas, I had to be careful. No matter what spells I did, I had to be able to walk down this mountain when we were done. That was going to be five miles of mostly down but some uphill, likely with a prisoner and an injured officer. Pushing the thought out of my mind, I focused on the here and now. I needed to be ready because Burly and I were the only ones who had a chance to separate Ned from his magic.

  "Stop," Elron hissed.

  We all froze.

  "There is something here."

  I really wished he'd be a little more generous with his descriptions. "Can you be more specific?"

  "It is not human, and it is moving in our direction."

  Wells sighed. "What do we do?"

  "Drop the packs." Elron shed his, leaving it at the base of a tree. "It would be unwise to carry them into a fight, especially one that may be on multiple fronts."

  Patrick and I followed his lead while Wells and Burly kept an eye out for whatever creature was headed in our direction. I did a quick magical sweep of the area, but whatever Elron was sensing wasn't something I could detect. Though that was hardly a surprise.

  "What now?" Patrick whispered

  Elron shrugged. "Keep moving and be prepared for an
attack."

  That wasn't the answer I wanted to hear, but good news had been hard to come by since arriving on this mountain. I fell back into line, more alert than ever. There was still a chance Elron could give us a warning when the creature was within attack range, but I wasn't going to bet on everything working out that neatly.

  We hadn't gone much farther before Burly stopped. This area didn't look much different than everything we'd been walking through. We were behind a thicket of rhododendrons, a plant I dearly hoped to never see again, with trees all around us. Between Burly and the plants, I couldn't see what was ahead of us, but I could feel a great many spells.

  Burly motioned for us to move forward, and we gathered around. "Ned's home is on the other side of this bush. Elron, where is the creature?"

  "Close." He shook his head. "I cannot get more information. It feels rather strange."

  I patted Elron on the shoulder. He always got so frustrated when his elven senses let him down.

  Wells tapped his fingers on his thigh. "We can't wait. Odds are Gudger needs medical attention, and if we stay here we're giving the creature time to close the distance and Ned a chance to escape."

  Glancing at Burly, I picked up where Wells left off. "Then we're ready. Patrick and I will work on the magic on the door while Burly tries to break it down. We all know what to do from there."

  "What if the creature attacks?" Patrick asked.

  Elron didn't hesitate. "We kill it."

  Patrick paled and nodded.

  Wells filled the silence. "Any other questions?"

  I shook my head, as did the men. With all of us in agreement, I exchanged a look with Patrick. I took his hand, and we linked up. I felt for the spells, finding a mass of them on the door. There were too many for me to pull apart quickly. I started tearing apart one spell while Patrick fed me energy.

  The magic fought me. There was power in those spells, and they were very happy being exactly what they were. Even with Patrick feeding me energy and helping me pull the spells apart, it was slow going. Too slow.

  Opening my eyes, I focused on Burly. "We need you."