The Witch of the Western Gate: Dragon's Gift

by P. K. Brent

  "Why are you so sure the baby is not Talon's?"

  "The tea leaves never lie," stated Grandma Lily. "The scrying tells me that Talon is not the father. He has not wronged you, if he made no offers or promises. It looks to me like Talon ended the courtship before it even started, before he even asked formal permission to court you."

  "I can't accept that!" Raveen thumped her hand down hard on the table.

  "How old are you, Raveen?"

  "I'm eighteen."

  "You are so young. Things seem bleak now, but someday you'll be in a better situation. Then you'll look back and the answers now will seem so clear. Besides, you have a baby to think about now."

  "You have to help me get Talon back! He is all I can think about. I can't live without him," implored Raveen.

  "Raveen, you are about to become a mother, and the father is not Talon. Can't you see why hunting Talon down is a problem?"

  "I don't care. I have tracked him. He is at a house not far from here."

  "Does he know you are here?"

  "I don't think so," replied Raveen.

  "I will help you with Talon, provided you stay here until the baby is born. I can feel the life stirring in you. The baby will be arrive any day. My daughter is a nurse and we both are midwives, so we can help with the delivery."

  "What about Talon?"

  "I will arrange a private meeting between you and Talon. "He stays in his uncle's house, with his cousins. They are close friends of mine."

  "Yes, he has family here." replied Raveen. "I've met his cousins before."

  "He is just a boy, only sixteen, and he never took the formal steps to initiate courtship. I'm not sure why you have such expectations where he is concerned."

  "I'm in love with him!" growled Raveen.

  "You must have also loved someone else too, since you are carrying a different man's child."

  "That was a mistake. I wasn't thinking clearly."

  "Babies are always a blessing, never a mistake… I can do a divination for you," replied Grandma Lily. "That might shed some light on the situation and let you know where you stand with the baby's father and what your next move should be."

  "I want a spellcasting done," replied Raveen. "To make Talon fall in love with me!"

  "I thought you would," replied Grandma Lily. "The problem though, is one of infringing on his free will. I don't do spellcastings that will affect the free will of an individual, unless on rare occasion I'm dealing with an enemy."

  "Why not," asked Raveen.

  "It is wrong to do so," replied Grandma Lily.

  "But you are a powerful spellcaster, and no one would even find out," insisted Raveen.

  "If you believe in my spellcasting then you must take my word that there are powers in this world that cannot be seen. They would know. And I would know. Also, wronging someone in that way would tie them to me. It is a burden I do not wish to carry."

  "I don't understand," replied Raveen.

  "Think of it this way," replied Grandma Lily. "What is better, treading silently through the wood disturbing not a single leaf and no one knowing you are there or stomping along making a lot of racket and turmoil?"

  "The first way," replied Raveen.

  "Yes, and so it is with spellcasting or any other magical power. Give me your hand," said Aunt Lily. Raveen placed her hand palm up in Grandma Lily's hand.

  Grandma Lily closed her eyes and grew very still, then gazed into the cup with eyes slightly out of focus.

  "I see the merest sliver of a silver moon and a lone she-wolf howling at it, alone and in despair. That is you. I see two people, the wolven shaman boy-man and a dark-skinned girl walking through a golden field with the sun high overhead, hand in hand. He goes down on one knee, holding her hand, and asks for her permission to court her, so as to make her his lifelong mate." Raveen growled deep in her throat.

  "I also see that you, Raveen, who are named 'lovely as the new moon' has already found your true love, only you are too scared and upset to see. It is not Talon. Your baby's father is hurt that you've rejected him as a man and father. You will never appreciate him until you free yourself from this obsession over the young shaman -- Talon."

  "You are lying!" shouted Raveen, standing up suddenly and knocking back the chair. "Ramone doesn't want me! He just feels trap because of the baby. I don't want his charity."

  "I do not lie," replied Grandma Lily, eyes narrowing. Raveen stood up to her full height and threw back her shoulders, in an attempt to intimidate.

  "I demand a spellcasting done, to make Talon love me back!"

  "No spellcasting. I already told you that. You must accept the situation as it is," replied Grandma Lily.

  "Do you have any idea what I could do to you?" Raveen lept to her feet, knocking over her chair.

  "Yes, I do," nodded Grandma Lily, reaching calmly for more cream. "However, you have no idea what I could do to you. Raveen took a step toward her and Grandma Lily blasted her back with a lightening bolt. Raveen slammed against the wall. Then she got to her feet and was hit by a slow motion spell, so instead of leaping on Grandma Lily in a split second she was ever so slowly moving forward. Grandma Lily calmly stirred her tea. After fighting the slow motion spell for ten seconds it finally was over and Raveen stood there panting. Grandma Lily snapped her fingers and Raveen was bound, and could not move.

  "Are you done with your silliness yet girl?" Raveen nodded, subdued.

  "Stop being a fool. The last thing I want to do is blast a pregnant girl. You look ready to pop any minute. Plus you are breaking the wolven code of hospitality. My husband invited you in here on the condition of peace. You promised him peace and that you have broken."

  Raveen hung her head. "I beg your forgiveness. I got carried away."

  "By emotion," pointed out Grandma Lily.

  "Yes, by emotion."

  I'm sure you know that it's especially important for a wolven to control emotion, and not let emotion control you. You are strong enough to do serious damage to another being if you can't control yourself."

  "It won't happen again," promised Raveen. "I haven't been myself since this…." Raveen placed her hands on her enormous belly.

  "You must realize," Grandma Lily continued, "that you are investing and wasting an enormous amount of energy into a love that is unrequited. You look like a fool. You will lower yourself in the eyes of this young shaman."

  "I have tried, but I am unable to give him up."

  "You are doing both yourself and him harm with this. Not to mention the baby's father. It's an obsession, and an unhealthy one. During your stay here, think things through."

  "I'll go crazy sitting around her."

  "Don't worry, I'll find you some productive work. My daughter needs help at her shop, with baking and filling mail orders. Also, the baby will be here sooner than you think."

  "When can I speak to Talon?," replied Raveen.

  Grandma Lily sighed. "I will arrange a meeting within a day or two, but please give my words serious consideration. Also, if he doesn't want a relationship with you then you must face the facts and accept it, without harrassing him."

  "Alright."

  "I also will set up a candle spell, for you, to help you find your true love. The sooner you find your true love the less pain you'll suffer. This will be for a true love, one who loves you with his free will and with all his heart."

  Grandma Lily led Raveen to a sunroom in the back of the house. There was an altar on the southern wall, filled with numerous god and goddess statues from many traditions, along with stones, crystals and small vials of herbs and oils. Another altar stood empty on the northern wall. Grandma Lily rummaged in a cupboard and drew out a horshoe and a large red candle. She placed the horseshoe in the middle of the horseshoe and lit it.

  "The horseshoe is a female symbol. That is you. This red candle symbolizes your true love and it is placed inside the horseshoe, a symbol of lovers. I'm dressing it with a red rose oil I made. Roses mean love. Red roses me
an passion. Next I'll make a mojo bag. In this red bag here, I'm putting an orchid root, plus five petals from a red rose. Next a black lodestones to symbolize you, and a brick red one for your true love, both dressed with magnetic sand."

  "Magical sand?"

  "Magical sand is magnetic and sticks to the lodestones, which stick to each other, like lovers."

  "This is witch spell magic?," asked Raveen.

  "Witch magic comes from many folk traditions. I practice a mix of them. Now you light the red candle. As it burns it will charge the ritual items to reach out to your true love and pull him toward you. If you find your true love, it will be easier for you to give up this obsession with Talon."

  "That sounds good," agreed Raveen. "I can live with that."

  "You stay here tonight as our guest. I'll call my daughter in town and arrange for you to stay with her tomorrow. You can help her around her shop for as long as you like. She has a small guest apartment in her building and you can stay there. There's plenty of room for the baby. I’ll also set up a meeting between you and Talon. Grandma Lily quickly called Aunt Violet and made arrangements.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning Stella and Blue were walking to school and planning to pick up Ivy, as Blue had promised. It was Ivy’s first day at a new high school.

  "I really do feel sorry for Ivy, switching high schools halfway through her freshman year, having to leave all her friends behind," said Stella.

  "Yes, it must be difficult for her," agreed Blue.

  "When is someone going to tell Ivy?" asked Stella, as she and Blue walked to school.

  "Tell her what?" replied Blue.

  "You know what....about the women in her family being witches and about her grandfather being a werewolf."

  "Oh that," scoffed Blue. "I'm not getting involved in that. It's entirely up to Grandma Lily and Uncle Basil how they handle that problem."

  "She has to be told," said Stella.

  "On no she doesn't! The less Poison Ivy knows about my business the better! You know that Ivy and I are not close. We never have been. So I feel no desire to confide in her about anything. She'll just use it against me. She humiliates me any chance she gets and I totally do not trust her."

  Stella laughed. "Well, you can trust her not to ever be nice to you. At least you know what to expect."

  "Exactly," replied Blue. "It's no thrill for me that my mean, snobby and gorgeous cousin has moved to my town, and will be going not only to my school but to my same grade."

  "That does suck," Stella sympathized. "At the same time, she is your cousin, so she can't be all bad. I think she mainly does things without thinking, not intentionally. Plus she has a lot of stress now with having to leave her friends and all. Maybe in time she will improve. I hope."

  "I think you give her too much credit," giggled Blue. "Ivy is totally self-centered. In her mind the entire world revolves around her and she never considers anyone else's feelings. You are far too nice, Stella. Always cutting Ivy slack."

  Stella shrugged, "Doesn't cost anything to think the best of people. Sometimes they surprise you."

  "They've belonged to the Shawnee Country Club for years and when they visit, Ivy and Aunt Elizabeth spend every possible moment avoiding us and taking tennis lessons or some such nonsense, even though they are only here a short time on visits. Aunt Elizabeth only knows how to deal with country clubs, parties, shopping, decorating and things like that. Ivy takes after Aunt Elizabeth and now has hooked up with the other snobby kids in school, the ones who belong to the country club and who spend so much time on shopping, hair, and fingernails."

  "I know," replied Stella. I ran into Ivy a few days ago at the pharmacy and she says to me '"talk to any ghosts lately, Stella?"'. How did she find out about that?"

  "I have no idea," said Blue. "Ivy has really good hearing, like radar, maybe she overheard my Aunt Violet or Grandma Lily talking."

  "Oh. I thought maybe someone had told her about our uh special talents," replied Stella.

  "No way!," said Blue. No reason to ever tell her.

  "Funny thing," said Blue, "is that she thinks the Mantooth boys are super cute. If she knew they were all werewolves, she would freak.

  "I hope she isn't after Rafe," replied Stella. "Even though you and he aren't like dating, there still is something there.

  Blue thought to herself how jealous she would be if Ivy were to start a romance with Rafe.

  "There is something with Rafe," replied Blue slowly. "But we've known each other so long, since we were small. So it's hard to tell."

  "You need more mystery," replied Stella.

  "Yes, maybe I can find some in a perfume bottle or something," replied Blue.

  "Brando and Talon are just as cute as Rafe, but Brando ignores Ivy totally. He's too nice to say anything bad about my cousin but I can tell he finds her irritating. Same with Talon, plus I've heard her making fun of Talon for speaking with a French accent."

  "Talon?" asked Stella.

  "Yes, you know their cousin Talon from Quebec. The one who handed you flowers after the play. He seems to have noticed you!"

  "Oh him," replied Stella. "I meant to ask you about him. He is pretty cute. I don't want to get tied down though, if you know what I mean. Don't want any big distractions. I have plans for myself."

  "Talon is staying with Rafe's family now and is going to school. He's cute and shy. Rafe says that he’s a shaman in addition to the werewolf thing. I'm not sure what that means. Anyway, he's our same age."

  "That's interesting, about Talon being a shaman. They are similar to necromancers only deal more with nature spirits and ancestors. That's pretty cool really. At least I'm not the only one who talks to spirits," said Stella.

  "But back to Rafe," Stella interjected. "Ivy would never look at someone who didn't advance her in some way socially, and Rafe is at a different school. So I don't think you have anything to worry about."

  "Except that Rafe is gorgeous and showing up with him would make a great entrance, no matter what school he attends," Blue pointed out. "Anyway, I figure I will leave the Ivy problem for Grandma Violet and Uncle Basil to deal with," said Blue. They have experience since my mother Rose is a mundane."

  "That's right," exclaimed Stella. "Does she have any powers at all?"

  "Just kitchen magic -- making a pot boil fast, lighting a flame, knowing who is at the door or ringing the phone -- simple things like that. I think the fact that she's a mundane and I'm not is part of the reason we've never been close. Maybe part of the reason she left when I was small and my parent's marriage busted up. Maybe why she lives so far away and so rarely comes back here."

  "How about your Uncle Basil?"

  "His powers are a little stronger than my mother's. He has very good powers of hypnosis and persuasion, which are handy for a lawyer. He can turn one hand furry, with claws, just like I can. Uncle Basil seems not to mind the magic world, whereas my mother resents it. He went out and became super successful in his career and is happy with that. My mother just ran away."

  "Well, Ivy seems to take mainly after your Aunt Elizabeth" said Stella, "so the magic probably has skipped her entirely. Then there is no need for her to know anything I suppose."

  Blue became thoughtful. "Aunt Elizabeth is not Ivy's real mother. Ivy's mother was a werewolf."

  Stella stopped in her tracks. "What?"

  "Ivy’s real mother was a werewolf,” repeated Blue. “Years ago, my uncle Basil met a Scandinavian werewolf named Yvonna who was visiting the Mantooth clan. You know how the werewolves always visit one another? Partly to keep clan ties strong but partly to introduce young weres to suitable marriage partners. To keep their clans from becoming unhealthy or dying out they must intermarry between clans and spread the genes around. Anyway, Uncle Basil married this gorgeous Scandinavian werewolf -- Yvonna -- and then they had Ivy. He even opened a law practice here. Yvonna died in some sort of accident and then he moved away downstate with Ivy and a broken heart. Later Uncle Basil m
arried Aunt Elizabeth."

  "Ivy knows who her mother is, I hope," said Stella.

  "Yes, it wouldn't be fair not to tell her about that, but she doesn't know anything about her mother being a werewolf. Ivy is blond like Aunt Elizabeth so people just assume they are daughter and mother. The fact is, she looks very much like her real mother -- Yvonna. Her middlename is Love because Uncle Basil and Yvonna were so much in love. Her other middlename is Yvonna after her mother. Ivy Yvonna Love Stone. To honor his Escarpment Witch side, Uncle Basil gave Ivy a plant name -- Ivy, my great-grandmother's name. But Ivy knows nothing about her mother being a werewolf. And she was raised by Aunt Elizabeth and pretty much thinks like Aunt Elizabeth."

  "Could Ivy still turn wolven at her age?," Stella answered. "I mean what are the chances? Most wolven start turning when puberty hits. Even I know that. So she's half werewolf, full wolven on her mother's side, but on her father's side the family is witch."

  "Except for my grandfather Louis. Ivy and I both are one quarter wolven through his blood.

  "I forgot about your Grandpa Lou!," exclaimed Stella.

  "Grandpa Lou, he is wolven from an old Scottish family that settled in Canada, the Stone family. He's part of the Iron Wolf Clan like the Mantooths, but a different branch. He came to harvest crops and never left because he and my grandma fell in love and married. That's why both Uncle Basil and I can turn one hand furry. It's a bit of spice handed down from Grandpa Louis."

  "Uh-oh! That makes Ivy three quarters wolven. That's a lot!"

  “I suppose,” replied Blue.

  Stella slowed down. "Blue, didn't you hear me? I pointed out that being three quarters werewolf is a lot! I think I finally figured it out."

  "Figured what out?" asked Blue.

  "Figured out why your Uncle Basil gave up his fancy New York City law practice, made Aunt Elizabeth and Ivy give up their social lives, and move to Lockport. He's afraid that Ivy might go furry."

  Blue broke out in hysterical laughter and had to hold her sides.

  Stella fell onto the stairs of the Lockport Savings Bank and laughed hysterically along with her.

  "Can you imagine Ivy going furry?" gasped Blue. "Oh that is just too funny."