Loch Nessa

by Clare Kauter

  Great, we barely manage to fight off those frigging wolves only to have you eat us instead, I thought under my breath. (I’m aware that doesn’t quite make sense, but just bear with me.)

  The dragon paused, its open mouth a matter of inches away from biting off my head.

  Did you just compare me to a wolf? he asked. How dare you?

  Oh, sorry to offend you, I replied, rolling my eyes. It must be so shitty when your food talks back.

  I am nothing like those mangy, smelly –

  Yeah, yeah, I said. You ate my friend and now you’re going to eat me, but you’re so much better than those wolves.

  The dragon frowned. Is that why are you here? You think I ate your friend?

  We wanted to ask you if you’d seen her. Right now, though, it seems like a safe bet that you have seen her. And that you’ve also swallowed her.

  The witch?

  I frowned. How many people did this guy eat? Did she come here to see you?

  She did.

  I waited. He didn’t continue.

  And?

  And she left. I do not harm humans.

  Narrowing my eyes, I asked, Really? Because the way you were baring your teeth at me…

  Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t like humans, but I do not wish harm upon you. Those wolves, though…

  So you didn’t eat Alora?

  I did not.

  Well, that was good. Kind of. I mean, if she’d been eaten I would have been able to go home, but I guess it was nice for her that she was still alive.

  I don’t suppose she told you where she was off to next?

  She was going after the wolves.

  I frowned. What? Surely he couldn’t be serious. A lone witch going after an entire wolf pack? That was insane! Especially if we were talking about those massive wolves who’d attacked our camp last night. Are you talking about those massive wolves who attacked our camp last night?

  The dragon nodded.

  Why was she going after them?

  He sighed. I told her not to.

  Are you serious about this?

  He nodded again. I made the mistake of telling her that the wolves had taken something from me. She offered to get it back. I told her it was a suicide mission, but she wanted to go anyway.

  What did they take? Why did she want to get it back?

  He sighed. She asked why I was so glum and if there was anything she could do to help me. I told her that the wolves had stolen a chest from me many years ago and nothing would cheer me up short of getting it back.

  So she went to retrieve it for you?

  Nodding, he thought, I spoke in jest, but she was serious. I told her not to go. I told her they would not hesitate to harm her. The local wolves, unlike me, have no qualms about hurting humans. They were hunted down many years ago and slaughtered to near extinction by humans, helped along by light dwellers.

  That’s why they attacked us? They knew there were creatures of the light among us?

  I cannot know for sure, but that would be my guess. Dark magic permeates this forest. Creatures of the night have nothing to fear here. When they realised there was a hidden camp, they must have guessed that light dwellers were inside.

  I nodded. That made sense. Do you know where exactly Alora went to look for these wolves?

  They have an island.

  Just like his cousin had done, the dragon sent me a mental image of a hidden castle on an island in the middle of a loch. I frowned, thinking. Maybe that castle, like the one we’d stayed in, had a ward over it that prevented others from using magic to see in. If Alora was being kept there, that would explain why we couldn’t scry her.

  Be careful when you go after her, the dragon warned.

  Do you think they’ve killed her already?

  The dragon shook his head. No. They’ll be waiting for the full moon to sacrifice her as part of the ritual.

  What ritual?

  The chest I was guarding… it contained some very dark objects. They use them to call upon the dead.

  Necromancy?

  The dragon nodded, his eyes dark. He didn’t seem to approve of the practice, and I tried very hard not to think about my own forays into raising the dead. They sacrifice a life to call up another, hoping one day their king will return.

  My heart began to thud in my chest, so loudly it was almost audible. The king?

  If you plan to save the witch, you must leave now. It will take time to reach the loch where she is being held, and tonight is the full moon. That is when the ritual is performed. If you don’t leave now, you’ll be too late.

  He pulled his head back, drawing himself up to full height before his body began to slip back down below the surface of the water, descending like a pole retracting into the loch.

  Wait! I just have a couple more questions. What’s in the chest? What king does the ritual call up? How do we get into the castle?

  The dragon ignored me and continued his descent.

  Good luck.

  When the dragon’s head disappeared below the water’s surface, I tried to stand again and found that my legs were more than a little shaky. Understandable, I guess. I’d just faced a dragon with no defences whatsoever. OK, so he hadn’t turned out to be that bad after all, but it was still a little scary.

  Now that the dragon was out of sight, I could feel my magical ability returning.

  “Thanks for all your help, guys,” I said as I stumbled back towards the others, who were waiting further up the bank.

  “You looked like you had it under control,” said Hecate.

  “We would only have slowed you down,” Daisy added.

  “Besides, there didn’t seem to be much point in all of us getting eaten,” Hecate said.

  I fought back an eye twitch and turned to Henry.

  “And you?”

  “I tried to help,” he said. “When I saw the dragon appear I tried to run down and assist you, but this one wouldn’t leg go of my leg.” He glared at Hecate.

  She shrugged. “It was for your own good.”

  “Could you hear him from back here?” I asked.

  The others nodded.

  “OK,” I said. “Then I guess it’s time to jump back on the carpet and sniff out some werewolves.”

  “Today just keeps getting better and better,” Henry murmured.

  CHAPTER 21

  WHEN I WOKE up later that day, it was dusk and Hecate and Daisy were gone. I blinked in confusion when I first woke up, unsure what had happened. I was in a tent, but how did I get here? The last thing I remembered was, let’s see… talking to the dragon, and then getting on the carpet. Right. I must have fallen asleep on the carpet and someone had put me in the tent when we’d arrived.

  Wait! That meant we were near the werewolves’ lair! Since we’d all seen the lay of the land and loch when the dragon had sent us the image with his ESP-mail, we’d been able to discuss our plan of attack on the way here. The island was located in the middle of Loch Madadh, surrounded by more of the dark forest of which I’d grown so fond. We’d decided to make camp in the forest by the bank and keep an eye on the island to figure out how we would be able to get in and rescue Alora. At least, that had been the plan before I’d fallen asleep.

  I emerged from the tent to find Henry sitting by the fire in his human form, snapping twigs off a branch and tossing them into the flames. He glanced up at me as I approached, shooting me a small ‘hello’ smile. The sun was setting and the air was extra chilly, so I walked over to join Henry.

  “Where are the others?” I asked. I knew they mustn’t have been anywhere nearby or Henry would have been in animal form.

  He handed me a note scrawled in swirly cursive.

  We’re sorry to leave you like this, but with the wards in place you should be safe. Hecate and I are going to free Alora. We are officers of the law, and you two are civilians (at least for now, Nessa). It wouldn’t be right to put you in danger for us, so we have decided to rescue our sister alone. We’ll see you aga
in soon.

  DAISY

  “They can’t be serious,” I said, scanning the note again. They didn’t want to put us in danger? A little late for that.

  “They are,” said Henry with a shrug. “There was a boat moored nearby earlier before I fell asleep. It’s missing.”

  “Did you see them leave?”

  He shook his head. “I tried to look for them, but I didn’t have any luck. I cloaked the boat earlier so no one else would take it, and I assume they just slipped in and rowed across.” A cloaking charm was essentially a ward that hid you by compelling onlookers to look away. They were reasonably effective, but given that we’d had one over the camp last night and the wolves still attacked it, I wasn’t sure it would be enough. “That was the plan we were discussing before I fell asleep,” he said. “Sneaking in and rescuing Alora without having to confront any wolves.”

  “Clouding the boat would have been a better choice,” I commented.

  “Yes, we all know how fond you are of clouding.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Do you think we should follow them?”

  After a moment, he replied, “Not yet. If something goes wrong, it would be better if we were in a position to call in reinforcements. We’re no good to them if we’re captured.”

  I nodded, though I didn’t like the fact that the witches were over there alone without full command of their magical faculties. “That makes sense. Enforcements like local police?”

  “I was thinking Fach and Gladys.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  He stopped his twig snapping routine for a moment to shoot me a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

  “They’re dodgy as. We can’t rely on them to bail us out.”

  “They are not,” he replied. “You know as well as anyone that being born with dark magic doesn’t automatically mean someone’s evil, just as having light magic doesn’t necessarily make someone good.”

  “Of course I know that,” I said. “It’s just that Fach and Gladys happen to be really dodgy.”

  He didn’t reply, simply rolled his eyes and went back to playing with his stick. (No, not that. Don’t be gross.)

  “So what are we meant to do while they’re gone?”

  Henry chewed his lip for a moment before answering. “I can think of one thing we can do.”

  My shock must have registered on my face because when Henry turned to look at me, he said quickly, “Not that! For Satan’s sake.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “How could I have misinterpreted that? You’re right, it definitely didn’t sound like a seedy pickup line.”

  He shook his head. “You’re ridiculous. Also conceited. Why would you presume I’d want to pick you up?”

  My jaw dropped. “Conceited? Um, I seem to remember you kissing me once or twice.”

  He narrowed his eyes as if thinking. “Hmm, that’s funny, because I seem to remember it the other way around.”

  “Oh, you’re saying you didn’t want to kiss me?”

  He rolled his eyes, looking amused at my indignation. “Kiss you, maybe. Get it on in the middle of a forest surrounded by a death cult of werewolves, not so much.”

  I crossed my arms and turned my back on him. ‘Maybe’ he’d wanted to kiss me? Rude.

  “Did you want to hear my idea or not?”

  I frowned at him. “Fine,” I said grumpily.

  “It’s a bit… Don’t dismiss it straight away, OK?”

  “Oh dear.”

  “The reason you can’t use the Doomstone is because Hecate and Daisy have one of the companion items, right?”

  “If you’re about to suggest we just let them die on the island –”

  “What? No! What is wrong with you?”

  “Well with your ‘this is a terrible idea but think about it’ preamble, I was kind of expecting something along those lines.”

  He shook his head in disbelief. “We’re not killing anyone, or letting anyone die.”

  Well, that was a relief. “OK. So what is it?”

  “They wouldn’t have had any reason to take the companion item to the island with them, would they?”

  I shrugged. “I just assumed they took it everywhere with them.”

  “Probably,” he said, “but it wouldn’t hurt to just check their bags in case.”

  My eyes widened in shock. This nefarious little plot coming from straight-laced Henry?

  “Are you serious?” I hissed.

  “What? They’re not going to be back any time soon,” he said. “It’s not like they’re going to catch us at it.”

  “Henry!”

  “You sound very scandalised for a psycho murderer who tried to convince me that I was insane for your own personal gain.”

  “I didn’t exactly have a choice about that,” I snapped.

  “Sure you didn’t. Anyway,” he said, before I could talk again, “they’re likely to be gone for a while. We can tell them we were attacked by a gang of thieves.”

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

  “It wouldn’t be too hard to stage the scene,” he said. “And we both know how good you are at lying.”

  “You’re no better than Ed,” I said.

  Henry raised his eyebrows. “I thought you liked Ed,” he replied cooly.

  “Of course I don’t like him!”

  “You seem to spend a lot of time alone with him for someone who doesn’t like him.”

  “Because he knows things that I don’t know, not because I enjoy his company!”

  Henry folded his arms. “Mmm-hmm. Sure, I believe you.”

  “You’re impossible.”

  “Oh, I’m impossible?”

  “What is your problem? Are you jealous?” I asked.

  “Hah! Jealous. Pfft, jealous. Me. Envious of him. Ridiculous.”

  “A tad over-defensive there, buddy.”

  He sighed exasperatedly. “You always keep secrets from me! Ed probably knows you better than I do.”

  “I keep things from you because you work for The Department! You could have me locked up in one of those horrible magic-suppressing prisons for the rest of my life with what I’ve done.”

  He shook his head. “You killed a few grabbers in self-defence. That’s more likely to get you a medal for bravery.”

  “And Dick?”

  “Deserved it.”

  “What about the stone? And the key? And the fact that I could hand Ed in at any time but I won’t?”

  He paused. “What was that?”

  Gulp. “Uh…”

  “You know where Ed is?”

  “Well…”

  “I thought you’d just bumped into him once or twice. I didn’t think –”

  “It’s not –”

  “You know what? I don’t care,” he said, gritting his teeth. “I’m cool. You can tell me these kinds of things.”

  “So you wouldn’t turn me in for hanging out with Ed?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Good,” I said, relieved. “Because I hang out with him a lot.”

  “Are you serious?” Henry cried.

  I jerked back. “You just said I could tell you this stuff.”

  He took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get angry. Of course you can tell me. You can tell me anything.”

  “You’re really OK with this?”

  “So you’ve harboured some stolen goods and associated with a known criminal. That’s not such a big deal.”

  “A second ago you seemed to think it was.”

  “OK, it is,” he admitted. “You would probably go to jail for some of that. But not for your whole life.”

  “Such a comfort.”

  “And I wouldn’t turn you in, anyway,” he said. “Clearly, otherwise you’d already be locked up.”

  A howl sounded through the evening air, interrupting our conversation. Henry and I both stood immediately and scrambled through the forest towards the loch. As we drew cl
oser to the water, more howls and banging rang out. Henry and I each stood behind a tree and peeked around the corner at the island. In the twilight it was difficult for me to make out what was going on. Two trees down, Henry shifted through a cycle of animals – first a hawk, then an owl, then a snake.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered.

  “Picking animals with the best vision.”

  I guess that made sense. “Why a snake?”

  “Thermal,” said Henry.

  “Right. And what’s happening?”

  He sighed. “Hecate and Daisy just got spotted.”

  “Are they OK?”

  He nodded and shifted back into human form. “They’re fine. A wolf saw them the second they climbed off the boat, by the look of it.” He shook his head. “They’re being lead off to the dungeons. They didn’t even put up a fight.”

  Of course they hadn’t fought. They hadn’t been able to.

  “I can’t believe them,” I said, staring out at the island in disbelief. “What the hell were they thinking?”

  I looked over at Henry. He shook his head, just as dumbfounded as I was.

  “This is ridiculous,” I continued. “They were completely defenceless.”

  “They should have taken us along,” he agreed.

  “I don’t think you quite grasp the scope of the issue, Henry,” I said, but he wasn’t really paying attention.

  “Perhaps they were trying to be captured,” he mused, frowning. “That would be an effective way to find Alora. And then they can escape from there.”

  It was a solid theory, aside from one minor detail. “And how do you propose they would do that?”

  “By using their powers?” he said with a shrug.

  I shook my head, exhaling loudly. “I very much doubt it.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  I looked down at the ground before speaking, knowing that when I told him he would be furious. “Their magic still wasn’t working.”

  “What?” he asked, brow furrowed. “You mean their energy wasn’t completely back to normal?”

  I shook my head. “Not even close. They’d barely healed at all. Even my magic’s still kind of weak.”

  “What are you telling me? What about the potion Daisy brewed that you all drank – didn’t it fix you?”