by J. Stone
“So… I guess I’m supposed to thank you, Corrigan,” she said in a strained voice.
“Mm,” he groaned. “Don’t c-call me that.”
“Well, I’m certainly not calling you Lockhart. Sounds too romantic.” She chuckled to herself. “How ‘bout Cory?”
Lockhart scowled and turned back to her. “That’s the worst so far.”
Wynonna smiled. “Cory it is then.”
The vespari continued to scowl, which only increased her smile. “Just s-s-stop talking. I need to s-sleep.”
“Fine.” She paused a moment. “Night, Cory,” she said with another soft chuckle.
Lockhart just groaned again and closed his eyes, hopeful to get some rest. Behind him, the crackle of the fire and the turning of pages slowly lulled him to sleep.
***
“So, what’s wrong with you?” Wynonna asked out of nowhere.
“Hm?” he muttered, trudging forward on foot through the desert.
“When I found you,” she began, walking behind him and trying to keep up. “You were unconscious. I couldn’t wake you, and I found some black gunk on your chest. You sick or something?”
“Not sick,” he told her.
“Then what? Cause you weren’t just sleeping.”
Lockhart remained silent for a moment, considering what to tell her. “Cursed,” he simply stated.
“Cursed? By what? How?”
The vespari pointed at the book she’d tucked in her pants pocket. Once Wynonna understood what he meant, she pulled the notebook from her pocket and opened it. She flipped forward through the book until she arrived near the end.
“The Caustic Brand?” she asked, looking at the drawing he’d made of the mark now tattooed on his chest along with the vespari runes.
He nodded.
“What does it do?”
“D-d-drains. Kills.”
Wynonna looked back down at the notebook where Lockhart had illustrated the beldams across several pages. “And these… beldams did it to you?”
He nodded again.
“Estrild,” she muttered, flipping pages. “Mabilia. Alviva. Petronila.” Wynonna looked up from the notebook. “All four of them did this to you?”
“They d-d-did.”
“So you’re going to kill them? Before they kill you?”
“I am.”
Wynonna stopped walking. “And that’s why you’re going north? You’re not even after the Gentleman?”
Lockhart turned around to face her. “We will kill the r-revenant. The beldams come f-f-first.”
“What if we lose him? I can’t let him get away.”
Lockhart turned around and continued walking. “They b-b-both went north, so w-w-we w-w-w-will too.”
“But what if he--”
“We’ll kill him. Y-y-you just have to be patient.”
Wynonna frowned and remained silent for a minute before asking, “Why would they have both gone in the same direction?”
Lockhart shrugged.
“Coincidence? Or is there something up there?”
The vespari shook his head. “Just w-w-w-wastes up there. Same as here. Just c-colder.”
“Hm,” Wynonna muttered. “But there’s a few towns. The Gentleman could be after more ghouls.”
“Could be,” Lockhart agreed.
“What about these beldams of yours?”
“D-d-don’t know.”
Wynonna was quiet for a moment, looking back down at the notes in the book. “So, this mark. It drains you?”
He nodded.
“And that’s why you were sleeping when I found you?”
“N-n-not sleep, but yes.”
“How does that work? They drain you in your sleep?”
“Drag m-me into a dream. C-consume my energy.”
She winced. “They eat you?”
Lockhart shook his head. “Sort of. The dream contains a-a-all the monsters I’ve k-k-killed. They eat th-those.”
“And what happens when they eat all of them? You die?”
He nodded.
“Hm,” she muttered, looking back down at the notebook. She flipped back through the pages. “I tried finding a page on a revenant last night. Couldn’t find one. You ever killed one of them?”
“Of c-course.”
“Well, how do you expect me to divine that? They’re not in this thing.”
“They are.”
Wynonna continued to flip through the pages. “Then, where are they?”
“Here,” he said, holding his hand out.
She gave him the notebook, and he thumbed through it, back toward the beginning of the book. He found the picture of a timid looking woman. She had on a dark green dress and wore a calash hood over her head, which shadowed her face. In that darkness, he’d left two vacant spots for her eyes. Finding it, Lockhart handed the book back to Wynonna.
“This is a revenant?” she asked, studying the image.
“It is.”
“I brushed right past this. It looks like nothing more than a little old lady.”
“C-c-can’t trust your eyes,” he told her. “M-monsters deceive.”
“Hm. I guess.”
Wynonna read the information about the revenant in the notebook for a few minutes in silence. Before long, she was back for more.
“This doesn’t say how you killed her,” she informed him. “You need to tell me how to kill him.”
He cut his eyes over at her. “I n-n-need to?”
Wynonna remained adamant. “You do. Else I’m going to wind up dead, and it’ll be your fault, Cory.”
Lockhart sighed, and his eyes returned to the path ahead. “Fire.”
“Fire?” she repeated. “I get to burn him? Good.”
“N-n-not that easy,” he told her, shaking his head.
“What do you mean?”
“Ghouls.”
“What about ‘em? I know he can make ‘em, but they were easy enough to kill. I didn’t even need you to figure them out.”
“If we d-d-don’t burn the body quickly, the rev-revenant can take ov-v-ver a ghoul’s body.”
“What? Like it controls it? So what? It’s still just a ghoul.”
“No,” Lockhart told her, shaking his head. “It d-d-doesn’t control it. The ghoul transforms into the r-r-r-revenant.”
“Wild. Then, we have to get rid of his ghouls and set him on fire?”
He nodded.
“How are we supposed to even catch him long enough to do that? If we can’t hurt him--”
“Didn’t say we couldn’t h-h-hurt him.”
Wynonna smiled at that. “Oh yeah? How do we do that?”
Lockhart reached into his bullet pouch and pulled out one of the runed bullets. Handing it to her, he said, “This.”
She took it, turning it over in her hand. “This is the same kind of bullet you put in my shoulder, yeah?”
He nodded.
“Hm. What do all these symbols mean anyway?”
“Back of the b-b-book.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?” she asked, starting to turn pages.
“Better t-to learn,” he told her.
She glanced up at him, sighed, and then returned to the notebook. Flipping the rest of the way to the back of the journal, Wynonna found the pages he’d indicated. Reading it over, she rolled the runed bullet back and forth with her forefinger and thumb. The page she studied was a sort of index of the various runes that the Vespari Brotherhood had taught him. Most of these runes were either on his bullets or his chest in the form of tattoos depending on their use.
“The symbols are magic?” Wynonna asked, looking up from the notebook.
“In a w-w-way,” Lockhart replied.
“Hm,” she muttered, returning to the book. “So, we’ll weaken him with these things, and then burn him before he can switch over to another body?”
“Right.”
“Sounds simple enough,” she told him, handing the bullet back.
Rather
than taking it, Lockhart reached into his pouch to get the single bullet he’d bought that didn’t yet have any runes engraved on it. He also pulled a slender metal tool from his pocket. “Keep it,” he told her. “Engrave th-th-this one to match.”
Wynonna took the bullet and tool from him. “Uh, sure.” She stuffed everything he’d given her into her pockets and returned to the book. “So, fire kills the revenant. What about these beldams? How do we kill them?”
“W-w-water.”
“Uh… right. Cause they’re just likely to start melting right in front of us with a little water. Cause there’s no way they’ve ever touched water before.”
Lockhart sighed and pulled his canteen out. He pulled the leather case off the metal container and showed it to her. There, in the side of the canteen, he showed her a rune engraved repeatedly into the metal, similar to his bullets.
“Oh. What does that do then?” she asked, looking up at it and then down to the list of symbols in the book.
“Infuses the w-w-water w-w-with magic,” he explained, returning the canteen under his duster.
“Hm,” Wynonna muttered, yet again returning her focus to the book. After a few minutes, she continued. “Alright, I see that symbol here. But why not just put that symbol on the bullet? Wouldn’t that take care of them?”
“D-d-doesn’t work that way,” Lockhart said, shaking his head. “Each r-r-rune is different. This one n-n-needs a fluid to transmit the rune.”
“Hm,” she repeated. “Are there others like that? Runes that require other substances?” Wynonna then stopped him before he could answer and pointed at him. “Also, you drink out of that canteen. Does it do anything to you?”
He shook his head. “No, but it w-would hurt some. They’re like the t-t-tattoos. They either help or h-hurt you.”
“They didn’t hurt me.”
“No.”
“But some would’ve been?”
“Yes.”
“Why are some people affected differently?”
Lockhart shrugged. “D-don’t know.”
“Well, what about the water? It do anything good for you?”
He shook his head. “Not really.”
“Hm. Well, what about other runes? Anything else that’s weird like that?”
Lockhart nodded. “The b-b-brotherhood b-b-back in Alexandria uses a fire b-b-brand shaped into a rune.”
“For what?”
He looked over at her. “Pain.”
“Maybe I should use that on the revenant.”
“Mm.”
“What else you got?”
“There’s one only w-works when written in v-vespari blood.”
“Ooh. Wild. What does that one do?”
“It can bind a monster inside the o-object with the b-bloody rune on it.”
Wynonna frowned. “Why would I want to do that when I can just put a bullet in their head?”
“It h-has a few uses.”
“Yeah, sure. If you say so.”
Lockhart returned his attention to the path ahead, while his new apprentice tucked her head back into the journal and continued to examine his notes and drawings. That was how most of the day went. Wynonna read from the notebook and asked questions of Lockhart. As he’d never taken an apprentice before, he really hadn’t known what to expect. Typically, the Vespari Brotherhood handled training in a more formal manner. He’d never participated in it beyond his own training from his master, and that was not an experience he wished upon Wynonna. It had been a fairly horrible portion of his life, and one that he tried not to think on.
The pair, master and apprentice, did not stop until the sun began to waver on the horizon. They made camp under an old tree, which looked like lightning had struck it recently. A black chunk of bark streaked down the tree, and a branch had broken off and still set nearby.
Lockhart set Wynonna to building a fire and preparing food, while he took out the mad lotus. The benefits of his previous vision had run dry, and he needed something new to go on. He cut off another chunk of the mad lotus and stuffed the rest back into his pack.
“What’s that?” Wynonna asked, digging through their provisions in her bag.
“I’m g-g-gonna be out for a b-b-bit,” he replied.
“What does that mean? What is it?”
“Mad lotus.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “I’m all for a little enhancement now and again, but isn’t that stuff just poison?”
“I’ll b-b-be fine. Just make sure I d-d-don’t wander off.”
“Don’t let you die, got it,” she said, returning her attention to the bag and finding something to eat.
Lockhart then placed the mad lotus in his mouth and started chewing.
***
The vespari’s second dream was slightly more detailed than his former, but the visions moved faster and were more difficult to discern. The face of the Gentleman appeared once more, smiling at him from another town covered in blood. Numerous ghouls followed him, but he could not determine which town the revenant was in nor even its general location. All he knew was that it was further north.
As the vision faded, he once more saw a light snowfall, but the ground was too warm for it to stick. Next came the beldams. The mark seared against his chest. He saw more energy that they stole from him in the form of the monsters he’d killed over his lifetime. They feasted, while he grew weaker. But where were they hiding?
He saw water. A river or stream. Nearly frozen over. He was right to go north, but he still couldn’t determine anything precisely. The vision gave him little more to go on, but he also saw steep walls. Were they near a cliff? He couldn’t say, but the mad lotus-induced dream didn’t linger long enough to reveal any more clues.
Last, Lockhart saw Wynonna standing over him. Blood coated her hands, and she looked upon him with sadness in her eyes. The image only lasted a moment, but the expression on her face was one that he had not yet seen her wear. In his time with her, the woman had been difficult, obstinate, angry, or at best overly inquisitive. This was something else, but before he could make anything of it, Lockhart’s vision ended.
***
The vespari didn’t wake up where he’d chewed the mad lotus. Groaning, Lockhart sat upright and looked around. The tree was nowhere on the horizon. Wynonna had followed him wherever they were though, and she’d managed to keep him safe while he was out. She now took the opportunity to sleep, and his rumblings hadn’t yet woken her.
Lockhart stood up and brushed dirt from his pants and duster. On the horizon, he could see structures. A town? How far had they gone? The only town nearby was Missoula, but that would’ve taken more than one night. How long had he even been out? The sun was already on the downward slope. Had he really been out for almost a whole day? He didn’t know, but Missoula was further west than he wanted to be. Regardless, he was nearly there already, and it wouldn’t hurt to stop there and check for more bullets and stock up on food and water. Since it was already nearing night, they could also stop and get some rest.
Though he’d been effectively unconscious since chewing the mad lotus, he hadn’t been able to get any sleep. He felt exhausted. Wynonna had been right. The mad lotus was essentially poison, and the repeated use took its toll. He could feel a heaviness in his chest, and it finally pushed its way out in the form of a cough. Wynonna lurched up at the sound, gripping her rifle in her hand.
“Oh,” she said, seeing him. She relaxed and dropped her rifle back to the ground, sitting upright. “You’re back.”
“Y-y-you let me wander,” he replied.
“Yeah. I let you. You don’t know what you were like.” Wynonna shook her head. “Was it worth it? You see anything worthwhile?”
“Yeah, w-w-we were headed in the right d-d-d-direction, before we g-got off course”
“And whose fault is that?”
He ignored her and pointed toward Missoula. “Let’s s-s-stop off there for the night.”
His apprentice stood up and stretched her a
rms over her head. “Fine by me. I could use a good bed for the night.”
Lockhart’s stomach growled.
“And sounds like you could use some food,” Wynonna said. “I managed to get you to swallow some water, but you wouldn’t eat.”
The vespari nodded. “Then l-l-lets go.”
Each gathered up their things and soon left the spot where Lockhart had woken up from his mad lotus vision. They entered Missoula just before the sun crept below the horizon’s line, and they headed straight for the inn clearly marked at the center of town. On the way there, they didn’t see many people. Missoula hadn’t changed much since his last visit. The town was small even for the standards of the desert. Along the way, he spotted the saloon, the general store, and the well where he and Wynonna both refilled their canteens. Once they were set, they entered the inn and found a man behind a counter.
“We n-n-need a room,” Lockhart told the man, wasting no time.
“Make that two rooms,” Wynonna corrected him. “We’re not sharing.”
The vespari looked at his apprentice, raising an eyebrow.
“I need my own bed, Cory,” she told him. “You talk in your sleep.”
Lockhart relented before he even began. He nodded to the innkeeper.
“Alright,” the man told them. “That’ll be two silver rounds then.”
Lockhart pulled a single round from his pouch and then waited for Wynonna to do the same. She dropped hers on the counter in front of Lockhart and turned around, leaning her back against the counter. The vespari picked hers up and handed both to the innkeeper. The man behind the counter then reached down and grabbed two keys. Just then, an attractive young woman came down the stairs.
“Ah. Dorothy,” the innkeeper said to her. “Would you show these two to their rooms?”
The young woman nodded and took the keys from the innkeeper. “Of course.” She turned to Lockhart and Wynonna. “Please follow me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Wynonna said, moving ahead of Lockhart.
He trudged along behind the two women, as they walked up the creaky, wooden stairs. At the top, Dorothy guided them down a hall, which had room doors on one side and windows out to the town on the opposite. Dorothy soon stopped at a door and unlocked it with one of the keys.
