by J. Stone
Iris wrapped her other hand around Wynonna’s. “You do not need to justify your decision to me. You will do exactly what you are supposed to do, and then… then you will find a way to deal with the consequences of your actions.”
Wynonna nodded. “Show me.”
The fortune teller released her grip on Wynonna’s hand and then put a finger to each of her temples. Both women’s eyes drifted closed, and after a moment, Wynonna saw images begin to flash in her head, framed in an almost bronze light. Iris showed her where the beldams would be, and then she saw the Gentleman. She saw the two paths presented before her, but even seeing everything, she couldn’t decide between them. The visions of these two locations ceased, and Wynonna opened her eyes to find herself back in that fortune teller’s home. Iris stared back at her, and she smiled softly as if to apologize for what she’d showed her.
“No one should have to make such a choice,” Iris told her.
Wynonna’s eyes dropped back down to the table, once more tracing the grain of the wood.
“How will you decide?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve been through so much already. Too much. Is there anything else I can do to help you?”
Wynonna looked up at the fortune teller. “Can I stay here tonight?”
***
Waking up the next morning wasn’t easy for Lockhart. His head pounded against his skull, and the taste of vomit still lingered in his mouth. He’d blacked out somewhere during the drinking contest, and he couldn’t even remember whether he’d won. Looking around the room, he found that he’d made it back to his own bed, or at least, he hoped he had. The spinning room wasn’t helping him validate that one way or the other though.
Eventually, through great strains, he was able to exert enough control to get himself to sit upright. Though his head pounded and the contents of his stomach swirled, he proved that he was indeed where he expected himself to be. That still left the mystery of the former evening, however.
Lockhart checked his waist. His revolver wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean much. His entire belt, gun holster and all, was missing, so its absence didn’t prove anything one way or the other. Sometimes he took it off to sleep, especially if he stayed at an inn. Looking at his feet, he’d only managed to take off one of his boots before stumbling to bed though. Clearly, it hadn’t been a smooth transition onto the mattress.
Leaning forward over the side of the bed, he tried to grab his boot to put it back on his much colder foot. Doing so, nearly made him vomit out anything he still had left in his stomach and evoked an intense pain in the front of his head at the same time. Putting one hand to his stomach and the other to his head, he tried to quell the nausea and pain simultaneously. After a minute of just focusing on breathing with his eyes closed, he was able to move past it.
Opening his eyes once more, he picked up the boot without leaning forward as much and wriggled his foot inside. With both boots on, he finally managed to stand himself upright. Granted, he nearly fell as soon as he was vertical, but he stumbled over to a table and chair, catching himself before he hurt himself. That’s when he caught sight of one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever beheld.
There, draped over the table, Lockhart found his silver and pearl revolver and a pile of bullets. Apparently, he’d won the little drinking contest with Klaus. The sight cheered him up, but he still felt like he might vomit at any given moment, so he approached it with an even temperament.
Still having his revolver and now also having bullets meant he could actually face the beldams and have a chance. All that remained was to find out where they were. He couldn’t be far. His mad lotus visions had showed him a snowy region, and he wasn’t far off such a locale. Feeling somewhat optimistic, Lockhart slung the belt around his waist and left the room in search for his apprentice.
Unfortunately, upon reaching Wynonna’s room, Lockhart found himself reliving the same experience that he had back in Missoula. She wasn’t answering when he knocked on the door. He’d learned his lesson though. He wasn’t going to barge in and find her in another awkward position. He felt terrible about that just remembering it. He’d reacted poorly to it, and he didn’t even fully know why. Regardless, he didn’t want to disturb Wynonna any further, especially with how she reacted to his refusal of the fortune teller’s services, so he left her room and headed down to the first floor where Cecilia offered to prepare him a breakfast.
While he waited for his food, he sat down at one of the tables and clutched his head in an attempt to soothe his headache. Sitting there and doing nothing, gave him the opportunity to simply watch the other patrons. Since leaving Alexandria all those years prior, Lockhart had spent less and less time around people. He’d gotten used to that, but when he was in a town, one of his favorite things to do was just observe people. He found it helped him keep his resolve, his commitment, his oath. Every happy interaction made him realize that the sacrifices he’d made were worth it and that people were better off for him having made it.
The travelers and locals in the inn were no different. They went about their days, none the wiser of the horrible creatures roaming the world. They hadn’t seen the things he had, and they hadn’t experienced the misery that these monsters could produce. Just looking at the state that the ettin had left Layton in was proof of what they could do. He’d been too late to help anyone in that town, but he couldn’t focus on the negatives. He had to keep his mind on the survivors still out there and do everything in his power to keep them alive, safe, and happy. Tracking down and killing these beldams would just be the latest in a long list. Still, he had to determine how he was going to do that.
After a few minutes of him pondering that subject but not coming to any solid conclusions, Cecilia came back to him and delivered his steaming plate. Just looking at it, his mouth started to water. It would be the biggest meal he’d had in weeks. Two scrambled eggs, a few sausages, two biscuits, and even three strips of perfectly prepared bacon.
He reached inside his duster for his coins. “How much--”
Cecilia held her hand to his arm. “You know I’m not taking your money. You eat for free. You know the deal.”
“It j-just doesn’t seem--”
“Shh,” she told him. “It’s just food. I wouldn’t even be here if not for you. This is the absolute least I can do. Now, you eat up.”
“Th-thank you, Cecilia.”
She smiled, nodded, and left back for the kitchen, while he set in on the meal. He ate quickly, having been running on fumes for the last few days, and he was all too happy to have something sitting in his belly. He didn’t make it very far before he found himself accompanied once more. Wynonna appeared and plopped herself down in the chair across the table.
“Cory,” she simply stated.
“You know I-I-I don’t like when you c-call me that,” he replied.
She smiled. “I know.”
He glared but thought it best to simply move on. “Where have you b-been? I knocked, b-b-but you didn’t answer.”
Wynonna reached across the table and grabbed one of the strips of bacon, crunching off a piece of it with her teeth. “Didn’t sleep there,” she told him through bites.
He wasn’t allowing himself to fall into the trap of dictating to her how she should or shouldn’t live her life. So, instead, he just replied, “Oh,” and focused on his meal.
Wynonna allowed the silence to linger, but Lockhart refused to meet eyes with her. After he made it clear that he wasn’t going to say anything, she continued, “I know where the coven is.”
He narrowed his eyes and looked up at her. “How?”
“I went to see the fortune teller.”
“What?”
“I needed to know. She had the answers. If I get to have sex too, I’m not seeing the downside.”
“I t-t-t-told you not to.” He regretted it as soon as he said it.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, and I don’t have to follow your rules. I realize
I’m not a real vespari like you. I probably never will be. It is a brotherhood after all. I haven’t taken any oaths of celibacy like you, and I don’t intend to. I did what I had to, and I’m not going to apologize for it.” She paused for a second. “Besides, she didn’t even induce a vision with sex anyway.”
“What?”
Wynonna folded her arms at her chest. “You heard me. She was winding you up. No sex required.”
“Then why--?”
“I don’t know,” she said, tossing her hands in the air. “She’s a fortune teller. She’s guided by fate and whimsy and whatever else.”
“Then y-you didn’t have s-sex with her?”
Wynonna chuckled to herself. “I didn’t say that.” She shook her head. ”But, that’s not the point anyway.”
He scowled. “And what i-is?”
“I know where the beldams are, and I can get us there.”
“You sh-shouldn’t have gone b-b-behind my back.”
She shrugged. “Look, I’ve already done it. There’s no point getting upset now. It’s done. Are you really so adamant that you’re not going to act on the knowledge?”
Lockhart groaned.
“I know where the beldams are,” she repeated. “You want to kill them and destroy the hex or not?”
“What a-about the Gentleman?”
Wynonna clenched her hand and looked away from him, down to the dirt. “Yeah. She told me where he is too.” She paused, meeting his gaze once more. “Way I figure it though, we gotta take care of yours first. You’re no good to me dead.”
“I’m glad y-you’re being so p-p-practical,” he replied with a slight glare.
She shrugged. “I’m sure there’s more for you to teach me too.”
“Mm. Don’t g-get too emotional on me.”
“Whatever. Are we going to track ‘em down or not?”
He unclenched the glare from his face, sighed, and then nodded.
“Good,” she told him. Then, her eyes drifted down to his plate.
She was obvious about it. He took one of the sausages for himself and slid the plate across the table.
Wynonna smiled. “Thanks.” She took the remaining biscuit and took a big bite out of it. With her mouth still full, she said, “I wuv tarving.”
He shook his head at her and just ate the sausage, letting her finish the rest of the food. When she’d had her fill, she pushed the empty plate to the middle of the table and leaned back in the chair.
“You n-need to grab anything or a-a-are you ready?” Lockhart asked her.
“I’m good,” she replied. “Does that mean you were able to win some bullets from that weird merchant?”
The vespari nodded. “Worked out p-pretty well. We got ten total now.”
“That is pretty good. We still only got one gun though.”
“True,” he replied. “We’ll f-figure it out.”
“Need me to carve some?”
Lockhart reached into his duster pocket and pulled out a handful of the bullets. “I’ll take f-f-five. You take five.”
“Yeah. Alright. Sounds fair.” She took them and shoved them in her pants pocket as she stood up. “Then, we going?”
He nodded and stood up too. “Yeah, but where are we going?”
Wynonna thought for a moment, and replied, “Columbia. The beldams are in Columbia.”
***
Courtland wasn’t the only city in the desert working a mine. Where Courtland dug for fuels, Columbia had a different purpose. The city they now traveled to had recently opened a new silver mine. That alone meant that it would be a rich city in a few years if the supply of silver was sufficient. The coastal cities always had the desire for more riches, and there were plenty willing to risk the dangers of the desert to try to get ahead.
What interest the beldams would have in such a place, Lockhart couldn’t say, but if that’s where he’d find them, then that’s where he had to go. He and Wynonna left that same day, before the sun had even hit its highest point. The journey would not be quick, however.
There would still be a day or two of travel before they got to the city. And, of course, that was assuming that the fortune teller had been correct in the location she gave Wynonna. Lockhart still didn’t quite trust the prophecies people like that spouted, but given his proclivity for turning to mad lotus for answers, he supposed he could give her the benefit of the doubt.
Given the time they still had, Wynonna had taken the opportunity to prod Lockhart with more questions. And, of course, they were the only questions he truly didn’t want to deal with.
“So,” she began, “I know you’ve taken this oath to be chaste, but surely you’ve made an exception.”
He shook his head. “No. Not s-s-s-since I took the oath.”
Wynonna narrowed her eyes. “Not since? So, Jamie was a woman you were with before you took your oaths?”
He shifted his pack on his shoulder as he walked. “No.”
“Then what? You said you were with this Jamie character.”
“I w-was.”
“Then what?” She paused a moment, slowing down. “I mean, I suppose it’s a bit of an ambiguous unisex name, but it’s not like someone like you was with a man or anything.”
Lockhart didn’t meet her gaze and kept moving.
“That’s it!” she nearly shouted, her eyes growing wide. “Jamie was a man! You’ve been with men?”
“Man,” he corrected. He immediately regretted saying it.
Wynonna laughed and caught back up with him, hitting him on the shoulder. “Oh, Cory! That’s amazing! I never would’ve thought. You have to tell me about it!”
“No, I d-d-d-don’t. It’s m-my business.”
She smirked. “So, it’s your business when it’s you, but when it’s me, it’s perfectly fine to--”
“I apologized f-f-for that. I shouldn’t have said a-anything to begin with.”
“Mmhmm. Fine. Well, back to you then. I can’t imagine that brotherhood of yours looked upon your proclivities too favorably. I hear the coastal cities aren’t exactly beacons of inclusivity about that kind of thing.”
Lockhart looked away. “No.”
Wynonna didn’t let it go. “What did they do?”
“They tried to b-b-beat it out of m-m-me.”
She frowned. “Did it work?”
“No.”
“Then where is he? You still see him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“They k-k-killed him.”
Wynonna gulped. “Oh. Because of you?”
He didn’t respond.
She paused for a moment, but he could see she was putting the pieces together in her head. “That’s why you took the oath, isn’t it? Vespari aren’t celibate in general. Just you. They killed the man you loved and made you swear to never do it again.”
He sighed. “That a-about sums it up.”
Wynonna was still putting it all together though. “And your childhood friend. The one you told the story about--”
“Levi,” he said.
“Right, Levi. You loved him too. That’s why you chased after him.”
Another sigh. “Yeah. But, he didn’t f-f-feel that way about me. We were j-just friends.”
“Unrequited? Man, your love life is a tangled mess.”
“I don’t have a l-l-love life.”
“‘Course not,” she told him, hitting his shoulder again. “It’s too messed up. You become a vespari to avenge an unrequited love, and then your bigoted brotherhood kills your new lover. Who can blame you for not trying again?”
“I don’t w-want to--”
“I know. I know.” She folded her arms at her chest and muttered, “Might help you loosen up though.”
“Mm,” he groaned. “Maybe you should just focus on carving your runes.”
Wynonna laughed. “Fine. I’ll give you a bit of respite, but I got more questions. This isn’t over.”
Lockhart sighed and kept moving.
***
They decided to camp that night, so that they could arrive in Columbia in the early morning hours of the next day. The closer they got, the more Wynonna was visibly nervous, and Lockhart felt much the same. Setting up their temporary camp, they both wanted to press forward, but both also knew they needed their rest for what they would soon face.
Wynonna took the time that night to finish carving her five bullets from their haul in Courtland, while Lockhart had already finished his. Her efforts put their entire collection of runed bullets at ten. Lockhart wasn’t sure that ten would be enough for four beldams, plus the revenant and its ghouls, but he suspected ten was all he was going to get.
As for his own worries, the Caustic Brand on his chest throbbed more than it had in recent days, but the beldams left him be all the same. He wasn’t sure what game they were playing at, but the notion that they would soon be dead and the mark erased from his skin was a satisfying thought.
He bided his time that night by updating a few things in his journal. They weren’t so much for his benefit, as they were for Wynonna. In the event that he didn’t survive the encounter, he wanted her to have everything she needed. With that in mind, he made notes directly to her about what she should do and where she needed to go if he didn’t make it. He hoped they wouldn’t be necessary, but he wanted her to be prepared regardless.
When the sun dipped well below the horizon, and all but their own campfire and the stars abandoned them to the night, both vespari turned in. The next morning, both Lockhart and Wynonna were eager to get started. They made a quick breakfast from their dwindling supplies and ate in a hurry. After packing up, they headed out in the early morning light, what they had to do on their mind.
Neither one spoke as they made their way toward Columbia. Lockhart focused on the task at hand, and he presumed Wynonna to be doing the same. After a couple hours, their quiet march granted them the city’s silhouette on the horizon. From that distance, everything looked calm and peaceful. Lockhart worried it wasn’t. If the beldams were there, they would only sow chaos and violence in such a place. He half hoped they wouldn’t find the sorcerous creatures there, just so the people of Columbia would be alright.
