Caravan Witch (Questing Witch Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  That’s why I kept him alive. That’s what I told myself. Not because I was fighting the urge to slice him open.

  And that’s all the motivation I needed to push my anger back as far as it would go. “I’m still binding you,” I said.

  “No!” He roared and fought but Alex’s knots held him tight.

  I went to work, searching for his magic, weaving my meager amount of spirit through him. His defenses were still high, but I managed to work what I had to my advantage.

  I found his magic there, deep inside him. I used his own magic against him and paired it with what little bit of spirit I had access to, grabbing a firm hold on him. Like a short leash on a very big, very ugly dog.

  When I opened my eyes, he was mine. It wasn’t quite control like I thought it would be, but I had the pulse of his magic as if it were under my fingers. He would never do anything to hurt me while I had that connection.

  I stood, and grimaced, my wound reminding me that I was not infallible. Roe glared at me. I arched an eyebrow. “Roe, you ready to go?”

  “You didn’t have to do that, you pimple popping prissy. I would’ve led you to the garden anyway.”

  I couldn’t help it, I laughed at him. “I doubt that very much. Personally, I think you’ll try to kill me and my entire caravan, just for the hell of it. So let’s just call this an insurance policy. You try anything, and I’ll drop you like a stone in the river.”

  He frowned at me as I bent and cut the rope. Roe flexed his hands and rubbed at his wrists. “I don’t like you.”

  “Feeling is mutual.” I tucked my blades back in their sheaths. “Get up, Roe. We have a ways to go.”

  Alex walked back to the bike and shook his head.

  “We’ll have to walk back,” Alex said. “Big ass over there would bust the springs if it was just him on the bike.”

  “Big ass would like to bust your skinny springs,” Roe muttered.

  I ignored them both. “Then we better get moving. Five miles will take us a couple hours if we’re quick about it.”

  I thought about sending Alex back on the bike ahead of me to get the caravan moving this way. But I dismissed it before it fully formed. There was no way he’d leave me alone with Roe.

  I reached out through my bond to Oka and called her to me.

  Bring the caravan this way, we have a direction.

  Her agreement was swift. We’d meet them partway, that would cut the travel time in half at least.

  As we started walking, a feeling of unease settled over me. We needed a solution to our caravan starving, and one had jumped out of the woods at me. Yes, it had tried to kill me, and it was fraught with potential pitfalls, but still . . . it all seemed too easy. That ease made my skin itch and left me with a sense of being stalked.

  Because easy was what got people killed.

  12

  An hour later, headed our way was a pert peachy orange cat, her eyes catching the dim light here and there and flashing bright green.

  “Imma eat that cat,” Roe said.

  “You will do no such thing,” I snapped. “She’s my familiar, you dumb fuck.”

  He grunted as I used our connection to push him back a few steps. Just to make sure he remembered who was running the show.

  Oka slowed as we approached her.

  “How far back are they?” I asked, wanting to know how much more time I had to prepare for the inquisition I’d face over the ogre in my charge. Rightfully so, too.

  She stared up at Roe and ignored my question. “What the hell is that? It looks like a zombie on steroids.”

  “His name is Roe,” I said. “And he knows where there’s a semi-magical garden filled with food.” There, that sounded better than he thinks there might be, maybe, a place with food of all sorts but he’s never actually been in the garden.

  She tilted her head and looked at him. I twisted around to do the same. Tattered clothes hung on his body, and his gray skin really did give him an undead appearance. She wasn’t far off the mark. Oka wrinkled up her nose. “Really? And you believed him?”

  “Nope. I bound him to me. So if he’s lying we’ll feed the caravan with him.” I smiled.

  She nodded in approval. “Oh. I like that idea. But he looks as though he’d taste like shit.”

  I was grateful Roe couldn’t hear her assessment. Alex snorted. “I’m with you on that, cat.”

  I didn’t bother to ask if Mac was back yet. His bond to me was stretching still farther as he covered more ground. Even though the caravan had moved, I knew he’d find me. We were never lost to each other, as long as one of us was alive, just as Oka could find me anywhere.

  “The humans won’t like this new addition,” Oka said.

  “No shit,” I said. “But I don’t see another choice right now.”

  Jasmine was already working to pit them against me and bringing an ogre in wouldn’t help my case. Never mind bringing the ogre who killed that last caravan into their midst. But they didn’t know he’d killed the others and for now, I wasn’t about to tell them.

  “You keep your mouth shut until I say.” I gave Roe a look. “Got that?”

  He gave me some sort of weird, sloppy salute where he wiggled his fingers at me. That would have to be good enough.

  Richard was the first of the caravan to reach us. Well, sort of reach us. He stopped about twenty feet away from me. His eyes widened when he saw the ogre. His jaw dropped, and Roe laughed under his breath.

  “Looks like he’s trying to shit an ostrich egg.”

  “I said be quiet,” I snapped.

  Richard shook his head, rubbed his eyes and looked again. When Roe didn’t disappear, he slowly approached.

  “Pamela. I’m sure there is . . . well, some kind of explanation for this. A good one. A very, very good one. So, let’s hear it.” He crossed his arms like a father about to chastise his teenage daughter.

  I waved a hand at Roe. “This is Roe. He’s an ogre. More importantly, he says he knows where there’s food.”

  “I see.” Reluctantly, Richard dragged his eyes to the ogre again, slowly. A mix of fear and distaste was plain on Richard’s face. Roe didn’t seem to think much of Richard either, though, his throat convulsing and jaw working.

  “Don’t you dare spit on him. He’s your one chance at living through this. He doesn’t let you in, I kill you on the spot,” I warned under my breath.

  Roe swallowed, exaggerating the movement as a large lump went down his throat. Disgusting.

  I shook my head and turned my attention back to Richard.

  “You believed him?” He lowered his voice. “Ogres are notorious liars, out for a screw and a good meal. He’s probably the one that killed that caravan back there, but not before raping all the women.” So much for slipping that by Richard.

  “Not all the women.” Roe scratched at his abs. “I got tired after a bit. Stamina isn’t what it was when I was a young thang.”

  Even though it was dark, I could still see Richard’s face turn eight shades of red.

  “Not helpful, ogre,” I warned through clenched teeth, stepping between them. “Richard, I’ve bound him to me. If he doesn’t help us, he will be our next meal. One way or another we will have food. Soon.”

  Richard’s eyes got big and I worried I’d gone too far. Humans didn’t like to eat things that talked. I knew that, but it was the only card I had left.

  But Richard surprised me. “He’s big. We could survive off him for days, maybe even another week if we prep it right.”

  I blinked a few times and then nodded. That is what hunger and surviving did to you. They turned you away from being picky, or squeamish, and before you knew it, you were salivating over something borderline human. Something that would beg you not to kill it while you held a knife to its throat.

  I spread my hands out, palms up. “Which is why I brought him here. He leads us to food, or we eat him. Simple as that. And he clearly understands the stakes, and how his behavior must be until then to surv
ive.”

  Richard didn’t smile, but his face was no longer clouded with anger. “Well. I guess that’s all there is then.” He clapped me on the back. “We might survive this after all.”

  “You go ahead. I want to have a word with Roe first,” I said.

  Richard backed away before he turned and headed back to the main group.

  “He don’t want to turn his back on me,” Roe said.

  “Because he’s not a fool.” I twisted around to him and put a finger to his chest. “Not one word to anyone in the group. You keep your eyes down and if you so much as fart without asking permission, I’ll consider our contract null and void.”

  His chest heaved, and his eyes narrowed. “I’m going to—” He bit off whatever he was going to say. Maybe he was smarter than he looked. Though I doubted by much.

  “Stay close to me,” I said as I turned and walked toward the caravan. “Tomorrow you’ll be up to bat to lead us to the food.”

  “Yes, witch,” he murmured, all submissive-like. Oka snorted.

  “He’s going to try to play you.”

  “I know.” I breathed out those two words. Through it all, Alex paced the big ogre like a guard.

  We got more than a few gasps and wide eyes as we walked, and Chris glared at me from inside the Humvee when we went by, but she said nothing. She didn’t roll down the window. There was a time when she would’ve gotten out and appealed to Richard to “come to his senses” or something like that, but she wasn’t speaking to him either. Apparently, that had some advantages for me.

  The humans stayed away, far away, whispering among themselves as we passed through. I wasn’t parading him through the camp deliberately, though. I needed to find Crimson. I would need her help to keep an eye on Roe. There was no way I could be with him every second of the day.

  We reached the edge of the shifters’ group, and Roe perked up, waggling his eyebrows at a few of the women in the group. One or two of them actually giggled, and one even blew him a kiss.

  What was it with this ogre that he could have the ladies giggling? I glanced back at him. He was built, there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, but he stunk. And he was a horrible excuse for a supernatural as far as I was concerned.

  I looked at Alex, and his mouth hung open at the exchange between Roe and the female shifters. I snorted and he looked at me. “Fucking and fighting,” I mouthed.

  He laughed and winked at me. “Truer words were never spoken.”

  A familiar hand dropped onto my shoulder. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Pamela. I leave you for ten minutes and you’ve got another pet. You could’ve picked something cuter, like Oka there.” Mac’s voice and presence were a welcome calm to the storm happening all around me, and I turned and threw myself into his arms.

  “Hey,” he said as he held me, his arms tightening around me, letting me know I was safe, that it would be okay. “You good?”

  “I am now,” I said as he let me down.

  “I’m no pet,” Roe said, clearly stewing about Mac’s comment.

  “You’re on my leash,” I said. “And if you betray me, you’re dinner, so there’s that.”

  “Right, forgot that bit with the lovely luscious ladies around me.” He straightened and flexed his pec muscles so they danced. One shifter woman gave him a wink.

  “Well, this is interesting,” Mac said.

  “Very interesting,” Oka agreed.

  “Come on, we need to find Crimson. Then we can chat,” I said as I pushed my way through the caravan. Finally, I found Crimson playing with Ruby and Lily. She saw us, saw Roe and immediately put herself between the kids and the ogre.

  “Take them, Marley,” she said. Marley scooped up the kids and headed the long way around, her brown eyes wide. Ruby waved at us. I waved back.

  Crimson shook her head as she approached. “What the fresh hell is this?”

  “Walk with me.” I led Richard, Alex, Mac, Oka, and Crimson off to the side, out of range of prying ears.

  I turned to the ogre. “All right, Roe. This is your time to shine. Where is the food?”

  Crimson perked up at the mention of food but said nothing.

  The ogre pursed his oversized lips and scratched at his chest. “Well, maybe I don’t remember. Maybe I’d like a little something to, well, jog my memory. I think that little sheila with the brown hair will do quite nicely,” Roe said, bold as he pleased.

  Crimson let out a growl and Richard spluttered. I didn’t need any words.

  Before his smile could slip, I pulled my blade and had it against his balls. “Do you recall how sharp this blade is, Roe? Sharp enough to cut through your club without any real effort on my part. Remember?” He squeaked, and I kept going. “This would be a terrible time for me to catch a cold, don’t you think, Mac?”

  Mac laughed. “Oh, fuck, just awful. You know how the pollen makes you sneeze in these parts.”

  “Mm. It really does.” I never took my eyes off Roe. “Perhaps some cold steel against your balls is just what you needed to jog your memory, then? Before I . . . slip?”

  He cleared his throat and words tumbled out, almost faster than I could process them. “There’s a wall to the north and east. The food’s behind it.”

  “So if the food is up there, what are you doing here?” I asked. Something didn’t add up, and I couldn’t put my finger on what.

  He didn’t answer, and I pushed a little harder with my blade, his pants splitting and the blade now against flesh.

  His hands were up and the panic in his eyes said it all. I’d finally gotten through to him. “I’m a wanderer. Last of my kind like you said. This is my new territory. I like it here. Might stay for a bit. Maybe get lucky and find a mate.” His voice was noticeably higher than it had been moments before. And he was sweating, the droplets sliding down his chest like tiny rivers. But there was a note of untruth in his words despite his reaction.

  Some of what he said was true, but some of it wasn’t. Question was, which part? I wanted to look to Alex, to see if he could tell with that nose of his, but the thing was he’d admitted to not being so good at telling when Jasmine was lying. Maybe Roe would be the same for him.

  I made myself smile up at him. The darkness surged in a tiny wave and I let it reach my eyes, let Roe see that part of me. “Let’s start with the food then. Where exactly is this wall and garden of Eden?”

  “Anyone got a paper and pen? I mean, I can write in blood if I need to, but it’s messy.” He grinned, but no one laughed with him, and the smile died on his lips.

  “Here,” Richard pulled something out of his pocket, and passed a scrap of paper with writing all over it, and a pencil shaved down to nothing more than a nub.

  Roe looked disapprovingly at the offering and opened his mouth to comment. I tssked at him.

  “No. No more commentary from the peanut gallery.” I wiggled my wrist ever so slightly. He slammed his mouth shut and looked around for a surface to write on.

  A fallen tree nearby seemed like a good spot, so I reluctantly pulled my blade away, but I kept it out, to remind him of what I could do with it.

  He cleared his throat as he eyed me, then bent over the fallen tree to draw a map. I watched him closely. He detailed the winding road we were on, the barren river it ran along, and then drew a wall where the road apparently ended rather abruptly.

  “There.” He drew an X at the wall. “That’s where all the food is. About fifty miles up the road.” He looked over his shoulder and nodded in the direction of the supposed wall.

  Richard was the first to speak. “What kind of food is there?”

  Crimson was next. “And how much of it?”

  “How heavily is it guarded?” Mac asked.

  “How did you come by this information?” Alex chimed in.

  Roe looked from one to the other, then shook his head. “Look, all the food is there. All of it. That’s what I know. And that’s all I’m saying.”

  We were out of options. “Up against the tree.” I
pointed at him with the tip of my blade and he backed against the tree. “Do not move a fucking inch.”

  He sighed and leaned his head back. “Yes, witchy poo.”

  I backed away from him a short distance and the others followed without asking. Far enough away that Roe couldn’t overhear. Close enough to get to him if we had to.

  I looked to Richard first. “What do you think? Fifty miles is a long way.”

  He nodded. “It’ll take us five days at the speed we’re going to make that trip. And once we get there, there won’t be any food left if he’s wrong. We commit to this full bore. If he’s lying, and there’s nothing there, we die.”

  “Well, we’ll carve him up and eat him, then we’ll die,” I corrected. “At least until we find another ogre to eat.”

  Richard nodded. “So we take him with us?”

  “We’ll have to. Intend to keep my side of the bargain, Dick.”

  “Fine,” Richard agreed.

  “The risks,” Crimson said, but didn’t finish her thought.

  “There are plenty to go around. I can’t shake the feeling he’s leading us straight into a trap,” I admitted. “But I don’t know what else there is for us to do.”

  Alex nodded, and so did Mac. “It feels . . . too simple, too straightforward,” Alex said.

  “Mac,” I said, “what did you find?” Maybe he had another option. Maybe he’d seen signs of game.

  “I roamed a long way, Pam. And Neil searched ahead of me as far as he could. We were easily out seventy-five, maybe even a hundred miles. We swept back a different direction and I didn’t find anything but more marks on the trees and rocks. Whoever’s done this is nothing if not thorough.”

  A hundred miles of no food. No game. Nothing. I thought about sending Mac and Neil out again, this time in the direction Roe was taking us. But if it was a trap, I needed to be there with them. And part of me knew that we had no choice, we were going to have to take the caravan that direction now. It was our only hope. Hell, even sending Neil on his own could get him killed or captured. Fuck, I hated this. The whole situation stank of bullshit.