Aimless Witch

by Shannon Mayer

  Something occurred to me as I thought about that mixture and I hopped off Mac’s bike. That mixture was with a magic I really didn’t understand. For all I knew, too much heat would make things go boom.

  I went to the window of the pickup and knocked. Richard rolled it down, eyebrows raised.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  “Take it easy at first. The mixture could feel rich to the truck. You don’t want to push them too hard and have us lose one or both of them blowing the engines.” He nodded in agreement and used an old CB radio to tell the other truck our plan. “Keep it around thirty-five to start. If the road looks good, we’ll move it up. We’ll still make better progress than we have before.”

  Richard gave me a thumbs-up and I went back to the bike. Oka dug her claws deeper and deeper into my shoulder as she huddled down into my cloak.

  “No. We’re not doing this. We’re not riding a motorcycle. You’ll die. And I can’t allow that,” she insisted.

  Mac was laughing to himself. “Scaredy cat? I would not have guessed.”

  “Shut up, you big fat teddy bear!” she yelled.

  “Fat? Who you calling fat, fluffy bottom?” he threw back. I nearly laughed but thought better of it as Oka dug her claws deeper into me.

  I lifted a hand and pressed it on her back. “Easy. We won’t go too fast.” The thing was, I was more peeved about not being able to question Tristan. I wasn’t sure I could get past the spell he had on him, but it would be worth trying.

  “Oka, do you want to go with Richard? I’m sure he won’t mind.” I knew she wouldn’t. She was way too protective of me to let me ride a death trap, as she described it, by myself. “It would be a lot easier if you weren’t digging your claws into me like that though.”

  “Have you ridden on a motorcycle before?” Mac asked me.

  “No.”

  He shrugged. “No problem. It’s not hard. The throttle is on the handle there, gear shift on your right foot, brakes are on both handles. We’re going slow, so you should be good. Like riding a pedal bike really. Just more power.”

  “Should be? No. No way in hell. Get off this bike immediately, Pamela. I demand it.” Oka spoke like I was walking straight into the witch fire with my eyes closed.

  I laughed out loud. She was all puffed up, and her fur tickled my neck. Her tail whipped back and forth, smacking me in the nose and eyes for good measure.

  “Oka, calm yourself. It’s not like we’re going down into the Pit for the hell of it. We’re riding a bike. It’ll be fine. I bet you’ll even enjoy it. Like a ride on the back of a dragon.”

  “Also, not on my to-do list,” she said.

  Mac fired up his bike, and I followed suit. The bike responded beautifully, the engine purring.

  I leaned it to one side and knocked the kickstand back, hoping Oka would relax a bit, but knowing I’d have to ignore those tiny little razor blades digging into my shoulder for the duration of the ride.

  “Ready?” Mac asked.

  “I am,” I said. “Not so sure about Oka.”

  “Last chance to ride in the truck, fluff bottom,” he offered.

  She dug her claws in even farther. “Mac, I will make you pay for this,” she said, but there was no heat to her words. Not really.

  “I look forward to seeing what you got.” He grinned at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. What a pair they were!

  I turned the throttle on the handle and shifted the bike into gear with my foot. It lurched forward, but there was no danger of Oka falling off. She’d basically become one with my shoulder. I knew she was drawing blood, but I wasn’t going to kick her off. I gritted my teeth against the pain and tried to focus on the bike. It lurched again when I shifted, but after that, it was smooth sailing, or as smooth as a newbie like me was going to get.

  As long as we didn’t have to stop and start a lot, I’d be fine.

  We drove like that for about twenty-five miles, covering the distance we’d normally cover in a day in less than an hour. Heading due east as much as we could, Richard drove the lead truck, and he kept us going right into the sun.

  We rode, and the wind felt good on my face, and for a little while I was just a girl on a bike. Just a girl with no responsibilities, and no worries.

  It didn’t last.

  Around noon, the sky darkened. Mac and I on the bikes were ahead of the trucks and were forced to slow. I held up a hand stopping the trucks behind us.

  “Shit, Mac, you see that?”

  “Yeah, I do. Those fuckers, they wouldn’t dare,” he muttered as he got off the bike and went to inspect our newest obstacle.

  Across the road as far as I could see south and north, there was a ditch that had been dug, deep and about ten feet wide. Just enough that the trucks couldn’t pass. The dirt was fresh enough that it was obvious the ditch was new.

  My skin prickled, but my warning system said it was too late.

  “What are those?” Oka stared with me at the strange things in the sky. I blinked and realized what they were, the shape familiar to me from all my reading.

  “Arrows!” I yelled.

  A hailstorm of arrows rained down on us from the sky.

  “Take cover,” Mac shouted as he ran for the trucks. He grabbed me off the bike and dragged me with him.

  Except there was nowhere safe to take cover. Thick evergreens flanked us on either side, and the arrows rained down from all directions.

  We were trapped.

  “Everyone out of the back of the trucks and get under them! Go! Now!” I ordered. Richard and the other drivers leapt out, directing the others while I searched for our attackers.

  “Mac, you said ‘those fuckers,’ so do you know who it might be?” I turned to him. His face was grim. We were surrounded by thick trees; our attackers could be anywhere. I knew we shouldn’t linger but we didn’t have a choice.

  I scooted across the ground to the Humvee as the arrows kept coming. I put my hands to it and sealed it shut. “Do not open the doors or window for anything!” I yelled. Richard nodded. Chris’s face was pale and the three kids . . . they stared at me. I gave them double thumbs-up and smiled. They mimicked me.

  It was the best I could do for them.

  Another wave of arrows rained down on us. One of them thunked into the leg of Marcia, one of the women. She screamed and clutched at her leg. Her screaming hit a high pitch and I stared as her body slowly stiffened. A patch of stone spread out from the tip of the arrow, turning the flesh from soft and malleable, to rock, spreading like a disease.

  “Gargoyles,” I whispered the word.

  “That was not what I was thinking,” Mac said. “We’re trapped.”

  A sharp southerly blowing wind came up in our favor as it blew the worst of the arrows away from us. We stopped getting pincushioned, which was good because half the food stores and two other members of the group had been hit. I stood and checked the area as the wind whipped around us.

  “Shove all the stone shit off the trucks, now!” I yelled. They scrambled to do as I said, and Mac helped them.

  “We’re going to go south, the ditch can’t be that long,” I said. At least I was hoping that was the case.

  I ran for the bike as I searched the skies. The gargoyles were not in view yet, but it wouldn’t be long. The arrows couldn’t have come from more than a hundred yards away.

  Three years ago, I’d have them blown out of the sky in no time.

  Now . . . well, now I wasn’t so sure how I was going to handle this.

  Death is my touch; you should know that. Use this magic, Pamela. Embrace it.

  There was that word again. Embrace. As in welcome that dark magic.

  “No,” I growled as I turned to the south. There they were. Gargoyles individually were a pain, but they rarely came in such a large group. Just like the wolves. Our witch friend was using her entire arsenal.

  I really hated her.

  Anger made me rough as I yanked—not invited—the dark magic and h
eld it in my hands. I needed wind. A big wind.

  With a snarl, I forced the magic toward the stone creatures. It shoved against them, driving them away. Kinda. They were blown back maybe a hundred yards, but that was it. They were too strong.

  I got the bike back up. “You fuckers are going to die.”

  “Pam, what are you doing?” Oka yelled. She dug her claws into my shoulder again, but this time it was for an entirely different reason. The darkness was seeping between us again.

  “Shit,” I snapped. “I need to use it, Oka, but it makes me crazy!”

  “I know. What can we do?” Oka asked.

  I squeezed my eyes shut for just a second before I popped them open, understanding what we had to do.

  “They’re after the kids. Just like all the others.” It was a certainty I felt deep in my bones. “The witch knows I’ll be tired, but she doesn’t know how fucking pissed I am.”

  I knew her game now—to drive us into the ground until we were defenseless. Then, take the children as easily as stealing candy from a baby.

  “Not while I draw breath,” I promised as I kicked the bike into gear and whipped around to Richard’s truck.

  “Pamela, we need to move!” he demanded, as one of the gargoyles swooped low and took aim.

  The creature was gray with wings that looked too small to be keeping him aloft. His features seemed exaggerated, large nose, pointed chin, protruding cheeks, like he was a villain straight out of some comic book I read as a kid. I threw up my hand and let the black magic rip from me in a blast of power that sent him tumbling into the tree behind him, his wings cracking.

  Instead of responding to Richard, I threw open the back door on the driver’s side and pulled Frost out of the seat belt. “Pammy?” he questioned.

  “Frost, I need your help. We’re going to save everyone, together. You with me?” I asked him. Not exactly consent, but what else could I do? I needed the only bait the gargoyles would take if I was going to save this caravan.

  Resolve hardened his three-year-old face, and it broke my heart. Either we’d save everyone, or I would sentence him to death.

  I slammed the door shut and turned to Richard. His face was ghostly white.

  “What are you doing?”

  Chris screamed at me from the passenger’s side, but I ignored her. She scrambled to get out of the car, but Richard had the locks engaged, and she couldn’t get out.

  “Goddamn it, Richard, let me out. She’s taking him. Just like I said she would,” she screamed again. Ruby and Lily began to cry. Frost, however, was calm as could be. As if he was committed to whatever my plan was. He trusted me, and that scared the shit out of me.

  “Not what you think,” I said as I looked at Chris. “Frost and I will lead them away. They’re after the kids. Go. As fast as you can south until you can turn east. I will drive the opposite direction. We’ll meet back up when I can kill them all.”

  I turned to Mac. “Stay with them. Protect them as best you can.”

  “You are my charge, not them,” he said.

  I nodded. “I don’t have time to argue, and I can’t be worried about blowing you into the sky while I’m trying to blow the gargoyles out.”

  “How do you know it isn’t like the trolls?” he argued. “There could be a thousand of them!”

  “Well,” I turned the bike and revved the engine. “I can’t save anyone from a thousand, so if that’s the case, then this hail Mary is worth it.”

  “Goddamn it,” Mac snarled and turned the bike the other way. His anger came through the bond loud and clear, but I could do nothing about it, at the moment. My instincts were screaming at me to move.

  “Ready?” I asked Frost.

  He gave me a solemn nod as he clung to me. I tried to keep him stable between my arms as I gunned the motorcycle. “Hang on, kid.”

  He turned to face me and wrapped his arms around my middle.

  “Frost, this will be fun. Like a race,” I said as the bike peeled out and we shot forward. The wind snarled through my hair.

  He nodded but buried his face in my chest. I glanced over my shoulder as I pushed the bike faster and faster. The trees on either side of us became a blur.

  “What’s the plan?” Oka yelled in my ear over the wind whipping by our faces.

  “Draw them away, then take them out.” Simple enough in theory. But how far was far enough? And did I have enough of the black magic in me to do it?

  The ditch to our left was still going, but already I could see the end of it.

  I glanced over my shoulder. An even dozen of the stone bastards closed in on us, swooping dangerously low below the tree line, and taking aim with their crossbows.

  Time to fight.

  “Hang on, kid.”

  I whipped the bike around, and it wobbled before I righted it. Frost let out a muffled high-pitched shriek and held me tighter as my knee grazed the ground, tearing open my jeans. I ignored the sting of the road rash and gunned the bike toward the gargoyles. Arrows landed on either side of me in rapid succession as I plowed toward them.

  Fear kissed at my heels. This was madness, nothing more, nothing less. I had no control over this magic I was cursed with, and I was depending on it to save the caravan again. And I’d put little Frost right in the line of fire to do it.

  But I knew one thing. If I didn’t stop them here, Frost would die with the caravan.

  I bit my lip, tasted blood and reached hard for the darkness in me. Let it seep into me in a way I hadn’t before. I let it come roaring to the surface of my skin and held it there with all the strength I had.

  “What are you doing?” Oka yelled, this time not because it was windy. Genuine fear seeped through our connection, which worried me. I probably should have been afraid, but for just a moment, I felt as though my mentor was with me. Cheering me on to be bold. That fortune favored the bold.

  That was enough to keep me steady, to hold back the worst of the fear, to give me a little belief that I could pull this off.

  I needed to put myself between the caravan and the gargoyles. Then it would be safe to lay the bastards out. At least, that was my plan.

  The three of us barreled under the gargoyles as they screeched, their roars the sound of rock grinding at a rapid pace as they fought to turn around and give chase again.

  I glanced over my shoulder as the group of them swooped around and came after us.

  “One more time, Frost, hang on.”

  I whipped the bike around once more. Frost clung to me, his tears soaking my shirt, but I forced myself to ignore it.

  If I was going to save them all, there had to be a cost.

  I’d deal with any fallout later.

  As I lifted my head to face them, five gargoyles led the way, out in front of the other seven. A perfect attack formation if I ever saw one.

  I revved the engine as I called the power of all that was death and destruction to me. It felt as though lightning cut through me, slashing my insides as the power built.

  The pain was intense, and my eyes narrowed as I struggled to breathe through it.

  I had to do this.

  “Oka, down between me and Frost,” I bit the words out. She slid down, and Frost gripped her as I wrapped an arm around him. The gargoyles were thirty feet away.

  “Close enough, rock heads,” I snarled.

  The one in the middle lifted his hand and the troop slowed their approach. That being said, they had their arrows ready in the crossbows. Not really comforting.

  The commander in front opened his mouth wide, showing off teeth made of shimmering stone. “Give us the child, and we will make your death quick.”

  He was fat with tiny horns on his head that looked underdeveloped and huge wings, likely in order to hold that fat rock body aloft.

  “I’m going to say no to that, fat boy. You can suck on this.” I unleashed the darkness, having no idea what would happen when I did.

  Like before, mist poured from my hands and raced toward the ga
rgoyles, flooding around them so fast they were gone, as if swallowed by a black cloud. Lightning lit up the miniscule thunderstorm and booms echoed from within it.

  I kept my hands up and the flashes of light showed me what was happening, as if in still pictures.

  Gargoyle bodies torn apart, shattered, wrenched to pieces by the magic of my mother’s bloodline. Holy hell, it was nothing like the elemental magic, there was nothing of beauty about it, just . . . fuck, it was awful.

  I sweated and shook as the magic drew my energy like a powerful siphon.

  Frost clung to me with all his strength, as did Oka, and I soaked in their warmth as my own body cooled.

  The gargoyles didn’t give up easily, even as the magic roared, slamming them into one another. Arrows shot out at us still, but they were all wild, shot as the gargoyles were torn apart.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. One of the gargoyles smashed into a buddy of his and he broke into a thousand tiny shards of shrapnel that spun out in every direction. I curled around Oka and Frost, protecting them with my body.

  Something grazed my shoulder, one of the rocks from the broken gargoyle.

  I held my breath as I watched the power I’d called up shred them.

  The sound and chaos were awesome and terrifying, but it wasn’t over until the last fat rock head was gone.

  I counted down until there were none left that I could see. Oka looked up at me, her thoughts coming through loud and clear. “Pamela. End it. Frost is terrified.”

  I nodded once and tried to pull the magic back.

  It spun in a lazy loop and headed toward me. Us.

  And I didn’t mean that magic was being obedient.

  I pushed Oka off my lap. “Shift, take Frost and GO!”

  She didn’t hesitate but did as I asked, shifting so fast there was nothing but a blur as she scooped Frost up onto her now-broad back. He clung to her as she raced away, her body a sleek missile through the forest.

  I stood there and stared down my own magic as it swept toward me, as bloodthirsty as before.

  “No, you are not in charge here!” I yelled, a mixture of fear and anger making the words shake.