“I hate to see you throw your life away, dear,” Hazel said, shaking her head sadly. “But it’s clear to me that you can’t be reasoned with, so I won’t try to stop you. You and your friends are free to leave anytime you wish, although I suggest you stay here until the Sin’Rath give up their search.”
“Where are they?”
“Close,” Hazel said. “They lost your trail nearby so they’re circling in an effort to find it once again.”
“What if they find this place?” Ayela asked.
“They won’t,” Hazel said. “This isn’t the first time the demon-spawn have hunted me. We are very well protected here.”
“How so?” Isabel asked.
“Magic,” Hazel said. “You are a Reishi witch. Your coven has always favored magic of a very direct nature, probably because of your use of wyverns as steeds. While direct magic can be useful in some situations, it pales in comparison to the magic of belief. My magic focuses on creating belief in the minds of my enemies. As we speak, my warding spells are influencing the soldiers searching for us, redirecting their attention away from clues to our whereabouts and planting suggestions that will lead them astray.”
“If your magic is so powerful, then why haven’t you succeeded against the Sin’Rath after all these years?” Isabel asked.
“I’m very close,” Hazel said, leaning forward excitedly. “I’ve nearly perfected a spell that will prevent the Sin’Rath’s charms from influencing the men. Once they see the true nature of the demon-spawn witches, they’ll turn against them and the Sin’Rath will be hunted to extinction.”
“So what’s stopping you from figuring it out?” Isabel asked.
Hazel clenched her teeth, scowling with sudden frustration. “It’s complicated. The Sin’Rath’s charms are unnatural, beyond the scope of any charm spell I’ve ever heard of.”
Isabel nodded, feeling a surge of anger well up within her, only to be dampened by the malaise weed. She directed her focus within and found the telltale touch of Azugorath. The Wraith Queen was trying to exert her influence again, trying to provoke a blind and uncontrollable rage within Isabel, but this time the malaise weed hindered her efforts with ease. With a deep breath, she dismissed Azugorath’s attempt at control and smiled at Hazel. “You’re no closer to creating your spell than you were when you first conceived of the idea, are you?”
“What do you know of it?” Hazel shot back. “You’re just a child, an infant without any real understanding of the craft.”
“So teach me,” Isabel said. “Show me why your kind of magic is so much better than mine.”
“I think not,” Hazel said. “You already have a coven, let them teach you. Besides, I have Ayela to instruct.”
Isabel smiled humorlessly. “I want to talk to Hector and Horace. Where are they?”
“I told you,” Hazel said, motioning to the door. “They’re outside.”
Isabel left the cottage without another word, stepping out into a secluded valley surrounded entirely by granite cliffs rising fifty feet into the air. The ubiquitous fog enshrouding the swamp was completely absent, revealing a sunny winter afternoon. The valley was lush with a wide variety of plants that looked like natural growth at first glance, but upon consideration must have been cultivated by Hazel for the sheer variety on display.
Isabel tipped her head back and closed her eyes. Slyder was perched on top of a cypress tree. She sent him into the air, circling higher and higher, trying to get a view of the valley but all she could see was swamp stretching away in every direction to the horizon. It made no sense. Slyder was close, she could feel it. He should have been able to see the valley, yet it didn’t appear to exist.
She followed a well-worn path through the artificial jungle toward the sound of men chopping wood. Not far from the cottage, Hector and Horace were cheerfully working away, splitting rounds of wood and stacking the wedges neatly along one side of the little clearing.
“Oh, hello Isabel,” Hector said. “Mistress Hazel said you’d wake soon. Isn’t this a wonderful place?” He went back to work stacking a round of wood atop his chopping block without waiting for an answer.
“I really like it here,” Horace said. “Do you think Mistress Hazel will let us stay?”
“What’s gotten into you?” Isabel demanded. “We have work to do.”
“I’ll say,” Hector said, motioning to the stack of rounds still awaiting the axe.
Isabel looked at him incredulously for a moment before turning on her heel and marching back to the cottage.
“What have you done to them?” she demanded, stalking toward Hazel.
“Just a simple charm spell,” Hazel said. “They’ll be fine.”
“Dispel it,” Isabel said. “Right now!”
“No,” Hazel said. “I’ll need that firewood for the winter.”
“They’re not your servants,” Isabel said. “Remove your charm or I’ll …”
“What will you do?” Hazel asked, pointedly. “Mind your tongue or I’ll send you back into the swamp alone. If the death leeches don’t get you, the Sin’Rath surely will.”
Isabel fixed her with a glare, her eyes flashing, but said nothing. Ayela looked from one to the other and then down into the fire. Isabel left the cottage, nursing her growing anger in the hopes that she could overcome the effects of the malaise weed, but her anger just didn’t quite rise to the level necessary to shield her from the pull of the firmament.
She started walking without any real destination, mostly just trying to put distance between herself and Hazel. She didn’t trust the old witch and she wasn’t about to let her take Ayela. She hadn’t known the Princess of Karth for long, but she felt she owed Ayela for helping her escape the Sin’Rath and she admired her for her strength in the face of powers that were so clearly beyond her. But more than any of that, Ayela had become her friend.
Isabel turned the facts of her situation over in her head while she walked around the little valley, an island of growth and life in a sea of desolation that was the gloaming swamp. The valley was lush and green with literally thousands of different types of plants, some still producing fruit, even this late in the year, others flowering as if it were spring.
She was essentially alone against Hazel, without access to her magic, stripped of her weapons and worse, she had very little understanding of the foe she faced. She wished Alexander would come to her. At the thought she stopped, frowning in thought.
He had been traveling with them when they entered the valley, providing light with his illusions until they crossed the threshold of the valley entrance and then he’d vanished. It wasn’t like him. He would have been there for her the moment she woke from the henbane. Worry slammed into her followed by helplessness. What if he was hurt? A thousand possibilities cascaded through her mind, each worse than the last. With an act of will and a deep breath she imposed a sense of relative calm on her mind. He would come to her when he could. There were more things happening in the Seven Isles than her predicament.
She started walking again, this time with a renewed sense of purpose. She explored the valley, looking for a way out, anything she could use as a weapon, and anything out of the ordinary. During her first trip around she didn’t find the entrance. Even though she did find the clearing where they’d entered, there was nothing but a smooth stone wall of natural granite where the entrance had been. The walls were too high and too sheer for her to have any hope of climbing out, so she decided that Hazel had at least been telling the truth about the place being guarded by magic.
As for a weapon, she found a few garden tools and several stout branches that she could use as clubs, but she finally settled on a piece of broken stick with one end splintered at an angle. It wasn’t exactly a knife but it was good for one thrust, maybe two. If it came to that, Isabel hoped that would be all she needed.
She found herself back at the cottage near dusk. Hearing Ayela, Hector, and Horace within, she stuck her head through the door.
&nbs
p; “Ah, there you are,” Hazel said, amiably. “Come, have some stew.” She dished a bowl and set it on the table before an empty chair as if nothing had happened. “You must be hungry.”
Isabel sat down without a word and ate her dinner while listening to Horace tell stories of adventures from his past. Hector interjected periodically, adding detail or perspective to the tale. Hazel listened intently, but Isabel got the impression that she wasn’t as interested in the stories themselves as she was in what those stories revealed about the brothers. She seemed especially curious about their magical talents.
While Hazel observed the brothers, Isabel observed Hazel. The old witch seemed anxious but Isabel couldn’t tell if it was just a natural reaction to having sudden houseguests or something else. Her wish to take Ayela as an apprentice was plausible enough, but Isabel couldn’t help feeling like Hazel had other motives. She wished Alexander was here. He would know the truth of her. The fact that he hadn’t reappeared since they entered the protective confines of Hazel’s valley worried her. After working through the myriad possibilities for his absence, she decided to believe that the magical protections surrounding the place were preventing him from entering.
Chapter 34
When Isabel woke early the next morning, she saw Hazel sitting in front of the fire sipping tea and took the chair opposite her without a word. Hazel smiled thinly as she prepared a cup of tea for Isabel, but her eyes didn’t smile at all. Isabel nodded her thanks, taking a few sips, thinking through her list of questions.
“What do you want from us?”
“I’ve told you, dear,” Hazel said. “I want Ayela. Beyond her, I have no interest in you except that we both have a common enemy. I would think that offering you sanctuary when those hunting you are so close would count for something.”
“It would count for more if you hadn’t drugged me the moment I set foot in your valley,” Isabel said.
Hazel nodded with a shrug. “I can understand your feelings, but I would hope you can understand my reasoning. You are a witch from a different coven. It’s only natural for me to be suspicious, even threatened, by your presence. If you were a man, even a wizard, you wouldn’t pose such a danger because my charms would protect me, but they are useless against one such as you. So, when you entered my home, I was caught by surprise. Perhaps I acted rashly, but I am an old woman, frail and vulnerable. You are young and strong. I needed to know the truth of your purpose here. While henbane leaves one with a terrible headache, it’s otherwise harmless and it gave me the answers I needed.”
Isabel thought it over for a few moments. The story was plausible, believable even, and yet, Isabel didn’t believe it, at least not entirely. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that Hazel had some other agenda, but she also knew that revealing her suspicions wouldn’t serve her.
“I hadn’t thought it through from your perspective,” she said, looking into her tea. “You must not have guests very often.”
“No, I can’t say I do,” Hazel said.
“I can imagine how unsettling it must have been to have several armed people show up on your doorstep, and a witch to boot,” Isabel said. “I hope we can put this unpleasantness behind us.”
“Me too, dear,” Hazel said. “After all, it looks like you’re going to have to stay here for a while.”
“What do you mean?” Isabel asked, a thrill of fear racing through her. She had the feeling that Hazel was springing a trap.
The old witch eyed her sagely, nodding to herself ever so slightly. “I scried the surrounding area early this morning. It seems that the Sin’Rath and their puppet soldiers haven’t given up on you yet.”
“Do you think they’ll find your valley?” Isabel asked.
“Doubtful,” Hazel said. “This place is very well protected. They’ve searched for the doorway along the stone face where you entered several times already and failed to see it. While powerful and dangerous in the extreme, the Sin’Rath are rash, and subtlety is often lost on them. I suspect they’ll move on in a day or so.”
“And if they don’t?” Isabel asked.
“We wait,” Hazel said, indifferently. “Eventually, they’ll tire of the hunt.”
Isabel nodded, calmly sipping her tea while thoughts raced through her mind. She felt a sense of urgency building in the pit of her stomach, the need to be on her way, to find the bones of the Goiri and use them to wage a very personal war against Phane. Every day he was allowed to draw breath was another day that innocent people would meet their untimely demise. Yet, she had to be smart about it if she was to succeed. No realistic plan of attack against the Sin’Rath had any chance of success. Two witches and nearly thirty soldiers were simply beyond her and she knew it.
“Ayela asked me to teach her to fight,” Isabel said. “Can I have my weapons back so I can teach her how to use them?”
Hazel frowned, staring into the fire for several moments before slowly shaking her head. “While you are a guest in my home, I would prefer that you remain unarmed. You’re still a witch of another coven and I don’t know you well enough to trust my life to you. You are, however, welcome to use sticks or branches to simulate weapons, like the one you have concealed in your sleeve.” She looked at Isabel pointedly.
Isabel froze for a moment before smiling with a shrug. “I’m a woman at war. I feel naked without a weapon.”
“Understandable,” Hazel said. “I’m sure you can teach Ayela the basics without your weapons and I assure you that all of your possessions will be returned to you when you leave.”
The others woke a few minutes later. Hector and Horace prepared breakfast for everyone at Hazel’s direction. They seemed eager to please her and worked cheerfully. Isabel noted that both men were also without their weapons. After breakfast, Hazel sent them out to work on more firewood. She caught Isabel’s frown.
“You disapprove,” Hazel said.
“Yes,” Isabel said without elaborating.
“It isn’t often that I have two strong young men at my disposal,” Hazel said. “There are so many chores that need to be done around here, it only makes sense to put them to work. After all, I’ve opened my home to you, fed you, and sheltered you from your enemies. Their labor seems a fair price for all I’ve done for you.”
Isabel found it difficult to formulate a counterargument so she changed the subject. “How does that work, anyway?” she asked. “They’re clearly charmed by you, why not just use your charm on me as well?”
“Very well,” Hazel said. “Ayela, you should pay close attention here. A charm spell works best on one of the opposite gender, but there’s more to it than that. A charm creates a strong emotional bond to the caster of the spell within the subject, and while this bond is artificial and temporary, it is nonetheless quite powerful while it lasts. Since women are prone to more intense emotions than men, we tend to be better able to manage such emotions. Add to that the natural need of a witch to manufacture powerful emotion for spell casting and the fact that other witches are usually all but immune to such magic.”
“Huh,” Isabel said. “That’s very interesting.”
“So why not just charm my father or brother and tell them the truth about the Sin’Rath?” Ayela asked.
“They’re already under the influence of a charm,” Hazel said, “a much darker and more powerful charm than I can cast. The Sin’Rath are descended from the Succubus Queen, Sin’Rath, and as such have inherited a number of powerful natural abilities. One of those is their venom. A single bite from a Sin’Rath witch will permanently charm any man, rendering them completely obedient to the witch who bit them. No simple charm spell can overcome something so insidious.”
“Then how can we save them?” Ayela asked, new worry quavering in her voice.
“Kill the witch who bit them,” Hazel said. “Or … as I’ve said, I’m working on a spell that will render their venom impotent. Once I’ve succeeded, I’ll be able to free the men of Karth from the grip of the Sin’Rath once and for all.”
“I say we just kill the witches,” Isabel said. “We could start with the two wandering around the swamp looking for us.”
Ayela nodded.
“And how do you propose we do that?” Hazel asked.
“I was hoping you had some magic to help us,” Isabel said. “If we could separate one of the witches from the soldiers and catch her by surprise, I think we’d have a good chance of killing her.” Isabel didn’t really expect Hazel to agree, but she was hoping to draw out more information about her capabilities without questioning her directly.
“Your plan is based on speculation and an expectation of good fortune,” Hazel said. “More than that, it’s far too dangerous. Even if we succeeded in killing one, her death would ensure that the remaining soldiers would continue their search indefinitely. Eventually they might find this place.”
“I’m not worried about the soldiers,” Isabel said. “If we kill the witches, the soldiers will come around. Surely you have something else we could use against them. Would henbane work on the Sin’Rath?”
“Possibly, but it’s hard to say for certain,” Hazel said. “Their lineage gives me pause. Besides, henbane can only be administered from a very short distance. If it failed, you would be at their mercy.”
“There has to be something we can do,” Isabel said.
“There is,” Hazel said. “We can wait until they leave. Any other course is suicide.”
“I’m not good at waiting,” Isabel said, disappointed that she hadn’t gained more insight into Hazel’s magic.
“Then I suggest you look at this as an opportunity to improve your proficiency in that regard,” Hazel said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to see how the boys are coming along with the firewood.”
Once Hazel left, Isabel reached across the table and took Ayela’s hand. “Are you really going to stay with her?”
“I think so,” Ayela said. “I could do so much more for my family if I had magic like you.”
“I understand how you feel,” Isabel said, “but I just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. I don’t trust her.”
Cursed Bones (Sovereign of the Seven Isles: Book Five) Page 30
