“Aye, Two.” She sniffed. “There might be a drop or seven missing, though. Those elves dinnae take care of their potions.”
The others tutted, and Jinn was let drop to the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She lay there like a drowning fish as the hags lolled about, laughing and taunting Quick to do all their work of setting up camp so they could “Boil your sister in a stew.”
“She’s a mite on the scrawny side, but with the right seasonings, we’ll have a nice little feast.” One of them belched. “Hurry up, oaf, or we’ll slice and dice her without you.”
“No dice,” Quick roared, causing the hags to laugh.
“Well, then, build up the fire nice and high. And fetch our bags from the carriage. We’ll need some good herbs.”
Jinn knew Quick thought he was helping, but he obeyed the hags and left Jinn alone with the five. “Please,” she rasped.
“Dinner’s a touch noisy.” The warty hag poked Jinn with a stick. She loomed over Jinn, her ugly face swimming before Jinn’s eyes before the world went dark.
* * *
When Jinn awoke, a fire was roaring, her ankle felt as though it had been tended to, and Quick was watching her helplessly inside another net of red light and looking rather miserable. Jinn was drenched, and she assumed that she had just broken a fever. But the smell! She sucked in a deep breath…and coughed. The aromas of moldy sage and rancid fat tickled at her nose and overwhelmed her senses. Oh, mercy, I’m being marinated…in my clothes.
“It’s awake. Should we put it in or wait for the fire to die down?”
Jinn sat up with a start, causing the hags to hiss and descend on her. “Wait!”
They froze. “We’re hungry. Ain’t that right, Three?”
“You poor things,” Jinn growled.
The hags seemed to miss her sarcasm, however, and nodded in agreement. “Och, you’re not so unreasonable.”
“Maybe we should fry it.”
Someone’s stomach rumbled.
“Would you prefer to be fried or boiled, mortal?”
Jinn pretended to look thoughtful. “Maybe slowly baked, in a very large oven over very low heat. Preferably a thousand years hence.”
The five sat back and looked thoughtful. “It might be right.”
Before the five could discuss their dinner plans any further, Jinn cleared her throat and said, “You are a wandering bunch?”
“Why, yes. How observant of you— Forgot the apples, Two. Hold that thought, mortal, while I prepare the stuffing.”
“I can do it,” Jinn blurted out. She hoped to look innocent, but Mother always said her face was a mirror to what was hidden within.
Sitting there with bewildered looks on their faces, the five exchanged strange words between each other that Jinn could not discern. At last the fat, grumpy one pointed a gnarled finger at her and barked out an order to her companions, who didn’t move at first. “Do as I says.”
“Do as she says,” the warty one grunted. “Och! Might’n as well be her servants, what we go through more oft than not.”
“Aye,” said the other three, their looks mutinous. “See ye here, now, One….”
The fat one hissed, and the others recoiled and one by one slunk off into the gloom surrounding. Once their footsteps faded, One turned her steely eyes back to Jinn and moved nearer. “We’ve not got much time, mortal. They’re off gettin’ the apples.” She patted her vast waistline. “Too bad I et them all yesternight.” She cackled.
Jinn’s breath caught in her throat. “You’re having second thoughts about dinner?”
“Dinnae say that, daft girl. I need information.”
That took Jinn aback. “What?”
With a grunt, the hag moved in closer. “What is Meraude going to do with the Goblets?”
Jinn’s stomach clenched as she got to her feet. “Meraude who?”
“Don’t play the fool with me. Her smell’s all over you. You’re lucky the others did nay scent it, or else you would be dead already. Hurry. Tell me what Meraude plans, an’ I’ll give you a three-minute head start before the pursuit begins.”
Covertly, Jinn peered ahead three minutes: the hag wasn’t lying, but Jinn would be too slow in a footrace, and Quick wouldn’t or couldn’t follow her. In her mind, she saw herself asking for ten minutes and Quick’s release, but the answer was negative, and the vision grew dark. Jinn cursed. She would have to either outwit these hags or…. She nodded. “You will give me ten minutes, and I will tell you everything.”
The hag named One gave her a thoughtful look, but then nodded. “And you dinnae care to barter for your brother’s release?”
“There isn’t time for all this,” she said below her breath, hoping her brother wouldn’t hear and misunderstand. “Meraude hopes to unite the Goblets Immortal and start a war with your kind.”
For whatever reason, that caused One to laugh. “Lass, there be only me sisters and I. You’ll have to do better than that, I fear.”
Jinn tried again. “Not just you five. All magic-kind.”
“And how is she going to do that?”
Lights above! This was harder than Mother made it seem. She tried again, noticing that the wood surrounding had grown silent, along with the faint magical humming that had been buzzing in her ears since they’d been captured. “Ever since the collapse of the Circle, Meraude has been…. How do I say this?” What was she trying to say? Why hadn’t Mother better prepared her for moments like this?
“Well, you might as well take one more stab at the truth, as it’s the last stab you’re like to get at anything.”
The silence gathered. Jinn looked down at her feet, hoping her face would not tell the truth on her. How to say what she could only guess at? That was when she saw it, a gleam of metal, inches from her left foot: a knife.
Quick crashed through the silence. “Jinn, what should Quick do?”
The hag had apparently let her magic slip, and Quick was just now getting to his feet, uninhibited by any net.
The hag named One turned with a gasp, and Jinn did not think twice before snatching up the small knife and throwing it haft over blade at the creature’s neck. Her aim was true. Blood flowed in copious amounts from the creature’s neck and mouth. But the image was overlapped with a foresight of four enraged hags cornering Jinn with whips of fire. Running wasn’t an option, it would seem.
Mercifully, the hag’s death was a silent one, and the other four hags’ approach remained more than a minute away. “Quick, throw the body into the fire,” she said, trembling from head to boot as she pulled the knife from her victim’s neck. Before he could, however, the body vanished with a sickly glugging sound, reminiscent of sludge bubbling in a cauldron. There was no time to worry about what that meant. The hags were almost there.
“Quick, you need to hide in the woods.”
He looked down at Jinn, his brow crinkling. “Leave you? No. No, Jinn.”
She didn’t have time to explain the plan that was formulating in her brain. She could hear the hags’ approach. “Hide and be silent unless I say our secret word, all right?”
Quick scowled. “You die.” But he did as she said, moving behind an overgrown bush, all the while muttering, until the hags’ voices could be heard.
With the blade in her hand, Jinn forced herself to sit down with her legs crossed and her arms behind her back. It was impossible to look innocent or confused, but terror was a strong emotion, and she knew it was the dominant expression on her face right now.
The four hags were grumbling and cursing the hag named One in colorful terms. “That rascal,” said the most warty one.
“Aye. There were no apples. She must’ve et them all.”
“Pig,” said the third hag, and they all burst out cackling again. Their laughter soon died out, and the four were left looking around them in bewilderment
. “Are we missing something?”
The other three stood there for a moment, considering. “The apples?”
“Fool, there art no apples to miss.” They looked at the fire, which had begun to puff gray smoke, and then at the place where Quick had been netted before. “Huh. Could have sworn to me mam that there were five of us.”
Jinn’s palm grew slick with sweat, her eyes following the hags’ every move. If only they would turn their backs again, then she could at least get one of them with the blade. But what would happen after that? She would still have three angry hags to deal with, and they would probably kill her on sight, not bothering to give her a ten-minute start as their sister-hag had offered. All be hanged, but perhaps she should have waited to kill the first one until she could form a better plan.
The fourth hag was counting. “One, two, three, four –” she pointed to Jinn, “– and five. I think we’re all here.”
“Idiot, she’s not one of us.”
“Oh, aye.”
The tall, less heavy one, hissed and spat. “Curses! You, mortal.”
Jinn jumped.
Four sets of eyes narrowed, and their owners converged on Jinn. “Where is your brother?”
“Forget the boy-man. Where be One?”
“I can answer all of your questions,” Jinn said, trying to keep her voice even, “if you promise to let me go free.” She waited as the hags deliberated, her throwing hand cramping slightly, as she’d been clutching her weapon too tightly. She cursed herself for being careless. The knife slipped, and she caught it before it could hit the ground behind her. But it cost her. She was now no longer holding the handle but the sharp blade itself, and it was biting into her bare palm. Jinn choked down a yelp.
One hag sniffed the night air. “I’ve scented blood.”
The four looked at Jinn, suspicious. “Tell us what happened here, mortal, or we’ll….”
“Boil you in a stew.”
The shortest hag looked at her sister in disgust. “Oi, we were already going to do that, remember?”
Drip, drip, drip. Blood trickled down Jinn’s wrist. She needed to adjust her grip, but the creatures would not look away, and she could not afford to take her eyes off them or draw attention to her predicament. “All right,” Jinn squeaked. “Give me your word that you won’t hurt my brother, and I’ll tell you what happened.”
“All right,” said the one Jinn thought might be called Three. “Start talking.”
Jinn drew in a shaky breath. “Your, er, leader let the enchantment surrounding my brother drop, and he took advantage of her situation and—”
Two of the hags swore. “She’s getting careless. Three and Four, you go find and help One. Five and me will guard dinner.”
Four let out a great huff of displeasure. “How come I have to do all the real work, eh? Durst you think you be One?” With a sniff, she sat down. “I ain’t going ter be ordered around by the likes of thee.”
“Oh, for the love of everything sacred! We’ll all keep ter sitting here and wait ’til One returns with the prisoner. Happy?”
The other three grunted.
“Actually,” said Jinn, “I’m not.” The knife cut in a little deeper. She was getting dizzy and lightheaded at the mere thought of blood loss. “My brother is going to get lost or hurt or worse. At least three of you need to go find him before something horrible happens.”
“Why three?”
Jinn had to think quickly. “Three will cover more ground more quickly?”
The four stood for a maddening moment, muttering in their strange tongue between each other.
Jinn peered into the future, just one minute ahead. But the thread was tenuous, hard to hold on to, and the further she looked – five minutes, ten minutes – the more possible threads there were. It was too much for one person to sort through. A mere look from her could tip fate one way or the other, as could bigger variables such as Quick’s ill-timed sneeze in three, two—
“Achoo,” Jinn said, covering her brother’s racket. He must be neck-deep in ridgewood plants. It would figure that I’d send him to hide in the one fern he’s allergic to.
The four hags looked at her strangely but didn’t say anything about the extra-loud sneeze. “Fine,” said Two, “Three and Four and I will look for them, and you—” She pointed her bony finger at the remaining hag. “You wilt stay here and watch over this one. And build up that fire. It’s startin’ to die.”
“Now who thinks they be One?”
“Hush.” And with a parting rude gesture, Three, Four, and Two tramped off in the direction Jinn made sure to stare in.
The remaining hag sized up Jinn. “Why dinnae you stop yer twin from runnin’ off, eh? Something don’t seem right ’bout this.” She approached Jinn, her eyes narrowing. “My sister thought to tie your hands behind your back before running after the boy-man? Don’t sound like One. What have you got hidden back there?”
Sweat trickled down the back of Jinn’s neck as she tried to think of a good lie. “A knife,” she said, knowing the hag would not believe such a thing.
Sure enough, the creature snorted just as a twig snapped several paces behind Jinn. They both froze. “What were that?”
“Probably some beast,” Jinn said, cursing herself for the break in her voice. Lying should be easier, and she should be better at it; she’d done enough of it over the past five months. “Or maybe your sisters doubled around and are returning.”
The hag scowled. “There is one way ter find out.” She glided past Jinn, her hands fumbling for something at her belt. “Curses! Where is me knife?”
Jinn aimed and threw the blade, just as the hag turned her way. This time, Jinn wasn’t as lucky. The knife had taken the hag in the right shoulder, a nonfatal wound that would only slow the creature down a little. Jinn needed to act quickly. With a cry, she rolled out of the way as a blast of blue light was aimed at her chest. Her hand pulsed as she pulled herself to her feet and charged at the creature, attempting to throw her off-balance. It did not work.
Her opponent, who had removed the knife with a yelp, managed to grab Jinn by the throat and held her at arm’s length, grinning as Jinn kicked and tried to pry the warty fingers away. “You’ve got courage, lass.”
If Jinn could breathe, she would spit at this monster. The hag must have known this, for she only laughed all the harder, her great brown teeth flashing. “Tell me, where is One, really?”
Stars burst around the corners of Jinn’s vision and her lungs burned, her head throbbing and begging her to find a way to free herself before it exploded. No. I need more time. I need to—
The hag dropped her to the ground, where Jinn lay coughing and gasping. “Where is my sister?” Her black eyes flashed. “You will tell me of your own free will, or I can make things…interesting. Mortals are so easy to torture. You’re all so…” She flapped her arms a bit, stopping to wince in pain. “…flimsy.”
“I don’t know where your sister is,” Jinn croaked, rubbing her throat. She needed a moment, just a minute to get her voice to work right again. “Why don’t you go look for her?”
The hag laughed and then stopped, her eyes twinkling. “You killed her, didn’t you?”
“I—”
Of all things, the creature threw her head back and let out an even louder laugh, one that could easily be mistaken for a mountain lion’s roar. “You little snipe. You done the dirty work for me. How you done it?” Suddenly eager, the hag waved her hand and a rocking chair appeared out of thin air. “Poison?”
“No, I—”
“Strangulation?”
“Er—”
Her eyes narrowed. “Magic?”
Jinn swallowed hard, and put her finger up in the air to ask for a minute. The hag nodded.
It was now or never. Jinn sucked in a deep breath and said at the top of what voice
she had left: “Wattlewasp!”
The hag eyed her askance. “A wattlewasp killed her, you say? Huh. I didn’t know they were venomous.”
As to whether or not wattlewasps were venomous, Jinn had no idea, nor did she care. She waited fifteen beatings of her heart, but there was no response, no noise that indicated Quick had heard and comprehended what she wanted him to do now.
“Wattlewasps,” the hag said, laughter in her voice. “It’s almost poetry, thou knows? One once mentioned beekeeping.”
“Wattlewasp,” Jinn said again, louder, and the hag nodded.
“Yes, just as ye says. What she wouldst do with them bees, ’tis lost on me.”
Curse all, but where was Quick? He must have heard their secret word. What was he doing? Waiting for her to give him step-by-step instructions on how to sneak up and throttle the hag? At once guilt clutched Jinn’s stomach. It wasn’t his fault. If it was anyone’s, it was hers for not absorbing her part of the curse in Mother’s womb. All Blest were cursed in some way. In Quick’s case, the curse had done damage to his mind. She pushed that thought aside. Blame-dealing wouldn’t get them out of this predicament.
There were thirty-three outcomes to this evening, and twenty-nine of them ended in darkness – and then resumed as if there had been no break whatsoever. Holes. There were the holes again, the ones that had clouded her vision before. It was as vexing as it was dangerous.
Foresight wasn’t going to save her; Jinn could simply not account for every little move that she or her brother, or the hag, for that matter, might make. Having all but lost hope, she heard a sneeze.
“Bless thou,” said the hag. The person who had sneezed – Quick, for she could not figure out who else was near enough to produce the expulsion – sneezed again. Only, it couldn’t be Quick: the noise echoed in the south, while Jinn’s brother was hiding a few bushes behind her to the east.
After the third sneeze, the hag looked at Jinn, a gleam of suspicion in her eyes. Jinn wiped her nose with the back of her hand and thanked the elf for the blessing.
Before the creature could voice her suspicions, her sisters ran back into the clearing, their eyes wild as they huffed and puffed. “Wizard!” the three beings cried.
Holes in the Veil Page 11