by Vance Huxley
When Jenny came back in she sat and told them she needed to sleep on it. Ferryl must have been waiting. The schoolgirl barely swayed but the three teenagers could see a difference in the way she held herself, or maybe in her expression. They fed Claris and took her to the washroom before Ferryl/Jenny went home and the others split up. Abel and Zephyr went to practice, Kelis to carve a complicated glyph into a piece of wood, and Rob to worry about his part.
Too Many Possessions
Mr. Forester asked about a meeting, and the Taverners all wanted to have a proper get-together now they were on holiday, but Claris came first. The magical Taverners understood, even if they weren’t aware of the Ferryl possession part. They still thought Ferryl lived in Abel’s arm, especially now that Zephyr had real control of the tattoo. While not yet as versatile as Ferryl, the sprite had her own definite ideas.
Zephyr had created her own special version of the tattoo for the transfer, though Claris’ Leech wouldn’t see it. Abel’s bicep sported a large red boxing glove with a cloud of smoke behind and FFOD across it in big letters. At least that lightened the mood a little when Abel showed her to Jenny, Kelis and Rob, a welcome distraction after the preparations for removing Claris’ Leech. Eventually everything possible had been done, so Rob, Abel and Kelis went to collect her. When her three captors arrived, Claris stood up with a big smile. “Now?” Claris looked curious when the chains came off completely. “Where is Huntian?”
Rob ignored the odd name for Ferryl. The Leech seemed frightened by it, which was good enough. “We’re doing this somewhere else, so let’s get going.” His nerves hadn’t been helped by spending over an hour sat in Castle House gardens, in earshot but out of sight of Jenny and Kelis. Ferryl had screamed while removing her bone glyphs, then spent a long time healing both Jenny’s bone and the holes out through her flesh. Once she’d given Abel her wits Ferryl removed Jenny’s memories of pain and any knowledge of the magic she’d used. Jenny woke up fully for the final time, ready to control her own body during the changeover. Right now Jenny and Ferryl were going over exactly what that meant.
“You’ll walk down the street with us, happy and smiling. Hold this.” Abel gave Claris a pebble engraved with the glyph that allowed her to pass through the Castle House barrier. “Remember, the hunter will be right above you as we walk.” As Zephyr flew out of Abel’s arm and hovered as promised, Claris nodded.
“Can I walk with him, the host?” Claris smiled hungrily at Rob. “You are a fool to give yourself to save this host, because she never liked you.” The Leech held out Claris’ hand. “Most of our nest is female. Our Firstseed prefers them but I might enjoy being different.”
Rob looked at the hand in disgust. “I think not. I really don’t want to touch you until I have to. I don’t want to t
ouch you at all, but I can’t leave you in a pretty girl like Claris. Not even a girl I don’t like. Now shut up. If I change my mind you’ve got no-place to go.”
“Yes, and try not to damage him. Remember, when we go to this meeting I’ll be buying Rob back. I want him fit to walk out once you leave.” Abel got between them. “Let’s go. You don’t want Huntian to come looking.”
“You don’t want your boss to refuse to sell Rob either, or Huntian will be leading us all on a Leech-hunt. Remember to tell her that.” Kelis moved to the other side of Claris as they came through the lychgate and headed towards Castle House. Even walking under her own steam the Leech-infested teenager still looked anorexic thin and very pale.
Despite that she made good time to Castle House. Rob stopped her at the gate. “If you drop that pebble, you’ll die. Don’t try to run off in there.” Claris nodded and walked through the gate without any hesitation, following Rob to the cave.
Ferryl/Jenny, already waiting, didn’t waste any time. She pointed to the pair of pillows on the ground. “Rob, lie there with your mouth open. You must agree completely or your ward will bar entry, then the Leech will not leave Claris willingly. You understand?”
Rob gave her the macho answer they’d come up with to explain why he’d volunteered. “Yes. We went through all this and I told you, and the Leech. I’m only agreeing because Claris is a girl. I’m a lad so I’m tougher and can stand it until Abel buys me back.” He glared at Claris, or rather the Leech. “If he can’t buy me, kill this thing even if it kills me. I don’t want forty years of what Claris had.”
“Deal.” Abel pushed Claris towards one of the pillows on the ground. “You lie here so Ferryl can get into Claris straight away. Remember, if Ferryl can’t save her we’ll rip you out of Rob. You won’t be able to damage him badly enough fast enough to stop Ferryl saving him.”
“I understand. You already told me.” Claris’ face eagerly watched Rob lie down to put his head on the other pillow. “You will let me leave this place afterwards? If not I will never take you for the key, and this one will suffer.”
“We can’t stop Rob leaving. The barrier recognises him so he can just walk through.” Abel reached down and took the bat from Rob’s belt. “Though we’ll hang onto this. Now lie down and get on with it.” He glanced at Jenny. “Ready?”
Jenny nodded nervously, really Jenny because Ferryl had disengaged ready to leave. “I kneel here, to the side of Claris. As soon as the Leech leaves I put my mouth on Claris’, even if her mouth is bloody, so Ferryl can cross over.” Her little laugh sounded shaky. “Which is mean because I distinctly remember asking for a hot prince to kiss me. I’d have settled for doing the kissing, but Claris isn’t a prince or even a lad.”
“But you get time off for good behaviour. Kelis will be right behind you to help because you will feel faint afterwards.” Abel stood a metre below Rob’s and Claris’ feet looking at Claris. “I’ll just make sure there’s no cheating. No choking Claris on the way out or anything like that.”
“But the hunter stays inside you?” Claris looked nervously at Abel’s shoulder. “And you stay back there, too far away to interfere.”
“Yes, now do it.”
Claris turned to Rob and put her hands either side of his face, opened her mouth and went to make contact. Rob recoiled. “Not a chance! That’s disgusting.” He looked up at Abel with a helpless shrug. “I know it’s going into me, but her mouth and breath stink of rotten blood. Can’t it sort of jump over?”
“Can you?” Abel almost held his breath, because everything depended on the Leech’s reaction. Hopefully it wouldn’t think too hard or too long with a fresh healthy body waiting.
“No, I cannot move around easily outside a host.” Claris looked sulky. “You promised. It makes no difference what I smell like, I’ll be inside.”
“If you kneel above his mouth, can you sort of drop in?” Abel switched to Rob. “You could hold your breath?”
Rob considered it, then nodded slowly. “All right, but I still need a bit of room.” He shuddered. “You haven’t smelled it, Abel.”
“Not too far.” Now Claris looked suspicious, but at least the Leech had accepted some sort of gap.
“This?” Rob held his hands apart and Claris’ head shook. Rob sighed and moved them closer in stages, stopping at about thirty centimetres apart. “That’s it, I’m not getting closer than that.”
For a few moments Claris looked from Abel to Rob, and his hands. “That will do if he takes the hunter further away. I will get a grip on you before I leave this host, so I will know your ward is not defending you. Before I release her throat I will be far enough into yours that the hunter cannot stop me. Are you still willing?” Real anger showed. “If this is all a trick I will tear this host to shreds!”
Abel took a long step back. He wasn’t actually watching Claris, so he caught the slight nod from Jenny and heard a quiet affirmative in his head. “I’ll stay here, but I’ll crouch down to watch. Now can we get on with it?”
“Yes, because I really am bricking it here.” Rob looked it, pale and nervous as the moment came closer. Claris got to her knees and knelt over Rob, leaning down until
he put up a hand to stop her getting closer. “That’s what we agreed, coffin-breath. Be quick, while I hold my breath.” Rob snatched a quick breath, opened his mouth, and Claris’ throat bulged. At the second heave tendrils reached out of her mouth to snag Rob’s lips, and pulled. A wet bag slid out of Claris’ mouth until the front end touched Rob’s lips.
“Go!” Abel really hoped they’d got it right, that the thing would have released Claris’ brain by now ready to slide across into Rob’s throat. The flicker wasn’t even a blur as Claris’ head jerked to the side, away from Abel. Blood spattered from Rob’s mouth, then flooded from Claris’ as Zephyr tore the rest of the Leech free. Even as it rolled away, fighting furiously with a shimmering ball of fury, Jenny pulled Claris over and bent to kiss her. Abel summoned fire and watched the fight, while Kelis stood beside Jenny, a glyph boiling in her hand. Neither of them dare cast in case they hit Zephyr. “Zephyr, release!”
“Trying.” That sounded strained. The tangle kept rolling back and forth, tendrils thrashing and blood splattering. Rob turned onto his hands and knees, one hand to his bloody mouth, and staggered to his feet. For a moment Kelis, Rob and Abel all stood poised, then Jenny collapsed. She rolled away from Claris who now laid coughing blood and shuddering, her limbs twitching and thrashing. The Leech must have done terrible damage inside her throat.
Kelis remembered her part. “Here, Jenny.” She banished her wind glyph and bent, picking up the pebble Claris had dropped and putting it into Jenny’s right hand. “Hold that tight.” She more or less heaved Jenny to her feet, helping her towards a tree before pushing Jenny’s left hand onto a mark cut into the bark. “Come on Jenny, push magic. Through your palm like Ferryl showed you. Connect with the glyph.” As Jenny froze, then started to straighten up, a loud bang echoed.
Zephyr and the Leech flew apart. A slightly smoking blur shot back into Abel’s arm, where he could feel her trembling. “Sorry. Couldn’t get away. Then wanted more. Sorry.”
Abel tried to radiate reassurance because Zephyr seemed frightened. She shouldn’t be, because the Leech had definitely come off second best. Several tendrils hung askew, others had been burned off and a large black, charred patch across the main body bubbled both blood and magic. That slowly sealed as Abel watched. “No, Rob.”
Rob glanced over, anger on his face. He lowered the hand from his dripping mouth to show the deep cuts on his lips. “Payback” he slurred, gesturing with the fire glyph. “It can’t hurt anyone now.”
“Firstly Ferryl promised, though she wouldn’t care if we broke it. Second, and more important, we might still get the key to the house. You wouldn’t want to waste Kelis’ work.” Abel glanced at the Leech. “It’s hurting now, because the garden will be trying to terrify it enough to leave and it can’t. We agreed capture not kill.”
“That depends on Claris living.” They both looked at her. Claris lay on her back, a fine spray of blood coming with every exhale, but the choking and most of the thrashing about had stopped. The spray stopped after a few more breaths, her limbs finally stilled, and Claris’ eyes opened. Calm eyes, which meant Ferryl had her. Meanwhile Jenny had gone from collapse to hugging the tree, giggling madly with her hand still firmly over the glyph. Kelis left her, coming back to Claris. “I’ll sit Claris up. She’ll want to see that thing get its new home.”
Rob glared at the Leech, still thrashing about in the grass. “I hope you can understand. If we just leave you, the garden will kill you with fear. I’m going to give you an option.” He stopped to wipe more blood from his lips but they kept dripping. “I hope you refuse. You’ll die screaming in terror, as bad as anything you put Claris through.” The glyph disappeared from his palm as he turned to reach into the bushes. Rob’s smile looked awful, still dripping red as he held the cage up. “A young, healthy body as promised. A toad body, but you can’t have everything. Now either you figure out how to get in there, or Kelis can start carving lumps off until you fit.” Any reticence Rob had about that had long gone.
Abel took the cage. “Zephyr, if I let my glyph die, are you ready if it tries anything?” He wanted Rob free to staunch his mouth rather than looking for a chance, any chance, to burn the blood-bag.
“I am, but I will not try to hold it, just hit it. When it fought, I held tighter and then began to slide inside. I nearly went all the way in, it was suddenly easy.” Abel felt a shudder through the tattoo. “I don’t know how to control that, or if I’d get out. I don’t want to be in that thing so I cast fire, from partly inside it. Don’t ask me to hold it again, please?”
“A Fiery Flying Fist of Doom, that’s all we’ll need.” A faint mental giggle answered, though a nervous one. “Okay Rob, we’ve got it. You’d better sort your mouth out.” Abel turned to the Leech, putting the cage down as Rob started pulling his shirt off. “The hunter is watching so be good. Kelis carved a glyph on the wooden bottom of this cage. If you crawl in here you’ll be protected from the garden, so the terror will stop. Though if you don’t possess the toad, you’ll die of starvation anyway.” The toad had backed into a corner, awake because none of them knew how to safely knock it out. The consensus was it might not understand what happened, whereas a rat or any other similar sized mammal probably would. It wasn’t a question Jenny could ask the pet shop assistant.
The Leech froze, so it understood some of what was said. A wave of compulsion bounced off Abel’s ward, and probably Rob’s and Kelis’ from their expressions. Jenny looked startled and glanced down, probably at the sudden chill from her ward. Ferryl/Claris gave the Leech a bloody smile, a hungry, eager one. Her voice sounded rough, but understandable. “That only works on prey. Like a toad or a Leech.” That did it. The Leech crawled towards the cage where the toad waddled forward and obediently opened its mouth. As the Leech wriggled inside magic boiled away and blood spurted, shrinking its body until it would fit.
Jenny, now sat leaning against the tree, gave a little giggle. “That is gross, but I’m too drunk to care. Maybe drunk. I’ve never been drunk, just a bit squiffy one Christmas. No wonder you all like magic.” She patted the tree. “My new booze cupboard.”
“You’ll have to move now, I’m afraid.” Abel helped Kelis to get Ferryl/Claris to her feet. “Claris needs a little drinky as well.” Jenny shuffled aside as Abel lifted Ferryl/Claris’ hand and placed it on the mark in the bark. “Drink up, Ferryl.”
There wasn’t much outward sign except Ferryl/Claris’ breathing steadied, and when she spoke her voice sounded stronger though still rough. “This will take time. The Leech tore her throat, but also holes in her heart and several big blood vessels. It probably meant to keep me busy so I couldn’t interfere.” Ferryl/Claris turned to glare at the toad. “It worried about the wrong hunter.”
“I worried about Zephyr being fast enough. I didn’t really see her, just a flicker and bap!” From the replies nobody saw much more.
“Hey Ferryl, can you spare a bit of healing for my lips?” Rob pulled his wadded shirt away from his mouth, letting blood gush from some of the cuts. He quickly put the shirt back to try and staunch them.
“Not heal, but I can do some very crude repairs to stop the bleeding. I can make them scab, so they heal naturally. You will heal a little faster than you used to anyway, because your magic helps now you are aware of it.” Ferryl/Claris raised her hand, then looked embarrassed. “No I can’t. No connection.”
“Zephyr? Connect to Ferryl.” The spooky-phone shot out. “Ferryl, can you use this connection?”
“No, or rather yes but it would be too dangerous. I could show Zephyr so she could help but that would mean touching Rob with her wind form. Unfortunately she would have to go partway into his skin, and might find it impossible get back out. She might not want to.”
“I can do it. I stopped myself going any further into the Leech.” Zephyr’s mental voice dropped to a bare whisper. “I don’t like it. I don’t want to do that. It feels all wrong.”
As Ferryl/Claris stared at Abel a slow smile
grew, which looked awful on her bruised and bloody face. “Truly your child, not mine. Explain to Rob.”
Abel tried, without the child comments. After listening to Zephyr’s comments on spooky-phone, Rob went for it. Either that or he’d have to get to a hospital for stitches, urgently because five gashes still gushed blood whenever he moved his shirt away. The actual scabbing took a while, because Zephyr would only do a little at a time. She kept returning to her tattoo to break any connections except to Abel, then flowing out to do more. The sprite told Abel, privately, that she needed to return to remind herself where she belonged and who she was.
While Zephyr worked Ferryl/Claris explained why she couldn’t do it herself. Ferryl could heal any body she possessed, because she understood it intimately. She also understood how all human bodies worked, from being in several, but not precisely enough for fast or perfect repairs because they were all different. Magic users could only heal one person properly - themselves.
After that statement even Jenny wanted to know how, as soon as possible. Ferryl suggested they start with grazes, then if the experiments marred the skin the injury could be repaired later. All anyone magical had to do was understand their own bodies precisely enough to grow new tissue, using a variant of the plant growth glyph. Precise, after more explanation, seemed to mean down to cell structure. Kelis and a stunned Jenny suggested medical books as a first step although Jenny agreed she had to learn control, a lot of control, before experimenting. Now Abel understood why Ferryl never healed him. She’d never possessed his body so she never fully understood it.
Rob asked about eyes because Ferryl had given all three of them night sight. Modifying healthy lenses and receptors came under adapting healthy tissue, adjusting rather than growing. That was much easier with parts that weren’t quite as alive, such as lenses, teeth and finger nails. Receptors in eyes could be slightly adapted, but Ferryl couldn’t repair physically damaged eyes. Jenny promptly wanted night vision, but once Ferryl explained the process she backed off rather than let an amateur play in her eyeballs. Zephyr would have some tuition before practicing on rabbits or mice, and then on something larger before tackling a human.