“It didn’t go well,” I state flatly, and there must be something in my face, and perhaps my voice, because the angry look that Jimmy was giving me a moment ago dissolves into concern.
“What happened, lass?”
Looking around there had been quite a party here, bodies are lying about passed out all over the place. The half dozen or so of the coven who aren’t in a complete stupor give me a glazed look, but barely take in the fact that we’ve arrived. One or two raise their glasses to us, before continuing their conversations and drinking.
Pulania and Hatchesput are there, and seem reasonably sober. The five us sit down at a table some distance away from the others.
“Pulania has told me that you bear some relation to the Elemental; that you were trying to strike up an alliance with her,” Hatchesput says.
I eye off Pulania, not knowing what has been said in my absence, nor what I can say now. In the end I decide it’s safest to just repeat what I’d told Jimmy. “It didn’t go well.”
Hatchesput sits back and sighs. “She won’t help us at all then?”
But that’s not exactly correct. “She won’t let anything happen to me. Apparently, she’d be very unhappy if I were hurt.”
“Oh, well that’s something. We can definitely use that.”
“I think I might give it a try,” Pulania puts in. “I might have some more luck than Amura.” Pulania turns to Hatchesput. “Your Majesty, I’ll debrief Amura, then go and meet the Elemental myself.”
“Aye, the coven be under the protection of the Seelie court here in Dublin. Queen Áine be waiting upon you, Your Majesty,” Jimmy states.
“What?” I ask.
“It be true, lass,” Jimmy replies. “The Dark Coven of the United Kingdom and Ireland have made arrangements to stand together with us Seelie against our common foe, in protection of Susan. I be taking Her Majesty here to see Queen Áine, we was just waiting for your return to see how ye faired.”
Jimmy winks at me. Oh, okay, he’s taking Hatchesput away so that I can give the low down to Pulania –without an audience. We are keeping some stuff back, we’re not going to let Hatchesput know everything. I feel a bit better knowing that.
Pulania, Gil and I wait at the table until Hatchesput and Jimmy make their way out of the pub. A few of the coven girls go with Hatchesput, probably as bodyguards, and Pulania is left in charge during her absence. Not that there’s much to be left in charge of, just a whole bunch of snoring bodies. Apparently a few of the others had been sent back to the Hermitage to relieve Bríghe and Kathleen. They were organising the dismantling and transport of our ordinance, with the lesson of what not to do with the generator.
When everyone is out of the way, Pulania, Gil and I go out to the front of the pub, where a few empty tables are scattered on the sidewalk. Thankfully the weather is warm enough to sit comfortably outside where no one will overhear us.
“What happened?” Pulania asks.
“She wants Amura’s baby,” Gil replies.
“What?”
Gil and I nod our heads to Pulania’s question. “She has a room in her house where she keeps pictures of her children. They’re all dead, Pulania. She’s had dozens of mortal children, they all grew old and died, while Eppy lives on. I think the loneliness has driven her a little mad. She wants my baby, that’s why she’s been stirring, she’s been trying to protect the baby… so she can keep it for herself.”
“Oh, poor Eppy. First she lost us, and then, every child since,” Pulania sighs. “There is a solution for that, but I’m not sure she’ll agree.”
“A solution? She’s not getting Tadpole the Invincible, no way. Tadpole is mine.”
“No, no,” Pulania agrees. “She’s obviously been mating with humans. We have to find her an immortal or semi-mortal male. She needs to have her own children, but children that will live as long as she does.”
We all look toward the storm that continues to stir to the north of the city.
“I need to go and talk to her.” I can almost hear the gulp in Pulania’s voice.
“What happened all those years ago, back when she broke through your womb?” I ask. “It doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, I’m dark, and she’s obviously light. If anything, I should have been the one who almost killed you, not her.”
“I don’t know it all. I don’t know what happened between the two of you in my womb. You once knew, you told me bits and pieces over the years, but Amura, they’re the memories of a child, a baby. I’m not sure I should really tell you.”
“Yes… yes, you should.” I’m speaking through grit teeth. “I need to know. She hates me, and I need to know why. There’s no point in holding anything back. I’m a dark witch, not some lily white nightingale, whatever I may have done isn’t going to make me bat an eye.”
“Oh, okay, my little dark bitch. If you’re sure then?”
“I’m sure, Pulania.”
“Well, it isn’t as black as it might sound. The womb is a disorientating place, I guess. The two of you were there for years, decades together. You could hear things from the outside, but you could never really understand the outside world until you were born.”
She looks at me, and I nod for her to continue.
“The magiks you held had become too powerful, and you had both been too long in my womb. You once explained to me that there were things beyond the little world the two of you shared that you knew were happening, but the barrier of flesh was there to stop you from joining it. You held all the dark magiks given my children; Eppy held all the white magiks. She couldn’t break through my womb, my own white magiks bound her too strongly, but you…”
“I could break through,” I finish for her. She nods in reply.
“Your own magiks were just as strong as Eppy’s, but of a different ilk. Power to destroy; power to break down; power to break out. It was you that freed Eppy, you told me that she needed to be free, and that you were going to follow, and if you had I would surely have died.”
“What? What happened?” I ask.
“Well, you used magik to reinforce your hand and give yourself a claw like strength, you tore a hole through the front of my womb, you raked your hand right through it, a hole only large enough for a small baby fist to fit through, but it was enough for Eppy to take the Elemental form of a wind and make her way through. She was free. Her magiks took her to where she needed to be as an Elemental, a granddaughter of Gaea. However, for you to break free, the hole you’d created had to be made bigger, the power of destruction had to be complete, but when you’d torn a large enough hole to look through, the world without wasn’t what you thought it would be, because I was there, and to leave you had to kill me. You couldn’t do that, Amura, so you didn’t follow Eppy. You had no creation magiks to heal me, but you had the power to choose. You chose not to kill me. Samael came very quickly, and risked the wrath of the angelic host by healing me. I never saw him again after that, he saved my life, but as punishment he was prevented from ever seeing us again, until you found a way to complete the cycle of the daughter of Gaea that was broken by my corruption.”
“When I helped Susan, and was given the creation magiks by Gaea, you mean?”
“No, more than that, you made yourself the protector of Susan. Thanatos Moerae, a granddaughter of Gaea had finally come into her full power.”
Chapter 35: I so had this
Hmmm, so now I know, but does Eppy? Probably not, maybe it’s worth another conversation.
“I’m going back with you,” I tell Pulania.
“Fine, we should go now, before she tears up the countryside around the city.” Pulania is looking toward the storm that is lashing the horizon north of us. Sometimes Pulania has the whitest notions, I mean, if she tears up the countryside, she tears up the countryside, it’s no biggie for us.
I roll my eyes. “Like, whatever, Pulania. Let’s get going then.”
Thankfully the taxi driver we had stolen the car from earlier is having lunch at the
nearby hotel, so we steal his vehicle again. I do the driving this time, since I know the way and have calmed enough not to be a traffic hazard. Oh, and because I’m a controlling bitch who normally doesn’t like it when others drive. I’ve fallen in love with this car though, it has this beaded mat in the driver’s seat that’s really comfy to sit on.
This time it only takes about an hour to make our way back to the country lane where Eppy’s Georgian home is. During the drive the storm has receded, and now the sun is out again. Though it must be close to 10 pm here, it’s still at least an hour before sunset, and quite light, I’d prefer a bit of dreariness myself, isn’t this place normally known for that? Maybe I can talk to Eppy about it.
The gate lock clicks open when we approach, just like before. Well, I guess there’s no sneaking up on Elspeth.
“You’re back.” The crackily disembodied voice says.
“Yeah, it’s too bright, can you bring some low level clouds in or something?”
Huh, no answer. This girl needs training.
On the way up to the house, Pulania admires the garden, though I guess, really, she’s trying to get a measure of the daughter she’s never met. Or maybe she’s just trying to delay the meeting? Yeah, more likely that.
“You don’t even like flowers, stop stalling.”
“Do to, I like the black roses you put around The Two Witches.”
“Hmm, they give it that black-gothic-hipster style it’s so famous for.”
We wander around beds of red and pink roses, purple begonias, and assortments of sweet peas and various other flowering monstrosities interlaced with strategically placed greenery. I expect it’s actually quite well laid out, though I’m trying very hard to maintain my patience.
As my attention roams anywhere but the flower gardens, at some stage a face appears at a window of the house, it’s my own. I contemplate it for a while, while Pulania and Gil continue to explore. She’s not really the same as me, I mean, her features are identical, but her hair is much longer. I think if she let it out it would fall down to her waist. She does her face up much more conservatively than I do, her lipstick is less pronounced; her rouge is more closely skin coloured than mine; her eye liner and eye shadow is barely visible, does she even have any on?
Thinking about it, it’s strange that she has my looks, as these aren’t really mine, they’re the looks I’ve magikly given myself over the centuries. But apart from a different choice of makeup and different taste in clothing, she is the same! “Oh my, that’s so freaky.”
“Hey, there’s a hedge maze,” Gil calls out from somewhere behind me.
“Fine, you and Pulania distract yourselves,” I call back.
I’ve caught Eppy’s eye, and I’m just going to wait until she comes out here to join me. She will, eventually, curiosity will bring her down here. I’m so different from her, and yet, so much the same, she won’t be able to help herself.
As she stands there watching me, I lower my arm to her immaculately manicured lawn, and raise a black rose bush out of the middle of the grass, it’s not in one of her bordered flower beds, she’s going to hate this. And… I’m right, she’s left the window and is probably heading out here right now. I’m just going to grow some English Yew around it, it’s poisonous, but has a nice colour contrast, it will work well with the black roses… I’m sure of it.
“What are you doing to my garden? And how do you have creation magik?”
I ignore Eppy as she strides up to me, I’m busy adding Yew. “Our mother is here with me.”
She stops short. Oh ho, my guess was right, she can feel me, like I can feel her, but she can’t feel Pulania, she doesn’t know her well enough yet. Surprise!
“You’re in so much trouble,” I smirk.
“What? Trouble?” she asks.
“Yep, first you run away…”
“That was over a thousand years ago,” Eppy complains.
“You almost kill our mother.”
“That was you,” she accuses.
But I just smirk at her. “Then without a how do you do, you just stroll back wanting my baby. Our mother is so pissed at you. You’re in real trouble.”
Eppy stands there, uncertain and contrite, until bloody Pulania dashes out from her failed attempt at doing the maze, rushes over and covers Eppy in hugs and kisses.
I so had this. She was mine.
Chapter 36: I don’t do magik right
“Crap, Pulania, just ruin everything.” I stand there with my arms crossed while Pulania continues to cry over Eppy.
I mean, holy crap. Yeah, I said it, the ‘h’ word. I’m sure I can get away with it now.
“When you two are finished.” I roll my eyes as the kiss/hug fest continues. Holy crap.
“Don’t swear in goodness, Amura,” Pulania manages.
“Like, I’m in trouble? Really? Hello, Eppy wants to steal my baby!”
“I told you, we’ll sort that out.”
“Oh my grandmother. Like really?”
“Yes, really,” Pulania answers, and from her tone she’s actually annoyed with me. That can’t be right? Can it?
Maybe now would be a good time to do the hedge maze. Gil is waiting to guide me, so yeah, that’s what Im doing. Huh, I don’t need this.
Wordlessly, because Gil and I are connected like that, Gil guides me through the maze. It’s only a small one, but it does have these pretty spectacular topiary animals that pop up from time to time. If I wasn’t really pissed off I might actually be amazed balls by it, but I’m annoyed. It takes us maybe half an hour to get through.
At the end, when we come out again, Pulania and Eppy are sitting on a wooden bench under a willow tree, but it’s not a wild willow like the ones that used to lace my old witches’ lair, it’s a precisely arbortured specimen of controlled perfection, oh please. Holy crap.
Pulania’s head immediately swings around to me, and her eyes are narrowed. Shite, how is it that I’m the one in trouble here?
Time to take the high ground. “Is she still going to try and steal Tadpole the Invincible? Because if she is I’m going to gut her, flail her skin, and bury what’s left in a fire ant nest.”
Eppy is blanching at the prospect that I have very seriously put to her, because I’m not giving her Tadpole, it’s just not going to happen.
“Eppy is good, she understands that there’s no getting between a mother and her child,” Pulania replies.
“I’ve, I’ve been a mother myself, Amura,” Eppy stutters.
Does she understand that she’d be biting off more than she could chew, screwing with me? I hope so. “Well, well, okay then. You’re an aunt, got that, not a mother, not this time.”
Eppy nods her head. Maybe she’s got it, maybe, but I’m keeping an eye on her.
“It’s getting dark,” Gil comments, “and cold, can we go inside?”
“Yeah,” I perk up. “What alcohol have you got?”
***
As it happens, Eppy has a pretty damn good cellar. There’s an excellent selection of reds here. She’s opened a couple of bottles for us, but I’m holding back, she’s drinking too, but not a lot. I’m not going to let her get an edge on me.
“We’re going to set Eppy up,” Pulania announces.
“What?” Gil asks.
“She’s been marrying mortal men over the years, and having mortal children with them. We’re going to set her up with an immortal. They’re better lovers, cause they’ve had more practise, and the children will live longer.”
Is Eppy blushing? I think she is.
“Better lovers?” Gil asks.
“Ignore Gil, she has a boyfriend, and she’s a virgin. She’s just curious,” I tell Eppy.
“I don’t know any immortals,” Eppy is looking at the ground as she speaks. “The other Elementals I’ve met are not like me. They are simple, like small children, they can’t reason or think. I’ve only known men. They were good men, for the most part, but they all died.”
“I pref
er the bad men, myself.” Am I shocking my sister? I hope so. I want her to be a little scared of me, a little intimidated. “They tend to be fun for a night or two.”
“Why didn’t you follow me?” Eppy ignores my comment, and asks a question which I guess has been burning inside her for many, many years.
“Didn’t Pulania tell you?” I ask. She just shakes her head.
“We didn’t get that far,” Pulania answers.
“You need a bigger maze, Eppy.” Humph. Okay, I guess I have to do the dirty work. “I don’t remember what happened back then, I’ve told you that before. I’ve had double memory compulsions put upon me, and they’ve scrambled everything I once knew from back then. If Pulania hadn’t recently told me I had a sister, I wouldn’t even have known that.”
I let that sink in for a second or two.
“I can only tell you what Pulania told me,” I continue. “Basically, I got all the bad magik, and you got all the good. I had to ditch you somehow, so I gave you a way out. Since then I’ve been having a lovely time doing lots of evil doing.” There, that should convince the bitch not to mess with me, or Tadpole.
“Don’t listen to her, Eppy. She’s just saying that to try and scare you so that she can protect the baby. When you broke out, Amura was ready to follow, but she realised that the place she wanted to escape from was attached to a mother. It’s true, she has all my, and possibly Samael’s, dark magiks, but she chose not to use them. She didn’t follow you, because to break out of my womb she would have had to kill me.”
Eppy, who had shrunk back from my trying to scare her, seems contemplative now.
“Is that true?” she asks me.
I sigh. “It could be, I don’t know. It’s what Pulania told me. I guess I would have followed you, but things weren’t as we thought.”
“You’re not so dark, Amura,” Eppy replies. “You have the capacity to love, you couldn’t follow because you wouldn’t hurt our mother. It seems I was wrong, you can love, after all.” She smiles at me.
The Dark Witch and the Elemental Page 13