by Vance Huxley
“She’s got the brain.” Abel meant that Zephyr had severed the magical tendrils the leech used to control the host. She absolutely wouldn’t even try to control a brain. Ferryl/Claris had been poised so she quickly dropped a cloud of small glyphs, glittering in the moonlight, straight into the open mouth. She turned away as the cloud disappeared inside, hunting the Fourthseed, and knelt beside Jane Doe. The bound leech was already crawling out of Jane Doe’s mouth, into the bowl Rob held ready. He hurried over to kneel beside Fourthseed’s host, ready to tip their leech into the open mouth once Fourthseed died.
The old leech fought hard, both against the cloud of magic and sharp ice particles tearing into it and to regain control of the host’s brain. Zephyr fought to keep the magic tendrils from regaining a purchase and shredding the victim’s mind. Unfortunately that meant she had to slip just a little way inside, partly blending with the host. “Help me Abel. I am losing me!”
“Hang on Zephyr. Don’t lose you, don’t lose the link. Hold tight.”
“But it tugs on me, the mind pulls. I know I could but I want to stay me.” The sprite definitely started to panic, though she stayed in the struggling host. “I don’t know who I am!”
Abel started to worry, but daren’t show it. “You are the mighty Flying Fist of Doom, the wondrous Ffod fighting for the Tavern!”
“But I am slipping inside, it is too easy. It is hard to stay me, to be your hunter. Some of me wants to give in.” Zephyr sounded horrified over the link, more so as it started to fluctuate.
“No! You must come back! Back to your home. You are Zephyr, the wind with a name.” Abel pushed magic down the link without being asked, something he’d never tried, and it firmed up. “Don’t worry, I won’t let the link fail. I’d rather lose her than you.” Abel felt ashamed but it was true. If he had to choose between his magical friend and a nameless woman he’d do it.
“Truth. You will not let me lose myself. I am safe if I hold tight. I am Zephyr, your watcher in the night.” The link strengthened as did Zephyr’s ‘voice’ and Abel remembered, she could read the truth on a link. “Ffod is strong with Abel magic. The leech cannot get past me.” Abel fed more magic down the link, until Zephyr no longer needed it. “The Fourthseed is fading. Please put in our leech so I can come home.”
“Rob, tip it in.” Rob tilted the bowl. The leech scrambled down the host’s throat and disappeared while the host trembled, spluttering and coughing blood. Zephyr stayed inside, holding on until the woman’s brain was safe, then flew out of the open mouth and into her tattoo. She gave the impression of crouching in there, trembling.
“Bad, very bad. Don’t like it. Very bad. Home again, the Ffod is home. Not in her head, in my home. Belong here. Puff of wind home.”
While Abel reassured Zephyr, Rob noticed Claris knelt over Jane Doe, still hesitating. “Do it Claris.” Ferryl must have withdrawn her control, completely ready to transfer hosts, wiping out the last couple of hours. Unfortunately Claris, now completely aware and in control of herself, was also totally confused by the memory loss. She had baulked at making mouth contact with the gaunt figure on the stretcher. Jane Doe opened her mouth and began to thrash about and scream.
Jenny pinned Jane Doe’s arms and glared at Claris. “Come on bitch. This is how we saved you.” Claris jerked in shock then leant forward to press her mouth to Jane Doe’s. She froze, then shuddered for long moments as Ferryl flowed out of her. Even as Claris fell away and crumpled to the ground, Jenny pressed her magic diamond into Jane Doe’s hand. “Here you are, Ferryl. Plenty of magic.” She placed Kelis’s much larger magic diamond into Jane’s other hand. “There’s more in that. We’ve got to deal with Claris.”
Abel reached down to help Jenny get Claris to her feet, because he knew exactly how she felt. Ferryl had drained Claris of her physical strength as well as all her magic, just as she had when leaving Abel and Jenny. Jenny got a shoulder under Claris’s arm, and Rob took the other one. Kelis finished her call to Creepio and took Claris’s hand. She drew a glyph on it, then slid a glyphed pebble into Claris’s pocket to protect her from Dead Wood. “Creepio is on the way, Rob. Try to keep Claris well away so she doesn’t say the wrong thing. I’ll feed magic to our leech.” She moved over to the young woman with broken legs, now beginning to thrash about a little. Kelis drew a glyph on a trembling and twitching hand, holding it still while she pressed a lead bar full of magic into place.
Jane Doe had quietened now but the other ex-host thrashed and struggled even more, making mewling, bubbling noises that were almost words. Jane Doe opened her eyes, turned to look, and released a small glyph. “Sleep.” The young woman quietened though her chest still heaved erratically and her limbs twitched. “It isn’t deep sleep, so leech can still talk. Food please.” Abel opened the first flask of oxtail soup. They’d known that Ferryl would need food as soon as possible, to turn into new flesh inside Jane Doe. By the time he held the cup to Jane Doe’s mouth a Land Rover screeched to a halt and two paramedics rushed up.
“Here. Deal with this one.” Kelis beckoned them to where the ex-host lay, fighting for breath and occasionally blowing out a fine mist of blood.
Her eyelids fluttered open and blood spurted from her mouth. “Very bad. Too much bleeding.” The medics pounced, one quickly finding a vein while the other rigged up a drip. “Lots, she needs lots. It was big and fought hard.” Blood bubbled as the host spoke, making her hard to understand but driving home how serious it was.
The medic pulled a second bag out of his kit. “We’ve done this before.” An oxygen mask went over the woman’s mouth and another needle went in. “Come on love, don’t let go. Fight it.” The medics worked frantically for long minutes until one looked up at Creepio and shook his head.
“Get the leech out. Let me save her.” Creepio, his face set, brandished his cross. “Her soul at least.” The two paramedics kept working on the young woman, so Abel and Kelis hesitated.
A paramedic glanced up at Kelis. “He’s right. She’s fading fast. If it gets out now, we will keep her going long enough to die leech-free. That will give the archbishop a chance to save her soul.” He put a hand on the mask, ready to move it aside as Kelis extended the bowl.
“Come out leech, and thanks for trying.” Kelis took the bowl away as soon as the leech tumbled free and the mask went back on. The amount of blood trickling into the mask underlined the urgency. Creepio, or rather the peripatetic archbishop right now, knelt beside the dying woman with his cross in his hand and began to speak quietly. Abel turned back to Jane Doe as Kelis came over to join them. “What do I do with this?” She held out the bowl with the leech inside.
“Let the Firstseed find it a new host once she’s up to it.” Though that would have to wait until the vicar left. Abel waved a paramedic away. “This one will survive, thanks.” The man turned back to work on the dying girl. Inside the wood Jenny and Rob had managed to get Claris to the tree and persuade her to draw magic. Now she sat beside Rob, hanging onto him and crying her eyes out. Jenny looked over towards Abel and shrugged, tree magic must have a different effect on Claris. For some endless time the tableau held. Claris sobbing, Jane Doe leaning on Abel while she drank soup, the paramedics working on the girl and Creepio’s voice reciting what Abel assumed had to be Latin.
Behind Abel the young woman’s laboured breathing stopped, though the archbishop carried speaking on for a little while. The paramedics kept murmuring, and working frantically, but Fourthseed’s host didn’t breathe again. A few minutes later the vicar spoke just behind Abel. “We will never know who she was or if she ever belonged to a church. Even so, I would like to bury her in hallowed ground.”
Abel turned to have a dig about hosts being soulless but stopped. He wasn’t facing Creepio or the archbishop, just a man, his face gaunt with grief and a tear in his eye. “Thanks. We’ll be okay here if you want to take her now.” Despite what Creepio had said, he’d obviously hoped to save the host. Abel saw the vicar look over towards Claris,
still sobbing loudly. “Memories, probably. She had the same experience but made it.”
“I will be in touch.” For once that didn’t sound like a threat.
“Her name was Beth.” Zephyr sounded cautious, and ashamed. “I went into her mind a little. I tried not to!”
“I know you didn’t mean to, but finding her name was a good thing.” Abel looked up at Creepio. “She’s called Beth. Our leech caught her name when it first went in there.”
“Thank you.” Creepio hesitated, looking towards the leech in the bowl for long moments. “Please thank your leech.” He turned away quickly, probably to avoid any comments about evil creatures being helpful, and went to help the paramedics. The paramedics already had a stretcher beside the body and were packing up their gear. It didn’t take them long, but by the time the noise of the vehicle had died away Ferryl had drunk one flask of soup and started on the second.
Claris still sobbed, quieter now, with her arms round Rob and her head on his shoulder. From that, and the way Ferryl kept drinking soup, Abel figured they’d be here for a while. “Ferryl?”
She stopped drinking. “This woman is very badly damaged inside. The leech did well to keep her going.”
“I wanted to ask about our leech. What host does it get?”
“Something harmless. Considering how hard it tried, something big enough to hold it. No need for the cleaver.” Ferryl turned back to the soup.
Abel met Kelis’s eyes and they both shrugged. “Fox?”
“That’s not harmless.” Kelis thought a moment, eyeing the glistening, tendril-covered, bag-like creature in the bowl. “A hare might be big enough? The leech can’t run away because it’s bound, so it can live in the fields nearby. We’ll have to let Stan know or he’ll shoot it.”
“We can paint its ears red, or put a luminous stripe on its back?” Kelis nodded agreement with a little smile. “I’ll send Zephyr to look.”
A shimmer rose cautiously from Abel’s shoulder, no bold moves now. “I will search for a large hare. My tether will bring me home.” Abel had a feeling the last bit had been Zephyr reassuring herself. She drifted off across the field, working back and forth to search any likely hiding places.
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While Zephyr searched, the rest of them topped up lead bars, then themselves, with tree-magic. Jenny used fire glyphs to burn away any trace of blood, the leeches or the hosts, then took both Ferryl’s diamonds so she could top them up. According to her she could do with the lift from the trees, though for once Jenny didn’t giggle afterwards. Claris quietened to an occasional sob but tears still trickled down her face and she wouldn’t talk yet. Rob kept his arm round her, patting her back now and then though he didn’t seem comfortable with his new role. Kelis sat quietly, looking at the place where the young woman had died and occasionally rubbing her arms because they were still sore.
“I have one. It is a big adult. I am bringing it home.” Abel warned the rest, who all looked towards where Zephyr’s tether disappeared over a hedgerow. The spooky-line wavered back and forth, which seemed odd until she came into sight. A large hare raced over the field towards them, trying again and again to break away to the side. Every time it did Zephyr zoomed up to cut it off and threw a tiny glyph to herd it back onto the right track. “Yee-hah! Run, bunny, run!”
“Ferryl? How do we catch that without injuring it?” Abel supported Ferryl as she turned so she could see.
“Everyone stay very still. I’ll stop it as near as possible.” Ferryl raised a hand, waiting until the hare skidded to a stop, staring at the humans. “Sleep.” As the glyph shot across the field and the animal crumpled, Kelis jumped to her feet to collect it. She laid it next to the bowl containing the leech and everyone pointedly looked elsewhere.
Zephyr flew into her tattoo and chasing the hare had done wonders for her. “Did you see me! Ffod needs a hat and a lasso. Yee-hah!”
A few minutes later Ferryl woke the hare again and it staggered to its feet, looking around but not frightened. It hopped, cautiously, and sniffed at the grass, then the air. After moving away a little, very tentatively, it looked back at the humans. Ferryl waved ‘go away’ and the hare set off across the field, gradually speeding up as it disappeared from sight. The leech had very specific instructions. Since it wasn’t allowed to grow it wouldn’t need blood, just a daily dose of magic from Ferryl, and it should use compulsion as persuasion rather than commands. The hare might never realise it had a passenger.
Just after three a.m. the weary group headed back into Brinsford. Despite not actually doing anything physical, running so much magic through her arms had left Kelis incapable of helping with the stretcher. Once Jenny had helped to carry Ferryl Shayde to the road, she banished the glyph hiding her moped and set off home. She didn’t put on the lights until she reached the main road so nobody in Brinsford would see her leaving, not a problem with Jenny’s new eyesight.
Rob and Abel carried Ferryl to the church while Kelis kept everyone under a veil, then escorted the girls home. At Kelis’s door Claris finally let go of Rob, apologising for her reaction. The sight of the leech had kicked in a lot of very bad memories. Kelis offered her a tiny glyph drawn on a page of her notebook, and told her to wait outside until the sleep glyph in the house had been broken or she’d collapse. Then, according to Ferryl, if Claris held the paper while Kelis activated the glyph it should give the ex-host a solid night’s sleep. Rob and Abel headed for home after letting Dryad Chestnut know the blood-bags were dead.
Once he got home and into bed, Abel broke the wooden sleep glyph. If his mum had gone to sleep in an uncomfortable position she could now wake up and get comfy. He didn’t think about tonight for long, quickly drifting off to sleep with Zephyr curled up in her tattoo. She’d already told him there’d be no flying about tonight.
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To the Woods!
After their late night, Abel and Kelis slept late, but Rob had a little sister and wasn’t as lucky. On the way through the village to meet up after lunch, several villagers told one or the other teenager about the noise in the night. Creepio’s Land Rovers and possibly some of the other vehicles had been heard. Mrs Turner blamed teenage delinquents with stolen cars, but others thought a couple of off-roaders might have been racing. A look in the fields near the village had shown enough tracks to support the off-roaders idea.
Abel, Rob, Kelis and Claris met at the church, because Ferryl wouldn’t be up to walking to meet them anywhere else. Just Ferryl Shayde now, because this host had no other name. Claris seemed very quiet, and once again put her arms round Rob when she met him. Right now she needed some human contact, someone normal to remind her what normal felt like. Claris seemed very confused, which might be Ferryl’s mazzlement, but definitely remembered she’d been possessed by a leech and saved by the four teenagers.
Once Claris went back to her room, Ferryl Shayde had bad news. The bound leech wouldn’t have realised, but this woman hadn’t been six feet tall when the leech Firstseed took her. Her joints had been deliberately stretched, enough so that even standing must have been painful. That wouldn’t have bothered the Firstseed, but now Ferryl wanted to bring her bones back into proper alignment before building muscle. In the interim she would continue repairing the worst-damaged organs.
The biggest problem from Ferryl’s point of view would be staying in Brinsford while Abel went to school. She had sworn to defend and train Abel for ninety years, and now for the second time she would be physically incapable of doing so. Eventually Ferryl accepted there were plenty of Taverners at school to keep everyone safe, but only because she couldn’t do anything about it. Zephyr promised to guard Abel, changing her tattoo to a cat-cowgirl with a big pistol, riding a hare.
It wouldn’t just be school that felt strange without their resident sorceress. Abel, Kelis and Rob, and lately Jenny, had become used to practicing their glyphs in Castle House gardens or Dead Wood. Nobody could interrupt them, and there
were plenty of trees to replenish their magic. Tattoo Ferryl, Ferryl/Jenny, and then Ferryl/Claris had been there to help them progress faster. Right now, with darkness falling early, none of them dare practice even minor glyphs in the churchyard where Ferryl could check them. Mrs Turner still claimed the churchyard had ghosts so mysterious lights would just make her worse.
Though there were still some bright moments. Stan, the allegedly retired poacher, thought being asked to come out into the fields to meet a hare must be Abel winding him up. Eventually he agreed but without Bugsy, his old Jack Russell, or any hares coming near would have had a hard time. Ferryl had already used her bond to send the leech to the field, so Abel sent Zephyr out to look. He saw her spooky-phone connect, completely invisible to Stan. Kelis had begged to be the one to do the next part. She cupped her hands and shouted, “Here bunny, bunny. Come home bunny.”
Within a couple of minutes, a large hare cautiously approached the humans. After getting over his initial shock, Stan agreed he’d notice the odd markings long before shooting. Ferryl had turned those into a lesson, insisting her trainees change the colour of the hairs rather than dye the white stripe down its back and round each ear. Once Kelis told it to go and play, the hare left. The leech would take it round to the church after dark, where Ferryl would supply a daily dose of magic and a safe place to sleep.
Between spending time in the church with Ferryl and being restricted to indoors by the darkness and weather, magic practice suffered over the next few weeks. All the Taverners at school complained about the early nights and finding some privacy, though most of them still managed to use up an extra two lead bars-worth of magic each week. On the plus side, everyone had plenty of time to get their school homework done. Mrs. Svengy in particular saw an increase in extra studying, though she didn’t realise it came from her magically-aware biology students. Learning that sorcerers could self-heal if they had precise biological knowledge had come as a shock to the trainees, but also an incentive.