A Witch's Rite

by N. E. Conneely

  It shouldn't be too difficult to free both myself and Elron, but I didn't think I could do anything for Patrick from this distance. Unless the spells had created some connection between us that I was unaware of, I simply didn't have a way to find him and target his magic from this distance.

  "Elron, can you come here? I think it will be easier to remove the spells if we're in contact."

  "Of course." He sat down next to me and offered his hand. "Would it be beneficial for us to link?"

  "Maybe. Let me give both of us a good look before we go any further. I want to be careful with this. If he's a witch, there's a good chance that he placed traps in the spells in case someone like me tried to undo them."

  "Be careful."

  Nodding, I closed my eyes and let my power explore my body from head to toe, inside and out. As I looked around, the medallion warmed against my chest. I smiled. I could use all the help it had to offer.

  The first spell I found was a heavily damaged perception-obscuring spell that seemed to have been responsible for making me unable to hear Elron's voice or feel the medallion. It also eased the way for the next spell. That one was the maze spell—it made us believe we saw the walls and were captured inside this place even when our actual surroundings were very different. The third spell was something else. It was an odd combination of tracking and tethering. The more I examined it, the more it seemed that it both allowed Ned to find us and prevented us from leaving a rather small area. That had to be the one that was keeping us inside the confines of the physically dangerous area where he had planted traps and obstacles to block us.

  Now that I had a good idea what Ned had done to me, I turned my attention to Elron. It was easier to examine him because the perception-obscuring spell was more fractured and therefore less effective. All in all, he had the same spells on him that I had on me. That would make it far easier to remove them.

  Pulling my power back into myself, I started trying to figure out the best way to proceed. There were two primary tactics, and I didn't know which was the best in this situation. The first was to take the spells off myself, that way it would be easier for me to see what had been done to other people. The second was to remove the spells from Elron first because they weren't working well anymore and it should give me a bit of a practice run.

  I couldn't decide if there was a right or wrong choice. Though I did know that I had a better chance of doing a good job on other people if Ned's spells weren't playing with my brain. That much decided, I got to work.

  The perception-obscuring spell had to be the first to go, not only because of how it altered my view of the outside world but because it could change how I saw the spells, and that simply wasn't acceptable. I started unraveling it, picking it apart piece by piece. It was slow work, looking at the tangle of magic and trying to find any traps as I unwound the mess.

  Near the end of the spell, I found the trap I'd been looking for. There was a trigger for another spell tied to the end of this one. It would recast the magic I was working on removing and boost the two remaining spells.

  I looked around the entire spell, trying to figure out the best way to extract it. Finally I decided that I could undo the trigger with the remains of the perception-obscuring spell intact. It was tricky work. I spent more time stabilizing part of the spell to make sure the spells didn't react than I did actually dismantling them. In the end, I was able to take it down without any ill effects. From there I quickly removed the rest of the perception-obscuring spell.

  Even though I wanted a break, there wasn't any time to rest. Stretching my neck, I got back to work. I needed to get this done so I could fix Elron and we could find the boys. Bracing myself for what I might find, I reexamined myself. While I'd thought I would find several additional spells or differences in what was left, it looked like everything was as I'd thought. That was a first, and I credited the medallion for helping me.

  I moved onto the next bit of magic. The maze spell was fairly straightforward and came apart rather easily, leaving me with the tracking and tethering enchantment. That was one that might have some benefits to leaving it active since removing it would give Ned a solid basis for suspecting that I'd broken free. However, we would be far more likely to sneak up on him and rescue Gudger if our every move wasn't tracked.

  In the end I decided to remove it. Any reason for keeping it was outweighed by the benefit of making things more difficult for Ned. As I picked apart the spell, I kept looking for a trap, but I never found one. When I finished, I reexamined myself one last time. As far as I could tell, I was clean of spells.

  Turning my attention to Elron, I began removing the spells from him. It went more quickly, in part because I knew what to expect and in part because the spells had more fractures in them. I didn't know what he'd been doing, but it had done a number on the spells.

  When he was clear, I squeezed his hands and opened my eyes. "How do you feel?"

  Elron nodded and smiled. "Much improved."

  I wasn't really listening to him. Our surroundings were entirely different than what I'd been able to see before. Where I'd seen hedges and paths, there were now towering trees, a few giant rhododendrons, small bushes, and all the things I typically expected to find in the woods. Burly was indeed leaning against a giant oak tree.

  Which reminded me, Elron had taken some abuse when he was fighting Burly. Now that my brain was working better, I did a visual inspection. He was sitting stiffly and unevenly. The corners of his mouth were pinched, and he looked flat-out uncomfortable.

  Twisting around, I grabbed his pack and dragged it over.

  "What are you doing?" Elron asked.

  "Looking for a healing charm. I'm sure we stashed a few in here." I dug around, trying to find the basic first aid kit.

  "Why?"

  I glared at him over my shoulder. "You're hurt. I'm a bad healer, and one of those charms will help."

  Elron shook his head. "We need to save them for Gudger."

  "Are any of your ribs broken?" My eyes flickered over to Burly. "He hit you pretty hard."

  "Perhaps a couple of them are cracked," he finally admitted.

  Grabbing the first aid kit, I pulled it out and removed a minor healing charm. "You are going to use this. There are two more charms in here. We can use them on Gudger, but before we can help Gudger, we need to rescue him. To do that, we need you to be in good shape." I pressed the healing charm into his hand.

  Frowning, he took it from me. "This is not the best use of resources."

  "I disagree." My voice was sharp enough that I saw Burly flinch. "Keeping a fighter, who happens to be my boyfriend, healthy is an excellent use of police resources."

  Elron narrowed his eyes at me, and for a moment I thought he'd argue, but he just activated the charm, tucked it in the waistband of his pants, and gave a relieved sigh. With cracked or, as I suspected, broken ribs, it wouldn't completely heal him, but it was better than he was now. That would stabilize and give them a jumpstart in healing. That was the best we could do under the circumstances.

  Burly got to his feet. "We need to get moving. With Ned's connection to all of us broken, he's going to be livid. We should expect to encounter a few traps while we look for the rest of your group."

  Elron nodded, and at the same time I said, "I'll start packing up."

  With that we all got another drink of water. As Elron was handing the canteen back to me, he smiled. "Thank you. I feel much better."

  "Next time don't argue so much." I shoved the first aid kit in his backpack. "And you're welcome."

  Elron rolled his eyes. I guess people have been doing that since the dawn of time, or he'd been watching too much reality television.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Patrick

  I couldn't say that either Wells or myself slept well. I think we were both on edge being so close to the river and the nixe. The fire eventually went out, and we huddled between the emergency blanket and sleeping bag, trying to keep one another warm.r />
  Without the fire, there wasn't a good way to make food, so we drank water. It was the one thing we had in abundance. While I was having my completely unsatisfying "breakfast," I kept thinking about Wells's feet. We needed to keep moving, but he didn't have any shoes. Those had been lost during his river ordeal.

  Wells was fairly focused on the entrance to the maze and the long hedgerow, but I finally caught his eye. "How tough are your feet?"

  "Not tough enough to be barefoot in this terrain."

  There was no arguing his point. Not only were there rocks and twigs, but there was the occasional trap. "You need shoes."

  "I know." Wells held up a corner of the emergency blanket. "I've been thinking that we could cut up this guy and turn it into foot bags. I could line them with moss for cushion. It wouldn't be great, but it would be better than nothing."

  I pulled a knife out of my pocket and handed it to him. From the way he'd been looking at the maze, there was something else on his mind. "What is it?"

  "Can you find some moss?" He positioned his foot on the blanket. "I'll tell you when I'm finished making these shoes."

  "Sure." I wished he'd simply tell me what was on his mind, but if I knew Wells, he wanted to work through the problem before he commented. Even then, he'd be reluctant to bring up something I might dislike, which meant there was a good chance I wouldn't enjoy what he was about to say.

  Sighing, I focused on finding plush moss. Branches might have been scarce, but moss was plentiful. I peeled a variety of types off the ground. Some of them were thin and tough, others more springy. When I had what I considered to be enough to fill two booties, I carried the pile back to camp.

  "Thanks." Wells started layering the moss in two ragged-looking rectangles. Then he positioned his feet on them and started tying the strips on the edges together. When he was finished, he had two very awkward-looking but reasonably secure shoes. I couldn't say they looked sturdy, but the idea was to get out of here. Hopefully we'd be able to do that before his feet got too torn up.

  "Now." Wells leaned back and studied me. "What can you tell me about the fire truck you found last night?"

  Oh no, I had a bad feeling about where this was going. "Well, it was old and sitting all alone in a clearing."

  "Right, but how old?"

  I had a bad feeling about this. "A '50s model."

  Wells narrowed his eyes. "Was it in good shape?"

  "It was rusty." I chewed on my lip. "Hard to say more than that. I didn't get close to it."

  Wells nodded thoughtfully. "I think we should go find it. This could be another one of those times that our minds are playing tricks on us. It could be a truck or something that's in good enough shape that we could drive it."

  "Or we could be walking into a trap."

  He shrugged. "It's a risk, but we need to do something. Bumbling around in this maze isn't getting us anywhere."

  Shaking my head, I tried to see the value in the truck. "Run this by me again. You've admitted it's likely a trap. Why would we risk going back there, and why would we think there's a chance we can use the truck?"

  Wells huffed. "Think about it. Why would there be an old fire truck out here?"

  My voice was doubtful. "Someone dumped it years ago."

  "I'll admit, I haven't walked through as much of this maze as you, but most of what I've seen have been traps and the like. The truck is probably another trap, but I'm willing to bet it's functional. You told me about that old tractor. If the truck works at all, we can find a way to use it, rescue Gudger, find Michelle and Elron, and get out of here."

  There was no way I was getting out of this. He wanted us to go look for the fire truck, so that's what we were going to do. In the end, my protest really didn't matter. He was the ranking officer. "Nothing I say is going to change your mind, is it?"

  "Nope." There was a little too much cheer in his voice. "Let's pack up and move out."

  I was afraid he'd say that.

  It didn't take long to tidy up camp, and far too quickly for my taste, I was leading us back to the fire truck. And, in all likelihood, a trap. Wells kept glossing over that part like it wasn't an issue. To him the story of the tractor was proof this truck would run, but I'd had a very different experience.

  As we approached the entrance to the maze, I looked back at Wells. "I'm not sure I'll be able to find it. I made that clear, right?"

  Wells sighed as if he couldn't believe we were going over this again. "Yes, very clear. You'll try, and if we find it, I have to check it out before you'll go anywhere near the fire truck."

  "Very good, sir." I motioned toward the opening in the maze. "I believe the fire truck is this way."

  Wells followed me in, and I said another prayer we weren't walking into a trap. With every breath of wind or rustle of leaves, I was twisting and turning, trying to make sure I wasn't being attacked. From time to time, I got a glimpse of Wells. He looked alert but not nearly as worried. Taking a few breaths, I tried to calm down. After all, Wells had my back. I could do this.

  It took more willpower than I wanted to admit, but I kept my eyes forward when I thought I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. Nothing happened. Like before, my imagination was getting the better of me.

  Behind me, Wells grumbled. "How much farther?"

  "If we didn't, or don't, make a wrong turn, we should be there in a couple of minutes." Though I wasn't excited about that prospect. It could've been the lack of food giving me a queasy feeling, but I suspected it was fear.

  A few minutes later, we hung a left and there it was, sitting all alone in a clearing. The rusty '50s-era fire truck.

  Wells came up beside me. "Truck's still here. That's good."

  I kept my mouth shut. In my mind there was nothing good going on, but I didn't think he wanted to hear that. Good would be to find an exit, have Ned keep his bargain, retrieve Gudger in reasonably good condition, and retreat down the mountain. Sadly, I knew that particular series of events would only happen in my dreams.

  "I'm going to check it out. Do you want to stay here?" Wells managed to keep the judgment out of his voice, but I knew the correct answer.

  "I'll go with you, sir."

  Wells simply nodded and strode toward the fire truck. Giving the area a once-over, I followed him. The willpower that had kept me focused on the path ahead had vanished, and I found myself trying to look at everything all at once.

  "Steady, Westmoreland."

  "Yes, sir."

  We both pretended that my voice didn't wobble.

  I took his words to heart as we approached the fire truck and just pretended there wasn't any danger. I had to pretend, or I wouldn't be able to do this. The last thing I needed was to survive this mess, get home, and find that I was under review for my performance in the field.

  Last night, the fire truck had seemed solid enough, but now its outline seemed to be wavering. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but then again, maybe there was something to Wells's theory that the truck was under an illusion.

  As Wells walked around the fire truck, I closed my eyes and summoned my magic. It responded sluggishly, and after more effort than I liked to admit to, I had a slender rope of magic that I could use to probe the truck. I sent the magic out slowly, wanting to have time to pull back if there was a trap that could latch on to my power.

  Magically speaking, I couldn't find anything interesting about the truck until my power touched it. Then I felt a light tingle. It was similar to what I'd felt back at the stream with all the dead snails but not as powerful. I continued examining the fire truck, hoping to find more answers, but that initial tingle was all I got.

  "There's some type of magic on the truck."

  Wells stopped looking at the truck and focused on me. "What kind of magic?"

  "I'm not sure." I tried to keep my voice even, but I knew I was failing him. He needed Michelle. "It was similar to what we found with the snails, but I can't tell you anything else."

  If Mi
chelle were here, she could tell us more. There was a huge gap between my abilities and hers. In part because she could move so much more energy but also because she was more sensitive to magic. Plus if she wanted, she could see it. Magic had to be extraordinarily powerful before I could see it, and I would never be able to see my own magic.

  Wells nodded. "Any warning is better than none."

  I joined him in giving the truck a good visual inspection. Other than the fluctuating outline and the fact that the truck had somehow gotten out here, it looked normal. A little rusted and a broken headlight, but overall just a run-of-the-mill old vehicle.

  Beside me, Wells sighed. "We've learned everything we can from out here. Time to look inside. Back me up?"

  "Yes, sir." Clutching my wand, I got in position. We both knew if something went wrong, I wouldn't be much help. I didn't have a gun, so we'd be relying on basic magic and hand-to-hand abilities. It would be so much better if Gudger were here. That man had serious skills.

  Wells leaned forward, slipped his fingers under the door handle, let out a breath, and pulled the door open.

  Nothing happened. The cab was as empty as it had looked from the outside, and nothing changed, magically or physically.

  Wells sighed. "I had expected more."

  "Me too, though I'm grateful for the lack of surprise." Peering in, I saw that the cab looked to be in good shape. The leather seats were cracked, and the windshield was dirty, but the gearshift was still there, as was the steering wheel and pedals. There was even a key lying on the driver's seat.

  "Hmm. I didn't expect to see a key."

  I had to agree. "Unless it's a terrible trap, this doesn't seem to be Ned's style."

  "I know." He scanned the clearing. "I'm not sure what to do. I want to look around in here, see if I can find anything useful, but I'm afraid I'll find a trap. You said there was magic."

  "On the outside, but let me see if I can find anything in here." I pulled at my magic, getting another probe out of it.