by DM Fike
I’d never heard that word before. “Should we go after it?”
Guntram didn’t answer, watching the storm overhead. The clouds broke apart as quickly as they had gathered, no longer dark and angry. Within seconds, the sun broke through again, and if I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have known there had been a storm at all.
“There’s no point in pursuit.” Guntram straightened. “It’s gone for now. And”—he glanced over at a prone Zibel—“we need to get him back to Sipho’s immediately.”
Zibel had the wits to get back on his feet but relied on Guntram’s and my support to keep himself upright. We aided him through the forest. Abby the marten reappeared and trotted with us as we trekked our way back to the wisp channel. She trembled as we prepared to haul Zibel away, his body still weak from vitae inhalation.
Guntram had me hold Zibel upright as he bent down next to the trembling marten. “You are frightened, little one. Be safe.”
He drew a defensive sigil right on her forehead. She twitched as if receiving a vaccination, but then appeared to relax. She rubbed Guntram’s legs before scurrying away.
I watched her tail escape into the brush. “I didn’t know defensive sigils could protect animals directly.”
“It won’t last for more than a day or two,” Guntram said as he picked up half of Zibel’s weight again. “And even then, it may be no match for our enemy.”
CHAPTER 12
WE CAUSED QUITE a stir returning to the homestead with a semi-conscious Zibel. Baot lounged in one of the ponds on the outskirts of the property and yelled for help upon spying Zibel slouched between us. I gratefully gave my portion of Zibel’s weight over to Baot, completely exhausted under the heavy weight of the breathing charm. Tabitha, Darby, and Sipho also arrived quickly to help, but I diverted Sipho long enough to get me out of my metal prison. It took some finger-flying on the enchanted pins, but the armor finally fell to the ground, off my aching shoulders. I felt like an ox relieved of his yoke.
Completely drained, I lagged behind Sipho as we made our way to the hot spring. The homestead had two pools of bright turquoise water fed by a thermal source near the edge of the property. Magma is the blood of Nasci herself, combining earth, air, and water together to form fire. That kind of natural pith soothes an injured shepherd like no other modern medicine.
I almost stumbled down the steep stone steps that led to the first pool, where the others had already placed Zibel. Tabitha and Guntram muttered over him, checking his eyes and monitoring how the spring affected his pith flow. Sipho held back near Darby and Baot, watching anxiously, while I bypassed them all and slid—sweaty clothes and all—into the second pool farther down. Instantly, a rush of all the four elements flowed through me. It didn’t erase my bone-tiredness, but it eased some stiffness and muted a bit of pain. I leaned my head back, every muscle in my body relaxing. For a brief interlude, the world was at peace.
But my solitude wouldn’t last. Baot and Sipho tiptoed their way down to me. Baot poked me on the forehead.
“Yo, Ina. What happened out there?”
I winced as I straightened myself out of the boneless slump I’d loosened into. “The vaettur jumped us.”
Baot’s face furrowed in confusion. “What vaettur?”
“You know,” I waved one hand. “The vaettur. The one from the cleft.”
“That can’t be right,” Baot insisted. “You guys went to the dunes, right?”
“Right.”
“And you took wisp channels to get there?”
“Of course,” I replied, wondering where this was going.
Baot and Sipho exchanged worried glances. Baot said, “That’s a distance of two hundred fifty miles. A vaettur would need to travel faster than any existing animal to keep up with you guys.”
I snapped to attention. Baot was right. It hadn’t occurred to me how odd it was that the vaettur had managed to keep up with us. Last I checked, vaetturs didn’t teleport. And no one could use the wisp channels but followers of Nasci, not even dryants.
How did the panther manage to reach the dunes so fast?
“It’s the nature of our enemy,” a voice floated into our conversation.
We turned to find Guntram at the top of the stone steps leading down to the second pool. He had deep lines of concentration etching his brow, but he appeared mildly pleased nevertheless.
“Good news,” my augur said. “Zibel seems in the clear. He did not inhale enough vitae to be fatal, thanks to Ina’s quick air sigil work.”
I didn’t acknowledge the praise. “He’s recovered?”
“Stabilized,” Guntram corrected, “but he requires plenty of rest. That leaves us with the issue of the mishipeshu.”
That name again. I perked up. “Are you going to tell us more about this messy… this mushypesh… ” I gave up trying to pronounce the name. “…this vaettur?”
“The mishipeshu? Yes, straight away,” Guntram said. “But not with you lounging in the hot spring. Darby will stay with Zibel as he rests while the rest of us convene at the lodge for a debriefing. Ina—” He narrowed his eyes at me soaking in full attire. “—for the love of Nasci, get out of there and find some dry clothes. Since you’ve encountered the vaettur twice, you must recount every detail.”
I groaned as I hauled myself out of the hot spring. At least I’d gotten a little recharge. It was better than nothing.
* * *
The lodge had a closet in the hallway full of robes and spare clothes. I’d long since stuffed a few store-bought hoodies and shorts back there, not being a huge fan of the scratchy homespun stuff the others preferred. As I entered the living area of the lodge, Tabitha looked up from her cross-legged position by the fireplace, hands outstretched toward the flames to absorb pith. She grimaced at my attire, disapproval written all over her face, but thankfully not escaping her lips. Guntram, Sipho, and Baot had all taken up various chairs around the spacious room, each with a mug of tea in their hands.
To my delight, I found someone had made me some too. I grabbed the last remaining mug off the counter and sat on one of the high-back wooden stools, leaning my elbows against the stone top for support.
Guntram acknowledged my presence with a nod. “Now that we have everyone present, we should discuss the nature of the mishipeshu. I will begin by saying that I have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with one before.”
That much was obvious. “So, you know how to defeat it,” I said.
He surprised me by shaking his head. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. We’re dealing with one of the most powerful vaetturs I’ve ever encountered, and it has ingested vitae now. This is a worst-case scenario for us. There’s a possibility that a traditional banishment will not work.”
Tabitha’s scowl deepened such that it could probably wither flowers, while Sipho and Baot stirred uneasily in their seats
I remained skeptical. “Not banish a vaettur? That’s not possible, is it?”
Tabitha glared at me. “Life isn’t all adventure and happy endings, eyas. You were fortunate enough to be shielded from that until now.”
Sipho folded her arms. “When did you encounter one before, Guntram?”
Guntram got a faraway look in his eyes. “It happened before I moved to the Talol Wilds. When I lived in Onyara.”
I nearly choked on my tea, sputtering at this news. Guntram refused to talk about the other shepherd territories, insisting I didn’t need to worry about anywhere but Talol. Because of his stubbornness, I knew next to nothing beyond the Pacific Northwest. Now he just up and proclaimed that he’d once lived in the temperate forests of the eastern United States.
Once I could breathe again, I asked, “The Onyara Wilds? How has this never come up in conversation before?”
“Ina,” Sipho interrupted with her steady voice. “That is immaterial to this discussion. Allow Guntram to proceed.” Beside her, Baot nodded eagerly. Tabitha simply leaned back, a satisfied smirk tugging at one corner of her lips.
I
literally bit my tongue to stop the hundreds of questions I had for Guntram. He nodded gratefully at Sipho and continued, “The mishipeshu appeared relatively early on in my training, but I remember it clearly since it overwhelmed the greatest shepherd minds. Even the Onyara Oracle went after it but had difficultly banishing it. It preferred prowling around bodies of water—lakes, ponds, and bays—traveling along the many tributaries of the St. Lawrence with unnatural speed.”
Baot whistled. “Our vaettur sure gets around.”
Sipho leaned forward in a wooden chair, elbows on her knees. “Maybe it’s swimming fast up and down the coast?”
Guntram hesitated. “Possible, but I doubt it. The Onyara shepherds should have been able to track it if that was the case. But the mishipeshu always vanished before we could corner it for a proper banishment, never leaving a trail, not even in the water. It came and went as mysteriously as the storms that accompanied it.”
Tabitha asked, “What about its hunting habits?”
Guntram stole her a quick glance. “The mishipeshu preyed upon the black-footed ferret, a creature not unlike the Humboldt marten. Even posting numerous shepherds to protect them couldn’t stop it from feeding until the ferret’s numbers dwindled to near extinction.”
My heart grew heavy at this. “It killed off an entire ferret population?”
“At the time, I would have said yes,” Guntram said. “But I have heard in recent years that forest managers have reintroduced them into certain habitats, and they are slowly growing in numbers once again.”
Tabitha snorted in derision. “As if normal humans pretending to be gods with nature can do anything.”
Baot ignored her offhand comment. “This doesn’t bode well for our marten friends.”
“No, it does not,” Guntram agreed. “And now, not only do we have a batch of its favorite food, it has also discovered that we have fresh vitae.”
Baot and Sipho shuffled uncomfortably at that news, so I asked, “What does it matter? We’ve already collected the vitae, so the kitty won’t get any more.”
“If only it were so simple,” Sipho turned to me. “Vitae attracts vaetturs like ants. Once they find it, they will not stop until they can devour it all. Even imbuing a dryant with vitae will not stop a persistent vaettur, for if the vaettur hunts a new dryant within the first few months of imbuement, it can still suck the fresh vitae out of him.”
“And that’s not the worst of it,” Baot said. “Vitae gives vaetturs extra power. It enhances their own magic, makes them even tougher to banish.”
Guntram nodded grimly. “This is precisely our current predicament. The Onyara shepherds never did banish the mishipeshu. The vaettur thinned out its hunting grounds and then disappeared, presumably for more prey.” He paused to clench one hand into a fist. “We have no clear path to defeat this monstrosity of Letum.”
Now I understood the grim expressions. We had an impossible enemy on our hands that liked to destroy whole species. As an added bonus, it had just ingested a supply of vaettur steroids. Once addicted, it would prowl for more.
Tabitha broke the silence first. “There’s no use looking defeated. There may be something in the recent attacks that can help us stop this beast. Baot—” She pointed at the downtrodden water shepherd. “Give us a full recount of what happened when it attacked you.”
Baot gave his brief recollection of the mishipeshu’s surprise attack. He hadn’t actually gotten a good look at the vaettur, only a brief flash of fur and fangs. He also hadn’t seen much of anything tracking it across the bay.
Then I relayed my brief skirmish in the water. I gave a more descriptive outline of the vaettur, including its impressive size, four legs, and fishy tail. Tabitha’s disapproval intensified to complete scorn as I described absorbing lightning pith from the weird storm, but she also didn’t look surprised. Apparently, someone had already told her about my unique abilities.
Tabitha instead pointed out, “Lightning doesn’t hurt the vaettur.”
“Seems pretty effective to me,” I argued. “It ran away when struck by it.”
“But you could not banish it with lightning,” Tabitha insisted.
“I didn’t draw a banishment sigil,” I said, my tone changing to a teacher’s forced to bargain with a grumpy child. “As I said earlier, I barely absorbed any lightning before it knocked me out.”
Tabitha smiled in satisfaction. “Because you are not meant to use it.”
I wanted to draw a sigil on her, augur or not. “Because lightning and metal don’t mix. I was basically the world’s best electrical conductor with that breathing charm on.”
“So, it comes back to your ineptitude as a shepherd.”
Guntram cut into our argument before Tabitha did something she’d regret. (I personally wouldn’t have regretted anything at that point.) “We should table discussion of lightning pith for the moment. Allow me to move on to the encounter at the dunes.” He re-emphasized that he had performed a proper water banishment sigil, to no avail. His synopsis ended with the panther escaping and the storm clearing.
After pooling our knowledge, we were still no closer to having any sort of epiphany. A silence fell over the group until Tabitha stood up. “Regardless of how to beat this thing, we should map its territory. Minimize any risks.”
Guntram also rose. “If we can track its movements, we can perhaps ambush it. A surprise attack may increase our odds of a successful water banishment.”
I decided to join them in standing just to show I meant business. It would have been more effective if I hadn’t nearly fallen to the floor while standing. I grabbed the stool at the last minute before it got knocked sideways and righted it next to the counter.
“I should go with you,” I said lamely.
“No,” Guntram and Tabitha said simultaneously.
“You will wait until we’ve tracked the vaettur down,” Guntram said.
“You’ll only get in the way,” Tabitha said.
They talked over each other a few more words before Guntram finally gained control of the conversation. “Tabitha and I will perform the initial legwork. We’ll see if we can find anything in the dunes, since that seems to be its favorite hunting ground. You”— he pointed at me—“will not go near the dunes without explicit permission. Do you understand?”
I glanced over his shoulder to find a smug Tabitha waiting for my reply. “Clear as day,” I muttered.
Tabitha and Guntram then took their leave, deciding to plan their strategy in the library. Sipho declared she needed to repair some defensive sigils on the property after recent bad weather and scurried out the door. Only Baot stayed behind, throwing a comforting arm over my shoulder.
“Don’t take it personally, chica,” he said. “My augur had to pull me off lots of missions due to inexperience, but she always had my back, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” I grumbled, but it stung. I wanted to hold my own as a shepherd. Guess that would have to wait for another day.
CHAPTER 13
GUNTRAM AND TABITHA got some rest before heading back out to the dunes. They decided to leave early in the morning, which meant Guntram roused me at a truly ungodly hour.
“Ina!” He slammed on my door. “Get up! I wish to speak with you before I leave!”
I pulled the scratchy wool blanket over my head, trying to ignore the straws poking me from all sides. “Just leave me a note!” I yelled back.
“Now, Ina!” His foot pounded on the ground outside the door and a gust of air whooshed through the cracks under the frame. I knew from experience he’d blow the door open and unleash all sorts of sigils on me if I didn’t get out of bed.
“Fine, fine, I’m coming,” I grumbled, hauling my achy body into an upright position.
I heard Tabitha doing the same to Darby with a few sharp knocks in the bedroom beside mine. “Up, Darby!” she barked. “The day is young and you’ve much training to cover.”
“Yes’m!” Darby’s reply came straight out of a militar
y academy. As I yawned my way to the door, Darby scurried around her room. We entered the hallway at the same time—me in my rumpled clothes and gnarly hair, and Darby already in a fresh tunic and attacking her platinum blonde mane with a porcupine brush. She had the same dark circles under her lashes as mine but blinked through her weariness as she power walked to the kitchen.
As I limped to the counter and took a seat on a stool, Tabitha had Darby standing ramrod at attention, a drill sergeant commanding a cadet. “Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean you can slack off. Run three full laps around the homestead for your strength training. Full speed, no jogging. Finish off with a swim in one of the ponds, five laps backwards and forwards. After that, I expect you to practice these.” She patted a stack of four thick tomes on a side table next to her. “Review them all before sunset.”
Darby’s eyes fell to the books, and she shifted one knee so her right leg bore most of her weight. “I haven’t gotten far with advanced fire sigils,” she admitted. “Maybe I should leave that to another day.”
Tabitha leaned into her face so quickly that even I flinched. “And maybe you should let yourself be devoured by vaetturs,” she countered in a low whisper, before yelling more loudly, “Stand up!”
Darby immediately locked her legs back in place, her spine as straight as an arrow.
“Review all the books,” Tabitha repeated. “Fire sigils twice. Is that understood?”
Darby jerked her head in a tight nod.
Tabitha then stalked over to the door and threw it open. “Begin!” she shouted, pointing outside.
Darby vaulted like one of Tabitha’s kidama deer out the front door, the darkness of pre-dawn swallowing her up. Then Tabitha shut the door in her wake.
I must have been gaping at Tabitha because she immediately scowled at me. “What are you staring at, eyas?”
I would have called her a curse word if Guntram hadn’t chosen that moment to waltz in the room. “Come, Ina. I wanted to outline some tasks for you during my absence.”
I turned my bleary face to Guntram. After witnessing the smackdown of Darby’s routine, I had no idea what to expect. “Yeah?” I asked.