Body Bags & Blarney

by Shaw, J. D.

  She hung up the phone and stood for a moment unable to move. “I am.” She answered.

  * * *

  She couldn’t walk in the snow which was now up to her waist in wind-blown drifts. It felt more like a death march, pushing her way through the snow which was coming down so hard she could barely make out anything more than two feet in front of her. The deep cold was mostly kept away from her skin, but she felt chilled none-the less. With a woolen scarf wrapped around her face, she kept a brisk pace. From Octavia’s building, it would take at least twenty minutes to walk to the park in good weather. Given the current conditions, she figured she’d be lucky to make it in an hour if not a little more. The one small comfort was that thanks to the fresh snowfall, the reflected light really kept the darkness away. The familiar streets of Cayuga Cove looked alien now with hedges, fences, and mailboxes now buried under drifts of white. The sky, however, looked quite ominous and strange. From high above her head, the clouds where thick and swirling with a ferocity that she had never seen before. Just looking up at the rotational pattern, she felt a bit dizzy as if the ground beneath her boots were rotating. It was most disconcerting, and she made note not to look up too often. She needed to stay alert for running into items buried under the snow. One false step could send her head over heels into a picket fence or some other object that could do some major damage if she fell just right.

  When she next looked at her watch, she was surprised to see it was nearly eight o’clock. She had reached the end of Lake Shore Drive, but it had been a much slower pace than she had hoped. However, her spirits were raised when the winds died down and the snowfall dropped to a fraction of what it had been. It was as if the universe knew what she needed to do and rewarded her for her patience and persistence. She seized the moment to walk out a circle in the snow and lay out the small altar table. Pulling off her gloves, the cold air stung her fingers and she fought off the urge to put them back on. In order for her blessing ritual to work, she needed to have direct contact with the item. From the backpack, she pulled out a silver and a gold candle, to represent the Goddess and the God, and lit them. As the flames danced in the cold air, she quickly passed the newly constructed wand through the fire and said a brief blessing. She drizzled a small vial of water that Octavia had said was charged under the light of three full moons over the smooth wood and held it aloft. Her bare hands, which had been growing progressively colder during the ritual, suddenly warmed. She could feel the magic around her from all the portals. The wand, now blessed and ready to assist with spells, felt warm to the touch. So much so, that keeping it firmly in her grip, she was pleased to discover that the cold weather didn’t bother her at all. She packed them, along with all of the other altar items, into the backpack and released the circle.

  As she reached the edge of the parking area at the community park along the shoreline of Cayuga Lake, she hurried her pace and tripped over a buried chain that connected two posts to mark the boundary of the lot. She rolled sideways into the snow and disappeared beneath the cold white powder. As she crawled up onto her knees, the reason for the eerie calm that allowed her to power her wand was at last revealed. It had not been the universe rewarding her. It was the work of the bald headed sorcerer and the Elemental currently using Seamus Kilpatrick’s body.

  Along the snow-covered shoreline, they had arranged a group of black candles into a large circle. The flames burned deep crimson, remaining lit despite the wind and snow that blew around them. The bald man was dressed in a dark hooded robe which fluttered in the wind as he walked backwards along the perimeter, speaking incantations that powered the profane ritual.

  In the center, the Elemental, stood motionless with his arms raised into the air in an open handed gesture.

  Vivienne ducked down into the snow, so as not to be noticed. She had been far enough away for them not to hear her fall, at least she hoped as much.

  With a voice that rattled like the thunder, the Elemental cried out to the heavens in a bizarre language that made her feel unsettled. It was as if the very words themselves were so infused with evil, it made any living thing with even a shred of goodness inside want to turn away with revulsion.

  The clouds overhead swirled in an ever-increasing rotation as what looked like a finger-like appendage poked down toward the lake. There was a flash of light and then a tremendous clap of thunder.

  “You are doing it.” The bald headed man shouted. “I can feel the power pouring out of the gateway.”

  Vivienne held fast to her wand. She watched in terror as the water near the center of Cayuga Lake began to swirl as the finger-like cloud lowered from the center of the vortex swirling above. The pitch of the wind changed to that of an unearthly howl, as what looked like a waterspout danced across the surface of the lake.

  “Unlock the gateway, my brethren.” The Elemental cried out from the center of the ritual circle. He kept his hands up in the air. “You must use all your might to push through into this world.”

  There was another flash of light, only this time it was right in front of Vivienne’s face. She was blinded by the sudden increase in illumination and reached into the surrounding snow to hopefully feel the scroll she had been waiting for.

  “Hear my voice.” The Elemental continued to cry out over the ever-increasing wind and snow from the storm. “Let me guide you to our new home.”

  Vivienne blinked, her vision still clouded with spots from the bright illumination. She frantically reached off to her side and her fingers brushed against what felt like warm paper. “Finally.” She spoke to herself.

  It was yanked from her grip. “Not so fast.”

  Vivienne felt a pair of ice-cold hands latch onto her arms and pull her through the snow like a toy doll. She kicked and squirmed to get away but it was no use.

  “I knew one of you witches would be foolish enough to try and stop me.”

  Her vision finally cleared enough to make out the visage of the bald headed man. He was dragging her toward the ritual circle where the Elemental beckoned to his kind. “Let me go.” She protested.

  “You witches all think you own magic. You think that no one else deserves to use it to better themselves.” He glared angrily at her. “Well who put you all in charge?”

  “You are going to die along with the rest of us.” Vivienne tried to reason. “That thing is just using you to get what it wants. It doesn’t care or have feelings because it was never human to begin with.” Vivienne tried to reason. “You’re just a pawn being moved around on his chessboard.”

  “We have a deal. Sacred and timeless. You don’t have to be human to make or keep one.” The bald headed man replied as he hurled her forward just to the edge of the ritual circle. “You are the last component needed to open the gateway. The sacrifice of the fool.”

  Vivienne looked upwards at the Elemental inside Seamus Kilpatrick’s body. His eyes seemed deep-set inside his skull, dark with no glimmer of light. “You can set things right, Seamus Kilpatrick.” She spoke up unafraid. “I saw you fight it off before.”

  The Elemental stood motionless, staring upwards at the swirling clouds where the gateway between planes stood ready to open.

  “You are still in there, Seamus. Fight your way back toward the light.” Vivienne cried out. “It is the right thing to do.”

  The bald headed sorcerer yanked the wand and scroll out of her grip. “I’ll be taking these, thank you.” He inspected the items in his hand and sneered. “You really haven’t been doing witchcraft for very long, have you?”

  Vivienne ignored his taunts and focused on getting through to the real Seamus Kilpatrick. “This is the battle that you have been waiting for all your life to take on. Your chance to drive the darkness away and save Cayuga Cove.”

  The sorcerer reached inside his hooded robe and pulled out a large pentacle suspended on a chain. “This is power. This is what will spare me as the rest of you are taken over when that gateway is opened.” He glared at her wand. “Not some backwoods cou
ntry folk magic.”

  Vivienne shook her head at him. “You can’t tame chaos.”

  “I will succeed.” He smiled and tucked the magic talisman back inside his hooded robe. “Only you won’t be around to see it.”

  The Elemental in control of Seamus’ body remained a silent sentinel. It did not react or move in the slightest.

  The bald headed man held her wand and the flash scroll out to the Elemental. “I give these gifts to you, master. Use them as you please.”

  The Elemental at last broke from his trance and reached out. “Give them to me.”

  The sorcerer reached into one of the pockets of his robe and pulled out what looked like a small dagger made of polished silver. Rows of sharp teeth-like fangs lined the edges of the blade. He stabbed the dagger into the air just outside the circle and made a circular cutting motion. “I have opened the circle so you may take your gifts, wise one.” Using his other hand, he gently passed the wand and scroll toward the Elemental.

  Vivienne decided at that moment that the simplest solutions sometimes yielded the best results. She lunged off the ground and knocked herself into the sorcerer with all her might. He whirled around to face her, raising the dagger to stab her in the chest. She clawed at his face in a frenzy, scratching at him with her fingernails. As her hands flew down his neck, she got them caught on the chain holding the talisman. As she pulled back to brace for a return blow, the chain snapped and the heavy pentagram talisman dropped to the ground between their feet.

  The sorcerer lunged instantly for his prized item, swiping at her with the dagger. It missed her face but sliced across the upper right arm of her winter jacket, tearing a hole and getting the teeth caught in the fabric.

  She gave a swift kick right into his groin area with all her might. Another swift kick to his left knee sent him stumbling backwards toward the circle, allowing her to snag the precious talisman.

  There was an explosion of crimson-red sparks as the sorcerer lost his footing and teetered just on the very edge of the perimeter flanked by the ebony candles. Vivienne knew that to cross a magical circle, especially in the throes of a powerful ritual, was a very dangerous thing indeed. Unlike the safety of the window he had cut with the dagger to pass items through the barrier, his clumsy movements had compromised the magic forces brewing within. The right heel of his boot scuffed just over the edge of the circle in the snow.

  The Elemental grabbed hold of his arm and suddenly lurched him into the air.

  “What are you doing?” The sorcerer screamed out in frustration. “We had a deal. You cannot back out of the terms.”

  “You had a deal with the darkness.” Seamus Kilpatrick shook his head. “Not with me.”

  Vivienne crawled up from the ground. “Seamus?” She asked.

  When he looked at her, she could see the spark of life once more in his eyes. “I cannot keep the darkness away for long.”

  “Throw me the wand and the scroll.” Vivienne pleaded. “We must work quickly.”

  The sorcerer squirmed and kicked. He began chanting some sort of incantation that caused the crimson flames on the candles around the circle to flare up twice their height in response.

  “Hurry.” Vivienne screamed.

  Seamus Kilpatrick grabbed the clenched fist of the sorcerer who held tight to the items in his hand. “Give them to me.”

  “Never, preacher man.” The sorcerer hissed back.

  Seamus walked awkwardly over toward Vivienne from the center of the circle. His movements were stiff, almost mechanical. “The Elemental is regaining control of my body.” Seamus warned.

  “Swing him around toward me.” Vivienne stood ready at the edge of the circle.

  He did as she asked and the sorcerer tried to pull his arm back toward his body to avoid passing the wand and scroll through the barrier where she could get them. “I can’t hang on much longer.” Seamus warned. “It is my destiny to drive away this evil. Let them know I am not this evil man who has deceived them.”

  “I will.” Vivienne promised. She reached carefully at the edge of the circle and managed to get ahold of the tip of the wand as it passed through with another explosion of crimson sparks. “Pull his fingers loose.” Vivienne shouted. “I’ve almost got them.”

  The sorcerer cried out in pain as his grip loosened on the items. The wand came free, but the scroll dropped to the ground inside the circle.

  “The scroll.” She cried out in frustration.

  The sorcerer looked directly at her and smiled. “So close and yet so far.”

  The Elemental once more regained control of Seamus’ body. With swift movement, it released the sorcerer from its grip. “The time is at hand. The gateway must be opened.”

  The sorcerer pointed to Vivienne. “She has disrupted your sacred circle. You must kill her. The sacrifice must be made.”

  ‘We will not be locked out of this world.” The Elemental bellowed angrily.

  “She is going to close the gateway.” The bald headed man yelled. “Do it now.”

  There was a great cracking sound from out on the lake. Where the waterspout danced across the water, the surface froze into solid ice instantly. It almost became a blur as it changed direction and darted back and forth with astounding speed. When it was done, Vivienne could clearly make out a gigantic ice-sculpted pentagram floating on the surface of the frigid water. It was easily a hundred feet in diameter and glowed softly with the same crimson color of the candle flames on shore.

  Vivienne held tight to her wand and aimed it at the both of them. She did not have the spell sent from the Elders. She had something even more powerful. Hope for the future. Hope for the people she loved and cared about. But most importantly, hope that she was capable of fighting back against the darkness. As she closed her eyes in concentration, she could see their future home on the lake that Joshua had mentioned earlier. She was rocking gently on the porch, watching the fireflies that the children were trying to catch on the lawn. She could hear the laughter over the gentle sounds of the waves lapping against the wooden dock. It was a future she wanted more than anything. A future worth fighting for.

  The wand grew warm in her grip. As she opened her eyes, she felt light-headed as all the magical energy stored within her body was channeled into the wand and stood ready for her command to release it. “For us.” She shouted and with a quick motion stabbed the wand forward.

  A blast of energy, glowing greenish-yellow just like the fireflies in her vision, leapt forward and blasted the Elemental and the sorcerer up into the air where they spun wildly around and around before landing on the floating ice pentagram.

  From up above, the clouds roared with thunder. She could see the stars as the eye of the storm lined up perfectly over the two figures now stranded out in the middle of the lake. There was a moment of absolute silence as the wind and snow ceased. Vivienne held her breath and watched from the shoreline.

  The ice-pentagram cracked and began to shatter into pieces. The figure of the Elemental and the sorcerer flailed about wildly as the ice rocked back and forth on the choppy water. Piece by piece it continued to break up until she saw both of them tumble into the dark water and disappear beneath the surface.

  Overhead, the eye of the storm collapsed and once more hid the stars from view. The wind returned, as did the snow, but it was nowhere as fierce as it had been. She continued to watch the water where they had stood atop the ice only moments earlier. The chunks of ice began to swirl and float about in the lake current, dissolving into chaos. Chaos, Vivienne shuddered. No doubt where the Elemental had dragged the sorcerer as it was forced back to its home place of existence. As for the fate of Seamus Kilpatrick, she could only hope that wherever he was, he found the eternal mercy he had long preached to his congregations about. He may not have been perfect, but in the end he had chosen to do the right thing. That had to count for something.

  With the evil circle now void, Vivienne collected the ebony candles that had been snuffed out. She put them into
her backpack along with the pentagram talisman that the sorcerer had used to protect himself. They would be given to Octavia to store safely away with the Elder Council where no sorcerers could ever reach them again.

  She almost stepped on the flash scroll that remained inside the former circle as she cleaned up the scene. It remained intact, still sealed. She wondered what arcane magic it contained, but thought it best not to open it after all the magical energy that had been released during the confrontation.

  After a long trek through the deep snow that had blanketed the town, Vivienne was never so happy to return to light and warmth again. Once she changed out of her damp clothes and settled on the sofa with a thick blanket and a mug of hot cocoa, she and Octavia could at last sit back and watch the snow fall like ordinary people. With two cats curled upon her lap, she explained what had happened to Octavia without omitting a single detail.

  “You were armed with the most powerful item a witch has in her tool collection.” Octavia smiled.

  “The wand worked perfectly.” Vivienne agreed. “Thank you so much for helping me craft it.

  “No.” Octavia corrected. “The belief that you could stand up to the threat without any help from the Elder Council. The belief in your magic and your ability as a witch.”

  “I couldn’t have done any of it without you or Nana Mary.” Vivienne took another sip of her hot cocoa. The sweet milk-chocolate flavor soothed her throat. “So what do you suppose the flash scroll the Elder Council sent had on it?”

  Octavia cleared her throat. “Well, about that.” She squirmed a little on the sofa. “That didn’t come from them.”

  “Then who sent it?”

  Octavia raised her right hand. “Guilty.”

  “What?” Vivienne’s jaw dropped.

  “This was your test, Vivienne. Your battle to prove that you are ready to advance to the next level in the craft.”

  “So what exactly was on the scroll?” Vivienne pressed.

  “I’m glad you asked.” Octavia reached over to the end table and grabbed it. “Open it.”