by L. C. Mawson
Or, rather, it was exactly the time, she reminded herself just before she would have stepped forward to remind him that they should go. The dragons she could handle. She was good with monsters and weapons. That made sense to her.
This was out of her hands. She couldn’t change the story or stop it from playing out. She just had to help it along and otherwise stand back. She didn’t like sitting still. She certainly didn’t like not being able to control the situation.
Richard didn’t move away from Anya as he finished brushing her hair away. Instead, he leaned forward, hesitating for just a moment before kissing her.
As he pulled away, her eyes fluttered open.
“Richard?” she asked, her voice way too clear for someone who had been unconscious for a few days.
“You’re awake!” he exclaimed before pulling her into a hug.
“We should leave before people realise we weren’t here before,” Freya said, wanting to be away from the couple and their gooey eyes.
“Can we see if the dragon’s still there?” Mel asked. “They’re pretty much non-existent on Earth at this point, and they have so many rare ingredients.”
“Really?” Freya asked as they headed out of the room.
“Oh yeah. The blood is good for prosperity spells, and has anti-venom properties. The scales are a great balance between flexibility and strength, making them perfect for light armour. The teeth and bones make great bases for charms... Basically, any part is highly valuable.”
“I don’t know that we’ll have time to cut it up before everyone finishes waking,” Freya pointed out as she spotted a couple of nurses groggily sitting up.
Mel shrugged. “I’ll shift it to the coven.”
“Need a hand with it?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
At that, Freya’s phone started to ring. Her stomach reacted as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped into it as she fumbled for her phone with clammy hands.
“Hello,” Freya answered, her tone far more cautious than she would have considered ideal.
“Freya, honey, could you come home? I think you and I need to... Well, talk...”
Margaret’s friendly and apologetic tone did nothing to settle Freya’s unease. In fact, it probably made it worse. If Margaret was under some kind of spell, then Freya doubted it would have been broken with nothing but time. Especially given that, while the effects had unnerved her, it hadn’t really done anything, well, serious. The situation was still salvageable. If someone was using magic to get to her, then it made no sense. If they weren’t, then she didn’t see what could have possibly been accomplished so far. The whole thing smelled like a trap to her.
But then, springing the trap was the only idea she had.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll be home in five.”
Mel gave her a look she couldn’t decipher as she hung up.
“What was that?”
“My foster mother.”
“Why do you look even paler than usual?”
Freya shrugged. “She’s been affected by the spell as well, though I don’t know how. I just... I think she’s a villain.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you should go. I can take care of the dragon on my own. Call me if you find out anything else about the spell and I’ll do some research in the meantime.”
“I... Thanks.”
“Hey, I’m the one who should be thanking you. I couldn’t have taken a dragon on my own.”
Freya raised an eyebrow. “Mel, you’re the one who did most of the fighting.”
“Yeah, but... Look, this was fun, okay? You might be involved in some really weird stuff, but hanging out with you is definitely not boring.”
“Didn’t you ring me?”
“Not the point. Just take the damn compliment.”
“See you,” Freya replied with a smile before shifting away.
Chapter Seven
Freya shifted as far as she could, but only managed to reach the park. She prepared to shift once more, to make it the rest of the way, but she was halted by the presence of familiar magic. The same magical signature behind whatever was happening.
Freya concentrated and managed to pinpoint the signature to the other end of the park, down by the mini waterfall. She immediately shifted over there, only to find nothing. She could sense the magic around her, but she couldn’t see anything.
And then she sensed the magic again, over at the other end of the park, by the hedge maze.
Once again, she shifted over and, once again, there was nothing there. Just small traces of magic flitting around, seemingly inside the hedges, before disappearing.
This went on and on, making Freya more and more anxious. She didn’t want to just abandon the signature here, for fear of never finding it again, but she also didn’t want to delay returning home. Making Margaret angry seemed like the worst idea.
Eventually, she grew tired of shifting, and simply walked around the park, hoping to just stumble onto the source.
“Please tell me you have an idea,” Freya said to her guardian as she rested on a bench looking over the pond, seriously contemplating just leaving and going home. Margaret was going to be furious. Or maybe the spell would make it so that it didn’t matter when she got back home.
She tried to push her thoughts of Margaret from her mind, wishing that she had some bread for the ducks instead.
“I’m not sure. My main suspicion is that this is a trap or a distraction. But that would mean that whoever is behind this knows exactly who you are. Your classmates and foster mother being targeted may have been deliberate.”
“In an effort to get to me?”
“Yes.”
Freya groaned. “I mean, I know I’m probably not a favourite of Demons, but you said this was Neutral magic. And it feels like it is as well. There’s no ill intent there. It’s... Playful, maybe, but not malicious.”
“You’re getting better at this,” Amber noted, sounding impressed.
Freya shrugged. “If I was better at this, I wouldn’t have spent the last...” She checked her phone before dropping it back into her bag. “Crap, I’ve been here an hour? Margaret’s going to kill me.” She shook her head, refocusing. “If I was getting better, I wouldn’t have spent the last hour chasing echoes. So, why would Neutral creatures be targeting me?”
“They’ve possibly been hired by Demons or have some other connection. You did just fight a Vampyre hybrid.”
“I thought you said Vampyres usually shunned Demon hybrids.”
“Usually. Some don’t. He might have had Vampyre family members he was close with.”
Freya let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know... This doesn’t feel like his magic. I mean, even without the Demonic tones, it’s very different.”
“Then they possibly hired another Neutral party.”
Freya hated how little they knew about what was going on. She wondered if Mel might be more clued into the goings on in the magical community.
She reached into her bag for her phone, leaning right into the bag, and its magically extended depths, to find it.
As she leaned forward, a small knife whizzed past her ear, giving her a bit of an impromptu haircut.
Freya immediately rolled down to the ground, staying behind the bench as she slung her bag over her shoulder. She peered around the side of the bench, only to see the Elf from the market approaching.
“Why is Zed attacking you?” Amber asked.
“How the hell should I know?” Freya hissed back. “Though, Old World creatures are Neutral.”
“Ask him.”
“What?”
“He already knows where you are. Ask him why he’s attacking?”
“You’re Zed, right?” Freya shouted at him over the bench. “Amber’s... friend?”
“Yes,” he called back.
“Why are you attacking me?”
“I was hired to kill you,” he said simply before hurtling another knife in
her direction.
“I haven’t mentioned he’s an assassin, have I?” Amber asked as Freya bolted from her hiding spot. Zed was about to be close enough for her cover to not matter anyway.
“I’m going to attack him back,” Freya warned her guardian.
“By all means, don’t hold back on my account.”
Freya spun around, taking control of the water from the pond, forming a large wave which crashed down over the assassin, trapping him.
The ducks quacked in protest, but the assassin was held in place.
At least, until Freya began to feel the air prickle around her. Within moments her tongue was dry and the water was dissipating, though it was slow.
“What is he doing?”
“The Old Worlds are along an elemental axis,” Amber reminded her.
“Right. Elves control air,” Freya remembered, struggling with a tongue that felt like sandpaper.
She let the water disperse, drenching herself before running towards the tree line.
A spell hit her legs and they crumpled under her. She gave thanks for small mercies as she landed awkwardly on her arm, but the soft grass beneath her caused no injury. She cursed under her breath as she spun around to face her attacker, frantically trying to undo the spell. She was all too aware of the Elven assassin stalking towards her.
“Amber, there has got to be something more you can do!” Freya yelled at her guardian, more than annoyed at her current situation. “He’s your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Amber protested with a blush, sounding surprisingly petulant.
Freya was about to tell her that she didn’t have time for her bull, but she noticed that Zed had stopped his attack.
“Amber’s here?” he asked, seemingly conflicted.
Amber stepped towards him before giving a groan, realising that she was still incorporeal. She turned back to Freya. “If you concentrate... You might be able to make it so that he can see me.”
“Wait, I can do that?”
“I don’t know. Just... try.”
Freya did as she was told, abandoning her attempts to unbind her legs. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing, but after a few moments of methodically poking at the energies around her, she managed to feel out Amber. She was little more than an impression left on the fabric of the world, tied to Freya through a thread of strong magic. Freya stretched out the thread of magic, finding it eerily familiar. She tried not to think about it too hard, so that the fact that this was her mother’s magic wouldn’t sink in.
As soon as the thread hit Zed, he gasped softly, dropping his weapon.
“Amber. Dirathan.”
“Dirathan,” Amber greeted. “You’re attacking my student.”
“I... I cannot pick jobs, Yi’thal. You know this.”
Amber’s blush intensified at the Elven word he had used. “You don’t mean that,” she told him. “You can’t. I’m dead.”
He shook his head. “Iy athal niran cathi, Yi’tal. Hath no nival.”
“I... I can’t be your Rosaline.”
“Ah yes, because that worked out so well for those two,” Zed replied with an eye roll. “When have I ever given you the impression that I wanted the life my brother had?”
“Every day until I died.”
“Yes, Yi’tal. But then the timeline shifted.”
Amber paused for a moment before simply saying, “Zed...” She leaned in close to him, whispering something in his ear that Freya couldn’t hear.
His eyes widened as he looked at Freya, making her even more curious as to what Amber was telling him.
“Truly?” he asked as she pulled away.
“Truly,” Amber confirmed.
“Then she is Irathen Mi’tath.”
Amber grinned at him. “Hath no nival, Yi’tal.”
“I shall see you again, Yi’tal. Even if it must be in the next life.”
Amber nodded just as Freya’s concentration failed and the connection to Zed dissolved.
Zed walked over to Freya, offering his hand. She took it, though she remained wary.
“So, no killing me?” she asked as he helped her to her feet, breaking the spell around her legs.
“No killing you, Irathen.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugged. “Elven is difficult to translate. It’s... a promise of protection.”
“But you were just trying to kill me.”
“I... I cannot show favouritism. I am Fin’hathan. A sword to be used by others. A sword does not choose who it kills. There are some exceptions, however. Such as Irathen.”
“But you only called me that after you took the job. Is that allowed?”
“You were always Irathen, I just didn’t know. Before Amber died... She and I were betrothed. She thought that dying ended our bond, but I am not so willing to give up on her.”
“But you always knew that I was her student.”
“Her student, yes. I did not know that your bond extended to protection as well. As her Yi’tal, her vows of protection also fall to me. I will not kill you, and I will stop any assassins your foster mother might continue to send.”
Freya gave a tired sigh as Zed confirmed what she had been beginning to suspect.
“Thank you,” she eventually said.
“It is the least I could do, Irathen.”
“Could you possibly tell me exactly what she asked of you?”
“She asked me to kill you and to bring back your heart as proof. If you like, I could take her another heart. It might throw her off your scent long enough for you to escape.”
“I... Yeah. Thanks.”
He nodded, turning to leave.
“Just not a Human heart!” she called after him.
“Do you think she will not be able to tell the difference?”
Freya sighed, folding her arms. “Just don’t kill anyone.”
“As you wish, Irathen.”
As soon as he left, Freya turned to Amber. “So, Margaret went on a rant about me being younger than her, drove me out of the house, and then sent someone after me with the instruction to bring back my heart... It’s not Margaret the spell got, it’s me. I’m cursed to act out Snow White, aren’t I?”
“It looks that way,” Amber agreed.
Freya let out a long, frustrated groan as she stormed further into the park, determined to get to the bottom of this before she ended up on the wrong side of a sleeping curse.
Chapter Eight
Freya spent a few more hours wandering the park, looking for the source of the magic signature, before she rang Mel.
“Hey,” Mel answered on the second ring. “What’s up? How did it go with your foster mother?”
“It didn’t.”
“Why? What happened?”
“It’s a long story. How are things with you?”
“Is that supposed to be deflection?”
“Yes, and I’d feel much better if you would play along.”
“Right, well, things are pretty boring here. I managed to get the dragon back, but it was taken off my hands pretty much right away. I’m currently doing research into your fairy tales while I supervise the kids organising the new arrivals in the library.”
“Anything good?”
“In my research or in the new arrivals?”
“Either.”
“Nothing research wise. I’m currently split between looking at the original inspiration for the tales, in case this is some kind of reincarnation or ancient spirits, and looking up examples of fiction coming to life, in case a similar spell was used.
“Library wise, we got a lot of new YA and children’s stuff for the holidays. Some new spell books as well. Only one ancient tome to decrypt, but I doubt we’ll get anywhere. This one’s been passed around the covens forever. And I literally mean that it probably dates back to Eden.”
“Well, that beats my encounter with an Elven assassin.”
“You mean, like, a Fin’hathan? What were they lik
e?”
“You’ve met him. It was Zed.”
“Zed? Why was he attacking you?”
“He was hired to.”
“Right. Fin’hathan. Of course. What happened? Did you have to kill him?”
“No, thankfully not. Something about me being Irathen Mi’tath. You wouldn’t happen to know what that means, would you? I only got a round-about answer about it being a promise of protection.”
“Hmm... Well, I mean Irathen technically translates to a promise of protection if you do it literally. It’s actually a term of endearment for someone younger than you, usually just for family, though there are some exceptions.
“Tath means daughter. Or granddaughter. Or great-great-great-granddaughter. The Elven language doesn’t differentiate. The Mi prefix suggests a step-daughter, or an adopted daughter, possibly an in-law...”
“Okay, thanks,” Freya said, figuring that he had taken her relationship with Amber as familial. Which was fine by her, if it meant that he was no longer trying to kill her.
“Was that all?”
“I also figured out what fairy tale got my foster mother. Or, more accurately, got me.”
“Got you, you said?”
“Yep.”
“Who’d you get?”
Freya let out a reluctant sigh. “Snow White.”
“Oh. Who do you think your prince is going to be?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll have figured this out by then.”
“You’re not so big on back-up plans, then?”
“Not when they involve finding someone who’ll kiss me while I’m unconscious. I would rather just punch the source of this in the face.”
She heard Mel laugh on the other end of the line. “We have to find the source first.”
“You have any leads?”
“Not yet. This isn’t like any spell I’ve come across before, and there are a bunch of different ways it could be accomplished. It would have to be a powerful source, though, to change a person’s behaviour. Free will is not easy to override. Most magical creatures have the ability to temporarily override the free will of Humans, but to affect other magical creatures, it would have to be a power which stems from the Ancients.”
“What about Vamps?” Freya asked, the memory of dropping her sword vivid in her mind.