"I've been here for days," Thal said, screeching tires around the first corner. I gripped the dashboard in panic. If he couldn't see well enough to read, surely he wasn't capable of driving. "When you been doing the shit as long as I have, you can easily sniff out a coven."
I tilted my head back to try that method myself. Even with the hood down on my convertible, all I could smell was the burned rubber from the tires.
We travelled for five minutes, jerking to a stop outside a small row of neighbourhood shops. Just the usual: a butcher, a chemist, a little shop of witches.
That's a small joke there. I have been trying desperately hard to hold onto my sense of humour.
At the apothecary, there was a tinkling bell above the door, hitting a joyful note that filled my soul with warmth. A sound that told me nothing could go wrong in here.
Did I mention, I'm new to this game?
"Bit of service?" Thal yelled. His voice was now a thin Tenor, flavoured with an amusing vibrato. He slammed his fist down on the counter and I jumped. Like there was a chance the lack of service was because no one had heard.
At least this stuff I knew well. Police soon grow used to being ignored. I jumped up and slid across the counter, accidentally hooking a small glass bottle and dropping it to the floor.
Or, almost to the floor.
With reflexes so quick I didn't even seen him move, Thal crouched beside the counter, holding the small bottle in his palm. I forced a whistle and felt a strange chill move up my backbone. If it hadn't been for that horrendous voice, his latest guise might have given me pause.
"You don't want to be messing about here. It pays to be careful."
The disapproval in his warning made me blush with shame. To mask my red cheeks I turned away. As I pushed through the plastic string separator leading to the back rooms, my head tilted with confusion to one side. My sensitive ears caught the sounds of movement. Like half a dozen radios scattered throughout the house, each tuned to a different discordant station.
Then I hesitated as I realised the sounds were all heading to a point of convergence. Any guesses from the audience where that point might be?
Chapter 6
Seven of them aggressively converged upon us. Each racing at awful speed from all directions at once. While I spun in a panic, sirens shrieking in my head, Thal took the whole thing in his confident stride.
"We've got a few questions for you," he said with a tone of nonchalance that set my teeth on edge. "I don't mind doing this the hard way, but you might."
The circle fell back a step. With the immediate threat over, my chest muscles opened enough that I could breathe. A series of critical facial signals passed between the women. Expressed in such energetic succession I barely caught them at all. Then one of them, I presume their leader, jerked her head toward a room even further back in their establishment.
Although my muscles again tightened with anxiety in response, I followed along as Thal strode ahead. He still clutched the paper I'd shoved in front of his face in one hand. He now shoved it in front of theirs.
I noted with a grim satisfaction that their level of attention easily matched his. Not a single one even glanced at it.
"This woman here," Thal said jabbing his finger at the page. "She's been in here, she's paid you money, tell me what that's about."
I felt a prickle shift up the back of my neck, and my breathing shrank down to a teakettle whistle. At the same moment, the leader leant forward across the table. She jutted her chin forward aggressively to face Thal down, eye to eye.
"There's no need for this," she said, her voice a melodic mixture of throaty and low. Purring like a porn star, or a lonely Karen Carpenter singing in the basement.
"Why don't you all just leave here, and we'll pretend this never happened."
The request seemed perfectly acceptable to me. I was nodding before the witch even reached the end of the sentence. Then Thal reared back, grabbed a small plastic bag of powder from his pocket, sprinkled some on the back of his hand and blew it in the leader's face.
Suddenly, I didn't feel so compliant. My lungs opened up, and I drew a deep breath, my heart beating a Morse code of thanks.
Thal chucked a glance over his shoulder, then raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Fear and compliance," he said, as though that meant anything to me. "Not quite as good as 'Shock and Awe' but when you strapped for time, it'll do."
"Now," Thal said, pulling himself up a chair. "Tell me what this woman purchased and what you did for her in return."
As the leader began to speak in detail, I suddenly realised what had just happened. The coven had cast a spell on me, and I had been too blind to notice. Somehow, it seemed that Thal had turned the tables on them.
The leader spoke for so long, and such excruciating detail, I almost felt sorry for her. Must be tough to be a witch, given the awful warts and such.
At least their noses didn't hook in the repulsive way I recalled from childhood fairytales. And this group's skin may be pale, but it wasn't pale green. All in all, I thought looking at the assembled troops, they'd got off astonishingly lightly.
"Did you get that?" Thal asked abruptly.
I nodded. Though my attention was inadequate, old habits die hard. I tapped my pocket where the voice recorder hummed gently. From what they'd told us we were headed to the hills above Christchurch.
* * *
We headed off to the location that Thal had interrogated from the witches. Up the winding hills that surrounded the city until we reached Victoria Park. A beautiful area if you wanted the medium level of walk on a beautiful day. With my head still pounding with a residual hangover, it was on my list of expanding things that I didn't want.
We walked around the edge of the park, following one of the less beaten tracks. Dark forest shade gave way to open space burning under the hot summer sun. The grass up here was so dry that the fire level was set to permanent red. A fantail swooped by, dancing in a series of curtsies round our heads. The heat wore it out quickly and soon it swept back toward the welcoming edge of the forest.
I clamp down on the part of me that wanted to say, "are we there yet?" Somehow, I didn't think Thal would be in the mood. I'd left my watch back with my smartphone in the car, so I couldn't verify the time. Suffice to say, I'm pretty sure it was some hours.
Even the sheep were lackadaisical, barely bothering to baa as we bulldozed past. Fair enough. Already I had sweat dripping down my face, plastering my blouse across my lower back. God's knew what it would be like if I was wearing a wool coat, even one clapped as short as the ears.
Moving far off the beaten path, we circled around a clump of tussocks masquerading as a Hill and found a large cave. Half its facing wall was rock, the other soil compacted so hard by the dry Canterbury weather it was as good as.
Thal darted inside, crouching down and touching his finger to the ground. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together and sniffed. "Blood. WereEagle blood."
I skirted round the cave edges, then ducking into a crevice saw it opened into yet another cave. Claustrophobia pinned me into place, stuffing in from all sides with growing weight, making it harder and harder to breathe.
Thal shouldered me aside and squeezed through the tiny gap into the additional space. Hanging back, pretty sure that going in there would spell my death, I observed how the light brown dust was drenched with moisture, shading it into black.
"Well, shit." Thal padded around the shadowed edges of the stain. He knelt down again, putting his fingertips into the dark pulp centre. "He must've lost half his blood," Thal said wiping his hand against his jeans leg with a look of disgust.
"Did something attack?" I asked, my voice sounding like it originated from the far side of the galaxy.
He shook his head. "It's a ritual. Weren't you listening? Areanna must've been completely normal before this." He looked about him, eyes stretching wide with wonder. "Looks like it came close to sacrificing his life just to turn her."
"Turn
her?" Then I realized what he was saying. Changing her to be a WereEagle, like him.
I looked at the pints of blood splashed across the cave floor and thought of the men that flitted in and out of my own life. I couldn't imagine any one of them pricking his thumb to save me. My ex would have hesitated to do me a small favour, let alone dump half his blood out just to give me the same form as he took.
Thal rummaged about deeper in the cave, tossing a few rejected rocks over his shoulder. For each step he took forward, I withdrew one in compensation. If he went much further, I'd be out in the shock of bright sunlight again.
He placed a rock near the bloodstains and fetched another plastic baggie from his pocket. I looked at this one with interest, cop instincts on full alert. However, the disgusting smell when he opened the bag convinced me it wasn't a playful strain of Mary Jane.
"What are you doing?" I asked, perplexed by his actions.
He looked back over it back through the gap at me and grinned--happy in my discomfort.
"You could come in here, get a closer look."
I withdrew another half step. Remembering his speed at the apothecary, I shuffled back another few inches just to be sure. Even kicking and screaming, I wasn't going further into that cave.
He sniggered and turned back to what he was doing. "It's a compass," he explained. "I can use the blood scattered here to track him."
I raised an eyebrow and leant forward from the waist. "You mean, kind of like a bloodhound?" The dogs were legendary for tracing perpetrators down on the merest hint of scent.
"Sure, if you like."
I wiped the back of my neck where worried sweat was crystallising into salt on my skin. "How long does it take?" I asked. I wanted nothing more than to get out of here.
"It's already done." Thal got to his feet and once again squeezed through the tiny gap. Keeping backwards pace with his forward movement, I exited the cave, blinking in the afternoon sun.
* * *
Thal brought his makeshift compass along, once again striding ahead of me as I struggled to catch up. To say the sun above me was pissing me off was a serious understatement. It hammered relentlessly at the top of my head until I felt like I was wearing a helmet of fire. About as perfect for a hangover as serving me a bucket full of raw eggs.
At first, I hoped we were headed back to the car, where I could relax and put the shade down. As we twisted back upon our earlier trail, though, we branched off to continue our long trek.
"He's too weak to have gone far," Thal said, as though reading my mind. "That's properly why he chose this place, he must nest around here."
I thought of the soaring peaks of Mount Hutt where I'd first seen Arnie Pouakai stretch his wings. The cool mountain breeze had been gloriously refreshing that far up.
That gentle wind would be nice around now. Instead, I trudged onwards over tussocks of grass, trying to avoid breaking my ankle in a rabbit hole.
"Hold up," Thal said, holding his hand up in a stop sign. "Can you hear--"
A harsh bird caw shrieked above my head, and a moment later I felt talons dragging across my skull. They dug in, pain spiking throughout my body. For a moment, I even lifted in flight before the harpy's grip tore painfully loose.
In a blind panic, I shoved my arms up over my head dropped my knees rolling into a little bit ball. I could hear Thal shouting, ordering me to stand up, but my limbs instead froze to marble.
Cracking open one eye, I saw a hideous creature flap by. As though someone had taken the world's ugliest woman and decided that wasn't enough--adding sabre-sharp talons, long, scaled legs, and straggly wings into the mix.
The constant calls back and forth ripped my eardrums to shreds. My fingers dug deep into my ears but the shrill noise still made it through.
I felt a kick between my shoulder blades and turned just in time to see another harpy sweep by, this time tearing at Thal's jacket and back. He fell to his knees from the impact, and my blood ran cold as I realised my last protection against these monsters was falling prey to them himself.
Then my mind flashed back to earlier in the day. Harpies may be particularly susceptible to your special kind of charms.
Drawing a deep breath in through burning lungs I tried to concentrate on what he taught me. Sure that my voice would drown beneath that high shrieking caws, I opened my mouth and began to sing.
The tune that issued forth was somewhere situated somewhere between Frére Jacques and Enter Sandman. As the seconds ticked by, my panic that it wasn't working began to subside as the bird calls grew less frequent.
Still singing, able now to draw in more breath and have my voice come out stronger, louder, I rolled over to my knees and looked around. Birds were dropping from the sky, but not plummeting. They spun in lazy circles as they wafted down to the ground to rest. Hitting the ground like para-punters, then tumbling sideways into sleep.
I raised up to my feet and walked toward the bulk of them, still singing. The hideous guises of harpies looked so harsh in flight, but even in graceful repose, they were butt ugly. So odd, to see bird legs and wings tucked in and curled up on the ground. Shouldn't they have a nice nest somewhere?
Thal walked up behind me and slapped my shoulder, "Good job."
He scanned the group from side to side and walked amongst them, attempting to pick out the leader. He stopped by one, and I gave a nod of recognition.
The ugliest. Of course, that's how these awful creatures would decide their chief.
With the strength that made me blush, Thal slung her over his shoulder. Barely breaking stride, he turned and gestured for me to follow.
After a few minutes, he turned around with one raised eyebrow. "You know you can stop now, right?" he said, drawing a zipper across his lips.
Chapter 7
"Jeez, mate. You don't look all that well," Thal said, dumping the sleeping harpy at the corner of the gigantic nest.
Arnie Pouakai lay on the other side in human form. The man had lost so much blood, his skin shone a translucent pale blue.
Areanna jerked up late, hands out in self-defense, then looked puzzled as to her next required action. Apart from the deep frown of concern, she looked much better than last I'd seen her. Behind her, at the edge of the rocky outcropping, her son Jason was banging a large branch against the rock.
Kids, eh?
I turned away before the desolate pit of emptiness could settle in my stomach.
Arnie barely moved, settling for a sad groan as an acknowledgment. A deep slash along his forearm showed where the bloodletting had taken place.
Whoever had overseen the inferior patchwork attempting to stitch him back together, needed to invest in some reading glasses. Either that, or in Eagle form the scar looked different. I shook my head, it wasn't the time to think of him as a victim.
"Tough shit," Thal said, his tone singing into lower ranges full of disapproval and mocking. "Don't know what you were thinking, boy. But just because you're weak doesn't mean you're escaping punishment."
"But you can't--" Areanna Thea said, moving to her WereEagle partner's side. "He's too sick. If you must punish someone, then punish me."
"Don't worry, honey. You'll be included in the punishment."
The viciousness in his voice was like a clash of symbols warning me of impending danger. Already, I'd witnessed some of what Thal called punishment, and I didn't know if my hungover stomach could bear any more.
"Wait," Arnie held his hand up, struggling to sit up. Ariana helped them, putting a shoulder under his armpit so he could lean on her.
"Ah, so touching," Thal said, heavy on the sarcasm. When I had been thinking the same for real.
"You don't understand," Arnie said. "I'm the last of my kind. If I didn't perform this ritual, if I didn't grab my son, then my entire species would die out with me."
Thal snorted with amusement. "Last of your kind? Over in Aussie, mate, I can throw a stone and hit half a dozen WereEagles. You're nothing special." He leaned over Arnie
as he delivered a humiliating blow. "The world won't cry if the WereEagle race is missing New Zealand flavor."
A groan, sharp as fingernails on a blackboard, emerged from the harpy as she shook her head, coming awake.
"About time, love." Thal moved closer to her and sharply prodded his boot into her shoulder. "That's right, wake up sleepyhead."
With a look of disgust tossed in his direction, the harpy rose up to her gigantic clawed feet. She cast a baleful look in my direction, and I hummed a few notes worth of warning. Her head tilted forward.Slipping into a doze, which made Thal laugh again.
This time, he reached out and ruffled her hair. Gods knew, the man had courage. I wouldn't touch that frightful thing with someone else's arm.
Snapping his fingers underneath her nose to get attention, Thal jerked his head towards Arnie and waited while the harpy moved over to sit submissively near him.
"Okay folks," Thal clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Now all of you pay attention, I shall say this only once."
I felt my pocket to make sure that the recorder was still going. Luckily the lithium batteries had been on a full charge before this tiring day got underway.
"Choice one: you can both spend five years in prison," Thal nodded to Arnie and Areanna in case they didn't understand who the 'you' was.
"Don't worry, I'm sure the harpies are happy to look after your spawn. Choice two: five years spent confined to one form or the other. Human or eagle, a coin flip will decide."
Areanna looked more hopeful until Arnie put his hand on her shoulder. "If you get stuck as an eagle, you'll won't be able to look after Jason. Is that a risk you really want to take?"
She turned to look at him. "It's a better choice than handing him over to someone else. Five years," she turned a furious gaze back to Thal. "Five fucking years. My son won't even remember my name."
A Mongrel, A Bard and Witches, Oh My!: A Mongrelverse Story (Face The Music Book 2) Page 4