Potion of the Hound

by Alicia Scarborough

  She pauses and then states, “I know,” cocking her eyebrow up, “I shall . . .”

  Helga’s heart beats faster. More sweat rolls down her back as her hair becomes damp from all the sweating that she has done. Her body tightens as she waits to hear the horrible punishment laying in store for her. The vial almost slips out of her hand, but she catches it.

  This movement catches Lady Ava’s attention. She whirls around, stomping up to Helga, and demands “What do you have in your hand?”

  Through clenched teeth, Helga mutters, “Nothing.”

  Lady Ava holds her hand in front of Helga’s face and motions with her fingers, “Give it here.”

  “No.”

  “Don’t make me use your true name again. Give it here.” Her fingers motion again.

  “Bite,” starts Helga with a voice trembling at each syllable, “me.”

  “Fine, then.” Lady Ava reaches for the hand that holds the vial, but Helga snatches her arm away.

  Shock fills Lady Ava’s face as she asks, “Who untied you?”

  Brimstone’s deep voice gravely announces, “I did.”

  “YOU?” she demands.

  His eyes flash gold. “Yes,” he admits. He then waves his hand and the rest of the bindings holding Helga in the chair melt away.

  Another serpents appears midair and drops into the pit.

  “TRAITOR!” Lady Ava wails, throwing an attack spell at him.

  The chains around his wrists glow a bright blue as he tries to pull his defenses up. The spell slams into him, knocking him back as far as the chains allow him to go, and hit him square in the jaw. Brimstone crumples to the floor as the blue glow of the chains fades out.

  More snakes show themselves, threatening the captives as they fall.

  With Lady Ava’s back turned, Helga takes the opportunity to uncork the vial and throw its contents at her.

  One of the guests yells, “MY LADY, WATCH OUT!”

  As the contents are flung through the air, Lady Ava turns to see it coming towards her. Instead of trying to dodge the potion, she lets it wash over her face as if it were nothing.

  Helga cannot understand why Lady Ava allows the potion to hit her. A sinking feeling grows in her stomach as Lady Ava chuckles and then releases a long peal of laughter.

  “Ah! That is much better,” she smirks, “I can think more clearly, now.”

  Helga watches Lady Ava reach into a secret pocket in her fur-trimmed cloak and pull out another vial.

  “Looking for this?” she questions, jiggling the vial so that its purple contents slosh within it.

  Helga’s eyes widen, realizing she must have thrown the love potion cure—the wrong potion then—and then hastily looks at the empty vial in her hand. “What? How did you?” she stammers.

  Lady Ava’s eyes narrow as a wicked grin spreads across her face. “You didn’t expect me to leave anything you could use against me on your person, now did you?”

  Helga scowls in the direction of Brimstone.

  “Oh, he didn’t tell me anything, darling.” She snaps her fingers and a mammoth dark hound slowly emerges from the shadows. The crowd gasps.

  “It was my faithful hound, Lucius, who sussed out this potion on your person. I left that other one to give you false hope.” A malevolent glint sparkles in her eyes.

  The hound was humongous with its massive paws pounding the floor. Each of its steps with its immense weight threatened to crack the marble flooring. Its lips curl back to reveal long sharp canines. Imparting a low growl, it stares Helga down with its red glowing eyes. It stops by Lady Ava’s side and sits, never taking its gaze off Helga.

  Lady Ava turns her attention to one of the guests sitting at a table close by and points at him, commanding, “You.”

  The man points at himself in response.

  She continues, “Yes, you. Go over to the winch by the pit and wait for my signal.”

  The man jumps up, hurries over to the pit, and readies himself by placing his hands on the winch’s crank. He gives Lady Ava a thumbs-up. She rolls her eyes and turns her attention back to Helga.

  “Now, my dear, let’s get back to you receiving your just desserts.” Lady Ava shifts her hip to one side eyeing Helga and warning, “And if you step out of line, then your dear sisters and that meddlesome Magic Official will be lowered to their doom.”

  Someone shouts from the audience, “GET ON WITH IT! QUIT STALLING!”

  “Who said that?” Lady Ava enjoins with venom in her voice as she searches the room.

  The guests look amongst themselves trying to see who blurted out the criticism. Someone points to the person next to them. Lady Ava sees the person shrink down in their seat as she casts a spell at them. The person turns into a frog.

  The rest of the room draws in a breath and then becomes quiet. Helga hears her sisters cry out as more snakes appear and snap their venomous jowls as they drop.

  “Now, without any more interruptions,” Lady Ava announces, eying the crowd, “it is time for you, Helga, to meet your doom.”

  Helga, knowing her sisters are at risk, clenches her hands into fists, grits her teeth together, and stands up. She looks up at Lady Ava and snarls, “Do your worst.”

  Lady Ava releases her hold on the hound and steps back. “Lucius,” she says with a menacing smile.

  The hound begins moving forward with its massive maw gaping open and saliva dripping down onto the floor only to sizzle little holes into it. The whole time the hound growls a low growl at Helga with red glowing eyes staring her down.

  Helga stands her ground not letting her eyes wander off the vicious beast. She hears Lady Ava’s silvery laughter ring throughout the room, but for now Helga maintains focus on the monster coming towards her. A purple aura emits from its dark pelt.

  Knowing that whatever spells she casts will bring more pain to her and more venomous snakes into being, Helga decides to chance it in an attempt to fight the beast.

  She begins chanting. The thousand needle pricks buzz down both arms. She still continues to chant her spell. She has to defeat Lucius, or it will be end game for everyone she cares about. The hound stalks closer as it lowers its head to the ground getting ready to pounce.

  Helga feels pressure building as she gathers more power into her hands, filling them with all of her joy and love. The fiery heat coming from her love for her sisters becomes more intense along with the numbing, searing stings, making it harder to hold onto the spell. She clenches her teeth together as she fights for that last bit of strength, waiting for the perfect moment to release it onto her opponent.

  Suddenly, the doors in the back of the room burst open.

  Order of Magic Officials pour into the room as participants jump up from their seats, yelping their surprise. Lucius turns its attention on the intruders and charges after them.

  Helga releases her spell: flames pour out from her hands in a large stream heading straight for where Lucius was once standing. Lady Ava quickly leaps to one side as the stream tears through her left arm. She screams out, dropping the vial to the floor in the process.

  Out of breath, Helga sees the vial roll under a nearby table. She also notices Lady Ava come to a crouch and stare viciously back at her. Helga prepares her next spell as Lady Ava herself begins chanting.

  The room is in chaos as magic flies around it, hitting both Magic Officials and TRUE society members. Snakes pop into existence as each spell is released into the room.

  Helga, in mid-cast, hears her sisters screaming more frantically than before, so she stops chanting and turns her head to see them being lowered slowly into the snake pit. Abruptly she feels something slam into her side knocking the wind out of her and forcing her down onto the floor.

  She rises peering over to where Lady Ava was last seen, but she is not there. Her sisters scream again, yelling for help. The winch clanks away while the crony cranking it releases a gnarly cackle. Helga runs for her sisters but then hesitates, remembering the vial that is under the table an
d not too far off.

  She turns to get the vial, but soon hears the continued cries coming from her sisters, so she changes her mind once again. Helga turns around sprinting for her sisters instead.

  In her dash Helga scans the room, noticing witches and wizards throwing flare and ice arrows at one another along with fireballs and wind attacks. The room is in shambles, as both sides are on equal footing. Lady Ava is nowhere to be seen, so Helga figures the rat hightailed it out when the odds were not in her favor.

  Helga’s attention is snapped back to what’s happening in front of her when she hears the spine-rippling growl of Lucius. In her path the massive black hound stands with an arm hanging loosely in its jowls. The dog lowers its head as it crunches the bones of the arm, never removing its eyes from Helga.

  Not wanting to slow down, Helga releases a fireball spell. Her arm tingles becoming dangerously numb from repeated use. The fireball hits Lucius dead-on washing off its purple aura but that’s only a distraction as Helga somersaults past.

  Lucius snaps its teeth at her, missing by mere inches. Helga cringes as she rolls up to her feet continuing her sprint to the man working the winch. She picks up her pace as the sounds of the massive hound’s feet thunder close behind her.

  Approaching the winch, the man running it cackles and starts to work faster, his mad eyes widen as a leonine roar erupts behind Helga. His color drains, and his face turns to terror.

  Helga chances a quick glance over her shoulder to see the beast in mid-air going directly for her. She dives, going into a baseball slide and slamming into the legs of the man on the winch. He topples over her as she continues sliding forward when she feels the ground behind her shake.

  Another leonine roar sounds as the man’s curdling scream bursts from his lips ending with the skin-crawling crunch of bones. Helga quickly scrambles up, nearly tossing her cookies from what she witnesses, knowing that Lucius will finish at any minute—and continue his pursuit of her. She takes ahold of the winch that is wildly unwinding and applies all her strength to stop it.

  Searching frantically around her for something to jam the winch for good, she notices a broom. She quickly tiptoes past the monster gnawing its latest catch and grabs the broom, rushing back to the winch.

  Shoving the broom between the tines, the winch moans to a stop, splintering the broom’s wooden handle due to the immense pressure. Knowing that there is limited time before the handle breaks Helga runs for the ladder.

  She takes a quick look around for Lucius, before going to the platform overlooking the snake pit. She’s in luck: the monstrous dog found other prey. Helga gulps loudly and climbs the ladder although her sisters’ cries for help have become less frequent.

  Helga, out of breath, her right side burning, reaches the top of the platform. Her sisters begin making sounds of glee upon seeing Helga come to their rescue. Snakes continue to rain down into the pit as magic flies about the room.

  Some hit the sisters on their way down into the pit making Agnes and Ursa cry out in pain as the serpents bite into their flesh. Helga hurries over to the crane, moving them over to the platform, and then pulls them up. She unties Agnes first and then Ursa.

  “Are you okay?” Helga asks.

  Ursa rubs her wrists, saying, “We will be in a minute.” She starts casting healing spells on the areas where she and Agnes suffered snakebites. She winces as more snakes appear out of nowhere.

  Agnes grunts as Ursa makes her straighten her leg that’s been injured from snakebites.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “We get Jay and Ruby,” Helga states, looking out at the room, “and then get the heck out of here.”

  “What about Mr. Higgins?” Ursa asks with concern in her voice.

  “Pheh,” Helga spits, “let the officials take care of him.”

  “Helga,” Agnes warns, “we can’t just leave him.”

  “Uh, Agnes, have you forgotten?” Helga moans.

  “Forgotten what?”

  “That the dude is literally raining snakes down around us,” Helga huffs.

  “Well, what do you suggest, Helga?”

  “How about we get him last?”

  Agnes and Ursa nod their heads, agreeing, “Works for us.”

  As the sisters approach the ladder leading down from the platform, Helga scans the room looking for Lady Ava and more importantly, Lucius. With the coast clear Helga motions for her sisters to climb down quickly. With their feet firmly on the ground they turn to start their mad dash to the stage where Jay and Ruby are locked in the cage.

  They cannot take a single step forward, for Lucius is there, lurking in the shadows waiting for them with red glowing eyes.

  Agnes steps in front of Helga, declaring, “I’ll take care of him.”

  “Magic doesn’t work on him,” warns Helga, pulling on Agnes’s dress sleeve.

  “Don’t worry . . . I got this,” Agnes assures her sisters.

  “Agnes, no,” Helga pleas, “he’ll tear you to shreds.”

  “He won’t touch me,” Agnes smirks, “Remember? I used to be a rodeo clown in my teen years. I’m the champion of bull distraction.” She lowers her gaze staring Lucius down, ordering her sisters, “Go . . . NOW!”

  Agnes charges forward with a spell in hand at the massive beast as Helga and Ursa race for the stage. They dodge rogue fireballs and freeze arrows, keeping to their route. Helga watches a Magic Official take down another TRUE society member.

  Helga asks between breaths, “Who called in the officials?”

  “Mr. Higgins,” Ursa replies dodging another rogue flame arrow, “he called them before I called you the last time.”

  “Oh,” Helga grimaces, “I guess that’s good . . .”

  “You better believe your buns it is,” Ursa replies, “If he hadn’t, you’d be dog food.”

  Helga shudders and tumbles forward, trying to avoid a table being thrown their way due to a wind gust spell. Ursa gets clipped on the shoulder, but she quickly casts another healing spell while they continue their run. Helga wheezes as her right side flares up with burning pain. But then she falters.

  Ursa notices and hurries to her sister’s side. “Helga, why didn’t you tell me you are injured?”

  “I didn’t want to bother you about it,” Helga lies.

  “Bull hockey,” Ursa retorts, “More likely you didn’t want to seem weak! Now stop squirming.”

  Helga tries to protest but closes her mouth as the cooling sensation flows over her injuries making them hurt less until they no longer hurt at all. The splitting migraine also fades away making it easier for Helga to think.

  She breathes in air fully and nods her head, determining, “Alright, let’s go save Jay and Ruby.”

  Ursa nods in agreement, and the two climb the stairs. Helga pauses by Brimstone and motions for Ursa to come help.

  “But he’s a demon,” Ursa says.

  “Sure, he’s a demon, but he’s helped me several times. He’s different.”

  “I doubt it. All demons can’t be trusted.”

  “He saved you and Agnes back at the shop when he didn’t need to,” Helga points out.

  “We need to stick to the plan,” Ursa urges.

  “We’ll be able to get out of here easier with Brimstone’s help.”

  “I don’t know, Helga, that’s a big if.”

  They both look down at the unconscious demon, Ursa worrying her lip as Helga pleads with big puppy-dog eyes with her sister.

  Ursa huffs, “Fine,” and then begins casting a revival spell on Brimstone.

  Helga surveys the room again searching for Lady Ava but still cannot find her amongst the chaos. It’s as if Lady Ava left after she got her first injury.

  Grabbing one of the manacles around Brimstone’s wrists, Helga asks, “You got a bobby pin?”

  “Sure.” Ursa hands Helga one.

  Helga starts to work on unlocking the manacle in her hand as Brimstone begins to groan and moan. She peeks over at him to see his eyes
open unfocused.

  “Ugh, what happened?” he groans.

  “You were knocked out,” Helga replies, “Now stay still. I’ve almost got one of your hands free.”

  Brimstone yanks his arms, testing the chains and pulling the manacle out of Helga’s hands.

  “Stop that,” Helga hisses as she regains her hold of the manacle and works on the lock.

  “Sorry . . .”

  The manacle’s lock clicks and then pops open, releasing Brimstone’s right hand as the shackle clatters to the floor. Helga hurries over to the other hand to free it. Brimstone watches her as she works on the lock. Ursa continues to heal the other wounds on Brimstone.

  As Helga works a few twists and turns within the lock, she pauses when she notices Brimstone’s eyes begin turning gold and narrowing to tiny slits. His mouth hardens into a fine line. Ursa’s mouth drops and stops chanting her healing spells.

  Hackles go up Helga’s back, and she twists around to see what’s causing this sudden cloud of doom.

  There Lady Ava stands with her disheveled hair, torn not-so-white dress, her crispy raw left hand holding the vial above her other arm that holds the squirming dog-boy, Jay.

  “Stop right there,” she demands.

  Helga lets the manacle drop to the floor as she rises up. Brimstone reaches for the pin.

  “I said freeze,” Lady Ava sneers. Brimstone stops and stares her down.

  “Now, back away from the demon,” Lady Ava orders, watching the sisters continue to stay put, “Move, or this boy will become a full-blown hound.”

  Brimstone fumes, “Leave them out of this, Ava. This is between you and me.”

  “Nonsense,” she argues, “They became a part of this when you hired them.”

  “They weren’t aware . . .”

  “They KNEW!” she screeches, squeezing Jay harder to her chest. Jay lets out a whimper.

  Lady Ava looks to Helga, warning, “This is your last chance. Back away from the demon or the boy gets it.”

  “How do I know that your word is true?” Helga asks with a growl.

  Lady Ava casts a glance at Brimstone. “Unlike this demon here, my word is far truer than his,” she says with a wry smile.

  “Meaning . . . we can’t trust you either.”