Removing his sword from the floorboards, the Tutor turned to the maid.
‘Salt is more effective than water for quenching the demonic contusions.’
The maid had no idea what a contusion was, but she gave a frightened nod and the Tutor rose to his feet.
‘It used to happen only at night,’ said the countess as Fate moved to stand over the afflicted woman. ‘But now the harassment continues through the day.’
The frown on Fate’s face grew deeper as he sat on the bed and placed his hand on the young woman’s brow.
‘Can you hear me?’ he asked.
‘Please,’ breathed the woman. ‘Please don’t let them take me. I made no promise… I did not agree.’
‘Open your eyes,’ Fate told the woman and slowly she did.
Her gaze flitted for a moment as if she was searching for the deep voice that offered some comfort. Finally, her frightened eyes settled on Fate’s face.
‘Can you feel them in your mind?’ he asked and the young woman’s terrified expression made it clear that she could. ‘Look into my eyes,’ Fate continued. ‘Focus only on my eyes.’
Looking down at the woman, Fate was struck by the jewel-like brightness of her eyes, one bright blue, the other an equally bright and vivid green. Her hair and eyebrows also differed in colour from one side of her head to the other. Such individuals were lusted after by creatures of the underworld. No wonder the demonic forces refused to let her go. He waited until the girl’s eyes were fixed on his; until he could see the gold streaks in his eyes reflected in hers.
‘Good,’ said Fate as the woman grew calmer. ‘Now… let them see what you see… Let them see me.’
The woman’s gaze seemed to grow more intense and her eyes widened as she stared into Fate’s dark eyes. The demonic whispers in the room suddenly stopped as if they had been interrupted. Continuing now, they stuttered uncertainly then rose quickly to a spiteful pitch before pinching out into silence.
At the same instant, the young woman closed her eyes and slumped back on the bed; her face relaxed and her breathing calmed as she fell into a peaceful sleep. Still sitting on the bed, Fate let out a breath while the countess looked down at him in awe. What kind of man was this; that the demons of the underworld would flee from him in fear?
‘She should be alright for a while now,’ said Fate as he stood up from the bed and raised the dark metal charm bracelet that he wore on his left wrist.
The countess caught a quick glimpse of a firefly beetle and a tiny hourglass before Fate removed a particular charm and reached out to place the metal object in her hand. The countess looked down to see the small figurine of a cat.
‘No one knows why,’ said Fate, ‘but demons have an aversion to cats and this charm has been enchanted to keep them at bay.’
The countess frowned with uncertainty. She did not see how a tiny charm could protect them from the supernatural forces that were plaguing her home. Nevertheless, she placed it on the bedside table as she turned back to Fate.
‘Will it stop?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know,’ said Fate. ‘It all depends on what was promised, and to whom.’
The countess would have preferred a more definite answer, but still she breathed a sigh of relief, grateful for even a brief respite.
‘The charm and the salt might help,’ said Fate as he and the Tutor prepared to leave. ‘But if it gets worse, I would suggest that you take her to Abbess Shimitsu. The Shīku monks have powers that can guard against the forces of darkness.’
Abbess Shimitsu was the leader of a monastery about a day’s ride to the north. Fate and the Tutor had recently helped the abbess with a mysterious malady that was making the monks ill.
‘I will remember that,’ said the countess. ‘Thank you.’
‘Not at all,’ said Fate.
Together they left the room, leaving the maid to make the sleeping woman more comfortable in her bed.
‘Would you care for something to eat or drink?’ asked the countess as they returned to the reception room. ‘The count will be away for some time.’
‘Thank you, but no,’ said Fate. ‘I’m afraid we need to get back to Guile.’
‘Then allow me to…’ began the countess, but Fate raised a hand.
‘It’s the least we could do, after what you did to help us.’
The countess inclined her head while Fate and the Tutor offered shallow bows as they turned to leave the room.
*
The Tutor appeared unusually pensive as they headed back to Guile and Fate stole a sideways glance at the man riding beside him. He could not be certain, but he could make a reasonable guess at the thoughts running through his mind.
The Tutor had rebelled against the demon hunters when the unit was turned into a political weapon, and this rebellion had resulted in the death of his family. Fate knew he could never let go of the love he felt for his Faerie wife and his beautiful half-Faerie child, but life is a river that refuses to be still, and the Tutor was likely confused by the way his thoughts kept returning to the Countess Cévaro.
Riding beside him, Fate’s hawkish features were softened by a poignant smile.
‘It’s all right,’ he said in a surprisingly gentle tone.
‘What’s all right?”
‘To like the Countess,’ replied Fate. ‘She is, after all, a very attractive woman. Strong and brave too.’
The Tutor seemed annoyed by this topic of conversation.
‘She’s also married,’ he snapped.
‘Not for long, I suspect’ said Fate and the Tutor shot him an accusing look.
‘What have you done?’
‘Me? Nothing,’ said Fate. He paused. ‘Although some of the count’s enemies might have recently decided that life might be better if their cruel neighbour was no longer in the picture.’
‘I wonder what gave them that idea,’ said the Tutor.
‘I can’t imagine,’ said Fate and the Tutor shook his head as they headed back to Guile where they had agreed to meet the mother of a young woman called Jane who was suddenly consumed by the desire to marry a man she barely knew.
3
The Tincture of Fixation
The following day Fate and the Tutor went to visit Jane’s mother to see if there was anything unusual about her daughter’s sudden change of heart. They arrived late in the afternoon only to find that Jane had already left the house so her mother led them to the home of the potion-maker she intended to marry.
The potion-maker was called Inganno, but when they called at his home the young man refused to let them in. The Tutor tried to reason with him, leaning in close until the potion-maker slammed the door shut trapping a lock of the demon hunter’s long hair, which was yanked from his scalp as he recoiled.
The Tutor gave a curse and was about to kick in the door when Fate stepped forward.
‘Allow me,’ said the sorcerer and, reaching to the bracelet on his wrist, he removed a small charm in the form of a skeleton.
‘Oh, you’ve got to be kidding!’ said the Tutor and Fate smiled.
Holding the skeleton by the skull, he inserted the body into the lock and the bones of the enchanted charm began to rearrange themselves as they matched the various tumblers of the lock. A moment later Fate turned the skeleton key and the door opened onto a large hallway where they found Jane standing beside another door leading down to the cellar.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked in an anxious tone, her eyes shifting to the open cellar door.
‘These men are here to help,’ said her mother as Fate and the Tutor headed down to the cellar where they found Inganno in a basement room filled with all the paraphernalia required for creating potions. A series of cast iron cauldrons sat near a stove pit in the centre of the floor and the walls were lined with a huge array of ingredients along with glass coils, bottles, flasks and books… lots and lots of books.
‘We just want to talk,’ said Fate as he and the Tutor passed through a heavy steel door
.
‘No you don’t,’ said Inganno. ‘You want to take her away from me.’
The potion-maker was a narrow-chested man with dark oily hair and a plump cherubic face. In his hand he held a small potion bottle, which he had just lowered from his wet and fleshy lips. Reaching to a bench, Inganno put the potion bottle down and picked up a large glass beaker which he then threw directly at Fate.
The sorcerer instinctively raised an arm to protect himself, then winced as the beaker shattered, cutting his hand. At the same moment, Inganno darted forward with a surprising burst of speed, barging past the Tutor as he surged through the doorway and raced up the stairs.
Back in the hallway, Jane’s mother was trying to calm her daughter. They were blocking the front door which was now closed and Inganno spat out a curse before heading for a door at the back of the house. The route took him through the dinner-service room and several porcelain plates tumbled to the floor, smashing noisily as he hurried past with the Tutor hot on his heels.
‘Stop him!’ cried Fate as he emerged from the cellar. ‘We need to talk to him.’
Charging into the kitchen, the Tutor threw himself across the kitchen table just as Inganno was reaching for the latch on the back door.
‘Got you!’ he cried, grabbing the young man’s waistcoat before he could open the door. But Inganno was not so easily caught. With a strength that belied his soft physique, he struck at the Tutor with his fists before wrenching open the door.
‘Have you got him?’ Fate called out from the hall.
‘No!’ snapped the Tutor as he tried to prevent the young man from escaping through the half-open door. ‘The damnable wretch… is surprisingly… strong.’
‘I think he took something before we came in,’ replied Fate holding up the empty potion bottle that Inganno had put down. ‘Something to enhance his speed and strength.’ His lip curled in distaste as he noticed that the bottle was still wet with the young man’s saliva.
‘Well… it seems… to be working,’ said the Tutor. With a final grunt he got a better grip on Inganno and pulled the young man to the floor where they continued to wrestle for control.
Back in the hall, Fate held up the potion bottle and wondered what it might have contained. Wrapping the small bottle in a silk handkerchief he tucked it into a pocket in his robes as the Tutor’s voice rose up from the kitchen.
‘Calm down!’ said the demon hunter as Inganno struggled to break free.
‘Don’t hurt him!’ cried Jane from the hall. ‘Don’t you dare hurt my beloved!’
Satisfied that the potion maker was now contained, Fate turned to look at the young woman who was having her own wrestling match with her mother.
‘Don’t touch me!’ the young woman cried. ‘You never approved of our love and now you’ve ruined everything!’ She was clearly distraught and her pale cheeks were streaked with tears.
‘Dearest Jane,’ said her mother. ‘Surely you can see that he’s not the one for you. I thought Fidanza was your love.’
‘Fidanza is in my past, mama,’ said the young woman. ‘Inganno is my future. He is the one I truly love.’
Jane’s mother gave a sigh of exasperation and Fate rolled his eyes as he heard a scuffle and a squeal coming from the kitchen. The Tutor had finally subdued his man. Suffering a tirade of complaints, the demon hunter hauled Inganno to his feet and propelled him out of the kitchen and into the hall where the others were waiting. Glancing down, he saw blood dripping from Fate’s hand.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
‘I’m fine,’ said Fate. ‘Just a cut from the glass beaker he threw at me.’
‘And no less than you deserve,’ said Jane who had now broken away from her mother. She rushed towards her ‘beloved’ then stopped as the Tutor fixed her with a cold blue stare.
‘Get your hands off me, you brute!’ cried Inganno. He continued to struggle in the Tutor’s grasp, but the effects of his ‘strength potion’ were wearing off and the Tutor had no problem restraining him.
‘Hold him still,’ said Fate as he stepped forward to search Inganno’s pockets. He frowned as he found a roll of snakeskin, a small bottle of silvery metal fragments and the desiccated eye of a rabbit, all ingredients that were commonly used in the creation of potions.
‘You can’t do this!’ spluttered Inganno. ‘You have no right to go searching through my…’
‘Aha!’ said Fate holding up a small vial filled with a distinctive purple liquid.
The mother looked horrified, the Tutor looked furious, while Jane was beside herself with distress.
‘Let him go!’ she wailed. ‘He’s done no harm. Let him go!’
Again she started towards Inganno, but then Fate gave the mother a nod and she stepped forward to catch her daughter’s arms.
‘What are you doing?’ cried Jane. ‘Let me go!’
But the mother held onto her as Fate took a small packet of white powder from a pouch at his waist. Laying the packet on a nearby table he opened the vial he had taken from Inganno and poured two drops of the purple liquid onto the powder. The combined ingredients fizzed until the purple liquid was absorbed by the powder at which point Fate lifted the small packet, brought it over to Jane, and blew it into her face. She drew a startled breath, coughed several times, and slowly the distressed expression faded from her eyes to be replaced by a look of confusion and fear.
‘What… Why… Where is Fidanza?’ she began.
‘No!’ insisted Inganno. ‘She loves me, not him!’
‘What are you talking about?’ said Jane in a tone of bewilderment. ‘I love Fidanza. I have never loved you. I don’t even like you.’ Eyes filling with tears, she turned to her mother. ‘What is going on?’ she asked. ‘Where is Fidanza?’
‘We don’t know,’ replied her mother. ‘Fidanza went missing two days ago.’
‘What do you mean, missing?’ asked Jane, an edge of hysteria creeping into her voice. ‘And why are we here in Inganno’s house?’
Her mother was clearly overwrought so Fate stepped forward to answer.
‘You have been the victim of deception,’ he said, holding up the vial of purple liquid.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Jane. ‘What is that?’
‘It’s a tincture of fixation,’ replied Fate. ‘Otherwise known as a love potion.’
‘What!’ exclaimed Jane.
‘Two days ago, this young man slipped some into your drink and from that moment you have been fixated on him. The brain confuses this fixation with the emotion of love.’
Jane just stared at him, her eyes narrowing as if she was trying to recall the details of a dream.
‘I remember,’ she breathed in a horrified tone as her eyes shifted to Inganno. ‘I remember feeling…’ Her mouth twisted in a gesture of fury and she lunged forward. Her foot lashed out towards Inganno’s groin, and it was only the restriction of her dress that saved him from a painful kick.
‘I did it because I love you,’ said Inganno.
‘No,’ said Fate. ‘You did it because you wanted her, and now you will spend the next five years in jail reflecting on your crime.’
‘No!’ cried Inganno, beginning to struggle once more. ‘I did her no harm. Now let me go!’ He twisted and kicked, but the Tutor grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pressed his face into the wall.
‘Will he really be imprisoned?’ asked Jane.
‘We’ll take him to the local sheriff’s office,’ said Fate. ‘But he is wealthy so he might escape the punishment he deserves.’
‘I don’t care,’ said Jane’s mother. ‘So long as he is gone from my daughter’s life.’
‘But what about Fidanza?’ asked Jane.
‘He’s not at his home,’ said her mother. ‘His coachman said he left the house looking confused and that was two days ago.’
A look of suspicion tightened Fate’s face as he turned back to Inganno.
‘What did you do to this other man?’ he asked, but Inganno refused to
answer until the Tutor’s grip tightened on his neck.
‘I didn’t hurt him!’ squealed the cherub-faced man. ‘I just gave him something to make him forget.’
‘Didn’t hurt him,’ repeated Fate with a dangerous glint in his eye. ‘You wiped a young man’s memory and sent him out into the murky streets of Guile.’
There was no remorse in Inganno’s eyes, but he lowered his gaze in fear.
‘You had better pray that he’s found safe and well,’ said Fate. ‘The use of a love potion carries a heavy sentence, but if anything happens to this young man then you could be locked up for good.’
‘You can’t prove anything!’ spat Inganno, but Fate just smiled.
‘Oh, but I can,’ he said as he held up the vial containing the purple liquid. ‘And even if I couldn’t, my housekeeper makes a truth potion that will make you sing like a blackbird at midnight.’
With that, Fate gave the Tutor a nod and the potion-maker was dragged from the house and out onto the street. They descended the short flight of steps and had just reached the pavement when a richly dressed man stepped out of a coach bearing the gold motif of the letter M.
‘What’s going on here?’ asked the man in a lofty tone.
Somewhere in his mid-twenties, the man was tall and slender with fine cheekbones, dark eyes and a full mouth that seemed permanently cast in an expression of scorn.
‘Oh, thank goodness…’ began Inganno, stepping forward until the Tutor yanked him away.
‘And who are you?’ asked Fate.
‘That is none of your concern,’ said the man. ‘I have business with this man and you will tell me why he is being apprehended.’
Fate arched an eyebrow. ‘He is accused of potion crimes,’ he said. ‘We are escorting him to the sheriff’s office to be formally charged.’
Decimus Fate and the Butcher of Guile: (Decimus Fate - Book 2) Page 2