The Last Apprentice: Complete Collection

by Joseph Delaney

  A number of years ago, the three main Pendle clans, the Malkins, the Deanes, and the Mouldheels, came together and cursed me. The parchment they sent had spots of blood on it from victims who were probably murdered as part of the dark magical ritual. The leaders of the three covens also signed in blood. On the next page is that curse—which I must confess did cause me a few sleepless nights.

  By screeching owl, by toad and bat,

  By scuttling beetle, shiny black,

  We curse thy soul! We›ll take thy life!

  By bloodred moon and starless sky,

  By writhing bones and corpse›s sigh,

  We curse thy soul! We›ll take thy life!

  By slithering snake and long-tailed rat,

  By mandrake root and familiar cat,

  We curse thy soul! We›ll take thy life!

  These words have been written in the blood of innocents.

  Thus cursed you are by covens three:

  You will die in a dark place, far underground,

  with no friend at your side!

  Darcie Malkin, Jessie Deane, & Claris Mouldheel

  Many years have passed and the curse has still had no effect, but whenever my work calls me to venture underground, it always comes into my mind, and I am doubly on my guard.

  Elemental Magic

  At its most basic level, this form of magic is usually practiced by novice witches being trained within a clan, or unaware witches who frequent lonely places where they feel in tune with nature. The latter often sense a presence close by: unknown to them, this is an emerging elemental spirit, feeding and growing as a result of contact with a curious human mind. By focusing on the outcome she desires, the novice malevolent witch can use the power of the elemental to ill wish.

  The elemental will do her bidding and exert its power against the chosen victim. Death rarely results from such a malignant partnership, but night terrors, ill health, and infestations of lice are common.

  Used by skilled and experienced practitioners, elemental magic is very powerful. Fully developed elementals such as barghests and moroi are used both as guardians and killers. The latter in particular are a deadly threat in Romania, where, under the control of demons, they possess bears and attack their designated victims with terrible fury.

  Familiar Magic

  This is the most powerful of the three categories of magic used by the Pendle witches, although such practitioners may also use blood and bone magic from time to time. Magic of this type has tremendous and terrible potential.

  The witch binds a creature to her will, at first feeding her own blood to her chosen familiar. Once it is bound to her, the blood of victims may be substituted. The creature effectively becomes an extension of the witch’s own body. It is as if she can detach her hand and have it operate at a distance. It becomes her eyes and ears. The possibilities afforded by this dreadful magic are numerous and varied, depending on what type of creature a witch chooses as her familiar. Often witches have more than one, each suited to a different purpose. A cat can be used to spy on an enemy witch or scratch out her eyes, or even kill her baby by sitting on its face and smothering it while it sleeps.

  Bats and birds have the advantage of flight and can enable a witch to search for both enemies and victims. She usually chooses birds of the night, such as owls and corpse fowls.16

  Cats, especially black ones, are probably the most popular familiars, and many witches choose them because of their own feline nature. Cats are quick and subtle, but also cruel: They play with their prey before devouring it.

  Snakes are almost as common, not least because of their ability to kill. County snakes are not usually dangerous, but association with a witch increases the power of their jaws and endows them with a lethal venom they would not normally possess.

  Toads are the least powerful of familiars, and are usually employed by very old, isolated witches (whose powers are waning and who merely want the latest gossip) and by those whose grasp of dark magic is extremely limited. However, they are the favorite familiars of water witches, well suited to the boggy terrain they inhabit, and their skin oozes a particularly virulent poison: The merest contact with it results in death.

  Finally there are what we term higher-order familiars. These are entities such as demons that would normally be considered too dangerous and power-ful to be employed as familiars. Only the very strongest witches dare to attempt this, and few can carry it off. Almost inevitably there is a power struggle, and the witch may become subservient to that which she sought to control.17

  Mirrors and Scrying

  There are three ways in which the Pendle witches combine dark magic with the use of mirrors.

  1. To communicate over a distance, either by lip reading from one another’s reflected images or by writing. Most witches are skilled at lip reading, but sometimes they write on the mirror when communicating with others unused to the practice. Using dark magic, they can locate another mirror and their message appears there. A very skillful witch can even use a puddle or any surface of calm water.

  2. They use mirrors to spy on their enemies or victims. As a defense against that magical art, many inhabitants of the Pendle district turn their mirrors to the wall after dark.

  3. Some witches believe that they have the ability to use mirrors to prophesy. Using the blood of a victim as ink, they draw magical symbols along the edges of a mirror. Afterward, spells are chanted, and they supposedly see visions of the future in the glass. Such so-called scryers are almost certainly deluded. I refuse to believe that the future is fixed. Free will and choice shape what happens.18

  Moon Magic

  This type of magic is mostly practiced by benign witches. Practitioners sometimes dance naked at the time of the full moon to strengthen the power of the herbs they gather for healing.

  The moon is said to show the truth of things, and can sometimes counter spells of false appearance.

  Sniffing

  Long sniffing is used by a witch to sniff out approaching danger.19 Seventh sons of seventh sons are immune to that power, but we must still beware of short sniffing; up close, a witch can use it to find out our strengths and weaknesses. The nearer she approaches, the worse it gets. Always keep a witch at bay with a rowan staff, and above all, never let her breathe into your face!

  Spells of False Appearance

  Otherwise known as dread, glamour, and fascination, these spells allow a malevolent witch to hide what she really is.

  Dread is used to change her appearance in order to terrify her enemies. Instead of hair, a nest of black snakes may adorn her head and her eyes may glow red like fiery coals. Additionally, her face deforms and becomes monstrous.

  Glamour and fascination work together. The former makes a witch seem younger and more beautiful than she really is; fascination then forces a man to believe anything she tells him. He becomes like a rabbit in thrall to a stoat. But only the very strongest of witches can maintain such illusions in moonlight.

  Sympathetic Magic

  This type of magic is usually used to kill, cripple, or seriously hurt the enemy of a witch. A clay or wax figure is modeled in the shape of the intended victim. Into it are mixed ingredients that make it more potent, such as the victim’s blood or urine. If these cannot be obtained, a strand of hair or a small piece of material from the victim’s clothing will usually suffice.

  What happens next is bounded only by the imagination and vindictiveness of the witch. Any injury inflicted on the figure will result in the victim feeling that pain. The witch has created sympathy between the figure and the living person. So a nail driven into any part of the model’s anatomy will be felt in the same place on the living being. If the head and heart are targeted, then death will come swiftly. Alternatively, the victim may be crippled. Melting part of the model might result in a wasting disease.

  A witch bottle is often used as a defense against an enemy witch who is already using dark magic. Some of her urine is placed in the bottle, along with sharp stones
, pins, and iron nails. Once corked, the bottle is given a good shake, then left in the sun for three days. On the night of the next full moon it’s buried under a dung heap. The next time the witch tries to urinate, she finds herself in agony. Thereupon the witch is informed of what has been done, and in return for halting her own magical attack, the witch bottle is destroyed.

  DEALING WITH WITCHES

  Unlike boggarts, witches cannot be confined using the power of salt and iron alone. But several techniques can be used to bind them successfully.

  Symbols such as those sketched on the facing page are used to mark the pit of a bound witch. A Greek letter sigma is used to denote a sorceress, and a diagonal line sloping from right to left indicates a successful binding. Additionally, the type of witch (here the Greek letter lambda for lamia) and the ranking (1 being the most powerful) may be marked on the stone. It is vital to write the witch’s full name below the symbols to identify her. Being women, they are subtle and may change over time. Each history must be consulted in my Chipenden library.

  Finally, as with boggarts, the name of the spook who carried out the binding should be written directly under the witch’s name.

  Dealing with Dead Witches

  Witches are sometimes hanged, then given to their families for burial, but this achieves little.

  One problem when dealing with witches is that for most, death isn’t the end of them. They are bone bound, their spirits trapped in their corpses, so if a witch is simply buried, one night she’ll scratch her way to the surface and go hunting for victims and suck their blood to renew her strength.

  Witches vary in power. A really strong witch might roam for miles in a single night; others can only drag themselves a few paces and often hide under moldering leaves, waiting for someone to pass close to their lair.20

  Below are the important stages in the process of binding a dead witch.

  1. Hire a master mason and a blacksmith. Both tradesmen should have previous experience of the task at hand. Set them to work constructing a stone-and-iron cover for the pit.

  2. Dig a pit to contain the body of the witch. This should be a shaft nine feet deep and six feet long by three feet wide.

  3. Next, ease the body into the pit headfirst. When night falls, unaware of her orientation, the dead witch will mistakenly dig herself deeper into the ground.

  4. Next the mason and blacksmith must work together to construct the thirteen bars that will cover the pit, each bolted to a rim of stones.21

  Dealing with Live Witches

  First, a malevolent witch must be captured; This is best accomplished by use of a silver chain. The technique for casting the chain can only be acquired by hours of practice against targets: My apprentice must test his skills first against the post in my garden, then against moving targets. I also practice regularly, as it wouldn’t do to let these skills get rusty. Below are the general principles involved.

  1. The silver chain should be coiled about the left wrist.

  2. It should be cast with a twisting upward motion of the hand so that it spins widdershins, against the clock.

  3. Enough elevation should be gained so that it drops over the witch, tightening as it falls, but not enough that she has time to evade it.

  4. It is important to achieve a degree of what we call spread. This means that the chain should bind the witch from head to knee. With sufficient practice, it is possible to ensure that the chain tightens against her teeth. Her silence is desirable. She may attempt to use dark magic.

  Once captured, the witch must be dealt with. Burning, cruel though it is, destroys the witch for all time. Another good method is to eat the heart of the witch. This barbarous but reliable method is not usually practiced in the County, but some spooks kill a witch, then feed her heart to their dogs.22 One other reliable method of dealing with a witch—the one I use—is to keep her in a pit reinforced with iron bars.

  Below are the important stages of the process of binding a live witch in a pit.

  1. Hire a master mason and a blacksmith. Both tradesmen should be reliable and experienced. They should also have strong nerves because dealing with a live witch can be very dangerous.

  2. Dig the pit. This should be nine feet deep, six feet wide, and six feet long.

  3. With a strong witch, line the walls with a mixture of salt and iron. Leave the floor of the pit clear so that she can survive on a diet of slugs and insects. When dealing with feral lamias or water witches, a cage of iron bars needs to be constructed and buried in the ground (both types of witch can burrow).

  4. The critical point is getting the witch into the pit. The silver chain should bind her until the very last moment. The skill lies in rolling the witch into the pit, simultaneously uncoiling the chain. This can only be learned by practice.

  5. Finally, stay in attendance until the mason and smith have sealed the pit.

  This technique has one serious but fortunately rare drawback. After being kept in a pit for many years, eating slugs and worms, the water seeping into her flesh and bones, an extremely strong witch starts to change. If she is then killed, she will become wick– not only able to move her body great distances, but soft and pliable, with the ability to squeeze into a tiny space. Entering a human body through the nose or ears, the witch can possess it and use it for her own purposes.

  The difficulty then is to identify the witch, but there are two ways: A body that is newly possessed has poor balance and may stagger as if dizzy or even completely lose its balance and fall over. There are often personality changes, too. Someone who was formerly kind, calm, and happy may suddenly become excitable and bad tempered.23

  The Ghasts on Hangman’s Hill

  The Unquiet Dead

  The unquiet dead form a large part of the work carried out by spooks. Being seventh sons of seventh sons, we can see and hear the dead and have conversations with their spirits. Ghasts we can do nothing about, but with ghosts our rate of success is high.

  Unlike priests, who try to exorcise ghosts using the ritual of bell, book, and candle, we talk directly to them, as you would to a living person. Our first priority is to find out why they have become trapped on earth. This is usually a consequence of some crime they have committed or their own sudden violent death. Many do not even realize they are dead. After convincing them that this is so, the next step is to persuade them to think of a happy memory from their former life. Concentration upon that usually solves the problem and gives them sufficient peace of mind to be able to find their way through the mists of limbo to the light.

  The art of speaking to the dead must be practiced and the necessary skills developed. Some spooks are better at this than others. To be effective in this regard, we must empathize with ghosts and understand their pain and disorientation.1

  SYMBOLS USED FOR THE UNQUIET DEAD

  These are usually marked close to where the spirit lurks, perhaps carved into a tree or door. A Greek letter gamma (see opposite) is used for both ghosts and ghasts. The type of spirit is indicated at the top right. In this case, the letter sigma labels it as a strangler ghost.

  Note the ranking system used: to the bottom right of the main symbol is a number; ranks 1 to 5 are ghosts; 6 to 10 are ghasts. In the example here, the strangler is a rank 3.

  Abhuman spirits are indicated by the Greek letter alpha. They are not classified into types, but a ranking is given from 1 to 10.

  Abhuman Spirits

  Abhuman spirits are human souls that have degenerated and fallen so far from their former condition that they are more akin to beasts, sometimes taking the form of hybrids, half human, half animal. This is often a result of spending a long time trapped in limbo or having committed some terrible crime on earth.

  An Abhuman

  A Group of Abhumans

  Although a spirit can usually be persuaded to go to the light by focusing upon a happy memory of its former life, this always proves far more difficult when dealing with abhuman spirits. Often they cannot remember much of their e
xistence on earth, much less any brief periods of happiness.

  Most of these poor unfortunates cannot be helped by a spook and are doomed to exist in that tormented condition until the end of time itself. Nevertheless, if the opportunity presents itself, it is still worth making the effort to free them from that miserable existence.2

  Ghasts

  Ghasts are fragments of spirits that have been able to move on to the light only by leaving the evil part of themselves behind. Their behavior is repetitive and compulsive: Over and over again they repeat some act that they once performed when they were alive. Often it is a crime such as murder, but occasionally they are the victims.

  The largest ghast visitation in the County takes place on Hangman’s Hill, where, after a savage battle during their civil war, a large number of soldiers were executed. They can sometimes be seen there, hanging from the trees as they slowly choke to death.3

  Ghasts feed upon terror. It makes them stronger. They are ranked from 6 to 10. Most people would be hardly aware of a 10, but those of the highest rank sometimes drive people insane from pure fear. Sometimes they try to touch the living with their cold fingers or even squeeze the throat or press on the chest to make breathing difficult.

  The house in Horshaw, where I was born, harbors the ghast of a miner in the cellar. As soon as their training commences, I take all my apprentices there to see if they have sufficient courage to face the dark. I also attempt from time to time to deal with ghasts myself, but so far without success. As yet a spook can do nothing about such entities, and we must continue