9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
From the moment I’d met Frogmatch, Bastion had treated him with respect. I hadn’t understood why until the little imp had grown to gargantuan proportions and started to tear through the evil Coven with his antlers. He had vowed to protect me – but right now I needed him to protect someone else.
‘A word?’ I asked the imp.
He swung down off Benji’s shoulder, scuttled across the floor and climbed me like I was a jungle gym. ‘What can I do for you, Crone?’ The respect with which he spoke took me by surprise. He was so jovial most of the time that it was rare to hear a serious tone in his voice. I realised that I’d often underestimated him and I made a mental note to stop that; there was nothing humorous about the imp when he wanted to be deadly .
‘I need you to guard Ria and Meredith. I need them safe. I’ll ask Charlize if Meredith and Ria can join my mum. Even though she is guarded by rune wards and griffins, more occupants means that additional guards will be needed. I saw what you can do. Will you help keep Ria safe for me?’
He puffed out his chest. ‘Aye, I’ll keep her safe,’ he vowed.
‘Thank you.’ I touched my hand to my chest to show him how much I appreciated his agreement, and his little chest swelled again with pride. He swung down from me and skittered over to Ria and Meredith.
‘This is Frogmatch,’ I introduced him to the witches. ‘He’s my—’ indentured servant? ‘—loyal friend. He will keep an eye on you both, keep you safe.’
Ria frowned, no doubt thinking that he wouldn’t be much help at all. I didn’t elaborate on Frogmatch’s skillset; that was for him to disclose as and when he wanted to. Most species prefer to keep their skills hidden; that’s one of the reasons the Other realm is so dangerous. Even to its experienced, knowledgeable occupants, it is still a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Woe betide the fools who think they know all there is to know about the Other realm .
I excused myself and went to speak to Cain. Bastion and he were talking in low voices. ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ I said, though I didn’t sound especially sorry, nor did I feel it. We needed to get things in motion and I was feeling impatient. ‘We’re going to take Meredith and Ria with us. We’ll see them secured somewhere else. Hopefully that means the evil Coven won’t have any interest in the circus after that.’
Cain grimaced. ‘I hate the idea that I’ve failed them, but you’re right. Much as it pains me to admit it, they’re not safe here.’
‘Exactly,’ I agreed briskly. ‘I need to check the wards. Someone came in here and attacked Meredith. Even though she can’t – or won’t – tell us anything about her assailant, we know she was attacked on site during the night. That means the wards were interfered with.’
‘So her attacker was almost certainly a witch,’ Cain said sombrely.
‘And a male one,’ Bastion noted. ‘They struck her over the head first and then hoisted her up. They had to be strong to do that.’
‘Or they weren’t working alone,’ I pointed out.
‘Or that,’ he agreed .
I rifled through my tote bag and pulled out the protection potion for ward runing. It wasn’t quite as effective as using blood in the protection wards, but not by much.
I untacked the poster on the inside of the caravan door and touched the runes with my magic. Though they lit up promptly, the glow was soft like a firefly’s. I scanned them but they were in perfect working order, though the reduced glow showed that they were weakening. Another runing would be required in the next week or so. I sighed inwardly; I might as well do it while I was here.
‘Bastion,’ I called over my shoulder, ‘I’m going to re-rune the circus while we’re here. Can you rip away these protection wards? It’ll save me one job. Then I’ll re-do them.’
Bastion nodded. His eyes glowed golden for a moment and the wards in front of me melted like snow in the desert. ‘Thanks,’ I muttered and started painting.
This time, as well as the normal protective runes, I added a little defensive bite. It took more time, more effort and more magic, but if another evil witch came strolling around there’d be a sting in the tail if they tried to cancel the runes.
It wasn’t black magic – but it was decidedly grey. I found that I didn’t care too much; if someone came prowling around to deactivate protection wards, they only had one purpose in mind. I painted more protective runes so my scorpion runes would be hidden at first glance. If the witch was in a hurry or just lazy, my runes would bite them in the ass.
Once Cain’s place was done, I moved determinedly onto the next caravan. In the thirteenth, I found where the runes had been cancelled and the witch had slipped in. The warding runes worked together in harmony, keeping the entire circus safe. A misalignment or a cancellation introduced a weak point that someone could exploit.
After painting protective runes on fifty caravans, I was running on empty and my skin was itching like mad. I didn’t have any of my ORAL potion to hand. I resisted the urge to scratch; it isn’t dignified to scratch at yourself like a dog with fleas.
I texted Charlize and told her that we would be bringing two more people in for her to protect.
‘It feels horrendous,’ Bastion said in a low voice to me.
‘What?’
‘The itch. I never appreciated how horrible it is. I thought you humans were just exaggerating, but it’s almost unbearable. And I’m only feeling it second-hand through our bond. I don’t know how you’re not mauling your skin.’
‘Through sheer stubbornness,’ I admitted.
A smile ghosted across his face. ‘That sounds like you.’
Bastion came from the creature side of the Other divide, so he never had to go back and forth through portals and his magic never waned. It was surprisingly gratifying to have him acknowledge what human magic users went through.
‘You get used to it,’ I said.
‘It’s enough to make you want to rip your skin off.’
‘Hopefully Oscar has some ORAL potion in the car. If not, we’ll have to stop at a portal.’ I didn’t really want to do that, not with Ria and Meredith in my care and under my protection. A portal is always a point of weakness no matter what security the elementals offer, and it always feels vulnerable.
I went to say goodbye to Cain. He was talking to Victoria Dubois, the circus’s fortune teller and they were leaning close. There was a familiarity there that told me they were more than friends. Victoria was a beautiful young woman; Cain was incredibly attractive too and they made a stunning pair. If they had been famous, they would have had some sort of mangled joint name like Brangelina – Vain perhaps. I snickered to myself.
Victoria was as powerful as she was beautiful. She was an incredibly gifted seer; even stuck in the Common realm as she was, she could still see glimpses of the future. When she was younger, many people had expected her to become High Priestess one day but then she’d disappeared. I hadn’t asked her why she’d needed to hide because that is an unwritten rule in the circus: no one talks about before . It’s too raw to consider all you have lost.
‘We’re all done here,’ I said firmly to Cain. ‘I’ve runed you all to the hilt. You’ll be absolutely fine.’
‘Thank you, Amber.’ Cain looked relieved and the tension eased from his shoulders.
‘A word, Crone,’ Victoria said.
‘Crone?’ Cain was taken aback. ‘You’ve had quite the promotion. I didn’t think you were old enough for the role.’ His voice was a little sharp.
I winced. I probably should have mentioned the new title and all that went with it, but my focus had been on Meredith. ‘A recent promotion,’ I muttered a shade defensively.
‘A word – alone,’ Victoria repeated.
I turned to Bastion. ‘ Can you get Meredith and Ria settled in the car? I’ll sit in the back with them, Benji in the front. You’ll have to fly, I’m afraid.’
Bastion shook his head. ‘No, you ride with me and they can take the car. We’ll meet them at our final destination.’
I opened my mouth to object then closed it. I didn’t want to be separated from Bastion; the last time that had happened, I’d ended up in a dank jail cell. ‘Fine. Can you see if Oscar has any ORAL on hand?’
Bastion moved away and Cain also stood up and left me alone with the seer.
‘What did you need to talk to me about that needs privacy?’ I asked bluntly.
Victoria looked grim. ‘We need to speak of your future. What else, Crone? The Goddess tells me I must read you.’
I pursed my lips; I despised talking about my future as if it were immutable, but who was I to deny the Goddess? I folded my arms and waited for Victoria’s pronouncement of my fate. ‘Well? Go on,’ I waved at her impatiently.
‘A touch would help me achieve a clearer read,’ she suggested.
I didn’t want a clearer read, but I did want this whole conversation to be over and done with so I held out my hand imperiously. She grasped it and her eyes glowed. By the Goddess, she was powerful if she could access her powers to that extent even in Common.
She let out a strangled gasp before dropping my fingers. The light faded from her eyes and she looked at me with sadness in her eyes. ‘I don’t have enough power here to pull a true prophecy for you, but what I saw will come to pass. I’m sorry, Crone.’
‘What?’ I asked evenly. ‘What did you see?’
‘Your mother’s death, at your own hand.’
‘Never!’ I gasped.
‘You plunged a blade into her heart – but it will save us all.’
I shook my head and stumbled back from her. Never. I would never harm Mum. For all I cared, the world could burn before I did that.