Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Harris
I’d like to think I had a good ability to tolerate pain, but everyone had their limits. I’d never felt anything like this before. It blinded me. I hunched over, clutching at my stomach, groaning amidst the excruciating pressure.
“Boss?” Paulo called through the phone.
I gripped my phone so tightly I thought I would crack it as I stumbled to the side. “Call Kaylor and get her teleported here now,” I ordered through clenched teeth.
I turned back to the door of Camilla’s cottage, hearing her cries.
I banged on it, knowing it was unlikely that she’d be able to make it to the door.
If what was happening to me was happening to her, she’d be damn near immobile.
I was stronger. Every agonizing cry from her focused me through my own pain. I had to get to her.
I slammed my body against the door, over and over again. Each time my arm hit the door, I thought I might die from the explosion of intensified ache. But not before I got to her.
When the door finally gave in, I stumbled my way to Camilla, who I found writhing in pain on the floor.
I dropped to my knees and cradled her in my arms, feeling helpless as she struggled against me.
I didn’t know how to stop our pain or where it even came from.
I just knew that we were dying right when we reconnected.
It was the worst kind of misfortune, and for all my sins, the best kind of karma for my enemies.
I hugged her tighter to me, my eyes fluttering from the pain.
We couldn’t go on much longer like this.
I ran a shaky hand over her braids as she whined in my arms, her body sweating. We both were drenched. “It’s okay, baby. Help is on the way.”
She tightened her grip on my shirt, and then the world shifted.
The pain subsided, and my vision cleared.
Her cries became dull whimpers. I stilled my body and took mental inventory as that previous, seemingly life-ending, ache disappeared.
My body felt heavy and weak, but there was no more pain, just the ghost of a dull discomfort.
“Harris?” called a British-accented voice from the front door.
“In here!” I shouted.
Seconds later, a woman with thick, wavy strawberry blonde hair, a face full of freckles, and dressed in a patterned maxi dress appeared.
“Oh, my goddess,” she cried, racing to us.
She immediately dug into a pouch at her hip, bringing out a vial and opening it.
She then sprinkled the liquid over us as she recited what sounded like a spell.
Although Camilla’s writhing had subsided, her face was still scrunched in pain, her eyes closed. I pressed her tighter to me, rubbing her arm in my best attempt to soothe her. “What’s happening, Kaylor?”
My witch on retainer looked between us with wide green eyes, her hands pushed out. “Magic. Death magic. It seems someone put a spell on you to kill you.”
I growled in frustration. This had to be an enemy. I thought things were getting better. Safer for her. “Both of us were bespelled?”
Kaylor nodded and bent down in front of us. She brushed a hand over Camilla’s face, and seconds later, she opened her eyes. Her breath had slowed down, and she seemed much calmer.
Kaylor shook her head. “But, Harris, I didn’t break the spell. It’s still there. I just paused your pain so I can figure out what’s happening. Do you know who could have done this?”
“I have a couple of enemies still around.” I kept my eyes on Camilla, who wordlessly listened to us. She looked so weak, exhausted. I felt the same, but hated seeing her this way. This was the very thing I wanted to avoid.
Kaylor pulled out another object from her pouch, which appeared to be a crystal, and hovered it over us. “What about her?”
Camilla rolled her forehead into my chest, and I heard her release a slow groan. “I don’t have any enemies. At least none that would do this,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.
“How do you feel?” I asked, brushing several of her braids away from her shoulder.
“Like I was hit by a car and then backed over and then run over again. But it was getting better before you came. As soon as Harris hugged me.”
Kaylor arched a brow. “Intriguing. You may be the unlucky recipient of a spell most likely made for Harris. Death magic can be spell-based or food-based. Did you eat anything recently? It takes almost an immediate effect. Just like for Snow White when she ate the poisoned apple.”
I shook my head. “No, we didn’t eat. We just ran into each other, not even an hour ago.”
Kaylor narrowed her eyes. “Tell me everything that happened.”
I recapped our painful puppetry for her, leaving out the part where I was already at Camilla’s cottage and was jogging discretely in her vicinity as she rode her bike like a child new to riding.
She really should have just walked, she was so slow.
“We then came here and talked for a while. Everything was fine until I stepped outside and closed the door. Then, not even a minute later, pure pain.”
Camilla sat up, still allowing me to wrap her in my arms. “It was weird, but then it quickly went away. Like my whole body was vibrating.”
I furrowed my brows, irritation growing. “I felt the same.”
Kaylor rubbed her chin. “That was the magic. I desperately hate death magic. Any kind of dark magic is a challenge. It requires a lot to use and a lot to break. Technically, you both should be dead by now. However, this magic seems slow-moving.”
Camilla gasped. “So, we’re dying?”
“Yes, but not right now.”
“What does not right now mean?”
Kaylor looked helplessly between the two of us.
“I’m sorry. I don’t honestly know. Slow death magic, usually because the welder was weak or didn’t sacrifice enough, can take a few months at the longest. But you just don’t know.
What I find curious is that you didn’t both feel pain until you separated.
Now that could have been a coincidence, but I don’t like to assume things.
” She looked to Camilla. “I’m Kaylor, by the way. What’s your name?”
“Camilla.”
“Hi, Camilla. I’m a witch. What are you? I can feel your aura, and it is chock full of magic.”
“I’m half elf, half mage. Realm mage.”
Kaylor lifted an index finger, brows raised. “Ah, makes sense. Realm magic is quite beneficial. Conjuring, potions, teleportation. You breathe it. Don’t even need spells when you’re a mage.”
I adjusted, wanting to get us off the floor. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that perhaps the death magic isn’t working the way it was meant to because of your lady friend’s magical aura. It dulled its effects.”
Camilla leaned forward, eyes hopeful. “So, we could survive?”
Kaylor tilted her head from side to side.
“Not sure. You are still laced in it, and I’m not having success breaking it.
I just find it curious that when you separated, the dying started to happen, but when you reconnected, you felt fine again.
I suspect that if you separated again, the pain would return, and perhaps the aura of the death magic would darken.
I’d hate to put you through that again just to test my theory.
I think it's evidence enough that you aren’t feeling pain now. ”
I got to my feet and then lowered, lifting Camilla in my arms. She did not protest, which I appreciated.
I walked us to the couch, Kaylor following.
Sitting down, I kept her in my arms, not making the slightest movement to release her, and she didn’t fight me.
“Let me make sense of what you’re saying.
Someone put a death curse on us. That could have occurred while I was on my bike, which was why I lost control. ”
Kaylor cut in. “That or the death curse was aimed at just you, but Camilla became an unintended victim as a result of being nearby. Perhaps it spread onto her like a virus. Dark magic is very chaotic like that. But that worked out in your favor because her magical aura diluted the curse. It slowed down the effects or perhaps pauses it when you are near.” “Why would proximity affect her? I get why I would need to be near her to reap the benefits of her aura, but why does she need to be near me?”
Kaylor rubbed at her temples, shutting her eyes, as she paced back and forth in front of us. “Maybe because the curse or spell took some part of her magic essence, and she needs to siphon off you for help. I don’t know mage or elven magic that well.”
Camilla leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her middle.
“My magic’s been unstable lately. I had been muting my realm access magic for some time, but it recently stopped working, and portals snap open at random moments.
I hated it, but maybe it’s a good thing the magic opened up again.
Who’s to say I would have been strong enough to survive this if I had kept it muted?
I guess my magic protects me even when I don’t try. ”
Kaylor paused her pacing and looked at us both. “That’s the benefit of being a mage. Magic is as easy as breathing for you. I’m so jealous. I’d ask you why you’d ever want to mute your realm magic, but perhaps that’s not my business?”
I had my suspicions, but wasn’t going to volunteer that knowledge now.
“I did use my magic when I fell,” Camilla went on. “I didn’t even think, I just wanted to protect myself from getting hurt. Only, it didn’t soften the fall. Could it have instead worked to counter the death spell? And protect Harris, all without me thinking about it? Like some Spidey sense?”