Cursed Bones

chapter 35



The next three days passed slowly for Isabel. She was becoming increasingly anxious to be on her way, but Hazel steadfastly maintained that the soldiers were still camped in the vicinity, apparently believing that Isabel and her friends were hiding in the swamp and choosing to wait them out. Hazel didn’t seem concerned about the matter, going about the business of directing Hector and Horace in nearly a dozen projects around her little sanctuary, from mending the roof of her cottage to tilling compost into several garden plots.

Isabel used the time to teach Ayela everything she could about fighting. Ayela was a quick learner but there was only so much a person could learn in such a short period of time. Isabel focused on drilling a number of basic attacks with a knife, knowing full well that learning how to fight was as much about teaching the mind as it was about teaching the muscles and tendons of the body to perform complex movements in a blink. That took time and practice—a fact that Ayela accepted with resignation after discovering how grueling knife-fighting drills were.

She kept at it though. Isabel admired her dedication and drive. Ayela wanted these skills enough to do the work. Isabel had no doubt she would succeed in becoming quite effective with a blade, just not anytime soon. Mastery took years of work. Isabel had started drilling with the Rangers when she was fourteen and remembered all too well how difficult the exercises could be.

The morning of the next day, Isabel could tell that Ayela wanted to say something but was reluctant. Once Hector and Horace had gone to work under the watchful eye of Hazel, Isabel smiled at Ayela.

“Out with it,” she said.

“I’m so sore,” Ayela said. “Could we take the day off? My body needs to rest.”

“Of course,” Isabel said, chuckling. “I was wondering when all your hard work would catch up with you.”

“Yesterday,” Ayela said, stretching her arms. “I asked Hazel if I could pick some of her plants today and she said yes. You said you wanted to learn how to make blackwort, so why don’t I teach you?”

“All right,” Isabel said. “I’ll be the student today.”

They left the cottage and Ayela led her to the valley wall. “The first ingredient we’ll look for is bluecap,” she said. “It’s a type of mushroom that likes to grow under fallen logs.” She knelt down, peering under a rotting tree trunk and looking at the ground carefully. There were a number of different mushrooms of various shapes and sizes, but all growing in little patches of their own as if they were being cultivated.

“Ah, here we are,” Ayela said, pointing to a small group of mushrooms with long stems and dark bell-shaped caps tinged with an iridescent blue.

“When harvesting bluecaps, it’s important that you don’t touch the cap itself,” Ayela said, carefully cutting the long stem with her knife and pinching the stem against the blade so she could drop the mushroom into a jar without handling the top.

“What happens if you touch the cap?” Isabel asked.

“Most people spend many hours vomiting,” Ayela said. “Some get sick enough to die, but that’s rare.”

“Good to know,” Isabel said.

After picking three bluecaps, Ayela put the lid on the jar and stood up. “Next we need Fly Agaric,” she said. “They tend to grow in the shade of trees.” She pointed to a small grove across the little valley. It suddenly struck Isabel how out of place some of the trees were, given their location. Hazel must have transplanted them and carefully cultivated them since most weren’t native to the jungle.

“Fly Agaric is another type of mushroom. It has a broad red cap with lots of white spots, and the stem and gills are white,” Ayela said. “They tend to grow in small clumps of eight to twelve.”

After a few minutes of searching and discovering several different varieties of fungus, all growing in segregated patches, they found what they were looking for. Ayela unceremoniously plucked the cap from the largest in the bunch and put it into her jar with the bluecaps.

“These are harmless … unless you eat them,” she said. “Now all we need is wolf lichen. It’s a bright green, loose-hanging lichen that grows on the shady side of trees.”

While they were searching through the grove of trees, Isabel thought she saw a cave along one wall of the valley. It was covered in dense bushes with shiny green leaves. When she started toward them, Ayela stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“You don’t want to touch those,” she said. “You’ll be scratching for a week and the more you scratch, the more your skin will welt.”

“Oh! Thanks for warning me,” Isabel said, making a mental note of the location for future investigation.

“I think we’ll have better luck over there,” Ayela said, pointing to the north side of the grove. A few minutes later she stopped, pointing several feet up the side of a fir tree … yet another species of tree very out of place in the swamp.

Ayela used a stick to scrape off a chunk of the lichen, which she stuffed into her jar.

“That’s all we need, except for some water and a fire.”

They returned to an empty cottage. Isabel suspected Hazel had Hector and Horace hard at work mending a fence or something equally as mundane.

Ayela started filling a pan with some water to make blackwort. “First, we bring the water to a boil,” she said. “Then we add the bluecaps.” She’d removed the other ingredients from the jar, leaving only the bluecaps to dump into the boiling water.

“Let them cook for a few minutes until they get soft, then smash them into mush against the side of the pan. Let the mixture boil for another few minutes, then add the Fly Agaric and the wolf lichen. Set the pan off to the side of the fire and let it sit for about an hour, then remove the Fly Agaric and the wolf lichen. Reduce the liquid that remains until it turns black and starts to thicken, stirring frequently.”

Ayela worked carefully and attentively, explaining each step until she held up a vial of blackwort and handed it to Isabel.

“Cook some onto your blade and your enemy won’t survive,” Ayela said.

“Blackwort is dangerous, Child,” Hazel said from behind them. “Where did you learn to make such a thing?”

Ayela shrugged innocently. “My mother taught me. She taught me about most of the medicines and poisons I know how to make.”

“Ah, well, who am I to question a mother’s wisdom,” Hazel said. “Make sure you scrub that pot with sand before you use it for your dinner.” Hazel left quickly, almost too quickly.

“Thank you, Ayela,” Isabel said. “I’m always amazed at the wonders nature has to offer.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Ayela said, looking down into the fire and falling silent.

Isabel waited for her to continue.

“I’m going to miss you, Isabel. I’ve never had many friends. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who treats me like a person, like an equal.”

“It’s not too late to change your mind,” Isabel said. “You can still come with us.”

“I know, but the more I think about it, the more certain I am that my place is here, for now anyway.”

“I hope you’re right,” Isabel said.

The following morning, Isabel woke suddenly. She’d been dreaming of Alexander, except the dream seemed more real than most and he’d been desperate to find her, to warn her.

Hazel was sitting by the fire. She turned and looked at Isabel as if she knew.

“Release your hold over Hector and Horace,” Isabel said. “Return our weapons and let us go, today.”

“You’re hardly in a position to be making demands,” Hazel said.

“I know you’ve been lying to us,” Isabel said. “I know the Sin’Rath have moved on, yet you continue with your lies. What’s your game?”

“I give you shelter in my home and this is how you repay me?” Hazel said. “With baseless accusations and suspicion?”

“My husband came to my dreams last night and warned me about you.”

“Impossible,” Hazel said, though Isabel could sense growing alarm from the old witch. “This place is protected from such magic.”

“Alexander is very persistent and more powerful than you might imagine,” Isabel said. “What’s more, he knows where you live. I’d be very careful if I were you.”

“Don’t threaten me,” Hazel snapped. “Even if I believed you, your husband is a world away. You left him, remember? He can hardly help you and I doubt very much he would long mourn your loss.”

“Don’t count on that,” Alexander said, materializing beside Isabel. “It took me quite a while to figure out your defenses. I have to admit, even I was surprised by what I learned in the process, but that’s beside the point. If you harm Isabel, I will wage total war against you until I have your head. I will set aside my battle with Phane and postpone my war with Zuhl and I will focus all of my efforts on finding you and killing you.”

“How can this be?” Hazel said, standing with a look of shock and dismay. “My defenses have never been breached. They’re impenetrable.”

“Are they now?” Alexander said.

Hazel’s eyes narrowed and a bit of the color drained from her face. “It can’t be … yet how can it be otherwise? You’re like the one who watches.”

Alexander smiled ever so slightly, just to communicate understanding to the old witch without revealing the existence of Siduri to Isabel. He wasn’t ready for her to have that information, not as long as Phane had his hooks in her.

Hazel looked around like a trapped rat.

“There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,” Alexander said. “But I’ll make you a deal—release Isabel and her companions, all of them, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Something within Hazel seemed to snap, as if years of planning and effort was about to be washed away and it was more than she could take.

“Never,” she snarled savagely, tossing a pinch of powder into Isabel’s face. “You can have your wife, she’s more trouble than she’s worth, but the rest are mine.”

Isabel slumped to her knees and fell over. A glance at her colors told Alexander that she was alive but unconscious.

“If you know what I am, then you know there’s nowhere you can hide,” Alexander said. “Especially now that I’ve figured out how to penetrate your warding spells. Release them and I will leave you in peace.”

“I can’t,” Hazel said. “I need them. I’m so close. You don’t understand. I’ve been working for over a century to defeat the Sin’Rath, and now I finally have the means, but I can’t do it without them.” She pointed to Hector, Horace, and Ayela who were standing over their bedrolls, watching the exchange.

“Had you simply asked, I’m sure Isabel would have been willing to help you,” Alexander said.

“I doubt that very much,” Hazel said.

“What have you done to Isabel?” Ayela asked.

“She’s just sleeping, Child,” Hazel said, dismissively. “Pack your things. We’ll be leaving today.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you until I’m sure Isabel is all right,” Ayela said.

“Don’t be a fool,” Hazel snapped. “Do as you’re told.”

“No,” Ayela said, drawing her dagger. “Isabel is my friend.”

“Hector, be a dear and take her weapon,” Hazel said.

Hector grabbed Ayela by the wrist and calmly pried the blade from her hand.

“This is your doing,” Hazel said to Alexander before she stepped up to Ayela and blew a pinch of powder into her face. The Princess of Karth blinked a few times, then her eyes went glassy and her face went slack.

“Pack your things,” Hazel said.

Ayela slowly started gathering her belongings, moving in a methodical, almost shambling sort of way.

“For what it’s worth, I won’t harm Isabel. She may yet prove useful, provided she survives the swamp.”

Alexander faded from sight but remained to watch. He wanted to shout, to rage against the witch, to threaten her, but he was afraid of what she might do to Isabel.

So he simply watched.