Chapter 32

“Pack it in, ladies and gents!” Mister North’s booming voice echoed through the dawn. Thin rays of red-gold light had just begun filtering through the trees and already camp was bustling. “Cap’n wants us on the water after breakfast,” Mister North continued.

Bella felt awful. After she’d ended the ritual, Quinn had thanked them for trying, and she and Friday had gone back to their respective tents. Bella wished Friday had stayed, but the doctor had wanted to check on her patients to make sure nothing had happened while they were asleep.

So Bella was alone in Will’s tent. Her body felt like wet sand, and her eyes felt like dry sand. She could only remember being this tired a few times in her life. She’d never been a morning person, and this morning felt more like a morning than any other morning in the history of time. She laid there, wondering just how long she could put off getting up. Maybe she could get another half hour of sleep if she skipped breakfast. Stew liked her. She could probably charm something out of him after they were on the ship again.

A bright red furry face shoved itself under the flap of the tent and chittered at her.

Bella pulled Will’s pillow over her face. “Go away.”

The monkey did the opposite. It climbed onto her chest and started pulling on the pillow. The ensuing tug-of-war was completely undignified, and Bella lost. She sat up in a huff.

“I always wanted a monkey,” she grumbled sarcastically to herself. “They’re so cute. They’re so smart.”

Jack the monkey began rifling through her bag. She grabbed it. Another tug-of-war began. The monkey won again, this time by simply climbing into the bag.

“I could have had a little bird. Or a cat,” she muttered. “Noooo, I had to be unique.”

The monkey stuck its head out of her bag and held out the small pouch that Bella kept sugared dates and other treats in. She sighed and untied the knot. It quickly jammed its little fist inside, and pulled out the very last treat, barely even looking at the sugary lump before cramming the whole thing into its wide mouth. It put its hand back in the small bag and made a dissatisfied noise.

Bella copied the dissatisfied noise. “You know you could have done that without waking me up. I know how sneaky you can be. I trained you.”

It threw the small bag at her in protest.

“I know!” Bella said in exasperation. “I’m sorry. I don’t like it either. I’ll get more as soon as I can.” She scratched its little red head and sighed. “It sounds like we will be back in some kind of civilization later today. Treats will be at the top of my list, I promise.”

The little creature curled up in her lap. She rubbed her eyes and wrinkled her nose. “You need a bath.”

“Bella?” Friday’s voice came from outside.

“Mmm, come in,” Bella said with a yawn.

The doctor’s face pushed through the tent flap. “Heard you, I,” she said. “Thought I might be interrupting.”

Bella gestured to the orange and white bundle of fur resting on her thighs. “Just an argument with my familiar. Jackie, this is Friday. Friday, meet Jackie.” She held the monkey’s little face in one hand and looked sternly into his eyes. “She’s a friend. Behave.”

Jackie pulled himself out of Bella’s grip to watch Friday as she moved through the tent flap. The little red and black beast was not subtle as its eyes flicked quickly across all of Friday’s pockets and to the earrings and necklace she wore. He huffed in disappointment.

Friday laughed. “Heard, I, that they can be ... opinionated.”

“That’s a polite way of putting it,” Bella said with a tired smile. “He’s usually very good, but being on the ship was a big change, and the attack scared him a lot. He blames me, so he’s been mostly avoiding me lately.”

“Can feel that, you?” Friday asked, coming the rest of the way into the tent and kneeling down at the edge of the blankets. She was wearing most of the fancy white outfit she’d been wearing when they’d first met, with what looked like a slightly bloody cook’s apron over it.

Bella nodded. “I don’t know what other animals are like, but monkey emotions are strong, and a lot more complicated than I expected. He was pretty mad at me. I figured I’d give him his space until he was ready to talk.”

“Speaks, he?” Friday asked, surprised.

“Not with words,” Bella explained. “He can understand me fine, but can’t speak.”

Friday nodded in understanding. “Does not have the right vocal cords, he.”

“I guess,” Bella said with a shrug. “He speaks to me by letting me feel his intent and emotion through our bond. Our communication started out fairly simple, but now it’s complex enough that it feels a lot like having a conversation.”

Friday felt a pang of envy. She had always wanted a familiar, but the ritual took far more energy than she could manage. “It must be very useful to be able to communicate so easily, on top of having a reserve of energy to draw from.”

“A what?” Bella asked, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

Friday’s eyes tightened in confusion. “A familiar reserve.”

Bella shook her head, clearly not understanding.

Friday didn’t know where to begin. “It is what familiars are for?”

Bella looked down at the monkey in her lap. “I thought they were for companionship.”

Shocked understanding dawned on the doctor. “Never learned, you?”

Bella looked momentarily angry, but stopped herself from speaking. A moment later she just looked pained and sad. “I guess not.”

“Did I upset you?” Friday asked.

Bella sighed. “Working with you comes with a lot of reminders of all the things I don’t know. It isn’t your fault. The things I don’t know seem like they surprise you. It can come across ... I don’t know. A bit condescending I guess. I think I’m just sensitive about it. I try not to let it get to me, but I’m really tired right now.”

“Oh,” Friday said, pursing her lips apologetically. “Meant no disrespect, I. It does take me by surprise. A much stronger witch than I, you.”

Bella shrugged. “It’s alright. My education wasn’t anything like yours. A lot of what I do is self taught. Learning where the gaps in my knowledge are is important.”

“Self taught? As a fortune weaver?” Friday said with eyes wide. “Loa prezève! A prodigy, you!”

It was Bella’s turn to look shocked. “Really? It doesn’t feel that way.”

“Fortune magic is very complex. Was taught the basic theory, I, and barely understood it. It manipulates time, space, and spirit. It requires great strength and finesse, and the consequences of mistakes can be drastic. Even when walked through the creation of a basic luck charm, failed three times, I. Had bad luck for weeks after. When finally got it right, I, my charm only lasted an hour.” Friday explained. “Being self taught ... Can’t even imagine, I.”

“I don’t make up new things. I mostly just figure out how to do things that I already know can be done. I figure, if someone else can do it, so can I. I just have to figure out how, because I don’t have anyone to teach me.” Bella said with a shrug. “My people invented fortune magic. I don’t think it’s that impressive. I do get things wrong a lot, but I’m really good at warding off the fortune rebound when I mess up. Back home, I have a warded box full of accidentally made bad luck charms.”

Friday shook her head in disbelief. “Don’t understand, you,” She held out her hand and moved it, flexing her fingers, tapping each one to her thumb one after another. “What you describe ... that is like seeing a human hand, and deciding to simply build one. Have reverse engineered, you, something that the brightest minds in the world barely comprehend the complexities of.”

“Couldn’t you do that though?” Bella asked. “Assemble the bones and whatnot, bind a spirit to it and make it move?” Bella asked.

“Well yes, but I am a doctor and a witch, both. It took more than ten years of study to reach the skill where I could attempt such a complex task. I certainly never could have figured out how to do it on my own. Even then, if I did animate a hand, it would pale in comparison to the real thing. Could not feel anything with it, I. Would have to command it deliberately, I. The spirit animating it would have impulses outside my intent. There would be many differences. Perhaps better than not having a hand at all, yes, but it would be nothing more than a macabre prosthetic.” Friday shook her head emphatically. “And even that kind of complex puppetry is child’s play compared to the manipulation of fate.”

Bella still wasn’t convinced. She scowled in thought. “It’s not as though I understand it all either. I tell the magic what my destination is, and it figures out how to get there. I don’t need to know all the complexities of how. Reading a fortune is mostly about knowing how to ask a question the right way. Changing a fortune is harder You have to make a spell that tells the magic what you want the answer to a question to be, and then giving it enough power to figure out how to arrange the question so that so that your answer makes sense,” She mimicked Friday’s display of dexterity with her own hand. “I don’t need to know how my hand works to make it move.”

“The question you are arranging is reality itself,” Friday said, still having trouble wrapping her head around Bella’s methods. To her, it seemed like her new friend was performing surgery with a hammer, and somehow saving lives. She sighed, and decided to drop the larger subject and get back to the original topic. “Well, have clearly learned the hard part, you. Binding a familiar takes a great deal of power and control. Learning to tap into your familiar’s energy should be much easier.”

“Once we aren’t in such dire circumstances, I’m really looking forward to some sort of drunken night of talking about the craft and figuring out all the things I never learned,” Bella said with a wistful smile.

“Exactly what I came to discuss, that,” Friday said. She pulled herself into a more comfortable cross-legged position and pulled a folded paper out of the pocket of her apron. “Have to stay here, I. Hoped that you would help me with some shopping, I.”

Bella took the paper and unfolded it. “Of course. Why do you have to stay here though?”

“Some patients are too hurt to be moved yet,” Friday explained solemnly. “Also, Captain Vex is concerned about the grindylow infection. Everyone who was stung by them is staying here where I can keep an eye on them.”

“The what?” Bella asked, alarmed. She sat all the way up and mirrored Friday’s cross legged position, ignoring her own nudity as the blankets fell, and the squawked protests of the monkey that had been curled up on her legs.

“Of course. New information, that. Not sure who knows yet, and who does not. Discovered, I, that the grindylow are parasitic. Believe, I, that their stingers are how they reproduce,” Friday explained.

Bella’s eyes went wide and her hand covered her mouth. “Oh no. Is that why they look like people?! Everyone who was stung...” her words trailed off in horror. “ Can you stop it?

“Think so, I,” Friday said. She pointed to the list clutched in Bella’s other hand. “With those ingredients, can start testing, I.”

Bella nodded quickly, then something occurred to her. “Will told me Mister North handles all the purchases for the ship. Should I take him with me? I’m not sure I have enough for all this.”

“Mister North was stung,” Friday said. “Am not sure who will take over his requisition duties, I.”

“I’ll find out,” Bella said, starting to paw through the blankets for her discarded clothing. News of the grindylow infection had run through her like icy water, banishing her fatigue entirely. “Have you checked on Jack yet?”

“Mister Quinn still has her sedated,” Friday said, passing Bella her blouse from the corner of the tent. “Spoke with her, I. Seems lucid, she, but does not know what happened in her dream. Mister Quinn does not want to release her while the enchantment is still intact.”

“I’m not sure how it could still be affecting her,” Bella said as she pulled her vest over her white blouse and began lacing it up. “I destroyed the part of the enchantment where the spellcaster’s goals and instructions were. It’s like a puppet without a puppet master now.”

Friday’s expression turned sympathetic. “May have difficulty convincing Mister Quinn of that, you.”

Bella rubbed her face with her hands and let out a groan. “I’m not sure we can break the enchantment completely.”

“Think we were very close, I.” Friday disagreed. “Sensed the deception, she. If not for that,” she raised her palms up hopefully.

Bella finished tying her laces and started working on her boots. “So we need Will. Rahat,” she cursed in her native tongue. “He’s enchanted too.”

“Very complicated, this,” Friday agreed.

“The ship’s wrecked, a bunch of the crew is infected, Jack and Will are enchanted,” Bella grumbled. “Complicated is putting it mildly.”

“Do not forget the pirates,” Friday said with an apologetic smile.

“Oh I don’t care about pirates,” Bella said waving her hands dismissively before pulling off her headscarf and going at her mess of curls with a thick wooden comb. “I’ll take them over the magistrate anyday.”

“Agree, I, The Magistrate knows better than to come here,” Friday said with a grimace. “That, at least, is a problem we will not have to deal with.”

“It’s dawn,” Sister Victoria said angrily. Her patience was wearing very thin. “Mister Sterling already has a head start on us. How much longer are we expected to wait?”

“As long as it takes,” Janie said firmly.

The four women were in the hidden basement of Will’s lighthouse. Sister Victoria’s structural Wards were set and charged with ritual and prayer. They were all exhausted, but they dared not sleep. Slowly, they kept themselves busy by digging dirt and rubble free, doing as much as possible to unbury the passage on the other side of the collapse.

“Sir Hector’s vigilance has kept the remaining riff-raff from forming another mob, but with the day will come more reinforcements,” Sister Mercy said, clearly worried.

“We need to consider whether Mister Caine may be captured or dead,” Sister Victoria added.

Tonya snorted derisively. “Not a chance.”

“As impressive a warrior as he is, he is still just one man,” Victoria said flatly.

“Sister, so far all your inquisitoring hasn’t been good for anything but embarrassing yourself,” Tonya pointed out flippantly.

Sister Victoria glared at the young witch.

“That is not a word,” Janie said, sounding slightly pained at Tonya’s casual butchering of language.

Tonya ignored the correction. “Whatever. He’s alive, and he’ll come back just like he said.”

“You can’t know that,” Sister Mercy insisted.

“The hell I can’t,” Tonya said, a touch of anger creeping into her sarcasm “You don’t know him. You don’t know us. He’s just fine.”

Sister Victoria was stubborn, but she rarely repeated her mistakes. As much as it stung to hear, the boyish-looking young woman was right. Every assumption and inference had been wrong. “Alright,” she said calmly. “How do you know?”

“Witch stuff,” Tonya shrugged.

Janie looked surprised and concerned that the young apprentice had admitted to witchcraft in front of the pair of inquisitors. “Tonya,” Janie cautioned, not sure what to say.

“What?” Tonya demanded. “I already did the talk up at the fort, and swore the oath not to practice black magic and all that. Bella’s good. I’m good. I wouldn’t even know how to use bad magic if I wanted to. I got no reason to be afraid of them.”

Janie sighed at Tonya’s impetuousness, but nodded slowly. “I suppose that’s true.”

The Sisters exchanged an amused look. “Can you tell us more about this particular ... witch stuff?” Sister Victoria asked. “Have you cast some sort of divination on Mister Caine?”

“I dunno,” Tonya said, turning her dirty hands upward. “It wasn’t something I did on purpose. We were doing a spell, and it blew up, and I can just feel him now.”

Janie’s eyes suddenly went wide with fear and horror. She turned to the Inquisitors. “Please, don’t.”

The practiced blank expressions on the Witch Hunters’ faces were nearly identical. They glanced at each other, then at Janie. Mercy shook her head. “You know we must.”

Victoria gave Tonya a scrutinizing look. “Can you tell us more?”

Janie looked pained. “We do not have time. It is irrelevant to your mission.”

“If this inquiry helps us decide whether to continue to wait, or seek other solutions, it is very relevant,” Sister Victoria said.

“If she doesn’t know how she cast a spell that affected someone else, it is our job to figure out if there is danger,” Sister Mercy added.

“What’s going on,” Tonya asked.

“They want to know about your connection with Caine,” Janie explained.

“I can just tell them,” Tonya shrugged.

“No, they want to know the things you don’t know,” Janie said insistently.

“So do I,” Tonya said, throwing her hands up.

“You don’t understand,” Janie pleaded.

Tonya took Janie’s hand. “I appreciate you looking out for me, but me and Caine have no idea what’s going on with us. This whole plan hinges on me being able to blow a hole in that wall, so if they can tell me more about this weird thing between me and Caine, maybe it will help me control the magic when I need it.”

The Sisters exchanged glances again. Caine’s plan had been deliberately vague, and suddenly they had a suspicion why. “That’s why he wanted the structural wards.” Sister Mercy said.

“He said as much,” Sister Victoria agreed.

“I had assumed we were going to be digging out a portion of the collapse that might bring the basement down on us,” Sister Mercy said.

“I thought maybe a mining charge,” Victoria added.

All the different ways an explosive magic reaction could go wrong jumbled together in Mercy’s mind. “This is madness.”

“It could work though,” Victoria reassured her.

“We have to be absolutely sure,” Mercy said firmly. “I want to check the wards again. There may be ways to further reinforce them.”

Victoria nodded once, and turned her intense gaze on Tonya. “We’ll help you figure this out, but if it turns out you’ve done something against your oath, even accidentally, our duty is to break the spell and bind you to our custody. You understand?”

Tonya’s expression started out surprised, then transitioned into amusement. She gestured around. “Custody? We’ve been holding off a fucking siege all night. Where do you think you’re going to take me?”

“It would be our duty to take you to an Inquisitorial Hold, where we can perform an Inquest on the spell you cast,” Mercy explained.

Janie winced. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. “Caine would view that as a threat,” she said carefully.

Victoria hesitated. She hadn’t considered that. “That’s honestly not how I meant it. An Inquest is not like a Questioning.”

“It was not a threat. We just wanted to be sure the apprentice understood,” Mercy added.

“It’s our duty,” Victoria said firmly, not really sure how to address the obvious issue of being trapped, and apparently relying on unknown magics to get them out. “This entire situation puts us in a very difficult position.”

“I know,” Janie said with a sigh. “That is why I have been trying to avoid the topic. He wouldn’t even like that you’re insisting on this discussion. You’ve seen how he is.”

“If it turns out he’s protecting someone who used dark magic-” Sister Mercy began.

“-and cast it on him,” Sister Victoria added,

“ ... I should think he would be thankful to us for discovering it.” Sister Mercy continued.

“You really think he would be angry?” Victoria asked, incredulous, but also clearly worried.

“You’ve seen how he is,” Janie repeated.

The Sisters exchanged another long look, and without another word walked upstairs, away from the ears of Tonya and Janie.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” Tonya asked after they left.

Janie looked worried. “I really wish you hadn’t mentioned your connection to Caine.”

“Why?” Tonya asked.

“Because you don’t understand it,” Janie explained. “The Magistrate classifies unknown magic as a kind of dark magic. They have to investigate it. That’s quite literally why their order was founded.”

“How could it be black magic? Bella said in order for magic to be black, it has to be deliberately harmful. This was an accident,” Tonya said nervously.

“Not black. Just dark,” Janie explained. “Dark magic doesn’t require intent. Just harm. Sometimes harm is justified, which is what Questionings and Inquests are all about. Their job is to learn the reasons why magic was used to hurt someone.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Tonya said.

Janie shook her head bitterly. “In theory, it isn’t. The problem is, it’s possible to work dark magic entirely by accident, and the Inquisition’s methods can be brutal. So sometimes they hurt people who never meant to hurt anyone.”

“That’s awful,” Tonya said. “No wonder everyone’s scared of them.”

“My biggest concern is, you didn’t cast the spell that created the connection between you and Caine,” Janie said.

Tonya’s face went white. “Bella wasn’t trying to hurt us! She would never do that!”

“The ritual that brought about this connection between Caine and yourself was intended to be a hex,” Janie said, her voice full of worry. “That’s a kind of curse. Hexes are a bit of a gray area since they can be used for defense, but they can very easily turn black if the caster’s intentions aren’t pure. Also, the energy was being transferred through the Ways. Again, not necessarily bad, but from what I understand the Ways are invoked in a great deal of necromantic practices. It’s suspicious, and dangerous. Not to mention that before the spell fully dissipated, both Caine and I had lost an awful lot of blood. I was in no condition to tell at the time, but if that blood entered the ritual circle before the spell finished failing, that might be enough to qualify as an unwilling sacrifice. The Inquisition is not very forgiving of that sort of thing.”

Tonya suddenly looked terrified.

“So you see how there are an awful lot of ways that the spell could have become dark, even if it was never intended to be,” Janie finished sadly.

“I didn’t know,” Tonya pleaded.

“I know you didn’t,” Janie said gently. “But I did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” Tonya demanded.

“I did not want to worry you. If I could have taken you to Fort Deliverance, we might have been able to learn more about whatever this residual connection is, but that would have invited a great deal of scrutiny,” Janie explained. “I was in hiding.”

“Yeah, alright. That makes sense,” Tonya said quietly.

“Even if involving the Magistrate was a possibility, I doubt Caine would have agreed to it,” Janie said with a sigh. “I had hoped to speak with Prelate Alexandra directly once the situation had become less dire, but everything kept spiraling out of control. I’m sorry.”

Tonya put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, our luck’s been pretty awful lately. It’s alright. Thinking I might have some kind of dark magic in me wouldn’t have helped anything. I just wish I’d known so I could have kept my mouth shut.”

“When it comes to the Inquisition, keeping your mouth shut is generally the best course of action,” Janie said gently.

“What do we do now?” Tonya asked.

“There are two ways for magic to be dark,” Janie explained. “One is by intention, the other is by source. Intention is the first part of an Inquest, and the easiest. They’ll look at the spell with some kind of divination, and see if it is harmful. If it isn’t, they’re done. If it is, they have to figure out if the potential harm is deliberate. That’s done through questioning, usually assisted by Truthtelling magics. If the harm isn’t deliberate, they’ll do their best to get rid of the spell and give you a lecture.”

“Great,” Tonya scoffed.

“If it is deliberate, they will try to find whoever cast it and put them to justice,” Janie said grimly.

“You mean kill them,” Tonya clarified.

“Usually,” Janie said.

Tonya looked angry, but shook her head. “What about the other half? The source?”

“That’s harder to figure out,” Janie said. “Once a spell has been cast, it can be difficult to tell what energies were invoked to create it. For short lived spells, it’s impossible. The effect ends, and all trace of the original source is gone. For a lingering aura, like the structural wards we just put up, or your connection with Caine, there’s different kinds of analysis that can be done, but they aren’t always reliable. It depends on how strong the aura is.”

“Seems like an awful lot of ways for them to not know what they’re trying to figure out,” Tonya snarked bitterly.

“Yes, which makes them very hard to convince, and leads to more and more invasive ways of learning what they want to know,” Janie agreed. “Usually, the easiest way to determine if a source is dark or not, is to put the caster in a Truthtelling circle, and force them to answer. That wouldn’t work in your case, because you don’t know. So they’d have to take you to an Inquisitorial stronghold, where they have special ritual rooms built to find out.”

“They can’t do that! We’re supposed to take them to Will and Bella!” Tonya protested.

“No matter what, they are going to insist on reading your aura and looking at whatever magic is connecting you to Caine,” Janie said, sounding unhappy but resigned. “All we can do is hope that whatever they discover is less important than finding Will.”

Tonya shook her head resolutely. “It won’t matter what they discover. They need you to get to Will, so they’re not going to drag us out of here. Their best bet is still to help us escape. So either way, I’ll learn more about what’s going on, and if they don’t like what they find out they’ll have to deal with Caine.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Janie said.

“I don’t know,” Tonya shrugged. “I kinda like watching him make them squirm.”

Janie smiled shyly. “Me too.”

In Will’s mostly empty library, Mercy sat down in Will’s large chair, and Victoria began pacing.

“This is a problem,” Victoria said tersely.

“I can see why Miss Castilian was trying to hide the apprentice when we arrived,” Mercy agreed.

“And why she tried to steer the conversation away from this issue,” Victoria admitted. “She’s right that the connection between the apprentice and Caine is not really relevant to our primary mission.”

“She also knows that doesn’t matter. We are bound to investigate now that we are aware,” Mercy said, rubbing her eyes in exasperation. “If it turns out to be heretical, we cannot overlook it.”

“No,” Victoria agreed. “And we cannot let them perform a ritual that relies on it, even to save ourselves and our mission.”

“If the apprentice hadn’t mentioned the connection, we would have no reason to suspect,” Mercy said, letting her thoughts meander through the issue. “So even if the ritual Caine has planned turned out to be dark, we wouldn’t know in time to stop it.”

“And if the apprentice didn’t know what she was doing, she could not be accused of malicious spellcraft,” Victoria added.

Mercy pursed her lips. “So the consequences could have been put off until after we were free.”

“Or at least until it had been attempted,” Victoria said. Their words ran into each other like uninterrupted thoughts, one barely finishing before the next began.

“All of this indicated that Miss Castilian knew the ritual relied on unknown magic,” Mercy pointed out.

“Or at least suspected, and did not report it,” Victoria said, sounding pained. “I suppose we can add that to her list of apostasy.”

Mercy went from pursing her lips to gently chewing on them. “No wonder she was so uncomfortable when Caine brought up his plan. I had assumed it was merely discomfort from bringing up witchcraft in front of us after such a tense situation.”

“Even if we were to discover dark magic, we are in no position to bring her to the Fort for proper Questioning,” Mercy continued.

“There’s no telling when the pirates outside will try to organize again. Tactically, we cannot afford to weaken our position by starting a potential conflict now,” Victoria added.

Mercy held her holy symbol like a worry stone. “There is also no telling when, or if, Caine will return.”

“Everytime we have doubted them tonight, it has not turned out well for us,” Victoria reminded her partner. “I’m inclined to believe the apprentice. She seems very confident that he is alive.”

“He could be captured,” Mercy posited.

Victoria chuckled. “I would pity his captors.”

Mercy’s mouth twitched involuntarily, but another loud gunshot from upstairs cut off her thoughts. They both tensed for a moment, looking intently at the front door. Two shots from outside rang out, and they heard the faint clicking of bullets against stone. No yells or impacts against the door came, so they relaxed. The standoff continued.