Feral Magic: An Urban Fantasy Romance-Thriller

Voices cut through the fog of fatigue. My eyes cracked open. Someone yelled my name. Lilly.

  “Fera? Fera!”

  I blinked into the darkness and groaned. She was going the wrong way, into the living area. I took a breath. The stink invaded my nose. Bile rose in my throat. I kept from throwing up, but only just. It was bad. Almost as bad as the pain in my shoulders and the thudding ache behind my eyes.

  “Fera, where are you?” It was Leif this time. I took off my invisibility ring.

  “Kitchen,” I said, “Careful.”

  Leif whispered a spell and a blue tinged orb appeared in the air above his fingers, casting harsh light into the quiet. Pain seared behind my eyes. I shielded them and curled into a ball.

  “What happened?” Leif asked while Lilly shrieked, “Oh! That is disgusting.”

  Her tone bounced around my skull. I winced. “Not so loud. Migraine.”

  “What did you do?” Lilly continued in her pitch, as though scolding a dog. “Find a trash bag and cook it on the floor?”

  “What?” I croaked. I opened my eyes despite the pain in my head.

  In Leif's light, Lilly's assessment of the situation seemed fair. The tattered hide of the creature, boiled for goodness knows how long, had dissolved it into a bag-like skin, and the decomposing insides looked like burned sausages which had been in the garbage for a week. The smell was beyond anything I had ever known.

  Leif clapped his hands. There came a hiss and a whoosh as gas sconces lit on the walls and a chandelier over the stairs lit. Light filled the home. I put my hand over my eyes again, fighting nausea.

  Barnes cursed. Leif yelled an exclamation. Lilly was mute. And Mordon said, “Curious.”

  “The smell.” I groaned.

  “You are the one who can control that,” Lilly snapped. “Sort out the gasses or whatever. At least try.”

  Her words offended me. I was about to say that I could hardly climb onto my elbows, much less work magic, when Barnes spoke.

  “Common misconception. Wind sorcerers have control over pressure and not the air itself. Besides, she doesn't look too good. Can't say I blame 'er. These walking animations can be a drain.”

  I was glad to not need to explain. I considered. He had given me an idea. I laid a blanket of air pressure over the 'walking animation' and hoped that would help cut the smell.

  I scooted down the counter and got off at the end. The movement made my entire body throb. I thought for certain I was going to be ill. Lilly laid a hand on my forehead and said a few words. The pain lessened, but now I felt cold.

  Barnes explained what a 'walking animation' was, since they did not appear to be very common. “They're a kind of artwork, a piece from one body, a piece from another, as grotesque as the maker wishes to be. Necromancers can make them, but it is more common for osteomancers since these are more skeletal than muscular, and bones hold more power than flesh. That said, osteomancers usually prefer to consume the bones in some way. Only e'er seen two or three of these things. Not very powerful, but the fear paralyzes their victim. Makes 'em stupid. Saw a walking animation rip a soldier into pieces. All the man could do was stare. Not even a scream. Same with the next three men.”

  Mordon crouched and was trying to look at it from all angles. He shook his head. “What form did it have? It's hard to tell.”

  I shuddered at the memory of it climbing up the stairs, then banished the thought from my mind. I wouldn't go on the rest of my days seeing that thing when I closed my eyes at night. “Horse head, human body, and claws. None of it in good shape, but still…juicy. It made these sloshing noises.”

  Lilly went pale. Leif seemed unsettled as well, but the other two were fascinated. Barnes said, “Not too shabby. I mean, there are cleaner ways to stop it than whatever it was you did. What did you do?”

  “Boiling water spell. Like I said, it was sloshy.”

  “If you cut off the communication between the spell-caster and the animation, that will drop it,” Barnes said, twitching his mustache in thought. “Don't suppose you've learned that yet.”

  “Tomorrow's lesson,” Mordon said, holding a handkerchief up to his nose while he lifted some of the skin up with the broom handle. It made a sticky noise and Lilly escaped to the next room. Leif cleared his throat.

  “Mind how much you push her,” Leif warned, but there was no heat to his words. “You mentioned you two had a visit from our dearest mortician. He was greatly insulted by our negligence in giving him an interesting body. I think he will find plenty of interest in this one, don't you?”

  Mordon nodded, then called over his shoulder, “Lilly, we need you. You can stand where I am. Stop looking so pale, Fera is holding the smell at bay one way or another. We'll send all organic tissue and hope that cleans it up.”

  Barnes took a piece of chalk out of his pocket and made a quick circle, then drew symbols at different points on the circle. Though they were tired, they made quick work of a spell. The circle glowed white, increasing in strength until nothing could be seen of what it contained. I covered my eyes. It was making my head hurt again. When the light faded, I lowered my hand.

  The thing was gone, but there were still water marks on the floor where it had boiled dry, and a few tiles had cracked. Lilly threw the loaf of bread away. They looked at one another.

  Leif rubbed his brow and said, “It has been one long day.”

  No one said anything after him, but their expressions were in varying stages of agreement or exhaustion. Mordon took me by the elbow and insisted I sit at the head of the breakfast nook. So I sank down, put my elbows on the table and my face in my hands. I closed my eyes.

  I heard the opening of windows and blessed the fresh air streaming through the house. It seemed as eager to cleanse the place as I was.

  When Mordon next bumped my shoulder, I saw that it was to pass me a cup of herbal tea. Leif and Lilly sat on one side of the table, and Barnes and Mordon on the other.

  I explained everything I could remember, doing my best to not envision the creature itself. When I was done, Barnes said that there had been a spell or two on it to induce fear and the 'freeze in terror' response. He also said he thought that my previous experience in bogey busting had built up a resistance to the fear spell. When I asked if I would have been better running, Barnes said that would have intensified the effects.

  “The longer you run from what you fear, the harder it is going to be to turn 'round and face it.”

  I nodded. When I realized no one else had asked the question, I said it. “Why? Why bother making that thing? Why send it after me?”

  Leif shrugged. “Who says it was after you? Lilly and I should have been home by then. We might not have fared too well against the animation itself. If it hadn't been for the pixie and goblin scuffle, we would have been home.”

  At my frown, Lilly said, “Being guided by conscience doesn't always make you friends. Judges get threats and assassins. This is certainly more clever than usual, but we see some strange things.”

  Barnes had no comment on the subject, and Mordon was occupied staring into the empty air and stroking his nonexistent beard. I shifted uncomfortably. “It smelled like Cole.”

  Barnes barked out a short laugh and gave me a broad smile. “That it did!”

  “Not that you should say it to his face,” said Leif with a frown at Barnes. Leif looked to me. “I see you don't like the man. Good. But know he comes from pure human bloodlines and his family has been in the ruling council as long as it has existed. They do as they like when they like and the laws only apply to them when another pure-blood catches them in the act and decides to press charges.”

  My heart sank. Of all the people to resent, I had to choose someone untouchable. I sighed. “I am duly and thoroughly cautioned.”

  “You'd better be.” Leif searched the faces around him. He pulled out five coins. “We need to check the other dwellings. Fera, you are out.” Leif shoved one coin in the center of the table, then passed out the remaining coins.
“Heads or tails. Person to call it right stays with Fera. The rest of us get to make sure nothing else walked by the kitchen.”

  Lilly ended up being the one to remain while the men went together from one home to the next. Though I was contented to remain seated, Lilly was all too busy drawing on the table.

  “Checking wards,” she said when I caught her gaze.

  Sensing an opportunity to get answers, I said, “Are they wards to prevent intrusions or wards to just sound the alarm?”

  Lilly did not so much as look up. She said, “The ones on this place warn. But, the only way to this door is through Mordon's shop door, and that is enchanted to high heaven. We didn't think it was necessary to have anything more on the door here.”

  I supposed that now that would be changing. I let out a yawn despite myself. “But if his wards didn't keep it out, does that mean that he let it in?”

  Lilly froze. Her gaze darted up to mine. “What do you mean to imply?”

  “I wasn't questioning Mordon.” Should I be? “I just meant that, what if it came in while the doors were open to visitors, or if the thing came in with permission disguised as something else? Then it would not have triggered the wards.”

  Lilly's eyebrows twitched together. Her hands stilled. She did not reply. I thought it was best to leave the conversation where it was.

  Then the men were back. Barnes grunted, “Nothin' turned up. I'm goin' now. Nite.”

  Leif followed after. Lilly caught up to him. Mordon helped me to my feet, then to my rooms.

  When I saw the dark shadows in the hallway leading to my bedroom, I couldn't stop envisioning teeth glinting in the shadows. I couldn't stop hearing the rattle in its breath, the scrape of claws on stone. I shuddered and spun before Mordon could shut the doors behind me.

  Panic made my limbs shake. I stammered, “I can't do this. I just…I can't.” Embarrassment rushed to my cheeks at the confession. “Maybe I should stay with Lilly or something.”

  Mordon shook his head. “She's staying with her brother. She does that now and again. It's been her that most attacks are focused against.”

  “Oh.” My fingers were numb now. I looked back at the empty house in apprehension. For an instant I wondered if I might be better to sleep on the couch, but that had been where I was when the goat bells chimed. I shivered.

  “It's perfectly safe.”

  I nodded, remembering that Barnes, Mordon, and Leif had all cleared my residence and found nothing. The knowledge did not ease my anxiety. Swallowing, I admitted, “Railey used to stand guard sometimes. Especially after the terror houses. Things followed me home every now and then.”

  Mordon sighed, but there was understanding written over his face. He made a green flame in the palm of his hand and led the way. “I'll be by your door.”

  Surprise and pleasure coursed through me at once. I staggered after him. “You don't have to—I didn't ask you to stay.”

  “Yes you did. Unless you'd rather I leave.”

  I gripped his forearm, a little too desperately. I let him go and curled my hand into a fist. I said to the floor, “Thanks.”

  “That animation made my back tickle, too,” Mordon said.

  It was the last thing I remembered him saying before I laid on the bed. The last thing I saw was him with his back pressed to my door, one leg straight out, one leg at an angle, as he drew symbols on the floor by the light of his green ember.