At some point well past midnight, Jessica descended into a light sleep through which she glimpsed strange dreams of a line of Keepers passing before her. They each came to her, pulled the hyacinth stalk and drank water from one of the purple cups. As they did their bodies shifted in some new way; men became children, women were covered in thick furry hides, and both men and women became woman and men. And with each new Keeper so altered, the hyacinth grew taller and wider until the Keepers were climbing the stalk to bathe in those cups, flying out on newly sprouted wings and some even washing away every last trace of their human guise that they might revel in the beast.
It was an interesting idea, but as consciousness came to her, like all dreams, it slowly faded until all she was left was a sense of satisfaction, but also a vague suspicion that it was a hilarious exaggeration. She stretched her wings and beak as she rose out of her crouch and blinked her eyes to welcome the faint light streaming through Berchem's small windows. Morning had just arrived, and the twilight would soon be banished into a warm and sunny day, or so she gathered from the faint glint in the windows. Still, despite how sharp her vision as a hawk was, her eyes were meant for the day. Jessica summoned a trio of witchlights to illumine the skunk's home.
Before she drifted off she'd seen no change in the skunk, but even a quick glance at the pallet and quilts revealed that something had happened. Bercehm's face was taut and the muscles were beginning to pull beneath his fur, and his arms were twitching and tense even as sleep still held him close. But the face was now more angular, the fur on the back of the skunk's head thicker, the arms slender, and each finger, so callused from years of fletching and drawing a bow, were now delicate. Jessica appraised the quilts and noted with satisfaction the twin mounds distending them.
The skunk was, at first blush, quite a woman. But Jessica wondered how deeply her spell had penetrated into Berchem's essence; how quickly were the cords of magic tightening?
Even as she began to turn her eyes to the magical threads, the skunk began to stir, drawing her slender arms up closer to her chest and grunting as her jaws clenched tight, eyes pressing so firmly down that no tear could escape. Disappointed at seeing the pain still present, Jessica asked, "How bad is it?"
"Bad," Berchem said, her ears folded back as she curled up almost into a ball, bunching the quilt up and hiding her feminine physique. "Get me the broth!"
"Is it worse than yesterday?" Jessica asked again as she crossed over to the hearth and with a simple spell heated the leftover broth. "Is it different in any way?"
"About the same. A little louder maybe. Not... as bad... as the first time." Her voice was also higher pitched, and as she spoke she trailed off, ears turning as she tried to blink open her eyes. "What?" she managed in a half choke as she glimpsed her new hands. With great effort she turned them around and then pushed herself into a sitting position. The quilt fell from her chest to bunch over her legs and tail, revealing a pair of breasts that would make men drool like dogs with desire. Jessica would have to remember to be more careful applying the gender-changing curse, as it was meant to make its victims into exaggerated examples of their new sex, and it appeared to have done exactly that with Berchem.
Berchem blinked and then pressed her head against the wall behind her. "You!" she tried to shout with rage, but it came across as a pitiful whine. "You... did it anyway!"
"I had to know," Jessica replied calmly as she carefully spooned out a bowl full of broth. It was difficult to balance the bowl in her wing claws, but over the years she'd become adept at managing small things like that. She didn't spill a drop even when she carried it over to the irate skunk. "I had to know how it would affect the spell on you since it seems to be passing through the Curse."
"It didn't do a damn thing!" she cried as she beat the back of her head three times against the wood behind her. Her arms snapped up to her chest, touched her weighty breasts, and then recoiled as if she'd burned them. "Undo this now!"
"Oh, stop it," Jessica squawked and snapped her beak shut with a click. "It's only temporary and I will take it off you after I've had a chance to examine you. Now, here's the broth. That will help with the pain."
Berchem opened one blue eye and glared. "Change me back first."
"No. Broth first, then I examine you, and then I remove it. You have no choice, Berchem. Now open your mouth." The glare remained and Berchem's slender snout remained shut. Her arms tensed and pulled closer to her chest, this time not flinching from her breasts as they squeezed. Jessica lowered her eyelids. "Jo will be coming by soon. As will Burris. Do you want them to see you like this? How long do you think it will be before everyone in the Glen knows?"
The defiance in her eye flared for a moment, and then her jaws opened slowly. Jessica nodded in appreciation and deposited each spoonful one at a time until the bowl was empty. A few seconds later Bercehm's muscles began to relax and she began to breath more slowly. The look of disgust still filled her face.
"Some of us have always had to be women you know," Jessica chided the new female as she set the bowl and spoon down. "It might be good for you to spend time this way and learn what it's like to be a woman and how others treat you. I can very easily keep you this way for weeks, maybe even months." It was a terrible exaggeration as she had only just been able to maintain Maud as a giraffe for two days, but if she continued her studies it might be possible.
Berchem lowered her arms from her chest and looked around for a shirt to hide her nakedness in. "Just do what you need to do." Berchem shifted on the pallet as she reached for the little chest to pull out a tunic. Her legs rubbed together and she shuddered. "Oh that is not good."
Jessica ignored the skunk's complaints as she allowed the threads of magic to appear. The Curse covered her body and now it glimmered with a new silvery sheen, sinking ever more into the depths of black. The knot seemed slightly larger than before, but it was just as taut as it had been yesterday. Making Berchem a woman had done nothing to relieve the pain or to hamper the spell.
She poked and prodded for a few more minutes as the skunk, after donning a tunic, tentatively examined her new body, casting one quick disgusted look at the chamberpot while clasping her legs tightly together and hunkering back down beneath the quilt. But no matter how much Jessica fiddled with the cords of magic, she could see no difference.
"It does not look like it did anything. I don't think there's anything more I can do to study this spell, at least not directly." Jessica admitted with a long sigh.
"Well, make me a man again and think of something else." Her face scrunched up in disgust. "I hate this voice!"
"Berchem, say one more word like that, and I will leave you like this."
"But..."
"One more word!" Jessica leaned forward, her ire building. "I can make everyone here forget you were ever a man too."
Berchem blinked and scrunched herself back against the wall, grasping the quilt as if it could ward off magical blows. "You... you can?"
Jessica nodded, stretching her talons but not scraping the wood. "I can. Now keep silence, and I will remove this spell. But don't test my patience."
The skunk kept her snout closed tight and eyes lowered. Jessica took a deep breath and offered in a kinder voice, "The Curse could have made you a woman eight years ago. And... you're very lovely this way." Her ears flicked back but she did her best neither to look at the hawk nor at herself.
With a blink, Jessica allowed the weave of magic all around her to flare to life again. Her spell wrapped about Bercehm's body, sunken into the Curse like a jewel inlaid in metal. With a quick snip of her claws, she detached the spell from its connection tot he hyacinth. Without a powerful reservoir of magic to draw upon, the spell, as fragile as it was, would disintegrate.
Or at least it was supposed to. Even after the cord bringing the spell power dwindled and vanished into the ether, the spell remained intact, and Berchem stubbornly stayed female. Whatever malady the skunk suffered was holding Jessica's contribution in place. The hawk did not allow her frustration to show, lest Bercehm worry anew and offer more jeremiads against women, rather focused on dismantling her own spell piece by piece. But to her chagrin, it was stuck fast within the Curse and she could not draw it apart.
Jessica shifted her focus to the threads of magic passing through Berchem's essence. To these she had tied her spell in hopes of learning how fast the knot in her ears was tightening. Buried beneath the black smear of the Curse she could still see her littler knots and felt a measure of relief. They were tauter than before, but still quite simple to undo. When the last of them was finally undone, the silvery sheen began to scatter and vanish.
Berchem moaned, her voice deepening as her body reverted to manhood. Her tunic, once swollen, dropped a couple inches as her chest flattened and then resumed a manly physique. Berchem took several long breaths, inspecting his newly male body to make sure that nothing was missing, before he glanced irritably at Jessica and said, "Thank you. That's better."
"And the ringing?"
He put one paw to his head and groaned. "Still there. It's like a church bell that won't stop."
"Hmmm," Jessica pondered as she glanced around the room. A sudden knocking made her spread her wings and crane her head toward the door. "Who is it?"
"It's Jo," the vixen healer called down as she pulled open the door and poked her head in. "I'm here with another batch of herbs and to give you a chance to rest. Burris is waiting for you at the Inn and he insists that you come and get something to eat."
Jessica folded her wings back up while Berchem breathed a sigh of relief as he straightened out his tunic and his quilt. The hawk nodded. "I've learned about all I can this way. I think I'm going to try and help Berchem recover his memory. That might tell us what magic was used against him. I'll need to gather some components first for that kind of casting."
The fox slipped down the stairs with her herb basted in tow, long tail anxiously wagging. "Speak with Erica, she might be able to help you find what you need. You can find her at my shop if she isn't out gathering herbs."
"Thank you," Jessica said with a bob of her head. She glanced at Berchem who had his head resting against the wood behind him, eyes shut and paws resting in his lap. "And don't you forget what I said, either."
"Oh, I won't," he assured her with a jowl twitch that showed fangs.
While the day began sunny, crisp, and cold enough that the ice-crusted rocks would not be slick with melt, clouds gathered slowly and by midday they had obscured all of the sky and wrapped themselves about the tallest peaks glimmering and gray and white. The quartet of Glenners moved quickly through the mountain passes, taking risks to gain time against what they knew was quickly bearing down on them; a storm.
They continued in the same formation as they had the day before, but now they kept ropes secured about their waists as they navigated paths so narrow that they couldn't turn around. Angus assured them that once they crossed one final mountain overlooking the glassy Sea of Souls, they would reach a long stretch riddled with caves, trees, and wide avenues through which they could rest.
Because each of them had been changed into half-animal men by the Curses, despite clinging to the slope of rock, lichen, and frozen moss with their claws and ice shoes, chest almost rubbing against sheer walls that stretched above them like a stern and unmerciful deity, their right eyes were situated so that they could still see the wide expanse of the sea. It stretched before them a study in silver and white, gleaming even in the cool light, its distant shores shrouded by fog and by the other mountains. Beneath them the stone fell away to vanish into a defile of rock and debris cluttered with fir and spruce in strips so narrow that not even the hardiest of woodsmen would have tried to make it a home. The vista, despite all of its beauty and breathtaking wonder, reminded them yet again just how difficult it must have been for Calephas to bring his troops into the mountains west of the Glen.
With enemies that determined to kill them, they had no choice but to be equally determined to stop them.
And so they pressed on, charging as many of the talismans facing the sea as they could. And by the time the storm finally hit them as they rounded the last bend where the path began to descend into a sheltered valley, they had finished revivifying the ninth. Heady with their quick success, they felt confidant that they would reach shelter before the winds and snow blasted them.
They were wrong.
The wind struck from around the western face of the mountain, and with it came stinging snow flakes that blinded them. Baerle was struck first and she recoiled at the sudden onslaught that came as if from nowhere. Her paws slipped on the ice and with a scream almost swallowed by the wind, she tipped over backward and spun into the air.
Charles's flesh hardened into granite as he wrapped one arm about the rope and the other he drove into the mountainside to better anchor himself. Even as James started forward to try and rescue Baerle, the rat swung her back onto the ledge, and then pressed his body around hers, pinning her between his stony flesh and the wall.
James took another step forward, intent on pulling the opossum free from the rat's grip, but Angus yanked back on the rope and shouted, "Hang on! They're fine!"
The donkey seethed as he pressed his body against the stone, digging the metal spikes on his hooves into the ice. The wind shifted and with it the storm battered all of them, stinging snow in their eyes and clawing gales through their clothes and hides.
The only thing they could do was hold on and hope it ended soon. James glared at the rat and opossum locked in a fixed embrace and wished he could make the mountain itself toll in his rage.
Jessica's errands kept her away from Berchem's burrow most of the day. This was just fine for Berchem who really wasn't that interested in seeing the hawk mage again. At least until she was ready to actually do something about the ringing in his mind; as long as she kept experimenting and amusing herself, she could go rot. Not that he'd ever say that to her, not after her promise to make him into a woman for good.
He shuddered at the very memory of it, grateful that it had only been for a few minutes, but irritated that it had ever happened in the first place. Berchem didn't want to dwell on his brief excursion into femininity, but with each gong striking the back of his mind, he kept picturing himself in that foreign body. What was worse, as the hours dragged and he tried to relax, he started to imagine himself as a woman again, dressed like a woman, and going about town and giggling with the other women. He even began to wonder what it was that they always found so amusing, or what silly nonsense they often whispered to one another in an obvious way.
Berchem had never before spent so much time pondering these things, and it irritated him that one spell from the hawk had upset the course of his usually focused mind. If not for the tolling which crippled his reflexes he would have gone hunting to try to clear his thoughts. He even tried to fletch new arrows, but when his mind didn't start to wonder if he'd have the strength to pull his bow once a woman, the tolling kept making his fingers twitch and ruin the feathers. After a half hour he gave up and laid back down on the bed waiting for anybody to come and bring him news or relief.
Jo had come by earlier that morning and provided a new batch of broth, this spiced with cinnamon which made it that much easier to stomach the stronger and stronger brew. The vixen admitted that if she made the broth any stronger, it was just as likely to make Berchem ill as it was to clear his mind. Which meant that the hawk, if she was actually going to do something, would need to do it soon. Even knowing that, Berchem still wasn't in any mood to see her again.
After drinking another bowl of the cinnamon flavored broth Berchem lay back down on the bed and tried to brush the tangles out of his tail. In a fit of rage, he dashed the comb across the room when the image of himself as a woman not only brushing out her tail, but tying ribbon through it came to him. With a loud grump he lay down on the bed and crossed his arms, glaring at the wood above.
And that was when he heard a pair of hooves kick at his door gently. "Berchem, it's me," a familiar throaty voice cried out.
The skunk breathed a sigh of relief. "Come on down."
Descending the stairs was a broad-shouldered deer; his antlers had only been growing for a month but already he sported three points on either side. To protect these the deer ducked his head low as he came down the steps, heavy, cloven hooves making the wooden stairs creak. When he reached the bottom he shifted his stance to avoid stepping on the metal comb. "Are you okay?"
He grunted and sat back up, long tail sliding behind him against the wall. "I'm fine, Alldis. Except for this pounding headache and a hawk who's playing around with magic. Have you found anything?"
Alldis bent over, plucked up the comb, and handed it back to the skunk. "Well, a lot of Glenners have been back and forth around your burrow here, but I did find a good number of paw-prints and a couple hoof-prints that are no more than a few days old. I'm trying to figure out who they belong to. And I have the guards actually keeping people from coming around and snooping in your windows."
Berchem glanced at either small window nervously, a horrible thought springing to mind. Had somebody seen him that morning or in the night after he'd changed? "Have people been looking?"
Alldis's ears flicked forward and his black nostrils flared a little. "Some. None today though. You're more jumpy than usual."
His brow furrowed and eyes darkened. "It's been a rotten day."
"Jessica's not helping? I saw her talking with the fuller for some whitening agent. I guess for a spell or something."
Berchem snorted and flicked his tail. "No, she isn't helping. She's playing around with the Curses of all things, like that has anything to do with this damn ringing." He put his paws to his head and took a deep breath as he felt the sound swell against the back of his eyes. "She says she wants to help me get my memory back."
Alldis grunted as he looked around the floor, stepping gingerly with his hooves. "That sounds like a good idea." He stopped and bent over, white tail flicking up behind him. His ears turned up again and he blinked. "Wait, did you say she was playing with the Curses? Just what did she..." The curiosity on his snout slowly spread into a wide and amused grin. "I've heard from Sir Saulius that Jessica was able to make one of the Lakelanders into a giraffe. Did she change you too?"
The skunk closed his eyes and ground his fangs together. "I don't want to talk about it."
Alldis laughed and slapped one thigh. "Oh, I get it! She made you a woman didn't she?" Berchem opened one eye to shoot his friend a deathly glare. The deer kept chuckling. "Well no wonder you're so grumpy. You finally had a lady skunk here in your bed and you can't do anything about it!"
"Shut up, Alldis! It's not funny!"
"Of course it is," Alldis replied, though one hand rose to feel a velveted antler. "Well, you'd be laughing if she made me a doe."
The skunk glowered for a moment longer, before lowering his gaze into his lap. "Not anymore."
Alldis glanced at him and rolled his eyes. "Look, I won't tell anyone if that's what you're worried about." Under his breath the cervine muttered just loud enough for Berchem to hear even through the ringing, "It's still damn funny." Berchem grumbled inaudibly, took the comb, and resumed untangling his tail fur.
The Glen's chief hunter and tracker resumed his inspection of the floor. It didn't take him long to find the claw marks that Angus had first found and that Jessica said he'd made. The deer's thick hoof-like fingers traced out the lines. He pressed in his snout and licked the floor across the marks a few times, before a bit of cud slid up his throat and he started chewing. He crawled around a few minutes more, taking special care to note some impression in the floor just beneath the stairs, before swallowing his cud and standing back up.
The ringing was getting louder in Berchem's mind, and he looked with longing hope at the broth for a moment before turning to the deer and asking, "Well? Did you find anything?"
Alldis nodded and gestured at the floor. "These claw marks get smaller and tighter together as they get closer to the stairs. It's like you were turning into your animal form while making them."
"That's what Jessica said. Anything else?"
"There's a few other marks here, very subtle. It looks like somebody stomped on the wood here just beneath the stairs. The marks are round, something blunt. It might be a hoof. I'm not quite sure. I don't have a full impression."
"We're there any hoof-prints outside?"
"Aye, one set. Other than mine. A horse or donkey, not sure which. I'm going to have to check all of the equines in the Glen, and that means the Polygamites. One of them will match that print. Whoever it belongs to might know something."
"Or they might have done this to me!"
Alldis nodded with a low bleat. "Maybe so; hard to imagine. Is there anything I can tell Jo you need? More broth? A cor..."
Berchem hissed, "Don't you dare say it!"
The deer laughed and shook his head. "May Akkala heal you soon, Bercehm." Alldis chuckled to himself some more as he turned and climbed back up the stairs. Berchem glared after the buck as he combed through his tail fur. Now he had another horrible image that wouldn't leave!
The wind and snow battered the donkey with a chill that numbed his hands and ears, and yet, the sight of Charles and Baerle pressed so close together filled with an anger so powerful that heat sluiced from his body like sheets of bark torn from a tree. He contemplated beating his head against the mountain as if it were a bell. Even the hardest of rock could be shattered with the tolling of a bell. Charles may have made himself stone, but James could make his body crack into a million shards. How sweet it would be if the rat's body would so shatter, each piece falling into the abyss below to sink into the Sea. Maybe one day he could find a few pieces, smoothed by the water, and skip them. He'd probably manage a dozen skips with little stones made from the Sondecki.
James closed his eyes and ground his teeth together, unable to stand seeing the rat's body not fall to pieces as it pressed against his opossum. Yet closing his eyes brought no relief. For while the mountain, the snow, and the storm all vanished, he could see nevertheless. Stretching before him behind his eyelids was that endless room with smooth floor, distant walls, and vaulted ceiling lost in darkness and crowned with a bell so large that it could not be glimpsed all at once. Perhaps it was impossible even to glimpse every part of the bell no matter how long one lived. James's heart leaped with exaltation.
Tolling.
A passionate light such for his spirit was fit.
As if summoned by the bell, before him stood Baerle, her svelte body clothed only in her soft gray and white fur. James stretched out his arms toward her as her snout lifted, gentle eyes rising to meet his gaze. He stepped forward, gasping deep in his chest.
And yet that spirit knew – not in the hour of its own fervor – what had o'er it power.
The massive carillon throbbed and made every sinew in his body tremble and pause. Between him and Baerle stood a familiar rat. Balked, James could only stare in horror as the rat slid his arms through Baerle's, resting his head against her chest, tongue slipping forth from between long incisors to tease her breasts. A light giggle escaped her throat as she dangled one arm, and gently stroked the back of his soft, saucer-shaped ears with her slender fingers. Her snout lowered and short whiskers brushed across the top of the rat's head in a warm kiss.
James screamed his rage, but in the echoing knell he could hear nothing of his own voice. He took another step, but felt something pull backward on his tail. He turned, and saw Angus there, one meaty paw wrapped around the end of his tail, his thumb claw working through the black tuft as if it were a daisy he were plucking petals from.
Thy soul shalt find itself alone. Forevermore!
James shook his head, putting both hands on his ears as he shouted, "Nay! Nevermore! Nevermore!" He gasped and longed for Baerle whose paws were slipping down the rat's arms and equally bare chest. The words echoed forth from his throat as if they had been uttered by the bell itself. "How many memories of what radiant hours at sight of thee and thine at once awake!"
How many scenes of what departed bliss! How many thoughts of what entombed hopes!
No more!
The rat and opossum, their bodies entwining, began to move away from him, until he could see a bower of sweet willows and pristine golden air and smell the fragrance of honeysuckle and strawberries. Therein they, on soft loam that stretched up from the featureless floor, laid down on atop the other, hidden behind the screen of small leaves and their branches that cascaded from the willow like a spider's net. James struggled to reach out for them, but Angus's grip on his tail was impossible to break.
Tolling.
Tolling.
Bells.
James shrieked at the immanence above him, begging with tears in his enraged eyes.
Bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells.
James crumpled to his knees and found his gaze fixed upon the willow and the lovers within. His heart ached and he beat his hands against the ground, wishing that he could feel the bell in his palm. Not one bell he knew, but all nine that had once hung in Marzac. With them he would ring out and shatter his enemies. And when he was finished...
O hyacinthine!
Thy memory no more!
…none would ever remember the rat!
And then, James opened his eyes and blinked as he saw Charles and Baerle stepping apart on the ledge. The biting wind had fallen into a soft breeze, and the billows of snow pouring out of the sky had settled into a gentle caress of flakes. The storm had come to its end.
"Are you two okay?" Angus asked.
"We're fine," Charles called back as he brushed snow off of his shoulders. "The mountain was very understanding."
Baerle shuddered and flicked her ears from side to side to free them from snow. She smiled briefly at both Angus and James and then turned to the west. "Let's get out of here." She wasted not time in starting down the path toward the valley.
Charles followed quickly after her, and James bolted forward so quickly that he almost yanked the badger off his feet. "Not quite so fast there, James!"
James grunted and wondered if he could manage two accidents.
The sky was beginning to darken as the sun reached the Dragon mountains in the western sky by the time Jessica had finally managed to gather everything she would need for her casting. Since Burris never performed ritual spells, he had no chalk or anything else with which she could draw lines. She had been forced to substitute fuller's bleach and cooking flour, but the physical composition of the lines was not vital; it meant only that she would need to be more careful in her drawings.
The Avery twins were good little gentlemen and volunteered to carry the sacks for her to Berchem's burrow that late afternoon. She complimented them and as Lady Avery predicted, both of the squirrel's became even more enthusiastic and attentive to their newfound duty. Not only did they carry the bags, but they volunteered to help her pour them and keep the lines pristine. Just seeing these two made her wonder what Weyden and her children would be like.
The skunk was in obvious pain when she arrived with both Burris and Jo in tow to help. The woodpecker situated himself in the corner next to Berchem's fletching gear, while the vixen busied herself over the hearth preparing more of her strongest broth. The scent of cinnamon was strong and made Jessica blink a few times as it tickled her tongue, but after a moment she found she could ignore it easily enough.
Berchem lay on the pallet with one paw gripping his head fur, muscles standing out along his neck and cheeks. He nodded briefly when Jessica asked if he could still hear her, but his jaws were clamped tight. His quilt had claw marks furrowed through it where he'd dug into the fabric. With his other paw he kept this pressed close to his chest and waist. His tail lashed against the wall in a steady rhythm.
Jessica turned to the gray squirrels whose worried eyes stared at the skunk. "Okay, you two, set the bags there, and get the floor clear. I need everything out of the way for this spell." They hurried, claws clicking on the wood as they set the bags down and then ran to the lamp and small table, pushing them against the wall near the hearth and fletching equipment. Burris had to yank back one foot to keep it from being squashed beneath the table.
They returned for his clothes chest, and then looked at the hawk with wide eyes. Darien asked, "What should we do now, Jessica?"
"I'm going to need Berchem in the middle of the room," Jessica said. She glanced at the vixen who nodded.
"I'll have him up in a minute, this batch should ease his pain some." Despite the optimism in her words, the healer's voice betrayed her fears. Time was growing short for the skunk.
"We can move him," came the voice of Lord Avery from the top of the stairs. Following him down was Alldis the deer. The buck had a fierce scowl on his muzzle, but he did manage to give Jessica an odd smirk as he passed.
"Thank you both," Jessica said as she hopped out of the way. Squirrel and deer grabbed the skunk from either end, and with a heave, hoisted his quivering body out of bed and placed him down in the center of the floor. His long tail continued to lash back and forth. She sighed, "Could somebody hold that down for a moment?" Lord Avery, who'd carried his legs, knelt down and grasped the skunk's tail between his paws and chittered in surprise as he struggled to keep it still.
Jessica bent over the squirrel's shoulder and drew a sigil with one of her wing claws. It flared with a blue light before sinking down past the wide-eyed squirrel to rest on the skunk's erratic tail. The tip of his tail fixed itself against the floor while the rest of it struggled to yank it back up. "That should do it for now. Darien! Christopher! Time to make some lines."
"We'll be at the top of the stairs if you need us," Lord Avery said, before giving his two boys a meaningful glance. They nodded obediently to their father, then picked up the bags of white powder and stood on the other side of the skunk.
"Where do you want these?" Darien asked.
"We're going to make a circle around Berchem here. Now pour like I showed you." Jessica directed the two boys and helped them pour the powder in a smooth and even line. Despite how jittery these normally were, they managed not to spill anything or brush out the lines with their tails behind them. Jessica did have to make corrections with her wing claws, but overall she was pleased with how well they'd done.
"Now," she told them with a squawk, "we're going to create two more circles outside this one." And as Burris watched and Jo brewed, they did just that. As they were finishing up the third circle in the casting, the vixen carried her broth in the pot very carefully, stepping over the lines without breaking any of them, before crouching beside the skunk's head, tail tucked between her legs to keep it from wagging and disturbing the powder, and feeding him the broth. By the time she managed to coax his muzzle open, Jessica was congratulating the two squirrels on a job well done.
"That looks excellent! Now those bags look light enough for me to finish the rest. I want you two to go watch with your father. It's going to be too dangerous to stay in here."
"Aye, Mistress Jessica!" they intoned with a faint hint of disappointment in their voices. What boy wouldn't want to see something dangerous?
But leave they did, and once they were gone, the hawk turned to the vixen and said, "You may want to stay in case the spell causes him more pain. But you'll need to stay outside the circles."
"I know. Just let me finish giving him his broth."
By the time the skunk had finished drinking, Burris had provided a soft warm glow to the room from the surface of the wood. It was a very different sort of illumination than a trio of witchlights, and to Jessica's chagrin, it seemed to do a better job of showing her the entire spell. Jessica cradled the bag of fuller's bleach and began to trace out runes between each concentric circle. Slate would have made a better floor, but Burris's tree floors were very smooth and he'd be sure that the bleach would bring it no harm. She'd need to wash her claws though when the spell was done.
Berchem curled into a fetal position inside the inner circle, eyes closed but no longer as strained. His tail remained fixed to the floor. Jessica watched him with one eye as she moved around him first through the outer circle, and then after exhausting the bleach, through the middle circle with the flour. Her back and wings were sore by the time she'd finished spreading the white lines, but at least they had been drawn. This Symphony was designed to open up the skunk's mind and to let Jessica see within. She would not be able to see his thoughts, but only what he saw.
After finishing the lines, she set both bags down at the foot of the steps, then moved into position between the outer and middle circles. She breathed a few words, tongue rasping against her beak, and the powder began to slowly shimmer a faint green hue. The glow converged to the single symbol she had drawn inside the innermost circle near to the skunk's head. An oculus, and there she gazed, as the wood between each of the lines of power wavered, shifting and blending in hue with red, blue, yellow, and a many more colors than she could name. It glistened like a soap bubble in flickering candlelight for several seconds before resolving into a miniature replica of Berchem's burrow. Only this one shifted back and forth as if she were seeing through the skunk's eyes.
And in truth she was. Her will sped the image backward, passing through the hours of wakefulness, the fitful attempts to sleep, the grinding of eyelids as the pain became too great, and finally, she came to that night. Her breath was ragged and before her the skunk quivered on the ground like an animal struck by wagon wheels. But the image was clear; she watched through Berchem's eyes as he walked home through the Glen Commons one last time.
None of the others could see what she did in the oculus, but she could feel their presence around her. Burris kept his wings folded behind his back with his beak open and his tongue whispering soft incantations to help keep the Symphony stable. Jo rubbed her paws together nervously as she watched Berchem suffer on the floor, casting frequent glances at Jessica in wonder. The skunk kept his arms and knees against his chest as his snout wrinkled in ever growing agony.
And through the vision of memory Jessica saw the skunk descend into his home, begin to put away his things, only to turn back toward the stairs. She could not hear anything but her eyes lost no detail. When the door opened up, she felt her heart catch, knowing full well that whoever entered would be their assailant. And yet, all that seemed to come down into the room was shadow.
Jessica felt her body shake and it took all of her concentration and will to keep her gaze fixed upon the oculus and her wings behind her back. How desperately she wanted to spread those wings and fly away from the room and a nameless horror that reached up out of that oculus like the terrible presence in the Imbervand had once reached for her. Reached and nearly caught her.
This time, the darkness that descended the steps came in the shape of a man, or at least it seemed that it was man-shaped. There was no way to tell what sort of Keeper it might be, if indeed it was a Keeper. After what must have been a brief conversation, the shadow swung its arm, and Berchem crumpled to the ground, vision blurring in and out. Jessica swallowed, squawking with a fear that she could not control.
Berchem's arm came forward and wrapped around the shadow's neck, and bent them back over the steps. But this sudden turn of fortunes lasted only a handful of seconds before the skunk's vision blurred again and he was reduced back to the floor, the shadow towering higher and higher over him like a monolith of night as every mote of vision scattered by some unseen force. And then everything was swallowed by the night.
The spell flared around her in a violent golden light and then vanished. Jessica screamed and toppled over, the world spinning in a vomiting profusion of color.
What they thought had been the storm's end proved only to be a brief reprieve. After descending into the valley, they encountered one more talisman, before the biting wind and snow returned with a renewed ferocity. They were forced to take shelter in a nearby cave that bore the faint scent of bears and after making sure that there were no bears hidden within, they made their camp and tried to get warm again.
And within the deepening gloom of night, they rested and tried to recover both strength and breath. James glowered at the storm. It had given him so much hope but had offered him no chances to strike. And now, even as they hid, it ebbed, its howl rendered no more potent than a puppy's whine. What a waste.
"The storm seems to be dying," he said down to Angus, who was warming his paws by the fire. "Should we go back out? Charles and I could scout around."
"Nay," Angus replied with a shake of his head. "I trust you both, but night's already fallen. It's safer to wait until morning."
"I could always move through the mountains," Charles offered."
Angus offered him an incredulous look. "Can you bring the paste with you?"
The rat's muzzle scrunched into a foul moue. "Nay. Very well. It's probably better I don't risk it anyway. Last time I tried that one of the mountains tried to keep me prisoner."
"One of the mountains?" Baerle asked with open-faced wonder. "Keep you prisoner?"
"I suppose I'm up to telling the tale."
"In a moment," Angus grunted and shifted on his haunches. He rubbed his paws together, and then stroked his claws through the fur on the back of either hand. "We should be much further along. There's one more talisman here in the Valley, and then we reach the next mountain. It has paths along both flanks, and talismans on both flanks. If the weather is good, we can save half a day's journey by splitting in pairs and taking either flank."
"Is that wise?" Charles asked with a frown. He held a half-gnawed chewstick in one paw and lifted it to his teeth, but stopped just short to add, "Storms come quickly in the mountains. We could be surprised again, and it's much more dangerous for two than for four."
"I know, and if there is any hint of cloud in the sky, we won't risk it." The badger stretched his arms and then leaned back from the fire, casting a glance at opossum, rat, and then to the donkey. His expression was determined despite his weary countenance. "But if the sky is clear, I think we should take the chance."
If they were split, then it didn't matter who James was paired with. He smiled and nodded his head vigorously. "I concur. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home. Let's split up in pairs tomorrow as we go around the mountain."
Charles turned to the donkey with an uncertain, but wavering expression. "Are you sure, James? We never split up in the Barrier Range."
"We should be okay here," James replied with a warm smile. "These mountains aren't as dangerous as the Barrier was."
The rat chewed on his stick for several seconds before finally sighing and nodding. "Baerle? What do you think?"
The opossum stretched out her legs and leaned a little closer to the fire. "A little worried, but I think we'll be okay."
"If the weather is good," the rat said after another few seconds gnawing wood chips, "then we should take the chance. I don't like it though. I'll be very happy when we meet up on the other side."
"It's decided then," Angus said with a heavy sigh. "Now let's get something to eat and try to get some sleep."
James nodded , heart eager, and his mind filled with prayers and hopes that the weather would be clear in the morning. He ran his hand over the bottom of his pack and felt the outline of his bell. It trembled beneath his touch, and with each vibration he could hear the storm coughing and struggling to continue. His lips kissed themselves as he heard the sweet tolling echoing beneath the cry of the wind. The sky would be clear. His bell would see to that. Tomorrow that sky would be clear. Tomorrow he could kill Charles and make Baerle his at long last.
How well he would sleep tonight!
Jessica wasn't sure what time it was, but it must have been very late indeed to judge by the grogginess in the doe reclining in a chair by the door. The hawk was laying on a bed of pillows in a small room in what she recognized as the Mountain Hearth Inn. As she rose and looked around, the doe stirred and, blinked her large eyes, and then asked in a worried voice, "Jessica! Are you feeling okay? You just passed out when the spell..."
"I passed out?" She rubbed one wing across the top of her head, the long feathers brushing near to her nostrils, as she slowly put her talons beneath her as carefully as she could. "is everyone else okay?"
The doe Erica grimaced and nodded a few times before shaking her head. "Berchem couldn't hear any one again. Jo managed to sooth his pain some, but, it's very bad. Are you okay?"
Jessica nodded after a brief dizzy spell. "How long was I unconscious?"
"It's been eight candlemarks," Erica replied. "Do you want me to fetch Burris or Lord Avery?"
"Nay, I think I need lie down again and sleep. Just help Berchem get through the night. I will be there at first light. I know what I need to do."
Nervous, Erica folded her hoof-like hands over one another. "What did you see?"
"I couldn't see the attacker, but it felt like Marzac."
She shook her head. "I don't know who that is."
"Lord Avery should know."
"I will tell him. But... what are you going to do?"
Jessica lowered herself back down to the pillows, exhaustion washing over her and pulling her further and further into the cushioned bed. "I have to hear what the ringing sounds like. It's the only way to see through this spell."
Erica frowned, but nodded and then turned to the door. "I'll go tell them. Rest well, Lady Jessica."
The hawk nodded and waited until the doe blew out the lantern before laying her body back down on the pillows. She was asleep a few seconds later. The last thought that passed through her mind was of the hyacinth and its power. She was going to need it.
March 12, 708 CR
Angus stretched and smiled as he stared out across a clear morning lush with fresh white snow and brilliant blue sky. Just as they'd hoped there was not even a hint of cloud anywhere and the wind had died to the faintest of feathery breezes. Even the snow, despite the violence with which it had whipped them yesterday, was only a few inches thick on the ground, and along most of the rocks had been blown free. It would be a beautiful day for climbing.
"Well," the badger said with a grin that revealed his sharp fangs, "it looks like we have good weather today. Let's have a quick bite and get on our way."
James attached his hoof shoes and looked up, casting a quick glance at Charles and Baerle who were similarly attiring themselves in their corner of the cave, "If we're going to go in pairs, who goes with who?"
Angus took a few steps back down into the cave until he came to the remnants of their cookfire and started going through his gear. "Since we have to protect each other in case of falls, it's best to judge by size. That means James you come with me, and Charles goes with Baerle." The donkey ground his teeth and flicked his tail once. It wouldn't matter in the end anyway.
"Which flank should we take?" Charles asked as he slipped his boots and tightened the laces.
"The northern pass is narrower along several stretches. You two would handle that easier than either James or I." Angus dipped one claw into the pile of ash and drew a mountain on the stone floor and then two paths around it. "We walk for about an hour more through this valley, and then there will be paths as we leave and start up the mountain. You two will take the right fork and James and I will take the left. By mid-afternoon we should reach the other side. When you reach the small grove of trees on the other side, wait there for us."
"Or meet you there," Charles added with a nod and a tap of his chewstick against his teeth. "How many more talismans should we see on the slope?"
"Two more," Angus tapped positions on the path about a third of the way around the mountain from either direction. "And there are cracks all over the mountain, so even if we need to take shelter we can."
"I guess that's it," James said, standing up and hoisting his pack. The bell thrummed against his back. "Let's get going."
Baerle looked at him and blinked. He could never turn away when she gazed at him. "Didn't you want something to eat, James?"
The donkey smiled to her and nodded. "Of course. A little something before we go." A few more minutes delay wouldn't matter. "So, what do we have?"
Jessica was roused from sleep by the squeaking voices of two young squirrels. Darien and Christopher stood just inside the door , long tails twitching with every flick of their whiskers, as they warned her in louder and louder whispers that it was time for her to get up. By the time they were speaking in normal tones, she had enough energy to blink open her eyes and push herself into a half crouch.
"It's morning, Mistress Jessica," Christopher said with a eager twitch to his jowls. "Father asked us to get you up."
Darien held out a small covered basket. "We brought you fresh sausage!"
She still felt very groggy and so decided to cast a simple little spell to try and clear her mind and renew her energy. Something using the hyacinth. She let her gaze settle on the two boys and she chuckled under her breath. "Thank you, both. Now if you put the sausage down, I'd like to try a little spell on you two."
"Will it hurt?" Darien asked with wide eyes and alert tail.
"Not at all. Just hold still." She could only truly reach out for the hyacinth when casting magic, and this was a perfect excuse. A little bit of fun that the boys could tease each other about later. Even with her mind still darkened by sleep's cold grip, she was able to craft the spells, the same spell she had placed on Berchem. As soon as she reached for the hyacinth's power, she felt her own body begin to soothe and clear. And when she placed both incantation on the boys, she felt as fresh as if she'd just enjoyed a long glide through crystal clear air.
Darien and Christopher squeaked in surprise as their posture changed, features softening even underneath all of the fur. A faint suggestion of femininity dented their chests. Both of them looked at each other and then themselves in horror. "Oh yuck!" Darien exclaimed in a higher pitched voice.
Christopher echoed her now sister. "Girls!"
"Change us back!" Darien begged.
"You can leave Darien like this as long as you change me back," Christopher suggested with a cackling laugh.
"No!" Darien pipped. "Change me back and leave Christopher like this!"
Jessica stretched as she stood and squawked in vivacious pleasure. "Just a little trick, that's all. Now, let's get you two boys right again." Jessica reached out her wing claws and severed the cords of magic between the little squirrel girls and the hyacinth. Within a few seconds both of them were once again the rapscallion boys of the Glen.
"Now," Jessica said with a faint laugh, "I can trust you two boys not to tell anyone about this?"
"I'm not telling anybody!" Darien said with an emphatic nod. Christopher bounced his head up and down like only a squirrel can.
"Good, now go and tell your father that I am on my way."
The two squirrel's almost scampered over each other as they pushed out the door, bounding on all fours down the hallway in their enthusiasm. Jessica's beak broke into an avian grin. How she loved those boys.
She took the basket in one wing claw and after tossing aside the little cloth on top, she scooped up the trio of sausage links and gorged them. They were made form elk meat, thick with salt, and entirely scrumptious. She'd have to remember to ask Jurmas the Innkeeper who made them.
Once finished she carried the basket down to the Inn's common area, left it on the main counter with one of the servants, and then headed straight down the stony path toward Berchem's burrow. The morning was crisp and clear, with a warmth that spoke clearly of Spring. What little snow had fallen the night before was already melting.
Lord Avery and Alldis were waiting for her outside Berchem's home. The door was swung open and she could see a faint shimmering of light from the fire within reflecting off the wooden roots framing the door. Both squirrel and deer turned to greet her with warm smiles. "Are you feeling better?" Lord Avery asked. "Erica told us what you saw last night."
"I am much better, milord," Jessica replied with a slight bow to the squirrel. "How is Berchem?"
"Almost catatonic," Alldis grunted and waved a long arm toward the door. "Jo cannot even get him to take his broth anymore."
"Then there's no time to waste," Jessica said with a sigh. "Is Burris here?"
"In the room waiting for you," Lord Avery said with a long chittering sigh. "We'll be here."
Jessica swept down the steps and saw that the skunk had been placed on his pallet again; otherwise the small home was in much the same condition that it had been the night before. The lines of powder she'd painstakingly erected were gone, consumed in the last moments of the spell. With what she intended, she wouldn't need them now.
Burris leaned over the skunk, offering short incantations to try and relax the skunk's muscles, but nothing seemed to be working. Jo fretted over the kettle with her latest batch of broth, but her bowl sat untouched next to the skunk's head. His jaws were clenched together so tight that they were actually bleeding. And more blood was dribbling out his ears.
"Oh thank Akkala you're here!" Jo exclaimed when she saw the hawk land in the center of the room. "I can't do anything for him anymore."
Jessica glanced at Berchem's constricted face and felt her stomach tighten. She had seen men die in battle, but never a death so slow or so painful as what the irascible skunk now endured. "A powerful sleep spell might work, but after what I saw last night, it might not."
"Do you really think the magic of Marzac is involved?" Burris asked as he stepped back from the pallet.
"It felt like it," Jessica said in a harsh whisper. "I'll know for sure in a moment. Don't interfere. This is going to be risky."
Burris and Jo both moved to the other side of the room while Jessica took the two steps to the pallet and bent over the skunk. Berchem had curled into a fetal ball, his tail wrapped up beneath his head like a pillow. His claws were digging into his chest fur, but not yet fierce enough to draw blood. Jessica swallowed,nervous, and let the veins of magic come to life around her.
The knot in Berchem's head had tightened further, drawing more and more magical threads into its weave. The threads passing through his body but not yet drawn into the knot were dwindling; she counted less than thirty left out of the hundreds that ought to be there.
Jessica could still feel the energy from the hyacinth. Normally she only applied it to her curse changing spells, but given what had happened the last time she'd tried this on Berchem she knew she couldn't take the chance of her spell becoming so tightly embedded into the skunk that she couldn't remove it.
Instead she crafted a very simple spell that bound the skunk's ears to her own, and with the hyacinth grounding her, she brought the spell into contact with the knot. A simple matter of will opened the connection.
And she was slammed against the wall as a huge bell tolled above her louder than any dragon's roar or even the inferno that had engulfed Marzac. The aural concussion made her try to scream, but she couldn't even hear anything but that ever renewing resonance of that vaulted bell. Her eyes filled with a vile black shadow that coalesced into the shape of the bell, vaulted and terrible. But not one bell, nine bells in a grid, carillons coming into focus and resolving from some leftover malice that now clung to Berchem's mind and fed from it like a leech. Swollen and engorged, the bell smashed its bulk with every peal that made her fear her bones were going to melt into jelly.
After only the seventh peal, Jessica was able to grasp the spell connecting her to Berchem's mind and she ripped it apart. If not for the strength that flowed from her hyacinth, she knew, even as she fell to the floor gasping and watching drops of blood fall from her beak, that she would have died as surely as the skunk.
Jo was at her side with a small cloth gently dabbing the blood smearing her black feathers. "Are you okay?" she whispered as if from miles away.
"No," she replied with a gasp, startled to realize that her own voice was just as remote. How badly had just those few knells hurt her ears? "I heard it... I heard the bell in his mind. It is Marzac. There was... there was a carillon of nine bells in one of the rooms at the Chateau. They're what's caused this."
"Are you okay?" Lord Avery called down the steps as Burris and Jo helped Jessica get back to her feet.
"I will be in a moment." Jessica said in a clear voice. Already her hearing was coming back, but her ears still stung with the faint tremor of the ringing. "It's one of my friends who did this. Charles or James. I don't think any of the others have been through here since the plague."
Alldis grunted. "It's James. I checked all the Polygamites, but none of their hooves match what I found. And James has been carrying around a bell he made a few weeks ago."
Jessica breathed heavily, gathering her strength again. "Where are they?"
"In the mountains," Lord Avery replied as he offered the hawk a hand to help her climb out of the skunk's burrow. "It'll take days to find them."
"I can fly there today," Jessica said. "if I can find them I can warn Charles and we can put a stop to this. Once we destroy that bell, Berchem should recover."
"What should we do until then?" Jo asked.
Jessica sighed as she glanced back down into the home. The skunk still lay curled into a tight ball, his face more pained than even an expert torturer would seek. "Do whatever you can for him. I don't think he'll last another day." She turned to Lord Avery and met him with intent eyes. "Where exactly are they going? Who is with them?"
"Angus and Baerle. They went into the mountains just south of the Sea of Souls. I can show you a map."
"Thank you, milord, but that won't be necessary." Jessica spread her wings and leaped into the air. Beneath her she heard the squirrel shout something, but the words were lost as she ascended up through the trees. She winged to the northwest, heart pounding with every flap, her focus sure. How she wished she'd asked the Glenners to wake her earlier.
The left fork ascended in a series of switchbacks up along the mountainside before striking in a wide shelf coated in fresh snow along a gentle slope that would be covered in scrub in a few months. They had been walking not even an hour by the time they took a short break to stretch their legs after the climb. James set his pack down on a rock and sorted through it until he had the bell in hand. Angus stood a handful of paces ahead of him, surveying the path and the sheer face of rock descending down into the valley.
"I know you wanted to go with Baerle," Angus said quietly. "Next chance I have, I'll make sure you have some time. I promise."
James cupped the bell in hand and turned toward the badger, taking each step carefully. "You do? Why?"
"Both Charles and I have seen the way you look at her," Angus replied as he continued to note the precipice and the path ahead. "She's had a rough time with men in the past, so don't let her manner fool you. If you truly like her, she'll come around."
James licked the back of his lips and took another step, the bell thrumming in his hands.
Tolling.
"I do like her," James admitted. "So why do you keep pairing her with Charles?"
Angus half-turned to glance at him, then shrugged as his eyes wandered to the clear sky. "Well, I wanted to talk with you a bit, James. And I was hoping Charles could talk to Baerle. I've seen the way she looks at him, and it's not helping our friend.
"She doesn't love him," James insisted. Only a few more paces left.
Angus scuffled the snow and grimaced. "Perhaps not. But... there's one other thing I wanted to let you know, James. It's been a little over a year now since I started teaching you. And I have never been as proud of a pupil as I am of you. You are one of the most capable men I've ever known, James. I mean that. In another year you'll be leading scouting teams, and maybe more. But," he turned away from the precipice and grabbed his gear, brushing it free of snow. "But for now, I hope that you have some luck with Baerle. She's a good woman."
James licked his lips and lifted the bell up over his head. "I know she is. Thank you for telling me this, Angus." The badger started to turn when James swung down hard.
Tolling!
The bell landed solidly in Angus's forehead. The badger flinched backward for a moment, and then his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed into the snowbank against the mountainside.
That my tone should be tuned to such solemn song.
So mournfully – so mournfully, that the dead may feel no wrong.
James stared at the unconscious badger for several long seconds before shaking his head. "Nay, he wanted, he wanted me to be with Baerle. He promised me. I'll make him forget. Two accidents is too much anyway."
Nevermore.
"Too much," James repeated, before bending down and scooping the snow, piling it in heaps atop the badger's body to make sure he didn't freeze to death. Once he'd covered all but his snout, James hefted his pack over one shoulder and started back down the trail. He kept the bell in his hand, which throbbed and warmed him with purpose. He exulted and felt so alive as he nearly galloped down the switchbacks. At long last, it was finally time to rescue Baerle from that rat.