Penelope nudged my elbow.
I stood there frozen. I even stopped breathing. I ran it over and over through my mind. Could I really live without knowing? What if he turned me away? What if I killed him? What if he was forced to kill me? There were so many questions, and every answer seemed wrong. I was no closer to making the decision when Penelope finally made it for me.
She rapped on the door twice and floated behind me as it opened. Wyst stood there. He didn't say anything. His face remained blank, save for the soft arch of his eyebrows.
I suddenly felt very self-conscious. I didn't mind being practically nude before anyone. Anyone but this man. I was a creature of flawless, accursed beauty, and he loved me. Knowing didn't seem to make any difference. I wanted my thick, black frock. Maybe a hat. Even a shawl to drape across my shoulders would've been nice.
I kept my hands by my side, resisting the urge to hide my body behind folded arms. I swallowed a lump in my throat.
"May I come in?"
His eyebrows rose another notch. He glanced down the hall, back to his room, and back at me before moving aside. I stepped into his room. Penelope stayed in the hall. I whispered a thank you to my broom as I closed the door.
His room was cozy. I was too distracted to notice anything but the bed and a folded blanket lying on the floor.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"I was only meditating."
The meditation of White Knights must've been a strenuous practice. He was slightly out of breath. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his entire body was tense. Or maybe these were due to my presence. He could only look at me from the corner of his eye.
It was terribly hot in this room. I paced to the window and opened it a crack. Wyst was reflected in the spotless glass. He studied my back, unaware I could see his glance wander up and down my body. I put my fingers to the window and traced the image of his strong, pleasing face.
"Is something wrong, witch?" He spoke softly. The first time I'd ever heard him mumble.
I was woefully inexperienced, but I was a creature made to seduce. I trusted my instincts. I turned slowly, allowing Wyst to enjoy my form from all angles. Then I glided to him, literally floating a hairsbreadth off the floor. My gown billowed upward, revealing my perfect legs. His already tense body tightened. I drew close but didn't touch him.
He turned his face from me. "What are you doing?"
I put a palm to his cheek and turned his face back. He closed his eyes.
"I can't do this."
Words could say much, and they said all the more when there were so few. He hadn't said he wouldn't. He'd said he couldn't. Can't is for things you mustn't do, yet you know you will.
He put a hand to my hand as if to pull it away. "I've taken a vow, a sacred vow."
I ran my thumb across his soft lips. "Tell me to leave, and I will." I did my best to sound as if this wouldn't bother me.
"I need my virtue," he whispered. "Without it, I'll be no match for the sorcerer."
"With it, you are still no match."
He withdrew half a step. "I can't let you face him alone. I have to protect you."
Again, his words said much. His resistance didn't come from his vows of purity. It stemmed from his love, his desire to keep me from harm. I understood more than he knew. We were so much alike, but unlike my burden, his could be put aside.
"You can't protect me from my fate, Wyst. And you won't meet Soulless Gustav tomorrow. That is my battle alone. You've done everything you can for me. There is only one favor I have left to ask of you ..."
I moved as close as I could without touching him. The heat of his body washed over me. The lanterns flared with my rising desire. I wanted to throw him down and force him to love me. But it was his decision to make.
He stared into my eyes and bit his lower lip.
"When I meet my destiny tomorrow, Wyst, I will greet it gladly, without regrets. Save one. Unless you see fit to grant me one last favor."
"I can t."
I put a finger to his lips. The lanterns dimmed.
"They're just words, Wyst. They say much and mean nothing. Empty syllables carried on whispers, that's all they are. If you can deny me, deny yourself, without them, I'll go."
He ran his fingers through my hair and smiled sweetly. "I can't..."
"No words."
We drew closer.
"But..." He sounded parched.
I put my hands on his chest and felt the pounding of his heart. The warmth of his flesh seared my palms. His hand slipped down my neck and slid the gown from my shoulders. I ran my calf along his thigh. Strange, how natural it all was. As if I'd done this a thousand times before.
We kissed. I couldn't remember who kissed who. We just suddenly were. My stomach grumbled. The fiend within wanted to bite off his tongue. I could feel the gush of tangled veins in his throat, just begging to be ripped out.
I pulled away, and it was his turn to be puzzled. "I have to warn you. I might kill you."
I handed him the knife.
"If you feel you must, drive this blade in my heart and save yourself."
The knife clattered to the floor. He took me in his arms and kissed my neck. He whispered softly in my ear.
"Some things are worth the risk."
W
yst's btood tasted even
sweeter than I'd expected.
I en joyed a drop, gained in a moment when my passion and carnivorous lusts caught me unaware, and I'd nibbled his ear too sharply. It was the only slip. Though at the heights of our rapture, visions of rent flesh did flash through my mind. The carnal pleasures overwhelmed my appetite. Mostly.
Wyst put a hand to my grumbling stomach. The dark of his fingers against my alabaster skin seemed a perfect contradiction. We were so different on the surface, yet so much alike.
"Do you regret it?" I asked. "The loss of your virtue?"
He put fingers to my chin and raised my face to his. "If I'd regretted it, I would've stopped after the first time. And my virtue isn't lost, only my chastity."
His lips graced my forehead. I kissed him and my hand danced down his thigh.
"Again? You really will kill me."
I smiled. He didn't know how right he was. With my curse, I could do just that. I could hold him in this bed and stoke his fires over and over again until every last ounce of his life burned away. The danger of that was a long way off. Wyst was a healthy specimen, possessed of enough stamina to survive a week or two in my dangerous embrace.
I slipped over him and nibbled on his lower lip. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed me tight against him. My stomach roared, no longer to be neglected. I found the strength to roll away. It was easier knowing he would still be here when I got back. I put on my gown and paused at the door just long enough to cast a sidelong glance at him lying there. Any more would have been too much temptation.
Penelope waited in the hall. She didn't say anything, not in her unspoken way, but she did peek in the room to make sure Wyst was still alive. My shadow danced along the walls. It twirled and frolicked, often leaving my feet to caper playfully along the ceiling.
Downstairs, Gwurm was asleep by the fire. The fox dozed in his lap. Newt sat on the table, nestled among gnawed duck bones. He raised his head and frowned.
"As you're not covered in blood, I assume you didn't kill him."
"Sorry to disappoint you." I took a seat and glutted myself on every piece of uncooked meat I could reach. I was hungrier than I'd realized. Absolutely ravenous. This wasn't the meal my appetite desired, but flesh was flesh.
"What's the sense of robbing a White Knight of his purity if you don't bother killing him?" said Newt. "It's like running down a deer and then letting it go. I hope it was worth it, throwing aside your witchly ethics."
I finished sucking down a turkey leg. "I have seduced a White Knight, exposed the mortal man for all the world to see, and he doesn't resent me for it. Not only that, but I've tasted forbidden pleasures of the flesh and learned something about myself. I can't think of anything more witchful than this."
"Your mistress would disagree."
"I doubt that very much. It was by her design that this night came to pass."
"Vengeance is our quest."
I laughed. "Vengeance or death lay at the end of this journey, but not every journey is about the destination."
He yawned and perked up his head. "Can I kill him then?"
He already knew the answer.
"Senseless," he grumbled.
The tapestry of Soulless Gustav spoke up. "I quite agree." The sorcerer stepped from the cloth. He kept his flatness. It suited him as even in three dimensions he was a slight figure. "Didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I have to go with the duck. It's bad form to not take advantage of a White Knight after you've, well, after you've taken advantage of him. It's expected."
"A good witch does the unexpected."
"Excellent point, my dear witch with the unspoken name." He strolled to a chair and folded himself into a sitting position. "Although when the morning comes, I expect you will die."
My only response was a wry grin. I expected him correct, but then again, a great witch can even surprise herself on occasion.
"Speaking of morning." Soulless Gustav waved his hand, and hard light poured through the windows. "You'll excuse my impatience, but I'd like to get this over with."
"No."
"I beg your pardon."
"Not yet."
He glared. "I am master of this realm. You dare to give me commands."
"Not a command. A request. You've been a most gracious host, and I would appeal to your generosity one last time."
His glares softened. "Of course. Forgive me." He returned to the tapestry. "I'll grant you two more hours. As they shall be your last on this world, I suggest you make good use of them."
"I shall. And thank you."
"The laws of hospitality apply to all men, lowly peasant and legendary sorcerer alike." Soulless Gustav resumed his silent watch over the room as darkness buried the morning.
I allowed myself a few minutes to settle my full stomach.
"What did you learn about yourself?" asked Newt. "You said you'd learned something."
"I learned that I can never love a man. Not as a woman."
"You seem to be doing an excellent job so far."
I smiled without mirth. "A temporary indulgence. No matter what, I am accursed. My love will always be doomed."
My shadow stopped dancing.
The jagged truth tore at my witchly veil. Newt averted his eyes and fidgeted in the awkward silence. Penelope leaned against my shoulder.
"Life isn't about the things you can't have," I said. "It is about those blessings you do find along the way." Though the truth is rarely a comfort, I found some solace in this. I couldn't love Wyst for a lifetime, but I could love him for a short while more.
My shadow skipped around the fireplace as I moved toward the stairs.
Newt snorted. "You aren't fooling me. I know why you robbed him of his virtue. You made him vulnerable to protect him."
"Did I?"
"Oh, stop pretending to be mysterious. I see through it all. Wyst may not have been a match for Soulless Gustav on his own, but he could've helped you. And you need every advantage you can get. But now, he's just a man. You've made him useless. You've taken him out of the game because you weren't willing to risk his life for your own."
"Figure that out all on your own?" I asked.
"You're admitting it then?"
I only grinned.
"It is very witchfol," he said. "To save a man's life by stealing his invulnerability. Your mistress would be proud." He didn't like acknowledging that and scowled.
A good witch admits to nothing. I ascended the stairs without saying another word and entered Wyst's room. He lay on the bed. My eyes lingered on his lean, dark body. He smiled and held out a hand.
He traced my lips with his fingers. "You are beautiful."
I already knew this, but there was something in the way he said it. Something in his eyes as well. He saw more than my cursed flesh. He saw the mortal woman hidden inside that even I could forget was there. But in his arms, it was different. In his arms, I could almost forget the fiend.
He kissed me, and his flavorful lips stirred my twin hungers. The ghoul hissed and fidgeted, but she was smothered beneath the indulgences of the woman.
Newt was wrong. Even without his enchantments, Wyst was more than a man. Much more.
He slipped off my gown and drew me onto the bed.
And he was far from useless.
T
here was a benefit
to being ageless. Time meant nothing to me, a vague abstraction. Two hours in Wyst's bed might pass as slowly as I perceived it. It could never last as long as I wanted, but I could draw out every moment, enough for a lifetime that might reach into infinity If I survived the next day, and still walked this world a thousand years from now, this night would always remain with me. When the dawn finally came, I was ready to meet either death or eternity.
Soulless Gustav allowed me a slow sunrise. The light slipped through the windows, and I pulled myself from Wyst's arms. I reached for my silken gown but thought better of it. It would have to be left in this room, like so many things. I wrapped a heavy blanket over my body I leaned over Wyst and kissed his eyes, an earlobe, and finally his lips. Part of me wanted to wake him, but this was best. This was the only way it could be. I turned to the door.
"Where are you going?"
I'd hoped to steal away unnoticed. It would've made everything so much easier.
I closed my eyes and didn't look back at him. "It's time."
"I'll get my things."
"You're no longer enchanted," I said. "Soulless Gustav would kill you even easier than he would have before."
"I won't let you face him alone."
"I know."
I glided to his side and enfolded him in my blanket to enjoy the feel of his skin against mine.
"You won't talk me out of this," he said softly.
"I know. You're a stubborn man, but I think you are very tired. I think you should go back to bed." I batted my eyelashes at him. His lids slipped half-closed.
"What are you doing?" He yawned. He fell limp in my arms. I had no trouble holding him up. "Don't do this." He nodded off and jerked alert. "I have to protect you. I have to ..."
"You can't protect me as tired as you are." I covered his mind in sleep. Magic that would've burned away against his invulnerable aura only hours ago now proved more than his match.
"Forgive me, Wyst."
I lowered him onto the bed. His slumber was peaceful, save for a soft frown across his lips.
I descended the stairs. My companions sat ready by the table. I wasted no time on politeness and got dressed. Soulless Gustav had given me my hours. I wouldn't be rude and keep him waiting any longer.
"Gwurm, you'll find Wyst upstairs. Dress him and take him from this place. Penelope, you'll go with them."
"And me?" asked Newt.
"You'll be coming with me."
He squinted with surprise. "I will?"
"You are my familiar, aren't you? Your place is by my side, isn't it?"
"Well, yes..."
"Good then. We'll see about that violent death you were hoping for. Although I make no promises."
"Yes, mistress." He beamed.
"And me?" asked the gray fox.
"You can do whatever you like," I said.
"Then I shall come along too."
Gwurm went to fetch Wyst, and Penelope tried to force herself into my hand.
"None of that. You'll go with Gwurm. I'll most likely be dead very soon, and he'll need a friend. I'm trusting you to take care of him."
She stood straight and bobbed once.
"Good girl." I turned to Newt. "It's time to go."
He couldn't resist smirking at Penelope, even though all he'd really earned was almost certain doom.
The phantom servant materialized by the front door. "Right this way madam. The master is expecting you."
Gwurm descended the stairs with Wyst over his shoulder. "Good luck."
I glanced back at my troll, broom, and slumbering White Knight. "Tell him I'm sorry."
"He'll understand."
I wasn't so sure. Wyst was a proud man. He would've chosen to die by my side, and I was wrong to not allow him that.
"Tell him ..." I found the words very hard to say. I should've told Wyst in the bedroom. Now, I couldn't.
"He already knows," said Gwurm. "Just as you know."
"Are we going or not?"
The servant directed us onto a cobblestone path that led up to a tall hill. Penelope and Gwurm with Wyst and steed in tow headed the other direction. 1 didn't know if they'd make it, but accompanying me was certain death. Now they had a chance.
I put aside the distraction as we marched up the path.
Magic is everywhere in all things and all places, but there is more magic in some things than others. Accursed witches and Incarnate sorcerers draw arcane power like lodestones. As we drew closer, that power crackled in the air. The magic knew a terrible battle was about to begin, and it offered all its potency before us to ensure a colorful struggle.
Witch magic is a subtle art. I may have been out of my element, but Ghastly Edna had prepared me. "Remember, child, that magic follows no rules other than its own. Many of its followers fail to understand this. They fail to adapt when the magic demands it. Mostly because they've grown set in their ways. But a good witch knows her place, and a great witch understands that experience can as often be a burden as a gift."
To defeat Soulless Gustav, I only had to forget everything I'd learned, but unlearning was a witch's greatest talent. Perhaps I wasn't as far out of my element as I thought.
I was expecting everything and nothing on the other side of the hill, but the landscape remained unexceptional phantom fields of grass. The cobblestones came to an end at a gleaming silver cube.
"What is it?" asked Newt.
"The heart of a world that doesn't exist," I replied.
The shape of Soulless Gustav's face pressed through the shimmering surface. "You should be honored. You'll be the first to glimpse the beautiful fate that shall replace this universe." He glanced to my companions. "I expected you alone."
"The duck is my familiar. The fox is merely an observer."
"For posterity, eh? An excellent idea. Enter and witness my glory."
His face melted into the cube, and I stepped into its impalpable surface. It wasn't so much that I entered it as it expanded around my perceptions. First came the illusion of time to distinguish one moment from another. Then came the fantasy of space. Then came the other details of Soulless Gustav's creation. The countless lesser particulars that make up a phantom universe fell into place. I stood on the threshold of a miniature cosmos. Dozens of tiny planets swirled amid an endlessness of stars. Neither Newt nor the fox were with me.
Soulless Gustav stood at the center of his universe. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
I remained properly inscrutable. "I suppose it is. In much the same way a painting of a flower can almost be as beautiful as the flower itself."
He glowered. Then sighed and smiled in a passable imitation of good humor. "Forgive me, witch. I've forgotten that you lack the vision to see what I've shown you."
His solar system wound to a slow halt. A tiny planet ceased its orbit before me that I might glimpse its continents and oceans. If I looked close enough, I could no doubt see mountain ranges, forests, and deserts as well as villages and cities teeming with millions of phantom inhabitants.
"Mine is a flawless re-creation. This is the universe, my universe. A small thing now, but it shall grow like a seed. And one day, mine will overthrow that flawed jumble you call reality."
I slapped the planet and started it spinning again. "How sad that you think this is a dream worth fighting for. You have my pity"
His worlds twirled faster. He walked forward between the speeding spheres. "You have courage, witch. I'll grant you that. This isn't your reality. Nor is it even that impure realm of sorcery outside this cube. This is my power, pure and undiluted. Here, I am a living god, and you are absolutely nothing."
"Perhaps. But I am a good witch, even here. And you are still a very poor sorcerer, even here."
The only sign of Soulless Gustav's rage came in a clenched fist. "Your bravado doesn't fool me, woman. I sense your fear, your awe."
"You've lived too long among glass and shadows. You sense only those illusions you desire."
He raised his hand. An inch-high double of me stood in his palm. He waved his other hand over them, and it writhed and dissolved into moldering paste amid tortured shrieks.
I smiled. "Most impressive. If I were a phantom, I would be most terrified."
"How dare you..."
"I dare. I confess to once having some dread over facing you, but that disappeared the moment you showed me your dream." I reached out and plucked a passing moon. "All that power at your disposal, and this is the best you could do."
"All that I can do!" Soulless Gustav snarled. His voice echoed from one end of eternity to the other as his civility crumbled at the edges. "I have remade a universe!"
I shook my head and balanced the moon on my fingertips. "There is already a perfectly good universe out there. Remaking it is a waste of magic, an exercise in futility"
The orbit of his worlds grew erratic. They zipped about, barely missing one another.
"You dare mock my power."
"Your power, never. It is awesome without question. It is your vision that I find lacking. You have the gift to create whatever your will desires, to make the unreal real. Yet you choose to make something that already is. You lack the one thing every great sorcerer should possess: imagination. Without that, all the magic in this universe and a thousand others counts for naught."
Soulless Gustav's anger was a cataclysm on his creation. Worlds smashed into each other. Stars flashed, only to burn away in moments. The moon on my fingertips cracked in two.
"You don't honestly think you can defeat me?" he said softly through clenched teeth.
"Probably not," I agreed, "but even if I lose, what difference does it make? Even if you succeed in your dream, what does it matter? Either way, this universe continues. Whether genuine or unimaginative illusion, I fail to notice the difference."
Soulless Gustav drew in a deep, calming breath. "Mine shall have one less accursed witch."
"Details. Unimportant trivialities. Pity though." I smiled wide. "I've heard accursed witches can grow on you."
Soulless Gustav's universe exploded. I didn't think it intentional, but this cosmos was a reflection of his will. I understood now why he'd allowed me into the heart of his madness. He wanted my approval in the shape of fear and wonder. I was flattered my reaction meant so much to him, but it wasn't because he respected me as a witch. It had been so long since he'd been criticized, I don't think he could've taken it from anyone. Such was the price of living in an empty dream. He'd forgotten that reality wasn't always to one's liking.
We hovered among the glittering shards of unreality for but a moment. They collected together. An ocean of sparkling blue water formed under our feet. A soft red sky grew over our heads. We stood on the surface without sink ing. Thousands of colorful fish swam beneath us. An immense, black eel parted the rainbow schools and sent soft waves across the ocean. Nothing serious enough to disturb our balance.
Soulless Gustav folded his arms tightly across his chest. "What do you think of my sorcery now?"
I knelt and pushed my hand through the depths. A fish swam right into my grasp. I pulled it out, holding it by the tail as it twitched. Its gills gulped for water as its mouth gaped. "As impressive and pointless as before." I threw the phantom back into its home.
Soulless Gustav scowled. "You are starting to try my patience, witch."
"To be honest, mine is wearing thin as well. Shall we get on with it?"
"Eager to die, are you?"
"If death means leaving behind your vainglorious chatter, I welcome it." A witch rarely is so direct, but I couldn't resist jabbing at his narcissism. It was such an easy target.
"You can't win, you know. Would you like to know why?" he asked.
"Not really."
The ocean churned and bubbled, forcing me to shift to keep my balance. Dark things with lumpish shapes surged beneath the waves.
"The magic told me that I had only one person to fear," he said. "Only one who might pose any threat to me. A witch, ironically enough. It even told me where to find her. So I struck her down while she was unaware." He grinned. "Very easily too, I might add."
Now I understood those mysteries I'd almost given up on. Ghastly Edna had known what was happening that final day because the magic had spoken with her too. She could've saved herself, but she chose instead to be killed. She'd given her life to protect me. A witch was to die there that day. It wasn't unavoidable, but it was the most practical solution. Even in death, Ghastly Edna had been a great witch.
I wiped the beginnings of a tear from my eye. "Did perhaps the magic mention something of two witches living in the same cabin?"
Soulless Gustav's smug grin fell away as his ocean grew deathly calm. The shapeless things ceased their swimming.
He squinted. "What?"
"You killed the wrong witch. You took away the most precious thing in my life, and for that, I will kill you. But you have also given me a most precious gift, even if unintentionally." I smiled. "And for that, I shall kill you quickly."
I reached out with my magic and found the two pieces of reality floating in Soulless Gustav's madness. They shone like beacons. I plucked them from wherever they were and drew them to my side. Newt and the gray fox materialized beside me.
"You've forgotten a few." Soulless Gustav waved his arms. An eel broke the surface and spat up four others. Though coated with slime, Gwurm, Wyst, Penelope, and the horse appeared startled but unharmed.
"They aren't part of this, Gustav," I growled.
"On the contrary, everyone and everything are part of this. They do belong to the old universe."
Wyst of the West drew his sword. "Prepare to die, sorcerer!"
"Brave and tired words, White Knight."
Soulless Gustav put a thumb to his chin. Angry red magic surged at Wyst. I sent a billowing tide of warm, blue power against it. They sizzled away against each other. The battle had begun, and none of the others knew, unable to sense the raw magic gathering around Soulless Gustav and myself.