Authors: Flora Dare
Danae knew she was treading in deep water, but she had to keep Lori angry and focused on her. She needed Lori to be so angry at her that she wouldn't notice the spell that had started to slowly circle the room. Danae could feel the magic, Neya's magic, slowly dance around the cave. Liam had made it to Neya, before Lori found him.
Danae said, “I didn't have to use magic on him, he fell in love with me because I wasn't part of this hidebound town.”
Lori dropped on her knees next to Danae and got close to her face, spit flying out of her mouth as she said, “If my father hadn't been so stupid about magic, this never would have happened, David would have stayed with me, and I would have the golden child.”
Danae stared into Lori’s half mad eyes. “But you killed her too. You killed Alba. Do you think that David could ever forgive you? Even if you could manage to bewitch his mind to forget me, which I doubt. You'd have to, you know. You would have to make him forget me.” Lori stood up, running from Danae’s words, but she kept going. “But could you make him forget you cast the spell that killed his only child? The reason you claim he married me at all. Sweet little Alba.”
Lori kicked Danae, hard, in the belly. “You shut your filthy whore mouth. If you'd done what you were supposed to, and gotten in the car, and not driven, the spell would have just taken you.”
Danae coughed, fighting against the pain. She had to keep Lori too angry to think, to act. Only a few more minutes. She had to do this for David and for Alba. “You know why I had to drive? Because of you.” She spat the blood out of her mouth when an idea come to her.
Blood is power, even your own. Especially your own.
Lori sneered at her. “What are you talking about?”
“When we were at the pub, you were there. David drank because he had to deal with you. He had to put up with your whiny bullshit, with your nosing around. He knew you would be sniffing around, trying to take him from his family. So he had a few drinks so he could handle being around you, being polite. He drank, and then realized he couldn't drive, and it was all because of you.”
Lori dropped to her knees again and grabbed Danae by her hair, yanking her off the ground. She shook Danae hard, then tossed her back into the dirt. She said, “No, he never drank like that when it was just me and him, before you.”
“You mean before he fled the town that held you, fled practically to the ends of the earth, until he could find a woman who didn't remind him of you at all. He never came back to visit you, did he?”
“He was studying, he didn't come back at all.”
Lori's voice was pitching higher and higher. Danae knew she was hitting closer and closer to home.
Danae pressed harder and said, “But he did. Ungag Maude, she'll tell you. She knows everything that's happened in this town.”
Lori walked over to Maude, and hauled her upright, and cut the gag out of her mouth. Maude spit in the dirt.
Lori said, “Did you hear what she said?”
“Ayup, I heard it.”
“Well?”
“Well what?” Danae could have cried, whether Maude was just being Maude, or was trying to slow Lori down, it suited her purposes just fine. Neya needed enough time to completely encircle them.
Lori slapped Maude hard enough that her head whipped back and said, “You miserable old hag, I don't need you alive, so tell me what you know.”
Maude shook her head and said, “Fine, I'll tell you everything. But are you really ready to hear what I have to tell you?”
“Just tell me, you stupid cow.”
“David came back all the time when he was in school. To see his mother. To pick up supplies. Everyone knew. Well, except you. Even Simon.”
Lori rocked back away from Maude. “Simon knew?”
Maude let out a short barking laugh. “Are you kidding? Why do you think Simon starting sniffing around your skirts? It was to distract you while David was around.”
“Well, then I guess I know which commoner's blood will close the first seal.” Lori strode over to a crumpled form at the edge of the cave, near the entrance. It was Simon. Danae was shocked to see him. For such a lean woman, Lori was stronger than she looked, when she dragged him easily to the low stone altar.
Maude started talking again. “That's not all. David came back, and we all hid it from you. Even your father. Especially your father.”
Lori spun around. “That's low, coming from you. Father would never do that to me.”
“Your father knew you weren't for David. David's bloodline needed power, beauty, and grace. Breeding. Breeding you never had. He knew the prophecy as well as the rest of us. He knew what you were capable of, and it wasn't having the golden child.”
Lori grew very still. “You have no idea what I'm capable of.” She pulled Simon's head back, and drew the knife firmly across his neck. “In the name of the first blood, I call you, Nemiahka. Bless this altar. I will cleanse it with fresh sacrifice.” She dropped Simon, who slumped over the altar as his blood spurted into the basin. She stripped out of her clothing and stood nude behind him. She cast her hands into the sky then plunged the knife into Simon's back. “In the name of the first cuts, I call you, Nemiahka. Bless this altar. I cleanse it with my first sacrifice.” Lori spun his energy around her and into herself. Danae could feel Lori pulling the spirit out of Simon's body and could feel his life slipping away as his blood flowed into the basin.
Danae whispered under her breath, pulling power from the blood she'd already spit onto the ground. She was able to send a small tendril of energy into Simon, sealing the artery in his neck. He'd still bleed plenty, but he shouldn't die. Well, not just yet. If Simon died, that power would be more than enough for Lori to finish whatever ritual she was trying before Neya finish the casting. Lori plunged her hands into the blood filled basin and then lifted them over her head.
The blood dripping down her arms and body made for a gruesome sight, and Maude couldn't keep quiet. “You crazy bitch, this is why your father was so strict with you. You don't have power of your own, only what you can steal. Can you even see the auras?”
Lori rubbed the blood into her face and sneered at Maude, “Why should I bother with the work of gathering weak little strands of energy, when I can take whatever I want. It's all there for the taking, you just have to know how.”
Maude laughed back and said, “Well, that's worked out well for you, so far. You killed David. You killed that little girl. Now you've killed Simon. And I'm so tired of you.”
“You're tired of me? You daft old woman. My father convinced this whole stupid town to abandon magic, to refuse to look at auras. And you
did.
That's what let me run over all of you. Your stupid bigotry. I might not have managed to kill Danae in the accident, but you barely spoke to her. You stupid heifer.”
“That's where you're wrong.”
Danae struggled to free her arms, she knew Maude was going to push Lori too far. She wasn't especially fond of her, but Maude had been the only one who hadn't completely shut her out, and she didn't want to watch her die. The rope was too tight, Danae couldn't get free. She spit her blood out again and pulled the tiny wisp of energy into her body. She let it slip free, a weak, small spell, to loosen the ropes binding her.
Maude said, “You see, most of the town agreed to stop using magic, but we couldn't help but see auras. We told you and your father we weren't using them, but we could see into your hearts, even then. So, I kept an eye on you. My job was to watch you, to keep you clear of David and then later, of Alba and Danae. We knew the prophecy, and we didn't share it all, not when we could see your father's black heart. We thought we might be able to untwist you when we untwisted what he did to our land, but we were wrong.”
Lori said, “What the hell are you talking about? There is no rest of the prophecy. There never was a prophecy, my father made it up. It's pretend.”
Maude snorted. “No, it's real, stupid girl. Even your father lied to you, lead you around. When he finally left, we thought maybe his influence would fade.”
Lori said, “But he didn't disappear. He just went underground. And he taught me things.”
Maude said, “He should have taught you what an earth witch is.”
Lori said, “An earth witch? Elemental magic is the realm of the others, no human witch can control it.”
A tremulous light encircled Maude, golden, but faint.
Lori scowled at Maude and said, “No human can use that magic. Your tricks can't make me believe what isn't real. Just showing off a little earth-colored shield isn't going to trick me. Not to mention how incredibly weak it is.”
Maude said, “Keep believing that. Just like you believe David would ever be bound to you. Even if you succeed at raising him, he loved Danae, so you'd just be bringing them back together. Killing someone doesn't kill their love.”
Lori’s mouth twisted into a hard smile. “Well, I imagine watching the images of her wrapping her whore legs around that stupid selkie would kill off any love her magic still trapped in him.”
Maude sighed and said, “Stupid girl, there was no magic. They fell in love, and had a beautiful child. Not you and him, them.”
Lori snapped her teeth at Maude and said, “Well, that worked out well for them, because they're both dead. David's dead and Alba's dead, and I will bind him to me, and we'll have a baby, and she'll be the answer to the prophecy. And I’ll take the power the curse stole from this town. Because it has to come from him, so he has to come back.”
Danae caught her breathe. In the heat of the moment, she forgot that none of them knew that Alba lived.
Maude said, “No, Lori, that's not what will happen.”
Lori said, “I'm bored of this stupid babble. You're just trying to slow me down.” Lori raised her hands above her head again, to continue the ritual.
Maude said quietly, “She's not dead.”
Danae gasped, and Lori took a step towards Maude.
“What?”
Maude said, “She's not dead, Lori. Alba, David’s child, is still alive.”
Lori said, “I don't understand.”
Maude said, “Even if you bring back David, there will be no child of your womb. David will be drawn to his love, Danae, his spirit will realize his mission is complete and he will return to the wheel of life. You can't hold him, even for a moment.”
Lori threw down her knife and screamed. “Why would you say she was still alive? She's dead, the spell was to clear the way for me to have his child.”
Maude’s voice went flat and she said, “You wanted them both dead?”
Lori stilled, then laughed. “You're right, I planned on both Danae and Alba dying, because he'd have to have another child then. And you're trying to say Alba's alive? Then it's good Danae is still alive, a mother's blood will always tell true.”
She grabbed the knife and began to walk towards Danae. The flickering shield around Maude extended around Danae as well.
“I've had about as much interference as I think I want from you.” Lori began flinging tendrils of power at the shield, trying to batter it down. But the steamers of power stuck to the shield and started being pulled out of her. Lori stumbled in a panic trying to pull her power out of the morass, but Maude grew taller, stronger as the power flowed out of Lori. Danae's bindings finally released.
Lori lashed out at Maude, raging and screaming. “No, no, no. Nemiahka, I command you, this is your sacred ground.”
Maude stood calmly and stared at Lori.
“No child, this isn't Nemiahka's domain. You didn't finish. You didn't complete the dedication of the altar.”
Lori froze, then spun, staring at Simon. He was unconscious, but still very much alive, thanks to Danae’s spell closing his wound. Lori threw the knife in her hand at Simon, enraged and determined to kill him. Danae used the tiny power she’d hoarded and flung a spike of power toward them. Her aim was true and knocked the knife off course, where it clattered uselessly to the ground.
Lori broke down screaming and began flinging all her power at Danae. “You ruin everything, you fucking whore. You ruin everything. I just wanted him to love me. Someone to love me, love me, why couldn't he love me.”
Maude edged closer and closer to Danae. She extended her hand, clasping Danae's firmly in hers. Maude whispered, “Please, trust me.”
Danae nodded at the older woman. Lori was still raging, flinging power that Maude’s shield simply absorbed. With Simon still alive, her reservoir of power was diminished. Danae could see Maude close her eyes and sink her power into the soil. All the strands of power Lori had been lashing them with sank into the ground, and then transformed into a cage around her. Lori’s struggle to break free only made the prison grow tighter and tighter around her, until finally, Lori was completely encased in a tight cocoon of her own power.
Danae looked at Maude in shock. “You really are an earth witch, but how…?”
Maude snapped, “Not now. Get Simon off that Altar.”
Danae moved over to the stone altar and grabbed Simon.
God, Lori really was incredible strong, it’s insane how heavy he is.
She grunted as she pulled him away from the circles surrounding the block, his blood smearing on the ground behind her.
“Do you still have the salt?” Danae nodded and Maude said, “Surround us, quickly. We don't have much time, so hurry.” Danae pulled the bag out of her pocket and whispered purifying spells as she circled them, seven times. Maude breathed easier when Danae completed the final round. “I am surprised. I thought she would have figured it out already.”