Nasty Little Witchling

Aaron kept flicking through his three cards, probably trying to decide how badly he wanted to win this trick. I’d already played my best trump card so I chewed on my inner lip, hoping it wasn’t that badly.

“Can you just stop pacing, sit down and play briscola with us?” he asked Damof, who was walking up and down the carriage.

“They should have passed us by now,” he said and turned to continue his pacing.

We had stopped at a passing loop since another train from Drasda was supposed to be coming up at the same time. Judging from when Damof started to pace up and down the carriage, they were supposed to have passed us a while ago.

I was happy for the break and spent more time gazing out at the endless hills, trees and shrubbery than my cards. It was disappointing I couldn’t watch it all pass by while we were moving.

Annalise was probably also enjoying the break since the few hours of holding up the shield must have been draining. Bowfore had volunteered to take over but Annalise said she still had plenty of mana to spare. Hers was harder to judge than the others but I hadn’t noticed it dipping low.

I frowned as Aaron placed a trump card higher than mine and collected the hand. He wiggled his eyebrows at me as he started the next trick.

“We might have to stay here overnight if they don’t pass soon,” Damof said.

“I always said the Duke shouldn’t have let them unionise. Can you imagine what Commander Faraya would say if we told her we wouldn’t work overnight?” Aaron said.

“In this case, it would be our laws since we can’t pass through the Red Forest so close to dusk. Speaking of, maybe something happened to them on their way through.”

“Or maybe they got held up at the station for a hundred other reasons.” .

“Captain. I’m serious.”

“You’re not going to let this go are you?”

“No, sir.”

“Fine, get the apprentices up on the roof. I’m sure at least one of them can do a spying glass spell.”

I threw down my last card and won the hand but wasn’t happy about it since there were almost no points. “Can I go up with them?”

“You’re sure you don’t want to eat anything?” Annalise asked. “You still look pale.”

Even thinking about eating made my stomach lurch so I shook my head.

The loud whistle of a train blew in the distance and I wondered if the mages up in the engine would show me what they used to make it, since it wasn’t a spell.

“Delay that order,” Aaron said. “Your missing train is here.”

“We’re still not going to have enough time.”

Aaron shrugged and dealt us another trick. The other train soon passed beside us on the main track. It rhythmically thunked as it dragged a trail of barely visible steam behind it.

A mage in charge of water spells and another in charge of fire spells made steam. That part was simple and easy to understand, how that suddenly managed to move the monstrosity of metal and wood was truly magical to me. Especially when weight reduction spells were only used when carrying a carriage full of shrunken cargo.

The sound of the train fading into the distance came in on a gust of wind as one of the train’s staff opened the door leading to the carriage ahead. I disagreed with how it was described to me since where it really led to was a gap someone could easily fall into.

“Knight Damof, we have the journey time remaining at an hour ten and sunset in around forty. The conductor has decided we will remain here and make the Red crossing in the morning.”

“There’s no chance I can send some of the apprentices and speed things up in the engine?” Aaron shouted into the conversation going on behind his seat.

“That would be breaking half a dozen duchy and union rules even if it was possible, sir,” the staff member said back.

“Thank you, let the conductor know we’ll have extra for the night’s watch with so many knights aboard,” Damof said.

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that being so close to the forest,” the staff member said and left out the next door.

“Well reinstate my previous order, apprentices outside and prepping for a night encampment. The buggers are starting to annoy me, why did we even bring our own set of apprentices, Bowfore?”

“Because they were annoying the castle staff since they had nothing to do,” Bowfore said and turned in her seat. “Ryder, Kian and Jen, you're with Damof.”

“Barick, Daral and Alisa you three are under Damof’s direction for the night as well,” Annalise said.

“You’re two are horrid for that,” Damof said before trying to get the nine apprentices seated. There was a commotion about finding hats, reattaching swords and unruffling capes before they quietened down.

He started issuing directions and I perked up when hearing they were letting the horses out for the night. I couldn’t sense them from where they were at the back and I wanted to go check on Potato.

A set of ripples washed over us. The locks were being disengaged and the staff should let people know they could disembark.

“I don’t know why they can’t just use the codes we already have,” Aaron complained. “Damof, what does this one mean?”

“We can exit,” Damof said. “Anyone who I forgot to give a task to come see me, off with the rest of you.”

I’d tried to listen into the conversation of the leaving apprentices when we’d stopped but they were all talking about their experiences at Equitier. The only clear division being one group made up of third years moving to a new campus and the other having been there for a year already.

I had heard Barick say our trip had been mostly uninteresting besides running into some Remnants. That shocked me and I was going to ask how he could possibly feel that way.

Then I thought about it. He wouldn’t want to talk about the night in the forest. He didn’t know about Daral sleeping through the watch and the doll being stolen. He didn’t help in the village and his trip in the city was probably uneventful. It really was a peaceful journey for him.

“Val it’s your turn,” Annalise said and nudged me.

I didn’t think too much about which card and quickly played it. “Why is Damof the one doing everything?”

“Seniority,” Bowfore said and played her card. “He graduated last year so he gets to do the crappy tasks.”

“You graduated a year before him,” Annalise said with a laugh.

“Yeah and you only a year before that,” Bowfore said and froze mid card placement. “I didn’t mean to—”

“—Imply that I didn’t deserve my captaincy?” Annalise said without looking up from her cards. “I took the joke in the spirit it was given, don’t worry about it.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am, I’ll go help out Damof.” Bowfore placed her last card down, put on and straightened her cap, and then left.

“What are your hat things even called?” I asked.

Aaron laughed and held his out to me. “They’re knight berets, if you want one you’re going to have to go to Equitier and get through to your third year. Otherwise, you can settle for worse variants in the other branches.”

“Valeria, do you mind going outside so I can talk with Captain Leonarda?” Annalise asked after I handed back the beret.

“Nope,” I said and made my escape. I’d wanted to leave as soon as I felt the ripples but thought it might have been rude.

I stopped in the doorway as a wave of heat hit me. From the position of my seat, I hadn’t been able to see out the window and down to where the apprentices had gone.

One was throwing a stream of flame onto the dense shrubbery. Two more kept the fire contained and pushed away the smoke and ash. I felt another on the roof of the carriage above using some sort of spell that made things seem closer than they were.

Further away, spells were being used to dig out a deep pit.

In an area already burnt and cleared a fire pit and long sections of compacted dirt for seating were being made. Ian was already seated, looking over a sheet of paper with his legs crossed. He’d gone to a separate carriage to be around ‘more polite company’ when we had boarded.

Towards the front and further along the train, staff members were being swarmed by disgruntled passengers stepping off from their carriages or shouting from the doorways. Promises of blankets and a free meal were thrown around to try to quell the gathering crowd.

I frowned at all the scared critters fleeing from the burning brush. It turned to a scowl when spells that cut up the ground were thrown towards a few of them. I thought about tripping the pair responsible but didn’t want them to fall and accidentally cast one of them towards the train.

Alisa and Daral already had some of the horses out of a carriage further down. I stepped over and sometimes onto the dense brush that came up to my knees, glad for my thicker clothing.

Potato was just being led out as I got close. I reached out to ask if he was okay, apologised and reminded him that there was fruit waiting for him at the end of this ordeal.

His traitorous sentiment mostly concerned how nice the gentle rocking of the box was and looking forward to the fruit. The rest of the horses also wanted to know where the fruit was and threw their heads about and snorted.

I was upset that I’d lost who I was going to complain about my horrible journey with. Potato didn’t care much beyond the fruit but Missy came up to nudge me. She lay beside me and I climbed up to sit on her back with my legs off to one side. Alisa, Daral and other train staff were trying to lead the horses to where the apprentices were creating the troughs and posts.

Missy easily stepped over the terrain towards the growing clearing. The sun was casting long shadows with an orange glow around them against the train. I shielded my eyes to look over the endless expanse of land. Far ahead of us in the distance was a wall of dark green leaves with reddish bark poking out the bottom. The small gap directly ahead of us stood out.

The other passengers had mostly returned to the carriages. Some that looked to be a similar age to the apprentices had come to sit around the firepit. Everyone looked to be finishing up the tasks Damof had given out.

Some of the apprentices who went to the roof, including Barick, had even sat to watch the sunset with their legs dangling off the side.

Annalise and Aaron had come out of the carriage to sit by Ian, all looking over his paper. Missy rode up beside them so I could slip down onto the seat before walking off to the feeding troughs that had been set up.

I wished she’d taken me somewhere else so I didn’t have to hear them but now that I had I was rooted to the spot. Ian was going over his idea for the ingredients he’d include with the blood to try to combat the symptoms at the same time so the blood could counter a weakened curse. Aaron was comparing it to the cure he was transporting and comparing the two.

That was simply not how curses worked in my experience. They were not a physical thing you could attack. They just existed. Mother’s explanation would have been more technical but would have boiled down to the same thing.

I was trying not to listen and spoil my hope of not being involved. I was being selfish. But I felt like I was allowed to be selfish on this. It was their fault I didn’t trust them.

The memory of Annalise softly running her hands through my hair and holding a shield over me for hours so I didn’t feel sick told me I wasn’t allowed.

“That won’t work,” I said, interrupting Ian.

“What won’t?” he asked. All three of them looked over at me, where I sat at the end of their group.

“The snake venom you want to use will break down the blood and prevent it from being digested.”

“Huh. I suppose...The blood has to be ingested then, not just present?” Ian asked.

I nodded. “Same way as the curse was administered.”

“That makes no sense…I’ll just use a different type of venom then.”

“You’re using it to help keep blood clots from forming without spells interfering, right? That’s why you’re using that venom, you can’t have one without the other.”

Annalise and Aaron stared at me while Ian’s eyes flicked over the page he tilted to get the last of the setting sun’s light. He started scratching out different ingredients.

“Shit,” he mumbled then got up to go back to the carriage.

“Well, I’m going to see if this train is carrying any wine,” Aaron said.

The shadows cast by the sun had slowly crawled up the carriage and the faces of those atop it until only the clouds were illuminated. Mage lights were cast up into the air to replace the soft colours.

Annalise was leant over, vacantly staring at the ground.

“I can cure him,” I said before I could stop myself.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “What was that?”

With all the apprentices and young passengers talking, the fire for dinner being started, and the crickets chirping it felt like it would be easy to lie. I begged myself to lie and make up something else.

“Your father, I can cure him.”

She looked at me for a long while. My heart was beating rapidly. I felt that I could trust her but I was still just as afraid as I’d been when I first kept the secret. Afraid someone was going to push me to the ground, bind me and keep me locked up until I willingly handed over my blood.

But, I felt Annalise wouldn’t do that to me. I knew that better now compared to days ago.

“How? Why are you telling me this now?”

“I always planned to cure him, just didn’t know when or if to tell you. Because I was afraid if I did tell you I’d be bound, thrown over a horse and the doll would be used to force me. Again.”

I was hoping she wouldn’t mind me skipping over her first question. She didn’t seem to as she looked away for a while, chewing on her lip.

“Do we have what we need? You’re confident about this cure working?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“I am.”

She calmly lifted her arm towards me and I stopped myself from flinching away. Her hand fell on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze before she stood up.

“I’m sorry for what happened to you to make you feel that way. I’m going to go let Ian know.”

She seemed upset but it was far off from the anger I was worried about. I was glad she was telling him and not me, he’d ask technical questions I still didn’t feel like answering if I didn’t have to. I thought once I calmed down I would feel better about telling her since my biggest fear hadn’t been realised. And I didn’t think it was going to.

After a while of staring into the dirt one of the passengers that looked my age came to my now empty dirt bench.

“May I sit?” he asked with a smile that reminded me of Martin’s when he talked to Alisa. I didn’t make the seat or was a part of the group that made it so I wasn’t sure why he was asking me.

“Yes?”

He sat so his leg was almost against mine and I felt like moving over to all the other space he could have taken. He brushed some dark strands from his eyes. Like the other regular passengers, his clothes looked comfortable and more colourful than the knight's greens. The sleeves of his soft sweater were pushed back and I could see a golden bangle on his wrist and a watch ticking away on the other.

He held out a hand to me, “Hello, I’m Samual.”

I was confused why he was using a normal handshake since he was a mage. He must have assumed I wasn’t after not sensing a mana reserve. I placed my hand in his and let him gently shake it up and down. “Valeria.”

“I’m just here with my brother,”—he pointed across the clearing to an older lookalike who was chatting with a few of the apprentices—“he’s also in Equitier, just not the Knight course. I got tired of all their weird stories and thought I’d come talk to someone else.”

I nodded along. “They don’t seem to be able to talk about anything else. What course is he doing?”

“Finance, he wants to follow after our dad and work at the mint. I want to take military strategy but Dad wants me to try to be a knight and told me to go along and ask about it.”

“Mint, like the herb?”

“Ah, no. It’s the place where they make all the coins, at least for this duchy.”

“I had not thought about where they all came from.”

“Most people don’t,” he said. “Someone capable like Dad has to oversee the place and make sure they don’t make too many. The roe is experiencing enough inflation as is.”

I nodded along, having no clue what inflation was. He tried to explain it to me when I asked, but then I had to ask him another question about his answer. His brother would apparently do a better job at explaining.

I asked him about the military strategy that he was interested in and got a long explanation on the evolution of modern warfare. How interesting it was that we no longer lined up and marched at each other. I smiled at how excited he seemed and wondered if he’d care if I started to talk about my gardening.

“We’re heading back after vacationing near Lake Olai, how come you’re heading to Drasda?”

“Uhh.” I didn’t know how to describe my situation to someone. No one had questioned Annalise when I was around. “Annalise is helping me get a job.”

“Annalise Riker?”

Annalise Riker

I thought I heard my name while on the way back from seeing how Missy was doing. I looked about and waited for the person to call again. Nothing.

On the other side of the firepit was Valeria smiling as some boy leaning in to speak to her.

I’d been annoyed with her for not telling me there was another cure. Annoyed at the possibility we could have taken more time in Kiteer, not knowing we didn’t need anything. Annoyed at all the things that could have gone wrong and at the train being delayed.

Bound, slung over a horse and forced at the threat of pain, again.

How could I possibly argue against that when it had happened the night before I asked her about the cure. She’d seemed so timid and with some self-reflection I knew I had purposefully tried to benefit from the previous night's violence to get the cure out of her quickly.

She’d done nothing wrong. We had and she was still willing to help. I trusted that much.

“Who’s the girl my brother’s talking to?” A familiar head of dark curls asked. Chet Manafold. I hadn’t seen him since he started school, his father sometimes brought him to meetings and despite the five-year age gap, there were not enough kids for that to divide us.

“No clue, Captain Riker brought her along,” one of Damof’s apprentices said. With my mana reserves still recovering, my concealing enchantment and all the mages walking about they hadn’t cared to notice me.

“Annalise? Why would she bring a non-mage with her to Drasda?”

“You coin counters got to start taking the perception classes. There’s no mana vacuum where she is,” a different aspirant said.

“We think the duke wants to study her mana but Captain Riker’s apprentices don’t agree but won’t say why,” the first said.

“Maybe,” I said and got a lot of satisfaction from the way they all jumped. “I should refer you two for remedial classes with all the coin counters.”

The two apprentices turned and saluted while Chet turned in his seat.

“No, ma’am.” “Sorry, Captain.” “Hey, Annalise.”

“Hi Chet. Can you two make sure to get a bowl of stew when it’s ready, remove all the meat and give it to Valeria?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I started walking away as Chet stood and stepped over the dirt wall. “Long time no see. I assume Valeria is the girl my brother’s flirting with?”

“She is, and he better not be. I assume you’re both on your way back from your lake estate?”

“You’re acting like some older sister and yes, the weather was quite good, managed to fish out a real monster. Bit of a sour ending to it all but you should have heard Mum’s threats when they suggested she sleep on the chairs.”

“Nothing much to do when someone else delays us and we’re this close to the Red Forest.”

“True, do you mind if I get my dad? He wanted to talk to whoever was in charge which I’m assuming would be you.”

“Sure, though only three of the apprentices are mine so please temper whatever his expectations are.”

Chet walked off towards the passenger carriages with the mage light high above lighting his way. I turned back to the two kids and walked towards them, crouching in front of Valeria. My hand rested on her knee to chase away the boy's fingers that had been creeping over.

Her face was still but I thought I saw worry in her eyes. “I’m sorry for being curt earlier and thank you for telling me. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“Good evening, Annalise,” the boy said. “I think my dad wanted to talk to you.”

“Hello Samuel, I just spoke to your brother, he’s gone to get him.”

Speaking of, the man was coming along through the brush, making exaggerated steps with his polished shoes through the brush. He at least wore loose clothing compared to the suit he usually wore in his position as Chief of Finance. Papa had made more than a few mages mad at that appointment since the mint used a lot of enchantments and was reasoned that it should always go to a mage.

Mister Manafold did not help by commenting that ‘mana was useless since it couldn’t even stop us all from balding.’ He did still have some of his son's dark hair and the remnants of an athletic build from the military.

I stood up from where I was peering around Valeria.

“Ah, I was wondering why my boy was being a pain and making me guess who I was going to deal with. Thought the bugger was setting me up for something bad.”

“No, just me Mister Manafold.”

“Well, I am glad to see you, Annalise. What are you doing out here? How's Vince and Janette?”

“Both well,” I lied. “I’m taking out apprentices so they don’t annoy the castle staff.”

“Good, good. I understand this whole thing was unavoidable but even the staff in the royal carriage are completely unprepared. I wanted to see if I could get a proper meal for myself and the other occupants and pay some of your more entrepreneurial members to take on an extra guard shift outside the carriage.”

“I’ll get them to start preparing another pot of stew if they haven't already.”

I turned to look over the clearing and sent a ripple for attention. The talking stopped except for some of the civilians who didn’t know what happened and had carried on talking for a few extra words. Four would be a good number for the extra shifts.

“Mister Manafold here wants to pay for some extra guard shifts, I need three volunteers.”

Alisa’s hand was up before I had finished speaking but I picked the next three quickest hands. Her face dropped and she glared at me until I motioned her over as well. I had already included her in the four to begin with.

“You four can talk amongst yourselves and organise it around any other duties. Also one of you tell the kitchen crew to prepare another pot.”

“Yes, ma’am.”