Page 15 of Destiny of the Witch

‘They didn’t say anything. I didn’t see anyone,’ Meredith insisted. I wasn’t sure I believed her, but now wasn’t the time to press while her fear was still so strong.

‘They wrote a message. In blood,’ Ria said tremulously. ‘They wrote, “There’s no quitting the black Coven, Ria. You can’t hide from us. We’re coming for you next”. We’re not safe here, Coven Mother. We need to go home.’

I narrowed my eyes. They could damned well try and get my witches but Ria was under my protection now, and I would keep her safe through any means necessary.

Chapter 9

From the moment I’d met Frogmatch, Bastion had treated him with respect. I hadn’t understood why until the little imp had grown to gargantuan proportions and started to tear through the evil Coven with his antlers. He had vowed to protect me – but right now I needed him to protect someone else.

‘A word?’ I asked the imp.

He swung down off Benji’s shoulder, scuttled across the floor and climbed me like I was a jungle gym. ‘What can I do for you, Crone?’ The respect with which he spoke took me by surprise. He was so jovial most of the time that it was rare to hear a serious tone in his voice. I realised that I’d often underestimated him and I made a mental note to stop that; there was nothing humorous about the imp when he wanted to be deadly.

‘I need you to guard Ria and Meredith. I need them safe. I’ll ask Charlize if Meredith and Ria can join my mum. Even though she is guarded by rune wards and griffins, more occupants means that additional guards will be needed. I saw what you can do. Will you help keep Ria safe for me?’

He puffed out his chest. ‘Aye, I’ll keep her safe,’ he vowed.

‘Thank you.’ I touched my hand to my chest to show him how much I appreciated his agreement, and his little chest swelled again with pride. He swung down from me and skittered over to Ria and Meredith.

‘This is Frogmatch,’ I introduced him to the witches. ‘He’s my—’ indentured servant? ‘—loyal friend. He will keep an eye on you both, keep you safe.’

Ria frowned, no doubt thinking that he wouldn’t be much help at all. I didn’t elaborate on Frogmatch’s skillset; that was for him to disclose as and when he wanted to. Most species prefer to keep their skills hidden; that’s one of the reasons the Other realm is so dangerous. Even to its experienced, knowledgeable occupants, it is still a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Woe betide the fools who think they know all there is to know about the Other realm.

I excused myself and went to speak to Cain. Bastion and he were talking in low voices. ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ I said, though I didn’t sound especially sorry, nor did I feel it. We needed to get things in motion and I was feeling impatient. ‘We’re going to take Meredith and Ria with us. We’ll see them secured somewhere else. Hopefully that means the evil Coven won’t have any interest in the circus after that.’

Cain grimaced. ‘I hate the idea that I’ve failed them, but you’re right. Much as it pains me to admit it, they’re not safe here.’

‘Exactly,’ I agreed briskly. ‘I need to check the wards. Someone came in here and attacked Meredith. Even though she can’t – or won’t – tell us anything about her assailant, we know she was attacked on site during the night. That means the wards were interfered with.’

‘So her attacker was almost certainly a witch,’ Cain said sombrely.

‘And a male one,’ Bastion noted. ‘They struck her over the head first and then hoisted her up. They had to be strong to do that.’

‘Or they weren’t working alone,’ I pointed out.

‘Or that,’ he agreed.

I rifled through my tote bag and pulled out the protection potion for ward runing. It wasn’t quite as effective as using blood in the protection wards, but not by much.

I untacked the poster on the inside of the caravan door and touched the runes with my magic. Though they lit up promptly, the glow was soft like a firefly’s. I scanned them but they were in perfect working order, though the reduced glow showed that they were weakening. Another runing would be required in the next week or so. I sighed inwardly; I might as well do it while I was here.

‘Bastion,’ I called over my shoulder, ‘I’m going to re-rune the circus while we’re here. Can you rip away these protection wards? It’ll save me one job. Then I’ll re-do them.’

Bastion nodded. His eyes glowed golden for a moment and the wards in front of me melted like snow in the desert. ‘Thanks,’ I muttered and started painting.

This time, as well as the normal protective runes, I added a little defensive bite. It took more time, more effort and more magic, but if another evil witch came strolling around there’d be a sting in the tail if they tried to cancel the runes.

It wasn’t black magic – but it was decidedly grey. I found that I didn’t care too much; if someone came prowlingaround to deactivate protection wards, they only had one purpose in mind. I painted more protective runes so my scorpion runes would be hidden at first glance. If the witch was in a hurry or just lazy, my runes would bite them in the ass.

Once Cain’s place was done, I moved determinedly onto the next caravan. In the thirteenth, I found where the runes had been cancelled and the witch had slipped in. The warding runes worked together in harmony, keeping the entire circus safe. A misalignment or a cancellation introduced a weak point that someone could exploit.

After painting protective runes on fifty caravans, I was running on empty and my skin was itching like mad. I didn’t have any of my ORAL potion to hand. I resisted the urge to scratch; it isn’t dignified to scratch at yourself like a dog with fleas.

I texted Charlize and told her that we would be bringing two more people in for her to protect.

‘It feels horrendous,’ Bastion said in a low voice to me.

‘What?’

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