Cassie woke up in an unfamiliar bed. She felt feverish, but the pain that she had experienced before was gone. She sat up, and put her hands to her head. Every sense seemed to be sucking in input, rubbing her nerves raw. Light hit the foot of her bed from the window, the wax screen rolled up to let in a breeze. The patches of light and shadow by her feet gave her a headache. The blankets were rough, the breeze cool. Her sheets smelled like lavender and rosemary, apart from a spare blanket on top of the first which smelled like human and spilled tea. Her heartbeat was firm, her lungs sounded clear when she breathed. Someone was humming in a room near hers, as plates clunked together and spoons scraped. Nothing implied a threat, nothing implied the cultists were still around. It all seemed safe.

"We're awake, I think," Angus said, as the world slowly dimmed to normal in Cassie's senses.

"Well, obviously," Cassie said.

"You weren't too sure earlier," Angus muttered.

"I what?"

"In any case, I'm sorry about that. I misjudged how far we had melded."

"What was that? Is that what happens when you use magic to kill?"

"No. Or at least, not all of that was. I'm cursed not to do magic, you see; I'm struck down with pain whenever I use it."

"Who did that to you?"

"The god of magic, who else?"

"Knowing you, anyone you've ever met, but you've annoyed a god?"

"It's a bad habit of mine. I'm actually a bit famous for it, where I'm from. But Magnus especially. When we get to the Glade of the Gods, he's not the guy we're going to ask for help."

"All right." Cassie swung her feet off the bed. A chair in the corner of the room had a pile of clothes stacked on it, and Cassie went to investigate. She was a bit wobbly on her feet, but she managed to drag the chair over to the bed to sit down and sort out the pile. There was a frilly set of old-fashioned underclothes (bunched up at the knee like the sets Gran Ira got her to wash for her on cleaning days), a slightly worn pair of stockings, and a heavy woolen dress. A pair of worn leather boots with wooden soles and leather laces completed her new outfit.

"You look exactly like you're wearing castoffs from an old granny," Angus commented, as Cassie looked down at herself.

"That's because I am," Cassie muttered. She combed her still-slightly-soapy hair neat with her fingers, and set outside the room to investigate. She met the templeman in the kitchens, doling out some stew into bowls.

"Ah, you're awake," he said, gesturing at the kitchen table with a bandaged hand. "I hope you are feeling better?'

"Much, thank you," Cassie said. The templeman gave her a bowl and spoon and sat down opposite her. "Is your hand okay?"

"The cultist missed my tendons, thank the gods. I believe I may regain full use of it in time."

"That's good news," Cassie said. "Are there more cultists about, do you think?"

"I think they were scouts; I don't think the main party is near here."

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"Oh, good," Cassie said, relieved.

"There is no saying where they will move next. What do you plan to do?"

"I think I will continue with my plan to get help," Cassie said after a moment's thought. "I think I might cause trouble for this village if I stayed."

The templeman nodded assent. "When do you plan on leaving?"

"You'll recover on the road just as fast as in the temple," Angus told Cassie. She sighed regretfully.

"I think I'd better go now," Cassie said, taking a spoonful of stew. It tasted delicious. "Well, after I've eaten, anyway..."

The templeman had found a large travelling pack, and had filled it with supplies, most from the village's dead witch, some from the dead cultists he had buried in the graveyard out the back of the temple. She now had a kettle, and a knife on her belt, and a big stick carved like story beads that the templeman said would bring luck on her journey.

"It's always good luck to have something good and hard to whack your enemies with," Angus said approvingly. Cassie thanked the templeman, and headed out of the village. On her way she saw the man who had given her a ride into town, and stopped, staring. He was barefoot, wearing just a rough hessian tunic despite the cold, and had an iron collar around his neck.

"What happened to you?" Cassie asked. He looked up, and gave a grimace and a wave.

"Oh, hello, ma'am. I'm glad the temple found cause to help you. I am the accursed Briarnook's slave until the blood price for their devil of a son is paid."

"But why?"

"I sent him to hell, where he belongs," the man said darkly.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'm not! He attacked my beloved Judy, to see if she was a witch!"

"Oh dear. I hope she is alright," Cassie said, very unsure about this conversation with an unrepentant murderer.

"Only because I turned up," the man growled.

"Well, I hope you pay off the blood price soon," Cassie said politely.

"Thank you, ma'am."

Cassie gave him a last nod, and walked awkwardly away.

"I should mention," Angus said after a while, "before we go on too further, that you have another curse, this one coming a little bit directly from your power."

"What is this curse?"

"A curse of misfortune. Anyone that helps you is cast in its net."

"Wait. Wait--so the templeman was stabbed, and that man became a murderer, because of me?"

"Not really, but also, yes. If you hadn't delayed the man he would have been with his Judy before the Briarnook guy could get there, and Briarnook would have had to play Inquisition with some other poor lady in the woods. If the scouts hadn't followed you to the templeman's door they wouldn't have interrogated him, and would still be around to terrorise the village later. Good and bad things would still probably have happened to the village. Your presence just concentrated the bad things to the people who cared for you."

"That's horrendous!"

"I am aware."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because if you try to avoid other people, things get infinitely worse. It builds up, you see. You'll meet someone unexpectedly, and they'll have a heart attack for considering saying hello to you. Near the Glade of the Gods the villages are larger, and you'll meet enough people in a day that it gets too diluted to have much of an effect at all."

"I guess I should thank you for getting us out of my village," Cassie said after a moment.

"No, that was more because the cultists really will be waiting for us there," Angus said.

"Still." Cassie walked on until the sun began to set, then set up a little campfire using the flint and steel the templeman had packed for her. She pulled out some flatbread, and started to eat.

"It's not healthy to just have bread for dinner," Angus said. "You have a knife now; did you want to rustle up a rabbit?"

"No," Cassie said flatly, and ate her bread. Angus didn't press the point.