Cassie woke up on the floor of the headman's house, bound and gagged.

"Mmf!" she said, panicking and struggling with her bonds.

"Don't bother, they know what they're doing with knots," said a voice behind her. Cassie struggled around, and saw the man from before, bound like she was but with his gag around his chin. He was in a sitting position, with his head lying comfortably on the wall.

"Mph," Cassie said.

"Yes, I'm so sorry about that. I am Angus Brightfeld, at your service." He attempted a bow and overbalanced, cracking his head on the packed earth floor. "Ow. Shit."

"Mmf-mm. Mmf-m-mmf," Cassie said, as Angus struggled back into a sitting position.

"Cassie, eh? I think I had a mother with that name. Oh, don't worry, they're a righteous cult, they won't do anything too bad to your village. Maybe that nasty lying Granny if they watch her, which is doubtful. No, they would have confined everyone to quarters, under guard, until they move on."

"Mm--"

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Angus said. He gritted his teeth, and pushed up against the wall.

"Aargh--speak now, you idiot maiden," he said, and the gag in Cassie's mouth fell away.

"Okay, first of all, can you do that trick with our bonds as well?"

"I need to gather my strength for it. I nearly had enough, but you were so annoying..."

"By the gods, you are not smart," Cassie said bitterly.

"Actually I am pretty smart in comparison to the rest."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Anyway," Angus said hurriedly, "don't you want to know where you are?"

"I'm in the headman's hut."

"Well, who put you here?"

"You said righteous cultists."

"All right then--why?"

"I am guessing," Cassie said wrathfully, "that it is your fault."

"My--! Well--! All right, sort of. Because I talked to you, they think I bewitched you."

"Did you?"

"Evidently not," Angus muttered.

"So they'll let me go?"

"No, they'll kill you and burn your body," Angus said. Cassie was silent. "And salt and scatter your ashes," Angus added helpfully. Cassie started to cry.

"There, there, now, don't be sad, I have a plan." Angus said soothingly. "I'll release your bonds and you can sneak away."

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"To provide you with a distraction?" Cassie asked skeptically.

"Alas no," Angus said softly. "I cannot escape."

"Why not?"

"They've taken my intestines."

For the first time, Cassie noticed the dark stain on the bottom half of Angus's tunic. Her eyes went wide with horror.

"Why?" she whispered.

"So I don't escape, why else? I can't leave them behind, they'll be able to track me."

"Is that what you're worried about?"

"No," Angus snapped. "What I'm worried about is them taking my power and cooking and eating my body over the nice bonfire they have set up for me."

"An open air bonfire?" Cassie asked before she could help herself.

"I know! At this time of the season! A rained-out barbecue is not how I want to go!"

"I'm sorry," Cassie said after a moment. "It's not your fault that you're a witch, I think. Mum said it was hereditary."

"I am not a witch, thank you," Angus said, and closed his eyes. "Ow. Ow--be free, hands!" He brought his hands around and started untying his feet.

"Are you going to free me next?" Cassie asked in a small voice, as Angus staggered upright and walked to the headman's stove, coming back with a knife.

"Oh, no," he said softly, pulling Cassie to a sitting position. "You are going to take me out of here."

"Are you going to kill me?" Cassie asked, surprising herself with how steady her voice sounded in her ears.

"No," Angus said. "You are going to kill me."

"What witch plot are you scheming?"

"Our goals do not clash, Cassie. You want to live. I don't want to give my power up to the people who ripped out my guts, the people who chased me halfway through the godsforsaken forest because they thought they could use my power better than me. I have a mortal wound, Cassie, and cannot escape through anything but death. You are a clumsy fool of a mortal, and would be captured the moment you tried to escape. You need my power to escape, Cassie. All I want is for you to take it and live."

"Gran Ira was right, wasn't she?" Cassie said. "You're one of the Trickster's people, a follower of the way of lies and deception. Well, I'm not as gullible as you think, and I won't fall for your witch tricks."

"Won't you?" Angus said, and lifted up his tunic, revealing the ugly slash across his belly. Cassie watched, horrified, as he reached into the wound and up. He followed his first hand with the second and the knife.

"Argh," he moaned, and pulled out his heart. He held it up to Cassie, and put a bloody hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.

"You want this," he said to her. "You will die without it. All creatures want to live. You want to, don't you? You want to breathe. You want to hide from your enemies. You want to catch prey. You want to eat."

Cassie made the mistake of catching his eyes. He held her gaze for a moment, then held up the heart. His hand over her mouth grew wet as she salivated after it. He carefully took his hand away. Her eyes remained fixed upon the heart.

He took one last breath, then cut her bonds.

Cassie came to half mad with horror, the corpse of the warlock in front of her.

"No, wake up," she moaned, but when she touched him she knew that he was dead. She wiped the blood away from her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, and staggered to her feet. By the stove were the corpses of two strangers in hunting garb that Angus must have killed when he managed to ungag himself before Cassie woke up. But she hadn't killed them, that was obvious. And she hadn't really killed the hypnotising trickster, that wasn't her, he had made her do it. She could go out and explain, she could make them see that it wasn't her, wasn't her fault--

She thought about trying to explain this to her mother, and gagged.

Alright, no, that wasn't the way, she should get out, get to the forest, be gone before the hunters realised and could pick up her trail.

"Gods, help me," she whispered. With a crack of thunder the storm above them finally broke, a wall of water dousing flames and obscuring sight. Cassie walked out into the rain, and nobody saw her leave.