When Angus opened his eyes that morning, he jumped up and wondered if it all had been a dream. Was there really a witch living in his house with a big wolf and a near by dragon, or was that all his imagination? Yet as he looked around his room, he soon got his answer as it was tidy and nearly spotless. The last time he had examined this room there was many layers of dust and spider webs everywhere. She was not exaggerating about the house being cleaned up, and he hadn’t imagined the witch or her creatures. Angus soon got another confirmation as a loud howling sound came from the bottom of the stairs. It was a very loud howl and caused the young man to leap out of bed. Angus had no idea what was causing the massive creature to howl so damn loud, but he decided to get down there and find out. He quickly dressed, cleaned up his hair and then descended to the bottom of the staircase where the massive wolf was waiting for him in what was clearly his room.
“Hello wolf,” Angus said, “Is there something wrong?”
“Not exactly,” Ginelle called out from the kitchen. “He was calling on my behalf. I thought you might want some breakfast.”
“Oh, I would.” Angus said walking into the kitchen, “Thank you.”
“And the wolf has a name,” Ginelle said, as she placed a plate of food at the table for him. “I’d both appreciate it if you used it, and Garrak would as well.”
“Apologies,” Angus said, as he took a seat and examined his plate. Ginelle had fixed him a breakfast that consisted of warm eggs, toast and even some fruit on the side.
“I hope that will be enough,” Ginelle said, trying to impress.
“It will be more than enough,” Angus said, smiling back. “Thank you very much!”
“Best way to start the day,” Ginelle said, which was something Margorie would always say whenever making breakfast for Harrison and the men. She knew that starting the day off led to great production and happy fellows. “Speaking of which, what were you planning on doing today?”
“I’m not sure,” Angus confessed, “I had planned to clean up and settle in, but the cleaning part has already been taken care of, quite nicely I might add.”
“Thank you,” Ginelle said, accepting the compliment.
“But I guess I could look around,” Angus said, “Start making plans to upgrade. I was thinking of making a barn, as well as a wall to secure the grounds.”
“I remember you saying something about that,” Ginelle recalled, “How big were you thinking of making this wall?”
“At least ten feel tall,” Angus said, thinking about it. “I was still split between what material I was going to use, wood or stone.”
“I would prefer stone,” Ginelle said.
“That will take longer to build,” Angus countered.
“True,” Ginelle said, “But if it’s stone, the dragon can’t burn it down accidentally.”
“Okay,” Angus confessed, “That’s not something I had considered. I guess we’re going to make it out of stone.”
“Like I said before,” Ginelle said, sitting down to join him to eat, “I have ways to speed up the process, and we’ll have that wall build in no time. I’m also sure Ruki could be talked into fetching us some rather nice stones to help out, especially if I bribe him with extra treats.”
“Sounds good to me,” Angus said, “I was also thinking of expanding the house as well in addition to a barn.”
“If you’re going to do that,” Ginelle said, “I wouldn’t mind a bigger kitchen to work with as well as a decent sized pantry to safely store our supplies.”
“I can do that,” Angus said, as he was enjoying her food immensely. “But how is magic going to help us work faster?”
“Mirrors,” Ginelle answered.
“Mirrors?” Angus repeated, “I don’t get how a mirror can help with labor. They just hang on a wall and reflect our image.”
“Not that kind of mirror, you fool,” Ginelle said with a laugh, “Witches can cast a spell that creates a temporary duplicate of themselves to have an extra pair of hands. I can create several mirrors of yourself to help you speed things up.”
“That’s amazing!” Angus said, thinking about it, “So, I’d have a crew to help rather than just myself. Are you sure that can work?”
“How do you think I cleaned this place up so quickly?” Ginelle asked.
“Fair enough,” Angus said, thoroughly convinced. “How long do they last?”
“For several hours,” Ginelle answered, “So you can get a full day’s work done with each spell, and this place will get built up in no time at all. Watch here.”
Ginelle stood up form the table and slowly enchanted the spell that caused a mirror to emerge from herself. Angus watched in awe as the glowing mirror of Ginelle stood there and awaited begin given instructions.
“Clean up the kitchen please,” Ginelle politely requested.
The mirror did as she was told and made a slight bow before going to the kitchen to clean up the mess Ginelle had made while preparing breakfast. Angus watched with a stunned look on his face as he was again impressed with her abilities.
“That is amazing!” Angus said, watching the mirror stroll into the kitchen. “And you can make these of me, to help with the stuff I want to build around here?”
“I can,” Ginelle said, confident that she could. Despite the fact that she had never created mirrors of someone else besides herself, Ginelle seemed to do alright creating one mirror of Angus. This was a first for herself and she watched as Angus and the mirror went outside to do some yard work and clean up around the house. She was glad that Angus didn’t push his mirror too hard and just get the hang of having it around. With practice she could expand how many mirrors are used, as Margorie used to have several in her kitchen at a time and things seemed to work out alright.
The wolf was lying in the living room and was uncharacteristically quiet. Something that didn’t go unnoticed with the young witch. She walked into the living room and gave the big fluffy creature a snack.
“Are you alright, Garrak?” she asked him.
“I’ll be fine,” Garrak said, munching on his snack. “I’m just cautious after all that’s happened so far.”
“Angus seems genuine,” Ginelle said, as she petted his mane. “I find that he’ll be very useful when it comes to protecting me from the people we should really be worried about. He wants to build a wall and make this place safer for us all, especially if those soldiers try to come after us.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“True, he could be a good ally,” Garrak replied, “But I am naturally cautious about anyone new. The pack was always untrusting until given reason to trust.”
“It’s a fair policy,” Ginelle said, nodding. “Go ahead and take that stance but remember this is his house and he’s being very nice to us in letting us stay here.”
“Noted,” Garrak said, “But I will still keep an eye on him.”
“Fair enough,” Ginelle said, “I was going to take a walk, did you want to join me or keep spying on our new friend?”
The wolf paused for a moment and gave a low growl.
“I’ll come along,” Garrek conceded, “But only to provide security.”
“Much appreciated,” Ginelle said, smiling as she walked away.
Ginelle and her wolf wandered into the woods, exploring the territory around their new home. She was looking at the trees to see what if any fruits they offered, as well as inspecting the herbs on the ground to see if there was any she could use for her cooking. She also wanted to see if there was a fresh supply nearby so she wouldn’t have to conjure them up or have to pay for some seeds to grow her own. Ginelle did like the idea of actually having a garden to attend to, as it was something Margorie was always talking about doing herself but never found the time to get around to. Ginelle thought it would be nice to start such a garden, even if she had to get the seeds from town in the hopes that maybe if she would see her elder witch again, Margorie would approve of it and how well she was doing out there far from the logging camp. She was thinking about the camp and everyone she missed when Ginelle and her wolf came along a rather nice patch of open ground. It was near the stream that Angus has referred to, but it was just what the young witch was looking for.
“This is perfect,” Ginelle said as she walked close to a large boulder that was about shoulder high in height.
“What are you up to?” the wolf asked, sensing something was up.
“We came here to get away from the house,” Ginelle confessed, “I don’t want to cause any accidental damage in case the spell doesn’t work.”
“What kind of spell?” Garrak asked.
“The kind that will destroy this,” Ginelle said as she took the totem that was found at the school. It was the very same totem that had been making the kids in town ill, and she has spent most of the previous night studying the book Margorie gave here and finally found a spell that allowed her to destroy the totem. She was carrying the dragon tooth Ruki had given her as well but would only use it if the totem was too strong and her power alone wasn’t enough to destroy it.
“Are you sure about this?” Garrak asked.
“I am,” Ginelle said, “This thing was made with malice, to hurt people. Keeping it anywhere could be dangerous and cause more harm. No, we need to destroy it. Back up to the edge of the woods, please.”
After the wolf had moved to a safe distance, she put her hands together and started to recite the spell that she found in the book and a small purple glow started to form around her and around the totem standing on the rock. After a few moments the glow faded from around Ginelle but started to intensify around the totem as it started to degrade. It looked like things were going according to plan, when suddenly the totem it itself started to hum and glow as if it knew what Ginelle was trying to do. Ginelle noticed this and then stopped reciting her spell and started to back away. Even though her spell was over, the totem still continued to glow and then finally it started to project an image above it. The image was of a man, who was wearing a robe and had a white beard. Ginelle didn’t know what to think of it, as she had never heard of a totem doing something like that, and then the projection began to speak.
“Who are you!” the old man said, looking at Ginelle. “What are you doing to my totem?”
“Your totem,” Ginelle said, folding her arms. “This totem caused many children to become ill. Why would you want to do that?”
“Children you say?” the old man said, thinking about it. “That wasn’t the totem’s purpose. This was supposed to be placed in a farmer’s field, to kill rodents and protect his harvest. Where did you find this?”
“It was in a school,” Ginelle answered, “Someone was using it to exterminate students instead of rodents.”
“I’m very sorry,” the old man replied.
“I guess that’s a start,” Ginelle said, feeling at little at ease. “May I ask who you are?”
“I am Gandalus,” the man replied, “The Grand Mage of the high crown.”
“What was a totem of a grand mage doing at a farm?” Ginelle asked.
“The crown asked me to assist the farmers,” Gandalus replied, “It was in the crown’s best interest to make sure crops are good, so prices don’t get out of hand.”
“Alright,” Ginelle said, “That makes sense, I suppose.”
“And you, young lady.” The mage said, “Who might you be?”
“My name is Ginelle,” she answered, giving him a slight bow. “I found the totem and healed the children before things got out of hand.”
“My thanks for your efforts,” Gandalus said as he bowed back to her. “I’ve never heard of any sorceress of your name in these lands, let along one strong enough to damage my totem and almost destroying it.”
“That’s because I’m not a sorceress,” Ginelle said, choosing to be honest. “I’m a witch.”
“I see,” the mage said, suddenly sounding rather cold. “What kind of witch are you, my dear?”
“If you must know,” Ginelle started, “I’m a chaos witch.”
“You are just full of surprises,” The mage said, “I have not consorted with a chaos witch is quite a while, as those kinds are rare even in your ranks.”
“I was given special training,” Ginelle informed him, “Training that not even other witches approve of.”
“I appreciate your honesty, young witch.” The mage said, sounding rather threatened by her very presence. “What are your intents?”
“To be honest,” Ginelle said, as she thought about it, “I just want to live in peace and be left alone. I have no quests or wars to wage and do not want to make enemies.”
“To hear you say that surprises me,” Gandalus said, “I’ve never heard such talk from a witch before, as they usually have some plot of rouse on the go.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Ginelle said, “But I still have to destroy this totem to protect not only myself but the town that it was plaguing.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Gandalus said, “This totem is protected by my magic. That spell you have is not strong enough to break its shielding.”
“Maybe if I was doing it myself,” Ginelle said, as she pulled the dragon’s tooth out of her pocket. “But what if I amplified the spell with this?”
“Where did you get that?” the mage said, stunned to see the tooth.
“It was a gift from a grateful friend,” Ginelle said.
“Dragon teeth are not to be used that way!” Gandalus called out, “Every time you use something that was taken from the beast, the dragon it came from will sense it and come after you!”
“That may be true, but it doesn’t apply here.” Ginelle said, “Considering that the friend who gave it to me is the dragon it came from.”
“I see,” the mage said, “this is most alarming.”
Ginelle didn’t feel like consorting with the mage anymore and started to chant the spell from the book again, this time using the tooth and enhancing the spell tenfold. The glow around her this time was darker, as there was a purple glow also coming from her eyes as well as her magic was now far more powerful than the totem and the spell that was protecting it as the totem began to crack, and the projection of the mage disappeared as the item broke up until there was nothing left but dust. The big wolf walked back up to her as the glow around her finally dissipated.
“Are you alright, Ginelle?” he asked her.
“Yes, I’m alright,” She replied, taking a deep breath.
“Who was that man?” Garrak inquired, “I didn’t like him very much.”
“He’s a grand mage from the kingdom that we fled from,” Ginelle said, “I think I told him too much about myself and about Ruki.”
“You didn’t say too much,” Garrak countered, “All he knows is that you know a dragon and he gave you a gift. He has no idea that Ruki is still around and pretty much is our neighbour. You should have said you were a water witch. He tensed right up when you told him about your chaos power. The fact that you destroyed his totem tells him how powerful you’re becoming. There was much fear in his eyes.”
“That’s interesting,” Ginelle said, “Do you think he knows where we are?”
“Doubtful,” Garrak said, “His farmlands are in the kingdom we fled, so how that totem got all the way out here is fascinating. Maybe the farmer sold to the person who wanted to use it to poison this town. Totems could fetch a handsome price from those who wish to use it like it was here.”
“That’s a good point,” Ginelle agreed, “But it’s gone now. We’ll have to keep an eye out for more of them. If someone was willing to go to that much trouble to attack them there’s no telling what they might do next.”
“Something to think about later,” Garrak said, “But we should head back.”
“Yes, we should.” Ginelle concurred, “You’re getting hungry again, aren’t you?”
“A little bit,” the wolf confessed, “But I’m sure Angus has spent all day working up an appetite as well. We should head back and start supper so hop on and I’ll get us back there very quickly”
“Alright,” Ginelle said, as she put the tooth away before mounting the wolf and letting him run her back to the house.