The Cambion and the Changeling

The farmhouse door swung open to reveal a stone kitchen lit by a fire crackling cheerfully in the fireplace. An elderly couple were cowering in the corner.

Kori immediately regretted breaking down their door. "Oh my gods, I'm so sorry," she said, putting her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide.

The elderly man stood up and glared at her. "What is the meaning of this, young lady?"

Rudolph strode into the kitchen, Ralph following behind. "I am the current Lord Sommernacht and the commander in chief of the Royal Guard and I will be asking the questions here."

"Uncle, please…" Kori gave a helpless shrug and then moved to comfort the old lady who was still looking very anxious. She knelt by her wicker chair, gazing into her eyes and giving her a soothing smile reserved for nervous patients. "There, there, it's all just a small misunderstanding, there's nothing to worry about…"

"That remains to be seen," said Rudolph drily. "There is an evil enchantment on this farmstead. Are you in charge? Who else works here?" he demanded of the man.

"No one, my Lord," said the farmer. "Just myself, Bauer Klaus and Mrs Bauer and the little one."

"Uncle, whatever the enchantment is, they cannot be part of it," said Kori. "A cultist must be hiding somewhere without their knowledge." Really she thought Rudolph could have taken the farmer at his word.

"A cultist, dear?" said Mrs Bauer in a quavery old voice. "You think there is a cultist lurking round the farm?"

"I am certain of it, yes," said Kori with a grimace.

"There is a sect of ghoulish demon worshippers – the Wolf Cult – in these parts now," said Ralph. "The Lord Sommernacht leads a mission to rid the Dark Forest of them."

"You talk very pretty, my lad," said Mrs Bauer.

"I'm from the Golden Isles," said Ralph with a curtsey.

"Well there is nothing here, my Lord," said Klaus to Rudolph. "We have turnip soup on the boil and you would be welcome to share."

"No, thank you," said Rudolph sardonically. "We're searching your farmstead for the Wolf Cult and you had better keep your eyes peeled."

"Well you must accept some soup," said Mrs Bauer. "We never get visitors, especially not such distinguished ones as Lord Sommernacht, or the young lad all the way from the Golden Isles, or such an exotic looking young lady… It's just us and our little one." She pointed to a cradle in the corner. "Take a look, noble guests. Our baby boy, our pride and joy, long wished for and now here with us. Our house and home were as quiet and cheerless as it had ever been since we lost our Tomas these forty summers past and then two months ago, we found a baby on our doorstep and our house knew joy and laughter again."

Kori grinned. "That's wonderful."

Rudolph glanced at the cradle in the corner. "Yes, a fine little boy indeed. Well… I for one don't require soup, but if you have a strong drink. The children might like some soup."

He ushered Kori and Ralph to the table telling them to sit down and Mrs Bauer dished out bowls of turnip soup and slices of bread. The soup tasted good to Kori – almost as good as Madeleine could make and Ralph declared that it warmed him inside and out after the wintry December cold.

"You want a strong drink, my Lord?" said the farmer. "Well for such a special occasion as your visit, we have a specially strong drink from the east. It's difficult to procure it in the Dark Forest."

"Good man," said Rudolph.

The farmer brought some bottles of a clear liquid and began to pour out a very small amount into a glass. Rudolph nodded appreciatively.

"So Mrs Bauer, your son was an orphan? Someone left him on your doorstep?" asked Kori.

"Yes, such a happy day," said the old lady. "I had thought I was too old to be a mother."

"You're never too old," demurred Kori. "I was raised by our village wise-woman and she is sixty-five."

Mrs Bauer beamed. "Have a look at him, why don't you? Pick him up if you like."

Kori felt a sense of inexplicable unease. She leaned over the cradle it was all she could do not to cry out in shock and recoil from the cot. Lying there wrapped in a woolen blanket was no baby – it was some malevolent imp! A wolfish sprite covered in thick fur, with pointed ears like a wolf's, wolfish fangs and claws. It leered at her, its grotesque gargoyle's grin splitting its lupine face. It fixed Kori with darkly burning eyes and lifted a black furred claw, showing her the middle finger of its left hand which was adorned with a platinum ring with the Wolf Cult emblem. It spoke and its voice sounded like that of a man deliberately affecting a harsh, squeaky voice. "You see me, demon-girl? Pah! From one monster to another, I warn you not to meddle in what does not concern you."

"Isn't he a bonny boy?" Mrs Bauer said. Kori's heart sank. The cultist had a power of illusion such as that which the Wolf Mage had used to make himself invisible to ordinary people. But such tricks did not work on her, cambion as she was. She felt sick. How could the cultist be so base as to trick the poor old couple in this way…? Although from what she had seen and heard of the other two cultists, it should not surprise her.

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"Ralph, can you see the baby?" she asked, her voice trembling a little.

"Oh yes, he's cute," said Ralph, glancing at the cradle. Kori felt a lump in her throat. She would have to dispel the illusion… and end the old couple's happiness. But the cultist had not only enchanted the farmer and his wife into believing he was what they wanted to see, but his malign influence had spread to the rest of the farm. How long before it spread to the lands beyond?

"What do you think of the baby, uncle?" Kori asked Rudolph.

"Oh yes, a fine boy," said Rudolph lifting his glass and sipping the clear liquor. "This vodka is fiery stuff."

"I have a whole collection of liquors from foreign parts, including claret from the west," replied the farmer.

"Why Farmer Klaus, you are a connoisseur," said Rudolph, his eyes twinkling and beard twitching. "I had marked you down for a simple farmer, but I had not got to know the whole you."

The cultist sat up in the cradle, staring at Rudolph with his malevolent eyes and his harsh voice rang out. "Ha! Of course you don't know the whole him. I suppose you'll have to swallow a lot of vodka to want to take off the old fool's clothes!"

Kori cringed. Only she had been able to hear that.

The cultist leapt onto the table and seized one of the bottles of vodka, pulled out the cork with his teeth and then began to guzzle noisily.

"Can't you see that?" asked Kori in a dull voice, pointing at the wolfish imp standing on the table top in front of them, swigging the vodka directly from the bottle.

"See what?" said Ralph.

"They can't see anything, the illusion has them fooled," gloated the cultist in his harsh, grating tones. "The Arch-Lycanthrope will be pleased – the land beyond will soon fall under my spell and it'll be time to do away with these deluded fools who think they're my parents. He'd disdain to eat any morsels so old and tough, so I'll probably kill them. No fiend in the form of a skinny little girl with green skin is going to stand in our way."

"Oh no?" Kori sighed and drew a breath and glared, concentrating on the cultist and then screamed a short, sharp shriek, directed right at the horrible little imp.

The cultist staggered and fell from the table and onto the floor where he suddenly elongated and grew. Rudolph and Ralph yelled at the sight, as though a veil had suddenly been torn from their eyes and the old couple gave cries of horror. Rudolph leapt to his feet and so did Kori and Ralph. The cultist reared up. He had grown larger and more vicious than he had been in his imp sized form. Kori concentrated a scream at him once again and he clapped his black furred claws to his arrow-tip ears and staggered sideways. Rudolph and Ralph both struck him with their blades and he roared and swiped at them, snapping his cruel wolf jaws, but Kori leapt forwards and slashed at his forearms and claws with her blades. Rudolph struck at the cultist's neck, his blade biting into fur and sinew and Ralph's blade pierced the werewolf's ribs.

With a gurgling growl the evil creature collapsed, causing the floor to shake and then he lay still.

"What is this?" demanded Mrs Bauer, stepping forward. Her eyes were wide with horror and her hands were trembling.

"That was a Wolf Cultist. You were under his evil spell. You will now be able to see evidence of his enchantment all over the farmstead," said Rudolph curtly and he knelt down to retrieve the platinum ring. "Now there are just two of them left."

"That monster was hiding here this entire time?" exclaimed the farmer.

"But where is our baby?" demanded Mrs Bauer.

Kori felt tears come to her eyes. "I – I'm sorry… there was no baby, it was all a cruel illusion. One of the other two cultists could turn invisible and this one could make himself look like a baby…" Kori choked. She could hardly face Mrs Bauer's shocked stare.

Rudolph ordered Ralph to escort Kori outside. He slipped his arm through hers and hurried out of the door.

"Best let Lord Sommernacht handle it," said Ralph, putting his arms around her. She rested her face on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Not really," mumbled Kori. "Just think how it must be for the farmer and his wife."

"I'm sure it's disturbing for them, but it must be a relief as well. They are not under the curse of the cultist anymore. I suppose his illusion did not work on you? I could only see a baby until you screamed and then that horrible wolf thing showed himself."

"But the cultist tricked them into thinking they had a new baby and now it will sort of be like they've lost a child all over again…" murmured Kori.

Ralph stayed with Kori while the soldiers arranged a pyre on which they cremated the werewolf and the remains of the mutated farm animals: monstrous rams, bovine creatures disfigured by wolf teeth hanging out of their jaws, the crazed wolf-stallion Kori had slain… The smoke from the pyre rose high.

When all the monsters were burned to ashes, night had already fallen. Rudolph announced that they had to move on. He split the party into smaller groups, some of whom would remain to guard the farmstead and others who would investigate the surrounding countryside. He told Kori and Ralph that the three of them would be scouting through the woods.

"Will the farmer and his wife be alright?" Kori asked him anxiously.

"Of course they are, dear niece, don't worry your head about them," said Rudolph smoothly, patting her shoulder, "you did a fine thing for them, releasing them from the curse. That is why the Dark Forest needs you. The werewolves cannot fool you with their illusions. We may well need you to protect us from the Arch-Lycanthrope soon."

Kori thought she saw Ralph shooting Rudolph an odd look, but could not guess what was the matter. Rudolph led them into the woods. The moon had arisen, bathing the woods in its ethereal glow. The snow and frosted leaves crunched beneath their marching boots. Rudolph and Ralph pulled their cloaks tighter about them in an attempt to keep out the freezing chill.

"By the gods, it's so cold," said Ralph, his breath rising in a white mist in front of him. He was shivering and his freckled face looked pale in the cold gaze of the moon. "It's too cold, even for winter."

"Something unnatural about it," grumbled Rudolph.

"You dears, I've been keeping a couple of pills that are specially for warding off hypothermia," said Kori, reaching into a pouch at her belt. "Please take them and keep moving briskly."

Ralph and Rudolph each took one of the small, green pills and the three of them pressed on. Everything was covered in a thick layer of frost and icicles hung from the trees. Then Kori caught sight of something darting through the wintry woods – a small, glittering figure. "I saw something!" she cried.

"Where?" demanded Rudolph. And then he shivered very hard. "Oh, it's even colder…"

And then the being leapt onto the path, capering about on the frozen path in front of the three of them, effectively blocking their way. It was no more than three feet tall and looked like it was made entirely of ice. Its hair consisted of spiky upstanding icicles, its nose and chin were pointed and sharp and its arms and legs stick-thin. The creature's hands and feet ended in glinting talons of ice and its mouth was spread unnaturally wide in a shark-like grin. The creature cocked its head on one side and fixed them with a penetrating ice-blue stare. Its teeth were never still, chattering constantly. All the while it gibbered to itself:

"Icicle nose and frozen toes, shudder and judder come the snows.

Slivers of ice and frost are nice, leave the hearth and pay the price!"