While Spidena worked, Ben had been forced to keep his attention on the two goons that had accosted her, as they started to try and fight back a lot more vehemently whenever he tried to subdue them. Though with Wolf’s help it wasn’t too troublesome.

Spidena didn’t mind their occasional bouts of scuffling as it gave her a chance to focus on sifting the katava she had barely lit aflame and had started to smoke into a round brass incense burner.

“Ben, cover your nose. Wolf, you know what to do.”

Ben obeyed instantly, and when the robbers attempted to do the same, Wolf resumed a particularly violent hail of attacks on the both of them that occupied their arms and hands. This wound up being of help to Spidena as she wafted the incense over to the two men, and the flapping of wings and arms helped increase the quantity of curling gray smoke that seeped out of the holder that Spidena held by a thin chain and swung it back and forth between them.

It took perhaps ten minutes, but in the end, both men were flopped onto their backs, their faces filled with small scratches thanks to a certain raven, and yet, both had dreamy smiles as they gazed up at the sky.

“What… What did you… uh… do?” the lean one asked.

Spidena raised an eyebrow and stared down at them as she proceeded to dump the ashy leftovers of the katava onto the ground.

“Don’t ask me. Ask him. It was his idea.”

Ben didn’t answer as he had turned his attention to the other task the witch had set for him; to bring some water to a boil so that Spidena could at last brew her blister healing remedy.

“I don’t know everything about that drug either. I just know whatever that the drug makes people pleasant and docile, and I figured that was a nicer thing to do than tie you up or let her cast some kind of spell on you. It certainly made her happy enough.”

“I was still angry!” Spidena reminded Ben sharply over her shoulder. “I just was incapable of acting on it.”

“Close enough,” Ben said with a shrug without bothering to look up from his task.

The two bandits said nothing as they seemingly became lost in the haze of the katava drug staring up at the trees.

“Carl?” the lean man asked.

“Yeah, David?”

“Do you think Leticia is going to still love me when I get back?”

Ben looked up from the cauldron of bubbling water to stare at Spidena. But she was preoccupied with wryly watching the two bandits who had just revealed their names.

Sighing, Ben directed a new question to her. “Are all of your potions or drugs going to make people talk about love?”

*

Spidena rolled her eyes but didn’t answer his question, and instead limped her way over to where Ben was crouched, and plopped herself down on the forest floor.

“You could’ve just broken their legs,” she grumbled.

Ben stared flatly back at her. “If it’s bad that I always want to poison people, it’s equally bad that you want to break something in their bodies.”

Spidena reached into her satchel and pull out the remaining ingredients she needed, and started carefully slipping them into the cauldron. Some she’d add then turn the mixture with a wooden spoon a specific number of times. Then she’d pull out a battered silver pocket watch with intricate designs on the front, and watch its long hand tick.

Spidena could feel Ben watching the entire process interestedly, and the witch found herself feeling more than a little awkward under his scrutiny.

There was nothing quite as annoying as a dodder or a seeb who had no idea what weaving magic or brewing potions entailed. In Spidena’s opinion, Ben’s only saving grace in that moment was the fact that he wasn’t asking her any questions as she did these things.

As she fell into the familiar pattern of working a deal through her potion with the enigmatic entity of magic. Occasionally she would glance at her tattered recipe book with its pretty—if a bit faded—dark green cover with the white inlay of a wreath on its cover, the familiar electrifying hum of magic began to stir in the air around her.

When fashioning any kind of deal with magic to bend the laws of nature, the connection would manifest the sensation of tingling in the tips of her fingers, but then would move to heady waves of power that rolled through her body. The feeling would built and built with each passing moment until…

She sighed, and felt the power rush out.

She had completed her transaction. She pulled free from the silvery magical wisps and streaks of glitter that almost pulled her to and fro like a puppeteer… Only the puppeteer would sometimes tell her she had to keep stirring until nightfall and she’d resist. She’d bargain against it. Not for six hours, but for six minutes she would stir, and that would be fair.

Reasoning with an entity that wasn’t a voice, nor a smell, nor a touch… just… a feeling.

Smiling, despite the heavy weariness in her muscles, Spidena turned and was startled to then be reminded that she was not alone.

Ben was sitting beside her looking quite pale.

He swallowed.

Spidena almost felt sorry for him.

She’d heard that being in the presence of a true witch or warlock working their deals could have a range of powerful effects on dodders.

Some grew hungry for the power.

Others became scared at the notion that there was a power even greater than nature. Greater than a gale wind, or more deadly than a raging fire.

But Ben looked… Confused and sick.

Spidena tilted her head.

Originally she had assumed when he’d fallen asleep after she had cast the forget-me-now potion-incantation it had been because he was travel worn.

She squinted at him thoughtfully, which he didn’t really notice as he visibly struggled to feel less at odds. His throat bobbins as he forced a swallow.

Seebs often in the face of bigger power had the same reaction…

Then it clicked.

“I know you’ve been trained to be hypersensitive to magic,” Spidena recalled thoughtfully. “So being in the presence of any magic makes you feel unwell?”

Ben issued a shaky breath. “New members for the Hounds are isolated in chambers underground for the first… year… of our recruitment. Away from any kind of real nature or magic…” Ben stood and strode away toward a maple sapling as though he were about to be sick.

Spidena was grateful for it, because it meant he didn’t see her frown of concern and alarm.

They locked children up for a year in a dungeon?

Her mind continued to race, piecing even more details about Ben’s mysterious past together.

If they did that to dodder children, that would mean that they’d be even more jarred by the sudden onslaught of magic when exposed. It would be effective for spotting magic, but was inhumane and cruel!

Ben opened his mouth, then licked his lips his eyes lost as his mind traversed horrors that Spidena could only speculate on. “I was down there for two years.”

Spidena’s gut twisted.

“If… a member of the Hounds stopped… being able to sense magic? They went back down for three months. And if after that they still didn’t fix them? Six months more. Then after that… usually we never saw them again.”

“Why were you down there for two years?” Spidena asked in a near whisper.

“I was recruited when I was a little bit older than they’d like so… They had to make sure I could be…trained. Some of the others didn’t even last the year.”

Spidena could feel herself struggling to hold any lingering anger toward Ben in her being.

What chance did he stand holding on to her grudge with a history like that? He wasn’t even directly involved in being one of the ones to take her mother!

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Clearing her throat, Spidena busied herself reaching into her bag and pulling out a plain steel cup that she dipped into the cauldron and pulled out. In the low evening light, steam curled off its top, and yet she only gave a couple dainty breaths before taking a sip.

The smell was… Floral… Woody… vaguely medicine-like, which Spidena had smelt before, but she had not sampled for herself.

Taking a long sip. She paused before swallowing, then smacked her tongue and scrunched her face once she did.

“Fungus. I would’ve tried to make this better to drink if I’d known it was this unpleasant.” Spidena sighed and shook her head with a grimace before continuing to down the beverage, her knees braced apart with her elbow resting on one in a very unladylike position.

“I guess you really did grow up with money. Every kid I’ve ever met has had their fair share of blisters. If you knew how to fix them, then you would’ve made it,” Ben deduced astutely.

Spidena’s attention cut to Ben sharper than any butcher’s knife could manage, but he was scuffing his boot against the ground already looking disinterested.

Seeing that his words were more observational and less accusatory, Spidena decided to be merciful and let the comment go.

Finishing the brew, she picked up her heel and watched in pure bliss as the blisters on her feet magically shrunk, then proceeded to disappear all together.

Buoyed by this, she sprung to her feet, scanned the ground for her boots, and set to tugging them all while standing, which forced her to hop around on one foot.

“Why are you putting those on? It’ll be dark soon. We’ll have to sleep here again,” Ben pointed out.

“David?” The bald bandit spoke out suddenly, stopping Spidena from responding.

“Yeah, Carl?”

“Do you ever wonder… if trees think we are as pretty as they are?”

“You aren’t pretty, Carl. But you are strong. It’s why I asked you to come with me even though you scare me.”

Carl, the thick bald man with two silver earrings sighed and shook his head as his glassy gaze held in nothing less than pure rapture at the canopy of glowing leaves above them as the sun set somewhere off in the distance.

“David, Liticia doesn’t even like you. I felt bad. You’d resort to stealing for her on the border of Lord Callex Earhav’s land.”

At the name of the nobleman and warlock, Spidena whipped her head around to stare with dreaded attentiveness.

“Are we at Lord Earhav’s borders?” she asked weakly.

“No… No… But close. We figured we’d wander near the border and rob anyone there. Our town isn’t too far away…” David explained idly. “Only the truly desperate travel this close to his land, and so they are most likely on the run and have gold of some kind. We see it all the time!”

Carl nodded from his place beside David on the ground thoughtfully as he started running his palms over the lapels of his rough woven coat. “This doesn’t feel very nice… I’d like something that feels nice…”

Ben and Spidena looked at one another. Both wearing a look of humor and exasperation.

Still, Spidena reached into her bag all the way up until her elbow, and withdrew a terribly made rabbit doll.

Regardless of its uneven stitching and lopsided black eyes, it was made of soft fleece, and so she handed it to Carl.

“Take this, and swear you won’t seek revenge on us.”

Carl’s mouth opened wide along with his eyes in pure, childlike delight as he accepted the doll. He held it above his face, and then, seemingly, lost strength in his hands and dropped it on his face. Despite this clumsiness, he laughed and proceeded to clutch the doll to his chest happily.

“I swear!”

Ben and Spidena finished packing their things despite the late hour and the lack of communication about where they might head given the short amount of day time they had left.

They simply proceeded off into the woods, moving as quickly as possible as the sky above them paled.

“That was nice of you to give Carl the rabbit,” Ben said aloud after perhaps thirty minutes of walking.

Spidena, who, thanks to her healed feet, managed to keep pace with Ben who had also slowed his pace for some reason or another.

“The happier we keep them the less likely they will pursue us out of revenge. Especially given the amount you hit them in their…. Chestnuts.”

Ben winced. “Yeah… Thanks for thinking of that.” He sounded genuine in his gratitude.

Spidena let out a breath and decided to change the topic. “I should be blister free for at least two or three days thanks to the potion. So that should help us make good time.”

“How long do you think the katava drug will work on David and Carl? ‘Bout a day, same as you?”

“Day and a half? And the next day and a half they will feel like utter troll dung.”

“Does the incense version of it make it stronger?” Ben mused with sincere interest.

“No. If anything it makes it weaker compared to the tea. I just have a higher tolerance to drugs, poisons, and potions because I studied potions so much. I’ve not even had any food poisoning since I was fifteen! Though that one time was traumatic… But it’s unlikely I’ll have it again,” Spidena noted brightly.

Ben grimaced at the thought.

“Are we…. Alright?” he ventured carefully.

Spidena spared a quick side glance at him right as a firefly drifted between them.

“We are as good as we need to be. Though don’t ever go into my bag without my permission again.”

“Great. I can do that.” Ben nodded then hesitated. “So… If I’m all forgiven, you won’t hate me if I say we should try to keep walking through the night and into tomorrow to avoid Carl and David? I know you said we built some good will there, but it’s better if we air on the side of caution.”

Spidena stopped in her tracks and stared at Ben, even as he continued to carry on through the thick underbrush without a seeming care in the world.

Until he did, at long last, turn around with a mischievous smile on his face.

“What? What did you think we’d need to do?”

“WHY DIDN’T WE JUST BREAK THEIR LEGS?!” Spidena shouted with every ounce of frustration she felt.

“You’re really violent, you know that? No wonder people are afraid of witches,” Ben laughed then resumed his trek through the woods.

Spidena glowered after him.

Wolf calling up ahead. Spidena hated to admit it, it did sound like the blasted bird was laughing at her…

Plucking up her skirts, she darted to catch up to Ben, and felt quite proud of herself when she successfully avoided a partially hidden tree root that jutted out of the ground.

“Why is it that you are so terrified of Earhav exactly…? I mean everyone is to a point, but you… You seem to have a… More intense fear of him than other people,” Ben questioned while also picking his words carefully.

Spidena, whether she wished to showcase her true reaction or not, felt her face scrunch in a blatant grimace.

“He is awful. Naturally, awful. But he has… A special hatred for my family, and that’s all you need to know. While I don’t think he’d kill me, it also wouldn’t entirely be a surprise.”

Ben stared at her with disturbed shock, then shook his head and let out a horse-like snort of breath. “Gods. Nobles… You know, peasants and seebs just worry about the common things that’d kill them. Storms. Fires. Plagues. Food poisoning…”

“I’m not a noble!” Spidena defended heartfully. “And I had food poisoning before! I told you!”

“Yeah, but you lived from it! I’ve seen a man literally shit himself to death.”

“Gods.” Spidena recoiled at the imagery.

“His children never recovered from it. Even to this day they are wary of eating too much fruit as a result.”

Spidena let out a defeated groan, her shoulders rolling forward as they walked.

She was starting to suspect that it was going to be an unbearably long night of walking, even if she was immune from blisters and hadn’t entirely finished processing the drugs Ben had accidentally fed her.