The humming stopped. The woman who answered the door was human only in the vaguest sense of the word. Her face was eerily ageless in a way I’d never seen before. The eyes that peered at us were milky white and her pearl-colored complexion was covered in patches of even paler skin, stretching across her features like broken continents on the sea. Vitiligo? I remembered hearing the word once. She had dark hair that was braided back in a crown and blue lips. A silvery stud adorned her nose and a sterling sun and moon dangled from her ears. She filled the doorframe. Statuesque.

“Welcome,” she said neutrally. Her face was stone still. Jumbles of phrases fell into my consciousness as if from an overstuffed closet with the door yanked open. None of them seemed clever enough, seemed right. After a few seconds, my mouth made the decision for me.

“Um. Hi.”

“Come in.” The sorceress- because she had to be her- turned and walked inside, clearly expecting us to follow. Her dress trailed behind her. I noted it if only for its strangeness- black as crow feathers, falling in raggedy layers like bandages.

“It’s simply very old, Amara.”

My heart skipped a beat. “How did you- what’s old?”

Tally smiled, hoisting herself to her feet. “She knows our thoughts, child. She wouldn’t have let us in otherwise.”

‘Child’ rankled, a bit. The reading thoughts thing more so. I didn’t like the idea of someone poking around in my head.

“You are correct. I suppose it is rude for me to know your names without telling you mine first,” the sorceress hummed. “I will not tell you my true name, because names have power. But you can call me Yaga. Or Tempestuous. I’ve grown fond of Tempestuous as of late. It is such a perfectly wonderful word.”

Her accent was unfamiliar- guttural r’s and stresses on the first syllable. Stilted. I made only a passing note of this, as her words were more interesting. I remembered a story I had read once, of Isis and her brother Ra. She wanted power over him. Isis made a snake that could harm him, and when it bit him she made him tell her his true name before she’d cure him. I wondered if names worked similarly here or if she was simply paranoid. Considering the charms around her house it didn’t seem like a stretch.

Not to be rude, I banished the more unflattering thoughts away. “Yaga?” I made a mental note of this.

“Yes, this is Donna Yaga,” Tally said impatiently. “Donna, you can call me Tally. Honored to meet you. I’m sure you already know, but we’re here on very dire circumstances.”

Yaga stepped backward in a swish of fabric, surveying us both with a cool stare and for the first time, I got a proper look at the inside of the house. The only thing distinguishing it from any other cottage was the thick clouds of incense that made it hard to see more than three feet ahead. It seemed incredibly excessive, and I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose at the thick smoke-patchouli-sandalwood scent. Yaga’s eyes flashed, the glare off the dilated pupils seemingly from a nonexistent source of light. I wondered if the light came from inside her.

“My smoke is for protection, and protection we need! Without my smoke, you both shall bleed!” Her voice was furious, and I backed up a bit. I looked at Tally. She made no reaction save to grip her staff a bit tighter. I swallowed. Yaga let the silence hang for a moment longer before speaking again. “If I understand correctly, the girl is new and you both have questions. Sit down.”

Tally’s eyes were hard as she took a seat. I looked between the two of them and felt sweat bead up on my palms. There was so much raw power stuffed into this tiny cottage, and I could feel it in the hairs on my arms. I sat down on the edge of one of the chairs. The smooth wood dug into my thighs.

The sorceress sat down on the floor across from us, arranging her skirts over a blue cushion. She observed us both with no trace of her previous fury and even had a small smile on her face. Weird, but I did my best to relax a little. Smiling is usually good.

“Well… Since you already know our thoughts, then you know what the problem is and it would be pointless to rehash that,” I said. “Could you help us?”

The sorceress cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive puppy.

“More specifically, we want to know if this is the result of a spell,” Tally said. “My instincts tell me the break in the cycle is the result of an incredibly powerful sorcerer losing control of hereditary power- at least based on the suddenness and severity of the consequences. But the magic threads aren’t all tangled the way one would expect with a disaster this catastrophic. The most I’ve noticed is a slight bend, possibly only ten degrees.” She paused for breath and kept going. “At least over the moss fields. Donna, you’re older than me by at least a few hundred years, you must know something.”

I listened carefully. Once again, I was struck with the feeling of being in over my head, but I was still following the conversation with some degree of understanding and that was comforting.

The sorceress looked directly at me as I parsed this and smiled. Then I heard a hoarse whisper in my ear.

“Don’t worry, love, you’ll pick up these things quickly. You’re a clever little one.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Her lips hadn’t moved.

Clearly, the telepathy went both ways, then, if she wanted it to. Tally shot me a look that I recognized as concern. I gave her a half-smile.

“This is the result of a spell, yes,” Yaga said, folding her hands. “My guess is that you’ll notice a rapid increase in the bend of the thread the closer you get to the epicenter. That should help you navigate, I think.”

She leaned forward, producing a knife that I was certain hadn’t been in her hand before, and started cutting a slide of thick braided bread in the center of the table, which hadn’t been there before either. I watched her slender hands tensed on the handle with apprehension.

“So you think it’s the whirlwind type? Those are rare,” Tally said. Yaga nodded gravely. “I see. Any ideas on how we can dispel it? My specialty is more Aegis, not curse-breaking.”

I heard a term I recognized and seized it. “This is a curse?”

“The term ‘curse’ being colloquial for ‘spell that a lot of people are very unhappy about’. Whether it’s an actual curse remains to be seen but those are almost as rare as whirlwind types so it’s unlikely,” Tally explained. “If it’s a real curse we won’t be able to do anything without the original caster.”

Yaga nodded again, passing out slices of the bread.

“To break it you must find death again. She’s probably trapped somewhere.”

Tally looked confused. I sympathized, though I was a bit upset that of the two of us, neither knew what Yaga was talking about.

“Donna, what do you mean?”

“I mean what I say and I say what I mean. You must find death and set her free, or deathless shall the wide world be,” she hummed, staring off into the middle distance. I exchanged an uneasy glance with Tally. She cleared her throat, fixing the sorceress with a steady gaze.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Remember to control your energy, please. Going full fae on a newcomer is a bad idea. Can you… describe death to me? Is she a person?” Tally’s paws were planted firmly on the table, and I could see the tips of her claws popping in and out of her fur reflexively.

‘Full fae’ didn’t sound good to me. Yaga was starting to emit a sickly blue light, and that didn’t inspire confidence either. I scooted my chair backward as quietly as I could.

“You already know death, do you not? She is pale and cold, young and old. Blind is she, and deaf is she.” Her voice was taking on a shrill overtone. Tally sighed and pushed her chair backward, grabbing her slice of bread.

“Come on Amara, that’s our cue to leave.”

I got up quickly. As we walked to the door, the sorceress appeared in front of us, completely expressionless. For one heart-stopping moment, I thought she was going to keep us inside. But all she did was proffer the bread.

“Here, take the loaf with you. I’m not expecting any more guests that require food.”

Tally took the gift with a shallow bow and a tight smile.

“Bye, Donna. I do hope you have a lovely day. Let’s go, child.”

She grabbed my hand and led us outside. I hadn’t realized how stifling the cottage was until I felt the cool breeze on my face and heard it rustling the leaves on the trees above. I took a deep breath and looked back just in time to see one of the curtains stirring faintly.

I had a lot of questions, but as we stood on the cobblestone path, exposed to the open air, I asked only one.

“What about the hunter?”

Tally looked tired.

“I was wrong about our being safe here. It’s been a while since I’ve visited.”

She didn’t elaborate further, and I took it upon myself to fill in the blanks. Whatever the sorceress was, she was clearly more dangerous than our pursuer. By a lot.

Tally’s claws retracted fully, yanking a splinter from the staff as they did so. Her ears twitched.

“You have questions.”

Boy, did I ever.

“I...do. Why was she like that? Unstable, I mean.” I spoke quietly, certain that Yaga was still watching us from inside.

“She is older than anyone knows. She’s collected bits of insanity over the years the same way we do, only she’s got far more of it.” Tally didn’t bother lowering her voice. The curtain fluttered again.

I thought about this for a moment. Honestly, I was a little sad about having to leave such an interesting person so soon. She scared me a bit, yeah- maybe a lot- but she didn’t seem malicious. Inhuman, and not entirely benevolent, but knowledgeable. Powerful.

“I should like to see her again, I think,” I said. Then the point of the whole discussion caught up to me again, and I shifted gears. “So how are we going to find death?”

Tally stared at me for a long moment and then laughed loudly.

“Right! Very focused, I approve,” she said with a smile. “We’re going to follow the curve of the magic threads to the center. If it really is a whirlwind we’ll have about five square miles to search when we get there.”

I nodded, putting things together in my mind. All this talk of ‘magic threads’ made me think of ley lines. Maybe a similar concept. And spells worked a bit like gravity, then? Bending the fabric of magic as planets and suns bend the fabric of spacetime? Another question occurred to me as Tally started walking.

“Do people bend the lines, then? If they have magic?”

Tally beamed. “You do catch on quick! Not usually in any significant way. Not unless they’re powerful. Even Donna back there made them twist only a small amount.”

She broke off in a little hum and cupped her palm absentmindedly. I could see colored lights shining through her fur as small ethereal shapes danced in her hand.

“Is that like magical fidgeting?” Another thought came to me before she had the chance to reply. “Do you twist the lines? Do I?”

I bounced on my toes a bit. She puffed out her cheeks and looked, very briefly, like a giant fuzzy chipmunk.

“You do, but only just. I haven’t figured out yet what kind of magic you possess. I have some twist, yes, but not a lot. And sure, you can call it that.”

No way.

“Do you have a way of figuring out what kind of magic I have?” I asked. Visions of cool spells and crystal balls and flying rocketed through my head.

“I could run a little test if you like,” she offered. I nodded so hard my bones creaked a bit. Eager. She raised her staff and paused, thinking for a moment.

“Ah. You specialize in necromancy. That’s a little unusual. Usually, people have a natural tendency for conjuration, healing, or Aegis.”

I blinked. Necromancy?

“As in the evil magic?” I asked, hoping I’d misheard.

“Evil? Not at all. No type of magic is evil unless you use it for evil purposes.”

“But it’s raising the dead!” Zombies and skeletons? Textbook evil. Suddenly I didn’t want to have any magic. Tally just looked a little lost.

“So what? They’re dead, they don’t actually notice. It’s just resourcefulness.”

I spluttered, unsure how to explain myself. “Wh- it’s wrong!”

“Okay, okay,” Tally said soothingly, patting me on the shoulder. “You seem to have very silly ideas about the sanctity of bones. You don’t have to use your magic, dear. Just make sure you don’t let it spill and you’ll be fine.”

I relaxed. For about a quarter of a second.

“Spill??”

Tally sniffed. “Yes, you silly goose. Don’t lose control of your emotions while focusing in on it, and you’ll be fine.” Then her eyes widened. “Goodness, we need to get me another cane. I can already feel my vertebrae waging war.”

I was still very concerned about what ‘spilling’ meant, but obviously, I didn’t want her in pain. I started looking around for a suitable stick.

Tally smiled at me. Well, probably a smile. It was a bit hard to tell with the cat face and all. I traipsed over to the trees and it didn’t take me long before I found a large fallen branch crushing some underbrush.

When I came back Tally had pulled out a strange sort of metallic thing with lots of small parts and gears and was waving it about in the air. It glowed a faint yellow and clicked periodically. The shape of it reminded me of a classroom globe, but it was made of thin wire-like strands of metal.

“Tally, I got you a-” I started. She cut me off with an aggressive hiss.

“Shush! Quiet, I need to hear.” Her ears twitched irritably. I considered speaking again but figured if she didn’t want to hear it, it was her own back and not mine. I sat back down on the grass.

There were jewels embedded in the thing and Tally watched it intently, counting the ticks and walking back and forth.

“One, two, three, four, five, six per ten over here… one, two, three, four, five, six… one, two, three, four, five, six…” She grunted impatiently, hopping over even further. “Ten yards from six, one, two, three, four, five, six, ugh! Twenty yards from six, eastwise, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven- seven per ten!”

This last bit was shouted, and I sat up straighter, startled.

“What are you doing?”

Tally pocketed the orb.

“One of the clerics in my old group invented it. Poor fellow asked me to marry him, actually. He never gave it a name, so I just call it the clicker.”

“You didn’t marry him?” I asked.

She gave me a weird look. “I’ve never wanted to marry anyone. Never understood it.” Tally exhaled. “Anyway, I don’t exactly know how it works, but what it does is simple. Ley lines have a default orientation, so any abnormality is measured on here. The more the lines twist, the faster it clicks. The Donna said the lines would bend exponentially the closer we arrived to the source of the spell. We have to go east, basically,” she said.

I thought about it.

“That actually makes sense,” I admitted.

Tally smiled, and for the first time, I noticed little fangs in her mouth.

Right. She’s basically a big cat. I swallowed a little pang of unease. “Um. So how will we know when we’ve found death?”

I couldn’t help but imagine a skeleton cloaked in black, carrying a scythe.

“I think we’ll know,” Tally said cryptically.

I didn’t say anything, instead opting to stride forward in the direction my companion had indicated, tossing the stick behind me.

I heard Tally shuffle forward, pick up the stick, and chuckle quietly. The forest all looked the same to me, but I’d already decided to trust Tally and I wasn’t about to change my mind now. Even if she was irritating.