Chapter 4 - Ignite



“I want to know who you sold Chara to, and where he took her,” Azee snapped again, slamming her hands against the bars of Luke’s cell. Her nose crinkled as her lips pulled back in a vicious snarl, the rage visible in her eyes, even in the dim light.

Luke’s eyes widened at the anger etched in every part of Azee’s form. It had been a long time since he had seen her angry, and he had never seen her even remotely close to her current state. In her now he saw the rapid, wild animals that his father had always warned him that all pelts were, just below the surface.

 “Tell me, now!” Azee barked again, Luke jumping a little at her voice.

‘This doesn’t make any sense!’ Luke’s mind raced. ‘She shouldn’t be able to get this angry! She shouldn’t be able to get angry at all! Unless…’

As Azee slammed her hand into the bars again, her instincts screamed at her to stop, to back away and hide. The scars on her back, her hands and her legs burned with the memory of switches and whips used to force her into obedience. Rebellion and defiance brought only pain.

‘The non-human shall give no less honour to the begger, the murderer, or the traitor, to the very lowest of humanity, than they would give the most noble of their kind. From their honour to the superior race, the non-human may, someday, be worthy of what small liberties their betters see fit to grant them. To fail to punish dishonour, is to fail the natural order of the world, and to bring abomination amongst both humanity, and the non-humans. To correct them, to command them, is a kindness.’

How many times had she heard that verse, barked at her and the other slaves as they stood, watching as one of their fellows was beaten for some minor slight, real or imagined. Each word was etched into her soul, she heard them even as slept.

‘Keep your head down, and don’t draw attention.’ Chara had told her, again and again. ‘Stay quiet, and never talk back. Humans are always right, especially when they are wrong.’

So many times Chara herself had fallen under the lash, unable to follow her own advice. So many times, Azee had used a cool cloth to clean her sister’s back, speaking softly and trying to comfort Chara as she whimpered in agony,  having paid the price for being unable to keep a snappy comment or defiant word to herself.

But the threat of pain didn’t matter, the burning of her scars didn’t matter, it was washed away in a flood of fury. The blood roared in her ears, and her fingers twitched, her claws fully extended as it felt like her entire body was burning from the inside.

 Working hard to keep his voice steady, Luke raised his hands. “Azee, listen to me, I need you to calm down, alright. I think your collar has stopped working.” 

Taking a few cautious steps towards the bars, Luke spoke in as comforting a voice as he could. “Listen, it’s not too late, we can still fix this. Just open the door and let me out. We’ll get your collar fixed and all of this goes away. No one needs to find out about this, alright. We can just forget it.”

Azee’s cheek twitched, her tail growing bushier as her lip trembled with rage.

A short distance back, Eloise stood and watched. Her eyes flicked back and forth from Luke to Azee as the scene unfolded. She could sense Azee’s rage radiating off of her. The dam was breaking.

 ‘More…’ she gently tapped a finger against her chin. ‘I need more data. How did you break your collar girl? Show me what you have in that heart of yours.’
Despite Azee’s increasing anger, Luke took another cautious step forward. “Please, just calm down. Trust me, okay? We can fix this, all of it, you just have to trust me.”

“No,” Azee snarled, flashing her sharp teeth. “I want you to tell me where Chara is!”

The venom in Azee’s voice froze Luke midstep.

 “I don’t want to hurt you Azee, okay?”  Luke urged, fighting the instinct to retreat. “ This isn’t your fault. But if you don’t let me out, I-”

“I am not going to let you out until you tell me where my sister is!”

“Nothing you have done is unfixable!” Luke took a moment to calm himself.  “Listen, Azee, I forgive you for hitting me, it was an accident. I know you must have been scared.”

“I wasn’t scared.” Azee’s eyes narrowed into furious slits as she leaned towards the bars. “I hit you on purpose!”
Luke’s mouth fell open.

“I waited until you were close enough, until your hands were up my apron, and then I grabbed the biggest pan I could reach and I hit you. My collar failed months ago, I was just waiting for the right moment!”

“D-do you know what you are saying?” 

“After that, I dragged you down here, and locked you in! Then I sent the rest of the house slaves back to the pen so they wouldn’t hear you calling for help.”

In truth, Azee didn’t really know why she was telling Luke it had been some grand scheme, rather than what it was, a sudden, uncontrollable flash of fear and anger. She hadn’t set a trap, she just hadn’t been able to control herself. But as the colour drained from Lukes face, and his expression turned from one of barely maintained calm to one of genuine fright, she felt a rush of power, a thrill she had never felt before. 

Luke slowly shook his head, “Lord… Azee, do you know what the Order will do to you if they ever find out what you’ve done? I-I won’t be able to protect you, I won’t be able to stop them.”

“And you’re never leaving this cell if you don’t tell me what I want to know!”

Even Eloise felt a chill run up her back at the vicious rage that rang in Azee’s voice as she spoke.

‘She’s losing control… perhaps this is starting to go too far… Like a drunk who hasn’t had a drop in months and is finally back at his favourite stool...’ 

“Where is Chara! Where is my sister! Tell me!”

“Azee-”

“NOW!”

“I don’t know!” Luke roared back.

Azee froze. “You… You don’t know?”

Taking a breath to try and calm himself, Luke shook his head.

“No… I don’t know. I don’t know where she is.”

For a moment Azee simply stood and stared. She wasn’t sure what it was she was feeling, just that it felt like the breath was being squeezed out of her lungs.

“Y-you have to know,” her voice a hoarse whisper. “Y-you told me…. you told me she would be safe!”

“And I’m sure she is! What point is there to harming a slave you paid good money for?”

“I… You… That’s not...

She is safe… I just don’t know where she is.”

Azee lunged forward and seized hold of the bars. “You told me you knew you could trust him! You told me you never sold slaves to strangers!”

“And I don’t! Not… not usually.”

“The man you sold her to, Mr. Reach, you talked to him! For almost an hour, you talked to him! You have to know who he was! Where he is from! Tell me!”

“I heard of him through a friend! I’d never met him before!”

“B-but you talked!”

“About the price of cotton! Where you could get the best price for indigo this season! Hell, we talked about the weather for the Lord’s sake!”

The world spun beneath Azee’s feet, her breathing coming in ragged gasps. “Y-you s-sold Chara… You s-sold my sister to someone you didn’t even know?”

“Yes but-”

“To someone… who you had no idea what he would do to her, if he would hurt her… Kill her...”

A powerful rush grew in Azee’s chest, a terrible pressure that felt as if someone had wrapped their hands around her organs and were squeezing as hard as they could. Her breathing grew faster, her fingers twitched, and her teeth ground against each other.

“Azee, listen, I promise-”

Azee’s control snapped. With a primal roar, her arm shot through the bars. Luke cried out as Azee’s claws tore through the sleeve of his shirt just below the shoulder of his left arm and into his flesh. 

Luke let out a howl of pain and staggered backwards. He tripped over a crate of oranges and fell flat on his back, the fruit rolling all around him.

“Azee!” Eloise stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around Azee’s waist and dragged her backward. “Enough! That’s enough!”

Her mind clouded by blind fury, Azee tore free of Eloise’s grip with a savage snarl. She spun round and raised her hand, her claws glinting in the lamplight.

In an instant, all of the heat was sucked out of the room as Eloise drew herself up. The shadows grew darker, the lamp sputtered, and her voice cut through the air like a razor, as she spoke only a single word.

“Stop.”

There was no anger, no rage, no fear in Eloise's tone. She didn’t even speak loudly, and yet there was an edge, so sharp and cold, that it froze Azee in place. The roaring inferno of her anger was snuffed out like a candle.

"I'm sorry!" Azee gasped, her eyes wide with fright. "I… I don't know… what I…” 

Instead of answering, Eloise pushed past Azee and strode towards the bars of the cell.

Luke managed to raise himself off the floor,  his head spinning. He stared down at his torn sleeve and the bloodied arm beneath.

“D-do you know what you’ve done?” Luke looked up at Azee, anger flashing in his eyes. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? They’ll hang you for this! They’ll hang you, and I won’t be able to stop them!”

Azee looked down at her hand, her breath shuddering as she stared at the blood on her claws. In an instant, a flash of memories, fragments of words and images tore through her mind. 
What was left of her rage was swept away, like flotsam on a current. Pain… terror, frantic movement, and blood on her face, her claws, blood all over the place.

Again her legs started to shake, her tail curling between her legs, and her ears pressing flat against her head. The smell of blood, the memories, all of a sudden all she wanted to do was hide.

“I’d be less concerned with her neck, and more concerned for your own,” Eloise commented, her voice still carrying the same ice as before as she looked down her nose at Luke.

“And who the hell are you?” Luke paused for a moment. “Wait, no… I know who you are. You work at the Old Crow! You’re the one everyone says is a witch!”

“At your service, master Windhill.”

Pulling himself to his feet, Luke growled through his teeth. “If you put Azee up to this, I’ll kill you myself!”

“I put her up to nothing, she came to me for help. But that’s not important. What is important is that Azee has demonstrated just how far she is willing to go. I am willing to bet that if I open this door, she’ll tear you to pieces.”

Luke’s eyes widened. “Azee… you… you wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t she? You sold her sister, subjected her to years of mind control and slavery. You’ve used her as a plaything.”

Even as Eloise spoke, the question whirled in Azee’s mind.

‘Could I? Would I actually… kill him?’ The mere thought made Azee’s stomach turn. She was angry, certainly. But to kill Luke…

“It doesn’t matter now whether she kills you or not,” Eloise continued. “At this point, she’s dead either way. Even if she surrenders back to you, the holy authority will kill her.”

As Eloise leaned closer to the bars, Luke felt as if her gaze was boring a hole in his skull.

“She’s free, she is her own person again. So the question you have to ask yourself is… were you in her position, what would you do?”

Desperately Luke stared at Azee, looking for any sign of regret or support, but found neither in her gaze. Her rage may have subsided, but what was left was cold hatred.

“Azee… I thought we were friends. I thought…” Luke shook his head. “Everything I did was to help you, to keep you safe and happy. Please...” 

But no reply came.

Luke’s shoulders slumped as he turned back to Eloise. “What do you want?”

“You have a safe upstairs. Yes?”

“How did you-” Luke glanced at Azee. “Oh… I see.”

Despite her hate, the pain of betrayal in Luke’s eyes made it impossible for Azee to meet his gaze. A shudder ran up her body as she turned away, her hands curling into fists as she felt the hot sting of tears.

Noting Azee’s distress, Eloise stepped between her and Luke. “Don’t look at her, look at me” 

The feeling of betrayal turning quickly to anger, Luke met Eloise’s icy gaze with a glare of his own.

“Yes, I have a safe.” Luke growled. “And I can promise you, if you try to open it, I will make certain you regret it dearly..”

“Indeed. You keep your sales receipts in there I trust?” 

Luke didn’t reply, but Eloise easily read the answer in his expression.

“Good. You will give me the combination to open it.”

“It’s a runic safe, not mechanical. You can’t open it.” A hint of smugness entered Luke’s voice as he crossed his arms. “Hammers, axes, a damned cannon wouldn’t be able to force it open.”

“I’m a witch, remember? Runic magic is no trouble for me. Tell me how to open it, then you are going to draft papers transferring  Azee’s ownership to me.”

Azee looked over sharply, but a single glance from Eloise kept her silent.

“Never!” Luke snarled, clenching his hands into fists. “She’s mine!” 

The instant the words left his mouth, a low, rumbling growl from deep in Azee’s chest made him pause.

“I- Azee, I didn’t mean it like…” With a muttered curse, Luke glared back at Eloise. “I am not selling Azee. Not now, not ever. This is her home.”

“As it was her sister’s home?”

“I will not sell her!”

“Then she will die.”

The words hit Luke like a hammer blow.

“Azee will never allow you to put a collar on her again. And you’ve said it yourself, if she stays here, the Order will eventually be informed, if not by you then by one of your overseers, and she’ll be hanged if she’s lucky. Alternatively, you hand her over to me, and I will make certain that she is safe.”

A heavy silence filled the pantry. Azee desperately wanted to speak, to demand an explanation from Eloise; but forced herself to keep silent.
Luke’s mouth was open, but he seemed unable to find the right words. Only Eloise seemed utterly unperturbed by the situation, her arms crossed as she stared coldly at Luke.

“Is this what you want?” Luke asked at last, his voice so soft that even Azee was barely able to hear it.

“What she wants is irrelevant.” Eloise’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not giving you a choice, Windhill. The safe, now.”


===


“I’m not going to be your slave!”

Eloise paused and looked over her shoulder. “I’m sorry?”

Eloise and Azee were climbing the grand staircase towards the second story of the manor. Like the rest of the house, the staircase was a stunning display of wealth. A rich red carpet covered the stairs of fine mahogany. The polished bannister was etched with patterns of flowers and vines, and each baluster carved to look like a palm tree. At the top of the stairs, a massive grandfather clock, easily twice Eloise’s height, ticked away to itself.

Azee’s tone wavered, her mouth dry, but she forced herself to keep speaking. “A-as I said, I’m not going to be your slave. I am never going back under that spell again.”

“Nor will I try to put you under a spell.” Eloise scoffed,  resuming her climb towards the second floor.

“And I’m not g-going to let anyone else control me again! Not ever!”

Again Eloise paused, turning fully around this time. “Do I look like I need a slave? I don’t even approve of the vile institution, and I’d never deign to participate in it.”

“B-but… what about Charlie.”

“Charlie owed me money, and a great deal of it. Besides, he’s dead, it’s hardly the same thing.”

Azee pondered that for a moment, before simply shaking her head.

“But, what about the ownership papers?”

“I have no intention of getting caught transporting a stolen slave. In a few days time I’ll ‘sell’ you to a trader friend of mine who makes runs in and out of Corrino. It’s not the nicest country, but at least it is legal to free slaves there. Once you get across the border, he’ll take you to the magistrate and have you freed. After that then you can do with those papers what you will. Personally, I would suggest throwing them into a fire, or perhaps a river.”

“W-what if he doesn’t free me?”

A cold flicker danced in Eloise’s eyes. “Do I seem like the sort of person who would take such a betrayal of trust lightly?”

“I-I suppose not. B-but what about Chara?”

“That’s up to you. In this country you will always be a slave, no matter what your papers say or what marks you have. So, if you set foot in Halcyon again, you’re fair game to whoever gets their hands on you first. But in Corrino, you can hire someone to go back to Halcyon to buy her. Hell, hire some mercenaries to go and break her out for all I care. It isn’t my business.”

“Hold on, I thought you were going to help me?” Azee protested, taking a step forward.

“I said I wouldn’t let anyone hang you, not that I would go galavanting across Halcyon trying to find your sister.”

“B-but what if she is hurt? What if she is in danger? What if-”

“Then we had better move fast and get to the safe, rather than wasting time with this needless chatter.” Eloise interrupted. She turned and began climbing the stairs again.

  “Besides, Windhill is right, there is very little reason to buy a slave and then simply kill it.”

“I still don’t understand why he sold her,” Azee moaned. “Chara was a hard worker, she never stole anything, never fought anyone… Well, she and Tasch would get into fights all the time, but she’d never fight with the guards!”
Eloise reached the top of the staircase. “So why did you never ask him?” Eloise looked back at Azee. “Which way?”

“Mast- Luke’s study is in the south east corner.” As she padded along behind Eloise, Azee looked down at her feet. “I don’t know why I didn’t ask him. I guess… I guess I was afraid to know, or I thought he would lie.”

“I suppose that is fair. He seems to have lied about just about everything else. Though I suspect the one he has lied to the most is himself.”

“Miss Eloise…”

Eloise paused and turned to Azee. “Yes.”

“May I ask a question?”

“If you must.”

“Y-you don’t really care about Chara, or me. So why…. Why are you doing this?”

A slight, sneering smile spread across Eloise’s lips. “I owe the Windhills a debt. This seems like a fine way to pay it back.”

“A debt?”

“I suppose it would be more accurate to say that I have a score to settle with them.”

“Y-you’re not going to… kill master Luke, are you?”

“Kill him?” Eloise shook her head. “Oh goodness no, it’s nothing like that. Inconveniencing him should be enough… for now.”

Eloise looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “After all he has done to you, are you not going to kill him?”

‘Do I want to kill him?’

Azee’s hand drifted unconsciously up to her collar. She was angry at Luke, there was even a part of her that hated him, a part that had been growing for months now inside of her heart, a part that throbbed now that she knew what he had done. But there were other feelings too. 

She gently ran her fingers across the leather that Luke had imported from the capital so as to make certain it was of the finest quality. Her fingertips tingled slightly as they drifted across the cold piece of catalyst stone. She couldn’t deny, although it was a terrible, evil object, Luke had gone to great lengths to make it comfortable.

‘It’s alright Azee… I promise, you’ll never have to feel like this again. You’ll never be afraid again.’

“He… he isn't a bad person. He never meant to hurt me… not on purpose.”

“And you are certain of that?”

Azee didn’t answer.

Moments later, Azee and Eloise arrived at a pair of stately wooden doors at the end of the hallway. Great paintings of Luke’s ancestors lined the walls, learing down at them as Azee fumbled with a small golden key.

With a loud ‘click’ the door opened and Azee led the way inside.

The vast windows of Luke’s study overlooked the front drive of the Windhill manor. The south half of the large square room was dominated by a massive wooden desk. It was Luke’s pride and joy, elegantly carved and immaculately polished, constructed from timbers salvaged from the ship that first delivered the Windhills to Halcyon centuries ago. Anyone who stood before that desk immediately felt small and powerless.

Various trinkets were scattered around the room as well, a great many of them leftover from the time of Luke’s father, and his father before. An elegantly painted vase was home to an ivy that had spread across the walls and carved wooden ceiling, grown from a cutting taken from the Windhill’s original home in the north country. Swords of various sizes sat upon elegantly shaped golden hangers. Some of the blades were simple and utilitarian, others more akin to pieces of art that would be of little use in a real fight.

 One entire wall was taken up by a colossal bookcase. Despite being made from solid walnut boards, the bookcase almost seemed to groan under the weight of the thousands of books upon the shelves. The books themselves were an eclectic collection, from ancient historical tomes to the fantasy adventure books that Luke had enjoyed reading to Azee.

Upon Luke’s desk, in an ornate glass case and sitting upon a red velvet pillow, was his favoured duelling pistol. Azee had polished it not two days before, and so the metal shone silver, even in the dull light of the lamp she carried.

But none of that was of any interest to Azee. The moment she entered the room, her gaze immediately turned to the painting of Rudolph Windhill.

“It’s behind here.” Azee rushed towards the painting. As she reached out to touch the frame, her hand froze.

Eloise tilted her head as she came up beside Azee. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just… Mast- Luke ordered me never to touch the painting… It’s over two hundred years old… He’s the one who built this place. Apparently it was one of his daughters who painted this…” 

Azee’s eyes narrowed slightly as she glared at the blue curtains depicted in the painting, the same curtains that hung not an arms length away.

“The blue and purple paints came from indigo grown here… by the first slaves they brought with them.”

“I see.”

Azee’s arm lashed out, her claws tearing a huge rend in the painting. With a snarl, Azee grabbed the torn material and pulled hard, ripping the bottom two thirds of the canvas free, decapitating Rudolph.

“Feel better?” Eloise asked drly as Azee tossed the ruined canvas aside.

“Much.”

“Good, then let’s get started.”

Eloise stepped forward and pulled on the frame. The painting swung open, revealing a large safe, carved entirely from catalyst stone, embedded in the wall. Dozens of runes covered the exterior, all glowing with various shades of green. A raised disk of catalyst stone covered in seemingly random crisscrossing lines was placed in the centre.

Eloise leaned close to the safe, running her fingers along the crystal. “It would appear that Windhill wasn’t lying when he said that this safe could take a cannon blast.” 

Her gaze flicked back and forth across the surface of the crystal. “Herchels third defence… Belle’s ægis… Ruth’s first line repel... McGraws greater detection, version four… Watsons fourteen impact bulwark!”

With each name, Eloise’s excitement grew.

“Good lord, it even has Patree’s ninth defence ward, just casting the first part of that rune takes more than a year off your life! This whole place would be reduced to splinters and this safe wouldn’t be so much as scratched!”

“W-what does that mean?”

Taking a moment to calm herself, a smile spread across Eloise’s face. “It means it’s going to take me a while to get into this thing.”

“B-but didn’t Master Luke give you the combination?”

“He did. But there are properties to these protection runes that are designed to prevent anyone but the owner of the safe from accessing it, even if they have the combination.”
Azee was afraid to ask her next question. Her breath threatened to catch in her throat as she spoke. “C-can you g-get it open?”

“Of course I can.” Eloise paused to roll up her sleeves . “You just need to know what you are doing.”

“Can I help?”

“Yes you can.” Eloise pointed at Luke’s desk. “Go over there and stay quiet.”

“Y-yes ma’am.”

As she retreated back towards the desk, Azee took special care to grind her foot into the torn painting of Rudolph.
With her sleeves rolled up, and her hair tied up into a tight bun so as to keep it out of her eyes, Eloise smiled at the safe.

“Impressive boys… very impressive indeed, but it’s going to take a lot more than you’ve got to keep me out.”


===


For what felt like hours, Azee sat and watched as Eloise worked on the safe. Eloise’s brow was furrowed and her muscles tensed as she traced lines with her fingers around the various protection runes. One by one, the glowing runes flickered and dimmed as their power was drawn away.

Despite her best efforts, Azee could barely keep herself still. She tried reading a book, but the words on the page seemed to become little more than a jumble in her mind. The day’s activity had left her with bits of leaves, twigs, and sawdust in her fur, but grooming only distracted her for a short time before her agitation kept her from continuing on. She even considered doing some tidying, but banished the thought with a frustrated growl.

Eventually she settled on sitting cross legged on the floor, pulling the torn piece of Rudolph’s painting apart, one strand at a time. Soon, she had a considerable pile of multicoloured string sitting on the floor in front of her.

A sharp crackle of energy rang out, and one of the bright green runes at the top of the safe flickered and went out. With an exhausted sigh, Eloise stepped away from the safe and dropped herself into the soft leather chair behind Luke’s desk.

Azee leapt to her feet, sending a few stray strands flying. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, everything is fine,” Eloise nodded, weakly waving her hand. “No need to worry, young one. I just need to enter the final combination. I require a few moments to…” Eloise raised an eyebrow as she noticed the pile of string at Azee’s feet. 

“Art project?”

“M-ma’am?”

“Quite the collection you’ve amassed there. I suppose it may be more prudent to ask if everything is alright with you?”

“What?” Azee looked down at her feet. “Oh… yes. I just… needed to occupy my mind.”

“Mhmmmm.”

Azee paused for a moment. “It’s just…”

“Yes?”

“I feel… angry… and scared. I… I’ve felt it before but… but never this strongly. I’m having a hard time… controlling myself.” 
Azee looked down at her hand, still stained with some of Luke’s blood.  “And I’m worried, what might happen… if I can’t control it.”

“Tell me, has Windhill ever taken you on a trip?”

Azee blinked in surprise. “A-a trip?”

“Yes. Or have you been away from this place for more than just a few nights I mean.”

“I…” Azee gulped as her back began to sting again. “There was a time… a short time, when I was away from this place, yes. It was only a few weeks though.”

“And when you returned, I assume you noticed the smell of this place?”

“I suppose so…”

“Describe it.”

“It’s… the smell of musty cushions, of Misses Windhill’s Lily of the valley perfume, and well done beef with a lot of pepper, the way Luke likes it.”

“Do you smell all that now?”

Azee paused for a moment. “N-no… I suppose I don’t.”

“But it is still there.” Eloise pushed herself up from her chair and walked over to Azee. 

Azee flinched as Eloise reached out and gently touched the stone affixed to her collar.

“This rune is complicated, and very specific. It isn’t designed to lobotomize you, or even make you more obedient. Rather… it dulls your ability to feel certain emotions. Anger, fear, even pain.”

At Eloise’s words, the bottom dropped out of Azee’s stomach. “Y-you mean… the collar wasn’t… controlling my actions?”

“Not as such. It’s more akin to being drunk, living within a haze where your boundaries and inhibitions are greatly reduced.”

“B-but I… I could have said no? I could have resisted? 

“There is a reason this rune is called ‘serenity’, its purpose is to calm you, rather than control you. Someone who is calm is far less likely to resist. I suppose if the order was unthinkable or unconscionable enough then you likely would have been able to overwhelm it.”

“So everything… everything I did with Luke… that I did for him… was my own will?”

“Not at all. Perhaps there was an element of your own desire, but it is a great deal more likely that it would simply never occur to you to say ‘no’ at all.”

Azee’s heart felt as if it skipped a beat as a name tore across her mind. ‘Caridal…’ 

“But now, this rune is no longer affecting you, and you no longer have to hide its failure from Windhill. Your fear has faded, your fight or flight instincts quieted, and so too has your ability to guard yourself against your own feelings. Your emotions have returned in full force, rather like the smell.”

Eloise placed a hand on Azee’s shoulder with a sympathetic smile.

“It will take time to learn to control it, and it won’t be easy.”

“I… understand.”

“Good.” Eloise turned back to the safe. “Now, give me a few more minutes, and I’ll be ready to crack this thing open.”

“Are you nearly finished?” Azee asked.

“Yes. I need only to use the combination Windhill gave me, and we should be in.”

“Then hurry!” Azee’s voice was sharper than she intended. As Eloise looked at her, she immediately took a step backwards and turned her eyes down to the floor.

“My apologies, I didn't mean to speak so rudely.”

“Don't concern yourself with that,” Eloise replied with a small smile. “I understand you're eager to find your sister, but runic magic takes a great deal of energy, even if you're not casting them. I still need a moment or two.”

Forcing herself to swallow her frustration, Azee nodded “I understand.”

“Do you?”

“What?”

“Understand? Runic magic I mean?

“N-no.” Azee shook her head. “M- Luke explained it to me a few times but it didn’t make much sense.”

“He explained it to you? Really? That is a surprise, considering his propensity for delusion where that collar is concerned.”

“I-it wasn’t about my collar. He just explained why things worked when I touched them.”

“Hmmm.”

“But he never told me how creating them worked.”

“Can’t imagine why he would.” Eloise shrugged, dropping herself back in Luke’s comfortable leather chair. “Pelts- forgive me, your people, cannot cast runes themselves. You can activate them, but for some reason your people lack the ability to ignite them.”

Looking down, Eloise noticed an array of small drawers just under the top of  Luke’s desk. With a cheeky smile, she reached down and opened several of them and rummaged through them. Her eyes lit up as her gaze lit upon something. From the far left drawer she withdrew a small leather pouch of tobacco and an elegantly carved wooden pipe.

“Don’t suppose the young lord would mind, do you?” Eloise asked, pushing a few pinches of tobacco into the mouth of the pipe.

“Huh?” Azee looked up. “Oh… uh… probably, but… but I can't say I c-care that much.”

“That’s the spirit, young one.” 

Eloise withdrew a small slip of catalyst crystal from the drawer and pressed her thumb against a simple rune carved in the centre. A tiny flickering flame burst into life, with which Eloise lit the pipe. After a few experimental puffs, Eloise was satisfied and took a long, slow draw, the bright orange coals illuminating her face for a moment.

“Ah… that is nice.” Eloise sighed, leaning back in the chair again, thin curls of blue smoke wafting about her, like fingers of mist above a swamp.

“I suppose it’s a stroke of fortune that your people can’t ignite runes.” Eloise pondered, taking another long puff. “Lord knows they wouldn’t have any trouble killing you in droves just to ignite some of the better canons.”

Again, Azee blinked in surprise. “Cannons?”

Eloise chuckled to herself. “No girl, I'm not speaking of weaponry.  Canon is the word for an unactivated rune.”

Sighing at Azee’s obvious lack of understanding, Eloise pulled a piece of paper and a quill towards her. 

“Come.”

As Azee stood up, Eloise drew a circle on the paper. “This is the foundation of any rune, we call it the ‘iris’. A rune is really just a mathematical theorem for the direction of energy. Each symbol that we have discovered serves as a command path for the energy.”

Eloise extended a hand. “Your collar.”

Azee removed the collar and handed it to Eloise. For a moment she shuddered at the thought of how easily she had forgotten she was even wearing it.

“Alright, this eye in the centre, here, this has to do with perception, and the circle inside of it represents the mind. The line above it that comes to a point, that represents shielding.” 

As Eloise spoke, she drew a sketch of the rune on the paper.

“This shape, below the eye, that looks a little like a bat, that ties into negative emotions, such as fear, anger, hate. So, this rune shields-” Eloise pointed at the line above the eye “-your mind-” She pointed at the lower shape “-from fear, anger and hate.”

“That’s it?” Azee stared down at the paper. “It… it’s that simple?”

“Simple? It would take an apprentice runesmith more than a decade to get the proportions right. One line placed in the wrong spot, one angle off by so much as a single degree, even a minor flaw in the crystal, and instead of protecting you from fear, the collar melts your mind to sludge.”

Eloise drew her finger across the rune, and an unreadable expression crossed her face. “No… this rune was the work of a master, a piece of art. To see such talent put to this kind of use… It is truly unforgivable.”

‘And yet this girl overpowered it.’ Eloise took another puff, staring at Azee, taking in every detail of her face. ‘How… how could she have done it… You can’t just brute-force something like this. No… something else is at play here.’

Noting the way that Eloise was looking at her, Azee’s tail curled between her legs again.

“Y-you mentioned igniting. H-how does that work?”

Turning around in the chair, Eloise turned to the windows and pointed the end of the pipe at one of the huge willow trees that lined the drive.

 “If I told you to go out there and cut down that tree, cut it into pieces and then stack it, how long do you think it would take you?”

“I… uh…” Azee considered the tree for a moment. “At least a week I would think.”

“So, seven days means six sleeps, twenty one meals, and lord knows how much water.”

‘Fourteen meals, maybe,’ Azee thought to herself. ‘If I was lucky…’

“Each of those meals is energy. Energy from plants and animals going into you and being directed into a purpose. A rune is no different.”

As she spoke, Eloise tapped out some of the ashes from her pipe onto Luke’s desk. 

“Now, the more-”

She paused as Azee stepped forwards and swept the ashes into a small ceramic dish.

Noting Eloise looking at her with raised eyebrows, Azee managed a small shrug. “It’s a nice desk.”

“Mhmmm… Well, regardless.” Eloise picked up the lighter crystal. “This rune, with a relatively simple form and function, will take the energy needed to complete its purpose from the caster. The more complicated the canon, the initial shape and carving, the more complex the purpose, the more energy it requires. Most runes require a nap or a sandwich. Others can take literal years off one's life. The most powerful and complex runes can even take all the energy a person has and leave them a lifeless husk, it has even been known to cause total mumificat-”

A loud bonging filled the house, cutting off Eloise’s explanation.

Azee’s eyes went wide as her ears twitched. “I know that chime! That means it’s midnight! The guards will be changing soon!”

“And?”

“And Snieder and Comb will notice you haven’t left yet!” Azee felt her heart begin to race again.

“Well then,” Eloise tapped the remaining tobacco into the small porcelain dish. “I suppose we should get this finished up.” 

Eloise stood from the chair and made her way back towards the safe. She knelt down and examined the raised disk. She carefully pressed her finger into several sections of the rune. Each time she pulled her finger away, it left a small circle of glowing energy behind.

“This rune won’t hurt you, will it?” Azee asked, peering over Eloise’s shoulder. 

“No no, it’s rather a simple rune, I won’t even feel it. Assuming, of course, he gave us the right combination. Then again, I rather suspect he will have done so.”

“W-why?”

“Because I told him that you would be the one opening it.”

As Eloise spoke, she touched the centre of the raised disk. Light blue trails of energy from her fingertips traced along the seemingly random lines carved into the disk. As the trails spiralled outwards they joined the small pools of energy that Eloise had already left. Within moments, a large and complex rune had emerged from the chaotic mess of lines.

“There we are.” Eloise gestured at the rune. “Press it, and we should be in business.”

“But why do you need me?”

“To make certain that it isn’t a trap.” Eloise shrugged her shoulders. “If Windhill was lying, and this rune is some kind of trap, it will kill you. I am betting that he is unwilling to make that sacrifice.”

Azee froze, her heart thudding hard against her ribs, the fur on the back of her neck standing on end.

“I… I can’t…”

“Yes you can.”

“But-”

“If you don't do this, you are dead anyway.” Eloise nodded at the rune. “Now do what you need to do to save your sister. Or don’t, and I will simply leave.”
Azee gulped hard, staring at the glowing symbol. She searched through her memory, trying to remember if she’d ever seen anything like it before, but there was nothing. She knew where the safe had been hidden, but Luke had never opened it while she was in the room. No matter how she search, there was nothing to tell her whether the rune would kill her or not. 
Her throat felt dry, the ground shifted beneath her feet, as she slowly raised a trembling hand.

“Please,” she whimpered, looking beggingly at Eloise. “Tell me, w-will it k-kill me?”

“I don’t know. But I suppose the question is, do you think Luke would kill you?”
Taking one final breath, Azee closed her eyes, and pressed her fingers against the door.



End of Chapter 4

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