Witches (7 page)

Bellowing, the magician tracked the infernal witch another two miles deeper in the forest, finally spying her in the distance, kissing a white mare on the nose. Bidding the animal to canter off, she then turned and walked into a fog bank, disappearing entirely.

Gathering all his strength, Lord Gensrow willed himself to the very spot, still a half-mile distant, of the witch’s escape. Disoriented from his own exertion, the wizard then plunged into the fog after her.

Barely, just barely, could he discern the witch in the thick haze, being led off by glowing guides. Still, he stumbled onward, growing ever closer...

From nowhere, a unicorn charged at the magician, nearly impaling him with it’s long, pointed horn. Throwing himself aside, Gensrow ran blindly, narrowly escaping death several times over. By the time his equine assailant wandered off, satisfied Gensrow posed no further threat to the sorceress, the wizard was hopelessly lost in the dark, confusing Boundary. Wandering about, growing ever weaker, he despaired of ever finding his way back home.

But now the wolves closed in, licking Lord Gensrow’s hands and face, willing him to keep moving. “Take me where she went,” he muttered, patting the largest beast on the head. “Please, I need to find her!” Growling their assent, the wolves confidently led him over the bleak landscape.

Sometime later, the eerie fog abated, the sky growing lighter. Soon he found himself in a normal wood, dawn just breaking over the eastern horizon. Of the witch there was no sign.

For a month the wizard traveled this alien land. Though he’d been dumped in Georgia, Lord Gensrow soon made his way around most of the United States, and even down into Central and South America.

While failing to find the sorceress, he was amazed by all he experienced. Apparently everybody in this dimension (for the wizard instinctively knew of the bounds he had crossed) practiced minor forms of magic. They careened about in metallic, self-propelled carts, talked with one another over long distances, and even conjured visions of other people on plastic and glass boxes in their living rooms.

But the wizard saw no evidence of his own type of personal power. Thoughtfully, he returned to the same spot in the Georgian forest, using his midate to once more form a portal, then asked the wolves to take him home to Jain.

He briefly considered, then rejected, an immediate invasion of Earth. There was still too much of the universe to explore, and the witches remained his most formidable obstacle. Instead, he spent the next several years exploring the Boundary, through trial and error gaining access to several more worlds.

Gensrow also began a eugenics program, impregnating dozens of Jainian women in the hopes of creating a powerful son. But in every case, his progeny failed to respond to the presence of midate. Clearly, he needed the damnable witches as breeding stock, if he could ever find them. In frustration, the wizard began sprinkling midate rocks throughout Terra and other select dimensions. Hopefully, this would allow other empowered, male victims of the witches to discover their true destiny, in much the same way as he had.

Then, while meandering through a sparsely populated desert world, he’d sensed an earth stone in the distance. Jumping on his magically-enhanced camel, Gensrow caught the girl near a nomadic encampment, no doubt with intentions of depriving some hard-working herder his natural, male rights. Bethany had been young and inexperienced, the magician easily defeating the witch, taking away her earth stone and transporting her to his Jainian dungeon.

Echoes from Bethany’s earth stone told him of other places she’d recently visited. In short order he captured Danielle in a Boston bar, and then Keyla in frontier Fortura. He’d then left the Median-tinged letter behind in Fortura, after arranging for an ambush in that dark, rugged world.

Now, after returning Keyla to her dungeon cell, Lord Gensrow thoughtfully wandered around the main castle floor, frustrated. For despite his recent successes, the witches’ home world remained closed to him. His captives claimed to live in a place called Haven, though the Boundary wolves refused to convey him there. Apparently, the unicorns would kill anyone who threatened the witches.

So, as things stood, Gensrow had the advantage. Clearly, he could defeat the witches when he caught them alone and unawares. But eventually they would discover his home base in Jain and attack in force. He needed to take the initiative and invade Haven first, using modern weapons and his existing army. But he must first neutralize the unicorns...

There! Lord Gensrow’s head snapped up, his heart racing. In the distance, he sensed not one, but two earth stones. Apparently a pair of the evil sorceresses were now in Jain, coming to do battle. No doubt they were young and strong, warriors prepared to eradicate the lone male threat to universal female dominance.

So much the better. Once defeated, they would make excellent additions to his growing harem downstairs.

***

Cautiously, April and Marissa rode up to the outskirts of the Jainian town. Both of Tiffany’s fellow sorceresses were dressed in the typical Terran twenty-something style, yet in deference to their medieval surroundings, each sported a heavy belt and sturdy sword.

For a week the two had combed Fortura, the Western-style land where Keyla had been captured, for signs of the wizard. Though riding hundreds of miles and casting a dozen spells, the evil magician was nowhere to be found.

Then Marissa had a sudden inspiration. Why not simply ask the Boundary hummingbirds to take them to the world in which their sisters were being held? Even if they didn’t know the actual name of where they wanted to go, wouldn’t their inter-dimensional guides understand the essence of their wish? It was worth a try.

Anxiously swirling about, the glowing hummingbirds clearly were unhappy with the choice of destination. Yet the young women were insistent, repeating their desire to go where the wizard had taken their captured sisters. Amid repeated bouts of hummingbird recalcitrance, April and Marissa were conveyed across the Boundary to parts unknown.

After a time the mists thickened once again, most of the hummingbirds and both escorting unicorns turning back. Their final winged guide gave one last unhappy chirp before flying off. As usual, both sorceresses began walking straight forward, preparing to exit the Boundary.

Just as the mists began to finally clear, however, a lone wolf darted in from behind, sinking his fangs into April’s thigh. Apparently tracking them through the Boundary itself, the predator had waited for the optimal moment to strike.

In one fluid motion April pulled a knife from her belt, sinking it deep into the lone wolf. Green fire pulsed into the wild canine, forcing its jaws open and blasting him through the air ahead of them.

Stunned, both witches hurried through the rapidly clearing mist into Jain, their black boots soon crunching down onto a wooded landscape. The huge wolf lay at their feet, dead.

“Are you okay?” Marissa asked, staring in wonder at the bleeding, burned animal.

“Yeah. He didn’t really get a chance to dig in.” Running a hand through her blonde hair, April looked about. “I’ve never seen one of those things leave the Boundary. Have you?”

“Nope.” Bending down, the svelte enchantress inspected their kill. “Look at those teeth! Do you think...”

Without warning, a chorus of growls burst out behind them. Whirling about, April and Marissa held their knives at the ready.

But they were too late. Bursting through the nearly-evaporated mist, three more Boundary wolves thundered past April and Marissa into the Jainian forest. Howling and snapping, they tore though the woods, dashing about among the trees. After generally circling the area for a minute, the wolves took off, soon disappearing from sight entirely.

Before they could recover from this latest shock, the Coven witches now watched the dead wolf slowly get to his feet. Still bleeding and burned, he promptly loped off after the other three, howling in displeasure.

“Well,” April said, flexing her injured leg. “I think we’re in the right place.”

“Yeah.” Pulling out their small first-aid kit, Marissa glanced apprehensively about. “Let’s get that leg taken care of, and then keep moving. Who knows what else might be out here?”

With magical assistance, they borrowed swords and horses from a military detachment guarding the lone road through the woods. An hour later, the two witches then rode for the nearest town.

Now, taking in the grimy, medieval village, April turned to her partner. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Though nearly dark, they could make out a few pike-wielding soldiers on the edge of town near a flickering, smoky torch. “They don’t look too friendly.”

“Well, neither am I right now.” Gingerly, April touched her tender leg. “But we need information. That wizard can’t be far from here. I can almost feel him.”

“Agreed.” Sighing, Marissa drew her sword, a wisp of earth fire sparking from the blade. “Let’s go.”

***

Within the town itself, Lord Gensrow stood behind a stone house, shaking with excitement. These new ones were so close, almost within his power! Breathing heavily, the wizard somehow forced himself to wait for the two young women to fully enter his trap.

Sure enough, April and Marissa slowly rode into town, magically causing the three regular guards they passed to look the other way. Clearly, they were utterly unaware of either their quarry’s proximity, or the ambush he’d prepared.

Only when the damnable witches had reached the open town square did Gensrow finally give the signal. Ten archers instantly launched a fusillade from the rooftops, while a dozen more foot soldiers rushed from almost every doorway.

***

CREEPING THROUGH the dark forest, Tiffany once more stopped to orient herself. The wizard’s castle lay over the next hill. She could also sense the fiend himself, exultant at his recent victory over April and Marissa.

After spending a few days in Meda training with Katrina, the rogue witch had announced that her informants placed the male magician in Jain. In fact, he was the resident warlord of that medieval world, ruling by force and terror. In all likelihood, Tiffany would find her captive sisters there. Thanking her recent teacher and newfound friend, Tiffany had then traversed the Boundary, exiting in the Jainian forest well after nightfall.

At Katrina’s urging, Tiffany had approached the nearest human habitation with caution, fashioning an invisibility spell before reaching the village proper. Such magic wasn’t foolproof, and would only last a short while, yet should allow the young witch to initially reconnoiter the village unnoticed.

What she found stunned her as had nothing else in her short life. In the small town square was April, hanging lifelessly from a noose on a hastily constructed gallows. Over her head was a garishly painted sign, reading “DEATH TO ALL WITCHES!”

Torches to either side cast leaping shadows over the ghastly scene. Before the gallows were gathered some dozen villagers, shrieking and yelling at her dead sister. A few even cast stones at April’s mangled, swaying body.

Several dead soldiers were still strewn about the area, along with debris and several half-burned houses. Clearly, a titanic battle had recently taken place.

Forgetting herself, Tiffany shed the invisibility cloak, grabbing a villager as he ran by. Hauling the man into an alleyway, the sorceress held a dagger to his throat. “What happened here?” she hissed.

“Lord...Lord Gensrow,” the man blubbered, eyes wide as saucers. “He knew the witches were coming to destroy our town. So the soldiers ambushed them! When the witches unleashed Satan’s power, Lord Gensrow himself used God’s purity to defeat them!”

Tiffany took a deep breath, the blade still pressed to his skin. “And the other woman,” she said, remembering Marissa had been paired with April. “What of her?”

“The Lord took her! To his castle.”

“And where is that?”

“Over yonder,” he stammered, pointing vaguely to the north.

“Thank you.” Releasing him, Tiffany placed the blade back in its scabbard.

Relaxing, the man nodded vigorously. “You can’t beat Lord Gensrow!” he crowed. “He’ll kill you too! Why, Lord Gensrow...”

Punching the villager hard, Tiffany had the pleasure of watching him crumple to the ground, unconscious. A forget spell would be better, but for now it would have to do.

Now, nearing the castle, Tiffany swore a mighty oath. This ended here, tonight. By the earth’s power, she would beat the wizard and free her sisters, or die trying.

***

Cringing, the magician held his left arm under the cold water, desperately trying to sooth the burned skin. Gensrow’s side ached from a cracked rib, while blood continued flowing from deep cuts on his cheek and shoulder, dripping down to the ground by the well.

Bellowing in rage as the bucket ran empty, he caused a sheet of water to erupt from the well opening, dousing himself completely. Intermingled with the wizard’s residual magic, this drenching at least reduced the burning throb to a tolerable level.

Bitterly, Gensrow realized his early victories over young, isolated witches had given him a false sense of confidence. These last two had been warriors, confidently accepting battle. Reacting quickly to the village ambush, the two she-devils had slain a half-dozen of Gensrow’s best soldiers before the wizard himself had entered the fray.

Luckily, a shot to the lung from an archer had disabled the one called Marissa, allowing the wizard to concentrate all his energy on April. Still, it took all his skill and strength to finally subdue her, suffering much abuse himself in the process.

Though intending to take the two girls captive, the magician had thankfully driven his sword through April’s heart, stringing her up in the village square for good measure. Marissa, though grievously wounded, should recover sufficiently to properly serve her new lord and master. Even now the other girls were succoring their sister in the dungeon below.

But clearly, the damnable Coven now knew Jain to be his base of operations. He needed to relocate to an already prepared fortress in another dimension, taking the girls and his small supply of midate with him. From there he could venture out and take more captives, avoiding battle except on his terms...