A Practical Guide to Sorcery

Chapter 266: Three Black Beans

Siobhan

Month 5, Day 10, Saturday 10:00 a.m.

Siobhan didn’t get any further information out of Old Lady Hebbers, but when she stepped outside again, she saw several people taking the road that went past her house. No doubt, they were desperate to see either Grandfather or Claudio.

If Grandfather got fed up with Claudio’s uselessness and kicked him out, surely one of the villagers would be willing to take him in.

Rather than go back to the house, Siobhan walked through the village. The streets were emptier than usual, and those who were out walked quickly with their heads down. Several people were wearing small carved figurines or talismans at their waist or around their necks—though whether those baubles were imbued with any real protective magic was open to speculation. One woman even had strings of herbs woven into a headband, a necklace, and two bracelets, and was telling her friend that these were to make her less desirable to eat.

Siobhan might have smirked at this on a normal day, but she was too shaken up by what she had learned to take any amusement from other people’s ignorance. When a man saw Siobhan and automatically drew a protective symbol in the air between them—as if she might be a danger to him—her mood lowered further.

There were thick salt trails at the doorsteps of several houses, and one of the village hedge-witches was performing protective rituals for people in her backyard. The scent of burning sage made Siobhan’s eyes water. Someone else was digging a small trench around their house, which would likely be filled with water to act as a barrier against certain kinds of ephemeral beasts and shaman-bound spirits.

She paused in front of a windowsill that displayed three black beans placed in a line. Those were an old superstition, meant as an offering to the brillig—a signal that those within were friendly and should not be harmed. The brillig had been extinct for thousands of years. People were simply desperate, willing to do anything they thought might have the slightest chance of protecting them.

“Town hall meeting tonight to discuss the recent danger and how to deal with the curse!” Mr. Hagarty yelled out, striding down the road from Siobhan’s house with a heavy scowl. “Starting an hour before sunset!”

She shuffled through the village mindlessly until her hunger pangs urged her back home. There was a letter waiting for her. Father had written back! She ran up to her room and ripped the letter open. She read eagerly at first, but slowed quickly. He had written barely two paragraphs, and the gist of it was that he would not be returning for a while. He hadn’t even remembered to say he loved her, even in the postscript, which was where he usually wrote it.

Tears fell onto the paper. Surprised, Siobhan sniffed and rubbed them away with the back of her hands. He must not have taken her seriously. Maybe because she had been trying not to be too dramatic. She took out a new piece of paper to write him again, but tears kept falling onto it and making the ink bleed, and eventually she gave up. The postman wouldn’t be by again to pick up letters for several days yet, anyway.

Sometimes, in a mood like this, she just needed to feel the wind and sun on her face, so she went down to the back yard. Her intention had been to sit on one of the paired swings hanging from a branch to the side of her treehouse, but a bright glint of metal caught her eye and diverted her attention to the base of the tower.

She walked closer. Intricate warding stones had been placed all around the base of the tower, all made of metal and bone, and interlinked perfectly. For a multi-segment ward like this, Grandfather must have started working on the first stone a while ago. Even working non-stop, it would have probably taken him weeks.

Siobhan stared at them and then up at the tower window as dread crept over her skin like frost.

Claudio found her a couple of hours later, swinging silently under the tree. Googlᴇ search NovᴇlFɪre.nᴇt

She had been sitting for so long that her thighs ached, and she’d forgotten that she originally came home to eat.

He sat on the other swing, his head hanging and his face tinged grey with fatigue. He was wearing an eyepatch over that same eye that never seemed to heal.

Siobhan spoke softly. “If you’re too tired to cast, you know you can say so. It’s dangerous to keep pushing past your limits.”

“I cannot turn them down when they ask.”

Siobhan stared down at her toes as she kept swinging gently. “Did Grandfather call you here because the curse has something to do with dreams?”

Claudio began to swing beside her, clumsily at first, but quickly getting the hang of it. “Why do you think that?”

“I’ve been investigating. Most of the villagers have been having nightmares. I have, too,” she admitted. “And there was a blood egg. That means death of a child.” She looked up at him. “Do you think…?”

Claudio raised his eyebrows. “Why don’t you tell me a little more about your investigation?”

“If I do, will you actually explain anything to me, or will you just use what you learn to do a better job keeping me out of it?” She pursed her lips and some anger seeped into her voice. “Don’t you think it’s stupid to keep things secret from me? She was my mom. I know whatever’s happening has something to do with her death. I don’t think she left a malediction. I think she was cursed, and after she died, the curse didn’t die with her. And I think Grandfather knew about it from the beginning, and that’s why he brought you in. But it doesn’t seem like either of you is actually managing to solve anything. Maybe, if you listened to me, you’d find I’m actually useful. And I’m not so delicate that I need to be protected from the truth. I’m thirteen already.”

Claudio stared at her, a small smile that hinted at delight growing on his face. “All I can promise is that I will talk to Raaz when he returns. If you have something impressive enough, he might relent.”

And so, Siobhan explained the process of her investigation and deductions to him. It was actually surprisingly relieving to spill everything she had been keeping smothered inside.

Claudio didn’t confirm anything, but the more she told him, the more pleased he seemed, so she guessed that she was on the right track. “You are very interesting, Siobhan Naught. I believe you have great potential as a thaumaturge.”

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Siobhan pushed her legs in the opposite direction of her momentum to slow her swing. “Really? Grandfather says that, even though the Naught blood runs true, I’m not even as talented as Mom. I’m just passable.” She eyed Claudio skeptically. “I think he would know better than you.”

Claudio pursed his lips and nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps. He has known you much longer than I. But perhaps he has been blinded by preconceptions and forgotten that potential comes in many forms. Given the chance, I think you might surprise him.”

Siobhan dragged her feet on the ground to stop herself completely. This praise should have made her happy, but for some reason, it instead left her with a knotted ball of confused emotion that she couldn’t untangle.

Aimee found them in the back yard and dragged them in for a meal, then coaxed them into a game of cards, where the loser of each round had to pay a silly “punishment” decided on by the other two.

Siobhan and Claudio both lost several times, and she ended up wearing a paper mustache while being forced to speak only in a strange accent, while he got stuck wearing his shoes on his hands and a pair of old underpants over his head like a mask—eye holes included. Siobhan laughed until her too-full stomach protested.

Before Siobhan knew it, the afternoon had grown long. When they headed down to the village for the town hall meeting, Grandfather was still gone, likely out in the woods again somewhere.

The town hall was the biggest building in the village, but it was still packed uncomfortably tight. Rory had been loitering around outside, and when she arrived, he entered with her. They stood at the edge of the room, not important enough—or judging by the unpleasant looks Siobhan was receiving, perhaps not well-liked or trusted enough—to take any of the seats.

Mr. Hagarty used a borrowed cane to stamp on the ground a few times and call everyone to attention. “We all know what’s been going on. Today, we’re here to discuss what’s to be done about it. Sorcerer Kalvidasan has obviously failed to stop it, and apparently, he cannot even be bothered to attend.”

Siobhan looked at Rory. That was probably why so many people were giving her unpleasant looks. That, and the fact that this danger might have been brought home by her mother, she supposed.

Claudio stood from his spot of honor near the center of the room. “Ah, if I may…” He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Raaz isn’t unconcerned about the situation. He is busy doing what he can to find a solution, and he finds that to be more important than attending this meeting. The danger seemed to be escalating quickly, and he did not want to waste even a minute of this critical time.”

People grumbled a bit, but no one hurled any insults at Siobhan’s absent grandfather.

“Be that as it may,” Mr. Hagarty said, “I believe at this point we should call in outside help. Some people have suggested to me that we send someone to contact the constable on the other side of the island, but I’m not sure a basic lawman will be able to do anything that our two highly skilled, well-trained thaumaturges couldn’t. I suggest that we contact the mainland and get a cursebreaker in from Lenore, or…call on the Red Guard.”

“The Red Guard!?” a woman near Claudio asked, her voice high and tight with strain.

He winced away from her voice, then ducked his head and rubbed his ear.

“They do not solely deal with Aberrants,” Mr. Hagarty said, taking off his hat and rubbing at the red line where it usually sat on his brow. “And besides, we don’t actually know what is causing this. A Blight-type, maybe, or some kind of spreading curse? In either case, they will be able to deal with it. And in my opinion, it’s better to be absolutely sure than to try something that ends up failing, by which point things might get worse.”

Mr. O’Dredricks was already nodding. “Yes. That’s the best idea. But how do we contact the Red Guard?”

There was a long, hesitant pause, with several people looking around at each other in confusion. “The constable has an artifact that will call them. And I think the postmen carry one, too?” someone said.

This made good sense, but before the more respected villagers could put together a plan for the quickest way to contact a postman or the constable, a timid-looking man running the brim of his cap back and forth through his hands cleared his throat. “Maybe the solution is to get to the one at the center.”

There was a long, confused silence. Or at least, Siobhan and Rory both seemed to be confused, along with a good portion of the villagers. But others nodded with surprised realization or relieved agreement.

A woman sighed. “Thank goodness you said something! I was beginning to think no one would bring up the obvious.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Mr. Hagarty said.

“The tattered corpse,” a man at the side of the room explained to dozens of nods. “I’ve been searching for him in my dreams, but it’s easy to get lost and confused.”

Siobhan’s blood seemed to freeze in her veins.

A plump woman lifted something that Siobhan belatedly realized was a half-gnawed chicken wing. “Eat more meat,” she suggested loudly to the man. “It will give you strength.”

A couple of people near her shifted away uncomfortably.

The woman bit down, snapping the thin bones and grinding them between her teeth.

He smacked his fist into his open palm as if she’d said something ingenious. “Ah!”

The man who had hit his wife for being too charmed by Claudio turned around to face the woman. “Oh, is it meat we need to eat? Perhaps that was the missing part. I had been thinking the solution lies in remaking myself in the kneeling god’s image, but…”

“But how?

” someone else asked.“It’ll be easier to figure out once we get to the center,” the old man replied.

Siobhan forced her short, rapid breaths to slow and deepen before she made herself dizzy.

“The dreams they’re talking about…?” Rory said hesitantly, a question obvious in his tone.

Siobhan nodded. “Yeah. We talked to several of those people. But they weren’t this bad even a week ago.”

The two of them weren’t the only ones to notice this strangeness. A woman stood up, stumbling away from her husband, who had begun to scratch and tear at his clothes. “It’s the curse!” she wailed. “He’s been acting strange lately, and I was worried, but this—”

Those villagers who didn’t seem to be affected yet scrambled to place distance between themselves and those who had been dreaming, while the dreamers didn’t even seem to notice the alarm they were causing.

Claudio stood and slipped through the crowd, flinching away each time one of the dreamers reached for him as he passed. He reached the wall and walked along it until he reached Rory and Siobhan. Claudio’s eyes met hers, concern making his face seem older than usual. “Even if I cannot say it, you can see it for yourself by now, I hope?”

She nodded, her throat choked tight with fear. “What’s happening?”

“I have been noticing it for a while. Building auspicious dreams for people has been getting harder,” he said, rather than answering her directly. “I think it might be best if you stop interacting with the villagers. Avoid anyone who’s acting even a little strange.”

Rory was breathing fast, and he had retreated a couple of steps to press his back against the wall. “My ma’s been acting strange.”

Claudio gave him a sympathetic look. “I will go to your house and try to help her dream something better, if she will let me.”

“Can you do that for me, too? And the rest of the family?” Rory asked.

“I will try.”

“Do you know how it’s spreading?” Siobhan asked directly.

Claudio pressed his lips together and gave her a pointed look.

“You cannot say. My grandfather forced you to take a vow?”

His pointed look grew even more pronounced.

Siobhan nodded several times. “He did. Okay.”

“What about you?” Rory asked, looking up at the man. “What if it gets you when you’re doing magic for people? Are you in danger?”

Claudio grimaced slightly, but quickly put on a comforting smile. Again, he didn’t answer directly. “I need to try to slow the progression down as much as possible. I’m only one person, but I will do what I can. If only…” He shook his head.

“We need to tell Grandfather,” Siobhan said. “Tell him what I found, too, if he doesn’t already know. You can just say you were the one who talked to the villagers and found out about it. If you say it, maybe he will listen.” Grandfather would be able to help, even if he needed to do something like place all the villagers under a stasis spell until the Red Guard could arrive.

“He already knows,” Claudio said simply. “Did you think him so careless that he would fail to explore every avenue that could help him understand the root of his problem?”

Siobhan opened her mouth, then closed it again. “Oh.”

“That’s why he went to get help. We can only hope that he returns within the next few days. If it takes more than that…”

Siobhan stared at Claudio, as stunned as if he’d slapped her across the face. “Grandfather…left? But he didn’t even say goodbye to me.”