Tattered Pages

A kind of Magick

"Thank you Chance. Appreciated it!" Samantha smiled as she tossed up a hand and walked out of the office. She'd done it! Finally she had got the damn job after months of working for peanuts. She walked down the hall and down the stairs in a clip. She looked at her phone, 12:33, she had actually gotten out early. She glanced over at the tax department and sped up even more heading towards her car knowing her sis had to be getting antsy at this point. Samantha flicked the volume up and shoved the phone in her pocket as she climbed into the car. R2D2 whistled as she cranked up the engine. He whistled again, then again then again. "Really, what the crap" she said out loud thinking her daughter was spam texting her as she often did. It was her newsbreak app spamming away news feed after news feed. Samantha put her foot on the break and shifted to reverse then held up the phone to see what all the commotion was as she eased backwards. She slammed on the break with a start and shifted the car back in park. "What the fuhhh '' she whispered as she slid through video after video of a horse standing in the middle of the road near her workplace.

Shots were taken from various angles as people filmed the weird occurrence with their cell phones and the news ran the footage. A view from beyond the horse came across the screen and a gruff looking man dressed like a cowboy,,,a cowboy?,,came swiftly stalking out of the admin building towards the horse carrying a woman.

Samantha's eyes widened and the unlit cigarette fell from her lip. Sarah?? Was that her sister?? The man clambered up on the horse and turned it toward the light facing the person filming the incident. He slapped the reins YAH and began to bolt straight for the camera. She saw the picture wavier as the pedestrian started to run backwards to get out of the way of the bolting horse just in time to see it disappear completely from view as if to vanish into thin air. The video ended with a gust of wind and the news announcer saying, "The unknown man was last seen carrying the woman away from Bridge street. Further details tonight." She flipped the video away and frantically called her sister on speed dial. " you have reached.." she shut the phone off and tossed it in the seat. "I'm coming!" her hand slammed the shift and she screeched in reverse, abruptly slamming it in drive and heading towards the office like a bat outta hell. What the hell was going on.

A sweet scent was what slowly seeped into her nostrils. A scent of lavender, sage, and sweetgrass filled the air around her. She felt heavy like lead. She couldn't even open her eyes. The sludge seemed to hold her down to the spot like she was encased in cement. She could hear voices slowly coming into audible focus but recognized no one.

"How long does it take?!" Arthur paced around the teepee with impatience, the sweet scent surrounding him. "As long as it takes," the old chief said stoically as he sat almost in meditation by the flickering fire. His hand threw another dash of something on the flames and pale smoke billowed loosely around and out the top of the teepee. Sarah heard Arthur's pacing, smelled the scented air, and tried to open her eyes yet to no avail. It felt like she lay pressed under the weight of an elephant. Just conscious enough to hear bits and pieces of what was going on around her then fade back into darkness.

"Arthur my friend, you must have patience. This magic is of the oldest, before even our tribes roamed New Hanover Heartlands. Its use is only slightly known and unpredictable at best." Rains Fall saturated a sponge like tuft on the end of a wand with the darkened liquid seen in the pot over the fire and dabbed at the girl's head again. She had started to shake, a visible tremble now. Arthur continued to pace till his own shakes began to get the best of him and just caught himself before hitting the dirt floor of the large teepee. His own world was swimming but at least he had known it was gonna happen.

The Shaman magic was strong. It was also linked to mysteries he himself knew nothing about but Rains Fall had obliged him with the information when Mary had died.