Vampyre: Desire Immortal

Chapter 29

The Spell

Take back your bitter poison.

Drink your evil cup. Remove its curse from me.

I have had enough.

*****

The air was thinner. Xhahari could hear the ragged breaths as Perdix struggled to keep up.

"Let us take a moment," said the young man. "The animal struggles, and so do we."

"Who do you think you're fooling? You have barely broken a sweat, Xhahari. And the animal, she is fine."

Perdix stopped and looked at the sun. It was high in the sky.

"I know you mean well," said Perdix. "But we must cover as much ground as possible. Do not let the gruntings of an old man distress you. I am alright. We must make it to that ridge over there. We will set up camp and rest with the coming night."

"As you wish," said Xhahari.

They walked for many hours more. At last, Perdix gave the sign that they had found their resting place for the night. A clear brook bubbled over the rocks nearby. The area was sheltered on three sides by large boulders, and the peaks stood proud all around them.

"It is a place most desolate," said Perdix, gazing about. "Yet, it has a strange, enchanting beauty all its own."

"It is lovely," said Xhahari, who left the site to seek fire wood.

Perdix kept busy unpacking the donkey and tying it near the stream where it could graze and drink.

"Eika," he whispered in one furry ear, "do not let down your guard. This is truly an enchanting place, but it is filled with much danger, too."

After they'd eaten a small meal, Perdix looked at Xhahari and said, "Rest the night. I will take first watch."

"Promise me you will not spare me my turn," said Xhahari. "You need your rest as much as I. It would be just like you to let me sleep the night away because you do not wish to rouse me from my slumber."

"Yes," said Perdix, and he made a sign with his hand to Xhahari.

The young man got down on the ground before the roaring fire and pulled his tunic about him. Soon, he was fast asleep.

Peridix looked up into the heavens. It was a clear, cloudless night.

"Winter will be coming soon," he muttered, moaning softly at the ache that the cold night air set off in his bones.

He added more wood to the fire. The dancing orange light sent ghostly shadows dancing over the rocks around them. He got up and led the donkey closer to the fire.

"No sense in your staying in the dark alone, Eika. I need to keep an eye on you, as well."

The fire popped and crackled. Eika was startled. Kicking a rock with its hoof, the donkey uncovered a serpent. The snake was long and thick and angry at having been disturbed. The donkey brayed, tugged at its rope, and Perdix heard the snap as the tie broke. Eika raced off into the night.

"What?" Xhahari cried.

Perdix lunged toward the lad with a burning stick. The serpent had slithered toward the youth. The snake reared up and sunk its wickedly long fangs deep into Perdix's lower leg.

"Augh!"

Xhahari snatched the flaming torch from Perdix's hand, stuffing the fiery wood straight down the serpent's throat. It twisted and writhed and died near the glowing ashes that had been scattered in the tussle.

"It is Polceti," Xhahari whispered.

"Sit," Xhahari demanded.

Perdix did as he was told. Already, the old man's skin was clammy and turning gray.

"I will get the ochre-colored pouch," said Xhahari.

The young man whipped out his knife and plunged it into the hot coals. Ripping a band of material from his tunic, he ran and dipped the cloth into the stream. Grabbing the heated knife, Xhahari cut a small slit in his arm. He sucked the blood from his wound and spat it into hand. He poured yellow powder from the ochre-colored bag and mixed a paste with his finger in the palm of his hand. He smeared it all over the material.

He placed this scrap on the hot blade and set it on a rock. It sizzled and popped. Grabbing a candle from another bag, he lit the wick with a burning stick from the fire. He took the blade and reheated it over the candle's flame, murmuring magic words until a green smoke erupted from the mixture, and it turned black.

Perdix was breathing heavily. The old man looked like he'd been caught in a thunderstorm. His hair clung to his forehead in wet strands. He wiped the salty sweat from his eyes with a dirty sleeve.

"Finish the spell, Xhahari," he commanded. "Quickly!"

The youth took a handful of ashes from the edge of the pit. He slung them at Perdix who was sprinkled with a light coating like snow. He muttered words in a strange tongue.

Xhahari chopped a portion of the dead snake into tiny pieces and chewed the raw meat until it was a bloody pulp. He spat the mass into his palm. He rolled it into a ball with more ashes and placed the glob atop his knife blade with the sticky black conglomeration and flattened the mixture into a thin film. He scraped off the char from the blade into the wound on the old man's leg.

"Winds of the East. Gales from the South. Return the poison back to the serpent's mouth. Let it be done. Let it be done that no harm come to this bitten one."

The spell took hold of the old man. He fell to the earth, his back arching in such a tight reversed 'U' that his forehead ground in the dirt. The old man's arms spun like pinwheels, and he levitated from the earth, rolling in the air like a gyroscope. A blur of motion and whirring spin. There was nothing left for Xhahari to do but go and bury the pieces of the snake back under the rock where it had been living.

Either the magic would work, or the old man would die.

Xhahari could not know for sure if the spell had worked until the snake was returned to the earth. Left unburied, the young man knew that his teacher would spin like a top in the air forever. When the last handful of dirt was patted atop the buried snake, Perdix fell to the ground with a thud.

Xhahari ran to him.

"You have learned your lessons well," said Perdix.

"Will you be alright?"

"We will see," said the old man. "For now, I close my eyes and sleep. If I awaken with the coming of the new day's sun, all is well. If not, go home. You have done your duty. I have lived a long life. There are no regrets."

Xhahari left the old man sleeping by the fire. He made sure that enough wood was on it to last until morning. He went off into the darkness in search of the donkey.