Helena awoke to the sound of something shattering against the cobblestones below. She yawned and stretched before getting out of bed and wandering to the window. The sight of a tall blonde woman standing in her room momentarily disoriented her before she remembered Alexis was staying here.
She walked up next to the woman and looked down to the street. Below a rather frightened looking man was shouting obscenities up at the apartment opposite hers. The potted plants across the way had finally fallen into the street below. “Well. I guess someone learned about using small nails for their balcony today.”
“Is this a common occurrence?” Alexis asked.
“About once a year,” Helena replied. “Someone always wants to save a penny on building materials. I can understand the confusion, building a balcony isn’t exactly a common skill. But some of us are smart enough to ask how it’s done before starting.”
Alexis nodded. “I see.” She turned to Helena. “Well, will we break our fast here or should I change into my traveling clothes?”
“There is a place that sells sausages along the way,” Helena said. “We’ll go there.”
“This is on my expense account I imagine?” Alexis sighed.
Helena pointed at her sparse cupboards. “The alternative is bread and cheap wine.”
Alexis closed her eyes and offered her hand as if giving a gift. “You have my blessing. Let me change.”
It took about fifteen minutes to get out the door but it was still early when they reached the sausage maker. Alexis once again proved she was well trained in etiquette by merely stating the sausages were different from her home realm. Helena was well aware “different” meant “inferior in all ways,” but it was unreasonable to compare Black Forest sausages to anywhere else. The shop was better than most places, and sold flatbread as well to complete the meal.
As they walked on Helena pulled out a note she’d written last night and held it to the sky. A gust of wind caught it and sent the paper fluttering on its way. “What was that?” Alexis asked.
“A letter to a friend, in case this is even more difficult than I’m expecting,” Helena replied. “A bet against the future if you will.”
Alexis smiled as understanding hit her. “Ah, because if you didn’t send the note you’d be sure to need help.”
“The perversity of the universe affects witches, gods and ordinary humans alike,” Helena said with a sigh.
She led them through the tangled streets of the immigrant realm, up to the central area, then past the cathedrals and community houses to the strangest sector of the city. The portal docks.
Travel between most realms was not easy. Most had been designed as hideaways. Refuges from invaders or the fading faith of the true world. This was the exception to the rule.
The portal docks looked like normal docks, but instead of ships, there were simply glyphs, circles and easily recognizable statues, all designed to make teleportation as easy as possible. Admittedly easy and teleportation honestly didn’t belong anywhere near each other, but with the portal docks what was something usually reserved for master magicians could be handled by talented hedge magicians with careful work.
More importantly the docks had an area around them that no one wanted to live in because hedge magicians who weren’t careful splattered themselves all over it. Or unleashed horrors from beyond. Or just made the area weird from portal mishaps.
Which meant no one would care if Helena started using really flashy spells there.
Helena headed into a small valley in between two hills. It was a place that she often used for her more dramatic spellcasting practice, partially because it reminded her of the hills back home.
“So, let’s begin.” Helena turned to Alexis. “We’re going to start with a barrier from harm. For now you need merely stay where you’re standing.”
“Would it be alright if I sat down?” The noble woman asked patting a rock. “I fear these boots were not made for walking. At least not long distances.”
Helena pulled out a piece of chalk. “That’s fine. Just don’t disturb the circles.” With that she began creating her ward.
She started with the inner circle, creating a division in the universe. The space within and the space without were now no longer connected, and Helena took advantage of that.
The chalk began to glow as it placed runes in the air. Runes that declared the outside unable to bring harm and misfortune to the inside. She invoked her goddess and the Fates, creating a small prayer here in the second rune.
As she finished the second circle she drew a simple ring around that, before moving on to the fourth circle. This one was more formal. Simple sigils of good luck and magical protection. Not a series of commands like the second, but a jumbled array of magical power that she had to weave together to form into the spell she wanted.
Finally she made a line around the whole spell. Completing the last circle completed the magic, changing its glow from white to a pleasant blue.
Helena stepped back and walked around the circle. It seemed perfectly fine. There was no pressure anywhere, no sign of weakness in the ward.
She frowned.
Alexis shifted on the rock she was sitting on. “And?”
“Your curse is the most patient spell I’ve ever seen,” Helena replied slowly. She walked around the ward again, trying to see if there was something she’d missed. “There should be something trying to get past my wards. Some break or gap in my protections being exploited. But there’s nothing. The curse seems completely willing to leave you alone until my wards go away.”
“That’s… odd.” Alexis perked up. “Does this mean we can simply put up a ward against this curse?”
Helena shook her head. “Sure, if you want to be stuck inside a series of magical circles for the rest of your life. Circle wards are the only ones that can’t be bypassed with time.” Helena sighed. “I’ll look into good luck charms as a defense. But that’s if I can’t find a solution today.”
“So what now?” Alexis asked.
“Now I try to get the curse to act,” Helena replied.
She took a deep breath and focused again on the circle. There were advantages to etching the spell into reality. She grabbed the magical circles with her mind and mentally pulled, expanding them centimeter by centimeter.
After the first hand’s worth she spent a moment reinforcing the outer runes and inspecting the circle for disturbances. Seeing none she took another breath and continued her spellwork. It was simple mentally, but hardly easy when it came to raw power, and she felt a certain exhaustion as she expanded her area of protection.
She’d almost managed to expand the circle another hand span when she saw it. An oily black cloud, hovering at the edge of the circle. It was faint, but it roiled with malevolence. “Caught you.”
“You see it?” Alexis asked, jumping from her seat. “Does that mean-”
Helena held a hand up to keep the woman in place. “Let me investigate it a bit more.” Helena walked up to the mist carefully, and then poked it.
The curse lashed out at her like a cat that’d had its tail pulled then scurried away. The hateful blow bounced off her personal wards, but Helena felt the impact still. A hissing command that something, anything, terrible happen to her.
Anger flashed through her. How dare a lowly curse strike at her! But the roiling terror that boiled off it calmed her temper. Helena was acting against her nature curing curses. And the curse was dedicated to its task, which meant she was an enemy to it. She collected her thoughts and began to pace the circle again. “This is more confounding than any Sphinx’s riddle.”
She turned to Alexis to explain. “Your curse is both the most vicious I’ve seen in a long while, and the most patient. Those two don’t go together at all.”
“Sounds like you need some help.”
Helena turned to see her friend Aoi walking towards them. The long haired Japanese woman was in full garb, wearing the red pleated hakama and white shirt that marked her as a shrine maiden. The priestess had brought her gohei as well, the odd half-staff with a paper tassel she used for purification. Smart, given an easy curse would have already been handled.
“Yes I could,” Helena replied. “But first introductions.” She turned to where Alexis was standing. “Alexis this is Aoi Ueda, a priestess of the eight thousand gods. Aoi may I introduce Lady Alexis, my current customer.”
“It is a pleasure to meet someone of your status,” Aoi said as she bowed.
Alexis curtsied. “The pleasure is mine. I appreciate your willingness to help us on this vexing problem.”
“So where is this this curse?” Aoi asked casually while looking around. Helena envied the woman’s ability to look calm without seeming disdainful.
“It’s around the circle. Apparently it doesn’t like being pushed that far away,” Helena replied. “Be careful though. It bites.” Aoi nodded and began to inspect the circle carefully.
Helena jolted upright as unstable magic flowed through the area. There was a hiss, then a loud pop and suddenly the nearby hill was drenched in crimson. Alexis screamed and cowered, while Aoi threw her arms up for protection. Helena just grimaced and looked away. “Well. It seems someone messed up a teleport.”
Aoi nodded grimly, her face paled by the sudden death. She clapped her hands twice and began to whisper prayers of supplication to the ghost of the recently dead. Helena turned to Alexis. “Give her a moment to finish up. Then we’ll get back to looking into this curse.”
Alexis looked at her with wide eyes. “Shouldn’t we be helping them? Or calling the authorities? I mean, we can’t just leave, him… them…”
Helena shrugged. “They’re splattered all over the hill. I don’t know of any mage who can fix something like that. And the authorities don’t care.” Helena sighed. “Just bad luck.”
Alexis’ shock turned to horror. “How can you say that? Someone just died right there!”
“Helena’s always been rather cold blooded,” Aoi said, lifting her head from her prayers. “Best not to obsess over it. Just pay your respects to the deceased.”
Aoi’s words cut deep, and Helena turned away. “I’m not cold blooded.”
“Indeed,” Alexis glared at her. “Such flippancy towards the dead is pure callousness.”
“I’m no worse than any other witch,” Helena snapped before walking away. She wasn’t in a mood to handle the issues here.
She heard Aoi sigh behind her. “Leave her be. She’s…. It would be best to pray for the departing soul. Not fight.”
“My apologies,” Alexis said behind her. The noblewoman began to offer Kyrie Elision in murmured voice.
Helena forced the chatter from her mind and looked out onto the hills in the opposite direction, trying to let the familiarity of the landscape seep back into her soul.
She hated moments like this. And she hated all the gods for being so worthless.
The crunch of footsteps behind her brought her mind back to the present. “Helena,” Aoi said quietly. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Helena lied. “It’s the rest of the world that has a problem.” She turned to Aoi. “Let’s finish this nonsense before we get more culture clashes.”
Aoi’s brow was furrowed with worry. “Someday you’ll need to face this Helena,” the priestess said quietly. “I know your upbringing was harsher than most people’s. But you have to learn how to work with others.”
“I face it every day,” Helena snapped back. “But everyone complains about my solution.”
Aoi sighed, then smiled gently. “Well, we have more important things to look into now. But my payment for this is a long talk after you’re done. Alright?”
“Sure,” Helena sighed and rolled her eyes. Just like Aoi to treat her like a child. Despite the fact that Helena was a decade older.
She composed herself then turned to back to her wards. The ‘smoke’ of the curse was still smoldering at the outskirts of her wards. Helena pointed at it. “So what do you think?”
Aoi gazed at the cloud quizzically for a while, then waved her gohei at it. The cloud parted to avoid the purifying swing, but still stayed at the edge of the circle. “It is odd for western magic. Do you think it could be a hybrid Eastern curse? Or perhaps even a hybrid Eastern death spell?”
Helena raised an eyebrow at that. “There are exactly two witches in the Black Forest who use Eastern magic, and I know both of them. One would never use a curse, and the other would never sell someone a death curse.”
“Don’t be so narrow minded Helena.” Aoi said. “You and I both know witches tend to be more cosmopolitan, and pick up magic from wherever they can. Even if most are still very Eurocentric. You taught me that in fact.” Helena shrugged in surrender.
Aoi tapped her staff against her palm. “More importantly I’ve done some studies into the magic of Russia and the Slavic lands. They use similar death spells to our onmyoji, and they live in the Black Forest as well.”
Helena winced at that. “Very true.”
Alexis coughed to get their attention from within the circle. “What exactly do you mean by Eastern Death magic? Would there be some symptoms I could recognize?”
“Actually there might,” Helena replied. “Eastern death spells usually work over a series of days. Three days, one week, or the time from a full moon to a new moon are the most common.” She thought for a moment trying to remember some of the stories. “Usually they come with a dream. The dream progresses steadily as the magic progresses, ending with the victim’s death.”
“I have heard stories like that,” Alexis admitted. “Like the one where the man dreamt of walking towards a grave each night.” She shook her head. “But I have had no dreams or visions. Just a string of bad luck.”
Helena nodded slowly. “I guess Aoi was right about the possibility if your land has stories, but without the visions that’s still a dead end.”
Aoi took another swing at the curse, watching as it ran away. “There’s another possibility as well. It might grow stronger over time, consuming lesser curses.”
“Ah!” Helena started at that. “A curse eater? That is a possibility.”
Helena focused on the curse, let her frustration boil over and muttered “foul piece of shit,” while wishing as much harm as she could at the curse and its creator. Her angry words flowed out, then coalesced into their own curse. A tiny insignificant one, but something Helena could see. She watched as the vapors flew to where Alexis’ curse was hanging.
And then stared in puzzlement as the larger curse dodged hers. “That is a very skittish spell.”
Aoi nodded. “I’ve only seen that from concealment spells before.” She shook her head and looked at Helena. “I fear this is beyond my experience.”
“Yeah. Thanks anyway.” Helena looked at the shrine maiden. “Could I have a hina doll? I’m going to want to go to the library, and I don’t want to see what that curse does when it finally does decide to show itself.”
“Sure, but you’ll owe me three more in return later,” Aoi said, pulling a small wooden doll from her sleeves. “Mind if I hand it to her directly?” the priestess asked with a smirk.
Helena groaned. “Yeah, you probably should.” She dismissed the overlapping circles so Aoi could approach.
Alexis carefully accepted the doll when Aoi handed it to her. “Thank, you. But what’s it for?”
“It gathers curses. You’ll want to send it down river or into an ocean in about a week,” Aoi said. “Otherwise it’ll stop absorbing the bad luck and start giving it to you.”
Alexis looked at the doll and patted its cloth hair. “Seems a sad fate for such a well-made toy, but I guess that’s the point isn’t it.” She looked up at the two with a raised eyebrow. “And why hand it directly to me? So that it would know it is to protect me?”
“More that Helena is bad for curse absorbing items,” Aoi said with a laugh. “She’s considered the best person to ask about curses because she creates them.” Alexis looked scandalized by the comment.
“It’s not my fault I know more people who deserve to be turned into a pig then people who deserve to have a curse removed.” Helena snapped. “The number of people in my home who were cursed by someone other than the gods and who didn’t deserve their curse is vanishingly small.” She glowered as a few old memories surfaced. “Mostly kids inheriting their parents’ curse.”
Alexis was still giving her a wary look, but the noblewoman nodded. “Having read the Greek classics I find it difficult to argue too much with that.”
Helena shrugged. “In any case I want to do some more esoteric research, which means we should go to the library. There might be something in there that will help.”
“Given the waiting will be less dull for me, I heartily approve of this plan,” Alexis replied. “I hope it is not too far to walk.”
“About a mile,” Aoi said. “It’s close to my temple. Which I should be getting back to.” The shrine maiden waved. “Good luck with your research. Don’t hesitate to ask me for help again.”
“Thanks again, Aoi,” Helena said as the priestess walked off.
She turned to Alexis. “Do you want to rest a bit more, or are you willing to suffer the city streets again now?”
The noblewoman pocketed the doll before striding over to Helena. “A mile will not kill me. And the faster we reach the library the longer I’ll have to rest there before we seek lunch.”
“Sounds good to me,” Helena began heading towards the library.
As they walked away from the docks, Alexis moved beside her. “So, when did you come to this land? It seems you spent a great deal of your youth in your own realm.”
“I did,” Helena admitted. “Though I also spent some time wandering.” She smiled slightly as a bit of nostalgia hit her. “I hated the idea at first, but it turned out to be the best time of my life.” She shook off the reminiscence. “And because of those trips I learned of the Immigrant Realm. I came here about ten years ago.”
Alexis looked surprised. “You left your home young.”
Helena laughed. “I’m a witch, remember. I’ve seen forty years.” She shrugged as Alexis blinked in shock. “Oh, not as many as most witches. Most witches these days are one or two hundred years. And they usually stopped aging in their forties or even fifties. But I’m still older than you might expect.”
“Ah, that explains why you’ve done so well on your own,” Alexis replied. “Though I am a bit surprised you would leave your home.”
“Given my home is not really known for travelers?” Helena replied.
“Indeed.” Alexis shrugged. “Your realm is four times older to me than mine is to the denizens of the outside world. Perhaps even more. There has to be a lot to learn.”
Helena nodded. “There was, but less than you’d think. As Aoi pointed out, witches are more cosmopolitan. We show up to Walpurgisnacht every year just to learn how the world changes. And from there we learn a lot about other realms and magic.”
Alexis’ eyes widened again. “Walpurgisnacht is real? The witches’ ball, where they meet with demons?”
Helena looked over at Alexis. “Yes, but it’s really a Western thing. And modern too. We’re actually one of the few old realms that attends. And mostly that’s because Circe always shows up.” Helena shrugged. “Everyone wants to try to talk with Circe. Even people from outside our realm.
“Anyway the demons are somewhat of a side note. They’re present of course, but most of them have either abandoned both heaven and hell or just show up for the drinks. Witches tend to avoid dark bargains these days.” She sniffed. “And I have my own goddess. I have no use for Christian trappings, one way or another. No offense,” she said to Alexis.
The noblewoman shook her head. “Well, I suppose it is better to seek aid from a pagan than an actual servant of Satan.” The blonde woman sighed. “It is so complex, the interaction with magic and religion.”
Because your religion is crazy, Helena thought. But she kept silent on that matter. She knew that when it came to arguing the merits of the gods, she had no ground to stand upon.
————-
As the two cut through the edge of the warehouses near the docks a sudden movement made Helena pause. One of the shadows stepped out into the middle of the alley, the flash of a knife demanding attention. “Good afternoon ladies. Why don’t you drop your purses and pouches right here?”
Helena looked at the man who had interrupted their travel incredulously. She very carefully pointed to her hat. “What the hell are you thinking? Do you want to be a frog?”
The thin man tapped a silver cross on a chain around his neck. “I’m thinking I’ve got protection from your witchcraft. I’m also thinking if you don’t hand over your cash fast I’ll skip the chatting and just take it off your corpses.”
The world apparently was just going to be stupid today Helena mused. There was no way that man’s charm could block her magic. Especially since it looked to be a fake. Still he demanded some attention. She began quietly forming power in her left hand.
Helena was just about to begin spellcasting when a loud *click* resounded next to her. The man in front of them looked surprised, and Helena carefully looked to her side to find Alexis had produced a small wheel lock pistol. The hammer on the weapon was cocked and the noblewoman’s face was hard. “I request that you drop your knife and place your hands behind your head,” Alexis replied. “Or else I will have to mete out the justice for robbery immediately.”
The robber unfortunately looked less impressed. “Did you steal that from a museum? And do you really think it’ll somehow fire after being shoved up your sleeve?” The man stepped forward and held out his hand. “Why don’t you hand over that gun girly, before-”
The sudden crack and flash of the pistol caused Helena to flinch. The man’s face twisted as the bullet hit it, then there was a spray of blood and the robber keeled over. The man flopped on the ground awkwardly and lay there, dead.
Helena folded her arms and shook her head at the mess. “And you called me cold blooded,” she said.
“I called you callous,” Alexis replied as she reloaded her hideaway pistol. “Cold blooded is a good trait to have in some people.”
“I guess I never understood the difference,” Helena said. A side effect of having crappy gods, she mused silently.
Alexis paused. “It is… complex I suppose.” She shrugged as she finished loading and slipped the gun back into her belt. “In this case however dealing with criminals is obvious. All life is sacred to God, but it is necessary to occasionally take a life for the good of others. Such is the duty he has given us nobles.”
“I’ll never understand you Christians,” Helena sighed.
“Your kings do not claim the blessing of your gods?” Alexis asked.
Helena frowned. “Our kings are selected due to their deeds and status. The gods just get a veto. They can kill the king.” Helena looked down at the body. “In any case we should probably get going. Gunshots will bring the police here. Eventually.”
Alexis folded her arms. “I should hope so! We will be informing the authorities of what took place here, so they may perform their duties better.”
Helena buried her face in her hands. “Hecate save me. You know we’ll get Inspector Kilduff again right? You know he’ll spend hours interrogating us right?”
“I would hope he would be more reasonable than that,” Alexis replied. “But if that is the price we pay so be it.”
“Well you’re the one paying, so I suppose I can’t argue,” Helena said sitting down on some boxes. “But I hope you can explain why you needed to shoot him instead of letting me turn him into a chicken.”
Alexis paled. “Oh. Oh dear. I fear I acted hastily.” She looked at Helena. “But what would you do with a chicken?”
“Nothing. The dogs would probably get him in a couple of days, but that’s life,” Helena replied.
Alexis just stared in response. Helena shook her head and threw her hands to the sky. She didn’t get Christians.