Page 48
Story: Held
“You wish to do it,” Wick said slowly.
“Of course, I want to do it! They said I’d be richly rewarded!” Briar beamed. “I’m never going to see any of these mountain weirdos again. Why not fuck in front of them? And save them from the… mountain’s wrath, or whatever they think will happen if they don’t make strangers fuck in front of them once a year.”
Wick grunted. “Then I will do it.”
“Great!” Briar clapped his arms, then paused. Wick was still stiff under her touch, and not in a fun way. “Are… are you sure? You don’t have to.”
Wick frowned. “I can do it. As long as the glamor holds.”
“Yeah, good point.” Briar thought about it. They would ideally need to do this sooner rather than later for the glamor to hold.
She turned back to the old woman. “When does this ritual happen?”
“When the sun is at its peak,” the old woman rasped. She pointed at the sky, where the sun was mostly blocked by the giant cliff in the way.
“Okay,” Briar said. “That works.”
Fourteen
This seems like a poor place to build a village,Wick thought as he stared out the window at the looming cliff. The sun was hidden behind it completely, casting a huge shadow that covered the entire village of Yedzeva.
Wick turned to the mortal man who had just finished smearing him with strange-smelling mud. “What happens if you do not appease the mountain each year?”
The mortal bowed his head as he cleaned mud off his hands. “The cliff over our town will fall and crush us all.”
Wick grunted. For all he had enjoyed Marigold’s house—except for the clutter he kept knocking over—this village was not making him want to spend time here.
“When can I see Briar?” he asked.
The mortal frowned. “You cannot! Not until the ritual.”
“Oh,” said Wick. “Of course.”
The mortal forced the frown off his face and dropped his muddy cloth in a bowl. “Forgive me, stranger. I forget myself. I should know that heathens such as yourself do not know of our beloved and wrathful mountain.”
“That’s alright,” Wick said, pleased. He could get used to mortals making conversation rather than running in terror. The more it happened, the more he liked it.
The mortal did something Briar had called a “bow” earlier. “I will leave you in peace. Madame Thatchbore will be with you soon to lead you to the ritual.”
He did another small bow and left. Wick watched the door close and then stood there, waiting. The mortal had warned him not to smudge the markings over his face and chest.
Wick ghosted his hand over the markings, not daring to touch. Not for the first time, he wished he had paid attention when his older brother Slate told him about magic. Since Wick had no ability for it, he had never bothered to listen. More fool he—another phrase Briar had taught him on their strange journey.
The door creaked open. Wick turned toward it, expecting the man to come back in, glaring at him for almost touching the markings.
Briar entered instead. She was wearing a hooded fur robe and not much else, her ankles pale with cold. She also had mud streaked over her in the same odd, pointy markings as he did.
“Hey,” she whispered with a grin, adjusting the hood over her head. “How are you feeling?”
Wick cocked his head. “They let you out? They did not letmeout.”
“They don’t know I’m out,” Briar said.
Wick nodded. That made sense.
He plucked at his loincloth, which she would see as pants. “How long does your witch’s glamor last?”
“For a human? A few days, usually. But on a Skullstalker? Good question.” Briar went to rub her face, then stopped just before she could smear the mud.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48 (Reading here)
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79