The Gathering by Auburnimp
Author:Auburnimp [Auburnimp]
Language: nld
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
* * *
Danth awoke to clutching fingers and Eisso’s
cry of ‘no’ ringing in his ears. Gently he shook
the other man awake.
“Eisso! What is it? What makes you cry out
every night?”
Eisso blinked as he came to full wakefulness.
“Cry out?” he asked.
“Yeah, every night you cry out the word ‘no’
and thrash about.”
A shuttered expression descended over Eisso’s
features and he would have turned his back if he
hadn’t prevented it. “Talk to me, witch boy.”
“It’s nothing, just a nightmare. Nothing to
concern yourself about.”
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The Gathering
“The same one every night?”
“Yes, what of it?”
It occurred to him that he was going to
get nowhere with direct methods so he tried
subterfuge instead. “Only that it wakes me every
damned night!”
“I’m sorry.” Eisso shifted uncomfortably.
“You have a poor enough opinion of me already
without losing sleep.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I heard you telling Tanpoly that you were
stuck with me. You don’t have to be if you’d
rather not be. Perhaps Tanpoly can help me; tell
me what kind of monster I am at least.”
He frowned. What the hell has gotten into
the damned witch now? “What makes you think
you’re a monster?” Then he realised and snarled.
“I changed you to save your life, you dumb
witch!”
Now Eisso frowned back at him, obviously
wondering what he was talking about. Then his
face fell into lines of acute misery. “Nothing short
of a monster would kill a baby,” he whispered. “I
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The Gathering
relive it every night. Poor little chap was gurgling
happily at me just before I...before I killed him. I
didn’t mean to! My spell got away from me and
blasted him into bloody smithereens. I must be
a monster!”
So it had nothing to do with becoming a
wereleopard after all. Danth let out a long breath
that he hadn’t been conscious of holding. “Is
that what you see in your nightmare?”
Eisso nodded, face etched in lines of acute
misery. Time to tell him the truth, Danth
realised. “Eisso, look at me.” The young witch
raised tear-streaked eyes to gaze at him. “That’s
better. I have something to tell you and I want
you to listen carefully.”
“I’m listening,” Eisso murmured.
Danth reached out a hand and tousled the
witch’s silken hair with one hand, trying to sooth
him as he spoke. “Demons of any age are almost
impossible to kill,” he said. “Had you been just
any witch it would have been you who died.
Your spell would have—” he searched for the
right word “—mutated into something lethal
and turned on you. As it was the demon child
was able to warp the spell but not turn it back.”
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The Gathering
Eisso frowned. “You’re saying the baby tried
to kill me?”
He nodded. “From what I’ve heard, it was
the demons who taught the first witches their
magic. They built in safeguards against any
witch turning on them. Even mages and wizards
are unable to use magic against demons. Swords
don’t work against them. The claws and teeth
of werecreatures cannot touch them. As far as
Tanpoly or I know, you are the only being that
has ever destroyed one of their kind.”
He pulled Eisso into his arms. “Stop thinking
of that demon spawn in human baby terms. It
was never going to be human.”
“His mother was a witch,” Eisso argued, “surely
he was half human.
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