Chapter 10 — Misrepresent

“Beseech, thee ghost, o heart’s eternal truth

“Let flow, and shape thy patterned soul, unbound

“Font of mind, ye spring of joy and youth

“Do mend this body, heal this form unsound”

Mira rested her injured hand on Ness’s leg, and the power flowed into her; a still powerful stream, but manageable. Barely. She breathed deeply, careful to not let the pain radiating from her hand leak into her voice, or disrupt her metre.

The spell and the mental image she focused on kept the magic in her hand, pooled there. As she spoke the last iamb, the pain suddenly grew intense and she cried out; her thumb wrenched itself back into place, and the pain vanished, leaving not so much as an ache of sore muscle and tendon.

A small moon-shaped scar on her thumb had disappeared, too; that was unexpected. It was a souvenir from a slip of a whittling knife when she was a child.

She took a few minutes to calm her nerves and let her heartbeat settle down, before turning her attention to Ness, who looked worryingly pale and wan. Mira felt a pang, seeing the girl in this state, laying motionless on top of the covers of Esq’s bed.

Mira was annoyed at the hassle she was being put through for this job, which should have been simple; and she was frustrated at the blithe uselessness of Ness. During the first days of traveling with Ness, Mira had felt unfairly saddled with the girl; but it seemed then that the worry over her injury had tempered that feeling into something… fonder. It occurred to her in that moment that it was likely her own grating comment about Ness’s utility that spurred her to climb that damn tree. She already felt guilty for the injury; and the sense redoubled.

Mira rested her iron-bound hand on Ness’s chest, and hovered the other just above the girl’s head, to help her channel and focus the magic. She felt the flow move through her, shaped and formed by her will even as it looped back into Ness and spread throughout her injured body. She had to wrench her hand away to break the loop, but the girl’s color had already improved, and her breathing was easier.

As an afterthought, Mira reached for the silly toy ears the girl was still wearing— they had stayed in place, somehow, through the fall and the rush to the village. She pulled on one of the little fur triangles to pull them from the girl’s head; and Ness yelped, her eyes snapping open. Mira jerked her hand away; magic had flowed into her through the ear, which had not budged from the girl’s head with her pulling.

“Ow..” Ness murmured, reaching up to rub her head. She didn’t seem to notice anything unusual; but her movements were uncoordinated, and even from the one syllable she spoke, Mira could hear she sounded woozy; half-awake, or like someone that had inhaled a little too much of the sacred smoke.

“Ohhhh,” Ness’s eyes struggled to focus on Mira. “Hiiii. I climbed a tree for you.” She giggled. “And then I fell for you. I thought you were a dream…”

She passed out again, and began lightly snoring.

Mictlan broke Mira’s other hand, and she repeated the spell for a third time; and then they rested. They traded her belt knife to Esq, after all, in exchange for food, lodging, and some new clothing for Ness; so she would have something to wear that had not been shredded by a tumble through tree limbs.

The village had neither weaver nor tailor, but they traded casks and other goods to other villages for clothing. After some trial and error amongst the spare belongings of some of the townsfolk about Ness’s size, they found a pair of dark grey trousers, a linen blouse, and a black traveling cloak that all fit her, more or less.

It was an hour or two past nightfall when Mictlan appeared in the doorway to the bedroom. Mira was arranging a bed of spare quilts for herself against one of the walls; the bed might have been large enough for two, but the risk of brushing against Ness in her sleep was too great, and the girl deserved some uninterrupted rest.

“Come to wish us gentle dreams?” Mira stepped closer to the lone candle that burned on the table, so that Mictlan could make out her words from the movement of her lips.

((Don’t play.)) He signed at her; though his expression was not quite as harsh as the words would suggest.

She sighed; and pulled a chair back from the table, and sat in it.

“You’re going to hold me to that?”

Mictlan didn’t reply, just raised an eyebrow.

“Okay. Okay.” She motioned him to sit in the chair opposite her, and then she reached for one of the table knives. It was not as sharp as she would have liked— not as sharp as her traded-away knife had been. It nevertheless served to slash open a few inches of her left forearm, on the outside. She hissed at the pain of it.

She let the blood dip off of her arm into a small pool on the table, about as big as her palm; and then wrapped the wound with a scrap of cloth. The ritual required her to allow the wound to heal naturally; magical healing for a boon cut was seen as something between a faux pas and a minor heresy. At least, if it began to fester, it was permitted to heal that.

“You sure I can’t just pay you in gold?” She offered, one last time.

Mictlan tapped on the table impatiently; not one of his gestures, but an unmistakeable signal to hurry it up.

Mira inhaled deeply, and exhaled. Not quite a sigh, but something close. She reached over to rest her right hand on Ness’s ankle; the girl stirred as the power flowed out of her, but she did not awaken.

“Bear witness, fates, let blindest eyes behold:

“An oath is said, no lie or falsehood told.

“A promise cast in blood fresh-laid,

“Let coin as signet sign be made.”

As she spoke the final phrase, the small pool of blood on the table drew itself together, shrinking; and the final result was a small disc, slightly larger than Mira’s thumb. It swirled slowly and continuously in black and dark red, and was shiny like a beetle’s carapace.

Mictlan nodded, and took the coin, tucking it away in some purse or pocket amongst the silk ribbons he wore as clothing.

“What was that for?” Ness whispered softly; she sounded half-awake.

Mira jerked, startled by the question. Mictlan had left, and she had snuffed the candle, and was laying down on her blanket pallet to sleep.

“I thought you were asleep,” Mira whispered back, softly.

“I felt the spell.. it was weaker?”

“Yeah.. get some rest. I’ll explain in the morning.”

“What was your promise?”

“I’ll explain in the morning.”

“Okay.”

Morning came too soon for all of them; as the first light of day crept through the imperfectly-shuttered windows of Esq’s home, the village was already starting their day.

Esq was already away, working; she had left them bowls and a pot of a savory oat porridge, made rich with bits of egg and a meat that Ness couldn’t identify, and which Mira would only label as ‘game’. Ness devoured her bowl, and a second, and didn’t inquire further.

They set out along a path — almost but not quite a road — that they were told would lead eventually out of the forest.

“Mira…” Ness had fallen back to walk alongside her.

“Hmm?”

“I have.. uhm.. questions.. a lot of questions.”

Mira smiled, and shrugged.

“I thought you might. Where do you want to start?”

“What happened?”

“You climbed a tree to help get our bearings.”

“I remember.”

“And then you fell.”

Ness blushed, and chewed on her lower lip.

“I.. was adjusting my grip. And the branch I was on gave way. I’m sorry..”

She looked down at the bare dirt track they were following. She’d volunteered for the climb to demonstrate that she wasn’t useless. She felt worse than useless.

“You were hurt very badly in your fall.. You were dying.”

“I feel fine now.”

“I healed you.”

“Oh..” she chewed on her lower lip for a moment. “Thank you.”

They walked in silence for a few moments.

“I thought it was too dangerous for you to do magic? Too much power?” Ness broke the silence.

Mira tapped the iron cuffs around her wrists together; they hit with a dull clang.

“An iron circle…” she paused, considering how to explain. “…slows down the flow of magic through it. So I can do this…”

Mira reached over and placed a hand on Ness’s upper arm. Ness gasped, her eyes widening a bit, but she didn’t miss a step.

“…and draw enough power for spells; and you don’t collapse into a twitching pile.”

“That…” Ness inhaled, and let her breath out in a shuddering exhale. “Still feels… uh..” She swallowed, and a shiver ran through her. “It still feels..”

Her next step was on a slight diagonal, away from Mira, breaking the contact. She took another deep breath in and out, and ran her fingers through her hair, and then rubbed the back of her neck.

She moved her hand back up to the top of her head, the realization of a strange sensation having reached her conscious mind. Ness stopped in her tracks and turned to fully face Mira, her eyes wide in shock.