Chapter IV.LXI (4.61) - Coven’s Vengeance

  The battle overhead with the professors, the downed Dragon in front of him with Sojan embedded in its maw, the headmaster spectating from his crystalline perch high above. None of that mattered anymore. The Hon coven had located Anata.

  Kizu narrowed in on Mort’s location, using his familiar as an anchor, and jumped.

  A moment later he stood in front of his niece, between her and the shadows.

  “Look, our call caught a little fish,” an old woman’s voice said.

  “My, my, how kind to fulfill our wish,” another dry voice replied

  “You can’t have her,” Kizu said, his voice level but his heart pounding as he scanned the darkness for the witches. His night vision lacked the ability to pierce the shadows so he raised a flaming fist. The spell actively drained the little blood he had left available to him. Even still, the shadows persisted. Flaring his spellsense yielded even less results. The coven’s response was only more cackling at his attempt to uncover them.

  He should have jumped up to the headmaster first and asked him to join him. The headmaster’s sword could likely slice through this illusion with ease. Once again, he charged forward without a plan.

  But the minute it would have required for him to retrieve the headmaster might have resulted in Anata’s doom. Better to be present and unprepared than too late.

  “You think we want the Blood Lord’s daughter?”

  “That would only lead us to our slaughter.”

  “No, no. We won’t step in his way.”

  “A different one will act as your pay.”

  A different one. Kizu glanced over his shoulder at the girls behind him.

  “What did you do with my mother!” Mae shouted at them. “Give her back! She said she’d be here!”

  Oh no. Kizu thought quickly. Maybe he could gather them up and jump everyone to safety. Let the academy’s beacon pull them out of this mess. Or, even better, retreat to Port Kallis until the academy was back under the control of the headmaster. Did he have enough blood to transport them all?

  “Before you think to flee.”

  “She’s been marked as your fee.”

  “A witch, she certainly will be.”

  Kizu bit his lip. “You’ll leave me and Anata alone if I give you Mae? You won’t come after us ever again?”

  “A simple payment for your transgression.”

  “Give up. Let it be the end of your lesson.”

  Kizu felt someone tug on the back of his uniform. Anata. Her face showed that she clearly didn’t approve of the path this conversation had turned down.

  “And if I don’t?” Kizu asked. “Your Dragon friends failed. You have no power over this island.”

  More cackling. It felt even closer now. Kizu could smell the putrid scent of garlic, as if the witches breathed in his face.

  “They are no friends of ours.”

  “Simply an exploit of this hour.”

  “If we fail now, another day will fulfill our wish.”

  “That girl has been marked. She will become a witch.”

  Kizu took a step back, his fist still raised. “So you’ve made up your mind then? I can’t offer you something else?”

  “No.”

  “No.”

  “No.”

  “No.”

  “No.”

  The word echoed from all around him. A chorus from a dozen different witches' lips. A shadowed hand reached out, defying the light of his fire fist spell and slowly stretching towards Mae. Each finger’s silhouette gnarled and grasping for the cowering Kitsune girl. Kon, at her feet, growled at the encroaching shadows.

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  Kizu had hoped maybe he could offer Chimae in a new body to the witches. If the plan with the Tross witches had failed. It had been something he considered in an attempt to placate them. But the Hon witches had their mind made up. The question remained though. Could he fight these witches? Even if he had all his blood, he doubted his capability against these twisted entities. And yet…he didn’t see another way out of this mess. Fight or give up Mae.

  He was Mae’s caretaker. Until they recovered her mother from Otochi, the responsibility fell on him. He palmed a potion from his spatial storage with one hand while he raised his flaming fist higher with the other. His blood was running so low after his last two fights. He barely maintained enough strength to stand up straight. But he should still have enough to buy them time and get the girls to safety. He took a deep breath and prepared himself.

  “If that’s the case then—” The door behind him burst open, cutting off his words.

  “Hold your tongue, Kaga Kizu.”

  Not a professor’s voice. This young woman’s voice was familiar. Deep and dramatic. As if crafted for a stage.

  Stina walked up beside him.

  “Yeah, Kizu. You’re not launching into another fight without me again.” Ione stood on his other side.

  “That’s my first cousin once removed’s life you’re gambling with,” Basil said. “I think I should at least be in the conversation.”

  “Interlopers approach unbidden,” a witch hissed from the shadows.

  “A bizarre set crosses our vision.”

  “Two witches? One that reeks of Tross.”

  “The other a blend of our jungle’s moss.”

  Kizu’s breath caught as the witches erupted into a cacophony of undecipherable muttering. They had some means in which to detect Chimae’s soul tied to Ione’s body. He had no idea how they would react to her appearance here.

  And then there was Stina. A witch from a rival coven. Still young and barely a full witch of her own right. Sadly not someone who could act as a negotiator here. But still someone they needed to step carefully around or risk the wraith of the Tross witches.

  Neither of the two young witches held the power to undo this mess without backing.

  “I’ll do it.” Kizu realized what must be done. His heart felt heavy in his chest. But this was for the best. It kept everyone safe. “I forfeit my right as Mae’s temporary guardian. I submit her to the witches to be taken.” There was a wail behind him. Anata yanked on his uniform’s coattail. The witches’ muttering increased in volume. But Kizu wasn’t finished. “I submit her to the Tross Coven. Stina acts as my witness in this bargain. Their protection in return for a single female soul.”

  Silence. Nobody spoke as they processed his final words.

  Then everyone spoke at once.

  “I accept!” Stina’s booming voice sounded over all the others. “Mae will enter the coven as my apprentice. In return for the offer of this soul, I extend my coven’s protection over Kaga Kizu and his family. As promised by my coven, we will stand as your protectors.”

  There was a hiss from all around them. The witches voiced their displeasure at this turn of events.

  “The other one,” one of them said. “That witch belongs to us.”

  Beside him, Ione stiffened.

  “One apprentice still exists within her flesh. That we must still discuss.”

  Then Ione’s face twisted. Her eyes flickered green and she began to grind her teeth.

  “I…break my covenant to you, Kaga Kizu,” Chiame spat through Ione’s lips. “I refuse to remain silent and return to these worthless hags.”

  Kizu’s eyes widened. They’d made a deal. Chiame breaking it meant that she was submitting to his authority. She must view it as the safer option over returning to the Hon Basin.

  “Oh, she peeks out her head!”

  “Indeed, certainly not dead.”

  Ione’s face leered at the shadows. “You cannot claim me,” she taunted the witches. “I already forfeited my soul to someone. You bore witness to it just now.”

  “That matters not.”

  “For now you are caught.”

  Chiame stepped forward in Ione’s body. “It wouldn’t matter.” She paused and snarled at the shadows. Then she gnashed her teeth into a harsh grin. “Unless I am part of Kaga Kizu’s family.”

  “You can’t…a soul bond?” The witches returned to muttering among themselves. For the first time, they left a statement without a rhyme.

  “A soul bond?” Stina declared. “Impossible, I would feel it between the two of you. I know you two court, but this is something far more powerful.”

  Chiame bore Ione’s teeth. “Not with this Kaga Kizu. But the soul bond stands.”

  “With…the other piece of my soul?” Kizu asked. “You’re bonded with it?”

  “A splintered soul,” the witches said, sounding disgusted.

  “A deceptive hole.”

  “Can we still seize control?”

  “No. This argument is made null.”

  The shadows retreated.

  Without another word, the witches departed.

  Everyone remained alert, waiting for the witches to spring a trap. To return. But nothing else came.

  Silence.

  “Is…is my mother not here?” Mae asked quietly.

  “Little fox girl,” Stina said solemnly. “Whoever your mother is, you will not be seeing her for many moons. Your life is sworn to me now.”

  “I…I want my mother.” Mae collapsed on the floor and broke down in sobs.

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