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Order of the Black Foot

Chapter 12: The Swamp Witch

For DrakeHavok

By Draconicon

Two days after the battle...

Draconicon stumbled through the swamp, the black dragon grunting every so often as the battle damage from his fight with Joan asserted itself again. He probably shouldn't have been out and about, but who else was he going to send out here?

Particularly when it's killing paladins by the score... he thought as he ducked beneath a tree branch, shaking his head as he pushed his way deeper into the swamp. He stepped over a root, paused as he felt a tingle of magic ahead, and pressed himself close to the trunk rather than stepping to the next root.

It turned out to be a good idea, when a fish swam by underneath. A sudden swarm of roots snared it, and speared it, before sending the body down below the murky water. It wouldn't be found anytime soon.

Just like I wouldn't have been, if I hadn't been paying attention.

Shaking his head, the black dragon continued his trek through the swamp, his magic senses at as a high a level as he dared to project. The slightest mistake could get him trapped, or killed.

At the same time, he was having a hard time holding onto his magic. His body still ached from how much he channeled against Joan, and the prickling feeling that came from using his own was as much as he wanted to risk. Draconicon knew the danger signs, having pushed his magic hard in the past, and knowing how close he had come during the battle. Much more energy, and he would have risked burning himself out entirely, killing himself, or...well, who knew what that much energy would do to his brain, if he'd managed to hold onto it at all.

The damage had hit him, regardless. Exhaustion was the simplest of the symptoms, which made the trek through the swamp hard enough to begin with. Worse was the prickling feeling that came from using magic at all, a feeling that warned him not to push things too much. Just holding out his senses, extending his perception of magic around him left him with a feeling almost like a sunburn, except it covered his whole body and hit him from inside, as well.

Going to have to watch how much I pull in, if it's still hurting like that, he thought. Could burn myself out with just twenty, the way I'm feeling.

On the plus side, he hadn't felt any further work on the network from Joan since the battle, either. Perhaps Teryx had been damaged during the whole thing, as well, or perhaps something had happened when she'd tried to chase after him and had run into the paladins. Either way, it meant that he didn't have to worry about her being a parasite on their operations.

Of course, he found himself wishing for that power now. Knowing that he could draw on the power to smash mountains and level citadels did not help with the temptation in the slightest, even with the consequences in mind.

And even with the power he did have, Draconicon didn't want to use it. He pulled his robes in tighter as he stepped over another set of roots, avoiding a convenient stepping stone of a rock, and edging around a vine handhold as he felt more magic around them.

The temptation to fly over the swamp and its dangers almost overwhelmed him, but the dragon forced himself to stick to the ground path. He had a feeling that the dangers above were designed just for flying creatures, and at least on the ground, he could pick his path. Gravity and other forces started to kick in if he went to the air.

So he walked and walked, avoiding the traps he could detect and being cautious when the way seemed safe. He restrained himself from using magic, just in case it would set anything off, and instead walked with his senses extended, a passive scan rather than anything like water-walking or something that would make his trip easier.

And the trail of rumors, and the tingle of power, led him deeper and deeper into the swamp itself.

More than once, Draconicon considered turning around and going back to one of his camps, leaving the swamp alone. After all, it had killed no mages - so far - and it was doing a devastating amount of damage to any paladins that came near it. As if cursed, it seemed to devour them, and that was an ally in his books. The dragon could simply leave it be.

Yet, at the same time, he knew that allies could turn. Minds could be changed. Allegiances could too often be bought. He needed to know what was in here, particularly if it was magical. The last thing he needed was Joan co-opting something for her own goals and giving him more difficulties.

The sun was setting by the time the tingle of power he'd been following finally flared. He stopped, one foot on a rock, the other about to step onto a tree stump, and he slowly pulled his leg back to keep on the rock.

"Whoever's out there, I apologize if I was about to step on something precious."

"Precious? It's just a stump."

He heard the creak of a tree branch, and the dragon glanced up. The darkness of the trees kept him from seeing anything, at first, but then a pair of bright yellow eyes peered through the darkness at him.

"Still, it's one of my favorite seats around here, and I don't want muddy footprints all over it."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that much." The dragon turned, displaying his foot properly. "See? No mud in the slightest."

"Oh, you're a mage, aren't you?"

"Something like that."

He turned around again, looking up into the darkness. Now that his eyes were adjusting, he could almost make out something else in the shadows up there, some other set of eyes. No, not another set of eyes. Just one, above the two yellow ones, but it was the wrong color. Green? Almost emerald, in fact...

The dragon shook his head, gesturing at the silhouette on the branch.

"Do you mind coming down? I'd like to talk with you."

"I think that this is good enough for me."

"...I could probably make you."

"Really? I'd like to see you try. Brim, darling, do you mind?"

"If you say so."

The second voice came from further up, but not that much further up. A foot or two, at most. Draconicon narrowed his eyes at the emerald, having a feeling that it was coming from there, rather than anywhere -

The tingle of power that flared up a moment ago came back with a vengeance, roaring higher than he had felt in some time. It was akin to Joan's use of power, or his, except that it seemed to come from just one thing.

With the emerald eye blazing above the golden ones, just enough to illuminate black fur and a feline face, he knew just where it was coming from.

Going through a few quick mental calculations, he could tell that it wasn't as strong as he could make himself. Highly powerful, and very close, but something he could overcome if he had to, though not without damaging a good bit of the landscape. She didn't have to know that, however.

He crossed his arms, and took a deep breath.

"Are you going to be crass about this, or are we going to be able to talk?"

"What happened to you making me come down to talk? Afraid?"

"Of what will happen to the swamp around us if I push it, yes."

"...Weird. You aren't bluffing, are you?"

"Not particularly."

"Huh. You know, usually I feel like people are just lying about their power. You don't seem to be. Even if I can't feel...Huh? Do you feel anything, Brim?"

"Something. He's got a great deal of power."

"Really?"

The feline leaned forward, slipping enough into the light for the dragon to make her out, finally.

Just as he'd spotted before, she was a black-furred cat, though with more of a quiet, house-bound cat than the wilder ones he'd seen. Her lips were turned up in a curious smile, while she was wrapped in something that looked like...well...

She's just pulling out all the stops, isn't she? he thought as the feline leaped down onto the stump. What looked like a sexualized witch's dress flared up around her hips before she landed, and shiny black boots clicked on the stump as she caught her balance, thin tail cracking like a whip behind her.

The surge of power was obvious, of course, now that he could see what was casting the emerald light. Draconicon sighed, pressing his hand to his forehead.

"Of course...that makes more sense."

"What? You know Brim?"

"I know things like him, yes. Not something I generally like to come across."

"Hmmm...then you know more than I do, dragon."

He lifted his head, blinking at that. The hat...

It looked at him, one eye slightly closed, as if studying him, while a long, weird tongue licked along strange lips in the fabric of the hat. He tried not to think about just what the hat would do if it got its hands on something small enough to fit in that mouth, or what it might eat.

Still, the implications...

If it doesn't know what it is, then that is most interesting. How a person might forget getting put into a hat? How does a spirit forget what it once was...

He started thinking about it, only for the feline to suddenly wave her hands in his face, shaking him out of his concentration.

"What?"

"You know Brim?"

"I know things about him. I just said that."

"Heh, then maybe you should tell me about it. I know less than he does, even if he's incredibly helpful."

"...He is...helpful? That's a first."

"I do what I can. Even if it's not always my choice..."

That explained a little bit more. Possessed items, usually things that were possessed by someone that wasn't ready to die, or someone that had been placed in them out of a punishment or desperation, were hardly people that would oblige a living person when they were asked to do things. Usually, the possessed item ended up possessing the person that wore it, unless they had an exceedingly strong will.

He rather doubted that the cat did, but then again, he had thought that Hanna had been pretty weak-willed when he'd first met her. It turned out he'd been wrong on that count, so it was entirely possible that he was wrong here as well.

He sat down on the rock, keeping his feet out of the water.

"Tell me, has he, hmmm...has he ever taken control before?"

"Only when she lets me..."

"Or when I'm asleep. Yes, Brim, I know about that."

"You weren't supposed to."

"You weren't supposed to leave the swamp, either, but you still tried."

She smacked the hat, something that made the whole thing shake and quiver on her head. It was more amusing than he'd expected, that was for sure. He chuckled, shaking his head a few times before he looked down the way he'd come.

Now that he was at the center of the swamp, he could feel the lines of power that ran out from the female feline. There was a great deal of traps laying out there, just waiting for someone to be caught in them. Some of them he'd avoided by sheer luck, while others were familiar after he'd sensed them and gone around them.

In both cases, it was clear that the feline had done a great job of making sure that her home was protected against anyone that didn't know magic.

"You know...you're pretty good at what you do, dragon. Do you think you'd want to live here?"

Draconicon blinked, slowly turning to look at her. She held up a hand, smiling.

"Not like I need someone to protect this place, but hey, it's safe. I've kept all sorts of paladins from getting through. You've probably seen some of the bodies at the edges, or heard the stories? The Swamp of the Mist, the green glow that slays the creepy, killer knights before they can do harm?"

"I've heard of that...but why do you think that I need sanctuary here?"

"Well, why else would you be coming here? I mean, where else, really, is there to go?"

"...How long have you been in here, anyway?"

"Um..."

The cat blinked twice, and looked up.

"How long has it been, Brim?"

"Since about four weeks before the Burning Day. Just after you found me and we started running."

Draconicon's eyes just about leaped out of his head. She'd been in here for that long, and hadn't been caught? That was almost impossible, yet here she stood, living evidence to the fact that she had managed to survive on her own - well, almost on her own - while everyone else had been getting caught or killed in the world outside.

And more than that, she didn't seem to have a clue of what was going on out there. No idea of who he was, even...

"You haven't heard...anything...of what's going on out there?"

"Should I have?"

"Well, most people would want to know what's going on out in the world."

"Most people are busybodies. I'm happy to just know what's going on in my neck of the woods."

"How will you know when it's safe to come out, then?"

"Who needs to come out? I'm completely safe here."

"Brim, maybe you could -"

"Don't ask me to get involved, dragon. I'm happy to stay here in the forest, rather than go somewhere where they might make me a normal hat, again."

Draconicon shook his head a few times. This was not what he expected to find. He thought that he might have stumbled upon some sort of cursed land, something where a death spell might have raised up power for vengeance upon the paladins, or something along those lines. He hadn't expected a possessed hat and a happy-go-lucky cat. A cat that was, at that very moment, offering him her hand again.

"Seriously, not so bad in here. I've been making it quite the nice place. Long as you're willing to work, and -"

"I'm not here for sanctuary. I was looking for help, but not that kind of help."

"...What kind are you talking about, then?"

"My name is Draconicon. I lead an army against the paladins."

"...You're joking with me here. Brim, he's joking, right?"

"It feels like he's telling the truth."

"How....You don't even have a magic hat. How the hell do you think you could fight against even ONE paladin?"

"Do you really want a demonstration for that?"

"You know what, yeah, I think I do."

"Fine."

Draconicon stood up, and took a deep breath. He felt the tingling pressure from the magic right from the start, and it only got worse as he piled on the power of five other mages, six, seven, eight. He stopped at nine, feeling the pressure inside of him starting to overwhelm the tingling. While the relief from the discomfort was a good thing, he didn't want to end up leaving himself disfigured or damaged because he couldn't feel when he was going past the point of no return.

The feline and hat stared at him as he held up his hand, and focused all that power into it. It swirled in a ball of black light, at first, almost as big as her hat.

Then he collapsed it, and then collapsed it again, shrinking it in half each time while losing none of the power. Swirling rings of light became something more akin to smoke, which then became more solid. The further he shrank it, the further the power condensed, the further it became more potent, concentrated.

By the time it was shrunken down to the size of a little piece of pebble, a bit of gravel, it was sufficient for his purposes. He let it fall into his palm, and held it out for the two of them to see.

"What do you see with this?"

"Looks like a little rock to me."

"You've put together enough power to rip a hole through a whole squad of paladins..."

"What? No way. No way. That's just a rock."

"That big fireball of energy would have hurt them, but this, Cherri? This would obliterate them."

"Your hat's right. I've collapsed the energy, concentrated it, collapsed it again. It's highly unstable, but it can be contained, as long as I'm conscious and focusing on it. The minute I let go...Do you happen to have a piece of swamp you won't miss?"

The black cat narrowed her eyes, but pointed towards a stand of trees not too far off. It was small, condensed, with the wood a bit rotten, but with all of the trees together in a lump that expanded in a small circle about twenty feet in diameter. He could see the slight polish to the petrified wood that implied some enchantment to it, and knew that she was testing to see if it would break through that.

He held up his hand, and flicked the ball of black light at it. It went flying off, and hit the tree at the edge.

There was no explosion. Instead, it imploded, the little pebble of magic suddenly sucking everything in. The world slid inwards, crunching down in the space of a few seconds, and then disappearing as if it had never been. When the shimmering effect faded, the water of the swamp rushed in to fill the space that had been left behind, leaving nothing in its wake.

Draconicon let go of his magics, letting the other mages regain their power. He took a deep breath, let it out, and repeated the process several times.

By the time that he was done, Cherri - the cat's name, he supposed - and Brim were both staring at him. The cat was the first to speak.

"Well...okay. That explains a lot."

"I'm leading an army, like I said. I can use help."

"Yeah, you know what, no. How about no?"

"You...why?"

"Brim, you wanna field that one?"

"The name 'Draconicon' does ring a bell for me, and I know why. You are a master of magic, yes, but the tales that I have heard say that you also control your followers to a degree that even the church does not go for. They might brainwash. You steal minds away."

He didn't say anything to that, though he wanted to argue. Pulling that much power out for an example had been a stupid mistake, one that he didn't want to try and repeat. Forcing her to follow him would require more than double the energy that he'd just used, and he wasn't sure that the hat on her head wouldn't just find a way to reverse it. Possessed creatures and items thought a great deal faster than living ones.

"Then let me pay for your help, then."

"You think I'm a mercenary?"

"I think you have a price I can meet."

"Heh, you think you can read me that well? Alright, then."

"A bet, then? If I can guess your price, then you'll help me with one mission?"

"Just one?"

"Just one. Further missions up for negotiations."

The feline smirked, though the hat squirmed on her head. Draconicon could imagine why, as well. The feline had the agency, but the hat had the wisdom. He doubted that the cat would listen to Brim, though. She was too excitable.

"Deal. But I know you aren't gonna guess it."

"You want information on Brim, and you want to make sure that the paladins don't bother you here. You want to learn a lot more magic, and you want to make sure that you can be as wise and as skilled as Brim is, so that you aren't the junior partner in the relationship. I can help with all of those.

"I can give you a group of Order mages on the border of your swamp while you're away to protect it. I can tell you more about what Brim is. And I can teach you about other pieces of magic that you don't know, so you don't need to rely on his information and power all the time."

The feline's jaw dropped, and he knew he'd gotten it. He smiled, crossing his arms.

"Do we have a deal?"

"...Damnit...Okay, fine."

"I warned you."

"Oh, shut up, you stupid hat."

"Wonderful. So, beyond the curses that you've been laying hither and yon, what is your primary skill? I always like to know where we're starting."

"Spirit magic, mostly."

"...What?"

"Well, it's not quite that. It's more like using magic through spirits and affecting them, binding them to a purpose, and -"

"You're coming with me. Right now."

"What -"

Draconicon wasn't listening anymore. He had already reached out, already grabbed her by the arm, and was already pulling the magic together for a teleportation spell. How had he not thought of that? How the fucking hell hadn't he thought of using a WITCH for dealing with Joan?

I'm an idiot, that's why, he thought as they teleported away from the swamp.

The End