On Being a New Wizard in Arcadia--XX

    The world came back into semi-focus. Someone must have taken his glasses when he fell. He was definitely lying down, staring at a painted tin ceiling and the dark bowl of a light fixture. If there were blinds or curtains, they must have been tightly closed, for there was no daylight seeping into the room. The light was coming from a small bedside lamp. Christian tried rolling over, but the movement sickened him and sent stabbing pain through his skull. He reached up to his face carefully. He had a wicked goose egg above his right eye, and he thought he might have a cut there too. It was hard to tell just from touch. He wondered where he was, because it most certainly not the emergency room or the hospital. He thought about calling out, but his throat felt too raw to manage more than a hoarse rasp. Had he been screaming? The door swung open, and for a moment he felt terror over what might be entering the room. To his immense relief, it was Sean.

    "Are you feeling better?" he asked as he examined the knot on Christian's head. "Lilly is going to stay out of here for the time being, at least until we figure out what happened."

    "Is that her name? She burns with power." Christian felt sick when he realized his warding had been shattered. Sean's aura was threatening to overwhelm his senses. He closed his eyes, but still the sounds of long centuries rang in his ears. "I've never seen her before."

    "No, you wouldn't have. She stays away from Arcadia. Your friend got her attention when he broke her wards. She's a bit surprised that there are djinn in Arcadia. That's interesting business to her, they aren't generally so involved with human affairs."

    "I think he's a special case. How long have you known this Lilly?" Christian wished that he had a cold compress. He was beginning to develop a severe headache. Sean seemed to have a sense of this, for he laid a cool, damp tea towel over Christian's forehead and eyes.

    "I met her about twenty years back, when she was a student here. Funny little thing back then. She wore her hair in one of those long, spiky mohawks, and dressed in a lot of torn clothing. Her hair was bright green in those days." There was definite amusement in Sean's voice. "She'd come in here to study and pester me for real Chinese food, not the stuff from the take-out places. I told her that if she'd come back in twenty years, I'd tell her my whole history." He was silent for a minute. "She's the first to ever come back."

    "What is she?" Christian asked, glad of the cooling darkness. "She's not a human."

    "She is, and she isn't." There was the scraping of chair legs, and the sound of Sean settling himself. "She was a perfectly normal human twenty years ago, if an angry one who read a lot of dark stuff. Between then and now, she has stepped into her destiny as a witch. She's much more powerful than a mage, and can travel almost as freely between this world and her patron's world as you should be able."

    "A patron?"

    "Yes. A witch like her is in the service of one of the demi-god-like rulers in one of the other worlds. One patron for each witch, one witch for each patron, and so the balance of power is maintained. She can tell you much more, if you can handle her presence."

    "I think it will be okay for a few minutes if I can't see her." Christian made sure the compress covered his eyes completely. "I want to talk to her."

    "I've masked myself," said a sharpish voice from the doorway. It had none of the echoing resonance of the woman in the veil, and it sounded like a voice that belonged to someone who tolerated  no nonsense. "You should be able to have me nearby with very few ill effects." Her footsteps were light but determined as she approached the bed. Christian cautiously lifted the compress from one eye to take a peek. She stood there, arms crossed, holding her head up with such ferocity that he wished he hadn't looked. Every inch of her spoke to her being a rather severe woman and not one to cross. "Now then, way-walker, how did you come to be a man divided?"

    Christian decided that she probably knew enough to at least be able to understand a little of what might have happened. He related the vision or dream he had just woken from, and what he had learned there. Her thin mouth became thinner as he progressed, until it was a mere gash across her face. When he finished, she took a seat on the edge of the bed.

    "She said I would be able to help you?" she asked in a softer manner. "If Her Shrouded Majesty thinks that I am able, then I will do my best." She took his hand in both of hers, squeezing comfortingly. "My name is Lilly. Shen Yuan said that your name is Christian?"

    "Yes. Ah! What are you doing?" His hands felt like they were full of hot pins. He wanted to pull away, but she tightened her grip.

    "Is it uncomfortable? I am sorry, but there's not much helping it." She had a look of intense concentration as she pressed her fingers into the flesh of his palms. "I needed a better view of what you had been through, and what you continue to suffer. To do that, I need to be able to tap into your energy."

    "Couldn't you just look at my aura?" Christian asked, inhaling sharply as the pain spiked. Lilly shook her head.

    "I could, but it would be the difference between reading a book about an event and actually being there. A lot of the detail gets missed, the perspectives get a bit skewed, and it's just easier to see it myself. I'd think that someone with as many tattoos as you wouldn't flinch over a bit of discomfort. Some of this, I knew. Someone doesn't walk the ways without calling attention to himself. Her Shrouded Majesty has shown you favor, and that is interesting. She tries to avoid the petty squabbling of the other Kings and Queens, and she already has a Witch. A way-walker is a more powerful force, but a much more unpredictable one. Witches are obligated to serve their Patrons until the contract is met, even in matters that they may find repulsive or against their natures, but a way-walker may go where they please and act as they will, and even a King or Queen will hesitate to act out against them."

    "Sean says you're a witch." Christian was getting accustomed to the pain. Lilly tilted her head to one side. He wondered if she know how much she looked like a bird when she did that.

    "A Witch." There was definitely an emphasis that made it a proper noun. "Yes, I am. A Fire Witch, to be precise. I am in bound service to Her Shrouded Majesty, the Queen in Black, the Lost Daughter of the Far Edges."

    "The Veiled Lady?" Christian asked.

    "The same. Of all the Kings and Queens, she is by far the least inclined to meddle or war-monger, though she is by no means a force to be discounted. She will actively seek to thwart those who would unmake the world, for as forlorn as she is, she would not see it all brought to mindless ruin." Lilly finally released his hands. "She is keeping the other half of your soul safe, I see. Good. If you were a prisoner of His Sanguine Highness, or one of the other High Kings, then we would have need of great haste, if it was not already too late."

    "Can we get it back?" Christian asked.

    "Yes, and the sooner the better. If the other Kings or Queens get wind that she is keeping a way-walker's fragmented soul, for whatever purpose, then we can expect war, and it will spill into this world, as it has in the past." She looked at him with a sad sort of smile. "A way-walker's soul, even a half of it, is enough to do great harm."