NOVEL NEXT Chapter 47: Feeling Jittery
5/3, Raven Hill
Lividia was seeking out a master of deception. She had already done flyovers of the entire town three times, including brief stops to burn undead to death, and there was simply nothing. No signs of human life. She'd had one false alarm with a particularly pungent goblin, but he didn't match the vision the mission gave her at all, so she dismissed him as irrelevant.
Lividia, obviously, understood what had happened. Her king was establishing dominance through an act of petty tyranny. It was incredibly hot, in its own way. He'd baited her into misbehaving by explaining the way missions worked right before a particularly easy one would appear.
His punishment had been a bit harsh, but Lividia knew that it was likely to make sure that his concubines knew that even the first among them was not above punishment. That black haired one in particular seemed like the insolent sort, and the white haired one didn't seem nearly happy enough to be allowed to serve. They needed to learn, and so Lividia accepted the slightly unfair treatment with dignity and grace befitting a queen.
Lividia swooped down upon a zombie, focusing her weight on her talons as they caved it's skull in. So satisfying; it never saw her coming.
Anyway, why else would he give her an opportunity to regain favor so quickly? It's a small town. How hard could it possibly be to go door to door and find one man?
••••••••••
Lillibeth knew of the man, Jitters. The living interested her in general, and there were precious few in Raven Hill. For a few months now, she had sat with him, listening to him talk. He was quiet, and not very clear, but it was nice to hear another voice. She'd even rung a bell once, when he'd been about to enter a room that was already occupied with the mindless dead.
Possession, though? She'd never tried it. She wondered if it was similar to when she touched people's minds to speak with them. When she did that, they seemed to think she was just an intrusive thought as often as not. Jitters did seem to take to them better than most, but even he seemed to just think he was following a feeling in his gut. He certainly wouldn't follow her advice if she tried to get him to face his fears.
That was merely a touch, though. Hardly even noticeable. Was she ready to try to push harder? Yes. If it might mean she gets to live again, she certainly was. She went to Jitters's home, a building that once belonged to someone she knew. The tailor, she thought. It was hard to remember details about what had been. Most of her old friends had eventually forgotten their own names, and after that she was alone.
She touched him, willing him to go out into the street. He mumbled to himself, she suspected it would have been impossible to parse even if she'd been alive, and peeked out the window. *Yes. It's safe. Nothing will harm you. Perhaps you could get more food from that house.* The emaciated man started glancing at the door. Then a shadow swooped down and took the head off of a mindless zombie standing in the street, and Jitters threw himself to the floor. He scrambled to his reinforced closet, and Lillibeth knew from experience that he'd stay there for at least a few hours.
She had never dared before, but she'd never had reason to try. She touched Jitters mind, paralyzed with fear, and found the fear to be like an open door. For the first time, she stepped through that door. She became Jitters.
Had someone been watching, Jitters would have seemed to calm down suddenly. Still twitchy, since nervous was his normal state, but functional. He knew that the shadow in the sky was a silly little dragonet; dangerous, but no danger to him. He wanted to get himself to that nice house as a trade so that the strange visitor would help him. Jitters was the one acting, but Lillibeth was making the choices even as she luxuriated in the unpleasant feeling of grime and grit all over her new body.
Hunched over, he snuck out into the street. He wasn't hiding from Lividia, but the creatures that sometimes wandered these streets. Of course then he heard a shout behind him. "Aha! There you are! I've got you! I have him my king!"
*Damn you!* Lividia thought, as Jitters came to his senses and rejected the insane line of reasoning that had brought him out here.
••••••••••
After a few moments, Eva's eyes seemed to focus. She blinked a few times and then briskly strolled to the corner of the room, snatching up a broom sweeping up a broken earthenware bowl we had knocked over in the struggle. As she did, she started chatting amiably. "So, how long does it take to go into effect? Also, how exactly did you manage to make something like this?"
"Around a week at the most." Seemed like a safe bet. The second question had a sly cast to it, I didn't think she expected an answer. "As to the rest; how about this, when you tell me all your secrets, I'll tell you how these work. Is there anything you've been working on recently?" Anything but the gems, please. Drink tea and stop thinking about this.
"Oh, you know me. I think I've designed a nice little protective totem I might make a pretty penny off of, but anything worth making around here requires killing a few dangerous beasties. Do you happen to have any ghoul teeth or skeleton fingers? I know you live by that horrid graveyard."
"I'll see if my nephew might gather some. What does he get in return?"
She gave me a smile with crooked teeth. "I've offered the night watch a deal. If they bring me enough materials to make five of something, they get one free. I need to make a living after all, but for you I'll offer a better deal. Three sets of ingredients per charm; he won't get better than that. I'll write him up a list if he's going to be hunting the dead." She pulled out a bit of parchment and started writing.
"I need to get going soon, but I'll be back within the week to check on you. It's been a pleasure."
As I left, I looked over the list of enchanted items she had given me. A protective charm made from ghoul teeth, spider venom and a skeleton's finger? A magic wand made from petrified wood and a worgen's claw? A talisman that improved your sense of smell, made by placing a piece of etched iron in a large bowl of wolf's blood? They all seemed useful, if a bit odd. This was not the kind of enchanter I was expecting, but she was obviously capable of identifying company provided items. I'm gonna call this one an expensive win, what with losing the memory charm.
Suddenly my necklace sparked to life and I heard a cackling voice. "I have him, my king!"
"Aaaah! Back, ye beast!"
"Wait no! I'm here to help!"
Dammit Lividia