A Nameless Witch

performed, and they expired easily. The only curiosity was that each passed in its unique fashion.

Penelope smacked Gwurm between the eyes barely hard enough to be felt. The troll's effigy's head caved in like a hollow rind and its entire body shriveled into a wrinkled skin. Wyst nicked his horse along the shoulder. The effigy dissolved into a watery gray puddle with bits of fur floating atop. I bent Penelope with light force. My double snapped her broom and shattered the effigy into crystalline shards.

The last two, Wyst and mine, were to destroy themselves together. Wyst put his sword to my belly in preparation.

I turned to my effigy. 'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. This is what I was made for, and though my existence was brief, at least I knew its purpose.'

Wyst drove his blade through my abdomen at the same moment I struck a hard slap across his cheek. His duplicate's head popped off. The decapitated body fell over, leaking a putrid white puss from the neck, and with a wide, unwitchly grin, my effigy dissolved into nothing.

'I still don't understand how that was different from killing them,' said Newt.

'You don't need to understand. Would you mind, Wyst?'

He pulled his sword from my stomach. A foot higher and an inch to the right, he would've pierced my heart. But the hole in my belly, even delivered by the man I loved, was a minor ache to my undead flesh.

Wyst wiggled his jaw. He'd known my slap was coming, and I suppose that made it honorable. Honorable enough to leave a small discoloration on his cheek.

'You're bleeding,' he said.

'It's nothing.' The wound would close on its own, but I could see it distressed him. I pressed my hand to the hole and seared it shut. It made him feel better, and I enjoyed the stench of burning flesh.

His enchanted sword repelled tarnishes, but a few smudges of dark syrup were left behind. 'Allow me.' I wiped the blade with the loose hem of my skirt. The garment was already covered with mysterious stains, but I was always looking to freshen them. It gave me an excuse to get close to Wyst again. He didn't move away.

'I hope I didn't strike you too hard.'

He rubbed the bruise and smiled. It was an open, honest smile. The first real grin I'd seen upon his face. I turned from his eyes and glanced at the blade. It was clean, and I polished the gleaming steel.

'Thank you.' He returned the weapon to its sheath.

I caressed his bruise with the back of my fingers. Then he leaned in and graced my cheek with a soft kiss. I hadn't expected it, but I was witch enough to hide my surprise.

'What was that for?'

'For being right.'

He squeezed my hand, and for a moment, we weren't a witch and a knight. The obstacles between us, my curse, his chastity, were almost forgotten.

'My good Knight, perhaps you are not so mad after all.' Our destroyed effigies were gone, replaced by a red cloud cast in Soulless Gustav's shape.

Wyst let go of my hand and drew his sword.

'Oh, let's not bother with all that again,' said Soulless Gustav

Wyst of the West slashed the cloud without effect. He didn't seem surprised, but he was too much a White Knight not to try. He put away his sword and stepped aside.

Soulless Gustav billowed toward me. 'That was very good. Defeating my effigies and corrupting a White Knight. You are a credit to witches everywhere.'

'I can't take all the credit. I was taug,ht well.'

'I see now that I'll have to deal with you myself.' He waved. The grass parted. 'Follow this path, and you'll find a cottage where you can spend the night. Enjoy it with my compliments. For tomorrow, I'll put an end to your troublesome, accursed life.'

'Thank you for your hospitality.'

'Mortal enemies need not be impolite. Civility is what separates us from the animals.' He shot into the sky and away.

'I'm offended by that remark,' Newt said.

'You aren't really an animal,' commented Gwurm.

'I'm animal enough.'

'Maybe, but you aren't all that civil either.'

Newt almost said something rude but reconsidered. I wondered how long his new manners might last.

'No one asked you anyway, you big, loathsome oaf.'

Longer than I'd expected.

26

Soulless Sustav's cottage was more of a two-story wooden palace, simple in design but impressive nonetheless. It was early evening by the time we reached it. This was mostly a guess. I have trouble measuring time in the real world, much less a place where night and day came at a sorcerer's whim. Soft light shone from the cabin's windows. The large, crescent-shaped pane over the door sparkled in a rainbow of colors.

'I vote we keep going,' said Newt. 'Why give the sorcerer more time to prepare?'

I laughed, and realized how much more I was doing that. There wasn't anything wrong with it. A laugh can be very witchly when soft and throaty. 'This quest will not be decided by a few passing hours, and I doubt Soulless Gustav is preparing anything.'

'What if this is a trick?'

'It isn't.'

This didn't comfort his suspicious mind. 'How do you know it's not a trick?'

I could've explained to him that my vision told me everything I needed to know. Four trials made our quest. The chimera had been trial by combat. My ghosts of destiny had been trial by strength of self. Trial by peril had been found in our effigies. Trial by magic was the only one remaining, and this could be nothing but the final duel between Soulless Gustav and myself. I could've told Newt this. But I didn't.

The cottage door opened when we drew near. A scar-faced man stepped onto the porch. I recognized him as one of the men that had killed Ghastly Edna or, more accurately, an illusion cast in the exact same form. This one was clean and unarmed. It made it all the easier for Newt to cut off the man's head with a single swipe of razor sharp wings. The corpse fell over and sizzled away.

A fresh servant, same as the last, stepped into the doorway. Newt moved to kill this one too, but I stopped him with a clearing of my throat.

'I'm at your service.' The phantom spoke with perfect enunciation. Too perfect. The words sounded as if chopped from other sentences and pasted together. 'A warm meal awaits you all in the dining room.' He stepped out of the doorway to allow us to enter. 'And there is an excellent stable just around the corner, good master Knight. Shall I take your horse?'

Wyst refused to hand over the reins.

'Very good, sir. Allow me to escort you so that you might inspect its quality.'

He looked to me for approval. Unlike Newt, Wyst trusted my judgment. It was a great honor. A White Knight's loyal steed was his most valued possession, next to his virtue.

I smiled and nodded.

He nodded back and patted his horse's neck. 'I'll find it myself.' He disappeared around the corner.

'I'm telling you,' said Newt, 'the second we step inside, it's going to become a giant serpent head and swallow us all.'

'I was thinking something subtler,' said Gwurm. 'Like perhaps it would shrink until we were all smashed to a pulp.'

'So you agree then.'

'I might if I weren't so hungry.' He was the first to walk through the doorway. 'Is that roast boar I smell?'