Shadows were lengthening as Tira and Larissa approached the looming walls of the cityport of Ctharae. A rutted dirt path led a winding route through the hills and up to the south gate of the cityport. They had come as far as they could by broom. Now the rest of the way would be on foot.

As they rounded a bend in the path, they arrived at a gap between the hills beyond which lay the plateau before the cityport’s wall and south gate.

Gloom cast a spell of invisibility over the three of them and they crept up to the heavy wooden door set into the wall. There were guards in chainmail on top of the wall, but they didn’t see anything.

By the door the shield of invisibility flickered and disappeared. “That’s all I can do for now,” said Gloom. “And that could be a problem, because we’ll stand out. Or I won’t stand out so much, but you both will. Bright face and pate.”

“Indeed,” said Larissa with a tight lipped smile.

“Don’t worry, guys, I’ll get this open,” said Tira. She weaved her green fingers in interlocking motions by the lock and the tumblers made clicking sounds. Tira’s green face gleamed with a sheen of perspiration and she gave a little gasp as the final tumbler came free and the door swung inwards with s creak.

Larissa took the witch girl by the hand and led her into the courtyard beyond the door. No time to lose.

“We’ll have to make a break for it.” Said Larissa decisively.

“What? Don’t be daft. You know how slow you both are on foot,” said Gloom. “This is how a smart adventurer handles dopey guards.”

Gloom clambered up the wall with the agility of a cat and leapt onto a guard’s shoulder. “Oy! Peabrain! Shouldn’t you be paying attention instead of getting distracted by imps?”

This caused a commotion with the guards trying to catch Gloom.

“Come on, you lazy unfit lot,” said Gloom, dancing around on the parapet, just out of their reach.

Tira and Larissa left the courtyard and hurried down the rutted path.

Tira grinned. “This is so cool! We’re a witch and a warrior on a quest. Just like last time when I was with Jemmy…” The girl’s purplish bottom lip quivered at that point. Such a sweet and sensitive soul, Larissa thought. Jemmy’s abduction had really affected her.

“Together we’re the stuff of legends,” said Larissa. “We’ll get him back.”

Tira sniffed and nodded, then she muttered some strange words and clicked her fingers. Gloom appeared on her shoulder again in a puff of smoke.

“Wow, those guards are dopey,” he said, tapping the side of his head.

“I’m sure they’re just trying to do a good job,” said Tira. “But we can’t let them delay us. We have to keep going.”

“What would the idiots gain by delaying us?” asked Gloom.

“They would normally keep us in the holding cell for a day or two while they find out whether we’re threats to the cityport,” said Larissa.

“And we don’t have a day or two to spare,” said Tira. She spoke softly enough but her green face showed grim determination and she clenched her fist. “Nothing is gonna hold us up. We won’t stop for anything.”

“Eugh! You’d better not mean that we don’t get to eat or sleep, Mistress,” said Gloom. “What’s more important than grub?”

Tira glared. Not wishing to see Tira riled up – there was a Coltbridge saying, ‘beware the wrath of a gentle girl,’ - Larissa interposed.

“I’ve got our optimum schedule planned out. I’ve been on so many adventures,” she said. “Those lasting days, those lasting months in the wilderness… Just let me take the lead, Gloom.”

“Oh goody. A long hard slog is just what I need,” said the imp, grumpy.

They were passing a large hut with a wide open door.

“That may be a place to ask for directions,” said Larissa. “But be on your guard.”

Witch and warrior stepped tentatively through the open door into what appeared to be some kind of shop, but a very strange one. The place was hung and draped with all kinds of chains of different metals, lengths and textures. A great many of them hung from the ceiling whether they rattled and clinked softly. The place was empty.

“Who owns a shop in a dump like this and leaves it unguarded?” said Gloom. His reedy voice rose to a shriek. “Hey! Get out here!”

There was a shuffling and a tall woman came into the shop. Her skin was a matte greenish brown. Quite a different green to Tira’s. Tira was a fluorescent yellowish green. This shopkeeper was not magical. She most likely had ogre heritage. Ctharae was an accepting place - a refuge for all kinds of humanoids and part humans.

“What d’ya want?” said the shop-keeper in a sullen voice.

“Greetings,” said Larissa curtseying in the Coltbridge manner.

“Hi! Wassup?” said Tira, beaming.

“We just wanted to ask the quickest route to the north gate?” said Larissa.

“Go north, obviously,” said the ogre-lady. “But it won’t do yer good. The gates wizard locked. Doubt even she could get you through,” she pointed at Tira whose yellow brows drew together.

“Wizard locked?” she said. “H-How? What’re we gonna do?”

“Don’t ask me,” snapped the shopkeeper. “There’s a stone witch-shrine near the docks. Go there.”

“Great idea, thanks.” Said Tira. “I’ll ask Shekka. My goddess will help.”

“Just don’t tell her how you disagree with her rules, like her cult being women-only,” said Gloom snickering.

“Are you goin’ ter by anything or what?” demanded the shop-keeper.

“Can you recommend anything, Madame?” asked Larissa.

“I’ve got summat for both magic and melee,” said the shopkeeper. She reached up and lifted an iron chain from the ceiling. It had two manacles, one at each end, that snapped together. “Got magic in it. Good for taking out their ankles in a fight.”

After Larissa had paid a silver piece for the chain, they left and soon came to a crossroads. Different people and creatures hurried past them, but no one paid them any attention. They continued straight on, down a street that had tiny dwellings. Little people went about their business.

“Gnome ghetto,” said Gloom. “Don’t walk on your hands and knees.”

There was a human sized creature lying face down in the middle of the street. Passers by simply ignored it. Was it asleep? Or drunk?

Tira knelt down beside the creature. “Are you alright…?” she began, but ended in a shocked gasp as the creature sat up. Its ghastly face was half decayed, the skin cankered and worm eaten, and its putrid lips peeled back to reveal rows of rotted teeth.

Tira leapt back as the living corpse rose to its feet and lurched towards them, rotting hands outstretched…

00O00

Face to green face with Millie the witch, Jemmy was like a puppet, bound by invisible strings. She glared at him. “The moment I take my eyes off you, you’re doing something stupid, like almost getting drowned. I have to keep you on a short leash. I had better treat you like my puppet on a string.”

“Mercy, please,” said Jemmy nervously. He was still cold and dripping wet from the water of the lake and his heart was pounding from his ordeal with the tentacle almost dragging him under. If Millie hadn’t been there, he would have drowned.

“It’s for your own good,” said Millie grimly. “Besides, I treat my puppets well.”

She snapped her fingers and Jemmy felt himself forced into a sitting position.

She clapped her hands and a chest with six carved, wooden legs came crawling towards them with an unnatural beetle-like motion.

Millie opened the chest and drew out what looked like a glob of white mud. “Hold still, sweetie,” she said with a sneer. She pushed the mud onto Jemmy’s face. It was cold and got into his mouth and nostrils. It tasted like grit. She rubbed his face vigorously, and the mud seemed to evaporate.

Millie held up a hand mirror with a mother of pearl handle. Jemmy could see his face in it. It looked like she had painted him dead white. “That’s just the start,” she said.

She took a mask out of the chest which had little holes like a sieve. Then a little rubber bulb. She put the mask in front of his painted face and then squeezed the rubber thing so that it squirted a brown liquid through the holes in the mask. Millie took the mask away and then held up the mirror again. It looked like Jemmy had a face with obviously painted on freckles.

“You’re even more adorable now,” said Millie, curling her lip. “Dance with me now, like a good boy.”

She stood up and clapped her hands. Jemmy found himself whirling round and she grasped his hands and pulled him into a wild dance. They both whirled round madly. Jemmy found his arms forced to encircle her waist so that he was looking right into her green face as he spun and the cavern became blurry around them and the weird lights seemed to extend into streaks like comets.

Millie grabbed his arms, forcing him downwards and looming over him. “A kiss?” she suggested.

Before Jemmy could protest, her cold face was pressed against his – her oversized nose pushing his cheek as her lips clamped on his and he had the sensation of her cold tongue forcing into his mouth which was filled with the rancid taste of hers. She held him and kissed him fiercely, not letting him go. This was one sided. Larissa should know that. She released him. She was breathing hard and her eyes were bright.

This was getting scarier. “I – I’ve learned my lesson,” he gabbled. “Please, I meant no disrespect, I just do not always reflect.”

“Better,” she said with a grim smile. “Come, I can show you a new wonder and you will get how lucky you are that I took you under my wing.”

She turned and walked up the bank towards the mouth of another tunnel. Humiliatingly, he found himself dragged along, once again like he was being pulled by invisible strings. The rocky tunnel branched and Millie took the left fork.

The tunnel led to a rocky room draped with black velvet and lit by crystals in the ceiling that gleamed with a faintly silvery light, like traces of preserved moonlight.

There was a sphere with a black cloth on it which Millie removed to reveal an orb of multicoloured crystal. There were carved chairs beside the crystal and Millie sat down on one and motioned towards to other so that her magic propelled Jemmy into a sitting position on it.

“My crystal,” said Millie, rapping her fingernails on the surface of the globe. “With it, I’ve watched you closely, at work, at rest, and at play.” She smirked and licked her lips. “You had no idea. I’ve seen all of you.”

That didn’t exactly make Jemmy feel comfortable.

Millie stroked the crystal with her green fingers and breathed on it. The crystal shimmered and the prismatic lights within began to swirl.

“I can look at far off places with this. Even times long gone by. Anywhere on Granat if I really concentrate,” said Millie, her gaze fixed on the crystal. “Now what I want to see is your baby boy. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to be his mother. I’m coming to collect him. I’ll make a far better mother than that warrior woman. She couldn’t do a thing to stop my plans.”

Jemmy’s heart leapt to see the image of baby Leo appear in the crystal.

“The moment he was born, I thought how he looked like you,” said Millie. “What a stroke of luck that he’s a boy. I wouldn’t want to have to take care of a girl. Wait… why’s he surrounded by imps and weird animals? Is he with another witch? Why?” She glared into the crystal.

Jemmy felt a sense of increasing desperation. He had to distract her and not let her drag his son into this mess, but how? What was it that Millie wanted most right now? He had to think hard.

Then it came to him.

“Millie… I think I know what you want right now and I could give it to you.”

She turned to him, her brown eyes wide, the whites a contrast with her green face.

“You’re going to give me what I want?” She whispered. “Really?”

But was he really going to?