Strozazand sat with his legs crossed at the center of the circle Shandra had drawn. He was naked. There was a cool breeze swirling playfully around him. It was a joke, or reminder, or sign, or something from the goddess. He was certain of that. Of what it meant… well, he wasn’t a cleric.

The breeze tickled his skin. He could feel that his tattoo of wings had lifted out of his back. His wings were wings in truth now. The wings were folded up gracefully behind him. His skin was covered in a patchwork of small, azure scales. He could feel more pressing from under his skin.

The only benefit to all these traumas – I seem to get closer to becoming a dargon in my body. His joints were uniformly armored with scales; as was his spine, from the small of his back to his hairline.

Like a man runs his tongue over his teeth after a hard fought brawl to check and see if they remain in his head, Stroz checked his memories. When he had been reincarnated as a bunny, the last thing he could remember was entering the burnt out town. After the lightning bolt that had restored him to his human body, he remembered everything; including his death and his time in the divine realm. The lightning bolt had not restored his lost memories from his previous reincarnation, unfortunately.

He shivered and opened his eyes, “Thanks for trying guys, but I don’t like losing my memories and I don’t want to be anything weird. If I die again,” Which seems unfortunately likely… “please don’t reincarnate me.” A youthful grin spread across his face, “Not saying don’t get me back up.” He laughed, “But the goddess of nature likes chance a little too much for my liking.”

Kegar gritted his teeth, but let it slide. Stroz just died. He is in shock. More importantly, no one would tolerate Kegar trying to enforce discipline on Stroz after watching him die the way they had.

Seeing Strozazand alive and well, the group turned their angry focus on the bound and gagged Faute. Fury gleamed in her eyes.

Katrina murmured and touched a finger to one of Faute’s ears.

“What did you do?” Lizzy asked.

“I deafened her.” Katrina said turning toward the group. “I knew Kegar wouldn’t want her to hear what we were discussing. After all, whatever our decision is, it would be cruel for her to hear us come to it.”

Kegar narrowed his eyes at Katrina. Deafening Faute was the compassionate thing to do. Even if he had thought of it, he wouldn’t have done it. Now that it was done, demanding she take it off would just make him look bad.

“Discuss what we are to do?” Mary’s sharp voice lashed out, “She basically murdered my brother and then she gloated. She has to die.”

“She disobeyed a direct order from me. I warned you all what would happen if you did that.” Kegar said. “She must die.”

Finos’ face was pale and he looked ill. Tears pooled in his eyes. For reasons beyond anyone’s comprehension, he loved her. But even he could find no reason, no justification for her to be spared. Everyone had been a witness to her betrayal.

Percival checked his knives and arm crossbow. He wasn’t going to get involved in this argument. If they let her live, for whatever stupid reason, then I’ll just kill her in the night. Having someone willing to kill a friend that she had grown up with, to his mind, put Lady Elizabeth in mortal danger. There was no telling what imagined slight would give her the justification necessary to kill again. And there is no knowing how many herbs Kegar has. He had given the impression that he only had enough to raise Strozazand once… but here we are.

While the conversation, which was less an argument and more a slow meander toward assent, continued, a blood skinned, buxom devil approached Faute. Smooth obsidian horns that were inlaid with opal curled gracefully out from her forehead and disappeared into raven hair so long it brushed the earth. The devil was all curves and soft edges, even the points of her horns were hidden from view. Faute could tell from the way the devil was blurry at the edges that she was invisible. Jealousy filled Faute with a bitter hatred of the devil.

Without my interference, the she-devil’s satin voice snaked around Faute’s thoughts, you will be executed for what you did today.

Faute strained against her bonds, He got what he deserved!

She held up an elegant hand, stifling the onslaught of panicked, self-exonerating drivel. Of course, I understand your reasons. Friends, family, these things are important and false friends should be punished.

She nodded vigorously.

I’ll make you a deal. The she-devil pulled a pink, lace choker from her ample cleavage. If you help me, I’ll save you. But if I give you an order, any order, you must obey.

Faute’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

You wear this choker and all my followers and allies will know to assist you, while all my enemies will know to fear you. However, if you disobey and break faith, the choker will turn into black hellstone and they will all know that you have displeased me and I have renounced my favor.

Faute considered. She knew from her warlock powers that this creature in front of her was a devil and not a demon. She also knew that devils were like the fey, they couldn’t lie, but they delighted in twisting the truth. Devils in particular were thrilled with making deals that would end in them getting a soul. It was curious that the devil wasn’t gambling for her soul. But she said outright that I’ll be executed if I don’t make a deal… which means it’s a forgone ending. Whatever else happened, she didn’t want to die. She nodded.

The she-devil smiled and clipped the choker around Faute’s neck. The lace bit into her skin like white-hot iron. She knew that if someone tried to remove it she would die painfully. A wave of gloriously blistering power rushed through her body. As the power reached her ears, she felt a faint popping sensation and she could hear again just in time to hear Shandra speak.

Setting her book aside she asked, “Are you sure we should be killing her? I mean, she does have that charm spell on her.”

“What?”

“Can you break it?”

“Why didn’t you mention that earlier!”

Percival stood behind Lizzy. This changes things… If she didn’t know what she was doing… then… This wasn’t an outcome he had expected. I’ll watch her. If she even looks for a second like she is putting Lizzy in danger, she’s dead.

Shandra was affronted, “Of course I can break it! I didn’t mention it because I thought you all knew.”

A general outcry arose until Kegar quelled it, “Just break it, Shandra.”

“Fine.” Shandra crouched by Faute. Under her breath, but loud enough for the no longer deafened Faute to hear, she muttered, “She’s had the charm for nearly forever. I thought everyone knew about it.” I know that having a charm spell on you makes you more susceptible to suggestion… but whatever this spell did it shouldn’t have made her willing to do anything she didn’t want to do. With a mental chuckle she added, unless someone had a charm on her to kill Strozazand since his birth. Of course, if she weren’t already willing to do that, a simple charm would be hard pressed to make her kill someone. You can’t charm a husband who loves his wife to kill her, but you can enchant him so he sees his wife as a monster and charm him to kill the monster. I wonder what the charm was on her for? Shandra’s thoughts wandered jackknifing between why Faute was charmed, what the charm spell did, and what the semantics of a charm spell were.

Faute’s eyes widened. Who had charmed her? How had her parents not known? No. She amended. Mother had to know even if father hadn’t. Mother and granny had special insight into all that mind-bender magic. They had to have known and mother told father everything. She knew then that when she got back to Pode, she would make her father pay for enchanting her against her will.

Shandra’s final word rang out and the charm on Faute broke. She felt something deep inside her shatter. There had been warmth in the way she viewed the world. Not like the way the sun heats a day in summer, but rather like a brazier heats a drafty hovel in the dead of winter. It had been artificial, but necessary for life. That was gone now. She didn’t mourn it. Now, she saw clearly how artificial that warmth had been.

The world came into a crystalline focus. The colors seemed to become muted, but it wasn’t a change in the colors or how her eyes saw them, but rather how her mind processed them. She saw the world without empathy and without sympathy. These bastards think they can control me? She snarled inwardly.

The she-devil whispered in her mind, Our deal stands. I want you to help them. Specifically, I want you to help Strozazand at all costs.

Faute glowered at the she-devil.

Don’t be like that. A deal is a deal. You’ll live for quite a while if you uphold your end. She turned away before casually saying; Try not to be such a bitch.

Finos bent down and cut Faute’s bonds. His hands were shaking so much he had to try three times before he could cut them. “We broke the charm on you. It wasn’t your fault that you killed Stroz, so everything is okay.”

Faute stared at Finos blankly. I wonder why I never took advantage of how much he wants my approval.

Finos turned to Katrina, “I forgot! You deafened her. Quick! Take it off!”

He waited for Katrina to try to lift her spell before repeating himself.

Faute pasted a smile across her lips. “Good. That’s good.” She touched his shoulder for the barest of seconds before turning away from him. “I’m glad that’s over!”

Mary glowered at her. She wanted vengeance for Strozazand… but he is alive now… and she was charmed. She didn’t know what she was doing. It isn’t her fault. Mary swallowed her anger. I can’t be angry with her about something she didn’t have control over.

Ellen hadn’t been in town when the charm had been placed on Faute. She had been out tracking an ancient crocalyal that had been stealing sheef from the aquatic pens the town had set up. Neither had she been told about the charm after she had come back. She had never been one to talk about her psychic powers, so no one thought to tell her and she tried to keep her mind out of other’s heads, unless she had cause to. Since the child Faute had almost never come into contact with Ellen, it had never come up.

But Ellen did know about things that affected the mind. She had studied them under the tutelage of her mother for half a century. There is no way a charm could have made her have that reaction. Sure, the imps could have revealed something already in her… but forced something not there? No. She had tried to say something about that, but Kegar had interrupted her so much it was impossible to speak. She stretched out her mind to try and brush Faute’s surface thoughts. What she found was distressing.

Somehow, Faute was blocking her. The untrained twenty-something was preventing the woman with four hundred years experience. This is bad. Something has to be helping her, boosting her powers… Ellen shook her head. She loved Strozazand like a younger brother, but Faute was wrong. She needed to leave and leave soon. I’ll help them finish this mission with the orc chieftain… that will give me time to convince Strozazand to leave.