He looked up only enough not to walk into anyone. Just a glance was enough to see people hurrying away from him. A pair of well dressed nobles, a man and a woman, openly scowled at him. Maybe a morning walk hadn’t been a good idea. At last, Lindell reached the harbor, where water lapped against the stones of the harbor wall and the wooden posts of the docks. The sea was calm that morning, the sky clear and blue.

  The harbor of Arkose was already crowded even that early. The sun had just finished rising. Lindell stared out at the water, trying to ignore the feeling he was being watched. Trying to ignore the way people had looked at him on his way to the harbor. He sighed and sat on the harbor wall, reluctantly turning to face the people going on their way, and the people who stopped to stare.

  Lindell’s tail lashed, the end of it reaching the water. He could understand why people stared. He knew what he looked like. Covered in long, dark brown fur with a cat like nose. Sharp teeth and nails, fuzzy, bear like ears, and a long fluffy tail. His eyes were big and round, all dark gray iris, black pupil, and no visible white. He looked like the spirit of illusion whose magic had become a part of him, but he still dressed the same, loose buttoned shirt, black pants, and old boots.

  This hadn’t bothered him in Shale, the main city of Oenum where he’d lived before, but the last year in Arkose was starting to change that. He, Eireen, and Cory had opened a new office of Phoenix in the harbor town of Arkose, and had quickly discovered their presence would barely be tolerated there. They did get clients, but those clients were always nervous or embarrassed to need the help of Phoenix. Because it meant they had magic related trouble, and magic wasn’t welcome there.

  Magic was quietly acknowledged in Shale, it was just a part of things, but in Arkose it was kept silent and witches lived in fear. Duke Lavern Belanger despised magic. He had made laws that made things difficult for witches. It was hard to find shops that would sell to known witches and risk the duke’s wrath, and businesses didn’t have to hire known witches. Those with magic also had to report themselves to the Knight Captain, along with what sort of magic they had. Another sigh escaped Lindell. They still owed Captain Clement that list, but it wasn’t as though they could tell the truth on it.

  Sure, the duke might tolerate a group of witches who helped with magical trouble, if they were useful and didn’t break his law of not using magic in public. But a group of two demons and two with unusual magic would likely be driven out of Arkose violently. Lindell tried not to make eye contact with those who slowed to watch him. Tabitha Hope, the apothecary, who clearly had a thing for Cory, had helped spread the rumor that Lindell was an illusion witch. Apparently his hobby was making illusions on himself to look like a strange, hairy creature.

  Someone left the crowd, coming toward him. Lindell tensed before seeing it was just Cory. His short black hair was messy as ever. He came and sat on the wall beside Lindell, several inches shorter than him. Cory was twenty, a year younger than Lindell. His pale gray eyes watched the crowd for a moment.

  A sigh escaped Lindell. “One of these days, someone is going to realize I’m not an illusion witch and they’re going to kill me for the duke’s favor, or what passes for his trust.”

  Cory looked at him. “Don’t let it get to you.”

  “I have a reputation to uphold now,” Lindell said, his voice cold and hard to his own ears. “I have to look the part of eccentric illusion witch who likes to make people uncomfortable.” He tried to ignore the worry in his friend’s eyes. “Were you on your way to see Tabitha?”

  Cory smiled briefly, but only briefly.

  “She likes you,” Lindell said. “She’s not exactly subtle about it.”

  “You’re imagining it,” Cory said quietly, getting down from the wall. “But I do need more thistle.” He set off along the harbor.

  Tabitha’s shop was further along the harbor, facing the sea. The shop wasn’t a far walk from the office of Phoenix, but Cory didn’t buy much thistle at a time. Lindell suspected it was so he would have an excuse to visit the apothecary’s shop more often. This thought managed to make Lindell smile. He got off the wall and headed back to the office. Eireen would be up, and Hector might be there by now.

  Lindell stopped for a moment in the alleyway where the office was. It was in a far corner of Arkose, at the opposite end of town from the harbor, though the sea could barely be seen from the narrow alleyway. The house was tall, old, and weathered, but at least it wasn’t falling apart.

  Lindell went inside. The only thing in the front room was a desk across from the door. There wasn’t anyone at the desk this early. Lindell locked the door behind him. They would open it later, in case any clients came by. Voices came from the kitchen. A doorway on the left side of the back wall led into a small hall. In the hall, stairs led up to the right. Another doorway straight ahead led into the kitchen. The room was long, with a wooden table to the right of the doorway.

  The kitchen itself was at the far end of the room. A door back there led into an old washroom for laundry, with nothing but a yellowed tub. The hearth to the left of the kitchen doorway was dark, since it was a warm morning. Eireen was the one cooking that morning. She smiled when he came into the kitchen, hurrying over and giving him a kiss before going back to the stove.

  Her long dark brown hair was tied back. Her pale antlers, like those of a deer, had runes carved into them. Her ears were longer than those of a human. They were round on the end and flat on the inside. She was a Priest of Iterna, the Goddess of Nature. She was a demon, as all the full priests and gods were. She was also the woman Lindell loved. She had traded her brown robes of a Priest of Iterna for a dark green dress, but she had kept her well worn boots.

  Hector was already at the long wooden table. There was a wooden bench on either side of the table rather than chairs. Lindell sat across from his brother. Hector came by at breakfast and sometimes for dinner, but he mostly stayed away from the office. Lindell wasn’t sure what his brother did all day, but he looked constantly worried lately. Hector was five years older than Lindell. His long black hair was tied back. His dark gray eyes looked worried and tired as ever behind his round glasses. His shirt was buttoned except for the one at the top and was black, matching his pants and shoes. His shirt looked rumpled, which wasn’t usual for him.

  Cory arrived just before the oatmeal was done cooking, dressed in his usual loose cotton clothes and boots, as though he was about to go traveling. He washed the dishes after breakfast, leaving Lindell and Hector at the table. Eireen had gone into the other room to open the office for the day. Lindell’s tail swung from side to side slowly. He was still getting used to that feeling, as well as a much more embarrassing recent development. He brushed the loose fur off the table in front of him quickly, glancing at his brother.

  Hector was watching, but he had no expression. “Eireen told me.”

  Lindell sighed. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “She says it will probably stop soon, that it’s just the season. It’s getting hot out there.”

  “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about—” Hector started.

  “I’m shedding,” Lindell said. “Another thing for the people of Arkose to talk about when they think I can’t hear them.”

  Hector slumped a little where he sat. He took his glasses off and cleaned them on his shirt, something he did when he was deep in thought. When he put his glasses back on, he started to say something, but Eireen and a tall man wearing a cuirass came into the kitchen right then. The man appeared to be around thirty. His short black hair was neatly combed. He looked at each of them with dark brown eyes and a hard to read expression. He stroked his bushy mustache for a moment before saying anything. His cuirass was spotless and shiny, and a sheathed sword hung at his belt.

  “Morning, Clement,” Lindell said.

  “You can call me Donovan,” he said. He had said this the last time they spoke, but it had slipped Lindell’s mind. Knight Captain Donovan Clement had introduced himself on their first day in Arkose and had warned them about the duke’s laws. “I need that list. The duke has been asking about it.”

  “I’ll make the list,” Lindell said.

  Donovan nodded again. “Thank you. Bring it to me at the barracks.” He turned and left.

  Eireen stayed in the doorway, her brows furrowed. “We can’t tell the truth on that list.”

  “I’ll think of something,” Lindell said.

  Eireen went back into the front room.

  Lindell found some paper and ink. When he returned to the table, Hector had gone. It seemed the two never had a chance to really talk lately, though if Hector wanted to talk, he would. He still hadn’t told Lindell what had really happened to him in the forest of Luna. Lindell set to work on the list, trying to focus on that. How much did Donovan know about illusion witches? Lindell wasn’t sure what limits their illusions had, but he couldn’t make any illusions on himself. He had tried.

  Eireen headed out on a case. When Lindell finished the list, he left the office. They traded off who stayed at the office, in case any potential clients came by. It was Cory’s turn. Donovan was the only one at the barracks when Lindell got there. The door to the small building was open, how it usually was. Donovan had been pacing, not sitting at the one table in the corner. Lindell handed him the list, tense all over, hoping he had written the right things. Would it make a difference to the duke? If the duke met them, he wouldn’t believe the list.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Cory Lyle is a weave witch,” Donovan said, still staring at the list with that impossible to read expression. “You and Eireen are illusion witches.” He looked at Lindell with a blank expression. “You and Eireen made illusions to look this way on purpose?”

  Lindell tried to keep his expression as blank as the captain’s. “We all have our hobbies.”

  Donovan smiled so briefly Lindell wasn’t sure he’d seen it. “I have met a Priest of Iterna before. As for illusion witches, I’m not sure they can make complex illusions on themselves, or keep any illusion going all day.” He folded the list carefully. “This will be good enough for the duke. As long as Phoenix helps with magic related trouble and doesn’t cause trouble themselves, the duke will leave you be.”

  And as long as the duke didn’t meet them and realize they were something other than witches. Now Lindell was trying not to look too relieved. He didn’t know what Donovan thought of witches, or what he even thought of the duke.

  “Your brother isn’t on this list,” Donovan said. “Hector Fairweather?”

  “He isn’t a member of Phoenix,” Lindell said. He had hoped his brother would join them, but Hector still kept his distance.

  There was a question in the captain’s eyes, but Lindell didn’t answer it. Donovan turned away and Lindell left the barracks. He returned to the office, but there were no other cases. He spent the rest of the day cleaning the office, even though he had done that the day before. It was better than going outside, better than being looked at like he was an oddity, or something worse.

  -- --

  That night, Hector returned for dinner. He seemed relaxed, almost happy, while he listened to Eireen talk about the case she’d taken care of earlier. A rune stone gone wrong, but it had been weak enough she had destroyed the stone and its curse with a hammer. Lindell lay awake that night, staring at the ceiling. Moonlight filtered through the thin curtain. Beside him, Eireen was breathing steadily and deeply, already asleep.

  A butterfly with bright yellow wings walked along the ceiling. As soon as it took flight, it vanished. Lindell was tense all over, focusing as hard as he could. A flicker of something moved across the ceiling, but it didn’t take any recognizable shape. He closed his eyes, trying to relax, but a heavy weariness fell over him. He was getting better at illusions, but he had much to learn. He tried hard to control his magic, but it always left him exhausted.

  Was he going about it wrong? If he was, he didn’t know where to learn the right way. Were there other illusion spirits out there? What was he anyway? He had been wondering about that last a lot lately. He wasn’t a spirit and he wasn’t a witch, so what was he? That thought followed him into a light, restless sleep and was still lingering in his head when morning came.

  Eireen, Cory, and Hector all looked tired that morning too. The situation in Arkose wasn’t doing any of them good. Not even Hector, though whatever was going on with him had been since before they left Shale. After breakfast, Cory insisted Lindell go with him to Tabitha’s shop to buy thistle. Lindell had known Cory’s corrupted soul magic was different, but he had learned even more about it living with him. Cory hid his magic when he wasn’t using it, except at night, since he couldn’t hide it all the time.

  He had said if he left his magic out all the time, bad things would happen. Sometimes bad things happened anyway. Sometimes Cory’s magic tried to take over, but thistle could stop it. It made Cory’s magic pull back and made him sleepy. He usually slept the rest of the day when he had thistle. Tabitha had been out of thistle the day before, her new stock not arriving until that morning.

  Tabitha had just opened her shop for the morning when Lindell and Cory got there. The shop was small, with herbs hanging from the rafters, lined up on tables, and crowded onto shelves. There was a counter along the back wall with a door behind it. Tabitha lived behind her shop. When Lindell and Cory came in, she was standing behind the counter, looking through the thick black book where she kept track of her stock of herbs. The equally thick dark blue book beside her was her ledger for sales.

  She looked up and smiled when she saw Cory. Her smile reached her dark blue eyes, which were almost black. Her long black hair was tied in its usual braid. She was twenty, like Cory. She had settled in Arkose and opened the shop two years ago. As usual, she wore clothes that looked too hot for this time of year. A long sleeved dark blue blouse and a long black skirt. She was paler than anyone Lindell had ever met.

  “The thistle came in this morning,” Tabitha said. She smiled at Lindell too, but it didn’t make her whole face light up like when she smiled at Cory. And Cory thought she didn’t like him that much… She set a thick parcel on the counter. “Here’s a pound of it. I don’t want you to run out, in case my next shipment gets delayed. You are the only one buying it.”

  Cory hesitated, probably trying to think of what else he could use as an excuse to visit her.

  Tabitha smiled further. “Feel free to stop by anytime, even if only to see what other herbs I have in stock.”

  Cory smiled too and paid for the thistle. Did Tabitha know what it was for? She had said she didn’t want him to run out.

  “Are you alright, Lindell?” Tabitha asked suddenly. “You look troubled.”

  “I’m fine,” Lindell said quickly.

  Tabitha was frowning, looking at him as though considering something. “Cory said the situation with magic here in Arkose is getting to you.”

  Lindell wasn’t sure if he could blush anymore. At least if he was blushing, no one would see it through his fur. He looked at Cory, who had taken a sudden interest in the display of lavender on the counter.

  Tabitha smiled suddenly and mischievously. “Don’t worry, I already know about your magic, and not from Cory. I have another source. You have spirit magic.”

  Lindell hesitated. “Do you know about spirit magic?”

  Tabitha’s smile faltered. “I don’t know much about their magic… I know some things about spirits, but it’s not for me to share. Sorry.” Her brows furrowed and she stared at him intensely. “Don’t let the situation in Arkose get you down. Things will change, and hopefully they’ll change for the better soon. Arkose wasn’t always like this.”

  Lindell hoped she was right. “Thank you.”

  Tabitha nodded, then smiled at Cory again.

  The bell over the door chimed as a nervous looking woman came in. Lindell and Cory left the shop, heading back toward the office.

  “She likes you,” Lindell said.

  Cory smiled, blushing, but he looked uncertain.

  “How does she know about my magic?” Lindell asked. “And she seems to know why you need thistle, or at least that it’s important.”

  Cory hesitated. “I’m not sure if she wants it known.”

  Lindell nodded. “I suppose she would have told me back there if she wanted me to know.”

  “She can be trusted,” Cory said, sounding entirely certain. “And the one who told her about my magic and about you can be trusted as well.”

  Who else would know about Cory’s magic? If Vedrix had been talking to Tabitha, Lindell was sure either Tabitha or Cory would have said. It had to be someone else.

  They reached the harbor, and Lindell avoided looking directly at anyone. He still saw the looks they gave him and people quickly walking in the opposite direction. Somehow, Eireen was immune to the stares and the rumors. She had told Lindell she didn’t care what the people of Arkose thought of her, so long as they weren’t afraid of her. There was that at least. Arkose wasn’t afraid of them, just wary. And some were disgusted.

  A well dressed noble scowled at Lindell when he and Cory passed through the main alleyway of shops. Lindell knew it shouldn’t bother him. Really that part was no different than in Shale. The other nobles had always been disgusted with him there. It was just that sometime over the last year, he had started to wonder if they ought to be disgusted by him. He pushed that thought far away, but he knew it was still there.

  “What’s wrong?” Cory asked.

  Lindell looked at his friend. “Nothing is wrong.”

  Cory sighed. “You’re a terrible liar. If a noble looked at you that way back in Shale, you would have smiled and said good morning. Your ears drooped and your tail stopped moving just now. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

  Lindell wanted to believe it, but he would be lying if he said he did. Neither of them said anything more on the way back to the office. Eireen was sitting behind the desk in the front room when Lindell and Cory reached the office. Cory took the thistle to the kitchen, where he usually kept it in a cupboard. Eireen came around the desk and took Lindell’s hands in hers, frowning hard.

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” she whispered. “I know something is bothering you.”

  “I’m fine,” Lindell said. When had he started lying to Eireen?

  She didn’t look the least bit convinced, but she moved in closer, wrapping her arms around him. She was short, about the same height as Cory, who was the shortest man Lindell had met. Eireen looked up at him, then she stood on her toes and kissed him. He kissed her too. They hadn’t had a moment like this in a long time. Donovan cleared his throat, very efficiently killing the moment. Lindell and Eireen pulled away from each other and looked at the captain where he stood in the office doorway.