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Kory and the Unbound Demon 2013 Gren Drake

Vincent led them straight into the forest, travelling in what seemed to be a straight line. Well, mostly straight; occasionally he detoured to the side to avoid an obstacle. It was clear, however, that he knew exactly where the village was relative to them and he pushed them relentlessly on their way there.

Angela tried to talk to the hunter several times over the trip, but every time he simply told her to wait until they had arrived; it was clear that he did not want to delay his arrival any further.

Unlike when he was alone with Angela, Kory traveled a short distance behind the two still-humans at about the same distance as the hunter's donkey. The Council of Hunters was best known for its dedication to destroying evil magic, but having no oversight meant that they got to define evil however they liked. Despite Vincent's apparent friendliness, the Council was known as much for its looseness in defining "evil" as they were for their dedication in destroying it. It seemed wise for Kory to avoid the hunter's notice as much as possible.

It was late afternoon when they burst out of the trees and onto the edge of a village. While Kory was not surprised to see the forest near the village-everywhere not specifically and regularly cleared was forested-he was surprised to see how much it encroached on the village with some of the trees seeming almost to be leaning against the small buildings, some of which had actually been built within the forested region.

"Welcome to Vatos Village," Vincent said, pausing briefly at the forest's edge. All of them looked at the buildings for a few seconds; outside of the forest, there was little difference between the construction of this village and Badon Village where Kory came from. It felt almost homey, or at least it would have if it wasn't obvious that the inhabitants were going out of their way to avoid the newcomers.

"It isn't far to Charles' home," Vincent added, gesturing into the village. "Let's be on our way."

The house that the hunter led them to sagged heavily and the windows were shuttered with the shutters hanging oddly as if someone had decided nailing them in place was a better option than actually repairing them. What was probably once a small garden ran along the edge of the house, now overgrown with tall plants that leaned out, away from the building.

Vincent walked up to the door and rapped on it a couple of times before pushing it open. While the door worked better than that of the stable Kory had originally woken up in, it was clear that it had been subject to the same style of maintenance as the rest of the house.

A cloud of deep bluish smoke hovered near the ceiling inside and gave the entire place a rather acrid smell. Kory's initial judgement that this was magical in nature was quickly revised as he caught sight someone who was presumably Charles.

The rather elderly looking man was leaning back in a rickety chair that looked decided unfit to hold a man of his girth. His skin sagged in a way that suggested he had once been even larger and a long, dirty-grey beard ran down the front of his peasant tunic. An age-wrinkled hand pulled the fat cigarette from between his lips and casually flicked a bit of ash onto the floor.

"Ah, Vincent," the man said. "Welcome back. Come on in everyone and make yourselves at home." He gestured towards furniture without seeming to notice that it was piled with half-eaten meals and the occasional book.

Kory stepped gingerly into the room, wishing he could stand upright just so that he'd have less of himself in contact with the floor.

A fat yellow cat yawned on one of the plentiful, if mostly empty, shelves that lined the walls, catching Kory's eye.

"You've brought strange company; do any of you need anything? Food? Something to drink? I've got some good ale that Paul down the way made last week. Did you manage to deal with the mage?"

Kory was momentarily glad of his altered body; unlike the others he would not need to find an excuse to avoid sitting in the chairs. He considered whether to risk settling to his haunches as Vincent introduced them.

Angela spent a moment brushing one of the chairs off before pulling a book out of the middle of a stack. This went on the chair and she sat on it instead. Her tail curled around, the end resting in her lap as the rest miraculously avoided coming in contact with anything. The bundle of her old robe, still hiding the book, rested just under the fluff.

To Kory's surprise, Vincent just sat in another chair, not seeming to notice the condition of the place at all. He lounged in a way that no simple wooden chair should have allowed.

"Seems the mage was dealt with before I could find him, Charles. I'm told he tried to summon Abbarax with pretty much the results one could expect."

"Abbarax?" The man blinked several times, peering at Vincent. "Really? You're sure? I have trouble imagining anyone being in a position to do so without also knowing why it's a rather bad decision."

Vincent nodded, gesturing towards Angela with one hand. "So I'm told; these two witnessed it. The beast-" Kory gave Vincent a glare, but did not interrupt- "can speak by the way."

Charles turned to face Angela and Kory. "So, what exactly happened?"

Angela quickly summarized their encounter with Rupert and their escape. As she reached the end, Charles was nodding along with her words. "I see. So reckless of him. I'll see if there's anything I can do to help if you'd like, but first I've got a problem of my own. Right up Vincent here's alley."

Vincent raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"A bit after you left a demon took up residence in one of the barns in the village. The animals won't go near the place now and even my magic doesn't seem to affect it. It has yet to actually do anything, but still, I don't like having a demon around."

The hunter nodded. "Yes. Bear not with demons. Let us go to this barn." He stood, the chair sticking momentarily to his backside. Perhaps because of the book she'd put down, Angela had no such difficulty and reached the door first. Kory, who had never quite gotten to sitting down, had no difficulty at all.

Getting back out into the fresh, clean air was something Kory was thankful for, even if people still avoided the group as much as ever and even if Charles still kept smoking his reeking cigarette.

* * *

It did not take long to reach the barn. Given the size of the village it wouldn't have taken long to get anywhere within it. Even as the villagers avoided them, Kory could see some people surreptitiously observing them from windows or from around the corners of houses.

The barn was located on the outskirts of the village and out of the forest, but near to a stream that flowed out from between the trees. The earth around it was hard packed from use even if there was no sign of animals being in residence at the moment. The building itself was a broad, sturdy structure. Plants grew along the edges and some adventurous ivy was making its way up the walls.

Inside it was much the same; solid plentiful supports were matched by a clean interior, albeit an empty one. The only thing that really stood out was that the barn was darker than he would have expected, especially given the windows and open doorway, but that could well just have been a trick of the light. As they entered the barn there was no sign at all of anything living inside. Charles paused momentarily to toss his cigarette onto the hard-packed earth before joining the others inside.

"No beasts and few men have been willing to enter since the demon showed up," he said. "I'm not fond of it either, especially since it just ignored my best spells. It could at least have acknowledged them!"

Kory stopped just inside the door, sweeping his eyes around the interior and he noted Angela stop almost even with his hips. The mage went further in by almost an arms-length. Conversely, the hunter drew his massive sword and almost charged into the building. The darkness seemed to gather around him, as though attracted by his bravado. His charge faltered not far inside, but not because of the darkness.

"So, where is this demon?" He looked around, his sword moving with his gaze even as the point drooped towards the ground.

"Up there." The mage gestured towards one of the rafters and everyone's looked up. Kory gasped as Angela's hand slipped into his mane, painfully gripping the hair there. Sitting on the underside of a beam was Abbarax. It hadn't changed since Kory had seen it last; it still had midnight black hide unblemished by the touch of light and its eyes still cast their sickly green light as it surveyed the humans and ex-human below it. The demon's long tail hung upwards as though it were the one that was upright and everyone else was on the ceiling. Abbarax showed no sign of being aware that it was upside down or that its position was in any way unusual.

Its vibrant red tongue slipped out of its impossibly toothy maw and it licked its lips.

We meet again. Kory flinched as the words pounded through his brain, bypassing not only the air between himself and the demon, but his ears as well. Indeed, they seemed to entirely bypass his conscious mind, burning themselves directly into his awareness. As no one else reacted it appeared Abbarax had communicated-to say it had spoken would imply there had been speech involved-with him alone.

"Die, demon!" the hunter cried, charging forward and leaping up towards where Abbarax was resting. "Return to the hell that spawned you!" The sword flashed through the air with what light was in the barn flashing off it.

Abbarax's jaws parted and its tongue darted out, wrapping around the blade and yanking it out of the hunter's hands. It crashed into the demon's mouth sideways, but Abbarax did not deem this worth of notice. Instead, it bit down, the sound of its teeth crushing the metal loud in the air. It chewed slowly, drawing more and more of the blade into its mouth until nothing remained, then swallowed. A shapeless lump could be seen flowing down its throat. Or rather up its throat given that Abbarax was still upside down. Finally, it burped. This was a long, drawn out sound.

The hunter stared at this process in silence before finally uttering his protest. "Impossible!"

The mage gave a grim chuckle. "I see your blade was no more effective than my spells."

"This cannot be. That blade is, was, thrice blessed and deemed suitable for dealing even with greater demons. That, that thing cannot have been unaffected."

Kory forced himself to take a few steps forward. Abbarax's head swiveled to watch him, ignoring both the mage and the hunter who had just attacked it.

"Um," he said.

"Silence, beast," the hunter said. "I must learn how this can be. The Council must know of this new threat."

"I think-" Kory tried again.

"I said be silent!"

Everyone's attention turned to Abbarax as it lifted one forepaw. What light remained in the barn seemed to draw towards it, lengthening the shadows and darkening the sun. The light now absent from the barn was gathered in what was, for lack of a better word, its hand forming a marble that seemed as if it should have been glowing, though it illuminated nothing around it. The demon rolled this over its fingers for a moment before raising its foreleg and allowing the ball of light to seemingly roll down its foreleg, over its shoulder, and up along the other. Abbarax twitched its foreleg, sending the ball of light soaring up, that is to say down, into the air in a graceful arc then, as it descended once more, or ascended really, Abbarax's tongue lashed out, wrapping around it and dragging the ball of light into Abbarax's mouth. It swallowed.

The entire time, Abbarax's eyes never left Kory. But then, neither Kory's eyes nor anyone else's ever left Abbarax. The mage was the first to move, darting back outside.

"What?" he said from the safety of the outside. "It's still quite bright out here."

"This is not good." The hunter glared at the demon. "Clearly this demon is more than it lets on."

"But it's-" Kory began again.

"Know your place and leave these matters to your betters," the hunter told him. Kory rolled his eyes at the man's back, an action only Abbarax could see. He and Angela joined Charles outside.

"So just what is it you want to say so badly? Vincent can get rather focused sometimes and forget his manners."

"That demon, it's Abbarax."

The mage gaped and stared. For a moment it seemed he had completely frozen, not blinking, not breathing. "What?" he managed after a few moments.

"That's Abbarax. I recognize it from Rupert's summoning."

The mage gapped a bit more then shook himself. "I was- I was standing that close to- Argh!" He addressed himself to the sole remaining figure inside the barn.

"Vincent! Get out here!"

The hunter backed out, keeping his eyes on the demon. "What is it? I need to find a way to dispatch the fiend."

The mage put his hands on Vincent's shoulders. "That fiend is Abbarax. Kory here recognizes it and I have no reason to doubt him."

"Absolutely impossible!" The hunter turned and stared into the barn again for a moment, brushing Charles' hands from his shoulders. "Or, no," he continued, speaking slowly, "now that you mention it I can see the signs." The hunter turned on Kory. "Why didn't you mention this earlier?"

"You didn't give me a chance!" It was difficult to berate someone with power over whether he lived or died, but once he started the words flowed out eagerly. "I tried to tell you several times, but you kept telling me to be quiet."

"Bah!"

Charles stepped between them, pushing them apart. Or rather, pushing Vincent back; though shorter than any of the humans around him, Kory was considerably more massive and better braced thanks to his surfeit of feet. "Let us retire to my house; we can discuss this there."

Vincent gave Kory a sour glance. "Very well. I need to consider how to proceed anyway." They all made their way back and this time no there no sight of the villagers at all.

* * *

The trip back to Charles' house was not remotely pleasant. At every moment it felt as though Abbarax was watching over him and Kory would not have put it past the demon to be able to see through walls, either. That Vincent spent most of the trip staring at him, and not in a friendly way either, did not help. Kory spent most of the trip glancing back over his shoulder, half expecting to spot Abbarax sitting casually on a fence-post or something. He never did; the trip was entirely uneventful.

And even once they'd made it back to the mage's house Kory once more faced the no less daunting challenge of finding somewhere to sit that did not disgust him. Angela returned to her seat with the book, though he noted that she was still holding the robe she'd concealed the Black Grimoire in. Eventually Kory decided he was just going to stand; his feet had already been in contact with the floor; there was no need for him to expose anything else to it.

Once Vincent and Charles had returned to their seats as well she pulled the book out from where it had been hidden in her robe. "This is the book that Rupert used to summon that thing." She dropped it on the table where it clattered against a plate. The hunter moved his chair over to it, not bothering to unstick the chair from himself, and tried to pick the book up. He ended up having to give it a fairly solid yank to get it free of the table.

"The Black Grimoire of 53 Exciting Things to Do on a Rainy Day?" Vincent read the title of the book aloud then flipped it open to the first page. Kory could see the hunter's lips move as he read, but the hunter made no sound.

"So," Charles asked after a moment, "just where did Rupert get this thing? Do we know who wrote it?"

"I'm not sure where he got it, but Rupert mentioned it was by someone named Arthur the Dark." Kory stepped over to where the hunter was reading as he spoke, careful not to get too close. From there he looked at the book over the man's shoulder. Or under it really, given that Kory's head was about even with the hunter's stomach. Conveniently Vincent lowered the book as though he wanted to give Kory a view of what he was reading.

"Really?" Charles sounded surprised. "I thought the Council had locked up all of Arthur's works."

"They have," Vincent said. "This-" he flourished the book- "is clearly a forgery. Arthur the Dark used only elder magic and every volume on the subject is locked in the deepest vaults."

"It worked well enough for Rupert." Kory added.

"You said Abbarax got him."

"After I pushed him into his circle, yes." Kory squinted at the words in the book but this didn't help him read it. He could see it just fine after all; it was the actual reading that was the problem. Reading wasn't a skill he'd developed very well.

After a moment he realized the room was silent and that Vincent had not turned the page. He looked up; both Vincent and Charles were staring at him.

"What?" he said. "Rupert had been quite clear that if I didn't serve him he was going to kill me."

"Never mind that," Charles said, waving a hand as if the banish the mood. "Let's worry about the present right now. We've got an Elder Thing in the barn. Vincent, how does the Council usually deal with this sort of thing?"

"We don't," the hunter said, waving the book around and thus making it even harder for Kory to try and read. "It's very rare that anyone successfully raises an Elder Thing. I think it's been more than a century since anyone did. Last time we had a full gathering of the Council; we just barely succeeded."

"Ah," Charles said, looking down at the table. "A standard banishing wouldn't do it then?"

Vincent stepped forward, setting the book on the table once more, his fingers idly flipping the pages even as he spoke. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the content. "Didn't you already try that?" He shrugged. "That is what was used, but there were two hundred fully trained mages doing it and it took three days, at least according to what I've read."

Charles shook his head, staring at the book.

"Wait!" Kory said. Everyone turned to stare at him. "Back a couple of pages. Yes, that, there. That's the spell that Rupert used to summon Abbarax."

Vincent looked down at it. Even Charles stood and circled around the table to see.

"You can understand it?" Vincent asked.

"No," Kory told him. "Not at all. I recognize the symbols; that picture is what Rupert drew on the ground."

"But," Charles said, "that's not a spell, not even a summoning. Not a complete one at any rate. It shouldn't be able to summon the least of things, never mind an Elder Thing. You're sure Rupert used this?"

Kory nodded. "Yes. He said something when he invoked it as well, giving various titles for Abbarax and whatnot."

There was silence for a few minutes as everyone read the spell. At least, as everyone other than Kory did; he tried, but it was definitely beyond his reading level.

After a moment Charles grunted and shared a glance with Vincent. "It's that simple?"

"So it seems. Are you going to do it? You're the mage."

Charles shook his head, staring back down at the book. "You're the hunter. You're used to dealing with unworldly things."

"Not like this I'm not," Vincent replied. "I only deal with unworldly things that are of this world. Or at least things susceptible to my sword." A pained look crossed his face then, but disappeared almost as fast.

Charles shook his head. "The biggest spell I've dealt with was when Roger cut his fool hand off a couple of years ago; I didn't get posted as a village mage because of my outstanding breadth of knowledge or ability and this is clearly beyond both."

"Humph," Vincent said and they stared at each other again. Kory looked down at the page and the design that was illustrated on it. He couldn't read the text, but the design, the spell pulled at him. He suspected that Abbarax knew perfectly well what was required to send it back.

"Is it a difficult spell?" Kory asked.

"Hm?" Charles replied. "No, not unless you get it wrong." He laughed nervously. "That is, it's not at all draining and the design is simple enough for a spell of this type, but if you get it wrong you'll be at the mercy of Abbarax." He shuddered.

"I'd be willing to do it, if I can, and if someone tells me the words."

"Are you sure?" Angela asked.

"You, cast the spell?" Vincent protested.

"Not really, but it needs done and no one else seems willing." Kory was replying to Angela, but if the hunter took it otherwise he'd have no objection.

Vincent shrugged. "Long as it's not me; I say we give him the chance. Little loss if it goes wrong."

Charles sighed. "Very well. We will, I think, do the spell in the barn. It seems more fitting and we won't be interrupted."

Charles pulled the book from the table and though this action seemed to take more effort than it had when Vincent had done it Charles didn't show any sign of noticing. Then again, Charles lived in the house. It was probably normal for him.

"Let's be on our way, then." He said and they departed the mage's house once more, pausing only momentarily for Vincent to separate himself from his chair.

It was fortunate that the barn was not far given how often they were going back and forth.

* * *

It did not take them long to return to the barn, and Angela stopped at the door to lean against its frame, her tail swishing gently as she watched. She did not have a role in the events to come and showed every sign of being content to be out of it. Abbarax was still seated in the same place, still showing no signs of realizing that the underside of a rafter was not a normal place to sit. Its lips were parted in what could almost be considered a grin, though its outsized teeth destroyed any amount of encouraging effect the expression might have had.

Almost immediately upon their arrival Charles took the book and moved to the centre of the barn and started drawing out the design. Kory's only real experience of magic was watching Rupert prepare his spells and he was surprised at how swiftly Charles worked, the stick he was using to create the design in the dirt moving much faster than Rupert's had. What had taken Rupert several hours looked like it was going to take Charles less than one. That wasn't the only thing that surprised him, though.

"I thought I was going to have to draw that," Kory said.

"Goodness no," Charles said, pausing to pointedly look down at Kory's not-particularly-dexterous forepaws. "Did you want to? I suppose you could." Despite his words Charles did not look particularly enthusiastic about the idea.

"No! No, I didn't realize it was even an option. I've only seen Rupert perform magic; he did it himself and was rather slower at it."

Charles nodded. "Speed comes with practice, but all good mages draw their own spells. That way they aren't risking their life on someone else's skill. Vincent will go over the words with you while I finish this part." With that Charles turned pointedly back to the spell he was drawing.

Despite what Kory thought was an overly theatrical groan, Vincent crouched down near the book. Kory joined him there and soon they were going over the words, carefully divided into separate bits and practised out of order so they wouldn't invoke themselves before the rest of the spell was ready.

"You'll want to make sure you get the words right," Vincent said as Kory finished repeating the last of them. "Get any of this wrong and you'll be at the mercy of Abbarax who is proverbial for its absence."

They both glanced at where Abbarax was for a moment. The Elder Thing looked back, still grinning its toothy grin.

"I'm sure I've got it." He'd gone over them several times, every time accurately. Since, like most peasants, he was not particularly literate he was long accustomed to accurately remembering things.

"I hope you're right, it looks like Charles is pretty much done with the spell." Despite Kory's success in during their practice, the hunter did not sound encouraging at all and the way he moved back to lean against the doorframe across from Angela was even less so.

Kory stepped over and looked down at the design. As near as he could tell it was correct, but a sense of wrongness still hung about it. Perhaps that was just part of the nature of the spell.

"Are you sure that you've gotten this right?" Kory asked.

"Of course I am! I only do this sort of thing practically daily, after all. Well, not this sort of thing, but magic in general I mean."

Kory nodded, still staring at the design. His eyes drifted over it, coming to focus on one particular part. The runes there were especially curly and complex, yet, seemingly of its own volition, his forepaw lifted itself and, with one claw, altered the design slightly.

Charles blinked at him, glancing between the altered design and the book. Kory shared in his confusion, but instead of staring at the book he was staring at his forepaw; never, as either the forepaw it was now or the hand it'd been before, had his body acted like that.

Then his gaze drifted up to Abbarax. The Elder Thing's expression had not changed; while it was looking towards the ongoing work, it didn't seem to actually be watching what was happening.

"You know," Charles said, "I think you're right. How did you know?"

"I have no idea. Do you think-?" his eyes lifted up to Abbarax meaningfully.

"I can't imagine why it would."

"I get the feeling that it wants this done." As Kory glanced around Charles stood and joined Vincent leaving Kory alone in the centre of the barn.

Kory settled to his haunches before the spell. He raised one forepaw to invoke the spell, but before he did he recalled that Rupert hadn't actually done that until after he'd summoned Abbarax; the spell had appeared to create the collar Rupert had tried to bind the Elder Thing with, for all the good it had done. Wanting to keep to the same pattern as Rupert he lowered his forepaw once more.

"I call thee!" He declaimed instead. His voice echoed in the mostly empty barn. "I call three, Abbarax, Lurker in the Unending Abyss, Devourer of Lost Souls!" As he spoke he had to concentrate on speaking slowly and evenly. It was as if the words were fighting to get out of him, eager to be said. "I call thee, Abbarax, He Who Waits Beyond Mercy, He Who Watches Without Passion!"

Whether it was right or not, the spell was certainly attracting Abbarax's attention. The Elder Thing's eyes were focused on Kory and its long tail swayed above it. Kory fought to focus on the words; it felt as though they were trying to escape so eagerly that they'd damage his throat if unchecked. "I call thee, Abbarax, Before Whom All are Equal and All are Unworthy! I call thee thrice and bind you now to this place. By your name I call thee! Come forth!"

Kory felt a rush of energy flow through his body, making his fur stand on end and sending a cold shiver through him. Charles had had him practice invoking a few trivial spells before they left, an experience he'd found simple albeit much in the same way as getting hit with rocks; this was nothing like that. While no part of it was specifically unpleasant he found himself thinking that getting hit with rocks would have been better. It was as if, for just the briefest moment, something else lived and moved inside of his flesh.

Outside of his body there was a rather less spectacular effect than when Rupert had cast the spell. One minute Abbarax was perched on the underside of a beam, the next it was sitting in the midst of the spell, tail curled around its legs. That left only the second part, the banishing that would send Abbarax back to wherever it had come from. He opened his mouth, but hesitated, not wanting to experience the sensations again only to catch Abbarax's gaze watching him. Then he hesitated no longer; he doubted anything had the potential of being as unpleasant as disappointing the thing he had called.

"Be gone henceforth," Kory continued a last. "Leave this place now. Thy work be finished and thy bindings released. Return to whence you came! Begone!" He took a breath. "Begone! Thrice begone, I banish thee."

Abbarax melted into a pool of darkness that settled onto the ground inside the circle for a moment. Then the world fell away and Kory was in darkness.

For the briefest of moments he had the impression that he was standing on a cliff. That is, he was standing on the vertical portion, not standing at the top looking down. Indeed, as near as he could tell in that brief moment there was neither top nor bottom to the cliff. Everything around him was gray and barren save for distant figures he could see clinging to the edges and gasping for breath in the thin air that, somehow, wasn't bothering him at all.

The moment lasted just long enough for him to wonder if he was dead, then he was back in the barn and was himself gasping as though his lungs had completely emptied themselves. His body was cold, the partial coat of fur that covered him doing nothing to defeat the chill that filled him from end to end.

He blinked, drawing himself up and only then realizing that he had even ended up on the ground, sprawled out as though he'd collapsed. Which he supposed he had.

Angela was by his side and had slipped her hands around him. As he blinked again in the seemingly brilliant light of the barn she helped him sit up. Her hands were like tiny infernos on his skin, the warmth eagerly soaking into him even as it seemed to burn his flesh.

"Goodness, you're freezing! Are you okay?"

"I think so," he said. "For a moment I had a vision of some other place; it was all cliff and some people were clinging to it."

"Yes," said Charles from beyond Kory. Glancing back, Kory could see that the man was nodding. "I suspect that you saw a vision of the Unending Abyss from which Abbarax comes from. Some claim that Abbarax is the abyss."

"I don't-" understand was what he was going to say, but he realized that he did. There was an understanding in his mind that was positively disturbing, that was alien to him.

"I suspect when Abbarax was returned to where it belonged you were pulled back with it, drawn into the Abyss. You are fortunate indeed to have returned to us." As he spoke, Charles tossed a handful of dirt over the design, then he and Vincent used their feet to scuff it beyond recognition.

"Yes," Kory said, but even as he did he knew that fortune had nothing to do with his return; Abbarax had deliberately returned him, either out of some form of gratitude or for some other ineffable reason. Although he knew he'd touched the Elder Thing's mind and a bit of it had remained with him, it remained incomprehensible to him. Abbarax was simply too alien.

"So, that's done. I don't suppose you could look into what's involved in returning me to a human form now?" he asked, changing the topic. He really didn't want to continue discussing what had just happened; some things are better forgotten.

"Hm, yes," said Charles, "let's return to my home. My working supplies are all located there."

Kory stood, though he found his legs trembled under him, apparently not yet recovered from his experience.

"Who's got the book?" Angela asked. "It was here next to Kory a moment ago."

The next while was spent searching for the book, more than enough time for Kory to recover from the physical effects of the spell. Eventually, however, they were forced to give up; Charles said he would return later to look for it further and would warn the villagers not to touch it if they discovered it. And with that, they returned to the mage's home once more.

* * *

Unlike every time they'd been in Charles' house before, they did not remain in the main room. Instead, he opened a door in the back that revealed stone steps leading downwards. In the cellar there were long, flat windows running along the top of the walls that let in a meager supply of light. It illuminated the bare stone floor and even more shelves of books then upstairs. Unlike the main level, however, this area was spotlessly clean, all the books located on their shelves and the furniture cleaned and neatly arranged. In the centre of the room was a large painted circle surrounded by a ring of sand. Vincent pulled a chair out and plopped down into it, to all appearances dropping immediately into sleep, while Angela took a seat on the steps, not actually entering the cellar.

"Welcome to my laboratory," said Charles. "An essential place for any mage."

"It's a lot cleaner than your home," Kory said.

Charles shrugged. "It's good to keep a clean working area. You don't want anything to distract you while working or make you get the runes wrong."

Kory nodded, remembering Rupert. "Rupert worked in a ruined stable."

Ignoring Kory's comment, Charles gestured towards the circle. "If you'll get inside I'll see about setting up a spell that should get us started on getting you back to your original form. We'll have to see just what this Rupert fellow did before we can try to reverse it, however."

Kory walked up to the circle, pacing around it. He could feel the sand bordering it against his feet, or at least, against some of them; he was rather wider than the band of sand was. Inside the circle was nothing, just a stretch of barren floor. Never had a piece of floor been so intimidating.

"Well?" said Charles.

Kory reached out one forepaw over the edge of the circle and felt nothing as it passed over the border. He set it down on the other side, the floor being just as cold and hard there as it was outside the circle. At least, as hard as the parts outside the circle that weren't made of sand. The floor felt reassuringly solid so Kory stepped in with his other foot, slowly moving across the border as though he expected it to hurt him at any moment.

Eventually he ended up on the inside and he settled onto his haunches there. The floor was unpleasant to sit on, but unlike the area above at least here it was clean. Indeed, it may well have been the cleanest floor he'd ever encountered.

"So, now what?" he asked, looking around the room. Along with the omnipresent books, the shelves were covered with a surprising array of knick-knacks, many of which didn't look even slightly magical in nature.

"Just stay there; I'll scribe a spell of analyzing."

Kory watched as Charles took a short wooden stick of a drawer, then knelt at the edge of the band of sand. He pushed the stick into the sand and began to draw runes in it.

"This," Charles said, "is how real magic is made."

"It looks a lot like what Rupert did, only with less room for symbols." Rupert, after all, had used the entire floor of the barn for the spell for summoning Abbarax. Kory shuddered, thinking of the Elder Thing, and deliberately turned his thoughts to other things. "So, how does this work exactly?"

"Well," said Charles, "These runes describe what I'm intending to do. Once activated by my touch-" he touched the edge of one briefly, "they'll flare up and fade and you'll be surrounding with a shell of information about the magic affecting you. Well, probably not an entire shell unless the spell is really complex, but at least a bit the size of a parchment sheet. Once I see that I'll be able to decide what the next step will be."

Kory nodded as he listened, trying to make sense of the words. It seemed simple enough, but he suspected there was more too it; if magic was that simple, surely more people would be doing it?

"So you think you'll be able to fix me? I'd prefer to be human when I get back home."

Charles nodded. "Yes, I think it's quite likely. Spells of transformation are usually just an applied effect, like putting icing on a cake. No matter how much icing you put on, it's still a cake underneath and it's just a matter of removing the icing. A true transformation takes a lot more effort and is a much more complicated spell. There isn't much of an advantage to it so it's rarely done. About the only one is that someone with a real transformation will always breed true to their new kind."

"I see." Kory refrained from mentioning that Rupert had been the one to both transform Kory and to summon Abbarax and that last one had certainly been no easy task. Both had come also from the Black Grimoire.

"Ah-ha!" Charles said, shifting back so he was crouched upright. "It is done!" Only about a third of the band of sand had been filled, but it was plenty; Kory could almost feel the pulsing power in the runes that Charles had created, as if they were begging him to reach out and touch one.

"So do it," Kory said.

Charles reached out and touched the runes. They flared up in glowing light that flooded the room then faded away again. When they faded, they took the runes with them.

Nothing else happened. Kory watched Charles who watched him back, both waiting.

"I don't understand," Charles said. "I must have done it wrong. Let me try again."

Kory watched in silence as the process was repeated. More runes, another flash of light. More nothing.

"Why is the spell failing? What am I doing wrong?"

Vincent stirred slightly from where he was sitting, enough to look over at the mage and to open his eyes, at least slightly.

"Are you sure you are?" he gestured towards Kory with his nose. "That is the work of the Black Grimoire, of Arthur the Dark. Not prone to minor spells, was he."

Kory stared at Vincent. "You mean?"

"Given my friend's repeated failures, it is entirely possible that you have no spell upon you; that you aren't just forced into this bestial form, but that you have actually been physically transformed."

"But, but..."

Charles sighed. "He's right. It's the only explanation, really. I'm not the best mage, I wouldn't be a village mage if I was, but I'm good enough that I couldn't have failed the spell twice in the row like that. I'm afraid there's no magic on you."

"But, now what?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do further. You're going to need to seek the aid of a real mage, someone who can command the proper arts. Not necessarily someone like Rupert or," he shuddered, "Arthur the Dark, but someone with rather more power than I." He turned to Angela. "Would you like me to try and fix your, ah, tail?"

"No," she shook her head, "It's from the same book. I can't see it having a different result. Besides, I've gotten rather used to it by now."

"As you will. What," he turned back to Kory, "are you going to do now?"

It took a few minutes for Kory to respond, and Charles seemed to realize that this would be the case; he spent the time smoothing out his sand once more and putting away his stick. Vincent, meanwhile, seemed to have gone back to napping.

"I guess I'll still go home," he said after a while. "I didn't really want my family to see me like this, but I'd like them to know I'm not dead, even if I am going to have to go find this more powerful mage. Where am I likely to find one of those, anyway?"

"South. The great Institute of Magic lays far to the south, as do quite a number of lesser places. The cities to the south are home to many a powerful mage. At least metaphorically; most of them live outside the actual city boundaries. Shall we go back upstairs now?"

Kory stood, reluctantly following Charles. Vincent and Angela both followed along behind him. "So, can you tell me how to get to Baden village? That's home for me."

"Baden is it? I believe there's a village by that name a few days to the west of here."

Kory sighed; it would be a while longer before he got home.

"Well," he said as they reached the main level of Charles' home, "I appreciate your help, even if you couldn't do much to, ah, help."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more use to you in this, but I can give you something that should help you on your way." He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a small lockbox hidden behind a couple stacks of books that dripped with some fluid. From it he pulled out a handful of small coins and dropped them in a bag.

"Here," he said, "for your assistance in disposing of the demon."

Kory tried to grab the bag and he managed to wrap one forepaw around it, but found it difficult to keep a grip on. There was no way he'd be able to walk while carrying it.

"Um," he said.

Angela stepped forward and nabbed an unusually clean cord off the mage's table. She tied it around the bag and looped it around Kory's neck.

"There," she said.

"Thank you," Kory said.

Charles gestured at the floor. "Would you care to stay the night before you leave? I can offer you whatever floor space you can find to rest."

"No, thank you. I'd like to get going as soon as possible. I've quite a trip to make after all."

"Yes," Angela said, curling her tail around and playing with the tuft of fur on the end, picking at it as though something were stuck in it. Given the state of the room that might well have been the case.

"I'm sorry to hear it. Good journey!"

Kory nodded in acknowledgement, then turned to leave, pushing the door open with his snout and then his shoulder.

It was late, it was dark, and it was not at all pleasant weather for traveling, but it was good to get out of the mage's home. The thought of spending the night in the place was nearly as bad as thinking about the events of the day!

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