WWotWW - Chapter 28 - Traces (Patreon)

It didn’t take us long to find a large rocky outcropping located relatively close to the creek. The formation was too tall and uneven for predators to climb and use as a perch, and it had one relatively flat face that would keep us out of the wind. 

It would also provide partial cover in the unlikely event that someone hostile stumbled into us way out here. It was better to be safe than sorry.

I hopped off Nightmare, quickly unstrapped my gear, and dropped it into the middle of the small clearing before helping Mary off her horse. The girl was obviously sore; she didn’t have as much experience going on long rides as the rest of us, so I was a little surprised she made it so long without a single complaint. I didn’t say anything to her after lifting her down, out of respect. If she didn’t want special treatment, I wasn’t going to give her any.

“Can you girls clear the ground a little, and set up the bedrolls?” I asked as I stepped over to my gear, grabbed my gun case, and flipped it open so I could grab my rifle. 

“Sure, what are you going to do?” Mary asked.

“I’m going to take a quick look around, get a feeling for the area while there’s still light out,” I said. “I’ll grab some water from the creek on the way back.”

“Are you expecting trouble?” Clara asked. I knew she wanted to ask, ‘based upon my feelings earlier?’ but she stopped herself before asking. 

“Not really. I didn’t see any signs of anyone else coming through the area, nor did I see signs of predators. I’m just being cautious,” I replied. “I wouldn’t want a bear or something to wander into our camp in the middle of the night because we settled down in the middle of its territory and didn’t realize it.”

“I’ve got wards to prevent that from happening,” Clara declared, pulling a handful of carved stakes out of her pack.

“Good. While I expect those’ll keep us safe, I’d still like to know what’s around, just in case,” I said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be long. Just a quick walk around the perimeter,” I declared as I stood up. The girls didn’t quite look convinced, but they didn’t say anything more. 

As I retrieved the kettle from my gear, Kaylee jumped up on my shoulder. “Mow…” she yowled softly.

“Give me a minute,” I muttered quietly to the cat. “We’ll talk once I step away from the camp.” Once I untangled the kettle, I raised it over my head victoriously as I stepped out of the camp. “I’ll be back in a minute!” I called over my shoulder.

I waited until I was out of sight of the camp before drawing my rifle and letting the easygoing attitude drop.

“Merrrow?” Kaylee asked.

“Why am I so tense?” I echoed, glancing at the cat. “Really? You probably know the basics of prophecy even better than I do with all the time you spent lounging around Elisa’s caravan.”

“Mrrrrrrrrrr,” Kayle muttered.

“Yes, I know it was because she fed you treats,” I grumbled, “but you should have picked up something while you were lying around in there.” 

The cat just stared at me blankly, so I sighed. “From what Elisa told me, the gift of foresight isn’t actually that rare. Even mundane people can get a bad feeling before tragedy strikes,” I said. “The thing is, the weaker the power, the more extreme the exciting event needs to be for them to foresee it,” I explained. “I don’t know if Clara actually has the gift, but if she does, something drove it into overdrive on the ride out here. Something big might be on the way, and I thought it would be best to be cautious.”

“Mur?” the cat asked.

“I didn’t say anything back at camp because I didn’t want to panic the girls,” I replied. “If I’m wrong, and Clara doesn’t have the gift, they’d be up all night worrying, making it harder for us to move tomorrow, and if I’m right, I really don’t want them panicking before I know what’s coming. I’m sure Clara already suspects I’m up to something, even if she doesn’t know what exactly, I’ll fill her in once we get back.”

I did a wide sweep of the area, looking for any sign of tracks, abnormal magic, or anything else that could be out of the ordinary, and after about twenty minutes I’d become fairly confident that there wasn’t anything too dangerous around. Well, I had found wolf tracks, but compared to the things I was worried about, that was pretty minor. 

When I finished my patrol, I doubled back to the game trail we’d used to travel through the area. Everything looked fine, but I ran a hand through the air, trying to feel the flow of magic.

Kaylee slowly turned and looked at me, her eyes narrowed. “Mow?”

“I’m trying to feel the flow of magic. And yes, I know I probably look ridiculous doing it,” I told her. “It may surprise you to learn that even though I’ve lost the ability to ‘see’ the flow of magic, I think I can feel it.”

“Murrr merrrr?” the cat asked, laying a paw against my face.

“Why? Because even though there’s nothing dangerous in the immediate area, a dangerous magical beast could easily follow our trail,” I replied. “I’d normally setup a bunch of traps along the trail, just in case, but since I don’t have that ability anymore I thought I’d try something else.”

Before my ‘accident’ it would have been easy for me to locate the traces of magic in the air, I’d even used them to track down other witches before, but now I could only barely sense them. I literally had to pass my hands through them, leaving a faint tingle on my skin in order to detect them. 

I took a deep breath, tried to visualize the threads floating upon the winds, and instead of trying to just feel them I let my magic flow over my hand, then reached up and tried to grab them.

The effect was immediate. The traces which were so faint just a moment before flared brightly for a moment as my magic flowed across them, highlighting their position. Then, just as quickly as they’d been highlighted they faded away. 

I reached up and ran my hand through the area where the traces had been just moments before, and this time I felt nothing.

“Mur?” Kaylee asked.

“I scattered the traces, destroyed the pattern so it would be impossible for anyone, or anything to tell them apart from the ambient magic,” I explained. “At least, I think that’s what I did. My magic naturally seeks out it’s opposite, so I was able to send it out skipping between the different motes over quite a distance. If anything tries to track us using our magic, they’ll lose the trail long before they find us.” 

The cat looked at me strangely, and opened it’s mouth to say something, so I cut her off.

“Before you ask I don’t know how I knew I could do it. I’ve had an extremely hard time doing anything but directing destructive blasts through my weapons. I just had this… feeling that I could, and I followed my instincts.” I explained. “Which is the complete opposite of what you’re supposed to do with magic, since uncontrolled magic can cause more harm than good, but it felt right.”

I stepped back from the game trail and rubbed my hands against my jeans. I could still feel the faintest tingle of magic running through my hands, and I wanted the uncomfortable sensation to stop. When it didn’t, I just let out another burst of power, which swept away the remaining residue before dissipating into the air.  

“Maybe that’s why I’ve had so much trouble adapting to this distructive power. I’ve treated it like traditional magic, tried to maintain precise control, where what it really needs is to run wild,” I said.

“Mow!” Kaylee snapped.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let it run rampant. I’m not stupid,” I said. “I’m just going to try and treat it differently. Give it form, without trying to force a function on it, and see what happens. Maybe it’ll help me gain better control.”

“Grrrrrrr…” Kaylee hissed. 

“I know that letting it run lose is the opposite of control,” I sighed. “That’s not what I’m trying to do. Maybe a better explanation is understanding what the power wants to do, and letting it lose to do it when it fits my purpose, instead of forcing it to fit my purpose. Does that make sense?”

Kaylee tilted her head to the side. “Mow.”

“Well, I don’t plan on just letting the power lose. I plan to do some tests with this new method in mind, see what happens, before attempting to harness the power,” I said.

“Mur?” Kaylee asked.

“No, not now,” I replied. “The sun is going down, and I still need to get water before the light fades. We’ll do some tests later. I have a couple more ideas I want to try.” I glanced back at the trail, scanning the area for several seconds before turning away and shaking my head. “I hope that between Clara’s wards and my disruption we won’t be surprised by anything tonight, but we should still stay on guard,” I muttered. “Let’s get back to camp. The girls are probably waiting,”

“Meow,” Kaylee agreed.