Title: The Affair of Patty and His Magic Mittens Part 27

Rating: Nothing Serious

Pairing: Patty/Mittens… I guess...

Dedication: To Rebecca!! The mittened Patty is her plot bunny so Happy Birthday!!

The vampire grinned with a beatific smile and it disappeared when Hull swung his heavy sword at it. Rebecca’s heart stopped because she had already seen this move before. Sure enough, the vampire appeared behind Brett, pinioning him with its immortal, inhuman strength. It opened its foul mouth to bite when Rebecca heard the whiz of more arrows. Each one found its mark and the vampire shrieked before turning into a pile of dust, three arrows falling helplessly to the ground.

Brett turned around and looked at a young man who had come from the trees; he still had his bow held in front of him as if to shoot more arrows. Rebecca recognized the young man as the one who fried sweet dough rings for Hull the day before. Brett nodded to him and the young man put his bow down.

With broad, heavy strides of his thick, muscled legs Brett came first to the lieutenant who lay prone on the ground, still weeping blood into the dust. “Sergei!” he said and he turned Sergei onto his back and pressed his hand against his cheek. “Lieutenant Fedorov, it’s Hull, you’re safe.”

Sergei moaned and Brett turned his face to one side and touched the wound on Fedorov’s throat. “He’s lost far too much blood to sustain strength, gawddammit.”

“I can help him!” Rebecca exclaimed, impatient to still be in binds and annoyed that Brett seemed to have not noticed either her or Kris. “Untie me.”

Brett looked at her with his icy eyes. “Untie them, girl,” he barked.

Rebecca’s heart both rose and fell when she saw Christiane dash out from amongst the trees, the majority of her face hidden under that floppy hat. She had been certain that she would never see her friend again, but now this meant Christiane was no longer safe from grievous danger. “Christiane you didn’t!”

Christiane smiled, but her eyes seemed tense and shining. She knelt next to Kris first and her fingers tugged at the rope around Kris’s wrists, unsnarling the knot and freeing her. “You can’t leave me behind,” Christiane replied and she turned to Rebecca and began to tug at her binds. “You’re silly if you thought I’d just stay behind.”

Rebecca sighed with relief as the rope fell from her wrists and she turned over and laughed when she saw Kris leap forward and hug Christiane from behind, kissing her on the cheek. “I love you! How did you convince the captain to allow you leave?”

Christiane laughed. “I played a riddle game with the captain until he got fed up and went to bed and when he did I went to Lieutenant Hull’s tent and convinced him that it was his duty to take me through the forest because it would unconscionable to just let him go alone with you two without any back up support. He really is a decent man…”

“Are you loose?” Hull roared, “Come here girl and help him!”

Rebecca sat up and looked at Hull as he had his hand pressed over Fedorov’s wound. She stood up feeling heartsick and fearful at the extent of Sergei’s injury.

“You beat Captain Sakic at a riddle game?” Kris exclaimed behind her.

“No one beats me in riddle games!” Christiane replied proudly.

Kris laughed. “But Rebecca always beats you!”

“Well…no man has ever beat me in a riddle game, so there!”

“He’s still breathin’,” Hull said, “But I don’t think for long unless you have some witchcraft that can save him.”

Rebecca knelt next to the Lieutenant and she looked at that wound. She put her fingers to the edge of it and more blood trickled out but the first thing she noticed was no vein or artery was exposed and the wound seemed relatively shallow. “It’s a vampire bite,” Rebecca said feeling a little relieved, and she pulled the precious bag of spell herbs from around her waist and opened it. “The saliva loosens blood flow but it can be stopped.” She pulled out a handful of silvery leafed plants and crumbling them in her hands she spit on them, rolled them again and pressed the paste against Sergei’s wounds. “He just needs rest, thank Odin’s Grace, and he will be better.”

“We don’t have time for rest, do we?” Hull said.

Rebecca shook her head. “You’re right, we don’t.” She thanked Hull’s aide who handed her a clean cloth and she wrapped it around Sergei’s throat, the white linen darkening red with a small circle of blood but not drenching. Already the blood flow slowed. Fedorov moaned and his eyes fluttered open.

“Thirsty,” he whispered.

“Beer!” Rebecca said, “Alcohol of any sort, do you have it? The alcohol will help clean his blood of the vampire’s poison, and wake up his brain.”

“Will he be okay?” Christiane asked.

Rebecca nodded. She hoped she looked more confident than she felt. Never before had she seen a real vampire, but she’d read about them. Her training as a witch required healing and knowledge of evil spells and creatures and how to heal the victims of them.

“Will Wizard’s Ale do?” The aide asked, “If you don’t mind Lieutenant Hull.”

“Naw I don’t mind,” Hull replied, “Give it to him.” He helped his friend sit up, gently holding up his back and Rebecca was reminded of a mother lion with cubs. He took the flask from his aide and put it to Sergei’s lips. Fedorov’s eyes opened and widened as he drank, taking the flask in his hands and drinking the rest of it down.

“Won’t he be inebriated now?” Kris asked, the expression on her face was more curious than concerned.

“No,” Rebecca said. “This time the alcohol will work as a medicine.” She looked at Hull in surprise as he put his arm on her shoulder and she blushed.

“Bless you darling,” Hull said. “Your magic will sustain us.”

“She’s a special little witch,” Fedorov said in a tired, cracking voice. “I guarantee her presence will change our fortunes for the better.”

Rebecca looked away, nervous and unsure how to respond. “We, we need to find the way into the castle now, if, we can’t waste time…”

“Help me up,” Fedorov said, “I can walk from there.”

Rebecca dutifully leaned over and took Sergei’s arm and she allowed him to put his weight on her while Hull took the other side of him. Fedorov groaned but he stood steady enough on his feet, blinking as if he’d never seen sunlight before.

“They came from the sky,” Kris said. “The air above the canyon.”

“Is there an invisible bridge?” Christiane asked. “A magic bridge maybe?”

Sergei grimaced, “Would you volunteer to test that theory?” His voice had an annoyed bite to it, an intolerant bite that Rebecca granted him. Not everyday does a soldier have to contend with goblins, rogue warriors and a vampire bite. She couldn’t imagine him tolerating Chistiane’s facetiousness for very long.

Christiane scowled. “Just a suggestion.”

Kris stood with her hands on her hips, squinting at the horizon, she slowly turned around. Faith stood strong in Rebecca’s heart, Kris had fallen onto a theory once, could she complete it now they were here? “Christiane might be right, in a way,” Kris said with thoughtful, pursed lips.

“How so?” Hull asked. He spanked Christiane playfully on the butt causing the girl to squeak and run to Rebecca’s side.

“Well…” Kris said slowly. “Don’t look at the castle; look at the ravine and the river.” She squinted and then she crossed to another side of the cliff at an angle from the castle, the beginning of the horseshoe cut. She turned around and looked at the castle and then turned the other direction, looking down the ravine there. “There it is!” She cried.

Everyone ran to Kris’s side.

“Look!” Kris exclaimed pointing. “Do you see that dead, white tree down there by the river; look at the vines above it and the dark boulders, the two large ones and the two white ones?”

“We see them, little one,” Fedorov said, he groaned and Rebecca saw his eyes flutter as if fighting sleep and he rubbed his fingers over his bandage, at the wound hiding underneath. She knew that it took more than one bite from a vampire to turn another into one, so at least she didn’t have to worry about him changing, but he probably would be pretty diminished in capacity for a few days.

Kris pushed past them and ran to the Cliffside facing the castle. “She pointed, what do you see?”

Everyone followed her and Rebecca looked to where Kris pointed. “I see it!” Christiane exclaimed, “Oh how keen! There are identical trees and boulders and vines down there. How did that happen? Can that happen? How clever!”

Kris took Christiane’s hand and patted it. “It’s a reflection, Christiane.”

Christiane’s brow wrinkled and she nodded but no understanding shone in her eyes. “Oh?”

“Ain’t that some shit?” Hull exclaimed with a laugh. “It feels so real, it is magic then?”

Rebecca felt her mouth open. “It’s a reflection spell!” She blinked; the sheer strength of the spell must have cost Hades more than a kingdom’s worth to manufacture. She ran to the opposite end of the cliff and saw the same image repeated. On blind faith alone she dashed over the edge of the cliff, to the cries of horror from her friends and protectors and after feeling heaviness against her skin like the weight of water, she found herself standing on a dark gravelly path overhung with black trees and leading straight to the castle door way.

She laughed in triumph and turned around; she could see her friends standing with open mouths and looks of fear. Of course to their eyes she had just disappeared! She reached her arm to them and Kris grabbed ahold of it and pulled her back. She laughed again. “Don’t do that again!” Christiane cried.

“It’s safe,” Rebecca exclaimed, “We can get through to the castle from this side. Come on!” TBC