The Second Coming Read Online Free Page B

motions. She
sprinkled some powder from one of the leather sacks that hung on
her belt before stepping inside the circle. Paine joined her,
patting the cow’s flanks. Lya placed the torch at the south end of
the circle, a pile of dirt at the north, incense at the east, and a
bowl of water at the west.
    “ Be ready,” she said. “Since the stupid cow won’t let me near
her, you’re going to have to look in her eyes to see what’s going
on.”
    Paine nodded
and grabbed the harness. He stroked Gertrude’s muzzle.
    “ Easy, girl.”
    Lya raised the
knife into the air and whispered her call to the elements. She then
waved the knife in front of the cow, as if teasing it, letting the
light that reflected off the blade flicker in the cow’s eyes. Paine
pulled Gertrude to face him.
    He saw
nothing.
    He continued
to stare, letting his sight focus on the back of the cow’s
eyeballs, straining to see anything. It was nothing like scrying in
a bowl of water under the moon. It was nothing like a mirror
either, but then mirrors were doorways for things unmentionable;
things which should not be seen standing behind you as you looked
upon your own reflection.
    Gertrude
snorted and he shook his head.
    Still
nothing.
    Lya shoved him
and snatched the harness. She stared into Gertrude’s eyes. The cow
groaned; either at her presence or her firm grip.
    She clung to
the cow and her mouth dropped open.
    Lya shook her
head. “No,” she muttered.
    “ What is it?”
    She withdrew
the knife from her belt and slid it across the top of her forearm,
reopening an old wound in a swift motion. Blood dripped into the
straw at her feet and Lya mumbled words under her breath. Paine
caught only “bidding” and “dark”.
    Biting cold
pierced his skin.
    Oh, shit.
    Lya pulled
Gertrude’s head closer to her and the cow’s eyes widened. The barn
doors slammed closed. There was something else with them; and its
intent was anything but good. Cold swirled through the barn, and
the air misted with Paine’s breath. The unseen presence hissed
words Paine could not make out, but its voice sounded willing,
eager.
    Lya nodded and
muttered some words in return. The cold slipped through Paine
again, slow and bone-deep. He sucked in his breath as it passed.
The barn doors flew open and the presence departed. Paine granted
his feet some latitude and took a few steps back into the sun’s
rays. He rubbed his arms.
    Lya released
Gertrude and the cow pulled back, lowering its head almost to the
ground. She sprinkled a powder on her bloodied arm and then wrapped
it in a ripped piece of cloth from her shirt.
    “ They’re coming,” she said.
    “ What do you mean?”
    “ A number of men — including Witch Hunters.”
    “ How can you tell?”
    “ Billy Chapman is following them and I saw through his eyes.
They’re traveling along the Fairfax Road, heading in this
direction. I’ve bought us some time, but not much.”
    “ You may have given them reason to hang us for
witchcraft.”
    “ They’re going to hang us anyway. I saw the rope. And they’re
all armed with silver.”
    Silver?
    Paine had seen
its effect once, when a witch was clamped in silver cuffs. The man
had been reduced to a whimpering dog. For those that dabbled in
bloodcraft, silver not only prevented them from casting spells and
summoning, but it did things to the body that was unnatural. The
man did not survive the ordeal long, and wasted away to nothing
over a period of weeks. Paine never forgot the image of that man,
and swore to himself it would not happen to him or Lya.
    “ We need to leave,” she said. Her voice was solid,
iron.
    He shook his
head in disbelief. There had to be some way to avoid this. Yet he
knew there was nothing. Those men were coming as surely as God’s
wrath. He pressed his lips together and looked over to the old
beech. The hammocks were swinging, and empty.
    “ I—“
    Shouts echoed
from the house, followed by shattering glass. Gwen screamed and
then heavy