Ch. 9— The Ring of Shadow
Moonthread, by Anthony Lee Phillips
CHAPTER NINE
The RING of SHADOW
Ica’s cart was clearly the home of a hoarder.
There were bottles and maps and food in various stages of going bad all around. The rain began dripping through a torn hole in the cloth roof.
Outside of the cart and not far, Nala heard a bottle break. Then, there was shouting, and the sound of flames billowing.
Even the sorceresses were beginning to do work apparently, because the wind began to pick up—
HhhhhHHHH!!!
—and both rain and wind leaked in through the cart’s cracked ceiling.
“Is it true?” Nala asked. “Is there a demon in me? Is…?
“Later, Nala,” grumbled Ica.
Nala didn’t listen. “If there’s a demon in me, and if it’s my fault that…”
As she gestured to Akha, she saw Akha’s face.
“Gran, are you okay? Gran?” Nala said, shaking Akha’s sleeve.
“Fine,” Akha said, eyes bleary, swaying, voice barely a mutter.
The moon grimaced behind a sky of lightning and rain.
“Gran? Look at me— Gran?”
“Wh…” said Gran, swaying, woozy.
Akha’s eyes went up into her head, and she passed out.
Nala shouted something, and flinched at the thud.
The old hag went to Akha, sucking in her stomach to push past Nala. Ica felt Akha’s pulse, and peeled back one of Gran’s eyelids.
“W-what is it?” said Nala. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, uh,” lied the hag. “Uh. Passed out is all. Uh… Uh… Where do you—? You know what, nevermind. I want you to stay here, okay?”
Nala was not okay with that. “What?” Nala said.
There was another smash, bigger this time, and the sound of trampling.
“Closer,” Nala breathed.
“Superstitious idiots,” the hag grumbled. “To me! To me! (Ugru below, I hate warping.) To me, I said!”
Again, Nala felt the flurry of shadow surround her, pull her in, and spit her out somewhere new.
This time, the somewhere new was somewhere that she knew.
She stood in the applewood orchard. Budding purple branches sagged beneth the heavy rain.
And there was Mount Wraithwood, looming over the scene, like some eldritch titan. And beneath the mountain’s domineering silhouette…
Nala’s brow furrowed. “My house?”
Ica shrugged. “As close to it as I’ve been. Come on.”
Then Ica bent over to try and pick Akha up.
Gran Akha was unconscious on the ground, limp limbs flung out toward the mountain. Her eyes were rolled up into her head.
“Help?” the hag complained. “Would you please pick your ass up and help an old woman? I’m dying here!”
Nala scrambled, embarrassed by her own hesitation, and put Gran Akha’s other arm over her shoulder. Nala took most of the weight, but Ica was leading the way forcefully.
Together, they carried Gran Akha into the house. It was slow, awkward, and Nala was tired in less than a dozen breaths.
They finally hobbled into Nala’s house, the little hut she called home. It was so empty. Nala missed her mama, and wondered where she was, and why she was so long away, and when she was coming back.
“Table?” barked Ica. “Table, I said! Where!”
Nala nodded, pointing toward the potion room with her head.
“Can we… stop?” panted Nala.
“No.”
They went awkwardly through the house.
“Here!” the hag said. “Lay her down here!”
With a collective grunt, they unloaded her Gran onto the potion room table. Both Nala and the hag collapsed and caught their breath before talking again.
“How did you know my name?” Nala asked between huffs. “Back there. In the cart. You knew my name was Nala.”
The hag stared at her. “I know many things, Nala Nightheart.”
She squinted. “Wh—? That’s not my name.”
“Not yet,” said Ica.
She did not smile.
She almost seemed sad.
“These… dreams,” Ica said. Then she looked at Nala. “How often do they happen?
Nala shrugged. “Anytime I sleep. Or— anytime I dream.”
Ica nodded slowly, catching her breath. “Are all your dreams true dreams?”
Nala shrugged. “Only the worst ones.”
She felt the sudden urge to disappear and never be seen again.
“I would say you get used to it, but…” Ica said, and then trailed off.
The hag looked out the window. The night was still young. She looked up at Mount Wraithwood.
“Nala?” said Ica.
Nala looked up, and saw the hag rise to her feet.
“I’ll… be back in a bit. Oh! Wait I… I should give you something, shouldn’t I? It might be dangerous.”
The witch started working a ring off of one of her fingers.
“In case I don’t come back,” she said.
It was a grim phrase, said like a joke— she was grinning and everything.
But somehow, her levity only intensified Nala’s presentiment of dread.
She held out the ring. Nala looked at it.
“Here.”
Nala just stared at it.
It was beautiful. It was a black band that coiled into the body of a snake. The witch wore it on her middle finger, which was bigger than Nala’s thumb.
“Well! Take it!”
Nala did as she was told, and turned it in her fingers, studying it.
“You’ve got to put it on if you wanna use it,” teased Ica.
“But… it won’t fit,” Nala said.
“Just put it on,” the hag said, getting annoyed.
Nala put it on her middle finger, just to make a point of how ridiculous it would look.
But then, the ring shrank, to fit Nala’s middle finger.
The Ring
(mmm)
Felt
(mmm)
Right.
The wind blew— not the red wind that made Nala’s jaw tense up. No, this was a smiling wind, that made Nala’s belly resonate and grin.
(mmm)
It almost seemed to come from Nala’s root.
(mmm)
It felt
Like it
Had always
Been
Hers.
The snaking shadow seemed to move, but only when Nala wasn’t looking right at it. The shape had changed though, Nala was sure of it. Before, the snake had… Its shape was… But now…
The ring seemed to have been made to fit Nala. The shadowy band snaked around her knuckle. Nala flexed her hand in every way she could think of. Even when she moved each of her fingers, it never got in the way.
Like it was made for her.
mmmaybe it was.
Ica said something. Nala didn’t hear her.
Nala nodded, then looked up, blinking twice, and said, “What was that?”
Ica hit Nala for the first time then, and not lightly. Her palm skated against the top of Nala’s head.
“Ow!” said Nala.
“Listen!” the witch snapped. She clearly didn’t like to repeat herself. “A Ring of Shadow. Use it wisely, but use it! That’s one of a kind, you understand?”
Nala looked at the Ring again. It almost felt like it looked back at her.
mmm, the Ring seemed to say. As it hummed, it brimmed with a halo of sinking shadow.
Mmmm, said Nala’s own deep voice.
It was almost like the darknesses were talking to each other.
“What kind of magic? How does it work?”
mmmy… mmmy… how mmmany mmmoons ago was this…?
Mmmm? Oh, it was mmmany, mmmany mmmoons to commme…
“How does it work?” Ica said, then she groaned. “It works like a Ring of Shadow! Who cares how it works; it works! Just know that it reacts to everybody differently. Maybe it’ll let you ride the shadow. Maybe it’s a merging ring. I don’t know, and I can’t know, because magic is unpredictable. You’ll get used to it.”
“Oh,” Nala said, half hearing.
“You’ll learn. One thing I can tell you,” she said, pointing, “is that magic items— all magic items— amplify. That’s all they do. That’s all they can do, is amplify what’s already inside you.”
“But… what if there isn’t any magic inside me?” Nala said.
Ica laughed then. It was that same mean laugh Nala had heard earlier that night, before Gran began her Telling.
“No magic inside you?” said Ica. “If you’re as dumb as you seem now, we’re probably all doomed.” Then, that mean laugh again. “While I’m away, just play with it. You’ll figure it out. It helps me the more stressed out you are.”
Nala’s brow furrowed.
Ica nodded toward the ring.
Nala turned her hand in the darkness. They were close to the window, so the moon’s light was close enough to kiss the black-stone-glass band.
“It’s beautiful. I wouldn’t— I mean, I’ve never…”
“Just don’t lose it.”
“Bigger feelings, bigger magics,” Ica said. “That’s emotion magic for you. Hope that’s enough of a tutorial for you.”
Nala looked at Ica. Did she ever blink? “Th-thanks.”
Ica grunted, and her eye fell on Akha.
The joy was eaten from her face. She looked older than her years.
“Will she be okay?” Nala asked, voice small.
Ica nodded. “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen this girl go through.”
“Is that a yes?” Nala said.
Ica looked at her.
“…I’ll be back. I hope.”
Ica opened up the door. The rain roared, and a crack of red lightning came down on Mount Wraithwood, chased by blue lightning. The mountain itself seemed to glow the deepest, darkest hint of green beneath the storm that warred with itself.
“Damn storm,” Ica grumbled. She threw up her hood, then shot one final ominous look at Nala.
“If I’m not back by dawn? You’re on your own here, kid.”
* * * * / * * * *
Next chapter: Curse Eater
* * * * / * * * *
(ps— When you’re ready, here are 3 ways to help Nala’s story continue to grow.
1) Keep reading!
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^.^
(Art by Jess Tyree.)
Another great read 👍