The COATS Files

Chapter Six- The Unvanquished

Mary and Fanta were on the third of four barriers, the front gates being easily secured due to the fact that it was their main entrance and already heavily warded. The slanted shingles and chimneys of the house were visible in the far distance over the grassy greens of the leaves on top of the tall trees, only a few weeks from turning to shades of orange and red.

The wind carried the smell from a white lily meadow somewhere in the forest to them, sweetening the air. It was a little disorientating to be able to look to the left and see a barren, sandy landscape kept out only by the perimeter fence, then to the right, and see a flourishing forest, full of grassy fields and fairy rings.

The walk from one corner of the property was a little over a mile, and they were nearly there, so Fanta felt free to lose themself in the scenery a little. Admiring the dark bark of the trees and elegant birds, perched on the high branches and peering out at them curiously. The air was filled with their music as the songbird-types chattered away, and the sound of rushing water from the waterfall they knew was against the back of the property was audible from everywhere across the property. Sometimes, when they couldn't sleep, they would swing open the windows in their room, and strain to hear it. Other times, when the house landed in a particularly hot climate, they would drag the others away from their secret projects, guns, and experiments to hike back there and swim.

Mary walks alongside Fanta, a bag of chalk and the various other ingredients they needed to strengthen the warding swinging in her grip. She also holds her notebook, and strides forward with purpose, watching Fanta out of the corner of her eye.

"What are you thinking about, Meine Schöne?" she asks, after watching Fanta stumble over a tree root and stare openly at the forest around them, bringing Fanta's attention to her, and away from the trees.

"Uh, nothing," Fanta chokes out awkwardly, trying to avoid being spellbound by the pendulum swing of Mary's braids and righting their footing before they end up falling and making a fool of themself. Again.

Mary only hums, unbelieving, and ducks under a particularly low-hanging tree branch, bring them to the corner of the property. Marry kneels in the grass and begins unpacking the bag while Fanta nearly runs into the tree branch in the background and within the minute she had prepped the spell.

With the combination of their creation and barrier magic, strengthening the already existing barrier was a simple task, and although it left Fanta feeling breathless for a moment, it was an easy spell.

The tedious part, enough work that most of them chose to wash dishes instead when the yearly ward-strengthening day came around, was from Apotropaic spell-book, which Mary dropped to the ground with a heavy thud where they could both see, the pages seeming to open on their own.

Apotropaic magic seemed simple, and the first few spells took a relatively low magic-level, low enough that anyone with the knowledge and training could manage, and in parts of the world it was common to find mountains, old bridges, and even buildings with simple warding pendents made by priests or exorcists. Yet, the higher level spells were often linked directly to the health of the caster and, when casting self-sustaining wards, had to been drawn with precision and drained the manna of the caster until complete.

Fanta took a long deep breath before starting on the first symbol, sitting on their knees in front of the stone foundation below the heavy, rusted iron fence encasing the property and holding the crumbling chalk with one hand clasped over the other.

Leaning backwards they took one last look at the symbol they were drawing, just to ensure the slightly faded, yet unbroken symbol they would be tracing over was completely correct, before beginning. The chalk disappeared quickly against the cool stone and the extra dust fell into the long weeds below, covering them like snow, and by the time they finished their arms felt heavy and their knuckles were sore from scraping against the rocks.