Mark of the Fool
Chapter 608: Prelude to the Ritual

The predator stalked its prey. Cunning, silent, deadly.

Fangs gnashed. Low growls rumbled from the beast’s throats, sounding like stone grinding deep in the earth’s core. Rippling haunches catapulted the creature through the underbrush.

…or at least, that’s what was probably going through Brutus’ minds as he dreamt, curled up in Alex’s lab beside a piece of equipment that slowly brewed potions. Every now and then, his growls were followed by snarling, twitching and high pitched whining, nearly drowning out the sound of bubbling liquid drifting from the potion-brewer in the background.

As the cerberus hunted his dream-prey, Theresa watched him, her brow creased and her expression thoughtful. Her frown seemed to hold all the troubles of the world, and a very nervous Alex wondered what was going through her mind as he ground blood lilies in his lab.

‘Oh, by the Traveller, don’t tell me she’s sorry she said yes,’ he worried, almost not wanting to ask. ‘I did surprise her, after all; maybe she’s had time to think about it and decide she’s not ready.’

He continued watching her while she stared at Brutus, noting the nerves and reluctance playing through her body.

He took a deep breath, unable to stand the tension anymore. “Hey…is everything alright?” he blurted.

Theresa didn’t answer him for a time, then finally sighed. “I’m not sure if I want to go through with this.”

Alex felt like a catapult stone had hit him.

“This ritual I mean. I was really excited at first.” She nodded to her dreaming cerberus. “But now, I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do.”

Words couldn’t describe the oceans of relief that washed over Alex, though he’d never admit what he’d been thinking to Theresa.

“Yeah, I guess it’s gotten a lot more real, hasn’t it?” he said, looking around the laboratory.

Everything was ready, the results of weeks of study and preparation.

Claygon had cleared a space in the centre of the room, where Alex had drawn two large magical circles across the floor. They glowed, tinged with the same hue as fresh blood, eachinked with an alchemically preserved pigment of iron, mana-treated water, and sterilised monster blood. Blood magic symbols rippled within each circle, which in turn surrounded images of Theresa and Brutus sketched in the same glowing pigment.

The diagrams had been perfectly reproduced from Alex’s notebook, with one notable change; the lifepaths within Theresa’s form were now accurate since he’d had an opportunity to examine her lifeforce earlier.

He’d drawn red symbols across the huntress’ skin, visible on her neck and below the sleeves of the gown she was wearing. Lifepaths were in the same crimson pigment as those on the floor, and glyphs marked each channel’s intersection.

When the ritual began, the glyphs would support her life energy, while the tonic readied her and Brutus’ lifeforces for the joining.

Beside the sleeping cerberus, the slow-brewer was almost finished heating a tonic, and when the blood lilies were ground to a smooth paste, Alex would paint it on the aeld staff. He had imbued the branch with all the magics he needed to conduct the ritual, and the blood lilies would be the final step. As he pulverised the flower petals, the staff leaned against the wall, giving off feelings of anticipation and bathing in the crimson light of the laboratory.

Red, alchemical flame, positioned at the laboratory’s edges like the points of a crimson star, flickered in five floating braziers, lighting the space. If anyone suddenly walked into the room, they might think he was conjuring a demon, since the preparations for the ritual looked so sinister.

Theresa looked at Alex, her eyes reflecting the unnatural light. “Something doesn’t feel right about this.”

“Well, I’ve got to admit the ritual is a bit creepy,” he joked nervously. “But blood magic tends to be like that: a lot less aesthetically pleasing than magical botany is, for example. I’d be having second thoughts too, I suppose.”

She bit her lip.

“Sorry, sorry.” He put the pestle down on the table beside the mortar and turned his chair to face hers, taking her hand. “What’s got you worried? It is a big step.”

It took a few moments for Theresa to speak again. “Well, I don’t know if Brutus would want this,” she said quietly. “I know you said that he’d weaken but…what does that mean exactly?”

“Of course it would be just like you to worry about that part and not what happens to you if he dies,” he said, smiling. “That’s the caring spirit in you talking as usual.”

She wore a faint smile though she was still frowning. “Am I so caring, so kind? This is selfish. I mean I’m putting Brutus at—No, no. First, tell me what exactly happens to him if I die?”

“Well, according to what I’ve read about the ritual: the exact same thing that would happen to you if he dies, which is the reason why you don’t see a lot of blood familiars everywhere,” he explained. “See, what we’re doing essentially is building a permanent bridge between your life forces. It’ll make both of you more resilient while the other one is healthy, and he'll benefit from your life enforcement. Since your life force is connected to him—a creature of nature—then it should advance your life enforcement training too. But...”

He made a chopping motion with his hand. “It also means that your life forces are united: if one of you dies, it’d be just like if I lost an arm and a leg at the same time. I’d bleed from the wounds; in the same way, if one of you dies, the other one will bleed life force. Now, the ‘wound’ will close fairly quickly, but the injury to your life force would be critical and you would still have lost a lot of energy; you’d become very sick. You might even die.”

Theresa gasped. “Then—”

“No wait, let me finish,” he said, holding up a hand. “But you could also recover, especially if you’re treated with mana to life, or divine healing miracles. The trouble is, even if the survivor recovers, their life force will be diminished. Like I said, it’s like having an arm and a leg torn off your body; you can live, but something will be lessened. Imagine it like this…say you were to suddenly age really fast: you’ll still live, but you’ll be weaker than before. That applies to both of you, but there’s something else to consider with Brutus.”

He pointed to a glyph on the back of Theresa’s hand. “Remember, the power of life enforcement comes from you. If you die, he loses the benefit of that. So, with that whole weakening thing I talked about—Traveller forbid—if you die in a year from now, he’d go back to his regular self. But if, let’s say, you died a hundred years from now, since that’d be way beyond Brutus’ natural lifespan, he’d die almost immediately after your life enforcement left him, probably within seconds.”

Alex sighed. “Or at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. I’ve never done this before, but all thetomes basically say that’s what would happen. I should also mention that since you’re a life enforcement practitioner, you’ll probably make a full recovery if he dies—at least according to the books—since the power of life enforcement comes from you. But, recovering your full strength would take a very long time.”

Theresa shook her head. “I’m not worried about myself.”

“I get that, I do, I just thought that you should have all the information since you're having second thoughts,” Alex said. “Also, I just want to let you know that this is your decision: don’t feel you have to do it because I set it up.” He pointed to the circles. “Say the word and I’ll wipe everything away, you’re the one who has to be comfortable with all of this, right now, and in the future.”

She smiled, squeezing his hand. “Thanks…but do you think it’s a good idea? I’m still not sure.” The huntress looked down at Brutus. “He can’t tell me whether or not he’d want this, and even if I tried to explain it to him…he’s a dog, he’d never understand. So, I’ve got to be a good mother, and make the right decision for him: not for myself.”

“Yeah, if I was in your shoes, I’d be thinking the same way.” His fingers traced the skin on her palm. “But like I said, I can’t make this decision: it has to be you. You’re Brutus’ mom and you know him better than anyone does. Anyone in the world.”

“I know,” she said. “I guess…it’s hard for me to see the entire situation clearly. I want this. I really, really want this. I want to live for a thousand years with you and Brutus and Claygon, but that’s what I want. The thing is, Alex, I live a dangerous life. I could die a thousand years from now. I could die five thousand years from now…or I could die tomorrow with some monster’s claw through my chest.”

Alex stiffened. “That won’t happen.”

“But it could, couldn’t it?” she pointed out. “And if I did die tomorrow, then—even if Brutus recovers—he’ll be like an old dog. I would take his youth from him. I’d hurt him.”

“Theresa…” Alex said gently. “You’d also hurt him if you died, even if we didn’t do this. If anything happened to you, he’d pine, and he’d pine hard. Remember three seasons ago, when that shepherd, Philip, disappeared back in Alric? His sheepdog wouldn’t eat. Hardly slept. Hardly moved. Well, if you died, I think that’d be Brutus. You dying would hurt him either way; he doesn’t like to be separated from you for too long. He’s an independent pup, but he’s been glued to you since you found him all alone in the woods.”

She smiled at the memory. “It’s true. We’ve always loved to hunt together. I remember that first time we went, hesnapped the rope tying him to his doghouse and scented me until he found me in the woods. And now we always hunt together, everywhere…” Theresa paused, her smile fading. “...and things hunt us everywhere.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

She looked at him soberly. “Do you remember when Baelin strongly suggested that Selina join us in the Art of the Wizard in Combat?”

He shuddered. “How could I forget?”

At the time, he hadn’t even liked the thought of the idea, afraid of exposing his little sister to so much violence. It was astonishing how much had changed in so little time.

“Baelin said that because wizards gain a lot of power—no matter what—somebody or something’s going to challenge them eventually, whether that’s another wizard, monsters, dragons, demons, some warlord or whatever. They’ll come looking for you, even if you try to live the most peaceful life in the world. Just because you have power and they want it, they’ll come for you. Power attracts trouble.”

He thought about the chancellor’s reasoning. “I remember him saying that—even if someone close to you doesn’t have power—they could still end up dead if an enemy attacked you. He said Selina should learn ways to defend herself just in case, because enemies aren’t inclined toward leaving your family alone…even if they’re just children…”

“...or a beloved dog,” Theresa finished. “I want Brutus to be able to defend himself.”

Alex looked at the pony-sized cerberus. “I think he can.”

“From bandits and bears, maybe,” Theresa said. “But you remember how Zonon-In fought? How she moved? What she was capable of?”

“Oh I remember,” Alex said darkly. “That was a rough fight.”

“It really was,” she said. “And what if someone like that came to our home one day? If Brutus was just his regular self, he’d just die.”

“Trust me, I’m already looking into extra defences for this place,” Alex said. “And if we move, I’m making sure our next home’s going to be more secure than your average fortress.”

“But still, he’d be in trouble. If he got hurt, or worse, I’d never forgive myself,” she said.

“And yeah, enemies will go after family, like I said,” Alex said.

“And Brutus is family,” Theresa said, her voice like flint. “You know, now that I think about it. What would happen to him if I died by some enemy’s hand? Where would he go?”

“I’d take care of him. You know that.”

“Alex, that still has the same problem. You’d be looking after an ageing, pining cerberus. But what if you died too? Selina would probably take him, but she doesn’t like hunting…and giving him to anyone else—even if they didn’t have enemies—would be like giving away family.”

Alex winced. “Brutus would never understand that.”

“Yes…” she said, frowning. “And…Alex do you ever get bad feelings about things?”

“Yeah, but what do you mean specifically?”

She took both of his hands. “Well, we’re planning on getting married and that feels too good to be true, and we’re also going up against whatever’s going on with the church, right? We might even be facing a god. I just get the feeling that maybe it’s time to make sure Brutus can better protect himself.”

A bell sounded.

“Oh, hold on, the tonics are done.” Alex got up, looking at the potion slow- brewer. Brutus hadn’t woken up. “You know, maybe I have a way to help you make your decision.”