Chapter Seventeen: Cotton

Cotton closed the door to Kestian's room behind her. She was so excited. This was wonderful. It didn't have to end they could just come with her it was perfect. She was so happy. And late. She needed to get to her circus now. She walked quickly down the hallway.

"Cotton!"

She turned at the sound of her name. It was Kestian's priestess friend. Oath knights and clerics always seemed to come in matched sets. Cotton reached for the little half orc's name. Egeria, that was it.

"Egeria, good morning." She said, "And thank you, for last night. Though just thank you doesn't quite seem to cut it."

"Don’t worry about it, it’s what I do." She smiled. "But I have something of yours."

She gestured and her magic hand came out from behind her door holding Cotton's torque.

Cotton's hand went up to her throat. Her torque was so common to her that she did not typically notice its presence, or apparently its absence. She took it from the priestess' magic hand and put it back around her neck.

"did Kestian..." she began.

"They didn't touch it as far as I could tell." Egeria said "Do they know?"

"That I have an infernal patron? No." Cotton said.

"I thought you were a bard." Egeria said.

"I am, a person can be more than one thing." Cotton ran her thumb along her torque's ridge.

"You can be honest with them you know." Egeria said, her voice was unjudgmental. "I don’t know the people you may have had the misfortune of knowing but Kestian is good. They won't scare off easily."

Cotton did not know what to make of such a uniquely encouraging but deeply intrusive remark.

"I really need to be going." She said.

"Wait" Egeria said then lowered her voice. "Would you like to come in for a moment?"

"I am already much latter than I want to be." Cotton said.

"Please it’s only" Egeria stepped close and brought her voice lower still "when was the last time you were examined, at one of our temples I mean?"

"I don't, why would you, how?" Cotton fumbled.

"I did not perform any intimate exam on you last night, know that first. But, you have a blessed object inside you I can sense it. So, when was the last time you were seen?" Egeria asked.

Cotton looked around making sure no one was in the hallway to overhear. "Is it still working, the priestess, she told me I wouldn't have to do anything else about it."

"It’s still working, you don't have to worry about that.” Egeria said.

"Then why would I need to go back to the temple?" Cotton asked.

Egeria regarded her evenly and took a deep breath. "I’m sorry, it’s just that we care for people, it’s what we do. You should let someone care for you sometime, you may just like it."

"I have been cared for before and I am thankful to your goddess for those times." Cotton said.

"Care is an ongoing thing not a onetime event." Egeria said.

Cotton was deeply uncomfortable, this was not a conversation she wanted to have let alone with someone she had exchanged less than 100 words with, was deeply indebted to, and with whom she shared an intimate partner.

"I have to go I’m sorry." She said and walked around Egeria to continue down the hall.

"Goddess watch over you Cotton." Egeria called after her.

"Thank you" she managed.

"And please write to Kestian, they're going to miss you." Egeria said.

"They're coming with me actually."

"They're doing what?" Egeria asked.

"Yeah, they said your boss told them they needed to take some time off so they're running away with my circus for a little while." Cotton felt a smile spread on her face.

Egeria crossed her arms and twisted her face. "This is nothing against you but I am going to kill him. Fernando!" She began storming down the stairs yelling in a language Cotton did not speak. Cotton stifled a laugh and hurried down the stairs herself and out the back door.

It was far brighter outside than she anticipated and also far too late in the morning to be seen wearing clothes that were intended for an evening out. She hurried up the street and practically ran towards the large park on the edge of town where her circus had set up camp. She should have been worried that she was late, she should have been annoyed at having to hurry in clothes not meant for hurrying, she should have been miserable over her headache. But all she could think about was the end of the day when she would be heading out of town with Kestian beside her and all the wonderfully foolish hope and joy that filled her.

"Why hurry gorgeous?" A man called after her.

'Gorgeous' the word scratched at her. She should ignore him. This man was nothing to her. He was one more face in a crowd and not even a crowd at that. Not even a crowd at all just a man alone on a street corner. Just a man alone. Anger coiled deep within her like a snake waiting to strike.

"What do you want?" She asked.

The man smirked and stepped closer to her. "Just for you to slow down so I can enjoy the sight of you taking your time."

"Really, that’s all you want?" Cotton asked. As she stepped towards him she could feel power unfurling in her. Her torque heated at her neck.

"Well maybe a bit more of your time and company, and a smile of course. Smile for me gorgeous."

That word again. Last night, he had used that word. That man was not the one in front of her now but Her heart pounded in her chest.

"And what would you give me in return for a smile?" Cotton asked. She held her rage in a practiced hand waiting to unleash it upon this man.

He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her in close. She could feel his erection straining against his pants. "I can give you a good time." He said cockily.

"No," Cotton said "I'm not interested in that."

"I think you could be if you tried it." He said.

"I said, no" Cotton said

"Come on," his arms still tight around her, his face far too close to hers. "You stopped, you came over here, you're interested, I'll show you." He pressed his mouth against hers and held her tight to him.

That was enough. She wrenched back her head from his "I said I wasn't interested in that, I said no." Her voice took on a terrible quality as she wove her magic into her words. "You should have listened; you should have just let me pass." Cotton unleashed her magic. She gave him terrifying visions, illusions of unspeakable pain and torment. He fell to his knees his hands pressed over his eyes. "Stop, stop please!" He cried.

"What do you want?" Cotton asked.

"Please make it stop." He begged.

"But what about what I want?" Cotton asked.

"I'll do anything, you can have anything please!" He begged

"Give me your soul," Cotton said "Pledge your soul to the infernal army."

"What?"

"Pledge your soul and vow to join the armies of the pit in the war against the valley, you'll keep your sanity and your life but your soul will be bound in pact."

"Yes I vow it please I give my soul! Make it stop!"

"Jacquar third countess of Glatine" Cotton spoke her mother's name and a torque of iron appeared in her hand she clapped it onto the man's wrist and dismissed her terrible illusions.

"Your pact is sealed." Cotton said "pleasure doing business with you." She looked down on the man with disgust and continued on her way. She clenched her fists at her side, her anger still boiled within her primal and fierce. It wasn't enough. Just one soul wasn't enough.

Cotton blazed with rage until she found herself again at her circus.

"Cotton! There you are." Rikvah rushed towards her. "I expected you back hours ago. Everything is ready and there is even a decent crowd for a last show—are you alright?"

"No." Cotton said simply.

Rikvah put a hand on her arm "what happened?"

"Nothing." She whispered, and jerked her arm away. "nothing actually. Kestian, they protected me but he almost...he would have..."

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Rikvah hadn’t been watching her last night. Cotton had told her that she did not have too. She could not talk about this right now. Cotton shuddered and swallowed. Fear was useless to her, what she needed was rage. "Are there many families in?"

"Some, no more or less than would be expected." Rikvah said.

"Encourage those with children to leave. I need to go get ready." She turned to walk away but Rikvah reached out for her arm again.

"Cotton wait." She said.

"Go encourage those with children to leave.” Cotton said slowly and enunciating each word.

Rikvah dropped her arm "Yes boss" she said.

Cotton walked to her tent and changed. Her movements were mechanical and meaningless, her mind far away from the familiar and mundane task. Her thoughts glided over the surface of every other blank space in her memories that hummed through the darkness with an aura of fear. She had been safe last night. But if Kestian had not been there. It was just proof of why she needed all the rules she kept for herself. And perhaps proof that she needed more. From out of the inky blank spaces she remembered dark and dirty alley ways. She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself as a gasp escaped her lips.

Cotton held her breath in and let it out slow to calm herself. Fear was useless to her, what she needed was rage. She grabbed her violin and headed for the big top.

She spotted the Horse Thief.

"Horse Thief," she called. He approached her. "I needed you to do a family show in the menagerie."

"That is not usual. May I ask why?" He asked.

"Rikvah will be bringing some families out of the big show. They'll have kids just show them some tricks, let them pet the horses maybe."

"So that is a no on asking why." The horse thief said.

"You are correct" Cotton said. The Horse Thief had been with the circus the last time something like this had happened but his act was smaller then and he had already been packing up himself and his animals when she had made her performance. She'd have to tell him something. Some shadow or version of the truth. That or she could ask Rikvah to give him the basics. He had been with the circus long enough. It was time he knew what she was capable of.

Cotton walked through the back of the big top. "Change of plans today folks" she said. "Everybody out."

There was brief confusion and then rapid movement as the performers cleared out of the back stage space. She felt a tug at her leg and looked down to see Reina.

"But I wanted to see!" She whined.

"You can go see the Horse Thief do a show for the other children in the menagerie." She said.

"Apelon, take your sister" Mauricio said "and round up the others to be sure everything is packed as it should be."

"Yes dad." He said and put Reina on his shoulders as he followed the rest rapidly withdrawing from the tent.

"I take it you'll be doing this on your own boss?" He asked.

"Go and get the crew out please." She said. He nodded and walked toward the front whispering into his torque.

Cotton gave him a minute. She wanted all her people out before she started. None of them needed to get caught in what she was about to do. She quickly tuned her violin and stepped out into the ring shrouded in magical darkness. She could see the crowd. Men and women, the children and their chaperones had already been ushered out. A glance cast up to the lights and rigging showed her that the crew had gone as well. Her heart pounded in her chest with anger. One had not been enough. She began to play.

The notes sliced through the air and the audience fell to sudden quiet as they peered into the darkness searching for its source. Cotton felt her magic pulsing around and through her in the notes of the song. She turned one of the mage lamp spotlights onto herself. And was met with polite applause as she continued to play. The applause faded and their attention focused in. She began the illusion with just the sound of more instruments. The swell of an orchestra bloomed around her. She stepped forward and every eye was on her. She began to dance. She let her magic build around her. She felt it drawing back from everything else and to her like the water receding from the shoreline before a tidal wave. And then she let it go. The people screamed.

People were not hard to frighten. Pain and fear were alarmingly easy things to give. Even those who thought themselves strong and powerful could be made so very incredibly small. The visions she gave them were hideous, the pain unimaginable. There were too many times she had been too small, too weak, too pathetic to fight back. And all those people that had ever hurt her they thought they were big and strong and untouchable. Cotton wondered how many in this very tent thought the same. But she would show them. She was showing them. She wasn’t small, she wasn’t pathetic or weak, and to any that thought she was she would answer with rage. She continued to play, her magic and music spilling around her in terrifying patterns.

"Please!" She heard someone in the audience cry out. She stopped abruptly.

"Please what?" She asked.

"Please make it stop!"

"What would you give to have this end?"

"Anything. Please stop please!"

At the sound of begging Cotton’s mind slipped loose for a moment and her heart hammered in her chest. Please never worked when she said it.

"If all you want is for it to stop it can be easily arranged. Do you all want it to stop?" Her voice boomed through the tent as she asked the question with the same cadence, she would use to ask the audience if they were ready for the next act.

A chorus of yes and please and wordless screams rose up.

"All it costs is your soul. I'll even give you power in the bargain and a chance to win your soul back and if not, an opportunity to serve." Cotton said.

Again wretched cries of agreement came from the tortured crowd.

Cotton cast the air in the tent into a great whirlwind. She felt it scrape across her face as she reached into the core of her magic and called on her mother's name. "Jacquar third countess of Glatine"

Her torque glowed red hot and she saw the same fire glow wrap around the wrist of each and every person in the audience. The music grew to a crescendo and ended abruptly. With a snap of her fingers the ring was again in darkness and she watched the audience. Most sat panting in shock. Some held each other. A few simply ran from the tent. One by one then in little clumps they left. Each one had a torque of iron around their wrist. Each one was now a pact mage of her mother.

Cotton panted for breath. Her mind felt slippery and sideways. She was dizzy. A chill ran through her. She walked back out of the tent. Already outside her circus was packing up. Some ran into the big top as soon as she walked out to take it down. Personal tents were being loaded up and the ticket booth was already taken down. Had she stood in the darkness for long?

"Cotton," she turned towards Rikvah's voice. "How quickly do we need to get out of town?"

"No more quickly than normal." She said, she felt as if she was outside of herself watching the interaction rather than part of it.

"Am I mistaken in my assumption of what happened in there?" Rikvah asked.

"I don’t think we have to worry about any that were in there. And besides we shouldn't rush. Kestian is going to be coming with us. I don’t want to leave without them."

Shock registered on Rikvah's face. "What happened last night? What took you so long this morning."

"We can discuss it later." Cotton said. “you should make sure you are ready to go. Just get every one moving.”

“of course.” Rikvah said. The camp quickly became a web of activity with people going back and forth getting the circus ready to move. Cotton walked back into her own tent crumbled down into a ball and cried.