The spring break at Cackles saw the castle practically empty that year. All of the staff, save Hecate and Ada, had left for the holiday and Hecate privately delighted in this. She had been longing for time to devote herself to her latest potions experiment and in the absence of the girls and her colleagues she was able to be consumed by her research. She was close to a break through, she was sure. She could feel it.
She'd concluded the some of her present difficulties with it could only be solved by a better source of firtrius gormorui, and she was certain her personal supply in the Blackmire Grove would prove more potent than what currently lay in the store cupboards. Before leaving however, she transferred herself to the door of Ada's study to inform her head mistresses of her plan.
Ada smiled at Hecate's enthusiasm and particularly about ingredient quality. "It a lovely afternoon for flying," she remarked. "Though I fear the weather is going to turn tonight."
"It won't be nearly that long," promised Hecate. She peered at Ada, arching an eyebrow. "Besides, I thought…I thought you and I were scheduled for supper?"
"Indeed, we are. I just wanted to be sure you remembered," said Ada, with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Of course, I did," Hecate sniffed, mildly offended Ada could think she'd have forgotten something like that. She treasured their suppers this time of year as they were often leisurely affairs that lasted long into the evening. It was so peaceful with the absence of the girls. Hecate found it refreshing to spend such precious time with Ada.
Ada, naturally, had only been teasing. It was so easy to tease Hecate, she couldn't resist just a little bit. Her warm smile softened Hecate slightly.
"Safe flying, Hecate," Ada wished her.
Hecate inclined her head, a half smile pulling at her lips. "Until this evening, Headmistress."
Ada had been right, it was a pleasant afternoon for flying. Blackmire Grove was technically on school grounds, though off limits for students and protected by a host of charms to prevent the unsuspecting from stumbling across it. Hecate soared atop her broomstick, just above the tree line, searching for the telltale wedged gap in the trees that indicated the entrance. Spotting it, she looked around and seeing no one she descended carefully into the dense wood.
A canopy of leafy boughs blocked all but a very few stray rays of sunlight, leaving the forest floor decidedly dark. The air was thick; a heady mix of earth and pine. Hecate shivered slightly as her boots touched the ground. She held a strange, deep love for this place. She flicked a twinge of magic towards the concealment spell that surrounded the groove, and a great silvery curtain materialized in front of her. It parted, opening a partition in the barrier that allowed Hecate to step inside.
If the forest had been quiet before, inside the barrier was almost complete silence. All around her sprouted a variety of plants, some bright and flowering, others plain and unassuming. Hecate knew them all, having tended to them here for years by now. The grove was almost a perfect circle. In this particular part of the wood there was a great deal of magic concentrated in the earth and it spawned growth and pecularities that might not have occurred otherwise.
Setting her broom aside, Hecate went to work. Since she was here she might as well harvest a few things she'd need for next term in addition the firtrius gormorui she'd come for. She bent and began her inspection if a nearby bush of common gerryweed when something unexpected in her peripheral vision caught her eye. A strange haze across the circle that didn't belong. Frowning, Hecate stood and walked towards the oddity.
There was something there, she was sure of it, but it was being concealed by magical means. Hecate felt her confusion give way to a flood of irritation. There should be no magic here that she herself had not performed. She reached out with a strand of her power, probing. Definitely a concealment spell at work, but not a conventional one. The haze thickened as if threatened by Hecate's glare.
Angry now, Hecate cast a powerful disillusion spell and the haze dissolved revealing a large thrashing vine, that stretched a good several feet taller than Hecate herself. Hecate froze, thoroughly startled. She stared at the queer plant, wracking her brain for whatever it could possibly be. It had a great many tendrils which were swinging about in a mad cap fashion and making an excessive amount of noise as they smacked the ground, clearly unhappy at having been disturbed. As one vine whipped dangerously near her face, Hecate noticed it was covered in sharp dark red thorns and her eyes widened in horror. Pravum diabolusfolius. Or in colloquial terms: Devious Demon.
Devious Demon was a notoriously rare and powerful plant. But most importantly for Hecate in that moment, it was extraordinarily dangerous. She stumbled backwards, tripping over a root that she could have sworn wasn't there a moment ago and she tumbled to the ground. Her mind spun as she scrambled away on all fours. Only a sorceress of the highest order would have use for such a plant and only one of immense power would have been able to bring it here and conceal it so. Who could have possibly-
Her train of thought was cut off by another root erupting out of the earth to her left and wrapping itself around her wrist.
"No!" Hecate cried, twisting away desperately. She needed to get out of there, immediately, but the grip of the root was too strong and it dragged her several feet forward with a sharp tug. Panicking, she raised her free hand and shot what could only be described as a ball of white hot fire at the base of the plant, hoping it would be enough to make it release her.
This would turn out to be a mistake.
A dreadful rumbling sounded and the vine that twisted around her wrist jerked, launching Hecate forward into the air and flinging her across the clearing. She landed hard on her front, the breath knocked from her lungs. As soon as she recovered a transference spell was at her fingertips, but before she could cast it one of the flailing vines hit her square in the stomach, it's thorns ripping through her dress and her corset as if they were made of paper. Hecate's heart plummeted as she felt several thorns break off and embed themselves in her flesh. The thorns of the Devious Demon were profoundly toxic to a witch's gift, eroding her powers entirely within a matter of hours if left unattended. She felt a painfully sharp tingling in her abdomen that could only be the beginning of the deadly plant reacting to her magic.
Her broom was a mere ten paces away and Hecate flicked her fingers to transfer herself to it. She disappeared as expected, but reappeared a moment later in exactly the same spot. The raw power emanating from the plant, exacerbated by the power of the earth on which it grew had resulted a dense magical field that prevented transference. Time for a Plan B. Hecate racked her brains for every piece of information she'd ever read about Pravum diabolusfolius. It was useful in potent necromancy spells... highly toxic…. grew only in dark places. In cold weather, it would bury its tendrils underground to preserve heat. It needed heat! That was it. Hecate balled up her fists, preparing to launch a freezing spell that might just be powerful enough to allow her to slip away.
Muttering incantations under her breath, Hecate gathered up every ounce of strength she possessed before releasing it in a burst of frothing magic that turned the entire grove to ice in an instant. Everything around her was covered in a frosty white blanket of ice and she wasted no time snatching up her now-frozen broom and tearing away into the woods at full speed.
After she made it several hundred meters away from the grove she stopped and collapsed again a nearby tree, panting with the effort. Her dress was torn and blood seeped from the wounds on her chest and stomach. Weakly she pressed a hand to her breast and muttered a basic healing charm, trying to stem the flow of blood. It did little and Hecate felt faint. Already her magic was weakening. She had to get to help. She had to get back to Ada.
She vanished the frost from her broomstick and on shaking legs, she mounted it and tapped it twice. She shot up, faster than anticipated and in seconds she was above the trees. To the south stood Cackles Academy, from here only a spec in the distance. Turning west she could see the sun dipping lower on the horizon, reminding her that she had maybe an hour or two of daylight left at the most. She urged the broom onwards, fighting an intense wave of nausea that threaten to overwhelm her. The broom flew true for a moment before jerking beneath her, sending her clutching the handle desperately with both hands. She couldn't keep her balance and another jerk almost sent her right off her broomstick. Hecate gritted her teeth. Come on, Hecate, focus. You can do this. If she could just get to the Castle then Ada would be there. Ada would know how to help her, surely.
The broom twitched again before plummeting into a dive that Hecate frantically tried to pull out of. Her flying made Mildred Hubble look like a profession broomstick aerialist today. She managed to avoid crashing completely into a towering oak tree, but she whipped through several of its branches as she went by. She brought the broom to a dead stop to assess her injuries. Her left cheek had been grazed by a branch, but the scratch was merely superficial. Her shoulder had also taken a decent wallop, but it too wasn't serious. Resolved, Hecate urged the broomstick forward, only for it to roll one hundred and eighty degrees and she found herself upside-down and clinging for dear life.
She was going to break her neck at this rate. She managed to hang on, and was immensely relieved when she spotted a clearing almost directly beneath her. Slowly, slowly mind, she brought the broom down until her tip toes could reach the ground. Hecate looked to the sky in despair. It was a short twenty-minute flight to the castle, but on foot it would be over an hour and that was when she was in perfect health. But there was nothing for it, so steeling herself, Hecate flung her useless broom to the side and marched shakily off into the underbrush in the direction of Cackles.
Ada was fretting.
She'd dozed off at her desk, in front of stack of particularly tedious paperwork regarding the renewal of their insurance policies for the next school year. The ministry became more of a bureaucratic headache every year, she was sure of it. When she awoke, she was surprised at how late in the afternoon it was. She'd missed taking her afternoon tea and it was so close to supper she'd ruin it if she ate anything.
Speaking of supper…
Hecate should have been back by now, surely. Ada absentmindedly cast a locator spell and was surprised when it did nothing. Perhaps Hecate was still out. The spell wouldn't have penetrated the castle's walls, particularly not with all of the protection spells so freshly reinforced and if Hecate was still in the woods it wouldn't have picked up her. Ada would have to go outside the gates for that. Which as the hour wore on and it became close to six o'clock she was increasingly tempted to do just that.
She decided she would look from observatory tower first, to see if Hecate was on her way back. Transferring herself to save her the journey up all of those stairs, Ada stood at the top of the highest stone turret and scanned the horizon. She tapped her glasses thrice, enhancing the distance she could see, but there was no sign of her deputy head. Very odd. Very odd and very unsettling in Ada's opinion. Hecate was never late.
Perhaps she's gotten absorbed in something or another, Ada thought, trying to convince herself. You know how excited she's been about her latest project. And that was true enough, but not so much that she thought it would warrant Hecate abandoning her for the evening. That was most out of character.
As the clock struck six, Ada made up her mind. She transferred back to her office, stopping just long enough to grab her travelling clock in case of rain, and then onward to the front gate.
I must get to Ada. Ada will…Ada will help.
Hecate felt as if her body was becoming weaker with every step. She willed herself to return to her mantra, an image of Ada Cackle swimming in her minds eyes, propelling her forward. How she wanted to stop, to rest, even to collapse into a pile of dust to be scattered by the four winds. But she couldn't, wouldn't do any of that. She had to get back. She had to get to Ada.
Wheezing and gasping, Hecate stumbled on.
This time, Ada's locator spell worked more or less as she expected. Hecate wasn't far, some five hundred meters into the woods but something about her was odd. It as if the signal Ada was getting was full of static, something akin to a poorly tuned radio. Unsure of the precise location she ought to transfer to, she instead reached out will her gift, materializing Hecate to be right in front of her.
Hecate doubled over, the force of the unexpected transference spell bringing her almost to her knees. "Ada," she said weakly, lifting her head. "Thank Goodness."
"Hecate!" Ada gasped, shocked by the sight in front of her. "Hecate, what's happened to you?!"
"I was…I…"
Ada was beside her in an instant, her hands on the poor woman's shoulders and her eyes full of concern. Ada scanned Hecate's face, taking in her cut cheek, her split lip, and her shallow breathing.
"…in the grove," Hecate managed to choke out, before her body gave in and she fainted dead away.
A/N If anyone is interested in beta-ing future chapters/works do let me know. This is my first fic for this fandom :)