The Hex Gang, as Luz called them, had been hiking for a while. They decided to go on foot, better able to spot and dismantle traps that could have been set up for wild palismen. They hadn't found any yet, perhaps because it was too soon for many to be set up. The announcement for palismen trades had only begun that morning, after all.
"I still can't believe the price they are offering on the palismen staffs," Matt said, shaking his head.
"I can't believe people are actually taking the offer up," Luz sighed.
"Kikimora had actually talked about doing this for a long time," Hunter mused. "I always rejected the motion because I knew our coffers were better spent on the needs of our scouts… Now I'm questioning how long this is going to last before she realizes the snails are dried up."
"Hey… yeah…" Matt said, rubbing his chin. "The beast stables are completely destroyed! They're having to house the Emperor's menagerie at the headquarters of the Beast Keeping Coven until reconstruction is done… Why would she spend so many snails on palismen in the first place when they are Wild Magic and therefore technically illegal?"
"Belos knew that if he tried to force the issue, a lot of Witches would turn against him," Hunter said, rubbing the back of his neck. It felt… strange to talk so openly about Belos' interests… but then again he was 'dead', so what did he care? "It's required that you hand over your palisman staff, if you have one, to the Coven when you join. But given how fast he tends to uh… a-anyway, they don't last long. Kikimora is probably trying to build up a collection again to prove her worth to Belos as the new Coven Head."
"...How many does Belos go through per da-?" Matt was cut off by a rough elbow to his side by Gus. "What?!"
"Matt, not the time!" Gus said through clenched teeth.
"...It used to be about one a week a few years ago," Hunter admitted. "But recently it's turned to three to four per day." Hunter frowned, he felt everyone shift around him uncomfortably at the thought. "I imagine after a while Kikimora will up the offered price, but when that dwindles again she will order the coven to start taking palismen by force." His face twisted with disgust at the thought. "I suggest you guys keep your palismen as close as possible. And once the order finally goes out, keep them inactive and unsummoned unless you are absolutely sure it's safe."
"Y-yeah…" Amity rubbed her thumb against Ghost's staff with a frown. She had carved Ghost with her own hands. The thought of her being ripped away was… something she didn't want to think about. The group walked in silence for a while, still keeping their eyes peeled for bounty hunters and traps. Hunter had lagged behind to the back a bit, something Willow had noticed. She slowed her pace a bit to catch his hand and smile up at him, earning a smile in return.
"Are you doing okay?" she whispered to him. Hunter pressed his lips in thought, glancing away from her for a moment before looking back.
"You know…" he whispered, "when I first met you there was a time where I was ordered to capture wild palismen…" Willow frowned lightly as she listened, watching as Hunter reached up to pet Lil' Rascal, the cardinal chirping lightly on his shoulder and leaning into his hand. "I went to these ruins on the edge of the Bat Queen's territory to do my job, but… the thought of doing something like that, knowing where I was going to be sending them, while all the while turning around and visiting you in the grove was…" Hunter shrugged, a light blush appearing on his cheeks as he looked back at her. "You realize you really do make me a better person, right?"
Willow smiled up at him, wrapping her arm around his and squeezing it, a light blush rising on her own cheeks. She could see the plant life around them was reacting to her again, but not violently. It bloomed and blossomed, gaining a healthier shade of color as it reacted to her feelings of love. She couldn't help but give a light giggle as she leaned against her Hunter. Her Hunter.
Tibbles sat in a tree, leaning against one of his legs as he idly played with his pocket watch. If a trap was triggered he wanted to spring out on it as fast as he could so he could deactivate the palisman and put it in his protected cart. He'd only caught one so far, but good things come to those who wait. He had a goal to at least collect five at a time to turn into the Emperor's Coven.
He glanced back at his cart, the gopher-like palisman inactive in its staff form. It was rather cute, mixed with what looked to be a dragonfly, and was colored in oranges and browns that made its details pop. Lovingly crafted, really. Whoever its witch was knew exactly what they wanted with it. Tibbles did have half a mind to keep the palisman for himself, but he needed the snails more than he needed a pet. Beside… it would probably just run away like his last palisman did when it got the chance.
He looked forward again to the nearby trap for his real prize. He wanted to stay as close as possible to this one so he could handle it as fast as could be. He knew that if this trap worked, he would be set for life even beyond mere revenge on the Owl House. He smirked to himself, pride rising in his chest. He felt so very clever for this plan, confident that no other bounty hunter would have the guts to even try.
His thoughts were cut off by the sound of a laugh. He turned his head with a sneer. Great, other bounty hunters must have finally arrived! Tibbles stood up, looking in the direction he heard the laugh coming from. In a few moments the other bounty hunters would come over the lip of the hill. If he planned correctly, he might be able to keep them from triggering his big trap without them even knowing he was there.
"Gus, you can't just say that!" a familiar voice rang out… Wait… No way. Nooo waaayy!
"I will tell you how it is any day of the week!" Gus Porter's voice rang out in answer to Luz the Human's. "Giraffes deserve better than what they were given!"
"Getting really political, Goops," an unfamiliar voice joined in.
"D-Duh… Matt, whyyyyy?!" The teens finally crested the hill. Tibbles felt his jaw drop slightly before it rose into a wicked grin. Luz, Gus, and Willow...Three out of the five! What luck! Sure, they had other teens with them, but this… this was a gift from Titan wrapped up in golden paper. And they were all heading right to his big trap. His target can wait… this was more important! They would be powerless to stop him!
"You know… I honestly am shocked to hear that giraffes just live freely in the Human Realm," Hunter said, rubbing the back of his neck. "From what I could find in the history books, they were banished long ago. But no one could pinpoint the why."
"I fed one a piece of lettuce before at a zoo," Luz said.
"...And it didn't eat your soul?!" Gus and Matt both looked baffled, gaining a small laugh from Willow who still hung on Hunter's arm.
"It licked my hand, but otherwise it was super chill," Luz commented with a smile. "Really smelly, though."
Tibbles pressed himself against the trunk of the tree to better hide from sight. Just a little further… just a little further and the trap would be sprung. He lifted his finger up, ready to cast chains around any of the teens that might not get caught. With hope, at least, he would get the biggest threats out of his way in the form of Willow and the ones he didn't know. Luz and Gus he could handle on his own, but the unknown factors needed to be dealt with before he could take them out. Not to mention, he knew of Willow's talent with plant magic.
" And you say that they mostly inhabit a place called 'Africa'?" Hunter asked, tilting his head. "I think I heard a human song about that place once."
"I bless the rains down in Africa!~ Gonna take some time to do the things I never-" SNAP!
The group froze for a moment at the sound, and then the ground shook. Tibbles stepped forward on the branch, drawing a circle and aiming as he waited. Chains erupted from the ground all around the teens, quickly lashing out to ensnare Luz, Amity, and Gus. Hunter quickly shoved Willow to the side, getting caught by a chain that was after her. Matt turned, trying to run as Willow raised her hand to attempt to call the forest to her aid.
Tibbles activated his spell circle, quickly triggering more chains to rise up, grasping around Willow's wrists and hands before dragging her in with Hunter and the others. Matt dove behind a couple of bushes, looking back with wide eyes as a cage erupted from the ground and surrounded the other five, the chains flashing before forming a shield around it.
"W-what?!" Luz stood up, taking a glyph out and slamming it against the wall just to watch it fizzle out. Shoot, an anti-magic field! She turned around, blinking a few times as she noticed Gus, Amity, and Willow suddenly looking pale, almost sickly. She went to Amity first, of course, putting her hands on her shoulders to look her girlfriend over before looking at Gus, Willow, and then Hunter. Hunter was looking around wildly. His grey-smoke eye had turned black and his teeth were bared and had turned sharp… ooh noo. Willow looked up at him, pushing past the nausea she felt from suddenly having her magic ripped out of her to reach up and grasp Hunter's face with her hands.
"Hey… hey, hey. Shh. Shhh," she whispered hoarsely, gently pulling Hunter down to rest his forehead against hers. "Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I'm right here." Hunter calmed down a little, blinking a few times before he closed his eyes and pressed against her, clenching his fist under him.
"Ṯ̷̦͚̥̓U̸͚̟͖͇̓͌͊͛O̴̭͂͗ ̵̗͓̳̗͐̾̐Ṡ̷̤͎͈̟̑U̴̢͋ ̴͍̈́͊͝Ť̶̩̲̂Ę̷̪̞̕G̶̫͗͒̚ ̴̨̻͊ͅ!̴̥̜̮͆ ̷̥̰͐́T̷͈̭͗u̶͙͈̱͂̔̾͝ơ̷̤͔̦̬͒̇ ̴̝̙̎s̴̱̤̮̯̀̓u̷͔̇̒̀͜͝ ̸̡̒́̒t̸͓̥͓̀͘ͅë̶̩́̉̎͐g̷̛͎̞̋ ̷͈̮̗̍!̶̛̼̖̏E̴͍̬͗ǵ̸̞̳͕à̶̢̡̤̀̈͐c̸̭̮̟̿̀̚ ̸̦̦͔͈͒̊̕ȁ̸̧̬̤̗̋̐̑ ̸̨͉̦̻͑n̵̠͇̻̲̽i̶̛͉͇̪̟̍ ̶̛̘͍̪̈́́̀e̸̙̩̋̔̑ŕ̴͎̟̱̩̍a̶̢̜̥̎̾ ̴̞̭̿̉͜ȩ̴͙͕̚w̴̨̦̮͎͗́͝͝ ̵̜̻̹̈́̊!̸̢̩͑̓̆̔Ê̵̪͚̭g̸̡̙̟͉̓ä̶͙̳̹́̈́͘c̵̰̤͖̊̃ ̴̢̞̎̿͜a̷̢͊́̌͠ ̴̻͗̚!̸̲͍͚̈́͘E̵̡͉̍̋́̒g̴̭̼̞̍͒c̵̳̈̓͑͘C̵͇͍͓̾̇̀ ̵̥͖͖̩͛̾ạ̵̜̠͛́̿͘!̵̲̳̓͊" Hunter felt the Beast panicking inside of him. He tried to force himself into the strange white void it inhabited to try to calm it, but he couldn't get through. How is he supposed to get it to relax?!
"Hehe… HE HE… AHAHA HA! HA HA HA HA HA!" Tibbles jumped down from his perch, landing in front of the cage. "Oooh, good things do come to those who wait!"
"Tibbles!" Luz growled, facing the demon in full as she wrapped her arms protectively around Amity. Gus turned to glare at the pig-demon as well.
"Well, I'm sure none of us were expecting this, today! Ha Ha!" Tibbles clasped his hands together. "But I will take you bunch as a prize over the Bat Queen anyday."
"You were trying to capture the Bat Queen?!" Luz asked in horror. How did it not cross her mind that the Bat Queen would have a bigger target on her back? She herself was a palisman, after all, though few knew it.
"But of course," Tibbles said with glee. "After all, how much money do you think The Emperor's Coven would pay for her?" Tibbles started to walk around the cage, his tiny hands clasped behind his back. Gus glanced over Tibbles' shoulder to Matt, who had slowly stood and was now looking around like mad for an idea on what to do. He was not the best at his magic, he'd admit, but if he could figure something out to get them out of the cage before the ticking time bomb that was Hunter was set off, they would be able to kick this pig's butt.
"What now, then?" Luz asked. "You have us! What are you going to do this time?" Luz needed a plan and she needed one quickly. Hunter was starting to make strange growling sounds, and with the other three witches were unable to use magic and looked very sick, she did not want to be in the cage with whatever monster Hunter was about to turn into.
"Well, first…" Tibbles flicked his finger, the palismen getting flung out of the cage to land in a new anti-magic field to keep them from shifting out of their wood forms. The witches let out cries, Willow moving to hug Hunter close to her as she stared at Clover, just a lifeless wood carving in the other cage. Lil' Rascal chirped, the only one of the palismen who was out of his wooden form fluttering around like mad in the prison as he stared at his witch in concern. " Lets see… Oooh, lucky me! You all were carrying palismen?"
"Tibbles, don't do this! They are living creatures! Do you know what Belos does with them?" Luz cried out, standing to bang her fist against the cage wall.
"I don't know and I don't care." Tibbles looked back at Luz, staring at her over his glasses. "You took away my life twice, remember? Taking your palismen is a just payment to rebuild what was lost!" Gus glanced back over to Matt. It seemed Tibbles had forgotten about him entirely. Matt had turned and was looking at something. He looked back to Gus, making a few hand motions before slowly lowering himself to the ground and quietly crawling away.
'Please tell me that he is finding a bigger than normal rock to throw at Tibbles,' Gus thought to himself. He glanced over at Hunter, still in Willow's arm as his frame shook. His hair looked thicker, and a trail of it had grown down his back. His hands had turned completely black… Titan, please don't let him transform in here.
"But do not worry," Tibbles said snidely, "I am not as cruel as to seek revenge on your friends when they haven't done anything to me personally." Tibbles flicked his finger again, before Amity and Hunter knew what was happening more chains had appeared. Hunter let out a roar as he felt himself being bound again, his eyes flying open to witness as he was flung away from Willow, who reached out toward him with a cry of despair. Once outside the cage, he felt his back hit Amity's. "To make sure you do not seek revenge, a simple memory-binding spell will suffice."
"T-Tibbles, right? Think about this!" Amity stared wide eyed at the pig-demon, fear written across her face, but not from his actions. She could feel Hunter shaking at her back, his deep growls getting harder and harder to ignore. Surely Tibbles had to have noticed what was happening, right?
"Oh, I have my dear…" Tibbles said with a smile, though he didn't look at her. His eyes were still set on Luz, Gus, and Willow. "I have thought about this over and over and over…"
"Hunter! Hunter! Calm down!" Willow cried, banging her fist on the side of the cage and watching as Hunter coughed. He was starting to spit up black tar.
"Tibbles, really, I do not think you know what's happening!" Amity called out to him, feeling Hunter lurch and gag.
"Gnihtemos tuo erugif nac ew nwod mlac ot deen uoy!" Hunter said to himself, Amity glanced back at Hunter.
"Tibbles! Let us go! He's about to transform!" Luz screamed, slamming her fist against the cage.
Tibbles snorted. "Yes, yes, I am sure he-" Tibbles was cut off by a loud, primal roar coming from the blonde teen he'd chained to the purple-haired girl. "WHAT?" Looking over he saw the boy had thrown his head back, his eyes turned completely black as his mouth and back spewed out black-smoke. Amity wiggled in pain as the chains around her tightened, then held her breath as she was overtaken by the smoke Hunter was emitting. Matt took the opportunity of the distraction to cast a spell circle and spike the protected cart through, breaking the shield as he grabbed the palisman staff out of it and turned, then gasped in horror.
A vague, ominous shape was shifting in the smoke. Something stood up as it made pained growls and groans. A few moments into the transformation, Amity appeared — running out of the smoke before drawing a spell circle and aiming it at the palisman cage. Hunter could be dealt with in a second. Right now she needed to get Ghost and break the other cage open to free the others. Then they could apprehend Hunter!
As she let her spell fly, the abomination fluid her spell had summoned crashed into the cage then crushed it, allowing her to rush forward and grab Ghost before turning to face Tibbles, pausing as she saw the smoke around the transforming Hunter receding. No shape was left in the cloud as the rest of it sunk into a pitch black puddle in the ground that faded, leaving the woods deathly quiet.
Amity glanced around, suddenly aware that she had broken the main-course meal of that creature out of a cage that could have protected them. Lil' Rascal flew up, then started to chirp loudly. "Rascal!" Amity hissed, reaching up to try to silence the bird.
"Not so fast." Tibbles drew a spell circle and aimed it at Amity. "One false move, and I will chain you again and this time I will not be as kind. Where did the boy go?"
"That is what I am worried about," Amity said, keeping her hand up to Rascal. "Just let my friends go, and we can handle him," she added in a stern voice.
"No! I have worked too hard for this day! I am getting my just desser-" Tibbles's rant was cut short as he felt something wet splatter on his head. He raised his hand up to touch it, then looked at the liquid that had stained his fingers. It was a black substance, it felt like… mud? Everyone slowly looked up in horror. Sitting upside down on a thick branch above them was the Beast. It growled menacingly, two burning magenta eyes staring down at Tibbles. Its body was covered completely in black mud and letting off dark smoke from the holes in its back. Tibbles made a few gasps of horror before lifting his finger in to try to cast another spell at the creature.
The creature let out a roar of challenge, dropping with its front claws aiming at the pig who quickly abandoned his spell and turned to run. The creature missed its swipe, but swiftly recovered as it straightened and bound at the pig with unnatural speed, letting out another screaming roar as it gave chase. Tibbles dodged quickly to the left, trying to fake out the being before he turned and quickly drew a circle to fire a ball of lightning at the mud-thing. The spell hit the creature directly in its side, but it was left unphased as it turned and attempted to leap at Tibbles once more, this time bowling him over. It raised its claws, its mouth opening to show three rows of teeth, as it moved to strike down upon the pig-demon's head. Tibbles quickly ducked down, then scrambled out from under the Beast between its back legs.
Amity looked between the Beast attacking Tibbles and the cage that still held Luz, Gus, and Willow. Tibbles more or less looked to be not dying, so she figured he could keep it up long enough for her to try to break the cage open. She turned, swinging Ghost around in a great circle, summoning a swelling puddle of abomination fluid to wrap around the cage to start contracting. She grit her teeth, trying to force a crack in the shield. But it was too strong.
Some distance away and behind cover, Matt swallowed thickly. He had never been in a fight like this before. This was actually deadly! He… he couldn't do this! He took a step back out of fear before he heard a chittering noise. He looked over at the palisman he was holding. It had unscrewed itself from its staff enough to look at him. It chittered again, then gave an encouraging buck-toothed smile before it turned back into wood. Yeah… Yeah! He-...He could do this! He could help save his friends from that cage and his friend from the curse! He could do this!
Matt stepped forward, swinging the palisman staff he now bore around in a circle before sending a spike out at the cage, trying to puncture the shield. Amity looked shocked for a moment, staring at him before giving him a small smile and a nod before she looked back to the shield.
"Luz, get down! Matt, get ready to do that again on my mark!" Amity called out. She let the fluid relax around the shield, watching as Luz crossed the confines of the trap to wrap Willow and Gus into her arms, then using her hands to protect their heads before focusing on her hearing. Behind her, she caught the pained scream of Tibbles as he was finally caught in the Beast's maw… and used it as her cue. "Now!"
Matt flung another spike forward and Amity contracted the slime as it connected, the shield unable to keep up with the double damage it was dealt to finally give way. The bars of the cage started to crumple under the pressure of Amity's power before she let it fall. She watched as Willow, now reconnected with her magic, shot her head up. Her eyes glowed solid green as the plants around her lashed out and ripped the cage apart around them. She quickly took to her feet, her hand reaching out as Clover's staff reacted and flew to her grip. Luz and Gus ran over for their palismen, as well.
"HUNTER!" Willow cried out, her eyes on the creature that was now wildly whipping Tibbles around by the tail. At her call, it froze and turned its gaze to her.
_AN_
Back at it again!
I want to thank for officially becoming my Beta Reader! I feel having him look over the chapters before I post them will really up the quality of my work! Remember, he is also a writer of Huntlow Fanfic! Check him out! His stuff is the savory to my generally sweet stuff. (Which we will get back to, I promise. Right now we just need to make sure the story can be set correctly)
As always please leave a comment! Love you!
Edit: Ugh, Fanfic causing me problems with the horizantal lines and getting rid of names...