Chapter 23 – The Effigy
As the scissors flew straight at Willow, she had time only to feel fear. Then Merlin mumbled a word. His eyes flashed gold.
The scissors froze in mid-air a foot in front of Willow's face.
"You!" Granny Tock pointed at Merlin. "Prince Arthur's servant a warlock?" She gasped. Her voice came out breathless. "Without spell components even." She scrabbled backward on her bed.
The scissors dropped to the ground. Merlin turned to the old woman. "Yes, and I'm in love with Willow. I want the curse removed from her. Now." He stepped toward the old woman in a threatening manner.
She squeaked and backed up until she ran into the wall. "Please, lord, I–I–I can't break the curse."
"Why not?" Merlin demanded. Willow almost felt bad for the frightened old woman. Almost.
Tock stammered, "I–I don't know how."
"Tell us how you cast it. Tell us right now." He stepped toward her again.
She squeaked. "I–I used an effigy. But I–I gave it to Acrea to bury. She n–never told me w–where she buried it. I'm so–so sorry, lord. Please d–don't hurt me."
Willow felt her heart break.
"Where can we find this Acrea?" Merlin glanced at Willow. "We'll ask her ourselves."
Willow shook her head.
Granny Tock whimpered. "Lord, she–she died a month ago."
Willow wanted to stomp her foot but wouldn't do it in front of the old woman. Not only had Merlin revealed himself to the old bat, but it had done no good. Even the hag herself didn't know enough to break the curse. "This is useless. Come on, Merlin." Willow fled outside. She needed air.
The cool breeze outside the cottage helped right away. She flomped down to sit on an upsidedown bucket to wait. She heard Merlin threaten to come back and straighten the old woman out if she ever used her magic to harm another person again or told a soul about him.
When he finally came out to stand beside her, he said, "I'm sorry, Willow. We'll have to think of another way."
Tears rolled down her face. "What does she even mean when she says she used an effigy?"
Merlin shrugged.
Willow buried her face in her hands. "This is hopeless. Our love is doomed."
Merlin squatted down beside her. "No, it's not. We're not even sure the curse has done anything to us. I don't feel like it made me fall in love with you. It's certainly not making me want to cast you aside. Maybe we can just pretend like it doesn't exist. How do we know the curse is even real?"
Willow stared at him. "Are you forgetting Uther? Don't you think it's a bit odd that he hated me then offered to keep me as a mistress?"
Merlin cringed. "Yeah, okay. You've got me there. But we can still ignore it. It's not affecting our love."
She groaned. "Just knowing there's a curse will poison our thoughts. We'll never know if it's finally kicked in." She buried her face in her hands again.
Merlin stood up and began to pace.
Biscuit pushed his snout under Willow's hands. She rubbed the old dog's ears. He grabbed hold of her sleeve with his teeth and tugged.
"What do you want, boy?" Willow stopped crying to ask.
Biscuit whined. Willow used her magic to try to listen to his whine and body language. It was easier to tell an animal something than understanding what they were trying to say, but she got a strong sense that he wanted her to follow him. "Merlin, Biscuit is offering to help us." She stood up.
"Biscuit?" Merlin strode over. "The dog?"
Willow whispered, "What do you want to show me, Biscuit?"
The dog wagged his tail and barked a little yip then ran off. After about ten feet he stopped and waited for them, yipping again.
Hope dawned in Willow. She looked at Merlin. "Come on. Let's see what he wants to show us."
Merlin yawned looking bleary-eyed. "Are you sure?"
She smiled. "You can go rest if you want, but I'm going to follow him."
Merlin rolled his eyes. "It's almost morning, Willow. We aren't going to get any sleep if we go on some wild goose chase now. Can't this wait until daylight?"
Willow trusted Biscuit. "Go on to bed, Merlin. Arthur is sure to wake you soon enough and demand you attend him. Get some sleep. I'll follow Biscuit on my own."
He looked both tempted to take her advice and like he was going to fall asleep where he stood. He didn't know animals as she did. He didn't realize how huge this was. "Go ahead, sweet Merlin, my love." She gave him a gentle shove toward his quarters. "I've got this."
He blew her a kiss and stumbled away. Willow smiled and followed Biscuit with growing hope.
The old dog led her quickly into the woods. It ran ahead, waiting impatiently for Willow to catch up. Willow was eager herself, so she ran as fast as she could go.
At first, they went on familiar trails Willow often used in herb gathering. "This is awfully far for old fat Granny Acrea to travel to bury an effigy. Whatever that is." Then at a rocky cliff face deep in the woods the dog slipped into some vines and didn't emerge. "Is he back there doing his duty?" She heard the dog whining as if from far away.
Willow searched the vines and found a narrow passage behind them. "Amazing!" The passage lead between two rocky cliffs into an open space Willow had never seen before. It was a small clearing with a dense thicket of tree saplings. "I never knew this was here. Who would have guessed bitter old Granny Acrea knew of a secret grove hidden here so close by?" Willow looked around for new herbs, gathering some unknown leaves.
Biscuit sat whining beside a smallish waterfall. Willow caught up with the old dog and rubbed his ears. "Thank you, Biscuit, for showing me this! I have to figure out what these herbs are." Willow tucked the leaves in a pouch to take back to Granny Mill. "Pup, you're amazing. I would have never found these herbs on my own." The dog still sat whining beside the waterfall. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" Willow was grateful for the herbs, but she had to admit, she felt a little disappointment. The waterfall was beautiful, but she had hoped Biscuit would show her where Granny Acrea had buried the effigy.
The dog kept whining at the waterfall. It was a little taller than she was and as wide as a small cart. The water didn't flow particularly heavy, but it was steady. "What's the matter, Biscuit? Are you thirsty?" Willow tried bringing some water cupped in her hands to the dog. The dog ignored the water. On a hunch, Willow put her arm deep into the waterfall. There was empty space behind it. Excited, Willow braced herself and stepped into the cold water. She was instantly drenched. She almost smashed her face on a rock, but her feet met no resistance. She ducked down and slipped into a small, dark cave. "Granny Acrea was a really short, fat, old woman, but I have a hard time picturing her climbing back behind all this water." Willow shivered in the cold, damp dark. She dropped to her knees. The ground beneath her was wet but sandy. She tried to feel around but the space was too dark to find her way to anything. She scraped her check against an unseen rock and smashed her pinky into another one. "I have to be careful or I'll hurt myself seriously back here without any light. I don't want to smash my head open on a rock outcropping." She tried digging but found only sand. "This won't work. I need light. But all the water makes a fire impossible." Willow wondered if Merlin could magically make fire. "But I don't want to go back and wake him. And I definitely don't want to wait until I can go fetch him. Maybe Biscuit could find the effigy if it's buried back here."
Willow climbed back through the waterfall. She tried to coax the old dog through the waterfall, but it just sat and whined. Willow sighed and picked up the dog. It was twice the size of a cat and as fat as old Acrea. Also, it struggled in her arms and tried to lick her face. Its claws scratched deep gouges in her arms. Struggling so hard with the dog made her doubt what she was doing. "What if I find this effigy and destroy it and Merlin falls out of love with me?" Her heart was heavy with foreboding. Her doubts made struggling with the dog so much harder. "Is all of this a waste of time?"
She set Biscuit down beside the waterfall again and flopped down to catch her breath. "I shouldn't want Merlin to love me because of some curse. I can't do that to him." That thought and her love for Merlin gave her new resolve. She scratched the dog's ears one more time then hefted the beast and finally managed to carry him through the waterfall with only a few more minor scrapes, bruises, and scratches.
Crouching down on the other side, she set the struggling dog in the wet sand. Biscuit scrambled forward and started digging. "Yes! Biscuit! Yes! That's a very good boy!" She tried to feel where the dog dug without getting in the dog's way. Willow's eyes finally adjusted to the dim light and she could make out darker shapes in the darkness around her. Her hands confirmed the darker shapes were rocks jutting out.
The dog dug mostly under a lip of craggy rock. "I would have never found this in a million years. Thank you so much, Biscuit."
Willow felt a strong pressure squeezing her about her stomach. It made her feel nauseous. She hurt, but with a dull ache. "What's going on? Why do I feel so bad all of a sudden?"
With a shower of wet sand, Biscuit pulled out a mass of something dark from the hole he dug.