Wirt took a moment to take the new information in. He laid back onto the ground with his hands over his eyes before sitting back up to face her.
"This is a lot to take in. Why did you combine mine...with yours?" He asked, promptly earning him a shove.
"Because there weren't any other people I could trust you to be bound to." She said, a little miffed by the question. "Besides." She looked away. "Beggars can't be choosers." She sighed.
"Well...I'm guessing that spell must have come at some sort of price, right? Like with the Beast...he was able to control and see through my eyes...what kind of things can you do with possession of my...soul?" Wirt asked as he realized just how strange that sounded out loud.
"Well..." Beatrice said awkwardly. "The spell I cast wasn't like the one the Beast cursed on you. Instead of me owning you, we're sharing souls now like...husband and wife share a home. There is no privacy, what happens to one the other will know." She said, shying away from him as she mentioned marriage.
"Husband and wife..?" He asked, once more receiving a shove from Beatrice. "Ow!" He whined.
"Don't take it so literal, loser. It was just a metaphor to explain the effect better. And as for price...it really isn't much to worry about as long as both of us are careful. I won't invade your privacy like the Beast did. But you should know that my pain." She paused as she took out a needle from her pouch and stuck it quickly into her finger before retracting the needle and some of her own blood. Causing Wirt to flinch in the same of his finger where Beatrice pinned herself. "is your pain. And from what the witch and her niece told me of this spell..." She then pointed to her wings. "Is that for every fatal blow you suffer, I lose something of mine that is finite. Like the feather's on my wings...if the last feathers fall, I disappear...but it doesn't specify what happens to you. Except that each fatal blow until then shouldn't truly kill you." She explained as she took out the Tome and got to the page with the spell she cast. "See?" She pointed to the drawings and incantations.
"That's insane! Is there anyway I can help besides...not dying for lack of a better word?!" He asked with anxiety beginning to return to him.
"Not that I know of Wirt." She sighed before punching him in the shoulder. "Don't die on me...seriously." She chuckled confidently so as to calm him down.
"Beatrice, that's not funny! I don't want to get you killed!" He exclaimed standing up, clearly his anxiety rising with every second.
"Wirt shut up! You're going to give me a migraine. Look this is a good thing." She stood up after him and held his hands in her own and turned his face to hers. "Use that to motivate you to strive forward and avoid as many fatal blows as you can!" She inspired him. "Look, just because I saved us now, doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet!"
They both paused for a moment to acknowledge her choice of words.
"Terrible pun! But Wirt bear with me! Right now we have to keep moving to explore what your abilities are exactly. You still have the Beast's abilities! The Woodsman's Axe! And I'm sure you can make use of the oil in your body somehow!" Looking into his eyes, she brought them back down in a kneeling position. "Our best bet is to take down the Beast for good. With your abilities and this Tome, I am positive we can kill it and fix this whole mess!" She finished her rant as she took the time to take a deep breath, and let the redness in her cheeks subside, as if she wasn't red enough already. Wirt looked at her like she just turned back into a bluebird.
"That's your plan?! Kill the Beast and all this will be resolved? How many worms have you been eating?!" He asked, panicking once more, but out of anger at her ridiculous plan.
"Oh! So you have a better plan, pushover?! I would love to hear what sort of leads you got!" She at back with her arms crossed over her chest. Wirt bent down and held the sides of his head to think.
"Well for one, without me, the Beast still needs to get its own oil again, and the lantern became the Teapot Greg had and he's still in it!" He stood up. "Maybe if we steal the lantern back, I can save Greg and then-"
"Then what?!" She pushed. "That still doesn't get rid of the Beast, Wirt!" She sighed in exasperation. "Listen we need to come up with a plan. One that's better than the one's we just said."
The Beast was making its menacing way into the Town of Pottsfield, under its dark facade, it carried a monstrous sneer, secretly smirking at himself for already concocting plans to make the unknown his own. As it approached the town more and more, it brought with it a darkness that fell upon the fields and all the citizens noticed the change of a bright day to a cloudy day. The citizens quickly took hold of their torches and lit them, when suddenly one of the citizens that was just at the edge of the town screamed.
"The Beast! Everyone get Enoch!" He yelled and ran to the safety of the center of town. Where many of the citizens sought shelter.
"The Beast is entering the Town!"
"Where is Enoch?!"
"What shall we do?!"
"I can't die again!"
These were the panicked phrases that were heard throughout the town as they all began to allow the fear seep through their bones. Suddenly, a large figure sporting a pumpkin head with streams as limbs appeared.
"Citizens, citizens, please keep calm. I shall take hold of the situation." Enoch spoke with a calm vigor. Really, he was slightly less nervous than the rest of the town, but knew he was the best sort of defense for them. He began to move toward the edge of the town, along the road, the townsfolk following a few yards behind him with torches and farming tools to support him if need be. Enoch quickly turned around to address them. "Please, everyone, allow me to deal with this alone. I cannot have any of you be laid to rest again. I shall be back. Now wait patiently in the barn where we hold our Harvest Festivities." He said to the dismay of the townsfolk, but they put their faith in their leader without question. As they walked away, he made his way toward the Beast, both tall and lean figures opposing the other, each contrasting the other nearly perfectly.
"Enoch, how very nice to see you." The Beast said as though it had a forked tongue covered in sap. "I see your subordinates truly have their faith in you." It taunted.
"Enough with the false pleasantries, Demon. Why have you come to Pottsfield?" Enoch spoke with a threatening tone. "Need I remind you of what happened the last time you chose to quarrel with me?" Enoch smirked as his streamers let out snake-like hisses.
"Bite your rasped tongue, cat." The Beast glared at the pumpkin entity, dropping for a moment its mild-mannered demeanor. "I've got control of my lantern once more, so you best behave yourself like the domesticated beast you are." The Beast said. Enoch frowned and his streamers appeared to grow in length, as did his height in a malicious display of power.
"You think your little flame scares me?" He towered over the Beast in a hunched form, the normally plain facade carved on its head changing to that of an angered Jack-O-Lantern. "Don't forget who guards these lost souls from your wrath. State your purpose or I will put that fire out myself." Enoch spat. The Beast looked up at its adversary, not a hint of fear in its eyes. Clearly this was not going the way it planned.
"Apologies, my dear old friend." It composed itself. "I simply came to strike a deal with you, is all." It said as though it were selling snake oil.
"I am not your friend." Enoch responded.
"Regardless, I am here on business that concerns the entirety of the Unknown. I am sure you know that a few days ago a different type of beast found itself in your town and stole the unlives of some of your kin." The Beast reminded him.
"I take it you have something to do with that. In which case I will rip the souls back out of your orifices!" Enoch said as he raised an array of streamers above his head, prepared to strike the Beast down.
"Calm yourself. I do not have them. I simply came here to inform you that it was an apprentice of mine that became rogue. You see, it found a way to break the soul bond, but it still relies on oil to live. I am here for assistance." The Beast spoke.
"And why should I help you right your many wrongs?" Enoch questioned.
"Simply put, this concerns the rest of the Unknown. If it managed to get some of your souls, it will surely do it again. And no matter how vigil you become, one by one, your kin will disappear to his hunger. You're a shepherd with a wolf outside its land, and your sheep will be mauled when you least expect it. Fortunately I am willing to put down this wolf down, I merely require some...assistance and materials." The Beast smirked inside its mind as it made the perfect metaphor to fool Enoch, who paused as it realized the truth behind the Beast's words.
"What is it you need exactly?" Enoch asked. The Beast struggled to hide its malicious chuckle, Enoch was in his grasp.
"All I ask is for is your bloodhounds to help me in tracking my rogue apprentice down" It said, admiring its own riddles.
"Enough of your metaphors, tree!" Enoch yelled, annoyed by the Beasts choice of words.
"In other words." The Beast turned to the field, as did Enoch. "I require loan of some of your 'unwanted' souls. The ones you can't bring yourself to resurrect." The Beast smiled as it looked throughout the field at all the potential corpses buried within it.
"They rest in permanent peace, Beast. Something you will never know." Enoch said, ready to end this conversation. "I see passed your sale. You wolf in sheep's clothing." Enoch almost began to turn around to walk back to his people, but knew better than to turn its back on the Beast.
"It is merely a loan Enoch. I'll pay them back. They'll be brought to you as though they were in new conditions. Granted you let me add my own charm to them." The Beast spoke in an even more forked tongue. "The way I see it, we can both put down a common threat. Without this rogue beast to steal souls, you will be able to save more of them, and I will be able to put an end to my mistake of an apprentice." The Beast ended its speech as Enoch paused for a moment.
"These souls will not be for you after your unholy pilgrimage, cur. My rules are that you cannot use these souls to harm any others in the unknown. You may not attack other towns or places of high population." Looking at the field, he dug his many streamers into the soil and green lights flowed through the field as though they were weeds, before multiple skeletons rose out and the Beast held out its hand to curse the souls of the resurrected, causing them to grow inorganic and putrid vegetable and inorganic matter as several of them clawed their way out of the soil, carrying farming tools. Enoch looked away and began to head back toward the town. "Bring them back when you killed your mistake, or I will give chase. And we both know I have many lives to spare to end yours if i have to. Now go. Leave this town." Enoch said as it made its way back into town, leaving the Beast with its new herd of servants.
"Fool." It said as it walked back into the forest, its many souls behind it as the sky became nearly blood red and the moon orange. "The hunt begins."
"This can't be good..." Wirt said as he and Beatrice looked up at the sudden change of color in the sky.