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Chapter 9 - The Unbreakable Bond

We had many questions for Alíla, and she carefully answered each one, sort of. She told us where to exchange our money for Canadian dollars, and which bus would take us to Horseshoe Bay. She even had a friend who would sell us winter clothing for next to nothing. I guess we stood out in our jeans and t-shirts in the 30˚ Fahrenheit weather.

Some of her answers were clear enough to be understood, and some were like a puzzle that had missing pieces that she would not supply us with. She especially frustrated me when answering any of our questions about the messenger.

"What is a sea wolf?", Tee asked.

"You already have the answer.", Alíla said.

"But we don't, right Char?"

I shook my head; we didn't have any idea what a sea wolf was or how to find out. Our latest theory was it was some kind of mercreature. But no matter how we asked, she wouldn't answer any more questions about sea wolves.

When I asked about slumbering with the stars and who or what a Lycos was, her answer was equally frustrating.

"You already know.", Alìla said.

Did that mean that one of our hypotheses was correct? If we knew, we wouldn't ask. What was it with the paranormal community and their cryptic communications?

As all things must end, so did our time with the verdant witch. Whatever favor was called in, she had fulfilled it. I wanted to thank her in a meaningful way. She had probably saved our lives. But we had nothing to give her but our gratitude, so we made an unbreakable vow.

Wild magic was everywhere in the world, and it was very powerful. The most powerful magic that we knew of, but it was so chaotic that no being would ever be crazy enough to use it. Father said every couple of generations there was some fool who thought they had figured out the trick to it and tried and died. Usually within a few casts.

The problem with wild magic was it was chaotic so who knows how your words would be interpreted and what the spell you cast would do. You could ask for a pail of water and get a tidal wave that wiped out half of a continent.

So, unless you were insanely arrogant, or insanely stupid no one attempted to wield wild magic, with a few exceptions. The unbreakable bond was one of those exceptions.

If a paranormal wanted to make a vow that no one would question, they would make an unbreakable vow. A vow, sealed by wild magic. No one had ever been able to break an unbreakable vow, and many had tried. And so would you if someone cashed in your vow and asked you to murder your child or betray your pack. But you were limited to only a few incantations and as long as you did not deviate from the few incantations that were proven to reliably work, you would be fine.

So don't get fancy.

Most paranormals could live for centuries and never make an unbreakable vow and here we were, only twelve years old making promises we did not understand. What we did know was what we gave the witch was considered a rare and valuable gift. Maybe not today, but you never know who or what I will become. A favor from the future me could be very valuable indeed.

In unison, Tee and I made a simple vow to help the witch whenever or with whatever she needed.

'If ever you find yourself in need, call upon us and we will heed.', Tee and I spoke.

An indescribable power rushed into my body after I spoke, and it bound me to Alíla somehow. The wild magic had taken our words and made them, unbreakable. Stunned, I wondered at the speed at which it was done. The most powerful spell in the universe only took a few seconds to manifest, and for a moment, I wondered if it had worked. It did not feel momentous at all.