14. Hanako Meets A Scottish Woman.

Deep in shadow, the cart made its way through piercing rods of dying sunlight.

Jenny Lewis steered Ruggiero around a winding path where an unusually large white Wolf slept peacefully.

The Wolf was gigantic by any standards, roughly the size of a whale. Its mid-section contained a small red door with a stain-glassed window on either side.

Jumping off the cart, Hanako gripped her Javelin tight.

"Skittish, isn't she?" The Mouse said. "Hey, Hoplite! Come help me with this body."

"Body?" Isaac said, wincing. "I'm not dead yet."

"Keep this up and I'll make it official."

"Don't threaten me with a good time." He said. They shared a laugh, and Hanako helped the injured Knight down off the cart. Taking a look at the door, he took a deep breath. "It has to be me. Daphne won't see anyone else."

"This is a bad idea."

"Don't start," Isaac said. "It’s awkward enough."

Hanako looked around, exasperated.

Is nobody going to say something about the Dog? Why is there a door?

"Later," Isaac said, clutching his stomach. "Now comes the hard part."

The door burst open, and a young, red-headed Scottish woman appeared, pointing a finger at Jenny.

"Yooou!" The Witch said.

"Allô."

The Redhead focused her fury on Isaac. "And you! Bringing your fancy woman to my doorstep? How dare thee!"

"Technically, she's not a woman," Isaac said.

"I'm really not."

The woman finally levelled a glare at Hanako.

"And you!" A beat. "I have no idea who this is."

"Isaac is in trouble," Jenny said.

"I. Don't. Care!" The woman snarled and slammed the door. A second later, one of the little windows opened up. "Why are you standing like that? Do you need a poo?"

"No, I don't need..." Isaac said, but pain cut him off.

"He's badly injured."

Overwhelmed with concern, Daphne opened the door.

"Bring him in." She said, waving frantically. "Come on, come on!"

The interior of the Wolf was surprisingly cosy. A small fireplace lit the place up with a warm glow. To the left, an overstuffed bookcase stood, next to an Alchemist's table with scattered Earthenware.

They set Isaac down on a red chaise-lounge couch, while the Witch finished squeezing an orange, clay-like substance in her hand.

"Right, stay there." Daphne said. "Chippie the mouse, go and stand by the door." Jenny smiled and moved to the front. The Witch finally settled her gaze upon the girl. "You...are new."

"Her name's Hanako," Isaac said, half-whispering. "She's a kid. I'm trying to...keep her safe. Hanako, this is Daphne. She's very passionate."

"Who isn't?" Jenny said, with a sly smile.

"Shut it." Daphne said, dabbing orange clay on the wound. "A kid, huh? You kept that quiet."

"It's not mine."

"Ahh, shirking responsibility already? Will wonders never cease?" There followed a low moan from above. "I'm on it!" Daphne told the ceiling. "One of you will have to go. Missy hates too many visitors; it gives her a tummy ache."

Hanako looked around.

Why are we inside a Dog?

"It's not a Dog, it's a Wolf," Isaac said, wincing. "Wolf-God to be exact. Hiraeth the Dreamer."

"I made her invisible," Daphne said. "In return, I get to live in comfort, as long as I built an outhouse. She was very insistent on that." There was another rumble, which shook all the decorations. "Look, one of you needs to scoot, like now."

"I was going anyway," Jenny said. "Daphne, a pleasure as always. Isaac? Good luck, Monsieur; don't be a stranger."

She left with a twirl of her hand and closed the door behind.

Daphne snorted. "Monsieur. Very chummy, aren't we?"

“Can we do this later?"

"No risk of you running out in the middle of the night."

"I was running to put out the forest fire you started!" Isaac said.

"That wasn't me," Daphne said, avoiding eye contact. "It was another witch, who was never seen again. Very bad manners." She watched Hanako slump down on the wing-backed chair. "Speaking of manners, your friend here has yet to say anything."

"She's a mute."

"The quiet type, eh? Well, while you're here, you might as well have something to eat." Daphne offered a plate of pale, triangular biscuits. "I don't know why I have these; they taste like Lego made of sand."

The girl pointed to a nearby photograph, taken in the Highlands of Scotland and featuring two girls wearing oversized hats.

"She wants to know who that is," Isaac said.

Picking up the frame, the Witch smiled.

"I can't for the life of me remember." She said. "I know she was someone close. For some reason, it brings me comfort. That's the thing about this place; it takes everything you used to be, leaving you with nothing but a blank slate. How did this one get here?"

"I fell from the sky. I think?" Isaac translated. "Or did I? It doesn't sound real."

"There you have it. When I arrived, I was crying, and all of a sudden I couldn't remember why. Now I've got no one. Well, except when that damn Mouse comes around with her delicious teas."

"I knew you couldn't resist," Jenny said from the open window.

"Out!"

Hanako looked away. Even now, she could feel parts of her memory drifting away like embers on a passing breeze. Soon, the faces of her family would disappear forever. Shaking her head, she posed a question.

Isaac waited for her to finish.

"She wants to know which part of Scotland you are from." He said.

Daphne looked at the girl and then back at Isaac.

"What's Scotland?" She said. "Is it the island with those talking books? They give me the creeps."

"Apparently, she is from the same planet."

"How is she getting back?"

"We were supposed to use the two Beacons," Isaac said and shot Hanako an accusatory look. "But someone burst the damn."

"Ahh, I wondered why the dry bed was suddenly a babbling brook."

"All hope of getting back is lost."

"You sound like your Blacksmith, he's also a barrel of laughs."

~You said the Witch would help us! ~

"Ooh, look at her go!" Daphne said, quietly impressed "She's all hands today."

~Wait, you understand me? ~

The Witch nodded and then shook her head.

"I have no idea what she's doing. She could be calling me names for all I know." Daphne dropped a pad and a pen onto the girl's lap. "Here, write it down."

"Won't the language barrier be a problem?" Isaac inquired.

"It has an auto-translate spell built into it, the first thing I did when I arrived here."

"Very convenient."

"I don't like people talking behind my back or in front of it…or to the side?" The Redhead checked herself in the mirror. "I am so pretty."

"I see your priorities are in order," Isaac said.

Daphne spun around, annoyed

"Don't have a go at me, mate; you're the one who got himself beaten up. I thought you were supposed to be..." The Witch stopped herself and looked at Hanako, who was fully invested in the conversation. "...all Shiny ‘round these parts.”

"I got sloppy. Years of low-level enemies will do that."

The Redhead slumped into a nearby armchair and picked up a toasting fork.

"And now you come crawling back to me. Ironic."

"I can always go to the Apothecaries," Isaac said. "They have a good healer named Myceroy."

"Firstly, anything with 'Mice' in the name is bound to be trouble."

"My ears are burning!" Jenny said.

"So dunk yer head!" Daphne shouted back, then leaned in. "Secondly, modern magic is so sterile, there's no heart. Unless we're talking Necromancy, then there's way too much heart, if you know what I mean."

"I really don't."

"My point is, you're too old to be fighting, which means Craven Keep will be all but defenceless. I suggest you take your apprentice and bring her up a notch."

"How far up are we talking?".

"Put it this way, when's the last time you visited a Funfair?"

***

'Funfair' was the most inaccurate description of a place Hanako had ever heard.

Past the weathered turnstiles was an empty, rain-swept park filled with abandoned rides and boarded-up stalls. Anything that wasn’t rusted, sat overgrown and hollowed out.

Daphne took the lead, under a translucent dome umbrella.

“It’s funny,” She said. “I don’t remember much, except my Dad bringing me to a funfair when he wasn’t competing for trophies.”

Isaac sighed deeply. “Can we focus on the mission?”

“Sure, sure. “Come for the fun, stay for the blood poisoning. I hope your precious Apothecary can magic up Tetanus shots."

"This was your idea." 

"Which wouldn't have been the case, had you not fallen foul of injury. I'm doing this for the girl's benefit as well."

Hanako wrote on the pad:

I'm fine, thanks.

"Ha!" Daphne said, with a snort. "People who say they are fine are the first to catch a cold. Except in your case, it will be an axe to the face. So, the question is...do you want to die of apathy or move your body in ways you can't believe?"

Hanako reluctantly held up two fingers, indicating the second choice.

"Exactly. And so brave companions, let us sally forth to History Town!"