Free The Return of the Witch by Paula Brackston Page B

have you found him, this other Time Stepper? Have you been able to question him further? It might be that he can shed some light on where Gideon is hiding Tegan. He might have valuable information for us.”
    â€œAlas, if he did he took it with him to his grave.”
    I was shocked but not surprised. “I’m sorry,” I said, seeing Erasmus’s sorrow at the death of one of his own, a shadow passing over his naturally cheerful face. “Gideon’s ruthlessness knows no bounds. Which is why I must begin my search as soon as possible. We do at least know that he and Tegan are here somewhere?”
    â€œWe do.” He paused and then asked, “Are you confident you are a match for your opponent when we find him?”
    The baldness of the query took me by surprise. It was a fair question, and one I asked of myself often, but it was as if I were facing it anew hearing it spoken aloud by someone else.
    â€œI will have to be,” I told him. “There is no one else to help Tegan. She is in danger because of me. It is up to me to save her.”
    â€œLaudable sentiments, but ones that may get us both killed, judging by the fate of my fellow Stepper.”
    â€œI had not thought to put you in peril, beyond the Stepping, that is.”
    â€œWhat am I here to do if not to see that your journey is safe and successful? Of course I shall assist you in any way I can, and to do that, I need to know more about our adversary. What can you tell me of him that may be of use?”
    It was hard to know where to begin; how to give a clear and accurate summary of such a man as Gideon Masters.
    â€œHe is single-minded, without pity, unable or unwilling to consider the value of another unless it is someone who matters to him. And even then he can turn from obsessive love to murderous hatred with breathtaking ease.”
    â€œYou sound as if you were once the recipient of these … affections.”
    â€œI was. Indeed, he hates me still, and I believe he is using Tegan to punish me, even after all these long years.”
    â€œIt seems an extreme course of action, I mean to say, extreme for a snubbed lover or ally or whatever. Forgive me, I am not implying that you might not inspire such … passion, only that, well, if the man is as clever and as skilled in magic as you claim him to be, such sustained fury seems out of proportion to a bruised heart and dented pride.”
    â€œI can only tell you how he has behaved in the past. I admit I don’t know if he has a new motivation, a new goal. If he does, I have yet to discover it.”
    Erasmus shrugged and grinned. “Until he reveals it, then, we will consider him a spurned lover, harboring a centuries-long grudge, furious at having had his liberty taken from him for five years, bent on paying you back for the wrongs he believes you have done to him…”
    â€œâ€¦ and prepared to kill anyone in order to do so,” I added.
    â€œSo it would seem,” he agreed. “A warlock, you said in your summoning. Given to using aliases, then?”
    â€œIndeed he has used many variations on his name…” I stopped speaking as, at that moment, a movement caught my eye. Aloysius had been tempted from his hiding place by the smell of fresh bread and pungent cheese. He scampered across the table. With startling speed my host drew back his knife and threw it. I had not time to shout, but instinctively released a protective pulse of magic that reached the mouse a fraction of a second before the blade, deflecting the knife and sending it crashing to the floor. It was not a spell as such, not a considered act. It was a witch responding faster than reason when someone close to her is threatened.
    â€œGood lord!” Erasmus exclaimed.
    â€œThis is Aloysius. He is accompanying me on my quest,” I explained, breaking off a morsel of cheese and feeding it to the mouse, who was utterly unperturbed.
    â€œI don’t