#magickers

A continuation of @whumping-every-day’s request for branding

Occuldous woke up in the snow, his torso bare against the ice. He shivered, he was so cold, so so cold. But his back burned, worse than any whipping he’d ever gotten. There was a line of agony all the way down his spine, like when Master had used something caustic to make his horns flat on the tip.

He sat up slowly, little breathy gasps escaping his open mouth. There was the whipping post, and the glowing coals of a smothered fire. He went still and reached around to gingerly feel the edges of the burns. He gritted his teeth with a whine as he felt out the 6 evenly spaced characters that ran down his spine. They were runes but he couldn’t tell what they meant, he’d never learned to do runic magic.

But Noni did. She could help him, she always helped him. He started to get up, his head swimming with pain and cold and burning all at once. He took one step before he remembered Master hadn’t said he could leave. Master had left him there, and he couldn’t leave without master’s permission. He sat back down quick and shivered. He wrapped his arms around his bare chest and hunched his back, letting out a sharp scream when that movement set all the brand alight with pain.

“Oh shut up!” Master snapped, coming out of the house door to his left.

Against his will, Occuldous’ jaw snapped shut, crushing his tongue between his sharp teeth, his mouth filling with the coppery taste of blood. Occuldous’ eyes bulged in terror. What had happened? His cry of pain died in his throat.

Master looked back towards the house, “It works!” He laughed and leaned over Occuldous, spilling some beer onto the snow from the bottle in his hand. “Stop breathing.” He ordered.

Occuldous’ throat felt like a hand was crushing it slowly, cutting off his air supply. He clawed desperately at his throat, unable to open his mouth to scream, his eyes bulging in terror, tears streaming down his face. He tried to draw in another breath through his clenched teeth, only managing to suck in blood. He needed air, he needed to cough. His vision started to go black near the edges.

“Peter! Stop screwing with the Magi. The runes are for necessity only, they’re not for you to get your jollies off.” Master’s brother snapped his fingers and Occuldous’ throat and jaw were released.

He gasped desperately and coughed, blood and drool dripping from his mouth onto the snow. He shook from head to toe. This was what the runes did? They made him into a living puppet? Terror raced through him, causing his heart to pound. What would Master do to him now?

“Come see the Magickal wonders of the world! We have more than just cheap tricks and thrills! Come to Barham Brother’s Stage Show to hear the Song of Sirens, to See the Amazing Fae Trick Flyers! Gawk at the Caged Freaks! Watch the Magick of Me! Daybreak Starwitch!” Occuldous stood on a box in the market place, holding a sandwich board sign as he tried to get people’s attention up from their devices. He let a small starburst form between his horns, crackling with electricity.   “Two Day only stage show! The experience of a lifetime!” Occuldous shouted again, his voice cracking a little. His light beige linen shirt didn’t do much to protect his tender, welted skin from the burning sunlight. He wanted to be inside, even in his cage was cooler than out here. 

  But he had to get people to the show, Master had said they weren’t making enough money, that if they didn’t make money then Occuldous and the others wouldn’t be allowed to eat. Master and Master’s brother had sat with their books and papers and little devices with lots of buttons for a long time last night. They did that sometimes, and Occuldous would wait on them anxiously, they were always very cranky when they had those books and papers out and last night had been no exception. The welts from Master’s brother’s belt across his shoulders reminded him that he needed to try harder and be a little faster and more willing.   “Come see the Barham Brother’s Stage Show!” He let the starburst explode into a harmless firework of tiny sparks over the crowd. That got their attention. Mundane Magicks like that were rare on the street, no free magicker would waste their energy or risk capture with such frivolously, and pet Magickers were so expensive and rare that anyone or thing that had one was immediately interesting to the masses.   “In town for this weekend only! Barham Brothers Stage Productions!” Occuldous announced again, his voice cracking as he tried to get louder. “See Caged Freaks, hear the Siren Songs, watch the wonder that is Fae flight! See more of my magicks!”  People started to talk to each about what he was saying and started snapping pictures of him. 

He whimpered, the little eyes of the cameras were watching him, they were watching him, they wanted to take him, they would take the pictures and use them so they could find him to hurt him more, they would hurt him, they would invade his mind, they’d torture him in his dreams. His breathing became rapid and difficult and his vision tunneled out, he couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of his heart. 

He took a tiny step backward and fell off his box, causing the crowd to part, and he hit the ground. Hard.  Stars burst around his field of vision and he felt something wet and sticky on the back of his head. Blood. Oh no, he’s bleeding, Master would be so mad... He couldn’t perform if his head was all bloody. He reached up and checked his horns with a shaking hand. At least they weren’t broken. He sighed in relief  The crowds started dispersing, grumbling something about Magickers, and how disappointing he was.   “N-no...” He whimpered, trying to sit up but the wave of dizziness and nausea that followed forced him to stay on the ground.   “Hey! Bud are you ok?” A gentle voice asked as a pair of hands lifted his head off the concrete and tucked something soft under his head before letting him lay back on it slowly.  “N-no, d-don’t touch.” He whimpered pitifully, his vision completely whited out, unable to see who was touching him. Master would be so angry.   “Shhhh, it’s ok.” The hands gently stroked his face and brushed away the hair sticking to his sweat. “You’re ok buddy. Here, I’ll call your boss and he can take you home.”  “No need for that.”  Occuldous nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Master’s voice. He forced himself up from laying on the ground to get to his knees, even as his head throbbed and his vision swam.   “I’ll take this poor sod home.” Master’s voice was almost kind as he spoke to the stranger, but Occuldous knew better. That was his show voice, the one he used to make crowds believe him when he told stories about how Occuldous had begged to join the circus with them. He wasn’t kind, and he wasn’t happy. Occuldous knew he deserved it though, he had messed up made himself bleed, that meant he couldn’t show and Master wouldn’t make enough money. Master lifted Occuldous and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Occuldous held in a pained groan, forced the rising bile back down into his stomach.   

 “He hit his head pretty hard... He probably needs some cold water and rest.” The stranger said, their voice was quavering with worry.  “I’ll make sure he gets plenty.” Master’s tone had a sharp edge to its’ sweetness.  Occuldous’ heart sank. Master would give them water alright... 

So, the book that I'm writing has almost one thousand reads on wattpad.com, and I would really like to reach one thousand. If you guys want to check it out, it's called "The Magickers," and it's written by Elizabeth Granger! It would mean a lot to me if you would at least read the first chapter!

If you do, leave a comment saying you found it from this post!