Clove & Moose 22: The Sorcerous Showdown

Clove and Moose is a serial fiction story. If you want to get caught up on what came before, click one of the buttons below.

Previously, on Clove & Moose: After the mysterious Cataclysm dried up the earth and its magic, Clove and her cat Moose travelled to find and repair pools of corrupted magic left behind. Along the way, she's picked up three travelling companions: Marissa, Jasper, and his trusty horse Miss Delilah. They've recently arrived at Bone Gorge, where skeletons of ancient giants were discovered after the Cataclysm, and Jasper's old friend Nickel has started a cult.

Although the cultists only beat them to the cliffside by a few minutes, it was more than enough. Nickel was already standing on the roof of his wagon, speechifying to the crowd. 

“The gods took away our magic. They took away our way of life. But now they’ve given us a second chance! These bones, this place, they are full of magic. All we needed was the key to unlock that potential. And I’m here to tell you that I’ve found it. I’ve found the way to bring magic back.”

The crowd erupted into cheers.

“You all deserve a second chance. You all deserve the life you used to lead. You all deserve magic. And I’ve been chosen by the gods to give it to you.”

Clove rolled her eyes so hard she thought she might dislocate something. “I can’t believe you’re friends with this guy.”

Jasper grimaced. “He wasn’t like this before. The Cataclysm changed him.”

“Sorry.” 

Jasper guided Miss Delilah to a quiet spot near the edge of the woods and tied her harness to a tree by a long lead. Jen and Jon pulled their wagon in behind them and began to do the same.

Clove stayed seated with Moose on her lap to watch the proceedings. Nickel and his cronies had stationed themselves along the cliffside. They were waving their arms in a sequence of movements and chanting something, although Clove couldn’t make out the words over the ecstatic roar of the crowd.

“How can we stop them?” Clove whispered, mostly to herself, as the air along the cliffs began to glow in the familiar orange of corrupted magic.

“I could take two of them in a fight, maybe,” Jasper offered.

“I probably couldn’t take any. Maybe one if Moose is feeling feisty.”

“Three isn’t going to cut it, is it?”

“Only if one of them was Nickel,” Clove said, “and I think we’d have to go through more than three to get at him.”

“Violence is off the table, then.”

“Afraid so.” Clove sighed as Jen and Jon came up to join them. “If I could use magic…” 

There was no point even finishing the thought. Magic was gone. All except the corrupt magic that Nickel and his cronies were creating right now, clouds of orange light billowing off the cliffside as far as Clove could see in either direction.

“I don’t suppose you know a way to turn corrupt magic into normal magic?” Jen asked. 

Clove wished she could. “No, all I can do is store it away in a crystal.”

Jen and Jon glanced at each other, then looked back at her. 

“Oh!” Clove yelled, realization hitting her. “I could… No. I couldn’t. There’s too much. It would take too long.” 

“But it would help, wouldn’t it?” Jasper said softly. “Even a little less corruption, might be enough to reduce the effects?”

“You’re right.” Clove set her jaw and nodded. “It would help.”

It might kill her. But it might kill everyone here if she did nothing. She held Moose tight for a second and kissed his tiny forehead, then tucked him into the nearest corner of the wagon, checking again that his rope was tied tightly enough to stop him from jumping over the side.

She turned to Jasper. “If anything happens to me–”

“Nothing’s going to happen.”

“But if it does, you look after Moose for me, okay? Marissa would probably take him.”

She wished, again, that Marissa was here. She was glad that Jasper was. 

“We’ll take care of Moose. But you’re going to be fine.” 

“Clove.” It was Jen. “Would this help?”

Behind her, Jon hefted a large crystal. It was roughly the size and shape of a coconut, far bigger than Clove’s little crystal that fit in the palm of her hand. 

“What the– where did you– yes, that would help.” It would pull the corrupt magic out of the air far faster than hers would. “But you won’t be able to use it for anything else, afterward.”

Jon shrugged. “Can’t use it for anything else now, either.”

“Good point.” Clove accepted the crystal, cradling it in one arm, then surveyed the crowd. “I need to get closer.”

“We’ll clear the way.”

Jen and Jon barrelled into the crowd, clearing a path, and Clove followed after them, Jasper running along behind. By the time Clove burst out the other side of the crowd she’d lost track of Jen and Jon but she still had the crystal in her arms and Jasper beside her.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Here goes nothing.”

She started speaking the words of the spell, repeating the short enchantment over and over again. At first it seemed as though nothing was happening. Clove worried that maybe there was just too much corruption for her spell to make any difference. She kept trying, and after several long minutes the orange cloud nearest to her started to show the slightest hint of green around the edges. Seeing that it was working, Clove’s resolve hardened, and she spoke her spell louder and faster than before, clutching tight to the crystal with both hands. 

It didn’t look like she was putting a dent in the corrupt magic. The orange glow was so thick around them that she could scarcely make out the cliffs just a short distance away or the crowd of onlookers gathered behind them. But she knew it was working because the crystal was heating up. In fact, it was getting far warmer than her own small crystal ever had. Rather than a pleasant warmth, it was quickly growing uncomfortable.

She must have given some sign of pain as her hands started to burn, because Jasper looked turned all his attention to her. “What’s wrong?”

She didn’t dare speak and break the spell. She pointed to the crystal with her chin.

Jasper frowned, then slowly extended a hand toward it. He snatched his hand back before he touched it, then leaned forward to peer at her hands. “You’re blistering. You’ve got to drop it.”

Clove looked into his eyes as she continued to chant her spell. She couldn’t stop now. He was the one who’d convinced her that she needed to help if she could. Even if what she was doing was only a drop of rain on a forest fire, she couldn’t stop now. She stared at him until he sighed and shook his head.

“You won’t stop, will you?” He fumbled in his pack for a moment, then came up with a flask. “Can I pour some water on? Try to cool you down?”

Clove nodded. The water was blessedly cool, but it evaporated quickly. It helped, but not enough. She tried to focus on the spell, on the chant, on the flickers of green she could see amongst all the orange. But the pain wasn’t the only thing distracting her. The atmosphere of the crowd behind them had changed; the cheers of joy at the prospect of magic returning had switched to a confused silence and were now veering into rumbles of fear. She saw shadows moving in the orange glow but couldn’t make out who–or what–they were. Lost members of the crowd? Cultists coming for her? Conjurations of the magic?

All too soon, Jasper’s flask ran dry. “I could get more water, but I don’t dare leave you here alone.”

Clove appreciated that; she was growing concerned that the crowd would bolt and in the confusion caused by the magic and the limited visibility, she could get trampled.

“You go. I’ll stay and look after her.”

Clove looked up to see Marissa standing over her next to Jasper. 

“You made it,” Jasper said.

“I heard there was a commotion happening and figured I’d find you two at the centre of it.”

“Thanks.” Jasper lifted his flask. “I’ll go fill this.”

“Go quick,” Marissa said. “I don’t like the look of those hands.”

Clove looked away. She didn’t want to see her hands. If they looked as bad as they felt, it wasn't going to be pretty. But that was a problem for future Clove. For now her only goal was to remove as much of the corrupt magic as possible.

The scene around them grew stranger. The corrupt magic was definitely taking effect now. Something huge flew through the air above them, massive wings kicking up dust that threatened to choke them all. There were two Marissas beside her, then none, then six, then one. What sounded like a flock of sheep stampeded around them, dark backs flowing past like a river. Someone was standing behind her; out of the corner of her eye it looked like Arthur, but when she turned around he was gone. 

Jasper returned with not just a flask of water, but two buckets full. Clove didn’t know where or how he’d managed to find buckets in all this chaos, but if anyone was going to do it, it would be Jasper. He slowly streamed cold water over her fingers, pouring from one bucket to the other to conserve what water didn’t immediately steam off the crystal.

She hoped Moose was okay. She thought she saw him, once, and almost cried out, but she held steady, focusing on her spell. Moose was safely tied up, she reminded herself. It couldn’t possibly be him, she repeated, as she watched the animal shape trot past and grow larger. She’d been mistaken. It wasn’t a cat at all, but a giant bear. Surely that couldn’t be her Moose.

Clove was tired. She just wanted to close her eyes and go to sleep. She no longer knew what was an effect of the magic or how much she was hallucinating from the pain. All she knew was the steady presence of Jasper and Marissa on either side of her. 

Eventually, slowly, the air began to clear. She thought she was imagining it at first. Maybe the sun had just come out from behind a cloud, making the world appear lighter. But no, the orange really was dimming. There was more and more green light in the air around them, and the odd effects of the magic were wearing away.

“It’s working, Clove,” Marissa whispered. “You’re almost there.”

“You’ve done it,” Jasper said, pouring the last of the water over her hands. “Just hold on a little longer.”

Clove nodded, her eyes blurred with tears. She let herself close her eyes, repeating the spell in a choked voice, over and over until Marissa touched her arm. “It’s done.” 

It wasn’t, not quite. She held on a little longer until the heat in the crystal faded. She opened her eyes and saw that there was no hint of magic left in the air, no glowing lights in orange or green or any other colour. 

The valley around them was a mess. The ground had been churned up, tree branches were snapped, and there were clumps of people surrounding those who had been injured. But the corrupt magic was gone. A second Cataclysm had been avoided.

Clove closed her eyes and passed out.

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Katie Conrad is a speculative fiction writer living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. You can find her on bluesky and instagram.