Hexed

flopping her hand expertly onto the back of his neck. She immediately began to pet him with a series of massaging squeezes, chuckling softly as she did so.
    › She thinks petting me is an honor, ‹ Oberon said, his tail wagging enthusiastically now. › This is an unexpected position to take for a goddess of slaughter, but I applaud her defiance of convention. ‹
    Breakfast was pleasant. The Morrigan asked for advice on what to do next with the amulet, and I advised her to wear it as a talisman for now and cast spells with it off and on to discover what difference there was. She had to discover a way to cast spells without any interference whatsoever from the iron. In the meantime, she should introduce herself to an iron elemental and give it a few faeries, asking nothing in return. Repeat as necessary until the elemental asked if it could do anything for her. » That might take years, « I warned. » It took me three years to get to that point, and I’m a friendly guy. Never betray a moment’s impatience. «
    » Where did you get the faeries to feed it? «
    » Aenghus Óg kept sending them after me. «
    » Ha! « the Morrigan barked. » So in a way he was helping you all along to build the defense that enabled you to stand up to him. «
    When the Morrigan left, I finally relieved my grateful bladder, then discovered I was only mildly late to get on the road with Granuaile. My cell was still on top of my shop’s roof, so I used the phone in the kitchen to call her to come pick me up. After that, I got my wands out of the garage to perform a long-overdue divination.
    My wands are twenty sticks with Ogham script carved into one end. Each of the sticks stands for a different letter of the Ogham alphabet, and these in turn are associated with the trees of Ireland, together with a host of prophetic meanings.
    I took my wands out to the backyard and cleared my mind. I focused on my friends and their safety, then, without looking, I withdrew five sticks from the bag and threw them gently into the air, letting them fall in front of me. How they fell—and how I interpreted them—would hopefully give me a glimpse of the future.
    I saw willow, alder, hawthorn, blackthorn, and yew. The latter chilled me quickly; it prophesied death. Fortunately it did not definitively cross the alder or willow—which I took to mean both male and female friends—yet it threatened both, lying between them, as a stark possibility, a possible outcome. Hawthorn and blackthorn—magic guardianship and danger. My friends needed magical protection: The German hexen would attack again soon, perhaps at any moment.
    » Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! « I cried with all the venom of Charlton Heston.
    › What’s a strumpet? ‹ Oberon asked.
    » It’s a Shakespearean word for whore. «
    › Cool word! It rhymes with trumpet . And pump it . Why didn’t the Black Eyed Peas use it in their song? Aren’t rappers always looking for cool new rhymes? They should kick it old school with the Bard. ‹
    I snorted. » Indeed. «
    › Who’d you call a strumpet? ‹
    » Fortune. It’s a quote from Hamlet . The idea is that Fortune is fickle or unfaithful, like a whore. The character who says it continues, ‘All you gods, in general synod take away her power;’ because he doesn’t like what Fortune has in store for him. Well, I’m not a god, nor am I in general synod with anyone, but perhaps I have a way to take away Fortune’s power to do you harm. « I had three amulets of cold iron that I could use like talismans—three people I could protect. » Come here, Oberon. Let me see your collar. «
    › Aw, no, not more tags? ‹
    » Not this time. This is a special magical talisman to protect you from the Man. «
    › Gravy! Thanks, Atticus! ‹
    » You’re going to need to hold still for a few minutes while I activate it. We have to make sure the Man can’t get past all the juju to grind you down, you know? «
    › Oh, I dig it, I totally dig it. I’ll just pretend I’m one of those crazy Sphinx cats. ‹
    » Excellent. « Protective talismans are fairly simple to construct from most objects, but they vary in strength depending on the base material and the skill of the caster. Cold iron naturally provides the strongest protection, but its magic-negating properties also make it tremendously difficult to twist to one’s own purposes—unless you’ve been watching how iron elementals do it. Like wards, you have to be specific about what you want