He woke with a gasp, body still sore.

The wound on his side was still healing; his hands and feet were bound, and it was dark. It stank of molded wood.

" Son of a bitch!" Sif cussed, wriggling. " Motherfucker!"

A little window slid open, and bright blue eyes looked down on him.

" Oh, you're awake," a buttery smooth voice said. No longer disoriented or dry, this seemed to be the resurrected man named Douglásc. " I feared you to be dead. Are you alright?"

" Get me out of here," Sif demanded immediately.

" I can't," Douglásc said. " Witchraiser Dubhán still has some control over me, even though I've been returned to my body."

" Fuck," Sif cussed as he had never cussed before. " Fuck, fuck, fuck."

" Must you really use Fair Helna's body to curse like that?" Douglásc complained at him.

" My people? Are my people alright? Coven Yrnhold? Rágn? Lady Aoife and her Brige? That annoying coven of Híebard?" Sif asked, glaring up.

" I don't know," Douglásc said. " This era is unfamiliar to me. Dubhán said he went to sign treaty with some heathens. How did you come to possess Helna's body?"

" I didn't steal it," Sif said strongly. " I didn't! Helna herself forced me to take it! She made me pull her up so that she could use her full powers to save our village..."

Douglásc nodded along.

" That sounds about like Helna," he agreed. " Very reckless, that one was. Our God loved her dearly."

He sighed.

" I feel terrible for you," he said. " That Dubhán is wicked. He's gone around trapping souls for some lord or another. I was stuck in a ring for years..."

He suddenly turned away, alert, and then wordlessly slid shut the small window.

" Douglásc, did you speak with that cat?"

" Of course not, Master."

" Do not lie to me. You know what I think of liars."

" I perhaps talked in its general direction, and it perhaps spoke at me in return..."

He let out a small cry of pain.

" Douglásc."

" Yes, Master?"

A sound of someone being thrown to the floor.

" Do not split hairs or peddle half-truths with me. I may rip you from that body again if I wish."

" Yes, Master..."

The door slammed close, much louder than it had opened.

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