A Sorceress Comes to Call

A Sorceress Comes to Call Plot Summary

Introduction

# A Sorceress Comes to Call: Breaking the Chains of Magical Bondage The fly crawled across Cordelia's motionless hand, its tiny legs like needles against her skin. She sat frozen in the church pew, unable to brush it away, unable to move at all. Her mother's spell held her fast—a living doll in Sunday clothes while her mind screamed inside its prison of flesh. This was fourteen-year-old Cordelia's existence: a puppet dancing to Evangeline's will, her body no longer her own whenever correction was needed. Evangeline Ashford was a woman who collected secrets like other women collected jewelry, and in Victorian society's drawing rooms, information meant power. When an invitation arrived from wealthy Squire Samuel Chatham for an extended house party, she saw her chance. The Squire was recently widowed, his sister Lady Hester commanded social influence, and their guest list included Lord Evermore—one of the county's most eligible bachelors. But Evangeline's ambitions carried a terrible price, paid in blood and sorcery by those who stood in her way.

Chapter 1: The Puppet's Prison: Life Under a Sorceress's Control

Cordelia's only refuge was Falada, the magnificent white horse who carried her across the fields when the walls grew too close. In his stable, pressed against his warm flank, she whispered her fears and dreams to what she believed was her only friend. The cottage had no closed doors—privacy was forbidden, secrets impossible. She learned to crop each thought into something pleasant and unremarkable, always aware of her mother's watchful presence. The day she tried to run changed everything. Riding Falada down an unfamiliar road toward imagined freedom, the horse simply stopped. No coaxing could make him move. Then Evangeline appeared on foot, miles from home, smiling with cold amusement. Falada stretched his neck toward her touch, and in that moment of betrayal, Cordelia learned the truth. The horse was no friend but a familiar, a magical creature bound to report her every secret to the woman who owned them both. Their departure came with characteristic suddenness. They would leave their shabby cottage forever, traveling to the coast where Evangeline would marry Squire Chatham—a wealthy but lonely man she'd never met. The carriage waiting outside bore the Parker family crest, stolen from Ellen's father. Cordelia's only friend's family had paid the price for her mother's ambitions, and the guilt settled in her stomach like a stone. The journey passed in terrible silence. Cordelia clutched her meager possessions while Falada pulled the stolen cabriolet with contemptuous ease, his pale green eyes reflecting something that wasn't quite animal intelligence.

Chapter 2: Arrival at Chatham House: Beauty, Deception, and Growing Suspicions

Chatham House rose from manicured lawns like a monument to old money and older secrets. Lady Hester Chatham greeted her guests with practiced warmth, but her sharp eyes missed nothing. Despite her wit and social armor, she took immediate liking to the nervous girl who seemed perpetually startled by her own shadow. Cordelia found sanctuary in Hester's library, where she could escape her mother's surveillance and lose herself in books. Evangeline moved through the grand estate like a predator selecting prey, her beauty and calculated fragility already ensnaring the Squire. She complained bitterly about attentive servants who interrupted her seductions, her frustration building like pressure in a kettle. The teacups rattled when she spoke of obstacles, and Cordelia recognized the signs of her mother's growing rage. At dinner, Cordelia struggled with bewildering silverware while Evangeline charmed their host. Lady Hester quietly guided her through the social minefield, showing which fork to use with subtle gestures. For the first time in her life, Cordelia felt protected by someone other than herself. She thanked servants—a breach of etiquette that marked her as genuinely naive rather than another beautiful schemer. But it was Lady Imogene Strauss who first voiced what others only whispered. Something about Lady Evangeline didn't ring true. Her stories seemed rehearsed, her mannerisms too studied, her beauty too perfect to be entirely natural. When Falada triggered the village's protective wards simply by walking through them, even the local horse trader muttered about glamour magic—the kind used to make old nags look like prize stallions.

Chapter 3: Murder in the Night: Eliminating Rivals Through Dark Magic

Mrs. Penelope Green swept into Chatham House like a force of nature, scarred by smallpox but radiating charisma that made her the center of every room. She was everything Evangeline pretended to be—genuinely witty, effortlessly charming, secure despite her imperfections. Worse still, she shared history with the Squire, having been his mistress years before. Her very presence threatened everything Evangeline had worked to build. The rivalry played out over dinner tables and drawing room conversations, Evangeline's barbed comments deflected by Penelope's self-deprecating humor. The Squire's attention kept drifting to the newcomer, his eyes lighting up at her stories. Evangeline's fury grew with each laugh she didn't inspire, each moment he spent looking elsewhere. The white horse began pacing the grounds at night, and Cordelia felt the familiar weight of her mother's displeasure settling over the house like a storm front. The scream that shattered the night brought everyone running to Penelope's chambers. They found her standing over her maid's bloody corpse, a knife in her trembling hands. Her eyes held the wild panic of a trapped animal as she stammered denials—the same look Cordelia recognized from her own mirror after certain conversations with her mother. Lord Evermore tried to calm her, his voice reasonable as he approached with outstretched hands. But Penelope's mouth moved as if trying to speak, only strangled sounds emerging. Then she turned toward the balcony with jerky, unnatural movements, like a marionette in cruel hands. She fought against each step, her body swaying as if buffeted by invisible winds, but her feet carried her inexorably toward the open doors. Evermore lunged forward, his fingertips brushing her hair as she threw herself over the railing. The sound of her body hitting the courtyard stones echoed like a gunshot, final and irrevocable.

Chapter 4: The Trap Springs: Engagement, Truth, and Desperate Alliances

The Squire proposed to Evangeline three days after the funeral, his grief and guilt making him vulnerable to her carefully orchestrated comfort. She had played the traumatized witness perfectly, clinging to his arm and whispering that she only felt safe in his presence. Lady Hester watched in horror as her brother announced their engagement, recognizing the trap but unable to prove her suspicions without sounding like a jealous spinster. Cordelia found Hester the morning after the announcement, her young face set with desperate calm. The words came out steady and clear: "I think my mother killed Mrs. Green." What followed was a confession that shattered everything Hester thought she knew about the world. Evangeline was a sorceress with the power to make people obedient—to control their bodies while their minds screamed helplessly inside. The story should have been impossible to believe, but Hester remembered Penelope's eyes, the way she'd moved against invisible wind. She remembered Cordelia's strange behavior at that first dinner, giggling and flirting while her eyes held the panic of a caged animal. Together with Lord Evermore and the unflappable butler Willard, they began to plan. Evermore rode hard for the county jail where Edward Parker sat awaiting execution for murdering his family with an axe. He returned with confirmation of their worst fears. Parker was sane but broken, able to speak of everything except the woman who had destroyed his family. The mention of Lady Evangeline sent him into choking fits, his body rejecting the words even as his mind tried to form them. Only when asked about his stolen carriage could he speak freely, describing the pale woman with the white horse who had taken everything from him.

Chapter 5: Rituals and Revelation: The Battle Against Supernatural Bondage

The wedding was a small affair in the village chapel, Evangeline radiant in ivory silk as she exchanged vows with the besotted Squire. But during the ceremony, something stirred in dimensions beyond mortal perception. The ghost of Penelope Green, trapped between life and death by violent murder, felt the holy water, wine, and salt resonate like bells in the space between worlds. Ancient texts spoke of rituals involving these same elements—water, wine, and salt—used not just to bind souls in marriage but to break supernatural bonds entirely. If Evangeline's sorcery could not be fought directly, perhaps it could be shattered at its source. But first they needed to deal with Falada, the familiar who served as her eyes and ears even during her honeymoon absence. They lured the creature close with Cordelia as bait, knowing her mother's commands would prevent it from harming her directly. The old stablemaster Bernard approached with sixty years of horse-gentling confidence, never suspecting this beast was something else entirely. When Falada's head twisted at an impossible angle and his teeth closed on the old man's ear, the illusion shattered completely. Cordelia threw herself over Bernard's bleeding form, her body shielding him from hooves that could have crushed his skull. For all her fear, she knew with absolute certainty that Falada could not hurt her—her mother's plans depended too heavily on keeping her daughter intact. They managed to rope and hobble the familiar, though it took every man present, and even then Falada's inhuman laughter echoed across the courtyard as they prepared their circle of chalk and desperate hope.

Chapter 6: Breaking Free: The Final Confrontation and Liberation

The ritual began at midnight, with Hester invoking water, Imogene calling upon salt, and Evermore attempting to channel wine. But when the moment came for the three elements to harmonize, something went wrong. Two notes rang clear and true, but the wine-note faltered and died. Evermore was too decent, too grounded to embody the transformative spirit of fermented grapes. Falada's laughter grew louder as their spell collapsed, forcing them to fall back on cruder methods. Axes and fire reduced the familiar to ash and bone. But even death seemed insufficient. The creature clawed its way out of the grave three days later, headless but undaunted, driven by rage and fading echoes of its mistress's commands. It killed the head gamekeeper and terrorized the countryside, no longer bothering to maintain its equine disguise. Cordelia knew that only she could end the rampage, that her unique position as both victim and bait made her the key to stopping Falada's killing spree. Evangeline had abandoned her honeymoon the moment she felt her spells unraveling, racing back to reclaim control and eliminate threats to her new life. The confrontation came in the pre-dawn darkness, where the sorceress's knife bit deep into Cordelia's thigh as she extracted the names of her co-conspirators. But even pain could not force the girl to betray those who had shown her kindness. The final battle erupted on Evermore House's lawn, where Cordelia's obedient body raised a knife toward Lord Evermore's throat while her mind screamed in protest. But she was not Falada, not truly her mother's creature despite years of conditioning. With Penelope's ghost whispering encouragement, Cordelia fought back with every ounce of strength she possessed. The blade went wide, scoring Evermore's cheek instead of opening his throat. In that moment of defiance, everything changed. Lady Hester's cane cracked against Evangeline's skull, breaking the sorceress's concentration and freeing her daughter from a lifetime of magical bondage.

Summary

The ritual that followed stripped away Evangeline's power layer by layer, reducing her from apex predator to merely human. When Falada finally materialized for his revenge, he found his former mistress defenseless, and his rage was terrible to behold. In the aftermath, as they buried what remained of the sorceress, the survivors found themselves forever changed. Cordelia discovered that her own nascent magical abilities had been burned away in the cleansing fire, leaving her free but ordinary. She mourned the loss of Penelope's ghostly voice, silenced when the spirit found peace, but treasured the memory of that final friendship. Lord Evermore formally adopted Cordelia, providing the security and affection she had never known, while Lady Hester served as her guardian. The arrangement offered them all what they needed—Hester and Evermore could build something together without traditional marriage constraints, and Cordelia gained the family she had always craved. The white horse's grave remained empty, a reminder that some evils leave scars that never fully heal. But Cordelia had learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the decision to act despite it. She had broken her chains not through magic or birthright, but through the simple, revolutionary act of refusing to be what others demanded she become.

About Author

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T. Kingfisher

Vernon navigates the worlds of fantasy and horror through her alter ego, T. Kingfisher, creating narratives that combine whimsical absurdity with deeply human themes. Her writing explores identity and transformation, weaving dark humor with elements of the supernatural. This distinctive style is evident in works like "Nettle & Bone" and "What Moves the Dead," where character-driven plots meet atmospheric tension. Her background in anthropology and art informs her vivid storytelling, offering readers an experience that is both engaging and thought-provoking.\n\nWhereas T. Kingfisher captivates adult readers with her intricate tales, her children's books under the name Ursula Vernon showcase a different dimension of her talent. The duality of her career allows her to seamlessly transition between audiences, therefore enriching her creative output. Her early success with webcomics such as "Digger" laid the foundation for a diverse body of work, winning her multiple accolades, including the Hugo and Nebula awards. These honors underscore her impact in both children's literature and adult genres, contributing to a bio that reflects her versatile contributions to the literary field.\n\nReaders seeking immersive experiences will find that Kingfisher's works resonate with both their whimsical and reflective sides. Her ability to craft stories that appeal to a broad audience, from young adults to seasoned readers, is a testament to her skill as an author. For those who appreciate a blend of fantasy and reality, her books offer a rich tapestry of themes and characters that linger long after the last page is turned.

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