Stronger geis

“Set. Install.”

I shrunk five inches. My hair receded up into my head, becoming a short, almost pixie-ish cut. My costume morphed into a coarse, thick fabric, hardier and more durable than modern cotton. Black shirt, black pants, maroon vest, loose maroon chaps, lined with golden trim. Leather boots, a skirt of golden scales. A single spaulder on the left shoulder.

Aífe the Handsome. Aífe the Indomitable.

“Apocrypha?” Miss Militia said again.

I didn’t answer. I dropped to my knees beside Bakuda, pressed one gloved thumb against her forehead, and drew out a series of runes in the surface of her mask with nothing by my own raw power.

Then, I began the process for a second, more permanent binding.

A geis.

“Suidigidir.” Set.

There was more than one form of geis. The easier form was the one I had used twice, now — an agreement, an oath, a vow — and it was easier because it was voluntary, because the ones making the oath made it willingly. Enforcing a promise was less difficult when it was a promise that had been entered of your own free will.

“Thrice do I bind thee, in word, in spirit, in deed.”

But there was a second form.

“Thrice do I take these boons, by right of conquest, over you, over your master, over your servants.”

The form used by Grainne to bind Diarmuid against his will. The form by which she had forced him to run away with her, or else face the dishonor and misfortune that came from breaking it. The form of a curse, a taboo, where you made someone follow your will, regardless of whether they agreed to it or not.

And it was nearly impossible to actually use.

“Thrice do I offer these prohibitions.”

Unless you had some form of authority over your target. Goddess, queen, princess, victor — the more authority you had, the more powerful you could make your geis.

And I had beaten Bakuda. I’d beaten her, I’d beaten her underlings, I’d even beaten her boss, Lung. I held the ultimate authority over her — her life.

And just to hedge my bets, I’d brought out Aífe.

“That thou shalt keep the secret of the truth of mine self. That thou shalt keep the secret of mine family. That thou shalt not act to reveal these secrets in any knowing manner.”

The runes blazed. The curse took hold. The authority I had over her, as the one who spared her life, as the one who had beaten her, forked and settled, and she had no right to argue.

“Íadaid.” Close.

When it was done, I stood back up and looked down at the woman who had done her best to kill me, who had, with the help of Oni Lee, come even closer than Lung had.

[She is no threat to me.​]

Now, she was no more dangerous to me than a particularly ornery rabbit.