himself smoked his potent pipe-leaf a respectful distance way .
“ All is well then , my lord ?” the Alderman asked . It was his only interjection as Jona told the story .
Jona winced as Daise rubbed something that stung into a wound on his arm . “ Yes and no .”
The Alderman cocked an eyebrow at that and tamped his pipe out . “ I ’ m not sure I grasp your meaning .”
Jona turned to look out a nearby window at the village green , full of people unaware they had narrowly avoided an awful curse . “ Magic didn ’ t work . Even with the Change considered , I should have been able to exorcise the spirit . Rather , it was mundane sunlight that ended the creature and broke the curse . It isn ’ t the last of its kind either , but I ’ m the last of mine . After a fashion .”
“ What do we do , then ? If the old ways are no good ?” The Alderman all but collapsed into a chair and wiped his hair with a rag .
“ I don ’ t know .” Jona tore his attention away from the villagers and let Daise take his face into her hands to wash a cut . “ Whatever it is , it ’ ll be wildly different than what came before . We only have ourselves to rely on now .”
Anthony Santiago is an emerging author with one publication credit ; The Heart of Living Flame , a fantasy short story , was published in TDS Issue 4 . Based in Providence , Rhode Island , where he lives with his family , he is a graduate of Emerson College ' s Popular Fiction M . F . A program and currently works in the production department for an educational publisher .
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