Through Sorcerer's eyes - Oct 25, where another death casts a shadow on the neighborhood

Part of a series analyzing Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October through Sorcerer.

Starts here.

October 25

This chapter gives us a lot of important background about sorcery/magic in general, and the specifics of Cheeter's binding in particular. We see that Cheeter, unlike Quicklime, is unable to break his Binding without help. Does this mean that the demons Graymalk and Snuff are performing sorcery themselves?

As their masters are straightening Jack's place out and drinking sherry, Snuff and Graymalk go to check out the vicarage. They spot Tekela, and Graymalk attempts to go attack her, but fails. The way she describes her failure might suggest this is an actual margin of weakness, so perhaps Tekela's Stamina is particularly high. They head back to their respective homes.

The next day, Graymalk takes Snuff to Owen's place, and shows him that the constable and a medical crew are there to look at the burned demonic bodies - and also at that of Owen himself, rightly judged to be human by the befuddled doctor on the scene. They find Cheeter sulking, making plans to leave the game, as Quicklime did. They ask him to help them in, to see whether the sickle was still there, and he agrees, but he has a favor to ask in return - Owen has turned him into a demon (made him smarter, gave him the power to float, but without his useful squirrely instincts) by removing and trapping his shadow. He wants his shadow, and his old life, back.

They are unsure of whether they can help - and here we get a clear description of one aspect of magic in this world. It is one power, used through many systems, and nobody knows all of them. Cheeter asks that they look at what Owen left behind to see whether they can help him. He takes them into a room full of natural ingredients, flora and fauna, books in Latin and Gaelic, and diagrams drawn throughout. He looks for the sickle but does not find it. Snuff is confused, because, while this is a powerful instrument, it is not part of the Game. As for motive, it seems like Owen was an Opener, and might have been in the process of convincing Rastov to join him. Cheeter and Graymalk think that Morris and MacCab are Openers, too. Nobody knows what the Good Doctor's affiliation is, the divinations always go wrong. Snuff thinks this is still to do with an unknown player mucking the whole thing up.

Cheeter shows them the pattern where his shadow is trapped - seven silver nails have hammered it into the wall inside some mystical diagram. Snuff pulls them out one by one, the easiest one first. Once he gets towards the end and they start wondering how exactly the shadow should be brought back to Cheeter, Graymalk provides a specific procedure. She says she received it recently. When Snuff asks whether it was from the old wise cat, here called the high cat, she berates him for mentioning it. Cheeter does describe how the shadow was severed in the first place.

The process succeeds, and Cheeter starts feeling the transformation - perhaps the removal of a Possessor. This Banishing done, he bids them farewell.

Sorcerers and Demons

• Jack - Binder of Snuff (probably 0 or +/-1), a wand, and a big knife (probably 0 or +/-1), as well as a Container of several Things. Keeps a curse connected to his knife which has him lose control to murderous urges. Has played the Game before, as a Closer.
• "Crazy" Jill - Witch, Binder of Graymalk, and a flying broom. Friendly with Jack, but an Opener.
• Vicar Roberts - A sorcerer in his own right railing against sorcery, Binder of Tekela and of the Pentacle Bowl, the Ring, the Alhazred Icon, and the Sickle. Some combination of Satanism and Cthulhu Mythos. Sacrificed a policemean, and has a daughter from a previous marriage tied up for future sacrifice. Was trying to have a vivisectionist turn Snuff into a set of special candles via a ritual they did not understand.
• Owen - Druid, Binder of Cheeter (probably -2 or lower), and a sickle. Mistletoe, wicker baskets, ropes, natural elements, Latin, Gaelic, patterns scribbled on the walls, shadows. Opener. Dead.
• Snuff - a Passer whose Cover is a watchdog. High Will. Possible abilities: Command: dogs, Hold, Perception: heightened senses, Perception: sorcerous implements, Perception: sorcerous pattern, Special Damage: claws and fangs, Special Damage: holy hell. Able to trace paths between sorcerers. Keeps up with who has which tool. Able to communicate with Jack verbally right after midnight. Has played the Game before, as a Closer
• Graymalk - a Possessor of a cat. Possible abilities: Cloak, Travel: teleportation. Possible Need/Desire: burying and uncovering things. An Opener.
• Cheeter - a Possessor of a squirrel. Possible abilities: Hint, Perception: alignment, Travel: float. An Opener. Dispossessed by ritual.
• The Wise Old Cat/High Cat - a demon or sorcerer. Able to summon demons, or possibly cats? Lives in the Dreamworld, possible abilities: Hint, Perception: Future. His predictions for Snuff have come true so far, and he has provided Graymalk with useful sorcerous information.

Sorcery and Setting

• It seems like Possession is the main type of demon here.
• Magic is uniform in power, but there are many ways of doing it, and nobody knows them all.
• Demons can perform some types of sorcery, in this case we see Banishment.