Episode 10: The Witch Queen Chapter III: Last Harbor

Blurb
Season One comes to a close as we follow Daughter Dooley to the far reaches of Last Harbor and witness what changed her and The Black Stag whose name sounds like, but is not Horn-ed Head or Hornet Head.

Plot Synopsis
Lost Harbor was founded by sailors who moved inland. An insular town with a fear of outsiders, it is nonetheless the place Daughter Dooley is directed to go. The local doctor is notified that a young widow with experience as a nurse and midwife is coming to town, and he accepts her help in his practice. She takes the job, helping with old, dying citizens who haven’t recovered from a sickness that swept through town.

The old folks treat her kindly and express sympathy to her plight as a widow, often trying to set her up with the doctor. She feels peace as she helps each person along in their passing.

She begins to notice her body changing. Her skin changes to a smoother texture, her hair grows softer, and her scars vanish. She has more energy, and at first thinks it is because she is finally around people again. But after a couple of months, she realizes her shoes are becoming too big, her clothing is loose in spite of her constant appetite, and she stops menstruating.

Finally, she notices that a man with a broken leg who for all purposes shouldn’t have died passes away under her care. She steps away and notices that the hair on her legs is gone. Later on, she realizes she has no body hair at all, and has become shorter. She becomes preoccupied with the changes, and leaves town, walking for an hour and stepping into the woods.

Sitting in the Green, her mind clears and she knows with certainty that something is wrong, and knows it must have to do with her bargain with the Stag. She is aging in reverse, and she believes it is being caused by her unintentionally draining the life out of the people she cares for.

She calls for the two youngest of the Sixmen, named Sixie and Eugene by her, directing them to come to her in the woods. She tells Dr. Gillespie that she has business to take care of and goes back to the woods to camp. She performs rituals to try and remove the curse, and manages to undo the reverse aging. It dawns on her that the Stag is trying to age her back to a child so that it can raise her to obey and follow it.

When the two Sixmen arrived, she tests her theory and realizes that yes, her closeness and touch can kill. She was brought in order to drain life from the people of Last Harbor, specifically the pregnant women and babies about to be born, and that Dr. Gillespie is involved in the Stag’s plot.

On the way back to town, she meets Missy and her baby, the Doctor, and a loaded cart. The Doctor states he has been sent to bring her home. Horned Head appears, and knocks Daughter Dooley unconscious.

When she wakes, she is covered in Doc Gillespie’s blood and healing herbs in the yard of her own home. Horned Head tells her that he will return her to infancy so that he can raise her, using Missy’s baby as a sacrifice to make it happen.

Daughter Dooley refuses, casting a ward that traps the Stag with her using magic it taught her. The ward cuts it off from the power beneath the mountains, and the woman challenges the beast to a battle for the infant.