by J E Mueller
“If he figures it out, then yes, he’ll be livid.” Lee shrugged, not really caring. “But there’s nothing wrong with a mage community, and to accuse any of being a demon is not going to get him very far in this world.” He picked up his pace again.
“My worry is more that he’ll hurt others because of his bias. The world supplies plenty of it on its own.” I continued to follow him, “I take it you or some of your family has magic?”
“Pretty much,” he replied not even glancing back.
There was a silence before I asked, “Which is it, then?”
“Both. Sorry. Was thinking about what the kid’s reaction would be if he found out that just about everyone had some form of magic.” Lee chuckled at the thought. “Uh -mostly small magic, like being able to see the truth. Like Lanna. I’m good with the elements, but nothing earth-shattering.”
I nodded but that didn’t explain the who part, “Sounds interesting. What can you do?”
Lee slowed his pace down again so he could give a full answer. “I can make the wind less fierce. But it’s small scale. Not like I can stop a tornado. But I can make it a little windier for flying kites and stuff. I can make water pure, in small amounts. Dry out wood almost instantly for campfires. Fairly boring stuff, but still useful.” Lee shrugged and finally glanced back at me, “It’s pretty obvious if you’re leaving the Order that probably puts you into the mage category too. What’s yours?”
“Uh…” I hesitated, not really knowing what to say. After a moment of consideration, I decided if he was really from a magic town I’d stick with as much truth as possible. “I’m in the other category that the Order deals with,” I supplied quietly.
I saw him nod and we didn’t say anything for a few minutes.
“Something to do with the gloves then?” he asked, not even looking my way. “Much too nice out for that. If you don’t want to get into details that’s fine. Just remember where we’re heading. It’s part of our town’s history to live with all of magic's ups and downs. They’ll eventually catch on.”
“As long as they don't pry and press I’m not concerned that they know I have magic,” I replied honestly. Not everyone needed a back story.
The rest of the trip went by quick and silent. When we started passing fields and the town came within sight a loud scream came from behind us.
“Lee!”
We turned to see a young girl running up to us as fast as she could, magically fast at that. “It’s Marc…” she panted. “Come quick!” Her long brown hair was tied back into a knot and her dark eyes were red from crying.
Lee was about to argue but thought twice about it. “Okay. One moment.” He looked over at me. “Just keep heading to the village. Once you get in there find someone to point you to Lanna and explain to her what’s going on. I’ll be back shortly.”
The girl tugged at him. “Lee, we’ve got to hurry.” She took off running into the nearby woods.
Lee nodded at me, then turned and followed her, struggling to catch up.
I watched them vanish into the bushes and trees before continuing on. It felt very odd walking alone now. Not that I’d never entered a town myself before, just never with a purpose like this.
Finding Lanna was as easy as he made it sound. The first person I approached pointed me in her general direction. The second person I saw knew exactly where she was. They showed me to a large building that I guessed was their town hall. There was a small stage and many rows of seats surrounding it. Lanna was alone she was sitting on the end of the stage jotting something down when my guide called to her and left.
With her attention now solely on me, I felt uncomfortable under her rather annoyed gaze.
“Umm…” I hesitated. “Lee sent me.”
She motioned for me to come closer, “All right, why?” Lanna moved down and leaned against the stage, arms folded.
I stopped at a chair just before her and rested my arms on its back. “Lee thought you could help resolve a matter of lies. He helped a kid he found in the forest the other day…” With a sigh, I dove into my own version of the tale and explained Lee’s version.
It felt awkward relating the exchange, but I made sure to explain that he had run off with someone to help a person named Marc. She listened to every detail I gave of the story and quickly deemed it true.
“Just like that, you believe it?” I asked, surprised.
Lanna pulled herself up to sit on the stage. “It’s my magic. Goodie me, I can tell what’s true. That’s all anyone here needs.” She gave a wink. “It does come in handy in these moments, though.”
“I don’t know if it’ll work so well if you simply inform him that I’m telling the truth,” I admitted to her. At this point, I was sitting in a chair across from her.
From her view, and from how her town worked, if she said I was speaking the truth, then that was all there was to it. However, this kid would not go with that reasoning. After all, to him, we would all be demons. The longer I had to deal with the kid, the more I felt an urge to punch him in the face. Hopefully, someone else felt the same. I didn’t want to accidentally kill him.
She nodded. “He’d call me a liar at best. From your tale, he’d also call me a demon. I wonder how he’d like staying in demon town…” she mused with a gleeful smile. “I see your point.” Lanna ran her fingers through her long, wavy red hair. The situation did not seem to bother her as she thought.
“Maybe my original plan with him trying to describe the sword would be best?” I suggested. We didn’t want him returning with an angry mob of his friends. There was no telling if they would be better or worse than him.
“It’s the most reasonable, yes, but we both know he’ll twist the facts how he wants. Your story already shows us that much,” She agreed and sighed once more.
“He’d probably say I used my demon magic to carve the symbol myself.” I smiled at the ridiculous thought. It would be cool if I could do something like that, though. I could have taken up a career in blacksmithing or something, and imprinted house sigils and designs on blades without much effort. My heart ached for some extra options for myself but I shoved the pain aside. I’d deal with the life I was dealt for the moment.
“He’d probably also try and convince himself it’s true. Think to himself you must have stolen it anyway, it’s better off as his,” Lanna mused. “I don’t know how people become so dark and twisted. It can’t feel good. The stress from everyday situations must be terrible. At any rate, we’ll see how your plan goes. For the rest of us, we know the truth.”
Lanna was fun to talk with and was happy to talk about her hometown and the surrounding area. She also really liked theater and was explaining the production she and her community were working on. We talked for over an hour before we started to wonder about Lee.
“A girl rushed up to us. Something about Marc?” I reminded her when Lanna asked again where Lee had gone off to.
“Marc is Lee’s cousin. Just two or three years younger. Great kid, but often gets himself into unnecessary trouble. He can get into the minds of wildlife, sometimes even see through their eyes. But he doesn't always pay attention to what they are. Wolves are still wolves, and bears bears. Just because you understand them, doesn't mean they understand you.” Lanna paused. “Usually. He’s managed to actually communicate with a few of the ground squirrels recently. We’re doubting he’ll be able to do that with other animals, but still. It’s a fairly interesting gift to watch develop.”
“How do so many have magic here? I’ve never seen such a gathering.” I asked.
“Oh, that!” Lanna laughed. “It really started before the Order became so popular. People wanted to live openly in a place they could grow and be understood. Some get along fine in normal towns, and that's great. My gifts would fit in well anywhere, but it doesn’t mean it's for everyone. The founders wanted their own place. Combine enough people with gifts and curses and normal life happens. People with magic are likely to have children with magic. It kick
s up almost fifty percent when both parents have it. Add generations and it’s almost every child has a higher and higher likelihood.”
“That makes sense. I’ve never given it any thought.” It seemed pretty interesting and I thought of more things to ask, but heard a sound at the door.
We looked outside as the sound of running came towards us. The same tired girl from before burst in, her chest heaving from her sprint.
“Lann…. Gotta com-.... quick…” She could barely get the words out.
“Where to, Tella?” asked Lanna worriedly.
She just shook her head and took off. We followed. Tella was easy to keep up with seeing as she was hardly able to run now. Had the girl stopped running since I first saw her? After two blocks, she burst into a house with us right on her heels, Lanna just ahead of me.
Three people were gathered. Lee was on the sofa looking more than worse for wear. His face was bruised, and his lip busted open. There were rips in tears through his clothes. Blood appeared to be smeared along his arm and I couldn’t tell where the initial source was. Someone was helping to hold a cloth at his side. There was a lot of blood on it already.
They looked up as we entered.
“What in the name of heck happened here?” Lanna stumbled over her statement, too surprised to even correct herself. My expression mimicked hers.
“He was defending me,” the teen sitting in a chair across the room supplied. He looked beat up, but still wired from adrenaline. Bruises showed where clothes weren’t covering. A black eye and busted lip were the worst his face suffered. “I was studying the squirrels with Tella and Bax, no big deal, when this group comes out of nowhere. Six guys. They asked if we knew where this magic village they had heard of was. Lots of people ask about our home if they’re mages or have magic problems. These guys didn’t have the same vibe, but mother says not to judge, so we pointed them here. They asked if we were from there too. I saw the one guy had rope. Another a knife. Told Bax and Tel to run, but they tackled me. Bax dodged no problem and got away, and ‘course Tella zipped away.” I assumed from what Lanna said earlier that the speaker was Marc.
Marc looked at Lee unconscious and bloody on the sofa. I could see now that the cut on his side was the primary source of blood. “They had beaten me pretty badly and asked lots of questions, but Lee stepped in and it was a great distraction. I’m glad Tel got to me so quickly. Lee knocked a few guys down but got stabbed before Bax brought the others back. The guys ran away but they know where we are now.” Fear shone in his eyes.
“I’m on it,” Lanna replied and without another word left.
I stood there feeling helpless.
The woman who was holding the cloth next to Lee looked at me, “Are you a healer?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m so sorry. I can try and find one.” I started to turn for the door. I would be far more useful if I could find help.
She shook her head. “There’s a healer's retreat this weekend. They aren’t here. We’ve been fine without them before. We’ll figure this out.”
“If it needs stitches I can do that,” I offered. Stitches weren’t fun, but traveling doesn’t go without its accidents.
“It does, but it needs more.” Her eyes looked sad.
Lee coughed and struggled to say, “Poison.” I had thought he was unconscious.
“I don’t know how to fix that,” I replied, feeling panicked. Any death I had experienced was at my own hands, and I wasn’t sure how to react to something different.
The woman looked at me for a long moment. “My heart says you're the one to solve this.”
“I don’t have healing magic!” I exclaimed, instantly exasperated. I did the very opposite of healing. “I have no useful gifts here.” I felt the fear building inside me. The need to run tugged at my soul.
“The future is cloudy, and something I can never see. But my heart speaks true. It always comes true. Right now it says you’ll heal him. You will be the one to heal my son.”
Wide-eyed I took a step back. They clearly did not get that I meant it when I said I had no useful gifts here.
“Please try,” Marc begged. Fear lined his features.
“For Lee?” Tella asked, tears making their way down her cheeks.
“I’m cursed. Anyone I touch dies. Terrible fever death. There’s nothing I can do,” I insisted. I hoped my blunt confession would help them all see the truth.
The woman stood up and was in front of me before I could react. “Please try. He’ll die if you don't. I know you don’t understand my magic, but it is true. You will save him.”
Gently she pushed me towards Lee. Fear gripped me, but my feet moved anyway and I knelt beside him. It didn’t register with me until now that he was shirtless and holding a cloth over a stab wound. I didn’t know what to do. Carefully, I moved his hand and then the cloth. My gloves were quickly covered in blood, but I didn’t care. I could deal with that later.
The wound was just deep enough for stitches but did not appear mortal. My brain grasped the facts. It was caused by a knife, and from the looks of it, the blade was very sharp. The cut was clean and it wouldn’t get infected. The only problem, aside from the pain, was the poison. How did they know it was even poisoned? It didn’t matter. I concentrated on the information I was presented with instead.
Could my flames burn out the poison? Had it spread far enough through his system that a small touch would do the trick to save him, or would it just kill him? I didn’t want to kill him, and my curse was really good at killing already. Lee clearly had a very good life. The world was cruel by trying to take him from everyone.
With nothing to lose, the poison would get to him if I didn’t, I removed my right glove and gingerly touched the wound. The whole situation made hyper-aware. The blood was sticky and quickly warmed at my touch. I could feel - for the first time - the fire leaving through the tips of my fingers right into the cut. The fire magic extended like another part of me downward and inward, whisking itself along. Concentrating, I willed it to ignore the blood, forget the flesh, and attack what felt unnatural. I pushed it on until the unnatural feeling, hopefully the poison, stretched on no more.
Calling the fire back, the blood felt normal, the skin as it should. The fire angrily continued to climb, shooting itself back up my fingers, into my arm, and back at my heart. Everything felt like it was moving as the world wobbled left and right. Dizziness ate away at my vision for a moment.
The room went black.
12
When I awoke, I felt an odd warmth and softness under me. My head still ached slightly, and for whatever reason my body felt stiff and overworked.
Opening my eyes, I couldn’t comprehend the scene before me. I was on the sofa, cuddled up to Lee. Both gloves were off, hand washed of its blood. There was a blanket over us. My body froze as I tried to figure out how to get up without killing Lee. How did I not end up killing him last night?
I remembered what had happened, but didn’t understand how it worked or even how I had done what I had done. A fluke maybe? There was no amount of convincing that would make me believe I could do that again with no problems.
Lee yawned at me. “Oh you're up,” he mumbled.
“How are you alive?” I was baffled, but it was a good surprise, and I tried to calm myself down. “Can I get up?” I didn’t want to accidentally touch him without my gloves.
He carefully moved so I could get up and sit properly on opposite sides of the sofa. We sat there together in silence for a brief moment.
“I don't get it. How did you pull through? I’ve killed everyone else I’ve touched.” Forget keeping things a secret, I wanted answers.
Lee yawned again, still waking up. “I’ve no idea, let me think for a moment.” He rubbed the sand out of his eyes and yawned again.
His mother appeared in the doorway. “Oh thank goodness, you’re both up.”
“Yeah, I’m feeling fine, but what happened?” Lee asked before I could say anything. “This is
an odd way to leave a stab victim and his rescuer.”
She shook her head. “There was nothing we could do. When she passed out we tried to move her, but it was impossible. Thankfully she warned us that her touch can kill, so we made the connection - with the gloves and long clothes - that it was likely skin to skin. Even through her clothes, she was too hot to move. The strength of the curse is fascinating. It can work its way through so many layers. Since you were fine, my elemental child.” She gave him a kiss on the head, “We decided that we’d leave you both be.”
“That makes sense,” Lee sounded much more awake now. He turned to me and saw that I still looked confused. “Remember, my magic is with the elements. Fire is very much one of them. You controlled your magic enough to get rid of the poison. My magic helped lessen the burn.”
“Sounds like there was a lot of luck involved too considering you were pretty much knocked out at that point,” I pointed out, not wanting to take credit for something I couldn’t duplicate.
“Either way, you may have overdid it a little. Not that I’m upset; you did save me.” He smiled. “Who knows, maybe it’ll be a new skill for you? Working with your fire magic, healing through the curse.”
“There weren’t many options. Overdoing it or doing nothing were really all there was.” I ignored that he tried to refer to my curse as something less terrible than what it was.
Lee laughed and before he could say anything more his cousin came in the room.
“Great to see you’re awake!” Marc exclaimed as relief washed over his face.
“Couldn’t feel any better really,” Lee shrugged it off, trying to make his cousin feel better.
“You are really lucky to be alive,” his mother reminded him.
“I can’t argue with that. Stroke of good luck considering the strange ambush,” Lee admitted, trying to give Marc a shrug.
