by Jay Boyce
No one seemed to know how to break the silence after that, but Victor finally gave a stab at it. "I'm sorry, Jade. That should never have happened."
She shrugged, smiling at him. "I took care of it, and myself. It's a lesson he hopefully won't soon forget, but at the same time, I'd like to put him under a contract. I learned about them today, and I think it’s a good idea to fix future problems before they happen. I don't want him to be able to think about hurting me or plotting against me without consequences." Her voice had grown a bit harder by the end, but since she'd learned about contractual magic, it seemed like a good time to utilize it. Granted, it was usually used on criminals, but given that he'd tried to kill her, she supposed that was close enough. Attempted murder was certainly a crime in her world, at least. So was arson.
Still, all three royals looked nervous at her statement, and Victor explained slowly, "It's…generally not allowed to contract anyone in the royal family for anything other than business."
She stopped eating long enough to stare at him, then said bluntly, "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Sorry, but it is. Maybe this is dictatorial of me, but if I had a bunch of people who stood to inherit the throne if I died, I would make sure they were under contract to not plot against me. Granted, an evil monarch could do a lot worse than that, but still. "
All three of them looked shocked, and Camille interjected, "What? Why on earth would they plot against us? We're family!" It was Jade's turn to just stare at Camille. Were these people really that oblivious? It was like they were waiting for an evil overlord to just come and pluck them from the throne with that kind of attitude! Or maybe she'd just been watching too many TV shows where the royal family was completely and utterly corrupt and everyone was just looking out for number one. Was it her mentality that was the issue here? Had she been so completely corrupted by her old world that she saw shadows and plots everywhere?
Then she thought about it, realized that her paranoia was the only reason she hadn't been lit on fire or killed today, and decided she was justified. Finally, Jade said softly, "Sure, you might be family, but he tried to kill me rather vehemently this afternoon in front of a lot of people. If he dares to be so open about wanting me dead, should I just live looking over my shoulder every day? It's not particularly amenable to me."
Camille lost the self-righteous look she'd started sporting, deflating a bit at Jade's words. She said softly, "He's…I'm sorry. He's been going through a hard time ever since his dad was taken by the mesmer."
Jade nodded, sighing. "I figured, which is why I gave him a break today and didn't even give him scars for trying to kill me, but grief doesn't justify murder. Remember what I said? He made fun of me and tried to set me on fire, all without me saying a word to him." Her voice had grown a bit harsher at the end, and all three royals winced. Stephen and Eric were watching her curiously, while the stonecrafter had now finished his food and hastily excused himself, quickly retreating away from the volatile situation.
She went back to eating, letting them mull it over. Finally, Victor spoke in a serious voice, "I'll talk to dad about this and see what we can do. You shouldn't have to live in fear, not from our family." It sounded like he was coming around to her side at last, even if he still sounded a bit unwilling, and she smiled soothingly at him in return.
Finally, Eric spoke up, "So, I have two questions."
"Go for it," Jade spoke between mouthfuls.
"First off, you said you suffocated him until he passed out. How did you do that exactly? Second, where do the fellacai come in? How exactly did that happen?"
Looking down at her little fellacai, she smiled gently, then shook herself out of her reverie and looked over at Eric. "That was three questions.” She teased him briefly to try and lighten the mood, then started to explain, “Well, the how is pretty easy. I used wind magic and just called the air from his lungs. I made sure not to collapse them, but took as much as I could without doing that and then created a miniature wall in his esophagus so that air couldn't pass through. It was surprisingly effective."
Eric blanched a little, cringing as he asked, "So you hadn't tried it before…?"
Jade laughed, shaking her head. "No, no one has ever tried to kill me like that before, so it was my first time practicing. But people will pass out long before they die from asphyxiation. It was something that happened more than I like to think in my old world; a lot of failed murder attempts where the victim woke up because the person left them after they passed out, thinking they were dead. Anyway, I released it as soon as he passed out so there wouldn't be any permanent harm. Any wind user who knew what they were doing could easily do the same." Here she glanced at Will, who was also a wind user. He looked to be contemplating her revelation, wondering if he'd be able to replicate it.
"Fascinating…" Eric murmured, looking a little more contemplative than usual. He was somehow looking at her differently, as if she was no longer the innocent girl he'd first met. She wasn't. That girl was still right there, of course, but she'd been altered by a need to survive. The fact that she'd been challenged so many times today, and perhaps even the numbness of fighting she'd gotten in her blades class... She was changing, slowly but surely. A couple days ago, she'd asked Will how much this world would change her. The answer was a lot and in almost every way. Near death encounters and the need to defend herself had allowed ruthlessness to seep into her behavior. It was born out of a need to be safe and secure her place in this world.
She wasn't super fond of the fact that she was supposed to be the kingdom's hero, but she had to admit it was helpful in keeping her safe, making allies, and getting her way. Without that protection…her life here would have been very, very different. She was rather used to people catering to her somewhat. Granted, she hadn't been allowed to ask for anything extravagant in her old world, but most people had relented if she'd asked them something small. She knew it had mostly been due to pity, and here in this world it was due to hope that she'd save them. It was rather amazing how much the two situations overlapped.
Coming back to the situation at hand, she smiled down at her little fellacai, pouring them some more juice. They were sitting in their little mated pairs and were absolutely adorable, so she was happy to tell the next part of what happened. "Anyway, as for the fellacai, when I left the fire magic classroom, I found a couple people waiting outside my workshop. They were from the contractual class, and the boy had been seriously savaged in a bonding gone wrong. So I healed him up and agreed to accompany them back to the contractual classroom, since that was supposed to be my next class anyway. Eamonn was lecturing about iguanas or something and he held up my pretties in a cage. I asked to hold the cage, and the next thing I knew, I'd bonded to my five queens and then later to their mates. I still need to give them names though. Any bright ideas? I want them to be good!"
Jade smiled, and her innocent plea for naming help seemed to finally bring them all out of curious or shocked stupor. They began studying her precious little army, and Will pointed at her first queen. "How about Goldy?" She glared at him, and he shrugged. "What? It fits."
Camille glanced at him in disgust, then pointed at the golden and fire colored queens in turn. "Lame. How about Aurora and Dawn for these two?"
“Or Firefly,” Victor interjected, smirking at his little joke and waiting for the others to laugh. All he got were a couple of snickers.
Will pointed at several in turn. "Well, you could name the purple one Violet, and if that one is Dawn, you could name the dark one Midnight and the golden one Sunrise or Sunny."
Eric finally pointed at the fire one. “How about Ember?”
Stephen pointed out, “Or Phoenix, you seem to like those. The green one could be Willow or Maple.”
Camille sighed wistfully as she looked at them. “The gold one is so shiny.”
It was a bit funny; they were all trying to name the queens first. It seemed the poor mates would have to wait their turn. She was just as bad. It wasn’t
her fault they were just so much brighter! Shiny… She was staring at her golden queen when she absently thought of a book she’d read ages upon ages ago, a golden queen to repopulate her species. Smiling, she held her hand over to the golden one, who obediently hopped on her finger.
“I’ll name you Ramoth.” The tiny queen seemed to consider her, then nodded, flying around in a circle before settling back on the plate. Grinning, she went to her midnight fellacai, who obediently followed the pattern. “You shall be Lilith, my queen of the night.” Lilith fluttered around happily before settling, and before she even dropped her finger, her little fiery butterfly had flown onto her outstretched finger. With a smile, she proclaimed, “You’re Amber, the heart of fire.” Her little nature green fellacai was next. “You’ll be Willow, the queen of the forest who watches over all.” Finally, her violet one came forward, and she smiled. “And you’re Lavender.” Lavender took to the air, doing a little loop before she settled once again on the plate.
Jade looked at the others a little sheepishly. “Sorry, thanks for the ideas though.” They laughed at her, and Will looked a little affronted.
“Hey, aren’t you going to give the men names too? You can’t just name the queens and not their mates!” He had a wicked smile that promised trouble and she laughed. No, she couldn’t ignore her little men.
Keeping her hand out, Ramoth’s mate was the first to come up. He was a beautiful dark blue with little gold flecks, almost as if he was trying to match her. It reminded her a bit of old stories where gold miners would sift for gold in a river. Smiling, she said confidently, “You’ll be Rio.” He flitted gracefully around her hand, then landed next to Ramoth again.
She grinned as Lilith’s mate flew up next. His main color was also black, but it held interesting flecks of blue, white, purple, and red that reminded her of the night sky. Smiling, she named him, “Cosmo, a traveler of the stars.” He did a little loop in thanks and then settled while Amber’s mate came next. He was pale yellow with white and light blue patterns that were reminiscent of lightning. She declared, “You’ll be Bolt.” He zipped around in concise but sudden movements, and her smile got wider as she felt like she’d done good.
Willow’s mate was a deep chocolatey brown with flecks of mint green. She pondered for a moment, trying to think of something strong, for he seemed very solid for such a little thing. Finally, she said softly, “You’ll be Andy.” That one would probably make no sense to anyone but her. If they asked, she’d say he was named after a big mountain range. In truth, he reminded her of the little mint chocolates.
Finally it was Lavender’s mate. He was off white with dark red speckles that were reminiscent of sprinkled blood. She was tempted by Vlad for a moment, then quickly discarded it. Way too dark for her little man. She wasn’t going to name him after any vamps. Although…there was one vamp who was a healer too. What was his name again? Oh yeah…well, that would work. “You’re Carl.” She didn’t need the whole name. No one else was going to understand her logic anyway. Little Carl flew a circle before heading back to Lavender.
She smiled, then glanced up to find everyone watching her raptly. Camille sighed, seeming to have done a one eighty as it concerned her fellacai. She spoke wistfully, “They’re so pretty. I almost wish I could bond one.”
Jade smiled at her. “If you ever want to try, let me know. I think I can arrange that.”
Chapter Twelve – Scrying
Camille shook her head sadly. “I don’t have an aptitude for contractual magic.”
Jade pondered, then shrugged. “Never hurts to try. You’ve got enough other magics that it might’ve been so minor that it didn’t show up. I dunno how the test works, but I think as long as they’re willing, they’ve got enough magic to help bridge the gap too. Anyway, it never hurts to try. I could maybe even just create a bond between you myself. After all, if we can create bonds between humans, what’s to stop us from creating bonds between human and creature? It wouldn’t work with a domination bond, but I think a mutual bond would be possible.”
She was wondering why no one had brought this up before. Maybe the contractual magicians didn’t actually create willing bonds all that often? She could see how sharing your intelligence with a creature might be considered dangerous, especially in a world with a high mortality rate. A sudden influx of creatures with much higher intelligence and intimate knowledge of the city and how humans worked? She could see where problems might arise.
She finished eating, stacking her plates neatly so they’d be easy to clear, and everyone else seemed to realize they’d long since finished their food and were sitting there with empty plates. It seemed that most of them were still mulling over her statement as if considering the possibilities.
She was a little surprised by how stagnant the ideas seemed to be here. It was as if they’d just gotten comfortable with the way things were and never knew how to do something differently. She wondered if the fact that the travelers brought change had made people complacent, and they figured if there was something to change, the next traveler would introduce it. It seemed like they were stuck in a rut of tradition. Either that or the people who wanted to innovate probably tried and died. After all, she figured any untried methods probably got people killed while they were working out the kinks if they were experimenting with the creatures. Even the farms seemed like semi-dangerous places if someone died. All it took was one accident for a major incident to start.
There was also the fact that magic seemed to be linked at least somewhat to intelligence, and if those people had been getting kidnapped by creatures like the mesmer for so long, they were losing some of their best and brightest every month. If that was the case, perhaps the stagnation was understandable. People were doing their best just to stay alive, using what was tried and true.
Anyway, she smiled at them as almost everyone was lost in silent contemplation as she said cheerfully, “Anyone want to come see my fire tree, since we’ve still got time?” She had glanced at her pocket watch to see they still had half an hour before their business class.
Victor looked supremely curious, then sighed as he said, “I’d love to, but I’ve got to talk to my father first. Although…I suppose your workroom is as private as anywhere else, so I’d probably be fine to do it there.”
Jade looked at him curiously. “How can you talk to him from my workroom? Isn’t he at the palace?”
Will laughed first, and she glared at him as he chortled, trying to look contrite. “Sorry, it’s just that I forget how much you don’t know about here yet. He’s got a scrying mirror connected to dad.”
Jade’s eyes lit up. Okay, this sounded like a cell phone almost! She turned eager eyes on Victor. “Can I see it?”
He laughed softly. “I’ll show you in your workshop. It’s pretty rare to be able to make one, as it takes a lot of power from the illusionist to set the enchantment.”
Jade nodded, grinning eagerly. “That’s fine! Let’s go!” She bounced to her feet giddily, and her fellacai quickly left their plate to swoop up and land on her braid as if echoing her excitement. Everyone was smiling at the sight, and they quickly followed suit. Jade waved to Estelle as they left, earning a nod and grin from the other woman as she led her entourage to her workshop with skipping steps.
Their group drew many sidelong glances, but she figured that was mostly due to the fact that she was traveling around with royalty. They seemed to get those looks wherever they went. Still, they made it to Magnus without too much of a fuss, then up the stairwell to her workshop. She was half expecting there to be someone else injured waiting outside, but thankfully there wasn’t, this time. She wasn’t going to be in the building for the rest of the evening, so she pondered putting up a sign that said, ‘Go find someone else to heal you.’ She quickly discarded the idea; people would figure it out, right?
Quickly unlocking the door, she held it open for everyone to pass through, but Victor just raised a brow and pushed her inside gently, choosing to hold it
himself. She laughed, sticking her tongue out at him. “I was just trying to be helpful!”
He smirked. “And I was trying to be a gentleman. Would you deny me that?”
Jade stuck her tongue out again and waited until everyone was inside, bouncing over to the table where she’d deposited her fire tree. Meanwhile, she told her little fellacai, “You can explore in here. This is my room, and thus yours too. You’ll be in here a lot.” Thinking about it, she realized she wanted to grow a tree or something for them so they’d have a comfortable resting spot. Turning to Eric, she asked, “Did you ever get a hold of Viscountess Delaney about my lessons?”
He nodded, smiling in a way that looked half like a grimace. “Yes, I did. She agreed to meet with you at eleven for an hour of personal tutoring. She’ll come here to your workshop to meet you.”
Jade grinned. “Did she give you a hard time?”
Eric coughed, glancing at the ceiling. “Not so much…” She smiled, choosing to ignore his obviously blatant lie. She walked over, hugging him to his and everyone else’s surprise.
“Thank you for correcting that for me and convincing her to tutor me. I appreciate it.”
He seemed to relax, hugging her back gruffly. “I was happy to do it.” He murmured softly before letting her go. She turned back to everyone, grinning, then remembered her tree. Bouncing over to the table that held her ever-burning sculpture, she thought about something and focused her mana sense. She could see the aura of red around the tree, but she was looking for something…else. She squinted, thinking she saw a glimpse of what she was searching for. A tiny thread, which was almost invisible, of magic that seemed to be collecting from the area and flowing into her fire tree.
“I was right!” She turned to the group triumphantly, holding her tree up for their curious inspection.
“Right about what?” Camille asked curiously.
“I had a theory that any permanent magic spells started drawing energy in from their surroundings. It’s a tiny amount, and I think that’s probably because it takes a lot more magic to create than maintain. Otherwise, it didn’t totally make sense for me that light, fire, and cold could be continuously emitted without the energy coming from somewhere.”
