When the party started on their way once more, Cheleya and Kel’lor walked with them trying to strengthen their friendships with the casters from Staron. It was an act that was surprisingly hard the dragoness found. As a che’ther, she was bound to the land and had walked or stood much of the day, but that was also on four legs that were scaled and stronger than the thin limbs of her human form. She had seen the way Evantus had looked at her legs and the girl had a feeling that they were nicely shaped, but that didn’t mean they were on a par with che’ther legs and feet.
After a couple hours walking, the girl had to excuse herself and said that she and Kel’lor would scout ahead for awhile before taking to the air. Even in flight, the girl was tiring so Kel’lor let her ride on his back after a time to rest her body.
When the evening came and the four from Staron stopped to make dinner, Cheleya was so exhausted that she fell asleep against Kel’lor’s shoulder waiting for the meal to cook. Gently nudged back awake by her big brother still in gargoyle form, the girl gratefully accepted a bowl of stew. It wasn’t quite as good as Veras had made, but the dragoness was very hungry after her long day of travel and casting magic.
As they ate, she listened to the others talk of mundane things like people they would see when they returned. Cheleya was almost finished when Evan’s eyes turned to her and he asked, “By the way, Cheleya, I have been wondering. Are the amulets your people use to change into humans set to just one person?”
Shaking her head as she dipped a piece of bread into the remaining stew as she had seen the humans do at similar meals, the girl replied, “No actually amulets can be used by more than one person, even mar’goyn’lya can exchange them with che’ther.” Cheleya finished understanding where his question was going and she exchanged a glance with Kel’lor.
“Did you try using Kel’lor’s amulet to change back?” the young man asked trying not to sound rude by the potential slip.
Thinking it such a simple idea, Cheleya and Kel’lor realized that they had never even considered the option. The mar’goyn’lya removed his amulet passing it to the che’ther as she explained, “The amulets that we wear let us change back and forth between our original forms and human. Were you to try it, I doubt that it would seem to work since you are already human.
“Unfortunately in all the chaos of the last few days, it never occurred to me to try to reverse the curse with another amulet. Mine seemed to be destroyed or at least broken. I am not even sure where he sent the pieces when my master destroyed it.”
She looked at the amulet with both hope and dread. While she hoped that it would work even though they had traveled this far looking for a solution, the dragoness also dreaded finding out that this trial would fail. “Neruter emis ot flesym sa et sawen,” she uttered the words of change. Moments passed and nothing happened, so the girl tried again and once more after that. Three times she tried and waited nearly five minutes to see a change that usually happened in seconds.
Knowing that the idea had failed, Cheleya passed the amulet back to its owner. Evantus and the others looked disappointed as well and the mage said sadly, “I’m sorry, Cheleya, I had hoped that it would work.”
Tilana looked at the amulet and put out her hand to Kel’lor and asked, “May I?”
The gargoyle handed the amulet over without fear of the wizard tampering with it. He was in his true form anyway and could live as he was for the rest of his life for all he wanted of humanity.
The earth wizard cast a spell as she held the amulet. It was made of stone and magic, so she reached out for the precise feel of the stone before using her senses to attempt to find more like it. It was an off chance that more would be nearby, but the wizard opened her eyes in surprise as she realized that there were fragments closer than she realized.
Tilana placed her hand in front of Cheleya’s chest and began to tap the dragoness. “There, there,” she continued and expanded beyond the area of the young woman’s chest. Turning to the side, the earth wizard nodded.
“Eight of nine fragments of stone with the same signature have been placed in the areas that I touched. When your master broke your amulet, I think that he sent the pieces into you. With his magic, they may have been bonded to you in some way. A healer might be able to find a way to remove them and then perhaps you would be able to change. Until then, I think they serve to prevent another amulet from changing you back.”
Cheleya’s fingers touched her collar bone where Tilana had first laid her fingers using her magic. Another at the center of her chest must be protected by her breast bone, four more radiated around places where she could feel ribs and the eighth had been centered in her stomach.
“You said eight of nine,” Evantus stated catching the strange way of phrasing her results.
Nodding, Tilana pointed to the lowest one in the girl’s stomach. “I think he attached them to bone. That one is actually in your back, maybe attached to the spine.” Moving her fingers to point at the girl’s forehead, she finished, “The ninth is there.”
Cheleya touched her head and felt nothing. While the che’ther couldn’t say that she had ever bothered to feel for her bones before, nothing felt out of place either. If there were stone fragments in her body, she couldn’t feel them and they didn’t seem to be harming her beyond possibly being what had locked her transformation.
Looking apologetic, the wizard expressed as much saying, “I’m sorry, Cheleya. I’m not a healer by any means, but I hope knowing this will help you.”
Orlerin spoke up as he considered the type of magic used. “This would seem to be dark magic. I wonder if your master was actually a spy for the Dark One?”
“It would make sense.” Evantus nodded his opinion and added, “I mean your dragon magic is unlike anything I have seen. Perhaps he infiltrated to learn your secrets planning on returning to Ensolus to teach the warlocks and sorcerers there.”
Forehead crinkling sadly at such a thought, Cheleya supposed that anyone willing to kill for artifacts and power could certainly be such a man. She had believed him a good teacher and friend once upon a time, but Malaketh’s use of dark magic and revelation of his dark spirit had destroyed that image forever. Such greed and malevolence lurking in her school and city made for even greater worry. He had used his magic on a grand master and might get away with his plans if no one found out to stop him, but she was just an apprentice and trapped in a body not her own. The dragoness couldn’t fight him on his terms and his deception was likely to turn the rest of the city on her as well.
“Perhaps someone can help at the tournament,” the girl sighed and felt tired from all her uncharacteristic walking and use of alteration magic. Not wanting to talk about such things anymore, the dragoness excused herself before rolling up into a blanket.
Evantus looked at the others and asked, “Did I say something wrong?”
Shaking his head shifting the dark mane of hair, Kel’lor replied, “Malaketh has been her teacher for over a year and was one of the ones who went to her home to talk her parents into letting her into the academy. She trusted him. We all did, but not only did he betray the academy and city of Mar’kal, Malaketh tried to kill her to cover up his misdeeds.
“It would be similar to a parent trying to kill their child, at least to her.”
Evan’s face sobered at the thought. He thought how he would feel if a teacher had tried to kill him to cover his trail. His eyes flicked to Orlerin thinking it would be like his leader turning on him with the intent to kill just to cover his greed. Such thoughts for his leader and trusted comrade would certainly make the mage turn quiet, he decided.
“Maybe I should apologize?” Evantus asked aloud letting the others weigh in on the difficult decision. He wasn’t good with expressing his feelings and apologizing for something he had done wrong through ignorance was almost harder yet.
Kel’lor shook his head saying, “Let her sleep. Che’ther don’t harbor such feelings the way you humans do. She’s just tired from all this wa
lking. Tomorrow I am sure that she will be her usual cheerful self.”
It was Colbie who stated something that the gargoyle had forgotten, “She may be a che’ther inside, but Cheleya’s trapped as a human now and all that entails. I’ve seen her emotions and from what you say, she shouldn’t be an emotional young girl, but she is. Cheleya may not understand all of what she feels, but I think she certainly feels strongly.”
“So I should apologize?” Evantus asked in confusion.
Tilana smiled and patted the young mage’s arm. “Tomorrow. Let her sleep like Kel’lor said. She needs her sleep since tomorrow will be another tiring day. We should all get some sleep in fact.”
Following Tilana’s advice, most of the remaining group moved to their bedrolls, though Kel’lor simply sat by Cheleya leaning against a large rock. Evantus lingered in thought and Colbie watched him.
“What are you thinking with that little brain of yours, Evan?” the young woman teasingly asked.
His eyes moved to the dark haired girl. Her green eyes sparkled with the light of the campfire and he wondered at her words. “So you think that she feels like a real human girl?”
A quirky smile at his wording made the female mage respond, “Well, I can’t say that I’ve made a habit of touching her, but she certainly looks real enough.”
Seeing Evan’s slight smile at the thought of what he had seen after Cheleya took off her dress, Colbie gave a warning point of her finger. “You are a dirty boy. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Since you brought it up,” Evan shrugged, “she certainly looks and acts human enough, doesn’t she? You can tell Kel’lor is a mar’goyn’lya from his speech and guarded face, but Cheleya is just so... sweet.”
Colbie nodded, “She’s certainly a bit naive, but if I taught her a little about being a girl no one would ever guess that she was a dragon.”
Evan chuckled and teased, “You teaching her how to be a real girl? Now that is funny. Who’s going to teach you first?”
Leaning over to punch him in the arm, Colbie’s eyes showed restrained laughter while her lips cracked a smile despite his aggravating joke. “I can be as girly as anyone, you jerk. Just because I have to be as tough as you in a fight doesn’t mean that I don’t like being a girl. Unfortunately, I get to work with idiots like you who couldn’t handle a pretty girl showing any interest in those things without you thinking more of it.”
Considering Colbie as a woman, the young man thought her face pretty enough. It was her tomboy persona that made it hard to think of her as more than just another mage. “So back to our friend, you think she’s as human as say... you?” he gestured with an open hand to his friend. “How is that possible?”
Looking him in the eye, Colbie shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess anything is possible with magic. We’re just battle mages not wizards. This kind of thing isn’t our field.” As she stood, the woman gave a last piece of advice, “Whatever you do, don’t start to fall in love with her.”
“Not that I am, but why?” he asked thinking the advice oddly timed.
“She looks human and that might make it easy for you to see her that way, but remember to her you are human and she isn’t. She’s a che’ther trapped in a human body. That doesn’t make her human.”
Letting Colbie go off to roll into her bedding, the battle mage added some logs as he thought about her words. If he could change into a che’ther or mar’goyn’lya, he doubted that he could be attracted to something that he wasn’t. For all the beauty of the girl, and she was very attractive, Evan realized that it was basically a trap.
Cheleya was pretty and petite, a little girl that needed protecting to the eye. The dragoness was anything but helpless as her magic the night before had proved. He wondered if that was another part of the spell. Shrugging, he realized that Colbie was right on another thing. They were battle mages and such magic was certainly beyond them.
The mage lay near the fire letting the heat strike him and woke to feed the fire from time to time as Evan slept restlessly.
Kel’lor and Cheleya remained behind letting the others move ahead of them. They could fly after all and until they were near Televal they wouldn’t alarm anyone doing so.
Cheleya had decided she needed time to be away from the humans, at least for a little while. The Staronen had offered to wait, but the dragoness had insisted while trying to not appear like she didn’t appreciate having them nearby. In fact, it was because of what the others were trying to teach her before they reached the town and societal constraints became more important to conceal who she was, that Cheleya had learned that certain things weren’t approved among the so called civilized people.
Taking one of the deceased wizard’s shirts from the small pile in her pack, the girl held it up trying to decide what to make from the cloth.
“Tailoring magic,” Kel’lor joked sitting on the stone that had helped keep him upright all night. “Our school would be so proud.”
The girl frowned at the gargoyle and pouted. “It isn’t tailoring magic, not really. It is alteration and there are many things that I can do with it. If not for learning to alter the clothing, I would never have found the trick to healing, though I am still not positive that I am doing it right.”
Returning her frown, a facial expression a little more difficult with the thick skin of a mar’goyn’lya, he retorted, “This playing with clothing and decorating that body are just symptoms of how you have begun to change. At the rate you are going, you will forget how to be a che’ther.”
With a shake of the shirt in one hand and stomp of her foot, the little blond haired girl looked exactly like a childish human to the gargoyle’s eyes. The girl said angrily, “Take that back! I know what I am, but I have always played with these things. As a che’ther, I couldn’t really wear clothing and didn’t need them, but I am stuck this way now and need to blend in with the people we will be meeting.
“Besides I have always like pretty things. Some che’ther like golden trinkets, I like the colorful cloths humans make.”
“It just seems like a waste of magic to me,” the giant stated leaning his head onto his fists as he propped his elbows on his knees.
Letting out an inarticulate growl, the girl ignored him and pulled off her skirt and blouse. The former needed her magic to release a seam like using a zipper to slide it over her hips. Standing naked save for her boots, Cheleya folded the clothes neatly and put them away before picking up the brown shirt. She slid it over her head drowning in a garment made for someone several inches taller than the girl.
“That suits you,” Kel’lor mused sarcastically.
“Be quiet,” demanded the little blond as she looked at the horrible brown tunic. She began to rub and pull making the dimensions pull in tighter to her figure. Cheleya had noted how the two women wore their clothing, but they were uniforms and apparently didn’t truly count as something that the two liked to wear as a choice.
The dragoness had seen very few dresses or human women to wear them, so she simply went with what felt right to her sensibilities. Cheleya lowered the neckline remembering where Tilana had pointed between her breasts. Dropping the base of the cut to see the faint ripple of the bone beneath her flesh, she played with wide flowing sleeves that seemed to billow playfully with each swing of her arms.
Her biggest question she voiced, “What color should this be?”
Kel’lor shrugged and replied, “Why not try green to match your eyes?”
Surprised at the comment, the girl flung a hand at the gargoyle, “Ha! I knew that you paid attention to such things more than you say. See being able to make clothing is a good spell, you grouch.”
“I never said that I was color blind, just that all this attention to clothing was a human trait. All I need are some breeches and a shirt or chain mail for battle and I can move on with my life.”
Waving the protest away, Cheleya decided to color the sleeves a light green and went a little darker with the rest. She had cre
ated a belt to pull her waist tighter as she noticed the support made her body feel stronger strangely. She made that brown matching her boots without letting Kel’lor catch on to that note. Dressed more comfortably, the dragoness wondered what Evan and the others would say.
Realizing that she even cared made the dragoness blush, which the gargoyle caught as he dropped his hands slightly worried, “Are you all right?”
Covering for her embarrassment, the girl replied, “I just need a little food and drink to replace the magic. That’s all.”
Maybe Kel’lor’s assessment was truer than she wanted to let him know. Everyday she was stuck as a human, her time as a che’ther seemed a more distant memory. She wasn’t in danger of forgetting her true nature, but this body grew more and more familiar. It also frightened the girl more than she would admit.
After a small meal, the dragoness and gargoyle took to the air. Cheleya used her dragon mage wings to catch up to the humans, while Kel’lor carried most of their gear. She had her pack now laden with more clothing, while he carried the extra swords along with his bag.
They caught up to the four marching quickly towards a town far enough away to remain out of sight until early afternoon, but continued to fly overhead until they broke for a midday meal. Flying, even using magic, was way less tiring to the two than walking had been the previous day, so they chose to do less of it.
A small spring and surrounding thin grove of trees set the picnic. They didn’t bother with a fire, since the sun was above them giving a bit of warmth, though the air was still chilly to the humans. As they ate, Evan and Colbie seemed to be giving the dragoness an unusually interested set of eyes.
Finally Evan stated what they had talked about as they walked beneath the two flying above them. “I wish that I could fly like that.”
Battle Mage: Dragon Mage (Tales of Alus) Page 13
