Wood, Stone and Bone

by Ian Rodgers

  I trembled as those dark memories returned. “To put it politely, they took umbrage at my deception and chased me out. To describe it truthfully, the villager who found out formed an angry mob even after I had risked my life to help them.”

  “Alright, I won’t pry any further about Norhelm. I can tell this hurt you badly,” Clarabel said.

  “Thank you,” I said, relieved. Liliana and Kine’s moody and unhappy expressions brightened up.

  “As for my second question; you just said ‘two’ in regards to the number of people knowing your secret in the group you’re currently traveling with. Did you actually tell someone else about your, uh, ‘origins?’”

  My owner and her diminutive best friend perked up and shot me intrigued, expectant looks.

  I chuckled and leapt across into Kine’s lap. The half-elf girl brightened up and began to eagerly cuddle with me. Now it was Clarabel’s turn to look jealous.

  “Yes, someone did find out I was an Ooze.”

  “What? How?” Liliana demanded.

  “Interesting story, that. You know those rumors about talking Oozes I was chasing? Turns out they were real and this person knew about it.”

  As I told the trio about Katherine and the Soul Oozes I was careful to avoid letting them know about her affiliation with the Dark Guild and the exact way we found out each other’s secrets.

  “I will let the headmaster know the Shadowspell Alliance is up to no good,” Liliana assured me. “They’re a threat even my father takes seriously, and if one of them is indeed performing such heinous experiments on unwilling participants near our kingdom both he and Sir Cantos need to be informed.”

  “That’s good. Also, ask him to inquire about newly founded colonies in Drakon. That’s where the Soul Oozes fled to, and where I’m heading once spring rolls around.”

  “Be careful. Lots of draconic beings dwell there,” Kine informed me.

  “I will, don’t worry,” I said before I nuzzled up against her.

  “I hate to keep interrupting, but you said that when you were blessed by Gaea at the Idol of Traveler’s Boon near Crotia it looked like tears of light fell on you from the statue’s face?” Clarabel remembered.

  “That’s what my companions said it looked like. Why, do you know something?” I asked the granddaughter of the pontifex.

  “I know a lot of things pertaining to matters of theology,” she said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder in a haughty manner. Her mood quickly shifted to one of contemplation. “And one of those facts is that the last time anyone was blessed by Gaea in such a manner, it was the man who would become known as the Hero of Shadows.”

  “Barron of the Heroic Six!” I gasped, Liliana and Kine looking up in interest. “He was the leader of the adventurers who discovered the World Rebellion’s involvement in instigating the War of Fallen Gods!”

  “Indeed. No other person has ever received a similar blessing like his. Until you. This raises a lot of questions.” Clarabel stared at me for a long time, a look of contemplation upon her face.

  “Jelly, are you one of…”

  “Anyways! I have a lot of other things to tell you about my trip so far!” I exclaimed, loudly interrupting Clara’s question. Kine and Liliana noticed my abrupt attempt to switch topics, but let it go for now. They were interested in all the things I had seen and done.

  As I talked I discreetly slipped a miffed Clarabel a scrap of paper I had acquired from my stack of class work. She took it and looked the hastily scribbled note over.

  ‘Yes, I am supposedly one of Nia’s three Chosen Ones from the recent prophecy. Please, do not spread it around, I don’t want them to worry about me.’

  The aristocrat from Cathedral City shot me a glance after reading the note I had passed her, then stuffed it into her left shoe without either of the other occupants of the room noticing.

  I held back a chuckle, as well as a bit of relief. Clarabel wasn’t going to tell them for now. I still wasn’t sure when I was going to let my owner know I was involved in all this prophecy business, but I had a feeling it would be sooner rather than later.

  “Tell us more about this Katherine woman. Is she really as short as Kine?” Liliana inquired, bringing my attention back to the conversation.

  “Yes, she is. Perhaps a touch taller than her, in fact. But the dwarf looks larger than Kine because our darling little lady here is so much more svelte than Katherine.”

  “To think Kine is as small as a dwarf! Are you sure you’re not actually half-gnome?” Liliana joked.

  The adorable pout the Qwanese girl gave made all of us coo and quickly apologize for teasing her.

  “At least I could never mistake you for her, Kine. She hasn’t mastered the puppy dog eyes like you have,” I claimed. I immediately regretted my decision to talk as she turned her gaze on me. I quailed under the soul piercing nature of her cuteness.

  “You need to find a way to weaponize that ability of yours,” Clarabel said with dry amusement as she watched me squirm under the effects of Kine’s stare.

  “Gah! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’ll stop making fun of you so please stop giving me that look!” I begged. After a moment the half-elf relented and I let out a whimper.

  “Whew! Been awhile since I’ve been on the receiving end of that! I’d forgotten how potent it was!” I said and slumped, turning into a purple puddle on the bed. Kine poked me and I jiggled.

  “AH! Stop that, it tickles!”

  That statement I made was a mistake, and the trio proceeded to attack me viciously with pokes and prods.

  I lay on the bed exhausted after the grueling test of my endurance. Who knew a marathon of tickles could take so much out of a person?

  “Anything else to report?” Liliana asked after as I caught my breath. Metaphorically of course as I lacked lungs and proper breathing organs.

  “Just that I should be in Arv Prith in three days if everything goes according to plan,” I gasped out. “Hopefully there won’t be any more mysterious stampedes to slow us down.”

  “Do you still not know what caused the denizens of the Dullwilds to go berserk?”

  “I haven’t had a chance to do any investigating. Maybe after I get to the port and make arrangements for passage to Drakon and staying the winter, but it’s not at the top of my To Do list,” I said in response to Kine’s question.

  “Could someone please pick me up and drop me back in the glass tank? I’m a bit tired.”

  “Of course, Jelly. Up you go!” Liliana scooped me off the bed and gently deposited me back in my clone’s home.

  “It’s been fun catching up with you three. Liliana, please make sure Arnolt knows what Baloron and the Shadowspell Alliance are up to. Kine, keep being cute. Clarabel, no hanky panky during school days.”

  Clarabel turned crimson and sputtered indignantly while Kine looked away with her face a similar hue of red.

  “And you be careful on your end, Jelly,” Liliana ordered, skillfully ignoring the other pair in the room. “This ‘Baloron’ fellow isn’t the only person who’s after you. Your mysterious stalker is still on the loose.”

  “Understood, my princess. I will be on the lookout. You can count on me!”

  My owner’s smiling face was the last thing I saw before I shut off my senses and retreated into my original body.

  However, I couldn’t help but notice the worry her eyes had contained as she bid me a fond farewell and goodnight.

  She truly was the most caring person I knew.

  Chapter 17: Slime and rage

  “Well, it’s been fun, but I think I’m glad we only have another two days on the road left till we reach Arv Prith,” I proclaimed happily. Katherine nodded in agreement from her spot beside me.

  “I know, my calves are killing me. You’re so lucky you don’t have muscles and thus are immune to the greatest downside of traveling: the walking.”

  “Just because I lack the musculature of a human doesn’t mean I don’t get tired. It’s mo
re of a mental strain, instead of a physical one though. Do you know how hard it is to stay in this bipedal form for hours on end and pretend to know how to walk?” I asked. The dwarf maiden shrugged.

  “Fairly hard?”

  “Try hopping on one leg for a mile while reading a book. That’s fairly close to how it feels to me.”

  Katherine glanced over at me with a quizzical look. “How do you know what that feels like for a human or dwarf?”

  “Back before I left the Royal Varian Mage’s Academy there were a few professors there who were extremely interested in my unusual existence. I did a lot of experiments with them in order to expand my own understanding of myself. Not like there was anyone I could talk to about controlling or expanding my newfound powers.” I chuckled as a few memories of some of the more exotic and ridiculous experiments came to mind.

  “One of the teachers, the head of the Magical Beast Studies Department, a Druid by the name of Blott, had a spell that allowed whoever cast it to experience what life is like being another species. It’s normally used by Druid to practice their shapeshifting spells, but I used it to feel like a human for a while, and he in turn found out what it was like to be an Ooze.”

  “So you swapped bodies?” she asked, intrigued by the opportunities such a spell could grant.

  “No, body swapping is a highly restricted type of magic and is not taught in the Academy due to the dangers it possesses for both the user and the victim. Professor Blott’s spell, Body Sense, simply tunes an individual’s sense of body into someone else’s. It’s hard to explain what it’s like without experiencing it yourself, but under the spell’s effect… well…” I trailed off, thinking hard about how to describe it.

  “Imagine you chose a dog to test. Dogs have both a tail and walk on all fours naturally, and a better sense of smell. Body Sense would give you the feeling that you have a tail, and that you have to walk on all fours, and your sense of smell is greatly improved.”

  “When I was pretending to be a human, thanks to the spell I felt like I had to be in a bipedal form to feel comfortable. I needed arms and legs to be human so I was in my Gel Doll form a lot. I still knew what it was like to be an Ooze, but it was compounded by a new set of instincts, in a way.”

  “Then couldn’t you just constantly cast a Body Sense spell on yourself to better blend in as a human?” Katherine asked. “It seems like you’d get rid of a lot of hassle that way, and you have more than enough magic for it.”

  “If I did, I would be much more human-like in mannerisms and actions, but I’d lose more than I’d gain,” I replied.

  “Humans don’t have limbs that stretch or contort the way my own tendrils and pseudopods can. Humans don’t breathe through their skin or possess a Dimensional Pocket anchored to their soul. Humans don’t cast magic the way an Ooze does or produce a variety or healing substances or acids. In short, by pretending to be human by using Body Sense, I would lose all advantages of being an Ooze because, by the spell’s own rules, I could not bring myself to mentally acknowledge those parts of myself.”

  “Huh, that’s quite profound. And more than a little scary. Would you really forget what it would be like to be an Ooze?”

  “Perhaps eventually. The spell is not designed to last more than a day, and using it constantly has been shown to force a person’s mind to alter itself even outside of its influence. In the end, I don’t want to risk losing my sense of identity, even if it meant I could blend in better. I’m still me. Jelly the Ooze. Not matter the circumstances.”

  Katherine fell silent, and for a moment I thought she was impressed by my semi-philosophical declaration. Instead, she began to shudder as she held back laughter.

  “Y, your name is J, Jelly?” she gasped out, her mirth overwhelming her. I nodded hesitantly.

  “Yes, that’s the name Princess Liliana gave me, and the one I’m proud to use.”

  She burst out laughing and had to lean against me for support as she couldn’t walk properly amidst her gales of laughter.

  “That’s so stupid! Why the heck would you make your fake name be almost identical to your real one! That’s so stupid! By the gods above and below you are so bad at naming things!”

  ~Do you hear that, Jelly? Rosa and I are not the only ones who find your sense of naming abysmal at best,~ Tara chided. Rosa was too busy laughing her head off to add her two coppers to the conversation. But it was assumed my Familiar was in total agreement.

  ~Is this why you’ve never told Liliana and the others about your fake name? Because you know, deep down, they’ll laugh at you?~ the resident Spirit of Knowledge continued.

  I lowered my head in shame and embarrassment, and tried to ignore the curious looks I was getting from the rest of the travelers who were ahead of us in the convoy.

  “Nothing to see here, just a man who apparently has a bad style when it comes to naming things,” I said miserably, waving off the stares from merchants and adventurers alike.

  A few snickered and snorted at my expense as I continued to prop up Katherine. After a few more minutes of gut-busting giggles she calmed down enough that she could walk on her own again.

  “Wow,” she panted as she recovered. “I have honestly never met anybody like you before. I definitely think Valen would like you. You have so much in common! Made of magical slime, bizarre yet weirdly human-like, and about as dense as a sack of bricks. Only difference is he could help come up with a better name than Jellik!”

  Katherine immediately devolved into another round of snorts and muffled chuckles. Thankfully this one was quieter and lasted less time than the first, but it was still annoying to have my name made fun of.

  (There, there, Jelly! You knew what you were getting into when you chose that name,) Rosa said, and she patted me on the shoulder sympathetically.

  ‘No, I didn’t!’ I growled out. The Ruby Carbuncle just rolled her eyes at my denial and flew off to bother Yorrik.

  “Pesky little fairy thinks she’s so much better and smarter I’ll show her,” I grumbled under my breath. Katherine just grinned knowingly.

  All of a sudden, a disturbance ran through the air. I froze mid-step and immediately looked around wildly trying to sense the origin of the abrupt appearance of the ripple of power.

  It wasn’t magic, but it had the same feel as it. A magical beast, then? But what could be so strong as to causes my senses to go off like that?

  “Is everything OK?” Katherine asked worriedly. I had stopped moving completely and had turned to face the direction we had come from, where the stampede had occurred.

  “No, no it is not,” I whispered. Something was approaching. Large, fast, and beyond anything I had ever felt. It reeked of danger. Tasted like it too.

  I could feel the tumultuous emotions of this being, for it did not bother to hide them. I almost choked on the density of the negativity it was giving off. Not since the World Rebellion cultists had I experienced anything emit such vast pulsating hatred and sheer disregard for life.

  “Yorrik!” I shouted over my shoulder. I caught the Ranger’s attention and he turned to face me.

  “What is it, Jellik?”

  “Tell everyone to get ready for battle! I think whatever caused the stampede earlier is coming right at us!” It was only an educated guess as to whether this entity had been the source of our troubles from before. But as I observed the area I noticed that there was not a single animal nearby. They had all started to flee as soon as this mass of bloodlust had appeared.

  The horses and other pack animals on the road started to panic. Being this close to Arv Prith, traffic was getting denser and a continuous flow was going in and out of the port city. This meant that all the frenzied steeds were creating disruptions all along the highway.

  At the moment, there were about a dozen other groups on the road alongside us, with travelers on wagons and on foot. I turned to them and amplified my voice with a spell.

  “Everyone! Get off the road! Something dangerous is coming towards th
is point from the west!”

  “What are you talking about kid? I don’t see anything!” A passerby demanded.

  “I can feel it with my magic! Please, get away from here if you can!” I pleaded.

  Some of the travelers heard the desperation in my voice as I begged them and decided to follow my advice. My wizardly robes and hat helped in this, as the people assumed I knew what I was doing based on that. Magic was varied, and there were ways to detect danger using it.

  A few though just snorted at my request and continued on in whichever direction they’d been heading the first time.

  “No, please don’t go that way!” I wept at the stubborn travelers who were heading towards the rapidly approaching mass of malevolent energy, cursing my body for being unable to shed tears for them. I was so very afraid. Not just for my own safety, but everyone else as well.

  “Jellik?” Katherine asked, shaking my shoulder to get my attention. She was worried and it showed on her face. I spun around towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders and leaned down.

  “Run,” I ordered. “Get back with Yorrik and Rosa and run.”

  Around us the wind was picking up, the being that drew near altering the very weather with its dense magical presence. I shivered at the thought of the amount of raw magical power needed to do such an act. And this thing could just do so unconsciously?!

  “What in the Hells is coming?” she demanded.

  I couldn’t answer. Because behind me a loud, startled scream was cut off by a wet gurgle. And then another. And another. Screams, human and beast, erupted all along the path to the west of our position. And the sharp, metallic tang of blood filled the air along with them.

  I turned, trembling, towards the source of the brutality I was sensing.

  Rosa gasped, her heart almost stopping in her tiny chest from the shock and terror.

  Yorrik paled and went for his weapons, and Katherine doubled over and vomited at the ghastly scene that was playing out.

  Striding forth across the dirt highway was a ten-foot-tall creature that vaguely resembled a bear clad in dark green scales. Along its back and on its wrists and ankles tufts of brown hair bristled like clumps of needles. It’s oddly humanoid hands possessed four razor sharp claws, all stained red with innocent blood. A stubby tail thumped the ground excitedly as it approached.