by Dixon, TJ
I feel a cool soothing liquid poured over me. The pain stops after a moment but I still can’t hear properly, or see at all. I feel like I am being lifted and carried by a gentle wind. I am put down and I feel a cold liquid poured down my throat. I feel instantly drowsy and despite everything, sleep comes quickly.
I wake cold and in darkness, but more liquid is poured down me and I am soon asleep again. I wake again and it is light now. I am warm this time but my vision is still blurred. I am sure that is Rin sleeping on the chair beside me but I am unable to talk or move. My magic is not there. I can’t feel my left arm either, but at least I am not in pain now. I want to check that it is there but I can’t even move my head enough to do that.
I lie here awake awhile. My vision slowly improves and now I can tell for sure that it is Rin. The wall behind her is polished white stone. I can’t tell what colour the feather light clothes I am wearing are but I would hazard a guess at white given my surroundings. Eventually Rin wakes.
“Peter?” She asks cautiously.
“Rin.” I respond, but talking still hurts, a lot, and she can tell right away.
“Don’t talk.” Rin says and puts a finger over my mouth. “Everyone else is safe. Some were prisoners, but thanks to Aventurine’s status as a noble, the head refused Perry’s demand to have them all executed immediately. She waited for the Queen’s orders. That’s the only reason the Queen hasn’t had her executed.
“I thought you were dead for sure when I first saw you like that. They did a good job of saving you, but… Your left arm, where you had the cursed chain on… They couldn’t save it. They had to cut it off to save your life. I’m sorry.” Rin says but is unable to continue. Tears run down her face like a waterfall.
“It’s… ok.” I croak in my awful voice trying to reassure her, but she just cries harder.
“It’s not ok!” Rin says through her tears. It would have been a greater shock to me, if I hadn’t already suspected and feared exactly this. It is still a shock though. If I can no longer use magic as well…
“My… magic?” I ask through the pain.
“Your magic?” Rin asks through her tears not understanding my question.
“Will… it… come… back?” I force myself to say each word despite the pain. Rin just stares at me in shock. I can’t read her aura.
“Yes it will.” She says but even without reading her aura I know she is lying. She doesn’t know, but that’s better than being told no. At least there is still hope. Then I realise something. She doesn’t know about Dairon. Unless I told her. I was going to, but how much time has passed? Did I get a chance? She senses that something is wrong, but can only wait for me to ask.
“Dairon?”
“What is Dairon?” She asks. I might have told Hermes if I hadn’t told Rin.
“Ask… Hermes.” I say but then I have a coughing fit, and every cough hurts like I am being thrown against a castle wall.
“Don’t talk anymore!” Rin says grabbing a potion, and then throws some down my throat. It helps, but only a little. “I’ll ask Hermes once it settles down.”
After a while the pain subsides and Rin leaves me briefly. She returns with Hermes. Hermes looks wracked by guilt and Rin looks angry, but her anger subsides as she sees me. Rin sits down and Hermes stands beside me. Hermes stands there a moment.
“Dairon…” Hermes starts to say and I fear the worst. “Dairon it seems was still able to use magic. It sounds like he tried to defend you when you were arrested, but when he realised it was hopeless he fled. We don’t know where he is now.”
I am relieved she didn’t tell me he was killed. I am surprised I couldn’t tell he was lying when he said he couldn’t use magic, but perhaps elven auras are just too different. I hope he turns up. I don’t think he will cause anyone any trouble, but he may be too scared to show himself now that I know he was lying.
“Peter should rest some more.” Rin says firmly. “Hermes, please leave.”
“Ok.” Hermes says and taking one last look at me leaves. “Peter, please don’t push yourself too much.” Like I can push myself anywhere right now! Rin comes over and pours a potion down my throat and soon I am asleep. I don’t know how long passes but I am certain that a while must have passed before I am awake again.
The pain is gone, and my body feels healthier now, but I am still unable to move. My magic feels like it has come back, but it is still weak. I am staring at a white ceiling. Using my magic I move my head slightly and see Rin asleep and Hermes barely awake. After a moment she realises that I am awake, and have moved slightly.
“Peter?!” Hermes says and Rin is awake too now.
“Peter? You can move now? That was supposed to be impossible.” Rin says but her face falls when she hears my answer.
“Magic.” I say and to my surprise it doesn’t hurt to talk now. “I used wind magic. It’s the only way I can move. Are you saying I’ll never be able to move again without magic?” A scary thought.
“No. You will be able to, but they’ll need to use a very rare potion.” Rin assures me.
“Ah, that’s good, but have they got this rare potion.”
“My mother is making it, and it should be ready in a few days.” Rin says.
“Dairon turned up.” Hermes says. “He found Aventurine. It seems you had them train together so he knew he could trust her. She gave him one of the chains so he could be contacted.” I wince when she mentions the chain.
“Hermes.” Rin scolds lightly. “But when it isn’t cursed it is useful. The master you had was destroyed, so only the Queen’s one can now be used to contact everyone.”
“Perry and the head?” I ask.
“The head was arrested and is awaiting trial.” Rin answers. “Perry on the other hand is more problematic. She claims she was doing everything for the sake of Contractia. She says she was told by the head that the Queen ordered your execution and the execution of anyone who got in the way. We don’t believe her any more than you do, but she has too many independent companies. If the Queen arrests her there will be a civil war, and with the war we are fighting already the Queen doesn’t dare. Personally I’d like nothing more than to kill that evil woman, but she’s just too powerful.”
“Was anybody else hurt?” I ask.
“Some of the Divine Flames who fought against Perry were hurt, but it was nothing a potion couldn’t deal with.” Rin says.
“Nobody was killed?”
“Nobody.” Rin assures me.
“Then Perry can wait.” I say. “I’ve already seen her murder innocent people. She was my enemy before this, so it changes nothing. We’ll deal with her one day. You say the potion will be ready in a few days?”
“Yes.” Rin says confidently.
“What about the academy? Am I still a student? Are we all still students?”
“Yes. The Queen made it clear that nobody from the club was to be expelled or punished for what happened, or the consequences. She even delayed the competition for most classes in case you decided you wished to take part still. 2A started because their part will take longest. Over half the class are taking part and they do so one person at a time so there wasn’t much choice there. You have the choice to withdraw though, after what happened.”
“My powers are still weak. Let’s see if they recover enough.” I say.
“They will do.” Rin says confidently.
“I hope so.” I say.
“It’s just a pity we can’t use Lilian.” Rin says and I blink.
“Who?” I ask confused.
“Lilian.” Rin says again.
“Who’s Lilian?” I ask still confused.
“The Year 1 student we got. Well, you got for us. Though I did help a bit.” Rin says.
“When did we get a Year 1 student?” I ask.
“You seriously don’t remember?” Rin asks concerned now.
“No. I came back from my secret mission, and then we got into an argument. Then I took Dairon to Hermes old home, an
d found out Yusa was staying there. Then… Then I don’t remember until I woke up after I was arrested. How big a gap was that?”
“Two and a bit days. It was our day off of the same week. It seems you were training with Aventurine and Dairon, whilst we went on a bounty hunt. Since then though almost a whole month has passed. Dairon isn’t willing to teach anyone other than Aventurine, because you haven’t told him it’s ok to do so. She’s better than Charlotte now, and I don’t think I could beat her either from what I’ve heard. It makes me so angry thinking that noble brat is better than me.” Rin says but it is light hearted. She doesn’t really dislike Aventurine.
“It sounds like Dairon is really useful.” I say thoughtfully. “It’s just a shame that anything he may have taught me has been lost now. Could you get Aventurine to bring him here? It would be good to see this Lilian too.”
“Yu Kii will be sad.” Rin says. “They aren’t going to allow too many visitors. You might get away with three, but you’d better let me know what your order of preference is in case they don’t.”
“Dairon followed by Lilian, followed by Aventurine.” I say after a moment’s thought.
“Where are we anyway?” I ask.
“We’re in a special room in the royal palace.” Rin says. “Normally only royalty and nobles are brought here. The room has powerful healing magic, which combined with potions and the royal healer saved your life. If the Queen had arrived a minute later you would have been beyond saving. They weren’t sure if they were going to be able save you.”
“How did the Queen know to come?” I ask.
“We managed to get an audience with the Queen thanks to Lucy and Aventurine’s mothers. Normally even a noble of their standing can’t just demand to see the Queen, but the combination of two nobles who were not exactly on good terms both asking together made the difference.”
“I’ll have to thank them.” I say.
“The Divine Flames also saved me.” Hermes says. “My group got in trouble with an army of goblins, and when we couldn’t contact you we were almost killed.”
“Yes, I thought you were the only one stupid enough to fight an army single handed.” Rin says sounding both resigned and amused at the same time. “You should probably put Jenny in charge next time though, because she did a good job of taking over. She also had the sense to question the hunt before it started.”
“Yes, that might be better.” Hermes says looking down.
“Ok. There’s something I need to know though.” I say but then I pause. It takes a few moments to build up my courage to ask. “What crime was I accused of?”
“You were accused of stealing the royal chain that the Queen gave you. You were also accused of using an illegal potion, which although true, was also given to you by the Queen.” Rin says and looks really angry. “I can’t believe she gave that to you!”
“The anti-sleep potion?” I ask.
“Yes. If you’d told me about it I’d have told you to stop using it and give it back. It seems the Queen forgot to ask for it back, and Hermes didn’t realise how dangerous it was. Not to mention that it was illegal. Hermes even had some herself!” Rin says and glares at Hermes for a moment but then Rin turns back to me and her expression softens. “It seemed to have a very unusual effect on you though. It’s normal for some people to get violent when they have been using it too long and someone tries to stop them using it. Poor Aventurine was almost killed when she tried to stop you. What is unusual is that it normally weakens your magic, but it seemed to strengthen yours. Aventurine wouldn’t go into the details, but she also said it seemed to bring back some of your memories.”
“Change the order. Aventurine, Dairon, Lilian.” I say as soon as I hear that last part.
“Ok, but don’t get your hopes up. It didn’t sound like you told her the details.”
“If that potion helped bring my memories back, does that give a clue to any other potions or methods that might work?” I ask.
“My mother is considering that, but she hasn’t had any ideas yet. She’s also trying to focus on the potion to heal you before she puts too much thought into it.”
“Yes, that is definitely more urgent.” I say. “I feel hungry, but not like I haven’t eaten in days.”
“The healer used magic to sustain you. Until you are healed you can’t eat or drink.” Rin says. “I can call her in to use the magic again if you are hungry.”
“That would be good. How soon do you think you could get those visitors for me too?” I ask.
“I’ll be talking to the Queen later so maybe tomorrow.” Rin says.
I talk to Hermes whilst Rin gets the healer. She is a very old looking woman, but her healing magic reminds me of Lucy. The hunger is gone but I look forward to being able to eat. It just isn’t as satisfying for the hunger just to disappear like this. I am very grateful though, because she has saved my life and is continuing to help me like this.
I spend the day talking, but mostly listening, to Rin and Hermes. It is fortunate in one sense that I am not eating or drinking, because it would be embarrassing having to get help to deal with the after effects so to speak. I am not confident that I could currently port anything, but I am sure I couldn’t port that right now. I am grateful that they are able to use a potion to help me sleep. Not having done anything physical, I suspect that it would be very hard to sleep. The potion brings sleep straight away.
I wake and move my head with wind magic again. Beside me are Rin and Aventurine. Rin is asleep again, but Aventurine is wide awake and looks very nervous. Very nervous indeed.
“Peter?” She says seeing me move. Rin is awake the moment she speaks.
“Good morning Peter.” Rin says sleepily but looks more awake by the second.
“Good morning Peter.” Aventurine says sounding shy.
“Good morning Rin, Aventurine.” I say with a small smile. It is the most I can manage because even my face is difficult to move.
“How are you feeling?” Aventurine asks.
“I’m not in pain anymore.” I tell her and she seems a little relieved. “Did Rin mention about my memories?”
“She said you forgot what happened after you came back.” Aventurine says nervously.
“That’s right. She also said you said the potion seemed to bring back some of my memories.”
“It did, but… You didn’t really tell me much about them.” Aventurine says looking down.
“Anything would be better than nothing.” I tell her.
“You remembered your father, but the only thing you said about him, was when I said that I got burnt when I first learned fire magic. You started to say something as if perhaps you had gone through the same experience with your father. You then stopped and felt funny. You asked what you were saying and I reminded you, but you said you didn’t know your father.”
“Nothing else?”
“Well, it must have been nonsense but you mentioned your mother once. You were totally out of it, and what you said was ridiculous.” Aventurine says.
“You didn’t mention that before.” Rin says glaring at Aventurine. “If it was nonsense it would have been better not to have mentioned it.”
“What did I say?” I ask. Aventurine looks very intimidated by Rin, but Rin shrugs.
“You got this far.” Rin says. “You’d better finish what you were saying.”
“Well, it was something about her killing you.” Aventurine says and I blink. “But since you’re still alive that can’t be true. You also seemed happy about the idea of dying.”
“Don’t give him ideas, or I’ll make sure you’re happy about the idea of dying, Aventurine.” Rin says placing a hand on her shoulder. She goes still in an instant.
“She’s just joking.” I say.
“Are you sure?” Rin asks with an icy glare. “You always seem to find new ways to try to get yourself killed. You came mighty close this time. You even lost…” Then Rin stops and tears form in the corners of her eyes.
&nb
sp; “I’m sorry. You can’t blame Aventurine though.” I say.
“No. She actually helped you even after you tried to kill her.” Rin says taking her hand off of Aventurine and turning around. “I’ll leave you both alone for a bit, but Aventurine, don’t you dare do or say anything stupid.”
“Don’t worry.” Aventurine says. Rin leaves.
“Did I really try to kill you?” I ask nervously.
“Yes, but it was just because of the potion. I knew it would be an issue when I took it from you, but I had no idea you could follow my port and slice through the door’s protection.”
“I seem to remember slicing through doors and walls even after I woke up.” I say thoughtfully. “They must have been protected too.”
“I’m just glad I wasn’t standing in the way of your wind slice.” Aventurine says. “I don’t blame you though. Perhaps it would have been better if I had let you drink a little more and gotten the others to help.”
“Perhaps it would have been even worse if you had. Nobody died. I’m really grateful for that.”
“Did you forget everything that happened in those couple of days?”
“Yes.” I say and see Aventurine seems a little disappointed. “I hear that you’ve made great progress with Dairon’s help.”
“Yes, and I owe that to you as well. You had him help me because you felt Rin had gone overboard with my punishment.” Aventurine says.
“What were you being punished for?” I ask.
“Rin decided to have a competition. Yusa and I had to move a pool of water onto each other. Yusa won so she got to go on the bounty hunt, but I was meant to be training on my own in a stream in the forest, in… Well anyway you felt it was a bit much because of the weather so you decided to train me with Dairon.”
“So that’s why I wasn’t on the bounty hunt.” I say.
“Yes. I’m really sorry.”
