by Walls, Devri
Emane was fast becoming tired of Drustan’s way of answering a question, forcing him to ask another. “What do you mean, after you are through with me?”
“You must have magic if you are to survive, and there are few ways of making that happen. We will be inserting you with magic.”
“Inserting?” he pronounced each syllable, rolling it over in his mouth.
“Over the centuries there have been stories, most of them true, of objects that gave people magical abilities. Swords, hats, stones, charms– All of them removable. These have their advantages as the wearer has the option to not wear the item if he chooses. However they also have their disadvantages. The item can be lost or stolen, leaving the owner helpless. We have discussed giving you this magic and have come to the conclusion that the only acceptable option is to make sure that the magic cannot be lost or stolen. The only way we can think to do this is to insert the item into your body, therefore making the magic part of you, very much as if you had been born with the ability.
Emane went numb. What sounded like a good idea last night was feeling less and less appealing today. Magic was one thing, inserting magic rocks inside his body was quite another.
“You are very quiet, Prince.”
“Please, please, call me Emane,” he pleaded with slumped shoulders.
“Very well, Emane. You are very quiet.”
“I am thinking. That is all.”
“Very well, I will leave you to it. Keep up,” Drustan snapped lengthening his stride again.
Emane’s legs were burning by the time they reached the mine. Drustan waved his hand at the wall and the torches ignited. Emane scanned the room. He didn’t know what he was looking at, but whatever it was, it was beautiful.
***
Emane’s arms were burning as he slung the pickaxe into the wall, trying to extract the vein of bright green from the stone walls. He swung over and over again at the section he had been working on for two days now. Stopping to wipe the sweat out of his eyes, he looked over at Drustan, who had been supervising.
“Tell me again,” he huffed, “why I am the only one who can get this stuff out.”
“If the magic is to bond with you it must be forged by you. To not forge it yourself would be risking not being able to use it at all.”
“Right,” Emane panted as he swung the axe again at the vein. “And after I get this out, what then? You haven’t been very clear on that part.” Despite the fact that he had asked Drustan multiple times.
“Then you may use it.”
“I understood that part. It was the part about inserting it that you refuse to explain. That is what has me concerned.”
Drustan sighed, “You humans really are the most impatient creatures I have ever met.”
“Really?” Emane slammed the axe into the wall again, channeling his frustration through it. “I thought I was being quite patient. I have been hammering at this wall for two days with no real explanation about what we are doing after I am finished here.” A large chunk of rock mottled with the green material fell to the floor. Emane picked it up and handed it to Drustan.
“Good, a couple more pieces this size and we will be ready to extract it.”
“You are ignoring me.” Again, he thought as he slung the pickaxe.
“I have told you, Emane, we want to put the material inside of your body, so that it cannot be removed or lost.”
“Yes, I have heard that. What I have not heard is how you plan to do that.”
“It will be explained Emane, just be patient.”
Emane swung the axe into the wall trying to bash away the gnawing feeling that he should be very worried about this plan. Something about this was not right. He didn’t need magic to know what his instincts were telling him.
***
In the colony, Kiora and Eleana were practicing blocking. Eleana would throw anything from magic to chairs at her and Kiora would block. Sometimes Kiora was to throw the item back across the room, other times, she was to hold it in place. They practiced moving things slowly and controlled, and then in forceful bursts. Kiora had been knocked on her behind more than once, but was getting more comfortable with practice. It took less and less effort each time.
“Eleana?” she asked, while keeping a chair from hurtling in her direction.
“You are comfortable enough to talk during this exercise?”
“I think so.” The chair wobbled slightly but it held, “I am worried about Emane.”
“How so?”
“It has been a few days now and we haven’t heard from him. And I….” Kiora paused, she couldn’t make sense of what she was feeling, trying to say it out loud made even less sense. “I get a feeling that he is worried about something.”
Eleana was quiet for a moment, making Kiora feel even more ridiculous. Kiora focused her attention back to the chair still hovering in the room, grateful for a reason to look somewhere else.
“Set the chair down, Kiora.” Kiora slowly lowered it to the floor. “You and Emane have become close, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” she said her cheeks growing warm “very close.”
“What do you feel?”
“I feel...” she sighed heavily, “worried and anxious, as if something is not right.”
“Are those your feelings?”
“No,” she ventured slowly, looking back up to her, “I don’t think so. They seem to be in addition to my own feelings. They feel as if they are Emane’s feelings.” Rubbing her temples, Kiora shook her head, “I don’t know how to make sense of that. I can’t feel what he feels, can I?”
“Come, sit.” Eleana motioned to a sofa. “There are certain things that come with a relationship.” She stopped. “I am assuming that is what we are discussing, based upon Arturo’s grumbling.”
Kiora laughed, “He was grumbling to you?”
“Yes, he was having a bit of a hard time with the situation.” Sitting back, Eleana crossed her hands neatly in her lap. “There are certain things I should have warned you about. Although I must admit, after watching you two during your first week together, I did not see this coming.”
“It was a surprise to both of us as well.”
“Whenever magic is involved, things work a little differently. Things are amplified. If you have a relationship with Emane that is beyond the relationship of a Protector and a Solus, it is very possible that you are feeling his feelings.”
Kiora fiddled with the edge of her shirt, not sure if this was a good or bad thing. “What if he doesn’t want me to feel his feelings, what if he feels intruded upon?”
Eleana placed her hand upon Kiora’s, “It is a possibility that it will upset him. You need to help him understand that it is only the strongest and most persistent of feelings that you will be able to feel. You cannot read his mind or know his thoughts. Nor can you feel all of his feelings. Most human couples can sense a change in mood from one another while in close proximity to each other. As I said, yours is amplified, and can work over longer distances.” She patted Kiora’s hand before grabbing it and pulling her to her feet. “Now come, we must go find Emane.”
“Now?” The speed at which Eleana changed subjects always left Kiora whirling.
“Yes, something is wrong. I have been monitoring it for a couple of days now. I was waiting to see if you would sense it as well.”
Kiora loved Eleana, but there were times where she felt like a caged rat that was being kept for observation.
***
Emane sighed as the last chunk of rock clattered to the ground. He dropped his pick axe and leaned against the wall, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. He was used to physical exertion, between his sword fighting and jousting training. Manual labor was an entirely different thing.
“There, that’s the last piece.”
“Excellent!” Drustan exclaimed. “Now, follow me.”
Emane squatted down and picked up the piece of stone with a groan before adding it to the basket. Dr
ustan picked it up as if it weighed nothing. Not only were his legs longer than when they first met, but he obviously could choose the strength of his body. Drustan turned to head back up the shaft, but stopped. Emane looked around his shoulder to see Kiora and Eleana standing there. They must have bubbled on the way down because Drustan looked surprised to see them, although Emane was at a loss as to why they would have done that.
“Hello Drustan,” Eleana said sweetly. “I see you have had Emane hard at work.”
“Yes, he has removed all of the necessary material from the mountain. We will now have him purify it and then it will be ready.”
“Ready for what?” Emane asked again. Perhaps with backup he could get some answers.
Drustan’s eyes flickered nervously to Eleana before answering. “Ready to give you your magic of course.”
Eleana looked back from Emane to Drustan with as much suspicion as he felt. “Emane, what has Drustan told you?”
“Not much. He says they are going to insert that into me,” Emane said pointing at the basket of green rock Drustan was holding. “But he won’t tell me how.”
Eleana turned slowly to Drustan, enunciating every syllable. “Insert it?”
“Yes, we think it’s the only way,” Drustan said, jutting his chin out while pulling himself to his full height.
“We?””The colony,” Drustan said, shifting the basket to the other hand. “We have discussed it, and the dangers of allowing him to carry it is too great.”
“The danger of allowing him to carry it?” Eleana spoke through clenched teeth, her blue eyes flaring in a way Emane had never seen. She was always so calm, so much so he had begun to question if she was capable of feeling anger at all.
“Of course. You know the stories of creatures that have carried this magic. It was often lost or stolen. If Dralazar knew—”
“Of course Dralazar will know,” Eleana snapped. “Everybody will know. The Prince who has been a non-magical being suddenly can do magic. His thread will change, Drustan, everyone will know.”
Drustan stammered, looking for an answer.
She took a step towards him her copper hair swishing around her. “You want to experiment upon our Protector, the only son of the King. You want to put this substance into his body. It has never been done before!”
“It has not, but we can think of no reason why it wouldn’t work. If we insert it at the base of his neck it should work nicely.”
“It could kill him Drustan! Even he does survive the ‘insertion,’ as you call it. How do we know that the substance itself would not be fatal?!”
“It is the best way!”
“The best way is to not use Prince Emane as a guinea pig!”
“How are we to know if we never try?” Drustan shouted.
“Drustan!”
“ENOUGH!” Emane bellowed over the two. “Am I allowed to have a say in the matter?”
Drustan’s eyes dropped to the floor.
“I choose not to have it inserted.” Emane said, inclining his head, “Now, what other options do we have?”
Drustan was grumbling about it not working as well, and something about signing the papers for his death as he stormed out of the mine and to the colony above.
***
The heads of the colony along with, Eleana, Emane and Kiora were sitting in the same conference room that they had been in when Drustan had announced his allegiance with them. Now the table was larger, more chairs. Emane had stopped asking. It was very loud as the leaders of the colony and Eleana shouted retorts at each other.
“We are not inserting any magic, mined or otherwise into Emane,” Eleana said for at least the fifth time.
“How can we protect him if you will not allow us to help him?” A Shapeshifter in the form of a guardian shouted.
“You want to help him by experimenting on him! How is it helpful if it is found, by his death, that his body is not compatible with the metal?”
“We must try!” another shouted.
“No, you must try on a willing participant, which he is not. He has expressed his wishes. Why are we wasting our time arguing a decision that Emane himself has already made?”
“He does not know what is best for him, Eleana! He has never been in a magical war before. He has no idea what is in store,” Drustan added.
That is enough! Emane thought, rolling his eyes. Shoving his chair back he stood. “You’re right!” he yelled. The crowd quieted and looked to the human standing before them. “You’re right,” he repeated in the stunned silence. “I don’t know what I am in for. Regardless of that, I would like to live to figure it out. Now, the way I see it we can all sit around arguing over a decision that I am not willing to change, or, we can discuss a way to get around the problem at hand.” Rocking on his heels, he turned around placing his hands behind his back and walking the length of the table. “As I understand it, your concern is that if we put the metal into something else, I will lose the object, or that the object will be forcefully taken from me. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Drustan said with obvious annoyance.
“What if the object could not be removed from my person?”
“How would we do that,” Drustan objected, “without putting it inside as we suggested in the first place?”
“My body is not a carrying case,” Emane snapped. “What I meant is, what if it was on the outside of my body but could not be removed?”
“How do you suggest that be accomplished?” Eleana prodded.
“I once had a bracelet,” Kiora said thoughtfully, “when I was a little girl. I loved it, but one day the clasp broke. It was so tight to my wrist that when I could not unlock the clasp I couldn’t get it off.”
Eleana stood, “That is brilliant Kiora.”
“He can’t wear a bracelet,” Dustan objected. “Dralazar will know immediately what it is.”
“True, Emane please take your shirt off.”
Emane went to question why, thought better of it and began to unbutton his shirt. He took it off, laying it down on his chair.
“We need it to be concealed and yet irremovable,” Eleana explained to the table. “This is what I have in mind.” Her hands moved slowly in front of her. A green mist began whispering its way across the table towards Emane. It glittered and shone just like the metal he had been mining. Under Eleana’s direction it began weaving itself over and around his bicep and up to his shoulder. It went under his arm and around the edge of his collarbone, leaving room for his shoulder to move and rotate normally. The green smoke developed a head and a tail. It was a glittering beautiful snake weaving and moving its way around him. The snake opened its mouth and swallowed its tail leaving an unbroken band. The group examined Eleana’s work. It was definitely not coming off.
“I would enchant it into this position, leaving only me able to break the enchantment.”
Drustan stood, walking around Emane, he examined the band suspiciously. “They will cut his arm off to get to it.”
Emane’s eyes narrowed, “Better my arm than my head.”
“He’s right Drustan,” Eleana added. “As I told you, his thread will be different. They will know something has been done. When they cannot find evidence of it on him, or with him, they will assume what you have done.”
“It is hopeless then?” Drustan demanded.
“I said nothing of hopelessness. Our job is to make sure Emane is both trained and protected so that the opportunity does not present itself.”
Emane looked around the group, “Are we in agreement?” The group all nodded in the affirmative. Most slowly, as if they had no other choice than to agree. “Great. Now, what is the next step?” he asked as the green mist faded from around his arm.
Looking very annoyed that they were going to be unable to try his little experiment, Drustan answered. “You must finish the process to remove the magic from the stone.”
“How do I do that?” Emane asked, picking his shirt back up and shrugging it over his shoul
ders.
“The stone must be melted down. Once it is liquefied, Eleana will separate it. Then it can be used for your intentions.”
“When do we start?”
“In the morning,” Drustan said. Giving Emane a disdainful look, he addressed the room, “This meeting is dismissed.” The Shapeshifters filed out.
As the last one left the room, Emane collapsed into a chair. He felt more lost than anything. Leaning against the chair arm he ran his fingers through his hair.
Eleana gave Kiora a soft smile. “Good night you two. I trust you can find your way back to your rooms?”
“Yes, thank you.” Kiora paused. “Eleana, why a snake?”
Eleana regarded them thoughtfully. “I thought it fitting that we fight a serpent with a serpent,” she said with a satisfied nod before gliding out of the room.
***
Leaning over to Emane, Kiora asked, “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine Kiora,” he said resting his elbow on the arm of the chair. “Just tired.”
A feeling pushed at Kiora’s heart, fear. It was cold hard fear, and it wasn’t hers. Then she felt a tinge of guilt that was hers. She was intruding on Emane’s feelings again and he didn’t even know she could.
“Emane, I need to tell you something.”
“What is it?” Emane rubbed his forehead.
Her stomach flipped. “Today, well, the last couple of days, but especially today,” she was rambling. “I had been getting funny feelings, nagging feelings. These feelings that wouldn’t go away.” Stumbling over her words, she wrung he hands together in front of her. “I couldn’t make sense of them at first. And then I did make sense of them, but wished I hadn’t and… then I talked to Eleana and she told me I was right, which scared me because I didn’t want to be right and I am scared that it will be horrible and...”
“Kiora,” Emane interrupted, rubbing his eyes. “Are you going to, at some point, tell me what you’re talking about?”
