“At one point I remember his fingers brushing my back and at that moment I wanted more than anything to be able to fly away. The next thing I knew, I was on the roof of my house, with no idea how I had gotten there. Did I create a portal? Did I fly? I still don’t know. I have never been able to replicate it with any magical spell. It drives me mad just thinking about it sometimes, but there you have it. My neighbor told the local authorities what I had done and a week later MageSchool representatives were on my doorstep.”
“Awakening . . .” Justan sat back in amazement. Another lingering mystery was solved in his mind. “That may explain how I was able to pull energy from the crowd during the tests at the BattleAcademy. But . . . how could I have done what I did even with bonding magic? And Valtrek saw it. He said he could see me pulling energy from the crowd. He can’t see spiritual magic so I had to have been using a mix of elemental magic and spiritual magic at the same time. Is that even possible?”
“Yes, of course it is. I have never seen it done the way you describe, but we mix the two magics together all the time. You did it yourself with Fist, using spiritual magic as a tunnel to bring your elemental magic through the bond. In fact, that is how I am going to teach you to use your magic to heal your bonded,” Master Coal said with a twinkle in his eye. He stood from his chair. “And that brings us to what your lesson will be on today. Come, take a walk with me, Edge.”
It took Justan a moment to catch up to what Master Coal had said. He stood and followed the wizard half way to the door before the grin hit his face. He stopped in his tracks.
“Really? You can teach me to heal them?”
“Yes. Don’t dawdle now. We are a bit late as it is. Qyxal is probably already waiting for us.” The master headed out the door.
Justan caught up to him on the garden path. “Where are we going?”
“The infirmary. With your offensive limitations, you cannot do the ideal thing, which is practice on outsiders first. You are simply going to have to watch as Qyxal and I heal. Pay close attention to the ways in which we use magic to effect different changes upon the body.
“Of course, sir,” Justan said, eager to learn. Lately he had been feeling like the benefits of the bond were weighted too heavily in his favor. Now there was a way that he could be truly useful to his bonded.
The infirmary was on the far side of the lodge against the wall of the keep. It was a many-windowed long wooden structure that had been painted a bright white. With as many laborers as Master Coal employed, there were bound to be injuries from time to time. He took care of any ill or wounded people from the farms in the area, so the place always had a few patients in it.
Qyxal was waiting outside the building when they arrived.
“Why is it that every infirmary I see is painted white?” Justan asked the elf as they approached the building.
Master Coal laughed. “It looks cleaner that way, Edge. Patients feel better in a clean environment.”
Qyxal added, “Besides, it’s easier for us to know when it’s clean. Any dirt or blood stands out.”
They entered the infirmary and Master Coal started by explaining how each magic element interacted with different parts of the body’s chemistry. Justan had learned all of this in his classes at the MageSchool, but hearing it again with the new perspective he had with the bond was quite interesting.
There were three men that had been injured in the fields that day waiting for treatment and another man that had been ill for some time. Coal had Justan watch with his mage sight as he and Qyxal healed the men, paying close attention to the intricate movements of the elements.
The three wounded men were ready to leave in short order and would be back at work the next morning. The sick man was a different story. He was a laborer from a farm on the edge of the community who had eaten some contaminated food and contracted parasites. Master Coal used a form of the magnifying technique that Master Latva had shown Justan his first day at the MageSchool and created a floating image above the man to show Justan the little creatures in the man’s digestive system. They were like tiny worms latched on to the insides of his intestines by their teeth. Master Coal was waiting for an herbal medicine to come in for the man that would help flush them out of his system.
“Why can’t you just go in with your mage sight and use small amounts of fire to kill each one individually?” Justan asked.
“They are too small, Edge,” Qyxal explained. “Tiny injuries can be repaired if you stimulate the tissues in the general area, but to kill individual parasites, you would have to be able to see them much more clearly than is possible by using regular healing magic. If you tried to do it anyway, there is a large risk that you could miss or overdo it and burn the inside of the patient.”
“But when I am looking into Fist or Gwyrtha through the bond, I can see even the tiniest things very clearly,” Justan said.
“That is an advantage of the bond,” Master Coal explained. “If Samson or Bettie had these parasites, there are any number of techniques I could use to get rid of them. But while examining a patient from the outside you can not get as clear a picture. Now there are several healers at the MageSchool much more talented than Qyxal and I that could do it, but in this case, we have to use more traditional methods.”
Justan thought back to the floating vision that Master Coal had given him when showing the parasites. “I could see them quite clearly with the technique you just used.”
“It takes a lot of concentration to bring up that image,” Master Coal said. “It would not be possible for me to do that and use healing techniques at the same time.”
“So what if you brought the vision up for Qyxal and had him use it to pinpoint the parasites precisely with his magic?” Justan asked. Qyxal and Master Coal looked at each other and the wizard shook his head in astonishment. Justan saw the look and figured they must be getting frustrated at his questions. “Sorry, I am just trying to learn and I tend to think out loud at times like these.”
“No, Edge, it isn’t that,” Master Coal said with a chuckle. “You are asking a very apt question. Honestly, I don’t know why we hadn’t thought of trying that.”
“It could work,” Qyxal added, giving Justan an approving nod. “But it would take some time.”
“I suppose that I have been so used to healing people on my own, that I am out of practice when it comes to teamwork,” Coal said with a smile. “By all means, let’s give it a try.”
The patient, having listened to the whole conversation, was now quite nervous about being experimented on. Master Coal assured him that all would be fine and Qyxal put the man to sleep with a quick spell. The two healers worked out a plan for coordinating their magic and were bent over the patient about to start, when Justan had another idea.
“What if you . . . oh, never mind. Sorry to interrupt.”
Master Coal stopped and looked back up at him. “No, don’t worry about it. Go on.”
“Would it maybe be faster if instead of using the magnifying technique, you just had Qyxal go through with fire, killing all the parasites he could and you just followed behind him, healing whatever damage he caused to the patient as it happened?”
“In theory, perhaps,” Qyxal said. “The only difficulty is that burn damage doesn’t heal as easily as cuts or tears. We can stimulate the body to replace the dead tissue, but the newly healed tissue would be very sensitive. He would be in pain for days.”
“Oh,” Justan said, filing that knowledge away.
“Good thinking though, Edge,” Master Coal said. “If there was an emergency and you needed to work fast, that might be your best alternative. You have the ability to think around your problems. That trait will serve you well with your bonded.”
They bent back to their task. It was slow and painstaking work, but the procedure went quite well. Justan tried his best to focus, but after an hour, his mind began to wander. Master Coal noticed his distraction.
“Qyxal, let’s pause a moment,” the wizard said. “Edge, we ma
y be at this for another hour or so and I doubt that you will learn much more by continuing to watch us. Why don’t you spend the rest of your class time studying the physiology of your bonded with your mage sight?”
“But they’re not hurt.”
“In order for you to heal them when they are injured, it is best to know what their bodies are supposed to be like when healthy,” the master said. “While you are at it, practice bringing your elemental magic through the bond with you. But, don’t try any healing yet. It is very possible to hurt your bonded if you don’t know what you’re doing. You will require a lot of practice before you are ready.
“For now, you can try some defensive magic from within them, preparational spells, nothing too fancy. That will at least give you some experience using your magic through the bond. Tomorrow I want you to bring Gwyrtha to my study with you and we will try a few things together. With her permission, of course.”
“Yes sir. Thank you. Good luck with the rest of the procedure.” Justan walked towards the door of the infirmary, but stopped before opening the door. He ran his hand over the rune on his chest and turned back. “Master Coal. What should I do about . . . this?”
Coal knew what he was referring to. “Now that you know you are bonded to it, whatever is residing in that scar is part of your responsibility as the bonding wizard. Maybe it is time you tried in earnest to communicate with it. There is a path to it somewhere within the bond. You’ll find it eventually. You just need to work at it.”
“I will. Thank you again sir, for all your help,” Justan said and walked out the door.
He went to his room in the lodge and laid down on his bed before reaching out to his bonded. Fist was helping the widow Nala fold laundry. She was repairing some pants for Master Coal’s laborers and telling him stories about her youth. Justan decided not to bother the ogre and went to Gwyrtha.
She was helping Samson pull bales of hay from one of the farms up to the stables. She didn’t mind at all if he examined her. He sent his mage sight through the bond into her body and was once again amazed by the way her every cell was imbued with traces of elements so unstable that she should by all rights simply fall apart.
He had asked Master Coal about it and had once again been told that what he wanted to know would be part of another lesson on another day. He struggled for a while trying to figure out how to bring his elemental magic through the bond with him. He was just able to do so successfully when he became distracted by the smell of food. He withdrew into his body and sat up, realizing that people were already eating dinner in the lodge below him.
He had almost forgotten about his meeting with Lenny. Justan gathered his sword drawings and headed to the forge.
Chapter Twenty Two
Justan could hear the two of them from quite a distance away.
“It won’t work, I tell you!” the half-orc was yelling.
“Dag-blast it, Bettie! I was doin’ this fer decades before you was even born. It’ll work I say!”
Justan stopped in the doorway to the forge and waited a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dimmer light. The tall and fearsome Bettie was glaring at Lenny and shaking a fist at him with such force that it caused the muscles in her sculpted arms to flex quite impressively. Her slightly green-tinted skin gleamed in the forgelight.
“Not like that it won’t, you goblin brain you!” she shouted. “You’ll blow the damn horse up!”
“It’ll work!” Lenny stood a few feet away with his feet planted and arms crossed in firm defiance. A very uncomfortable looking Benjo stood between them holding a beautifully constructed saddle.
Justan cleared his throat and both combatants turned their glares on him. Ignoring their glares, he walked up to Benjo and examined the saddle, his presence diffusing the argument for the moment. It wasn’t hard to pretend to ignore the tension in the air. The saddle was exquisitely crafted.
“This leatherwork is fantastic,” Justan said.
“I made it, Sir Edge,” Benjo said with pride.
“Really?” Justan said. “I am truly impressed.”
Justan was impressed by a lot of what Benjo had done lately. Master Coal had told him that Benjo had confessed what really happened during his time at the Training School. Since then, Benjo acted like a completely different person. No longer carrying the burden of his guilt, the man was quick with a smile and a laugh. He had started sparring with Justan in the evenings and he was really good. It was a shame that he had been kept out of the academy because of Kenn.
“The man’s a natural with the leather, son,” Lenny added. “And he’s a durn quick worker too. All the dag-gum farmers in the area are runnin’ around with harnesses and tool belts that’d fetch a fine price at any decent shop in Dremald.”
“Thank you, sir,” Benjo said, smiling at the praise.
“Ehh! He’s okay,” Bettie said. “Maybe in a few years he could even catch up and be almost as good as me. He’s already more creative with the trim.”
“Oh I could never, Bettie.” Benjo was blushing now. “You are a master.”
“So if this is Benjo’s work, what were the two of you arguing about then?” Justan asked.
“Dwarf’s in to killing horses,” Bettie replied.
“Yeah, and the half-orc’s as ignorant as a full-orc!” Lenny snapped, then said to Justan, “I want to improve on her magic saddles by workin’ some rune metal in, but she don’t think it’ll work.”
“It won’t!” she barked.
“She makes magic saddles?
Lenny sighed. “Yeah, she’s stubborner than a mule, but son, the lady makes saddles that can sing.”
“Darn right,” she agreed.
“But how?”
“Yer Master Coal magics-up the leather fer her and she can use runes to shape the magic, kind of like I do with steel. Now, the magic ain’t as strong as with metal, but she can make a saddle that’ll make yer horse run faster or last longer, or even make yer arse warm in the winter time.”
“I can make one that’ll do all three,” she said.
“Can you make a leather coat or vest to do the same for a person?” Justan asked, thinking of the possibilities.
“Can and have,” she said and pointed to her leather apron. Justan switched to mage sight and saw that the apron glowed with a faint green hue. “This piece here helps protect me from the forges heat.”
“Not that she needs it,” Benjo said. “It’d take more than a forge to melt Bettie.”
“Darn right!” she agreed.
“Woman won’t tell me who taught her to use the runes this way, but I aim to figure it out,” Lenny murmured. The dwarf looked lost in thought “It’s got to be a dwarven technique from some other family . . .”
Bettie laughed in response to the dwarf’s confusion, and started back to work. She pulled two hot metal bars out of the forge and brought them over to an anvil, then started working the glowing metal with a familiar hammer.
“Lenny, you let her use Buster?” Justan asked in surprise. He couldn’t imagine the dwarf allowing another smith to touch his family heirloom. He must really like the woman.
“Huh?” The dwarf looked back at Bettie and shrugged. “It’s part of our deal.”
“If you don’t hold up your end, I’m keeping him!” she promised.
“No you ain’t!” He sighed. “I promised her I’d make her another one like him. Well, maybe not exactly the same, my grandpappy was the best, but somethin’ close.”
Justan looked at him, both eyebrows raised. “You can do that?”
“Yeah. I can with the new-.” The dwarf paused and excitement ripped the contemplative look from his face. “Hell, son! That’s what I called you in here for anyways! C’mere!”
Lenny ran over to the corner of the forge and opened the door to Bettie’s storage area. He dragged two enormous bulging sacks from inside. Justan recognized them as the sacks that Lenny and Qyxal had pilfered from the giant’s cave. The dwarf stood there grinning. “Well, so
n? You ready to see what’s inside?”
“Uh, sure!” He had almost forgotten about the dwarf’s loot. He didn’t have the time to wonder about it during the escape from Charz’s territory and his mind had been occupied with other things since waking up at Master Coal’s.
The dwarf opened the sacks and Justan leaned over to look inside. They were full of shards and chunks of metal and it took him a moment to realize that they were actually pieces of broken weapons. He cocked his head and furrowed his brow in puzzlement.
“Lenny . . . I think these might be the wrong sacks.”
“Naw. Look at ‘em with yer wizard’s eyes,” Lenny said. Justan switched to his mage sight again and his jaw dropped. The dwarf saw his expression and chuckled. “That there cave was loaded with decent loot. But these are dag-gum priceless!”
Hunt of the Bandham (The Bowl of Souls: Book Three) Page 23
