Fairytales Slashed, Volume 2

by Megan Derr

  "Secret?" Asa repeated, wondering what personal circumstances Bralin was talking about. Maybe a death in the family? That made sense—though it could just be that Asa was biased towards that at this point. "The tutoring sessions, maybe? They really help him figure out how to make the standard spells work for him."

  "You mean, how to make him use the standard spells?" Bralin interpreted, looking a little confused. Asa sighed, shaking his head. Why did Bralin have to be one of the many wizards who thought everyone should follow the set spell paths?

  "He's a latent," Asa said, running a hand through his curls and probably only succeeding in making it stick up in any number of directions. "Making him use the standard methods just confuses him, takes more time and more energy to execute, not to mention that it feels wrong to him. He's learning how to do it in the way that best suits him."

  "But if he pursues a higher education track—" Bralin objected, and he did have a valid point there.

  "I don't think he will," Asa said, shrugging. "But if he does, he can decide then whether he wants to continue to learn how to do things his way or how to do things the standard way."

  Bralin laughed, flashing him a quick, bright smile as he leaned back in his chair. "Okay, you've convinced me?"

  Asa flushed, belatedly realizing just how intent he'd gotten. Sinking down in his chair, he glanced around hastily—but thankfully this corner of the library was deserted, as usual.

  "Sorry," Asa muttered, wishing he knew how to keep his mouth shut. Or that he could have a good conversation with Bralin instead of one where he consistently screwed up and looked like an idiot.

  "No, it's good that you have strong feelings about what you're teaching. Teachers should have passion, it makes it easier to learn from them," Bralin said, and if his light, cheerful tone was anything to go by, he held no malice towards Asa for lecturing him.

  "I guess," Asa said, sliding down in his chair a few centimeters.

  "So I won't pester you about how you're teaching Cos. You seem to have that well in hand," Bralin said, a teasing smile playing at the corners of his lips. "How did you decide to teach? It's—most people I know hate it, but it's obvious that you enjoy it."

  "I had enough schooling—a lower magic degree—that I got conscripted to help teach all the wizards pulled in by the King's education edict," Asa said, biting his tongue to keep from lamenting that he would never be a proper professor. "You?"

  "Pretty much the same thing, only a level higher," Bralin said, making a funny face. "I got to do some of the training for the wizards dragged into the city for schooling who then decided to stay and try their hand at curse breaking."

  "Do you like it?" Asa asked curiously. Bralin would probably make a good teacher—provided he was more flexible with his students than his opinions on teaching latents were.

  "Hate every minute of it," Bralin admitted cheerfully. "I can see where it has appeal, but I much prefer field work to answering stupid questions. Though I do end up answering a lot of those when I'm breaking curses, too."

  Asa laughed a little, smiling little shyly. "You can't dislike it that much—"

  "You'd be surprised. I'm pretty good at explaining things, but I hate being indoors." Bralin paused thoughtfully. "Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if I was teaching hands-on courses in the field? But they leave that to some of the higher level curse breakers."

  "Do you teach much anymore, though?" Asa asked curiously. "The number of new mages coming into the city is smaller each year."

  "No, I don't actually teach much anymore," Bralin said, grinning brightly. "But I still like to complain about it. You must not teach much anymore, either."

  "I don't," Asa confirmed, unable to keep the wistful note from his voice. He wanted to teach more—but one class was probably what he was going to be limited to for the rest of his short career.

  Bralin looked like he was going to say something, but in the end he just smiled a little sheepishly and said, "I'm sure you'll find some way to keep teaching."

  "Maybe," Asa said, shrugging and fidgeting with the book in front of him. He doubted he would, really. Most teaching was done through the university, and they had more than enough professors to manage their students.

  Thankfully, Bralin didn't push the subject, settling back in his chair and stretching his legs out beneath the table.

  "So what did you do before the King's education edict?" Bralin asked, apparently settling in. Asa flushed; he should've seen that question coming.

  "I, uh, did odd jobs," Asa admitted uncomfortably. Only the lowest wizards worked for commission shops. The better wizards were hired directly and sometimes had rich sponsors for whom they worked exclusively.

  "I did that, before I joined the curse breakers," Bralin said easily, and Asa relaxed a little. If Bralin had done it, he couldn't really look down on Asa for doing it, right? "Why don't you do something like curse breaking? You seem like you'd be smart enough to manage it."

  "Curse breakers can get assigned out of the city," Asa said, shrugging. "I can't—my sister lives here."

  "Ah," Bralin said, looking rather amused about something in what Asa had said. Asa flushed, glancing down at the stacks of books he had piled in front of him.

  How did Asa explain that he couldn't leave Sariah and Eli? That Sariah had been abandoned by her then-lover when she'd discovered her pregnancy, and there was no one else to help with Eli? That Sariah was sick with a rare but curable disease but that they couldn't afford the treatment that would save her life?

  "That's pretty much why Cos didn't come for his schooling earlier," Bralin said, then paused, waving his hand dismissively. "Well, Roark's sister-in law, anyway. She lost her husband and Roark couldn't leave her with a baby to raise and a farm to manage. And Cos wouldn't leave Roark, so."

  "But didn't Roark get pulled out of the city anyway?" Asa asked before he could think about it. But he was curious—Cos rarely spoke about Roark and he never spoke about where he'd come from except for the odd reference to 'the farm'.

  "Yeah, Roark wasn't at all happy about that," Bralin said cheerfully. "I think it's a good thing, though. Cos needs a bit of independence, even if he's much better than he was when I first met him."

  Asa nodded, but didn't press for more information—Cos could tell him what had happened to him if he wanted to; Asa wasn't going to invade his privacy anymore than he had already. It was obvious there was something looming in Cos's past, something that Bralin was skirting around neatly and that Cos never spoke about.

  Asa sighed; he was entirely hopeless. Aside from work and Cos, he couldn't think of a single thing to talk to Bralin about, yet he wanted badly to keep talking to him. But to what avail, really? It wasn't like he had time for a real relationship right now. Not with Sariah sick and out of work. If Bralin would even have him—doubtful, since this was only their second real conversation. He was probably only talking to him now to ascertain that Asa wasn't doing anything untoward with Cos's schooling.

  "Um," Asa said, then stopped, unsure what he wanted to say.

  "I should get going," Bralin said after a moment's hesitation. He stood up with a lanky sort of grace, giving Asa a wry smile. "Thank you for indulging my need to chatter."

  "Oh, um, no problem," Asa said, sitting up straight quickly. "I mean, it was nice talking to you?"

  "It was," Bralin said, cheerfully enough, so maybe Asa hadn't run him off. "I'll see you around."

  Asa nodded, not really trusting he wouldn't say something completely stupid if he opened his mouth. Bralin waited a beat longer, then shrugged almost indiscernibly. Giving Asa a last smile, he wandered away towards the front of the library. Asa watched him go, biting his lip and wondering how things between them might be if he weren't so abysmally horrible at talking to Bralin.

  *

  *

  *

  Part Three

  Asa stumbled into the table clumsily, managing a strained smile for Cos as he dropped his stack of books and papers and sat down
heavily across from him.

  "Sorry I'm late," Asa said, running his hands through his hair before quickly trying to sort out his notes on spells that might help Sariah from his class notes and the notes he'd been keeping on how Cos manipulated spells.

  "It's okay," Cos said quietly.

  Asa managed another smile for him despite how tired he felt, glancing up to see Cos watching him worriedly.

  "Are you all right?" Cos asked hesitantly, biting his lip like he wasn't sure he was allowed to ask such a thing.

  "I'm just a little tired," Asa said, but the words sounded hollow—how long could he continue to use that excuse before someone called him on it?

  "You look worse than that," Cos said, flushing but doggedly continuing. "And you—you're always reading health magic books."

  "I—it's not—" Asa began, tripping over his words in his haste to form a denial.

  "You've been looking worse and worse," Cos said quietly, frowning in concern. "Are you—what—" Cos stopped, took a deep breath and sat up straighter. "You're not okay."

  "I'm just tired, really," Asa said, completely truthfully. At Cos's disbelieving look, Asa sighed, running his hands through his hair again, before finally giving in. "My sister isn't."

  "Oh," Cos said, his eyes widening. "What's—is she sick?"

  "Yes," Asa said, swallowing hard past the lump in his throat. "She's got Wikinski's disease."

  Cos gave him a blank look, apparently unfamiliar with the disease. Unsurprising, considering that Asa had never heard of it before they'd gotten the diagnosis.

  "It's a degenerative disease. There's a treatment…" Asa trailed off, then shook his head. "She's—I can't just let her die because we're not rich enough to afford the cure."

  "That's terrible," Cos said quietly, frowning at the table top for a moment before looking up again. "Have you found anything to help?"

  "Not—not really," Asa said, his traitorous mind skipping back to the one spell that would most certainly fix everything that was wrong with Sariah. But the risk was too high—especially since it wouldn't be himself he'd be putting at risk, but someone else. "I've only found a few spells that ease the pain for her."

  And those he couldn't cast often, Asa thought bitterly. Not when he needed energy to earn enough money to keep Sariah, Eli, and himself fed and housed.

  "I could help you look?" Cos offered shyly. "I don't—I only have class and these sessions. I can research."

  "I don't…" Asa began blinking a few times against the sting in his eyes. He really was sleep-deprived, if a simple offer of help was enough to send him to tears. "I don't think there's anything to be found. I've gone through almost the entire section of health spells and everything that might work is too dangerous, or I can't—I can't cast them."

  "Can I—" Cos hesitated, nervously tucking a lock of his bright blond hair behind his ear. "Could I cast them, since I have more energy than you?"

  "I can't ask you to do that," Asa said firmly. He paused, taking a deep breath to steady himself—even if that never worked—before continuing, "Thank you, though."

  "Asa," Cos said, frowning and still managing to look incredibly concerned. "You can—I want to help. You helped me."

  "It's not the same," Asa said immediately. "The spells that might work—they can kill the caster just as easily as they cure the patient. There's a reason that magical healing is expensive and why so few mages go into that field. I can't ask you to take that risk. Can we—can we just work on the lesson, please? You've only got a week of classes left."

  "I—I already got it," Cos admitted, shrinking down in his seat. He looked miserable, worse than Asa felt right now, but that was probably only because Asa was too damn tired to feel properly miserable. "It's easier now."

  "Oh," Asa said, thrown for a loop. He hadn't expected that—but Cos had been faster lately at picking up how to modify the spells and techniques Asa taught in class. "Um."

  "What spell is too dangerous?" Cos asked suddenly, then looked chagrined. "I mean, if you don't mind showing me. I don't—"

  Asa sighed; he never should've said anything. He should've come up with another excuse.

  But maybe—if Cos insisted on helping—Asa could…couldn't in good conscience accept his help. Not when he had such influence over Cos as a teacher. Not even if Sariah was bedridden, too weak to stand, and her hands shook too much to hold even a book.

  "All of them," Asa said shortly, then sighed again. Maybe if he showed Cos, it would kill his curiosity and his drive to help, since nothing Asa had said was turning Cos away. Shuffling through his stack of papers and books, Asa pulled out a thin, worn volume. The cover was dark blue with faded silver letters and a silver leaf pattern decorating the front. The title was too time-ravaged to read, but it had been in the health section and Asa had been desperate enough to pick up anything.

  He opened the book to the second bookmark he'd placed, then turned the book around and slid it across the table to Cos.

  "That one," he said flatly, tapping the spell titled Sleeping Beauty.

  Cos tugged the book closer, giving him a hesitant look before bending his head to read. The spell itself was simple enough. It required two mages; one to cast the spell and the other to serve as a power source. The power source served only to restore a person—or plant, though there was absolutely no reason that Asa could see to try something so dangerous for a plant—to perfect health using a modified version of a power-sharing trance.

  There were few documented uses of the spell, the most prominent being when the royal family had used it generations ago. They'd used all the mages in the land as the power source, in order to purge a toxic lake that had slowly been poisoning the land. One in three of the mages who'd served as a power source had died, for seemingly no reason, after the lake had been cleaned and the spell broken.

  From what the book said, the trend continued whenever the spell was cast. It could work for a mage once or twice, but eventually it killed—and sometimes on the first or second try.

  "It would kill you," Asa said finally, when Cos didn't say anything.

  "But why?" Cos asked, frowning in confusion as he ran his fingers over the skull and crossbones image inked into the page below the spell's title. "It shouldn't."

  "No one knows why," Asa said quietly, taking the book back from Cos. "I'm not—it's too dangerous. I'll find some other way."

  Cos looked ready to protest again, but finally he just nodded, still looking upset and worried and completely miserable. For no reason, really, and it didn't make any sense that he was so affected by this. Cos had barely known him for a month, and while they got along well—Cos really, truly was interested in using his magic despite his initial hesitations—there was no reason for him to be so affected by Asa's sister's illness.

  Especially to the point where he was willing to risk his life to save her.

  "You can help me go through a few more books, if you like," Asa said reluctantly, not wanting to make Cos any more miserable than he already was. Cos brightened a little, and Asa managed a weak smile. He stood, carefully shutting the spell book with the Sleeping Beauty spell in it. "Wait here. I'll go get some more books."

  "Okay," Cos said, fidgeting with the papers in front of him. Asa turned away, half-wishing he hadn't said a word. Still, it was a relief that he wasn't the only one who knew and cared that Sariah was dying, despite how odd it was that Cos cared so much after knowing Asa for so little time.

  Perhaps it had something to do with whatever trauma lingered in Cos's past? Asa hadn't asked—wouldn't ask, it was none of his business—but it made more sense that Cos would be concerned if he'd had something similar happen to him. That was probably it. Bralin had said that Cos hadn't immediately attended class because of Roark's sister's husband's passing—maybe whatever had caused his death had hit close to him for Cos as well?

  Asa dismissed it as he reached the shelves in the library where the health magic books were kept. It wasn't a huge section, since health magic
was a relatively small field. Asa quickly found where he'd left off, selecting three more books to go through. At least this part would go more quickly, and if they did find a spell that Cos could cast that didn't have any potential side effects… well, Asa wouldn't say no if Cos offered his help again.

  *~*~*

  "Eli, you have to," Asa said, trying to tamp down his exasperation but no doubt failing horribly if the stubborn expression on Eli's face was anything to go by.

  "Don't wanna," Eli said succinctly, pouting as she fisted her hands in the skirt of her sundress. "I wanna stay here."

  "You can't," Asa said, kneeling down and trying to ignore how late he was going to be to class. It was the last day of the course, but he only had to test that the three mages who could be power sources were able to block properly. "Mama needs to rest and I can't stay."

  "I'll be good," Eli said stubbornly, tears forming in her eyes. "Missus Larson is mean. Please please please please? I'll be good and quiet and I won't bug mama—"

  "Eli," Asa said, sighing. He wished there was some way to make this easier for Eli; she'd been taking it well, but it was hard and Asa wasn't as good at reading Eli's moods as Sariah was. Eli burst into full-out tears and Asa winced, standing up as she turned and ran off—straight towards the room she shared with Sariah, where Sariah was sleeping.

  "Eli!" Asa snapped, his tone much harsher. Sariah really needed her rest, even if she would never begrudge being woken by her daughter.

  Eli immediately stopped in the doorway, tears still running down her cheeks. She stuck her tongue out at Asa before thundering into the bedroom. Asa followed quickly, dropping his school bag outside the door.

  Hopefully Sariah could set Eli straight and he could head out soon. Pushing open the half-shut door, Asa's breath caught in his throat. Sariah was thrashing erratically, the covers tangled around her as her body shook with spasms. Eli was at the bedside, wide-eyed and frightened, her forgotten tears still wet on her cheeks.

  Asa dashed across the room, trying to ignore the way Sariah was gasping as erratically as she shook, as though she couldn't get enough air to breathe. Dropping to his knees next to the bed, Asa grabbed Sariah's arm and poured as much energy as he could into a healing spell. The spell took with a sickening rush as all of Asa's power reserves left as quickly as he could make them go.