“Pfft. It’s hardly going to be a single volume. In that case, it’d be codices, wouldn’t it?” Marin replied, following after the other woman, who replied with a simple laugh.
“Maybe so, but I think codex sounds better. Either way, go get some sleep, Teacher. I’ll clean up and get everything ready for the night,” Emonael told her, laughing.
“Thank you, Emonael. I appreciate it,” Marin replied simply, pulling her shawl close and heading for her room, shaking her head as she went. She just didn’t understand why the succubus was doing what she was.
Still, she did appreciate the woman’s help, as the faster casting helped speed up her research immensely, and Emonael seemed to be honestly fascinated by the possibilities it opened. Shaking off her distraction, Marin laughed softly and focused on getting to bed. She needed her rest.
Emonael listened to the door of her teacher’s room close, then shook her head as she asked softly, “What in the world am I doing, cleaning up after her?”
Many demons looked down on succubi because they were considered soft and weak, and ended up doing menial tasks like she was currently doing. Admittedly, only two small pots had been used and a pair of mugs, so it wasn’t too bad, but Emonael had almost surprised herself by volunteering to take care of the dishes. As she washed them, she frowned, considering the issue for a few moments, trying to puzzle out her own feelings.
At first, Emonael had been tempted to try to quietly snuff out Marin’s life and steal her research for herself, but she’d refrained primarily because she wasn’t certain that she knew enough to get things right. As the weeks passed, and Marin continued patiently guiding Emonael through the details of her discoveries, Emonael had found her attitude changing. It wasn’t that she was servile or anything, or that she’d submitted to the woman, it was something else. Something she was having a hard time putting into words.
“I . . . actually regard her as my teacher, don’t I?” Emonael murmured, pausing and looking at her hand, damp from rinsing a mug a moment before.
After a moment, she flicked her fingers through the air elegantly, murmuring the words of a spell, and an instant later all the pots and pans floated into the air, as well as the mugs and brushes. She watched them, concentrating as she sent them spinning through the movements of washing and drying each thoroughly before putting them away, all without actually touching them.
A month before, she couldn’t have done that. A week before, they’d just been experimenting with telekinesis spells, and it’d taken a little time for her to adapt one of the spells she knew innately into the spell she’d just cast. That she could adapt her own magic to new ends startled Emonael, and she couldn’t help but smile and shake her head.
“I’m probably much more powerful than Marin is at this point, but . . . but she’s the one who gave this to me. What’s a few menial jobs in exchange for all the magic in the world?” Emonael asked herself, then she extinguished the lamp in the room with a gesture so she could head back to her room.
Chapter 6
“Hey, Damiya? Is there any chance I could get your help with something?” Christoff asked, and Emonael looked up from her book as Damiya stopped mid-spell, letting the sand in her practice tray slowly collapse from the tower-shape it’d taken on.
“What’s wrong, Christoff? You normally don’t ask me for help,” Damiya asked, blinking at him as she ran a hand across the thin, fine sand, smoothing it out again. Emonael had to admit that it was a clever way to get Damiya to learn finer control over her earth-movement spells.
“We’ve been learning about animals lately, and one of the things that Reesa has been doing is having us learn spells to talk to different types of animals. Thing is, one of the birds I chatted with was saying that a bunch of wolves were in the area, which is pretty unusual,” Christoff explained, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Problem is, birds aren’t terribly smart, so I couldn’t get much detail from it. Reesa asked me to look into it, because they usually don’t come out this way without a reason. I just haven’t been focusing on combat spells, and I’d like someone who, you know . . . can deal with a problem before it can eat me.”
“Ah, and since I’ve been also getting the occasional tutoring session from Valis, you wanted my protection?” Damiya asked, grinning as she teased. “You want the protection of a little girl?”
“When I could have a wolf trying to hamstring me, and the ‘little girl’ is capable of throwing a ball of fire the size of my head? Yes!” Christoff told her bluntly, shaking his head. “I know my limits, and appreciate them. You’re better in some ways, alright?”
“Fair enough. I’d be happy to help out. How far will we be going?” Damiya asked, setting the tray aside and sliding a wooden cover over the top.
“Only a couple of miles, I think. The bird wasn’t nearly as specific as I’d like,” he replied, shrugging helplessly. “It’s part of the reason I’d like company.”
“If it’s company you want, do you mind if I come along?” Emonael asked, closing her book. “I’m a little bored, and it sounds like this could be interesting. Though if you’re wanting some privacy together, I’d understand.”
“Oh, no!” Christoff’s face colored as he glanced at Damiya, who was blushing herself. “It isn’t that she’s not attractive, I just . . .”
“We’re not interested in that way,” Damiya spoke up, shaking her head. “I don’t mind if you come along with, though.”
“Neither do I!” Christoff added hastily, then paused before asking. “Do you think it’s safe for you, though? I mean, I don’t claim to be the best in the woods yet, but I’ve got a few basic defenses. I haven’t heard you talk about any spells like that.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve learned a number of spells that I can use; I just can’t talk about them,” Emonael replied, smiling in amusement. “I talked to Marin last night about it. She told me that while she wants the research kept to the two of us until she thinks we have a result, I’m allowed to cast spells in public. So, I suppose I don’t have to pretend that I haven’t learned anything over the past few months.”
“You have made progress, then? How did you manage that?” Damiya asked, her eyes brightening. “Are you learning to be a healer?”
“I’m not going to answer that, Damiya. However . . .” Emonael paused, considering what she could say, then continued. “What I can say is that Marin spent five centuries traveling the world, begging different magi for permission to record their spells for her research. Her library is probably the most comprehensive source of different types of magic in the country.”
“Oh! That means you could potentially just go through each of the styles and try to figure out which ones work for you!” Christoff exclaimed, his eyes brightening. “Sure, it’d be a lot harder than learning from someone in person, but that’s still an amazing possibility! I wonder why she doesn’t let other people look at the library?”
“Probably because she wrote every page by hand and bound them into the volumes herself.” Emonael replied dryly, shaking her head. “Until I met her, I had no idea just how much work went into making a book. She’s grown quite proficient at it, too. Even if you disagree with her, you have to admit that she’s done a lot for the Association, too.”
“Fair enough. Shall we go, then?” Christoff asked. “It’s a bit warm out, so I wouldn’t dress too warmly.”
“I think I’ll change into trousers if we’re going to go traipsing off into the woods,” Damiya decided, and Emonael nodded in agreement.
“Right, I’ll be downstairs, then,” Christoff said hastily, closing the door to their room and heading down the hallway.
“It isn’t as if he hasn’t seen more than that before. At least of me,” Emonael murmured in amusement, prompting a laugh from Damiya.
“So, what exactly are we looking for out here?” Damiya asked, looking around the forest uncertainly. “I suppose that it’s what you’re looking for, but if we’re here . . .”
“From what Reesa explained to me, there’s two main reasons that wolves would be moving into this area,” Christoff explained, crouching down to look at the dirt near a tree for a moment, then shaking his head and standing again. “Either there’s something driving them out of their usual territory, or there’s something in the area that’s enticing them. I’m supposed to look to see if there’s something of the second type. The problem is that I don’t know what could be drawing them into this area.”
“Huh. She isn’t giving you much to work off of, is she?” Damiya murmured, stepping around a tree.
At Christoff’s laughter, Emonael paused, listening closely, her eyes narrowing as she noticed how quiet it was out here. There were few sounds of birds, and the wind through the trees was a bit louder than normal. The forest here was slightly unfamiliar territory to her, as much of the lower planes of existence were far more desolate of landscapes, but the forest was hardly old growth, with numerous trails used by foresters and wildlife going deeper into the woods. Still, she could tell when something was out of place, and she looked around cautiously, not seeing anything immediately dangerous.
“Something feels a little off; keep an eye out for trouble.” Emonael spoke softly, still scanning the forest in a bit of worry. She wasn’t too concerned about herself, but she had company, which would make things a bit more difficult.
“What’s wrong?” Christoff asked, and she could almost hear him tensing at her warning.
“I’m not sure, but there isn’t nearly enough wildlife out there, I don’t think. There might be a predator in the area . . . your wolves, or something else,” she explained, taking a cautious step back.
“Like a mountain lion or something?” Damiya asked nervously. “I know they’re in the area . . .”
“Most likely. Most of the monsters in the region were hunted down before it was settled, so I doubt there are any manticores or the like left,” Christoff added, the slightest note of doubt in his voice. “Still, best to be careful. Reesa always says not to underestimate how nasty the natural world can be when pissed off.”
“Considering what I’ve heard about tornadoes and other natural disasters, she has a point,” Emonael replied, then relaxed slowly. “Still, I’m not seeing anything just yet. I suppose we just need to be on our guard.”
“Agreed. Let’s just make something of a quarter-circle around this side of the grounds, then head back in,” Christoff agreed, definitely looking a little more cautious than he had been.
Nothing happened immediately, and slowly Emonael began to relax, wondering if her instincts were acting up after coming to the mortal plane. She hadn’t been in real danger for months, so she could understand if she was sensing something that wasn’t there.
“Huh. There’re a few tracks from wolves, alright, and I’m even seeing tufts of fur here and there in the bushes, but no sign of them or whatever might’ve drawn them here,” Christoff commented when they were about halfway done with their investigation.
“So what’re you supposed to do? Reesa doesn’t expect you to go out looking farther, does she?” Damiya asked, looking around warily. “I know you’ve been picking lessons up quickly, but we’ve only been here for most of the summer.”
“Hah, no, no . . . she’ll send out one of the others, likely Bales, if she doesn’t look into it herself. This was just something of a quick lesson that she thought appropriate to my skill level,” Christoff explained, laughing softly as he shook his head. “Though she seems a bit too strict to outsiders, she’s actually a really nice teacher. She just doesn’t have patience for those who don’t respect the natural world.”
“That explains a fair bit. I thought she was pretty intimidating,” Damiya admitted, approaching them more closely as she continued. “Though High Mage Larin isn’t much better in most ways. He’s an—”
The sudden scream of a man to the north-west broke the forest’s quiet, and Emonael spun, her eyes going wide as a creature from the same direction roared, recognizing the resonance of a lesser dragon’s roar. The others spun as well, and an instant later, Christoff sprinted off in the direction of the sounds.
“We need to help him if we can!” the man yelled over his shoulder, almost tripping as he ran.
“You can’t—” Emonael began, but swallowed her words an instant later, internally cursing to herself. Her current guise had no excuse for recognizing the roar of a dragon, and if she said anything more it might unmask her. Even if it was a lesser dragon, there were dozens of varieties, and none of them were something an apprentice nature mage could handle!
“Em, get help! I’ll keep him safe!” Damiya quickly interjected as she raced after Christoff, simply adding to Emonael’s internal cursing.
The demon hesitated only a moment more, then flicked her fingers through the gestures of a message spell, one that would carry her spoken words on the wind to the ears of those she chose, and spoke, deciding to take a minor risk. “High Magi, Apprentice Teardrop here, lesser dragon to the north-west, please send assistance!”
With the message sent to all five High Magi, Emonael raced after her friends with more internal swearing. A lesser dragon wasn’t any threat to her, but defeating one would definitely destroy her cover since she hadn’t learned enough legitimately from Marin to kill one yet! In addition, she’d grown fond of both Christoff and Damiya, and if anything was going to kill them, she was going to do it herself so that she could keep their souls!
An explosion echoed from ahead of her, and Emonael turned a corner on the trail, coming into sight of her friends at last, and she couldn’t help hissing in annoyance. A tree ahead was smoldering from where a blast of fire had hit it, and Damiya was staggering away from it, clutching her right arm which was scorched by fire. Christoff was crouched behind the tree, a panicked look on his face, and he looked up from the savaged forester he was crouched over to look at Emonael.
“Emonael, run! Get help!” he yelled, glancing toward the clearing on the other side of the tree as he continued. “They’re dragons!”
Two monstrous creatures were in the clearing, which had the crude beginnings of a clay nest carved into the center of it. Each of the drakes was thirty feet long, twenty if one ignored their tails, with powerful hind legs and wings with claws at their first joint that currently were playing the role of front limbs. Their heads were dominated by their fanged maws, and the black and rust-crimson scales of the creatures identified them as fire drakes.
“Drakes. Figures. Stupider than dogs and thousands of times more dangerous,” Emonael muttered, glowering as she ignored Christoff’s warning and ran forward as one of the creatures began inhaling, its mouth and throat starting to glow as its innate magic began working. Emonael couldn’t help but notice the odd tone to the inhalation, and wondered if the creature was casting some form of instinctive spell . . . but she shook it off as she snapped out, “Damiya, back!”
Damiya glanced over her shoulder, her face pale, in shock, but she stumbled back just as Emonael began casting her spell, using both hands as she spoke the words of one of the spell variations she’d learned just two weeks earlier. This wasn’t the way she’d choose to test a shield in combat, but it wasn’t as though she had much of a choice! Mana flowed out of her as she snapped out the words of the spell, in a race against the drake’s fire breath.
The drake’s head snapped forward as its jaws opened wide, emitting an immense jet of fire at them, one that only lasted a moment but which was no less dangerous because of it. Emonael could see Damiya beginning to flinch away, but at that moment, she finished her spell and a wide bubble of water exploded into existence around her, Christoff and his patient, and Damiya. The jet of fire hit the shield with a burst of steam, but didn’t penetrate it.
“Dear gods!” Christoff yelped, his eyes going wide. “You’re a water mage?”
“Of course not. I’m Marin’s apprentice,” Emonael replied tartly. “I’ll also thank you to not go racing headlong into the maw of a drake next time,
please. Also, try not to distract me. This spell takes a lot of power, compared to several others I know.”
“Ah!” Damiya cried out, flinching back as one of the drakes lunged forward and hit the barrier with a loud crash. Emonael winced, the shield only holding due to how much mana she’d poured into it. None of the others likely had the reserves to hold something like this for more than a few minutes, but she hoped that the High Magi would react quickly enough that no one would remark on her feat. Damiya swallowed and asked. “Wh-what now? I tried to hurt them, but my fire bolt didn’t do anything!”
“They’re fire drakes, and are highly resistant to fire. Of course your fire bolt didn’t do anything to them,” Emonael replied, eying the confused creatures through the barrier warily. “I sent a quick message to the High Magi, so we should have help soon, assuming my mana holds out long enough. I’m glad I learned a water shield, they’re much more durable than the others.”
“Gods above . . . I had no idea. How did you know it was a dragon, Emonael?” Christoff asked, his voice wound tight as he worked on stabilizing the man on the ground. With a glance, Emonael knew that the dark-haired man wasn’t long for the world if he didn’t get significant magical help soon. Christoff was barely keeping him alive as it was.
“I’ve always been a bit interested in dragons, so I did a little research. They have an odd secondary resonance to their roars, according to the records I found, while greater dragons often have even more resonant voices,” Emonael replied, her voice absent as she focused on the shield, not flinching as one of the drakes hit it again, and the other blasted it with fire. “In the books I read, it’s theorized that the odd multi-tonal nature of their roars is what causes most creatures to run in fear at the sound of them.”
“Good to know,” Damiya muttered, her eyes wide. “Is . . . is there anything I can do to help?”
“Not with you looking like that, Damiya,” Emonael replied, shaking her head. “Sit down; I’m sure we’ll have help soon.”
Marin's Codex Page 7
