Mage Queen: Dark Sculptor Novel 03

by D. R. Rosier

  I reached into the first one with my magic, and heard Regina start firing off a list of herbs and vegetables behind me. No meats, we’d hunt those fresh on the way. I pushed that out of my mind, and paid attention. It wasn’t difficult, I’d done it thousands of times now. My magic built a solution of healing from my intent, and since we weren’t in a rush I verified the solution before pushing my magic and fixing the changes. The man looked rather shocked, as three new fingers grew on his hand, and his other wounds closed. I wasn’t worried about the bandages, my magic wouldn’t allow any foreign contaminants to be sealed inside their bodies. They simply fell to the floor or on the bed.

  Then I moved on to the next one…

  The suite was nicer than the one we had back at the keep, it also had two bedrooms off the main room, so Karana could have her privacy. After I finished healing and had gotten paid, the attendant, I never did learn his name, went off to gather supplies for our journey from the kitchen, as well as bring us an evening meal.

  We sat around the table waiting, which had exquisitely carved designs on the legs of the table, the backs of the chairs, and on the table’s border. There was also couches in the large room, and some tasteful artwork on the walls.

  Karana said, “That was well done James.”

  I smiled, “Thanks, but I already know it was hardly a warm-up for what we’ll be facing at Malburn. I also don’t think I’d have figured out her game if you and Saria weren’t so calm and relaxed.”

  Saria shrugged minutely, “The benefit of both of us growing up in palaces, and you’re right, the duchess’s ploy to get you to heal her soldiers was obvious. It will be harder to read the queen’s true intentions, so we can guide things to our advantage, but I have faith in you, and hopefully we’ll be in a position to help.”

  “I thought mages were rare, the queen has twelve mages, plus I’m starting to suspect all of her nobles are mages as well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Adriana had a few more running about the city.”

  Saria and Karana exchanged glances.

  Karana said, “There used to be more than that. Maybe two percent of the population. Even if there are about fifty mages in the Gritor empire, given about two million humans on this continent in seven major cities, that’s less than one percent of one percent, of one percent of the population. The elves live longer and our generations are two hundred years, I don’t think that human history goes back that far to remember, even for us that knowledge is a dim antiquity of our past. In our society, the mages are about a tenth of one percent of the population. Three thousand years ago it was double that.”

  I nodded, their answer deepened my suspicion about something I’d been suspecting for a while, but I had to think about it some more. Even if I was right, I had no idea how to address the problem. Not yet anyway. Unintended consequences could be a bitch, especially when playing god, even when doing so with the best of intentions.

  Saria turned her head toward the door, a few seconds before someone knocked on it.

  Regina jumped up to answer it, and I joined her to help carry stuff.

  The messenger was back with our packs filled with what we needed, as well as three servants who swept into the rooms with several trays of prepared foods. I thanked him before they left, and we sat down to enjoy our meal. It’d been a long day.

  “Karana, how do you detect if a child is mage, is there a spell or something?”

  Karana shook her head, “No need for a spell. We can feel and see the flow of magic around them, it swirls and builds up in their aura. Mages are different than those with magical abilities, and that filling of the aura is both why some mages believe their power is based on the soul not the physical, and what sets us apart from those with specific abilities that are physically tied to bodies.”

  I nodded, understanding that, Irwin had told me much the same thing a long time ago, minus the part about the aura.

  Saria asked curiously, “Why?”

  I took a bite of food to give myself time to answer the question. All I had were suspicions, but no proof.

  “Can I try something? Do you trust me Saria?”

  She nodded, a confused look on her face.

  I connected to her body with my magic, something I did often to check on her and make sure she was healthy, not to mention to gauge her progress toward fertility, but that was still over a month off. This time, I reached into her DNA, and removed her magical ability of telekinesis, just turned it off.

  Then I waited, it didn’t take long, three seconds passed and then Karana gasped in shock.

  Saria looked from her to me, obviously confused.

  Karana said, “Saria, you’re a mage,” then she looked at me, “How the hell did you do that?”

  Saria looked thunderstruck, and I could see the conflicted emotions in her eyes, and on her face.

  I frowned in thought, “It’s been a building suspicion. The mage who created the first flesh sculptor had good intentions, and they worked together to build the other talents for both health reasons and defense. Good intentions. My guess is that mages mostly mate with mages, but over time the magical abilities have been bred into the whole population and there’s been some crossover. The falling of the mage population is an unintended result of messing with nature, and forcing a manmade magical evolution into humanity and elven kind.”

  I turned to Saria and looked into her eyes.

  “I didn’t do anything to make you a mage, you’ve always been one. The problem was your telekinesis ability has been preventing the magic from filtering from your body and into your aura or spirit. All I did was remove your telekinesis temporarily, though it’s your choice if you want me to restore it now that you know the truth.”

  I let her eyes go, and spoke more generally to the others as well, “I suspect the true mage population is still around two percent, in both humans and elves, it’s just the magic abilities are breeding out the mage potential. They still have it, but it will be forever untapped and unrealized. I suspect, eventually, in thousands of years, perhaps tens of thousands, mages will become a legend of the past. One of your parents probably has a mage in their past that married someone with a magical ability, and only one children of four was born without one allowing Desirae to reach her true potential.”

  Saria looked to Karana, a tear in her eyes, “Will you teach me? I’ll still depend on blades and my armor, I’m not ready for robes, but…”

  Karana smiled, “Of course I will.”

  Regina asked, “Is there anything that can be done?”

  I shrugged, “Not sure yet, outside of a flesh sculptor checking with a mage nearby to verify the results. That’s a rather daunting proposal against the whole population. Perhaps I can figure out why the abilities interfere, and fix that. I’ll try, but given mages are of the soul and not the body, I’m not sure. This also means Saria’s brothers and Irwin’s daughter are prime candidates to be possible mages, although not guarantees. Really, any child of a mage is, although I’ve been told mages randomly show up in non-mage families as well.”

  Saria nodded, “We should keep this a secret for now, until you discover if there’s a realistic approach to this, otherwise Sera may have you checking the population for the rest of your life.”

  Karana smirked, and her voice was sultry and smokier than usual. I think I’d turned her on more than a little bit with my discovery.

  “There’s no spell to identify a mage, because to mages it’s apparent. I suspect even now Saria is starting to notice and feel the flows of magic, and any mage can feel it by default. A spell has never been necessary before, but I should be able to come up with something rather easily now that there’s a need, something simple you can put in your ring with a little help?”

  Saria got up off her chair, and sat in my lap, her eyes were overwhelmed with emotion as she kissed me.

  “Thank you love, this is an incredible gift.”

  I smiled, “It’s your gift, I just opened it for you.”

 
; She shook her head in amused exasperation, “Always humble my love, this is the discovery of a millennium, and I don’t doubt you’ll find a way to fix it.”

  Her faith in me was humbling.

  Karana stood as she finished off her plate, and held her hand out to Saria.

  “I need to teach you a few things, control first. Tonight, before you do something on accident. Raw magic can be dangerous and unpredictable, it’s why we use spells to organize the magic. Tomorrow James can remove your armor’s protections, and I’ll teach you some more powerful and subtle spells to enchant the armor with, basic by mage standards but still better. By the time we reach Malburn, you’ll be well protected and know at least one or two offensive spells. It’ll take years and years to learn magic, but I can make you fight worthy with the bare basics in a few days, as long as you don’t fight another mage that is, for them stick to your sword for the next fifty years, at least.”

  Karana looked at me, “I’ll also work on that detection spell, but getting Saria grounded is far more important right now.”

  I nodded in agreement, and the two of them disappeared into Karana’s room.

  Regina said, “What will you do when word gets out, it will get out. They haven’t thought it through yet, Sera knows Saria isn’t a mage and will suspect something as soon as she lays eyes on her.”

  I frowned, “I’m not sure. If I can fix what’s blocking it, I can fix the whole population with a virus, which will unleash several thousand mages at a guess. I’m not sure if it’s possible to do so though, it may be just how it works, and mages can’t be mages if they have a magical ability. If it comes down to it, I’ll have to reveal my true abilities to the queen. Creating an organic device that will temporarily suppress a magical ability will be easy to make, and when Karana gives me the spell for detecting a mage I suspect I could make the device make that suppression more permanent if it finds a mage. With nine devices I could give one to each city, and they can check their populations.”

  I wasn’t sure what to do or even where to start. I wasn’t immune to good intentions leading to bad unexpected results either, though with my knowledge I had a better chance, it probably still wasn’t worth the risk. A fix would be better, if I could fix the problem with the talents preventing the correct circulation of magic into a human’s aura, that would be ideal, and be undoing a change. There was also the idea of adding in a hook which would create a second avenue to channel magic into the aura, but that idea was dangerous, and might have unexpected results. Really, the best way to do it was either fix the magic circulation issue, or use the workaround I’d just described to Regina. Introducing even more changes was a bad idea, and would be human experimentation, which was against my oath. Simply reversing the side effects of a previous change was close to experimentation as well, but at least it would be free of unknown issues, and restoring what had been there previously.

  The problem was, the workaround was the only one within my knowledge and ability in that moment, I had no idea how to even go about looking for why magical abilities disrupted natural magic circulation from a body to its aura. It also didn’t solve the root problem, if those devices were ever lost after my death, the mages would start to be bred out again. Well, it would be doubtful that all nine would be lost or destroyed at once, and cutting one in half would make another, so it could be replaced with the help of the nearest city.

  Another thing about the workaround was it would reveal my true abilities, so the other option, fixing the problem, would be far more preferred for many reasons.

  I just wasn’t sure if it was possible.

  “Nine? There’s three major cities in what was Desal, and four in the old Gritor…” she trailed off and blushed.

  I nodded in agreement, “One for Lelmalond and Amathyr as well. But before I commit to something like that, I want to see if I can figure out the blockage issue.”

  It was the harder option, but the better one, and one that was permanent. I just hoped it wasn’t impossible. Sometimes in life, things couldn’t be undone.

  She said, “Why don’t you study me, while I use my power on you.”

  I suspected I’d need Karana’s help to discover the true problem, I couldn’t see the flows of magic after all, but I sure as hell didn’t mention that as I got up and followed my busty red-headed beauty into the bedroom. It couldn’t hurt to try after all, could it?

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next morning we’d decided Karana would spend her mornings with Saria, and her afternoons with me working on the mages being bred out over time issue. The morning was a bit overcast, but it wasn’t raining, and I enjoyed my time with Regina while the two mages in my life discussed secrets. I also spent some time in thought as I went over the DNA and tried to identify what each tiny part of an ability did, and why it would stop the circulation of magic. I didn’t find anything, and my magical talent wasn’t designed to find and identify that function.

  Perhaps it would turn out to be impossible, but I wasn’t nearly ready to give up yet.

  It turned out when my turn came after lunch, a spell for detecting a mage was even easier than she’d thought it would be, and I had it DNA programmed into my ring by mid-afternoon. Then we got to the heart of the matter and started to discuss the issue.

  “What exactly do you see in the magical flow of someone with an ability?” I asked.

  Karana looked thoughtful for a moment and I took that moment to admire her beauty.

  “Magic in a mage flows constantly, the body takes it in and it filters out to the aura. That aura over time grows larger, and so does the mages raw power as its able to hold more magic. Once the aura becomes saturated, it starts to release the magic back to the world and elements around it. When I cast a spell, I have to kind of… dip into that flow and capture the magic of my aura with my mind, then shape and cast it. The magic fills up again quickly as the flow once again fills me up, until once again reaching saturation and it flows out into the world.

  “People with magical talents don’t flow, or only part way at least, like their magical ability holds onto that magic, so that the person with the ability doesn’t have to go through that mental preparation a mage does. They just wish for something to happen, and the magical ability takes care of it from there through its programming as you call it.”

  I said, “So perhaps that’s why there’s no flow? To make the abilities easier to use?”

  She frowned, “Maybe, because a non-mage can’t alter flows and hold them, so the ability does that part for them. When someone with an ability uses it, the magic flows out of their body to form the specific magic, and then more magic flows into their body to replenish the body’s stores.”

  Regina entered the conversation to my surprise. I shouldn’t have been, surprised I mean, she was sharp, intelligent, and always paid attention. She knew as much as I did about all this.

  “Maybe it would help to see a non-mage’s magical flow in a human without an ability?”

  Karana grunted in agreement, “If it were possible.”

  Regina smirked, “That wasn’t just a suggestion, I was volunteering,” she turned to me, “But I want my ability back when you’re done.”

  Karana and I looked at each other ruefully, and then I reached into Regina’s body with my magic and switched her ability off.

  Karana turned at my nod, and then stared at Regina for a while.

  “Huh. The flow is exactly the same as a mage’s flow, with one exception. It enters your body, and then exits into your aura. The only difference is you don’t have a mage aura, so it simply flows out the other side and back into the world, without accumulating a magical pool inside of it.”

  I turned her ability back on, “Well, I’m not sure how that helps with a solution, but we’ve at least further verified the issue. I also haven’t been able to find anything in the abilities that would do that. Either my magic can’t find where it’s described in the DNA because of a limitation of my magic, or it’s a limitat
ion of knowledge on my part. I know my magic tells me more than it had other flesh sculptors in the past, due to my greater education into the workings of the human body. I have a feeling it’s my knowledge that is deficient, not the magic.”

  Karana tilted her head, “Then perhaps you should go with your feelings, and simply desire the magic to fix the problem as all the other flesh sculptors did in the past. See if that works, or at least, see if it presents you with a solution.”

  I was uncomfortable with that scenario, it would be experimentation without the ability or knowledge to verify the end results. But I tried it, it wouldn’t be harmful if I didn’t commit the changes, I just wanted to see if my magic could figure it out as Karana suggested. I was also used to using my magic this way now after all the healing in battles, it was easier to let the magic make the suggested changes and verify, than it was for me to set up each one a step at a time manually.

  My magic did respond as I sent it into Regina, and it showed me a number of changes related to her ability to control pleasure and pain. I studied and took note of the changes. The positive sign was it was a shared part of all of the abilities. Changing it for one would work for all, but I was more than hesitant to experiment on anyone, much less the love of my life.

  Well, doctors did experiment on Earth, just not with humans until a certain level of safety was assured, and the answer to the issue slapped me in the face. I dove into my ring, because my ring had the same magical management as human’s DNA did with full-blown abilities. Not part of the spells, all the spells formations fed off the same magical management that fed and maintained the organism. Then I hesitated, I had a lot of spells in the ring, and if something went very wrong it could do a lot of damage. If I was going to do this I had to do it right.