The Sapphire Flute: Book 1 of The Wolfchild Saga

by Karen E. Hoover

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Ember awoke with a start, her eyes snapping open. She’d dreamed again. This time the dream didn’t have a happy ending. She’d been in a group the same as in her vision of the night before, but it was the wrong group of people, and the dragon lady had killed them quickly.

  Not the dragon lady—C’Tan, Ember reminded herself. She knew who the woman was now. If Ember didn’t succeed at the mage trials, if anything interfered and she was unable to learn magic, the dream would become reality, and she would die. Her life was forfeit unless she could learn.

  She closed her eyes, turned over, and wrapped her arms around one of the pillows. She sought comfort in sleep, but it eluded her despite her best efforts. She was too distracted by all the new smells. At first, she had been confused by the odor of her new room. It wasn’t unpleasant, but rather than the dusty smell of warm wood she was used to, there was the scent of fresh soap and the mineral tang of stone.

  She’d stayed curled up for a long time, analyzing the differences without the use of her eyes. It was a new experience for her, one made interesting by her sharpened wolf sense. She’d never paid much attention to the scent of things, not unless they were overpoweringly strong, but she certainly noticed now.

  She’d quickly come to realize it wasn’t her sense of smell alone that had changed—taste and hearing were much sharper as well. Curious, she stretched and tuned her ear to the smallest sound she could hear—a heartbeat that seemed to come from almost in front of her. Ember strained to catch each tharump-ump and finally opened her eyes. Shad’s chin rested on her bed, his face inches from her own.

  She scrambled back and squealed. To his credit, Shad didn’t laugh, though it looked as if he were biting his tongue to keep from doing so.

  Ember scowled, then glanced at the open door.

  “How’d you unlock the door?”

  “Magic,” he said, wiggling his fingers.

  Ember snorted, but part of her worried he might be serious. The look on her face must have given her away, for Shad snickered.

  “No, no, I’m only teasing, little Shandae. I had the deskman let me in. He knows we’re together. You slept so soundly I didn’t want to wake you, though it’s almost time for supper.”

  Ember looked at her orientation bag in a panic. What if they’d already called her to trial and she’d missed it? Again, Shad read her mind. “Your number has not come up yet. Don’t you worry, I won’t let you miss your chance. Now, while you were out like a magelight, DeMunth and I have worked hard. What do you think?” He tossed a cloth sack on the bed. It hit the mattress with a chink.

  Ember untied the drawstring as Shad settled against the dresser, arms crossed, a smug look on his face. She upended the sack and dumped the contents on the bed. She whistled in appreciation at the slave bracelets and ring chains dangling amid the cuffs. Ember held more wealth on her bed than her family had seen in ten years of work. The detail was exquisite. She quickly untangled and examined each piece.

  The pure copper cuff was identical to Ember’s, but the others were different. Three of the cuffs were made of silver, with different animals instead of her wolves—a stag, a large cat, and a bear. The last bracelet was made of gold, with a fierce dragon head on the ring. If she hadn’t seen her uncle design her bracelet that morning, using only his fingers, she would have thought each item had taken months of labor by a skilled craftsman. Well, he was skilled—just not in the traditional way. Shad used magic where most used tools.

  “So, what do you think?” he asked again, obviously fishing for praise. Ember didn’t disappoint him.

  “What do I think? I think they’re beautiful, phenomenal, amazing, and every other good word I can’t think of right now.”

  Shad’s smirk grew, though he did seem genuinely pleased. “Good. I’ll get to work duplicating them. We found a boy who was willing to run the booth for us, and I manipulated his memories a bit to ‘remember’ meeting you on the road. The few cuffs we made are selling like your grandmother’s apple pie at the yearly fair, so we’ve got to restock as quickly as possible. Duplication seems the best option.”

  Ember eyed the bracelets, and her eyes grew round. “You mean, you can create gold out of nothing? How is that possible?”

  Shad had the decency not to laugh for a change. “I would that it were so. No, I still need raw materials. I only take the ‘map’ of the finished product and imprint it upon the metal so it duplicates the original. There is more energy expenditure, but it’s worth it for the speed. Ian has already found the booth and questioned the boy we hired. He seemed rather frustrated when the boy’s story matched yours.”

  Shad’s eyes sobered. “I’m glad we took the time to imprint his memory before setting him up in the booth. Ian pounced on him within the first hour.”

  The hair on the back of Ember’s neck stood up. Ian was getting too close, and she had the feeling he wouldn’t be fooled easily, despite Shad and DeMunth’s best efforts.

  Ember’s uncle gathered up his handiwork and put it back in the satchel. “Is everything okay here? How’s your room? Are they treating you well?”

  Her dream came to the front of her mind. Goosebumps prickled her arms at the remembered terror, but she didn’t say anything. Shad could do nothing for now, but he would support her when it came time for the battle with C’Tan. He’d promised her. For now, it seemed best to keep her fears to herself, though her stomach knotted with nerves. “Everything seems to be fine, though I could sure use a good soak. Does your room have a private bath?” Ember asked, desperation oozing from her sweaty, wolf-tinted pores. Shad shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t. And none of the residents were willing to share their bath with you.”

  Ember groaned and slid sideways down the wall, collapsing almost on top of the bracelets. “I can’t go to my trial smelling like a wolf and covered in mud. What am I going to do?”

  “It’s very simple, Ember. You go take a bath.“ He pulled the drawstring tight and threw the satchel over his shoulder.

  “I can’t!” she snapped.

  “No! You won’t.” Shad leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms.

  Ember glared at him.

  “Look, Ember, why is this such a big deal? You just go to the public baths when they are empty, wash, and get out. No problem.”

  “But it’s the boys’ bath. I can’t go in there. And what if they call me for my trial before I get to bathe?”

  “So bathe earlier. Bathe now, if you wish.”

  “I can’t!” Ember reddened just thinking about it.

  Shad sat down on the bed beside her and put his arm across her shoulders. “All you have to do is put some shorts on. Nobody will see a thing.”

  “But I’ll still have to see them! And I’d feel stupid with shorts on. I won’t be like them, and that will draw attention to me, which is the last thing I want. I don’t have the same parts they do, Uncle. I need to blend in, be the same.”

  “Then make it so,” he said, shrugging.

  “Huh?”

  “If you’re so worried about not having the same parts, then make yourself some. If you can shapeshift into a wolf and change your own body, you can change that too.”

  Ember was too shocked to respond at first, and when she did, her words were a gut response and sent out with all the feeling her body possessed.

  “Ewwww!”

  Shad started to laugh and could not stop.

  Ember scowled. “Uncle,” she said, rolling her eyes when he didn’t stop immediately. He doubled over in hilarity until finally she got off the bed, shoved him, and shouted. “Uncle!”

  Shad swallowed his laughter and hiccupped at her, but he did stop at last. “Sorry,“ he said, not sorry at all, she was sure. He took a deep, shaky breath and put his arm back around her. “The way I see it, Em, you’ve got only two options if you’re that desperate for a bath. Either you go ahead and bathe with the boys, no matter how you decide to do it, or you go and bathe with the girls.”

 
; “How can I do that? Right now I’m neither boy nor girl.”

  “So, change yourself fully into one or the other,” he said with a nonchalant shrug and a squeeze of her shoulders.

  “But what about Mum? I can’t really afford to—”

  “I didn’t mean forever, Ember,” he interrupted. “Just to take a bath. If you’re not comfortable being all boy, then be a girl again and go bathe . . . before the rest of the building smells like your room. Please.” He waved a hand in front of his nose.

  Ember was so surprised by his suggestion she didn’t even notice his insult. Change back into herself to bathe? Yes, there was a chance her mother might see her, but it was a slight one. At least she’d be clean and make a better impression for the trials. It was worth taking a chance. There was only one problem.

  “How?” she asked. “I’ve only changed into a human twice, and then it was to turn into a boy. How do I go back to my normal self?”

  “Ahhh, now that’s a good question. Focusing on the solution and not whining about the problem. "And,” he said, one finger pointed skyward for emphasis, “it’s a simple one to solve. Changing back is always the easiest because it’s the most familiar. Your body knows what you did, Ember—just follow the paths you have already opened, like listening to your blood when you changed into a wolf. Open yourself to it and trust it. I’ll guide you as best I can.”

  Ember nodded, though doubt filled her. What if something went wrong? What if she couldn’t duplicate the process?

  But what would it hurt to try?

  Shad pulled away and propped himself against the dresser opposite her. Ember watched him for a long moment before she sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. His nodded reassurance did little to soothe her rapidly frantically twitching nerves, but she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began.

  First she imagined her face as it truly was, the image she had seen in the mirror every day for sixteen years, then she let her fingers explore.

  At first nothing happened. Her fingers prodded at her nose, and she could feel the difference,

  could see in her mind how it should be, but nothing happened until the frustration built to the breaking point and in desperation she whispered—“change!”

  And it did—with all the accompanying pain of two days before. Ember gasped and groaned for a long moment, her fingers gently massaging the familiar shape of her true nose as it ached through her cheek bones and eye socket and all the way into her head.

  “Good,” Shad commented, “but do it slower this time. Remember, it’s the abrupt change that causes the most pain. Mold it like clay, Ember. Mold and shape and pull to achieve the best effect.”

  Ember nodded, not really sure what he meant, but she took him at his word and pictured the change in her jaw and chin being more gradual. She tugged gently at her chin and could feel it pull forward with a deep ache, but it was not the excruciating pain she’d had before—more like a well-used muscle and less like a boot in the face.

  Next, she used her fingertips to gently massage and pull her eyes wider. She changed the color, lightening her brow and smoothing her lids until she felt nearly herself again. Her lips filled and widened, and at last she moved on to her body. All the changes made the day before returned to normal—her hips and arms narrowed, her ribcage thinned. It was painful, but bearable, and didn’t leave her gasping as before.

  Finished, Ember opened her eyes and met her uncle’s tear-filled gaze.

  “Beautiful,” he whispered, no longer leaning casually against the desk, but instead kneeling at her feet and staring into her face. “You look so much like your father, it’s uncanny. You have his eyes and nose and forehead. I can see your mother in you too, but you favor your father. Ah, how I miss him.”

  Ember couldn’t help herself. She leaned forward, put her arms around her uncle, and squeezed him tight. Shad wrapped his big bear arms around her and hugged back. Their embrace lasted only a moment, but she thought it probably did both of their hearts good.

  “Now, if I can only avoid Mum while I’m myself, I might be able to get through this in one piece.” Ember chuckled and wiped away the beaded sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her shirt.“Some days, it seemed like she’d stop me from becoming a mage at all costs, that she’d do anything to keep me her slave.”

  “She has her reasons, Ember, and I am sure that to her, they’re good ones. But you’re right to pursue this dream of yours. You’re meant to be a mage, though of what kind, I’m not yet sure. Your magic is like none I’ve ever seen.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked. “I thought you said I had the shapeshifting ability like my father and yourself.”

  “You do, lass,” he answered, taking her hand, “but you don’t use the land magic alone to make your shift. Your color of magic is like a pallet of paint that’s been mixed and swirled together, and it’s all faded pastels, not the vivid color magic usually gives.”

  “I’m not sure I understand, Uncle. Doesn’t all magic show green?” she asked, puzzled.

  He shook his head. “No. Why would you think that?”

  “Well, so far that’s the only color I’ve seen. Aldarin had green around his hand, and I saw green around the plants, so I just figured magic was green.”

  Shad chuckled. “You also saw the golden yellow of DeMunth’s breastplate, remember? No, Ember, there are actually seven colors of magic, each reflecting a color of the rainbow. Let me give it to you in short, though you will learn more once you reach the mage academy. You have heard the stories of S’Kotos and Mahal, and the breaking of Rasann?”

  “No,” she answered, leaning forward eagerly.

  Shad rolled his eyes at her, but said nothing derogatory and began his tale.

  “Long ago, there were a hundred Guardians who watched over Rasann, but there were two who were the greatest. They were twins—Mahal, and one who became known as S’Kotos, the Destroyer. Mahal and S’Kotos battled on Rasann and nearly destroyed our world. There were great cracks in the earth. Water rushed in to drown whole cities, mountains covered entire nations, and still other places were covered with ash and lava. It was Helar on earth, child, and when it was over, ninety-four of those Guardians were so distraught, they left the heavens to walk among the people of our world, healing it as they could, and joining the peoples of those they could not.

  “Only six Guardians remained in the heavens, and their father stood with them. They held Rasann together, netted with magic, until one could be found from among mankind to heal her again. Mahal was afraid that if he stepped upon Rasann, she would rise up in rebellion against him and destroy herself entirely, so injured was she. And so the seven remaining Guardians stood in the heavens and divided the white magic among them.” He seemed to be reciting to her, but then the far-off look left his eyes and he met hers again.

  “Have you ever seen a prism, Ember?”

  “Huh?”

  “A prism,” he stated again. “Cut glass that reflects light into a rainbow of color.”

  Ember understood then. “Yes.”

  “Magic is like that prism. Once, it was all together—white and pure—but the Guardians divided it into its individual colors to better bind Rasann. Each of the Guardians took charge of one color, until only Mahal remained. He was to take the red, the color of fire and heat, but S’Kotos stole it from him. All that was left was a small bit of the white, and so Mahal took charge of the binding of colors again. It is He who will lead the Chosen One to heal our world. It is He who will bring forth the next white mage.“

  “Wow,” Ember sighed, enthralled with the story. “I’ve never heard of a white mage, and never understood what a green or red mage was, until now. They each focus on something different, then? Are there people who can do more than one kind of magic?” She leaned back on the bed and tucked her knees beneath her chin.

  Shad hesitated. “Yes, but they all tend to be best at one type. To have three colors of magic is considered phenomenal. A white mage has all.” />
  “Wow,” she said again, unable to find a better word to express her awe. “How many white magi are there?”

  Shad met her eyes, all seriousness. “None, Ember. Not for three thousand years. There are no binders to weave the magic of our world. I only hope we can find one soon, for we need a white mage before it is too late for all of us—before the magic completely unravels and Rasann is destroyed.”

  “Rasann destroyed?” she whispered in shock.

  Shad nodded, all sadness now. “Why do you think our world is rising against us—Devil’s Mount spewing all that ash and lava, the spells coming unraveled? You may not have heard of it, but there have been disasters among the water folk as well—entire cities consumed by great waves, denizens of the deep thrust from their home to perish on dry land.” He shook his head. “Rasann has never been healed, only temporarily patched and mended—but those patches are a little threadbare after thousands of years of use and abuse.

  “But this is a conversation that can be continued later. If you are going to bathe before your trial, young lady, you’d better go now. I’ll escort you to the women’s quarters, but from there you’re on your own. Take your stuff with you, just in case they call while you bathe.”

  Ember gathered her bag and a change of clothes, and took his arm. “More than ready, Uncle.”

  “Whew, you can say that again.” He twinkled at her, waving away the not-so-imaginary stink once more. Ember didn’t bother shoving him again. She was grateful for his solution, and it just felt too good to be in her own skin. One last thought occurred to her.

  “But what about Mum?”

  Shad shook his head. “Think about it, Ember. You changed into a boy. Don’t you think you could shift your face enough to be unrecognizable?”

  Ember felt stupid. She should have thought of that. She covered her face with her hands as Shad took her arm, and they walked together out the door.