Will felt a similar urge to honesty. The Alchemy teacher had been good to him from the beginning, and while the man also made a small profit sourcing buyers for Will’s potions, he seemed to have an honest heart. “I wish I could teach it to you,” he admitted. “My original master said it’s something that has to be done when you’re young, and it’s best done before you learn to use magic.”
“So you did learn this through some special training,” muttered Karlovic. “Master Courtney has been speculating about that.”
“I haven’t been very forthcoming,” said Will. “I’m not sure who I can trust.”
“Afraid they’ll put you on a rack and torture it out of you?”
He nodded. “Or tie me to a table and dissect me.”
“Courtney wouldn’t do that,” insisted Karlovic. “He’s a good man, even if he’s a little odd. Are you worried I’ll tell him what you told me?”
Will shrugged. “I had to trust someone sooner or later.”
“And you chose me? I feel touched.”
He grinned. “We’ll see how it goes. One of us may regret it before too much time has passed.” Will finished the activations, then started organizing the materials for the next stage. Karlovic came over and shuffled him aside.
“Sleep some more. I’ll let you know when the potions are ready to be finalized.”
“Shouldn’t you be going home?”
“My wife is used to me keeping odd hours,” said the professor. “She’ll probably forgive me for coming home late again.”
Will didn’t argue. It took him longer to fall asleep this time, but after a few minutes he drifted away, grateful for the rest. The next time he awoke it wasn’t because someone was shaking him, but rather because his nose had detected something.
It was the smell of fresh bread, and something else. Tea? Will’s eyes popped open and he scanned the room. He spotted his teacher decanting the final product into small vials that would then wait for a final infusion of turyn to activate them. Off to one side, on a small table, was the object of Will’s desire, a plate filled with sweet buns. A small teapot sat beside it along with two empty cups.
Will moaned, then began struggling to get upright once more. Professor Karlovic turned and looked over one shoulder at him, smiling. “Oh, I see the food woke you.”
“Where did you get that?” Will asked, adoration in his voice.
“I sent one of the early-rising students over to the Residents’ Hall cafeteria. The tea should still be warm.”
“I could marry you.”
The professor laughed. “My wife might be grateful to have me out of her hair, but you’re still a newlywed. I doubt your wife would approve.”
Ignoring the intense pain his movements required, Will managed to get up and onto his good leg without assistance. His stomach was insistent, and he could only comply with its demands. The buns were simple and sweet, a confection made of little more than ordinary dough supplemented with honey and extra butter, but just then, they were heaven on earth. He had devoured one and was struggling to swallow before he poured his first cup of black tea.
The tea was strong and bitter. Too much had been used, and it had been steeped far too long and at too high a temperature, but it complemented the sticky sweetness of the bread, and Will welcomed the extra energy it would hopefully give him. He fell to eating with a vengeance, and a few minutes later the plate and teapot were both empty. Belatedly, he looked over at the professor, feeling guilty, for he hadn’t left any for his savior.
Karlovic glanced at him and laughed, then patted his slightly rounded paunch. “I didn’t need it anyway, while you obviously did.” He stepped back from the worktable and gestured at the vials. “Care to see your product?” There were five vials lined up on the table.
Will frowned. “I only planned on four. How did you manage five?”
“You had more set out than you realized, so I redid the math and worked out the other ingredients to make five. It was just small enough that it wouldn’t require larger vessels so I knew it wouldn’t cost you any time.” The older man paused. “Will you be able to activate that many at one time?”
“Sure,” said Will. “I’m not using my turyn. I absorb it from the environment, so I can replace it without too much trouble.” He hobbled over to the bench and proceeded to begin doing just that. Each potion took fifteen to twenty minutes, as he had to draw in turyn, convert it, infuse the potion, then repeat the process until it had been saturated with energy.
After a little over an hour and a half, the five regeneration potions were done. Will gazed at them thoughtfully. He needed three—two for his friends, one for himself, and another for emergencies. Then he looked at Professor Karlovic. With one hand he offered the man one of the potions.
His teacher wanted to take the vial. Will could see the hesitation in the man’s movements, as his hand started to reach out before he pulled it back again. “You keep them,” said Karlovic.
“I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“That potion is worth nearly a thousand gold marks.”
Will shrugged. “I don’t need the money.”
The professor’s hand started to move again, but then he tucked it behind his back and turned away. “I don’t know what sort of things you’re up to, William, but I think you’re far more likely to need that extra potion than I am to need a thousand marks. If you still feel grateful, offer me one later, when things are back to normal. Right now, I won’t take it.”
He sighed, then stored the five potions in the limnthal. At the same time, he removed his coin purse and took out a few coins. Hobbling over, he grabbed his teacher’s hand and put the coins in his palm.
“What’s this?” asked Karlovic, staring at the silver.
“Two clima,” said Will with a grin. “Isn’t that the going rate for a lab assistant?”
They both laughed, and then his professor asked, “Aren’t you going to take one of those potions for your leg?”
“Not until I go to the Healing and Psyche building. They make you very sleepy afterward. I don’t want to pass out before I make sure my friends are taken care of.”
“You’d better get going then.”
“What time is it?”
“It’s just past seventh bell. The dining halls are still open if you need more breakfast.”
Chapter 34
Doctor Morris met him before he could enter Janice’s room, having been summoned by an orderly who spotted the man who had absconded two nights before. “You’ve a lot of nerve,” said the doctor. “Do you have any idea how long they questioned me after you ran off? I’m not sure they believed me when I told them you escaped against my wishes.”
Will felt a little bad, but not much. He’d been through worse on his side of things. With a flourish, he produced one of the regeneration vials, making it look as though he had palmed the item like some common street magician. “I got it.”
“Is that?” Doctor Morris’ eyes grew wide.
Will nodded. “I’m sorry for the trouble yesterday, but if I had let them hold me I wouldn’t have been able to help them.”
“Where did you get it?”
“I went to hell and back. Met some trolls along the way. I spent last night in the Alchemy building.” Limping, he moved around the doctor and pushed through the door.
The room was well lit, with sunshine streaming in through an eastward facing window, but Janice probably couldn’t see it. She was a shapeless bundle on the bed, with blankets pulled high to cover her entirely. “Janice, it’s me,” said Will. “I have something that will help.”
The mound of blankets didn’t move, but he heard a faint grunt. Doctor Morris stepped up beside him. “She can’t talk. Her head and face are tightly bound right now to keep her from hurting herself more.”
“How will she take the potion?” he asked.
“There’s an opening in the bandages for a tube. She’ll have to take liquids through that until she’s healed.�
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Will thought about it a moment. “The bandages will have to come off. She can take it through the tube, but if they’re binding the flesh and skin, she might not be able to heal properly with them in place.”
Doctor Morris nodded. “I was thinking the same, but it will be painful. Let me give her some medicine to ease the pain first.”
The doctor left to gather help while Will continued to talk to his friend. “It’s all right, Janice. I’ve got a regeneration potion. It will probably hurt a lot when they take the bandages off, but hopefully you’ll be able to have your eye back and everything will be normal again.”
“Mmmphf hmm,” she responded unintelligibly. He hoped it was an affirmative.
Minutes later they had her sitting up, and he could see her one good eye staring at him through the bandages that swaddled her face. It pierced him like an accusation, though he couldn’t honestly say what her expression might be. One of the nurses held out a hand for the potion, but Will wouldn’t release it. “I’ll pour it in,” he told the man. “I’m not letting go of this vial until I’m certain it’s empty and she’s received it.”
Doctor Morris nodded, and they made room so he could approach and pour it down the tube that ran into Janice’s bandaged face. Her eye stayed on him the entire time. “Here goes,” he told her, then he tilted the bottle up, letting the fluid pour into the tube.
She got it down without gagging, despite the taste, and once they were sure the liquid had been swallowed, Doctor Morris began removing the bandages using a sharp pair of scissors. Will felt a sense of urgency, as he worried the man wouldn’t be quick enough. Meanwhile Janice began to groan as her pain increased. Tears ran from her one good eye, and the doctor moved more quickly.
The final cut was made, and the bandages fell away like a blood-soaked cocoon. Beneath them, her skin and flesh were a twisted horror to behold. Janice shoved the doctor away from her, then pulled her blanket up again to shield herself from their eyes. “Mmm ammay!”
Will finally understood, and he turned his back while his own tears began to spill over. She had been begging them not to look at her. “It won’t take long, Janice. I promise. It might hurt, but it won’t last.”
Doctor Morris stepped forward after a minute. “Janice, I need to see. I can’t tell how well it’s working if you won’t show yourself.”
Apparently, something was happening, for she was able to respond in a thick voice, “Get him out!”
“Janice,” he started to say, but she cut him off.
“Please! Get out!” Her voice was rising through the registers, climbing toward panic.
The doctor gave him a sympathetic look, then gestured toward the door. Will went, but just before he stepped out the physician called out, “Your other friend is across the hall.”
“Thank you, sir.” Racked with guilt, regret, and a whole host of other mixed-up emotions, Will retreated. Outside, he took a moment to breathe and regain his composure.
Through the door he could hear voices, some of them loud enough to understand. “No more visitors,” Janice begged. “Don’t let him in again.”
One of the nurses responded, “He’s just trying to help, miss.”
After that, all he heard was crying and his chest tightened. Moving forward, he crossed the hall and opened the opposite door. Tiny was in the bed, partially elevated into a half-sitting posture by a collection of pillows. Unlike Janice, the big man was naked, at least the parts Will could see from the waist up. Pale skin covered thick muscles, and everywhere Tiny’s body was discolored. Most areas were shaded blue or purple, but some regions had deep black bruises, where blood had congealed under the skin.
And that was his front. From how things had played out, Will knew the back side was probably worse. Tiny spotted his friend and smiled brightly, showing a mouth full of undamaged teeth. In contrast to Janice, his injuries had almost entirely been to the body. Aside from a few scratches, his head had been untouched. “Will!” he called cheerfully. Then he frowned as his eyes tracked toward Will’s wounded leg. “That’s new. I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight.”
“You’re still in worse shape.”
“Says who?” argued Tiny. “I could get up and whip your ass, if they’d let me out of this bed. There’s really no point in keeping me here. It’s just bruises.”
Will smiled. “It won’t even be that soon.” He summoned the second regeneration potion and offered it to his friend. “You’ll be right as rain after you take this.”
Tiny turned his head away. “How’s Janice? Give it to her.”
He sighed. “I already gave her one. She’s healing as we speak. This one is yours.”
The big warrior gave him a sincere look. “I don’t really need it, Will. Save it for an emergency. I’ll be fine.”
Will closed his eyes. “No, Tiny, you won’t. I don’t know what they told you, but you aren’t all right. You might not recover if you don’t take this. Your kidneys are bruised as badly, or maybe worse, than the rest of you. Take it.”
“They said I would be fine,” repeated the squire.
“They didn’t want to scare you.”
Tiny took the potion from Will’s hand. “What is this?”
“A regeneration potion. It will heal anything and everything, but only if you take it right after you get hurt.”
His friend looked at his leg again. “What about you? Do you have more?”
Growling with frustration, Will produced another vial. “This one’s for me. Are you happy?”
“Let me see you drink it,” insisted Tiny. “You heal that leg, then I’ll accept this one.”
“You’re an idiot,” snapped Will. “Fine.” With a grimace, he downed his potion. “Now you.”
Tiny followed suit, choking and gagging as the taste assaulted him. He managed to swallow it down, though. The pain in Will’s leg increased a moment later, followed by a sensation of heat. He watched in fascination as the swelling decreased, and he quickly removed the bandage. The edges of the skin knitted together before his eyes.
Meanwhile Tiny’s skin changed color as his bruises began disappearing. The warrior winced a few times as he experienced a variety of disparate pains, but his expression quickly turned to one of relief as the various aches vanished.
Looking down again, Will saw that his leg had finished healing. He tested it by bending his knees and then straightening up again. Everything worked perfectly, though he still had quite a bit of crusted blood stuck to his skin. “Feel like a bath?” he asked.
“More magic?” asked Tiny warily.
Will nodded.
“Sure. After the embarrassment of that nurse trying to bathe me earlier, anything has to be better.”
It took Will a few minutes to construct the spell, but once he was done he quickly turned it loose, allowing the magic to clean Tiny, himself, and a portion of the room that lay between them. As always, he felt immediately better, although the spell couldn’t do anything about his missing trouser leg. Glancing down, he studied the now-clean skin of his leg.
Fine silver lines traced where the wound had been and where his mother had been forced to cut while she was extracting the troll-let. Will frowned as he spotted the scars. Previously when he had used the potion there had been no trace of his injury left behind. But your leg was hurt more than half a day ago, he told himself. And Janice and Tiny were hurt almost two days ago.
He looked at Tiny anxiously, but he couldn’t see any sign of residual injury. But then, bruises didn’t leave scars. He hoped the big man’s kidneys had healed properly.
But Janice…
She’ll never forgive me, Will realized. No, I’ll never forgive myself. His sudden fear was dulled by a wave of fatigue that washed over him, a side effect of the regeneration potion. Looking over at Tiny, he saw the man’s eyes drooping.
“That potion really hits fast, huh?” said Tiny. “I thought I slept well, but I could go back to sleep right now.”
“Sleep,
” Will encouraged him. “They’ll probably kick you out after you wake up and there’s nothing wrong with you.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll go home and take a nap.” Will patted Tiny’s shoulder and headed for the door. Outside the room, he saw Doctor Morris leaving Janice’s room. “How is she?”
The doctor smiled. “She’ll do well. Her eye is back and functioning properly.”
“Can I see her?”
The other man shook his head. “No. She’s asleep now. She was very clear that she didn’t want anyone to see her.”
Will repeated the words slowly. “Anyone to see her. How is…?”
“She’s different,” interrupted the doctor. “It was fortunate that her eye regenerated, but there are some pretty drastic differences in her appearance now.”
“Her mouth? Her lips?”
“She’ll have no trouble eating or drinking. Her cheek healed as well. Everything is perfectly functional. The changes are primarily aesthetic, and there’s some scar tissue, of course. She will probably be very self-conscious about her appearance for a period of time, so be patient with her.”
“I understand,” said Will, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. It wasn’t fair—it would never be fair. Stepping back, he turned and headed for the exit. The walls were closing in, and he felt as though he was suffocating. He needed air.
Outside the sun was warm and bright. It beamed down as though everything was right with the world. Spring was finally making its presence known. The air was fresh and blowing gently, carrying the scent of new leaves and vitality. The world was waking up again.
But it couldn’t touch the rock that had replaced his heart. Will felt cold and dead inside. The weariness brought on by the regeneration potion only enhanced his numbness. He started walking for home.
The journey was dreamlike, or rather nightmare-like, given his emotions, but he arrived before long and found that his house was abuzz with activity. No fewer than two carriages and one large wagon sat in the drive alongside his house. He recognized one of them as belonging to Mark Nerrow.
Scholar of Magic Page 34