The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1

by Rachel Ronning

  “Thank you,” said Lucy.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay here with the raticula scales? A much more enjoyable past time.”

  “Not today,” said Lucy.

  “Well, if you must leave, then you’d better win. Good luck,” and with that Ted went back to muttering over his scales.

  Lucy ran back to the room she had left Justin in. He had succeeded in removing one of the poisons. It was light gray. Lucy put her bag with the bottles down on the table.

  “Good. I removed the one. See if you can remove the other one. That way, you can find that one in me, separate it out, and remove the other one as well.”

  Lucy nodded, took one of the bottles in her hand, opened it, sat down opposite Gavin, and concentrated. She remembered how Gavin was supposed to feel and found what did not belong. She focused on removing that pulsing oddity and putting it into the bottle she was holding. Lucy let out a sigh and opened her eyes. The bottle in her hands was filled with a bubbling orange liquid. She focused on Gavin again and found nothing unusual. Gavin held out his hand and Lucy gave him the bottle. He took the bottle with the gray poison off the table.

  “Tell Maya to meet us here when she’s done and we’ll remove the poisons from her as well. We’d meet her there, but by the time we remove them from each other, she’ll probably be almost done and I’d rather not be doing this in a room full of people,” said Justin.

  Gavin nodded and left with the poisons.

  Justin shifted his attention to Lucy.

  “Your turn. I’ll remove them from you, and then you can remove them from me. That way, you’ll also have both in front of you to study if you need to.”

  Lucy nodded. She leaned back against the chair she was sitting in and relaxed. She watched as Justin closed his eyes and concentrated. It was interesting to watch. The last couple of times he had healed her, she had been in no shape to observe his technique. Lucy watched as he steadied his breathing. He almost looked like he was meditating except that there was a furrow in between his eyebrows indicating a frown. She watched as the gray poison seeped from the pores of her skin and flowed across the room into the bottle he was holding. He corked that bottle, put it back into the bag, and drew out another one. Justin winked at her before closing his eyes and starting the process all over again. Lucy felt odd that someone was concentrating so hard on her. Having someone study her so deeply was unnerving especially since he was searching all over inside of her instead of focusing on one small specific area. When he had healed her arm, he was concentrating on her arm. Now, he was concentrating on her. Lucy decided she preferred being unconscious during this kind of thing. Finally, the orange poison filled the bottle he was holding and he put that back in the bag as well.

  “Ok, now you can take the poisons out of me,” he said, tossing her two empty bottles.

  This time, Lucy was the one to close her eyes and steady her breathing. She could feel Justin watching her, and it was almost as unnerving as when their positions were reversed. Had he found her watching him unnerving? Was this payback? Lucy quickly brushed the thoughts away. She did not have time for that. She breathed in and reached out with her senses to study Justin. He felt much different that Gavin. More complex somehow, deep, and also more familiar, which was odd as she had never looked at Justin like this before. She began to feel self-conscious. Looking at someone so intently felt like an invasion of privacy. Rather than dwell on that thought, she focused on the job at hand. She found the orange poison quickly. Though it did not show up in the system as orange, it bubbled in an odd way, and she drained it out of his system. She looked at the bottle she was holding.

  “Yours is bubbling more than Gavin’s was.”

  “I would assume that it bubbles faster the longer it’s in your blood stream, but I can’t be sure. I am sure that Maya will be able to tell you all about it if you ask her later.”

  “I’ll take out the gray one now,” said Lucy uncorking a second bottle.

  Again, she closed her eyes, slowed down her breathing and reached out. The gray poison was more difficult to find. It was a subtle poison doing its best to blend in with the rest of the blood stream. She pulled that out as well. She got up and walked over to the bag where she put both bottles with the others. Lucy suddenly felt uneasy around Justin. She felt like she had seen something she shouldn’t. Why was it different studying Justin than Gavin? At the same time, she was uneasy knowing that he had also studied her. It was unnerving, awkward, and yet oddly comfortable, which made it all the more awkward. The room felt very small.

  “Interesting isn’t it? Studying another person so closely,” observed Justin.

  “Yes,” agreed Lucy. “Does everyone feel different?”

  “In a way. Perhaps the better way of putting it is that your feelings about a person affect how they feel to you.”

  “How do I feel to you?” Lucy was curious about the whole process with which she had so little experience, but at the same time she felt apprehensive about discussing it with Justin right now. If she were to describe something from her experiences, Justin would know she was talking about him. It was always odd to talk about someone with that someone.

  Justin shrugged, “Since I’ve looked at you that way before, at this point you feel familiar. The first time, it did feel like I was invading your privacy in a way, but not any more. You feel like…” Justin paused, but before he could continue Maya and Gavin came in.

  Maya’s hair was falling down, and there were soot smudges on her face, but she smiled and was flushed with excitement.

  “I got them,” she announced with triumph. “I made an antidote for each individual poison and also one that should work for the combination of both. Hurry up and get the poisons out of me so we can turn them in to Eric and then I can tell you all about it. Good work, determining that there were two and bringing me samples. That always makes things easier.”

  Justin tossed Lucy one of the last two empty bottles. “You do the orange one, I’ll do the gray.”

  Lucy turned her attention to Maya. Maya too felt different, but more like Gavin than Justin, and it felt less invasive. Lucy and Justin corked their bottles within seconds of each other, and the four of them left for the Dining Hall. The Dining Hall was empty except for Eric. He was sitting at a table with his feet propped up on a chair. The table in front of him was bare, and Lucy wondered if he was bored. But then, someone like Eric was probably never bored, and thinking did not require props.

  “I’m certainly not surprised that you’re first, but let’s see if you’re right,” said Eric, a slight smile playing on his thin lips.

  Maya smiled and began her explanation.

  “This,” she took out a bottle with the orange poison, “is asletixaby. It bubbles its way through the bloodstream separating out the oxygen from the blood and pushing it upwards. A rush of oxygen to the brain causes a brief euphoric state. I say brief, because death follows shortly thereafter. Interestingly enough, its antidote is also a poison.” She took out a vial with green liquid. “Tamverin neutralizes the effect of asletixaby by pushing oxygen down. It must be given in exact proportion. Too much and it will send all the oxygen down into the feet, depriving the brain and also leading to death. For the amount you gave us, this is the correct dose.”

  “That’s true,” said Eric, “though not all.”

  “Of course not,” said Maya with a laugh. “That would be boring and too easy. You didn’t give us straight asletixaby, you put in a quillit twist.” Maya took out the gray poison. “This travels through the bloodstream, but its goal is to get to the nerves and cause nerve paralysis. An infected person could still move, but they would not feel anything. Marllinic is the antidote. Again, proportion is important, though not as lethal as with the other one. Too much marllinic could cause a person to be extra sensitive for a few days.” Maya handed Eric a vial filled with light pink liquid and continued talking before he could interrupt.

  “However, although I brewed separat
e antidotes for the separate poisons, you did not give them to us separately. Therefore, I think it’s only fair that I give you one potion that will work as an antidote for the combination. I created this in the lab, and it should work, but I don’t have a name for it,” she finished. She handed Eric a vial filled with a blue liquid that seemed to swirl of its own accord.

  Eric smiled. “Consider yourselves winners of this part of the competition. Don’t get too cocky though, there are harder challenges coming up. Other groups will not have the advantage of having someone like Maya who is probably the best potions student to pass through this school since Nicodemus. Nor will other groups have the advantage of being able to expel poisons from the body. A worthy skill. I’m interested to see what else you show yourselves capable of.”

  They chatted with Eric for awhile, and other groups began to trickle in. Some were excited and had antidotes; others were hanging their heads in defeat knowing that they would not be able to brew an antidote in the time that was left. Most groups came up with one antidote. A few came up with both, but none of the groups invented a third like Maya had done. Eric and Nicodemus double-checked that everyone was indeed cured, and discussed their antidotes, and answered their questions.

  “I am proud of the effort everyone put into this morning’s challenge. I know it was not easy. The next challenge will take place after lunch,” announced Eric.

  Eric’s announcement was met with a variety of emotions. Some people felt that one challenge per day was enough. Some were discouraged about their performance so far. Some were excited to continue with the next challenge so soon after the previous one. However, almost everyone was apprehensive about eating lunch.

  Chapter 32

  Lucy found lunch enjoyable. In that she was in the minority, but it was amusing to watch people pick at their food while giving Gavin horrified looks as he ate five sandwiches without a care in the world. After lunch, Eric led everyone outside to the practice yards. Everyone seemed more relaxed since Eric did not announce that everyone was poisoned again. The practice yard had been divided off into tall boxed off areas.

  “You may have noticed that there were not many professors around for this morning’s challenge. They were conducting a mission of their own. We informed contacts in other worlds what we would be doing this afternoon, and we received lots of assistance. Teachers went to a variety of worlds this morning to bring back any injured or sick creatures our contacts were able to locate. Each group will go to a sectioned off area and will be responsible for curing or treating all the animals in their area. In each area there is a medical kit with basic supplies. Once you are in your area you are not allowed to leave until you’ve done all you can for the creatures in your care. Please take your time and be careful. Accuracy is more important than speed. All the creatures will be returned to their worlds after the challenge.”

  The students began moving towards the enclosures. Lucy felt confident about this challenge. Justin could heal anything. They entered an area and looked at the ten creatures now in their care. Again, Justin assumed a leadership position.

  “I know you can’t heal everything. I’ll start with the chambrio in the corner. The rest of you try to figure out what’s wrong with them. If you can fix it do so, otherwise, try to make them as comfortable as possible and brief me when I get there. That will save me time. Also, Maya, you can do stitches if needed, it’s easier for me to knit together and heal something that is already sewn together. Gavin, the same thing goes for setting any broken bones.”

  Justin walked to the chambrio, a creature that looked rather like a miniature woolly mammoth. They never got taller than three feet at the head, they didn’t have tusks, and their wool was extremely soft. He knelt down next to it and began to figure out what was wrong.

  Maya grabbed the medical kit and sorted through to see what was considered basic supplies. She went over to a sheep that looked like it had been partially mauled by a large animal and began to clean out the cuts so she could stitch them up. The sheep lay there and let Maya work. Lucy could hear her singing softly. She couldn’t pick up the words so she wasn’t sure if Maya was working a healing spell or simply trying to keep the animal calm as she worked.

  Gavin walked around trying to find broken bones or other ailments that were not magically involved. There was a turtle whose shell was so hot, steam was coming off it, and every minute or so, it would hiccup and bubbles would come out of its mouth. Gavin left that one alone.

  Lucy started with an otter. Its front paw was smashed. Not broken, smashed. Lucy was not an expert at healing, but she figured now was as good a time as any to give it a try. She was pretty sure she couldn’t make it worse, and Justin could fix it if she couldn’t. She held the otter in her lap and gently took the tiny paw in her hand. The otter looked up at her with its large, wet, brown eyes as if he was begging her to help him. She concentrated on the paw and slowly started to rebuild the bone structure. She aligned the bones, made sure they weren’t pinching any nerves, and knitted them together as best she could. Then she formed and strengthened the muscles around the bones. Lucy concentrated on alleviating the swelling and any pain associated with it.

  When she finished with that she sighed and stretched a little. Then, she studied the otter to make sure that everything else looked right. He seemed to have a small infection, which she was also able to cure. Lucy patted him on the head and decided he was done other than Justin’s final check. He hadn’t said so, but Lucy was sure that Justin would check over every animal one last time before they considered themselves done, even the ones he had cured himself.

  Maya was still working on the sheep, and Gavin was still giving the turtle a wide berth, so Lucy decided to see if there was anything she could do for it. Lucy concentrated as hard as she could but could not seem to be able to find what was wrong or causing either issue. She was able to bring down the temperature of the shell enough so that the turtle was touchable, but she couldn’t make it any better. Justin finished with the chambrio who was now happily munching on some straw. He came over to help the turtle, and Lucy moved on to another creature. Lucy had no idea how long they worked on the animals in their group. It was rewarding, and even though it was part of a competition, something real was involved this time, and none of them wanted to miss anything for the sake of the creatures. Even once Maya, Gavin, and Lucy had done all they could do, and Justin was the only one working, Maya was still holding the sheep’s head in her lap, and the chambrio was curled up next to Lucy.

  Justin alerted Nerek when they finished so he could double-check their healing work. They were not the first group finished this time, but the other couple of groups that had finished first had missed a couple of minor things. Since they were done, they were free to leave so they went to the Dining Hall to eat. It had been a long day, but tomorrow promised to be longer.

  “What do you think they will have us do tomorrow?” asked Gavin.

  “I couldn’t begin to guess. I never thought they would poison everyone at breakfast,” responded Justin.

  “Good point,” said Maya, “Although, it was also kind of funny. Did you see the looks on some people’s faces when Eric made that announcement?”

  “I wonder how hard other groups are finding some of the challenges,” commented Lucy. “So far, I don’t think they are that bad, but I’ve been training with you guys. Don’t let it go to your heads, but you are the best.”

  “Thank you, thank you. I accept your vote of confidence in our abilities for the group and feel the need to add that we think you’re not half bad yourself,” said Gavin with a mock bow.

  “I know a couple of groups are thinking about dropping out. They feel the challenges are past their abilities, and they would rather watch and enjoy the challenges than be exhausted and feel inadequate,” said Maya.

  They continued chatting until they noticed each other yawning enough to call it a night and get some sleep. Justin walked Lucy to her door.

  “I’m so used
to you walking me to my room, I wonder if I could find my own way there if you weren’t here,” Lucy joked.

  “I trust your abilities to navigate hallways,” said Justin with a smile.

  “I appreciate your confidence.”

  “I aim to please.”

  “Well, if you aim to please, would you mind telling me more about the purpose of our little group?”

  “I’d love nothing more than to tell you all about it.”

  “But you aren’t going to.”

  “Sorry,” said Justin with an apologetic smile running his fingers through his hair.

  “It was worth a try,” shrugged Lucy. “I’ll give you a few more times to explain. Then I’ll start sinking to things like extortion and bribery.”

  “What would you bribe me with, I wonder,” Justin gave Lucy an interested look.

  “I think I’d rather let your imagination play with that option for a few days.”

  “That’s a dangerous thing to do, leaving a man alone with his imagination.”

  “I know. That’s precisely why I’m doing it. And with those words, I bid you goodnight,” said Lucy.

  “Does the walk to your door seem quicker every night?”

  “Maybe we walk faster. Maybe, it’s something as simple as being comfortable in each other’s company.”

  “Comfortable can be a good way to be.”

  “I like it. Good night, Justin.”

  “Good night, good work today.”

  Chapter 33

  The next morning was filled with anticipation. Everyone still participating in the challenge was excited to find out what was next, and everyone else was excited to watch. They were relatively secure in the belief that the individuals running the competition would not be so mundane as to poison everyone again and so ate with vigor. Lucy stopped counting the sausages Gavin was eating at eight. This was when he took a brief foray into the egg varieties and enjoyed scrambled, over easy, and hard-boiled before returning to the sausages. Eric, true to form, waited until everyone looked more or less finished before announcing the next segment of the challenge.