Kemp

by Francheska Fifield

  I flinch. I’d been unaware. Tortured and unable to help. I had not helped him, as I should have.

  "What…"

  'His skin will remain blackened in places as well. I saved the body, but the magic had consequences. You will have to help him accept what he is now.'

  Viktor will always be perfect to me no matter how he looks. This time, as soon as he wakes, I will tell him so.

  Viktor

  I open my eyes to snoring. I roll over slowly, my body hurts though I cannot figure out why since I should be dead. Elainne is on a mat on the floor, covered in furs and sleeping. I look further on and see the great dragon at a cave entrance, staring out at the moon. He must have saved us.

  'You’re awake young one, but do not move. Your body still needs to heal and you both need rest. Back to sleep, little one. You are both safe. Rest well.'

  I can tell that the rumbling in my mind is laced with a spell but I am powerless to fight it. I drift back to sleep, somehow at peace with the unknown.

  Elainne

  I am in and out of consciousness for over a week. Viktor has not woken the entire time. The dragon has me relearning to walk and bend over without falling. My muscles are weakened. My wounds heal, but where I’ve been hit with a rod and whipped will never completely heal. Scars will grace my back for the remainder of my days.

  "How were you keeping us alive before we woke?"

  I have started walking on my own again, but Viktor is still out of it. His injuries are even worse than mine.

  'I used my magic to keep you alive. The body cannot heal well without calorie intake, which is why it’s slower going than if you woke and ate. See how much better you are now? How much faster the healing process once you woke for good. Viktor had extensive injuries though. He will be in a magical coma for quite some time.'

  "It is good that we are hoarding food then. I want there to be food for Viktor when he wakes."

  The dragon nods as I collect berries and he keeps watch. No one will bother his cave, but I am weak and he is worried, if I come out alone, that I will be nabbed by ruffians.

  I still have not asked about the mages. If they lived, if the village is still standing, if they attacked the dragon when he came for us. He hadn't been injured when I woke, but other than a death wound, he would likely have been healed in a couple of days after saving us.

  "What bothers you, child?"

  "Viktor. You said he won't be the same. Do you mean physically? Will he be unable to perform as a Kemp?"

  'No. He is just different. Dragon magic is the magic that keeps the world living. Like the fairies, unicorns, and phoenixes. We are what keep magic tethered to the world. As we die, it's released back into the world until the next creatures of magic are born. I had to tap into that magic to heal him. He had burns from fire and ice. He would not have survived if I had not used what I did. It was an act of desperation.'

  "Why would you go through so much for us?"

  He tilts his head, holding still as I climb onto his back with berries, and other things to eat and drink. He will hunt for meat when Viktor is closer to waking.

  'As I said before, you are needed. Your destiny is written and it is not an easy path. You will need your Kemp if you are to survive.'

  "Hmm." I don’t think that is the whole story but I don’t think that I am getting any more out of him right now either.

  "So, how will the healing make Viktor different?"

  'He has dragon blood in him. It was the only way I could use the lifesaving magic on him. He will be changed. In some ways more Elvin and in others more like a beast. He will have to learn to hide these things in the company of others. He will have to relearn control over himself. Dragons, unbelievably, are known for their tempers. Even without the fire breathing, Viktor will be more formidable.'

  I chuckle and slide down as we land at the mouth of the cave. The implications of what the Wise One says are astronomical. Viktor has dragon blood in him now… I can’t even imagine how that will turn out; how aunt and uncle will take it. I can imagine my father being ecstatic. Viktor is more Elvin and has dragon blood. Could we be any bigger freaks? No, no we cannot. However, we are powerful and that will always take precedence in my father's mind.

  "I don't care what happens to him. Viktor is my Kemp, no matter what."

  The dragon looks me in the eye; a stare I match not out of fear but respect, and so he wil see my honesty as I speak. He must believe me, for a few minutes later, he nods and looks away.

  'He will awaken. Tonight I will hunt for meat.'

  He flies off and I set up the fireplace. It looks as if humans have been here before. I hope the dragon hadn't eaten them…

  Viktor

  It is dark when I awake. I feel groggy. My eyes are partially crusted together. A wet washcloth rubs my face and I relax. Elainne. She is alive and moving around, which means she is in no immediate danger.

  I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. A drink is pressed against my mouth and I tilt my head slightly to drink. My throat feels like sand and even after drinking, I still cannot speak.

  "Don't, Viktor. Don't try to talk. You have been in a coma for three weeks. Your voice is gone, your eyes are still in the healing stages to make them look more normal, and your muscles have weakened. It will be weeks, maybe even months, before we can travel again. It will be slow going so don’t try to push it. The dragon is here and we are safe. Just rest and heal."

  That explains why she looks odd. There is a haze around her…

  'Just one of the things you will have to get used to when you are healed. Auras and heat signatures.'

  Elainne doesn’t respond, so I assume that is for me only. What I can’t figure out is… what does that mean? Why can I see auras? Is it a residual mage magic thing? Plus, heat signatures… what is with that?!

  "Viktor, hold still, I don’t want to take out an eye while I clean."

  I hold still and let Elainne care for me. Even I know this is the time to let her care for me. It rankles the Kemp in me, but I can barely move my fingers let alone protect anyone. This will not always be the normal, but if I ever want to protect her again, I have to survive.

  She and the dragon were right; it is over a week before I can even sit up, let alone move. Elainne has been taking magic lessons with the dragon. He teaches her spells that were lost to the rest of the world. She has the magic to do them. I know that she is powerful, but seeing her master spells that only the dragons have ever known is a bit eerie. How much more powerful than me is she really?

  Her healing skills improve drastically. Between her and the dragon, they are able to use magic to work my muscles in a type of therapy to rebuild them without my injuring myself. Elainne gets the idea after I try and fail to stand, setting my recovery back a bit.

  She is going to master the world before long.

  Elainne

  "I will be fine. I need to get a message to my aunt and get news on the outside world!"

  "Over my dead body are you going anywhere alone!"

  Viktor is back to being his usual stubborn Kemp self. Two weeks of therapy and he can stand for short periods. He seems to think that means that he is in charge of my safety again.

  "Viktor, I am not letting you kill yourself by trying to stop me from doing something. If I need to just teleport down the mountain, I will."

  He stands, shocked and then angry. I have taken the last two weeks to work on spells that the dragon taught the old races. The ones that no longer exist; and here I thought that Elves and Merpeople were old. Nope, not the first magical races. That was a shock. What is more shocking is that I can freaking teleport! Only short distances and I am tired and dizzy afterwards, but in a life or death situation, I will take dizzy over dead, for sure. If I had this ability while in the mage camp, I could have teleported to Viktor; gotten us the hell out of there before getting nabbed and tortured. Live and learn

  "It's not safe."

  "Viktor, this is not up for discussion.
Wise One says that he has some things to teach you that I cannot be present for. I know that he wants to break the news to you alone. So, I have to go for a couple of days. Do not worry. He will know if I am in trouble. He made sure of it. Therefore, until your bond to me is healed, he can keep track of me. He won't let me get hurt and he can get to me faster than anyone else could. So be safe, listen to the babysitter, and do what he tells you. I will be back in a few days."

  Viktor gives a growl but he can’t argue. Wise One will be breaking the news to him about his dragon blood. Wise One also knows that if I am there, Viktor will look to see how I feel about it before making the decision on how he feel about it. He needs to hear and come to terms with this on his own. I never knew the bond between Kemp and charge could be broken magically, but the dragon said that if Viktor can’t accept his new fate, he will break it for us. I am not happy about it but I understand. Viktor has a lot to think over and he needs to do it alone. I have a plan for those few days but I am not about to tell him. Poor, poor Viktor.

  Viktor

  She shouldn’t go alone. No one is listening to me though and I can’t fight either of the ones in charge. They seem to have an almost symbiotic relationship going on. They communicate with gestures and body language. I can tell that they are not communicating telepathically every time. I am not sure how I know, but I do. I also am not sure how they are communicating if not telepathic or verbally… there are too many things about this that I do not like. According to Elainne though, I wiull learn them while she is gone.

  Still, as I watch her walking away my entire body shakes and I feel the need to follow. If something does happen to her - dragon or no - he will die.

  'Clear your mind, young one. There is much we must talk of and she needs to be out of your mind so that you can think as yourself only.'

  "Easier said than done. She was recently almost killed. I can't just leave her to go anywhere alone."

  'Until you learn to control your new impulses, she is safer alone.'

  That earns him a glare. What the hell did he just say? Does he think I would seriously ever hurt Elainne? Nothing can be further from the truth. "That would never happen. You know the bond between Kemp and master is too deep for that."

  'Normally, yes, but right now the blood I used to save you is coursing through your veins, fighting for dominance, and if you cannot control yourself it will win. You need to control it. This will be even harder than trying to control your magic and even more important.'

  "What did you put in me to save me?"

  Suddenly all the whispered conversations between Elainne and the dragon, all the stolen looks when they thought I wasn’t looking, the stares from him when I got frustrated… all of them start to seem like an even bigger deal than I could have ever thought.

  "How did you save me?"

  He lets loose a hot breath that almost blows me over.

  "Sit."

  "No. Tell me now."

  "Very well. I used dragon blood and magic to tie you to this world so that you could not die. You could very well be immortal now. You will develop tougher skin; you have already noticed that when you close one eye the other sees things differently.'

  "When they are both open it’s normal…"

  'Yes. The normal one is dominate. That will help you to adapt. Close your good eye. What do you see with the other?"

  "I see colors surrounding things."

  'You see my aura and the auras of all living things. The plants will be green. The Elves themselves will be greenish as well…'

  "You are so many different colors…"

  'I am the magic of the earth, the sky, the flame. All the colors of the world reside in me. Everyone will be different. I will need to teach you about auras so you know what kind of magic they have access to. Later, when you are better, I will teach you how to look deeper. How to read more. Assuming you can access the deeper aspects of aura reading.'

  "This isn't a joke? You used dragon blood to heal me. You expect me to believe this?"

  He sighs and before me appears a mirror. It is as if water encased in a flame. It appears and shimmers. Once it stops rippling I look in and see myself. One eye is milky and gray. The other keeps going between my grandfather's black mage eyes to having a dragon pupil. I have black spots on me. I assume that is where I had fire and ice damage. However, looking closely they look like tiny scales. Tiny black scales. He wasn’t lying. I am becoming a monster.

  'You are not a monster. You just do not know what you are. We will spend the next three days working on that, so when Elainne returns you can decide if you wish to remain her Kemp or have me break the bond.'

  "You can break the bond?"

  'If one or both of you wish it. You need to decide if you really are a monster that needs to hide away from the world, or just a Kemp that requires a bit more discipline than most.'

  "My entire life…"

  'It will never be the same.'

  Chapter Eight

  Elainne

  I hope Viktor is doing well. Despite Wise One muting the Kemp bond so Viktor can process everything without the bond bringing me into it, I can still feel the bond thrumming through me. It is almost a role reversal. I can feel him and get back in a hurry if need be. That is why I am walking, hiking, and climbing up and down what seems like half the world. I need to save my big magic as a trump card, in case Viktor's or my own, life depend on it.

  The day is beautiful. Fall has come in and it is cool, making it a less sweaty hike. I am not against being sweaty but I have been in the same clothing for almost a month now. I managed to rinse them out once in the river but it really is getting to be time to get some new ones. It is another reason that I am going out. Viktor and I both need supplies. We will be in the mountains for another few weeks, maybe even a few months, so we need warmer clothing. We have to be prepared to hike home in the snow as well. That will be fun.

  The wind blows leaves and the remnants of flowers through the air. I love the crisp air of fall. The smell of fallen leaves, plus the bite of cold that comes off and on with the wind. I can close my eyes and remember picking apples with my mother. I have not had time to grieve for her recently. It has been rather hectic since I have come to the human world. I still miss her and I miss everything that we have ever done together, but I am learning to live without her. It sounds so cruel but I know she wouldn’t want me mired in sorrow forever. She loved me too much for that.

  "Usually I have Viktor to talk to. Being alone is going to cause me to become full of melancholy. He will never let me live it down if I prove him right! This trip is not a mistake. I have to find out about my aunt and uncle. And I need to get supplies. Most importantly, I need to make it back to the mage village and see if Viktor's grandfather still lives. His grandmother will want to know… even if Viktor himself does not. This is practical. I need to know where the mages stand. If they are angered and if they plan to attack. Yes, very practical."

  Just whom am I trying to convince…?

  Viktor

  'You need to focus!'

  I shoot him a glare and a growl. "I am trying! You keep pissing me off and I cannot stop worrying about Elainne, How will we know if she needs help if I cannot use my Kemp bond?"

  'I will know.'

  "How? You aren't bonded to her!"

  "I will know. She should be the one to tell you the why of it. Later. When she returns. Right now, you need to concentrate!'

  "I cannot! You do not exactly have the patience your age would suggest!"

  He looks at me as if I am something he wants to eat. Or maybe something annoying… like a flea.

  "She was right, your patience does not allow for a free teaching method. Fine, this will be training. Every time you succeed with what I ask of you I will let you take a step in the direction she went. How many things can you master to be with her? How long before your legs fail, causing you to collapse? What will fail first, your will or body?"

  Elainne may call him ‘Wise One’,
but I have a better name for him… I know it will be my body that will fail. I can likely master everything and, in the process, destroy my legs trying to get just one-step closer to Elainne… this jackass dragon. He knowz exactly what buttons he is pushing.

  "Fine, I will focus! But when I can master this you are in for the fight of your life!"

  He breathes a throaty chuckle at me and nods in satisfaction.

  "Now, let us start for real. Look at the animals. The birds. The snakes. Everything. What do their auras look like? Are they magically inclined animals? Work with me, boy. Push yourself. You need to master this."

  I hate him. Sitting outside on the slightly damp ground is making me pout. Not pout… something manlier. Either way, if Elainne were caught in the rain that happened earlier, she will be wet, , and alone. Then I really will turn this giant bird into a turkey dinner.

  I use my dragon eye to find scurrying animals with my new heat sensor ability. Then my cloudy one to test their aura. Dragon eyes. I have dragon eyes.

  It is clear as day that this is a normal animal with no special magic. So instead, I look at the dragon once again. His aura is golden in the center, which fans out into red, purple, blue. and then green. Almost as if a rainbow, but the colors are so deep and rich, they cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the world. Outside of the aura, a silver ring shimmers and ripples, seeming to reach out into the world like a lover’s welcoming embrace.

  "You look so different from everything else. And why can I not see my own aura?"

  "That is not how this works. You need to understand this is another tool for you. On the battlefield, you can tell if a warrior is faking death or actually dying. It makes you a more efficient killer and protector. You need to harness this power."

  "Last time I looked at your aura, you didn’t have the silver. What changed? Was it because so much of your magic was in me or…"