by Monica Doke
The Scientist
Melody slept again, after she read the whole letter. She tucked it into her saddlebag and settled quietly next to Yirah. Yirah woke once more and Melody smiled and told her to go back to sleep. Jennifer shook Melody awake, only two hours later. Melody looked up at her groggily.
“Come on, it is time for breakfast,” Jennifer looked at her sideways. “You want to sleep some more, Melody? You look as if you did not sleep well.” Melody blinked. She did want to sleep more. She reached down and pulled a letter out of her saddlebag. She held it up.
“I woke up from a dream and wrote down the incantation. I hid it in my cloak under an enchantment. I held the quill and saw the man who had used it before me. He was the very man we are looking for. It was not his crime. He saved the girl. I saw it,” Melody croaked. Jennifer squealed.
“Fantastic!” She cried. “Sleep on, lovely little girl, sleep on. We will not be leaving for another two hours and we have to prepare. We will prepare for you, as you look miserable and you have given us such a lead!” Jennifer touched Melody’s face and left the room. Melody fell back to sleep immediately. As she slept, she dreamed of Rovingae again. She found it odd that she could not see Melody. Then the young Pramacretine realized that an unfamiliar veil shielded her walk in the dream road. She felt her mother’s presence every time, but she was not sure whether it was her mother, or an incantation her mother cast.
Again, Melody awoke with a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes flickered open, wary of the brightness of the room. Jax sat beside her, smiling.
“You snore,” he said quietly. Melody grunted and turned over.
“I do not,” Jax pulled her back over. He cleaned his face of blood, but the bruises remained. He looked as though he had been fighting, still.
“You do on your stomach,” Jax said, grinning still.
“How unattractive,” she declared. Jax shook his head.
“Not at all,” he said, running his hand through her hair possessively. “It is very light. I like it. It is like a small animal,” Jax said. Melody laughed and wrapped her arms around him, kissing his cheek. As their embrace loosened, Thane and Yirah walked into the room. Thane stared at his half-sister, his face betraying his concern. He recovered quickly.
“I cannot believe you saw history on an object!” Thane cried, sitting beside Jax. “That is unheard of!” Yirah stared at Melody; her look was of admiration mixed with fear. Jennifer walked in and stood beside Thane.
“Melody, we have to go. The letter you gave me is perfect for my tracking and we should find the man next to immediately,”
“Okay, I need to get dressed,” she said, looking expectantly at Jax and Thane. They laughed as they left the girl to prepare. She requested the assistance of one of the two girls in the room. Jennifer dismissed herself because she had to talk to the innkeeper.
“I will help you, Pramacretine,” Yirah said, her face glowing with eagerness.
“Please,” Melody said with the quirk of her lips. “Call me Melody. I am really not much of a Pramacretine.”
“You are, you are just afraid of the title because you do not want to face your truth,” Yirah said while helping Melody into her tunic. The last clean tunic laced up the back and was very difficult. Over it, Yirah helped Melody into a jerkin that Melody had almost outgrown. It was blue dyed leather with a black belt. Yirah admired it. She wondered how the little girl could look so royal in an old jerkin, a pale tunic and brown riding pants, but she did. Melody requested she have her hair plated; Yirah smiled down at her.
“Melody, your hair is knee length. We have not the time,” Yirah informed her. Melody looked at her hair. She had never gotten it cut and it had stopped growing. She looked back at Yirah, then back at her hair. She reached into her pack and pulled out a knife. She handed it to Yirah. The Helacorn woman looked at it curiously.
“Cut it,” Melody demanded. Yirah stared at the blade hesitantly. Then she handed the device back to Melody shaking her head.
“If you are going to cut your hair, you are not going to want to do it with that,” she rummaged through her own pack and relinquished a pair of oddly shaped knives tied together through a hole in the middle of both handles. The blades faced each other. Yirah took Melody’s hair in one hand and started cutting it with the other. After about ten minutes, the woman stopped and put away her mechanism. Melody went to the mirror and looked at her reflection.
Yirah had cut her hair strangely. It was very short, the front hanging to her chin and the back hung strangely shorter. Yirah pushed Melody's new bangs to the side and held it all back with a circlet. Melody wondered vaguely why Yirah had a circlet. The style looked almost like Genewen’s, only the ends curled happily and hung in ringlets. Melody laughed and pushed the hair that fell in her eyes to one side.
“You look pretty,” Yirah said, Melody smiled and shrugged dismissively.
“My head is lighter and I should get caught on fewer limbs,” Melody said. Yirah caressed her own platinum hair, which was just past shoulder length. She had it pulled back in a tight leather string and it looked immobile. Melody and Yirah straightened the room and went into the dining hall of Heighman inn, where the rest of their convoy waited patiently. All eyes widened when Melody appeared. No one spoke until Thane laughed loudly.
“There is something different about you,” Thane commented seriously.
“Is there?” Melody asked, playing along.
“Did you get taller?” Thane asked barely containing his amusement. Melody guffawed at her brother's humor. The group joined in on the laughter.
“Yirah cut off my hair for me,” Melody clarified. She held up a long tail of hair she had tied several times with a ribbon for emphasis.
“I saw a place back at home that requests hair for the people who have very little. They make a new head of hair out of it,” Melody replied. Thane nodded appreciatively.
“You could charge a fortune for Pramacretine hair,” Jennifer said, also laughing. Melody noticed everyone taking in the newness, the people unused to her company taking it a little better than the others do. Haroah seemed impressed, if anything and Thane remained mostly amused. The Helacorn girls were relatively indifferent. It was only hair to them. Jennifer appreciated the effort it must have taken to cut knee-length hair, but really did not seem surprised. Melody’s gaze fell on Jax. He did not try to hide his expression. The Conjurer smiled at her and winked. He seemed to be fine. Melody tried not to care. It was only hair. The party left the inn with extra food and kind words exchanged with the innkeepers.
The afternoon was dark and threatened rain. Clouds had formed in the sky, overwhelming the sun and causing Melody and her companions much strain in their efforts. Though this was the case, Jennifer seemed to be quite confident in the way she was going, stopping occasionally with the letter in hand, searching for clues. Melody rode beside Thane, sharing her ideas on the incantation she had deciphered. He said it would be easy to concoct a protection potion and he would be able to do it, given the equipment.
Melody wanted to know how to cast the incantation to end the one Rovingae began to cast but Thane claimed he was a Healer and had not been properly educated in the nature of Ether. They discussed the possibilities with Jax, but he regretfully admitted that such was Ether even beyond that of his father. He had never read the right books to know what sort of incantation Rovingae wished to cast. The young Pramacretine was disappointed, but claimed she would find a way to beat the enemy. Thane wrote up the recipe for a protection potion. He said he could make one that would be of perfect use if Rovingae was to cast an incantation which paused time and he could find an even better one if it had to do with the weather. They had planned to do so as soon as they returned home.
Thane had an impressive knowledge of anything healing or health related. He said half of his knowledge came from just reading the wrong kinds of books. Melody was disappointed, but she settled for the potion. As the day began its trek towards twilight and the young Prama
cretine had been riding away from the caravan by herself – since they bought Jax his own boots and horse - Haroah steered his charger to ride beside her.
“This Ether you speak of, the one they say you could do,” Haroah began.
“Yes?” Melody answered distantly.
“We should be forming it as soon as possible, right?” Haroah clarified. Melody nodded, not looking at him. “What happens if the Blood Witch begins her Ether before we get a chance to protect ourselves?” Haroah asked. Melody looked down at her hands. For a long time she said nothing, staring at her horse's mane. She looked up, her eyes wide and filled with tears.
“I am still working on that,” the Pramacretine whispered. At his frightened expression, she blinked away the tears and smiled. “I promise we will figure it out, Haroah. For now, we need to focus our attention on the task at hand,” Melody said optimistically.
“You are right, my lady,” Haroah replied, bowing deeply.
Avoiding any more conversations, Melody looked down again at the mane of her beast. She ran her fingers through the long hairs in the horse's mane and a hair fell out and stuck between her fingers. She looked at it for a long time. In an instant Haroah witnessed Melody’s whole face light up, then her whole being, inside and out. “I know!” She cried, jumping off her horse, she grabbed several loose hairs from her winged stallion’s mane. She dug her booted feet into the dirt and leaves, and then pulled a hair from her head.
She held it up in the air. The air around them grew thick with power. A strong, warm wind rushed through the group and raged around the hair in her hand. Melody’s newly cropped hair blew about her face, her eyes were dazzling as the wind ran through her entire body and the long, thin hair whipped about in her hand. She appeared to be shouting something, but the wind masked her words completely. She opened her hand with a flourish. The wind whisked the single hair up into its invisible grasp and blew it out and around the group, then away from them completely.
“What was that?” Jennifer asked loudly, her ears ringing from the thunderous wind. Melody jumped easily back onto her horse which danced around unhappily.
“When I was reading one of Thane’s healing books I came across the mention of the ‘Araeradim.’ I did not know what it was; I was seven and had not read every book in the palace. Therefore, I went to Serendipity’s room and dug through her tomes. I came across some of her notes in the middle of the book. The notes were an incantation she had discovered by the mixing of two others.
“The one she made was used on Alastaf and Thane while she and Father were away. It is an incantation of protection against all big Ethereal threats. It was specific to harmful Ether. The incantation is quite simple. It takes the hair of the caster and an incantation. It is mostly by force of will and Ether. Whisper the names of those whom you wish to protect to the hair, then a few things about them. When you feel the wind, shout the names again and the hair will pass over all of them. Father will soon feel the incantation. I sent one ahead for Haroah’s sister. If she is under an incantation, it cannot help with that one but no more may be inflicted upon her,” when Melody finished her face relaxed and she looked content. Behind her eyes lingered the slight clouds of fear.
“How long will it work?” Jax asked her, his was forcing his expression to be one of curiosity but beneath it was desperation.
“It will work for the rest of my life,” Melody said. “Serendipity placed it on Thane and Alastaf. I was not born. However, when she died the incantation lifted. Of course, she died defeating the enemy, so her incantation would be unnecessary. Just as mine will at the end of my life.” To her last sentence, many of their group winced. Melody did not appear vexed, only tired.
The Pramacretine had always loved the stories of Serendipity. She was a warrior who never wore dresses, smiled and was very graceful. Melody had read that the former Macretine was a most powerful Conjurer and a C’ghalie in entirety and as swift and agile as any could hope to be. Melody admired mostly Serendipity’s collection of writings. Her father kept all of the former Macretine’s work preserved in her office. Melody loved Serendipity's inventions. She wished she could have met her. The group saw this in her expression. Melody looked up from her thoughts. They were concerned about her long pause.
“It will not protect you from small Ether. It is only for large incantations. It will work to protect you against strong Ethereal attacks. Keep in mind, it will not protect you from mortal wounds,” the Pramacretine explained. Issy and Yirah smiled. Melody caught it and laughed. “I am sure our guard will do their best to protect us from that nature of attack.”
“That is not entirely accurate,” Jax announced, standing behind Melody. She saw Jennifer nod. “I know our information can travel slowly and recently, most couriers have not made it to their intended target. Rovingae has discovered a way to bring the dead to life again, fueling the corpse with the trapped soul of the victim. Not only do they die, but their soul is perished as well after she drains it,” Jax informed the troop.
“Yes,” Jennifer assisted the Conjurer. “That is part of what I came here to divulge.” The Infeline said, turning to Melody. “The number of dead has climbed in the past few months and we are finding the bodies multiplying in mysterious ways. I have been out investigating the phenomenon and have found out our dead are rising and killing others, who then rise themselves. The Blood Witch is creating an army of corpses.” Everyone assembled stared at Jennifer and Jax. The news was horrifying.
“This means that while your protection will come in handy against many obstacles and given the Ether used in your prison by the corpse, it will assist against them in that respect, we must remain diligent. The corpses have no pain nor desire for self-preservation. They are weapons only and we could be overtaken by them easily if we are not careful,” Jax supplied. He looked at Jennifer, his face serious.
“I have been investigating as well,” Jax explained. “In my travels I had noticed these creatures. There are villages that close and bolt themselves away every night and will not accept outsiders.”
“How fast are they multiplying?” Melody asked, her heart racing uncontrollably. She was very afraid of this development. She had seen the old man and none of them expected him to rise. Who stole him and how? Did someone capable of such an incantation have to be close to him? She shivered. Jax looked down at her, his face unreadable. She tried to smile but felt her face falter. Instead, she slumped down onto the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees. She needed to stop shaking but felt it only worsen.
“Melody,” Thane said, kneeling beside her. “Calm down, Sister. You are panicking,” the Healer said quietly. “Breathe deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.” Thane instructed softly. Jennifer led the rest of the group away from the Pramacretine. She could hear them continue to speak. “I know you are scared and you should be. This is scary. We have to remain strong and aware. We are surrounded by incredible people who will help us and you are incredible in ways we do not yet know.” Thane droned reassuringly. Melody felt her heart slow and was able to calm down. She put her face on her knees and looked at her brother. Thane smiled down at her.
“You look so young and small,” the Healer said wryly. “I remember when Father brought you home. We were so angry and confused when he sent word of you. When he arrived at the palace with a one-year-old, all of our doubt and anger fell away. Such a little thing and so very cute,” Thane said, smiling. “Father loved you best of all of us, which always angered Alastaf. Father could not help it, though. You are a force, you always were.” As Thane finished his reminiscing, he looked at his sister. She was staring at him, tears running down her face. He looked at her questioningly.
“I did not think Father loved me best,” she admitted. “I thought he did not love me.”
“Oh, on the contrary!” Thane said through laughter. “He doted on you. He was strict because of the dangers you would face. Remember, you conceived in the same manner as Rovingae. Father wanted to
ensure you would find strength on your path. It was a testament to him that his hard work was successful. You should have seen him, though,” Thane said, his face alight. “He bragged of you to all. He cried when you cried. He bent to your every wish, even if he made it seem like he did not.” Melody laughed at Thane's story.
“This must be why Alastaf hated me so much,” Melody whispered. Her expression revealed sorrow and disappointment. “Did he not know it was never my fault?”
“Of course he did,” Thane said, placing his hand on his sister's shoulder. “Melly, he loves you. We all do, we always have. You are impossible to hate. Alastaf never hated you; he was jealous and angry with Father. Sometimes, his anger boiled over at you. 'Last has never been good at being gentle. Father trained him to be diplomatic and aloof.”
“He was so angry,” Melody argued. Thane nodded and hugged her.
“He will not always be,” The Healer stated. “But you must break through his wall to find the brother you want in him.”
“Why did you not tell me this sooner?” Melody asked, hurt.
“I did not know before,” Thane said. “When I left I thought as you did, that he hated you. However, as I grew and learned about the nature of people, of different races, I found clues of what he really thought and realized he never hated you, or me. He was envious of our closeness and angry with Father for his differentiation. 'Last is to be Pacretine, so his upbringing was different than ours.”
Melody smiled and leaned against her brother a moment longer before she dragged herself off the ground. She made her way back to the rest of her friends and smiled wearily.
“This is big,” Melody said to all of them. “I am dismayed to find that our family is not properly informed of this situation and I hope that upon our return we will begin to handle it accordingly.
“In regards to my incantation, we know we can be injured or worse by mortal means but we also know we are all quite capable of protecting ourselves. We also know these bodies have souls in them that Rovingae is destroying. My incantation will protect you from her stealing your soul. Once it has left you, she cannot get it. If you do die by mortal means,” Melody paused, taking a breath. “Your soul should be safe from her.