Kerlot was confused. “Then your Trial was a fraud? You used the jade’s power, not your own?”
“No. It has only been a source of inspiration, not a source of actual power. I am here to learn more and to understand the jades. But this air jade is counter to my natural inclination for earth magic. I keep trying to unlock ways of using the air to bolster the magic I prefer.”
“That’s counterintuitive,” Tianna said, her voice now full of curiosity instead of outrage. “Why not learn air magic for its own purpose?”
Delminor shrugged. “I see it sort of like exercising. If you repeat the same expected motions, you maintain your strength. But if you change what you do, exercise difference muscles, push harder in unique ways, you build different strength and faster.”
“You certainly are a unique one,” Tyral said. He turned to the rest of the Council. “I agree with Kerlot that we should offer a boon. I suggest we provide these three with a connective suite that they may work together more harmoniously. I also advise that we tend to the welfare of this woman during the baby’s development.”
Tianna gasped. “Surely you’re not suggesting we let them raise the child here?”
“No. Only until its birth. Then we will reassess the situation.” The Council deliberated and agreed. “The three of you may remain here for the duration of her pregnancy under these terms. We will tend to your basic needs. You will research as you have done and share that knowledge openly with the Council.”
“Will I be able to visit with the other jades at some point?”
“We will see.”
Chapter 20
The Demonstration
“Retriforius callienitar crakkeital brackenth kaie formillian rotra shai.” Delminor snapped his hands upward and swept them down low, slamming them together onto a brick, ignoring the sting of impact.
Pyron added to the incantation. “Akkricon formitherien jalicorith kaie.” He brought his hands together slowly, pushing them deliberately toward the ground.
The next step was Donya’s, now several months pregnant and showing it well. Her hands swept in waves as she recited her spell. “Hathrakessalar sheishene undulario kess connarius.” She upended a vial of algae water on the brick.
Several members of the Mage Council were gathered around, some taking notes of the proceedings. They had rarely seen three young mages work a spell in concert to complete a single task, not that they knew what the goal was. Delminor had provided them with a full description but had asked them not to read it until they were finished. His goal was to assure them of the validity of their research without the chance of anyone giving any assistance.
As they watched, the algae soaked into the brick, its internal structure having been loosened by Delminor’s spell. It did not leak out of the brick because Pyron had fortified its sides. The water seeped into the stone and Delminor finished with the final incantation.
“Auronia lumitro enyassee notiosa yorgennison domenia klei.” He balled his hands together, then unfurled them like a blooming flower. Sweat beaded on his head as he finished, sighing in relief.
The brick looked unchanged except for a dimly radiant glow emanating from within.
Tyral opened the scroll he had been given and read it. “Had I not witnessed this, I would barely believe it. You wove no less than four elements together. Air and earth to loosen the brick from within, earth to fortify the structure, water to drag the algae through, and nature to trigger the algae’s luminance. Glowing water stone, indeed.”
“Just don’t upend it or the water will seep out,” Pyron cautioned. “You can’t seal it or the algae dies, as we learned. These stones last for months, or should, at any rate. One of our early trials still illuminates our workspace.”
“I am proud of you, son,” Tyral said before he could stop himself. His stern façade crumbled and he smiled in earnest. “This truly is a remarkable feat. How did you manage the nature spell?”
Delminor reminded him of the work they had been doing to break down the spells into smaller components. “Earth and water closely relate to nature, so we were able to work with it more easily. It’s a variant of a spell Donya’s used in the past. But I will confess, utilizing multiple elements for one ritual is rather taxing.”
Donya grabbed his arm and he turned. Her face was ashen. “Are you all right?”
“I… don’t know. Something feels wrong.” She clutched her belly, suddenly afraid. “The magic. Something—” She shrieked in pain and started retching all over the floor.
Delminor froze, watching his beloved in such distress, panicked about what she had said. The other masters reacted faster. “To the infirmary. Hurry!”
They made their way quickly downstairs, Delminor carrying Donya as she convulsed terribly. She had nothing left within her to expel but she continued to retch the entire way.
Essalia heard them burst through and she paled when she saw the state Donya was in. “Out! All of you!” Delminor refused to leave but allowed himself to be dragged to the edge of the room, his terror palpable.
Donya screamed repeatedly and begged for the pain to stop. Essalia’s voice crooned softly, trying to calm the woman. She poured a mild herbal sedative down Donya’s throat, calling to her compatriots for help. A group of four healers rushed into the room, assessed the situation, and exchanged horrid looks with Essalia, who had already come to the same conclusion.
One of the healers approached Delminor. “You need to get going. We will come for you when we stabilize her.” Then, almost as an afterthought, “What was she doing before this started?”
Delminor absently explained the demonstration and the magic Donya had employed. The healer nodded and then ushered him out. Pyron grabbed him and took him away.
“She’ll be all right. She’s in capable hands.”
Delminor shook his head. “Did you see their faces? It was doom in their eyes. Every one of them. Pyron… what if she dies?”
“Del—”
“What if she dies because of the spells we performed? Because of the magic I had her use?” His head sank into his hands. “This is all my fault.”
“No, Del. Take it easy. We don’t even know what’s going on. We just have to wait this out. Why don’t we go and—”
“I’m not going anywhere. I can’t. I don’t want to be this far away.”
Pyron wrapped his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “All right. I’ll bring you something to drink. In the meantime, why don’t you sit and hold onto the air jade. Maybe it can calm you down, because being upset right now isn’t going to do Donya any good.”
Delminor did as suggested, tossing the air jade back and forth in his hands. He felt the cool breeze emitted by the stone and couldn’t help feeling that it signified the fleeting nature of life itself.
* * *
Hours passed before Essalia came to find him, surprised he was still nearby. She sat with him and placed her hands on his.
“Can I see her?” he asked before Essalia could speak.
“Donya isn’t ready for visitors. Delminor, she will live. But… I’m sorry. We did all we could.”
He couldn’t understand what she was implying. His mind wouldn’t connect the pieces. “Is she hurt? Can she speak?”
Essalia pushed closer to him and gently touched her head to his shoulder. “It’s about the baby. He didn’t make it.”
Delminor’s shoulders sank and his head fell. The world went dark around him. Nothing mattered. His baby was gone. A boy, he just learned. His little boy. Gone.
He stood up and walked into the healing room to see for himself. Essalia chased after him. “Wait. You shouldn’t.”
In the room, there were pools of blood here and there from the impromptu surgery they’d had to perform to remove the baby from Donya’s belly. Donya lay in a fitful sleep and as Delminor walked over to her, he spied an odd bundle on the table.
“It’s best if you don’t…”
But Delminor wasn’t listening. He unwrapped
the tiny mass that was about as long as his hand. He could see the fingers, the toes. It looked more human than he had expected it to, making this parting all the harder. The skin was cold to the touch, and an odd whitish film coated it from head to toe. He caressed the cheek gently, his heart broken.
“You will never know the light of day, Doshnard. But we loved you just the same.”
He set the tiny boy down and tucked the cloth around it like a blanket. Delminor then turned to Donya. “My dear. What could have happened?”
Essalia stood nearby and timidly bit her lip, not knowing if she should speak. Tears streamed from Delminor’s eyes as he bent over and kissed Donya’s forehead. He then looked up and asked again. “Why did this happen?”
Essalia escorted him to an adjacent room, leaving Donya to rest quietly. She sat him down and poured a cup of chamomile tea to soothe his nerves. “Drink this.”
He sipped it mindlessly, his senses reeling. “Tell me.”
“The baby was turned all around inside. Strangled, if you will. At that age, the baby doesn’t have much strength. It’s only building itself by then. But he tried. Donya had explained the sensations within her. It felt as if he was pushing and pulling to turn around.”
“But how would it—he—become strangled?”
“It could just be that the baby was developing incorrectly all along.”
“Essalia… could it have been because we were combining our magics together? Was it because of the spells she had been casting? They involved extensive motions and bending and reaching. Would that cause such a thing?”
“I don’t know. I’ve rarely seen this happen. But I have seen it, Delminor. It may have nothing to do with the magic.”
“May.” The word echoed in his mind. “Then you suspect it.”
She stared at him sadly. “I can’t say, Delminor. I’m sorry. I wish there was something else I could tell you. Something else I could do.” She gently clenched his shoulder. “If either of you ever needs to talk, please come see me. I will be here for you.”
“What of Donya?”
“She should fully recover. There was damage inside of her, but she is strong, and we were able to control what we needed to so she could do the rest on her own. We don’t have magic for this sort of thing.”
Delminor looked at her curiously. “Not even nature magic would have helped? I can’t imagine it wouldn’t.”
“It is true that most healers are trained in nature magic, but it doesn’t work on sentient life. It’s meant for the trees and plants of the world, keeping them whole and in balance. It allows us to grow potent healing herbs and those we use to seal wounds, to produce tinctures, to alleviate suffering.”
“Then there is no magic to help the wounded?”
“Not directly. Not that I know of.”
Delminor’s brows furrowed. “But I don’t understand that. What good is having magic in this world if it can’t be used to heal?”
“Our bodies heal,” Essalia said. “That in itself is like magic, isn’t it? Perhaps that’s what we get, you know? Take that magic out of us and we wouldn’t be able to recover from minor injuries.”
“Take the magic out of us,” he echoed, his eyes darting back and forth.
“What are you thinking?”
He looked at her fully. “I think you’re right, that what our bodies do to heal is magic. And if so, then there must be a way to harness that. To use that.”
“I have heard of your endeavors. But now you’re seeking a new branch of magic, one that hasn’t been heard of in all of Hathreneir? You are in desperate pain from what happened today. You need to take time to mourn, to heal. You need to be there for Donya. And for yourself.”
Delminor had to keep his thoughts to himself. He reached down and clutched the air jade in his pocket, wondering if perhaps there was more to magic than even the jade knew.
His mind set. He knew what he had to do. He needed to discover a variation of nature magic that would allow healers to use spells directly to heal others. He would invent one if he had to.
But to do so, he would need access to the other jades in the tower.
Chapter 21
Desperation
It took several days for Donya to awaken without intense pain. The healers kept feeding her nutritious and calming fluids, encouraging her to rest and focus on her own healing.
Each time, she asked about the baby and started crying when she remembered what had happened. The twisting pains. Seeing the tiny body out of her. Still. Silent. The healers set a cloth of herbs over her nose to knock her out, insisting she needed to stay calm so she didn’t rupture anything.
Through it all, Delminor was by her side, reading to her from the histories and avoiding all reference to magic whatsoever. He deeply suspected that the combination of their powers had led to the baby’s death, as if the elements themselves were angry at being used as one and lashing out on the one life that couldn’t defend itself.
And if that were true, then it was all Delminor’s fault. He had concocted the entire ritual, even adding the luminescent algae into the mix. It had been a last inspiration, but he was determined to test his theory fully. If the magic could be broken down into simpler components, then it would apply to all the elements.
It had worked, but it was the side effect that had destroyed everything.
“No good deed goes unpunished,” he had said to Pyron, who was handling the loss poorly. “We seek to open magic to all the realm and here we pay the ultimate price.”
“Then maybe that’s why the masters of old encoded the magic in the first place. Maybe it was too unstable. Too fickle. We could be wrong to do what we’ve been setting out to do.”
But after everything, Delminor was determined. It meant there was a new goal. He needed a way to keep the energies from harming those using them. Perhaps it was only a factor when multiple energies were combined.
Or perhaps the death of his son had been a fluke. He didn’t entertain the idea for long. Each time it came upon him, he dismissed it. It meant things were not in his control and he couldn’t accept that. If he had tested the nature magic more, he was certain he would have seen the flaw and prevented any damage to Donya or Doshnard.
When he told Donya he had named the baby, she cried harder than before. He thought it would comfort her, that the child in her belly for all those months had been an important part of them both, that he mattered. That he deserved a name.
But to her, it was a harsh reminder that she had failed as a mother. That she couldn’t protect their tiny, helpless son. And now with him gone, she felt bereft. Empty. Hollow.
“I don’t know if I can stay here.”
Delminor took her hand. “They will let you out of here when you’re stronger. They just want to watch over you for now.”
Tears filled her eyes as she looked around the room. “Not the infirmary, Delminor. This place.”
“Magehaven?” His heart sank deeper and his face showed it. “Oh.”
“I’ll return to Marritosh and seek out my family. I need them right now. I need time away from… all of this.”
Delminor caught the strange tone in her voice. “All of ‘this?’ Am I a part of ‘this’?”
She swallowed hard and could not answer.
“I see. I am a reminder of how he died.”
She shook her head. “No,” she breathed. “I just… I need to be with my family.”
He glanced at the necklace hanging limply around her neck, its luster seemingly faded. “I thought I was your family.”
She looked like he had stabbed her and he couldn’t stand it. He scrambled for something to say. “No, never mind. I understand. Sisters and moms are different. You grew up together. And what you’re going through isn’t something I could ever relate to. I didn’t have the child within me.”
She closed her eyes and pushed the tears down her cheeks in a stream. “You’re turning your logical, analytical side on. I can see that. And though it breaks my h
eart, I must thank you for it, too. I can’t bear to argue this, nor can I really explain it.”
“How will you get there?”
“Essalia said she would make arrangements for a caravan to escort me. But I need to recover more first. I’ve already sent word home that I will be heading there within the coming weeks.”
He was hurt that she had done so without at least telling him first, but he tried to see things from her perspective. To understand her pain, but he couldn’t fully.
* * *
Two weeks later, Donya was on her way home and Delminor felt another bitter loss, now one by choice. He mourned her departure for the next weeks, time frittering away. The Mage Council tolerated this for a time, but then they grew impatient. His presence here came with a price.
“They want to see new work, and soon,” Pyron explained. “They feel horrible, but—”
“No, they don’t,” he interjected.
“—But they also need to know you will keep your word.”
“I will have words, for certain. And I will not keep them to myself.”
“Del, I don’t know what you’re saying. Don’t do anything foolish.”
He arranged for another meeting with the Council, this time without any support from Pyron. The elders were annoyed but felt that if they could push the mage back to his work, then it was worth their time. Their intrigue was greater than their impatience.
“Young master Delminor,” Tianna said. “The Council expresses its deepest condolences over your loss.”
“I thank you.”
“But we have matters to attend to, so please, what is it you wish to ask? Or are you here with new research?”
“I lost a vital member of my team. If I’m to continue my research, then I will need access to the other jades in this tower.”
“No.”
Delminor clenched his hands into fists and his voice rose. “My son died because we don’t have magic we can use to heal others. I intend to find that magic. But to do so, I must know how the jades work. To do that, I must have access to the jades in this tower.”
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