She lit with excitement. “Then maybe it’s just a matter of time! They can come back.”
Delminor was affected by her enthusiasm and he smiled. “You’re right. These are unbreakable artifacts, manifestations of pure energy. They can’t be drained forever. Whatever happened to me with the metal jade… It can’t have a lasting effect. Not forever, anyway.”
Essalia blew out a sigh. “Del, if that’s all true, then what happened to you… If it had gone on any longer, then maybe you would have burned out, too, like Regnard.”
He shuddered. “I didn’t consider that. When these return, I’ll have to explore it.”
“You can’t. It could kill you.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“You can’t risk it. I couldn’t stand to lose you.”
He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
She shook her head, trying to think of what to say. “We all need you. Even just this conversation; look at the inspiration you’ve had. The world needs you, Delminor. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“Okay. I promise.”
Chapter 55
Mage’s Rest
The duo remained in Jerrona for a few days, conducting more research into the jades. They found a correlation between when times when certain magical forces appeared in the land and when new jades were located. Delminor thought back to his excursion in Sandonia and pieced it together.
“When I found the glass shard, it was with the body of a dead royal. I couldn’t understand it at the time. The jades protected me from the quicksand, if in a strange way, so why hadn’t the glass shard protected him? But what if, instead, because he died inside the sand, that created the shard itself?”
“That’s morbid,” Essalia said. “That the jades came to being through the death of another. But it would make some sense. The kings had separated the Red Jade. Perhaps as their lines died out, the jades were formed.”
“I’ll have to explore the histories in more detail to know for certain.”
“I’ll help.”
Delminor reached into his pocket and withdrew the earth jade. There was a faint pulse emanating from it again. “It’s growing stronger already.”
“And the healing jade?”
He reached for it next. Relief washed over him. “Yes, it too.”
“Then maybe it’s time to return home?”
They left soon after, Delminor communing with the healing jade each day, seeking a way to bring healing magic to the world.
He handed the shard to Essalia. “You should also work with this. Healing is a part of you.”
She accepted gratefully. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to ask. But you’re right, Del, I feel a connection to this jade. I know I can do a lot with its power.” She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “Everyone should be able to use this energy.”
“Everyone?” Delminor asked.
Essalia nodded. “Even the mages in Kallisor. Imagine, a whole slew of mages working together in hiding.”
“It’s not a surprise. Magic is part of the world. They would be compelled to use it. But how much should we share with them? And how?”
Essalia looked at him curiously. “You can send eaglons and ravellions back and forth through Hathreneir. Why not across the border? Send missives or spellbooks if you can. Just don’t say where they’re coming from in case they’re shot down.”
Delminor laughed. “If they are and the books are found, everyone will just think I did it anyway. You know the king would point at me.”
“It’s settled then,” Essalia said. “I’ll sign your name to all of them.”
They had a good laugh and continued on their way. Unlike their journey to Jerrona, more feral beasts intercepted them.
“Maybe it’s the war?” Essalia wondered. “With the increase in skirmishes between the kingdoms, maybe the beasts are fleeing this way?”
“It’s possible,” Delminor said. “But I can’t help wondering if it’s the jades themselves drawing them in. The more we have, the more beasts we’re seeing.”
“Natural forces all coming together? I guess it makes sense.”
They reached Mage’s Rest two weeks later, their spirits high. Time and the healing jade had helped them recover from their trials. Delminor hurried home and took Donya in his arms.
“We did it!”
“It’s nice to see you, too,” she chided.
He hugged her tightly and kissed her. “I hope that shows you how much I missed you.”
“It helps.” She smiled. “So you were successful?”
He pulled the healing jade out of his pocket. “Yes! Here it is!”
He handed it to her and she felt the soothing energy. “It really is. I can’t believe it.”
“It’s taken a long time, but now we have a chance.”
“A… chance?” A hollow look came to her eyes. “Del, you’re not suggesting…?”
“I’ve spent the last weeks connecting with this jade. I know it will help. We can use it to protect you and a child. At last.”
She pulled away. “I’m almost at an age where I can’t carry a child. I don’t… know that I’m strong enough.”
“You are. I’ve always said it. It’s never been your fault, Donya. We’ve just been unlucky. But this? Finding it after all this time… it’s a sign that now we can have a child.”
She was affected by his enthusiasm. “Maybe, Del. Just maybe.”
* * *
Gallena and Arenda thought it was risky, but Essalia felt confident. “I’ve been working with the jade, too, and I think Del’s right.”
Gallena shook her head. “You’re supposed to stop thinking about having babies at your age.”
“It’s easy for you to say,” Donya said. “You have three children of your own now.”
“And you’ve been a great aunt,” Arenda said. “You’ve tended to them like they’re your own.”
Donya nodded. “I know. And I think that’s why we have to try. I want to be a mother.” She looked at Delminor sitting beside her. “I think we’ve waited long enough.”
Gallena shrugged. “Well, we’ll just have more reasons to celebrate. Let’s all raise a glass.”
They toasted, then Arenda followed up the conversion. “What about you, Ess? Babies in your future?”
“No, not for me.” She focused her eyes on her glass. “You know I haven’t found the right guy. Besides, I’m too caught up with my work anyway. I’m content tending to the people who come to see me. I can do a lot more good that way.”
“You could raise a child on your own,” Gallena offered. “You don’t need a perfect guy.”
“True. But I’m happy with what I have. Besides, with the healing jade in our hands now, maybe I’ll follow Del’s footsteps and do my own research.”
“That’ll be great,” Delminor said. “The more mages conducting and sharing their findings, the better it will be for all.”
“How was Pyron?” Arenda asked. “We didn’t get to see him at all.”
“There’s been some trouble over at Magehaven. He wanted to get back and put a stop to it.”
“Trouble there too?” Gallena asked.
“There’s always trouble when you put a hundred people together. They’ve also had an influx of mages from the Magitorium. The last conflict made a mess of things over there.”
“What happened?” Arenda asked.
“A lot of the mages went a little mad. Their loyalties were being torn this way and that, and some just couldn’t handle it. Some became reclusive. Others left entirely. There are stricter rules there than when we attended.”
“Why haven’t you told us any of this?” Gallena asked.
“The Council wanted it kept silent, but the news is escaping anyway.”
“So, you couldn’t trust us?”
His shoulders sagged. “It’s not that at all. I didn’t want you getting dragged into it. Besides…”
Gallena nodded slowly. “Right… We have our own history
with that sort of thing. Very well, I forgive you. Let’s have another toast.”
“To what?” Donya asked.
Gallena smiled. “To drinking.”
Chapter 56
New Magic
Pyron had advised not telling the Council about the new healing jade, but Delminor was true to his convictions. The Council was awed by the prospect of a new jade and wanted to confiscate it for their own uses.
But Delminor was firm that he would not relinquish it until he had spent a fair amount of time with the shard. He had pursued it for too long to be without it now. He also requested the use of the earth, water, beast, and nature jades, as he believed these together would make the research go faster.
They wavered but accepted his request and sent a messenger with the shards he needed, and Delminor’s research began in earnest.
Essalia worked with him daily, striving to unlock the secrets of healing magic. “No, no, this is all wrong,” she muttered. “The nature spells flow more like water but have the terse inflections of the beast. The healing needs to flow more like nature.”
“You’re very good at this,” Delminor said. “Go on. I’ll keep writing.”
She tried again, her limited connection to the shard hindering her progress. “I can’t tell. I feel an urge to wave hands and curl my fingers like so, but I don’t know what it links to. And these keywords don’t entirely feel right. They don’t match the motions.”
Delminor nodded. “I didn’t expect the healing shard to be so tricky to unlock. But then again, it’s been the most elusive all along.”
Donya came in with sandwiches. “Looks like you’re blocked.”
He stood and kissed her. “We need your expertise in flowing words.”
She smiled softly. “I’ll translate but I’m not working any magic.”
She joined them for the rest of the afternoon, putting her water skills to work. “Try shessalieran instead of suiscillious. They’re similar root words, but the former is a guided flow, whereas the other is more natural without an added push.”
Essalia engaged her hands in the necessary pattern and she cast the spell. “Fessulithar renulanna shessalieran forithular formieran shaie hasselo.”
A dim light glowed in her hands and the healing energy entered Delminor and coursed through him, soothing his back, which ached from leaning over his books for so long. The worst of the discomfort faded away. “Yes, that was it.” He made hurried notes in his journal.
“It seems like you’ll make progress after all,” Donya said.
“Thanks to you,” Essalia smiled.
“Not at all. I barely did a thing. I’ll leave you to continue.” She took the empty sandwich tray and left.
Delminor watched her go and then exchanged a look with Essalia. “Is there something she isn’t telling me?”
Essalia blushed uncontrollably. “No.”
“You’re a terrible liar. Why didn’t she tell me?”
Essalia sat beside him and kept her voice low. “If I tell you, do you promise not to ever mention it?”
“How bad it is?”
“She doesn’t want to tell you until she can keep a baby for at least three months.”
“Until…? Essalia…?”
She bit her lip and looked down. “She’ll kill me for telling you this, Del. You can’t say anything.”
“Please. What is it?”
“She’s had two other miscarriages since we returned with the healing jade.”
Delminor gasped. “You can’t be serious.”
“Quiet down,” she scolded. “We haven’t used any healing magic on her. She wanted to know if the jade’s proximity alone would be enough.”
“But it’s not.”
“No.” She looked toward the door where Donya had left. “But she doesn’t want to disappoint you either, so she’s trying for a little longer before she tells you.”
“Will she allow us to use the healing magic on her?”
“She came down to help us, didn’t she? She wants the baby, Del. She’s just afraid her body doesn’t.”
He nodded slowly. “It pains me to say this, but I won’t discuss this with her unless she tells me herself. She needs you. She needs to be able to confide in you. I can’t take that away from her.”
“Thank you.”
“But impress this upon her… I don’t care how. You can tell her I’ll be fine without a child. She doesn’t need to put herself through all of this. And she can talk to me about it all too.”
Essalia squeezed his hand. “I’ll get the message across.”
* * *
As Delminor and Essalia worked with the healing shard, his apprentices begrudgingly spent time with Gallena and Arenda, lamenting that their master didn’t want them. He finally conceded and brought them together.
“You want us to do what?” Rothra asked.
“Take all of these herbs and cut them down to this size.” He showed them a leaf that was trimmed to fit his thumbnail. “And it’s important not to waste any, so you can’t cut them in a stack.”
“How does this further our training?” Altran asked. “Even Gallena thinks we’re beyond these menial things now.”
“All mages need to be able to prepare spell components.”
“We’ll just buy what we need.”
Delminor shook his head. “With what money?”
They grumbled but they went to work and did a decent job of it, while Delminor gathered some glassware.
“We need to steep those in water, heat the mixture, and collect the resulting tincture.” He turned to Rothra. “Set up an alembic then you’re in charge of the fire.”
He groaned. “I suppose I have to rub two sticks together to make it?”
“If you like, but I rather thought Gallena showed you a better way. Just be careful not to break anything. Lose those leaves and you have to prepare another set. Altran, you’re in charge of the water.”
“I’m not a water mage.”
“I didn’t say you were. Now get to it.”
While they worked, he moved to the other side of the laboratory and mixed together other ingredients, forming a thick paste. He wished they were working down in his main laboratory, as it was already stocked with these foundations, but he wasn’t ready to bring the apprentices there. Instead he was working in a makeshift lab in the upper level of his house. Gallena and Donya had spent the better part of the morning setting it up while Delminor had the apprentices outside obtaining the herbs.
Once the apprentices were finished, Delminor brought the paste over and handed it to Altran. “The leaves that are left behind need to be coated in this, both sides. Rothra, bring that tincture over here. You need to place one drop at a time on these leaves.”
“One drop at a time?”
“And not one extra or it won’t work.”
“What are we making, exactly?”
“Get it done.”
The boy moaned and did as he was instructed.
Delminor returned to Altran. “You’re struggling.”
“This stuff is sticky and it’s all over my hands.”
“If you’re going to be a master one day, you need to think creatively. What element are you most skilled in?”
“Metal.” He looked over on the wall where a host of daggers were hanging. “Oh.”
“Dull the blades so you don’t cut the leaves. I know they’re small, but you can handle this.”
Using his metal magic made the job much easier. Delminor watched as the boy took two knives and dipped them in the paste. He dulled the blades as suggested and then used the tip of one to flip a leaf onto the other. He then pressed the two blades together, coating both sides. To release the leaf, he caused the metal to round itself and he was able to easily pry it off with the other dagger.
When they finished, Delminor bade them to take a few samples with them and they headed out to a nearby clearing beyond the barn.
“You both have experience with multiple elements,
but you lack the ability to use them in unison. These materials you have combine nature, fire, water, and metal magic together.”
“How metal? Because I used the daggers?” Altran asked.
“Yes, but not just in using them. That paste pulled tiny bits of the metal off and fused them to the leaves. It was important for the metal to be pliable for it to work.”
“So if I hadn’t been bending the knife, it wouldn’t have worked?”
“Not as well, no. It didn’t have to be bending specifically. Stretching and shrinking would have worked. But before the advent of metal magic, you could have scraped the daggers together or used fire to heat them to release what you needed.”
“Sounds like a lot of work. But what does this do?”
Delminor explained the incantation, not the result, telling the boy to focus on the leaf growing.
“Hammalorian forthricus sheilan borrakikla shaie retrican orst.” In his hand, the first leaf expanded, taking on a metallic sheen. Small vines sprouted, then leaves, all with the feel of metal. It only grew to the size of his finger, but the spell had worked.
“It’s a blade plant, per se,” Delminor explained. “If you can get it to grow larger and tie a set together, you can craft a unique wind chime.”
“I wonder…” Altran muttered. “I bet I can do other things with this.”
“That’s why you made more than one. Go on and try.”
“What about me?” Rothra asked. “You’re not going to have me to the same thing, are you?”
“What would be the point? The two of you can compare notes later.” He pulled Rothra over to the side, away from Altran. “You effectively drew all the water out of the leaves with your fire, then let it condense into the flask. You manipulated water and fire together without consciously thinking about it. Now take one of those leaves and think about it expanding.”
“That sounds like what you had Altran do,” he complained.
“Very well, then. Cast the spell on your own.”
Rothra looked at the leaf and bit his lip, feeling foolish. He tried the incantation Altran had used. The leaf expanded a little, but that was it.
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