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diddlesanddoodles · 4 years

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DUMPLING ch 36

She watched with a muted fascination at the gathered giants. Though she was really only able to see the world passed the tree trunks of their legs, she was well able to sense their tension. It was almost as though she could smell it, like metal and upturned earth. Guards in their red leather armor stood close to the King, hands resting upon many hilts, ready to lunge and defend their liege.

Under the thickening dullness of her mind, Nenani heard the wind-chimes. With difficulty, she braced herself against the lipper barrels and forced herself to stand onto shaking legs.

The metal dome entrapping the serpent rose up, accompanied by the grunting efforts of Farris, Saen, and Avery. A black thing lunged out of the dark, once gleaming black scales now marred with gray and bleeding pot marks and burns in a crisscrossing patterned all over its body. Guards struck down with their swords to block the creature from slithering away between their legs and gave Yale just enough time to move. Yale lunged down upon it as it tried to slither away in another direction, pushing his entire weight down onto the snake’s body and gripped the back of its neck just below the thing’s jaws. It writhed violently beneath him, bucking the giant up and off of it as though he were nothing. Large black coils looped around his neck and squeezed.

There was shouting and the scurrying of many legs, the unsheathing of swords and there was yelling. Loud enough to drown out the world. But suddenly, she didn’t feel the presence of the lipper barrels against her back and the snake loomed large and enormous before her, its body continuing to curl itself around Yale’s neck and chest and she heard her friend wheeze pitifully. There were many hands trying to pull the creature off of him, swords pointing down at him, aiming for the snake, but far too close to Yale. She weaved around the forest of dark leather boots and broke through the throng of them.

Her hands were up and all she could see was the frightened eyes of her friend as they stared down at her and it summoned from within her a bitter hatred that burned her from deep inside and the angry red and yellows of her flames shifted into a vibrant blue and white that turned the moisture in the air to steam. The fire that had before swirled around like water and vapor hardened into distinct shapes, vines with thick wickedly sharp thorns and they fell upon the serpent, ripping and burning its flesh. Wide furrows were racked across the creature, ripping it open. All around her the giants gasped and involuntarily stepped back, panicked whispers rippling through them in waves.

The snake recoiled at the her fire and she fell back, pulling it with her and she heard Yale take a loud gasping breath as the many hands of his fellow cooks grabbed him and pulled him out of the snake’s weakening hold. Someone was yelling her name.

The milky white of the serpant’s eyes met her own, close enough to feel the heat of his breath on her face and her arms shook terribly as she held it there, her mind feeling as tight and brittle as a thread pulled too taut and ready to snap.

“You’re majesty! Now!”

The glowing blade of the dagger sunk into the serpent’s skull with a sickening schlk and the milky white of its eyes drained away to reveal deep amber irises just before they rolled back into the dying creature’s skull and a black mist crept out from the corners of its mouth. Maevis began to chant something loudly above her and the black miasma swirled about as though the magician’s words agitated it, hurt it, and then all at once the whole black mass of it was sucked upwards. Upwards and into open mouth of a glass jar held in the magician’s hands. He slammed a stopper into it once the black mist had settled inside. Only then did Nenani release her hold and the blue vines misted away into plumes of white steam and she fell back onto the ground, gasping, and black overtook her senses.

……………………………………….

“Hold her still,” said a voice, far off, but familiar. “That’s it. Now we just...”

“Is she breathing?”

“Stand back, dammit!”

“Go sit down, Yale!”

“IS SHE BREATHING?!”

Something pressed up against her chin and forced her head back and something shockingly cold was poured down her throat and she jolted to alertness. It tasted medicinal and spicy and it made her want to gag.

“Easy now, little one,” Maevis said, his voice gentle but tense. “Don’t fight, just drink. As much as you can.”

His voice was oddly commanding and she took several long gulps of air before she allowed more of the medicine down her throat. She felt as though she was drinking gallons of the vile brew before it stopped and she was allowed a respite. Laying in someone’s arms, she gasped and coughed, everything tingled alarmingly and her head swam and pulsed with a painful headache. She opened her eyes to see Farris’s worry stricken face above her and Maevis standing back, slipping a small flask back into his pocket.

“She’ll be fine, Farris,” Maevis said, his face set into a grim frown. “The potion’s done it’s job.”

Farris’s starred down at her and she was at a loss for what emotion she saw. His brows were narrowed, but his eyes were unfocused. She felt his arm around her pull her closer to his chest, one hand curling around her shoulder and rubbing her arm lightly.

“How do we keep that from happening again?” He asked Maevis, voice quiet and not sounding at all like himself.

“I’ll come up with something,” Maevis replied. “Her magic is all out of sorts and unfocused and spills out all at once. It needs a cap or any time she uses her fire...well. She runs the risk of...”

“So she can just drop dead?” Farris growled. “Just like that? Stop breathing and die?”

“It’s a danger all elementals face when they first come into their magic, Farris,” Maevis replied. “If they drain themselves too much too quickly, it could stop the heart.”

“Maevis,” came the voice of the King. “Do you know of a way to prevent her from spilling her magic like that?”

“I have a solution in mind. It’ll only take me a moment to procure it.”

“Then please, see to it. Once you have it, we will convene in the great hall. There’s much we need to discuss about what is to be done now.”

“Your majesty,” Maevis replied and Nenani heard his footsteps grow quieter as he left.

“Farris,” said the King, “Please see to your staff and all what needs to be tended to. I will have Donal send you some support workers to help get everything back in order. Do not be too concerned with dinner service. We’ll manage well enough with what we have in cold storage and be content. Now, where is Haiyer?”

“I have ‘im here, yer majesty,” came Bart’s voice. “He’s ain’t hurt none, just rattled a good bit.”

“I will send Lolly down in a moment to come collect him. For now, however, I will take Nenani with me. I don’t want Annie to hear of what happened until her daughter is recovered.”

“Aye,” Farris replied dully and Nenani was shifted about in his hold and laid into Warren’s outstretched hands. She was too weak to protest or ask questions so she laid passive in the King’s arms as he issued several more orders before leaving the cook camp. She closed her eyes for only a moment and then suddenly they were in a corridor, the air much warmer and smelled of dusty tapestries and old wood. Time seemed to slip between her fingers like so many grains of sand and she closed her eyes again for what seemed like only a few seconds before she opened them again and she was no long being held by the King, but nestled in a thick padding of soft fabric on a very large and long table. Glancing up, she found the ceiling to be a dizzying way up, far higher than any other ceiling she had seen in the castle. Many large windows lined the impossibly long room and in between each was a long ornate tapestry that glistened as though woven with gold thread.

“...some sort of fixture, a lantern maybe. Place them about the castle grounds.”

“And these would alert us to the mage’s magic?”

“Yes. We will need a good many of them, but I believe this will be our best chance at preventing what occurred today from repeating itself.”

“Yes, about that. What did we see exactly, Maevis? I don’t recall ever hearing of a Silvaaran fire mage do anything like what I just witnessed.”

“To be honest, sire...I am not entirely sure myself. Her mother’s bloodline is old and to the Silvaarans’ way of thinking at least, pure. Her being a fire mage is hardly surprising given her heritage. Her father’s bloodlines however are, from a magical standpoint, very unassuming. Very little to any magic at all. But the potency of Nenani’s magic I find to be...quite shocking. I’ve never seen a fire mage transfigure their flames like that.”

“When she was revealed to be a fire mage, I took it upon your authority that her fire was harmless. What she did today was far from harmless.”

“She’s only a child, sire. She wouldn’t...”

“Let us not mix words here, Maevis. She is a child with the power to kill. She is an untrained, wild mage.”

“The amulet will help. She wont be a danger to anyone...”

“...unless she feels threatened. Which you know just as well as I how probable that is. Especially now. She experienced that first hand did she not? One of the rangers? When she first arrived?”

“Ah, yes. I believe she did.”

“And if such an incident were to happen again now that she is bloomed? Am I to be content with a dead ranger?”

“I will work with her. She’s a smart girl. She’ll learn how to control it with some time.”

“I do not need to be told of her virtues. Nor do I hold any ill will towards the poor girl. But we must be sensible about this. Annie said that she had put a seal on her once before. Would it be possible to do so again?”

“...If at all possible, sire, I would very much like to avoid that option.”

“Why is that?”

“I’ve already tried once before. The Princess’s original seal broke...it broke weeks ago. When the wyvern attacked.”

“The wyvern?” A long pause. “So it wasn’t you who...”

“No. No I wasn’t the one to kill the wyvern. It was her.”

“...why did you not inform me of this at the time? Why did you lie and say you had slain it?”

“...I was scared for her. I thought...that if I could seal her again, everything would go on as normal. But the seal...it hurt her. She complained of pain constantly. The seals were never designed for the mages’ comfort, quite the opposite in fact, and I hate that I ever did such a thing to her. So if at all possible, I would like to keep her unsealed. I do not know what kind of seal Oira could manage, but...”

“Maevis, I appreciate your devotion to the girl, but we must remember the people of this country, this Kingdom. We serve them as protectors and this mage, Aidus, is a very real threat. We cannot allow ourselves to be distracted this way.”

“I do remember, your majesty. But I cannot turn my back on her.”

“Nor am I asking you to. If this amulet does as you say, then the matter is settled. Once she has recovered some, you will begin instructing her on how to manage her magic and we will revisit this at a later time.”

“She was only trying to save Yale. They are very close, those two. And anger is a very potent fuel for mage fire. She must have buried a lot of it for so much to pour out of her.”

“I do not doubt you, my friend. And the fact that no one else was burned tells me the truth of it. But she cannot be allowed to wield such power without the tools to do so responsibly and safely. As you say, she is only a child. And one who has been through much. In any case, it might prove a useful distraction for her. A constructive outlet...”

Nenani lay within the fabric, numb and filled with emotion at the same time. What had she done? She made the King angry. He sounded so angry…she didn’t mean to do it. But she did and even as she regretted it, she was still all the same glad she had. She couldn’t let Aidus take someone else from her. She couldn’t and she wouldn’t. He couldn’t have Yale. Or anyone.

Never again...

“Nenani,” came the King’s voice above her and she jerked in surprise, looking up to find him frowning at her. “You must calm yourself, child.”

It was only then that she realized she was all aflame and the fire pulsed when the surge of fear hit her.

“I’m sorry...” she said quietly.

Maevis stepped up behind Warren and reached out to pushed the fabric around her away, a gloved hand tucked itself under her shoulders and eased her up so she was sitting. “Don’t be scared,” he told her. “You’re all right now, Nenani. I have something that I believe will help with your flames.”

Something glistened in his other hand and he carefully placed a metal chain around her neck, using the tip of one finger to carefully lay the large amulet down. A familiar fire opal the size of a goose egg rested heavily against her belly, the chain being so long on her. She starred down at it, the colorful flecks of iridescent colors within the stone shining when it caught the light. There was pressure in her belly and a the feeling of something pulling at her and pulling inwards. The flames that danced around her faltered and died as the stone began to glow. After only a few moments, the light died away and she was her normal self.

Maevis grinned in clear delight and relief. “I call that a success!”

The King too looked relieved and nodded. “I am glad,” he said with a sigh and then leaned down slightly to peer at her. “Now, Nenani, did you hear what all we were just discussing?”

Without meeting the King’s eye, she nodded. “I didn’t...mean to do anything bad. I just...He’s taken so much from me already. I wasn’t going to let him take Yale too. I...I don’t even know how I did all that...I just did.”

“Do you know what happened after?” asked the King and she shook her head. “You stopped breathing, little one...”

“I...I did?” she asked looking up at him, her belly doing flips with unease.

“When an elemental uses all of their magic,” Maevis explained. “And I do mean all of it, it’s potentially fatal if emergency actions are not taken. Such as the potion I gave you. You’re newly bloomed, Nenani. And as such, you do not know how to regulate the flow of your magic. So when you used it as you did, it poured out all at once. That potion I gave you was a restorative.”

She suddenly realized why Farris looked the way he had and she bowed her head feeling shameful. After all the time having him worrying over her, she went and did it again.

“But, don’t worry!” Maevis was quick to add, tipping her head up gently with a finger. “I am going to teach you how to manage your magic so it never happens again.”

She nodded mutely. “So...did it work, at least? What you were trying to do?”

Maevis nodded. “Yes, I was able to extract the essence from the serpent. It’s locked up in the library under seventeen layers of protective spells and I may still add more tonight.”

“At least it worked,” she offered inanely.

The King nodded. “It is our hope to have a warning beacon in place soon. Maevis believes he can use the captured essence to create a barrier spells to detect the mage’s presence should he attempt to enter the grounds under guise again.”

“Which reminds me,” Maevis said, looking to Nenani with a serious expression. “How was it that you knew the serpents were Aidus’s avatars?”

“I didn’t. Haiyer did,” she replied and seeing Maevis’s bewildered stare elaborated. “He...he has an imaginary friend who he said told him to hide because there was one of Aidus’s snakes around.”

The King was not able to fully suppress the dubious smile that came to his lips. Looking to Maevis, he asked “Do you think he might be a mage as well, Maevis? That he may have sensed Aidus?”

“I do not think it so, but I haven’t had a moment to study the boy properly,” mused the Magician. “He is of the age where any magical talents would begin to show. Though...foresight is awfully rare and I’ve never heard of it appearing in the Silvaaran bloodlines.”

“I don’t...I don’t think it’s him,” Nenani said, earning herself the attention of both giants.

“No?” asked Maevis. “Why is that?”

“When he was telling me about her –his friend,” she said. “He said she was a fairy, but Mama and Lolly said fairies aren’t real.”

Maevis nodded, grinning a little.

“So you don’t think it could be a real fairy?” she asked.

Maevis and the King shared a look. “No, dear,” Maevis replied with a light laugh. “I am afraid it far more likely the little prince merely imagined this fairy friend. They are only to be found in folk tales and children’s stories.”

“But then,” she said. “How does he know who Bertol is?”

Maevis’s patient eyes narrowed and his mouth turned into a sour frown. “Bertol?”

“Haiyer said that his fairy friend lived in the mountains with a giant...named Bertol.”

Beside him, the King laughed. “Bumbling Bertol? Wherever would the boy have heard of him?”

But Maevis looked pensive. “He wouldn’t have. At least, not that I could imagine. If he does have foresight, it might explain him knowing the name. But until I have a moment with him, I could not say for sure.” Maevis tapped his lips idly as he considered the information. “Nenani, that little stone of his. Where did he get it?”

“I gave it to him when we were still out in the wilds with Keral. He was scared so I just picked up a rock that looked pretty and told him it was magic. To help him calm down. It was just a rock I found.”

Maevis’s eye opened wide, his mouth hanging open agape and he said nothing for several long seconds before he then started to giggle. Warren looked to the magician in mild confusion. “Maevis?”

“You just told him it was magic? That’s all?”

“Yes...” she replied, unsure and a little bewildered by the magician’s reaction.

“Oh my goodness,” he said, breathing heavily and then turning his gaze to Nenani, eyes bright with mirth. “My dear child. That was a blue quarts stone! You remember what I said about stones of power? That rock is a minor stone. A quarts.”

Nenani just starred, confused. “Huh?”

“You charmed it,” Maevis replied with a grin. “You implanted a piece of your magic inside when you gave it to him.”

Nenani opened her mouth and then closed it again as the King began to laugh. She regarded Maevis with pure befuddlement. “Wha...what? You...you can do that?”

Maevis nodded, wiping at his eyes. “Yes, dear. You can. It’s the same principal that works with that fire opal there. When presented with magic, it’ll pull it inside the stone. The greater the stone, the more power it can hold. A minor stone cannot hold much, but a simple charm would fit nicely. When you gave little Haiyer the stone, some of your magic was pulled into it. Charming it.”

She sat there dumbfounded and perplexed at the idea which only seemed to make the pair of giants chuckle more.

“But then,” she asked, “How does he know about Bertol?”

Maevis was unable to provide an answer, but decided that once he had a moment and things had settled, he would examine Haiyer to see if the small boy had in fact came into his magic, but instead of another young fire mage, they had a young oracle. And somehow no one bothered to notice.

“Oracle?” Nenani asked, unfamiliar with the word.

“Someone with the gift or foresight. The ability to see the future.”

“So...is Bertol an oracle?”

Maevis snorted distastefully. “Not in the least.”

“I didn’t think Oracles were real,” Warren admitted as he slipped onto one of benches alongside the long table.

“Exceedingly rare,” Maevis replied, taking a seat as well. “But they do appear in contemporary sources. Perhaps the Queen may know more.”

“Why would she know about Oracles?” asked Warren.

“Oracles are almost always found among the water mages. The water element lends itself to foresight. Her majesty would have grown up on tales of water mages, being from Ibronia.”

The King looked thoughtful and nodded. “I will ask her tonight.”

Wherever the conversation might have lead to was interrupted by the large set of doors at the far end of the room flying open and several giants pushed their way inside with quick and deliberate steps. They marched with purpose and brought with them a stiff and uncomfortable air, riddled with anxiety and anger.

“Your majesty!” said one of the giants at the front of the group. He was a giant of medium build, but his form was puffed out by a lavish green coat of fine embroidery with fur lined collar and cuffs. His face was set into a decidedly disagreeable frown and he seemed to be covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

Warren sighed and rose up from the table to meet the group. “My Lords,” he said to them collectively and then to the green coated one, “Lord Eldherst.”

“Is it true?” the green coated giant demanded. Nenani was a little shocked at how brazenly the man was speaking to the King. Lord or not, it seemed horribly rude and Nenani found herself a little offended on behalf of Warren. She knew none of the faces and it was then that she realized all of them were dressed in fine doublets and jerkins and coats. Some had jewels on their hands or around their necks. They were more richly dressed than the King.

“My lords, there is nothing to fear,” said the King, his voice both commanding and reassuring at once. “The threat has been dealt with and precautions are being put into place as we speak.”

The green coated giant huffed through his nose. “Do you mean to say that the fire mage has been cast out, your majesty?”

There was a sickening drop in the pit of her stomach and she tried to duck down into the fabric around her. Maevi’s hand rested on the table not too far from her and he very slowly began to inch his hand towards her, his eyes never straying from the group of Lords. The King stood stiffly, taking in each of their faces, and then addressed Lord Eldherst.

“No, sir. She has not,” he replied cooly. “Nor will I.”

The man did not seem to like that answer at all. “Your majesty, it is dangerous to have that thing on castle grounds!” Brown eyes abruptly turned her way and Nenani ducked into the fabric. Maevis’s gloved hands reached out to her, abandoning all pretense, and pulled her to him and folded the cloth around her more securely. Sweeping the entire bundle up, Maevis rose to his feet. The green coated man’s face turned a strange shade of pinkish purple and he waved an angry and accusing finger at her. “That thing should be brought to the Hill tribes where it’s chaos can be contained in a place of less importance! The west wing is destroyed, the kitchens are still in pieces, and now we have giant serpents coming onto the grounds and attacking our staff! That thing is cursed and we should rid ourselves of it before someone is killed!”

The large group of agitated giant lords all murmured sounds of agreement and someone from the back yelled out, “Here, here!”

“My lords,” said the King, his voice echoing through the hall. “I hear your concerns, but I must remind you all; your grievances are with the one who had caused these misfortunes and I assure you, it is not a little girl to whom your wrath should be aimed. As you all have been informed, what we face is indeed a human mage, but it is not Nenani. The young Princess is not our enemy.”

“Yes, Princess. As you have said, my liege. But is it not true that her mother was struck from the Silvaaran royal house? Her name removed from their records? What debt do we owe still that we haven’t already paid that we should take in and honor the dubious status of a human woman and her bastard?”

“Maevis,” said the King, his words sharp and angry. “Take Princess Nenani to the library and see to her recovery.”

“Yes, your majesty,” Maevis replied with a graceful, if not stiff, bow and he turned, covering her with fabric and shielding her from the eyes of the gathered lords. Underneath, she shivered and swallowed against the lump in her throat. The day’s events played inside her mind and she recalled the look of her fire when it turned blue and took the form of vines with thick thorns, sharp and curved. The gasps from the guards around her. The King’s anger. Lord Eldherst’s fear.

What did she do?

Gods above, what did she do?

#Dumpling #G/t story #g/t writing #Giant/tiny #fantasy giant #Nenani #Yale #Farris #Maevis #Warren #Eldherst #magic #g/t

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