While Mistress Helfira took quick steps towards the small black creature, Tercius observed the Keeper.
The man's face was contorted, a grim visage--- one full of despair. His mouth was seemingly trying to say something, yet his tongue was afraid of saying a single word. His hands were trembling slightly, and the man was trying to cover them up with his long robe.
Seeing what a mess this man was, brought Tercius a small measure of pleasure.
Eiler had tried to rush Tercius and Master Lazarus out, Tercius realized. Then Mistress Helfira arrived and saw the creature. Now that plan was down the drain and his involvement would be revealed.
Slipping briefly into Meditation, for a mere second, left Tercius much more clear-headed.
Just from the tone, he heard from Mistress Helfira when she saw and asked about the creature, Tercius knew that Eiler was in a deep end if his involvement was revealed.
Previously, Tercius did not know to whom he could trust, so he prepared what he could on his own. His plan had been simple, talk to J'ro and find out what the boy knew. Using veiled questions he would have tried to get an inkling of the boy's involvement, and if he deemed it necessary he would have pressed the boy for a straight answer.
Three healing potions, sealed in small metal vials, were placed in his pocket--- leftovers from Lux's special training session. Seliana had told him the potions would last for a few months, although they would lose some of their potency with each passing week.
If Tercius was back at the Academy he might have told Mistress Dea about the black cat and his suspicions, but here? Master Lazarus had been the only option Tercius had even considered, but he ultimately dismissed it for a simple reason.
Choosing between trusting an adult Master of unknown allegiances and a child who was most likely only a pawn in someone else's game was a no-brainer for him.
Since he had visual memories of J'ro's Mana outline, both with the weird attachment on and off, he studied the boy's whole outline in detail and found nothing like what he saw before, anywhere on the boy's body. This was no guarantee, but t was good enough.
The fact that Amber calmed herself after the black cat left was another big factor he took into account.
So he decided to try with his plan.
J'ro Forbidden skill was the only thing that he had not expected and planned for.
Tercius had thought that his skills, training, and physique would allow him to dominate the smaller boy if things had to progress that way. He would have preferred a talk, to find out the details of J'ro's involvement in the whole thing.
How could he have planned for J'ro having such a skill? The book about the werebeasts skill said that they were feral people, not even capable of speech and thought. J'ro was most certainly capable of both. The recommended course was the immediate report to the local garrison and the one who reported would even get a bounty paid in tretas. This Forbidden skill was painted as if it had an absolute effect on their mind making the bearers of the skill ferocious killers, which was clearly not true.
Like a hammer, the stupidity he exhibited in his talk with J'ro hit him straight on the head.
There was no Army garrison in Chameos.
There was no Army at all, in Chameos.
The mages were in charge here.
He should have mentioned that, at least. Who knew if it would have made any difference, but it was worth a try at least.
"I asked, whose creature is this?" Mistress Helfira demanded. The creature was slowly lifted off the floor and enveloped in a semitransparent sphere of crimson light.
The fierce eyes of the Mistress gazed at the Keeper and the man wilted. Shaking his head left and right, his quivering voice said, "Esteemed Mistress, I do not know,"
Mistress Helfira turned her gaze to Master Lazarus and the man shook his head in denial. "First time I see it, Mistress,"
Tercius slipped once more in Meditation, for a single moment. Even a second helped.
"I know who is the owner," Tercius said.
Mistress Helfira turned her gaze to Tercius. "Speak child,"
"First, I need to know what happened to J'ro," Tercius said. When he had a moment with a clear head, he knew that the phrase ‘dealt with’ might not mean what he first suspected. "What did you do?"
Master Lazarus glanced at the Keeper and then turned to Tercius. "The boy is under lock and key, for what he tried to do to you,"
"Child," Mistress Helfira said and came near Tercius. "Tell me, whose creature is this,"
Tercius ignored her. He felt relieved. At least J'ro was alive.
"The boy is wrong in the head, esteemed Mistress," the Keeper said. "He has lost a lot of blood, and slept since this morning. How can he know anything?"
Tercius heard those words and focused his gaze on the man and his eyes narrowed.
"I know more than you might think, Keeper," Tercius said. "I know, for example, that the creature is not mine. Isn't that so Keeper Eiler?"
"What are---" the Keeper stammered.
Tercius turned to Mistress Helfira. "Mistress, I will tell you everything if you can guarantee that nothing will happen to J'ro. He did not do anything,"
"Tercius, how much do you remember? J’ro ha---" Master Lazarus asked.
"Lazarus, that is not important now. This is bigger. Child, speak," the Mistress came up to Tercius and they stood at equal height. Looking him square in the eyes she said, "Tell me now, or say goodbye to the Academy,"
Tercius snorted despite himself. Her threat mattered little at the moment. "Yesterday, that threat might have worked, Mistress. Today, you will give me a guarantee of J'ro safety and I will tell you who is the owner and more,"
"The boy tries to eat you and you defend him? Where is this world going?" Mistress Helfira said exasperated.
Eat me? What is she talking about?
"Give me the guarantee and I will explain everything," he said with a firm gaze.
The woman looked at Tercius for a few moments, her hand twitching on occasion. "You have a deal, now talk,"
"Is it safe to talk here?" Tercius said, throwing a glance at the other occupants of the room.
Mistress Helfira looked at Master Lazarus, then at the Keeper. "Yes. Tell me what you know,"
Tercius turned to Keeper Eiler. "Do you see that charred corpse over there, Mistress? That small humanoid you have captured, Mistress, has been inside it, somehow. The corpse has been a cat and its eyes have been as black as the skin of that creature you have there. The cat came here with Keeper Eiler, this I know for a fact."
As Mistress Helfira turned to the Keeper Eiler; the man was opening his mouth, only to close it immediately afterward. The man finally managed to utter, "How dare you?!"
"The boy just described one of the abilities of the creature, Eiler," she said.
"And I know more, Mistress," Tercius said. He now knew that at least Mistress Helfira was opposed to the man and his purpose, so he might as well give over what he knew. His meddling only caused more trouble, exposed a secret, and almost caused his own death. Would this have counted as a suicide? I was the initiator, after all, he wondered with a morbid part of his mind.
It was time to pass the torch to someone who knew what they were doing, Tercius knew. From how the event before him unfolded he felt that Mistress Helfira was both competent and willing to pursue this, but more importantly, he felt as if he could trust her.
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"That creature was attached to J'ro's leg and had been for some time. At least a month. It detached itself when we came here, to this mansion," Tercius said. He then proceeded to tell the Mistress everything he knew and suspected about this. How he figured out that the creature was there, what he saw, what he suspected--- he shared all of it. Somehow it felt right to get it off his chest, and he ended up telling more than he intended.
"You can't possibly believe this child, esteemed Mistress. He isn't right in the head, that much is obvious. To hear his tale, there is some grand conspiracy afoot---" Keeper Eiler pleaded.
"His testimony is enough for me to call for a hearing, Eiler. Lazarus, you and the boy will be the witnesses. Empty your Mana now, Keeper Eiler, and let me place a seal on you," Mistress Helfira said. "Let me tell you now that just by using this creature your crime is punishable by Stripping,"
"No, no, no. How can you trust---"
"I've seen that something was afoot for a time now, Eiler. Now even children can see it, and I fear that we are too late. I don't care much for these… factions. But now they try to meddle with the Academy? Confess, Eiler, and I will make sure that you avoid Stripping. You will get to keep your Mana and your life and go as far away from here,"
Keeper Eiler was trembling from head to toe. The man tried to twist his hand, but lightning rumbled, and a crimson light flashed. A charred stump was all that remained of the hand. A few black fingers were scattered about the floor around the man as he viscerally screamed with pain and fear.
"Try another thing, and the next one is straight for your head," Mistress Helfira said.
There was a whip made of crimson lightning in the left hand of Mistress Helfira. The old lady was waving it about, as she stalked the Keeper. The white hair of the aged Mistress had arcs of lightning in it.
A door opened to the side and a few figures entered. Master Slav came in, then Mistresses Fenia and Porfira followed by Master Kot.
Master Lazarus stood in their way, his arms spread wide; denying access to the new arrivals.
Porfira looked stunned by the scene. Her voice asked in disbelief, "Mother, what are you doing? Have you gone mental?"
"Help me, she has gone insane!" Keeper Eiler screeched, cradling his stump. “L-look at w-what she did!”
"This man has in his possession a life leech," Mistress Helfira said calmly. "He had even attached it on a student,"
Mistress Fenia gasped, her eyes going wide.
"That's a life leech?" Master Lazarus asked, first genuinely curious but then the man started to turn offended. "How did he get it? I made an appeal over three cycles ago to see it and make a few tests… Mistress, this… this…"
The rest seemed stumped.
"Don’t be a child, Lazarus. Experiments can wait," Mistress Helfira scolded then proceeded to explain to those who had no clue as to what a life leech was, "A life leech is a parasitic life form with a few useful abilities, but its most potent one is to steal life energies from others and then feed that energy back to its host. I suspect that Eiler is the host, or at least he knows who is. I worked on these parasites and know for a fact that he does not have a permission to have it. He either got it from our laboratory, somehow, or he got the coordinates for a summon and performed a fishing ritual. Either way, any of these things are grounds for immediate capture and interrogation,"
The teachers paused when they heard that.
"He is resisting emptying his Mana and is not willing to allow me to place a seal," Mistress Helfira said and her eyes narrowed like a hawk’s onto the howling man. "Try to talk some sense into him, if not, I will take more extreme measures,"
Master Kot approached. "Eiler, do as the Mistress said. Now!"
Master Lazarus allowed the Masters and Mistresses to pass by him.
"But---"
"Do it now!" Master Kot repeated with force. "Don't resist,"
“Turn yourself over,” Mistress Fenia counseled in a gentle voice.
Finally, when he was encircled on all sides, the Keeper could only give in. Tercius watched with Mana Sight as the man forcefully ejected Mana out, and allowed it to dissipate.
The elder Mistress approached, her palm covered with a Mana construct made of strings of small Runes. She placed her hand around the man's neck and he hissed.
Tercius smelled burning flesh in a moment and once Mistress Helfira removed her hand Tercius saw a tattoo the color of inflamed flesh all around the man's neck. Two thorny vines entwined around each other went from the Keeper's Adam's apple to the back of his neck. The tattoo pulsed with an eerie light a few times and then it settled.
"I will take him to the Magistrate's dungeons, while a hearing is prepared," Master Kot said.
Mistress Helfira nodded in agreement. "Do so. Lazarus, accompany him,"
"Yes, Mistress," Master Lazarus said.
"There's no need, Mistress, I'm more than capable of taking care of one sealed mage," Master Kot said and flashed a smile.
"Kot, the man's life leech involvement might be the least of his crimes. Lazarus will go with you and that's the end of this discussion." Mistress Helfira said.
Once the two men left with the prisoner, and Mistress Helfira shooed the rest away. Only she, Tercius, and the floating sphere that kept the life leech remained in the room. The sphere shrunk slowly and enveloped the exact form of the life leech. Like a girl that was picking up her doll, Mistress Helfira picked up the packed humanoid life leech and put it in her pocket.
She turned to him and flashed a smile of old yellow teeth.
"Sit. Let me see how your wounds are, first. Then we'll talk about your behavior."
***
It was long past midnight when Mistress Helfira stopped with her questions.
"And why didn't you come to me or someone else with this?"
Tercius said calmly, "Why would I? I don't know who to trust here, Mistress. The talk you had with your daughter has shown me that you belong to different factions. For all I know you might have been the one behind it, Mistress. Any Master or Mistress might have been. I had two options, do something about it or let it go. I didn't let it go,"
"And now a boy was almost sent to a Magistrate for an attempted murder. An innocent boy, as you say," Mistress Helfira said.
Tercius took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. That's my fault. I don't think he had anything to do with all of this,"
"I will check if that's true," Mistress Helfira said. "He did attack you and he is a possessor of a werebeast skill,"
"I provoked him," Tercius said. "I need to ask, Mistress. Can you tell me something about werebeasts or their skill? I think my sources are not entirely accurate,"
The old woman smiled. "Well, I do know a few things. Their skill is passed down from parent to child. That means that each werebeast has a skill since birth. Most of these children get the skill at level 20 barrier, before the age of five. Now, the problem is how they overcome this barrier. They---" Mistress Helfira suddenly paused and looked at Tercius. "--- use a unique solution. The barrier is not the only problem, however. After they pass it using their… unique solution, when they shift their mind starts slipping and most turn feral. In fact, those who pass over two barriers are feral even without shifting. Theories as to why this is the way it is, abound– from possible to downright absurd, but it is commonly agreed that it has to do with their unique method,"
"And this method is?"
"I'm not sure I should tell," Mistress Helfira said. "It's quite gruesome,"
Tercius thought about the regular way of overcoming the barrier. A skill would consume another and go over the barrier. If this werebeast skill is anything like normal skills then… and it's gruesome… Oh… An idea came to his mind. It had some merit, especially now that he knew that everyone had a measure of Energy in their body.
Tercius apprehensively looked at the older Mistress. "Do they… consume other people?"
The old Mistress shook her head sadly. "Their own siblings most of the time. Sometimes parents or some other relation. They need someone who has the same inborn skill… There are entire clans where this is widely practiced, where new parents are encouraged to have as many children as possible..."
"So J'ro has…" Tercius whispered in disbelief.
"Slow down, child," the Mistress said. "That depends. How was his transformation?"
Tercius thought about it and images came to him. But should he say it? "What will you do if he has…"
She shook her head. "From what you told me of him and his behavior, I doubt he did. He is far too calm, on one hand. If he is still below his level 20 barrier, then the Academy will allow him to stay. We have a few amongst staff who have a skill like his and they can show him how to keep his… urges in line. If he has done it… then a ritual of Stripping will be performed. His body’s ability to generate Mana above a certain level will be taken away and his ability to use any kind of skill will go away along with the Mana,"
Tercius nodded slowly. "And there's no way to keep his mind from these feral tendencies?"
Mistress Helfira answered after a few moments, "A skill of mental fortitude would help, of course. Spells… no, it would have to be a skill. But even it would only slow down the process. The advance of bestial urges is far faster than the speed with which a skill could level, I'm sad to say,"
Tercius nodded and considered the situation. Tercius’s answer now would change little. The mages would probably verify whatever he said about the boy with J'ro himself. If the boy was under the level 20 barrier he would be able to stay, if not…
Taking a deep breath through his nose Tercius began, "I should also mention this. J'ro went for a visit to someone in the city, back at the Pyramid. He didn’t have the … life leech on him before that, so that might mean something. Whatever happens next, let's make sure that the guilty find their way to the proper punishment,"
"I will see what I can find out,"
Tercius nodded. "As for the transformation, his teeth grew. Nails too. There were a few patches of fur on his face and hands. The eyes changed to a cat's. That's it,"
The elder released a long breath. "That's good. Nails and teeth are the main offense, so they have it immediately. Some amount of fur is normal for cat werebeasts, the eyes too. If his skeletal structure had changed, then it would have been too late…"
Following Mistress's words, he released a long breath of his own. A weight was kept off of him.
Mistress Helfira leaned back into her chair and sighed while she played with her long white hair. Some of the hair was still electrified, Tercius saw.
A foot slipper kept tapping on the smooth marble floor, as the woman thought about their long conversation. Finally, a decision reached, she stood up and said, "Come along,"
Tercius followed after the Mistress as she took him from the room where he woke up to a floor below it. In a hallway on the ground floor in the west wing of the mansion was a small room. Inside was a glowing forcefield behind which was a small boy.
J'ro.
The boy was currently sleeping on a bed, his back turned to the door from which Tercius entered.
The Mistress went to the wall and sent Mana into it. The forcefield receded into the walls and Tercius looked at the elder. She nodded and inclined her head to the sleeping boy.
Tercius took a few steps forward. The boy seemed too small, curled up in a fetal position, with not even a blanket to cover him.
"Hey, J'ro," he said gently. "Wake up,"
The boy stirred and slowly turned around.
Blinking his crusted eyes open, J'ro finally spotted Tercius. There was instant recognition and a lot of warring emotions until the boy's face went into a forced neutral. "It's you,"
"As I live and breathe," Tercius cracked a small smile.
J'ro turned back and lay down. "Go away, Tercius,"
Tercius took a few steps forward and placed his hand on the boy's upper arm. Tugging a bit he said, "The Mistress said that we can go to the kitchens and eat something. How about it?"
"Go away,"
"J'ro, I talked to Mistress Helfira and she said that you can stay at the Academy if your werebeast skill is at the barrier of 20 or under it,"
"What?" A low voice asked. Desire and hope was in that small voice in abundance, and Tercius saw the same on the boy's face when he turned around. "Truly? I… I… But... how?"
"It's true, J’ro," Mistress Helfira said. The woman had a sad yet gentle smile– one that reminded Tercius of Rona– as she moved closer to the bed. "I need to ask you a few questions first. Tercius, can you wait outside for a few moments?"
Tercius squeezed J'ro shoulder and nodded. "I'm waiting and I'm hungry, so be quick about it,"
Tercius went outside and sat on the floor in the hallway and leaned his back on the wooden wall. He looked at his lightly scarred knuckles that still sent a jolt of pain up his arms. His fingers traced the healed scars on his neck as his throat pulsed with secondhand pain.
It felt so distant, the pain. Like it happened to someone else. Even not it feels that way, Tercius thought as he touched and prodded his battle wounds with a clinical detachment.
Other than a momentary surprise when J’ro nails dug themselves into Tercius flesh, the pain he experienced easily became an afterthought compared to the way he normally got the Energy. Even the choking was a far cry from what he had to endure when he pacified the Core of Energy Manipulation. Not even a fraction of a fraction...
Something similar had happened in those last few hours of the ’special training’ Lux had for him, but not to this degree.
Even thought he had felt the pain, he was able to move past it with laughable ease and think straight. Straight enough, he chuckled.
Tercius did not have time to nap, he reasoned, so Meditation would have to be enough.
The surroundings faded and he was alone. The black waves of Meditation started washing away his fatigue of the eventful day behind him.
Life was complicated, Tercius sighed. Once the skill took full effect, the events of the day morphed into questions on Tercius's mind.
Does a herbivore werebeast exist? If they exist, how do they go over the barriers? What exactly is a life leech? What are those other abilities of the life leech Mistress Helfira mentioned? What was going on with his pain processing?