Chapter 10: The Histones
Damnation, I groaned inwardly.
My modified spell had succeeded in storing tonal singing as notches on a piece of wood and replicating it later, but words were more difficult.
I was a curious person by nature, as either Bella or DeMorte, so it was so annoying to get caught up in trying to learn one thing and therefore missing out on other things that I could be learning.
For example, I could be doing more experiments with fire and finding out things like: do magic fires need the same gas as a regular fire to keep burning? Is that same gas oxygen, carbon dioxide, or something else? How could I prove my results without magic?
I also had the dissection spell that I had begun designing a while ago. It was designed, in theory, to let me know the exact status of what I targeted, regardless of what it was. There were just two, rather large, problems. First, the length of the spell was ridiculous. Since I could not write it down, the construction steps just went on and on inside my head. By now I was fairly sure that, if I wrote it down and placed it next to a written copy of my DNA pairs, the resulting tomes would be of comparable size.
Second, I was having trouble storing or communicating the information. If written out in words, there would be too much information to easily understand. If I tried to give myself a general ‘impression’ of what my spell discovered, I would run the risk of burning out a part of my brain. The only way that I had found so far that might work was to literally store the information in my soul and then withdraw it with the connection that Leo had established.
This connection, which also allowed me to perfectly remember Anton’s teachings, might give me a practically unlimited second brain of sorts to store my memories. The only worry was the cost.
One of the things that Anton had accidentally confirmed for me was something a heretic, who I took in during my previous life, called the Law of Tides. Simply speaking, for every tidal push, there would be a pull and for every action done, a cost incurred. The stronger the action, the higher the cost; with the relation of magic usage to calorie consumption being a prime example.
Back to the problem at hand, if I could not even find a way to record my singing, than I would not be able to leave the area of my test subjects. This would mean either running away from home or somehow creating an opportunity that would let me leave for months at a time.
I could postpone my research, but I did not like that idea in the slightest. I needed to cross the forest river and find out if my test subjects existed too, least I put the cart before the horse.
In the end there was so much to do that I had to revise my goals. Where I had originally intended to gather as much information as possible about the world while waiting for an opportunity to cross the river, I now decided to create my own opportunity.
To do that, I would need more hours in the day to work so I would do three things. First, I would take the next few days to learn how to concentrate my sleep schedule as much as possible. Second, I would lower my profile as much as practical, over the next few weeks. Finally, I would expand my body control practices to include martial movements.
By concentrating my sleep into four hours or less I would gain that much more time to work and practice while almost no one else would be awake. That said, last night had been an eye opening experience for me. For starters, I realized, with Xiphos bragging about our work on his original recording spell, that I would be making a far larger impact on this world than I intended to. The larger the impact that spell’s creation had, the more people would mentally try and remember ‘Bella from near Entrials.’ Not to mention that the locals almost all knew, regardless of their opinions of me, that I would significantly improve their odds of recovery, so my presence would be missed rather quickly if I tried to sneak off.
I had been far too lax in training my body too. Although I could catch a glass tube between my toes before it hit the ground, I was not to the point I wanted to be. Being flexible and precise with my movements was a good start, but I also needed to start developing lean, dense, muscle. Not like in my previous life either, I needed abnormally dense muscles to try and minimize any physical change until I was away from anyone who could recognize me.
My child-self had accused me of being paranoid and pointed out that, after all the work I did to blend in as ‘odd little Bella,’ that it was pointless to try and hide myself away at this point. However, I knew just how easy it was for people to turn on others and betray each other. I had even encountered the equivalent of a hunter-killer group in my previous life because someone close to me spread lie about me being a soul mage. I had lost too many people bringing them down, even if others underestimated me as a child and I had access to more mana in this life, there was no way I could easily handle someone hunting me down right now.
It was easier to expect betrayal everywhere than face it from an unexpected place.
Specifically, though, I had realized all of this thanks to Jalon’s return last night When Jalon returned from his excursion, he could barely think of anything except food, meaning that he had been recently preforming a sizable amount of magic. That made me realized how sloppy I had been in examining Healer Kal’rek’s attack a year and a half ago. The day after Kal’rek arrived in the town I asked Nathan about how the meeting between the Healer and Mayor had gone. I was eventually told that 2 of the 6 people traveling to Entrials had died, however, even after healing Carlatus, the Healer only ate a single, albeit large, plate of food.
I had originally assumed that his lack of magical expenditure had to do with easily scaring off his attackers, but that made no sense given that 2 people died. As a Healer, he would have used his spells to try and save them, meaning that he would have used a fair amount of mana. I had even spoken to the Healer around the time and ended up asking if he had brought any books along. However, he stated that his whole company had traveled light, not even bringing along extra food. Primarily I blamed it on armature bandits, figuring that they had perhaps gotten in one or two lethal blows before realizing that they were in a fight against a mage and running away.
The problem lay with the Healer’s company and their accounts of the attack. Too few people failed to realize that there were actually 3 types of bandits. The first and most common were just desperate people, staring starvation in the face and willing to do anything to avoid it. The second were bloodthirsty scum who hurt for the enjoyment and relative ease of preying on travelers, instead of working the land or plying a trade. The final ones were like me, those who only cared about money, or who wanted something specific, like getting revenge.
The attack on Kal’rek’s group, had originally sounded like the first group, until you realized that the metal phase’s harvest cycle in that area had been fairly good and everyone was more than willing to celebrate and share food. The second group would make no sense either as a group of bloodthirsty men would not target a random bunch on the road when neighbors would be too busy harvesting to notice an outer farm’s occupants suddenly disappearing. Especially when said farm would be more likely to have young women. Which left only the third group, who either needed good riding horses, not farm or cart horses, or the bandits were supposed to assassinate someone.
Either reason was plausible, but the fact that I had not even picked up on the possibility was disturbing to say the least.
So I resolved myself to change my approach and become more serious about preparing myself and my surroundings for whatever life or this ‘game’ would throw at me.
“Bella!” It was Carlatus. At least children could be trusted to be children.
It was currently nearing mid-day and he had alternated between playing with Xiphos and annoying me while we awaited the Histones’ arrival. I had politely excused myself to run my experiments.
There is too much to do, I sighed to myself.
“Bella!” I sighed again and went over to the door to unbolt it, casting a dispersion spell while I did so. It was hard to sense a spell after it had been cast, but you could still tell that magic had been used in an enclosed area within a certain period of time. Dispersion spells were usually a waste of mana unless you were deliberately trying to hide the fact that you had been working magic.
Unbolting and opening the door I stepped out and gave Carlatus a brief glare as he knew better than to interrupt an alchemist – even a basic one – at work. It was the reason I could bolt the door and not have to worry about Xiphos or anyone else bothering me.
“Dad spotted the Histoon! They are riding up now.” Carlatus squeaked, clearly more than a little excited.
“Histone, Carlatus, Histone.” I corrected gently, letting my child-self deal with Carlatus as I drew back into my own world.
The water level that represented our merging consciousnesses was around my knees. Below where my leg touched the water no longer existed unless I deliberately created the form. It represented the point where my consciousness had already merged into my new form. Although, even if I recreated my legs in this world, I would not be able to separate myself from my new body.
Suddenly I found myself wondering if there was any more purpose in creating or visiting this space in my mind again, other than to check how much I had fused with my child-self.
Letting myself fall back into the physical world, I noticed that Carlatus and I had gone to meet Nathan, Jalon, Xiphos, and Loco by the edge of the village. Not far away 5 riders were leisurely approaching.
To my surprise, there were only 2 adults among them. The other 3 were all teenagers at the oldest. The two older ones were carrying swords, but the youngest of them looked barely 2 or 3 years older than me and looked familiar. The last one clearly recognized me as his face immediately took on a thunderstruck look, letting me remember where I saw him last. He was the boy saw me while I was looking at myself in the mirror, back before the lord’s party.
I wonder if he is going to run away again I thought grimly. Although the look on his face was not one that I would usually associate with fear.
Sure enough, he spurred his horse a bit and raced ahead of his group, charging towards us.
Everyone instinctively took a few steps to the side as his charge ended in a dramatic last second slow down and dismount.
I almost applauded his little show of skill, however, from the way he was staring at me I knew that at least part of my plan for laying low was up in smoke.
He spoke directly to me in a deep voice for someone so young. “I am the Lord’s second son, John, may I have the honor of knowing your name?”
I blinked, ignoring Nathan and all protocol to introduce himself to me would normally make him somewhat endearing, but his motives were not only transparent, they were made accompanied by the trace amounts of mana that he was leaking.
Since my child-self was confused, I took direct control as the rest of the group quickly rode to catch up to John. Turning towards Nathan I simply ignored and insulted John at the same time. “Sir, it appears that the lord mayor could not be present.”
A bowing John jerked in surprise, but could not say anything before the rest of his group caught up. One of them, the oldest teen there, immediately began chastising John as politely as possible.
A guard then, I thought amused. I also gave control back to my child-self as the adults started asserting themselves.
Nathan, naturally, took the lead. “I was expecting the mayor himself, did something happen to him?”
One of the riders, an older man, replied. “He managed to catch dysentery. When we left he could walk, but riding after he took his potion was out of the question.” The older man dismounted and continued speaking. “It has been more than a few years since I was here, but if I remember correctly, you are Nathan correct?” He smiled as he asked.
Nathan nodded and gave a brief bow. “Correct. It is good to see you Newsman Asat.”
Asat smiled more widely and I stepped around John, who tried to get my attention by blocking my view. “I always have mixed feelings about being remembered. However I did have to thoroughly document your little excursion with the current mayor, so I suppose it was unavoidable.”
Nathan nodded knowingly and I batted away John’s unwelcomed hand just before he got into a shouting match with Carlatus.
The man who was chastising John before immediately broke it up while the other teenager told the young guard to let John do as he wished. I absently noted that I had overestimated his age because of the teen’s height and that he was actually closer to John’s age.
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Nathan, spared a brief glance at the John and the others, which they noticed just before they decided to try and behave themselves.
John stepped forward quickly, “I greet you Nathan on behalf of my father who could not be here.” He bowed and Nathan reciprocated.
“It is good to see you again John, although I thought that you and Carlatus would have started to get along better by now.
“Newsman Asat, John, these are the traveling mage, Jalon, our local mender, Loco, and my son, Jalon’s apprentice, Xiphos.” Nathan paused and turned towards Carlatus (who was now glued to my side) and I. “These 2 are also my children, Carlatus and Bella.” I nodded and lightly tapped Carlatus’ head to get him acknowledge Nathan.
The other three did not nod, but actually bowed briefly to the Newsman, leaving him bobbed acknowledgements before turning to the only visitor still on their horse. This last one was a young women that had a small notebook out in her hands that she was making notations in. She was unremarkable except for the fact that she was writing without an inkwell in sight, which made me curious about the quill.
Asat introduced her. “This is my newest apprentice, Recorder Zana, please excuse her diligence, but it is required when such claims need to be investigated. I believe John has already introduced himself, but the other 2 are his friends, Drasiedi and Anghenfil.”
Mentally abbreviating their names to Dras and Ang I noticed that although Dras, the one I mistook for a guard, was supposed to be regarded as a friend, he seemed to be acting more like a caretaker.
Asat, did not dwell on them though and turned back to face Nathan. He then asked both Nathan and, with a brief glance, Jalon pointedly “Is it true?”
Both nodded at the same time, clearly unoffended and eager about something.
Asat did not say anything for a moment, but instead seemed to soak in the knowledge, allowing me to politely demand that someone explain. “Excuse me, but what are you talking about? Is this about the place Jalon was shown yesterday?”
Asat, Nathan, Jalon, and Xiphos all turned to look at me, but I said nothing. Loco, who was quietly hiding in the background smiled and I realized that, once again, I was standing out more than I should.
Instead, John spoke up to help me. “In fact, I do not know what you are here to record either Histone. Did Sir Nathan actually find something of such note that you need to keep it a secret?”
I almost guffawed at the way John suddenly called Nathan a ‘Sir,’ but I kept my face straight regardless. I did not know if he was trying to make up for disrespecting him earlier or if he was trying to copy when I called him sir, but either way, it seemed funny for some reason.
Nathan, did not laugh and gave a simple look back at the large crowd that had started gathering behind us since John’s boisterous entrance a moment ago. Nearly the whole village was there by now, with most staring at the Newsman.
Asat walked up to Nathan and quietly asked him something about taking care of the crowd. Nathan did not reply and instead stepped forward to address the crowd himself. “I have asked the Newsman Asat of the Histones to be here today to confirm something that I found in the hills recently.” He paused as a general murmur broke out among the villagers, they sounded excited. Nathan continued speaking after the chatter died down a little. “I am sure that he will be willing to take down the village log to take back to his fellows, but please know that he is not here for a ‘recording.’”
The villagers immediately started scattering, going to collect old memories to ensure that no one was forgotten. Although I had no clue what a ‘recording’ was, I knew the village log was supposed to be kept up for tax purposes and was meant to record births, deaths, and family unities.
Nathan quickly waved to Asat and the rest, cueing them to take their horses to the inn. On the way, Nathan explained that it would be better to show the Newsman where the location was tomorrow so that they did not have to travel in the dark as long.
By the time we had arrived at the inn there had been at least a dozen requests for stories, tales, and other requests from the villagers, mostly children, but adults also wanted to talk to the Newsman.
As we tied up the horses and went inside however, the inn keeper chased off the majority before they could swarm in. With the remainder only staying under the excuse of buying a meal.
John, seemingly suck on the idea of impressing me, noticed how quickly I put on my working mask to block the smell of smoke and asked why. It was not a secret, so he found out quickly, even without me telling him and promptly informed everyone in the inn that, under his father’s authority, the inn would be smoke free until he said otherwise.
Dras, Jalon, and the innkeeper did not like the blatant use of authority, but almost everyone else seemed to be more entertained than angry. Nathan was the only exception, looking conflicted and clearly thinking, to my great annoyance, that my sister already had a match with his brother and was likely to join the two families.
It was one of the remnants of the enslavement of mankind by the Elves. The depravity practiced in those days meant that a human might rape and be raped by anyone, including one’s own family. The abominations that were described to children as the results of incest were fanciful nonsense, but they made their point. Incest was, along with the practice of slavery, considered the greatest of non-magical crimes.
Of course, knowing Nathan, he would have already recognized the ‘double union’ ceremony as a distinct option and was probably wondering how to bring the option up with Florence and the mayor. Not that I was going to let him, but I could not say anything at the moment.
After we sat at the back of the inn, I carefully made sure that I was between the Recorder and Carlatus. I wanted to study the first and let the second fight off John’s annoying questions.
Loco, to my surprise, started off the conversation by telling them about my fire experiments and asking if they had heard of similar tests.
I told you it was pointless to try and blend in. – My child-self addressed me directly. – We will be fine though. Who would want to hurt a child? Much less one talented at healing?
There are always those who do would do anything for what they believe. You know that little girl.
Yes, but even they will till only see a little girl. Which is our greatest defense.
…
That, and if you start suddenly trying to change our behavior, we will stand out even more.
I mentally blinked, my child-self was right, but that was the first time she had questioned a decision of mine.
Asat brought my attention back to the present as he looked at me curiously. “No, I do not believe I have heard of anything like that. Or at least, I do not think anyone actually thought to make an experiment of it.” He smiled. “Do you mind if I ask why you did that?”
I smiled back as best I could. “I would be happy to, but do you mind answering my questions as well? No one has told me what exactly a Newsman is yet.” Nathan jerked at this and turned towards Loco, who just shrugged.
Asat clearly noticed the exchange, but said nothing to them and instead answered my question without losing his smile. “A Newsman is a rank within the Histone organization. It is our duty to travel around and record various events. Although,” he chuckled of a moment. “We are not a part of any organized church, despite our moniker of a ‘cult of history.’”
His smile turned sad for a moment and he paused before continuing. “Humanity lost all we knew before the time of Enslavement and very few people at the time understood the importance of preserving stories of the past. Too many people back then wanted to burn any reminders of the Elves and forget what happened. Our group was created around that time to preserve the past and record the present.
“Of course nowadays we are fairly established and our members are now welcome in most places as wondering storytellers and the ones who teach others about the past. We also, manage to get invited to observe most parties and coronations and such, but it took many years to get to that point. In the early years we were closed off enough to be called a cult, but that would be a bit too far off topic.” Asat sad smile remained after he finished recounted the past.
As he paused, I decided to answer his original question about my fire test. “I was curious.” Asat’s sad smile disappeared for a moment as he became confused, but he quickly understood. “My talent has helped me learn about both my own and about other people’s bodies. However, I was curious about why I felt my lungs were not using all the air I breathed in. Since everyone told me that fire needed to breathe as well I wanted to learn how long it could breathe without air. Although I am still trying to find a way to prove that it is only using a part of the air and is not just burning out because of air becoming stale.”
It was a lie, but one with enough truth to be taken at its face value. I knew that air was made up of different parts, but the churches might not appreciate something without proof. Anton and Leo had dismissed spontaneous generation for me, but my old Kingdom would have been surprised that the old ‘rat recipes’ were not actually creating new rats.
Asat laughed in delight and took out his own small booklet from what appeared to be a hidden pocket on his coat and took his Recorder Zana’s quill to write down something before looking up at me again and smiling. “Bella, daughter of Nathan, interesting person with pointed ears that move and a desire to learn.” He blew gently on the booklet’s pages and passed the odd quill back to Zana. “I promise to remember you for future reference.”
I blinked and ignored an echo of 'pointless' from my child-self as I noticed that my ears were twitching just slightly.
* * *
Royal Bedchamber in the western empire of Etror:
What have I done? The Queen looked on her 2 slaves, who had exhausted themselves for her pleasure and were now sleeping.
She stood by the bedside table, a lonely candle all that illuminated her nude form and the sleeping forms of the 2 in her bed. The cup of warm wine in her hand not clearing her head of the guilt and fear that gripped her.
No one would question me ordering their deaths, I am the queen after all, but it would look too suspicious. She drained the wine all at once and played with the empty cup.
As she looked at their sleeping forms though, another surge of desire started to build up in her, slowly pushing back her fears and guilt. She had taken the contraceptive potion after the fact so he chances of conceiving were slim. Her husband would also be back from crushing the slave revolt in another few days, obviously eager to have his songs sung and his needs tended. Even if she enjoyed the 2 a few more times no one would notice and certainly no one would suspect the parentage of any of her children.
I might have to kill them if the girl gets pregnant, but she might have another lover who could claim her child… assuming that the old stories of monstrous offspring were just stories… No, no chances could be taken, if she became pregnant with her own brother's spawn. If…
The Queen squirmed as the heat in her body grew and the girl started to stir. Of course, the young women and her twin brother would face even worse punishment than the Queen if it was discovered that they had all shared in ecstasy together. Which they had, repeatedly, even while the Queen herself not involved.
The western continent was the only one still strong enough to hold slaves, but even they held certain taboos from the far past, incest being one of the highest taboos.
The girl slowly sat up, clearly looking for the Queen, and in doing so let her covering slip off. Even with only the bedside candle lit, the Queen’ desire was stoked by the naked young women’s form. Where previously it was just a warm glow, now a fire truly started to roar.
The Queen could not know though, that most of this desire was due to simple hormones that had been ‘encouraged’ by entities intent on pushing her majesty down the path they wanted.
Such was the nature of the Game.