Chapter 41 Morals and Power.
Will you kill a monster?
Will you kill an animal?
Will you kill a man?
Will you kill a woman?
Will you kill a child?
When will you say no more?
Brigit, the Keeper of Life.
I translate the elemental’s words. I figure out that the scary deal I was worried about, was simply the elemental asking me if I wanted her to come again. Then she said that we had a deal and I should bring more flowers next time. But it doesn’t explain why she touched my forehead or what she did to my mana pool. I have less gravity mana now… One gem less if I’m not mistaken but it’s a little hard to tell…
I don’t dare to cast the spell again until the weekend. I don’t want to deal with unknown powers without fully knowing what that odd elemental says.
I wait for the weekend in order to ask the hag how to proceed.
{27} Kilako (October) the 28th
“Congratulation, chicky. You’ve bound your first elemental!” the hag declares in a jovial tone after I’ve described what happened.
“And that means?”
“It means that you can add alteration patterns to that particular first level spell as long as you tell your bound elemental what you want. You have to deal with her in order to alter your spell, and then she’ll help you cast the altered version… oh and the mana cost for that spell will be lowered as well. However, the amount of spell materials you have to offer each time you cast your spell will be higher, and you’ll have your gravity mana-pool decreased by one gem at all times. The more spells you bind, the bigger the strain on your pull. You shall have to pick your bound spells carefully. You can unbind a spell by ordering the elemental to go away, yes?”
“How do I alter the spell, just add the usual alteration patterns? The two patterns for silent cast? The pattern for amplification? That kind of thing?”
The wrinkles on the hag’s face crease with her grin. “No no, this isn’t a cantrip. Yes, you need to add the patterns. But first, you have to discuss this with your elemental and tell her what kind of alterations you plan to do with the spell next time you cast it, yes?”
“I don’t speak Myrsha that well… what are my other alteration options other than silent cast and amplification? I know about prolong patterns and range patterns that exist, not that I intend to use it on anyone. And there's the duplication, but I doubt I can duplicate something that needs this many patterns..."
“A silent cast doesn’t work on a first level spell, it is not a cantrip. But you can shorten the chant with the right alteration patterns, kikikiki..." She cackles to herself and pushes a meatball to her wrinkly mouth. I wince, knowing what that meat contains. I try not to look and focus on her words instead. “The ones you mentioned are the commonly used ones. They all increase the mana cost with each pattern, of course. There are a few books on altered magic in my library. Take a look when you have the time, yes?” I can tell she thinks I’m wasting precious questions while I could research it in a book.
“Can you teach me Myrsha? Can we have our conversations in Myrsha? Like we did with Sinteo?”
“Rurka viarai, kikiki… Se ma’ak sherill!”
“One second, let me bring the dictionary.”
She waits for the whole ten minutes until I’ve translated her words.
So she speaks the languages fluently… that’s helpful. My Sinteo is decent by now, and I can make conversations. Time to learn a language that’ll actually help me do magic!
I bring ink and a pen with me as I look in the dictionary for the words I want to say in my next sentence, then jot the sentence down using Toml’a runes before asking aloud.
“Yim sheril ruashi bach se nashil, shitol zuram auzaton rukit fel zarpyam. Yirul nia korma’au ibana?”
The hag nods with a proud smile. “Hen, fassil ke auzaton fel ke ibana tiaspia luha’arti.” I request that she repeat the sentence, and work with my dictionary to translate.
She crosses her hands on her chest. “Zuram sotula sherillam rondi lahi le se yunarysh.” she gets up after that, letting me translate her words by myself.
*
{27} Tiyadi (November) the 3rd
“This is your next target my child, Amira, daughter of Lisar.” After my breakfast, the hag hands me a drawing of a young long-haired woman. “You have a week. She lives in the Wolf district, here’s the ectoplasm container. Take special care with her soul, I want it fully intact.” The hag always switches back to the Toml’a language for important conversations like this. She doesn’t have the patience for my slow translations.
I nod and pick the drawing, then go to the cold outside. I wrap my white fur coat tightly around my body.
I don’t know how I feel about these killings, but a deal is a deal, and the people she had me kill so far weren't exactly upstanding citizens.
By now I am prepared for the cold and mud of the slums. The gray hemp clothes I wear under my coat are comfortable to move in and won't attract any attention, compared to the heavy velvet dresses I usually wear during this cold weather. Of course, I’ll have to leave my coat at my apartment when I’m actually looking for my target.
At least I can learn a heating cantrip while waiting for that thief…
I go to my apartment in the wolf district and sleep for a while. I spend the rest of the day under my warm blanket, I read and practice the ‘Lesser Heating’ cantrip. I have to wait for my thief to show up anyway.
This cantrip makes me frown. It requires 7 gems of fire mana, way more than I thought it would. Why does it cost nearly as much as kinetic burst? It doesn’t make sense… it’s not that powerful…
Is it the duration? That would make sense… this cantrip does last for a minute… Regardless, it can be useful if I’m especially cold… I place my hand on my chest. “Sufal.”
The thief shows up on my windowsill just as the heat fades and the cold settles in again.
“You have d’ job?” He asks.
“Yes.”
“Where’s my food?” He looks around the small bedroom.
Rot! I forgot! “After the job, I’ll take you to a rich inn and buy you all the food you like, ok?”
“Food first! I’m hungry!”
I sigh. “Very well. Food first, let’s go to an inn of your choosing”
He shakes his head. “No inn, inn’satrap innit? Bring da food here!”
I roll my eyes, take my coat, and leave. I go to the Kondra snake inn, ignore Sharla’s friendly inquiries and buy as much food as I can pack on Loyal. An hour later I put the large haul on the shabby table I have in my living room.
His green eyes gleam as he scans the food I’ve brought. Fruits, vegetables, cheese, dairy food, chicken, pork. I’ve brought as much as I could and a little bit of each. I know that if I am generous to him, he’ll probably stick around, and I can use his expertise on the streets. I also hope for his friendship, but friendships form over common interest and environment, I can't count on it.
He removes the mask that covered half of his face and digs into the food like a ravenous wolf. I gasp when I notice his ears. I move his hair out of the way. “You’re like me!” I exclaim. His ears have the exact same sharp edge as my own. He’s either a half elf or a quarter.
“Mmmm! This da good food. So tasty. Mmmmmmmm!” He declares between bites. “Ya I like you!”
“Thanks! But I meant you’re a half elf, your ears are sharp, you’re a lot older than you look, right?” I circle the table and sit, facing him.
He stops eating and looks at me with suspicion in his green eyes. “How’d you know that?”
“Because I’m like that too!” I don't hide my excitement. I move the hair covering my ear to show him.
“You have a defect innit? Ah see. Now I know why ah like you!” He goes back to wolfing down his food.
“Defect?”
He takes a little while to swallow, and licks his lips. “Ye. Defect. Ma ma say I have a defect, is why I grow slow.”
“It’s not a defect! It’s… your father must’ve been an elf, have you ever met your father?”
He shakes his head, “Ma’s a whore, she dead now. Dunno who ma da is, don’ care! What’s an elf?”
Makes sense… “Elf is a race of people. I heard they live longer, but also grow up slower. We have some elf blood, so we grow slower…” I explain in the simplest terms I can think of.
“Ah… Like da orc bouncer freak?” He nods sagely with a mouth full of food. He swallows and exposes teeth with bits of food between them. "Da freak has knife teeth, we have knife ear innit?" He squeezes the edges of his ears.
I chuckle “You could say that... You’ve never told me your name.”
“Ryon.” He goes back to his food, inhaling a salad at a speed I'd take a single bite.
I smile. Not only did I find a friend, I found one of my kind. “Nice to meet you, Ryon, I’m Marisha.” I put my hand forward for a shake.
He stops eating again, and lift his green eyes from the food, studying my face. “Do ya wanna have mah snake or something?”
“Eh?!” I stare at him dumbfounded. “Why would you think that?” I ask once I’ve regained my wits.
“Women touch me and act nice when they wanna snake. Ya have nice small jugs I snake ya after da food.”
Heat washes over my face and my heart races as I consider his ‘offer’. For a split second, a lonely primal part of me wants it, and he isn’t looking bad either. The fact that we share an elven heritage means he’s like me, older in a younger-looking body.
No! I can’t have him do whatever he wants, nor command me around! I have to establish who’s calling the shots here, and I’m not here for that kind of thing! Why not? I could really use someone warm right now… I won’t feel so lonely if… No. I’ll still feel lonely, it’ll just put me at risk… I know nothing about him, he's a stranger, and I doubt he cares for me. When I do it for the first time it’ll be with someone who loves me and I really care about… My first time… like I haven’t been doing it for nearly six yea…
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
NO! That never happened!
I’ll find true love at some point… someone like Kolag who loves me and... Kolag… I wish I could see him again…
Ryon keeps wolfing down the food, I watch as he eats the last drop.
“Aahhhh, I’m stuffed! Job tomorrow! Let’s snake!” He gets up and walks toward me. “Don’ worry. I am a gentleman, I tip.” It sounds like he’s quoting someone from a brothel.
Gentleman, huh? I sigh in annoyance, trying to remove the sexual thoughts from my brain. “See? That’s why I wanted to give you the food after the job. The job is today! Let’s go!” I head toward the door.
He hugs me from behind, grinding his hardened item against my bottom. “Let’s snake! Then Job!”
Really got to establish some basic borderlines here! “Ritsa!”
“Hod myrsha.”
I crouch with my knee on his chest and pin his head to the floor. “Myrsha safit.”
Since his head doesn’t weigh much, it doesn’t take long to multiply the weight of his head by three-folds. It disturbs his natural balance. Combined with the triple pulling force below him, he can’t sit up as his neck strains in order to support his heavy head.
This amazing sense of power causes a joyful sensation in my chest, my magic clearly displays the difference in our power and this is the power I’ve always wanted. It isn’t enough, it’s not enough to help me get back to my family, it’s not enough to help me find my sister or mother, and it’s not enough to free Kolag from the Sapphire Tower… But for now… for now, this little pervert will do as I say! “You work for me. I don’t work for you. I’m calling the shots. Is that clear?” I ask as the ‘Grounding’ spell fades. I still maintain the ‘Heavy Body’ spell on his head.
“How’d ya do that?” he asks with astonishment, supporting his heavy head with his hands in order to sit up.
I push his head back down, with the disproportional weight of his head it’s not very hard to do. “I asked if I’m clear!”
“Tell me how t’ do it too?”
So that’s why he wants to know how I’ve killed that gang leader, he’s interested in magic! He wants power, I can understand that… “I can. Now, I’m calling the shots! Am I clear?”
“Yes! I am a gentleman, ah only snake if ye tell me to!”
I palm my face with my free hand. Sure, it was part of my point but it wasn’t the only thing I’ve tried to establish here.
He grunts in pain. “Can it stop? Da heavy head curse?”
I stop channeling mana into the ‘Heavy Weight’ spell. “Let’s get going. We have a job to do!”
“But I wanna sleep! Job tomorrow?”
“The job is now!” I have a feeling he’s testing my limits on purpose, to see how much he can get away with… I need to be firm!
“Ahhh fine! Who do we kill?”
I take out the drawing. “This is our target, Amira daughter of Lisar.”
I see the recognition in his green eyes. “Ah know her already, her father’s dangerous.”
“You know her? How?”
He has a large grin on his pretty face. “Saw her when she wash, her jugs are bigger than yours.”
I don’t know how to react to that. “She and her jugs are going to die soon,” I say dryly. “Lead me to her place.”
He gets up, goes toward my window, and climbs up to the roof.
Time to test my flying spell? Bad idea, I just spent half of my gravity mana so I’ll save my mana for the moment, I’ll use it on the way back if I still have the mana to spare. “I can’t follow you there, I’ll use the stairs,” I say as I head the other way.
We meet on the rooftop a few moments later.
“Can I snake her ‘fore ya kill her?” he asks with eagerness.
“No! What the snake Ryon?! Why would you want to do such a thing?!” I ask, horrified, the memories of the soldiers and slavers playing with me surface at the edges of my memory.
His green eyes open widely. I can tell he’s genuinely baffled at why I’d get angry at that. “‘Cause it’s fun,” he explains.
“Doesn’t make it right!”
“Right? Why does it have t’ be right?” He can’t understand.
How to explain morality to this guy?! How do I explain to him that rape is wrong? “Did you always live on the streets?” I ask instead. I need to understand him if I’m going to work with him.
“Ah don’ live on da street. I have stashes to sleep.” He starts running toward the next roof and I follow suit.
The orange dusk appears at the edge of the white walls in the distance, right under the massive tree branches of the gigantic tree above us. The sight is quite beautiful, if only this whole city would've looked like the richer districts.
I shake my head. “I meant to ask… did you ever leave the Wolf District?”
“All da time!” he says when I land on the next roof. “Ah go steal food from rich men. They have really good food. Worth riskin’ ma skinny hide for. The rich women pretty too! Clean innit? Like you. Ya clean and pretty. Fun to watch. I always wanna snake after.”
“Um, thanks?” This weirdly feels like a genuine compliment despite the perverse intention I know he has. He’s a very simple person, isn’t he? He only looks for good food, good sex and to enjoy as much as he can. He’s pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl… I can tell he cleans up... I wouldn’t be surprised if some thugs decided to… “Have you been snaked forcefully before?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not nice is it?”
“Is not,” he says jumping to another roof.
“Then why do it to others?”
“‘Cause women like it. Ask for it. And I like it when women like it! Fun to watch. Makes me tip.”
Tip… oh… ew… It doesn’t surprise me, he is good looking… I sigh. “Not all women like it.”
“Other women like it.” He shrugs. “If women don’t like it, I pay coppers and they like it.”
Right… “Then what do you do when you can’t find a woman who likes it?”
“I go to da temple of ‘shavi for them zefyr whores like ma ma. They always like if I give em silvers. I’m a gentleman, I always tip,” he repeats the sentence like quoting a mantra.
Definitely something he heard from someone. “Then why did you try doing it to me earlier?”
“Ya touch me and act nice, I thought ya like it.”
I sigh. It feels like I’m talking to a child. At least he doesn’t seem to be a rapist… that’s a relief… “Have you been with many women already?”
“Been? Like snaked?”
“Yes.”
“How many is many?” he asks, jumping to the next roof.
I land behind him. “Ten? Twenty?”
“Yes, more than twenty.”
Shouldn’t surprise me… probably a lot of young starting whores… I’m glad I didn’t let him snake me… Venom! I even think in Sinteo now! “What is…” He puts a hand on my mouth gesturing me to be quiet.
“We gettin’ close,” he whispers.
I nod. “Show me.”
He gestures me to follow him, then points down at the edge of the roof. “Balco.”
I can barely spot the thin balcony on the third floor of the building we stand on, the day is getting dark, the sun on is already gone beyond the white walls on the horizon. Ryon ties a rope to the chimney and ties it to my waist. “Go down, she be there.”
I nod in thanks and take a deep breath before I float down the wall using the rope, ‘Light Weight’, and ‘Minor Telekinesis’ combination.
Another rope is thrown from the roof, and a moment later Ryon is right at my side.
We enter the room together. In the dim light of dusk, I can tell it’s a small bedroom. But the bed is empty with ruffled blankets, and there’s no sign of my target. “Are you sure this is the right place?” I whisper.
“Ye,” he whispers and gestures me to follow him into the house. This apartment is made out of stone, it’s larger than my own fifth-floor apartment. I move slowly as my eyes adjust to the dark inner rooms.
Ryon first leads me to a place that seems like a bathroom. A small candle on a shelf shows the chamber pot and a bathtub, but my target isn’t here either. Ryon then leads me to another room.
A dying wax candle on the nearby end table exposes a tired-looking woman who sits in a chair, breastfeeding a baby. It’s difficult to discern if it’s my target in the dim candlelight, and the woman’s eyes are closed, she doesn’t notice us either.
The hag didn’t tell me I’m after a mother… A job is a job! I promised! But that’s a mother! A snaking mother! She’s holding a baby! What am I supposed to do?! Kill her?! Yes! NO! I’m not killing her!
As I stand there lost in my thoughts and moral dilemma, Ryon steps forward and stabs the woman’s throat. She lets out a muffled scream, but he makes sure to cover her mouth and no sound is made.
The blood from her throat trickles down her chest covering her baby. As if he’s feeling his mother’s death, the baby starts screaming.
I watch mouth agape as Ryon picks him up and cradles him, he hushes the baby until he finally calms down. Then, the lithe man puts the baby back in his crib, smiling at him. Ryon lets the baby hold his finger for a little while until the baby falls asleep.
Ryon grabs my arm and heads toward the balcony.
A loud fart from the lithe boy wakes me up from my daze. "Ooops," he says with a snicker. I shake my head, and stop him from reaching the balcony. I kneel near the dying woman and extract the poor soul. I glance at the baby with a gulp, a chill down my spine. When will I be the one to die like this? I can't die that easily! I won't die that easily!
Ryon shrugs and moves out. I follow him and climb back to the rooftops.
“Job done! Tell me how t’ do it!” he demands once I reach the roof.
I am still recovering from what I just saw, I have no idea how to process it.
I don’t mind killing people who organize crime, but a mother with a baby?! That’s just wrong! But Ryon doesn’t seem to have any moral lines at all. Is he a psychopath?! Or simply doesn’t know any better growing up in this hellish place?!
I have no answers for that. “Do what?” I ask distractedly.
“Da’ heavy head curse! The way you kill Brutos! How t’ do it?”
“Right… magic… I can teach you, but it’ll take time until you can do it yourself… and you need the talent for it.” It’d be bad to teach him magic if he’s a psychopath…
“Time! Time! You tell me how t’ do it!” My answer only seems to frustrate him.
“Ok! Ok! Let’s go back to my apartment first, ok?”
That, he agrees to. A couple of minutes later we sit near the table again. After I paid him the promised silver, I explain to him the basic fundamentals of magic.
Maybe it is due to my inner worries about his character, or my poor skills as a teacher. Or most likely, he does not have any patience for magical theory. He loses his patience very fast.
“How t’ do it?” He gets up from his chair shouting. “You lie! You don’t tell me how t’ do it! Only weird stuff!”
“I’m telling you to study, you peabrain! You study hard. You spend months meditating. And then, maybe you can do a little bit of magic. Venom! You don’t just do it.” I raise my voice in response. I lose my patience as well at this point.
“You lied to me! I thought you different. Everyone lie to me. You said ya tell me how! Tell me how!”
“I told you how, rot and venom! It’s not my fault it’s not the answer you’ve expected! You can’t just do it after a moment, it takes a lot of practice! Do you think I can run on the roofs like you in the darkness without practice?! It takes time to learn magic! And magic takes longer time than learning how to run on the roofs!”
“Just show me da’ trick! I have a trick that lemme make flash ‘n smoke!” He takes out a small pouch, “Ya show me da’ heavy head curse trick and I give it you!”
I roll my eyes in annoyance. “You touch someone’s head and say ‘Myrsha safit’ for the heavy head curse.”
“That’s it?”
“No! It won’t work without mana and mana patterns, I already told you that!”
“I don’t need weird stuff!” He touches his head and repeats the pair of words. “You lie!”
“I’m not lying, you just can’t understand how my trick works, I’ve explained it three times now and you can’t understand!”
“Then make me understand!” he demands.
“I'M TRYING! You’re dumb as a snake, ok?!”
“I’m not a dummy!” He shouts angrily. “You a dummy! You lie! Everyone lie!” He runs to the window and climbs out. I figure that’s the last time I’ll ever see him.
He was dangerous, maybe it’s for the best… As long as he doesn’t come after me in the middle of the night with a dagger…
*~*~*
Sorladika’s Lesser Heating
Names: A warm up, Lesser Heating, Sorladika’s Lesser Heating.
Element: Fire
Sub element: heat
Level: 0
Words: sufal
Translation: warmth/heat/bodywarmth
Patterns: 4
Requirement: Temperature above -25c
Range: touch
Target: touch spell
Duration: 1 minute.
Effect: A single creature weighing below 150 kg will be heated to its ideal living temperature for the duration. The spell will not lower high temperatures, it’ll simply negate cold/low ones. The duration may be prolonged with alteration patterns.
Cost: 7 fire gems.
Altered cost: 5 fire gems for each alteration pattern.
*~*~*
Alino’s Heavy Body
Names: Alino’s heavy body, heavy body, weight additon.
Element: gravity
Sub element: weight
Level: 0
Words: Myrsha safit
Translation: gravity heavy-weight
Patterns: 2
Range: touch
Target: object, creature, bodypart, object part
Duration: 5 seconds from the moment channeling had ended.
Effect: The caster can slowly change the weight of the target up to triple of its original weight. The change is gradual and the mana required is in accordance with the target’s size, original weight and affinity of the caster. Even something that weighs a ton or more can be influenced by this spell, however, it’ll take a lot of time, mana, and stationary channeling to do so.
Cost: 1 gem per second of channeling weight addition into a target.
Altered cost: 1 gem per second for each added pattern.
*~*~*
Power level: 2nd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: opened: 3 gems
Wood: Affinity 2:
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating.
Light: Noxi’s Light, Lako’s blinding light.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet.
Earth:
Wood:
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.
Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s weightless body.
Focus capability: 10 patterns
Social status: apprentice to the maven of mysteries.
Wealth: 600 gems. 1869 gold coins, 6 silvers, 23 coppers.
Items:
Two simple healing potions.
Two potions with unknown effects.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keep the pouches’ content fresh.
Various spell materials.
Companions: Alone.
Languages:
Toml’a
Sinteo
Myrsha
Injuries and scars: Back, lightning scar.