Red mage, p.2
Red Mage, page 2
Chapter 1: Origin
Hana hid behind the mammoth trunk of an ancient oak. She panted and gasped for air but was forced to abruptly curtail her heavy breathing when she heard the guttural sounds of her pursuers nearby. Her chest burned and heaved as she held her breath in check. She let out air in quick, quiet bursts and sucked in periodically. The muscles in her left leg twitched, not used to the exertion. She bent and rubbed it as her breathing stabilized, and then she sucked in and held her breath again. One of her pursuers was close. It was sniffing the night air for her. Hana closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. Normally she could feel living creatures, not with touch, but with her mind. She had been able to feel life since she was a child. She could feel the heartbeat, and when she closed her eyes and concentrated on that heartbeat, she could see the blood flowing through the living body in her mind’s eye as if it contained millions of fireflies all lit up at once. It allowed her to see inside one’s body and fix it when it was broken. But not this creature, not her pursuer. It was dark to her in every way except sight and sound.
Hana pushed off the trunk of the tree to gain instant speed as she heard the creature snort with triumph at detecting her hiding behind it. The thing screeched and presumably called to the others of its kind as soon as it spotted her running away. Hana looked back and noticed it loped after her on all fours. Spurred on by the horror of what she saw, Hana received a burst of fear-fueled energy, and she sprinted faster than she had ever done before. Unfortunately, the darkness of the forest and the time of evening conspired against her, and she failed to see the tree root sticking up from the path she followed. She tripped over it and tumbled forward to the ground, connecting with wet leaves and moist dirt. Sharp scrapes of dead branches cutting into her soft skin made her wince. She came to a stop and immediately recovered to her feet. She tried to run again, but the thing was upon her. It clawed Hana’s leg first—to keep her from bolting, she presumed—as another creature appeared and went directly for her neck. She blocked the second creature from biting her, but the first creature sank its fangs into her lower leg. The pain was sharp, instant, and hot. The thing was making loud sucking noises as it took in her blood. She was still holding the one at her throat at bay, but just barely. It screamed and screeched like a wild animal.
“Ah yes, let the fear color your blood!” the creature at her leg paused long enough to say.
The fiend at her neck abandoned its task and refocused on Hana’s bleeding leg. “Step aside. Let me!” The second voice had a feminine lilt to it even though it also somehow sounded more sinister and guttural than the first.
It was all Hana could do to keep the pain under control. She concentrated on her body like she had learned over time to do. She could see her blood flowing through her body, and now something else. With the fresh infusion of her blood now flowing through them, the creatures at her wounded leg began to become visible in her mind’s eye. That was all she needed. She reached out her hand, and the blood within the first creature responded. She had control of it. She flung her fingers outward, and the thing flew backward from her. As soon as it did, she clasped her hands together and then abruptly broke them apart. The blood responded in kind, and the creature tore in half with a bloodcurdling scream. The other creature bolted away, but now Hana had the upper hand and she used it. The thing that was feeding on her moments ago soon found itself walking against its will back to her, writhing and screaming to get away. She rubbed her hand over her bloody wound. It covered up and began to heal.
The creature was close enough that she could see what it was now. It appeared to be a girl in her early teens. Hana had planned for it to meet the same fate as its friend, but now, looking at the girl directly in her dark eyes, she felt compassion. She couldn’t just kill her.
“What are you?” Hana asked.
The girl seemed like she might answer at first. Her face softened and her eyes widened. But when Hana allowed her to come closer, the girl howled and tried to bite.
“If you want it that way, so be it!” Hana said. She began to tell the blood to rip the ingrate to shreds, but at the last moment, she had another idea. She held out her hands and began to manipulate the blood within the girl’s body. “What is making you this way? I wonder if I can fix you? I have healed others from within.”
“No! The girl screamed as the blood flowed back and forth under Hana’s command. “Kill me!”
“Oh, does this hurt?” Hana cruelly made the blood burn within the girl. “The more you squirm and resist me, the more I’m going to make you burn!” Hana’s anger rose within her in waves of rage. She began to like the twisted, pain-filled expressions of her former attacker. “How does that feel, you little ungrateful whelp?” The girl gurgled in pain, which brought Hana back to her senses. She looked through the body of the girl with her connection to her own blood. She felt dizzy. She had lost quite a bit of blood to the two ghouls, but she didn’t let up. She was determined to find out what was wrong with this girl. “Why?”
The girl panted and writhed. “There are more nearby. You will not survive.”
Hana ignored the girl and searched inside her body, commanding the blood from her own body to heal her. The girl screamed, and Hana let her go, no longer able to see her blood flowing inside her. She could hear the rustling of leaves and the snapping of branches as the others approached. They were attracted by the child’s screams. Hana was about to turn and run, when a curious thing began to occur. The girl slowly became visible to Hana’s blood sight. At first, it was a faint glow, and then the streams and rivers of blood began to pump as a heart grew within the girl’s chest.
The first creature seized Hana’s left arm, and the next sank its teeth into her right shoulder. Weak from the first attack, she couldn’t find the strength to fight back or use her sight to command the blood they’d sucked from her. The girl was right; she would not survive this. More creatures appeared, howling and panting with glee. Hana braced for death.
The thing that had her arm bit down. The pain had become numb to her now. She looked into the dead eyes of the thing taking her life. It was a young man. Its eyes widened. The dead eyes came to life as it was ripped from her arm. A small, clawed hand protruded from its chest, holding its emaciated heart. The hand opened and let the heart fall. It seemed to move in slow motion as it backed out of the young man’s chest. He fell aside to reveal the girl Hana had just tried to save. She still glowed with life. She attacked the thing at Hana’s shoulder and dispatched it quickly with incredible strength and a blow to the head, sending the bones of its nose up into its brain. More of the tainted men and women came, but the rescued girl fought them with animal ferocity. Hana caught a glimpse of the girl’s claws. They contracted and retracted like a cat’s. Hana let herself fall against a nearby tree trunk. She slid down to a seated position as the girl finished her work.
“What are you?” The girl was only a few inches from Hana’s face now. “What have you done to me?”
“What’s your name, girl?” Hana asked.
“It’s Thessa, or it was, I think.”
“Thessa, that’s an Ag Caderan name.”
“It is, but I am from Craessa, not Ag Caderan.” Thessa sat down beside Hana. Blood trickled from her mouth.
“You are still unwell,” Hana said. “Here, let me help you.” She tried to move but failed.
“No, you have done enough. I fear you’ve made yourself too weak trying to help me already.”
Hana let herself fall back against the tree. “I’m not all that certain what I did to you.”
“I hungered for flesh and blood, and now I don’t,” Thessa whispered.
“Why? Who did this to you? I mean, you were just a girl before, I assume.”
“I have little memory of it. I know my name and where I lived before, but that’s all.”
“Didn’t you have a family? Won’t they be looking for you?” Hana asked.
“No, I know I don’t have a family. None of us did. Wait, I remember that much. We were all together when someone came to where we lived, a back alley.”
“And?” Hana asked.
“And now I am here with you.”
Hana tried to pick herself up again, and when she failed to do so, she took a gnarled dead branch from the ground and used it to prop herself up.
“Here, I will help you,” Thessa said. “I will come with you. I owe you my life.”
“No, you saved mine too. We’re even.”
“I insist. I want to come with you.”
“You can’t. I don’t live alone. I work as a common household servant.”
“Take me with you. I can work as a servant too.”
“I don’t need your help. I will be able to heal myself shortly. I have done it before. I just need to recuperate.”
“But, I have nowhere to go.” The girl’s nose began to bleed.
Hana reached out and wiped it with her sleeve. “You’re still not well.”
“No.”
“I’ll tell you what, there is a cellar out back where I work. I’ll hide you down there. I can bring you food and water. I will heal you there when I am able. You’ll be safe until we can think all this through. Maybe you can work for Mistress Moira too, but I know she won’t let you wander in off the streets, and I’m fairly certain you have several days of healing ahead of you, besides the fact.”
“I will do as you say.”
Hana smiled as the girl helped her walk. “You had better.” She stumbled near one of the dead. “They could be a problem if they are discovered.”
“Let the wolves take care of them,” Thessa said.
“That’s a bit callous, don’t you think?”
Thessa stopped to stare at her, and Hana remembered how she had killed one of them and almost boiled Thessa’s blood. “Yes, let the wolves take them.”
Thessa resumed helping Hana walk. They both hesitated when the leaves behind them began to rustle, followed by a scraping sound, the kind of noise one hears when someone is pulling themselves up from a resting position. Hana and Thessa turned to look at the same moment.
“One of them stirs!” Thessa said.
“I thought you said they were dead,” Hana said.
“I never said anything of the sort.”
One of the dead men found its footing, and then another. Soon, they were all up and shambling toward them. Hana pushed against Thessa, and they both hobbled off, trying to stay ahead of their followers. Hana briefly tried to use her ability, but she sensed nothing, which was as she feared. “What or who has done this? Try to remember.”
“I cannot. All I remember is that we were warming ourselves by a fire, and then we were chasing you through the forest.”
Hana began searching the ground and smelling handfuls of grass.
“What are you doing?” Thessa asked.
“Wild onions and garlic grow here.” She rooted around and picked up grass stems with a bulb at the bottom. She sniffed it. “See this? It’s poison because it looks like wild garlic but doesn’t have the smell of onions or garlic.”
“The men, they draw near! Hurry!”
“Here!” Hana put the foul-smelling wild garlic to Thessa’s nose. “This is wild garlic.” She devoured the entire plant and yanked some more out of the ground.
“What’s it for?” Thessa threw the plant at one of the advancing dead men. It bounced off him harmlessly. “It doesn’t do anything to them.”
“It improves blood flow,” Hana said. She squeezed her arm where one of the fiends had bitten her earlier, and let the blood flow out. “Stand back. It’s been so long since I’ve done this, I almost forgot I could.”
Thessa moved away. Hana concentrated on her flowing blood. In her mind’s eye, it began to glow and pulse. She let her anger, along with the excitement of her fear, fill her. The blood rose from Hana’s arm and floated in midair. It sparked wildly. The men shielded their eyes from it, and then Hana released the energy from the blood into them all. What blood was left inside the men caught fire and burned them from the inside out, leaving burning clothes, which immediately ignited the leaves on the ground. Hana took a step back. “Oops!” she said. “These leaves are not so wet over here.”
“Stomp them!” Thessa said. Hana joined the girl in stomping out the fires before they spread too quickly. After a few minutes, they were successful. Hana leaned on a nearby oak tree trunk. She was beyond exhausted now. Thessa joined her.
“I need water,” Hana said.
“Come on. The longer we linger here, the harder it will be to move away.” Thessa helped her from the tree. “Guide me, and I will get you home.”
“There’s a water barrel near the cellar.” She leaned on the girl, who helped her walk. “That way.” She pointed through the dense trees to a faint trail.
“What were you doing out here alone, anyway?” Thessa asked as they began to move toward the trail.
Hana smiled. “Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“I was practicing. I was trying to cast spells.”
Chapter 2: Servants
The first signs of light appeared on the horizon as Thessa helped Hana with the ladle at the water barrel. Hana drank deeply. Thessa followed suit. Once they were satisfied, Hana pointed Thessa to the cellar door.
“We have to hurry. Daylight is upon us. I must get out of these bloody clothes and dispose of them before Mistress Moira sees me.”
Thessa pulled open the cellar door. “I have to stay down here?”
“There are peach and apricot preserves down there. In fact, there’s a lot more than that. Just don’t eat it all up or gorge yourself too fast or you may find yourself ill. Your body has been through an ordeal. I will return after the breakfast to begin your healing. I will feel much better by then. I’m certain of it.”
Thessa gazed down into the depths of the dank cellar. “If you say so.”
“Don’t worry, the light of day will light your way when the sun comes up.” She took hold of the door so Thessa could traverse the stairs into the cellar. The girl stopped.
“I want to thank you, Mistress.”
“I’m not a mistress and you’re not my servant, Thessa.” Hana began to let the door close. “And, you are welcome.”
Hana rushed to the back of the house where her servants’ quarters were located. Once inside her rooms, she touched her wounded arm and began her healing. She stripped off her clothes and used the water standing in her washbasin to wash. A fresh pitcher of water waited beside it. She touched the wound on her leg and collected a small amount of blood before she closed her eyes and began to concentrate on healing. When she opened her eyes, her leg was healed. She washed off the dried blood and sponged down the rest of her body. She felt fatigued from lack of sleep, so she used some of the blood she’d collected before she’d healed her wounds to rid herself of the tiredness. She had done it before; it just meant she would sleep longer and sounder when she retired later that evening. It also meant she would have to wait at least a day before she could investigate where Thessa and the others had come from.
The household was beginning to stir. Hana could hear one of the Sephera children coughing; it sounded like the young boy Terad. Curious, she followed the sound to the boy’s room. Mistress Moira was there with him.
“There you are, Hana. You really must tell me when you are going for your morning walks.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Hana said.
Moira was stroking Terad’s forehead as he coughed and gasped for breath. “Poor boy has been wheezing all night. I sent for the healer.”
Hana hesitated. She knew of a remedy for the boy, but servants such as she were not supposed to have such educated knowledge. If she helped Terad, she might rouse suspicion.
“What is it, Hana? You look as if you want to say something.”
“I . . . I think I might know how to give Terad some relief.”
Moira pursed her lips. “Well, I’m sure your folk has some useful home remedies, but I think we should wait and see what the healer says before we delve into them, don’t you?”
What sympathy Hana had for the boy drained away with Moira’s condescending tone. “As you wish, Mistress. What can I do for you?”
“I’m going to stay with Terad this morning and wait for the healer to arrive. Thaxa and Gwendrel will be up soon; could you see that they are fed breakfast?”
“Aye, I will see to it, Mistress.”
“Good, that will be all.”
Hana passed by Thaxa’s door, and the middle child followed her to the kitchen, all the while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Good morning, sunshine.” Hana was very fond of the sweet blonde-haired blue-eyed child. Thaxa was actually ten years old, but Hana couldn’t bring herself to treat her any older than six.
“Good morning,” Thaxa said.
Hana began to mix flour and milk in a large wooden bowl. She liked flapjacks, and she knew she would get no complaints from either of the girls.
Gwendrel stumbled into the kitchen next. “Gods, Terad has been coughing all night. I barely got any sleep,” she complained.
“Now, Gwendrel, you know he couldn’t help it. I’m sure if he had his way, he would never cough again,” Hana said.
“I feel sorry for him, but sorry doesn’t get me any more sleep.”
“You are so selfish,” Thaxa said. “If it were you coughing, you would demand all our sympathies.”
“Look who’s talking, runt,” Gwendrel said.
“Hey!” Thaxa protested.
“Both of you stop that at once,” Hana said.
There was a knock at the door.
“Gwendrel, that will be the healer. Will you let him in?”
“That’s your job,” Gwendrel said. “You do it.”
“I’ll do it,” Thaxa said. She jumped up from her chair.
“Thank you, Thaxa. You will get the first stack of flapjacks,” Hana said while giving Gwendrel a stern look.
Thaxa led the healer to Hana. He was a middle-aged man with grey hair and an equally grey beard. He wore spectacles and carried a plain healer’s bag. “Here he is,” Thaxa announced.
