Chapter 40: 2.1 Waking Up Again

The fire was slowly starting in the fireplace. Kaitlyn rubbed her hands together, shaking with cold. She tried again to form the little flame spell she knew. Her magic spluttered and died, but a spark landed on the kindling and flickered.

She gasped and carefully began blowing towards the flame, shivering as it built into a small flame. She grabbed a small stick and fed it into the flame. Kaitlyn pulled her blanket around her shoulders and waited. Slowly, the natural flame grew.

Kaitlyn set her arms on the hearth and closed her eyes. She sought her magic. She tugged for a thread, anything. Pain lanced across her skull making her wince. She was well and truly empty of magic. She sank her head against her arms, resting on the cold hearth.

The door flew open, a figure stood against the light from outside. Kaitlyn turned her head to see and lifted her head with a tentative smile. She recognized the form, even if she couldn’t see Javorora’s face with the light behind her.

The dryad was small, perfectly shaped woman. Barely a meter tall, Javorora’s hair was brown and grey this time of year. The little woman raced forward with a wordless cry and threw her arms around Kaitlyn’s neck. The human woman wrapped her arms around the dryad, feeling the oddly soft bark-looking skin.

Javorora pulled back and held Kaitlyn’s face in her hands, “You look awful! Are you sick?”

“No mana,” Kaitlyn mumbled. “Exhausted.”

“Where’s your mirror, Master Garthis should be here helping you,” Javorora said.

“Can’t find it,” Kaitlyn said, “House…. I think the house hid it.”

“I’ll see if I can…. woah” Javorora stopped and stared at the room, finally looking around for the first time. “Your house… Kaitlyn, what happened to it?”

“It’s mine,” Kaitlyn muttered.

Javorora found the kitchen door. She disappeared and Kaitlyn added a small log to her weak fire. She sat staring at the flames, letting the dancing red and yellow tendrils mesmerize her. When Javorora returned, Kaitlyn was in a doze. Javorora put the mirror in her hands and said, “Ok, call Master Garthis.”

Kaitlyn stared at the little silver mirror and thought of her master. Her mind was fuzzy with exhaustion, and Javorora finally sat down next to her. The dryad began rubbing Kaitlyn’s arms and said, “Master Garthis said it doesn’t take any mana, you just have to concentrate a little. Can you focus on him?”

“No,” Kaitlyn admitted, “I just… need sleep.”

“Please Kaitlyn,” Javorora said, “I think you need to let him know you’re ok. We’ve all been so worried about you. Master Garthis…. he’s really been very worried.”

Slowly, Kaitlyn tried again. She looked at the mirror and looked at her own reflection. The dark brown eyes were sunken and ringed with darkened, almost bruised looking skin. Her silver hair hung around her face in long, greasy strands. Her lips were almost a gray color and cracked. She slowly took a deep breath and tried to focus on her own eyes.

“Master Garthis,” she whispered, then she murmured the foreign words he had taught her so long ago. A face appeared, a brownie Kaitlyn didn’t know. It squealed and ran off from the mirror. A few moments later Master Garthis appeared.

“Kaitlyn!” he cried.

“Oh Master Garthis!” Javorora said, grabbing the mirror as Kaitlyn slouched onto the hearth. “Kaitlyn in back. The hut…. it’s a house now and… she’s…. sick or something. Come quick!”

“I will be there momentarily, I will make sure to bring some herbs to help bring her to health,” the master said. Kaitlyn closed her eyes again, and let darkness come over her.

Kaitlyn woke up in her own bed again. She was still weak, but now felt the stirring of her magic deep within her, like a second heartbeat but weak and faltering. She didn’t open her eyes immediately, sensing warmth of both her blanket and the sound of the crackling fire. When she did open her eyes, sunlight streamed in the window.

Master Garthis sat in the chair next to the bed, head slumped on his chest. His white hair had been shorn almost to the roots, leaving a spiky mess on the top of his head. Javorora bustled into the room with a wooden tray and said, “Master Garthis! She’s awake!”

“Oh praise heavens,” he said as soon as his eyes opened. He looked at Kaitlyn and raked his fingers over his scalp, further mussing the mess of hair.

The older mage moved to sit next to Kaitlyn and gently took her wrist in his own, “Your heartbeat is much stronger, good. You were in a bad place Kaitlyn.”

“I know,” Kaitlyn said, “I ran out of magic.”

“Yes, and you are grounded into the house now and it was draining you faster than you could replenish,” the older mage said. “I nearly had to try to break you away and I’m honestly not sure if I could. What happened to you?”

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Kaitlyn blinked and said, “I am mistress of the house now. I am the witch. I saw…. I think the first witch gave me the house Master.”

“What do you mean?”

“Master Garthis, she’s been near dead for days and you trying to make her talk,” Javorora interrupted. “She can tell you after she eats and I give her a bath. Get out and tell the others she’s awake.”

“Others?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Werewolves, elves, even that dwarf who says they hate teaching you,” Javorora said, “and we’ve had a giant come by with some more goats for you if you promise to give her your recipe for honey cakes next time she comes. I told her you would be glad.”

“I…” Kaitlyn swallowed roughly. It was slightly overwhelming to realize so many had come to see if she was going to get well.

“Now,” Javorora said setting the tray on the table, “I will see you eating and then we will give you a bath. I bet you’ll feel like new once your hair is clean.”

Katilyn was able to hobble out of her room after her bath and walk to the tavern room. In the room sat her friends. Master Garthis and the semi-human form of Linnmel, the dragonic mother of her familiar sat near the fireplace. Fapallo sat on his haunches next the older dragon, listening to the pair talk.

Haycinth, the Elven princess, and her lover Haytham who was the son of the leader of Haycinth’s rivals were sitting on top of a table with their feet on the chairs, just barely touching. Haytham saw Kaitlyn first and jumped to his feet, “Kaitlyn!”

Everyone seemed to freeze for a heartbeat and then Fapallo led the charge to greet her. Kaitlyn smiled at them and said, “I feel much better. I’m ok. I promise I’m ok.”

“A bath is it’s own magic,” Javorora said firmly, a pout as she looked at Master Garthis.

“You were right,” the master inclined his head to her. Javorora sniffed and pointed to a chair for Kaitlyn.

“We are glad to see you,” Linnmel said, “Fapallo was most upset you did not take him with you.”

“I didn’t mean to leave you behind,” Kaitlyn said to her friend. He came and put his head next to her leg, a whistled that she could only translate as “You are my friend” even though her book on the dragonic language spent two pages trying to describe the meaning this particular noise was supposed to carry. There was a lot in there about “I wouldn’t eat you unless I was starving” and “Not mate, not parent, but I love you.” It was a complicated thought condensed into a single sound.

“Can you tell us about it?” Haytham asked. “Where did you go?”

“Technically, I don’t think I went anywhere,” Kaitlyn said, “I never left the house.”

“Is this the same house?” Haycinth asked, looking around, “did you make these changes with your magic?”

“Slow down,” Master Garthis interjected before Kaitlyn began her answer. “I would like you to begin at the beginning. What were you doing when… you became unavailable.”

Javorora snorted a bit and Kaitlyn smiled, “I was meditating and I found an interesting strand of magic in the house. Before I knew what was happening I was… lost. I think I stumbled on the root of all the other spells.”

“How did you set up that lock?” Master Garthis said, “No one could enter the house.”

“I didn’t,” Kaitlyn said. “Or at least, not consciously. But I think I saw the original woman who… made this house.”

“Who was she?” Linnmel asked.

“I have no idea,” Kaitlyn said, “What I saw, she was ancient. But she said something about, ‘blood of my blood and bones of my bones’ when she gave the ring to the other witch.”

“What other witch?” Fapallo bristled.

“The one who used to live here,” Kaitlyn said, “She was the second witch, I think.”

“What ring?” Master Garthis asked. Kaitlyn held up her hand with the emerald on it. The master reached out and carefully began examining the ring.

“It didn’t look like this when I… took it,” Kaitlyn said. “I reshaped it.”

“What did it look like?” Master Garthis asked.

“Meaner,” Kaitlyn said, “It had magical symbols etched in it. I only knew danger and witch. There were two others, but I couldn’t… either I didn’t know them or I couldn’t figure them out in the dark. So I reshaped it.”

“In doing so, I think you reshaped the house,” Master Garthis said. “Can you take the ring off?”

Kaitlyn took the ring off and set it on the table. He reached for it and then shuddered as he approached it. Javorora reached for it next and said, “It’s like… it’s like it’s screaming at me.”

“It yelled at me too,” Kaitlyn said, “I wasn’t sure I could resist much longer and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t putting on something evil.”

“It’s screaming ‘no’ to me,” Haycinth said when she approached it.

“Interesting,” Master Garthis mused. “And when you woke up the changes to the house had been made?”

Kaitlyn nodded. She then said, “At first I felt ok, but after just a few minutes it suddenly… I basically collapsed and I was so exhausted.”

“Drain shock,” Linnmel said, “Master Garthis has done the same. There is a very, very short time if you drain your magic in a big spell where you still feel fine, and then the fear or excitement ends and you pay your price.”

“And this was big magic,” Master Garthis murmured as he looked around the house, “the spells are definitely still a tangle, but… they are definitely tied to you and I think you’ll be able to unravel them more easily now. Now, you said this ring had magical symbols on it, how did you reform it?”

“I combined the fire spell for the heat with the plant growing spell and magic hands for strength,” Kaitlyn said.

“I never imagined them being used that way,” the master mused.

“The dwarves kind of hinted that their smiths used magic to forge things, it’s what they told me when they were teaching me about clay,” Kaitlyn said.

“Ah, probably some secret clan magic theory,” the master mused, “Fools and stubborn secretive fools!”

“Don’t all mages have secrets?” Javorora asked.

“Yes!” the master threw his hands up, “Many, many of them do! I have spent my life learning as many methods as I could and writing about them to teach to others. All it takes is one mountain falling on them or a plague or…. a witch dying alone in the woods with the secret for one of the most amazing crafts of magic I’ve ever seen!”

He waved his arms around to indicate the room. He then pounded his hand on the table, “Bam! Secrets lost. All because they wanted their super-secret special method. Instead, if we just shared the knowledge, think what we could accomplish!”

Kaitlyn smiled a little at her master. This is what made him an excellent master to learn from. He truly loved to share the knowledge, rather than just horde it for himself. Master Garthis took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. I feel…. passionately about this.”

“I can tell,” Javorora said with a dry sarcasm.

“You,” he pointed at Kaitlyn, “rest. No magic for a week. I’ll send Cilvic and another brownie to help you out. Everyone out.”

“Except me,” Javorora said, crossing her arms across her chest, “I’ll put her to bed.”

“Fine,” the master mage said.