Spirit Speaker

Two hours later, we stood outside the count's residence, staring up at his bedroom window. 

I handed the spirit prison to one of the dwarves. 

"Do not open that. Don't let anyone else open that." I said firmly. "Go abd put it in the count's office, beside the other two. Don't be seen."

The dwarf's eyes flickered to Severen who nodded. "Do as he says, then return to the Maiden's Blush." 

Another crisp salute and the dwarf made his way to the back of the residence. 

I felt Ilargia begin to warm up on my back. 

He's waking up. 

"How are we going to get the count up there?" Severen asked, studying the window. 

"Ilargia's going to fly him up." I replied. "The spirit prison is far enough away that my power is returning."

I put Ilargia on the ground and lay the count on top of him. 

"Alright, old friend. Steady now. Don't let him fall."

- I hate those books. He said sullenly. 

I laughed. "Me too, Ilargia. We'll meet you soon."

The staff floated up to the window, and pushed it open, gliding through it effortlessly. 

"Alright, let's get going." I said. "Unless you want to return to the tavern?"

Severen shrugged. "Depends. Did you tell anyone who I am?"

"Just the countess." I replied. "And possibly my servant. But other than that no one knows."

"Then wouldn't it be odd if the royal surveyor visited the Count's chambers at this time of night?"

I paused. "You know, mimic. You're damn good at what you do."

Severen shrugged modestly. "I'll drop by sometime tomorrow. I should probably greet the countess properly."

And with that, he and the three remaining dwarves turned on their heels and headed back in the direction of the tavern. 

I, on the other hand, made my way to the main entrance, where I was stopped by a guard. 

"Woah, mage." He said, holding his hand up. 

I adopted a stagger and began to sway back and forth a little. 

"Whas it?" I slurred. 

The guard relaxed. "Coming from the tavern?"

I nodded. "Yup." I replied, swaying a little more. "Going home. Barkeep said so."

The guard laughed. "Okay, okay, I recognise you. I didn't know you guys could get drunk."

I smiled and patted the guard on the arm. "Tank.. than..Thank you, sir." I mumbled and stumbled my way inside. 

I heard him chuckle and shut the door behind me. Once the way was clear, I stood up straight and made my way to the Count's bedroom. 

I knocked. "Rena, I'm coming in."

I opened the door, to find the countess kneeling by at her bedside, holding the count's hand. 

She turned to me, got up and rushed into my arms. "Thank you, Lukas. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

I hugged her back and then disengaged myself from her. "Easy, countess, you'll crack the poultice."

"I need to wake him. I put him in a magically induced slumber. He was hurt. Badly." I paused.

"Actually, Rena? Could you call the princess? I might need her help with this one."

Rena nodded. "Okay. Thank you Lukas. Thank you."

I shook my head. "You know I'd do anything for you two. Now go, get Anna. "

She left. 

I knelt beside the count and reached out. 

"Wake up, Quint."

The spirit that was keeping him asleep appeared at my side and began to tell me off. 

"Yes, yes, I know he's in pain, but I need him awake in case we screw up somewhere."

It kept telling me off. 

"Then stop the pain, if you're so unhappy about it." I snapped. 

The spirit glowed white, and gold, and floated back to the count's forehead. It disappeared. 

"Lukas?" The count whispered and coughed into his hand. He looked at it. "Well, that's not good."

Blood. 

"You'll be fine my friend. Hold still, You've punctured a lung, and I don't know what other damage there is inside there. If we move you too much we could hurt you some more."

"Believe me, I'm not going anywhere." The count smiled. "I knew you'd come."

I grinned back. "Oh, yes, I always have to pull your ass out of the fire. Remember when you and Rena got caught sneaking into Master Quelette's office?"

The count laughed and then winced. "Shut up Lukas, it hurts to laugh."

The door opened, and Rena walked in, a sleepy princess in tow. 

"Lukas? What's going on?"

"Ah, Anna. Come here, I need your help." 

"What…is that the count?"

"Hello…highness." Quint tried to sit up and I held him down.

"Move again and I'll chain you to that bed." I warned. "He was kidnapped, Anna, and beat pretty bad. There's internal damage, and I can't heal that on my own."

The princess rushed to my side, all tiredness gone. She gasped when she saw the bruises, cuts and blood. 

"What do I do?" She asked. 

"Call as many spirits as you can." I said. 

The princess closed her eyes, her hand resting on her focus. 

A spirit popped into existence and settled on her head, then another, and another, then two more. 

Eventually, fifteen spirits lit the room. 

"Well done, Anna." I said, impressed. "Now do exactly as I do."

I rested my hands gently on the count's throat and lower belly. 

"Princess, if you will?"

Hesitantly, Anna followed suit, her fingertips touching mine. 

"Quint, shut your eyes. You definitely don't want to see what's going to happen next."

"I'm sure I can handle it, Lukas."

I shrugged. "As you wish. But don't say I didn't warn you." I turned back to Anna. 

"Direct the spirits to line up between your hands."

She concentrated for a moment, and the spirits dropped to the count's chest and stomach, all in a neat, orderly line. 

"I'm going to remove my hands, Anna. And then I want you to brace yourself. And no matter what you see, do not remove your hands. Do you understand me?"

Anna looked up at me surprised. I had never spoken so forcefully to her before. 

"Yes, master." She said, her eyes a little wide. "What should I brace myself for?"

"I want you to think of the clearest glass you've ever seen." 

The princess shut her eyes and did as I asked. 

The skin on the count's chest and stomach began to turn translucent and then turned completely invisible, giving me a clear view of the count's internals. 

It was worse than I thought. Four ribs had broken, shattered more like, and caused considerable damage to almost everything in his chest cavity. One of his kidneys had been crushed, and his stomach ruptured. I had no idea how he was still talking, or even breathing.

"Gods." The count said. "You were right, Lukas. I didn't want to see that."

"You can shut your eyes at any time, my lord." I reminded him. 

The count, looking a great deal paler than he had a moment ago shut his eyes tight. 

"Anna, you're going to see something you've never seen before, something disturbing, and you're going to want to throw up. If you do so, I'm going to dump a bucket of water on your head every day for a month. Do you understand?"

She nodded vigorously. 

"Okay. Open your eyes."

The princess did so. And couldn't stop a small scream from escaping. She shut her mouth tight and looked up at me, panicked. 

"Easy, easy, highness. You're doing great. Keep doing what you're doing. If the spirits start to weaken, summon another one immediately. We're going to be here all night."

I raised my hand and called Ilargia to it. He rushed from the corner he had been skulking in and I wrapped my fingers around him tightly. 

"Alright, Ilargia, we've seen worse than this. Just like we did in the war."

The crystal embedded in the staff shone brightly, lighting up the room so that Anna and I could see clearly. 

I felt a rush of power. 

"My lord, I'm going to put my hand on your forehead. Things are going to tickle for a bit. If you move, even an inch. I'll tell Rena to cook for you every day for the rest of your life."

"You're a cruel man, Lukas." The count replied, a wide smile on his face. He opened his eyes, reached out and touched the princess's sleeve. 

"Thank you highness." He said. And he shut his eyes again. 

"That was moving, Quint," I said. "You're not going to get another warning."

I looked up at the princess, who was looking at the count's face, a warm smile on her lips.

"I need you focused Anna." I reminded her. 

I placed my hand on the Count's forehead and felt the individual strands of his weave. 

I located the spirits responsible for his chest and told them to reform themselves. 

There was resistance. They'd been hurt and didn't want to move. 

I pushed harder, flooding them with every ounce of affection I held for the Count. 

They relented, and I watched in satisfaction as each of the Count's ribs began to move and shift and return back to their original positions. 

"What did you do?" Anna asked, her voice hushed. 

"I told his body to heal itself. It's quicker than healing every bone individually."

"I didn't know that was possible. There's nothing in the library about this technique."

There wouldn't be. It was developed during the war, as a way to deal with the seemingly endless wave of injuries that flooded every hospital, physician's office, and triage tent. 

"It's a secret," I said. "Don't tell anyone what you just saw."

The princess swallowed and turned her attention back to the count's body. 

"Unfortunately it only works for bones," I explained, putting my hand over where the count's heart beat weakly. 

"I'm going to have to repair each of his organs the old-school way. Ilargia, if you wouldn't mind?"

I felt another wave of power flow through me from Ilargia. 

I focused and summoned three spirits. 

"Go. You strengthen, you repair, you keep it beating."

The spirits flittered to the spot over his heart and began to hop up and down on his chest. 

I turned my attention to his lungs and summoned another spirit. "You mend those punctures," I commanded. 

I did so for all the other organs in his chest and lower abdomen, which were quickly crowded with spirits hopping up and down. 

The ones that Anna summoned began to tremble and shiver. 

"Anna, control your spirits," I said, quickly. "They want to join the others."

I looked at my apprentice, who was breathing heavily, sweat beading on her forehead, her face scrunched with effort. 

I summoned a ball of water and put it in front of her lips. 

"Here, drink." 

She opened her mouth, and the ball floated in. 

"Thank you, master." 

Her spirits settled down. 

The spirits bouncing on the count's chest began to vanish, leaving behind strong, pristine flesh. 

"Oh, that feels good." the Count said. "I can breathe again."

He raised his head and saw his ribs back where they were supposed to be. 

"That's looking better."

I nodded. "Don't thank me, sir. My apprentice is doing a lot of the heavy lifting."

The count grabbed the princess's sleeve again. 

"Thank you highness," he said, his voice warm, and filled with gratitude. 

I watched as something began to change in Anna. The spirits she summoned began to glow brighter and change colour to a warm yellow. 

Pride, joy. 

I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. 

"Okay highness, we're going to move on to his stomach. Are you doing okay? Do you want to take a break?"

The princess shook her head. "No, let's keep going."

I raised my hand and tousled her hair. "I'm so proud of you, Anna," I told her and then turned my attention back to the count's stomach. 

This was going to be tricky. Necrosis had begun to set in. The lesser spirits weren't going to be able to do anything about it. 

I concentrated a lot harder. "Come," I called out. I needed a stronger spirit. 

"Come and I'll grant you a gift."

I felt something step beside me. 

I turned my head, and in my mind's eye, a large wolf was standing beside me. Magnificent, silver, glorious. As tall as I was. It lay down on its belly so that its head was level with mine. 

Anna gasped.

"You see it?"

She nodded. 

- What gift will you give me Twisted Weave?

The spirit's voice filled my mind. 

I swallowed. - What will you have of me?

- Service. Twisted Weave, I will have you complete a task for me.

- Deal

I breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Anna, I want you to do this next part. Command the spirit to heal the count."

Anna closed her eyes. I reached over and placed my hand on the head of the wolf, between its ears. 

- Please, listen to her. She needs to learn.

It opened its mouth, and its tongue lolled out. It's eyes sparkled. 

A smile.

Its ears pricked up, and it turned its head to the princess. 

It cocked its head as though it was listening to something, and then stood. It leant over the count's stomach and began to lick at the areas where the damage was. 

Leaving them clean, and healed. 

Once its job was done it vanished. 

And the count began to laugh. "There's no more discomfort, Lukas. It's gone."

"Good." I dropped my hands.

Anna did the same, and Ilargia stopped shining. 

Anna fell back, lying on the count's bedroom floor, breathing heavily, but had a wide smile on her face. 

She's never going to forget tonight.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and someone press their lips to the top of my head. 

"Thank you, Lukas. Thank you." Rena said, before launching herself on top of the count. 

"Woah, Rena, I'm exhausted." The count protested. 

"Rena! Easy! You're going to crack the poultice!" I said, shaking my head. She was always like this, even back in the Academy.

Especially back in the Academy. 

Rena pulled her tongue at me and then directed her attention back to her husband. 

"At least wait until we leave the room," I muttered, walking to the other side of the bed, and helping the princess up. 

"Come, Anna, let's get you something to eat, and leave them alone."