Isarnfur

Chapter 15

Will was out of it for most of the passage to Lurin, not waking up for anything, having to be fed mushed food. Jockung passed away, the local medical capabilities unable to handle such a damaged wound. The doctor, Benlikt, was a lucky bastard having only the barest tools to handle the wound. Apparently having kelpie mash their bodies against the ships wasn't a common occurrence.

I was only able to hear snippets and pieces of what was going on down stairs, they tarred some canvas on the outside of the river boat, using the spare lumber to get the hole fixed as we traveled, unable to safely shore the boat. Many passengers were slowly having mental breaks from the fear, unable to cope with such a thing happening. The sailors were pissed off more than anything, well passed the point of accepting the risks. One could hear the sailors mutter "silver-spooned" in the medic bay underneath the breaths of the even injured and battered sailors.

They pulled me off but put Wills clothing at the base of the bed. And now I could only pull in mana, unable to actually use it, some rune that was long ago implemented at the making of the ability of mine "under the control" of the wearer or something. At least that's what my maker thought what those runes meant. So I spent time taking the spare mana I could.

I didn't expect the doctor to use "gray magic" to severely heal the smaller wounds, doing it despite his superstitious nature, actually risking his life in his eye to help these people. Which would have made me chuckle a bit, it was something he only might pay with his life. It being grey magic or no. See the Ankchaios don't care if its called "dark" "grey" or "light" magic, a somewhat arbitrary. Light just meant that the churches approved it, which was a bureaucracy of the most cut throat religio-politicos.

Dark magic, in my opinion, was the one that really made sense. Even though the definition would probably apply to a large portion of spells of what was called "light magic". The definition was "mind altering magic that negatively afflicts the mage, causing their morals to degrade." Which was true enough, some magics out there were dangerous. Even the category of Gray Necromancy was one that I held in suspicion. Something that only the more saintly should practice.

Of course some forget the old teaching that the mental influence of magic was also a two way street. Anger made one use an explosive amount of energy in an uncontrolled manner, those who were bored were able to basically have a "normal" control and efficiency. But something not even the scholars tend to think about is the most potent magic, something if anyone else said I'd groan that they were being naïve.

The strongest magic in control and use of energy was that of genuine joy, not the one of the body so much as the one of, say, of satisfaction of helping out a good friend. One who just got told that they were going to be a parent will be able to use a quarter of the mana I use and get a product slightly better than mine. One who was stuck in the past, unable to let go of the death of their child, not "can't forget" but "let go of" mind you, would be in apathy, worse than anger, not even using an explosive amount of mana can get them anywhere.

These are the people that would decry magic as a hoax in this world, for they could drain the entire planet and only be able to clean off their left shoe. There seemed to be an additional factor that not even I fully understood. "Intention" had a sway, but it was hard for me to understand, not being a full "telepathic"

Thus this doctor was one of interesting nature, the want for his patents was genuine hope for them to live, seemingly able to control himself and let the more desperate want to be pinned down, something that probably took either a good mentor or insane luck. Actually knowing the people probably helped with that hope.

So there I was, watching this man do his work for five days, being one of an unsung hero type. Of course the captain and the other mates would cheer him on, but only the captain seemed to know just how much of a good job this man was doing with his resources.

~

Will groaned, it was ironically the last day of the voyage and only yesterday was he in any shape to stand. Benelikt helped him up, grabbing his arm on the opposite side of the injury, Will looked over and saw me, grabbing me and the shirt off the bed to put them on. Benelikt helped with the shirt and then touched the bracer.

He gained a face of shock, something close to joy seemed to flutter through his face. "Ooooh shit" I thought. "What!?" Will thought crankily, he wasn't in a good mood at all. "This man is a Tactilk, someone who can sense mana and rune by touch, kind of a class lower than yours" I told him, Will was tensing up for battle then Benelikt said something that might very well saved us from a useless brawl.

"Die dokoonhet skulke!" he whispered in an excited voice, Will paused, "what did he just say?" he asked me, Will not registering that phrase quickly caused him concern, palming for a scalpel. "Just say 'Aviss Stone'!" I mentally yelled, which made Will say it quickly.

"What does that even mean?" Will asked me. I sighed in relief. "This man is a part of the Aviss, you just said that you aren't part of the group but want to be a part of it" I told him, mentally cheering. Will nodded, relief flooding him.

"Ah I see, here here" Benelikt said, patting a different pocket, until he found what he was looking for, a small ring, one that was very familiar to me. It was Skoldjr, a spirit of some element that Auro, again, didn't know what the fuck was. Thus he was disinterested and had the spirit forcefully sleeping.

Benelikt gave the ring to Will, having put mana in the inside of the sleeping rune. "It will be a key to show that you have talent to be a part of our group. Go to the Gninli Shop and tell them that you want to give them this ring." He said.

"Ask Benelikt if we could keep the ring" I asked Will, he did, Benelikt shrugged. I celebrated. "Ok Kim Cardashin" Will said. "Who?" I asked, he just shook his head instead of answering.

~

Will used a crutch to get all the way to the street to where Gnili Shop was. He opened the door, walking to the receptionist, showing her Skoldjr. She nodded, having a dwarf come over and lead Will to the back, and there was where Will learned who the Ankchioas were, and started on his way to learn more things about magic in a training ground. Helping the people he slowly learned to care for just as he did for his old comrades in arms. There I learned about the runes that held me silent more. There, it was another story of Will Freeman and Isarnfur; the Wendigo Counter.