The Silencing of Esteria

Chapter 26

Toland found himself curled up in a chair at home, in front of the fire. The linuri floated a few inches above his knees, ashen white in colour.

He had stopped shaking an hour ago, now he just felt exhausted.

A hand gripped his shoulder, shaking him just before he could fall asleep.

"Here," Herdru said, pushing a mug of ale into his hand, "Don't fall asleep just yet. My father always said you stay up as long as you can after a battle. Old soldier's wisdom, if you don't dream about it the night of the battle, you won't dream about it ever. If you stay up for a good few hours afterwards, you'll sleep dreamlessly."

Toland nodded.

"When was the last time you ate?"

Toland just shook his head.

"Well, if you can, you should. Things are always better with a full stomach."

Rin came back in and put a hand on Toland's head, stroking back his mess of hair from his eyes.

"You did good today, Toland."

Toland didn't feel up to responding.

Rin sat on the sofa and Ophelia came and lounged across him, resting her head on his shoulder.

Fel wasn't far behind, he had a nasty gash on his shoulder and his shoulder was bandaged to the point of being twice the size of the other.

They sat in silence for a while before making their way to bed.

The next morning Toland woke up to the light of day streaming into his room. The linuri was floating nearby. It was a lime green colour but when it saw him up and moving about it took on a shade much closer to its normal, luminescent green.

He still didn't know what to make of the thing. It hadn't left his side and was following him around like a puppy. The fae spirit was indeed bizarre.

He got dressed and stepped out into the landing at the same time Kat jumped down from the attic room without lowering the ladder.

"Morning Kat," he said.

"Good morning, Toland. How are you feeling this morning?"

"Fine... Just fine..." he said uncertainly, suddenly conscious of the fact that he hadn't bathed since the attack.

"It would be perfectly understandable if you were not 'just fine'," she added, "My father would take me out hunting magical beasts like these every few months, my first encounter with them was most disconcerting. We hunted a pair of serefeti that had strayed too close to a settlement, they are quite venomous and watching the men die as their flesh turned purple and bloated was certainly harrowing. I did not leave my bed for a week."

Toland looked at her horrified, but she said it as though she were recalling a minor inconvenience.

"Thank you, but I'm fine. A little shaken, but fine."

Katrina nodded.

"What's a serefeti?" Toland asked, his curiosity getting the better of his revulsion.

"It is like a giant snake with a hood like a cobra, but it has horns and wings and grows to the size of a horse."

"What's a snake?"

Katrina frowned, "It is a scaly, worm like creature. I will have to draw you an illustration."

"Right..."

They passed the rest of the day quietly. Some people filled in the tunnel dug by the wolves but generally the rest of the villagers did the same. The streets were so quiet you could occasionally hear people crying and the sense of loss lay across the populace like a shroud. It stayed in place for the next few weeks, slumbering quietly over them, until the snows began to melt. Slowly at first then the roads turned to mud overnight and the brownness of the wooden houses returned. With the snow going, the possibility of escaping the valley and the wolves started to become imminent, rekindling the spark of hope.

As the days passed without sign of the wolves attacking Toland slipped somewhat uneasily back into his normal routine. He would rise early and fetch water from the well, sharing his breakfast with Shudlow, then spend the morning helping at the forge, fixing anything that required an exact shape or precise edge, then spent his afternoons helping Kinic. After returning home for dinner he would practice magic with Jaran. His bag soon filled out with other spells he could cast. The broken archmage offered what instruction he could, but he simply lacked the resources to teach Toland as he would have liked. His book of spells was nearly empty, having only ten pages left, hanging to the binding by a few threads and he couldn't create any complex spells from memory with only his weaker hand. Thus Toland became very proficient at making things lighter, summoning fire and lightning and summoning rock walls from the ground.

"It is a shame paper is so scarce out here," Jaran lamented one evening, "It would be nice if you could make yourself a proper spellbook. Tablets are fine and will serve you well for now, but they are bulky and unwieldly."

Toland turned one such tablet over in his hand. It was made from a piece of wood only a few inches wide, the twenty or so intricate glyphs that adorned it on both sides had been masterfully carved then inked black and varnished, each symbol taking up no more room than a fingernail. With the added ink and varnish these would still be usable if they were submerged in water or exposed to fire.

"I wouldn't say that," Toland replied, "I can fit about thirty of these in my bag, now that I can make them smaller."

"A good spellbook, made of quality paper, would allow you to carry several hundred spells around at once."

"Hundreds?" Toland replied, incredulous.

"Yes. This one here is made of stronger paper for the more demanding spells, but ones made for everyday use would commonly exceeded a hundred pages."

Toland returned the ornate piece of wood to his bag and picked up one of the practice pieces made from broken pieces of firewood. He placed the tablet against a chair then activated it, the chair becoming as light as a feather.

The linuri, his constant companion at this point, turned orange and darted about excitedly. It showed no emotion other than by its colour and movement, but Toland had conclude that it loved seeing magic performed, like the village children who would occasionally come and demand him to perform tricks for them.

"You are coming along most admirably," Jaran noted, "I would say even say you had a talent for it..."

Toland smiled, "How talented?"

Jaren groaned, "Don't get any ideas just yet. You're doing well, but I've seen better. I suspect that linuri is also helping. After it showed up you improved a lot very quickly, but now you've settled back down to your old rate of progression. Keep going, at your age you are a long way from your limits, only time will tell."

Toland looked away, slightly disappointed. Perhaps he was no Malipher but he didn't necessarily want to be, seeing as Malipher died at the end of his story.

If he could be good enough to impress Kat, that was enough for him.

He scowled as he caught the thought, wondering where it had come from and pushed it away.

He was a long way from being able to impress Kalashunilir.

He picked up another of the practice tablets with renewed determinationand set another piece of furniture spinning, near weightless, across the room.