Rune mage

Chaoter 23: protégé problem

"Logan!"

I blinked, staring I'm at the familiar face without recognition for far too long.

"I need your help! It's Lu, he's... please come."

Given that I had just finished my fourth...no...fifth... actually it was the sixth day of intense training capped off with the same Terrible advisory class with Lutsel, I didn't have energy to run. But I followed as quickly as I could.

Noav led me to a room they must have shared. Lu was on a cot, tears running down his face.

I tapped into my emergency power supply.

"Oh Lu. You tried a tattoo on your own." I moved closer. "I would have helped."

"We haven't wanted to bother you, after what happened." Noav said softly. "Can you help?"

I sat back and studied the magic and then gently picked up Ku's swollen foot and looked at the attempted rune.

"I have an idea. First, let's get some proper healing going on" I fished my healing stamp out and placed a rune of wellness on Lu's ankle, just shy of the swelling. After a moment I decided to make a full circuit, so I put several runes in a circle around the ankle.

Then I sat back. I looked this way and that at the tattoo that was actually pretty decent outside of the infection.

"It looks like a rune of power."

"Strength," Lu said through a tight jaw. "I heard what happened to you. I'm much smaller. Fifty lashes would kill me. I need to be strong."

I rubbed my chin in thought. "They run scans to make sure I'm not running runes on myself. But I don't know if it picks up on other's magic placed on me. Lately I have been experiencing air attacks, but the scan square only glows when I use my magic." I picked up the tattoo tools that were still out.

"I can alter the rune so that it is both yours and mine, I think. Your version of strength will work nicely with my wellness rune."

"Did I do something wrong, is that why it got infected?" Lu asked.

I looked at the tattoo tools. "Looks like you did right. But there is a cream you can put over it to help. When Noav carries me back to my cot in the tavern, I will send some back with him."

"Why will I need to carry you?" Noav asked.

"I'm nearly out of power. I'll use a second of my reserve beads to get this done and mostly home. But I don't want to use all of my power store."

"I need to learn that one , too." Lu said and then winced when I touched his foot.

I preferred my own tools but these were high quality. They must have spent a good bit on them.

Noav held onto his brother, keeping his foot still while I worked. I activated the rune the moment it was complete.

Lu swore a little in relief.

"Try activating the strength rune," I said, watching the magic.

His magic and mine mingled together nicely.

I pulled my power away.

"Again," I said, and was pleased to find that his rune activated mine without my needing to get involved. It wasn't a perfect solution, I had needed to prime the rune to accept his power, but it was one step closer to being able to share rune work.

"Perfect. When this is all the way healed, we can do another combined work. I had hoped blood would make it possible for us to combine runes. I will make a guess that when I die, these like all the runes I create will fade."

Lu burst into tears.

I glanced at Noav, who sighed. "We had heard rumors, of course, that Rune mages don't do well at school. But your experience and the casual way you speak of death..."

I rubbed my face. Exhaustion was eating at me. I stood and walked to the door.

I had no memory of getting to my cot.

*
"Waking up early, staggering back...yesterday Noav had to carry him home. What are you doing to him?"

I didn't expect Fa Mai's voice in my room.

"He is getting stronger. I know he is there early. The reports I get is he is practicing his forms between meditations. He trains with me, and then with Lee. Then we walk with him to Lutsel."

"Ugh. Lutsel" was all Steph said.

"Lutsel does seem to have some problems answering any questions I have about Logan's training," Fa Mai said slowly, "but I assume it is because he is intimidated. He never served in any battles."

"He's not answering questions because he doesn't like to be questioned."

There was a long pause.

I tried to wake up enough to move or speak, but I felt beaten. This time during Lutsel's class he had demanded I use my healing rune to heal myself with each caning.

Then I had gone to help Lu.

I had used two of my power reserves, and hadn't even made it out of Lu's room.

"I did ask Lee to observe the first few moments of Lutsel's class. He is making the boy recite the mage laws. She said it seemed like the lad knows them but kept needing prompting."

"That's odd." Steph said.

A cool hand touched my face. "He feels empty. Are you aware there is a second Rune mage student? A first year. Tiny little lad. His brother Noav brought Logan back and explained to me what happened. Apparently the new lad had attempted a tattoo similar to Logan and had gotten an infection. Logan used the wellness stamp and then sat and added a new tattoo, and Fa Mai, Noav said that the rune was workable without Logan's power, once it was in skin."

Another long silence.

"Hanna was before your time." Fa Mai said softly.

"She was."

"Logan is ten times more powerful, and from what I can tell, more creative. But Hannah had been taught offensive magics."

"I have always heard rune mages cannot be offensive."

"She found a way. Most of the time she had this way of reflecting back whatever was aimed at her. That didn't use any of her own power, and however powerful the attack was, it was sent back to the enemy."

"What killed her, in the end?"

"She had the same Illness Lee has, only hers started younger. She knew she would die. So she took risks others wouldn't."

I fought the darkness at the edges of my vision. I needed to hear this.

"How long do they expect Lee to live?" Steph asked.

"They told her a year two years ago. Lately she spends her time down by the health runes Logan placed down to handle the power overflow. I'm willing to put money down that she will buy the building closest before the month is out. She told me that just his little rune had stopped her pain for two days."

"I'm not sorry she is here to help, but if anyone deserves a peaceful retirement, it's Lee."

I couldn't keep myself aware any longer.