Memories of an Ex-Villain

Chapter two: A new Chapter in the life of an ex villain

 The scent of flowers was heavy on the breeze, and dappled sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tree in the center of the small garden.

The black-haired half-elf sat on pillows in a large wicker chair and listened to the twittering of the birds.

It all felt horribly, horribly wrong. He knew he should enjoy this. This being allowed to exercise to regain strength and get outside... but he had a feeling he hadn't heard bird song in a long time, felt fresh air and sunlight that wasn't arid. Everything was as green as the book in his lap. The book with designs of ferns inlaid on the cover.

It was all too green, too twittery. He should be on a balcony surrounded by crows. That was where he should be for refreshment. Not here.

Doing some breathing exercises he looked up at Angelina, then to the healer, and next to the guards milling around. They were keeping a close eye on him while pretending not to.

"Here goes I guess," he commented before looking back down at the book. He ran his hand over the indents of ferns and then opened it up to the first page.

"The cultivation of pois-oh..." he paused, looking at the handwriting, and shocked at what the book was about. He read a little more silently to himself, "It's horticulture basically. How to make poisons..." he felt some relief when he read a touch more, "And antidotes."

That wasn't so bad. But what did he expect from himself?

Flipping some more pages and skimming through he spoke again, "Maybe this isn't the best book after all."

"Let's try another," Angelina replied impatiently as she snatched the book from his hands and glanced through herself, "This isn't even in Common." her brows furrowed.

"What?" Gavin took the book back and read some lines again, realizing it was not, "Oh... huh... it's... it's... I'm not sure. I don't recognize a specific language, I can just read it."

"Hm..." Angelina again removed the book from his hands and handed him another one. Gavin looked over the cover, there was a rune on it.

"Let's see..." he flipped it open. Words and runic designs met him. It took him a moment to understand anything.

"Okay... how to summon a creature from the realm of Keros... Keros..."

"Ring any bells?" Angelina asked impatiently.

Gavin ignored her and read, tracing a finger over the writing and the designs, "Yes," he said after a while, "I don't remember "Keros" but designing a summoning circle I do remember I think. I understand this."

"Enough to teach?" Angelina leaned in over his shoulder to peruse the pages, uncomfortably close as a braid fell down over both her and Gavin's shoulders. Gavin shied away a little but he did not have much room to make space for himself.

"I imagine," he replied, turning more pages, "But this is advanced. I'd have to start with simpler, less dangerous things. Runic circles need to be precise for summons, otherwise, all sorts of disasters can happen, most common being death, I think."

"You think?"

Gavin closed the book with a clop, the small whoosh of air enough to cause Angelina to wrinkle her face up and straighten. Now he had more personal space again.

"Safest summonings would be objects. Less precise and you can draw it on your hand or embroider a glove. Even write it in the air. Worst it'll do is fly at you and hit... you..." he almost said "in the head," but was reminded of his own head injury. It wasn't bandaged anymore but there were still stitches hidden under the locks. A bit lower and he might have been paralyzed instead of an amnesiac.