Swordplay

Part 42

When she woke the next time, everything around her was white and light yellow. It smelled of disinfectant. Looks like a hospital, she thought.

"Hallo, beauty. Awake at last?" A nerl hopped onto her bed. It was the size of a two year old child and seemed strangely familiar. She frowned.

A thought surfaced. "I have to see Druidus." She tried to get up, but her body was too weak. With surprise, she stared at her hands that didn't even manage to lift the cover.

"Don't worry. Druidus is fine, and he sends his best wishes," the nerl said. He bent over the rim of the bed. "Hey, boys. She's awake."

Moira felt someone tug at her cover. Another nerl climbed up on it until a surprisingly big nerl entered through the door, picked him up, and sat him on the bed.

Moira recognized the biggest nerl immediately. It was the museum's archivist. He had sat Gronk on her cover whose right hand had regrown wonderfully. She noticed that the skin of the new arm was still a mixture of the usual nerl-green and a well tanned human skin. Wild Magic seems to have side effects for nerls too, she thought. Finally, she remembered where she had met the first nerl who was sitting on her cover. "You're Grub, aren't you?"

The nerl nodded. Moira frowned. Slowly, her brain began to pick up work again. Her gaze went from one to the next. She thought she could remember that Grub had been the size of a baby when they examined the surveillance globes together. Gronk and the archivist seemed bigger than before. "Is it possible that you have grown?"

Grub nodded. "You sustained us very well."

"You have to explain it properly. Can't you see that you're confusing her?" The archivist pulled a chair to the bed and sat beside Moira. "When you lost consciousness for the second time after the catastrophe, you also lost the grip on your magic."

Moira remembered the changes in the archive. "Not before?"

"You had everything under control before then." The archivist bent over her and put his hand on he shoulder. "Grub immediately realized what was happening, and suggested the usual deal to the President of the Gendarmerie Magique."

"Which deal?"

Grub hurried to answer. "For my help in analyzing the happenings, the collective of nerls was allowed to skim your magic as long as you weren't in control. It turned out we needed three nerls to do that or we would have grown too fast. Believe me. Thousands have volunteered, but the elders chose us because you already know us."

"Thank you for organizing it so well. So many things could have happened!" Moira closed her eyes with relief.0 She was so tired. Then, she remembered something and looked at the three nerls again. "Didn't I have to agree to the deal?"

"The President of the Gendarmerie Magique did that in your place. As your boss, he could do that in a legally binding way, and believe me, it was urgent. It was the only way we could prevent uncontrolled changes," the archivist said.

"Well, except for the one doctor." Grub grinned. "He'll run around with a wing for quite a while yet."

I changed humans? Moira's eyes widened. "Will he return to normal?"

"Of course. Part of your magic evaporates after a while." Gronk pointed to his arm. "See, it is nearly green already. At first, it was mostly pink."

"But it's still an arm, not a stump," Moira said.

Gronk didn't worry. "My doc thinks that the arm will stay when the color has drained. It had been a strong spell."

"Does that mean the archive will return to normal too, one day?" Regretful, Moira thought of the countless, tiny creatures and the incredible landscapes she had seen. "It would be a pity if everything turned back into piles of folders and shelves."