Halfblood

Chapter 15

"My lord." As I hear the voice, I see the king entering the room. As one, the elves around Spectrum, Pythonia and I rise from their seats.

"Thank you." The king speaks and everyone sits down. Everyone, that is save one notable exception.

Mardil. The same elf who had earlier called for the arrest of myself and my companions, approached the king and bowed low.

"If I may have a word, your highness..."

The king stood and nodded, and I heard Spectrum in my mind as the the two left the chamber.

"I don't like the look of that elf."

I subtly nod. Mardil does look somewhat different from the others. He seems younger, yet somehow more powerful.

"Exactly." I see Spectrum's tail swishing, then suddenly the dragon disappears completely into the crowd. "I'm going to go see what he's up to."

I can only nod. I completely trust Spectrum, no matter how much we do/don't get along, but I don't entirely trust his judgment in this situation. Less than 48 hours ago, he was barely alive. And now he wants to go spy on an obviously private conversation involving a very suspicious personage? I highly disapprove.

"Relax, Kaelie. I'll be fine." The dragon's voice in my head is obviously meant to calm me, but the doubt conveyed in it only served to put me on edge. 'Is something wrong?'

"Everything is FINE!" The force behind the last word sent my head spinning for a moment. "However, if you really have nothing better to do than worry about how I'm doing, may I suggest that you investigate that stick of wood in your hands?"

That is actually not a half bad idea. Sitting down outside of the door, I begin to examine the staff very closely. Keeping in mind what it did earlier, I already know that there is some kind of magic in it. I want to see if I can trigger this magic somehow.  

Seeing the staff up close, it looks less like a staff and a lot more like a work of art. The silver filigree contrasts most beautifully with the ebony black of the wood. And the entire thing seemed to let out a soft glow, especially when my fingers traced the smooth, cold metal of the silver moons inlaid in the wood.

"Like it?"

Startled by the voice, I look over to see a tall female elf sit down next to me.

"More like trying to figure out what it is." I shrug. I mean it did something pretty impressive earlier related to the storm. I can somewhat understand that... but then I just find it in my hands?" I shake my head as I turn the thing over and over. "I'm just so confused." I rub my thumb over the black crystal on one end of the thing. "Can you tell me anything about it?"

She smiles. "That I can." She extends her hand towards the staff. "May I?"

I nod, handing it over to her. But when she tries to take it, the black crystal suddenly glows white and shoots a small beam of light at her, much the same as the lasers I used to try to fight Kardmis. "Well, that is certainly unusual."

She pulls her hand back and nods. "In all the years I've been around the moonstaff, I've never seen it do that before."

The moonstaff... I tuck that information into my mind for future reference. "If I may ask, what have you seen it do?"

She smiles. "Generally, it enhances the users inherent magic, and in some cases, will jump to those with magic that is sealed away. In those cases, the seals on their magic disappear."

"Do you think I may be one of those cases?"

"Look me in the eyes." As I do so, her eyes flash purple for a few seconds before returning to their normal green state. "You are a unique case. The only magic I see in you is that of the dragon, but it would seem that the staff is trying to essentially make the magic you have 'borrowed' from the dragon part of you."

"So you are saying that this inanimate object is essentially trying to steal some of the power from another creature and make it mine?" I can't help but sigh. "First of all, I never wrote this staff, nor even the idea that this is possible. And secondly, this would be a real problem when I returned to my world. No one there has magical powers that I know about, which means I would have to keep mine hidden--"

I want to say more, but I am cut off by Spectrum. "We need to get out of here. Right now if not sooner."