New Eyes

A Brother's Wrath

Elysian waited patiently and politely. Soon she heard a massive rumbling from her brother's end. She was worried but knew quite well that her brother could protect himself.

She remembered an event from a few weeks before her brother's departure. She accompanied Malorum down into the marketplace. The object of her brother's search must have been rare. They went from bright sunlit shops brimming with curiosities to progressively shadier bizzares. They walked down a street lined on both sides with talking doll heads, and strange creatures in jars. One of the doll heads sprung to life beside her.

"Watch out!" It shouted before going silent again.

Malorum had found what he was looking for. He picked up the shouting head with both hands and set it on the counter. No one came to tend the counter, so Malorum rung the bell twice in quick succession. Before long an old haggard man limped out from the back. The man was missing an eye, and had multiple warts on his hands. This didn't phase her brother who smiled politely, and paid for his newest acquisition from a fat brown leather coin purse. The jingling of coins attracted all of the wrong attention. Ruffians, and thieves began eyeing them. It was as if they could smell it.

Elysian, and Malorum began to head back through the streets towards the palace that loomed in the distance. The two of them turned down a barren alley devoid of shops, (or witnesses).

The head that hung at Malorum's side mumbled "Keep your head up," as six cloaked men entered the alleyway from both sides.

Her brother patted the head before leaning down, and handing it to her.

"Would you mind holding this for me just a moment Lysia," he asked with a smile.

She thought the head was a little gross but she did as she was asked with a nod. Malorum stood and shrugged off the cloak that he had been wearing to reveal his royal garb. The urchins chuckled, and nudged one another.

A stout man on their right said "Looks like we caught big fish today boys".

Malorum smiled pleasantly at the rouges, "As a Prince of Rhuuludahn I order you to let us go," he said.

All six of the rough men burst out in hyena-like bouts of laughter.

Malorum looked over his shoulder and spoke to her, "Always attempt diplomacy first Lysia".

The six men circled them, and the smile that Malorum bore melted quickly. The wind in the alley picked up when the men drew their weapons. Elysian could see the faint purple aura begin to seep off of her brother. Clearly the bandits had no such gift. The head in her arms began to mumble again. A man on the left lunged at Malorum with a dagger. Malorum brought up his hand. The wind suddenly changed direction, and the man flew into the brickwork with sufficient force to knock him unconscious. The dagger clattered to the floor, and the wind regained its normality.

"The little rich boy 'as got a few tricks aye?" the stout man taunted.

While the big man was distracting him three men ran forward; one from the left, and two from the right. The head muttered again. Then the wind changed. Wind rushed past her towards her brother. It spiraled around him, then lashed out at the assailants with a resounding thump!

The big man looked around at his companions "bloody fuckin' useless the lot of 'em," he cursed.

The stout man took out a large mace from under his cloak, and the other man drew a longsword. The two bandits nodded to each other, and paced towards Malorum slowly with their weapons raised. The head seemed to snore with boredom until the wind picked up for a third time. It would mutter warnings with every gust. Malorum held up his hand and slowly closed it as he muttered an incantation under his breath. It felt as if the sky was falling. The air pushed towards the ground. As the two men at the end of the street were pushed to the ground also a seventh man crept up behind Elysian. He put a knife to her throat, and whistled to get her brother's attention. Malorum turned.

"Jus' give me the money, and nobody 'as got to get hurt," the sneak said in a raspy voice.

The head began to scream at the top of its non-existent lungs "Run! Danger! Get out of here!"

Malorum held up his hands, then slowly took the coin purse from his hip.

"Toss 'em 'ere! And no funny business neither!" the sneak commanded.

Malorum threw the coins over the man's head, and they clattered in the street. The knife was off of her throat quickly. The man then ran to collect his ill gotten gains. The head continued to shriek, however now resorting to various colorful obscenities that her young ears fortunately couldn't yet comprehend. She looked at her brother, but his face scared her. It wasn't the warm face that she was used to. His face was blank, and cold. The head continued to scream itself hoarse as the clouds began to roll in. Malorum whistled. The man looked up. Elysian heard the hiss of the wind as it flew over her head. She heard two wet thuds behind her, and denied herself the curiosity of turning around. The guards arrived to the scene criminally late, but did make it in time to arrest the yet-to-be-conscious bandits, and clean up the would-be mugger.

She was returned to reality by the sound of her brother's voice.

"Sorry for making you wait," he said "things here were a little heated for a moment".

"It's ok," she said.

"What would you like to learn today?" he asked.

"Hmmm," she pretended to think, "How about something sneaky; maybe some kind of disguise, or invisibility".

Malorum chuckled a little to himself "I definitely know a few good spells for that. Let's start with a basic polymorphic incantation: Foria meori. When you speak I want you to focus on the differences between you, and your intended image. Visualize the differences becoming less, and less until they're gone. For some it helps to have a piece of clothing, or hair to focus on, but I doubt that you'll need it".

Elysian decided to try something easy at first. Luca's daughter Kalia was about the same height and weight as her, so she would be easy to mimic. Elysian closed her eyes, and focused on the differences: her skin tone, and her facial features. She felt a light tingling as her aura seeped out over her body. Once she was done she hopped off her bed, and looked into the tall mirror that sat in the corner of her room. The transformation wasn't quite right. Her skin had darkened, and her face had changed, but instead of looking like Kalia she simply looked caught in between the appearances of the two.

"The spell didn't turn out quite right. I'm only half-way between," she said.

"You probably rushed it. Try taking more time, and making the differences disappear even slower in your mind," Malorum suggested.

She sat down in front of the mirror and attempted the spell again. She focused hard, and took her time. When she opened her eyes once again she was staring not at her own reflection, but instead she gazed upon the spitting image of her friend.

"I did it!" she said excitedly.

Her excitement was met by the light snoring of her brother. I must have taken longer than I realized she thought. She severed the communication spell, released the polymorph and curled up snugly under her thick soft blankets. Tomorrow would be the day she outsmarted a ranger.