The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson

Author:Justin Lee Anderson [Anderson, Justin Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: King Lot Publishing
Published: 2019-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Allandria stared at Aranok, trying to take in what he had said – and what it meant. “A time draoidh? I’ve never heard of that.”

Aranok shrugged. “I’ve never known one. It’s possibly the rarest skill.”

“If you’d done your bloody studying, you’d have recognised the words!” Conifax grumbled. He glowered at Aranok for a moment, shook his head and turned away.

Aranok said something quietly that she couldn’t make out.

“What?” snapped Conifax.

“I never heard the words,” said Aranok. “Even if I’d known them, I never heard her speak them.”

“Then who did you see her ‘heal’?” the old man demanded.

Aranok nodded at Glorbad. “My nose!” the soldier announced, touching it as if to confirm it was still there.

“And your back,” said Aranok. “At Mutton Hole.” That explained his miraculous recovery after the demon fight. Allandria had assumed he had some sort of magic potion in his silver flask.

“Right enough.” said Glorbad. He put his hands on his lower back and rotated his hips. “I’ve not had this little back pain for years.”

Conifax crossed to the soldier.

“Hang on,” said Nirea. “What actually happened? Where’s Samily? And Morienne?”

Aranok spoke, still quietly, “After Conifax cured Vastin, Samily tried to heal him, but instead…”

“Instead,” interrupted Conifax, “her time skills took him back to being Blackened again. And since her hands were on him…”

“Oh fuck!” shouted Nirea. “She’s Blackened?”

“Don’t panic,” said Balaban in a gentle voice, which Allandria appreciated. The conversation needed some calming waters. “We know we can return her. She won’t remember anything and she won’t suffer any damage over such a short term. This isn’t a disaster. And we’ve learned something new.”

“It could have been avoided!” Conifax snapped at him. “If he’d paid attention!”

“Master Conifax, one could equally argue that as a master you might have asked for a demonstration yourself before this experiment,” said Balaban.

Conifax fumed back at him, but it seemed to Allandria that at least some of the heat was gone from the fire. Good. If it wasn’t for Aranok, they wouldn’t even be here, trying this.

The door squeaked open and Morienne stepped out. “I had to improvise,” she said, indicating her missing sleeves. “She’s calm now.”

Nirea lurched to the door and looked in. She put a hand to her mouth.

“Did she say anything, when she did this?” Conifax pointed at Glorbad’s nose.

“Can’t remember,” said Glorbad. “Maybe? I was in a fair bit of pain mind.”

“Yes,” Nirea turned back to them. “Yes. She said those words. What you said.”

Conifax nodded.

“So pardon me for interrupting,” said Egretta. “But would I not be right in thinking the next course of action should be to cure Lady Samily as soon as possible?”

“Yes, yes,” said Conifax, now much calmer. “Quite right Egretta. We’ll use the same runes. Just need to move the boy. You,” he said to Glorbad, “let’s put your young back to good use.”

“I can move him,” said Aranok, rising.

“You can stay here,” said Conifax without looking at him. “I’ll let you know if you’re needed.”

Aranok slowly sat again. Short of his father, Allandria had never seen anyone talk to him that way.

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