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<font size=3>Here is the next story in my Sixth cycle. This one is
very short. The next two will be much longer.<br><br>
</font><font face="Sylfaen">Metamor Keep: Jessica’s Power<br>
By Charles Matthias<br><br>
<i>February 21, 708 CR<br><br>
</i><x-tab> </x-tab>
Jessica had never spent any time at Lake Barnhardt during her long life
in the Valley. She’d been born and raised in Keeptowne, and until
she’d been forced to journey with Habakkuk and the rest the previous
Summer, she’d never spent more than a few days away from the Keep.
There had been the required patrol duties for Metamor, but apart form
those, she’d never had a reason to see the rest of the Valley. As a
hawk she’d enjoyed many lazy afternoons flying high in the sky and seeing
much of the Valley from a view few could ever imagine, but she’d always
returned to the Keep after.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>But in the
last week and a half at Lake Barnhardt with Weyden and his patrol
company, Jessica realized she needed the familiar but new surroundings to
regain her focus after the arduous journey to Marzac and back. If
she were at Metamor, she’d be surrounded by friends and associates who’d
work hard to reintegrate her into the rhythm of castle-life. Three
hours away at the Lake, she could repose in silence and contemplation for
entire afternoons. And for a mage with much new knowledge to
contemplate, it was exactly what she needed.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The only
time she valued more were the many hours she spent with Weyden.
She’d joined him on his patrol flights the first few days, but it
reminded her too much of the weeks spent almost entirely as a full hawk
scouting ahead for her companions or merely as convenience when they had
to walk and couldn’t afford to wait on her slower hopping gait. So
she remained behind in the main barracks where Weyden and the rest were
billeted. Captain Naomi of the Lakeland militia had
been kind enough to offer her an old storeroom to pursue her magical
inquiries without being disturbed.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>It was the
one thing she’d never had time to do while journeying with Habakkuk and
the others. Now that she had some relative stability she devoted
herself to picking up her magical studies where she left off. She’d
learned so much on her journey out of sheer necessity that it would take
months for her to integrate all of it together. And then there was
the scrolls she’d been given that would show her how to summon the
Pillars of Ahdyojiak. She didn’t dare attempt such a casting until
she’d spent at least six months if not a year studying the scrolls — and
she had no notion as to what she might use it for.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Nor was
that the only mystery that plagued her thoughts. She could remember
as clear as day watching the Marquis’s magical artifice melt from Lindsey
changing him from a female kangaroo back into a human man as the Curses
had originally made him. It taxed her imagination how he could have
altered the effects of the Curse so effortlessly. Did the solution
to the great enigma of the Curse lie in what he’d done? Sometimes,
she could almost see it as if someone were whispering the solution in her
eardrum.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>But
Jessica did not let failure trouble her. Her notes, some of them
belonging to her master Wessex but many of her own, were her constant
companions and in them she made sense of the magical nature of the world
around her. Or tried to. There was much Wessex had taught
her, and she had learned a great deal from Elizabeth, Misha’s
sister. The revelations in Marzac and what she’d picked up from
Qan-af-årael, Abafouq, and Guernef added to her treasure of
knowledge. But connecting each of those stores was the challenge
now before her.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
shuffled the pages before her with her wing feathers and sighed, plumage
settling against her back as momentary excited faded. For a moment
the hawk had thought she’d seen something, but as always, the mystery
ebbed back into the mists. Her golden eyes rose from the well-worn
parchment to the candles lighting her investigation. Normally she
would have just used a witchlight, but these gave off such a delectable
aroma she allowed herself the luxury of a few simple fire spells
instead.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Although
she still knew only a handful of people who made Lake Barnhardt their
home, one of them that she had met was the candlemaker. Unusually
talented, the man enjoying his second childhood had a canny knack for
blending perfumes and oils into his wax. As Jessica stared at the
centre candle in the candelabra standing on the edge of her makeshift
table of boxes, she could not help but marvel at his the exterior white
wax enclosed a central spire of a dark maroon gel that smelled of
cinnamon with a hint of mint.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>For
several minutes the hawk watched the candle burn. The twisting and
turning of the flame was mesmerising, as well as the pooling of wax,
glistening like liquid pearl before trailing down the side and exposing
more of the darker column at the candle’s middle. Jessica knew that
it was a simple matter of dipping the candle in two different types of
wax, but she still marvelled. The white exterior was nothing more
than a façade to hide the scented portion in the middle. But as it
melted, the candle’s true substance was revealed and carried into the
smoke.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
pondered that principle. What was interior had been fashioned
first. Maroon in colour, it was hid beneath the white wax layered
over top of it. But a simple flame melted the outer wax to reveal
the inner. At this she stared for many minutes before jumping and
cawing in sudden exhilaration.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“That’s
it! Oh Akkala could it be so simple?” She turned her head from side
to side, hopping forward and back, wings fluttering like a hummingbird
before a honeysuckle. Her eyes dashed over what notes were spread
before her but for once she didn’t see anything there. Images and
conjurations flashed through her mind as if the solution had been sent
via thunderbolt.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
squawked in delight and jumped for the door, folding her wings behind her
to keep from damaging them in her excitement. “I must find out! I
must find out!”<br><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Now that
they were set to be married soon, Maud and Larssen were also granted a
spare storage room in which to privately prepare for what was soon to
come. With their room so close to Jessica’s, it was they who she
stumbled across first. Maud had purchased several samples of cloth
from the rat’s caravan that had come through the previous week and she
was holding up square patches of various colours and styles to gauge
whether they would suit her husband-to-be. The giraffe stoically
endured the woman’s gregarious manner and offered his opinions by way of
grunts and nods while she took notes with a charcoal pen.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>But both
turned when Jessica burst into the room her black feathers in need of
preening and her golden eyes wide and bright. “Jessica!” Maud exclaimed
in delight. “Are you all right? Did you find something in your
notes?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
stilled herself and took a deep breath. She cawed to them both,
eyes keeping them close in check. “I may have found something. I
hope you don’t mind if I test it on one of you.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“Is it
safe?” Larssen asked with furrowed brows. The ceiling was high
enough for him to stand without bending over, but he still hunched from
habit. “I trust you, Jessica, but... we haven’t had good experiences with
wizards.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
felt a tightness in her gullet and nodded. Her friends had all once
been in the service of Yonson who’d proven a Marzac slave as well as two
of their friends. “I believe it will be. I only want to try
manipulating the Curse.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“How so?”
Maud set a square of deep maroon down next to the rest. “I didn’t think
they could be undone.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“I don’t
know if they can,” Jessica admitted. “But while on my journey, I saw
something done to Lindsey that partially undid his curse.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“What
happened to him?” Larssen lowered his head and crossed his arms over his
muscular chest. It finally dawned on Jessica that the giraffe had
no shirt on. He’d taken it off to help Maud pick colours.
Despite having a yellow-haired hide covered in brown splotches even more
than a cow, Larssen’s physique was very handsome and the envy of many
men. Jessica averted her eyes from too close an inspection.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>She cawed
once to regain her thoughts and replied, “The Marquis used a spell to
make Lindsey into a female kangaroo. The spell eventually melted
away returning Lindsey to his human self, but for a very long time he,
she, was something else entirely. And it looked to me as if she’d
been cursed that way all along.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“But not
quite,” Maud supplied, her eyes turned inward as she slowly worked
through the implications.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“Not
quite. It did dissolve. But perhaps there might be a way to
undo or alter the Curse. I need to study it more to know.
First, I have to see if it’s even possible. And I was hoping you
might allow me to try on one of you.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Maud shook
her head, a tremble creeping in her voice. “I don’t want to be a man
again, Jessica. I don’t. I...” She glanced up at Larssen who
rested his massive hands on her shoulders. She leaned into his legs
and slipped an arm around his lower back. His wispy tail brushed
her back. “I want to be Larssen’s wife and have his children. I...
I remember being a man and I’m glad I was... but I’m a woman now and I
feel like a woman and love like a woman and want to be a wife and mother
too!”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
felt a little shocked by the vehemence and actual fear in her
voice. It was clear she’d never before considered the possibility
that she’d ever be offered the chance to be a man again. Truly
everyone responded to the Curses differently. Jessica knew several
who’d had their genders swapped who would do almost anything if they
thought they could change back. Rumour had it that Princess Malisa
had spent a long time searching for a way to be a man again.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“I would
never do that, Maud. I’m sorry. But I might be able to make
Larssen human again, even if only for a little while.” She lifted her
eyes to gaze into his face. “Would you let me try that, Larssen?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The
giraffe frowned and then nodded. “I don’t want to go back forever.
I’ve gotten used to being taller than everyone else. But if it will
help your magic, Jessica, of course.” He gently squeezed Maud’s shoulders
who gazed into his face with grateful love. “What do I do?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
spread her wings from side to side and cawed. “Nothing. Maud, you
should step away from Larssen. I don’t want what I’m trying to
touch you by mistake.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Maud
squeezed Larssen’s heavy hand and then walked to the other side of the
storage room to watch. It was not a long walk as the storage rooms
were just big enough for a dozen men to stand comfortably when not filled
with supplies, but it would be enough for what the hawk intended.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
visualized what she glimpsed in the moment Lindsey went from a kangaroo
flyer to a human man. For a moment she saw the way the Marquis’s
spell had latched onto Lindsey and mimicked the Curse. And now,
with her insight, she knew how to build a lattice that would insert
itself into the Curse and potentially redirect it. She glanced at
the way the Curse touched Maud and how it touched Larssen, noting the
subtle differences. Once invisible to her, she now knew where to
look.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>She
wiggled her claws through the threads of magic drawing together strands
in a complicated weave. Both Larssen and Maud waited uncertainly as
the hawk worked. The lattice, delicate and shining like cobwebs in
morning dew, spread inch by inch until it circumscribed the giraffe
completely enveloping him like a leathery egg. And then with
exquisite care, Jessica pulled the lattice tight until it sank into the
black goo of the Curse that clung to everyone so touched. For a
moment that darkness stirred and her heart lifted in excitement.
But then the power faded from her spell and it evaporated as if it had
never been.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
slouched and Larssen glanced down at himself once before asking,
“Well? I don’t feel anything.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“I didn’t
work,” Jessica admitted. “I don’t understand... it should have made you
human for a short time, as long as I could give it power that is.
Perhaps...”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“Perhaps
the Curse is too strong to be undone,” Maud suggested in the manner of
one who knows they don’t understand at all but wish to be helpful
nevertheless.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“The
Marquis was very powerful,” Larssen added likewise. “Maybe there was more
to the spell than you saw.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“It’s not
reason to be upset,” Maud said with a faint smile. “I hear mages have
been trying since the days the Curse was laid down to undo it and have
failed.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“But I
know what I saw. Maybe...” Jessica looked between the two and then
felt her heart jump in her chest again. “Maud, do you trust me?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The woman
nodded. “Aye. What do you mean?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“I’m going
to attempt a similar casting on you. I want to do something
else.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Maud
swallowed and nodded. “All right.” Larssen opened his muzzle to
object, but no words came from his blue tongue.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
moved her claws at the tips of her wing-joints, constructing another
lattice, this time shaped to fit Maud. No longer would she attempt
to turn the Curse back on itself. Now she would do something
altogether different. Her concentration was focussed and intent,
filled with excitement and the assurance that this would work.
Perhaps her solution had only been a partial one. But even that
would be a step no other Keeper had ever taken. And any step would
be a good one.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>She gently
drew the lattice over Maud’s comely form until it settled all around the
black spell of Nasoj. Jessica’s artifice anchored into the Curse
with a sudden jolt that made her feathers tingle. And then, the
darkness throbbed and shimmered, just as she’d seen happen to
Lindsey. Maud let out a gasp as her neck and chest lifted from the
ground, stretching each and every one of her limbs, tearing through the
fabric of her simple tunic and breeches until they hung in tatters from a
yellow and brown mottled hide.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Larssen
gaped in ear-backed astonishment as Maud changed from a woman into
another giraffe. Jessica squawked in triumph and folded her wings
behind her back. Maud blinked and felt her snout with one altered
hand. She then twisted her neck in a way no human ever could to
examine her body. She lifted one hoof and then the other, setting
them down with a heavy whump. Her whip-like tail flicked back and
forth a few times, which made Maud laugh in delight.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>And then
she noticed that she was no longer presentable to polite company. “Oh
my! My clothes!”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>She tried
to cover herself with her lanky arms, and that failing, she stumbled
uncertainly behind a stack of crates. “What did you do to me?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
leaned back on her talons and cracked her beak in an avian grin. “I
activated another part of the Curse on you. It will only last so
long as I can hold it in place which won’t be long. But I thought
you might like to be able to be a giraffe for your husband-to-be.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Larssen
had a broad grin on his muzzle. “I like it. You look very lovely,
Maud, my sweet.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Maud’s
ears bent back and she seemed to blush as she hid. “Thank you... do I
sound funny?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“A
little,” Larssen admitted with a laugh in his eyes. “You sound like I did
after I changed.” He stepped closer to her, but let her keep the
crates between him and her. Only their heads were visible.
Larssen reached one arm around and gently caressed her snout. “But I’ll
love you anyway you are.” And with that Maud leaned her snout into
his touch, large eyes closing to savour it.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
had hoped to keep the spell active longer, but already she felt dizzy and
unsteady. Another minute and she’d collapse. She coughed a
few times before managing to speak. “I’m going to remove the spell now,
Maud. I can’t hold it any longer.” Both giraffes nodded and Jessica
pulled out the threads holding the lattice together. It
disintegrated and Maud shrank back down so suddenly that she gave a
startled cry and fell into the crate behind her. It teetered for a
moment before steadying.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Larssen
took one step and helped Maud to her human feet. Her clothes were
still torn but at least now they gave her a semblance of modesty as they
clung to her normal proportions. The woman shook her head and held
onto the giraffe. “Oh, I think I need to sit down.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The hawk
was not much better off. Jessica swayed back and forth before the
room finally stopped spinning. But she still felt an elation that
would not waver. “Oh, Maud! You were a giraffe! Even if only
a moment. Even if only a moment. Do you know what this
means? The Curse can be changed! It can be changed, even if
only for a short time. Oh wouldn’t you like to be able to be
together like that always?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Maud
blinked and looked into Larssen’s dark eyes. “I don’t know... I wouldn’t
mind if it made it easier for us to be together.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“Carrying
you over the threshold will be a little harder,” Larssen replied with a
straight face. They both laughed.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“I just
need to figure out a way to give the spell more power. I can’t link
it to myself because it drains me so quickly. It would do the same
if I linked it to you. I could blight the earth if I linked it
there. Maybe Kyia, maybe... maybe...” She pondered that problem
when as if from the blue another idea came to her.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab><i>You
could always plant a hyacinth.<br>
</i><x-tab> </x-tab>
Jessica smiled, remembering just how Yonson had used the hyacinth as a
reservoir of power. “Maybe there is a way.” She stretched her wings
touching either end to the crates at her side and then folded them back.
“But for now I have to experiment more. Will you two be willing to
help?”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>“Of
course,” Larssen replied. “I’d like to get to know what Maud looks like
as a giraffe.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Maud
slipped one arm around her husband-to-be’s hearty thigh. “And maybe next
time you can make Larssen a babe. I’d like to hold him in my arms
for once.” The giraffe didn’t look too sure about that.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Jessica
took a deep breath and felt herself recovered enough to walk again. “Oh
that would be adorable! Consider it a deal, for you both. I
must go back to my studies. I will let you know when I’m ready to
try again.”<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>And as she
left, excited that she may have learned a way to turn the Curse to
Metamor’s use, she heard Maud say, “And I need to get some new
clothes!”<br><br>
</font><font size=3>----------<br><br>
May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,<br><br>
Charles Matthias </font>
!DSPAM:4baf5d16204241345131859!
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