The Amulets (An 'Amulets of Andarrin' tale) (11 page)

When they’d left their tent earlier they had zigzagged around the hundreds of other tents, stalls and stages that littered the festival fields without paying attention to their direction and they could have walked around all night without finding their lodgings.

They spotted Delaius and Ruffalo, who had decided to spend the rest of the night with Delaius, weaving through the crowd of people towards them.

“Gredaqui wine, Sky’s end, how much did he have?” Delaius said, reaching them.

“Ah you missed out…it was amazing…” Aaron started causing Delaius to grimace.

“Alright, Hobbins, Ruffalo, see him to his tent and you two.” He said eyeing Lily and Frankie. “Jack. Come on; let’s see if we can get those scars sorted.”

Lily and Frankie followed Hobbins and Ruffalo, who were carrying Jack in-between them, as they headed up to the sleeping tents whilst Jack and Delaius set off to find Aria.

“Where are we going?”

“I told you I’d try and help you fix that arm to clear the pain and so you wouldn’t have to worry about anyone noticing it, and I will.”

Jack felt Delaius was hiding something and so he pressed him “what else aren’t you telling me, I don’t believe you brought us here just to help fix my arm, so come on, what
is it?”

“Jack, that scarring is from no ordinary wound, it’s not something that will be believed if you say you were scratched by a cat or fell into a thorn bush. It could prove to be deadly and if the wrong people see it, well, let’s just say getting rid of it will keep you out of danger.”

If Delaius was hiding anything he wasn’t giving it up and so Jack gave in.

Delaius pulled a small flask from the inside of his pocket and motioned for Jack to take it.

“Here”

“What is it” Jack said suspiciously.

“Medicine, it’ll help” he told him pushing it towards him.

Jack took it and with a small look of impending disgust he took a sip, but to his delight it tasted rather fruity and delicious, like strawberries and kiwi, and so he gladly took more until he’d drunk over half of it.

“Alright I think that’s enough” Delaius laughed, gently taking the flask from him.

They walked on past tents and stalls with folk sat around outside conversing or walking past to go to their own tents. It was late and most were heading off to bed, though there were some that were still enjoying themselves, such as the four bearded men who stood in a near empty tent drinking from large mugs and laughing uproariously at each other’s tales.

Jack had ceased to notice much, his eyes had lost their focus, his head was becoming heavy and he felt like he needed to sit down, he felt so tired.

He began to stagger and Delaius leant over to support his weight. Jack blinked and tried to force his eyes open and he felt the warmth of a fire and saw the glow of light as Delaius helped him into a tent, soothing him with gentle words.

“What’s happening” he said trying to keep his eyes open and his head up. “Did you poison
me!”

“No, Jack, it’s medication, it will help,
you’ll be fine in the morning.”

“What…who…you’re beautiful…” he said with a smile as Aria walked over to him, her tight fitting dress and her beautiful complexion capturing Jack’s attention through bleary eyes. She no longer wore the headdress she’d had on earlier and had her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. As Jack lurched towards the floor, the last thing he saw were Aria’s elven ears before his eyes finally shut. Delaius caught him and lay him on the table which was now clear of the mugs.

On the floor by Aria was a little clay pot which had a small plant in it that had grown to a hand’s length. Green leaves grew on it and as she lifted it up the smell of soil and plant filled her nostrils. She placed it on the edge of the table behind Jack’s head before leaning back down and picking up a large metal bowl which was filled with a thick, silver, glowing liquid. The liquid reflected her beautiful face as she placed it on the table next to the plant; she then drew a small but sharp knife from a holder at her side and placed it alongside the bowl.

Delaius held Jack up whilst Aria took his top off and the scars across his arm and shoulder were revealed as Delaius carefully laid him back down. Aria ran her fingers over the scars, feeling the heat and roughness of them as they were trying to heal.

“You did a good job considering it only happened last night, this shouldn’t take a moment.” She said as she placed her hand in the silver liquid.

It wasn’t warm, nor was it cold; it seemed to be blood temperature. She scooped a handful of the liquid up and it stretched from the bowl as if unwilling to be separated from the main body but, after a few seconds, it slowly parted. As soon as it did it didn’t drip, instead it wrapped itself around her fingers as if clinging to them.

Aria turned to Jack and placed her fingers and the liquid on the edge of his scars. At first the liquid didn’t move and stayed clinging to her, but as she held her hand there the liquid seemed to sense the scars and slowly detached from her fingers.

Now on Jack’s arm like liquid metal, it began covering Jack’s scar’s, all the way up his shoulder to where the scars ended. The liquid covered each of the three scars and even made its way to the different little marks and bruises around them, it was as if they were drawn to his wounds, little and large. As Jack lay asleep, Delaius and Aria watched as the liquid rippled on his arm. After several minutes, Aria held her hand a few millimetres from the liquid and, within seconds, the liquid left Jack’s wounds and returned to her hand where it again seemed to cling to her fingers.

They both looked at where Jack’s scars had been. Jack’s arm was as clean and healthy as it could ever be and shone like a newly washed car. The liquid had done its job.

Aria let her hand drop down to her side and the liquid began dangling down until it slowly detached from her fingers, leaving no marks or wetness, and dropped to the floor. It’s center began lifting off the grassy Earth below it using the edges to push itself up but it struggled and soon fell back down, it began thinning until eventually it sank into the Earth. Delaius noticed that the grass that it had landed on had become withered and black, it had died.

“One wound for another, thankfully grass is alive and so it comes in handy in cases like this.” She smiled.

“Huh” Delaius said turning away from the small patch on the Earth that was now void of green.

“Now’s the tricky part.” She told him as she moved around the table and picked up the knife.

She turned her attention to the plant and cut a small branch with half a dozen green leaves growing on it, before gripping it by the stalk and tightly forcing her hand all the way to the top, causing all the leaves to drop off and into the bowl where they floated.

She then moved back to the side of the table, knife in hand, and arranged Jack’s arm so that it lay with his palm facing upwards. She moved the point of the knife to the dent in Jacks arm which separated his bicep from his forearm, focusing on the point where two blue veins crossed under his skin. A moment later she carefully placed the knife on his arm and pierced his skin. She forced it an inch into his arm as a thin river of blood seeped out, she then removed the knife and with her hand around his elbow she pressed her thumb to the incision.

Delaius was watching intently as Aria worked on Jack.

“Pass me the thin glass vial, it’s next to the lantern…behind you” she said looking at Delaius.

Delaius grabbed the glass vial from the box and quickly handed it to her, she’d put the knife down and turned the vial upside down and pressed it over the incision, trapping the seeping blood in it. She then moved her free hand over the top of the vial, closed her eyes and began moving her fingers like a puppeteer. Moments later the blood that was seeping out sunk back into Jack’s arm and then within seconds a stream of blood rose up into the vial, filling it up from the top down to the bottom. As soon as the vial was three quarters full, the stream of blood stopped.

“Come here and put pressure on the wound” she told Delaius who quickly moved to her side.

She carefully took the vial off Jack’s arm and Delaius immediately began putting pressure on the incision because, as soon as the vial had been taken off the incision, the blood started to flow out again.

Aria moved over to the bowl. She let a drop of blood fall from the vial on to each of the six leaves that floated on the liquid. As the blood touched each leaf, the leaf folded over as if imprisoning it and, when all six had folded, she placed the vial on the table, sealing it with a glass stopper.

“
Arano suna, Rathain Demoero, du feragh,  lo demicaler imohto…….Quelof in helep, Rathain jaighi, kaldu janip, Inpyre da sacki”

She began saying over and over which was elven for:

‘Arano my soul, my Earth and my God, heed my call, for darkness wakes……..With leaf and blood, Earth and might, guide my mind, and give me sight.’

Minutes passed until a breeze fluttered the door hanging and ruffled Jack’s hair before it vanished. As it passed, the liquid in the bowl began to bubble and ripple and the leaves on top of it slowly sank beneath the surface of liquid.

Delaius’ attention was fixed on the bowl as the silver liquid inside, seemingly of its own volition and in defiance of the laws of nature, began to flow slowly out of the bowl. As the bowl emptied, Delaius could see that the six tightly closed leaves had been left behind.

Delaius watched as the silver liquid began covering Aria from her hands to her head and feet until she was standing like a statue trapped within it. The liquid appeared to be thinning and Delaius thought that she must be absorbing it through her skin and he watched carefully as the liquid all but faded away, Aria’s eyes flickered open but they glowed with the silver of the liquid that had, only moments before, engulfed her. She fell towards the table and, grabbing it; she regained her balance and placed her hands on either side of Jack’s head.

Delaius looked on in amazement as she stood, silver eyed, gazing at Jack’s closed eyes.

Her head seemed to twitch and shake as if it was receiving electrical shocks. Delaius wanted to help but he’d never seen this practice before. He knew it was something to do with the elves higher spirits or Gods and that it gave the elf temporary power to search the subject’s mind and soul. Delaius had never fully accepted this concept as he believed it was magic, some advanced form of magical science. But here they were and Jack was resistant to magic which gave Delaius a cold chill due to the fact that he was outside his the realm of his knowledge.

Suddenly Jack’s legs began twitching and he seemed to be going into a fit, his whole body began shaking and Delaius worriedly grabbed his legs and body in an attempt to hold them still. This went on for minutes and, when blood began to trickle from Jack’s nose, Delaius was about to force Aria
off him but at that moment she released her hands and stepped back. The silver covering seemed to slide away behind her eyes but, as she got her vision back, she fell to her knees by the table and began gagging. She grabbed the bowl off the table and as Delaius rushed round to help her, he watched as the silver liquid that had engulfed her now flowed out of her mouth and back into the bowl. It looked exactly as it had before it had left the bowl; it was still, glowing and beautiful to look at.

The six rolled up leaves appeared from under the liquid and as they rose to the top they unfolded and lay flat, revealing the now dried blood that Aria had dripped onto each of them.

Aria got up and heaved the bowl back onto the table before catching her breath.

“Are you alright” Delaius asked worriedly.

“It’s not him, it’s not the boy you think…it’s another. She kept it from all of us Delaius. He’s not just a guardian he is THE guardian. Redmond he…”

“What are you saying?”

“The council cannot know, it is forbidden Delaius. If they found out they would kill him, to them he is an abomination.”

“Are you saying that Redmond and…”

“Yes but it was not out of choice…”

Delaius looked furious, he was enraged.

“Delaius listen to me, if they ever found out about this boy, you can tell them that he is the other, Elysia’s child that she sent away, you can tell them that. They won’t hold anything against him; he will not be treated ill.”

“We tell them nothing, the boy goes home.”

Jack began to rise, feeling his head as his eyes flickered open and then closed again as he groaned. He would wake soon and no doubt in good health to what Aria had just done to him. Aria caught Delaius staring at him with deep concern on his face.

“Don’t you dare treat him differently now” she began harshly, causing Delaius to snap out of it.

“Nothing’s changed; you treat that boy with the same love and care you showed him before.”

Delaius had been in a trance but he now came out of it “yes, of course, you’re right, I just, I can’t believe he...”

“He was a monster”

Delaius’ eyes widened “Do you think he’s after him.”

“Kalerum? Not even we knew and Redmond will have had no idea either, we’d have known long ago”

Jack was stirring so Delaius moved over to him “will he be alright?” he asked as he cleaned the blood from Jack’s nose.

“Yes it can sometimes be painful or traumatic for the brain but we only connected for a few minutes, he’ll be fine, nose bleeds are common in these practices. As long as he doesn’t do it too often he’ll be fine.” She told him with a smile as she checked his arm.

Jack was waking up and slowly rose to a sitting position on the edge of the table “got a bloody headache” he groaned rubbing his head.

“Well you’re all healed” Aria smiled as she removed her hand from his arm and let him glance at it. The silver liquid that Aria had applied to the scars had all but dissolved and Jacks scars had healed, his skin was smooth and scratch-free where they had been.

“Ah that’s amazing thank you” he said looking up at her amazed at her beauty. He’d seen her before but his vision had been blurred and now as he looked upon her he couldn’t take his eyes off her; elves were renowned for their beauty and Aria was living proof of that.