Looking about, Eldrick realized the night had passed and the sun was rising. Oddly he did not feel the least bit fatigued. Escorting Amarna from his room to the main room of the suite he glanced about and noted that Sergei was seated in the overstuffed armchair with a worried countenance. Sergei shot a look to Eldrick, then Amarna, a mixture of relief and consternation crossing his face. Eldrick following Sergei’s gaze, became alarmed at how pale and gaunt Amarna appeared, as if she’d given her very lifeforce in healing Sebastian. Guiding her over to one of the settees he assisted in getting her settled.
“If it helps you can take some of my energy to replenish what you spent. Had I understood, I would have offered earlier. I didn’t know how long we had been there until you were finishing. What a fool I am,” Eldrick abjectly murmured. “I seem to have an overabundance of energy at the moment”
“My dear, sweet, thoughtful boy I have been drawing on your strength all night. That is what allowed me to do what I did. It was the cure you needed for magical backlash. I shall avail upon you for that additional energy now though and thank you.” As she made the statement her colour began returning, Eldrick could feel the excess energy draining away.
Amarna drew enough energy for Eldrick to feel like his levels were normal. He could tell she was taking great care not to take too much. Once he was back to a normal equilibrium Sergei looked at him, though it seemed more like looking through him.
“Now that, that is done, we have some work to do. You need to learn how to balance yourself after spellcasting," he waggled a finger in Eldrick's direction. "I know you have the theory. It is now time to put theory to practice. The books called it grounding and centring, which you know how to do for your shields. The trick is applying that same practice to spellcasting. In fact, what you did yesterday was just a much larger shield but you didn’t prepare properly before casting it, had you done so you would not have had the backlash. You need to remember to ground and center every time you do any spell work. You are also going to be learning how to cast on the fly. You may not have the luxury to be still while casting, nor the time to rest from heavy exertion before being required to cast a spell. So today we will work on grounding and centering for spellcasting. You will only be using force bolts against my shields. Later we will be casting on the fly and under extreme conditions. Some of which will be done as we travel. When I tell you to cast, I mean immediately. Do you understand?” Sergei lectured while picking up a bell and giving it a shake.
* * *
What struck Eldrick, was as Sergei was shaking the bell not a sound was heard. He figured there had to be some form of enchantment on the bell.
“Yes sir, I understand,” he said seating himself and preparing to ground and center in preparation for the spellcasting he knew would be inevitable.
There was a quiet tapping on the door to the suite as he was getting settled, rising from the floor he answered the door to see a page there with a steaming covered tray. The youth came in, set the tray down on the large side table and removed the lid. Sitting on the tray were four plates of eggs, ham, sausages, hash browns and half an orange. Grinning, he served Sergei and Amarna then took a plate for himself, glad that he would be able to eat breakfast before working any magic. All three of them tucking into the food with relish, enjoying every morsel. The ham was juicy in the center with nice crisp skin, the sausages had just a hint of spice to them which complemented the eggs perfectly, the orange was juicy and sweet.
After devouring the food, Eldrick once again prepared himself for the magic work to come. This time as he was settling down, Sebastian staggered out of the room without a stitch of clothing on. The looks he received were mixed, annoyance from Sergei all the way to licentiousness from Eldrick. Amarna just a look of appreciation, however, upon seeing the look in Eldrick’s eyes she gave Sergei a stern glance. Sergei just giving a noncommittal shrug, mouthed the words tell you about it later. Amarna just nodded solemnly with a look that told him he had better and it had better be good.
Sebastian looking around, gave a sharp squeak and stumbled back into the room. Eldrick could hear him fumbling in the wardrobe where his clothes hung neatly. Sobbing uncontrollably, Sebastian was surprised when Sergei came in carrying a plate of food in to him. The enticing aroma had awakened him in the first place. Shifting the bedside table and placing the plate where Sebastian could reach it, he sat down on the edge of the bed next to his friend.
"Why is it so hard to dress myself? Damn this mangled arm, it's only a bloody pair of trews. AAAAGH.. The PAIN!!!! I am just going to cry. I'm helpless, how am I going to be able to protect anyone. This dang shoulder is going to take to long to heal. I can't even help with the simplest of chores." His mind broadcasting his thoughts without his conscious knowledge.
“Sebastian, your injury was very severe you almost lost the use of your arm entirely. I am not going to sugarcoat this it will be a long time in recovering, but we have the time. I know I looked annoyed when you came out. It was not annoyance at you but at myself for not anticipating the situation. Eldrick and I will both help as we can, but you are going to have to do as much for yourself as you are capable. That means dressing yourself as your strength returns, and it will. It will be difficult and painful, you will wish you were dead, you must persevere through it all otherwise you will not regain full function meaning your wing won't hold your weight in flight. If that happens you might as well let Veldar use your body as spell components. That would leave Eldrick alone and vulnerable. That is a plight neither of us particularly desire.”
“I feel so useless right now. How can I protect anyone when I can’t even fend for myself?” Sebastian whined.
“Useless? Useless? Use your blasted head Dragon. You have more knowledge than he does and he is going to need your guidance if he is to navigate the pitfalls of life." Sergei's voice becoming softer. Reaching out he smacked Sebastian alongside his head as he leaned in to listen. "Look at what you have accomplished so far. He couldn’t bring down a full-grown moose; let alone drag it back to the farm with a dislocated shoulder. Your problem, is you keep injuring the same damn shoulder. You are going to need to be a mental tower for the time being. Your mind is what is going to protect yourself, Eldrick and me. I expect you to put your entire prodigious power into proper spell work and guiding Eldrick in doing the same. Grounding and centring come naturally to you, not to him he is going to be spending most of the rest of our journey working to make it unconscious usage. He is not a dragon by Servalin’s coat. He may seem to have the power level of a dragon somehow but until he can harness that power effectively, every time he does any magical workings it is likely to backlash again.”
Looking around the room and sending out his life senses to make sure there were no prying ears or eyes he looked squarely at Sergei and announced “I wouldn’t be too sure that she is not a dragon. When you were training Eldrick to enter the learning trance, I viewed a female dragon in the energetic corona. I think that Eldrick was forced into human form by some other magic and thus, there are conflicting magics at work which are likely the cause for the backlash. If I am correct your spell is failing simply because it is magic of the human persuasion which has a substantial lack of power to affect draconic nature. Therefore, the magic which is forcing Eldrick into the human condition must be either Eldritch, Fae, or Draconic in origin. I wish I could chat with my uncle on the subject but I do not know where he currently resides. He hied off after my father was killed.”
The fact that he was actually verbalizing was concerning. Sergei handed Sebastian the plate and watched as he ate.
"Eldrick come in here I need your opinion on something."
"Sir?" Eldrick replied as he strode through the door.
"Do me a favour and take a look at Sebastian's energy levels."
The hardest thing was calming himself enough to peer into the realm of magical energies. With the state achieved, he began observing. Noticing that Sebastian’s energy levels were severely depleted, any additional use of telepathy would cause him to lose consciousness.
“Once you finish eating, I suggest you try to get more sleep. Your energies are disparagingly low. They are currently working on healing your injury, leaving you nothing in reserve.”
After saying his peace, with Sebastian finished the meal, he rose, gathered the dishes, motioning to Eldrick they left the room.
Down in the kitchen, a bell rang. With all the bustle and noise, it was surprising that anything could be heard at all. A page entered bearing a tray marked druid food for four. The head cook took one look at it and began ordering the staff to prepare the best for his holiness and guests. If he found anything wrong with the food or arrangements, he sent it back to be redone. It was his opinion that Sergei should get nothing but the finest from his kitchen, after all the druid had saved his wife when she started hemorrhaging while giving birth to his daughter twenty-five years ago. Which gave him twenty more beautiful years with his dearly departed love.
Sending the covered trays off he eagerly awaited the page’s return. Carlos was the master of his little desmeign, there was nothing he wasn’t aware of in his kitchen.
“Pierre that sauce is going to burn, can’t you smell the milk scalding?” he scolded his sous chef. “If anything is ruined for tonight’s dinner then there will be no treats on the Feast of Servalin for the lot of you.”
* * *
