A Forest of Secrets

Chapter 7

"I guess long ago someone decided it would be fun to train us to deal with magic? I don't know, to be honest, because there's nothing about it in the scripts. The prophet Ontur established the order to protect the people-- the faithful-- and that's as specific as it gets, I'm afraid. The heads of the Onturian church, the Keeper of Blood, the Knight Captains, and the King interpret the meaning as they see fit, apparently," he shrugged.

"I see how magic could be a danger to people," Jo shivered as she remembered a mage kid from the village who burnt down his house while everyone slept. Luckily the dog woke them up, and lives were not lost... but she'd heard stories. She told Alaric about it.

"Yes, I've heard stories too," his face looked grim. "But, mages learn to control their magic, there are colleges of magi, institutes of magi... some mages take up apprentices too, less regulated but more affordable, I suppose.  Mages are people like you and I: they suffer, love, laugh. The problem is when mages turn dark: the power they unleash brings dire consequences, I'm sure you've heard of them, how dark magic it twists them from the inside-- quite literally."

"How so?" she'd heard some stories, but she always suspected they were exaggerated. 

Jo was starting to gasp for breath, Alaric and Gerard were walking too fast for her.

"You know how dark mages use blood to power their spells? The life force in it, to be precise," Jo nodded. "They can do spells other mages can't, sometimes terrible ones. They can kill someone, or worse. Most dark mages use their own blood to power their spells, but at a little wee cost: every time they use their life force to power a spell, a portion of their spirit is corrupted," Jo gasped, didn't Laurentius use dark magic to help his mentor enchant Grandmother's pendant? How corrupted was his spirit?

"What does that mean? Corrupted how?" part of her didn't want to know, she'd stay away from magical affairs as much as she could back in the village... but out there? Knowledge was power. She needed to know.

"I don't know how to explain it, I'm no scholar, but the thing is," he sighed, "in the end, their spirit is not the same anymore and they turn into monsters... on the outside," he stressed the last bit, word by word. "The church says it's a curse from the creators, to punish greedy mages and to stop them from using it too much. You would never believe one of those... things was once a human being," he grimaced.

"What! You're joking, I always thought those stories were just, you know, stories to scare children into eating their vegetables," she laughed. "You're trying to mess with me: very funny. Is this payback?" Alaric laughed nervously.

"I'm not! I swear," he was flustered again, that made Jo believe him even less.

"But you're laughing!" she raised an eyebrow, containing her laughter.

"I'm laughing because you're laughing," he was still smiling, but she could tell he was struggling with it. "But it's true, they do turn into spooky monsters with horns and scales, and bulging veins-- nasty stuff," he made it sound a little less horrible as he made faces and gestures with his hands to illustrate it. Jo couldn't help but smile, even if the subject wasn't really funny. Humor made ghastly things a little easier to bear. "You've never seen them because we don't let it happen: that's us, nipping the bad weed before it grows, like big armored gardeners," he made clipping gestures; Jo bumped him on the ribs with her elbow and chuckled.

"Can they still do magic when they turn into monsters?"

"Yes, warped as they are, their magical abilities remain... wait, not really remain, they're actually enhanced permanently- which is why some young dark mages long to become what we call an Imago," he sighed, shaking his head.

"Do you think...? Laurentius would do something like that? Is there a danger of him becoming twisted? An Imago?" Alaric stayed silent for a moment, thinking.

"He doesn't have the early signs at least, there's no risk of him turning suddenly and ripping us apart," he kicked a pebble. "Before they become full Imago, they go into a middle stage called crisalidae," was that a  pleased smile on his face? Clearly knowing something she didn't was a bit of an ego booster. He looked relaxed, in his element.

"And that's what, exactly, Mr Encyclopedia of magic?" she smirked. She wanted to know which signs to look for in Laurentius, the information made her feel safer, in control.

"It depends on the mage, sometimes there are subtle changes like... I don't know, a pig tail?" Alaric looked at her. Jo twisted her mouth.

"I wouldn't call that subtle," she snorted. Alaric smiled, squinting.

"Less conspicuous than a couple of horns or animal legs, I suppose. Would it surprise you to know some people actually want to be crisalidae? Of course not, I presume, since I already told you some are prepared to go full monster," he cracked his knuckles. He was enjoying himself immensely, it seemed. "You see, they're not as powerful as Imagi, but still more powerful than your regular mage. Plus they don't look like complete monsters. Very appealing," she faked a slight disinterest, yawning. He cleared his throat a bit, perhaps his bout of confidence was waning? Toying with the man was amusing, indeed.

"Do you think Laurentius could be a crisalidae? I mean, look at that ridiculous robe, he could be hiding anything underneath it," she whispered. She didn't know how much eagles could hear, what if Laurentius was eavesdropping? But she needed to know.

"I don't know, to be honest," he said, finally. "But I'm keeping an eye on him, for more than one reason," his jaw tightened for a second. 

She was going to thank him for keeping an eye outside her tent, no matter how unnecessary it might have been, but before she could even open her mouth, she was interrupted by Gerard. He informed them the sun would set soon, they'd have to make camp. The knight whistled at Laurentius, who came flying fast as an arrow and transfigured into his usual extravagant self.

They stopped at a clearing surrounded by berry bushes and bright white daffodils. Jo took off her boots and walked on the cool ground, cushioned with rotten leaves and moss. It helped soothe her blisters a little, but as she walked she prayed not to step on a caterpillar: those things would make her feet swell like watermelons, and hurt like a thousand needles... not that she'd step on one before, after grandmother told her to be careful and to stay away from them. She missed Grandmother, she realized, where would she be? Maybe she was still at the Crowned Swan in Bolton's reach, but it was unlikely. Grandmother knew there were dangerous people chasing them both, and even with her enchanted acorn charm, she wouldn't be completely safe there. She was probably hiding somewhere far, she might have even fled the Kingdom for all she knew. Or maybe she was up to something else, there was not knowing with her: dear old granny was very good at keeping secrets, it seemed.

As her mind wandered, she noticed Alaric lifting up her tent. He then busied himself making smaller ones for the others with branches and pieces of cloth. Laurentius decided to flaunt his magic around, making the knight-- almost knight-- visibly uneasy. She saw the mage under a new light after her conversation with Alaric. She was half waiting for him to suddenly turn into an Imago as he waved his staff around. Of course, before becoming an Imago he would have to be a crisalidae, but to her, they were pretty much the same scary... thing, as if she needed more reasons to be wary of him. She studied the mage from afar, trying to catch something out of the ordinary: no horns or a tail, nothing visible at least. The mage was as human looking as they came. She decided to let it go for a while, besides she was travelling with one and a half Onturians, trained to catch and dispose of Imagi: she had a fair advantage,  unless the mage decided to murder them in their sleep. But no, Alaric said Gerard could endure a couple of days without sleeping, didn't he? He would notice. Until that night, she'd never had so much trouble falling asleep in her life.