David Wells - Cursed Bones

“Very well, I will instruct Tasia to remain with your Captain Wyatt and provide him what assistance she can for the time being.”

“Good. Wyatt’s going to have his work cut out for him,” Alexander said. “On another matter, my leg has healed well enough for me to walk without a cane, not far, mind you, but well enough that I think it’s time to begin making preparations for my departure. I’d like to call a ship to come pick me up, but I wanted your permission first.”

“Of course, but just a single vessel and tell them to fly the Reishi flag when they enter the Spires.”

“I’ll make sure they follow your instructions,” Alexander said.

Bragador said her goodbyes and Anja came to Alexander’s bed.

“Can we start?”

“All right, but we’ll start with a knife, you’re probably not strong enough to wield a sword.”

Anja frowned, shaking her head. “Alexander, I’m a dragon. I’m plenty strong enough to handle a sword. In fact, I want to learn to use a really big sword.”

Alexander chuckled. “Fair enough, but let’s start with a knife. Many of the principles are the same, but a knife can be easily concealed where a really big sword can’t.”

“All right, if you say so,” Anja said.

After a brief hunt for adequate pieces of driftwood and some minor modifications, Anja had produced two wooden knives. In the session that followed, both Jack and Alexander learned that she was not only stronger than a full-grown man, but faster and far more aggressive in a fight than most soldiers. There was a visceral quality to her total immersion in the moment, all of her attention, focus, and intention narrowed down to the present. She moved like an animal, instinctually searching for an opening, an opportunity to strike, lashing out with blinding quickness and spontaneity when an opening presented itself.

After a bit of instruction and practice, Anja was an equal for Jack one-on-one. Her speed and strength matched his skill and experience. With time and practice, she would be formidable with a blade.

“That’s enough for today,” Alexander said.

“Oh, thank the Maker,” Jack said, collapsing onto the ground, lying completely splayed out on the cold stone floor.

Anja giggled.

“You did well,” Alexander said. “Think about the things you learned today and we’ll practice more tomorrow.”

Anja bent down and kissed him on the cheek before skipping out of the Wizard’s Den, humming a tune to herself.

“Just think, Jack, you’ll be able to tell the story about the time you got into a knife fight with a dragon and lived to tell about it.”

Jack chuckled, shaking his head. “It would be unbecoming of a bard to tell such a tale about himself, so I rather suspect you will be the hero of this story.”

“I’m still laid up in bed,” Alexander said.

“Which makes your role in the story all the more heroic,” Jack said, smiling with mirth and mischief.

Several days passed. Alexander checked in with Abigail every day, but they hadn’t yet obtained the dragon draught they needed to enter Whitehall. Isabel was still cloaked by the Goiri bone, so Alexander couldn’t find her, a fact that was both a source of worry and solace-worry because he wanted to see her, talk to her, know that she was all right, and solace because he knew she was still alive and Phane wouldn’t be able to find her either.

He checked in on Lucky every day as well, watching his progress without disturbing him. Once he’d done his daily clairvoyant reconnaissance, Alexander spent the rest of the day with Anja, teaching her to fight. After a few days of training with the knife, she carved a small log into a giant broadsword and asked to start using it instead.

Alexander agreed, more than anything because he wanted to see this little waif of a girl wielding a sword that most full-grown men wouldn’t be able to handle … and he wasn’t disappointed.

Anja brought every bit of the strength and speed to wielding the broadsword that she had to the knife, but she was even more aggressive and forceful in her attacks. Jack was no longer her sparring partner-he’d sustained too many bruises and cuts to continue-so Anja practiced by herself against imaginary targets.

Alexander walked her through each engagement, presenting the imaginary enemies she faced, their locations, armament and actions, then had her explain how she would defend against each attack. Once she outlined her battle plan, Alexander walked her through it, examining how well each step would work, then she would drill her plan.

She worked tirelessly and relentlessly. She demonstrated a kind of single-minded determination rarely matched by human beings.

That evening, Alexander went to bed tired but unable to sleep, so he projected into the firmament instead. He went to Lucky first and found him sitting in front of the fire.

“Ah, Alexander, it’s so good to see you,” Lucky said, standing up. “I’m ready to proceed. I’ve processed the compound through the bright green liquid state you told me of and boiled the mixture down to black, brittle pellets.”

“Good, this next step will require your magic,” Alexander said. “You must dissolve the black pellets into one pint of muriatic acid and boil the mixture, adding more acid every time the mixture falls below half a pint. This process will take ten hours, during that time you must focus your magic on the mixture each time you add acid. As the solution comes to a boil, visualize the gold particles floating in the solution and see them spinning.”

“Spinning?” Lucky asked.

“Yes, spinning very quickly,” Alexander said. “I don’t understand it either, but the sovereigns tell me it’s a necessary step for the process to work.”

“Very well. And once the ten hours have elapsed?”

“Boil it down till just dry-it should be white as new-fallen snow. I’ll come back for the next step. If the product isn’t white, you’ll have to start over at step one.”

“Then I shall focus intently on seeing the gold spinning,” Lucky said. “On another matter, Kelvin would like to speak with you.”

“I’ll go see him now,” Alexander said, fading away and reappearing in Kelvin’s workshop, which was still under construction.

“Alexander, it’s good to see you,” Kelvin said, turning away from his supervisory role. “I have things to show you. Come.”

He followed Kelvin into a well-locked and magically protected vault. It contained all manner of items, from weapons to clothes to jewelry, and everything was enchanted to one degree or another. Kelvin selected a staff from a rack of other staves and held it up for Alexander. It was about six feet long, shod in silver on either end, and carved with runes over every part of its surface. It was well-made and potently enchanted, but its bright, pure white colors told a greater story-this staff was made from the vitalwood tree, a conduit to the realm of light itself.

“I call her Luminescence,” Kelvin said proudly. “Isabel gave me the idea in her fight with the scourgling. The staff will produce ordinary light in varying intensity from a dim glow to sunlight bright, but that’s not where its real power lies. Every few hours, you can call forth the Maker’s light. Near as I can tell, it’s just as powerful as Isabel’s light-it makes people want to stop fighting, disrupts spell casting for both wizards and witches, and it banishes most demons outright.”

“Sounds like a potent weapon,” Alexander said. “I’m impressed.”

“The truth is, the wood itself wanted to be what she became,” Kelvin said. “I had a number of other ideas, but every time I picked up the branch, none of those ideas felt right and this one always did.”

“Then it’s exactly what it’s supposed to be.”