Chapter 35
After an hour, Lukas indeed returned, and he brought George along with him. George looked very intently at Paul and kneeled beside the bed, I could see he was incredibly relieved to see him awake and alert, but dared not hug him for fear of hurting his dear friend.
Paul stiffly held out his hands and excused himself: 'I cannot do better than this, dear George, I hurt a lot.' George took the hands carefully and kissed them and said: 'I'm just very happy to see you awake, I've been worrying, though I've been busy too.'
This hit a nerve with Paul, who anxiously asked: 'Are we in big trouble, is Lukas in trouble?' George laughed and said: 'Actually, you're heroes, but your little raid is keeping me busy. I'll tell you all in the right order, as soon as Lukas has checked your wound.'
Now Paul mockingly complained: 'You're all so bossy.' Lukas grinned from ear to ear and kissed Paul intimately, saying: 'We are indeed. Will you show me your back?' 'If you'll help me, oh master,' Paul replied, and with Lukas' assistance he was soon turned over again.
Lukas asked me: 'Will you guide me again, Melissa?' I nodded, and laid my hands on the skin beside the wound, feeling my way inside. Lukas touched my mind and soon we were connected as intimately as yesterday, a rather profound experience after our resulting love-making. I decided to give in to the feeling a little, or we'd only build it up, so I embraced Lukas and kissed him with heat, which he returned, also eager to lose some of the tension between us.
After that kiss we tried again, I touched Paul's skin and let my feeling enter the tissue below. The healing had been successful, the squares Lukas had used to repair the damaged tissue had held, and it only needed to grow together again. But there were some alarming signs, some places were swollen, with a different kind of shapes cluttering the moving fluid, and an unhealthy colour. Lukas touched Paul himself, but nothing happened, his talent didn't step in. Paul would have to fight this infection himself, with rest and good care.
When we came back to the now, Lukas said: 'There is some infection, but I cannot heal it, you'll need to keep quiet and let your body do the work by itself.' George handed him a bag: 'I forgot to mention it, but Frances sent me this, antiseptic herbs, just steep in boiled water and apply with a clean cloth.' I said: 'I'll get boiling water straight away, and tea for us all. I won't offer you coffee George, it cannot compare to your own.'
And when Paul's shot wound had been cleaned with antiseptic fluid, not a pleasant task with him biting on the duvet to keep from crying out in pain, and bandaged with more of the stuff against his skin, we made him comfortable against a few pillows and all enjoyed tea with some chocolate.
Then George started his tale: 'After you had left, Frances took care of the ten children. They had come from all over the island, promised an education in the magical arts. Instead of to a boarding school, they came to a cell, where they were fed reasonably well, but ritually robbed of their energy, which that black mage stored into a perversion of a node.
He used the power of the faerie-souls for no other goal than hide the power stolen from the children and the magic he used to steal it. The children didn't know what he wanted the store of power for. They were all from middle or lower classes, and this so-called school was their only chance of education in magic.
Some of them want to return home, some still want an education, some didn't have a family, and some disappeared, having deteriorated through the abuse, until they seemed to have no will or power left.
One day they would just disappear.' Here, Paul interjected: 'The children on the dump: parent-less, mindless. Living of refuse. Will you two test them, Lukas and Melissa? Together you may find if they can remember their parents and their homes, so they can at least go home and lead a bearable life?'
He was right of course, those poor children, burned out and destitute, they were the rejects. Of course we would do what we could for them. 'Of course we will, Paul, we'll go together,' Lukas said, 'we may have to ask Frances too, somehow small creatures trust her, maybe those kids will too.' George nodded and continued:
'When Frances and the factory guard were talking to the children, the watch arrived, which was interesting, for no-one in the factory had warned them, and people in that neighbourhood don't like the watch. We soon found out why they were there, remember I told you about a mage on the council?
He had his suspicions about the deaths along the river too, and was keeping an eye on the factory, so when he felt the ley-lines being used, and saw the fireworks going on inside, he fetched the watch for an inspection.
With the faerie soul that powered the shield that hid the magic from sight released, the concealing magic had dissipated, and he could see the mockery of a node leaching into the river with his own sight, and he certainly could see those poor children, and hear their stories.
The watch found the mage, the cells and the altar by which time he knew enough to proclaim the three of you heroes of the city. He wants to meet you, especially you, Paul, he knew about guardians but had never thought of combining forces.'
I could see the relief on Paul's face, he didn't quite trust the voice of right against the voice of money, I guessed, and he feared especially for Lukas who couldn't spend a night in jail without being found out.
'Frances arranged for the children to be allowed to stay with us until their parents had been contacted. And we discussed a boarding school to be founded for these children, somewhere in the city, a combined effort of mages of all schools. Not all talented children can be taught by their parents, just look at Melissa here: had her talent awakened earlier, she'd have been in danger of falling in the hands of this black mage too.
Anyway, we have arranged a meeting today, to discuss this. You can be included too if you want to, we can come to you if you're not fit to travel, or you can latch on in a later stage if you're not well enough. I'll discuss those rejects living in the wasteland with him too, the city may pay for them to be helped.'
'The council member had the factory sealed, and the children escorted to our manor, where Ilsa and the staff fed them and prepared baths and beds for them. My steward and Frances will be writing a lot of letters today.
The council member, whose name is Tristan Telling, Frances and I remained at the site, and performed the rite to free the faerie-souls. One was already free after you destroyed the photograph containing its soul, and it was very upset not knowing what had happened and all the magic-use around it.
Fortunately it was one of ours, and it recognized Frances and came to her when she called it. We freed the rest, convinced them to come back to their trees, though one wasn't ours. It seemed to remember where its tree was, so Marcus carried it there. Frances will check on all of ours and if you want to, on the others as well, to help the trees to recover.
That was about it. The black mage is dead and he had no family, so the council will probably sell the factory. I've shown interest in it, it would be a good investment even if I paid the workers a decent wage and attached a school to it. We've lived quite a secluded life so far, maybe it is time we went into the world once in a while.
Oh and by the way, we found these two statues in the bags with the photographs.' And with that he got the two statues we had taken from the office out of a satchel, and put them on the night stand
But by now Paul was so weary that the statues were forgotten, his eyes were glazed with pain again, and George left quickly to allow him to rest. Lukas ran to the kitchen for more painkillers, and I tried to make him comfortable by helping him to lie down again, which was pretty difficult since he could hardly lie on his back, and all his muscles were still stiff as well.
When Lukas came back I could kick myself, for now he had to be propped up again to take them, causing extra pain. Still, that was also managed and soon my love was asleep and without pain for a few hours, hopefully.
I was worried, very much so. I had no experience at all with wounds, and Paul seemed in a very bad state to me. Lukas sat on the other end of the bed and held his arms open to me, and I sat quietly in his embrace, hoping to find some relief from my anxiety. He just held me and caressed my hair and my face in silence.
Then he touched my mind tentatively, until I welcomed him and connected to him. I could feel his solid trust in Paul's ability to get over this, relaxing me bit. He spoke: 'Bullet wounds hurt like hell Melissa, that does not mean he's in any direct danger. He'll just suffer a lot, and learn to never turn his back on an enemy ever again. That was foolish and arrogant, and he is paying the price. Fortunately it wasn't higher than this.'
That sounded harsh, but his feelings were so loving and tender, I knew he felt for Paul as much as I did, he just knew more about wounds and healing and worried less. Our intimacy did not result in making love this time, just being together and watching our dearest friend and lover sleep was enough. But of course Lukas got restless after some time, and he picked up the statues and studied them.
Both were silver, and in the same style, very simple and still very realistic. It was easy to see what they represented: elves. At least as I imagined them, tall, very slim, pointed ears, beautiful faces. Lukas handed me one, and I looked at it with sight. It really looked the same as the plates with the photographs, there really was a soul in these statues. But would there still be a body somewhere for these souls to go to?
'There is a soul in this one, but is there a body somewhere?' I asked. 'Would you double-check this one for me, I think there's something in it?' Lukas asked, and I did.
He was right, but that still didn't tell us whether these souls would still have a body to go to: 'I think there is a soul in this one too, don't you?' He nodded, and said: 'I have no idea if they still have a body, I guess not, unless they are a primitive kind of faerie that can live for some time without soul.' We put the statues back on the night stand, and Lukas said: 'Shall we take turns keeping an eye on Paul?
I have some reading to do, but there is also work that needs to be done in the workshop, some of which I can do unsupervised. He won't be up to working tomorrow, but he may be well enough to help me do the other jobs.' I found it difficult to even consider leaving Paul, but I did have a job I had to go to, and I wanted to see my boss today at the council building, to tell him this job was finished and to give him my resignation.
