《A Ghost in the House of Iron》Chapter 9
Advertisement
ADAIN
I find that the guards get bored after a few hours in the library. There are four of them, sometimes five. You'd think I'd be used to them shadowing me by now, after so many weeks of it, but it only grates on my nerves all the more with every passing day. Books are my escape, my teleportation to different realms.
If you want to understand, read.
Yet no matter how much I search the stacks, I find barely a mention of faeries. The history books talk of demons and witches, terrible beasts that were a blight upon the land before they were vanquished. They talk about The Burned Ones, twisted creatures with fiery eyes wearing crowns of thorns, whose skin was scorched by the touch of iron. But I know now that so much of it is a bunch of nonsense. Sometimes it makes me want to throw the books across the room.
But instead I read them, flipping page after page, trying to find grains of truth within the lies. And at least it gives me something to do.
"How cute." A young, feminine voice breaks my focus. I look up from the page to see Vessimira leaning on the edge of the table, smirking.
Rogemere's daughter is a few years older than me, shares his arched brows and permanent expression of disdain. She's wearing a dress of silvery blue silk that drapes over her shoulders in two columns in the front and one in the back, cinched at the waist with an iron chain. Loops of smaller chains hang around her neck, resting against her exposed skin. Delicate iron bracelets jingle at her wrists. I wonder how I didn't hear her arrive.
"You look like one of my father's puppets," she says, flicking a finger towards the book I have open in front of me and the haphazard pile of others beside it. "They don't let you play outside anymore, Your Highness?"
"What do you want?" I ask, frowning at her.
She glances at my guards, stationed at various corners of the room. Then she pulls out a chair and tosses herself into it. "So boring!" she says. "All these books, and none of them are even interesting."
"How do you know?" I ask. "Have you read all of them?"
She laughs, high-pitched tinkling. "Of course not. What a giant waste of time. The University has a real library. Hundreds of books and scrolls. Floors and floors of them. Oh...but you wouldn't know."
Advertisement
I return her look of mocking sympathy with a glare.
She lowers her voice and leans closer, "I can help you, if you want."
I look at the closest guard, then back at her. She shrugs one shoulder, smiling. "Don't worry about them." She snaps her fingers and says, "Somnodallum."
There is a puff of purple smoke around the guard's head, and his upper body slumps and sort of folds, like his bones have turned soft. His eyes are closed, his jaw slack. Yet he stays standing. I whip my head around to find the other guards in the same state.
Before I have time to react, Vessimira calls out, "Enna! Come!"
A serving girl with arms full of books and a bag over one shoulder hurries into the room, body sagging from the weight she's carrying. She must have been waiting right outside the library door. At Vessimira's impatient gesture, the girl puts the books and the bag down on the table in front of us, then drops into a curtsy.
"Your Highness," she mumbles. I notice a hollowness in her eyes, a sickly pallor to her skin.
"Oh, shoo, Enna," Vessimira says, rolling her eyes. She waves her hand towards the door.
"Yes, m'lady," Enna says. She walks away like it's an effort not to collapse.
"What did you do?" I ask as soon as her handmaid's gone. For some reason, my voice comes out a whisper.
She laughs. "Nothing much. Just a sleeping charm. They'll wake up as if nothing happened."
"Can you show me?" I ask.
She smirks, then grabs one of the large tomes Enna put down before us and starts flipping through the pages. "Here," she says, jabbing a finger onto the page. She passes the book to me.
The paper has golden shimmer, and the writing is illuminated with delicately painted designs. Along with silver and red knots and swirls along the border, there is a small portrait of a sleeping man with a cloud of purple around his head. The rest of the page is filled with text.
Charm of Sleep - advanced difficulty
Spell type: Enchantment
Requires verbal incantation: Somnodallum ingiardum. Best if said with a breathy, lulling cadence, accompanied by a pinch of colored sand blown towards the target's face. If sand is unavailable, may attempt with a light touch or kiss on target's head or shoulder. Will consume more of the caster's mana without the material component.
Advertisement
Use mental link to calm the target before spell is cast, if able. Best if target is at ease and trusting.
Even in best circumstances, spell will cause caster extreme fatigue, and due to the high mana requirement, other spells should not be attempted until energy has been replenished. As always, overextension of mana may cause the caster long-lasting lethargy, unconsciousness, physical ailment, shortened life span, or death.
Do not attempt on multiple targets at once.
I read it twice. "But- I don't understand!" I say. "What is mana? How did you… You didn't follow any of these rules!"
She scoffs. "Rules are for babies. That's why I don't go to school."
"And why you'll never be a wizard," Rogemere adds, appearing behind us. There's a note of finality in his statement, an undercurrent of disappointment in his deep drawl. But no anger. He's not like my father, who would have stormed in yelling and flinging his arms. He's far more terrifying.
Vessimira moves to get up, but Rogemere snaps, "Sit," and she slams back into the chair as though shoved by invisible hands. "Look at what you've done," he says.
With a twitch of his hand the guards begin to shudder and gasp. They collapse to the ground, flailing, skin quickly turning a deep shade of purple.
"It was just a sleep charm!" Vessimira says.
"Their spine has collapsed; their organs are crushed," he says. "They're dead."
Rogemere looks at me. "This is your first - and last - magic lesson, My Boy. Listen carefully. Magic is about control." He narrows his eyes at his daughter as he says this. "It is not a raw explosion, let loose into the world. That is just chaos, pointless and, ultimately, weak. True power is the ability to harness energy, target it, mold it, make it do our bidding."
"Is that what mana is?" I ask, wincing as the words leave my mouth. I shouldn't draw his attention to me. What was I thinking? I can still hear the guards bodies thumping on the floor, the gurgling and wheezing of them trying to cling to life. And I'm ignoring them, asking questions about the terrible magic that got them killed.
He answers my question with an encouraging smile. "Mana is the energy we each have store
d inside of us. The pool of life force we draw from when we cast spells. Most people have a very limited supply, which in turn limits their magical capabilities. It takes years of discipline to cultivate a greater reservoir of mana."
He turns back to Vessimira, still paralyzed in her seat. "Did you truly think I wouldn't know you were using a conduit?"
Her eyes widen. "I… I didn't- It wasn't…" she babbles.
"Your handmaid has collapsed in the hall, drained to the brink of death. You think you're strong, Daughter? That this is power? You have failed every lesson I have ever tried to teach you. You can't control even the most rudimentary spells, let your energy burst out of you with all the grace of a troll. And now you think to tap into someone else's mana so you can show off to the boy prince, impress him and gain his favor?" His voice starts out dangerously low and rises a bit more with each sentence. "Using a human conduit is forbidden."
"Father, it's not the same!" Vessimira wails. "She's not human; she's a demon! She showed me!"
At this, Rogemere stops. He looks as though he's been slapped. Robes trailing behind him, he strides from the room, only to return a moment later with the serving girl dangling before him in the air. She blinks groggily, shifting her body as though unconsciously trying to struggle.
"You knew there was a monster hiding amongst us, at your bedside, and you did nothing?" he asks Vessimira.
I stare at the maid, at her tight brown curls and dimpled cheeks. She looks human. Human and scared for her life. Suddenly I want to rush over and protect her, put myself between her and Rogemere's look of loathing and disgust. But I stay frozen in my chair, as though I'm just as trapped as Vessimira.
Rogemere takes a chain from around his neck and drops it over Enna's. As it falls against her skin she whimpers, and I hear the soft sizzle of burning flesh.
"Please," the handmaid begs, eyes glistening. Her skin hisses and smokes where the iron touches it, quickly turning red. She looks at me, at Vessimira. "Please."
Rogemere growls, "Reveal yourself, fae demon."
The girl quietly writhes in pain, tears dripping down her face.
"Show yourself!" he shouts, and the whole room shakes.
Advertisement
VRMMO: The Unrivaled
Lu Chen used to be a ranker of the most popular VRMMO game, Spirit of Grief. After a car accident turned his dreams into dust, his disability left him incapable of escaping the pit of mediocrity he was thrown into. Helpless and defeated, his story ended.Two years later, the Eternal Moon Corporation launched a new VRMMO called "Heavenblessed", and Lu Chen stumbled into another terrible accident that left him in a complicated situation far beyond his ability to handle. That won't stop him from rising to the top, however. Not again.Come witness the rise of the sword-wielding zombie and the relationships he makes during his journey to the apex! For riches and bi- ahem, for career and love!He wields a demonic sword from Hell, he dons armor shining with Heaven's light. His boots stride across the sky as his helmet devours the souls of his enemies. On his left side sits the Goddess of Death. On the other, the Angel of Beauty.From the land of ice and death, a generation of Asura Kings rises, their roars reverberating throughout the world.Tremble in fear, noobs!
8 8156Refining the Mountains and Rivers
A young man's life changes when he stumbles upon a mysterious item. Qin Yu had never been a lucky person. Weak of body, bullied by his peers, and with only his friend as his family, he struggles day-by-day to live. But everything changes when he stumbles upon a little blue lamp. An immortal and demonic cultivating adventure.
8 3344Mortal Cultivation Biography
A poor and ordinary boy from a village joins a minor sect in Jiang Hu and becomes an Unofficial Disciple by chance. How will Han Li, a commoner by birth, establish a foothold for himself in in his sect? With his mediocre aptitude, he must successfully traverse the treacherous path of cultivation and avoid the notice of those who may do him harm. This is a story of an ordinary mortal who, against all odds, clashes with devilish demons and ancient celestials in order to find his own path towards immortality.
8 1050Dragon Prince Yuan
Destiny stolen at birth, the prince of the once mighty Great Zhou Empire, Zhou Yuan, has been plagued all his life by a fatal poison, forced to suffer powerlessly until one day when fate draws him into a mysterious domain where he meets a beautiful girl in green, a bizarre dog-like creature and an unfathomable old man in black.Join Zhou Yuan as he is thrust into the whirlpool of destiny while he seeks the pinnacle of cultivation.
8 1057Ranker's Return
In the early days of the virtual reality game, Arena, meleegod was the strongest ranked player! He deleted his character and suddenly left. In order to restore his bankrupt family, he returned to Arena!"Do you want to create a character?"
8 1715Monarch of Evernight
Qianye rose from hardship but was felled by betrayal. From then, one man, one gun; he tread the path between Evernight and Daybreak and became a legend. Even if Evernight was destined to be his fate, he still intends to become the ruler who dictates.
8 22861