The Scars We Leave — Chapter Three
Traveling to find his sister, Aeryn learns more about the supernatural world, and the consequences of the deal he’s struck.
Dark fantasy short, 5.3K words.
Chapter Three: The Binding Chain
On his way to the small town where he parted ways with his sister, Luka, Aeryn receives tutelage in magic from the presence sharing his mind. He receives much-needed catharsis after an encounter with two witches on the frontier.
You can find a directory of chapters in The Scars We Leave here.
5293 words.
CWs and Tags:
- Reference to slavery/non-consensual sex
“What are these things?” Aeryn asked, slowly backing up against the face of a large rock.
“Elementals.” The presence in his mind answered. “Spirits strong enough to manifest corporeal bodies.”
The creatures currently prowling towards him passingly resembled wolves, but a bit smaller and uncannily wrong in several ways. They had no eyes to speak of, short, blunt snouts, pitch black fur, and animate tails that seemed to trail off into little wriggling tendrils. Their growl was deep and echoing, almost unearthly sounding. The pack, seven strong, began to spread out in a circle to surround him. The moonlight cast odd shapes behind them, shadows of shadows.
“What do I do? Use your magic?”
“Our magic. Yes. Focus, open your thoughts to me, and I will bring it to your hand.”
Aeryn still hadn’t gotten the hang of his new partner’s–his–abilities, but he raised his marked right hand toward the spirits. The entity in his mind reached out to him, and he let it in, mentally shrouding himself in the presence. His heart beat faster, and something rose up from inside his body.
Ribbons of shadow materialized from his outstretched hand, trails of oily blackness that sped through the air towards the elementals. His targets tried to scatter, but three of the beasts were caught, wrapped up in them and tripped to the ground. Moving with someone else’s instinct, Aeryn yanked his hand, and the ribbons constricted and contorted, breaking bones and snapping necks with violent force.
Another spirit ran past its fallen fellows and lunged toward him, but Aeryn swiped his hand, and a slim wave of darkness cut through it. The creature hit the earth with a wet thud, pouring purple blood out of a huge gash carved in its side.
The remaining two retreated backwards to a respectable distance, hackles raised, tails flicking the air like snakes. Aeryn flexed his fingers and raised black spikes up out of the ground, piercing straight through their bodies. The elementals writhed and then went limp.
He closed his eyes, tamping the magic back inside his mind. Every time he called on the strange entity’s power, he could feel it sidle closer to him. It didn’t fight him as he pushed it back, content–for now–to retreat to the further edges of his consciousness.
“You don’t like relying on me.” It could read his feelings, the unease in his gut.
“…I don’t.”
“You will need to. You’ve consigned yourself to a dangerous path.”
“You mean…are you why those things attacked me?”
“In a way. The more entwined you become with magical forces, the closer to the spiritual plane you exist. For most mages, it takes years of growing in strength to dwell within the boundary. Your bond with me has drawn you there much faster.”
Aeryn sat down, processing. “Are you saying I’m just…going to be attacked by monsters all the time, now?”
“Not all denizens of this plane are monstrous. Many are harmless. Those were bestial spirits, forces of primal nature. They hunt, but hold no malice.”
“Is there anything else about this deal I should know?” He demanded.
“Until you grow accustomed to them, overuse of your powers will strain your body. I can lend you my magic, but not the years of physical experience of a practiced mage.”
“What about, like…regular magic? Can you teach me to do things on my own?”
“…I could.”
Aeryn pushed himself to his feet, a little more resolute to keep going. “Then that’s the plan.”
“Envision the fire in your mind’s eye. Picture the spirits dancing within it. You can’t see them, but you can feel them.”
It was the next morning after Aeryn had destroyed the mansion and killed Marcus Deacon. Unable to simply walk back into Dreistan, he was taking a roundabout, overland path around it. The last he had seen of his sister was in the frontier town near the village, so that’s where he was headed.
His new companion had fashioned clothes for him, of a sort: Something like solidified shadows, they had a smooth, dry, silky texture, and clung to his skin slightly. It felt strange, like wearing the skin of some alien creature, but the shirt, pants, and boots weren’t uncomfortable. The presence was also surprisingly knowledgeable about nature, pointing out to him what berries and mushrooms were safe to pick and eat. He didn’t exactly feel revitalized, but he hadn’t gone hungry.
Aeryn concentrated. The small campfire in front of him crackled merrily, oblivious to his attempts to influence it.
“The binding chain is the core principle of magic,” the presence had said. “You share the world around you with countless spirits. They are in every tree, every rock, every flame and every river. To wield magic, you must reach out and bind yourself to them. You tie a little part of yourself to the spirits, and in return they answer your commands.”
Even with the creature in his mind gently guiding him along, he was having trouble putting any of the words into practice. He still saw an ordinary campfire, not a home of flaming spirits.
“We are starting with fire because it is easy to manipulate. Fire spirits want to spread, to dance and flicker and consume. If you give them the opportunity, they will gladly take it. Spirits, even the smallest and simplest, are creations of emotion.”
He was reminded of Luka. When they had lived together in the city, she was uncontrollable: Stealing, getting into fights, having flings. She’d often come home bruised, but there was always a wild, ecstatic look in her eyes.
Slowly, he felt them take shape in his awareness: Little sparks of emotional energy, warm and vibrant, swirling inside the tiny flame he’d lit. They felt his consciousness touch them, and twinkled, as if it to ask him something.
Aeryn took a deep breath. The binding chain was to give a little of yourself to the spirits. A tiny pact, like the one he’d already made, right?
Will you help me? He felt a strange grasping sensation on his skin, like something was pulling at him. Spirits, lend me yourselves.
A faint warmness enveloped him. Suddenly, the fire seemed so much sharper than before. He saw it not just as it was, but as its potential: To grow, to become a blaze, to dance across the grass and trees. The fire spirits were reaching out to him, showing him what was possible.
He picked up a twig from his pile of kindling and envisioned the fire jumping, the spirits flowing along the air. The twig almost instantly caught flame, bursting with sudden heat, a trail of embers sparking between it and the campfire.
Aeryn dropped the stick in surprise, startled by the suddenness and intensity of the flame. The tiny torch fell into the grass, which immediately started to burn. He could feel the elation of the fire spirits, dancing and consuming. It would be so easy to run rampant, destroy everything they could touch in a little festival of heat. Why shouldn’t they? Flame was their purpose.
“Careful,” the presence cautioned. “Do not let the spirits’ whims control you. You must command them, not the other way around.”
Right. He looked down at the slowly catching blaze at his feet. Gently, he pushed the spirits back, soothing them and drawing them back into the campfire. Aeryn raised his hand and silently called them, and they joyfully came.
He was holding an open flame on his palm now, but it didn’t burn. The spirits saw him as part and parcel of themselves, their energy contained. In turn, he felt what they felt, the simple joy of swirling and burning.
“Well done.”
It was a three day trip by foot to the frontier town. Aeryn boiled river water to drink and foraged for his food. He navigated by keeping the roads in sight, and slept with one eye open for attack. It wasn’t exactly hearty sustenance, but it was steady, mostly safe progress, which was as much as he could ask for.
Here and there, now that he was paying attention, he saw more elementals. Most of them were cautious and curious. An animate shroud of vines watching him from behind the leaves, or a wide-eyed water serpent skulking at the edge of his vision. During his next late-night encounter with the wolf-like beast spirits, he pulled a branch from his campfire and spread an arc of flame from it, chasing the howling elementals back into the forest.
He started to notice other things too, now that his awareness was submerged in the spiritual plane. A bush with berries that glittered like gemstones, a stone in the creek bed with strange shapes on its sides almost like lidded eyes. Once, a clawed footprint that was too big for any animal.
“Echoes of that world,” the presence explained. “Where the deeper layers pass close to ours, you can see it.”
“What would happen if a normal person, say, picked one of those berries?”
“They couldn’t. These are more like after-images, or…reflections. They don’t exist on this plane. You are close enough to reach out and pull them through, but someone who wasn’t attuned to magic would pass right through them.”
“Are they…valuable?” Aeryn wondered. “Should I be taking them?”
“I would advise against it. Many things in the spiritual world can be useful components for magic, but without knowledge of their properties, you are as liable to harm yourself.”
When his destination revealed itself over the horizon, it was a grey, misty day, late in the morning. The town, too big to be called a village but not a proper city either, was a wide circle cut into the side of the forest, thatched houses built in the mud and surrounded by a fence of sharpened logs. The residents fished, logged, and farmed for their livings, trading up the way with Dreistan for anything they couldn’t grow themselves. Aeryn had passed through it on his way to Luka, when he’d received word that she was sick, but that was the extent of his familiarity with the place.
He got more than his fair share of odd looks, in his silky all black outfit, white hair, and generally disheveled appearance. Walking through grasslands and forests for three days, sleeping on the ground and only bathing in shallow streams, had left him looking like something of a wild child. The dirt seemed to slide right off his magic-made clothing, but it very much stuck to his skin. A bath would be lovely…but the money to pay for it was another thing. He could steal it, probably. Offer to help someone out for a day’s wages? Possibly, but he wasn’t sure a penniless stranger would be trusted enough for that in a small town.
While he was deciding what to do, a sharp hoot split his thoughts. Aeryn looked up to see a large brown owl, perched on the roof of the building across and staring down at him. Something about its eyes struck him as strange. Why was it here in the middle of town?
“That’s an elemental,” the presence told him.
“Hoooo!” The owl seemed to respond. It skipped off the roof and burst into flight, gliding back toward the town gate and alighting on the log fence. “Hoo.”
Aeryn looked back at it, a little confused. If it was a spirit, it looked awfully normal.
“I think it’s leading me,” he murmured, to himself and to his mental stowaway.
After a moment’s hesitation, he followed. The owl took off from the fence when he got close, gliding away from the town and into the woods. Whenever he fell behind, it would perch on a branch, turn to look at him, and hoot.
As he passed the tree-line, Aeryn started to notice things with the details he’d come to associate with the spiritual world over the last few days. Mushrooms with colors that were unnatural in vibrancy or hue, leaves in strange shapes like tiny clawed hands, stalks of flowers that moved to touch his ankles as he stepped past them. The forest around him seemed to drift deeper into the supernatural as he walked.
A few minutes away from town, the owl stopped short at a peculiar tree. It was a large cedar, but all along its trunk, little colored bulbs like un-bloomed flowers grew, arranged in orderly lines like they’d been put there deliberately. The bulbs in some lines were larger and more saturated than others, and a few lines were bare entirely, only being a series of small holes in the bark.
“Hoo!” The owl sounded insistently.
“Huh? Silene?” A feminine voice emanated down from the upper branches. “Did you need me?”
“Hello…?” Aeryn called.
“Oh–is someone there?”
The tree’s canopy shook, and a figure drifted down–literally drifted, falling gently on the wind and smoothly avoiding every branch along the way–to land on one of the larger arms stretching out close to the ground.
Even to Aeryn’s uneducated eyes, she was clearly a witch. The girl, who didn’t look much older than him, had dark brown skin and frizzy brown hair styled in a short afro. She wore a blouse, corset, shawl, and skirt all in earth tones, along with brown knee-high boots and a myriad of pouches along her belt of various sizes. Her sleeves were embroidered in white thread with loose, swirling patterns like clouds, gusts, and stylized faces blowing wind.
“Hi!” She greeted him with a warm smile, then tilted her head curiously. “You’re not from town, are you?”
“N-No, I just…” Followed an owl here on nothing but whim. The bird in question had settled on the branch above the girl, preening its feathers in total unconcern. “I saw that owl in town…it’s a spirit, right?”
“Oh, you’re a mage.” She slid off her perch and hit the ground on her feet with barely a thud. This time, Aeryn could see leaves caught in a swirl of wind around her as she descended. “Silene, did you bring him here?”
“Hoo.” The owl continued to preen.
“…I am,” he conceded. He didn’t really feel like one, but it was technically true. “But I don’t know why, er, Silene, led me out here.”
She squinted her eyes at him. “What’s your name?”
“Aeryn.”
“I’m Natalie. Silene’s perceptive, so she definitely saw something about you, but I’m not sure what it is.”
“Is she your…” He wasn’t sure what the right word was.
“Familiar, yep! She’s a light elemental.”
The owl looked at him, and for a moment, Aeryn saw something else beneath the guise of an animal. In the next layer of the world, Silene appeared as a brilliantly glowing, vaguely avian shape of golden-white light, with sunrays for feathers and little motes of fire for eyes. Then the elemental blinked, and the owl was only an owl again.
“I see. So she wanted us to meet, for some reason…?” Aeryn said.
Natalie walked closer, her expression inquisitive. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. If you’re a traveler, why are you here? It’s not much of a tourist stop.”
“I…” Aeryn looked away. “I’m looking for someone. I think she was…sold as a slave, here. It would have been about two weeks ago, now.”
The witch nodded grimly. “I remember when the slavers came through. Grandfather glamoured this entire end of the woods to make sure nobody found us.”
“Your grandfather is a mage too?”
“Mhm. He’s my teacher.” Natalie put her thumb to her chin, thinking. “I don’t think many people actually got bought, when they came here. You could probably ask around.”
“I know, I just…”
“…Look like a weird foreigner. Right.”
“One with no money for soap or a room at the inn, to boot.”
“None?” She clicked her tongue. “Well. Come on then, we’ll ask Grandfather if you can wash up at the house.”
Aeryn followed Natalie down the trail deeper into the forest, taking note of the increasing abundance of magical traces around him. Most of them were plants, but he saw a few spirits too; mole-like creatures that skittered around his feet before disappearing into the ground, butterflies with huge wings that sailed past him on self-made wind currents.
“What do you make of her?” He reached out to ask the presence in his mind, but for some reason received only silence in response.
“…What were you doing up in the tree?” He said aloud, trying to make some kind of conversation.
“Oh,” Natalie reached into a pouch and pulled out a large, misshapen seed. “Planting these. Barkbloom flowers. They’re symbiotic plants from Faerie that grow in tree bark. They use the tree’s nutrients to grow, but they strengthen it in return. It’s actually a net positive for the tree!” She talked excitedly about the whole subject.
“So you harvest these for something?” Aeryn asked, remembering his companion’s earlier words about magical components.
“The petals have medicinal properties.” She nodded. “They’re anti-inflammatory and promote recovery. Grandfather is a floral mage and a healer.”
He had heard of village witches who acted as apothecaries, physicians, and even surgeons for their communities. “So he sells medicine to the town?”
“Well, kind of. We grow most of our own food, naturally, so there’s not a lot we need to buy. But the townsfolk know they’re always welcome to come to us when they’re sick or hurt, and Grandfather will treat them. In exchange, they bring us the stuff we can’t grow ourselves.”
“That makes sense.” Aeryn couldn’t help but think of Luka’s lung disease, and if her condition had worsened since he’d last seen her. The plan had always been to bring her to a healer, but she had been too weak to travel. Paying a doctor to visit the village instead was money they didn’t have. It hurt to know someone like this had been so close all along.
Soon enough, Natalie’s house came into view through the trees, the centerpiece of a small clearing. Silene flew ahead of them with a burst of speed, circling the clearing once and then descending into a woven nest on the roof.
There could be no doubt it was a spellcaster’s abode. The building itself, though only one story, sat a few feet off the ground on top of a truly massive tree stump that served as the entire foundation. The stump appeared to still be alive, small curling branches reaching off of it and numerous bizarre looking flowers blooming in wild clusters. Vines crawled up the walls of the wooden house, which appeared to be thatched with actual living grass.
The area around the stump was equally vibrant, with neatly cordoned plots full of crops, flowers, and stranger plants stretching in every direction. They criss-crossed the yard, leaving carefully planned walkways between to allow access. Birds, squirrels, insects, and spirits of many kinds buzzed through the foliage, but none seemed to be doing any lasting damage to the garden. Aeryn marveled at the sight, and wondered how much of what he was seeing was even visible to non-mages.
Natalie led him through the paths and up the stairs to the porch. Tossing open the door, she called out. “Grandfather, I finally brought a boy home!”
“Now why would you do that?” An old, amused voice responded from somewhere inside.
The inside of the house was just as fantastical. Wooden countertops lined the far and right walls, absolutely covered in potted plants, burlap bags of soil, packets of seed, small shovels, and a plethora of other implements, both strange and mundane. Windows faced every direction, letting sunlight in to feed the many plants, and Aeryn could see what looked like a kitchen through a doorway to his left. Most notably, though, was a set of gnarled stairs leading downwards. The tree trunk must have been hollow.
Natalie’s grandfather emerged from those stairs, a wizened old man with a face wrinkled by smile lines. His wispy greying hair was stuck behind a headband, and he wore a plain green robe along with sandals.
“Now, who’s this then?”
“My name is Aeryn, sir.” He wasn’t sure what proper etiquette for meeting a senior mage was. A polite bow, or…?
“Eli.” The old witch saved him the worry by reaching out to shake his hand in a grip that was still plenty firm through the ravages of time.
“Aeryn’s looking for his friend.” Natalie put in. “He thinks she was one of the slaves, from a couple weeks ago.”
“Now, is that so?” Eli fixed his gaze on Aeryn, furling his brow. “How did you two think I would be any help? You know I don’t follow the town’s goings-on, Nat.”
“Actually, ah…Mr. Eli,” Aeryn said. “I was hoping to just wash up. I don’t have the money to pay for a room, so Natalie–“
“–Offered you ours,” Eli finished for him, nodding. “Of course, boy. You look like you’ve seen some rough days. Natalie, would you go draw our guest a warm bath?”
“Absolutely.” The girl practically flew down the stairs, the wind under her feet.
Aeryn smiled for the first time in a while. “Thank you so much.”
“Oh, it’s no bother. Please, have a seat. I certainly will.” Eli chuckled, settling into a high-backed rocking chair near the counter.
Picking a wicker chair by a window, Aeryn tentatively sat down, thankful to rest his feet.
“…So,” the older mage said after a long moment. “I see you’re a shadow mage.”
Aeryn started. “I–“ He panicked a little. “How could you tell? Is that bad?”
Eli held a hand up to ward off his concern. “Now, now. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. That outfit you have, it’s woven of shadowstuff.”
“Ah. Y-Yeah.” Aeryn nodded.
“I just can’t help but notice. Shadow magic us dangerous…but versatile and powerful. And weaving solid objects from it is an advanced technique. It’s impressive for one so young.”
Everything in his mind screamed at him not to tell the old man about the dark creature he had forged a contract with. Was he afraid of being judged, or something worse?
“I…suppose so.” Aeryn managed a weak smile. “One of the only things I’m good at.”
Before Eli could respond, his granddaughter burst back into the room. “Tub’s ready! I’ll show you there.”
Aeryn was grateful for the excuse to step away, following Natalie quickly down the stairwell.
The lower two levels of the house were just as incredible. The inner wall of the tree stump was lined with fungi, and the floor was just soil, more space for growing things that preferred the damp and the dark. The basement floor was wooden construction again, housing the witches’ living spaces, but it was entwined with huge, gnarled roots. The walls were built around and to accommodate the earthy tendrils, and in several places they cut through the open areas of rooms.
“Wait…” Aeryn looked around, amazed. “Are these all that tree’s roots?”
“Yep.” Natalie grinned at him, then raised her voice. “Arba, say hello to our guest!”
One of the huge roots creaked and then moved, shaking off dirt and shifting towards Aeryn. A knot in the surface twisted and rearranged into an eye, with an amber-colored iris made of tree sap.
“It’s…the whole tree is an elemental?”
“Arba is Grandfather’s familiar. He helps him grow things and tend the garden. His power is why so many things flourish here.”
Aeryn tried not to feel uneasy about being watched by the tree spirit as Natalie led him to the washing room.
The tub was more like a small natural pond, set into the floor against the wall and ringed with stones. Next to it was a cylindrical well that must have been the source of the house’s water.
“I set out some towels for you,” she told him. “And we look close enough in size, so if you want to wash your clothes, there’s one of my robes there, too.”
Aeryn gave her a tired smile. “Thank you so much. Your place is amazing.”
Natalie grinned back at him and bounced on her feet a little. “Well, that’s mostly because of Grandfather and Arba, but…you’re welcome!”
She left him alone to bathe, and Aeryn gratefully stripped off his garments, slipping into the warm water with a ragged sigh. How long since he had truly relaxed? Not since before he had left for Luka’s village.
“Are you there?” He prodded the presence again, but as before, there was no answer. That was strange, but…he didn’t exactly mind being alone with his thoughts, here.
It was far more comforting than any of his nightly bathes at the Deacon house. Here, no one was watching him, no one preying on him. Even Arba’s roots retreated into the walls to give him privacy. The warm water soothed his scars, and he lingered, washing himself slowly and watching the griminess of travel dissolve away. Rinsing out his hair, he let himself float on the surface and close his eyes.
Aeryn thought about Luka, if she was okay, and if his uncle was worried about him, not having heard from him since he’d left. In the moment, it was okay to let those things pass. At least, he reminded himself, if someone had hurt his sister, he had the power now to do much worse to them.
He took Natalie’s recommendation to wash his clothes, scrubbing them in the soapy water and hanging them up to dry. The towels she’d left him were soft, and her robe fit him just loosely enough to be comfortable.
When he emerged upstairs, the two witches were both sat down at work, Natalie crushing leaves in a mortar and Eli weaving white threads together. The fabric flowed on his own through the old man’s hands, which Aeryn supposed made sense; it was made of plants.
Eli turned as he entered. “Ah, there you are, boy.” He gestured for Aeryn to sit. “Now, tell us about what happened, and this friend you’re looking for.”
Aeryn recited a condensed version of the series of events that began with the slavers attacking the village. However, he left out his time at the Deacon manor, not feeling ready to talk about it, saying only that he’d managed to escape. Eli and Natalie listened intently, the girl wincing at his descriptions of their treatment.
“I see.” Eli shook his head sadly. “If you describe your sister for me, I will have Silene keep an eye out for her.”
“She’s a half-elf with red hair. Pretty thin, freckles, orange eyes.”
“Why,” the old witch rumbled. “I met her. She came here for a cure for her illness.”
“What!?” Aeryn leaned forward in surprise. “When? Do you know where she went?”
“Oh, them!” Natalie said. “It was the day after the slavers came through. She was with a guy.”
“Indeed.” Eli nodded. “He was sharp, had already diagnosed her disease himself. I gave her a supply of a remedy that should help her recover. He offered me coin, but I turned it down. As far for where they went, I don’t know, but you could ask after him in town–his name’s Julian, he’s not a local.”
“I remember him,” Nat added. “Those two bickered the entire time they were here.”
Aeryn breathed a long sigh of relief. Not only was Luka probably safe, she had medicine for her lungs. “Thank you so much. I’ll go ask as soon as my clothes are dry. I can’t thank you enough for all this.”
“Now now,” Eli said. “Don’t be quite so hasty. At least let me finish these.”
“What do you mean?”
The witch held up what he had been working on. It was a long, tapered sheet of white fabric tapering toward one end into…a hood.
“A cloak.” Aeryn said, puzzled. “Why…?”
“It’s for you, of course, lad.” Eli told him. “I can’t let you walk out of here with so little to your name, after what you’ve been through. I can stitch very quickly, I’ll have a set for you if you give me an hour or so.”
“I…thank you, again.”
By the time Aeryn was ready to leave the pair’s hospitality, he’d been outfitted with a cloak, sturdy white boots that came up past his ankles, a full set of undergarments (including a tight, thin undershirt that compressed his chest, something Eli had correctly assumed he would appreciate), a belt for carrying things, and a satchel with a strap to carry over his shoulder. He’d also found that, even though the entity sharing his mind seemed to be dormant, he could still call the shadow magic. After a couple fumbled attempts, he managed to tailor his shirt and trousers to his taste, adding a v-neck and lace-up forearms to the former, plus a looser fit to the latter. All in all, when he’d dressed, Aeryn felt more like himself than he had in weeks.
Natalie handed him a small glass bottle filled with clear liquid. “We don’t have money, but this is a strong alcohol Grandfather makes. The barkeep, Nestor, will probably trade you a few marks for it.”
“Thank you.” He took it and slipped it into an outside pocket of his pouch.
“That satchel is packed with bandages, salves, and some common-use remedies,” Eli informed him. “Hopefully you don’t need them, but if you’re hurt, you have them.”
Aeryn nodded gratefully. “That reminds of something else I meant to ask you, Mr. Eli. You’re a healer, is there…” He sheepishly touched the scar under his face. “Anything you can do about this?”
Eli shook his head. “Nothing I can mix will repair a scar at that point, I’m sorry.”
“Is there not a spell for it, or…?”
“Altering the human body with magic…” He stroked his chin. “It’s rarely done. To achieve it, the subject has to open themselves up to you, body and mind, and become completely vulnerable. The mage forms a chain with the other person’s soul, and they’re bound forever. They can see everything about you, and have complete control. To heal an injury, certainly, but also to stop your heart, or leave you in agony, or erase who you are and make you a puppet. I would not ask you to give so much to me, and you should not so easily offer it.”
Aeryn nodded slowly. “Then…is there a way to do it myself?”
“…There is a technique,” Eli conceded. “That involves learning to connect with your inner spirit and manipulate the body, but I do not know it and cannot teach it. It is called the astral self, and it requires you to understand yourself intimately, overcome all your mental blocks. The church knights use it, I believe.”
“I’ll remember that, then.” He turned towards the door. “Thank you, for all of this. I’ll try to come back after I’ve found Luka. If you’ll have us.”
“Good luck!” Natalie waved and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Stay safe, boy.”
Natalie watched out the window as Aeryn disappeared down the path toward town. “Why’d you do so much for him, Grandfather?” She asked. “I’m not complaining! You just don’t send every visitor away with new clothes and a bag full of combat remedies.”
Eli sat down and leaned back in his wicker chair. “Besides mere kindness for a troubled soul? That boy walks the trail of something dangerous. I can’t quite be sure what, but…”
His granddaughter gave him a curious look. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Let us pray, for his sake, that my intuition is nothing but an old witch’s superstition.”
Next Chapter: The Light from the Tower
