Page 74 of Heart of the High King
“Hey, guys,” he offered as he sat.
“You okay?” Dra’Kaedan asked. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in days.”
“I don’t know what I am. In shock, I guess. My dragon needs a lot of airtime.”
“Is there anything we can do for you, honey?” Saura asked.
“No, but I appreciate it. I’m kind of a mess, and I don’t know how to fix it yet. But that’s not why we’re here. Let’s talk about magic. We’ve worked hard recently to make sure our bubble is reinforced, and not even Chand’s demonic side can penetrate it, so I think we’re in a good place. It’s time to start something new.”
Dra’Kaedan threw up his hands. “Yeah, does anyone in here really not know what we’re going to be working on next?”
“I’m certainly not going to settle for our High King dying,” Saura stated. “We need to fix Rafe.”
“I’m confused,” Chander said.
“Oh,shit,” Saura muttered, raising her fingers to her mouth. “I forgot. Oh Aleksander, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, but we can’t let it go past this room for now, since I didn’t discuss it with Rafe first. He’s my mate.”
“Wow,” Chander breathed out.
“I have never doubted your abilities, but considering Rafe’s condition, I am not sure it’s fair to have a conversation about possibilities with Aleksander in the room,” Alaric stated.
“It’s okay, Alaric. I know everyone just wants to help.”
“You sure?” Chander asked.
“Please, go ahead.”
“He’s intolerant to druidic magic. That means we can’t even treat him with any plant I speed up with magic or alter with it,” Killian said. “We don’t have the luxury of time to grow a bunch of shit and experiment, so I’m not sure how I can help.”
“Do we know for sure that it was all druidic? Is there a chance they boosted their power with wizard potions?” Vadimas, the co-ruler of the Spectra Wizardry, asked. “It’s essential that we discover exactly what he’s intolerant to and what he isn’t.”
“I’ll call his doctor in Nashville and find out,” Chander said. Out of his chair in a flash, he was in the hallway before anyone could argue.
“I’m going to point out again that even if T’Eirick and I are derived from warlock, necro, and wizard magics, dark doesn’t affect the body the same as light. I think it’s very important that we do not negate our potential abilities.”
“Not only are you dark, but resurrected, so there are enormous differences in your brand of magic. I do believe you two are the best avenue for any chance we have to help,” Vadimas said.
“The beauty of that is, if it does come down to the darkfallen, every wizard, warlock, and necro here can funnel their magic through you guys,” Dra’Kaedan told his parents.
“The druids were enhanced with wizard potions. The strongest ones they had,” Chander stated. “They drank them, instead of boosting them by cracking them open around him.”
“Well, that was stupid,” Vadimas retorted. “They aren’t intended to be used in that manner. That means that the magic they put into him would have continued to be activated instead of the extra going unabsorbed in the air. No wonder he was hurt. Do we know how bad?”
“They can’t release that information without Rafe’s consent,” Chander confided, taking his seat. “I already asked.”
“So we don’t even have a real idea of all we need to fix,” T’Eirick responded.
“No, we know he was a mess when we saw him and that it got worse from there. Drystan and Conley would have the details, but they aren’t going to tell us shit either. It’s up to us to get Rafe to explain the extent of his issues or allow us access to his files,” Chander answered.
“Before you go up to a dying man and ask him to see his medical records, you should damn well have some kind of plan in place. What if we’re going to get his hopes up for nothing?” Killian demanded. “I don’t want to do that to him or anyone else. That’s not fair.”
“I agree, sweetie. So, let’s do better than just a hunch that T’Eirick and I might be able to offer some healing,” Saura said.
“Plants are out or have no real help unless we can find one that we already know can do something useful,” Dra’Kaedan murmured. “We don’t know about wizard potions yet, nor do we have any idea about anything beyond druidic. You know, I teleported him. I wonder if he had the same reaction when I took him back and forth versus when he used Dérive.”
“That’s a good question. I don’t see any issue with asking him either. You could simply use the excuse that we’re trying to learn more about magic intolerance,” Killian stated. “No matter what happens, we should see what we can do about that. And Vadimas, you and Severin need to put together some guidelines of the appropriate way to administer boosting potions so those can be distributed to hospitals. Rafe may not be the only one druids have unintentionally harmed, and if we can minimize the damage for those people who are unaware that they have this problem, I’d like to do that.”
“I can put that together this weekend,” Prism Wizard Severin Porfyra-Dewitt responded.
“Let’s look at the data we put together for Elf’s treatments and subsequent cure. We made many advances in how to treat the symptoms that he experienced, many of which may be plaguing Rafe as his body struggles with everything going on inside him with the cancer,” Killian said. “I think that might be a good starting-off point, but the reality is, this may be a pure healing project, not a sophisticated coming together of our talents.”
“We may not be able to heal him completely, but we can at the very least make things easier on him,” T’Eirick responded.
The room continued to discuss magical matters that Aleksander only understood in the most basic sense. Unlike the talented sorcerers in the room, he wasn’t heavily educated in the ways of their different races. Although he’d learned a lot since this group had formed, he would likely never comprehend it in the way they did since he lacked a well of magic, and Aleksander’s ability to focus was heavily inhibited.
No matter how hard he tried, he could not figure out how to feel about things. Aleksander was lost, and he could not find a way out of the confusion that plagued him. Staring at the wooden table, he wondered how he was supposed to react. Of all the scenarios he’d imagined since Rafe had first ignored one of his texts, he couldn’t have predicted that eleven or so months later, he’d be sitting in his house discussing how to prevent his imminent death. Since his return, Aleksander was going through the motions, and he wasn’t sure if he was in shock or hiding from the pain.
