Page 9 of Captive
The council members, who had witnessed the feeding with varying expressions of disapproval, departed the sacred chamber,climbing worn steps back toward daylight and politics. Their debate would continue above, while the transformation proceeded below.
Chapter Five
Deep within the sacred chamber beneath the Heart Tree, Boarstaff remained after the council departed, watching as ancient magic continued to work through Sebastian's unconscious form. Crystal formations embedded in living walls cast patterns across the vampire's still body, highlighting where brass components had begun to change.
"The council will debate for hours," Ochrehand said, her hands never pausing in their healing patterns. "But the transformation waits for no decision."
Boarstaff nodded, his gaze fixed on Sebastian's collar where brass pulsed with unfamiliar rhythms. The metal shifted beneath his watchful eyes, catching crystal light like water rather than polished metal.
"The oldest shamans will assist you," he told her. "Keep him stable until the council reaches consensus."
"If they reach consensus," she replied, exhaustion evident in her voice. She had been working without rest since finding Sebastian in the forest, first dragging him to the village, then defying orders to bring him to this sacred space when the healing house proved insufficient. "Some wounds run too deep for quick healing. Some hatreds burn too fierce for easy change."
Sebastian's body convulsed violently, another component failing deep within his chest. Dark fluid sprayed from seams where brass met flesh, splattering across the chamber floor. The crystal formations responded immediately, their light shifting to alarming crimson hues that signaled immediate danger.
"What’s happening?" Boarstaff moved closer despite the risk, studying the places where synthetic parts connected to living tissue.
"The Heart Tree's magic works deeper here than in the healing house," Doechaser explained, her aged hands weaving barriers that shimmered in the crystal light. "It does not just attack his artificial parts, it transforms them. Changes the metal back toward what it was before vampire artifice shaped it to their will."
Something unusual was happening where crystal light touched vampire metal. The brass at Sebastian's collar glowed with colors neither of them had seen before, not the copper sheen of synthetic precision, but deeper hues that spoke of mountain stone.
"Remember what you were!" Ochrehand urged the brass as it began to glow with dangerous heat. "Before they changed you, before all this synthetic precision. When you were just part of the living earth!"
The metal shuddered beneath her touch. Not the careful vibration of synthetic precision, but something wilder. Something awakening to truths that had been buried beneath centuries of artificial constraint.
"How many have undergone this transformation before?" Boarstaff asked, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the chamber.
"Seven," Doechaser answered without looking up from her work. "All from the earliest days of conflict. Before they fully embraced mechanical precision. Before they processed everything real into something artificial."
"And how many survived?"
The elder shaman's hands paused briefly in their weaving. "None. Not completely. The magic was too much for bodies already half transformed by their own choices. The change too radical."
"And yet you believe this one might?" Boarstaff's gaze never left Sebastian's changing form.
"This one is different," Ochrehand answered before Doechaser could speak. "His heart is different. There’s something in him worth saving. Something that remembers what his kind were before brass and steam replaced everything natural with artificial precision."
Something broke free from Sebastian's spine, a brass component that had regulated his movements for centuries, suddenly torn loose by magic older than vampire nobility. It fell to stone with a sound like mountain bells, vibrating with energies none of them fully understood.
Boarstaff picked up the fallen piece, studying it with cautiouscuriosity. Unlike the cold precision of vampire engineering, this component had transformed, taking on patterns that resembled mountain veins or flowing water. It caught the crystal light with an almost living quality.
"The metal remembers," Ochrehand explained, her magic still working to contain the violent interaction between Heart Tree power and vampire components. "The brass remembers where it came from. What it was before their artificers shaped it to their will."
Four more shamans arrived, sent by the council at Moonsinger's request. They wove protective barriers around Sebastian's convulsing form as the transformation continued its relentless progress through centuries of synthetic improvement.
"He’s suffering," Boarstaff observed, his voice measured. "Is this your vision's purpose, Shaman? To make one vampire pay for his people's crimes?"
"My vision showed him standing with us," Ochrehand insisted. "Fighting alongside you when darkness comes. This suffering is the path, not the destination."
Sebastian remained deeply unconscious, though his body occasionally responded to the transformation with small movements. His features would sometimes contract, as if experiencing dreams or memories beyond their perception. The brass collar rippled with increasing fluidity, responding to ancient magic in ways mechanical parts never should.
Murkub approached cautiously, the oldest of the warriors posted as guards. His ritually scarred face showed conflict beneath close-cropped silver hair. "I fought his father once," he said quietly to Boarstaff. "Cornelius de la Sang. He moved like nothing natural, all synthetic precision and mechanical accuracy. The most terrifying thing I have ever faced." The old warrior studied Sebastian's unconscious form with wary eyes. "Hard to believe this is his son, lying here so changed from what the nobles usually are."
A horn blast cut through the morning air, three sharp notes that signaled approaching threat. The border scouts had spotted something urgent enough to risk detection by sounding alarm.
"Stay with him," Boarstaff ordered the shamans. "I will send word when we know more."
He climbed worn steps two at a time, mind already shifting to defensive strategies. By the time he reached the council chamber, Thornmaker was already there, expression grim.
