Healing Wounds in Arabarb
By Charles Matthias
Lindsey wanted to help Jerome come back to his
senses, but he could tell that the poison was not
going to give him much more time to live. But no
matter how he tried to touch his mother's spell
with his will, it seemed to slip out of his
grasp. He could grip like Jessica and Kayla had
described, and even draw it out a few inches from
beneath the Curse's shroud, but then it would
melt through his fingers like putty and slip
away. It even seemed to hide further out of view
so that it became more and more difficult to even find.
These few times he was able to touch the spell
were interrupted by long and longer tattoos of
anguish pounding in his skull and threatening to
erupt from his bowels. He heaved several times
but only brought up rancid spittle for his
efforts. His veins felt like they were on fire
and yet despite the warmth of Jerome's robe, he
shivered as if he'd been abandoned in the snow.
Jerome sang a little song to him at the back of
his canine throat. It was soothing even if he
didn't know the words. It also seemed familiar to
him and it was only after he had finished its
long, winding melody and started over again that
the boy recognized it. It was the Song of the
Sondeck, something he had heard Charles and
Jerome sing to each other while trying to find their calm.
He almost cried when the idea came. He tried to
swallow and clear his throat, but that only made
him cough. His tongue felt heavy and thick.
Lindsey forced it to work. Jerome... your calm. Find your... your calm.
Jerome stopped singing and licked his black nose.
He'd let his face distend into a snout again,
something that Lindsey would have objected to had
he the energy. My calm? Oh yes. But I should
keep watch over you. I'll find my calm soon. I
promise. It's too dangerous now to be distracted.
Lindsey grunted and lifted his eyes to stare at
the beastly visage of his friend. He'd never been
as close to him as Charles or even James had
become, but after nearly six months of travel
together, fighting for each other's lives against
odds so terrible that he could scarcely believe
that they'd actually won, it was impossible not
to care deeply. He wasn't going to let Jerome
fall back into Gmork's paws so long as he still drew breath.
Please... do it... for me.
Jerome looked clearly pained and his snout pulled
back into his face. He leaned away a moment, tail
tucking between his legs. Lindsey noted that
there were scratch marks along his chest and
thighs as the fur there thinned. They didn't look
like they'd been made by a wolf either and he
knew they hadn't been there two months ago. But
he had no time to wonder about that. He kept his
gaze fixed on his friend's golden eyes, eyes
tormented by the thought of abandoning a friend.
You... can't protect me... unless you are calm. Please.
But... Jerome whined and lowered his ears.
I'll try. But I'm not leaving your side.
I.. don't want... you to.
Jerome nodded and settled back on his haunches,
sitting with his hands planted in front of him as
if they were paws. He tilted his head back and
closed his eyes, remaining in a beastly posture
though his upper body was mostly human in guise.
Lindsey trembled beside him as he fought the
pain, the drumming in his head reverberating
through his ears and down his chest. It only seemed to get louder.
Beside him, Jerome stirred and rose into a
crouch. Someone is coming, he said and began to
growl as his snout pressed out, fangs glistening with fresh spittle.
Lindsey took several shallow breaths and realized
that the pounding was not just in his head.
Somebody dressed in armor was running down the
hall. He looked up just as the figure approached
with sword drawn and stepped through the portal.
His heart leaped and he cried, Father!
Alfwig stood in the doorway in leather armor with
sword in right hand and dagger in his left. He
lifted both blades in a familiar fighting stance
and glowered at Jerome. Get back from my boy, beast.
Jerome growled and put one paw on Lindsey's back.
I will not let you hurt him!
Jerome, no! Lindsey gasped, as he used what
little strength he had to push himself up off his
hands and knees. The world swam as he did so and
it took all his meager strength to keep from
falling back down. This is my father!
Jerome blinked and then stopped growling. He
lowered his head and blinked golden eyes at him.
I know you. You were the man in the dungeons.
Alfwig stared at Lindsey and then at the pup and
finally began to nod. You were the one Gmork was
training. What are you doing here? Didn't Gmork make you his own?
Jerome growled a bit, but stopped himself. Don't
speak of my father that way! Lindsey was
poisoned, he needs help. My father will save him.
Alfwig spat on the ground and took a step into
the laboratory. He glanced at Lindsey but kept
his eyes and his blades pointed toward the
wolf-like beast. Where is Calephas?
Dead, Jerome replied. Drowned in the river with his slave.
Alfwig spat again, and a smile briefly flashed
across his cheeks before his worried frown
returned. Lhindesaeg, what did he give you?
Lindsey trembled and had to fall back to his
hands and knees. Arsenic. He... said... that
unless... he coughed and fell face first onto the ground. Father...
Alfwig did not move. I'm here.
He took another quick breath and squeezed the
words past his lips, Unless mother's spell...
keeping... me human is gone... I'll die. As dragon I'll live.
His father's face was stolid through the unkempt
beard, though his eyes were soft. Still, his grip
on his blades never wavered, nor did his regard
for Jerome. Gmork's pup no longer hovered
protectively over Lindsey's back, but he did meet
those blades with a narrowed, suspicious gaze.
That slight distraction kept him from
understanding what his son meant for several long
seconds. But telling the tale last night brought
it back before Lindsey succumbed to another fit
of coughing. The spell cast to make you human?
The one your true mother placed on you when you
were first hatched? If its removed you'll become a dragon?
Lindsey nodded slightly. At his side he felt
Jerome flinch. Under his breath the pup muttered,
Father doesn't like dragons.
Your father, Alfwig sneered as he spoke the
word, is not here. He stepped closer. Now get back. This is my son.
Jerome's jowls twitched but he did take a few
steps back, crouching on hands and feet, both of
which looked more like paws. His tail pulled
close to his legs but not quite between. Lindsey
glanced at him and coughed again, Find... your
calm! His jowls flecked a bit but he did close
his eyes again and turned his ears back.
He felt Alfwig's firm hands, hardened by
calluses, rest on his back. He gently lifted the
Sondecki robes from Lindsey's back and set it
aside on the stone floor. Your mother did tell
me, he said in a soft voice, how to remove the
spell if ever I needed to. If ever you asked me to.
Lindsey smiled faintly and then clutched his
sides tightly when another wave of misery swept
across every pore of his flesh. He jabbed his
tongue against the back of his teeth to keep from
biting it. Between pounding blasts like knife
thrusts between his ears he managed to squeeze a single word, Please!
His father took a long deep breath and then knelt
down beside him. He kept his sword pointed toward
Jerome, but sheathed the knife and set his hand
on top of Lindsey's sweat streaked hair. I love
you, Lhindesaeg. Focus on breathing. I never
wanted to say these words, but I could never forget them either.
His voice sank into a chant-like tone, bereft of
rhythm but seeming to echo with each syllable.
Lindsey breathed, listening to the words, his
eyes kept shut to everything to keep the vertigo at bay.
With these my words I now revoke,
The spell that lady dragon spoke,
To human shape the body latch,
On she from dragon egg did hatch.
Return daughter mine, my words command,
Jerome began to growl and he said, Two humans are coming,
Lindsey opened his eyes and saw that his father
was scowling at his friend, but he did draw his
dagger again and move to stand just inside the
laboratory door where he wouldn't be seen. Jerome
crouched closer to the boy, stretching a furry
arm across his back protectively. Whatever the
incantation was supposed to do, Lindsey felt
nothing but the sickness spreading through his body.
But he could hear a pair of booted feet running
down the hall, rudimentary leather armor rubbing
and rasping with each step. Lindsey wasn't sure
who he hoped it was. If they were Resistance,
Jerome might lose what little self-control he had
and try to kill them out of the twisted mental
control that Gmork had over him. If they were
Calephas's soldiers then Alfwig might be fatally
wounded by them and Jerome still might lose his
self-control. At least they were wearing boots;
that meant it wasn't Gmork. There would be no
hope for any of them if that beastly mage were to
appear. Lindsey and his father would be
slaughtered and Jerome would never be free from that monster.
Who it really was he never would have guessed.
When the young man and older woman stepped
through, it was not her voice that rang out
first, but Alfwig's, wretched and starving.
Elizabaeg! He stepped forward, blades still in
hand and wrapped his arms about her, rubbing his
face against hers. She gasped in surprise and
held him close, her voice catching unintelligibly.
Jerome continued to growl but he didn't move from
where he crouched next to Lindsey. The man who
came in with his mother and who was dressed as a
soldier of Calephas gasped and jumped to the
side, nearly bumping into the long worktable as
his eyes went wild with fright. A pup! Get away from that boy!
No! Alfwig snapped, reaching out one arm toward
the familiar-looking soldier, his unkempt face
white. Leave him be! He is not to be touched.
Jerome's golden eyes narrowed and he growled at
the soldier, jowls lifting to reveal sharp fangs. I'll eat you.
Lindsey gasped in agony but the words still came. Jerome! Calm!
The pup's growl faded as he crouched lower
against himself and closed his eyes again, tail
tucked low. The soldier stared at him with
trembling arm as he looked between Alfwig, the
pup, and Lindsey. What is going on here?
Aye, what, Elizabaeg said with a tremble in her
voice. Gwythyr, stand guard outside for now.
The soldier frowned but did as he was told,
casting a wary glance at the pup. Jerome's eyes
were closed and his face still and almost
peaceful. Once the soldier was gone, Elizbaeg's
anxious eyes passed between her husband and her
son. Alfwig, you, I thought you were dead. And Lhindesaeg. What's wrong?
Poison, Alfwig told his wife as he gently put
his hands on hers and stepped back from her. A
poison that is killing him. Calephas gave it to
him before he fled. He's dead now. I'll tell you
later. But I can save Lhindesaeg. It... will turn
him into a dragon... forever.
Elizabaeg's face flashed through fear, anguish,
anger, a hundred other minor shades of each,
before settling onto weariness and sorrow. Is there no other way?
He shook his head and held her hands in his own.
No. You knew this might come. I hoped it
wouldn't but it has. Let me save him.
Elizabaeg stepped out of her husband's embrace
and then knelt down next to Lindsey, not even
paying any mind to the wolf-like man crouching at
the boy's side and murmuring insensible words to
himself. She stretched out one hand and pushed
her son's hair back over his ears and then kissed
his forehead. I love you, my little boy. My son.
I'll love you no matter what you are. I always have.
Lindsey tried to smile but fell into a trembling
fit. Elizabaeg kissed him one more time and then
stepped back a pace. Alfwig kissed her on the
cheek and then knelt beside Lidnsey again. He took a breath and began to chant.
With these my words I now revoke,
The spell that lady dragon spoke,
To human shape the body latch,
On she from dragon egg did hatch!
Return daughter mine, my words command,
To the body thy life began,
Dragon and man thy sires dost be,
What was dragon return to thee!
The spell is undone, vanish now,
Thy heritage from high come down,
I give thee back, sweet daughter mine,
Give thee to thy mother from high!
The words came to an end, and Lindsey could see
that golden glow hiding beneath the Curse flare
into such brilliance that for a moment all of the
pain he felt was gone. The spell swelled with
light, piercing the Curse and Jessica's spell.
Brighter, brighter, and brighter it grew until
the very sun was a pale shadow in a world of pure
radiance. It flared brighter even than the
titanic explosion that consumed Marzac. And then
like a multitude of startled butterflies it dispersed into nothing.
Lindsey opened his eyes as he felt a gentle
warmth coalesce his childish body. The agony
remained from the poison, but it, like everything
else, seemed to grow smaller. With each breath he
took his lungs and chest expanded, but they did
not shrink again. He recalled that horrible night
when the Marquis had transformed him into a
kangaroo and the way his flesh had molded to that
evil man's whims. It had been painful and unnatural. This was neither.
He felt as if he had just removed a full suit of
armor and he was stretching out on a nice fur rug
in front of a pleasant fire while drinking wine.
Everything in him relaxed and stretched out, his
shape distending only because it had been
cramped. Lindsey savored the transformation with
a sigh of long-withheld relief.
Both Alfwig and Elizabaeg took a step back as
Lindsey's neck stretched away from his shoulders,
face distending into a crocodilian snout, while a
pair of white horns sprouted from behind his
ears. Those ears stretched backward like fish
fins as his face and neck decorated themselves
with smooth scales, gray in hue with the lightest
of vermillion chiaroscuro at each edge. His
tongue stretched with his jaws, teeth curving
into sharp fangs and lips dwindling into
reptilian fixture. Lindsey stretched his jaws and
flared his nostrils as if drawing breath for the first time.
His arms and legs swelled, shifting in proportion
until his knees lifted from the floor and clawed
hands and feet lifted his body up into a
comfortable quadrupedal stance. His claws were
tough and dark, good for gripping stone and
chewing earth. His fingers he noted were long and
flexible, with usable thumbs like Pharcellus had.
His thighs were thick and powerful, good for
leaping and driving himself into the air.
From his backside sprouted a long tail that
flowed with his body, lined with a ridge
decorated in that same vermillion hue, and ending
in a spade-like fin as wide as both his hands
together. It felt natural to him and moved back
and forth gently as he shifted from side to side
to observe what had become of himself. This was
followed by the growth from his back of two
slender wings, thick leather folds of flesh that
nestled against his back like a sheltering
awning. He thought to stretch them out, but
decided against it in so small a room as the laboratory.
The changes took only moments and when they were
over, where before had been a ten year old boy
now crouched a gray-scaled dragon, very youthful
in appearance and size. He was longer from nose
to tail-tip than his height as a man but only
just. And standing on all fours, unless he lifted
his head on his neck or rose up on his haunches,
his eyes were now even lower to the ground than when he'd been a boy.
Lhindesaeg? Elizabaeg asked with one hand to
her mouth and her eyes uncertainly passing along
his new length. Alfwig's face was locked in stoic
regard and no words passed his lips.
It's me, Mother. At least that is what he tried
to say. His tongue felt strange to him and the
words came out distorted and jumbled. More
slowly, he focused on each syllable and framed
the words with his new tongue, throat and jaws.
It's me, Mother. I'm... a dragon.
Aye, she said, bending over to cup his jaw in
her hand and to gingerly move hr fingers across
his brow. Lindsey felt her touch, though his
scaly hide was not nearly as sensitive as human
flesh. How are you feeling? Is the poison still...
To his great relief the agony coursing through
his body was already beginning to abate as if the
Arsenic could not abide being inside a dragon.
The pounding in his head fell away with each
moment until it was a sullen throbbing like a
vast army marching away into the distance. His
stomach still complained, but now it was more the lack of food than the nausea.
For once Calephas had told the truth; turning
into a dragon had saved his life.
I'm better, he said in his slow halting way. He
would need time and practice to teach himself to
speak as fluently as he had before. Certainly it
was possible his older brother Pharcellus never
suffered from an uncooperative tongue. It
worked. The pain... is... reef... reef... leaving.
Can you move? We don't want to stay here,
Alfwig asked. His father shifted to his right
side and ran one hand down his son's back just
beneath his wing. And what of your friend?
Lindsey craned his neck to his left to look at
Jerome. The Sondecki crouched on his haunches
like a wolf, but his arms and upper body were
mostly human in guise. Without his garments the
old scratch marks along his chest, arms, and
cheeks were clearly visible. They weren't from
any beast that Lindsey could discern. But despite
those wounds his face was placid and relaxed,
long triangular ears drooped as if in slumber.
The new dragon had seen both Charles and Jerome
reaching for their Calm many times on the journey
to Marzac and on the journey home to Metamor.
Charles had even explained to him why Sondeckis
would seek this place in themselves that they
called their Calm. There they could find the
balance of emotion, the clarity of thought, and
the mastery of the magic that ravaged their
bodies with a rage uncontrollable and fatal
otherwise. It was not meditation in the religious
sense, but it was just as necessary.
And even with all that Gmork must have done to
Jerome to make him into a pup and to make him see
and love Gmork as a father as he so clearly did,
it was also clear that Lindsey's friend could still reach his Calm.
Jerome. He'll have to stay with me. Lindsey
lifted his legs one at a time, both fore and
rear, as he spoke to try and become familiar with
how they moved. He'd never been four-footed
before and while whatever draconic heritage he
had made it feel natural it also felt completely
new. He may hurt anyone else if... if I'm not
there. If he goes back to the mage...
Alfwig frowned and nodded, putting a gentle hand
on Elizabaeg's shoulder. She leaned into the
touch while her eyes roved slowly across her
son's alien shape. The mage brought him to the
dungeons with me three, four, five weeks ago. I'm
not sure how long it was. He'd visit him every
day and talk to him for a few minutes to an hour
or more. Your friend fought at first, but
eventually he started growing ears and fur like the other pups.
He lowered his eyes and swallowed. The last few
days he's been trying to get him to eat the flesh
of men. And last night he brought down the body
of one of his pups who'd been slain. Jerome
snapped and I thought he'd become one of that
mage's pups for good. Alfwig paused as if he had
more to say but wasn't sure whether or not it was
wise to say. I'm glad I was wrong.
He turned to his wife and smile, somewhat bemused
and tired, And you, my Elizabaeg, how many did you bring into the castle?
Nine of us, she said with a long sigh. It's
not much, but it was all we had. We should have
the armory by now. They're going to need our
help. But... She stared at the dragon who gazed
back at her with his newly vibrant
crimson-flecked amber eyes. Lindsey tried to
smile, but wasn't sure how exactly to do that
with a draconic snout filled with sharp fangs. Pharcellus made it look so easy.
You want to stay here, Alfwig said in a soft, gentle voice, with our son.
She lowered her eyes and her neck tensed as her
hand curled into a fist. He isn't... my son.
I am! Lindsey almost shouted. It took him a
moment to coordinate his limbs, but he did step
close enough to her to put a forepaw against her
leg. I am your son. You raised me. You. I love you.
She trembled, but did reach out and stroke her
fingers across his scaly cheek, curling them up
around his fin-like ears, and to the pearly horns
that pointed straight back from his head. I love you, too... son.
Alfwig patted him on the side and then stood. We
cannot stay here. Calephas may be dead, but...
he eyed Jerome and then said nothing more. But
we need to help the Resistance and we need to get
the both of you somewhere safe. Can you walk?
Jerome turned his head to one side and shifted
about on his legs again. After a lifetime of
being two-footed, he just had to admit that he
didn't know how to make his limbs work right. I
can. But it's going to take getting used to. He
glanced up at the walls and the table with
potions, and then back at the broken chains. A
hiss escaped his throat. But I do want out of this room.
Elizabaeg was quick to stand and move toward the
door, Alfwig at her side and his sword in hand. What of your friend?
Lindsey looked at the mostly-human Jerome and
sighed. The Sondecki looked completely placid and
relaxed, his lupine ears not even turning at the
sound of their voices or their steps. The new
dragon turned his tongue, finding it easier
already to form his words, I'll wake him and bid him to stay at my side.
But just as he reached out a hand to shake his
friend's fur-coated thigh, Jerome's eyes popped
open and his face contorted into a rictus of
horror. A single barked word erupted from his
throat, Father! And then, he bolted into the
air over the dragon, his body twisting and
coating itself anew in the silvery-black fur of
the wolf, forepaws landing on the other side. His
tail brushed across Lindsey's wing and then
Jerome was through the open door like a bolt and
off down the hall. The three humans and dragon stared dumbfounded.
Oh no! Lindsey cried as he tensed his leg
muscles and jumped forward, finding his footing
easier than he expected, but still awkward. Help
me follow him! We cannot lose him!
----------
May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,
Charles Matthias
!DSPAM:4ddf5f81222601804284693!
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