This was a consequence of old magic, he thought. A cold, sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He’d found a loophole, sure; but he wasn’treallysupposed to do it this way, and one of them had to pay for it.
“Heal,” he said again, trying to focus. It seemed like the bleeding had mostly stopped, but the wounds still hadn’t closed over. He kept pouring his magic into Koji’s arm, watching the lacerations heal little by little, until they formed scabs. Koji’sbreathing was still fast, but sounded much less panicked. When Florian looked at him, his face was pale and his skin clammy, but he seemed more alert and less in shock than he had been at first.
“I—I’m okay,” Koji croaked, meeting Florian’s eyes.
“What happened?” Rune’s voice came from behind them. In a panic, Florian realized he hadn’t seen or heard the others since they appeared. He whirled around—they were both standing several yards back, as if they’d landed much further away.
“Are you both alright?” he asked, clambering to his feet. “Are you hurt?”
Rune shook her head. “I don’t think so. I mean, I almost barfed, but other than that... Oh, shit, Koji, are you okay?”
Kade was a step behind her, looking between Florian and Koji with an obviously worried expression. But he didn’t look injured either, which gave Florian a small measure of relief.
“I, uh,” Florian tried to say, looking back at Koji, who was now gingerly rising to his feet with Rune’s help. “I don’t think we were supposed to do that.”
“But it worked,” Kade said softly, though he still sounded uncertain. “At least it looks like it did.”
For the first time, Florian looked around to take in the environment. They had landed on the far end of what looked to be some sort of shallow pit. On the opposite end, Florian could see where the dust had been disturbed, presumably where Kade and Rune had landed.
It was the pond, he realized, or at least what remained of it. Some crumbled pillars and statues, whose features had long since worn away, were the only other signs that there had once been a garden here. It seemed even brighter here than the rest of the Blight, which didn’t seem possible; but visibility was poor overall, and even with his sun goggles on, Florian had to squint to make out more than vague shapes a hundred or so yards away. He thought he could just see the beginnings of the stonestaircase he remembered from Thaddeus’ memory, which would eventually lead them up to the courtyard and into the castle itself.
“Yeah,” he said shakily, looking back at Kade. “Yeah, this is where I was thinking of. I guess it did work.” He turned back to Koji. “But I’m really sorry, Koji. I didn’t know this would happen...”
Koji shook his head and tried to smile back at Florian, but the expression was shaky. “You couldn’t have known. And I’ll be okay, really. You healed the worst of it. I can deal with this for now.” He gingerly flexed his fingers, but winced immediately. “Well... Maybe count me out of any fighting. But I’ll live.”
Florian nodded, but worry made his stomach clench. That was Koji’s dominant hand, and with the mess of wounds on his palm and between his fingers, holding a sword would be all but impossible. If there were monsters around, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself.
“Why didn’t your healing work?” Kade asked, frowning.
“I...” Florian started, feeling sick. “I guess that it’s just how old magic works. We did something we weren’t really supposed to, and... Can’t magic our way out of the consequence. Not fully, at least. I kept healing and healing it, but this was as much as I could get done. I can keep trying though, if it’s still bothering you, Koji.”
Koji shook his head. “Maybe in a bit. Can’t have you running on empty as soon as we get here. I’m alright now, really.”
Florian realized Rune had taken off her backpack and was rummaging through it. After a moment, she tossed a box of bandages to Florian. “Here,” she said. “Let’s at least get it covered up. Who knows what kind of super germs are out here?”
Florian gave a half-hearted laugh, but immediately pulled out a roll of the gauze bandages. Koji offered his arm, and theycarefully wrapped it up. When the wounds were covered, Florian delicately tied the bandage off and gave them back to Rune.
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Koji said softly to Florian. “You couldn’t have known.”
Guilt still chewed at his insides, but Florian nodded. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”
“Exactly,” Koji said. “It could have been much worse.”
That was true, Florian thought. Maybe they all could have been ripped to shreds like this, or just died instantly. His teleportation simply not working would have been a best-case scenario—after all, the Blight itself was proof that old magic didn’t prevent forbidden things from happening, but seemed to simply dole out punishments after the fact. That had been a serious oversight on his part, one he couldn’t afford to make again.
He shook the thought from his head before it spiraled into anything further. “Alright,” he said, turning to the rest of the group. “Everyone’s okay? You’re sure?”
Kade nodded solemnly, and Rune sighed, hands on her hips.
“I’m ready when you are,” she said. Florian nodded and took a deep breath, trying to center himself. He had to be focused and present; they had no idea what they would be walking into.
“Okay,” he said a moment later, pointing at the stairs. “Let’s head toward the castle and see what we can find.”
