AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Eh, curse is weak sauce, as Ravi would put it. I think it’ll break without much force from me. Besides, breaking a curse rarely is felt as pain. It’s usually felt like a release.”
“Oh.” Sam blew out a steady stream of air, the tension in him relaxing. “Yeah, okay. That does sound good.”
Since Sam probably felt like he was walking around with an ice pick shoved into his core, there was only one direction to go, in Amaru’s mind. But the mage would see for himself in a minute.
“All right, take off your shirt and hop on up.”
Sam sucked in a breath, for courage or something, then shucked his shirt in one swift move. Dimitri actually lifted him up, stealing a kiss, which seemed to reassure Sam, as he gave a small smile.
“Ha Na, can you grab those pillows?” Amaru requested.
She promptly did so, sliding one under Sam’s head, the other under his knees.
To the camera, Amaru spoke, “Pillows are just for his comfort. He’s going to be here a good ten minutes, after all. No reason for him to be suffering silently. It’s a hard-ass table. All right, so as Sam’s already mentioned, the reason why the Jaeggi cores are such a mess is because of a curse. I assume someone in the Dragon Wars took revenge on the Jaeggi and cursed their bloodline. It’s why no healing potion, balm, or anything you’ve done has worked to heal their cores. The curse counteracted it. I will say, it’s sneaky as hell. It wrapped around the core like a poisonous vine. If you don’t know what you’re looking at, it would’ve resembled a massive crack or perhaps a broken core.”
Evora piped up from her station near the door. “But it didn’t look that way to you?”
“Eh, not really. I’ve spent the better part of two decades looking at magical cores. Besides, I had something of a heads-up.” Amaru turned to lift his tray of goodies as he explained from the other counter. “One, I was told Sam’s been trying to heal his core for years. That cued me up to this not being a normal core injury—”
“Wait, what’s a normal core injury?” Sora interjected. “For you, I mean.”
“Magical backlash, for the most part. Sometimes, rarely, a malformation of the core from childhood. That one’s usually because of malnutrition. The core is like any other organ, after all. If it doesn’t get the fuel it needs to grow right, it won’t.”
From the looks on Sora’s and Ryu’s faces, this was news to them. Huh. Maybe Amaru shouldn’t assume they knew things.
“We’ll talk more on that later. For now, let’s focus here. So, curse. Because it’s been so many generations since the original curse was cast, it’s much weaker than its original form. I think, given another ten generations or so, it would have broken entirely.”
“Ten generations,” Sam muttered with a wince. “Yikes.”
“Yeah, probably not great news for you. But in other, better news, I can heal you today. Now, for the audience on the other side of the screen, I am using caipora’s howl, iara’s song, and anhanga’s hair. If you don’t know what those are, caipora’s howl is a mystical element, malignant category, with a power of four. iara’s song is also mystical and malignant, with a power of four. Anhanga’s hair is mystical but benign, power level three. Combined with my power, the spell power level overall is a thirteen. Dangerously close to anti-spell territory, I know, but with curses like this you have to strike hard and fast to break them.”
Sora at least was writing notes furiously.
Cameron had more questions. “Why a benign element with the two malignant? To bind them together?”
“Yes, plus a balance. I don’t want to throw three malignant elements at an already damaged core. That just invites disaster.”
He nodded in understanding, likely agreement. “Just checking.”
“Now, another note for those listening. I honestly tried to find spell elements that could substitute for these, as the ice dragons had none of them in storage. But I couldn’t find anything with the same properties. If you have clan members who are in need of healing, just bring them here. Easier than breaking your brains trying to come up with substitutes.” As an afterthought, he tacked on, “And don’t try to mix these together until the very moment you need them. I had a colleague who tried creating the potions and storing them. By the next morning, he was short a storeroom.”
Most of the room winced.
“I’ve never heard of an explosive shelf life before,” Cameron muttered.
“Oh, there’s several elements I know of that do.” Amaru focused on his ingredients, pouring each carefully into a glass bowl. “The bowl has a containing ward around it, to keep the wind elements caged in. They’d fly free and cause havoc otherwise. Now, I’ve done this so many times I don’t measure anything anymore. But the portions are equally split between the three, precisely three notes of song, with a matching length of howl. Three hairs, too.”
