Aedan Calahan and the Silver Hand

Chapter 8

Aedan couldn't have felt worse.

He awoke to deep throbbing from his head to his feet. Screaming, skin-tearing pain kept him from sitting up. All he could manage was to lay on the bed.

Where was he? The ceiling and walls were a dark-brown wood. The room was suspiciously absent of a window, making judging time impossible. He could smell potatoes and red wine, so he knew no matter where he was, it couldn't be all bad. At least there was food. His stomach growled.

He felt strange and it had nothing to do with his body aches. He was a puzzle with a missing piece.

His staff materialized in the palm of his hand. He gripped it tight, feeling the warmth spread through him. He remained suffering, but at least he was complete.

Thoughts raced through his head, each more frightening than the last. Had he been taken into custody? Did the Druids think he was in cahoots with the skeletals? The situation certainly looked that way. The skeletals had him surrounded and he didn't bare a scratch or a wound. Unless they saw the Druidry he conjured with his staff. Then they would know he was a good guy. But then again, what if he wasn't supposed to use any Druidry yet? What if he had broken a law?

The door opened, revealing a solemn-faced Maggie.

"If anyone asks," Maggie said, the tails of her cloak flickering as she moved to shut the door, "Trisha is your cousin, on her mum's side, which would make you a McGregor. Aedan McGregor, remember that. Just until school starts."

"Alright. And when is that?"

"In four hours."

"What!" Aedan shot up and yelped in pain, earning him a more curious than sympathetic eyebrow raise from Maggie. "What do you mean in four hours?"

"Two-hundred and forty minutes."

Aedan gritted his teeth. Surprisingly, those hurt to. "You said school started on the Fall Solstice and that's not until tomorrow."

Maggie bumped the wall with the base of her staff and a window-shaped door swung open, letting in the bright afternoon sun.

"It is tomorrow."

Aedan's aerial view was of the Forever Forest and just a sliver of the burrow streets. Suddenly he was thankful for the daylight. "What were those things last night?" he asked. "What did they do to me?"

"Skeletals and nothing. I checked you for Blight myself. You invoked more mana than you could handle, so your body tapped into your blood reserves. You should have died."

Maggie's response produced a lot more questions for Aedan. He was stuck on one.

"Why should I have died?" he asked. "What'd I do?"

Maggie turned her attention to outside the window. "I just explained. You invoked more mana than your spirit could handle, so your spirit called on your blood for support. The spirit is insurmountable, the mind strong and the body fragile."

My body's not fragile, Aedan thought. A twinge of pain in his ribs reminded him that, as of now, yes it was. "So I performed Druidry, then?" Hope and excitement surged through Aedan at the thought, but he didn't let it show, less Maggie get the wrong idea.

"Yes." Maggie paused for a moment. "You cast an ancient mana spell. All mana spells are ancient. Most Druids use their mana for enchanting; only some possess the ability to cast spells with it. It's a precarious game of life and death you play with your body. Again, you should have died."