Rajah's Curse

Chapter 48: The Princess

I blame my afternoon with the sultan for affecting my dreams. That night they brought me back to a time before my curse was lifted.

*****

I was sitting at my desk on the upper level of the magician's study. I had just finished my examination of a scroll on the properties of qumabêruh and other magical sands. Different forms of qumabêruh were said to be able to sense, store, nullify, and even actively absorb magic. It was my hope that this substance would enable us to cleanse the enchanted items around the palace without damaging them.

This newest scroll on qumabêruh was the fifth one I had come across this week, but like the last couple I had found, it had no new information for me. Satisfied that my notes were up to date, I put the document aside and picked up the two most comprehensive and useful scrolls in my small collection.

The first one was written in modern Arabic and provided a second-hand account of how the qumabêruh from the Land of Black Sand had been used to defeat the sand witches of the Seven Deserts. The other scroll was much older and written in ancient Kurdish.

I had never learned Kurdish, but I was fluent in its sister languages of Persian and Arabic. So, over the last four nights, with my knowledge of those languages and some other reference scrolls from the palace library, I had done a rough translation. The experience had definitely been worthwhile since the scroll had information on how to transmute qumabêruh into its different forms and each variety's practical applications.

I added my translation of the Kurdish scroll and my other notes to the pile in my arms.

There. I was ready to share my findings with Jasmine.

"Princess," I called out.

"Yes," she replied in a tired voice. "What is it, Ren?"

"I'm coming downstairs. I want to get your opinion on something."

"Alright," she said after a bit. "I'm ready."

I walked down the stairs and went over to her desk. As I placed the research documents on top of it, I informed her that, "The scrolls have been rolled to the appropriate passages and there are additional notes on your right."

The princess peered up at me, or rather she tilted her head up towards the direction of my voice. She was blindfolded as per usual. "You almost sound excited," she noted. "Please, tell me this is good news."

"Possibly," I offered, "It's about a new magic removal method."

"Really?" she said, perking up. "Do we have the ingredients to make it in stock?"

"We do."

"I'll look this over then," she said, her fingers already tapping with anticipation.

"And I'll be upstairs," I said. "Let me know when you're done."

She nodded and I left her to it.

The time I spent waiting for Jasmine to look over my work was a blur. I mostly occupied myself by going through our supply of qumabêruh in a hidden nook on the far side of the study. The unprocessed black sand was stored in palm-sized iron-enforced wooden barrels whereas the more powerful ocean blue crystalized qumabêruh was kept in thick iron-silver tins that were each no bigger than an inkwell.

Because qumabêruh had the potential to be such a powerful anti-magic agent, it was unwise to keep it close to the other magical ingredients and could be downright dangerous in large quantities for magical and nonmagical things alike. I had my reservations about working with such a volatile substance, but after all my research, I was confident it was currently our best chance of setting the court right without having to destroy every heirloom and precious object in the palace.