Spellscribed: Resurgence (28 page)

Tanya sighed, "Come on Endrance, we need to see how bad it is." She grabbed his hand and wrenched it away from his face. She blanched, staring. Selene gasped.

"What?" Endrance gasped. "How bad is it?"

"Well, it didn't pierce your skull…" Selene managed to explain. "But… your eye. It's… gone."

Endrance tried to blink and flinched with pain. His right eye worked, but Selene was right; he couldn't see anything out of his left. He drew on some of his power and cast the best healing spell he could. The burned away flesh healed, fixing the damage to his face, but his vision didn't return.

"It's not healing." Endrance replied.

Tanya looked at him, fearful. "There's… uhm." she started to explain.

"It's still on fire." Selene said. "Like, the way hers did."

"What?" Endrance exclaimed. It had stopped hurting, but he wasn't able to see.

"Like Valeria. Her eyes." Selene replied. Trying to figure out how to explain.

Tanya dug on her belt, drawing a small piece of polished steel. She held it up for him to see.

His left eye socket had healed, but there was no eye behind the lids. Instead, an emerald green fire flickered. It didn't feel hot, and as his other eye tracked his reflection, the point of flame shifted too, as if it were the pupil for some invisible eye.

"This… this is bad." he said.

Joven approached, a black scorch across his chest. Joven looked him over, nodding.

"Well, I have good news." Joven replied. "We're all alive, and you get to wear an eyepatch until you can get that healed."

Endrance took a breath, steadying himself. "I'm okay. I will be okay. Just… why would she do this?"

"Maybe she was still trying to kill you." Bridget whispered, holding her side and approaching. She had heard the conversation but hadn't seen the damage until Endrance turned to her. She winced, but then tilted her head. "Actually." she said. "You would look much better with an eyepatch."

"Thanks." Endrance replied dryly.

Gullin? Endrance asked. How's things from up there?

Your power has been tainted. Gullin replied. Otherwise there appears to be no more threats.

"Tainted?" Endrance asked aloud.

Valeria was trying to convert you into a litch, forcibly. Gullin informed him. But your life force is strong enough to stop it from spreading. I am uncertain if it will heal, but it will not spread any further.

"As far as battle scars go." Joven added. "A blasted out eye is a fair trade for being able to claim you killed an Archmagus."

Endrance shook his head. He realized he could hear the flickering of the green flame as he moved quickly. That would take time to get used to. "I think the eyepatch is a good idea no matter what." he answered. "But we still have a problem."

"We don't know where your father is." Selene provided.

"Malchoir?" Joven asked. "Was that his name?"

Endrance shook his head. "I have no idea anymore." he said, sighing. "But I know where he went." He pointed out over the ocean, past the island marshes.

"He went there." Endrance answered. "To the center of the Shatter. Talos is waiting, and will try to stop him from entering the capitol."

"Why?" Bridget asked. "Why would he go there? There's nothing that way."

Endrance shrugged. "I don't know. But there must be something there that will help his plan. Valeria said that 'they' would be back. There must be a way to bring the Mercanians back."

Joven waved his hands wide. "Doesn't matter, we go, we kill him before he does it, and then it's all over."

Endrance looked out over the water, the green flame flickering in his head. "We have a long trek ahead of us." he declared. "We can't take teleportation spells, since we don't know what's out there. The flows of magic in the Shatter is warped; Gullin might not be able to carry us safely."

"That means..." Joven observed. "We go on foot or by boat?"

Endrance nodded. "Yeah. That's all we can go by."

Selene and Tanya stood next to them, and the five looked out over the water.

"So…" Joven said after a quiet moment. "Does anyone have a boat?"

Endrance shook his head, taking a deep breath. "Nope." he answered.