The howls came from the darkness to his left and his right yet again. There wasn’t time to think about what had just happened. He just hoped he could use the spirit magic again. Two more shadowy wolves ran out of the darkness, coming from both sides. Lewis dodged as one leaped at him. He turned and grabbed the other, reaching through its back to the core of magic within and pulling it apart with his hands. The cold feeling all over him wasn’t a tingling this time, but a flash of ice that burned across his skin and inside of him. He cried out as he tore apart the other wolf’s core.
Three more wolves ran out of the shadows to his left, two more from his right. His movements became slower as he tore through more of the shadows. Every inch of him was cold and burning, but if he stopped for even a moment, the wolves would be on him. A wolf tackled him to the ground. He ripped its core apart, only for pain to flash across his vision, making everything go black for just a moment. A shadow wolf had sunk its teeth into his left leg.
Lewis kicked the wolf with his right leg, barely having the energy left to do it. His boot struck the core of magic in the wolf’s chest, sending it reeling back. Lewis cried out as he sat up, thrusting both hands toward the wolf, feeling the magic core as though it were a beacon, burning brightly in the darkness. His magic tore the core apart, the wolf disappearing into nothing just like all the others. Lewis collapsed into the dirt. He didn’t hear any more howling, but he could barely move. The bite on his leg burned. He felt magic in it, sapping his strength.
Maybe he could remove the magic from the bite. He tried to sit up and fell back to the ground. Lewis dragged himself closer to the wall, every movement taking a massive amount of effort. He pulled himself upright, but he wasn’t sure he could stand even if he leaned on the wall. In the dim light of the torch above him, he saw his hands. He pulled his sleeves back further, but was too weary to feel much other than a quiet resignation.
“The effects will fade with time.” A woman’s voice came from the darkness, somewhere deeper along the tunnel. “Not all of it, but you will recover some of your human form.”
Amnis’s essence had changed him. He felt it in every inch of him. The woman stepped into the light of the torch. Her rough clothes were too big for her, as well as her leather cuirass. There was a sheathed sword through her belt. Lewis stared up at the woman, barely keeping his eyes open.
“I saw you in town…” The words took too much effort.
The woman smiled. “I thought you would recognize this appearance.” Her features blurred, her face becoming gaunter, her long hair turning black. Her eyes were a dark shade of blue. She was taller now, but the clothes were still too big.
“You’re a Shapeshifter,” Lewis said.
She knelt beside him. “I am an Afflicted Mage, like you. You and I are the only two of our kind currently living. You don’t know how long I’ve waited.” She hardly looked older than him, but maybe she could appear younger. “You told me you had no magic when we first met, so I had to be sure.”
“Did you write the letter?” Lewis asked, still unable to find the strength to move, but talking was coming more easily now. “Where is my father?”
She sighed. “I did not write the letter, and neither did I take your father. I’m not your enemy, Lewis. As I said, I had to be sure about you. I knew you weren’t a Shapeshifter like me. I suspected you were a spirit speaker, with magic that can affect even the shadows of our master.”
“Our master?” Lewis asked. “Who are you?”
“You can call me Esther,” she said.
Lewis stiffened. “Of Leafvale?”
She scowled. “That place is not my home, but that is where I was born. You may know me as adviser to the queen.” Her expression softened. “I will tell you more about our master in time, when your magic has become stronger. Only then can you help me bring him back to this world.” That didn’t sound good. “There are many in the court who are against Birch Hall. The queen is losing control of the court.” She leaned uncomfortably close and whispered, “be careful.”
Esther stood, her features blurring again. She became a man with wide shoulders and short blond hair. Now the clothes fit. She walked away, toward the exit of the mine. Lewis had even more questions than before. Who was Esther’s master? Why had she made it sound like this mystery being was Lewis’s master as well? Voices came from the way Esther had gone. Lewis quickly raised the hood of his robes, pulling it low. He made sure his sleeves covered his hands, with their salamander skin and black nails.
Several people found him a moment later. They said the mercenary who had gone missing in the mine had told them Lewis had defeated the wolves and rescued him. Had Esther been waiting for him in the mine? Clearly she was the mercenary they’d seen, as well as the woman who had asked about his magic that night so long ago, and the adviser to the queen. He stumbled to his feet, leaning on the wall heavily.
“Are you wounded?” a man asked.
“Not badly,” Lewis said. “I’ll be fine.”
The man looked doubtful. “Maybe you should see the apothecary.”
Lewis shook his head, taking an unsteady step but staying on his feet. “I’ll return to the inn.”
“We’ll tell the alder you cleared out the beasts,” the man said.
“Thanks.” Lewis felt steadier as he left the mine, but he was no less exhausted, and the magic in the bite on his leg continued to burn and sap his strength.
At the inn, he went straight to his room, collapsing on the bed. He woke up to the sun rising, but felt no more rested than when he left the mine, even though he had apparently slept an entire day. He took his boot off and pulled back the leg of his pants. Shadowy darkness flickered in the shape of a bite on his leg, but there was no blood. This wasn’t a natural wound. He tried to grab the magic with his own, but he was too weary. The longer that magic remained, the worse this would get.
Lewis put his boot back on, made sure his hood was still up, and left the inn, declining breakfast as politely as he could. He left for Birch Hall, leaning on the trees for support on the way. He needed help getting the magic out of his leg, but was this something Curtis could help with? Was it the strange magic the wolves had been made of that only his spirit magic could touch? He had never had so many questions, or so little strength.
It was late at night when Lewis finally reached Birch Hall. He stumbled up the stairs, everything spinning and blurring as he made his way up to the tower. It crossed his mind he should try to find Curtis’s room, but he didn’t know where it was, and he was halfway up the tower stairs when he thought of it. In the doorway of his bedroom, the last of his strength gave out. He collapsed onto the floor with a thud. Everything went black.
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He awoke to someone calling his name. He had never seen Curtis so pale. Morning sunlight streamed in through the tower windows. Curtis had pulled back the hood of Lewis’s robes. Maybe he was pale because of what he saw. Even this thought was hard to focus on, hard to think. Curtis vanished. Lewis heard what he thought might be running water, then everything went black again. The next time he came to, he felt a little better. He was in the tub in the tower’s washroom. The water felt good against his parched skin. It crossed his mind that someone had taken his clothes off other than his underwear, but the thought was distant.
“You’re awake.” Curtis stepped into the room. A candle flickered on the table by the basin. “I found something in one of Stewart’s books. You should be able to summon a spirit you have a pact with in a place connected to your element and the spirit’s. I thought the water might help. I’ve never seen a wound like that one on your leg. Perhaps Amnis can help.”
Lewis closed his eyes, doubting he could stay conscious long enough to summon the spirit. It proved easier than the last two times, maybe because he’d had more experience with his spirit magic. He opened his eyes, seeing a starry night sky above him, feeling the grass of the clearing beneath him. He heard a splash, then Amnis loomed over him, frowning down at him. The burning of the magic in the wound faded away to nothing.
“Thank you…” Lewis said.
“It will take time for you to recover from such a wound,” Amnis said. “Water will speed your recovery.”
Lewis blinked and the clearing was gone. He was back in the bath in the High Mage’s tower. He had never seen Curtis look so tense and worried.
“I’ll be fine,” Lewis said. “The wound is gone. Amnis said water will help me recover faster.”
Curtis breathed out. “Good.” He sat on the floor. “What happened in Whisperstream?”
Lewis told him everything about the shadowy wolves that he could only defeat with his spirit magic, and about Esther, who had borrowed them from a being she seemed to think was their master. When he finished, Curtis was silent for a long moment.
“The adviser to the queen is a Shapeshifter,” Curtis said. “I never would have imagined that. As for whatever she wants you to help her free, I don’t know how we can find out more. This doesn’t seem like something we’re going to find out from books, much as it pains me to admit.”
Lewis hesitated. “I don’t know how much of me will go back to normal.”
Curtis’s shoulders drooped. “We’ll figure things out after you’ve recovered. For now, I’ll just have to tell the others that you were wounded in Whisperstream and need time to rest. Though I can’t have them thinking it’s severe, or they’ll be coming up those steps to see if you need salve or fresh bandages.”
Lewis shrank down in the water. He didn’t want any of them to see him.
Curtis sighed, getting to his feet. “Get some rest. I’ll stay in the tower for now and check on you, to make sure you’re not drowning.”
“I don’t think I’m at any risk of drowning,” Lewis said.
Curtis nodded slowly. “Even so, I’ll be around.” He left the room, leaving the door open a crack.
Lewis touched his face, dreading what he might find, but it felt how it always did. It was only his skin that was different. Even his hair was the same as it had been. He slid under the water, getting enough oxygen that way through his skin. Lewis closed his eyes, trying to ignore how good this felt. He dreamed of a dark mine tunnel, howls coming from behind him.
He ran, but there was only more darkness ahead of him, and the howls were getting closer. The last of the torches went out, plunging him into darkness. A wolf slammed into him from behind, its teeth tearing into the back of his neck. Lewis awoke with a gasp and a splash as he sat up, breaking through the surface of the water. Sunlight came through the partly open washroom door. His breathing steadied, and he leaned back again. It had just been a dream.
Lewis stayed in the bath all day, sleeping most of it. By night, he felt more himself. And he looked more himself. His entire right arm was back to normal, along with his left leg. By the next morning, the salamander skin was only on his left hand and wrist, most of his right leg, and part of his chest and back. He got out of the bath and put dry clothes on, then went over to the washbasin. In the still water, he saw his reflection.
His left eye was entirely black, like Amnis’s, with salamander skin around it and a streak of it down his face. Other than that, his face was entirely human again. He felt rested for the first time in days. Maybe this was as far back to human he was going to get. He pulled his hood up and went out into the study, sitting behind the desk just as the tower door unlocked and Curtis came in with a tray. Without a word, he set a bowl of porridge in front of Lewis, before settling in with his own on the other side of the desk.
“Feeling a little better?” Curtis asked.
“Much better,” Lewis said.
Curtis frowned. “You don’t have to hide from me.”
Lewis hesitated, still unsure of how he felt about all of this. He lowered his hood. “I think this is as close to normal as I’m going to get.”
Curtis’s expression softened. “I’m sorry…” He shook his head. “There is so much we don’t understand about your magic, and now we have everything Esther said to wonder about.” He sighed. “The others are worried about you. Even Tanya has asked me when you’ll be able to teach them about plants again. She usually has little interest in lessons.”
“I can’t teach like this,” Lewis said.
A knock came on the tower door. The two looked at each other, then Lewis raised his hood and Curtis went to get the door. Lorna stood on the other side, fidgeting with the black cloth tied at her waist.
“Is something wrong?” Curtis asked.
Lewis had never seen Lorna look so nervous.
“Martin just showed up with a bunch of knights,” Lorna said. “He insists on talking to Lewis downstairs, in the entry hall. He said he wants all the mages in the hall to be there.”
Why would he want that? Lewis’s heart beat fast. Had Martin figured out what he was? But how could he have?
Curtis swallowed. “Then we’ll have to go down and meet him.”
Lorna’s brows furrowed. She stood straighter. “I told him Lewis was injured in Whisperstream and still recovering, but he insisted Lewis go down there. I’m sorry.” She looked at Lewis. “If you need any salve for your wounds, I have a fresh batch.”
“Thank you,” Lewis said, feeling even worse about their deception than he already did. “I’m much better now.” He stood. All he could do was get this over with.
Lorna hesitated, as though she wanted to say something more, but she turned and went back down the stairs.
