Wood, Stone and Bone Page 3

  “So, off to visit the princess?” she asked as she returned to the bookshelf and her cataloging.

  “Yup,” I replied as I headed over to one of the doors. One was white, the other a pale purple. I opened the lilac door and stepped into the shadows beyond.

  I felt myself float out of my inner world and enter a squishy vessel. Tentatively I opened my senses and hummed with joy when I saw where I was. In a glass tank.

  “Hello?” I called out. Almost instantly a pair of hands reached down into the container and pulled me out. Soon, I was being cradled in a hug, and I nuzzled close.

  “Oh, it’s been so long, Jelly! I missed you so much!”

  “I’m sorry it took a week for me to visit. Things have been hectic on my end,” I said soothingly to the young woman who was holding me.

  Princess Liliana Augustine Roan smiled like the sun at me, overjoyed to have her pet back. I felt my mind and soul release all the stress they’d accumulated as I stared up at the angelic features of my owner.

  “So, was my body double a good boy while I was gone?” I asked.

  “He was no trouble whatsoever,” Liliana assured me as she carried me over to the door of her room. It had been some time since I had seen it, but her dorm room in the Academy looked unchanged.

  Just to be sure my copy had not done anything wrong, I did a quick check of its recent meals as well as its short-term memory. If it could be called as such.

  Last year I had consumed a vast quantity of Wyvern carcasses after they had dared to attack the Academy en masse. They’d been heavily altered with magic and tasted outrageously foul.

  The result of ingesting that much magically and alchemically altered organic matter was two interesting abilities. First was being able to grow purple scales all over my body. Not very useful seeing as my slime-like body could easily ignore most damage done to it.

  The other was the ability to separate a portion of myself and create a miniature Ooze. I could control it remotely, but the further away from it I was, the harder it was to make it do anything.

  It also lacked a core, which meant it was not a true Ooze at all. And it was dumb. Incredibly so. Left to its own devices my pale purple clone would either sit still, doing nothing, or move erratically and consume everything in its path.

  The abilities had seemed a bust. That is, until Headmaster Arnolt taught me the arts of Astral Projection and Planeswalking. Respectively, the power to walk the world as a ghostly figure, and the skill to traverse the Aether itself, exploring the vast dimensions of pure magic and thought that existed beyond Erafore.

  Both skills required delving into my inner world, and I discovered that I could remotely take control of any copy I made using a bastardized version of Astral Projection from my Mindscape.

  As such, I had no qualms about leaving Manatrem and the Academy behind. After all, I was now able to be in two places at once.

  By depositing a dumb clone of myself in a glass tank in Princess Liliana’s room before I’d left, I was now able to move back and forth between my original body and this spare copy. I could attend classes and play with my owner whenever I felt like it.

  Plus, it had the bonus of tricking my owner’s enemies that I was still protecting her. She would carry my copy around at times, showing me off. And whenever I visited via Astral Takeover, as I’d dubbed the new skill, I enjoyed seeing all the people I knew around campus.

  Interestingly, even though my clone was a voracious idiot, it refused to harm Liliana in any way, so she was safe when she held him in her arms. Anyone else who tried to hold me? Their fingers would get eaten.

  “I have the work and assignments you’ve missed right here!” Liliana said as she cheerfully plopped me down on her desk next to a towering stack of papers.

  “Couldn’t we play first?” I asked pitifully. The imposing pile of homework I’d missed made my entire body quiver with fear.

  “No. You have to finish your work before we can do anything else,” my owner said sternly. She then smiled and offered me a carrot to go with the stick. “The sooner you complete it all, the sooner we can go see Kine. She’s missed you too. All of us have.”

  “Alright, I give in,” I replied. I grew a couple of tendrils and plunked a few quills from the desk and turned to the stack.

  “Let’s do this!”

  It took me fifty-nine minutes to do all the homework that had accumulated over the course of one week. Even with judicious use of Tara’s vast repertoire of knowledge the actual writing aspect took up most of the time.

  At last I had finished and was on my way to see Kine! She was the single most adorable student in the Academy. And my owner completely agreed.

  A petite, black haired half-elf from the far eastern land of Distant Qwan, Kine Ro was a fellow second year student at the Academy. Liliana and I had met her when the three of us had just arrived for our first year, and instantly became friends.

  There were some bumps along the way, such as bullies, secrets, accidents, and kidnappings, but we were closer than ever thanks to it all.

  The young Qwanese girl’s room was directly across from Liliana’s, and when the petite figure opened her door her face lit up with glee.

  “Jelly!” she exclaimed. My owner passed me over to her waiting arms, and she bit back a girlish squeal. Immediately, Kine began to stroke the top of my head fondly.

  “So soft and squishy,” she sighed dreamily. Liliana let out a demure giggle.

  “Please come in,” Kine invited, and the princess of Varia stepped inside the fellow student’s room.

  It was identical in design to Liliana’s, but had a few additional effects, such as a water-color painting done in her homeland’s flowing style, and a blue decorated vase on her desk.

  “How is Rosa doing?” Kine asked as she and Liliana sat down on her bed.

  “Fairly well. She loves Erafore’s freedom and open spaces. Compared to the cramped, sky-less confines of the Elemental Plane of Earth, our world is a treasure trove of interesting things and places,” I reported.

  The girls nodded in understanding.

  “And what about yourselves? How are your studies going?” I inquired.

  “Excellent! Studying all about magical creatures and monsters is so fascinating! There is just so much to discover! And best of all, Verde is almost fully healed now, and he should be able to assist me with more complex spell work in no time,” Liliana happily informed me. I bobbed up and down a bit with glee.

  Verde was an Emerald Carbuncle, and Rosa’s father. He had been badly wounded during a kidnapping attempt where Liliana’s aunt, the Countess Darpel, had sought to manipulate the princess with a powerful ritual. It had failed spectacularly for the disgraced noble woman, but not before injuring both Liliana’s familiar and her personal maid, Orleen.

  “What about Orleen? I assume she is still doing well?”

  “Yes, she’s well. Her arm is still a little stiff at times, though. It’s a good thing the cut was so clean. The Academy’s Healers were able to fix up her arm as good as new!” Liliana said. Despite her smile the undercurrent of sorrow in her voice was palpable, and I decided to shift topics onto something less troublesome.

  “How are your studies going, Kine? Still doing alright with Runes and such?” I asked, bringing the focus to the young mage. She bit her lip as she thought over her answer.

  “I am doing well, thank you for asking,” she said after a bit. “They are difficult, but I enjoy them. Runes are so much easier for me than regular spells. I don’t have all that much mana of my own, and so being able to ‘write’ my own spells with Runes is very fun and exciting.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Everyone should have something they love doing,” I praised. Kine smiled, cheeks pink with a blush at my kind words.

  “Oh, that reminds me, Liliana, I have a few notes to give you about some new Oozes I found,” I said.

  “Really?” my owner asked excitedly. I nodded.

  “Kine’s pink cheeks reminded
me of them.” Ignoring the darker hue that now came to the diminutive half-elf girl’s face I continued.

  “They were called Berry Oozes. No larger than an apple, and about the same color, with varying shades. They lived alongside a nest of Green Oozes. They used the larger specimens of the Green Oozes to grow the berries and fruits they ate while protecting the colony of Green Oozes with a sweet perfume-like excretion that could put rodents and curious badgers to sleep. A truly unique symbiotic relationship between Ooze species.”

  “Fascinating! Did the Oozes work as an insect colony, or a mammalian pack?” Liliana inquired, leaning forward with interest written over her face.

  “More like a herd of herbivores,” I mused. “Anyways, I’ll be sending you those notes in the mail soon. I think I have a lead on a new line of inquiry.”

  “Another Royal Ooze sighting?” Kine asked. Her tone suggested how little she thought of that. “Remember what happened last time?”

  “I go running off a few times to check out rumors and fail to get any results, and you never let me hear the end of it,” I said with a wobble of my body.

  “Twice it just turned out to be an unusually large regular Ooze. One time it was a huge, polished amethyst some noble was showing off, and five times it turned out that the so-called ‘Royal Ooze’ was you all along that some villager or traveler had seen when you were traveling at night across the countryside,” Liliana pointed out, counting off the times on her fingers.

  “Well this time it isn’t about a Royal Ooze!” I huffed. “It’s actually about someone who claims they saw talking Oozes!”

  “Impossible,” Kine asserted, Liliana nodding her head in agreement.

  “That’s right, Jelly! You’re one-of-a-kind! Special and unique!”

  “And that’s why I want to check it out for myself!” I retorted hotly.

  I immediately regretted it when I saw the hurt expressions on their faces.

  “Look,” I began, softer this time, “what if I am not unique? Not just the only Ooze capable of speech? Of thinking and feeling? What if I’m not alone?”

  “I-I don’t know what to say to that,” Liliana admitted with a stammer. “Is there a reason you feel this way?”

  “You always seemed content when you were with us and the rest of the Stranger Faction,” Kine noted. I bobbed up and down in agreement.

  “Yes, but I’ve seen the world now. Before, I was, to put it bluntly, cooped up. I had little to no real freedom. And I have come to realize just how utterly alien I truly am.”

  I warbled sadly, feeling myself shrink a bit in my melancholy.

  “I love you all, I truly do, but I am a monster with the mind and soul of a human. I don’t belong anywhere. Even here, with you, I am more of a sideshow than a real student. Only a few people treat me like I am ‘me,’ not an ‘it.’” I sighed deeply.

  “And that is why I want to look. Even if it’s a slim chance that I will find anything, I want to at least try. I don’t want to be alone. Not like this. Not anymore.”

  Kine and Liliana reached out and began to pet me tenderly, their warm thoughts and kindness suffusing me. I could feel it all through my empathy. There was no need for words.

  I leaned in to their touches, content to spend my evening like this. All the while, I steadfastly ignored the tears in Liliana’s eyes.

  .

  (Welcome back!)

  I groggily stirred from my slumber. Rosa’s chipper voice was my wake-up call almost every morning. She took pride in her job as my alarm clock.

  “Any problems crop up while I was out?” I asked. She shook her head.

  (No problems. Marl already left, though. Said he was going to meet someone.)

  “I see,” I mumbled. “Any idea where he was headed?”

  (West, towards the Crawling Coast.)

  I nodded absently. My mind was still full of thoughts from last night. After spending a few more hours with my owner I had returned to my own body to rest. As a Royal Ooze I did not need much sleep in order to function, but I had been run ragged the last few days. I needed the rest as much as the girls did. It was close to midnight before I properly retired.

  “We’re heading out to Tywood today,” I announced. Rosa tilted her head questioningly.

  ~Is this because of the rumors of talking Oozes?~ Tara inquired.

  “Yes,” I replied simply. The Spirit of Knowledge hummed a bit in thought. Rosa just looked excited. Either for the trip or for the thought of meeting more creatures like her beloved master, I wasn’t sure. Probably both, to be honest.

  ~Tywood is a major trading hub on the Red Road. Very close in size and population to being a city as well, all things considered,~ Tara informed me as I pulled out a map from my Dimensional Pocket.

  “It also lies in Brune along the curve of the Dullwilds. Which means we may face more ambushes,” I pointed out. Rosa frowned and Tara muttered something impolite.

  (That magic is wrong. It feels sick and broken. It makes the soil suffer,) Rosa said. (Do you know anything about it, Tara?)

  ~It seems like a twisted mockery of a Druid’s abilities to control plants, but nothing in the Academy records has anything about dark versions of such spells. We may just have to wait for Headmaster Arnolt to finish his own research.~

  “And wait we will. Until then, we’ll have to be on our guard and even more alert. Rosa, can I count on you to keep us apprised of any shifts in the ground?” I asked. She gave a mock salute along with a nod of affirmation.

  “Tara, I think it would be best if you researched some new ideas for barriers and wards to keep us safe on the road. This stalker of ours has never gone after us when we were around other people, but I don’t want to take that risk. See if you can find any spells that will protect a large number of people.”

  ~Of course, Jelly.~

  I bobbed up and down, pleased that the planning had gone smoothly. Now it was time to leave. I straightened out my body and took on my bipedal Gel Doll form, then slipped on my robe and hat. Last but not least, my illusion carefully covered me up.

  I posed in front of the window, using its faint reflection to check my appearance.

  “I believe we’re all set, now,” I said and a chorus of ‘yeses’ confirmed it. I left the room and made my way to the exit. I had paid for the room last night and gave a merry wave to the woman running the front desk of the Fountain House that morning.

  I took in a deep breath of the crisp morning air. Fall had only just arrived, but it would not be long before Lady Gaea would blanket the world in ice and snow, ushering in winter.

  An involuntary shiver ran through me. I hated the cold. Hated it with a passion. Oozes are not built to withstand below freezing temperatures. I had plans to head as far south as I could before it set in. Maybe visit the golden dunes of Saluda.

  Until then, though, I merely pulled my robe tighter around me and set off through the town towards the road.

  Outside of Volden I felt myself tense up imperceptibly. It felt like someone was watching me all of a sudden. A feeling of dread welled up inside, and I held back a groan. So, it seemed I was already being observed. I had a feeling tonight was going to be another sleepless one.

  ‘How far are we from Tywood?’ I asked Tara through our mind link. Her answer came almost immediately.

  ~A few days by foot. A week at most. Tywood is close to the border between Varia and Brune, and we are not that far from it right now. We’ll reach the Red Road first though, and head south along it. Tywood was built directly along the highway so we’ll have no problem seeing it from the path.~

  ‘Excellent.’ Things were looking up right now.

  Chapter 4: To the Wooden City

  The sound of a twig snapping sent a twitch running through my body. After confirming that it was due to a wild animal and not the machinations of our mysterious assailant, I relaxed, only to immediately tense up once more when the sound of leaves crunching sent me into panic mode.

  ~Calm down, Jelly! It’s ju
st another deer! Not an attack!~ Tara admonished. I bent my ‘head’ in shame. Rosa leaned over and hugged me from where she sat on my ‘shoulder.’

  For the past two days I had been walking along the edge of the Red Road heading south. And for the past two days I had been jumping at shadows, and wary of every creak, crack, and noise made in the nearby woods.

  To my left were the outskirts of the Dullwinds, the massive forest that took up a large portion of territory in both Varia and Brune. It was an enchanted place, filled to the brim with ambient mana, and numerous types of wildlife.

  The Red Road, the single largest highway system in Orria, skirted around the western edges of the magical forest on its way to and from Brune and Varia. It was constantly trod by people, and that might have alleviated my worries.

  But for two days I had felt the eyes of someone watching me. Constantly and unwaveringly. Ever since I had left Volden, in fact. And my nerves were shot to the Hells from constantly thinking every sound was the prelude to an attack.

  Nothing had happened though! Two days of endless wariness and mental torment! Whoever he was, he was content to let me stew in my own fears.

  A part of me wanted to congratulate the stalker on turning me into a nervous wreck without so much as a single spell. The rest of me wanted to strangle him while melting his flesh with acid.

  But all misery had to be put on hold. I was nearly at Brune’s border, and Tywood was just another three or so days away. If I could make it that long without any issue, I would be glad.

  I also had to keep up my disguise and my acting. Several passersby had shuffled out of my way when they saw me twitching and nervously glancing this way and that. Apparently, I came off as ‘creepy’ and ‘weird.’

  ‘OK, Tara, I’ll try to take it easy. Please keep an eye out for me, though.’