Shadows of Schala - Chapter Twelve
"Hard to believe he grabbed the wrong pendant," Elora said. "Then again, Dalton was never the quickest proton in the pack."
"Dalton's supreme arrogance in his own abilities has always been to our advantage," Orion agreed.
Magus felt a twinge from Cyrus' Geas as he sat next to the campfire that evening. Everyone was so relieved at having Schala and Ariel back that they had decided to spend the evening celebrating. This was the first chance they had had to go off together since their return. The twinge was mild, just enough to remind him that it was there. He found himself thinking of the Hero's Grave and his promise to its ghost.
Magus thought back. They had rescued Ariel and Schala, eight, nine, ten days before. He had lost track of time studying his magic tomes and then convincing Schala to try something -- risky. He realized that his remaining days were short.
A wry smile touched his lips as he gazed at each of his friends in turn. Prime who had reached toward him first, Elora from whom teasing hostility was a form of affection, Ariel who he had been honored to save, Orion whose good-natured, quiet leadership taught him more about power than all of Ozzie's lectures and -- Alpha.
Alpha whom he had so grievously wronged and whose friendship he could never repay. Alpha whose life of facing adversity with honor showed him the path he must take. He knew he would miss many things but he admitted these friends he would miss the most.
Magus felt his heart spasm into a dull ache when he looked at his sister. For so many years thoughts and memories of Schala had sustained him. How ironic that he had found her, rescued her, only to be lost himself.
"I might be her younger brother," he thought, "but I must make sure she is cared for and safe!"
He enjoyed the evening spent around the campfire with these friends and the sister he was soon going to lose forever, and treasured these moments in the deepest part of his soul.
Magus watched as the frog knight got up, stretched in a most fascinating way and ambled into the woods. Alpha's casual stride and his star-gazing told Magus he was just stretching his legs. He rose himself and followed. When they were out of earshot of the camp he closed the distance to find Alpha waiting for him.
"I heard'eth thy approach," Alpha called quietly.
"Yes, I wanted to ask a favor of you," Magus began.
"Of course, my friend. What doth thou need?" Alpha replied readily.
"If anything should ever -- happen to me -- promise to watch over Schala for me? I need to know that she will be protected and safe," Magus pleaded.
Alpha looked at him sharply, searching deep in his eyes, "Magus, thou art not planning anything..."
"No," Magus shook his head, "but I am --my past -- there are so many who hate me..." Magus thought of the hatred of Cyrus' Ghost and the pain the Geas had caused him. He knew that if he were to ignore it, it would drive him into madness and death. If he were to escape that, there were many in Guardia's kingdom who would kill him on sight. For Schala's sake, it was best if she were never associated with him.
"Rest easy about Lady Schala. I feel almost as if she is my own sister. I shall protect'eth her, if e'er there is need!" Alpha declared.
"Good," tension left Magus at Alpha's vow. "It is good to have Ariel back as well; I've never seen Orion so happy. It does seem as though she doesn't trust me..." Magus tried to divert the conversation. Alpha allowed it.
"She shall come around, e'en as the rest of us hath," Alpha reassured.
"There won't be time," Magus thought. "Perhaps she'll remember me well, perhaps they all will..."
"We should get back to the others. They might think you had to Slurp me otherwise!" Magus teased aloud.
Alpha's laugh rang out, "Mayhaps I shouldst, we doth not want to disappoint!"
"Don't you dare! I just got this cloak clean from the last Slurp!" Magus warned, laughing himself. The ache that he would soon lose this friend was almost more than he could take, but he stamped it down and followed the frog knight back to camp. There was one thing he had to try before he returned to the Hero's Grave, its Ghost and his doom. In the long run it didn't matter, but Magus wanted to have the opportunity to do something to undo his curse not just let it reverse because he died. He hoped Schala was ready...
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"Hero! Help!" Alpha heard shrieked in his mind.
He raced to his room where he had left the Masamune to discover it missing. Frantically he looked through his things and then up and down the hall.
"Where? Where art thou?" he asked in his mind.
"Get, get Melchior! Hurry! Magus and Schala..." the faint, urgent reply faded out.
Alpha dashed through the castle to where he knew Melchior was most often found. He charged into the throne room and with scant courtesy to the king and urged Melchior to come with him.
"What is it, Alpha? I am rather busy," Melchior responded peevishly.
"It's, it's the Masamune! They call'eth on me for help! I cans't find the sword, they told me to find thee..." Alpha gasped out.
"The sword is missing? This is grave. By you leave, Majesty," Melchior asked.
"I know how important that sword is to many people, not the least of whom is you. Go!" the king replied.
"Come! We should go to my hut. I have some books on the Masamune there, perhaps we can determine just what is going on. Can you still hear them?" Melchior asked Alpha.
"No. Their last message was faint, and mention'eth Magus and Schala," Alpha replied.
"Schala has been asking questions... I thought they were purely academic... We had best hurry!" the guru said as he broke into a run.
Melchior and Alpha used the magic waterspout and arrived at the guru's hut. Without breaking stride, Melchior descended the stairs and rummaged about on a bookshelf. Sighing he turned to confront the frog knight.
"Two of my books are missing. One of them deals directly with the Masamune; how I crafted it, how Masa and Mune were enclosed within the Dreamstone, how to repair the sword if ever it is damaged. The other is an advanced book of Life magic, the ebb and flow and shape of Life. Schala's questions this past week have been of the sword and how much magic it could contain. I fear she is endeavoring to augment it somehow. Something must be wrong for Masa and Mune to call out to you..."
Melchior furrowed his brow in intense thought for a moment. Arriving at some conclusion, he opened a drawer beneath the bookshelf. He found a shard of Dreamstone and handed it to Alpha.
"Here. This piece was not needed when Prime and I reforged the blade for you. With this shard you should be able to magnify your ability to hear your sword and track them. I will gather a few things here and follow you. Go! I fear we must find them quickly and prevent some catastrophe!"
Alpha nodded tightly, grasped the Dreamstone and strode toward the stairs. On one wall he noticed a finely crafted Runeblade. He glanced back at Melchior who waved. Smiling grimly he lifted the sword from the wall and ascended the stairs. Melchior grabbed a pack and began to load it with items from his workbench.
Alpha found that he could not hear Masa and Mune but he did have a definite sense of where they were and that they were in some danger that frightened them severely. He could feel when he veered off from a direct line to them. He had no idea if this peculiar communication was two way or not but he sent mental reassurances that he was on his way.
The Dreamstone led him toward Fiona's Forest. He followed deeper into the woods, occasionally blazing a tree for Melchior to follow. He avoided as many monsters as he could, those who forced him into a fight found him absently brutal as he focused on maintaining his link with the Masamune. The pull of the Dreamstone became stronger and the forced fights lessened, then ceased. Alpha found the silence in the woods eerie. Despite his pervading unease he pushed further onward and picked up his already rapid pace.
He rounded a stand of trees and found a horrifying scene before him. Schala stood to one side, barely controlling a roiling rainbow mass of wild energy that formed a portal. The Masamune stood, hilt up, a third of the blade buried in the ground at the base of the gate. Magus was balanced across the edge, half in this dimension and half in some other. Alpha could see Masa and Mune on the other side, terror twisting their features. Magus himself seemed to be in agony as an eldritch storm sought to push him through the gate.
"Alpha! Thank all...! We tried -- I can't explain -- this is taking all my skill -- and attention, but keep Janus from being drawn -- into the Masamune!" Schala pleaded disjointedly.
Alpha leaped to Magus' side and reached for the mage's waist.
"NOOOO!" Alpha heard in stereo. He clasped his hands to the sides of his head from the pain the loud, frantic call caused.
As he looked up he realized that Masa and Mune uttered part of that painful call and Melchior the other part, as he crashed through some bushes into the clearing.
"Don't touch him or you too shall be dragged in!" Melchior warned as he struggled free of some branches.
"Hero! No! We would not want to lose you also..." the brothers lamented.
"He's in agony! What canst I do?" Alpha cried out looking at Magus.
"Melchior!" Schala gasped.
"Of course, my dear. Just let me see what you did... Okay, I've got it," Melchior responded as he examined Schala's portal.
Melchior stilled as he locked his gaze upon the rainbow field and the Gate stabilized. The energy flowed in slow waves instead of lashing out in spiky strands and the strained looks on Schala's, Masa's and Mune's faces eased. Even Magus, though still in pain, eased a little.
"Thank you, Guru," Schala gasped as she turned toward Melchior.
"Tell me what happened," Melchior directed never taking his eyes from the energy portal. Alpha could see signs of strain around the old man's eyes.
"Janus wanted to reverse the curse he had placed on Alpha so long ago. He researched all his magical tomes, but there is no spell to reverse such a curse and no way to change Alpha back into a man. You know my skill with talismans, the way I can enclose an intent into an item. We thought that the Masamune would be sufficiently powerful enough to enclose Janus' cursing power and reverse the spell on Alpha. Masa and Mune agreed to let us try. I read in your books a way to connect the Masamune's dimension with ours and thought that I could..." Schala's explanation broke off. "When the portal opened I lost all control. I never realized how powerful the Masamune is! My spell is there, but instead of just Janus' cursing power, it's trying to enclose all of Janus in the sword. I don't understand! I targeted just his ability -- he shouldn't be threatened... Please, do something!"
"Alpha, as powerful as Magus is, as powerful as he would make us, we do not want him here. We can keep him from being pulled in any further, but that is all. You and Melchior have to bring him fully back into your dimension before the portal closes or he'll be torn in two," Masa warned.
"Alpha, Glenn, I have to -- make right again..." Magus gasped out, "...no matter the cost..."
"This price is too great," Alpha declared in anguish.
He thought that Magus was a tiny bit closer than before. Startled he looked up and only a few feet from him, yet immeasurably far away, locked gazes with Masa. Masa nodded slightly.
"Yes, Hero, he is closer to you. What did you do?" Masa confirmed mentally.
"I don't know," Alpha admitted softly.
"Janus,I need you here. You cannot leave me!" Schala pleaded, as she cast a puzzled look at the frog knight.
"You'll be all right. Glenn -- will take care of you. You -- don't need me..." Magus gasped, "...and I can free him again -- from my curse..."
Alpha noted that Magus seemed to be receding from him again and saw the truth of it in Masa's eyes. He suddenly realized that Magus' desire to uncurse him was what had overwhelmed Schala's spell and that Magus' own will was what was putting him in such peril.
"Magus, she doth need thee. Not the Magus who killed Cyrus, nor the Magus that cursed me so long ago, nor the Magus who warred on Guardia, but the Magus who saved her from Dalton's dark dimension. She need'eth the Magus who paint'eth her portrait. She need'eth the Magus that thou art just now beginning to become. All of us need that Magus, my -- friend," Alpha spoke intently.
He noticed that Magus hung on every word and the invisible force pulling him toward the Masamune lessened.
"...but -- the debt I owe you is so great... This is the least..." Magus began.
"I'm not going to let thee off so easily!" Alpha interrupted. "Thou hast much to learn of being a friend and being a brother!"
"...but --what of the curse I placed on you? And what of Cyrus?"
"Cyrus' death will forever be before mine eyes, but his spirit doth rest now and I can let go my hatred of the Magus who slew him. Thy willingness to sacrifice thy life to undo this curse remind'eth me of Cyrus and show'eth me how far thee hath grown from the Magus who killed him. Thou canst not leave us just when thou art discovering goodness in thine heart!"
"Janus, let go your guilt; return to us! Alpha does not hold this against you. How can you hold it against yourself?" Schala pleaded.
"...I must make right... I can feel that I will lose the cursing power when this Gate closes... If I hold it and go -- to the Masamune -- what we tried to do might still work..." Magus admitted.
"Oh, my friend, nay, not at the cost of thine own life!" Alpha cried out as he fell to his knees next to Magus. "Tis too much like Cyrus! Thou canst not leave me thus..."
"...but I -- took Cyrus from you, turned you into a frog..." Magus contradicted.
"Thou fool! I'd rather be a frog and haveth thee here, as my friend, than be a man again and haveth thee gone..." Alpha vowed.
"You value – me -- that much?" Magus asked, amazed.
"And more," Alpha confirmed.
"You'd stay a frog..." Magus started. "You compared me to Cyrus? Forever as you are now so that I can live? Knowing that I lose the chance to try this again; to uncurse you in any other way? My life means... I matter that much to you?" Magus spent a long moment pondering that truth. He knew that he respected Alpha, thought of him in his own heart as a friend, he didn't realize that Alpha felt such a strong friendship for him too.
Magus found himself facing a painful decision. If he stopped fighting the pull of the Masamune's dimension, he would be drawn through and perish. His death would free Glenn from his curse, but rejecting the friendship that Glenn was so desperately offering would hurt the frog knight. If he trusted in that friendship he could win free of the gate only to forfeit his life to Cyrus -- which would also free Glenn. Death in the void between dimensions was probably less painful than what Cyrus had planned for him, but Magus decided that he wouldn't risk hurting Glenn any more.
Alpha watched as Magus worked through his disbelief. Each truth that Magus accepted brought him closer to Alpha and further from the treacherous gate that gaped open before him. Alpha looked again toward Masa and Mune and saw the relief that flooded their faces. That moment he reached forward and dragged Magus physically from the gate.
As soon as Melchior realized Magus was free he stopped fighting the gate and allowed the portal to close. Magus looked up into Alpha's face and then at the rapidly closing portal.
"No! Schala, once more, use all the respect and honor, all the friendship I feel for Glenn, bind it to my cursing power, enclose it in the sword! Try once more for me, I beg you!" Magus cried to his sister as he reached with his will toward the Gate.
Alpha reached forward and grasped Magus to keep him from moving toward the portal. He felt Magus manipulating magic in a way he'd never witnessed before and felt when Schala brought her power to bear on it.
Melchior, aware of this last attempt to augment the sword, slowed the closing of the portal but could not halt it. Alpha watched as Magus and Schala spun a green field of magical energy between them. Schala shaped the field and sent the energy through the portal toward Masa and Mune. Alpha watched as the green energy wave entered the tiny gate before it closed for good. A strained, stunned look on Masa's face was the last impression of the Masamune's dimension that he had.
Melchior collapsed to his knees. Schala sat heavily upon a tree stump and Magus turned his head to look pointedly toward Alpha. Alpha realized he still had a deathgrip on Magus and freed him.
"That was a valiant try, Janus, Schala, but I think the Gate closed too swiftly for your spell to reach the Masamune," Melchior noted heavily. "What went wrong?"
"I did," Magus admitted. "I knew I felt guilty for cursing Glenn, I never realized how guilty. When the portal opened... I couldn't let go of the cursing power. It has been part of me for so long... I wanted to do the right thing, let it go, free Glenn; I couldn't. My guilt overwhelmed me and I was starting to enter the sword. Never have I been so perfectly balanced between a good impulse and one not so good."
"I'm glad to see the good impulse won out," Schala smiled. "That's the Janus I know!"
"That's the friend I want to have," Alpha added.
"My selfishness..." Magus began.
"Thou intend'eth the right thing. I had to argue thee out of sacrificing thy life! There is no selfishness in what thou try'eth to do here. I know thou hath only the best of intentions," Alpha countered.
"Well, be that as it may, you'd better check the Masamune and make sure it took no lasting harm," Melchior told Alpha. He turned toward Magus and Schala. "I really wish you'd trusted me enough to confide in me. This did not have to be the near-disaster that it became," Melchior complained.
Alpha went over and tugged the sword from the ground. He held it up and looked carefully at the blade's edge while he mentally called to the brothers.
"Art thou unhurt?"
"Shaken and a little frightened. As powerful as we could have become as the Masagusmune, we are glad you saved Magus from merging with us," Masa reported.
Alpha laughed and passed that message on.
"Masagusmune! That even sounds nasty!" Melchior noted.
"Thank you, Alpha, for rescuing him," Schala said as she hugged her brother.
"Yes, thank you. This is the first real hug I've earned from my big sister since -- well, since Lavos dropped me through a Timegate," Magus said softly as he hugged his sister back. "I've changed so much..."
"Not as much as Alpha did when you cursed him, or as much as we did when you pulled your little stunt, or as much as Alpha will now," Mune crowed in Alpha's mind.
Alpha was still trying to figure out what Mune meant so he could pass it on to Melchior when a green beam shot from the Masamune and engulfed him. He felt a weird wrenching sensation, one that was half-familiar, and the world spun about him. When the spinning stopped he found himself on the ground, head and shoulders supported by Magus and Schala and the most stunned expression on the Guru's face.
"It, it worked? The portal stayed open long enough! I didn't want to tell you that Schala and Janus had it right, they took his cursing power and shaped it so that it could be enclosed in the sword... I didn't want you to regret... I thought we failed..." words failed the Guru. "You are..."
"...human again. Yes, I can feel it," Glenn said as he stood up. He shook his head and spread his legs as if unsure of his balance. He held his hands up before his face and looked at them in wonder, then pushed impatiently at the hair falling in his face. He smiled brilliantly in surprised delight.
Magus stood also and looked across into Glenn's face as awe filled his voice, "You've grown from when I first cursed you. You were a youth, short, scrawny, gangly. Now..."
"Now, well... Wow!" Schala said as she stood and dusted herself off.
"Thanks, in no small part, to thee, milady," Glenn said as he kissed the back of her hand, "and in large part to thee as well," he bowed gracefully to Melchior who nodded his head.
"Magus..." Glenn clasped Magus and patted his back. "I know how hard it was for thee to separate thy skill from thyself and give it up for me..."
"Aside from saving my sister, it is the best and noblest thing I've ever done!" Magus noted as Glenn released him.
"Not to obsess about it but I know these things and the gate closed too fast for Schala's spell to reach the Masamune's dimension. I am overjoyed at your return to normal, I just wish I could explain it!" Melchior said.
"It was Mune. While I kept Magus from getting dragged all the way in here, he was thinking of a way to save the spell if what we were trying worked. Mune came partially through the gate from our side and old man Melchior did slow the closing of the gate enough for Mune to catch the spell as I dragged him back here," Masa explained.
"Mune, came into our world though the Gate a little and caught the spell that Schala sent," Glenn explained.
"But the spell was designed to enclose the power in the sword; for a transformation spell to be cast from the sword's dimension once and dissipate the power. I didn't intend to permanently alter the sword. I did not want to risk Masa's and Mune's lives that way! How is it that Mune could alter such a specific spell?" Schala puzzled.
"Nothing is impossible for the wind! Whoosh!" Mune responded.
Glenn laughed and passed Mune's comment on to everyone else. He stretched his arms out and commented, "There are some things I shall miss about being a frog, but it is so good to be human again!"
"Wellll..." Mune began.
"What?" Glenn asked sharply.
"I said nothing," Schala replied.
"No, he's talking to the sword. You get used to it," Magus pointed out.
"Mune went out and intercepted the spell Schala sent to the sword. He didn't like parts of it so he – lost? -- them on the way back. Cast them into the void between dimensions. It was the part about enclosing the power in the sword and the part about dissipating the power after the spell was triggered. When Mune returned here we kept the spell, well the parts we liked. Of course, that means the power in enclosed within us, not the sword, but we didn't think anyone would mind so much. It also means we control the spell so it's not a permanent change back to human," Masa clarified.
"So thou canst..." Glenn thought.
"...change you whenever we want," Masa confirmed.
"My life just got stranger," Glenn noted out loud.
"What do you mean?" Melchior asked.
"The brothers alter'eth Schala's spell and now have the ability to change my shape at their whim," Glenn explained. Just then the sword spilled green light over him and changed him into a frog.
"See'eth what I mean? Couldst thou please let me enjoy being human for a time before rendering me as a frog again?" Alpha complained to his sword.
"You have only to ask! At least, most of the time. Okay, Hero, be a man again!" Masa responded as they transformed him back.
"Orion is not going to be happy," Glenn noted with a twisted smile and humor sparking in his green eyes.
"I'd think he'd be most happy for you!" Magus exclaimed.
"Well, he doth not like how Ariel regard'eth me in this guise and he's going to have to spar with me to aid me in relearning how to fight as a man again. Last time, relearning how to fight as Alpha, he accept'eth a Leap Slash from me," Glenn admitted.
"Indeed? So the punk kid has his uses after all; at least as a target. I'm teasing!" Magus declared at the reproachful looks tossed his way. "Does that -- hurt at all? Being changed from one form to another?" Magus asked.
"Nay. It be strange, but not painful. I detect the delicate hand of thy lady sister in that, since the first transformation caused by thy curse and the breaking and the reinstating of that curse were most painful," Glenn said as he locked his gaze on Schala.
"I simply thought that you had suffered enough. Now, since your sword can change you at whim, I'm glad I thought to adjust the spell. Unless I am completely mistaken, Masa and Mune are as high-spirited and uncontrollable as they were in Zeal and you are never going to know what form you're going to wake up in!" Schala warned with a glance at the sword.
"Oh, she's just being all adult! Once she used to like playing with us!" Mune complained.
"We'll change you when we want, sometimes when you want, but not so much that it becomes tedious or unbearable. We really are glad that this curse has been lifted from you," Masa promised quietly.
"Yeah, under it all, well, we -- kinda like you. We don't want you to get tired of us or upset at us. You are the Hero after all! Hey, how 'bout Magus being the one to break the curse, Masa? Was that cool, or what?"
"He's not as nasty as he used to be. Must be the Hero wearing off on him. At this rate, he'll be a good guy before he knows it!" Masa agreed.
Glenn laughed and relayed most of the conversation on to Schala, Magus and Melchior.
"I never! A good guy? Me? I shall have to do something to retain my reputation. I wouldn't know how to behave if people didn't cower in fear and tremble at my name! Me? Good?" Magus huffed.
"If you curse anyone else ever again, Janus, I swear I'll smack you!" Schala promised. "You can't get away with evil behavior when I'm around."
"Can I at least continue to scowl menacingly? I'm so good at it!" Magus teased as he demonstrated.
"Boy, you sure are! Yeah, scowling is okay. You can look like you're about to do something truly despicable, just don't do it! C'mere, little brother," Schala opened her arms and hugged Magus tight. "I'm glad we did this. You are going to learn that you really are a good person under all your posturing. I wouldn't change the way you are for anything!"
"Nor would I," Melchior added, "But, I've got work to do at the castle. Shall we return?"
"Glenn, I just had the most wicked idea..." Magus began as he threw his arm around Glenn's shoulders.
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Author's notes:
I give up trying to come up with a good fight for Dalton. He drove me crazy in the game and I guess he had to drive me crazy in the story, too.
Next chapter teaser: Chapter Thirteen -- Dark power swirls ever nearer in Magus' soul. The time for his final reckoning with Cyrus' ghost is as hand!
Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get.
stargarde (at) yahoo (dot) com