Chapter 35 — I Win

  I came to a few moments later, the lights were back on and Fren stood over me, assessing my body. He was clearly worried—fear evident in his eyes and movements in a way I never knew they could convey. He was so solid, so strong, I’d never seen him afraid before. Now he was over my possible harm. He was a good friend; he had my back.

  “So, who won that one?” I groaned with a chuckle, hoping to ease my best friend’s worry. Fren had a brand in the shape of a thin, rough rectangle which matched the size of my iron knuckles on one side of his face. I knew iron hurt the fae, but I’d never used iron as a weapon against Fren. His response, I knew, had been automatic and self-preserving.

  “Foolish son of Adam,” He growled. “I could have killed you.”

  “You didn’t,” I said. “It just feels that way.” I sat up, my body protesting the movement but for Fren I could act like all was well. My shin ached like fire where it has been struck before and my ribs were more than uncomfortable. I’d probably broken or cracked at least one by crashing into the shelving but that was okay, Fren could heal me.

  “Are you well, are you hurt?” The forest ancient asked with alacrity as I moved.

  “I’m fine,” I said, as I felt myself for further injuries. While I hurt, I wasn’t in any immediate life or death danger. I stood, my body protesting—my back screaming in pain—but I was able to stand. If I didn’t have the option for magical healing, I’d likely have needed to go into the ER to get an X-ray and some good muscle relaxers for the next few days. I’d have to have a professional make sure I didn’t have a fracture somewhere I wasn’t aware of.

  My ‘tier 2 Body’ had probably helped me stave off the worse of the injuries I otherwise would have had. I was more than eager to gain ‘tier 3’. Once I had a chance to meditate and cultivate, this fight would bring me incrementally closer to that level of renewed, strength, reflexes, and healing. My bones and tissues were already the ideal humans, like an aggressively good athlete would have, but it was still far from supernatural territory. Plenty of humans for that matter were probably close to what I could do, given that I hadn’t pushed myself to the max of what my Body attribute would allow.

  Fren relaxed as I stood. When I stepped past him towards the glen he followed. He was limping as well. I realized with concern that half of his body was limp as if he’d had a severe stroke.

  “Fren! Are you alright?” I turned to assess my friend, seeing the signs of more significant injuries than I thought he could sustain from our bout.

  “I will heal,” he said with finality.

  “What happened? Did you expend too much energy?”

  “It was the iron’s effects upon my mind,” Fren said. “I have lost control of much of myself.”

  “Oh shit…” I said heart racing. “I’m so sorry, how can I help?” Pure panic stained my words.

  “I will be fine; I simply need to heal the damage and purge the effects of iron. It will take time but can be done.”

  “Iron did all that?”

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  “Iron disrupts and inhibits magic,” Fren said, his tone and voice somewhat diminished. “My soul is fused to my being by magic. The iron sought to sunder me from myself.”

  “I could have killed you…” I stammered, realizing how stupid and reckless my attack had been, “Fren, I’m so sorry.”

  “No. This alone, even much more, would not be enough to kill me. But it would take me long to recover. I had ‘condensed’ my thoughts and being while in my human simulacra to my physical head as humans do. It was a foolish choice. Had I not done it the iron would not have been this damaging. I have learned from this battle as well as you, and an attack such as this will not limit me as much in the future. We must learn and adapt to survive. Our roots grow to support us in direct opposition to the forces we face.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, as I helped Fren awkwardly step down into the glen. His footstep hard enough to crush the loamy earth in a way that showed his true injuries. I was sure it killed plant life, and I knew how hard Fren typically worked to avoid that. He exhaled a relieved breath as his foot touched the solid earth and I watched all the life in the glen twitch, grass blades bending towards Fren the branches on the wall writhing and reaching out to support him as he made his way to his usual spot on the little hill at its center.

  “We have both learned much,” Fren said. “This is the purpose of practice.”

  “But Fren, what if I had killed you?”

  “Then you would have learned how to kill a forest ancient.”

  “Really, how can I help?” I asked, voice small.

  “Allow me rest. I must rejuvenate. If you want to sleep in the glen, I will see to you when I can.”

  “—No. Save the energy. I can wait. I’m fine.”

  “I am sorry for striking you. I introduced the iron into our melee and should have considered its use against me.”

  “I surprise attacked you,” I explained. “This is not your fault.”

  “It is neither of our fault, we fought and…. came to a draw.”

  “I think you would have won. I was in a bad way while you could still have fought on,” I said, running a hand along Fren’s body as it knit itself into the glen and he shifted to his treelike state.

  “Then, I win,” Fren said, his eyes closing as he assumed his meditative state. I felt more than heard a soft hum in the air as Fren worked magic, “And Cal.”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t modify spells as recklessly as you did. I have lost master’s before who got into the habit of using untested spells.”

  I nodded. It had been a risk. One I had been comfortable taking as it was a change on a spell I had already created, but a spell miscast or a spell that pulled too quickly or rapidly on my core could burn out my magical abilities or worse. If I had passed out and been unable to form my shield, that blast would have killed me.

  I’d almost burned out my magical abilities with a fire spell I’d created as a teen. Even the simple unknown force of how powerful the spell could have been could have injured or harmed us both or leveled my shop. The odds of that were slim…but if I managed to craft an unknown spell, the energy I’d put into it might have been sufficient if I’d been very unlucky.

  The odds were significantly against that happening, so I’d chanced it. That had been foolish. Even trying to replicate exactly what I had done might not work again as it would rely on my memory and instinct. When I crafted new spells while meditating in one of my protective and supportive circles on the floor, they could be recalled exactly or replayed by other spells to some degree. That let me take an outside look on what I had done and fine tune any changes, as well as ensure I knew what I had done. It was like running uncontrolled chemistry experiments, vs meticulously taking notes, video, and recording every detail so that you could repeat it again.

  I groaned, but Fren was right. “I’ll try not to. That was definitely too hasty for practice. I’m sorry.”

  Fren didn’t give another answer, which let me know how injured he really was.

  I stepped out of the glen, not wanting him to expend any energy to heal or talk to me. I cursed myself for not thinking and being so reckless. I’d wanted to improve my abilities and instead, I had hurt someone I loved. Fren was fighting off the ground, already at a significant limitation, he’d had to expend energy into the floor and into his connections with the earth to power his attacks and traps. Then I’d blindsided him with an attack of iron. He may have been right that it wasn’t enough to kill him, but what If it had been? Or given him permanent brain damage or something?

  I felt disgusted at myself.