Chapter 14 - Under My Protection

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Margarette asked for the umpteenth time. Sebastian nodded beside her. “If you’re really sure...”

“Don’t worry Margarette, I’ll take care of Sebastian,” Dorin assured her.

They were standing in front of the entrance of the East Dormitories. Sebastian’s bandaged right hand, hanging from a sling around his neck. Margarette looked at Sebastian one last time and sighed. It was a good thing that only the tips of his left fingers got injured.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow then,” she said, turning around, “my training ends at 2 PM, I’ll go to the Photography Club room as soon as I can. I’ll keep in touch.”

The two were left in silence. They made their way to their room, not saying a word. Dorin placed his bag inside his closet and changed into a shirt. Sebastian took his coat off and was about to climb up his bed when Dorin stopped him.

“Sebastian,” he called to his roommate. “I want to apologize again for what happened.” Sebastian nodded and proceeded to climb his bunk bed again. “Aren’t you going to get something to eat?” Sebastian shook his head. “What about our photography assignment?”

Sebastian stared at him, then raised his right hand.

“I can help you...” offered Dorin, but the other shook his head once more. “There must be something I can do to make it up to you?” he asked.

Sebastian stared at him, got off the ladder leading to his bed and took his slate from the desk.

[You late kitchen] he wrote clumsily, then [I wait]

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later!” said Dorin as he left the room.

The Dorm Mistress had given Dorin an earful when he arrived. She sent him to the kitchen in a hurry since it was way past 6 pm. It was much later when he returned with a bag of leftovers for Sebastian. His room mate had changed into a pair of striped pajamas and had removed the sling on his arm. He was working on his camera.

“I brought back some food, you should eat something.” Sebastian nodded in reply. Dorin watched as Sebastian arranged his negatives on the desk. “Have you chosen which ones to get printed?” he asked. The other nodded and pointed at 4 shots. “What about the assignment they gave us?”

Sebastian gave him a thumbs-up sign. He patted his camera and wrote, [help develop film]

“Wha- what did you take pictures of?” asked Dorin, dumbstruck.

Sebastian pointed at the window.

Dorin went to the only window in the room, threw back the drapes and understood. They were on the third floor, and behind the dorm were the woods which lead to a dense forest. The moon was out with the stars in the night sky, glittering like a million diamonds along the Milky Way.

“And here I felt guilty for taking pictures of the old brick oven, thinking it’s my fault you won’t be able to pass any more photos tomorrow...”

[I’m fine]

Dorin watched as Sebastian wrote some more, his left hand clumsily holding the pen against his slate.

“Here, let me see that...”

Dorin took the slate and pen from his friend. He flipped the slate around, passed a hand on its surface, and wrote several symbols in the air above it. Then he started mumbling some discernible words.

A pentagram suddenly appeared on top of the slate, to Sebastian’s surprise, followed by a couple of other symbols floating in mid air and melting into the slate’s surface. Lastly, Dorin faced him and touched the side of his face. Sebastian stepped back, staring at him wide-eyed, but the other held on, mumbling more words as another pentagram appeared before him and sank into the middle of his forehead.

‘What the hell did this nut job just do?!’ thought Sebastian as he pulled away.

“Oh, it works!” Dorin said, looking at the slate. “Here, as an apology for earlier.” He handed the slate back to Sebastian who looked at him quizzically. Dorin grinned from ear to ear.

‘What the hell... if my head starts to blow up...’ thought Sebastian.

“Look at the slate!” Dorin insisted with a laugh.

‘Don’t tell me the slate’s gonna blow – ’

Sebastian looked at the slate, reading his own thoughts.

“Since it’s my fault that you couldn’t use your hands, I thought it best to connect your thoughts to your slate.”

[You’re a fucking artificer?!]

The thoughts magically appeared on the slate.

[What the hell?! Is there nothing you can’t do?!?]

“Actually, you can say I’m a jack of all trades,” Dorin scratched his head and grinned. “All I can do are simple spells and charms and small stuff like these... but I get addled when I try the bigger spells...”

[You call this simple-small stuff?] Sebastian thought. [Some magic charm students would give an arm and a leg to learn stuff like this! Maybe by ‘big stuff’ you mean cataclysmic spells!]

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“I wouldn’t say that, my mother could do spells like these with her eyes closed...” he paused for a bit. “Well, you know what I mean...”

[What’s more, how were you able to write runes and magic symbols in thin air?! That’s a skill that only top tier arch mages can accomplish!] he added. [And that haphazard spell earlier with the rifle, what the hell were you thinking? Does everything you touch blow up? If something doesn’t work properly, you go ask someone else for advice! Don’t try to force your own way into something you hardly know anything about!]

Sebastian’s words crowded in the small slate and fixed itself to fit the writing area. They disappear as new thoughts enter his mind.

[I can’t believe I was actually trying to save you, had I known you were immune to injury, I would have just pulled Margarette and ran the hell away from you!]

“Yes, I was alarmed myself when you suddenly put up that shield.” Dorin looked at Sebastian seriously. The other was taken aback. He didn’t think Dorin noticed his attempt to shield him.

“Please don’t do things like that in the future,” he said. “Up to now, I still don’t understand the reason behind such an action. Not to mention, that the shield hardly made it in time.” Sebastian stared at Dorin.

[What do you mean you ‘can’t understand’? Anyone would have done the same thing! Wouldn’t you do the same if I were in your situation?]

“No.” Dorin replied. “I believe you are capable enough to defend yourself. Putting myself in jeopardy to save another is counterproductive for both of us. Let us say we are on a mission. If we both get injured by trying to save the other, then the mission would have been a failure,” he explained. “In that situation, it is better to leave the other behind, rather than getting pulled down along with them.”

[Just how did your mother raise you up? Is she trying to make a psychopath out of you?] Thought Sebastian without thinking.

“Huh? But isn’t that the truth? The priority of all living things is to keep themselves safe, if they have no capacity to do so, then isn’t it inevitable for that species to die out?”

Dorin spoke with such a straight face that Sebastian shivered involuntarily.

[No. If that was true, then we wouldn’t have any rabbits left.” Sebastian frowned. “It’s like saying that all non combatants in a kingdom are destined to die out. And if that is so, then who would be there to do the menial tasks? To grow things, mend things, sell, cook, clean for other people?]

“Aren’t those things that every person can do for themselves? But of course I didn’t mean it that literally. It’s just something I read in one of the philosophical books mother brought back home...”

[Thus, the reason why you should talk to more people, not get stuck in a mountain somewhere, filling your head with thoughts like that each day. There are different people in this world with different believes and opinions. Listening to them can mean a whole world of difference]

“Oh, we did talk about it, my friend Eirian and mother and I. Eirian likes to spoil me, you see, that’s why mother called for Marcus when I was three. After all, I should be able to keep myself safe at all times.”

[My God, Dorin... You’re giving me goose bumps! What have they been teaching you?]

Dorin took Sebastian’s arm and pulled up the sleeve to look at his skin.

“Woah, you really do have goose bumps!” Sebastian pulled his arm away. “But I see nothing wrong with what my mother said, that’s why I’m telling you now, you don’t need to look after me.”

[It’s not like I wanted to help you in the first place... If it wasn’t for that geis..] he gasped, looking at the slate. [How the hell do you turn this thing off?!?] He turned the slate around, but Dorin had already read the words that were written on it.

“A geis?” he asked, “Did my aunt put you through it?”

Sebastian fell silent, the slate turned upside down.

“Stupid.” Dorin starts laughing. “If you really are under a geis, then you wouldn’t have been able to mention it right now, most especially to me!”

Sebastian’s eyes widen. He looks back at the slate and shows it to Dorin. [The fuck... Is that true? That is true, isn’t it? Then what the hell did I do that for? And... why wasn’t I affected?]

“I remember Marcus called you a ‘Silver’, is this true?”

Sebastian hesitated, then finally nodded, the slate turned upside down on his lap.

“When I was younger, I heard a story about a line of mages called ‘Silvers’,” said Dorin. “I heard they are very strong enchanters who could command people with their voice... That they are very beautiful...”

Dorin paused to look as Sebastian.

Sebastian felt pissed.

“Anyway, they are also very immune to geists and other suggestions to the mind,” Dorin continued with a smile. “That means you didn’t try to save me because you had no choice,” he said. “You were just... weak.”

Sebastian flinched.

He held the slate tight against his chest, thoughts flying in his head.

“But don’t worry,” Dorin added, “you are now my sworn brother, so I will take you under my wing and my protection.”

Sebastian Revious stared at his roommate, cleared his mind, and handed him the slate.

[Please tell me how to turn this thing off] was written on it.

“Why? don’t you like it?” Dorin asked a bit surprised.

[It is saying too much]

Dorin laughed again.

“That’s right, I never thought someone as expressionless as you would have such thoughts.” He took the slate from Sebastian who first made sure nothing revealing was written on it before letting go. “I’ll add a spell so you can turn it off and show only what you want to be written. Just think of what you want to say and it will reflect on the slate.” Again, runes appeared in the air and sank into the surface of the slate. “Try it now,” said Dorin with a smile.

the words [Dorin] appeared on the slab.

[I pity you]

Dorin looked up at Sebastian, but before he could say another word, Sebastian took the slate from his hands and held it up to his face. [Thank you for this. It is a great help to me] Then he went to bed and closed the drapes.