Chương 12: Chapter 11

Shaya took a deep breath to centre herself in the moment and drew in Jade aether. She felt the energy enter her spirit and pause as it met the Amber aether already within her. The Jade recoiled, the Amber's influence pushing her to disregard the present in favour of the future. Fighting back the Amber's swelling hope, she focused on the moment—anchoring herself in the here and now through her breath and letting everything else go, including the Amber's hopes for a bright future.

She stepped towards the gryphon, hands out cautiously, but it stopped her with its huge beak. It pushed her away. Towards the gryphlet.

"I think you're in worse shape, you have to let me help you first." Its feathers flared and its eyes narrowed. As she moved towards it again, it clacked its beak as a threat and pushed her away with a brusque shove.

"Okay," she sighed.

"I, of all people, can't judge you for being stubborn." She turned and walked to the gryphlet, her steps more urgent. Every second lost arguing meant more blood loss for both her patients. Kneeling before the child, she gasped at its injuries. One of its front legs was mangled from the Ur's casual brutality, as was part of its face. Those claw marks were the worst, splitting flesh and muscle open, but bite marks also covered the little body from where the Cinwolves had dragged it from its roost to here.

The creature was breathing, but it whimpered despite Shaya's spell to help it endure pain. I don't know if we can save it.

"Phaedra!" she invoked.

"Bless this ravaged body and seal its wounds!" She tried to draw in more Jade, but again the soothing, serene aether recoiled at her wandering mind. She grasped for the power as it fled her, but her frustrated efforts only made the energy dissipate faster.

"Come on!" she growled at herself, her fists tightening until her claws bit into flesh. Calm down and focus. Shaya stopped her mind's flailing and took a slow breath to centre herself despite the urgency. She pushed through the Amber's influence to recognize and acknowledge her fear, the chance that she would fail, the possibilities, and set those feelings aside. She focused on her breathing, that very moment, knowing what needed to happen now and not worrying about later until it came around.

She drew in the Jade again, letting the serenity flow into her at its own pace. The colours around her grew more distinct, she smelled the overwhelming metallic tang of blood, and she heard with perfect clarity the little rasps the gryphlet took as it breathed. Despite her concern for its life, Shaya let the fear pass over her and continued to draw in more aether, surrendering to the calming energy growing within her.

Jade light bloomed in her eyes as the reservoir of power grew, curling and twining around the golden halos present from the Amber within her. The Jade glow faded as she coaxed the energy into the shape of her healing spell, and with it the world began to return to a lifeless, dull grey. Several heart beats passed as she encouraged the aether to grow into the formula she needed, but then she felt resistance in her spirit, an odd pressure from deep within.

As she feared, her circuits still weren't able to hold two spells of this complexity at the same time. She had to release the spell that allowed her to endure the pain she was under. She braced herself. And released the Amber spell. The reassuring warmth fled from her body and it felt like someone splashed her with ice water. She gasped as her senses reawakened, her nerves flaring back to life and in a full state of alarm.

She doubled over from the crippling pain, tears streaming from one eye and only now noticing the other was swollen shut. Through the pain, she clung to her healing spell, maintaining concentration on it despite her body trying to reject consciousness. She let seconds pass by, allowing the Amber aether to leave her circuits completely before trying to put more aether into them.

She could have pushed the Jade in right away, but knew it would burn out her circuits when she needed them all functional to perform all the healing spells needed here. With a few more seconds, she closed the formula. Tendrils of Jade light spread from her hands and formed a gentle cocoon around the gryphlet's mangled leg, despite the child now squirming and screeching in pain. Shaya took in another deep breath and released the spell, feeling vigour and life flow into the gryphlet's and encouraging it to heal.

The open wounds on the limb scabbed over, staunching the worst of the bleeding, but the bones still bent at awkward angles. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"I've got you, little guy." Shaya took several more heart beats to cast the spell again, her Jade-enhanced senses introducing her to new levels of agony. She gritted her teeth through the amplified pain, feeling her jaw grind and ache with Jade's unwanted help, but managed to form the spell and close the wounds on the gryphlet's face.

"There you go, now maybe your parent will let me heal them." Shaya smiled down at the child, pleased that it was breathing smoothly and no longer screeching. Hopefully a skilled healer can fix the leg later. Fatigue caused her to stumble as she stood, her head pounding from channelling so much aether in a short span. Still grinding her teeth against all the pain in her body and spirit, she walked back towards the gryphon and this time approached it without interference.

Rather than waste time inspecting it, she picked the first wound and started casting her spell.

"You really took a beating, but we're damned lucky you got here before us," she said conversationally. Her headache was growing worse as she forced more aether through her spirit, her metaphysical muscles pushed to their limits. She coaxed the spell to completion and waited for the Jade tendrils to move towards the wound, but nothing happened. Frowning, she focused on her spell formula and double-checked it—the Jade flowed through it without resistance. It was a complete formula, if a bit sloppy by her standards.

Shaya opened her bloodshot eye and looked at her shaking hands held out before her, still willing the spell to enter the gryphon and get its wounds sealed. She took a step closer to it, laying her hands on its body and quieting her heart as it hammered in her chest. She listened for the gryphon's heartbeat, waiting for its body to rise as it took another breath. Nothing.

"Spit," she murmured, leaning against the gryphon, "I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner. I'll take care of your kid to the best of my ability, I promise." A polite cough brought her back to reality, and she turned to see Jax standing a few feet away.

"Immediate area's secure, boss." Shaya nodded.

"Anything of note to report?" She frowned when she heard her slur the words.

"Aye, lots of contraband. Looks like the Eclipse used this old mine as a base of operations for one of their smuggling rings, and far more recently than the decrepit wood would otherwise suggest. We have alchemical supplies and recipes, all military-grade. Likely destined for Lythrana."

"Bastards. Any sign of the smugglers?"

"Maybe. Lots of hollow bones around here, boss. Some discarded weapons. The Cinwolves might have got them when they moved in here for shelter." Shaya huffed.

"There's some justice in that, I guess. How much contraband are we talking about?"

"A lot. Too many crates for us to carry."

"The villagers didn't mention anything about this mine or traders that come up this way," Shaya thought aloud.

"Odd that an operation of this scale could get by a settlement of hunters without notice."

"Very suspicious." Jax nodded.

"Alright, grab all the recipes and paperwork at least, see if there's any evidence amongst it—letters, connections to Eclipse members or supporters. We'll report the crates to my father, he can send a troop to pick them up when there's time."

"Already done. There's something else," the old man said, looking torn between pleased and worried.

"The Lair's been around long enough to form aethercyte—Rubycyte, of course."

"How much are we talking?" Shaya asked, eyes widening as she imagined the amount of money they may have just stumbled into.

"A single crystal vein, about the size of my arm," Jax reported.

"It doesn't look stable though, I think we'll need to send for experts—Krebo and I aren't exactly the bookish type of mages."

"We'll leave it to Lumir then, even that much aethercyte will fetch a fair price for the duchy."

"Sounds good. What do you want us to do with the spawn?"

"Harvest them. The natural aether in their parts and organs will net us and the duchy a handsome sum from alchemists and enchanters."

"And the gryphons?" Shaya took in a deep breath and sighed, looking toward the gryphon's body again. They were rare, magical creatures in their own right and could make them even more money. Money which they desperately needed.

"We'll give them a proper burial in here," she said after a moment's hesitation.

"We won't be able to carry all the spawn bits anyway, and they're generally worth more."

"Good call," Jax nodded in approval, "I'll get Gazno and Krebo on that, they're spit at skinning and gutting anyway."

"I can help with the burial."

"No, boss, you're going to be busy." He pointed at the gryphlet, as it stood up on three legs and hobbled towards its parents. It nuzzled its beak against the gryphons, then released a low whine when there was no response.

"Astoria, give me strength," Shaya said, walking to the gryphlet and kneeling beside it.

"Hey, little guy." It looked up at her with big eyes, then back at its parent, continuing to nuzzle them. It looked back at her and seemed to remember how she healed it earlier, and nipped at her hands, trying to pull them towards its parent. Its eyes bored into her and it released a pitiful squawk, waiting for her to do something. Expecting her to help.

"I'm sorry, I tried, I can't," She said, shaking her head and reaching out a hand to comfort it. The gryphlet nipped her fingers harder this time, drawing a bit of blood as it pulled her towards its parent.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay. I'll take care of you, don't worry." She scratched its head and pulled it in closer for an embrace. It struggled, but relented and let her hug it gently, minding its broken leg.

"I know what it's like to lose your parents when you're young. We'll get you healed up and send you on your way, if that's what you want." It snuggled into her and let out an exhausted sigh.