Twisting the knob as far as it would go, Hamoni grunted with the effort. "Just changing over the tanks. We collect rainwater every time it rains for drinking and washing, but these magical storms are something different. I'm changing which tank the collected water goes into. The magically charged water goes into this tank." She patted the large glass structure next to her. "We use it for spells and the like."
Just then, a swirling form coalesced inside the water tank, shaping itself to look like a hand, which pounded on the glass where Hamoni stood. She jumped and squeaked, and Teine yelped in surprise, tripping over his feet then falling backwards over a stool that had been set by one of the tables. "What is that?" he practically shouted over the splashing sound coming from the other corner of the room.
"Oh, you startled me!" Hamoni scolded, waving an angry finger at the form in the glass. It changed to something resembling a humanoid head and torso, but with a relatively featureless face. Then, she turned to Teine, "It's just a water elemental. No need to go all buggy."
"It looks furious."
"It probably is," she agreed. "He's been all full of spite since Madric extracted one and put it in a bucket to study last week. They've all been cranky since then- so much so, we had to take the one that ran our plumbing system and store him back in this tank with the others."
Teine found himself righting the stool and going over toward the splashing he'd heard earlier. "Over here?"
"Yes. In the bucket, on the floor. Look, but don't touch."
That sounded like a pretty sensible plan to Teine. Just thinking of water that could move by itself was a little scary, but touching it seemed like an obviously bad idea. He padded cautiously across the room, eyes fixed on the bucket sitting next to a big desk strewn with papers. As nothing leapt out to drown him, Teine walked right up and looked directly down into the bucket for several seconds.
Nothing happened. "I think it wore itself out." he told Hamoni, looking around at the puddles.
"Not surprising," she countered. "It's the smallest one of the bunch. It's probably not as hardy as the others." She'd drifted over and was sitting behind the other desk in the room, idly flipping the pages of a book, while reaching into her apron pocket and setting the golden bracelet out on the desk. While Teine watched, she grabbed a quill and jotted a few quick notes, then rose and came over to join Teine at the bucket vigil.
"It's probably hungry," she sighed, looking down into the vessel of still water. "I'd probably better feed it."
"What does a water elemental eat?" Teine asked, fascinated. "Water?"
"Well, that's what we've been feeding it," she replied, snatching a watering can off one of the benches. A good sized flowering houseplant with white blooms sat next to watering can on the bench. It reached out with several small branches and tendrils as Hamoni took the can and looked into it. "Ah, good, still full enough. Yes, we've been refreshing it with water from the last storm, when it seems listless. So far, it seems to be working, but admittedly we're just at the beginning of elemental studies. No-one's been able to capture and hold one without it expiring within a day or two until this past year."
Teine was impressed. Impressed by the elementals, and impressed by the amazing plant that apparently Hamoni either didn't see, or was commonplace enough to not be worthy of comment. Until then, he'd had no idea Madric was not only this accomplished, but also that he was paving new ground for other wizards. "And this branch of study is called conjuring? Summoning? Elem..."
"Elementalism?" Hamoni asked, sprinkling water from the watering can into the bucket. Teine watched the surface of the water closely. It looked like the ripples the added water made were out of proportion to the amount of water being poured.
Hamoni looked pleased. "Conjuring is creating something that didn't exist before. Summoning is the fetching and bringing of something that existed somewhere else to you." She turned and walked back to where the watering can had rested, then noticed the plant's antics. "Oh, hungry, are we?" she crooned, reaching into a jar. She pulled out out a live white mouse, and casually tossed it into the thickest network of the plant's branches. The mouse was instantly entwined in vines. Teine watched soundlessly as the hapless rodent emitted one loud squeak of pain and alarm before it was covered completely. The white blooms on the plant began to blush to a pink. Hamoni poured some of the magical water on the plant, then regarded it with a skeptic's eye.
"Oh, all right." she muttered, and tossed it another mouse. Within another few moments the plant's flowers had deepened in color to a brilliant red, like fresh blood, and a soft, delicate fragrance perfumed the air. "They're called 'blood roses,'" she told Teine. "The old texts mentioned them constantly, but we assumed they were extinct. That is, until they started Awakening last year." she finished, looking triumphant. "We'll be studying this one, taking cuttings and trying to get it to seed. The old records from the last Age mentioned these can get big enough to dispose of an adult's corpse."
Teine found himself blinking and staring, unable to get that image out of his mind. The next thing he knew, Hamoni was at his side, steering him by the arm. "Come on, then." she said, leading him from the room. She paused only to turn out the light and lock the door. "You look as though you have had quite enough for one day. Let's get you settled in for the night."
Gratefully Teine nodded and allowed himself to be led. "I think the plant tripped my breaker," he chuckled weakly. "It's been a... " he trailed off, because the day had really defied all description.
"It's all right, don't worry," Hamoni told him. Then she was silent, allowing Teine the sanctity of his own thoughts without any demands of further conversation.
Within minutes she'd deposited him in his room and had left him to himself. Teine explored the room briefly in the course of changing into his pajamas while wishing the storm were over so he could look out the window and figure out which direction he was facing. He was certain the view would be worth the wait. After a minute, though, he was forced to give up and admit that the multiple corkscrew laps up the inside of the tower wall were affecting his judgment. When Teine discovered the magnificent suite also had its own bathroom attached, he marveled at the size of the tub but only got as far as imagining the running water before the memories of the angry water elementals stopped him cold.
When he climbed into the amazing bed, Teine groaned with pleasure at the thick softness of the mattress and the silken feel of the sheets. His bunk in Mastiff Cohort had consisted of a feather mattress set onto a steel spring frame. It offered good support and was comfortable, but this- this was heavenly. Reaching for his satchel, he dumped everything onto his bed and stared dumbly at his clothes, sketchbook, journal and mail, trying to decide what he'd do first. He knew he should read Vosh's letter right away, but a small, childish part of him wanted to toss the letter aside and write Vosh, first. Teine envisioned scribbling a long, fat, newsy letter that began with the words "You'll never guess where I am!"
But envisioning was as far as he got before he fell asleep with his cheek resting on the wire spine of his writing journal.
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The Gilded Shackle is the first book in The Evermancer Saga, a series of online serial novels. Go go right to the most recent chapter, go to www.evermancer.com.
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