The Runesmith Chronicles Ch. 16

"That's some high-level magic, you're talking about," said Ikuno. "Getting runes to work together like with your haste rune is difficult as you already know. Combining runes is on a whole different level. To my knowledge, I've never met anyone who has ever done it. I will say that with your magic sight you are probably the most likely person to manage such an accomplishment."

Kal smiled and leaned back against Ikuno, "I appreciate that. You seem to have so much faith in me. It makes me wonder sometimes what I did to deserve it."

She wrapped her arms around him, "You came back to me."

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Kal and Ikuno sat there until the sun started dipping below the horizon and the fresh water from the waterfall had cooled the pool beyond comfort. Dried off and dressed they began making their way back to Ikuno's home after saying goodbye to the golem. Gerda had decided to stay and continue working on the pool, as unconcerned about the dark as she was about having air to breathe.

Upon reaching Ikuno's cavern Kal immediately went to work on the flight/telekinesis problem. He started by recreating everything he could dredge up from his flash of insight earlier. What he ended up with on paper was less than heartening. At first, it looked more like a jumbled mess of lines and portions of sigils, that didn't surprise him much as he was going more on feeling than memory. However, even in that jumble, he could make out hints and glimpses of the two runes he expected and one he didn't though he was very familiar with it.

"I think one of these runes is for speed," he said as Ikuno set down bowls filled with their supper and joined him at the small table in the library.

Ikuno's brow furrowed, "Can I see?"

Kal handed his drawing over to her then tucked into his salad of greens and dried berries topped with strips of seared red meat and lightly doused with some sweet wine Ikuno said was from her homeland. After a couple of bites, he was already looking forward to trying this particular dish later in the season when the berries were fresh, it was quite tasty.

Ikuno handed the paper back to him and grabbed a book from one of the bookshelves before sitting again. She tapped the cover and said, "Feather Fall. Look it up. You need something like it on your bracers anyway. However, this one will be all you. There's no feather fall rune in the runesmithing book" She glared at him as he reached for the tome, "After supper," she growled.

Kal tried not to wolf down his food but the prospect of uncovering something new made it difficult. When he and Ikuno were done he took their dinnerware away and placed it in a washbasin for cleaning later, then nearly ran back to the library. Digging into the book he immediately noticed that it was for Ikuno's style of magic but with some luck, he should be able to adapt it. When he came to the Feather Fall spell he pulled up short.

"Wait a second, that looks an awful lot like the Levitas glyph."

"It is but instead of lifting things it only makes you fall slower."

Kal sat back, "Something is wrong, the rune is wrong."

"I don't doubt you but those are brave words from a novice. That spell is hundreds of years old. Regardless, flight can come later. We will be visiting the harpy and Silma soon. Gerda said she was going to fetch Sandy during that time, so she won't be able to take us there. We will be hiking up where the air is thin, so you may need your mask."

"Mask... Waitaminit, mask!" Kal jumped up and ran over to his pack digging out his breathing mask before coming back and laying it next to the paper with the beginnings of his flight rune. Kal cast another quick spell lifting the ink off the paper where he used another drop from the well to fill parts of the rune that he knew. He added to that, elements from the rune on the front of his mask he could see in the design.

Ikuno shook her head, "Levitas, Motus, Celeri, and now Caeli Cumulare. Four runes in this monstrosity and you aren't even done yet. I think what frightens me most is that I truly believe it will work when you are all done."

"I'm seeing parts of a protection rune, but I don't understand what it's protecting from."

"Hmm, what about the cold? You will have to dress warmly when we go up to the harpy's nest," suggested Ikuno.

"I was looking into that last winter after I helped deliver that baby. There isn't a whole lot on ice magics, near as I could tell."

"People who use ice magics tend towards being as cold-hearted as their spells, and jealous of those who enjoy the warmth of life," Ikuno said with bitterness in her tone.

"Sounds like a story there."

Ikuno sighed, "Yes, there is but it happened nearly two centuries ago and it won't help you. The woman hated me, and we never spoke of her magic. I didn't even know she was an ice mage until she tried to kill me."

"Could she be involved with the wolf?" he asked.

"Not a chance, she died by my hand. Even if she hadn't, she was human and as I said, it happened centuries ago. She would have long ago died of old age."

"Do you mind if I ask what made her want to kill you?"

Ikuno sighed, "Not right now, Kal. Those are painful memories."

Kal nodded and set the flight rune aside before starting to figure out a way to create a feather fall rune. An uncomfortable silence descended on the oni's small library.

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The Levitas glyph that was an integral part of the feather fall rune floated in front of Kal. Beside him on the table were a variety of books open to the different forms of sigils and how they differed from held to drawn to inked so he could study the changes between. He hoped to eventually come up with a plan for converting the glyph in front of him into something he could use on a bracer. His main issue was that he had never done anything like this before and didn't know where to start.

He drew a basic ring around the glyph and fed a tiny bit of magic into the floating rune, watching it dissipate almost as quickly as it touched the ink. Since the books told him Feather Fall was air affinity he attempted to add some elements common to other air type glyphs to stabilize it. Instead, the rune vibrated itself apart as soon as magic touched it.

Collecting the ink he once again formed the rune with the Levitas glyph in the middle. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with the rune. It was supposed to be air affinity but disintegrated when anything air related was added. It still leaked magic almost like it wasn't even there and he was just throwing energy out into the world. Worst of all, for Kal at least, was that it just looked wrong.

"Looked... Hmm..." Kal closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them they glowed blue. Again, he fed a tiny bit of magic into the rune. He began making small changes to the ink in front of him, seeing if each one affected how fast the magic dissipated. Some time later his ability to see the magic flows suddenly dulled and Kal quickly put the rune on a piece of paper just as his magic reserves gave out. Between using stamina and haste to get to Aradelle and Bea then back to Gerda later, sparring with Ikuno, practicing geomancy, and constantly using magic working on the flight then later feather fall rune; he was tapped out.

Kal rubbed his eyes as a wave of tiredness swept over him. He had gotten so caught up in his work he had lost track of time. Looking over at the bed he saw that Ikuno had stripped down for bed then dozed off sitting up, the book she had been reading laying across her stomach. He took the book from her hands and put a bookmark in it before placing it back on a shelf in the library. Touching one of her horns he pulled a small amount of energy into himself, making the oni mumble in her sleep with an annoyed tone. He used the energy to gently lift the oni enough to get the blankets out from under her then lay the large woman down in the bed.

Stripping himself, he pulled the blankets up to her waist before getting in himself. He scooted over until his back was up against the large blue woman and with a wave of his hand the torches in the cavern all went out. Ikuno unconsciously wrapped her arms around him in a protective manner and made a low growling sound that could have been either a warning to something in her dream or a purr of contentment. Either way, Kal didn't think there was anywhere else in the world he could feel safer at that moment. Smiling, he drifted off to sleep.