Curselock

Chapter 32: Suspicion

Jude didn’t notice Leland was “awake” until a purple grimoire appeared out of nowhere and flopped open.

“How’d it go?” he asked.

Leland stopped and suddenly found his eyes flooding. “The Lord of Spirits is one of the most beautiful beings I’ve ever had the luxury to know.”

Jude made a whistling sound. “Did you ask her to marry you?”

“What- no. Just no.” Daggers blasted from Leland’s eyes. “Beautiful as in she’s special. A kindred soul to her family.”

“Right… So did you get what you wanted?”

“Yes to both, I think. It was a little roundabout but I think I understood what she was trying to say for the Onryos. And for myself, well, let’s see.”

Leland flipped to the section of his grimoire that dealt with curses. The page after the Lord of Magic entry, was a new one.

Cursed contract of the Lord of Spirits:

Return: Not breaking a promise.

This time Leland was the one to whistle. “I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but this was not it. Illusions might have more depth to them than I thought.”

Jude raised an eyebrow and stepped over. “Anything you can demonstrate?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind having your speed slowed for a little bit.”

“Eh, that’s fine.”

Leland pressed his palm into the contract page, summoning forth a gale of purple energy and mana. Shadows seemed to stretch for a moment as thousands of tiny flaming orbs of blue light fluttered into existence before begrudgingly fading away. A violet halo blazed into the room, forming just above his head before idly swaying with vapor.

“Woah!” Jude yelled, waking Glenny. “What were those blue dots? I swear I heard one make fun of me!”

Glenny rubbed his eyes. “Why- why do you sound so eager to be made fun of?”

Jude went to respond but Leland spoke over him. “Those were spirits. Whisps, in other terms.”

The boys’ eyes went wide. “I know what you mean by beautiful now. They made fun of me and I and I only wanted to cuddle with them!”

Leland looked to Glenny. “It seems we should be careful around enemies that can compel. Jude’s a little weak in that department.”

“I concur,” said the rogue.

“Whatever,” Jude scoffed. “Are you going to hit me with a spell or sit there and make fun of me?”

“I thought you liked being made fun of?”

“Don’t make me put you in another headlock.”

Glenny’s face fell.

Leland rolled his eyes, forming the architecture for Curse of Collapse in his mind. It started around his heart, connecting with Jude’s before waiting for a “spark” of lifeforce. As he pushed the curse into reality, he said a single word.

“Slow,” whispered Leland, connecting his and Jude’s hearts allowing him a window into his friend’s mind.

He was scared, so scared. Not of the unknown or the enemies hiding within the sewers but of the simple fact that Glenny was nearly taken over. Sigils were something dangerous, something that they had no way to combat.

The eye had scarred him with false reports and lies. It tricked his mind, forcing him to think about death. There was relief, of course, that Glenny was alive and well, but the eye’s influence made him think about impure futures. One without Glenny or Leland, one without his friends.

He couldn’t allow that to happen. He needed to be the wall that protected the others.

Leland came out of the connection breathing like a horse after a race. He sucked in lungfuls of air, finding the bedroom oddly comforting. He looked to the others, the purple halo above his head shimmering with radiant energy.

Jude and Glenny suddenly found themselves relaxed and happy, like a cool night next to a fireplace. Memories of their parents came to mind, each finding comfort in reliving the time together.

Jude leaned back into his wooden chair, the hard dowels poking into his spine like a massage given by the Legacy of Relaxation. He giggled to himself wondering if such a Lord existed.

Glenny fell into his own head, the image of his mom too powerful to ignore. He closed his eyes and found himself swaying with imaginary music. Liquid formed within his eyelids as he could feel her warmth.

Leland watched on, finding the effects significantly less potent for himself. He felt relaxed, sure, but he also remembered the threat hiding out in the city. Still, he couldn’t make himself remove the spell early. Not when his two best friends were at peace. Jude and his anxiety and Glenny and his guilt.

Eventually the Curse of Collapse faded on Jude, setting the room back to the cold cube it had always been.

“Thank you,” Leland whispered just audibly while canceling the Harbinger Halo curse. A blue flame appeared just before his nose before floating into it. It winked out of existence a breath later.

Jude and Glenny both looked around, Glenny quickly rubbing his eyes as subtly as possible.

“Seems like it works,” Leland said with a somber smile. “I don’t want to try a negative emotion on you two.”

“Yeah…” Jude said trailing off.

“Do you think you could have ignored the effect? Or was it that powerful?”

“No I definitely could. I just didn’t want to,” Glenny said.

“Agreed,” Jude added as well.

“That’s what I thought, I just didn’t want to—”

A knock came from the door. Slowly, Jude moved to open it. Boor stood with his hands on his vest, his wrinkled face looking quite confused.

“Pardon the interruption, but is Master Alkin or Lady Mavi in here?” Boor took only a single step, inspecting the room quite thoroughly.

“No, the siblings aren’t here,” Leland said. “I thought Alkin was still passed out and, well, I guess I don’t know where Mavi went.”

Boor scrunched his nose. “Lady Mavi is indeed elsewhere while Master Alkin is asleep still, yes. Apologies, the fog must be getting to me. I thought I felt the magic from their legacies.”

The boys looked at each other.

“Oh?” Leland asked. “How do you mean?”

“I am unsure if I am being honest. I just had a strange remembrance of my life before House Onryo hired my services.”

“And you think that the Lord of Spirits caused it?”

Boor took a moment to answer. “I must be mistaken, only Lady Onryo could produce such a feeling and she is elsewhere as well...”

Leland shared a look with the others. “I think what you felt was a new spell of mine. I’m sorry for the confusion.”

Stepping out of the room but staying in the doorframe, Boor eyed the young man with careful consideration before turning to the others. His gaze fell on Jude’s wrist, the hand he broke during the ambush attack. Then to Glenny and the danger that lived within his eyes. Finally he turned back to Leland, the one who had vanquished such a monster.

Something was different about Boor’s eyes, Leland saw. Something well before fear but nowhere near disinterest.

“I see,” Boor said. “Dinner will be served in twenty minutes. Is there anything I can get the three of you in the meantime? Tea? Muffins?”

Jude opened his mouth to answer but Leland spoke first. “Is there a Lord of Spirits shrine in the house I could give an offering to?”

Boor held his gaze for a long moment as he pondered the odd request. “Yes, please follow me.”

Leland stood up but stopped after only a single step. “Uh, Jude, if you don’t mind helping out…”

Jude groaned but picked up the barrel of beer. Glenny sighed and took the jar of honey from his friend with the broken arm. The trio then followed Boor to a small room connected to the study.

“I shall give you privacy,” the butler said before strolling off.

“Just before the shrine, Jude, thanks.” Leland took the honey from Glenny and placed it on top of the barrel before whispering, “Here is the beer and honey I promised, Lord of Spirits. The ratio of honey to liquid my mother uses is three spoonfulls per mug… but thinking about it, that may be wrong… seems rather sweet.”

Leland shrugged as the barrel and jar disappeared.

Jude was the one to speak up first. “I think the weirdest part of this offering is that your mother adds honey to beer. Who does that!”

“Seems sacrilegious,” Glenny laughed.

Holding up his hands in surrender, Leland said, “I know, I know. She’d always embarrass my dad when we were at restaurants. I can’t tell you how many waiters gave us weird looks.”

“But three spoonfulls!?”

Some minutes later, after the boys left the shrine room and were well established in the dining room, Boor slipped out of the shadows. His Legacy wasn’t perfect for stealth and subtlety, but he felt confident in his abilities to go unnoticed. They were children after all, he wasn’t that old yet.

He slowly creaked the door to the shrine room open, expecting to find a seemingly random barrel of beer taking up most of the walking area. But he was wrong. He looked for the honey, finding it missing as well.

Boor was sure the boys walked out of the room empty handed. Was there a trick involved? Or was something more sinister going on?

It had been many, many years since he had thought of his early life before meeting Lady Onryo’s grandfather. Most of it was filled with war and despair. He could count the number of happy memories from his youth on one hand.

Just what kind of spell can do that? Boor asked himself, deciding to keep a better eye on Master Alkin’s guests.