Page 59 of War Bound

“You are not scared of my magic?” Farrendel eyed Lance.

“Why would I be scared?” Lance glanced at the magical sensor again, his fingers twitching as if itching to pick it back up.

“I am Laesornysh.” Farrendel said it slowly. Not a proud statement, but almost a question.

Lance just stared back for several seconds. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“For someone inventing for the army, you really don’t pay enough attention to the news.” Essie clasped Farrendel’s hand. How much would he want her to tell? She trusted Lance. Well, as much as Lance could be trusted. He wasn’t malicious. He just might accidentally say something without thinking. “Farrendel is the elves’ foremost warrior because of his magic. It is rather destructive.”

“Really?” Lance clasped his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels. “How so? I was under the impression elven magic tended toward healing and growing. I suppose growing things can be destructive in their own way, but your magic sounds like it is something unusual, even for an elf. Fascinating. Are you sure you don’t have time for me to run a few tests?”

Essie opened her mouth to protest but stopped. For all his distraction over magic, Lance was the first person all day who had talked to Farrendel rather than simply talking to Essie about Farrendel while Farrendel stood right there. She glanced up at Farrendel and spoke in elvish. “It’s up to you. We have time, if you wish to put up with him.”

“Will he be able to tell me more about my magic?” Farrendel also spoke in elvish, and in his tone was a depth of longing and hurt.

His magic had been both a blessing and a curse to him. It made him Laesornysh, earning him the respect of his fellow elves when his illegitimate birth would’ve kept him an outcast. Yet it was also the reason the trolls had captured and tortured him. It was yet another thing that made him different from other elves, wielding this wild, destructive magic that killed instead of healed.

“I’m not sure he will be able to give you many answers, especially today. He probably won’t be able to tell you exactly why you have your type of magic, but he may, eventually, be able to figure out its limits and all of its potential uses. Testing takes time and lots of experimentation. A few tests today will help Lance figure out where to start, and he will probably want you to do more tests to determine more specifics later. That’s how the scientific process works.” Essie shrugged. “I can’t say for certain what answers Lance may find, given enough time and experimentation. In the end, you will probably have a better idea of how your magic works, even if you don’t know why.”

Farrendel faced Lance, his fingers tightening on Essie’s. “What would I have to do?”

“Excellent! Don’t worry. This shouldn’t hurt. Follow me to the back.” Lance snatched his magical sensor, spun on his heel, and waved over his shoulder. “Oh, and Princess Essie, you might as well come too.”

He scurried through the piles of metal scrap and half-finished devices so quickly Essie had to trot to keep up, though Farrendel had no trouble with his longer strides.

In the back, a large space had been cleared of junk. In the center, a magical power cell, nothing more than an empty canister with wires attached, rested within a mechanical device with more wires and dials. Essie had seen it before on trips to Lance’s workshop.

Here, Escarlish magicians worked with Lance to channel their magic to power the device. It was a melding of magic and machine that Essie didn’t fully understand and wasn’t about to ask Lance for an explanation. She’d made that mistake only once.

The device was surrounded by a shield of tempered glass and a waist-high wall of brick. Just in case something went wrong and the magician lost control or the magical device exploded, as often happened when working with finnicky magic and touchy mechanics. A smaller shield of tempered glass stood between the magical device and the place where the magician would stand, marginal protection for him in case of an explosion.

Essie claimed a seat at an iron workbench behind the outer wall of glass and brick while Lance directed Farrendel to stand behind the smaller wall.

Lance retreated behind the large wall to a bank of dials and switches near Essie. Adjusting his goggles over his eyes, he flipped a few on, creating a low hum of noise. “All right, Prince Farrendel. Please produce a small amount of your magic. Don’t do anything with it yet. I would just like to observe how your magic manifests.”

The blue glow surrounded Farrendel’s hands, a crackle filling the air as the hum from the machinery grew louder. The magic grew into bolts of lightning curling around Farrendel, his hair rising from his shoulders.

The humming built into a shriek. Lance slapped a few more switches and pounded a few buttons. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I said a small amount!”

The magic around Farrendel’s hands died until it was just a whisper of sparks that he’d used around her nephews.

“That’s good. Thanks. You can stop now for a minute.” Lance leaned against his machinery for a moment before he turned to Essie, his eyes wide even inside the goggles. “Just how powerful is he?”

“I’m pretty sure he could level this building if he wanted to.” Essie rolled one of Lance’s pencils across the desktop. She had seen Farrendel kill with his magic. That’s how powerful it was. “He doesn’t even know his own limits. He’s never let it get that uncontrolled.”

“A good thing for all of us.” Lance faced Farrendel again. “Let’s try that again, but this time touch your magic to that wire there over your head. Just a little bit, as gently as you can manage.”

Farrendel nodded. The blue sparks filled the space around him again.

“Just in case, close your eyes for a moment.” Lance’s voice was low, only for Essie to hear.

She squeezed her eyes shut. A moment later, a brilliant flash lit the space, bright even with her eyes closed. A zapping sound puffed out in a mini explosion.

When she dared crack her eyes open, white smoke puffed from the magical device. The wire that had once run to it was now completely gone.

Behind his protective barrier, Farrendel was blinking and rubbing at his ears, but he seemed unharmed.

“I was afraid of that.” Lance flipped off his switches, the humming sound dying. He strode around the wall toward his ruined machine. “Your magic is too powerful for this device. It might even be a problem with the compatibility of a device made for human magic and your elven magic. Let’s swap out the wire and a few of the mechanics and try again.”

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