Amber's Enchantment

Chapter 6

The Laws of Magic

If there had been anyone with the spark on the surface of Destran during the fires, they would have seen a never before witnessed sight. Pulses of pure white aura streamed down from the sky, being absorbed by the plants. The visible red light from Fron was filled with the pure white aura of rare, free floating mana. Not even the mana exchange between the plants and minerals had this white color under the sight: that mana having purpose and being part of something. So rare was the sight of white auras, the guild wizards of Destran had no idea what it actually meant.

It was only during this time when the surface was uninhabitable, that pure mana existed in enough quantity to be seen by the sight against the background of the world at large. Outside of these burning times, there were only two places where pure white auras could be seen. One was when wizards cast a spell. Unknown to them, thanks to their mistaken laws of magic, mana flowed from the wizard to the objects of the spell. The other was so rare as to have only been witnessed by a guild wizard five times in the last 2000 years.

*****

Vesti struggled to conceal the smile as he answered the magical summons from Ponet. His amusement faded when he saw the dark circles and borderline terror on the elder wizard's face. Perhaps his

message

had worked too well.

"Vesti, I don't have time for your usual banter. Where did you get that wine?"

"It was a gift from Madam Lustren; a new vintage she claims to have discovered. I take it you've seen the same thing I did; the black aura?"

"That was obvious. Did you do any testing on it before you sent it here?"

"Yes, I ran all the tests I was capable of with what I have here. The wine is completely... transparent, I guess the best term is...to magic. There's not a trace of mana in it. Have you discovered anything more?"

"We believe there used to be mana in the wine, but it's been...removed...in some way." Before Ponet could continue, Vesti's gasp caught his attention. "Is there something else I should know about, Vesti? You're not making the usual protestations of impossibleness that I've come to expect."

"It's just...I've seen something like what you're describing before."

"What! You've seen manaless things before and haven't told anyone?"

"Not exactly, I have a device that removes mana from things. Madam Lustren asked me to analyze it for her to determine what it did."

"You knew about this and didn't tell anyone? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I've never been in good standing with the guild and if I made such a claim without research to back it up, I'd be stripped of whatever status I do have."

Ponet sighed. "All right, I can understand that. You didn't know about the larger issues. Where did the

lady

get such a device?"

"What larger issues?"

"Later, Vesti. Where did she get it, and where is it now?"

Vesti bristled at the dismissal, but kept his emotions in control. "She bought it, from a new clan of merchants, she claims. It's in my laboratory."

"You need to...wait a minute. She bought a device, a magical device, that she didn't know the function of?"

"As a matter of fact, yes she did. She claims it was to deal with the ore rat problem. She was told to use the device on the ore veins and the rats wouldn't be a problem any more."

"Well, I suppose that would be true, but the ore would be useless as well. Something's not right here, Vesti."

"Tell me about it. Nothing about this device makes any sense. The materials used in it's manufacture are completely unknown. I've tentatively concluded that these things come from not just another dimension, but one so different from ours that the laws of nature are different."

"That would make sense," the older wizard muttered, just audible over the communication spell. "Wait a minute. Things? As in more than one? How many of these devices were there?"\

"A couple of dozen, I think. And before you ask, she said she was going to get her money back."

Ponet wiped his hand wearily over his face. "Vesti, these things, the wine and the devices you describe, they're symptoms of a larger problem, I believe. More disturbing is that they confirm that the problem is real. Mana is being somehow drained, or siphoned, out of Destran. In 50 years, magic may not be possible, as everything on this world will be as devoid of mana as that wine. That such a thing is supposed to be impossible seems to be of no importance. It's as if the laws of magic are changing before our very eyes."

*****

Amber leaned back, her features easing as Heversham shook hands with Grothnack. Amber was finding the job of translator exceptionally difficult. She was in the third week of another training placement, this time with a merchant clan. She liked most of the duties of a merchant's slave. The variety of tasks, coupled with the extensive travel, was something Amber thoroughly enjoyed. For reasons she couldn't explain, she was finding it especially taxing to listen to two languages at the same time. She wished someone had warned her about the lag time between hearing a language and understanding what it was saying when there was more than one language being heard at any given time.

As the Saurian walked away, Heversham turned towards his temporary slave. "Amber, you did well, if a bit slower than I'm used to. You shouldn't spend so much time thinking about what each party is saying; it's unseemly for a slave."

"Master, I wasn't thinking about the words, just waiting for the translation," she replied, rubbing her temples in an unconscious gesture.

"Waiting for the translation? There's never been a wait with slaves in the past. What are you talking about?" Heversham's voice was a mixture of concern and upset.

"Master, when there's more than one language being spoken, there's a second or two between the words and my understanding what they're meaning."

"Is that so? I've never had a slave complain about that before. In fact, I've never had a slave delay the way you do in translating."

"You haven't, Master?" Amber's voice was tinged with concern. She knew she was different from other slaves because she had her memories; and she had concerns over how her collar might react differently to her because of that. Was this the first sign of something going wrong?

"No, I haven't. Do you trainers know about this?"

"I doubt it Master. There's been no need for me to translate more than one language before."

Heversham pondered the response, knowing that, in fact, every slave spoke a different language, and it was the collar that made her speech understandable by any listener (the reason slaves made good translators). "Come with me, Amber. I think I need to orb Garth. There's something her that's not right."

Amber followed, fearful that she'd done something wrong. She wondered if there was something, some clue in the past, that she missed reporting to her trainers. Following Heversham to his tent, glowing with the aura of magic, Amber unconsciously noted the nature of the enchantments on the tent. In the months since she'd acquired the ability to see them, Amber found that there was a definite pattern to the variation in colors. She could tell that there was a protection of some sort on the tent, as well as a special alteration (no doubt the reason it was so large inside), and the usual enchantments for the sanitary and water delivery systems.

Heversham tapped the orbing stone on the table, whispering Garth's name as he did, calling up the specific individual from the dozen or so he had affixed to the stone. Several minutes later Garth's image appeared.

"Heversham, it's a pleasure to hear from you. How is Amber doing?"

"I've no complaints. She's very eager and compliant. A concern has arisen, however."

Garth frowned. "A concern? What kind of concern?"

"Tell me, what training has Amber received in translation duties?"

House Grantlo often used Heversham's clan for training placements, and it wasn't uncommon for the clan leader to inquire about the training of the slaves so placed. "Nothing special, just the usual training in repeating things perfectly. Has that been an issue?"

"No, she does that very well. So she's not done any actual translation before?"

Garth shook his head with concern as he answered, "No."

"Amber tells me that there's a second of delay between hearing what someone says and understanding it; but only when there's two languages being spoken. Isn't that right, Amber?" he asked, turning towards the slave. Amber nodded, too nervous to answer with words. "I've never heard of such a thing before."

"Neither have I, Heversham. Neither have I. We need to look into this in some detail. May I open a portal to retrieve Amber?"

"Of course, I'll have her ready. I hope this isn't a sign of anything serious."

"I don't think it is, but we should make sure."

Ten minutes later, the now familiar glow of the forming portal appeared to Amber's vision. The portal itself soon followed, opening a doorway between where she was (Amber had no idea) and the familiar portal room at Grantlo caverns. She stepped through and knelt before Garth.

"Master?" she asked.

"Welcome back, Amber. Don't be afraid, you haven't dome anything wrong." Garth looked up. "Guild Master Heversham, thank you for training Amber."

"It was an honor, Training Master," he replied; completing the formal ritual.

"Again," Garth added, "thank you for catching this. Will you need a replacement for Amber for the balance of the training period?"

"No, we haven't had anything we've been depending on her for. Take care of her, and if she needs more time with a merchant clan, we'd be happy to take her back."

Garth nodded and waved his hand over the stone, closing the portal with a soft pop. Garth turned back to Amber. "Come along Amber, we need to figure out what's going on."

As she stood and followed, she asked, "Master, is there anything else about me that isn't working right?"

"Yes, you have permission to speak," Garth started, gently reminding Amber of protocal. With a sigh, he continued. "Amber, I really don't know. Your trainers haven't reported anything, but there's so much to being a slave that's automatic. We don't ever think of checking them. I suspect that there's things we don't even know

need

to be checked. Don't worry, we'll figure out what's going on."

They continued through the tunnels until they reached Inclon's office. Bressala and Marlena were both there as well. "Come in Garth, let's see what we can figure out." Once both were seated, Garth in a chair and Amber on a cushion, he continued. "Amber, let's start be having you describe exactly what it's like when you're translating."

:Yes, Master," Amber replied, taking comfort in having something she needed to do. "When I'm translating, I hear both languages as they're being spoken. I understand what they mean a second or two later. It's weird, but that's not what's happening right now. I only hear my own language when any of you speak."

Inclon squinted before he spoke again. "Thrishil gracknil?" A second later, Amber knew he'd asked, "What about now?"

"Yes, Master, just like that."

Garth spoke up. "Quesh'ol within hel'un." Again, Amber knew, a second later, that it meant, "We normally speak like this."

Amber's mouth opened, but no sound came out. She stared back and forth between the two men, trying to assimilate what had just happened.

"Amber, are you all right?" Garth asked after a minute of silence. Again, Amber was hearing the English she normally heard when people talked. For some reason, whenever two languages were being spoken within a short time of one another, she no longer heards them in her natural tongue.

"I...I don't know, Master. What happened? How did I not hear you right just then?"

"We don't know, Amber. That's what this meeting is about. As Bressala and Marlena can tell you, what's happening with you isn't normal." Both trainers nodded in acknowledgement. "I know this will be hard, but is there anything else that you've experienced that seems...not right?"

Amber stared at Inclon for a moment and then started to laugh. "Master," she gasped between bouts of laughter, "you mean waking up with no memory, discovering that I agreed to come and be a slave, learning to orgasm from pain? No, Master, nothing that I can think of."

"Don't get cheeky, slave," Garth warned with a smile. "You know what we mean."

"Yes, Master. Master, I'm not sure if I would know..." She turned to Bressala. "How does reading work for you, Mistress?"

"Bressala shrugged her shoulders. "I just read. There's nothing to it."

"So you don't see the words change from something you can't read to something you can?"

"No, Amber, I don't. Now I remember your describing this effect a while back. No one knew what to make of it; it didn't seem significant in light of everything else that was going on at that time" Bressala was referring to the period Amber had her memories back but was lying about it.

Amber nodded her head. "Master, why am I so different? Is it because the memory potion didn't work on me?"

Inclon leaned back and sighed. "Honestly, we don't know, Amber. What we need is an expert on magic, a wizard. But, we can't trust the guild not to use what they would find out against us somehow. They've already shown they can't be trusted."

Amber wondered at his meaning, since the only wizard she'd ever met, Vesti, had been quite trustworthy, as far as she could tell.

"Sir, there

is

an alternative. We could go outside the guild," Garth pointed out.

"I know. If the guild finds out, though, we could find ourselves cut off from the only people able to make collars."

"Well, the renegade himself wouldn't say anything, not if he wants to continue practicing magic. And given their current feelings towards the guild over the guide, I'm sure Heversham and his clan would be willing to discreetly find us someone."

"Before we go there, there's something else I'd like to try." He turned to Amber again. "Can you still see auras, Amber?"

"Yes, Master. In fact, they're clearer, sharper now than at first."

"Can you tell anything about them from seeing them."

"Well, kind of. There's usually a relationship between the colors and the function of the device. For example, protective things always seem to include gold auras."

"Good, I'd hoped your normal intelligence and curiosity would be working in this as well. Not that I want you trying to change things, not that I expect you could if you tried. Best to not try though." Amber nodded her understanding. "Have you noticed any differences between the magics on you and those on your fellow slaves, especially around the collars?"

"I'm not sure, Master. I can't see my own collar very well, and auras don't seem to reflect in mirrors."

Bressala spoke up. "Amber, when I was teaching a few years back, the scrolls taught that people can have their own auras, not just magic. It's supposed to be because the auras come from the mana in us. Can you see auras on, in people?"

"I've never tried, Mistress. Do you want me to?"

Inclon nodded his assent, not really grasping what he'd actually asked Amber to do. Seeing auras in magic came naturally to those with the spark. Seeing auras on people was actually a spell. Because they had never seen a wizard do magic without an incantation, it never occurred to anyone in the room that Amber was attempting to cast a spell, to manipulate mana like a wizard.

At first, Amber stared hard at Bressala, trying to see the aura she knew had to be there (because she'd been told it would be). Unknown to Amber, magic wasn't something you forced by an exercise of will, but something you coaxed along with a more subtle prodding of your mind. Much like moving water with your hands, the sudden forceful push resulted in uncontrollable movement that accomplished little of want you wanted; while a gentle wave of the hand would put the water you wanted where you wanted it to be.

So, mana moved under her forceful attention, but it accomplished nothing that anyone could see. It was only after she had given up and relaxed that, for a split second, an aura flared into sight around Bressala. Oddly enough, to make it work, Amber needed to use the same kind of relaxed concentration she needed to during her cunt control exercises.

"No...There...damn, it went away." She turned to Inclon. "Master, I had a flash, less than a second. I had just given up on it."

"Try again, Amber. If you can see a difference in your aura and those of other slaves, we'll know there's something different about you, for whatever reason."

Amber stared at Bressala again, instinctively trying to match the brief state she'd been in when she had the flash (something she did a lot in her slave training, early on). This time when it came, she was able to bring it back repeatedly as it tried to fade over a period of several minutes, until it was steady in her vision.

"Wow, Mistress. You should see this. There's all sorts of colors coming out of your collar and wrapping themselves around your body. It's almost like a cloak, or a dress. It's pretty, but I think your prettier on your own."

"Why, thank you, Amber. But didn't you see that before? It is the aura from the collar, isn't it?'

"Not exactly. Before, I could see the aura of the collar, but just on it. It was different too. There was less color on the collar itself. What I'm seeing now is like the collar's aura and more."

"Fascinating, Amber," Garth commented. "You make it sound like the aura on the collar and on the wearer are blending in some way."

"I don't know, Master. I suppose that's possible. I'm not sure I like the idea."

"Amber, you already knew the collar was doing things to you. You're just seeing a manifestation of that. What about your own aura?"

Amber looked down at herself to try to see her own aura. She gave gasp and clutched at her chest. "Master, there's a bright spot in my chest. It's white and it's pulsing. Bressala doesn't have one in her." Amber's voice was panicked as she stared at the pulsing, white aura in her own body.

"Amber!" Garth's voice rang out with command, snapping the slave's head up with a jerk. "What do white auras usually mean?"

"I don't know, Master. I've only seen a pure white aura was the spark that happened during the accident with the strange device at Master Vesti's."

Master," Bressala observed, "it seems that the more we find out, the more questions we have."

"That does seem to be the case," Inclon replied. "Amber, I want you to continue to look at people's auras. Make a report to Bressala of anything you find that is different."

"Different in what way, Master?"

"Different from everyone else, actually. I need information, raw data, if you will. Write down what you observe. I especially want to know what makes auras change. Can what they eat or drink change them? How they're feeling? Does illness or injury affect auras? How does magic interact? I know it's a lot to ask of someone whose just learned to see them, but I have the feeling that this will be important in some way." Sighing at the prospect of more long nights of work in his near future, Inclon finished with, "Bressala, Marlena, Amber, you can return to your duties. Bressala, I want you to make some time in the evening for Amber to record what she observes each day. Deliver what she writes to me each morning."

"Yes, Master," the three slaves answered, rising to their feet and leaving.

Once they were gone, Garth looked pensively at his superior. "We're not going to be able to place her, are we?"

"I'm afraid not. Until we can figure out what the hells is going on with our little Amber, we can't run the risk of selling her. Can you imagine the reaction if it gets out that we have a slave whose collar isn't working properly? Contact Heversham. I want to hire a renegade. We're going to need expert advice on this. Oddly enough, a renegade wizard is the only outsider we can trust to keep this quiet."