“That makes two of us. I’m making my release my top priority, and I won’t have things coming to a screaming halt just because one or two people happen to die. Especially now, when time is of the essence.”
I could tell that Six was enjoying himself, but I was having trouble following the conversation. I felt very much on the verge of falling asleep all over again.
“If your release truly is your main priority, then you’d be wise to show at least some caution,” warned Reinald. “If something happens to Karen, your hopes go with her.”
“But if we’re too cautious, we lose our chances entirely. You might not be aware of it yourself, Reinald, but you are extremely soft on the girl. I won’t let that get in the way of my plans.”
Black Bird was sitting on my chest, completely still. I assumed it was alive and well.
“Six,” I said, finally speaking. “Can you tell me what’s happening?”
“If you’re happy with a working hypothesis, then yes. Just keep in mind that it’s still unproven.”
“That’s fine. Go on.”
“I still think you should rest a little more first. I don’t have anything going on today, so I imagine I’ll be hanging out with you two all day.”
“‘Hanging out’? Doesn’t sound like something you hear from someone who spends their days sulking and locked up in a tower,” commented Reinald.
Six pouted. He looked like a child.
“Oh, shut up,” he spat. “I told you I was sorry for the trouble I caused, didn’t I?”
Moritz was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he’d left when Six had arrived?
“We’ve got matching hair colors now,” I said.
“How odd. I was just thinking the same thing,” said the mage.
“Will I get my old hair back?”
“Your chances are fifty-fifty. Your hair is white now because the mark on your arm is draining you of your magical energy. Your hair might return to its original color when that stops, but also it might not. The symbols just keep taking and taking... Tragically similar to my own circumstances, I might add.”
There was a tinge of spite in Six’s eyes. It might have been connected to a moment in his past, but he saw something of himself in me. He then added—rather offhandedly, I might add:
“Let me say up front that I never held any sort of grudge against Ern.”
A flash of annoyance rushed through me, but I knew that now wasn’t the time to start an argument. And as comfortable as I felt lying there on the pillow that was Six’s thigh, I was going to be drowsy and sluggish regardless of whether I lay down or sat up, so I chose the latter. I hoped it would at least help to keep me from collapsing into sleep again.
“Is there nothing I can do about this drowsiness? I can barely even think straight.”
“It’s going to be like this whenever you’re around Reinald. At least for the time being, anyway. From what I can see, the draining effect picks up when you two are in close proximity to one another. Reinald feels it too.”
“Just not to the extent that you do,” added Reinald. “It’s a lethargy, but nothing that impedes my work or duties.”
“He’s only carrying about one-tenth of the burden, after all,” explained Six. “Still, you should be glad he was there, and that there was a split at all. If you’d taken the full brunt of it all on your own, you would have died. Even now, if I hadn’t been here to replenish your energy, you’d have been asleep until evening.”
Six seemed to think I’d been lucky, but it wasn’t adding up for me.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Can you slow down a bit? Tell me what you mean?”
It was fine if you were in the know, but I wasn’t, which made it feel like I was being left out. What better time than now for Six to actually give me the big picture overview?
“You also said something about being short on time,” I added. “What did you mean?”
Six shrugged and raised his arms, defeated. It was a joking gesture, but empty too—I saw none of his smile in his eyes.
“With all due respect, my lady,” he said, “I have but one mouth. Let’s take things one at a time, shall we? Firstly, I suppose I should start with what’s happening to you. You don’t seem to have noticed, but do you realize just how dire the situation was? I mean this in terms of magic, to be clear.”
“No,” I replied honestly. “I know I almost died, but I don’t know much more than that.”
There was no point pretending otherwise. Being open and honest was far better than pretending I knew and understood something I didn’t. Six pointed to Black Bird, now perched on the table but fast asleep.
“This bird here. That’s from Ern, there’s no doubt. It’s formed from the magic that was first drained out of you and Reinald. I think the reason it’s so stupid at present is because it’s low on magical energy.”
“You think, but you can’t say for certain. So even you don’t know?” I asked.
“Nope.”
I’d thought the mage knew all there was to know about magic, but some things existed even beyond his understanding.
“If I seem all-knowing, it’s only because a lot of what I’m capable of is impossible for the regular person. I just know more, that’s all. But what I don’t know, I don’t know. If I were all-knowing and all-powerful, I’d have given people eternal life already.”
Six explained that the box allowed its owner almost everything they asked for. Still, Six sometimes spoke as if he were two different people, and I wondered why.
“Now let’s get back to the matter at hand,” said Six. “Based on the patterns I’ve seen on Reinald, it was ink and magic that emerged from the sphere you found. Together, they create a most unique set of letters and words. I believe Ern used these to leave...something for us, but therein lies the problem.”
“Which is?”
“The text seems to have a mind of its own.”
The idea of writing with magic confused me, but apparently it wasn’t uncommon. Ern had taken her magic language and compressed it into the size of a small sphere, but most mages imbued a physical object with magical energy to record or leave their knowledge and findings. In short, Ern had left something that only needed to be touched to activate, but that something—the text she had left—appeared to have a will of its own. This was most perplexing.