SWNOVELS Chapter 9: Commanding the Glorman
They have only been flying for a brief time when she notices a small green glow in the distance. Brystol sighs in aggravation before he says, “I’m sorry.” His words surprise her, and she looks across the carriage at him forgetting about the green light for a moment. “It is not your fault you don’t know the language or that you were sent to the human world.”
Sahara is not sure what to say, so she stays silent and turns her eyes back to the green glow that is getting closer. She wonders if it is another carriage or something. Suddenly the carriage jerks in acceleration and Sahara’s body falls forward into the floor. “What is that?” Brystol asks looking out at the green glow that is now just a few feet away from them. Sahara sees the horror in his face as she tries to rise from the floor. He suddenly pushes her back down into the floor and raises his hand up toward the window as he says, “Nanhat!”
Sahara notice the green glow that was lighting up the carriage disappear. “Sahara.” Brystol sounds panicked as he speaks, “You have to teleport.”
“Why?” Sahara tries to stand up again, but Brystol yanks her down in the floor with him. “What is that?”
The green glow is coming back, and Sahara hears the desperation in Brystol’s voice. “It is a glorman.” There is a sudden flash of red light and a loud roaring sound like a lion. They fall sideways as something hits the carriage. “Now, Sahara!”
Sahara feels too nervous to focus on teleporting as there is another loud roar and thud against the carriage. She notices a large paw with sharp claws scratch the window above her. Another red flash hits the window and Sahara realizes it is fire. She looks up and sees the dragons that were protecting her on her first carriage trip to Malorsty. The large paw and sharp claws stab into the side of the carriage where she is looking out, it causes her to scream in fear. Brystol holds his hand up again and yells, “Nanhat!” The claws in the carriage suddenly pull out of the door and the green glow disappears. Brystol shakes Sahara by the shoulders, “Teleport!”
“I can’t!” Sahara yells in response just before the green glow is back and the carriage shakes again from taking a hit.
“Yes, you can.” Brystol sounds strangely calm all the sudden. "Just focus."
The door to the carriage flies opens and Sahara sees a large green glowing creature with a lion type body clawing its way into the carriage. The head of the creature is snake like and a loud roar like a lion exits its mouth causing Sahara to cover her ears. She and Brystol try to back away to the other side of the carriage but the large claws of the glorman catch Sahara’s left leg and she screams out in pain. Brystol grabs hold of Sahara’s hand catching her as the glorman is pulling her from the carriage. He tries to pull her back but the glorman is stronger than he is, so Sahara is slowly being pulled from his grip and the carriage. Verdiwild’s voice thunders into the carriage “Heli!”
The glorman screeches in pain and begins to fall out of the carriage pulling Sahara with him. More green glowing creatures are approaching as Verdiwild and the dragons fly toward the creatures. Brystol struggles to keep Sahara from falling out of the carriage but the glorman’s paw quickly yanks her downward pulling her and Brystol from the carriage. Sahara cannot help but scream as she sees the ground quickly approaching. Brystol yells over her screams as he is still holding her hand, “Teleport us to the banquet room in the academy!” Sahara tries to quickly think about the banquet room but can only think about being safe in her room at the academy. "Focus Sahara." She hears Brystol say as the ground is getting closer. She closes her eyes tightly and thinks about being safe in her dorm room. She suddenly feels her body slam against Brystol and feels them thud against something soft before she opens her eyes and falls again down onto the floor. She feels her heart pounding as she opens her eyes trying to catch her breath. Brystol lands on top of her and she feels slight pain from his body on hers. He huffs a breath out in relief as he relaxes on top of Sahara. “I thought we were going to die.” He says, sounding relieved.
Sahara tries to slow her heart as she looks up at the ceiling of her dorm room realizing they are safe. She feels a warm wetness moving down her face and into her ears as Brystol’s concerned eyes meet hers. She realizes he is still on top of her, and she pushes him up to get off. He quickly moves off from on top of her and helps her sit up as she wipes her tears. He looks down at her leg as he sounds panicked, “We need to get you to the infirmary.”
Sahara looks down at her bloody leg and realizes her leg is throbbing in pain. She suddenly feels dizzy, and the room turns dark. She thinks Brystol is speaking but she cannot seem to hear him.
She wakes to a bright light and realizes she is in a strange room with large windows. The sun is streaming in from outside, she must have slept all night she thinks as she tries to sit up in bed. She expects to feel pain in her leg from the glorman’s claws that had dug into her, but she feels nothing. She moves the blanket off from her leg and looks for the wounds, finding none. “You are awake!” Bularia sounds excited as she moves over toward the bed Sahara is sitting in. The room is filled with other metal framed beds, all of which are empty. “How do you feel?”
Sahara covers her leg back up realizing she is not fully clothed but in a type of night gown. “How did my leg heal so quickly?”
“Hezliphine.” Bularia says simply, as if that explains everything. Sahara gives her an odd look as she wonders what that means and Bularia explains, “Oh, sorry. It is a type of magical healing ointment. It is designed specifically to remove the poison of glorman.”
“Poison?” Sahara asks nervously as she straightens her back in attention to Bularia’s words.
“Yes, the claws of the glorman contain poison.” Bularia explains further, “The Hezliphine draws it out and heals the wounds caused by glorman.”
“Um.” Sahara shuffles in the bed as she asks, “How did I get here?”
“Brystol brought you.” Bularia sits down facing her at the end of the bed as her eyes fill with interest. “Though there is some controversy in what exactly happened.”
“What do you mean?” Sahara tries to sound innocent.
“Well, multiple people saw Brystol carrying you out of our dorm room. But the story circulating is that you and he were attacked on your way back from Holestroy while in the carriage.” Bularia blinks curiously at Sahara, but Sahara remains silent. “So?”
“So, what?” Sahara asks looking around the bed for some shoes so she can find a restroom.
“What happened?” Bularia throws her hands up in the air in frustration. “Brystol won’t tell anyone, and we found blood by your bed in our room.”
Sahara knows she cannot let anyone know she can teleport, so she tries to quickly think of an explanation. “We were attacked on the way back in the carriage, but we made it back and I thought I was okay, so I went to our room.”
Bularia shoves Sahara’s shoulder causing her to fall backward slightly, “And why was Brystol in our room with you alone?”
“Um.” Sahara rubs her head trying to act confused. “I can’t say I remember.”
“Well, that is disappointing.” Bularia sighs and falls back against the baseboard of the bed.
“He knew I was hurt, so maybe he came up to check on me.” Sahara tries to cure Bularia’s curiosity so maybe the subject would not come up again.
“Bularia!” A scolding voice enters the room and Bularia jumps up from the bed quickly. “I told you to not come back in here!”
“I,” Bularia looks quickly over at Sahara, “I will see you later.” Then she runs out of the room.
The scolding elleth shakes her head toward Bularia as she runs past her, “I should report you.”
“But you won’t.” Bularia turns with a smile and winks to Sahara just before she exits the large room.
Sahara cannot help but smile at Bularia’s disobedience. “Now,” The elleth moves closer to Sahara, “how are you feeling Aranel?”
“I feel good.” Sahara says as she lays back against the headboard propping herself up.
“I am Plansa the academy’s Zori.” Sahara is not sure what the elleth means and she realizes it must show on her face as the elleth laughs. “Zori means nurse in human language.”
“Oh.” Sahara says feeling embarrassed by not knowing their language and terms. She remembers Brystol’s cold words about how unfit she was to be tari. She wonders if that is what all the elleth and ellon must think.
“It is all right your Royal Highness,” Plansa sounds sympathetic in her words, “you are not expected to learn our ways in such a short amount of time.”
Sahara suddenly realizes her necklace is not around her neck.She sits straight up in bed with a gasp. “My necklace!”
Plansa holds up a grey cloth bag and lays it on the end of the bed. “It is in here, along with you some clean clothes. You may go whenever you finish getting dressed.”
Sahara quickly digs through the bag and sighs in relief as she finds her green stoned necklace in the bag. “Plansa!” Sahara says stopping Plansa, who had turned to leave. “Please. Could you tell me how I got here?” Sahara motions around the room.
“Cundu Brystol brought you from the carriage after you landed.” Plansa sounds so honest in her words, but Sahara knows it is not the truth. “The carriage was attacked, and you had been wounded.”
“I remember that part.” Sahara rubs her leg.
“The poison caused you to pass out, but the Cundu got you here in time to stop the poison from progressing further in your system.” Plansa smiles at her. “We knew you would be okay when your fever broke a few hours ago.”
“Thank you for taking care of me.” Sahara says as she reaches down and grabs the grey cloth bag.
“It was my pleasure Aranel.” She curtsies to Sahara with her words. “I believe if you hurry, you could make it to your course, if you feel like it.”
Sahara gasps in surprise, “Course? What day is it?”
“Oh, yes. I thought perhaps your sneaky friend had told you.” Plansa says, referring to Bularia. “The healing process with Hezliphine takes two to three days to complete. Today is Tuesday.”
Sahara leaps out of bed in panic, “I missed three whole days?” She shuffles through the grey bag pulling some of her clothes from the bag. “I missed Basic Elfism AND Basic Thought Magic?”
“It is alright Aranel,” Plansa picks up a small bundle from the table next to the bed Sahara had just sprung from. “Your assignments are here. Saitar Regald was already told you would miss Basic Mystical Combat, if you need the extra rest.”
Sahara would normally be shy changing in front of a stranger, but she sees the clock on the wall, realizing she only has one hour before her course starts. She needs a shower and to get her book. “I can’t smell bad when I already get called pukey.”
“I’m sorry?” Plansa asks showing her confusion.
Sahara shakes her head at Plansa as she looks around on the floor for her shoes. “Nothing.”
“You have shoes in the bag as well your Royal Highness.” Plansa picks up the bag and shakes it, causing a pair of new black heeled shoes to fall out.
Sahara picks one up and rotates the unfamiliar leather. “These are not my shoes.”
“Your other shoes were damaged form the incident,” Plansa says. “So, Headoreon Shawdlortur sent for your maid to send you some new ones.”
“My maid?” Sahara was not aware of her having a maid.
“At Kinderton, Aranel.” Plansa clarifies.
“Oh.” Sahara feels nervous that she will be wearing heels, she had never worn heals.
“Excuse me.” Plansa curtsies quickly to Sahara before she turns to leave the room speaking over her shoulder, “If you are leaving the infirmary, I must alert Headoreon Shawdlortur.”
Sahara slips on the heels and balances herself. She wonders how fast she could be in heels. She stumbles a few times on her trip up to her dorm room, but she is thankful students are all at breakfast and not out in the halls where they could make fun of her. She quickly showers and dresses for class. She pulls her wet hair up into a bun before quickly grabbing her book and making her way back down to her classroom. To her horror, the classroom is already filled with the second-year students when she arrives. She keeps her head down as the whispers spiral into her ears. She quietly sits down next to Brystol and opens her book, hoping to avoid any conversation.
She cringes as Brystol’s words hit her ears. “How do you feel?”
“Fine.” She says shortly. She knows she should thank him for helping her, but she really would rather not. She just wants to forget about that entire day; the binding, the glorman, and Brystol’s hurtful words. But he did save her life, kind of, she thinks. He could have just left her in her dorm room to die. She hates the words that suddenly blurt out of her mouth, “Thank you.” She clarifies in case he misunderstands what she is thanking him for, “For taking me to the infirmary.” She was not going to thank him for talking her through teleporting because she knows he was just trying to save himself. She does not hear him reply, so she finally glances over toward him, to make sure he was listening. He just looks at her with no expression and she quickly turns her eyes back to her book. Moments later the whispers die down as Saitar Regald enters the room.
“Ah!” Saitar Regald sounds surprised as he stops in front of Sahara. “Aranel, it is good to see you up and about. We did not expect you.” Sahara smiles politely toward him before he continues, “The Cundu should be thankful as now he will not have to work alone today.” Sahara glances back over to Brystol before turning her attention back to Saitar Regald’s words. “Turn to page sixty.”
Whispers grow in the room and Sahara wonders what is happening, until she arrives to page sixty. The title of the page reads Battling Glorman. “It seems fitting to educate everyone on battling with glorman, due to recent alarming events.” The whispers grow to a small rumble before Saitar Regald taps his book on his desk three times. “Quiet. Now, how many of you have ever seen a glorman?” Sahara sinks slightly in her chair as she glances from the corner of her eye around the room. Two other elves raise their hands, besides Brystol. Sahara halfway raises her hand feeling awkward. “Today we will be battling a glorman.” Saitar Regald snaps his fingers and Sahara suddenly feels her body jerk backwards. The tables and chairs the students are sitting in move to create a circle around the room. A large trunk sitting against the wall slides out into the middle of the room. “There is nothing to fear, as I am here to protect you.”
An ellon with long blond braided hair looks shocked as he speaks, “We have to practice on a REAL glorman, are you insane?”
“That will be enough Tryp.” Saitar Regald sounds calm as he moves toward the trunk. “Practicing on a fake glorman or any other creature would not actually prepare you, now, would it? There are three ways to stop a glorman. Glorman can only be killed after they have been relieved of their venom. And to relieve a glorman of their venom, it must be done by pulling out each of their claws in all four feet and their two fangs in their mouth.” He unlocks the giant golden lock on the trunk as he speaks, “Does anyone know how to stop the glorman so that the venom may be extracted?” An elleth raises her hand with confidence. “Yes?” Saitar Regald points toward her.
“Freeze them or knock them out.” She says, sounding just as confident as she looks.
“Correct. And who knows how to do either of those two things?” Saitar Regald struggles to keep the trunk lid closed as he looks around the room. The glorman is making a small whining noise as he struggles to escape the trunk. The confident elleth raises her hand again. “Ah.” Saitar Regald smiles as he turns the trunk toward the elleth and opens the lid. The glorman lunges out quickly toward the elleth and her confidence disappears as the glorman is inches from her face. She pushes herself backward from the table and causes her chair to fall to the ground as she screams. The chain around the glorman’s neck stops it from reaching the students, who are all startled and moving as far back as they can.
Sahara tries to remember the word she heard Verdiwild say, Heli she thinks to herself. She looks at the glorman and thinks the word again. Suddenly, the glorman looks like it turns to heavy stone as it freezes and thuds down to the ground. Saitar Regald looks around at each of the students in surprise. “Who did that?” He turns to Brystol and Sahara instinctively. “I did not hear anyone speak. Why not share with the class what you did.” He says glancing back and forth between Sahara and Brystol. Sahara looks over toward Brystol nervously. Saitar Regald turns back toward the once confident elleth, “Was this you?” The elleth quickly shakes her head with wide eyes. “It usually takes a few tries to accomplish such magic, and I have never seen anyone do it without casting a spell.” He turns back towards Sahara in interest. “Perhaps the rumors are true?” Saitar Regald moves closer to Sahara as he continues to speak, “Do we have the most powerful elf to ever live in our presence?”
Sahara feels the embarrassment in her cheeks growing as he peers down at her from the other side of the table. “Heli.” Sahara says as she clears her throat nervously.
Saitar Regald looks at her thoughtfully for a few awkwardly quiet moments before he finally says, “Have you used the spell before?” Sahara shakes her head in response. After he looks at her for a moment longer, he finally turns away from Sahara to address the other students. “Yes, one of the three ways is to cast the freeze spell with the word Heli toward the glorman. The other way is to cast the instant slumber spell, senwa lore. And the last is to paralyze the glorman with lalevite. Now, form a line and you will each practice stopping the glorman with one of the three spells.”
The students form a line in front of Saitar Regald. As soon as they are lined up, Saitar Regald wakes the glorman by saying, “Lacarina ea heli.” The glorman jumps back to life and prowls toward the line of students. “Now use one of the spells, Hagro.” Saitar Regald yells over the roar of the glorman to the ellon standing in the front of the line.
The student seems nervous but moves his shaky hand up toward the glorman and yells, “Lavite.” The glorman only grows angrier and flies quickly toward Hagro, causing Hagro to fall.
“It is Lalevite.” Saitar Regald says loudly. “And try not to shake as you cast, or the spell could land on another subject.”
Hagro stumbles up to his feet with the help of the ellon standing behind him. He tries to steady his hand as he again stretches it out toward the angry glorman. “Lalevite.” He says meekly and the glorman seems unfazed by this week spell.
“With more authority!” Yells Saitar Regald.
“Lalevite!” Hagro says sternly and a bit louder. But again, the glorman is unfazed, so Hagro shouts louder, “Lalevite!” The glorman suddenly falls to the ground as his legs buckle beneath him.
“Good.” Saitar Regald says before restoring the glorman to its pre-spell form with, “Lacarina ea lalevite.” He points to the ellon that is behind Hagro. “Next.”
The students, one at a time, practice the spells on the glorman successfully. Brystol is just in front of Sahara in line and completes the spell with no problem. Sahara steps up for her turn and completes the Heli spell with no problem. As she begins to move toward the back of the line, as all the other students had, Saitar Regald stops her. “Use the other two spells also please, Aranel.”
Sahara steps back to the front of the line and after the glorman springs back to action she uses the Lalevite spell with no problem. She cannot remember the other spell, so she asks Saitar Regald after he again brings the glorman back to action, “What was the other one?”
“Senwa lore.” He replies with interest. Again, Sahara conducts the spell on the first try with no issue. Sahara again tries to move toward the back of the line, but Saitar Regald stops her again with his words, “And now with think magic.”
The students begin to whisper as Sahara moves back to her place in front of the line. Sahara feels uncomfortable with being the center of attention. “Lacarina ea senwa lore.” She says as she looks at Saitar Regald without pointing or using anything to point the magic toward the glorman. With her words, the glorman springs to life again and she keeps her eyes on Saitar Regald, who seems surprised by the glorman rising again. She again keeps her eyes on Saitar Regald, who is intently watching her, as she mentally thinks the Lalevite spell. The glorman crashes toward the ground as Sahara blinks toward Saitar Regald. The student’s gasp is surprise as their whispers fall to silence. Sahara silently brings the glorman back to action with Lacarina ea lalevite. Saitar Regald jumps back in surprise from the glorman rising again before his frightened eyes turn back toward Sahara. The students all bustle with surprise amongst each other as Sahara moves toward the back of the line. The remainder of the morning is spent with the students practicing in pairs using each spell on the glorman. One student casts a spell, while the other student wakes the beast.
“You will stay, Aranel.” Saitar Regald announces as the students begin to shuffle out of the room as class ends. Sahara feels embarrassed by being singled out and wonders if she did something wrong. She sits back down in her chair as she waits for the room to empty of the other students. Saitar Regald sits down on his desk and waves his hand toward the door causing it to close after the last student exits. “Can you do mind control too?”
“Sir?” Sahara sits up in her chair curiously.
“Can you tell others, or beasts, what to do and they mind you?” He looks at her with no readable emotion.
“I have never tried.” She replies nervously, the thought of being able to mind control someone scares her.
Saitar Regald waves his hand toward the glorman, that is laying in the middle of the room still frozen from the last student to cast a spell on it. “Lacarina ea heli." He looks back toward Sahara as he says, "Try it now. Tell the glorman what to do."
Sahara stands to her feet and tries to think of what to tell the glorman to do. She sees it moving toward her in anger and she wonders why the beast never moves toward Saitar Regald as it does toward her and the other students. She tries to tell the glorman to attack Saitar Regald but the glorman does not seem to be fazed by her thoughts. "Tell him to lay down." Saitar Regald says. Sahara ignores Saitar Regald and again tries to tell it to stalk toward the saitar instead of her, but the glorman does not comply. "Perhaps you could focus on his thoughts first." Saitar Regald suggests.
Sahara glances over toward Saitar Regald before back at the glorman. She focuses her eyes on the glorman's and tries to mentally connect with him. She sees Saitar Regald move off his desk and she again tries to mentally tell the glorman to attack Saitar Regald. To her surprise the glorman suddenly turns its head toward Saitar Regald and flies forcefully toward him. Saitar Regald jumps backwards as he throws his hand out toward the beast and yells, "Lalevite!" As the beast drops to the floor in front of him, he quickly looks over toward Sahara in some anger. "Did you do that?"
Sahara adamantly shakes her head as she lies, "No!"
"Hmm." He says in thought, "Perhaps we have practiced enough for the day. You may go." Sahara wastes no time in gathering her things and leaving for lunch.