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Our eggs:

Our hatchlings:

I was so hot. Every part of my body was hot and sweaty. I must have moaned. Donal was by my side and I seemed to be lying in a bed. “Why is it so hot?”

“Love, you have a fever. Just lie still. Orlando and Fiorenzia will be here soon. They were waiting for us in Ostas. In the mean time, love, drink this. It will make you feel better.” Donal lifted me up and put a glass to my mouth. I took a couple of swallows, but they wouldn’t stay down and I began to wretch uncontrollably into a basin he was holding. Donal then took a towel and moistened it in a bowl of cool water and wiped my face with it.

Within minutes, I heard a commotion outside the room I was in. I could see through the window the large Magi dragon and the smaller white dragon land in the yard outside. Orlando morphed himself into his human form and then did the same for Fiorenzia.

Fiorenzia hurried over to me and asked Donal what he had been giving me. He listed the ingredients for her. She then examined me as she hummed to herself. It took quite a few minutes.

“Patra is suffering from Child Birth Fever and it has been allowed to go on far too long. She is suffering from a massive infection. While the potion that you have given her, Donal, is the usual for this disease, it seems that Patra has had a bad reaction to something in the potion and that has hindered her recovery. If Orlando will help me, I am going to fight this infection first with my healing powers and then with a healing potion, using different ingredients.”

Fiorenzia told Donal what herbs he was to get her. She turned back to me and joining with Orlando, then spoke several incantations over me. The longer she spoke her spell, the better I started to feel. When she had finished, I felt weak, but I was no longer hot nor did I feel the confusion that I had felt up until then. She took the herbs that she had asked Donal to get for me and she made a tisane with them. When she was satisfied with her concoction, she took it over to me and asked me to drink it. She said it would help me to continue to fight the infection in case anything was missed. Since I was so weak, Donal lifted me up and helped me to drink it. Before I could finish it, however, I started to convulse and was unable to breathe. As I lost consciousness once more, I heard Fiorenzia and Orlando chanting over me.

When I came to, I heard Fiorenzia exclaiming, “I don’t understand this. Neither the potion that Donal gave Patra nor the tisane that I made for her should have affected her as they did. There is something going on inside her that seems to be changing these potions into something else. Orlando, would you examine her for any magical curses or spells that might be causing these reactions?”

Orlando agreed and came back over to me. “AH, LITTLE ONE. YOU ARE AWAKE AGAIN. PLEASE JUST RELAX AND LET ME CHECK YOU OUT MAGICALLY.”

He began to speak in Old Tongue and touched my head and my heart. As he probed deeper and deeper inside me, I began to moan and respond back to him in Old Tongue, although I had no idea what I was saying nor did I have any control over what I said. The deeper he went and the stronger the magic he used, the stronger resistance I felt against his magic. I could do nothing to stop the resistance. When he sent the strongest of his powers into me, I screamed and my vision started to turn golden. But I was unable to go anywhere, as Orlando, Fiorenzia and Donal all held on to me and prevented my flight. With Fiorenzia and Donal holding me, Orlando changed his chants from probing to banishing. However, the only results this got was a tremendous amount of pain for me as I screamed and struggled uncontrollably.

“Stop, Orlando, stop!” demanded Donal. “This isn’t working! All that seems to be happening is hurting Patra.”

Orlando stopped as Haral came running into the room. “What on earth are you doing to the poor girl? It sounds like you are torturing her!”

Orlando looked at Haral angrily but spoke calmly, “I AM GOING TO OVERLOOK YOUR COMMENTS, BECAUSE I KNOW OF YOUR AFFECTION FOR PATRA, BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW ME WELL ENOUGH BY KNOW THAT I WOULD NEVER INTENTIONALLY HURT HER. PATRA IS UNDER SEVERAL VERY POWERFUL SPELLS. SO STRONG THAT I DOUBT ANY ONE DRAGON OR MAGIC USER COULD HAVE CREATED THEM ON HIS OR HER OWN. THESE SPELLS WERE NOT THERE TWO YEARS AGO, WHEN FIORENZIA AND I LAST EXAMINED HER. IT IS GOING TO TAKE A LOT OF STUDY AND A LOT OF CO-OPERATION BY MAGIS AND MAGIC USERS TO TRY AND RID HER OF THESE CURSES.”

Haral looked abashed and then concerned. “I apologize if I implied that you were harming Patra. I just found it very unnerving to hear her screaming so.

“But as for these spells, I think I know where and when and from whom they came. I doubt that all the magic users and dragons on this earth can remove them.”

Haral had caught everyone’s attention. “When Patra was sent to the Vyru monastery and convent after her suicide attempt, she helped uncover a cult of worshippers there who followed the elder ghod, Varpa-Makštis. She helped me to destroy this cult and, with the ghod’s help, to send him back to the prison where he has been contained for millennia. I didn’t know at that time, but since you have mentioned curses, it wouldn’t surprise me that these came from Varpa-Makštis. It is the kind of thing he likes to do, especially if some mere human were to flout his wishes. If we wish to remove these curses from Patra, we are going to have to ask for the help of the ghods themselves. This is something that falls under my jurisdiction, as High Prelate to the ghods.

“I don’t mind if any of you wish to stay and watch, but I am going to have to ask for complete and utter silence and respect. Whether you believe that the ghods exist is immaterial to me right now. But, if you wish to help Patra, I need to be able to concentrate. Catching the attentions of the ghods is difficult at best. Whether they will be helpful is another matter. But since the curses are from Varpa-Makštis, whom all the ghods hate, I think that there is a good chance that they may be willing to help.”

Haral got busy and found items that he felt would suffice for a make-shift altar. Since he had come on a rescue mission, he hadn’t brought many items of his faith. When he was satisfied with his efforts, he prepared himself for worship. He lit a small fire in a metal bowl and then cut his hand and dripped blood into the fire as a sacrifice to the ghods.

“Oh wonderful Deivė, Queen and Mother of all ghods, I call upon you for help, not for me, your most humble of servants, but for my niece, who has been most cruelly cursed recently by Varpa-Makštis. I pray to you to hear my most pitiful of requests.” Haral continued in like manner for over half an hour. Just when I started to think that his prayers were futile, a silvery-white glow descended over Haral

“Speak my son. I will hear your request.”

“Oh wonderful Deivė, You who are the mother of all ghods, please look upon my poor niece, Patra, a mother like you, who has been cruelly cursed because she helped you and your children recapture Varpa- Makštis. Please look upon her, have pity on her and remove the curses that have been cast upon her.”

The silvery-white glow moved from Haral and enveloped me. Its presence gave me a feeling of love, warmth and compassion. All the feelings that a mother should have. I opened myself up to her and gave her the praise and respect that she was due, and I prayed to her as I had been taught during my stay at the convent.

“I can see the curses and the marks of Varpa-Makštis. I can also see that she has been blessed by my daughter, Daile. Daile rarely blesses anyone these days, so for this child to be so blessed says a lot to me in her favor.

“The first curse is the one that you have been fighting most recently. I can see the problems that it has caused this child. It is so enmeshed in her that it would be difficult to remove it without causing her other harm. However, I can see how it can be changed and redirected into something more beneficial to her.

“There it is done. I have directed it from changing all potions to become harmful into changing all poisons to become beneficial potions.

“The second curse isn’t really a curse, which surprises me. It really is a blessing. It keeps this child from the affects of aging and she will remain beautiful all the days of her life. What woman wants to look old? This doesn’t need lifting or changing.

“The third curse is a mixed blessing/curse, which is more of what I expect of Varpa-Makštis. It is the spell of the earth mother. It means that she will easily conceive and bear children and will continue to do so all the days of her life. The curse part is that if she doesn’t do so within four months of her last born child, the curse will arrange for this to happen in any way it can. This has happened to her twice already. Her daughter wasn’t conceived because she and her husband were careless. She was conceived because the curse made them so. Her last baby was conceived because the curse brought her to the attention of her master, when she had been succeeding in hiding herself from him.

“Unfortunately this curse is very powerful. It was the curse of queen Ahmizala. I am sure, my son, that you remember her tragic story. I cannot remove this curse without doing great harm to her. However, there is a substance, a stone, which can neutralize this curse for as long as she wears the stone. Its properties prevent conception in any and all females, not only for this curse but for any woman who wishes to avoid pregnancy. It is a light blue colored stone, with golden streaks and can be found in the mountains called pakal in the country of teviska. This stone must be worn constantly or she will once again be subject to the effects of the curse.

“Also, be aware that the opposite of this stone can be found in the same area. It is a golden colored stone with blue veins. This stone will attract conception when all the ingredients are together in a woman’s womb. This stone would be disastrous for this child to touch or wear. So be careful.

“Since this child has just given birth, she has four months to find and wear the stone. She must also remain celibate until then or she will bear yet another child no matter how many precautions are taken. Remember Ahmizala.

“Because I see in this child the great love she has for her children, I feel for her as a mother. I can see the struggle in her to love this last of her babies. I am blessing her with maternal love for her newest son, so that she can raise him as beautifully as she is raising her others. It is done and shall be so.”

As quickly as she came, she left and the silvery-white glow disappeared.