Max groaned painfully in his sleep and Gopple wiped his brow with a wet rag. The sun was beginning to set and the long shadows seemed to be reaching for them.
"Can you do nothing else for him, Aelith?" Iatus asked.
"I told you, I'm not a healer, he needs a doctor, a human doctor. I can just about keep him alive, nothing more."
Iatus groaned in despair.
Aelith had reverted to baby owl form and was perched on Max, his feet glowing with a faint green light.
"We're just going to have to summon that mara," Iatus said, determined.
"What? You can't!" Aelith snapped.
"It's the only way out of this mess."
"I told you we could cut off your arm."
"Why are you so opposed to this?"
"Well... you won't be able to handle the mana drain and you'll die."
"Is that affection I hear? The great Aelith getting sentimental?" Iatus smiled.
"Shut up, if you die it will hurt me, a lot."
"Why are you so against this? I summoned you without too much trouble, how hard could a mara be?"
Aelith shrugged his wings, "About three to four times as hard. But this spirit is... evil. Pure, unadulterated evil."
A shiver ran down the bird, puffing up its feathers.
"Well, if it's that or cutting off my arm, I choose that."
Aelith scowled, "Well, I refuse to help you."
"Tough, you're bound to my will, expand the shield so I can draw a summoning circle."
"You don't know a circle powerful enough for a mara."
"Well, you will just have to help me, won't you?"
Aelith scowled, "I don't know how."
"What?" Iatus said, genuinely shocked.
"I don't know anything about summons, why would I? I'm the one being summoned!"
Iatus bit his lip, "Well, the one for shedu will just have to do."
"You do realise that will take much more mana than normally, give up, you can't do it."
"Watch me, birdbrain."
Aelith snorted, "Goodbye, cruel world, it's been a blast."
"Oh stop being so dramatic."
"If you are going to do this, at least make the circle big, fill the whole square if you can."
"Fine, expand the shield."
Aelith scowled one last time and expanded the shield, pushing the air spirits back. Iatus found a loose piece of cobble and pulled it up.
"Sharpen this," he said to Aelith.
The bird took the stone, wrapped its wing around it and crushed it, forming two sharp shards of stone.
"Thank you," Iatus smiled sarcastically and began to scratch out the summoning circle. He didn't know how big to make the runes so he had to repeat them a few times.
"Will it work?" Iatus asked.
"No clue," Aelith stated bluntly.
"I'm sure someone with such magnificence as you, bossman, would never make a mistake, it couldn't possibly fail," Gopple said cheerfully but unhelpfully.
"Only one way to find out," said Iatus, "What's the spirits name."
"Please, Iatus, don't."
"Tell me the name!"
"Illiria."
"Thank you."
Iatus took a deep breath and began chanting. The normal drain on his mana kicked in and he could feel it flowing away. He reached the end and added the name. Lights shot across his vision and all the blood rushed from his head. It felt like he was being sucked out from the inside. Gasping for breath he fell to one knee, ribbons of pain danced across his whole body.
A second sun appeared in the sky, right above the square, sending the shadows scurrying away. Iatus grimaced and began to chant the binding spell, the mana was now pouring out of him and his vision had narrowed to two spots.
Somehow he managed to finish the spell and the torrent of escaping mana stopped.
He gasped and collapsed backwards, resting on his arms he looked at the evil monstrosity he had summoned.
The new sun flashed, blinding Iatus. A beam of light shone down onto the circle and a sphere of pure, yellow light descended. It filled most of the circle and it radiated heat like nothing Iatus had ever felt, causing the air to twist and shimmer and some of the closer buildings were even starting to smoke.
Gods, save me.
Iatus wanted to back away but his entire body was drained, he was as helpless a new-born.
The ball of light then exploded outwards in a shock-wave that tore at Iatus' face, sent Aelith and Gopple spinning into the air and carried Max a metre or so. It hit the shield and it exploded outward, sending pieces of it raining down like shattered glass. One of the nearer houses' walls collapsed and the whole house sagged, it teetered once and then split in two, sending shards of wood high into the air. The air spirits on the outside of the bubble didn't wait to see what would happen next and flew away as fast as they could.
"Well, hi there," said a high pitched and rather happy sounding voice in front of Iatus, "What are you doing on the floor Mister Mage?"
Iatus groaned and raised his head a little. Standing just inside the circle was a little girl, about 13 years old. She had long blonde hair that flowed down to her waist, small features and big blue eyes. She wore a white dress that cut off at her elbows and knees. She also gave off a faint, yellow light.
"I'm Illiria, what's your name?" she said sweetly and giggled.
"You're.... Illiria?" Iatus managed to gasp.
"That's right, but who are you?"
"I'm Iatus, but you're a... girl."
"And you're a boy, quite a cute one too," she giggled again and battered her eyelids at him.
Iatus was starting to feel better again and pushed himself up on his hands. She was the exact image of a young girl, except, he realised, that she had paws for feet and animal ears on the top of her head. Cat ears, it looked like by the shape. So that's why Aelith was so scared of her, a marra that's a cat.
"What are you staring at?" she asked and wrapped her tail around her waist like a comfort blanket.
Okay, so she's got a tail, and ears, and paws.
"Umm, sorry," Iatus said dumbly.
"That's okay, I know you magi don't get out much. I'm sure seeing someone as cute as me is a bit of a shock. Oh my! Is that Aelith! Aelith, my little friend, come and let me chase you, like we used to in Babylon. Do you remember?"
Aelith had been slowly trying to conceal himself behind Gopple, as she noticed him he did the most melodramatic faint Iatus had ever seen.
"Oh, Aelith, always so silly!" she giggled again, picked him up and squeezed him in a hug before he could flap away. "Now, what can I do for you cutesy?"
Iatus opened and closed his mouth a few times, she had wondered through the circle like it wasn't even there.
"Well, ummm... I have this rune on my arm, can you get it off me?"
She dropped Aelith and bounded up to him. Aelith flopped back to the ground, dazed.
"Oh, that silly thing? Sure honey!" she winked at him and knelt by his side.
I thought Aelith was about as dramatic as they came, clearly I was wrong.
She took his arm and waved a glowing hand over the rune.
"All done! Yay!"
Iatus looked at his arm and it was back to normal.
"Oh dear, we seem to have made a bit of a mess," she said and looked at Iatus in mock disapproval.
"Uh..."
"That's okay, I can fix that!" she said and jumped to her paws, flinging her hands in the air.
Light cascaded out from her, bathing the entire square. Wood and splinters flew together and reattached themselves to the houses, the hall changed colour from almost black to a hazel colour and the lines in the stone melted away. Iatus too could feel his injuries knitting together.
"Yay! Everyone's okay!" she shouted and waved her hands about.
Iatus got to his feet and went over to Max, the wound in his stomach was completely gone, he was still asleep but there was no sign he had ever been injured.
Iatus' arm was free of the rune and his scars from years on the streets were also gone.
"Come on Aelith! Let's play!" he heard from behind him.
He turned around and Aelith was flapping around the air while Illiria jumped about, trying to swat him out the sky.
"Iatus! Help me! Please! I beg you! Send her away!"
"Oh don't be like that Aely, we just got back together! Let's play some more!"
Iatus laughed despite the circumstances.
Max groaned and Iatus knelt beside him.
"Iatus?"
"I'm here."
"Are we dead?"
"Not yet, my friend, not yet."