[A Fractured Song] - Chapter 13 - Fantasy, Isekai (Portal Fantasy), Adventure

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A large iron plate, similar to the shape of a barbell weight, hovered in the air. All the while, a jaunty Erisdalian folk tune rang through the forest.

Singing this song that she just learned, Frances levitated the large iron plate—which weighed about thirty pounds—into the air. It was probably the heaviest she’d ever lifted with her magic, but although she could feel something yanking at the back of her mind, she was holding the weight.

Edana clapped her hands. “Well, done Frances! You can release the spell now.”

Feeling almost giddy with glee, Frances, still singing her heart out, gave a brief nod. She grabbed the plate and stopped singing.

The sheer mass of the iron plate yanked her forward and it felt for a moment like her arms were being pulled out of her sockets. She managed not to lose her footing—

Her arms suddenly burst into a sharp pain she’d never felt before. Frances locked her jaw and swallowed the sound in, but nothing in her body seemed to listen to her. The plate slid out of her numb fingers, and she felt grass on her cheek. Somehow she’d ended up on the ground. She couldn’t remember how, and all that she could feel was a rolling agony that traveled up her arms into her shoulders.

She screamed. She knew she wasn’t supposed to scream. She was supposed to stay quiet, and only speak when appropriate, but she couldn’t help it.

“Frances? Frances! Where does it hurt?”

Frances barely felt Edana’s hands on her shoulders and arms. Her eyes were screwed completely shut, and all she could see was darkness.

Suddenly, the pain was gone, replaced by a blessedly cool feeling. Frances rolled up onto her back and opened her eyes. Edana was chanting some kind of spell under her breath, hands outstretched over her.

“Thank you,” Frances gasped.

“I’m not finished. That was just to numb the pain. Let go of your arms, I need to see what went wrong so I can heal you,” said Edana.

Frances obeyed, placing her hands on the ground, beside her body, allowing her mentor to take ahold of her left arm and roll the sleeves back—

Too late, Frances suddenly realized what was going to happen.

“Wait, Master I—”

It was too late. Edana’s green eyes were wide. She’d already rolled up the left sleeve to her shoulder. A quick word of power and Frances’s right arm sleeve rolled itself up as well.

The bruises and cane marks had healed somewhat over the last six days, but they were still there, having just turned a dark purple. Though, some had turned yellow.

Frances wrenched her arm from her mentor’s numb grip. She tried to cover up the bruises by pulling her arms behind her back, but she knew Edana had seen them.

“Frances… how did this happen?” Edana whispered.

The panic she felt shook her shoulders, and she barely managed to stammer, “I ran into the dresser.”

The disbelief in her mentor’s face was far too clear. “Frances, you are the most careful child I have ever met.”

Please believe me, please believe me. Frances averted her gaze. “I’m sorry! I lied! I—I was reading a book while walking, and I tripped and fell down the stairs!”

“Those are not wounds you get from falling down stairs!”

“I—” she spluttered, not knowing what to say. Her teacher looked so alarmed.

But suddenly, the hunchbacked woman put her hand over her chest and took a deep breath. Frances wasn’t sure why, but somehow, Edana’s alarm seemed to fade from her features, and change into a somewhat tense smile.

“Frances… why don’t you let me heal your arms first? They must hurt a lot.”

Frances swallowed. Her teacher was right, but… but what did she think about those marks? Wasn’t she disgusted by how ugly they looked? Only her sleeves were rolled up and she already felt so exposed. So naked. And Edana looked so shocked. Just what would her mentor say if she found out the bruises extended to her back and legs? She’d think that Frances was a freak. A waste of space. She’d be exactly what her parents said she was. And that… that would mean she would get hit.

But there had been no disgust on Edana’s face, and there was no disgust now. Just worry, and concern.

Frances slowly rolled her sleeves up and extended her arms to her teacher, palms up. Edana put her hands on Frances’s palms and slowly began to sing, low, bass notes that seemed to reverberate through her skin.

She felt a warm tingle run through her arms. It was like being wrapped with a warm blanket. Before her eyes, she could see the purple marks fade, and feel the swelling on her arms seem to drain out.

When Edana ended her spell, Frances could only stare at the unblemished flesh.

“Thank you, Master.”

“Who—” Edana took a deep breath and grimaced slightly. “Frances, I… I have a lot of questions about your injuries. But before I ask, I feel it’s only right for me to ask if you are comfortable answering them. If you do tell me, I won’t tell anybody about them unless you let me.”

The question was one that Frances had not expected. She’d thought Edana would demand to know who hurt her. She wasn’t prepared for restraint.

So she stared at the older woman owlishly, whilst trying to figure out what she could say. With great effort, she managed to ask, “Don’t you want me to tell you?”

Edana sighed. “Yes, I very much do, but I don’t want to force you to do so. I encourage you to come forward with me, Frances. However, I’d rather you not tell me if it hurts to do so.”

On one hand, that made Frances relax just a bit, and she finally managed to get her shaking under control. However, the question that popped in her mind kept her gaze averted.

“What if I don’t ever feel comfortable telling you?” she asked, almost mumbling.

“Hmm.” Edana paused, gazing off into the forest, clearly in thought. “This is my advice, not an order. If you have other injuries it would be wise for you to show me where they are so I can heal them. If I don’t heal all your injuries, you might get hurt in any future training.” The mage pointed at her student’s arms. “Your arms weren’t just bruised, they were fractured. That’s why it hurt when you grabbed the weight.”

“Mom broke—” Frances clamped her hands to her mouth.

Edana stared at Frances, her fists balled up so tightly the knuckles had turned white. Yet, the mage said nothing, though she was wearing a rather constipated grimace.

“So, what would you like to do, Frances?”

Frances had no idea what she would like to do. In such terrifying situations, her mind had always revolved around whatever authority figure had wanted to do.

But now, Edana was giving her some rather reasonable choices and had promised not to ask any questions.

Edana… she really does want me to decide… and that… Does that mean she cares about me? I mean she always has.

Frances wrung her hands, and shook her head in a vain attempt to clear her thoughts. She had to make a decision. Something, there had to be something she could get Edana to do. The mage didn’t just want to stand there. Except, Edana was standing there, hands on her staff, in a neutral, non-threatening stance.

Frances swallowed… what did she want? Her… her back still ached from when she’d been kicked into a wall, and her stomach still felt a little odd from the kick. It… it would be nice for those to go away.

It would mean showing more of her bruises to her mentor, but all she’d done was heal them.

In a quiet, frail voice, she said, “My back and stomach hurt. Can you take a look, please?”

Edana smiled. “Of course, turn around and take a seat.”

Frances did so and crossed her legs. Gingerly, she took the ends of her shirt, and trying not to think, pulled up her cotton shirt and linen undershirt.

She heard a sharp gasp from her mentor, but nothing else. Then there were only Edana’s warm hands on her back, the soft sound of her singing, and the soothing tingle of her magic working on her bruises.

After a long moment, the spell ended and Frances stretched out, marveling at how painless it felt to do so.

“Can you lie down and let me see your stomach?” Edana asked.

There was some kind of tightness in her mentor’s voice, but Frances, not wanting to question, nodded, lay down, and let Edana repeat the spell.

Her mentor had an odd pallor, in fact, she looked sick. But it wasn’t an expression of disgust. Rather, Edana seemed as if she wanted to throw up.

“Master, are you alright?” Frances asked quietly.

“No. I’m… it didn’t take much energy. It’s just…” Edana met Frances’s eyes, “w-would you like to know how bad it was?” she asked, quietly

Frances blinked and shrugged. “Uh… sure.”

“Your guts were bruised. Um… does your stool seem to have any strange colors? Or blood in it perhaps?”

Frances shook her head.

Her mentor sighed in relief. “You were lucky then. Whatever hit you very nearly caused bleeding in your body. As for your back, I found severe bruising, and while there were no fractures, the flesh suggests signs of past trauma.” Edana pinched her nose for a moment, before meeting Frances’s eyes with a look of concern.

“I don’t want to force you to do anything, but I am doubling the amount of food you eat at meals. I can tell your body’s not particularly well-nourished and while I’ve healed what I can, you have a lot of healing to do. If you don’t eat more starting right now, performing any kind of magic might shut your body down. Oh, and if your body does feel uncomfortable, or even odd, I would strongly suggest you tell me. If you don’t, we could end up with a repeat of what happened today with your arms.”

“Yes, master!” Frances stammered.

“Please do.” Edana got up, dusting her robes off. “Now… I think we both have no energy left to continue the lesson. Let’s get back to the house and have a bath.”

Author's Note: Well, did this turn of events surprise you?