Chapter 10: The Colours of Magic

Chapter 10

Seraphina surveyed the room of halflings while Oliver gave a passionate speech about duty and helping the kingdom.  Once he was finished Seraphina stepped forwards to say her part.  

“The war between our people and the Sacians has gone on far too long and has devastated both of our lands.  We need to end this now, the closest we’ve ever come to a solution was through halfling magic, a talisman.  That is why we’ve called you here, we no longer have possession of the talisman and our hope is that you can help us make a new talisman or something, anything, to help us win the war,” Seraphina said calmly.  

A young woman with a baby stepped forwards, “it would help if you told us what the talisman looked like,” she said.

“It was a bloodstone, and it had been made into a necklace,” Seraphina replied.  For a second she thought the woman looked distressed but it was gone so fast she couldn’t be sure.  Seraphina had learnt her lesson the first time and decided to keep an eye on the woman.

“Do you know who made it?”  the woman asked.

“What’s your name?”  Seraphina asked.

“Rhea, your majesty.”

“Well, I’m sorry Rhea, but I don’t know who made the talisman,” Seraphina said.

“Do you remember what colour the magic was?”  Rhea asked.

“Red, just like the stone,” Seraphina replied.

“That would increase the magic potential,” Rhea said thoughtfully.

“What is your magic?”  Seraphina asked.

“Earth magic, healing and talismans.”  

“Perfect, everyone with magic in talismans please come with me to the library, everyone else please stay here with Oliver.  I believe that that will maximize our chances of finding a new way to end the war,” Seraphina ordered.  

Rhea and six halflings followed Seraphina to the library and formed a half circle around her.

“Do any of you have any ideas about how to duplicate the bloodstone talisman?”  Seraphina asked.

“It would be helpful if we knew what the talisman was made to do.  Talismans are made by magic and an intention placed in the same object.  In order for us recreate the bloodstone talisman we need to know what it’s intent was,” an old man explained.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know the intention, the only people who might have are dead Mr…”  Seraphina trailed off.

“Henry,” he supplied.  Seraphina nodded and fixed the name in her memory.

“If this bloodstone necklace was thought to be able to end the war then it must have had a strong intention and powerful magic,” Rhea said.

“Red is strong colour with lots of passion so whoever made the talisman would probably have been able to give it a strong intention,” a young boy said shyly.

“What’s your name?”  Seraphina asked the boy.

“Josh, your majesty.”

“Thank you, Josh, could you explain a bit more about the colours?  I’m afraid I don’t quite understand,” Seraphina asked kindly.

“Um, well, magic comes from what’s inside of you, so the colours are sort of like a reflection.  They show who you are, um, like your personality.  Red usually means strength and passion, green means accepting, grey is quiet, purple is creative and smart…”  he trailed off.

Seraphina smiled at him and addressed the group, “so could you make a talisman with the intention of ending the war?”  she asked.

“Maybe, but it probably wouldn’t have enough power, and you would still need someone to channel all that magic.  All a talisman can do is increase magic or store power until someone with the same intention uses the magic.  When I make talismans for healing I put my magic as well as the intention to heal in an object.  In order to use that talisman my intention has to be the to heal.”  Rhea explained.  “To put it simply.”

“So anyone could do things with lots of magic if they had a powerful talisman?”  Seraphina asked.  

“Not exactly, talismans depend on the user.  Someone with lots of magic could do more with a talisman than someone with less magic could, the same applies to how driven they are. If I was using a healing talisman and I didn’t really care if the healing worked are not, then the healing would be less effective than if i used the same talisman but I really wanted the healing to work.”  Rhea clarified.

“Oh,” Seraphina addressed the whole group, “well see if you can come up with something to help end the war please.”  

Everyone began arguing and debating, ideas were given, then changed, then dismissed.  Most of what they said held no meaning to Seraphina.  She hadn’t known how much there was to magic, and their discussion surpassed her rather basic understanding.  The little she did understand made it clear that that it would be hard, nearly impossible, to make a talisman, and anything they could do would take time, lots of time.  

A few hours later Seraphina recommended they stop for the night.  Dinner would be brought to their rooms.  Once everyone had left Seraphina went to find Oliver.  

After dinner Oliver decided to practice fencing, so Seraphina decided to get some books about magic and study in her room.  On her way back from the library she changed her mind and instead she went to Rhea’s room.