Chapter 49 To Resist A Khione 1

Chapter 49 To Resist A Khione 1
She gasped when she woke.
It was pitch black dark when she first opened her eyes so she laid there a bit so her eyes could adjust to the darkness. The moon was high up, throwing its bright light into the room through the open windows. She had dreamt of that lady again and this time, it had been more disturbing than the last time she had been having the dream repeatedly for eight days after the incident with Ryder and Eris.
Eris, she wondered what might have happened to him, since then she had not heard a word about him.
She threw the covers off her body and got out of bed, wincing slightly from the pain in her abdomen. She had to be stitched up, and thankfully they had done that when she was unconscious because she would never be able to bear the pain. Xanth and the physician had told her not to stress so much so that she does not stretch the stitches, and Ryder had told her that if she did, they would have to stitch her back up. And this time she would be awake and very conscious.
She shuddered slightly when she recalled his tone of voice and serious look.
But more than staying put in her room, she had some unfinished business to attend to, and it would take her all the way down the hall, to Ryder’s study.
She stepped out of her room, the hallway was dim and all was quiet. She took in a deep breath and proceeded towards the study, her hand sliding along the wall for direction. The moonlight helped her see where the torches were not lit, but like always, the last torch hanging on the wall by the door to the study was lit, and on the floor was a lamp. She picked it up and lit it, then tried quietly to sneak into the room.
The door was unlocked, but it did make a squeaking noise as she opened it. It was loud enough because the hall was dead silent, but she got in and shut it again, heaving a sigh of relief. She turned and walked into the study, straight to the shelves. She recognized the blue-covered book and picked that off the shelf, taking it to the table and placing both the book and the lantern on it. “KHIONE” the title read.
The study had no chairs so she had to stand. She frowned when she felt a sting in her abdomen and feared that she might have pulled a stitch, she placed a hand over it and blinked; she would read this one book and then go back, there would always be another time to come in here.
She flipped the book open and the pages turned to a chapter, it was something about the light, summoning light, to heal up and to heat. She furrowed her eyebrows, one raised and the other lowered, this was magic, the arts she had only heard of from stories and tales told to children in Dragonsbane, it was to be a myth and yet in his book, it said that Khiones possessed the power.
They called her Khione, does that mean that she could?
She braced herself.
This magic needed no words or sacrifice or any extra stuff, according to the book, it comes from within and it was supposed to be the easiest magic a Khione could do, yet there was a warning to it, that said it could consume energy if not done correctly. She took in a deep breath and let it out, she would try to do this.
She closed her eyes and touched her index finger and thumb together on both hands and brought them together on her chest level, twisting her hand until one hand was on top and the other under, her fingers on each hand pointing in the opposite direction as described in the book, then in one swift move, she twisted her hand around, wrapping it into the shape of a ball and then gradually drew them apart, a small ball of white light began to form from between her palms.
She felt the sizzling energy and opened her eyes, her face shone with excitement at what she had just done and she glowed in happiness. The ball grew to a sizeable amount and then she held it with just one hand, the ball of energy levitating above her right palm. She read the book again; to heal and to heat up.
With her other hand, she undid her robe, exposing her naked body to the light. She unwrapped the bandage around her abdomen and let the bloody cloth fall to the floor. She caressed the injury with a finger, it was the first time she was seeing it after it had been stitched and indeed, it looked terrible.
She took in a deep breath and brought the ball of light energy close to it till it touched and she watched in awe as the wound slowly and painlessly sealed itself up, it took away whatever pain that it had caused her, leaving not even a scar in its place. She giggled in excitement and the ball glowed brighter for a moment until she calmed down.
Right. It would be unstable if she was unstable, but this newfound magic excited her and she just stood there, not bothering to tie her robe and just admired the ball of white energy floating above her palm, totally unaware of the pair of eyes that had been on her since she had snuck into the study.