The ogre had sunk his teeth deep into Robert’s arm, and he had lost a lot of blood. He was very weak and was also starting to go into shock, but Grace still managed to get him to walk. Robert leaned on her, and she managed to take him back to the castle.
By the time they were back in the castle, Robert was beginning to lose consciousness.
Thomas was the first one to see Grace and Robert at the door, and he ran up and alerted everyone else. They came down quickly, Vivian running as fast as she could.
When Vivian heard the news, she panicked and forgot to take Midor down with her. But Midor got Benevois to carry him down the stairs so that he could also be present.
Robert was put on an empty table, and George was frantically trying to make a bandage to stop the bleeding when Vivian arrived. Vivian wailed in anguish at seeing Robert’s arm so mangled. “My son!” she cried. “After all these years apart, just when I’m finally reunited with you!”
“It’s alright,” said a voice. Catherine was there. “I can teach you how to save him.”
“Are there spells for this?” Vivian asked. (Of course, Vivian knew that there were spells for almost everything, but she was in a panic, and so she wanted to hear it confirmed.)
“There are,” said Catherine. “I’m not going to say it myself, of course. But I could teach you to say it.”
Midor (who was being held up by Benevois) chimed in. “Whatever she wants, Vivian, just do it. Say whatever spell she wants you to say.” But Middor need not have spoken. Vivian had already decided that the moment she had seen Robert on the table.
Strangely, of all of those present, it was only Talon who was nervous. He approached Vivian, and said quietly, “This is a much more powerful spell than anything you have done before. It involves taking the essence of the magic from the air and holding it in your hands. You will feel the power when you do it.”
“I’m ready,” Vivian said.
“Quickly, there isn’t much time,” said Catherine. “You must remember these words,” she wrote them out on a parchment. “I don’t have time to get into the conjugation now. We’ll talk about the grammar of the phrase later. We’ll put in Robert’s name here, but you are going to have to change it to the Druid pronunciation, and the Druid’s have a special accusative case for names, so use this form.”
On the paper, Catherine wrote out “Robertum”.
“I’ll help you with the pronunciation in just one minute. But here’s the important part. You must say this part of the spell while waving your hands. Wave them up in the air, like you’re trying to catch the energy. Then, once you’ve caught the energy in your hands, lay the hands down upon Robert saying this part here. Make sure your volume goes up at the end. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Vivian said.
“Good. Don’t move your hands until you’ve mastered the pronunciation. Now repeat after me.” Catherine drilled the pronunciation, and Vivian repeated after her.
After they had practiced several times, Catherine said, “You’re ready. Do the spell.”
“It’s alright darling. You can do it,” said Midor. But Midor didn’t need to say that. Vivian was already focused. She started the spell. When she waved her hands up in the air, she caught the energy out of the air. Her hands glowed with light, and then when she put her hands down on Robert’s arm, the light flowed out of her hands and went into Robert’s arm. It healed the arm. The teeth marks disappeared, and the blood vanished, and Robert’s arm was like it had never been bitten.
Robert opened his eyes and looked up from the table. He was confused to see everyone standing around the table staring back at him. “What happened?” asked Robert.
Vivian threw her arms around him. “Oh, my boy!” she cried. “I thought I almost lost you there for a second.”
Grace also began crying. “You gave me quite a scare, Robert,” she said through her tears.
“The ogre…” Robert said slowly. “That’s the last thing I remember.”
“What is an ogre doing in our forest?” George asked, but nobody answered him. Everyone was too concerned about Robert.
After Vivian separated herself from her son, Catherine patted her on the arm. “I’ll teach you the whole spell later, and teach you how to conjugate it for different people. In fact, I’ll teach you all the healing spells.”
“There are more?”
“Oh, yes. That one is just for healing a wound. But what about sicknesses? And what about food poisoning? And what about broken bones, or being crushed by something. There are many, many different healing spells. You should really learn them all. You know as well as I do how dangerous this forest is. Why it amazes me that so many mothers out here in this forest don’t know simple healing spells. They never know when their children are going to get into trouble.”
“Yes,” said Vivian. “Teach them all to me.
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