Khael’s eyes flew wide as Morgan appeared out of
the ether, a bundle of cloth under one arm. Morgan cursed loudly in an odd
language. He gently placed the bundle on a worktable and collapsed to one knee.
“I won. Did not get coup. Too dangerous.”
Morgan silently
cursed Magir’s lack of vocabulary while hoping Khael did not want details. “No
coup? This?” Khael poked the cloth bundle.
Morgan hissed in
response. Khael smartly decided to leave the bundle be and left a purse of
coins next to it.
Morgan left for
his cabinet. Sitting on his narrow bed, he peeled away layers until a small
person was revealed in his lap. In the desperate and sudden need to end the
recent battle, he killed his opponent, grabbed for his brother, and jaunted to
Hysperia without giving much mental time to what exactly had happened to
Michael. Michael hadn’t said a thing, not that he had the time to comment in
Morgan’s expeditious finale. He was indignant, understandably, but was still
uncharacteristically quiet. “How old are you?” Morgan probed.
“Ninety-six, of
course!” Michael blurted out, his voice squeaky and thin.
Well, his mind
was still cognizant of who and what he was. So, it wasn’t true chronomancy,
probably just a tweaked form of transmutation. In an odd moment of levity,
Morgan squeezed Michael in a hug, cloyingly gushing, “Aww, aren’t you so cute!”
Michael went to
punch him, but his strength was that of a seven-year-old along with his
proportions. He failed to even leave a red mark. “So, I’m guessing you have the
sexual development of a youngling, too?” Morgan said a bit more soberly.
Michael looked
down to realize that, rather than the short undeveloped stem of a human child,
he had nothing. “I’m missing something down there.”
“Missing or
inverted?” Morgan queried.
Michael felt
around. “No, missing, I don’t have anything.”
“So, he turned
you into….” Morgan started laughing. “I must stop ascribing intelligence to
those who so sorely lack it. He probably forgot children can have genitalia.”
“Is undoing this
going to be a problem?”
“Only if you want
to be intact once I’m done attempting it. I honestly don’t know how to undo
it, so this may take some research, but for now, you are a Scafir youth. I can
try ageing you a bit, but no guarantee that puberty will happen since we are
hoping that Zwigif was aiming for was a Scafir child."
"What do you think he was aiming for?"
"He was aiming to make me helpless... or less effective."
"..."
"He would have failed on both counts. I'm more concerned that you were gravid before he hit you with the transmute, but you aren't now."
"What do you think he was aiming for?"
"He was aiming to make me helpless... or less effective."
"..."
"He would have failed on both counts. I'm more concerned that you were gravid before he hit you with the transmute, but you aren't now."