by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Chapter Thirteen

Allergen Attack

The day after Sara opened her presents Amanda was elbow deep in a cold slushy grey mixture. She was using her hands to find and break up any clumps in the mixture that might have formed since she had last tried making paper two days befor. Marcus had allowed her to celebrate Lastday with her own rituals, apparently taking notes of everything she did. She sneezed again, wiping her swollen nose with the back of a partially clean sleeve. Though all of the workshops windows open her sinuses had already clogged up from the stench.

“Ah had dis” she informed Marcus as her hands, unseen, worked to break up another soft clump of plant fiber. “Id tinks.” She took a deep breath through her mouth, coughed, then ran from the tank as fast as she could to a waiting bucket. Splatters of grey-blue pulp falling from her arms as she ran.

Marcus looked on with dismay as his student again emptied her stomach into the bucket. Moving to the tanks edge he leaned over, inhaling deeply. Yes, water, plant fibers, a bit of borax and just maybe a touch of beginning mold. Amanda would have to clean the tank again this evening. Mold in paper was never a good thing. Not considering how long mages lived. Still to him it was simply a slightly watery muggy smell. Nothing he wasn’t very used too. “Is it really that bad child” he asked.

“Gazz Magsk” Amanda managed through her heaves. “Gedda me ah gazz magsk.” Standing she picked up her bucket and staggered to the door outside to empty it again.

Marcus followed his student out into the fresh air, watching in silence as the mouse gradually recovered her breathing. When she finally turned to face him he was stunned. Her eyes were blood red and her face was swollen. “Fel il” Amanda managed even as she fell flat on her face.

To wake in a hospital room. “Where” she asked, finding that the taste in her mouth was exactly that of the taste of muck. No one answered her so she looked around, to discover that she was in an oxygen tent, several tubes crawling out of her arms. “Been here before. Burned the t-shirt. Not good” she told herself. Had everything been nothing but a wishful dream? No, her heart still beat normally. Not the sluggish squishy way it had before. Then what had happened she wondered. Where was Marcus, where was she. At least she could breath again. All she could do was wait.

Sometime later a Doctor entered the room. Noting Amanda was awake he walked over, tapping the plastic tent. “Gave us a scare there you did” he announced. “Your grandfather brought you in barely breathing. That was three days ago. How do you feel now?”

“Better” Amanda answered, studying the middle aged mouse looming over her. He had to weigh at least two hundred she decided, but had a friendly face. “What happened?”

“It appears young lady that you are allergic to mold” the Doctor answered. “Oh, I’m George. George Young but you can call me George. All my pretty young female patients do.”

“And the not so pretty ones?”

George laughed. “We don’t get any non-pretty female patients here young lady. There is a rule against it, its posted right on the doors. So, you were making paper were you. Any special reason?”

“Hobby. Were’s my grandfather?”

“I’m afraid he went home. Last I heard was he was going to burn down every trace of mold in the county. I wish him luck. Now I need to check your vitals. Heartbeat, blood pressure and the like. You stay right there while I get a nurse, okay?”

“‘kay.” Amanda watched the man leave, wondering over his words. She’d never been allergic to molds before. So what in the world had happened to cause this she wondered. At the moment though all she wanted to do was lay there and rest.

Marcus arrived in the late afternoon, a dark expression of his face. At least Amanda took that squinty eyed look as dark. “How come no ones screaming dragon” she asked as calmly as she could.

“Because Apprentice, they see only an old mouse come to visit his granddaughter. Not an angry enough to shred to pieces dragon who will, if he discovers the who, rip someone completely apart.”

“I don’t understand sir” Amanda managed before her bodies weakness overcame her. “I’m so tired” she admitted.

“You should be dead” Marcus announced. “Most any other member of your race would have been dead long ago. Amanda, that mold was modified. Modified to kill, not make sick.”

“Why?”

“Your going to be a Neutral. This nations Neutral. There are those who don’t want one. I warned you, but even I wouldn’t have expected attempted murder.” He jumped up into a chair, though no peanut appeared. “I had to destroy everything in the paper room, even your completed stock. All of it. Everything was corrupted.”

“Contaminated” Amanda corrected softly. “So we start over. Can I have a gas mask this time?”

“What is a gas mask” the dragon asked.

Carefully Amanda explained what a gas mask was, what it was designed to protect from. “As long as it fits and the filters are good I’ll be fine” she finished. “And Marcus?”

“What are you going to get me to agree to this time” her instructor asked.

“No killing. You kill anyone, I quit. You know what that means happens to me. So no killing. Or you get to explain.”

“Someone tried to kill you and you won’t return the favor? Why Amanda.”

Amanda pushed herself up into a sitting position, the better to look her instructor, her master in the eyes. “Because I won’t kill. If I’m going to be a Neutral I shouldn’t even think of it. It changes the balance, doesn’t it.”

“Not that much” Marcus hedged. “Besides, I’m Order, not Neutral. It doesn’t apply.”

Collapsing in the bed, her strength gone Amanda gasped for breath. Finally she managed to get enough control to answer. “There has to be another way oh Mustard Master of mine. Find it. Cause if you kill. If you kill I’d rather be dead.”

“If you don’t get some rest you will be dead” Marcus decided. “Rest. I’ll be back in a few days to see how your doing. No killing, young lady. For a mouse you roar like a lion.”

Amanda blinked. “What is a lion” she asked.

“Really big cat. Three times your size. Lots of teeth. Likes mice for din-din. Preferable alive.”

“We don’t have anything like that on my world. I think I would like to see one sometime.”

Marcus smiled, dropping out of the chair. “You get well, I’ll see what I can do. Now rest.” Unseen by Amanda he cast a prepared spell. Without magic Amanda’s lungs would never recover fully. With it she would be back on her feet in days. Once she had cast her longevity spell she would never be sick again, such filthy attacks would be useless against her. Completing his task the little yellow dragon left, appearing to all who saw him as nothing more than a very worried grandfather.