Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve – Third Quarter

Chapter 12 

 

"ماذا حدث لها؟"

 

An old woman shouts something in Arabic, pointing at us as she steps into the street to block our path. The streets of Oran are nearly empty this early, but a few early risers are bustling about, starting their day.

 

"أصيبت أثناء السباحة. هل هناك ساحرة طبيعة هنا؟"

 

Lina says something back to her that I don't understand. Lina carried me all night as we hiked to the Algerian city, and still holds me in her arms. I look up at her confused. I didn't know Lina could speak Arabic. 

The old woman spits at her feat. 

 

"!أيها الأوروبيون الأغبياء"

 

She laughs, and walks away from us. 

Lina looks down at me with an apologetic smile. "She doesn't know where we can find an earth channeller. C'mon, let's go this way. There's a big mosque, 'Pasha Mosque' I believe it's called, just up the road here. Can you make it?" 

I nod, with a grimace. My shoulder and knee swelled up during the night, and I woke up cold, damp, stiff, and in a lot of pain. A pot of Lina's arroz de feijão got me warmed up and comforted enough to be carried this far, but that comfort has long since faded.

"Yea, I can make it." I say, in what I hope is a convincing tone. 

"It's almost over, we'll get you some help soon." She says, as she gently carries me forward. 

"You've been here before?" I ask. 

"Not in a few decades. I came here in 1956, offering to help fight the French, but the FLN didn’t trust me enough, and the Arab and French factions of the PCA were too busy arguing with each other about their own involvement in the war to take my help. I managed to damage a few French shipping boats trying to bring war supplies across the Mediterranean on my own, but my 'parents' stopped me from doing that in ‘58. The Consortium has strict rules about interfering in human politics."

Lina looks up as we round a corner. "There it is!" She says with a smile. 

I twist in her arms to see down the street we’ve stepped into. A large mosque sits at the end of it, with a square structure on one end, and a curved wall with intricate crenellations on the other side. The first rays of sunlight reflect off a large dome in the center of the building, with another smaller dome sitting above a gatehouse with an arched entrance covered in detailed carvings. A single tower rises from the corner of the building closest to us.

“Wow, it’s beautiful!” I say.

“Yea, it’s really old! Pasha Umi Hafsah, the Pasha of Algiers ordered it constructed in 1796. It’s served as a center for religious learning and culture in Oran ever since!”

Lina turns, allowing us both to see the speaker that appeared beside us. She’s a young woman, about my age, maybe in her early twenties. She stands a good three heads shorter than Lina, with a small frame and long dark brown hair flowing down to her waist. She wears a long, loose white dress with elaborate gold embroidery and a row of large white feathers dangling from each sleeve. Lina and I both stare at her striking beauty for a moment.

“Oh, sorry!” She shouts. “My name’s Nadia. I work in the mosque. I’m a member of the Ulama, researching air magic. The Imam sponsors my laboratory that she lets me keep on the roof. Lots of fresh air blows in off the ocean here! Wait, is she ok?” The young lady tilts her head and delicately dangles a small hand in my direction.

“Uhhh…no, she’s injured. Do you know where we can find an earth channeller?” Lina says, still processing the young woman’s sudden intrusion into our conversation.

“Of course, we have one right here!” Nadia shouts happily, before frowning. “She won’t be happy to be woken up this early though. You wouldn’t happen to have any makroudh cookies on you, would you?”

“uhh…no? Sorry.” Lina says.

“Yea, she’s not going to like you then. That’s ok, she doesn’t like anyone!” Nadia giggles. “I’ll go get the old hag out of bed. You two can go on in, just tell the Imam you’re with me.”

The bubbly young woman promptly bounces away from us, almost skipping across the street towards the mosque. Upon reaching the other side, she bounces into the air without so much as breaking stride. She gently floats up towards the roof, still putting one foot in front of the other in a walking motion, as if climbing an invisible staircase, lightly giggling the entire time, until she disappears over the crenulations atop of the wall. 

Lina and I stand in silence for a moment, still trying to process the eccentric personality we just met. 

"She's weird." Lina says.

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"I like her!" I giggle. 

Lina chuckles. "Me too. Weird people are great."

Lina steps into the street, and carries me across, and through the open gates of the mosque. Lina stops to look around. We stand inside a beautiful circular courtyard, protected by the curved outer wall. Two small orange trees stand on either side of a gray slate tile pathway, with colorful fruit filling every branch. Beautiful blue tiled columns circle the courtyard, holding up an overhanging roof around the edges, with small arches connecting the pillars.

After a moment to admire the scenery, Lina carries me up to the main door of the building. She gently knocks. After a long wait, Lina raises her hand to knock again, but the door opens just before Lina can strike it. 

A middle aged woman in a long white robe, and a flat white hat shyly peaks her head out the door. She eyes us with suspicion. 

Lina says something to her in Arabic. I hear Lina mention Nadia and the woman's face relaxes. She briefly speaks with Lina some more, before opening the door wide for us to enter. 

Lina lifts a leg to step inside, but hesitates and stops. "Sorry, gotta put you down for a sec." She whispers to me. 

Lina gently sets me down against the door frame, then bends down and removes her dirty boots. I'm already barefoot so Lina collects me back up and carries me inside. 

Lina continues speaking with the Imam in Arabic as she follows her through the building. We pass through an incredibly clean large and open room, with an array of pillars scattered throughout, and freshly vacuumed white carpet. I feel incredibly guilty for how dirty we are, and I can tell Lina feels the same. 

Lina whispers to me as we reach the other side. "That's Fatima, the Imam of this mosque. She's taking us to the earth channeler's treatment room. They provide healthcare here to impoverished locals. She says that we are welcome to stay for as long as we need help." 

"Wow, that's really kind of them. The Catholics that ran my orphanage could have used a lesson in kindness from these women." 

Lina shakes her head. "Yea, it's a shame how intolerant Catholicism is of magic. Especially since they've been all too keen to use it when it serves their interests. Venetian galleys in the fourth crusade didn't break the walls of Constantinople with thoughts and prayers. Not to mention all the holy magic channelers that served as Pope throughout the years." Lina says with a shake of her head. 

"Holy magic?" I ask. 

Before she can elaborate we pass through a door and into a hallway, and are promptly struck by a barrage of shouting. 

I look across the hall to see an incredibly small and incredibly old woman very slowly hobbling towards us, shouting in Arabic at an alarming volume for someone so frail. 

She is wearing a simple brown robe, with long wispy white hair wildly spilling out of its hood. She carries a large, scraggly wooden staff, more than twice her height, ending with a curved crook at the top, almost like a tool a shepherd would carry. Inside the curved crook dangles a golden brown topaz gemstone, about the size of a tennis ball. An assortment of other channeling artifacts hang off her robes at seemingly every point one could possibly be attached. Tree bark, a few different types of roots, an assortment of stones and crystals, a turtle shell hanging from her neck, and a whole lot of quartz. She's just absolutely covered in quartz. 

A very sheepish Nadia follows behind the shouting woman with her head down, anxiously fiddling with the feathers on her dress. 

We meet in the middle of the hall, and Fatima speaks to the shouting woman briefly, seemingly able to calm her, at least a little bit. Nadia gives us an apologetic smile from behind the old earth channeler. After a few minutes exchanging words, the old woman opens a door next to her and passes through with a huff. 

Nadia steps up to us. "Dihya, our resident healer, has agreed to treat you." Nadia holds the door open for us with a smile, and beckons for us to enter. 

Lina carries me inside and sets me on the lone bed. Dihya has her back to us, hunched over a neutralizing plate, with one hand on a small potted bonsai tree of all things, and the other on a clump of brown paste smeared over the neutralizing plate.

"I'll give you some privacy. If you need anything, I'll be on the roof. Just follow the stairs at the end of the hall all the way to the top!" Nadia says with a cheerful smile, before joining the Imam in the hall, and closing the door behind her. 

Lina thanks her and then awkwardly waits with me in silence for Dihya to finish her channel. Once complete, the woman turns and speaks to us in English. 

"So, what has this fool done to herself?"  She spits at us.

“Um, I, uh, I-” I stammer helplessly.

“Go on then, spit it out girl! I’m old, don’t let me drop dead waiting for you!” The healer shouts at me.

“She hurt her knee and shoulder while swimming.” Lina gently says.

Dihya huffs at us. “Phht, you tourists think you’re invincible! Just because magic isn’t as restricted in Algeria doesn't mean you can come here and be reckless with it! Magic is dangerous! You Europeans never know how to channel responsibly! Magic isn’t for fun and games young lady!” She shouts, waging a finger in front of my face.

“Uh, sorry?” I squeak.

“Let’s see what’s wrong with you then.” The angry healer scrapes her paste off her neutralizing plate and into her hand. She gently smears some on my shoulder, coving everywhere it’s bruised. “Get this wetsuit off her so I can put some on her knee!” She shouts at Lina.

Lina awkwardly leans over me, and peels my wetsuit down my body. “Is-is this uh, is this ok?” She struggles to ask me.

I nod. I can feel Lina’s awkward embarrassment as she peels the sandy wetsuit down my legs, and looks up at the ceiling, averting her eyes from my body.

Dihya finishes smearing more paste on my knee, and all the way around to the back of my leg. “This is cypress sap mixed with simple clay, and some dust from crushed sedimentary rocks. The sap holds a spell that will let me assess your injuries.” She says.

Dihya places one hand on my paste covered shoulder and the other on my knee. I feel a very strange sensation. It's almost like a warm, comforting energy is penetrating my body, then bouncing off the paste on the other side and returning to Dihya’s hand.

The earth channeller’s weathered face scrunches up in focus. “Alright, yes, that’s definitely broken, oof, that’s not good.” She opens her eyes and looks up at Lina, her hands still on my knee and shoulder. “She’s got a broken collarbone, a dislocated kneecap, and a fractured scapula. Plus a lot of bruis- wait!” Her head snaps around to look me directly in the eyes.

Anger and fear quickly grow on her face. “There’s something else here… Your aether… It’s not right! There’s… There’s something else inside of you! Wait, I’ve seen this before... Wh-What are you?!” The old woman screams and snatches my neck up with her hand.

“What are you?!”

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