by Sandra Elsa
The months of farm living left Pink and Johann fit. An easy pace brought them the day’s journey between Lodges. It disturbed Johann at the second Lodge there was sign that people had been there recently, but it seemed they had camped near the Lodge and not entered within.
“Is it so unusual for a Lodge to be used?” Pink asked in response to Johann’s frown.
“It isn’t that common. But it would bother me less if they had gone in.” Johann pointed to the remains of a campfire and Pink could see where sleeping rolls had been spread. At least four horses had been picketed. One end of a tie line had left abrasions on a Travel Oak. Nobody who had the magic to use the Lodges would have tied a horse to a Travel Oak.
Whether they could use the Lodges or not, these strangers knew of them, and knew how to follow the Travel Oaks to locate them.
That evening Pink and Johann set wards while within the Lodge. Pink already regretted leaving behind the safety of Tomas’s farm.
She was too distracted that evening to do as Johann coached. But every night thereafter, they worked to perfect the act they planned to perform. All the tricks were easily explainable as sleight of hand. Pink practiced enough to become adept at a couple of card tricks and making flowers appear from nowhere.
Pink used every scratch as an opportunity to practice Healing.
Johann endeavored to teach her to use her energies to perform true magic. He showed her how to sink into the trance-like state and expand her awareness from her own personal energy to the magic of everything in existence. “Now reach out and follow the dark brown strand to its source.”
She followed it away from her body and tugged on it as it connected to the ground. Angel whinnied as he slipped and slid down the stairs to join them in the Lodge and chased Johann to the opposite side of the too small room.
Pink followed the brown strand down through layers of earth, the glow from the magic lit a sphere around her. Even in astral form she became aware of the gloom, and she could feel the crushing weight of the earth around her. In terror, she retreated to her body. For long moments she could do little more than lean against a wall, sucking in cool twilight air, while Angel pushed her with his velvety muzzle.
When she was able to think with a clear mind again, she said, “I can't go through the ground.”
“You only have to become more familiar with the freedom of your spirit. As long as you remain with an energy line you'll be fine no matter where you happen to be. Had you followed it, you would have found that the strand of energy you followed led you to a rich mineral deposit.” He sank back into a semi-trance state. “Tantalite, to be exact. A very useful mineral in its natural and magical form. It lends strength to magical spells. Deposits are common around Lodges.” While he had her attention he plucked at other browns. The shades varied from gold to burnt umber
The next day she experimented with the greens as they walked.
She was surprised to find that there were few surprises with the living energy. When she plucked a strand, she knew what she would find at the other end, and she knew its strengths and weaknesses.
She was surprised to note there were also varying shades of blue, from the sapphire common to many in Relante, to a cool, soothing, cerulean. Neither she or Johann knew what the differences were, water was not his strength.
Once she familiarized herself with as many different shadings as she could. Johann instructed her in the basic knowledge of creating illusion, starting fires, and shifting items with a simple thought.
The teaching was proving to be a hazardous occupation.
Two weeks after they left Tomas’s home they stopped for the night at one of the Lodges under a mountain pond. They built up a pile of wood, and having explained the theory of fire starting several times, Johann said, “Tonight, you start the cookfire.”
Pink looked at him with wide eyes, her voice trembled. “Are you sure?”
Johann smiled, “With the energy that courses through you, a fire shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve gone over this. You can do it.”
Pink looked at the logs, neatly stacked in the fire pit. Tentatively she pointed a finger at them. She wavered uncertainly and looked beseechingly at Johann.
He encouraged her, “Reach for your energy. All the different branches are capable of starting small fires. If you wish for a major display you would need to have the scarlet energy of a fire master."
Pink could see the scarlet around campfires but it never responded to her will.
Johan continued, "I only have the power of earth and I've always been able to start fires.”
Pink grimaced. Johann read her hesitation wrong. She didn’t doubt she could start a fire. She had been experimenting on her own with other things he’d given her basic instruction in. Many of them seemed to go wildly wrong. Concentrating, she reached for the energy of water. When dealing with fire, she decided water would prove the least hazardous. She visualized the energy leaping from her finger to the logs.
It obeyed with enthusiasm. Embers spread throughout the lodge as the stack of wood blew apart. The pile of straw caught on fire, quickly spreading to the blankets and pantry. Glowing embers landed on the table and the chairs.
Pink panicked. Johann stood in the middle of the swirling maelstrom and called up piles of dirt to smother the straw fire.
Whether it was Johann’s use of magic weakening the binding spells on the pond, a simple protective spell left on the Lodge or if the Caretakers themselves were roused to action, they’d never know. But the Lodge went from the destructive force of fire, to the destructive force of water in a heartbeat. The water from the pond above their heads flooded into the lodge. Pink found herself swept against the wall, struggling past the table toward the surface. She grasped Johann’s tunic as he was washed by and with an instinct born of fear she stroked toward the surface only to run into the shielding which normally kept the water from the Lodge.
Before panic had a chance to wrap itself around her mind the water subsided. Leaving behind a charred, sodden mess.
Their packs were waterproof but the pantry was destroyed. They sat amidst the ruin. Pink hung her head. Johann surveyed the damage and did the only thing he could. He laughed. “Maybe we should be grateful you do not possess the energies of fire. I’m not sure I want to know what the Caretakers will demand for tonight’s lodging.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Pink’s lips as she looked up at him. “I guess this'll be my mess to pay for.” She dug through the bits, setting the small room to rights. The pantry and one of the chairs she piled on the stack of charred, muddy straw. “How do you suppose the water came down to put out the flames?”
The table was still useable, as was the second chair. Somehow one of the blankets escaped unscathed and Johann draped it over the table to dry. “I don’t know but I’m glad of it. At least there are some pieces to salvage. The damage is minimal.”
He called this minimal? “I suppose I should gather more wood. We’ve enough supplies in our packs to make supper. Tomorrow I'll gather what I can to replace what was in the pantry.” Pink stared at the wreckage in dismay.
Johann explained. “You and I were not injured. Material things can be replaced.”
Pink felt the swelling knot on the back of her head, where it had connected with the wall and thought ruefully, if that was uninjured, she didn’t want to experience injured.
Together they went out to gather wood in the fading evening light. The room was dry and warm when they returned. They were amazed to find fresh straw and dry blankets, in place of the charred, damp, foul-smelling pile they had left there. Johann looked at Pink, whose jaw hung open in amazement and repeated, “I do not want to know what they will ask for.”
They cooked supper and prepared to sleep. As her eyes grew heavy, Pink noticed a shimmer in the air near the steps of the Lodge. She stared at that place, but nothing manifested. She concluded it was her imagination and nodded off to sleep.
In the morning Johann stretched and said
, “That’s odd, all this damage and all they wish for is the usual shield.”
Pink’s mouth stretched into a thin line. She searched the corners of the lodge, then concentrated on the place she had seen the shimmer the night before. She shook her head, negating Johann’s comment. “I told you last night, the cost would be mine. How do they put these thoughts in my head?”
Johann looked at her quizzically. “What thoughts? What are they asking?”
She pursed her lips. “I do not think they are brave enough to ask for anything from me magically just yet. I must do as I said and replace what supplies I can. For the furniture that is destroyed and the extra straw and blankets, they said I will one day be asked for payment.” She did not look directly at Johann, but spoke to the air in a raised voice. “I do not like being in your debt. We don’t know who or what you are. Just make your demands now.”
Lowering her voice to a normal level she turned to Johann. “What might they ask for? Are we not nearly to Trell and about to leave the mountains?”
Johann looked to the empty place by the stairs where she directed her comments. “What little I know about the Caretakers, I've already told you. I have no more idea what they may wish for than you. Another week should bring us to Trell. If they don’t collect before then, I don’t know what they’ll do.”
Pink shrugged, and started for the stairs, sidestepping the area where she had seen the shimmer. It reminded her of the way Lorn had disappeared. “For now I'll get what I can, but I don't know if many of the herbs will cure before we move on. The sun is warm, but unless we wish to owe them for another night we need to be on our way before noon at the latest.”
“I'll dry what you find with magic. I'll even teach you the theory behind drying plants, but I hesitate to ask you to do it, since it deals with heat.” He laughed.” It would be a shame for you to have to start collecting again just when you thought you were done.”
Pink grinned in agreement and disappeared up the steps. Angel chose to remain outside the Lodges most nights. Though when it rained he would venture cautiously down the stairs to take up a good portion of the little room. Now he accompanied her through the woods, frequently pointing out plants she overlooked.
Later that day they continued their journey. Johann told her he would concentrate on less dangerous magics for now, such as illusion and moving things without touching them.
That evening they again found signs that non-magical folk had visited the Lodge they stayed at. They did not take up magic lessons again until the following night.
To Pink's chagrin they discovered that moving things with her powers was also hazardous. She sat outside the Lodge and Johann had her picking up small pebbles and placing them from one pile to another, guiding them with a weak strand of light brown energy.
He went inside the Lodge to cook supper and Pink began calling the pebbles to her. One by one they whizzed past her head and they would not obey her as she struggled to slow down their flight.
She managed to avoid all but two or three of the first pile But then her wild, uncontrolled spell turned its attention to the second. She yelped as the small pebbles and some of the larger rocks Johann had used to build a target for her took flight and winged her way. She would be wearing bruises for several days.
Johann emerged from the Lodge shaking his head and muttering, “Control, you need to learn control.” And set her about another round of monotonous tiny tasks, which left her sweating as she battled for finesse.
Trell was one of the northernmost towns in the kingdom of Ronan, nestled in the foothills of the Swa Caran Mountains where they joined the east-west running, Rortag Range. The Swa Caran rose sharply to tie in with the Rortags. Together they surrounded the north and west sides of the town, protecting it from the weather, bringing plentiful supplies of water to grow crops. Rich minerals were dug from caves deep in the slopes. The town had grown rich and strangers were viewed suspiciously.
For their part, Johann and Pink returned the townsfolk's suspicion, eyeing each citizen, wondering if they were Garec’s lackeys.
Pink wore her hair in a tight braid, completely covered by a dark grey scarf. It was too warm for bulky clothing so Johann cloaked her skin in an illusion, covering the copper tinge with a pale white sheen.
Johann stopped a man and asked, “Is there an inn?”
The man answered curtly, “Down yonder,” pausing just long enough to point down the main street to a rambling wooden two story building near the northern edge of town.
Pink looked wistfully at the mountains. She had no desire to leave them. She also hated leaving the debt unpaid. How powerful was the magic of the Caretakers? Could they reach out and demand payment if she wasn’t anywhere near a Lodge?
They rented a room for the night and put Angel in the stable. Pink warned the stable boy not to go close to him. Her words were reinforced by Angel’s bared teeth. She groomed him, fed him and hugged him goodnight. He wrapped his neck around her shoulders, reluctant to let her go.
Pink and Johann ate and retired to their room. As the evening wore on. the crowd downstairs started getting loud. Pink found herself wishing they were in a Lodge.
Worried for Angel, she started out the door but Johann held her back. “That horse of yours can take care of himself. He’s too small for anybody to want to steal, he’ll be just fine. You on the other hand, might find yourself in trouble if you wander down those stairs right now.”
Pink flung herself on the bed. “Where did all these people come from?”
Johann grinned at her petulance. Less than a month ago she‘d found Tomas‘s farm too quiet. “This used to be a little farm town very similar to Aldan. But one day a boy chasing his cows out of the foothills to winter in the lowlands noticed something yellow and shiny churned up by the hooves of the cattle in the water of the Canar River.” Johann shrugged, waving a hand outward to indicate the town in general. “He told someone, who told someone, who decided it might be worth checking the boy’s story. They panned in the Canar and discovered gold. They started digging in the mountainside and now most of the gold that gets stamped in Relante comes from here. Most of the men downstairs are miners.”
“But we didn’t pass any of them on the way here. Do they never travel?” Pink asked, becoming interested despite her worry.
“They travel from the mines to town, and back. Their lives are as secluded as the farmers. When they do travel they tend to go east from here. As you may have noticed there is no place to go on the western edge of Ronan unless you want to visit a small town. East and south, there are bigger towns and cities. Places they can spend their money.” He stopped and patted a pocket in his tunic. Pink had long since figured out he kept his gold there. “We’ll stop at the general store tomorrow and purchase supplies, then we'll start east. We’ll need to buy some things for our act. Tomorrow will use the last of what I brought along. We'll have to start earning our keep."
Pink lay awake long into the night, listening to the bits of conversation that floated up the stairs. She became interested at one point when a loud and very drunk man started talking about monsters roaming in the Rortag Mountains. “Lef’ over from the war they are,” he slurred. “Seen ‘em wit’ my own two eyes. Monster’s what looks like nothin’ natural an’ shakes the earth when they walks.”
“Ye ain’t ne’r seen thet un, Josen,” somebody else argued. “Some as ‘eard it, but ain’t nobody ever went off huntin’ it, ever come back to tell about it. It‘s been out there s’long as anybody can r‘member”
“Ah did see it,” Josen argued back. “It were way off ’n the distance, but it were close enough fer me ta tell it weren’t natural an’ ah didn’ wanna git no closer.”
“You won’t ketch me in the Rortags I don’ care how rich the mines are,” the other voice responded. “The earth shaker’s not the only strange critter out there.”
“I been twice, Kory an‘ I ain‘t goin‘ back,” Josen declared. “Saw a wolf the first time. Put
an arrow dead center in ‘is chest, an’ he went down. Then he got up and come toward me, draggin’ the arrow and all, blood streamin‘ down the shaft. Big as a horse he was. I turned tail an‘ run, I reckon the arrow at least slowed him down some ‘cause I‘m still ‘live ta tell ‘bout it. Second time I went, I seen the earth shaker an‘ thet were ‘nough fer me.”
Kory agreed, “Ain’t no ‘mount of gold worth goin’ in thet range. I’m jest glad they seem content to stay there.”
The men started talking about other things, including some lewd stories about women and Pink’s interest faded. She drifted off into a deep uneasy sleep, peppered by nightmares of monstrous wolves and unnatural creatures so large the earth shook as they walked.
The following morning they went to the general store and bought what they required before leaving town. Several people were present. Pink recognized one of them as Garec’s friend from the market of Aldan. He wore an apron and was checking the supplies throughout the store. Pink laid a hand on Johann’s arm and discreetly nodded her head in the curly haired man’s direction. “Does he live in Aldan.“
Johann turned as though considering some wool blankets and observed him. “No, but I've seen him there on occasion. You have a good memory. He's one of Garec’s associates. “
The shopkeeper looked at them sharply, looking at Johann uncertainly. Pink felt the examination of second-sight, something she had become attuned to in the past months. She returned the searching glance and strengthened Johann’s illusion with one of her own.
Depending on the strength of the shopkeeper's abilities, he may already have pierced the thin disguise by the time she felt him searching so she added a large hooked nose, warts and a hideous twist to her spine, to the illusion. He flinched and surfaced from the trance, blinking his eyes rapidly trying to dispel the horror of what he now believed she looked like under Johann‘s illusion. She didn‘t know if he was powerful enough to have pierced Johann‘s illusion but he would be uncertain now what he had seen.
Johann just shook his head and turned away from the shopkeeper, laughter silently shaking his shoulders, a smile curling his lips.
The man could not get them out of his shop quickly enough. He didn’t charge them for some of their supplies so great was his hurry. Johann dealt with him but blue eyes strayed nervously to the diminutive girl by the old man’s side. Witch’s and wizard’s in general were not feared, but everybody grew up with the fairytales of the evil witch Pink had pulled the image from.
Leaving the store, Johann’s laughter could no longer be contained. Mirth crinkling his eyes, he turned to Pink and said, “You took a big chance in there. He was not powerful enough to have seen through my illusion."
Pink was more subdued. “Why would he even check? Surely he doesn’t scan all his customers?"
Johann nudged her with an elbow, guiding her away from the store, back toward the inn stables. “Next time we come to a town large enough to have shops like this I'll show you how to detect their protection spells. He knew you were wrapped in illusion as soon as we walked through the door.” Johann lengthened his stride, “There’s also a good chance he recognized me, in the same way I recognized him. I‘m sure Garec would have passed on descriptions even if the man never saw me in Aldan.” The chuckle returned to his voice, even though he schooled his face into a frown. “With your poor control, you took a large risk doing what you did, but I have to admit, I enjoyed it.”
He led the way in silence for a moment, then turned back to her. “It is unusual for one with as small an amount of energy as he, to even try to see through an illusion. Most shopkeepers only use the detection spells so they are aware they're dealing with magic.” Johann elbowed his way through a group of men, then continued, “I suspect we do have Garec to thank for that effort, pitiful as it was.”
“You think Garec actually set others to watching for me?” Pink glanced around, fingers of ice crawled up her spine, as every innocent glance cast their way took on a more sinister tone. She took the lead and tugged Johann along to the stables.
“I’d say that seems to be exactly what he’s done. What did you do to him out there at Hallowisp?“
Pink felt her cheeks heat up. “I didn’t do anything. Maybe like you said, he saw my magic.”
Johann nodded. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t such a stubborn old fool. I never once turned second-sight on anybody in Aldan. I didn’t want anybody there to know I had magic, and I didn't care to know if they did. If Garec has the ability to see, like his friend back there, he may think he can control your power if you belong to him.”
They packed what they could into their own bags and with Angel’s willing consent, rigged up some packs for him to carry the rest of their belongings. Leaving the stables, they traveled east, following the road paralleling the Rortag mountain range.
There were frequent turnings of smaller roads to the south, but to the north it was barren of any sign of human habitation. Pink found herself remembering the tale told by the two drunken miners.
Chapter 10