Delver Magic Book III: Balance of Fate

by Jeff Inlo

Chapter 19

  “I don’t want to seem like an ungrateful person,” Linda began as she spoke to Enin alone in his library. “I asked you to go to speak to Tabris and you did. I was grateful then, and I still am now. The problem is I need to know why you did this.”

  Enin began to speak, stopped, fumbled with his hands, and started over. “I did so because, as you said, you asked me to. I believe everyone in this town owes you a debt of gratitude.”

  “You told me that last time. I appreciate it, but there’s something missing, something you’re not telling me.”

  “How do you mean?”

  Linda circled about the room as if she was getting her words in order before she spoke them aloud. “Before Ryson left for Dunop, he told me what was going on. He told me Connel had surrendered to Sazar and that with Tabris’ power Sazar was now a great threat. He also told me how Sy and most of Burbon’s guard are riding out to Fort Nebran to get aid so they could try and get Sazar out of the city. From what I’m hearing, we’re all in a lot of danger, from Burbon to Fort Nebran and maybe beyond that. Many people are going to risk their lives again.”

  “Are you worried about Ryson’s safety again?” Enin interrupted.

  “Actually, no, I’m not. He told me he was going into the center of the city through the dwarf tunnels. That he was going to help people escape from Connel, not fight the goblins. I guess if I’m worried about anyone, I’m more worried about the soldiers that are going to have to fight. They’re the ones that are going to be in the most danger.”

  “I’m not sure I’m following you,” Enin admitted. “What is it exactly you want to know? Is it why I warned Tabris or why are so many people in danger?”

  “Actually, it has to do with both.” Linda did her best to come right out and say what she knew. “Ryson told me you wouldn’t help the people of Connel; that you said it would be interfering.”

  “That is very true,” admitted Enin sadly.

  “Then why did you help me?” Linda stepped closer to the wizard and looked straight into his eyes so he could not avoid her. “Why did you warn Tabris not to hurt Ryson? Isn’t that interfering?”

  Enin for all his magical power did not know how to answer that question. He stood and looked back at Linda, would not avoid her stare, but he could say nothing.

  Linda pressed him. “You tried to tell me that Tabris couldn’t kill Ryson, that I had nothing to worry about, but I persisted and you agreed to help me. It seems to me that more people need your help now, but you are not as willing to help. You’re telling people they have to deal with their own problems. If that’s true, why didn’t you tell me I had to deal with my fears?”

  Enin struggled for a moment and then did his best to convey his own understanding of what he did and why he did it. “I did not truly interfere when I warned Tabris. It is not within her to kill Ryson, it’s just not a possible course of action. When I went to warn her on your request, I told her something she would have found out on her own. She even told me as much. Nothing I did by going to the desert affected anyone’s choice.”

  “That’s not true,” Linda said firmly. “It affected my choice. I could have simply listened to your advice and tried to deal with my fears, but I didn’t. I insisted you go, and you did. Why would you do this for me and not help the people that are trapped in Connel? And please don’t tell me it’s because I’m the reason Ryson stays in Burbon. I know that’s not the whole story. You did this for another reason, something that has to do with me. I know that, and I need to know what it is.”

  Enin folded his hands in front of him. He would not try to avoid the matter any further. As Linda had done her best to speak as directly to the point as possible, it was now his turn.

  “You know you can not touch the magic?” Enin asked.

  This simple question forced Linda to look away. Enin, however, was now the persistent one in driving the conversation.

  “You wish to know why I helped you.”

  “Yes,” Linda answered in a trembling voice, “and yes I know I can’t touch the magic.”

  “You are an amazing force in that manner. It is beyond being resistant. You are immune to it, you actually repel it. I do not think it can affect you in any way.”

  Linda attempted to end the discussion of this particular topic. “I don’t want to talk about how I can or can’t use magic. I want to talk about why you helped me.”

  “That is what I’m talking about. I’m trying to explain why I felt it was necessary to go to Tabris for you. Because you have this special gift, there are things…”

  “You call it a gift?” Linda interrupted him.

  “Absolutely, just as I am gifted to use the magic in extraordinary ways, you are gifted to be completely immune to it. That means it can not harm you. In this new world we now live in, that is a tremendous advantage. Think about that for a moment. Magic is a powerful energy. It is making sweeping changes across the land that no sane person could have expected. Go back to the last dormant season when we didn’t know about Ingar’s sphere or magic beyond a simple card trick. Try to tell me that anyone could have imagined the dark creatures that now walk the land would actually exist in anything other than a fairy tale. And look at me. I’m a wizard with power on an unimaginable scale. And now look at you, for all of my power, there’s not a spell that I can cast that can harm you.”

  Linda did not wish to discuss the magic and refocused on the purpose that brought her here. “I don’t know anything about that, but I know it doesn’t explain why you would help me and you won’t help others.”

  Enin appeared to grow more than slightly irritated at this comment. “First of all, I’m more than willing to help others. I’m just not willing to interfere on such a large scale. Second, if you allow me to finish you will understand that it does explain why I went to Tabris for you.”

  Linda bit down on her lip and remained quiet as Enin continued.

  “I realize that because you can not feel or touch the magic in any way, it is more of a mystery to you than perhaps any other being in this land. Very few have the ability to cast spells of any significance, but even those that are not spell casters can at least sense the magic. Perhaps that’s why there’s not mass chaos. In the backs of their minds, people know that the magic is present and that this explains to them the reason for the enormous changes we face. There really is no other answer. You just can’t take a bunch of goblins, shags, river rogues and Godson knows what else is out there, throw them into the midst of reasonable people and not expect them to wonder about their own sanity. But if they already know something in the very air is different, then they can step back from the chaos and not lose their minds.

  “Now, let’s consider someone that can’t sense the magic—someone like you. You are holding onto reason simply because everyone else is much more accepting of the situation. Still, it has to be beyond unnerving to you. You can’t sense the energy because you can’t touch it in anyway, and it can’t touch you. You have no inner connection with the magic. If you did, you would have some insight that the power itself is not inherently evil and that it is not meant to harm us. The rest of us that can touch the magic, even in small ways, understand that this energy can be used for great things. Magic does not cause pain, does not cause hardship. It is corrupt beings that use the power with evil intentions that cause the troubles we face. You, however, can not touch the magic, so it remains an absolute unknown to you.

  “When you came to me and explained your worries of Tabris, I understood them far better than you realized. Tabris threatened Ryson and Tabris is a very powerful sorceress. The magic she controls is an aberration to you. It was as if your worst fears were coming to life. Now I knew that Ryson could not be truly hurt by Tabris, but because of your fears, you could not accept that. As I have said before, by warning Tabris I did not interfere in any way in what might come to pass. All I did was assist you in facing something you did not have the ability to face on your own.”

  Linda stare
d at the ground. She did not look up when she asked the question she now very much needed an answer to.

  “How do you know that Tabris can’t hurt Ryson? How do you really know that?”

  Enin almost cursed. In the end, he decided to reveal what he knew. “The magic allows me to see the destinies of others. I often see what people must face in the future. I am aware that Ryson must face another great challenge. He can not avoid it. It must happen. Because of that, I can predict that nothing will prevent him from facing that challenge. Tabris understood this as well when I told her that. If she indeed had any plans to seek out Ryson, they died at that moment because she knew it would be a waste of her time and effort. Do you see? I didn’t interfere. I didn’t sway anyone’s choice. I simply told her what was obvious to me.”

  Linda appeared to accept this at face value, but then asked the obvious question. “What is this challenge Ryson has to face?”

  Enin turned stoic, his voice flat with simple determination. “That is something I can not reveal to you, at least not now. I was not against warning Tabris for you for all the reasons I explained, but I can not begin revealing things without considering all the consequences that might follow. Anything I say might change your outlook, or Ryson’s, and that would indeed be interfering. It is not my place to simply divulge these things on a whim, so please do not ask again.”

  Linda was certainly not happy with this answer, but for the moment, she did not press that specific issue. There was, however, more she wanted to know. “Do you see destiny in all people?”

  “Most people, but not all,” Enin stated plainly enough. “I’m not sure why. That’s just the way it is.”

  “Do you see a destiny in me?”

  “No, but understand that means very little because of your gift. You are immune to the magic and thus your destiny might simply be guarded from my sight because the energies I interact with can not touch your essence. What I believe, however, is that most people eventually figure out their destiny. They make choices based on who they are, what they have become, how they have lived their lives, but in the end, we all tend to reach a point where we have to face something whether we like it or not. At that point, we face our destiny by dealing with it the best way we know how.”

  With this, Enin had finally said something that might not have made complete sense to Linda, but she was able to take hold of it in her own mind. She seized upon it and made her own understanding clear. “You’re talking about knowing what we’re supposed to do,” she stated with renewed confidence. “Sometimes we don’t know what we’re doing or why we’re doing things, but at some point, certain things become very clear to us. I don’t need magic to do that. My destiny is to help Ryson. I know that deep inside.”

  Enin smiled. “I won’t argue with you on that.”