by Tobias Roote
“The level you are on is what we use to teach youngsters half your age, you haven’t yet learned to master yourself. When you do, these spears will fall in pieces at the foot of your wall,” Junto replied as if he was just passing the day.
“Concentrate on hardening your wall, forget about the spears of thought. They become irrelevant if your defence is solid and impregnable,” Junto admonished him. He showed him how to achieve his defence by building blocks of interlocking thought, then binding them together instead of using a single wall of thought and the great effort required to maintain it.
“This method will secure each section to the next, there will be no gaps, or understrength sections. You can set it and forget it. When you have practised that, for the rest of today, you should be able to mount the blocks in a fraction of a second, eventually it will be there as a reflex and you will no longer have to think it together,” Junto instructed him, now showing more patience, his earlier surliness gone.
Aaron began to tire, he had never worked so hard on anything, yet continued until Junto called a halt. As he lay down and nursed his head, Aaron could feel the parts of his brain that had been stretched to accommodate these new actions. He also knew that much of it had been Junto in there shoving his thoughts around until they were better aligned to respond quicker.
When the others returned, there was a quiet around the small clearing. Their catch was cleaned and prepared, and vegetables that had been dug from the riverside were added to the ingredients from their saddlebags. Aaron was too tired at first to notice the tension, but eventually as the lack of usual camaraderie raised itself in his awareness, Aaron attempted to discover its source.
“Is there something I should know?” he asked carefully, looking directly at Melbray as the leader and trying to judge if he was in trouble somehow.
“It’s not so much something you should know, but more a case something you should know how to do,” Melbray hedged.
Gedrack, who had so far little to say to anyone piped up. “You’re broadcasting your thoughts to everyone, lad, even the fish are catching your emotions and giving up and lying on the surface. It’s why we have so many,” he indicated the spread of fish for dinner. They were enormous razzers. “In the end we only took the largest.”
“Eh?” Aaron responded puzzled. “Why now? Why hasn’t this been an issue before today?” he added.
Melbray answered, “Aaron, it’s quite simple, as you are learning to channel yourself, and drive your attacks at Junto, so your power is focusing more and the result is that you are simply blanketing the area with your ‘noise’.”
“So, where am I going wrong?” Aaron asked, disappointed that he appeared to be letting his new friends down.
“That’s just it, Aaron. You’re not going wrong. Your power is focusing correctly, it’s just that... it’s very powerful... and, we’re not sure if we can train you to control it.”
“Oh!” Aaron said, thinking that he had only had one day’s training with Junto. Did that mean there would be no more training, he thought, not realising he was broadcasting to everyone again.
“No, Aaron, that’s not what we mean. We mean you have no shielding, you are broadcasting everywhere. We have to find a way to train your shield, or you are lost the first time one of the Watchtower patrols comes within a hundred miles of here,” Melbray explained.
“Tomorrow we will begin, but first we eat,” Junto looked over at the fish, selecting which of them were going to be his. There was no halting the man’s appetite and before long they were all tucking into a well-earned meal, at least Aaron thought it was, the others just smiled knowingly. Aaron realised he had just broadcast to everyone again. He swore to himself he would show them tomorrow. Junto raised his eyebrow and frowned.
“The boy is stronger than we realised,” he mind-linked to the other two privately. “He got the hang of creating his defence in an hour, the rest of it was pure and simple refinement. Already his wall will match ours. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day,” he added a little ruefully, for in truth he had worked far harder than Aaron today. The attacks he had been repelling toward the end had come perilously close to breaking through, although it wouldn't do to let Aaron realise how strong he was quite yet.
- 11 -
The next morning there was a change in the atmosphere in the camp. Aaron noticed the three were mind-linking a lot without him, which he supposed was in order as they were used to being alone together, and he was still an outsider. He couldn’t help noticing the emote that was leaking out and it was riddled with extreme concern. He felt that if they had an issue with him, they should voice it, but almost immediately the three broke up and faced him. He must have been broadcasting again, he thought dismally.
“Yes, you are Aaron, but we will fix this today,” Melbray confirmed. He smiled reassuringly.
“Firstly, Junto is going to open his mind to you and allow you to see how he prepares his shielding. It’s quicker than explaining it and to be honest, we don’t have time. There are matters pressing on us that need attending to, and were it not for your training being of major importance, we would be proceeding to resolve them this minute,” he added, still reassuring Aaron who had grave misgivings. The seriousness of the three could not be hidden, even from him.
“Proceed, young two-legger,” Junto chuckled, using the Grith’sickname for him.
“I will go in with you and show you where to look for the actions as Junto sets up the shielding.” Melbray linked to Aaron and led him into Junto’s mind which opened up.
To see someone else’s mind is like nothing you can imagine. Junto had constructed a series of boxes which he moved about constantly as if playing guessing games of what’s in the box. There were colour and number codes, which Junto, mind-linked with Aaron, informed him were his brain making the memories inside the boxes available, on demand. It was just a visual representation, it had no real meaning. It only helped in compartmentalising his thinking. The vast area they were in suddenly emptied, as if a plug had been pulled, and everything had leaked out. Then Aaron was in a huge empty space, nothing coming in or out.
Slowly Junto went through the procedure and kept on repeating it over until Aaron had the idea of how to build his barrier to the outside world.
Afterwards, they sat and discussed how the shielding was dependent on the individual ability to close off the areas of the mind that leaked. “It’s like closing doors,” Junto offered Aaron by way of explanation. “When you learn to compartmentalise, it is easy to put everything away in different rooms, and close the door so the thoughts don’t leak out. Once you have your thoughts sorted, it’s just a matter of learning to think in a room inside your head with the door closed,” he explained over a piece of fish, fresh caught that morning.
However, no matter how hard Aaron tried that afternoon, he couldn’t make his shield watertight, it leaked like a fishing net. It kept all the big stuff in, but all the little thoughts were everywhere. They tried again, but it didn’t improve.
As a last attempt to make it easier for him, Junto came into Aaron’s head and began helping him to organise his thoughts. It was a matter of pure chance that during this process a large memory fragment that had been misplaced came to light.
Junto explained, “When you forget something, it can be because a memory has become detached from the proper chain of events. If you find the fragment and remember it, you can place it into the correct sequence and file it away. You will have to open this memory to see what it contains before it will automatically fall into the original sequence so you can store it. Do you wish for me to unlink while you replay it?” Junto asked politely.
“No, it can't be anything important. Let’s play it and see, “ he said confidently.
To Aaron it seemed peculiar to be trying to access his memories like this. It helped that he had seen into Junto’s mind and observed all of the tidy boxes and compartments. He opened the memory box and....
.....was immediate
ly falling. Four grinning strangers with pointed weapons were advancing on his position as his gaze took in their aggression, his mind recording the final moment of their open minds as they dropped their shields thinking he was gone forever into the swirling mass of water.
He mentally retreated from the memory in surprise, accidentally dropping the link with Junto.
Junto was as shocked. “Who were those Sar?” he said. “Why did they have spears, and why were they threatening you?”
“I don’t know, or that is to say I didn’t know until I replayed that memory.”
Aaron thought to himself that, unbeknown to them, he had understood more than he realised in the short seconds he had had access to their minds.
“I know who they are, and where they live,” and more importantly he thought to himself, he understood how they shielded their minds from him right up to the moment they thought he was going to die.
“What else did you get from the memory? I thought I saw what you saw, I didn’t get anything other than them brandishing those spears at you and driving you off the edge. It was they that drove you into the rapids?”
“Yes, I believe I’d strayed too near their village and they were frightened I would reveal their secret location,” Aaron responded, not sure if Junto had picked up the memories that he had recovered from the four Sar, who were Nangarl warriors, on sentry duty around their village perimeter. He had a lot more information, but needed to sort it. The main thing that really excited him was the technique he had picked out of their minds, which until that moment he had no idea he had obtained.
He thought about what he had just learned. His shielding was only ‘just’ adequate now, but he knew it wouldn’t hold. He could now see why. The shields that Junto and Melbray used were based on non-resistance. Leaving the mind open, but empty, so that nothing was in view. Anyone trying to read a mind got empty space, a vacuum of information. Unless you knew where to look, you wouldn’t pick up anything.
In contrast the Nangarl method simply overlaid a solid field of nothing over a defence wall similar to the one that Junto had helped him build yesterday. It looked too simple to work, yet Aaron knew it gave away nothing. He practised it a few times, then turned to Junto for a reaction.
“Hey Junto, are you reading my mind again?” he challenged, knowing that Junto would immediately attempt to do just that.
There was a momentary pause while Junto vainly attempted to penetrate Aaron's new shielding. “Why.... No. Actually, I’m not picking up anything at all,” he responded, the puzzlement in his voice echoing in his face.
After the three of them had tried to read Aaron’s thoughts and failed, he opened up and showed them what he had picked up from the Nangarl. They all tried it, but it wasn’t as effective for them as their own technique.
“I think the old ways are too ingrained in us for this technique to be of any use, or be effective. I suspect it needs a fresh young mind to work well,” said Galdreth resigning himself to keeping his usual shield.
“Still, we have a solution to our main problem, which means we can now move on with our own mission.” Melbray rubbed his hands in satisfaction. “Should we tell Aaron what is occurring out in the wide world while we sit here eating his mesmerised fish?”
- 12 -
It was evident from that comment that the time had come for Aaron to be brought up to date on the situation with the Watchtower.
As they settled down, preparing and cooking the dinner, fish again, Melbray began to outline the politics of the Sentinels.
“As you know the Sentinels are not supposed to be a political organisation. We are servants of the people, there to maintain the group balance and not to sway opinion or divide the nation in any shape or form. We hold a responsible position and are respected widely for our sense of fair play and even-handedness. That recently has begun to sour and the reason is very simple.
The Watchtower has been getting involved in the political scene, siding with one, while subverting the other. More seriously, they have taken control, placing their own people in positions of decision-making for whole communities. Their domination is spreading like a disease.
Within the Council there are two factions that hold sway, ours and Krendar’s. Of the two, the largest is his group, but we believe that much of it is due to the fear they have of him. If Krendar were defeated, most of those would switch sides immediately.”
“How does he hold power over these Sentinels and Watchers?” Aaron was puzzled. They were strong individuals and he couldn’t understand how they would be in fear of one person.
“Aaron, when you meet Krendar, and you will sooner than you would like, you will observe that he is a very ambitious leader, and ruthless as well. Influential people we knew were on our side have disappeared, we hope just hidden from view but there is a silence where their mental voices should be. That worries us, and creates a climate of fear within the Council,” Junto said, all the while stirring the pot they had set up for a stew.
“What are you saying, that he had these people - murdered?” The word came off his tongue awkwardly, rarely occurring in Sar conversation.
“We are not saying, but neither are we denying it - the possibility exists,” Melbray answered him cautiously, he looked pensive, but kept his gaze directed at Aaron. The other two were looking into the fire, deep in their own thoughts while the facts were being explained.
“There is a war coming, not of the people but a Watchtower war. Anyone who has any emote at all, any talent whatsoever is going to be drawn into it. Krendar has been weakening all opposition, but we believe that we might have just the right tool with which to clip his wings, perhaps even defeat him.”
“Me,” Aaron responded, realizing he was the object of the snippets he had been hearing from their mental chatter over the last few days.
He wondered if they were aware they had been letting information reach him. He considered that, and decided that it was probable. They would give him cause to think on things before confronting him with their plan. He knew from the mind-links that they had held over their brief involvement, that there was considerable disruption within the Society. He also knew that his ability to pick up peripheral knowledge from them was not something they were consciously aware of.
Aaron hadn’t worked out how to broach the matter of what he had called ‘passive leakage’ from people’s minds. He had only just become aware of it himself. He intended to cross that bridge shortly whatever the outcome. He needed to know how he had gleaned so much from the Nangarl.
“You should know that your talent is stronger than you believed before you came across the Grith, and through them, us. You took power so quickly, I don’t know of any Sentinel who could handle so much at once, except perhaps Krendar himself. You have not yet reached your full power, but I believe you are approaching a time when you will be strong enough that Krendar will not be able to defeat you.”
“Then I have nothing to fear from him,” Aaron responded confidently.
“On the contrary, you have much to fear, young Aaron. For if you cannot be subdued, I suspect you will be removed. More importantly, I think Krendar may know of your existence and be hunting you. It is possibly for this reason alone, that he deliberately weakens the acolytes as they come to the Tower for training. He doesn’t actually know if one of them might be the very one he fears.”
“I can see the problem,” Aaron nodded. “I have learned a lot from you and astonishingly, the Grith. All I need is somewhere to practice. However, if I’m no match for anyone with the skill of the Watchtower leader, and he is someone you collectively cannot defeat, I have little confidence in my ability to achieve anything.”
“Aaron, there is something you can do to aid us. Within the Watchtower there are dissidents like us, but there are also conspirators that pretend to be with us. Your mind might be able to flush them out and identify them without being detected,” Gedrack explained.
“You want me to go there and place myself in his
lair?” Aaron was incredulous. Just the thought sent powerful spasms of fear through him.
“It is worth the risk. Besides, if you can protect yourself from eight Grith, protecting yourself from Krendar would be a simple matter, I think.” Melbray smirked as he walked off.
Aaron wasn’t so sure how he had become so deeply involved. He suspected some manipulation by the other three over the last few days, but couldn’t see how that had occurred. Then he remembered the constant leakage of their conversations. Had it been deliberate after all?
He glanced over at Melbray who was now tending to the ferrels. His shield was complete, no leakage. He scanned the other two and could detect no snippets of conversation from them either, yet he knew they were mind-linked. He sighed, realising he had been sucked in from the start.
***
Later the next day Melbray returned to camp disturbed. He’d been communicating with others at the Tower and liked to walk on his own or meditate while he mulled over the matters he discussed with them. His face was grave and he waited until the others had finished yet more fish from the river before telling them.
“We must go immediately to the Tower, Krendar seems to be in the final stages of his plans for the Sentinels and the word is that he has coerced the council leaders to the point that he can put the Tower in command of the population within weeks.”
“Surely, the Sentinels will rally against him,” suggested Aaron.
“The Sentinels by rights should deny him even his position as First Lord Watcher, but the fact is, Two-Legger, that Krendar pretty much controls most of them as well. I’m even hearing reports that the guards are rallying to him and intimidation of Watchers is becoming a problem, particularly for those that oppose him. We must tread carefully, but somehow we must stop him before he unravels all we have built to protect our society.”