There came the subtlest pressure on her mind, just like when she connected with animals. Gently the connection formed, and then she too was swimming and gliding over the ocean in pure exhilaration. She was joined by two others, then five or more, all swimming and flying in unison. She wanted to stay with them forever, dancing in the waves, but after a moment she felt her consciousness moving back into her own body.
Duskar watched the creatures with interest, ears pricked forward, not the least bit afraid. The creatures stopped jumping and moved closer to the shore, lifting their heads above the surface to look at her. She smiled and lifted her hand awkwardly in greeting.
‘We are here, Child of the Raven, we are ready and waiting for the time to meet Keteth. All is unfolding as we have foreseen,’ they spoke as one singing voice in her mind.
‘Is it time?’ She asked aloud, not sure how to reply with her mind.
‘Soon. Be strong, accept the Night Goddess, become the Raven Queen. We will be with you when the time comes.’
‘It was you, wasn’t it? You brought me here, away from Keteth.’
‘Of course. We were there when you jumped from the cliff, too,’ tinkling laughter filled Issa’s mind and she stared in wonder at them. Keteth said he had been there too. Had they helped keep him away? Had they been watching over her all this time?
‘We have been waiting for the blue moon of change for eons,’ they whispered. Then their minds left hers, and they disappeared into the moonlit ocean.
‘Oh why did they have to go?’ she sighed, missing their company already.
After a moment Duskar turned and picked a different route along a small path back into the forest. Had he known to bring her here? Had they called him to? She smiled at the thought.
The woods were alive around them, and she felt at one with the forest and its inhabitants. She could hear and feel the presence of everything around her, here a frog hidden in the grass, there an owl watching from above. Some way ahead, she felt a feline mind and was soon staring into the green eyes of a tiny island panther, slightly larger than a cat. It looked at her, blinked, and bounded away.
She knew Duskar shared this awareness of the world around them, as did most animals. Maybe all humans had once had that awareness but lost that connection, living their lives shut away in their walled houses and surrounded only by other humans.
They arrived back at Duskar’s stable. She slid off his back and he went in of his own accord.
‘I’ll see you soon,’ she said, stroking his nose. She headed back to bed and slept.
Issa awoke already late for her magic lessons. After a quick breakfast, she dashed towards Freydel’s tower. Taking the steps two at a time, she fell through his door gasping for breath. A startled Freydel stared at her over half-moon glasses, ink dripping from his quill as he held it poised over a piece of parchment.
For all intents and purposes, he really looked like the wizard he was supposed to be today. He even had a long purple hat on, and it sat lopsided on his head. It looked a bit dusty and she wondered if he had gotten it out purely for her benefit.
‘Morning,’ she coughed, smoothed back her hair and apologised with a sheepish grin.
Freydel chuckled, possibly at her dishevelled look, his face creasing into a fatherly smile. If he was annoyed at her lateness, he did not show it. Perhaps he hadn’t even noticed she was late.
‘You are here, so let’s begin.’ He set aside his paper and quill and began clearing away the maps and books that cluttered the table once more - somewhat unsuccessfully for there was nowhere else to put them.
‘You know I’m really sure Maeve could help you tidy up this place,’ she said mischievously.
Freydel snorted in disgust. From one of many drawers, he pulled out a square granite slab with an indented centre. He took a scrap of paper from the floor and placed it on the slab.
‘Now watch,’ he said.
She watched as he held his hand above the paper. She felt energy like static charge pulse in the air, the faintest shimmer of luminous blue, and the paper burst into flame.
‘Oh tell me how you did that,’ she laughed and clapped her hands.
‘Fire is a simple thing to create, but it’s ultimately destructive, and unless its energy is used wisely, it takes more from the world and the wielder than it gives back. This is nothing compared to what learned wizards can do, and they, in turn cannot do half of what the Ancients could.
‘You need the talent, the will, and the feel of magic. Most people cannot wield it because they lack one or all. Many have the will but cannot feel the energy that surrounds them. Some have the feel of the energy but lack the strength of will. Those with all three create the truly great wizards. It can be taught to some degree, but those who do not naturally have them are limited to simple tricks such as this.
‘It’s my belief that you have the talent and the feel, but maybe not the will, which is the control. It needs to be trained so it’s not wild and destructive. Did you feel it?’
Issa nodded. ‘There was a blue shimmer, the air was charged and my skin tingled.’
Freydel nodded looking pleased. ‘First you must still the mind, empty those cluttering thoughts so you can be fully but passively in the present. Once you are in this state, feel the energy of the things around you. Living things have the most energy, but even rocks have their own slower vibrations. There is also energy between all things, linking us all together.
‘Once you feel the energy, you can feel its flow. You are “In The Flow,” as we term it. You can then draw more to you, and then, with talent, bend it to your will. The trick is to draw to you only the energy that you require, gently releasing it as you exert your will. Never draw too much, and never release too quickly. Many novices have killed themselves in their excitement of the power, drawing too much and not knowing how to control it. Self-control is the key to survival here.’
Issa nodded, listening eagerly.
‘You can also feel others in the Flow. Some can call forth the energy to do their bidding at lightning speed. Others take a lot longer but are able to hold far more. Now then,’ he said, tearing off another piece of paper, ‘you try.’
She took a deep breath, doubt immediately creeping into her mind. What if she felt nothing? What if she couldn’t light the paper? There was nothing for it, but to try. If it did not come now, maybe it would come later. Slowly she let out her breath and focused on the scrap of paper. It took a few moments to still her mind and forget Freydel’s presence beside her. Feel the energy, find the Flow, she said over and over in her head.
‘No,’ Freydel said, breaking her concentration. ‘You cannot search for the energy, you must simply become aware of it.’
She shifted and huffed in her seat, and focused again. For a while there was nothing, and she had to let the feelings of frustration pass until she felt completely passive.
At first, she felt a trickle of something in her mind, like rain drops running down a windowpane. She fancied she saw drifting white lines of light around the paper reaching out to touch everything. Yellow lines seemed to surround Freydel and when she looked harder she saw his aura, a beacon of light that wavered between all colours of the spectrum. A wizard’s aura, she thought, and let the thought pass.
The trickle turned into a rivulet, and all at once she felt the Flow of energy fill her like a torrent. Power coursed through her, filling her until she was that power. The white streams that surrounded everything were pulsing, glowing with life, with magic. She felt so alive and free she could leap up and fly away. The energy kept coming and soon the torrent was overwhelming and she fought to control it, beads of sweat formed on her forehead and her breath came fast. From far away Freydel’s voice drifted down to her.
‘Release some of the power. Don’t block it. Let it flow through you, you must let some go.’
She felt something grasp her mind and recognised Freydel. Slowly the energy left her in waves of brilliant light until a trickle remained, again
flowing gently through her.
Freydel’s voice came from beside her. ‘Focus on the paper.’
She focused on the crumpled scrap and imagined it on fire, little flames curling up its edges. She projected her image onto the paper. There was a blue flash followed by a huge flaming orange fireball that shot forwards. The fireball made contact and exploded, obliterating the paper and the slab completely.
She suddenly wanted to call more ecstatic power to her and set everything on fire, but then she saw the destruction and yelped. The Flow dropped from her like a stone and the fire went out as quick as she had created it. Ash and blackened particles floated down and settled upon the desk, the chairs, and her and Freydel - it was all that remained of his stone slab and anything else that had been in close proximity. There was a black scorch mark on the table where the fireball had hit.
She slumped back into the chair exhausted. Through the settling dust, she looked at the wizard sheepishly and was further shocked to see him smiling.
‘Amazing,’ he said. ‘It took me a week to do that when I was a novice. You had me worried for a moment there. I thought you were going to explode. You drew far too much too soon, but with practice, it will become easier,’ he beamed. ‘As you can see, using magic is not without a cost. The more energy you control, the more of your own energy it will take to control it. But that also gets easier with time as you become more adept. That was excellent for a beginner,’ he clapped in delight.
Issa grinned in surprise at her success, but there was a knot of fear in her stomach. Had he seen how terrified she was when the energy almost consumed her? She already wanted to feel it again, and more of it. A part of her had wanted to set everything on fire, to become the fire itself, pure beautiful energy. What was worse was she knew she could have done it, set the whole tower alight, and it was that which frightened her. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. She could still feel the energy around her, though it was little more than a tingle on the skin.
‘It is not simply limited to creating fire either, one can control all the elements,’ Freydel said as he busied himself making a pot of tea, a smile set on his face.
‘The more powerful you are, the more things you can do. Of course, we still don’t know the limits of magic yet, or if indeed there are any. One thing is always true though, to recover from any use of magic requires rest, preferably deep sleep. The more adept you become the less rest is required and the quicker you recover.
‘You know animals and plants can wield their own type of magic?’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Some species can use it and others not. Like that harpy you saw, they can wield a lot of magic, whereas bluebirds can’t use it at all. No one knows why, for sure, but the wizards and seers of Maioria believe the older the species, the greater their use of the Flow. Or perhaps it is the goddess who decides.
‘Dragons are the strongest, followed by elves and then humans, but even then only the most adept humans can use it effectively. Now I had no real experience of ravens having magic before now, they are always shy secretive creatures, but that raven of yours,’ he indicated to the window sill where it dozed as usual, ‘certainly has some ability to hide its presence, or appear from nowhere. Hmm, you are not as tired as you should be after that. I think you will one day be quite powerful in the arcane arts, with the correct tutoring of course.’
She remembered the flying sea creatures she had seen last night and the potent magic that came from them. She told Freydel what had happened as she sipped her tea. As he listened, his eyes widened in surprise.
‘It was they that brought me here and saved me from Keteth,’ she finished.
‘I wondered how you survived, and now it all makes sense. Very few have seen the Wykiry, they are truly magical beings that you were blessed to see.’ He glanced at her, the steam from his mug curling up around his hat. ‘And it’s my feeling that they will be with you whenever the White Beast is near, as they have been so far. You can find much comfort in that.’
She smiled and took a deep breath. ‘Something else happened. It’s this Daluni thing you mentioned, but more than that for it seems I don’t just communicate with animals, I somehow become the animal and see and feel the world as they do. Not instead of them, but with them, like we are sharing the same body, the same emotions. They too see and feel through me. I don’t know how it happens, and I cannot seem to will it to happen. I get this headache you see. It’s like a pressure in the front of my head, and then I know the shift is coming.’
Freydel watched her intently, his face unreadable. He pulled out a large book from under a torn, tattered map. It was so heavy he struggled to lift it. Dust and age covered it, making the title impossible to read. He flicked through the pages, coughing as dust spewed out from them. A third of the way in, he stopped and traced the dense scrawling.
‘Here it is, “…even the birds in the air, the fish in the sea and the animals on the land, will willingly be at their call for they are truly Daluni. But they will not command the crawling things, for they are linked to a different realm.” Hmm.’ He closed the book and put it to one side.
‘Who are the Daluni?’ she asked, feeling the uncomfortable weight of prophecy upon her.
‘Most of the Ancients were Daluni, and many of the forest elves. Karalanths, the deer people, are naturally,’ Freydel explained. ‘It’s said to be a gift from Woetala, so that we never forget we share the land with other creatures, even though we cannot speak with them verbally.
‘Daluni and a magic wielder, two gifts in one person is a lot of power, but also a huge strain, we must make sure you are strong enough to hold both, lest you be driven mad. I suspect my teaching will only go so far. We will have to find talented Daluni’s who can teach you as well. Come, let us go outside, I want to try something.’
She followed him through the oak door out onto the stone balcony circling the turret. The sun was high and hot, and a few white clouds hung in the blue sky. The smell of the forest drifted up to them. Freydel surveyed the sky and his eyes came to rest on an eagle gliding high above. They watched the bird’s flight as it effortlessly climbed the currents.
‘I want you to focus on the eagle. Try to willingly cause the shift in consciousness you described earlier.’
Issa looked up uncertainly. ‘But I’ve no idea how to even try, it always kind of just happened to me, whether I wanted it or not.’
‘Just try,’ he said, ‘that is all you can do.’
She nodded, what harm could trying do? She looked at the bird and emptied her mind of thoughts again. She could feel its presence and knew it had noticed her, but she could not touch its mind fully. She let it go with a sigh and tried again, but nothing came, she could only feel the eagle’s presence, nothing more. She sighed and gave up.
‘Maybe it doesn’t work like that. Maybe it only happens when they want it to.’
Freydel nodded, masking his disappointment. ‘Ah well, you can, but try, and these are early days of course,’ he said, and gave a reassuring smile.
‘I want you to practise feeling the Flow, but not using it, feeling it and letting it go. You must get used to feeling it like it’s second nature. You must learn the control of not using it, no matter how good it feels. Otherwise, it will be the master of you and not vice versa. Once you are used to it, then I can show you how to conceal your presence. Other magic users can often feel another in the Flow like a beacon in the night, and it can be dangerous if they mean harm.’
She nodded and after a moment asked. ‘Have you ever seen Keteth?’
Freydel pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders as if he were cold. ‘Yes, I have seen him only once from a great distance… I could feel his hatred even from afar. I don’t think there is anything good left of the man he once was. He has become a monster driven by hatred and greed.’
‘It seems to me that he is lost,’ she replied, somewhat saddened.
Freydel sighed. ‘So many twists and turns in life that makes us what we are. Before they
left this world the Ancients tried to destroy him, but their magic had grown weak. Baelthrom drove them into the sea, and there they met the White Beast and found more death. Sometimes when the tide is low and the waves are still, when the world hangs between day and night, their sad songs can be heard like whispers on the wind.’
Issa blinked away tears. I will not weep, I will avenge, I will do what must be done. The sorrow she felt for the man that had been Keteth dissipated, as she thought of those he had mercilessly slaughtered. She felt Karshur in her pocket. It was hot with hatred.
Freydel brushed his hands together changing the subject. ‘Right, let’s start the next lesson.’ Her dark thoughts drifted away and she was glad to forget about the dagger and Keteth, keen to feel the magic coursing through her again.
Chapter 35
The Seer
HOOVES thundered past Triest’anth’s house on the edge of the karalanth village. The old karalanth set down the glass vial he was cleaning and went to investigate. Coronos did not notice him go or the commotion outside as he was focussed solely on Asaph. He had worsened in the night. His pale skin was grey, his breathing shallow, and sweat rolled off his body. Any water he tried to feed him sent him into convulsions.
Triest’anth returned moments later, followed by the strangest looking woman he had ever seen. He couldn’t hide the shock on his face when he saw the seer for she was a White One, her smooth flawless skin so pale it was white, as was her long unbound hair. Her eyes were just the faintest pink. She wore pale blue robes, as did all seers, and held a white birch staff.
Despite her white hair, she was not old, but a young woman, though her eyes held much wisdom. She was small and slender but imposing at the same time. Her presence dominated the room.
Night Goddess (The Goddess Prophecies Book 1) Page 35