by Bob Blink
“Your abilities appear to be a mixed jumble of skills. You can do things you shouldn’t be able to and can’t do things you should. You definitely have cause to worry, because you have little control. I want you to try something for me.”
Jolan nodded.
“You say you can lift objects. Can you lift that box over there? It weighs about a hundred pounds.”
“That should be easy enough,” Jolan responded.
“Wait. I want you to draw the power, only enough to lift the box mind you, and then, hold back and don’t release the desire to move the box.”
“Then what?”
“Then wait, and when I tell you go ahead and lift it.”
Jolan reached for the fields, and instinctively drew what he needed, then focused his mind on the box, but somehow withheld the desire to move it. As he waited he began to get warm, and then hot. He started to sweat, and felt as if his skin was starting to blister.
“Okay now release it,” the elder mage said.
As soon as the command was executed, Jolan felt the heat start to leave his body.
“You’ve clearly never been to the Mages College. One of the first things they teach you is not to do what we just did. Drawing the power is not the same as controlling the power. You were getting warm, weren’t you? That’s because you tapped a whole lot of energy and gave it nowhere to go. Can you imagine if you’d decided to lift a mountain, then got distracted. You’d be burnt to a pile of ash. You’ve got to be really careful not to let that happen and playing around with spells you don’t understand is a good way to get into trouble.”
“How do I know which spells are safe to use?”
“That’s seems to be part of the issue in your case, doesn’t it?”
Mage Altz paused for a second considering something.
“I’m going to try an experiment. I plan to execute several different abilities. These will be things like shields, wards, cloaking, and the like. I want you to watch me very closely, and see if anything occurs to you as I do so. Understand?”
Jolan nodded, but in truth he didn’t really understand what he was supposed to look for. For the next five minutes he sat quietly and watched Altz as he stood there and seemingly did nothing at all. Then, suddenly he realized that he was aware what the old man was doing. He was shocked to see the man fade away, and almost disappear right in front of him.
“I saw that,” he said suddenly, looking over to the shadowy form of the mage.
“Gods!” Altz exclaimed, returning to more solid form. “Here, watch again.”
Once again Jolan realized he was seeing something, although “seeing” wasn’t exactly what he was doing. When Altz returned to “normal” he nodded, indicating he could definitely detect the actions the mage had taken.
“Do you think you could do the same?” Altz asked.
Jolan was uncertain, but nodded his head anyway.
“Try.”
It was more difficult than he expected, and it felt like his mind wasn’t ready to do his bidding, but then he was able to complete the steps. Looking down at his arm he realized he had faded somewhat, and was slightly transparent, but nowhere as much as the other had been.
“Remarkable,” Altz said surprised. “Ok, let it go.”
“What did we just do?” Jolan asked.
“That’s a cloaking spell. It’s not true invisibility, but under the right lighting conditions, and if you stay very still, you can often go unnoticed if someone is looking for you. It would be virtually useless in bright sunlight for example, but in a dark alley, or shadowy hide, it sometimes is enough. Your ability is weak, but it should improve with time and practice.”
“You seemed surprised I could call up the ability. Why is that?”
“I showed you half a dozen different abilities, and you had no reaction. You seemed unable to detect them, but they were mostly skills a first or second level mage should be able to detect easily. Yet you were totally unaware. The cloaking spell is something that only a fourth level or higher should be able to detect or emulate. Yet you were able to do so with relative ease.”
“You mean anytime a mage calls an ability, other mages of an equal or higher level can tell what he is doing?”
“No. Normally one ‘masks’ his actions, and the called abilities are only observable through the actions taken. Even when you called on the power to lift the box moments ago, your actions were not observable. The masking is a natural ability. I ‘opened’ my spells, something that must be learned, so that you could observe. It is a technique used in teaching the art.”
“So what did all this tell you?”
“Somehow your natural ability and the normal progression has been altered in you. It is almost as if another mage has somehow improperly impressed knowledge into your subconscious and that is affecting you. Has anyone ever paired with you?”
“Paired?” Jolan asked, but he was afraid he knew what it meant. Cheurt again.
“Two mages can ‘pair’ their minds. It allows the transfer of information and knowledge, but the technique must be performed only by mages that both are skilled and knowledgeable lest the subject mage risk serious damage to his mind. There are other reasons most mages and wizards will not submit to such an intrusion, and resort to other techniques to pass such knowledge. I have heard of unscrupulous wizards who will force such a pairing on those who cannot tap the power to steal their knowledge. It usually leaves the subject mindless or dead. Something like this has happened to you, hasn’t it?”
Jolan paled, but nodded. “My mind was probed by a wizard almost a year ago. I could feel him stripping information from me. I could also sense my own mind resisting, and taking something from him as well, although I don’t think he knew of it. Neither he nor I knew of my abilities at the time. It was in a place where the power was so weak it barely functions.”
“I have never heard of such a place, but what you say is probably the cause of your unusual behavior. If your mind was filled with a great deal of knowledge of skills using the power well beyond your capability, then your mind is probably trying to sort through and make sense of all this information. If so, it is probably finding bits and pieces that make sense, allowing you to perform those abilities. Others are barred to you. Why you can perform selected higher level abilities while being blocked from the more common lower level ones is not clear to me. Your mind has been altered by this intrusion.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“First, those abilities you have, you can use without concern. Any ability, like the one we just tried, that you can observe from another mage is also safe enough for you to use. However, do not experiment trying to discover new capabilities on your own. Such investigations could prove very dangerous, even fatal.”
“Normally I don’t try to find abilities, they simply are there suddenly.”
“That is your mind finding something in the midst of all the debris it is sorting through. Once again, I would suspect it is safe enough to use those new talents. It has worked for you before. However, this is something I’ve never seen before, so you must approach anything new with caution.”
“Can this be fixed somehow?”
“You must go to the College of Mages in Cobalo. They have specially trained mages and artifacts of power that can help you in this regard. They should also be able to more closely determine your current and ultimate development levels, and may even be able to purge your mind of the ‘pairing’ so as to allow a more normal progression, or even find a way to allow you to activate what is stored in there.”
“I have been told one needs some kind of referral to be granted an audience,” Jolan explained.
“Yes, normally those with the talent follow a standard development, and are seen by mages that travel the land to locate such individuals. At that age and level of development it is easy to vet the apprentice, and be sure he is not other than he appears. It is not usual for someone to ‘walk-in’ to the college and request admission. The mage
s are wary of just such an event because of the fear of infiltration by the wizards of Ale’ald who would very much like to gain access to the College and the records stored there.”
“You know a great deal about the college, it seems. You’ve been there yourself, haven’t you?”
Altz smiled. “Yes, many, many years ago.”
“Perhaps you could sponsor me to the college?” Jolan had a brief hope that maybe he had just found a way to bypass Asari’s missing uncle.
“No. You would not want to link your name with mine. The memory of the college is long and unforgiving. They would not look upon you kindly if you came with my recommendation.”
Jolan looked at Altz, but he gave no more of an explanation.
“Your origins are your secret, my history with the College is mine,” he said with a sad smile.
“Have you any suggestions?”
“The only course you have open is to go and try. Find a way to get to Cobalo and petition the College.”
“Can you help me while I stay here in Carta? I am working on finding a sponsor through a friend. I can pay you if it isn’t too costly.”
Altz nodded. “Payment is not necessary. Come back to me in three days. I need to see what I can find about circumstances like yours. At the very least we can try and explore what other abilities are waiting in your mind to be revealed.”
* * * *
Jolan’s day had been far more eventful than Asari’s. His friend was glum when he returned to the inn an hour or so after Jolan. None of Asari’s friends had been located, and his uncle had still not returned. Jolan explained what he had learned from Altz, and showed Asari the staff, told him how he had come upon it in the first place, and then told him what had happened earlier in the day.
“The staff attacked them?” Asari asked in disbelief.
“It sounds strange I know, but somehow an ability I don’t have was triggered and totally eliminated the threat. Altz says the staff and I have bonded, whatever that means. It seems I have a fairly potent weapon in my possession.”
“So what does it mean?” Asari asked.
“For one thing, this is yours for now,” Jolan said as he handed Asari the pouch with the Colt. “I think I’m better off with the staff, and you can use the pistol as well as I can.”
Asari’s face reflected his disbelief, and then suddenly a wide grin split his face as he realized Jolan was serious. He accepted the pouch and withdrew the worn Colt as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just be given. You’d have thought he’d just won the lottery.
Chapter 28
“What are you doing?” Asari asked. It was late afternoon and he had just returned from another visit to his uncle’s with the usual result. He had, however, discovered where one of his old friends was now employed, and would be able to go and see him in the morning when his work shift started.
Jolan held up his hand indicating Asari should wait and continued counting.
“Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, and one hundred.”
Asari watched as his friend looked at his wrist-watch, the old one from Earth, not the new pocket watch he had purchased to track local time, and then wrote down a series of numbers in that odd script he used at times.
“That’s ten runs,” Jolan said, pointing to the odd assembly with a metal wire and hanging weight that was still swinging back and forth in front of him. “It ought to be enough for a rough estimate.”
“Estimate of what?” Asari asked, still mystified by his friend’s activity. He knew that Jolan was getting bored and restless, but this was very strange behavior.
“I’m trying to get a rough measure of the acceleration due to gravity here on Gaea. I know it has to be close to what it is on Earth or I’d feel the difference, but a couple of things have caught my attention and I thought it would be worth knowing. This is a rough measure, but it is something I can at least do with what’s at hand.”
Asari had no idea what his friend was talking about, but pointed to the swinging weight and said, “That will let you measure this thing?”
“It’s a pendulum, and yes, it is one of the simplest means of finding out what I want to know. The period, the time it takes to swing from one side to the other and back, depends only on the length of the wire and the acceleration of gravity. Oh, it requires the constant pi, but I know that, and it can’t have changed.”
Jolan thought a moment. No. That would have to be the same. He’d also been able to get the length by using a scale on one blade of his swiss army knife.
“See here. I measure the time for one hundred cycles, so I can average out measurement errors, and then use the average time to calculate the acceleration. I’ve run the test ten times, so then I’ll average those results and see what I get.”
Asari couldn’t see how all this was worth getting excited about, and headed out to the balcony where he could sit and rest his feet. A few minutes later Jolan came out and sat beside him.
“It’s too bad we haven’t a way to charge the iPhone so I can use the calculator application, but doing it by hand I get the acceleration to be about 9.6 meters/second squared. That’s a bit lower than it was on Earth.”
“Now that you know, what do you do with the information?” Asari asked.
“Er, well at the moment, nothing. But if I can figure out a way to measure a few other things I can calculate. . . .”
“So what’s the point. What possible difference can it make?”
A bit miffed by Asari’s lack of interest, Jolan replied. “Well, for example the Colt you are so fond of. The bullets don’t travel in a straight line. Gravity makes them drop as they travel. That means the pistol will shoot to a different point here than it will on Earth.”
“How much different?”
“Admittedly not enough to matter. But if we had a good long distance rifle it might make a difference. I’d need the calculator to figure out a difference in the impact.”
“We don’t have one of your rifles. I wish we did.”
There didn’t seem to be anywhere to take the conversation. In truth, Jolan didn’t have any idea what he expected to do with what he had learned, but he’d been restless, and he was curious.
“How come you’re not over visiting with your mage friend?” Asari said interrupting Jolan’s thoughts.
Jolan had been to see the old mage a couple of times, but so far they had made no further progress. Altz had been unable to learn anything useful regarding what must have happened when Cheurt “paired” with him, and no new abilities had been triggered. They had also had no luck with the staff either. Altz knew what it had to be, but had no first hand experience with one of the legendary weapons. Even if Jolan could recall what he’d said that triggered the lightning-like flashes, he wondered if the staff would respond without enemies to deal with. He also wondered just how he was to direct the energies released and how he would deal with an encounter when friend and foe were both present. There was just so damn much he didn’t know. The mage had been apologetic, but he had to be gone for the next week on personal business he declined to discuss. That had left Jolan at loose ends and had led to the experimentation.
“Are you getting hungry?” Asari asked when Jolan didn’t respond.
Jolan knew where this was leading. He had been expecting it for some time now. They had experimented with most of the places to eat in the area, and had a couple of favorites, but of late Asari showed a special interest in one particular establishment. Jolan didn’t mind. The place had an extensive menu, and their food was probably better than anywhere else they’d found, and the costs were comparable. Asari’s interest wasn’t in the menu however. He’d been getting chummy with one of the serving girls, and Jolan expected he’d be bringing her home soon; perhaps tonight.
“Let me guess,” he said. “You were thinking we might make our way over to the Cooked Goose.”
Asari smiled guiltily and then nodded.
“What about the ride we had planned. Those poor horses of
ours get out far less than we do. They are going to be out of shape if we need to do any serious riding.”
“We can ride tomorrow. I’m not in the mood tonight. Come on. Let’s go.”
They were almost halfway to the tavern when Jolan suddenly realized that Asari wasn’t wearing the pouch. Since his friend hadn’t given him the pouch and pistol to put in the box for safe keeping, it meant it was somewhere else. Concern rapidly escalating, Jolan tried to remember when he had last seen his friend with it, and couldn’t even remember whether he’d had it with him when he’d come into their rooms a short time before. The harder he thought, the more certain he was that Asari hadn’t been wearing it.
“The Colt,” Jolan muttered to his friend, the concern evident in his voice.
Instead of the look of shocked dismay Jolan expected when Asari realized he’d left the weapon somewhere, he instead received a superior grin from the other. Reaching his right hand down to push aside the thin coat he was wearing in deference to the changing season, he allowed Jolan to see the pistol riding securely under his belt in some kind of leather rig.
Jolan realized that Asari had done what he’d been considering some time ago. He’d had something made up that allowed a more concealed, and apparently comfortable form of carry. The rig was different than anything he’d see before, but attached to the belt and seemed to be doing a satisfactory job of protecting the pistol.
“I just picked it up today,” Asari said. “I wondered how long it would take you to notice.”
“Why the change?”
“I started thinking how risky it was to carry it around in the pouch, and how much value in golds there was in the copper. If someone was to take the pistol we could never replace it.”
“How come you never said anything when I was doing it?”
“I was so used to seeing you carry it after weeks on the trail I never thought about it. Then a few days ago I saw a cutpurse make off with someone’s money, and I realized how easy it would be to cut the strap and slip off with it. A little cleverly placed distraction, and I might not even notice it was gone until it was too late.”