by Tyler Earp
* * *
Rafe watched over his shoulder throughout the next day. When he called for them to stop, he didn't tell them to set up the tents.
Rafe turned to them. “Tonight, your training starts. I've been putting it off to allow you time to adjust to the traveling. That was obviously a bad decision, as events have shown me.” Without a further word, he motioned with his hand for Riley to go with Hans to the other side of the clearing, wooden broadswords in hand.
Charley watched as Hans started swinging slowly at Riley, giving him time to block it. Riley started moving quicker, until the blade was knocked from his hand in a quick clubbing swing of Hans' blade onto Riley's wrist.
Charley couldn't help but laugh. He felt a sharp rap on his wrist and grabbed at it from the pain. “What was that for?” he snarled at Rafe through the pain.
Rafe grinned. “You just lost your hand. It's not nearly as funny when it is your wrist being hit, is it?”
Charley felt ashamed at laughing at Riley, and had the throbbing wrist to remind him. After that, it went smoothly for the rest of evening. Charley couldn't believe his luck at first when Rafe had them just hold their sword aloft and just stare at it. He called it attuning.
Soon, Charley didn't feel near as luck. Each time his arm dips Rafe swooped in and had him correct his stance by returning it to the correct height, only letting them relax for what seemed just a few moments out of every hour.
“Is this really training?” Charley found himself asking.
Rafe nodded. “I do this not to torture you, or reprimand you. I do this to train your muscles. This is the same method that all young Barghest are taught in. With your magically enhanced bodies, this should not be truly difficult.”
Abe looked at Rafe. “What do you mean, magically enhanced?”
Rafe walked over, and corrected his head before replying. “I mean, that as Children, you are each born with a certain amount of magical reinforcement. It is much like the magic that runs through Barghests, so our training styles are easily adapted.” He pushed Nina's feet further apart by what seemed a minimal amount.
“A good example of your enhancements is when I landed on Charley near that park. In my animal form, I weigh four hundred pounds. If I had done that to a normal boy his size, I would have broken his ribs. Charley came away with a few bruises that faded within a week.”
“Or like when I threw the branch. That thing was, like, thirty pounds.”
Rafe nodded. “Exactly. A boy your size would have thrown out his shoulder.”
Abe looked over at Riley enviously. “Then why is Hans training Riley? Shouldn't he be with us?”
“Riley is being trained differently as he is too large, and will continue to grow larger. The way of the Dancer is not his to follow.”
He paused for a moment before a grin spread across his face. “I also imagine that he will rarely ever be forced into a situation in which he will have to rely on brute force. It's really just a rudimentary learning process for him.”
“Because of him being a wizard?” Charley found himself asking.
“Yes. His path does not lie in steel, but in magic.”
Thirteen
The Seven Paths
“We each have to follow our own paths. Maybe, one day, they will cross once more.
- Gregory Vance
His arms seemed to heal quicker and quicker until he'd built up muscle. His feet also started healing quicker, and soon even the hours of just holding the sword became easier. There was only one thing wrong.
Charley couldn't fight.
After Rafe was satisfied that they understood the poses, he had them move onto flowing through sets, or groups of movements that went naturally together. “Think of your opponent and how he would react to a movement. A true master can see the intentions of anyone after a single swing of a blade.”
Charley mastered the rudimentary sets, but could not do as Rafe said. Everything fell into shambles the second he tried to visualize attacking an enemy.
Even after Rafe had him slow down even further, he still couldn't get even the simplest sets to work for him. Rafe watched him over the course of two days but still seemed confused.
“I don't understand. You perform each move flawlessly, even better than Abe, but you are incapable when completing any of the visualization techniques.”
Jaelyn stopped her training on the third day of this and watched him as well. A look of understanding crossed her face. Rafe caught sight of it. “What is it, Jaelyn?”
“This is just an idea,” she said, approaching Rafe and finishing her idea by whispering it to Rafe. His brow crinkled as he listened.
Rafe nodded and walked in front of Charley. “Raise your blade, Charley. You are going to spar with me.”
Charley took a step back from him. “You're crazy! I wouldn't last a second against someone like you!”
“Do it. Now,” Rafe said, growling the last word.
Charley felt a shudder run down his spine as he stepped back forward and reset his wooden sword into the ready position, thanking all the practice that Rafe had forced them through in the last few days.
The sword felt light in his hand. Charley could see Riley walking over and asking Abe something in a hushed voice. Hans looked at him, pity in his eyes. “Fight well, young one.
Charley looked back at Rafe, and good thing he had. At the moment Charley had looked at him, Rafe slashed at him. His fear helped him raise his blade to meet Rafe's at the last moment. Like a puppet, Charley felt his control of movement disappear.
His fear consumed him in a flash flood and then disappeared into the eye of the storm. A sense of weightlessness filled his body. As the second swing descended, Charley's blade rose to meet it with ease.
Within a few moments, Charley was watching Rafe and sensing each and every attack he would use before he had even moved. Charley felt something rising in his chest and he grew confident and started attempting to return blows.
That was when everything went wrong all at once.
Like magic, he felt the power flee and he was back to being a bumbling novice. Rafe, not noticing the change almost hit Charley before a different blade moved in and knocked his blow away. Rafe looked over and saw Jaelyn standing beside him, her longsword holding his shorter blade in check.
“The magic failed him. If you had not been so concentrated on taking his head from his shoulders you would have noticed,” She said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Rafe sheathed his swords and turned back to Charley. “I am sorry. I pushed you too far.”
Charley looked at him, still standing in the same position he had been in just before Rafe would have hit him. He shook his head and looked at Rafe. “What was that?”
Rafe sighed. “I think it best that all of you sit down for this.”
Charley sat down next to Nina and looked at Rafe. He appeared to be muttering to himself, his lips moving like twin hummingbird wings. What's going on? He tried to ask the voice.
He felt the connection solidify and realized that this was the first time that he had tried to start the conversation. He felt irritation from the voice. Don't try to contact me so casually. I am a busy person… Also, I suspect that Rafe is about to tell you himself.
Charley felt the connection disappear and he had a moment of frustration at the way he had been brushed off, yet the voice seemed to be allowed to connect to him at any time.
Rafe sat across from them. Jaelyn lowered herself to the ground and sat back against a tree. “Make it brief, will you Rafe?” was all she said before leaning her head against the tree, and closing her eyes.
“Not sure I can do that,” he murmured.
“Will someone just tell us what is happening to Charley? I mean, seriously. How did he go from horrible to amazing?” Abe asked, noticeable envy in his voice.
Nina nodded. “I'm with Abe on this one. No offense, Charley, but you sucked. Then you had major mojo all of a sudden.”
Rafe sighed aga
in. “I was hoping that we wouldn't have to have this conversation for some time. Well– can't control everything. You remember how you were told you that The Children were the protectors and negotiators of both Undermire and Earth long ago?” He paused while everyone nodded.
“Well, they didn't do it with numbers. While at the height of their power there were only around forty thousand active Children. They were always outnumbered if you consider the millions who live in Talas alone. They ruled with a group of powers.”
“Powers?” Abe started bouncing. “What kind of powers?”
Rafe held up his hands. “I will explain that if you will let me. I need you to give me time to explain, so please attempt to hold your questions for now,” he rasped. Abe motioned locking his lips and tucking the “key” in his pocket and then patted it for good measure.
Rafe rolled his eyes. “The Children are born with the ability to use one of seven powers, or Paths as they were later called. Usually, each Child would manifest in one of those powers, which is the Awakening, sometime around their fourteenth or fifteenth birthday. After you Awaken the other paths will close to you for the most part.”
“Is that door thing Riley's Path?” Abe asked, seeming to forget his promise.
“Yes. That is the Traveler's Path. A magic based on teleportation and location magics. Another is the Amplifier's Path. You have seen me use it to increase my speed and strength in combat.”
“The third Path is the Diviner's. Their powers are drawn from ancient druidism. They use rune stones to manipulate the elements and summon Daeva. Their abilities eventually spawned the birth of modern magic, which comes from the user or a patron and not their surroundings.”
“Wow. Way cool,” Abe said, interrupting again. Charley had to agree, though.
Rafe held up a fourth finger, ignoring him. “Next is the Animator's Path. They use their art to generate a type of magic to give a pseudo-life to them,” he said with a shrug.
“The Silencer's Path is the fifth. They were the spies of The Children. It is largely thanks to their corps that you four are alive today. Without one of their best, Gregory Vance, sneaking into the Palace of Giants near Redpon, The Children would have never had time to flee.
“Their abilities lie in silent movement. I do not mean that they were cautious, but that they could be the clumsiest men in Undermire, and they still made no sound. They largely relied on magic that could manipulate vibrations.”
Riley nodded. “That's smart.”
Abe looked at him, his eyebrows scrunched. Riley said to him in explanation, “Sound is made of something colliding with something else. It causes vibrations. You control the vibration, you control the sound.”
Rafe smiled. “Exactly. They would create what they called vacuums. These vacuums would hold the sound in a certain area inert… But what was perhaps their most important power was manipulating those vibrations into weapons.
“Think if you could harden those vibrations into a blade. It would be like holding a small chainsaw that causes an explosion every time-”
“Dibs!” Abe exclaimed.
Rafe shook his head in exasperation. “You don't pick the power, the power picks you.”
He went on to finish. “And the sixth Path is the Empath's. They are perhaps the rarest of the six Paths. Simply put, they sense and manipulate emotions. Once upon a time, they were said to be able to control even thoughts and actions. But no Child has been powerful enough for that in several hundred years,” Rafe said, though Charley did notice him sending a glance his way.
Rafe looked at the four of them. Charley shifted as Rafe's gaze fell on him. Still looking at Charley, he said. “We just happen to have an Empath sitting among us. I think I understand your aura. Can I ask if you have headaches when in crowded areas?”
“Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?”
Rafe smiled. “Because it isn't due to the sound or stimuli. It's due to the large amounts of emotions and being unable to Siphon it correctly. Yes, medicine helps, but that's because it numbs your abilities.”
Abe jumped up and down on the spot. Rafe looked at him and rolled his eyes. “Yes?”
He went through the motions of unlocking his lips before replying. “So you can tell by our aura what we will get?”
“No, but it is a good indicator. I could, with a very high probability, tell both you and Nina what your manifested ability will be.”
“Would you?” Abe asked, quivering with anticipation. Rafe barked a laugh. “I'm not sure it's needed. I already told you before what your auras were like. Let's see if you two can come up with the answer for yourself,” he said, leaning back on his hands.
Riley sported a small smile. Abe turned to him. “Ok spill it, you know something.”
Riley shook his head. “I know, but I think Rafe is right. We need to be able to figure out things for ourselves. We've already seen that things aren't always what they appear.”
Abe threw up his hands. “Why does Charley get to be told?”
“Because even I wasn't sure until just a while ago when Jaelyn suggested the test,” Rafe said after a few moments of silence.
Nina appeared thoughtful, her eyebrows coming together, before looking at Rafe. “I think I might know, but I want to check something first.”
“Shoot.”
“You said I have an aura like steel, right?” Rafe nodded. “So… either a Diviner or an Animator, right?”
Rafe frowned. “No, the Diviner's Path would not suit you well.”
“Why is that? They use those stones… what were they called again?”
Rafe grinned. “Runestones. I should have mentioned they are called Diviners because of their ability to glimpse the future. It's just so rare I did not think it worth mentioning. Their heads are always in the clouds.”
“So I'm an Animator?” Rafe nodded once more.
Abe perked up. “I know, I'm an Amplifier!”
Rafe laughed. “Very good. It should have been simple for you. You're easily the best fighter already.”
Abe frowned. “What about Charley?”
Yeah, what about Charley?
Jaelyn sat forward. “He's not a good fighter, he's just good at reading emotions and intentions and his body takes over. You might notice that the magic failed him soon after he attempted a retaliatory attack.”
“But what does that mean for me? I mean, if I can't fight, I'm not much use, right?”
Jaelyn looked at him for a moment. “I would assume that means violence is against your nature. Your aura and your Awakening are both affected by who you are as a person. Your anti-confrontational nature led to your manifestation of Empath abilities.”
Riley spoke. “I do have one question.”
Rafe sighed. “You want to know what the seventh Path is?”
Riley nodded. Rafe shrugged in return. “I don't know. No one does anymore. It hasn't been seen in nearly three thousand years.”
Fourteen
The Tests
“Life is a set of trials. It is up to you to find the courage to pass them, or fail them.”
- Head Keeper Ban
“We'll be there soon,” Rafe said over his shoulder. Abe asked. “Be where soon?”
“The Academy. What used to be the stronghold of The Children. None have entered in nearly fifteen years.”
“Since– then?” Charley asked.
Jaelyn piped up. “Yes, since the extermination of The Children. Aren't there tests to enter?”
Rafe stopped and turned to face them. “Yes. The Tests of Sight, Wisdom, Strength and Blood. But, you only have to take them if it is your first time visiting.”
The first three sounded like something he would expect from the adventure series he had read. But blood? That's kinda creepy. He wasn't sure he wanted to be connected to anyone who thought of a test like that as a good idea.
“What if, say, you only pass the first three?” Riley asked, a visible shiver passing down his spine.
“You're only required to pass the first to enter. If you fail to pass the second most of the Academy will remain barred to you. But do not worry. Remember, things are not always what they seem.”
Rafe turned to Hans and Jaelyn. “You two have to take the first test. The rest are optional, as you are not of The Children.”
Charley saw a motion behind Rafe. As if a sword had cut space, a rip appeared and a boy stepped through. His silvery hair hung to his shoulders in a short braid. Abe's eyes appeared to bulge.
“Rafe… you know I hate it when you do my job for me.” The boy whined.
Rafe smiled wolfishly without turning. “Yet you never seem to stop me from doing so. How are you Arty?”
“Good enough, I guess. Not many people come this way anymore. I don't get to scare anyone anymore.” He started giggling. “I do have to say, though– You four had some of the best reactions I've ever seen.”
“Everyone, this is Arty. He's a Keeper.” Rafe pointed out
Charley. “Arty, this is Charley, The Child of Fire.”
Arty scowled at Rafe. “I know who he is. I could sense all four of them miles away. I haven't sensed auras that strong in nearly six centuries from Unawakened.”
Rafe's mouth turned down. “You're losing your touch. Both Charley and Riley have Awakened.”
“No, I can see it clearly. None of them have.” Arty stood on tiptoes to rap his knuckles on the side of Rafe's head. “What, are you saying? They manifested already?” He took a closer look at Charley, leaning in closely. He then did the same thing to Riley and huffed. “Well, that's no fair– he's a Double. Who's his twin?”
“Me. Are you really six hundred? You don't look much older than me,” Abe said matter-of-factly.
Arty took a moment to stare at him in the same manner. “Yup. I see it now. You two share Paths… as for how old I am… well, I'm not six hundred. I'm actually nearly seven hundred years old.”
“That is very fascinating, but what about them? Are you sure they haven't Awoken?” Rafe asked.
Arty gave him a look of annoyance. “Of course they haven't.” He started staring off into space. “They just have a lot more– juice.”
“Well, no use waiting for the cow to hatch a chicken. Who wants to go first?” Arty asked, sweeping his gaze across them.
“First?” Nina asked.
Arty clapped his hands. “The tests, of course! I can't just let you in, silly.”
Riley raised his hand. “I guess I'll do it.”
“Very well then. The first always has the funnest time.” He clapped his hands again and Riley disappeared.
Charley jumped and then fell down after his foot slipped on a rock. Arty laughed at Charley. I guess he wanted something like that to happen. Nutty guy.
“I've… never seen… anything… quite like… that!” Arty wheezed out. Charley had the sudden urge to stick his tongue out and almost gave into it.
Arty got his breath back. “Oh, you might as well get comfortable. This might take a while.”
No sooner had he finished speaking then Riley reappeared. Arty looked at him, his face turning down. “Aww– I don't like it when they're good,” He whined.
Without a further word, he clapped his hands again and Nina disappeared. This time everyone was ready for it and didn't react. Arty's face fell further. Charley could have sworn he heard him mumble, “They never fall for it twice…”
Abe tried to pump Riley for information. “What was it like? What did you have to do?”
“I can't tell you. I swore to never reveal the secrets of the tests.”
Rafe eyes widened in surprise. “You passed all four tests on your first try?”
“Yeah. Is that good?”
“Very, but I just didn't think someone your age would be able to do it. Most are several years older than you before taking the tests– and even fewer as fast as you.” He shrugged and leaned against a nearby pine tree.
This time Arty's words proved true as Nina remained gone for much longer than Riley had. Finally, looking rumpled, she reappeared.
Arty took one look at her windswept hair and busted out in laughs even louder than with Charley falling. What's with this guy?
Nina stared at him defiantly. “I finished all four.”
Arty stuck his tongue out and sent Abe. He reappeared quicker than even Riley had, though he didn't look happy. “I only passed two tests.” Arty looked pleased.
“That's good enough for where we need to go in the Academy. Don't feel bad. I only passed the first test on my first try. All of you are exceptional,” Rafe assured him.
Arty sniggered. “Kids these days. Thinking two is bad. Most don't even make it that far!” He clapped his hands and Jaelyn was gone.
She took the shortest time yet before reappearing. She looked in perfect condition, not a single hair out of place. “Well, that was easy.”
Arty snarled and turned to Hans. Hans' eyes darted from side to side. “I would rather not-” Hans yelled as he disappeared. The sound reverberated around the clearing several times before fading.
Arty looked meaningfully at Charley. “I hope you're fired up. Get it? Ha! Because– you know– you're The Child of Fire. Ha!”
He's definitely got some screws loose.
Oh, more than a few, assuredly, The voice said with mirth. He has been like that for as long as I can remember.
Welcome back, Charley responded.
Is that sarcasm I sense?
Oh, no. You just shrug me off when I try to talk you, but you seem fine coming into my head whenever you feel like it. The grass greener over here or something?
I told you. I'm a busy man. I help you when I can, not when you want me to. And as a matter of fact, it is much easier for me to contact you than for you to contact me.
Well, lets see if I can make this simple. GET OUT! With a great mental push, he forced the voice out of his head and blocked it off when it tried to come back in.
He tried to move to sit down but did so faster than he meant to. He realized his arms and legs were numb and they felt like they were moving through wet cement. Or maybe syrup. Mmm, syrup.
His eyes went dark and he knew someone was shouting, but it was like hearing it from inside a pile of blankets.