by Tina Hunter
“What can’t it do?” Dorothy asked in a hushed whisper, her face showing surprise.
“Kill someone or something living,” Lynn whispered back. Surely, she knew that? It’s why you couldn’t heal an infection with magic. Somehow it was a living thing, and the magic wouldn’t harm it.
Dorothy rolled her eyes in response, “Oh that.”
“Ah, the innocence of youth,” Gregorio said, not looking at them, “To take the inability of magic to cause death as a simple fact of nature and not something that mankind has been trying to find a way around since the dawn of time. We’ve tried different crystals. Still can’t use magic to kill each other. Using magical creatures, as my ancestors tried with the harpy, still couldn’t kill anything. Even the blood of a Changed does nothing different,” he rubbed his hands together as if saying the words aloud made him uncomfortable. “People have tried to drain a Changed, with more than one blade, to see if—when the Changed died of blood loss—if the blade that killed them would gain something different. But it didn’t. It’s technically not killing with magic but it’s as close as we’ve ever gotten.”
The thought of being drained of blood made her queasy.
Gregorio reached out and grabbed her hand with a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. It’s a practice that has long ago been banned. We’ve come to learn that,” he continued, “the blood of the guardians runs in our veins and it is our very own life force that activates the magic. Once a Changed is dead, the magic becomes inert just like that of a crystal. We are just not meant to kill with magic.”
Him knowing her thoughts would definitely take some getting used to.
He let go of her hand and nodded at Dorothy. Obviously, they were having a private conversation. Maybe now was the time to get answers about her uncle that he so neatly avoided before.
“Well, if the blood of the guardians runs through my veins, and my uncle’s, I guess we can’t be that bad.” As a tactic it was awful, but he could read her mind so there was no point in beating around the bush. Sure, enough he looked at her with sad eyes.
“Oh, child. The blood of the guardians doesn’t make you a good person, and you know that. No, Lynn. Your uncle has spent his whole adult life trying to find a way around the law of killing with magic. And he’ll end a million lives to find it.”
Well, that was... valuable information. For some reason, her brain refused to process it. She understood what the words meant, and who they were speaking about, but she couldn’t merge the images together. The feeling of her uncle’s hug kept getting in the way.
Gregorio gently tapped her knee in a caring yet hesitant manner. “We all have secrets, Lynn. Some are just good at hiding them deeply.” He winked at her. And Lynn was able to put the feelings about her uncle aside for a moment to focus on the meaning behind that wink. What secrets was he digging out of her mind?
“Don’t look at me like that.” He held up his hands in mock innocence. “I told you I can only go deep into your mind if you let me. Otherwise, it’s just feelings, impressions, and whatever you mean behind your words. I know you have secrets, dear, the most interesting people do, and I hope you’ll share them with me one day.”
Gregorio stood up suddenly and just as quickly left through the door they had come through.
“Um... what?” Lynn said to the empty air he had just occupied.
Dorothy giggled. “He’s so funny. He tells most of the story out loud but then there’s this other story going on in my head. He’s been hungry since he brought the cookies out and he couldn’t stand it anymore. He wants us to join him for food.”
“Oh,” Lynn said, suppressing the sudden feeling of jealousy. He was her grandfather after all, but she was the one who wouldn’t let him in. “Do you know where we are supposed to go?”
Dorothy shook her head, still grinning, “No. He didn’t mention that part at all.”
“Well, let’s go find him then,” Lynn said, standing up.
Once they were outside, it wasn’t hard to see the crowd heading deeper into the town. Everyone seemed friendly now, waving at them or smiling. Children were playing just off the side of the main road, some sort jumping game set to rhyme.
Merging Bloodlines, Royal in Name
Death or Power, Honor or Shame
Power Brings Conflict, Conflict Brings War
Tyranny? Victory? Beg no more
They followed the crowd to a large open-air gathering area. Very wide steps were carved into the rocky mountainside, going down in a half circle. At the bottom was a small gathering of people, a large fire and - from the smell of it - food. People were arranging themselves on the steps, some with tables and chairs. It was a little cool at the top but once they were down a level or two the air became warmer. Lynn spotted Gregorio at the very bottom near what she could see were holes in the ground with steam coming out. The steam smelled more of sulfur the closer she got, but also of the food smell from earlier.
“Over here.” Dorothy grabbed her arm and pulled her over to a small group of people sitting on the last step before the bottom. Lynn had to trust that Dorothy was being told to do that by her grandfather, but he was facing away from her so she couldn’t try to confirm. It’s a good thing it was Dorothy she was being forced to trust.
The people on the seat welcomed Dorothy immediately, calling her over and one woman gave her a hug. A man stood up and shook her hand with a genuine smile and then sat down again. Lynn was ignored completely.
Wow. Apparently not opening up to her grandfather made a big difference with the people here. She wondered if it might be in her best interest to agree to it, but she just didn’t feel comfortable yet.
She felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Do not worry,” a woman said from behind her. She had a heavy Morendi accent but Lynn could still understand her. “Gregorio is elder here. You are welcome.”
Lynn smiled her thanks and the woman let go and sat beside her. There was an expectant air as everyone sat waiting for something to happen.
“What are we waiting for?” Lynn asked the woman beside her, Dorothy was busy chatting with the woman who had hugged her and was thoroughly engaged. Lynn quickly suppressed another pang of jealousy.
The woman looked confused for a moment then must have realized what Lynn was asking. “Oh. Gregorio will talk.”
Like that was the most normal thing in the world to wait for. But maybe for these people it was. She said Gregorio was an elder, that must mean a great deal here. She waited impatiently for him to talk but he showed no signs of getting ready. Instead, he peered into the steam holes, then he poked at some mounds of dirt, then laughed at some joke someone had told him in his mind. This whole mind speech thing was getting annoying. Finally, once the sun had slanted into the evening, he stood in the center of the half circle with his arms outstretched. And then he looked around without opening his mouth. She glanced back and forth. Sure enough, it appeared that everyone was listening to something. Even Dorothy. The tactless git was excluding her again. She took a deep breath to calm herself. It wasn’t his fault she refused to let him in. But just because she liked her privacy didn’t mean she should be left out of things. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep the frustration, anger, and jealousy down. If he treated her uncle like this, maybe... no, he had said Uncle Ben had opened up to him. Well, if these were his tactics to get her to do it, then she would refuse on principle. It was ridiculous to be forced to let someone into her head just to participate...
“And for our guests,” Gregorio said out loud. Lynn’s eyes shot up to look at him. Was he including her after all? “Thank you so much for gracing us with your presence. We welcome you into our community and into our hearts. Now, I’m hungry.”
Everyone laughed and started talking amongst themselves. Well, at least he hadn’t excluded her completely, but common courtesy usually meant that he should have spoken in a language everyone could understand. Like aloud.
Several men and women came forward to dig up
the mounds and pull long pots out of steaming holes. She also watched as they pushed the fire pit over, apparently they had built it on a rolling base to get at the food underneath. An outdoor oven. And the steam holes must be boiling water; she’d heard of such things further up in the mountains, but she hadn’t realized you could find them if you dug down. The sulfur smell wasn’t the most appetizing but combined with the rest of the food smells she was willing to overlook it.
Her grandfather was finally getting a bowl, and he gazed up at her and Dorothy.
“We can go up now,” Dorothy said, standing up. Lynn stood up, too, and followed Dorothy down to where the meal was being served. She received her own bowl of stewed meat and vegetables from the holes in the ground and fried fish from the oven. It looked amazing though it smelled very salty. Dorothy led her back to the place where they had been sitting while everyone else lined up. Lynn was happy to miss that.
Despite her misgivings, the stew was actually superb. Something she’d never had before, true, but something she’d gladly have again. Dorothy expressed her appreciation by slurping loudly. It was not an endearing trait.
By the time Lynn was almost finished, the woman who had been sitting next to her returned. She had a friendly smile and Lynn hoped she’d be able to get some answers from her since her grandfather and everyone else seemed to want to speak in circles.
“I never got a chance to ask you your name,” she said, “I’m Lynn.” She held out her hand, and the woman took it with a large grin.
“My name is Annabelle,” she said, “but everyone here knows who you are. Gregorio told us about you.”
“Oh? What did he say?”, Lynn tried to keep her tone level but the fact that her grandfather could talk to large groups of people without her knowing, and about her, made her extremely uncomfortable.
“Nothing bad,” Annabelle said with a laugh. “Just that you are his granddaughter.” Annabelle moved in close, leaving her bowl ignored beside her and lowered her voice to a whisper. “He did not say if you were Inborn though. Are you?” she asked.
Lynn didn’t know how to respond. According to her grandfather she was an Inborn, however, she had no abilities whatsoever, and nothing she could show this woman who seemed so interested in her. “I’m afraid not,” she said with a sad shrug. Annabelle just smiled.
“Do not worry. Most people here are not. I am not,” she said.
“Really?” Lynn asked surprise. “It seems like most of you would be from the way Gregorio was talking.”
“No, no,” said Annabelle with a little laugh. “Just a few.”
“Like who?” Lynn asked.
Annabelle looked around and Lynn followed her gaze. “Over there,” Annabel pointed to a woman wrapped in many layers of woolen scarves. “That is Patriza. She has future dreams. She can see things that are to come. And that is Tobian,” she said pointing to a young man about Lynn’s age in the middle of a crowd of peers, “He can make the fire to move. It is a very useful magic.”
Lynn studied at these two seemingly normal people, who were filled with powers. Powers she supposedly had as well. Annabelle was looking at Dorothy and Lynn turned her attention that way. Lynn watched as her young friend made the table she was sitting next to float into the air with all the bowls still sitting on it. Everyone nearby was clapping, and Dorothy set the table back down again without spilling a drop. Was she getting stronger or had Lynn never noticed how much she could lift with her mind?
“I wonder,” Annabelle said turning Lynn’s attention to her, “Do you use laudanum for sleep?” She looked concerned and excited at the same time.
Lynn could only nod her head in response. Annabelle had said she wasn’t an Inborn, hadn’t she?
“Patriza told me to keep this today. She said I would give it to someone who needed it very much.” Annabelle pulled out a small vial from her pocket. An inky dark liquid swirled around inside however the longer she stared she could see flakes of something catch the light. Cautiously she reached out and took the vial from Annabelle and held it up to better inspect it.
“This doesn’t look like regular laudanum,” she said. Annabelle nodded her head in agreement.
“It is Magic. Makes laudanum work better. You will sleep better too.”
“How?” Lynn was confused. Annabelle wasn’t an Inborn, and yet she had magic laudanum?
“We may not be Changed but we all know how to use Magic. The crystals you call them. Guardians’ blood. We do not have much but we use it in everything. When you know how to use it, you can mix it together.”
“There’s crystal in this and you expect me to drink it?”
“It will not hurt you,” Annabelle said with a laugh. “Even if you drink the whole thing, you would only die a little bit.” Lynn’s face must have betrayed how little sense that sentence made because Annabelle giggled. “Sorry. I mean. Taking lots of normal laudanum would make you die. Instead, you would go into a deep coma. Like death but not. You would still need healing but you would not die right away. I promise it is very safe. And Patriza says you need it very much.”
Lynn looked at the little vial in wonder and terror. What kind of magic would let you die even a little? Magic couldn’t be used to kill anything living, what kind of loophole had these people found?
“I’m glad it was you and not one of the travelers,” Annabelle said finally taking an interest in her meal.
“Travelers?” Lynn asked.
“The men,” Annabelle said through a mouth full of food, “who use mountain pass.”
“I didn’t even know there was one,” Lynn said, turning her gaze to the mountains that loomed ahead of her. She had grown up on the other side, and no one had ever mentioned a pass through.
“Is old pass. Our people use it long ago. For trade and things. But now we told not to leave.”
“Told not to leave? Who told you that?”
Before Annabelle could answer she got a faraway look in her eyes and spun to face Lynn’s grandfather, who was walking towards them.
“Having a good time?” he asked Lynn.
“Um... Yes,” she said, not really sure what Annabelle had been about to say or why she was so interested in it. Who could tell a whole group of people not to leave the mountains? And who could enforce that?
“Hmm,” Gregorio looked back and forth between Lynn and Annabelle before he smiled. “Ah. Well, I’m sorry I interrupted that conversation. I’d be happy to tell you all about it though.”
Annabelle smiled, the relief visible on her face. “I go see what Margarette is doing tonight, anyway. Is nice to meet you, Lynn.”
“Nice to meet you too, Annabelle.”
She called out to the woman’s back. But she didn’t turn around and was lost behind Gregorio in moments.
“Sorry to send her away but I wanted to talk to you,” Gregorio said while sitting himself down beside her. He was ginger about it and let out a rush of air as soon as his backside hit the ground. Not as spry as he was when he met her grandmother, she supposed.
“Thinking about your grandmother?” he looked over at her with a grin. “Now there was a wild woman from the wrong family. She could tame any beast and yet for years hid her gift just to be normal.”
Lynn shook her head. Having him able to read even just the edges of her mind was enough to make her uncomfortable. She didn’t regret not opening her mind to him if this was how he was going to be all the time.
Sadness crept into his eyes, “Sorry, Granddaughter. It’s been a long time since... well. I will try harder. What would you like to talk about?”
A flash of guilt was all she allowed herself. “Tell me what Annabelle was about to say. Who told your people not to leave?”
“The king of course, because of the Iridan soldiers at the fort. All because of the dead bloodstones.”
“The what stones?”
“The dead bloodstones,” he said pulling an uncharged crystal from under his jacket out and placed it in her hand. “What do you see
?”
Lynn turned the stone around in her hands. It was an odd cut for a crystal, a simple point and not very sharp. It would be hard to recharge it. And it was on a leather string meant to be tied around one’s neck. But the longer she stared at it, the more it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like a regular crystal just waiting for magic to flow into it. And now that she opened her mind to the possibility it didn’t look quite right either. It was lighter, and the flecks inside were more white than blue, even without magic to illuminate them, the blue color should have been stronger. And then she suddenly knew what she was holding.
“It’s a fake!” she whispered. She’d never seen one up close before, but everyone knew about the fake crystals that could be mined in the mountains alongside the real ones.
“Ha. Another proof that you are Inborn. Ordinary people seem to have a very hard time seeing any difference at all. But we still have uses for it and so do many others for decoration and art. The Empire was so upset when we would trade both. They had no Inborns around to tell them which ones had magic until they had made it all the way to the Empire’s Enclave. They thought we were making bad deals. So, the King got involved and took the Empire’s side even though he knew we did nothing wrong. This was before the mine of course.
“When Iridan sent soldiers to help at the fort and the mine, they pushed us out and the King did nothing to help. We weren’t allowed in our own homes for 'security reasons’. We were forced to move here. People who want to get to Eldridge but don’t want to take the boats, or just want to make the journey faster, they can just take the mountain pass and come through our village whenever they want.” Gregorio’s face was flushed and his fists were tight. This was a passion he’d not expressed before.
At least now she knew how Gunman and his friends beat them to the fort.
“But you could leave, right? If you wanted to?”
“And where would we go? The town is off limits because the Iridans hate us. On the other side of the pass is Donessi country, who would likely stone us to death rather than trade with us. We are a trapped here just as well as the prisoners who are sent to the mine.” He sighed heavily. Then, as if he remembered something, he grew calm and even smiled. “At least we are self-sufficient. We take care of our own. Grow our own food. Mine our own crystals. We’ve made a good life here no matter the troubles.”