by Matthew Ward
He asked, “How did this happen? You weren’t supposed to be able to move spior, so how did you even find out you could do it?”
Eidr bowed his head, his voice weak.
“I don’t know. I learned to see spior like all Aithrs, and then I got curious. So I started trying to move it. I didn’t expect it to work.” He looked like he was about to cry, but this made no sense. First, the parents getting angry and now Eidr being sad. Why was no one excited about this the way they should be?
Drystn asked, “So you didn’t have to practice it? You could move it like that always?”
“No. It took a lot of hard work and practice. I know it wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing. I just always wanted to be able to do it.”
Ahl moved to Eidr and put her arms around him. She gently kissed his sandy hair.
She said, “Oh, honey. I’m sorry they didn’t realize you had the Talent. You could be studying at the school like you always wanted.”
Drystn said, “He doesn’t need the school. He could teach them a thing or two. I don’t think you fully realize how advanced he is. We don’t have much time to waste. We have to get back to Talamir Center. This is our chance.”
Ahl jumped away from Eidr. She paced with a vigorous agitation.
She said, “I don’t understand. What are you going to do? I don’t want my child going up against an evil Ruler. He could end up in prison like you—or worse.”
Drystn said, “It’s our only chance. We could all be dead in a month if we don’t at least try. It’s up to him.” Drystn looked to Eidr. “What do you say?”
Ahl jumped in before he could answer.
“No! He’s too young to make a decision like this. We’re his parents. We have to give consent.”
Naethr said, “No, dear. I don’t think that’s true anymore. This is too important. It’s beyond us. Plus, we gave up the right to make decisions for him when we decided to leave him with Conl. If anything, Conl is now responsible for him, and you should get his opinion first. He knows more about this than us.”
Ahl hadn’t stopped pacing the room. She looked tense beyond all recognition. She knew she might be sending her son to his death by letting him leave.
She said, “That’s true. What does he think of all this?”
Eidr cowered back a little again, “I haven’t told him.”
Drystn said, “What? How is that possible? How could you be doing such amazing stuff right in front of him without him noticing?”
Ahl said, “Then I suggest you go back and tell him and ask him what to do.”
“I just got here,” Eidr said. “Why do we have to leave so soon if the bairsgn has been around for years without any problems? Couldn’t we just take a week first?”
Drystn said, “No. It’s finally grown so large that it has almost reached the Outer Ring. There’s a sense that once it reaches the edge of Talamir, the end will come. It will destroy us.”
“I don’t know.” Eidr looked distracted. “Everyone has been so wrong about everything. What if they’re wrong about this too?”
Drystn didn’t have time to play these games. He said, “You’ve been there, right? You’ve seen it and felt it pull your spior out of you.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right, but it doesn’t seem to be draining spior here. What if we just close all the holes in the ground?”
“They tried that once. It didn’t work.”
That was one part of the orientation course that Drystn remembered, because he had thought the same thing.
Ahl squatted back down to Eidr’s eye level. “I know this isn’t what you hoped for when you traveled all this way, but I think you do need to go back and try to stop this thing. It hurts me to say that.”
Drystn believed her. He could see the pain in her eyes. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever see her child again when he left this time.
Drystn said, “I’ll wait outside. Take as much time as you need.”
Drystn stepped outside and wandered the village one last time. It still amazed him that these brave people had the courage to leave their lives to go try to make something better. When he came back to the small dwelling, Eidr was already outside. Drystn took his hand, and they began the journey back.
The trip went by quickly. Drystn was glad Eidr didn’t seem to mind the brisk pace. When they reached the Third Ring, Drystn led them toward the mianl building with the hole to the bairsgn.
Eidr noticed, “Conl lives the other way. I’ll show you.”
Drystn said, “We’re not going to Conl’s.”
“What? Why not?”
Drystn sighed heavily.
“Because you hid your Talent from him for a reason. I don’t know that reason, and I’m not asking you to share it with me. But I’m also not going to make you tell him when you clearly don’t want to.”
Eidr looked relieved. “Thank you. But where are we going then?”
“To the bairsgn. We need to do a little experiment first. Then we’ll head to Talamir Center to get help.”
They made their way to the mianl building. Eidr went in first to make sure no one was inside. Drystn followed afterward. He stood at the edge of the hole opposite Eidr.
He said, “Okay. Now try to pull spior from the bairsgn.”
Eidr shot Drystn a horrified look.
“Are you crazy? It’s so powerful. What if it reacts or something?”
Drystn tried to keep his voice calm in reply. “Just do a little. It probably won’t even notice.” The kid was smart, too. Drystn hadn’t even thought that it might react. That prospect was a little scary. It could probably instantly kill both of them if it wanted to. Drystn tried to shake his morbid thoughts. The thing probably wasn’t even alive in any real sense. It didn’t have a brain. How could it have intention?
He watched this small child raise his arms into the air. His face contorted, and he pulled hard. Drystn saw the spior reverse directions. How did he have this power? It took the well-trained, professional spiorists great effort to make small changes in the position of spior. Spior was a part of nature, and altering it was a necessary but difficult thing. Drystn gaped at the huge amounts of spior flowing around him. This kid could actually pull spior out of the bairsgn.
Drystn couldn’t help but yell out, “It’s working!”
Eidr opened his eyes and let it go. Drystn watched the spior flow from the ball Eidr had created right back into the bairsgn.
Drystn asked, “Do you think you can pull all of the spior out and kill it?”
“No.” Eidr spoke with the confidence of an expert. “The main problem is that I have nowhere to put it. I can’t take it all into my body. I sense that even a little would be too much. You’ve felt how intense even a little added spior is. If I don’t put it somewhere, the bairsgn will just suck it back in as soon as I release it.”
“At least this is a start. We have to go tell the others to see if they have any ideas.”
Drystn and Eidr left the mianl building and journeyed back to Talamir Center. He was afraid of what he’d find there. He had fled, and now they might be on the lookout. Security would be even worse. They probably couldn’t even get into Talamir Center.
~
Ninml darted across the hall, a sparkle in her eye. She jumped into Drystn’s arms. Drystn gripped back tightly. It felt so good to see a familiar face.
She said, “Where have you been? Don’t ever disappear on me like that again.”
Drystn set her down. He said, “It’s a long story. We’ll have to discuss it another time. Right now, I have a secret weapon. I think we can take out the bairsgn. We have to meet with the others.”
She said, “Come on. I know where they are.”
They rushed toward Finr’s room. The massive surveillance seemed to have ended.
Drystn asked, “So what happened? I got put in jail by a guard, but all the guards seem to be gone now.”
Ninml said, “Yeah. It went on for a few more days, but I guess the Ruler saw it as a
waste of resources. He never found anything out, and the whole thing had upset everyone so much that he probably didn’t want to risk a riot. It’s not like he ever announced it or anything. We all just woke up one day and realized it had ended.”
Drystn said, “Well that’s good. I wish I hadn’t fled now.”
Ninml said, “No. It’s good. You claim you can take on the bairsgn with whatever you learned while you were away. It wasn’t a waste.”
They reached Finr’s room and entered. A stream of déjà vu overcame Drystn. Finr and Loegr sat on the floor as if he had just returned from their last meeting and months hadn’t passed. A pang of guilt shot through him. It hurt to see Finr, and Finr’s joyous, angry expression told Drystn all he needed to know.
Finr jumped up and grabbed Drystn. Drystn squeezed back with his whole body.
Finr said, “Oh, my spior. Where have you been? I’ve been sick thinking about it.” Finr glanced over Drystn’s shoulder at the child he had brought. “Don’t tell me you had a child while you were gone.”
Drystn laughed. How he had missed him. He said, “Don’t be silly. This is our secret weapon.”
Drystn dislodged himself from Finr’s embrace to close the door to the room. He caught everyone up on what was happening. They spent the evening discussing how they could use Eidr’s abilities. Finr figured it out.
~
Ninml set the large boulder down next to the bairsgn’s pit. Drystn looked in at the slimy void. He felt a hatred he didn’t think he could ever feel toward something he didn’t even think was alive.
Ninml said, “I’m ready.”
Eidr nodded and raised his hands. He reversed the flow of the spior again. He directed it at the boulder. Ninml had a look of deep concentration on her face as she focused on holding the spior in the boulder as it flowed there. Finr and Loegr stared with their mouths open. It was one thing to hear about the power this boy had, but to witness it for the first time could only strike fear into their hearts.
Drystn watched little bits of spior escape before it made it to the boulder and fly back to the bairsgn. The bairsgn wouldn’t go down without a fight. More and more spior flowed into the boulder. This was it. After all this time and effort, they were going to defeat the bairsgn with this one simple idea: dump the spior into a boulder. Just as Drystn wrote the enterprise off as a success, the boulder began to shake.
Drystn had never anything like it. Ninml yelled out something incoherent as a noise echoed from the rock.
“—it’s going to break. The boulder can’t take much more.”
Eidr remained so focused that he didn’t seem to hear her. He kept pouring the spior in. The boulder made one more violent shudder, then a deafening sound filled the room. Drystn fell to the ground and tried to cover his head as shards of rock flew everywhere. A piece tore at his cheek as it nearly hit his head. Several larger chunks rained down on him. Drystn felt the trickle of blood roll down his face.
Ninml. There was no way she would’ve survived that. She wouldn’t have had time to get out of the way before hundreds of shards pummeled her. The dust in the room was so thick he couldn’t see where she had been. He couldn’t run across the room or he might fall in the pit, so he moved to the wall and traced it around to where he thought she would be. He yelled her name, but he couldn’t even hear the sound of his own voice over the ringing in his ears. The others, if they survived, were probably yelling as well. He wouldn’t know if she responded.
By the time he got to that side of the room, the dust had settled enough to reveal a scene of pure carnage. A small amount of sound returned to Drystn, and he only made out the sound of crying. Loegr’s body shook as he huddled over Ninml. Eidr also shook, but not from tears; he appeared to be in shock. Finr lay sprawled in an unnatural position on his side, but no one was tending to him.
Loegr looked to Eidr and shouted, “What have you done? You’ve killed her!”
Eidr burst into tears. Drystn had never seen Loegr so angry. Drystn tried to stay calm and bent over to examine how bad it was. She was breathing but appeared unconscious. She had bleeding cuts and a few bruises had started to form, but it didn’t look too serious as long as whatever knocked her out hadn’t caused brain damage. Somehow, none of the shards hit anything vital.
Sound fully returned, and Drystn heard the scraping sound of Finr moving. Good. Finr let out a long moan. He yelled out, “My leg hurts so much.”
Loegr looked to Drystn and yelled, “You’re an herbalist. Do something. Save her.” Loegr turned to Finr and continued, “Just shut up and be glad you can feel pain right now. Some people weren’t so lucky.”
Loegr rocked back and forth on his heels and spoke into the air to no one in particular. “She was just trying to help, and this is how she gets repaid.”
This snapped Drystn into action.
He said, “We need an herb garden. Nothing seems to have done serious damage. We’ll know more when she wakes up. Eidr, do you know where we can get help?”
“Yes. It’s only a short walk.”
Loegr picked Ninml up in his arms, and they all followed Eidr toward the nearest river through the Third Ring. After an eternity of walking, Drystn saw a church on the horizon. Why would they go to a church? The Third Ring had to have a medical building somewhere nearby. He wasn’t thinking clearly. Eidr took off at a run. He yelled out, “I’ll make sure things are ready when you get there. Drystn come with me so we can get the herbs.”
Drystn jogged behind Eidr. They wandered around to a side building, and Eidr burst in.
He said, “Conl. There’s been an accident. We need help.”
“Eidr? What are you doing back so soon? What are you talking about? Who is this person?”
Eidr grabbed Conl’s robe and dragged him outside. He pointed to the approaching figures. One clearly carried a body; the other limped badly.
Eidr said, “That girl is seriously injured. We need to prep medication, fast.”
Drystn had finally caught his breath. “Actually, there isn’t too much of a rush. She’s unconscious. Her external wounds aren’t too bad, and she won’t be able to drink a tea until she wakes. We should prep it, but I’m not optimistic she’ll wake any time soon. She was hit pretty hard.”
Conl ran back inside and started to heat some water. Drystn went around to the side where he knew an herb garden would be. He picked a few things and went back inside to prep the tea.
Conl said, “All right. Now that this is underway, do you mind telling me what happened? Was there a quake I missed?”
Eidr said, “I’m sorry. I’ve been hiding some things from you.” He explained his powers and what they had tried to do. Conl looked shocked.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me these things?”
“I don’t know. Something felt wrong. I was embarrassed. It’s hard to explain. I would have told you eventually, once I had more time to absorb what was going on. That was part of the purpose of going to see my parents. I didn’t expect for all this other stuff to start happening—”
Loegr entered the room with Ninml, and Conl directed him into Eidr’s room. Loegr laid her down on the bed and returned to the main room.
“Do you think she’ll be okay?”
Drystn said, “I think so. It seems she got hit on the head pretty hard, but nothing vital was hit.”
They sat around the table discussing possible future strategies until nightfall. After a time, Conl made dinner for the group. The aroma must have gotten through to Ninml, because they heard a moan come from the bedroom. Everyone rushed in to see what was going on. Loegr moved in closest and held her hand.
“Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
Conl said, “Why don’t you give her a little more space? You’re overwhelming her with questions.”
She said, “My head hurts really badly. What happened?”
Drystn rushed out of the room to get the tea he had made so many hours before. The others tried to fill her in with a confusing set of interru
ptions from each other. Drystn entered and gave her the tea.
“Here, this should help with your head and speed up healing some of those cuts and bruises.” Drystn looked into her eyes as he had been taught and didn’t see any dilation issues. “You should be fine. You’ll need to rest for a few days, though.”
Drystn might have been the most relieved of them all to hear himself say these words. If anything serious would have happened to her, he would only be able to blame himself. He had dragged Eidr into this. He kept telling himself it was his own fault.
Now that he was sure they had all survived, he reconsidered whether it was worth the risk to try again. He just wanted to go to sleep and wake up with this nightmare over. He did eventually get to go to bed that night, but when he awoke, the nightmare was far from over.
~
The plan was terrifying in its scope and degree of difficulty for Eidr. Drystn felt bad about all the pressure they were putting on someone so young. The group stood outside with rocks, mianl, herbs, and grass.
Eidr tried again. He looked so tired. Drystn watched the spior do amazing things before his eyes. Eidr pulled a large ball from the soil, then split into three parts, each of which changed form, then pushed into the various objects they had set out.
Eidr said, “I know I made it look easy when putting the spior into the boulder, but it actually takes quite a bit of effort to change the form of the spior from the bairsgn to the type that will enter the rock. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it in three different ways at the same time while still maintaining focus on pulling from the bairsgn itself.”
Ninml had made a full recovery. She said, “It’s going to be difficult, but I’m confident you’ll be able to do it with some practice. Look how far you’ve come already.”
Drystn couldn’t believe how enthusiastic Ninml remained about the plan after what had happened to her. The plan was to bring many vessels to the building to empty the spior into. Each of the spiorists would focus on holding the spior inside their vessel. When the vessel reached maximum capacity, they’d switch it out for more. This way they could indefinitely pull from the bairsgn without risking another explosion.