by Guy Antibes
“When can I get back to practice?” Ricky asked.
“Are you dizzy? Can you see clearly?”
“I’m a bit dizzy,” Ricky said. “I’ll sit down.”
“No physical activity for at least a week, or until you are no longer dizzy. I’d wait until the bruises lose their purple hue,” the nurse said.
“What about school?”
“I will arrange for your lessons to be brought to you,” Merry said.
Ricky wondered who would be willing to come into their cottage to confront a knife-wielding student.
He lay back down after he drank the medicine that the nurse gave him.
He must have slept through the day since it seemed to be morning again when he woke. Someone shook him awake.
“Wake up, Hendrico,” an unfamiliar voice said softly.
Ricky struggled to open his eyes. The man bent over him was older than Saganet, with thick, curly gray hair.
“Who are you?”
“Mistress Doubli asked me to see to you since I was visiting relatives in Tossa.”
Ricky blinked the haze out of his mind. “Why?”
“I am a Healing Sorcerer. She is concerned about your head injury, and so am I,” the man said. “Let me introduce myself. I am Mirano Bespa.”
“I’ve never heard of healing sorcerers before,” Ricky said, frantically trying to get his mind in gear, but he couldn’t succeed. “Everything is fuzzy.”
“And for a good reason, Hendrico. You may be dying.”
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Two
~
“D
ying?” Ricky sat up, but a sharp pain rocked his head, and his back violently protested moving. “I don’t feel well.”
“Let me help.”
Ricky nodded as the man helped Ricky back down. The man felt around Ricky’s ear with a very soft touch. One touch brought a wince.
“Fractured skull with a concussion. I’ll look for internal bleeding, which I’m sure I will find. This is going to burn, but I’ll be doing no damage.” The man opened his mouth and sang a deep tone, almost like a dirge.
“I want you to repeat the tone. Modify it until you feel a connection.”
Ricky did as he was told. He had to concentrate, but finally a connection seemed to slide into place so he could feel the power that the man generated. Mirano put his hand over the head wound and closed his eyes. A searing heat plunged into Ricky’s brain, but then it dissipated.
Mirano kept his eyes closed for a few more moments and lifted his eyelids as if becoming awake. “Yes. I detected a clot and pulverized it. Your brain will be more clear when you next wake up.”
Ricky suddenly couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer and dropped off.
He woke again to another gently shake. He noticed it wasn’t morning any longer. Ricky opened his eyes. His mind seemed to have lost some of the cloudiness he remembered from before. Mirano sat on a chair beside his bed.
“Do you feel better?”
Ricky nodded. “I can think more coherently.”
Mirano chuckled with crinkly eyes, but he looked tired. “As clear as a fourteen-year-old can,” he said. The healer took Ricky’s wrist and concentrated. “Much better. Let me examine your head again. Let’s match resonances. You will feel the wound heat up, but not like the last time.”
Ricky sang, not quite in unison, but he felt that connection to Mirano and felt his head get warm, but this time the heat felt more gentle. Mirano sat back in the chair. “The clot is about gone, and you, young fellow, are out of danger. You might notice your back is much better. I took the liberty of healing the back damage. It was also more extensive than the nurse diagnosed.”
“How can you do that?”
Mirano folded his arms. Ricky recognized the gesture as something a professor might do before a lecture. “There are only a few of us in Paranty. I graduated from the Royal University and learned healing arts in the city-state of Duteria.”
“In Hessilia?”
Mirano nodded. “The Duke of Duteria welcomes sorcerers and sponsors some specialized institutes of sorcery. The Parantian King distrusts some sorcerous specialties, but he tolerates healers in Sealio. He even has one at his castle. I generally heal fellow sorcerers. Mistress Doubli has used me many times when she produced Sorcery performances.”
“But what you did was a miracle, if what you say is true.”
“It’s a miracle because you are a sorcerer, yourself. I had to use some of your power to create the effects.”
Ricky furrowed his brow. “When you healed my back I didn’t even sing.”
“There is a reservoir of power in all sorcerers that is rarely used up. You had plenty to borrow. The heat you felt was your magic challenging mine until they were able to coexist. After that point, I can effect change.”
Ricky would have to think about that. This was something Professor Calasay had never even mentioned.
“You aren’t fully healed, but your fractured bones are already well on their way to knitting, and the clot is dispersing, as I said.”
“Can I learn to do that?”
“Probably. I am as well-trained in conventional healing as any physician since it took me ten years studying in Duteria to learn all about the human body before I could do much of anything with my power, other than close up wounds, which I could teach you to do in an afternoon. Producing full magical cures takes much longer. Getting everything started using sorcery doesn’t require much time, but letting your body do most of the work is the best way.”
Ricky nodded. “I see.”
Mirano narrowed his eyes. “Do you? Most patients don’t accept my technique.”
“I’m working on a project based on joint resonance. Your understanding of this power reserve might help us. How long will you be in Tossa?”
“You are moving too fast for me,” Mirano said, looking a tiny bit alarmed. “What kind of project would a boy be doing?”
“Can I get up?”
Mirano shook his head. “I’d give you another week for your body to finish healing. Without my help, death was more than a possibility for you. It’s best to take it slow.”
“Then can you bring Mistress Doubli here? We can talk together.”
Mirano seemed to relax a bit. “Of course.”
~
Ricky looked over at Mirano, Saganet, and Merry sitting around him in his bedroom.
“I talked to Doctor Bespa about my healing and realized that he uses a form of joint resonance as he heals sorcerers.”
“Not always,” Mirano said. “But often enough.” He nodded to Ricky.
“There is leftover power in sorcerers that he uses,” Ricky said. “Doctor Bespa is able to sync the magical ability to make the healing work. It doesn’t require affinity.”
“But an affinity makes the process much more efficient,” Mirano said. “If there is an emotional connection, there is less friction. Establishing a power link…we use different terms than Ricky is employing…is quicker, and practically, generates less heat. The more often one links, the easier it is.”
“Can you teach us how to more efficiently establish a power affinity? We have been experimenting with matching resonances. It has been an exhausting process,” Merry said, looking at Ricky with encouragement.
Mirano smiled. “I can give you some assistance. My mother and father are ill, and I must go slow with their treatment. I expect to remain in Tossa for another two or three weeks.”
Ricky grinned. “That would be great!” Not only did Mirano have practical experience with merging powers, but he also was a man, giving Ricky some defense against the three intimidating women. “We can continue from the cottage until I’m able to get back to my studies. When can we start up again?”
“Give yourself a few more days, but I can meet with Mistress Doubli a few times to understand what you are trying to do.”
They chatted amiably for a few more minutes before Merry and Mirano left. Saganet rubbed hi
s chin. “Do you trust Mirano Bespa?”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“You included him in your project without checking him out?”
Ricky felt his face heating up. “Merry didn’t have any objections. He said she’s used him many times.”
“I’ll check up on him from local sources and write a few letters,” Saganet said. “You shouldn’t automatically apply trust without doing some checking, Ricky. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with him, but a lot of vipers look innocent. There is no denying he saved your life.”
Ricky wanted to protest, but with all the people that could be after him, he really did need to know whom he could trust and whom he couldn’t. Both his student tutors had turned on him. That made him wonder what would happen to Frank now that Victor had been removed from the academy.
~
“I’m glad to see you up and about,” Betti said. She gave him a hug before letting Ricky sit down at the table.
“Mirano couldn’t make it today, but I can fill you in on our progress,” Professor Calasay said. “Mirano hasn’t quite yet been able to get us to achieve a power link. That’s what he calls joint resonance. He says it takes control and precision.”
“What does it feel like when he does it?” Ricky asked.
“A warmth,” Betti said. “Like walking into sunlight.”
Professor Calasay nodded her head. “That’s the way it is for me, as well.”
“When he pulled my power, it was a burning, like touching something too hot, but inside my head. It was longer than a quick pulse of heat, but the effect settled down in a few seconds.”
Betti shook her head with a furrowed brow. “Not like that at all.”
Ricky wondered what could be different. “Maybe the amount of will has something to do with it. Will either of you let me try to perform a link with you?”
“Without Mirano here?” Betti said.
Ricky nodded. He was surprised it would take a week. “He admitted affinity makes the power link smoother, but it might be a matter of trust as much as a liking.”
“I trust you well enough, dear,” Betti said.
“Let me hold your hand.”
Betti sat next to Ricky and put out her hand. Ricky could feel her hand moisten with sweat. She was as nervous as he was.
“Go ahead,” she said, taking a deep breath.
Ricky closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled a few times slowly. He tried to relax as he let his power flow through their touch and into Betti’s hand. He didn’t try to match resonance but sought out her reserve power to link to.
Nothing happened. Ricky put Betti’s hand on the armrest of the chair and wiped his hand on his pants. “I’ll try again. I think the effect is subtle.”
Betti nodded. She took a handkerchief from within her sleeve and dabbed her palm before she offered her hand to Ricky again.
Ricky willed himself to relax and sang the same note that Mirano used. He changed the pitch until he felt power build within him. Ricky took her hand and let more magic flow. He willed his power to link with Betti’s.
“My hand is heating up!”
“Don’t withdraw it,” Ricky said.
He kept willing the link until he felt a connection with Betti. He projected a question. Have you eaten lunch today?
“No, I haven’t,” Betti said. She withdrew her hand.
“What was that answer for?” Professor Calasay said.
“Ricky asked me if I had eaten lunch.” She looked at Ricky with wide eyes. “But you didn’t say it, did you?”
“I didn’t. I projected the thought. I could feel the link stop as soon as we lost touch.”
“You joined with Betti when her hand warmed?”
“After that. I could feel the link as if it slid into place. I’ll bet that’s when the heat stopped. Am I right, Betti?”
She nodded. “Why didn’t Mirano do that?”
Ricky wondered that himself. “We’ll have to ask him when he joins us again.”
Mistress Doubli walked in the room with a paper folded in her hand.
“We linked!” Betti said. “Even Mirano didn’t do that. I can’t wait to tell him.”
“That will be difficult,” Merry said evenly. “He has left Tossa. He found a conventional physician for his parents yesterday and left this morning.”
“How much does Mirano know?” Professor Calasay said.
Merry sat down heavily in a chair. “We never told him about doing communications, just achieving joint resonance. I assume he kept us in the dark about his power linking until he was sure we had no idea how to do it.” She turned to Ricky. “Did you really figure it out?”
Ricky nodded. “I can’t do what he did inside my head. He studied healing for ten years, but Betti and I linked. We don’t need affinity, but I should try it with you to see if there is a difference. The process is benign.”
“Not necessarily,” Professor Calasay said. “Taken in another direction, a person might be easily persuaded by the technique.”
Ricky thought about that. “Maybe, but the link was dependent on a physical touch. Mirano’s healing was, too. Saganet told me that he helped Mirano work on my back. He laid his hands on my injured areas.”
“The communication spell that Baron Mansali uses doesn’t rely on a physical presence,” Betti said.
“It must have to start,” Ricky said.
“We are still further along,” Professor Calasay said. “Ricky, sit next to Merry.”
Ricky walked around the table and took Merry’s hand.
She smiled at him and lifted up their hands and kissed his. “I trust you,” she said, “as I would my own son…or nephew.”
Ricky sang the same note and filled his body with power. He let his power flow through Merry’s hand and then called upon Merry’s power, a bit more forcefully than before.
“My hand is warming up,” she said, just after Ricky could feel the link taking hold.
Say something to me through this link, he said.
This link actually works, doesn’t it? Mistress Doubli said.
Ricky nodded, seeing the wonder in her eyes. Concentrate on maintaining contact, and I’ll withdraw my hand.
They broke contact, but Ricky still fed power to the link.
Can you hear me, now? Ricky said.
I can. See if you can say something from across the room.
Ricky walked towards a window that looked out at the quadrangle and felt the power link disappear.
“We need lots of practice,” Ricky said. “The link snapped a few paces away. It was easier to join with Merry than with Betti. That might be due to affinity.”
Professor Calasay wrote a few notes down. “We will need to perform experiments. It may be as boring as seeking out joint resonances, but this method seems to be the right approach.”
“We actually accomplished something,” an amazed Betti said. “I didn’t think we’d even get this far. Mirano definitely didn’t try.”
“I don’t think he did, but I wasn’t here,” Ricky said.
“If we hadn’t been working on joint resonance, we wouldn’t have connected his power linking to the joint resonance we were trying. If I understand what just happened, our efforts to achieve a mutual resonance might have eventually gotten us to here, but not after a lot of useless research,” Professor Calasay said, looking down at her notes. She lifted her eyes to Ricky. “I wonder what other things the Duterian sorcerers know that we don’t?”
“Did Baron Mansali ever study in Duteria?” Ricky asked.
The three women thought. Betti was the first to nod her head, but Merri nodded. “Remember I told you that Porio spent some time in Duteria after his graduation from the Royal University? He probably learned about power linking in Duteria, then he used the information to create a communication system. Since I could speak or think or whatever it was with Ricky without touching, Baron Mansali perfected the technique.”
“I do know that the communication did wear me
out a bit. Since today is the last day of the week, I’ll just spend my time at the cottage along with all the homework that is waiting there,” Ricky said. He rose and bowed to each of the ladies. “I thank you for cooperating with me today. Before Victor Taranta tried to kill me, I didn’t know how we could get this far so soon.”
~~~
Chapter Twenty-Three
~
R icky looked up as Saganet entered the cottage before the sun set. He hadn’t seen his guardian since before his breakthrough with Merry.
“Did you know that Bespa fled Tossa?”
Ricky nodded. “He didn’t appear at our project meeting. Merry knew.”
“Merry knew…” Saganet looked down in thought. “I genuinely think Bespa inadvertently gave out the secret of power linking when he healed you. I understand the women had no success while he met with them?”
“None. That was intended,” Ricky said. “I think he was trying to make up for his slip. No better way than to show that power linking wasn’t a talent that could be transferred.”
“I suppose it isn’t. Bespa got out of here before he was exposed. I don’t believe Bespa is ill-intentioned, but—”
“He is a Duterian-trained sorcerer, and all of them are suspect. I think they have more secrets they are forbidden to share. It doesn’t matter that he’s gone. I power-linked with Betti and with Merry this afternoon.”
Saganet’s eyebrows shot up. “You did?”
Ricky nodded. “If Doctor Bespa hadn’t healed me, I wouldn’t have figured it out. I inject my own power into the other person and then will my power to merge with theirs. When I did that, I could speak in their mind, and they could speak in mine. Betti and I needed to touch, but Merry and I carried on a conversation from a few paces away. The link broke if we were farther apart.”
“So you’ve proven that there can be remote communication.”
“And it is easier with someone you have an affinity with,” Ricky said. “The heat that the link generated was much less with Merry than with Betti. We made a lot of progress that was only made possible by Merry finding Doctor Bespa to treat me.”