by David Wind
Her reaction was instinctive. She did not think, only reacted and came close to catching him, but he blocked her thrust and side-stepped away. Then he spun and, with his sword perpendicular to the ground, came at her.
This time she was prepared and before his sword came within a foot of her, she drew on herself and with her left hand open, sent a flood of power at him. He was lifted from the ground and thrown down hard.
Seeing him sitting on the ground, staring up at her in bewilderment, Areenna began to laugh. She was laughing so hard she could not stop and ended up bent double, leaning on the sword with one hand, the other holding her belly.
“Very funny,” Mikaal growled. “I told you no magic.”
Areenna gasped for breath and finally gained enough control to stop laughing. She straightened and offered Mikaal a hand. He looked from her face to her hand and slowly extended his hand to her and, with a smile growing on his face, let her help him to his feet.
As he stood, his hand tightened on hers and before she had a chance to react, spun her half around while he grabbed the sword from her other hand. Slamming her against him, he pulled the sword free, raised it, and laid the edge of the blade against her throat.
“Never,” he growled into her ear, “no matter what the reason, ever let your guard down. A friendly face can mask a hidden purpose.”
When he released her, she spun about, her face a mask of anger at what he had done. But when she saw him smiling, her anger fled. “A lesson well learned, my Prince.”
“Good. Now show me how to do what you did.”
“It is not yet time. You have other things to master first. Using your power as a weapon takes mastery of other forms first.”
“Do we have the time for those things?”
Areenna reached out and took his hand. She squeezed it gently. “We must,” she said, but even as she spoke, knew they might not. “But, there is something we can begin with, if you are willing.”
“I am.”
“Come and sit by the fire.” She walked them over and sat a comfortable distance from it.
They sat cross-legged, facing each other. “Close your eyes,” she said. “Listen to the night.”
Mikaal closed his eyes. He settled his mind, clearing it of all thoughts, and concentrated on the sounds around him. There was the snapping of the fire, and from behind he heard a skittering on a tree. A skerl, he sensed. From above came the low clicking of a small night hunter, one of the several varieties of birds that flew by sound not sight. He regulated his breathing the way she had shown him the other day.
“Good,” she said. The word was more a feeling than a sound. “Center in yourself—feel your heart pumping. Feel the blood flowing through your veins. Breathe deeply. Feel the power within yourself. Find the place where your power lives. Search carefully for it.”
He was at a loss. He wondered how he could search for something he could not recognize. “I…” he began.
“No!” Areenna snapped. “Find it!”
His hands closed into fists. The muscles and tendons of his neck began to bulge. Anger flared so strongly he thought his stomach would twist upon itself and then a sensation of warmth settled over him and he felt Areenna’s touch within his mind—felt her as surely as if she was gripping both his hands. And then, with her guidance, he traced the warmth and it filtered through him and settled in a spot just above his groin.
“There,” he heard the whisper. “Feel it now.”
And he did. The warmth turned hot and a burning began so deep inside he thought he would burst into flames. Yet, there was no pain, just a sensation of a deep burning. The tension in his neck eased. He unfurled his hands and as he did, a flash of light escaped both palms.
There was a sudden cry from Charka. It washed over them, ringing in their ears. Behind them, both kraals stomped their hooves.
Mikaal opened his eyes and he saw Areenna aglow, a bright light surrounding her. He felt Charka’s soothing presence build in his mind. Startled, he looked down and saw the glow was coming from the palms of his hands, not from Areenna.
An instant later the light died and all that was left was the flickering of the fire. He was drenched in sweat, his breathing labored, yet he was refreshed at the same time. “That was…incredible.”
Areenna stared at him, unable to speak for several more seconds. “That was good,” she whispered, “very good.” She was stunned by what he had done. He should have only begun to feel the inner seat of his power, not access it as he had. But then, no man had ever had this power before and there was no telling how the power would affect him as he grew in his knowledge and perfected his abilities.
“But you showed me.”
“Showed you? What do you mean?”
“I felt you join with me. I felt you guide me.”
Areenna shook her head. “I did not join you. I was with you, yes, but we were not joined.”
“Oh, you did. I know your touch little princess. It was like at Tolemac when we fought her and you drew me into your mind.”
Areenna closed her eyes and went into herself. She searched for what he had spoken of and as she retraced her memory of the past minutes, saw exactly what occurred. Only this time it was he who had drawn her to him, not the opposite.
Her eyes flew open and as she started to speak, he said, “I saw. We must learn more of this ability we share.”
A wave of exhaustion washed over him. “I… I am so hot,” he whispered.
Areenna knew exactly what was happening. It had happened to her often in the early days of her training. She stood quickly, reached out, and drew Mikaal to his feet. Half stumbling, half dragging him, she got him to the lean-to and onto his sleeping silks. By the time she released him, he was asleep, the heat pouring from his body like a living thing.
Next, she went to where the kraals stood. Reaching Charka who was trembling from what had happened, Areenna leaned into him, resting her cheek on his long snout and gently stroked the side of his face. “He will be fine, he will be fine,” she repeated, knowing how deeply this first touch of Mikaal’s power had burrowed into the aoutem.
Only after the kraal was calm did she return to the campfire and sit. She looked up and sent a thought to Gaalrie, who had finished hunting and eating. The giant treygone rose into the air and began reconnoitering for any possible enemy.
Areenna stared at the fire and soon became lost within the flickering of its flames.
<><><>
Enaid’s eyes snapped open. The burning in her abdomen was intolerable. She glanced at Roth who was sleeping soundly and carefully slid from the bed. Bent in half, Enaid left the bedroom and went into the sitting room where she collapsed. Lying in a fetal position, her arms wrapped around her waist, hugging herself tightly, she held back the moans trying their best to escape.
Hold, she commanded herself, hold! Waves of grinding cramps the likes of which she had never before known, ripped through her. She drew the top of her nightdress into her mouth and bit down on it in an effort to stop from screaming.
She lay there for long agonizing minutes before the pain finally eased. Breathing deeply, Enaid made herself sit up while she racked her brain, seeking a reason for what had happened. Finally, comprehension came. It was what she had been denied as the mother of a son. She had seen this happen to her mother when they had started her lessons and she had found the root of her power for the first time.
While she had felt the burning of her power, it had been painless, but her mother had writhed on the floor in agony. Now Enaid understood what her mother had gone through. Mikaal had found his source. And it was more powerful than she’d imagined. So powerful, it was beyond even her understanding.
CHAPTER 16
By noon they were well into Northcrom, on the main road to Syrak and had just skirted a small town. They had seen only a few travelers, but knew the closer they came to Syrak, the busier the road would be.
Mikaal called a halt. They dismounted and he unrolled one of the
maps. As he studied the map, his finger tracing several routes, he said, “Both of the main roads will be well traveled. It’s time to find the route we discussed last night.”
Areenna followed his finger as it traced the direction they needed to take. “Once we’re in the forest, our scent will be strong again.”
“We will need to move fast, yes?”
“Yes.” Unwrapping a loaf of meat bread, she broke it in half. They mounted their kraals, and began to eat as they entered the woods.
An hour later they were deep into a forest the likes of which neither had seen before. The trees and bushes were so thick and overgrown in places, they wasted precious time seeking ways around the growths.
At one point, with frustration almost overpowering her thoughts, Areenna asked, “How can there be a road here? This is impassable. Every time we find a path, we come up against another blockage. I feel like I am inside a giant maze.”
“If the road is on my father’s map, it’s here,” Mikaal stated. “Is Gaalrie still watching our trail?”
“She is.”
“Call her back, have her scout ahead. It may be a risk, but we need her help to find a way through this mess.”
Closing her eyes, she sent out a call to her aoutem. While they waited for the treygone to return, they dismounted and let the kraals graze. Sitting on the soft grasses between the walls of trees, Areenna stayed connected to Gaalrie while Mikaal sat silently on the grass, lost in his thoughts.
Five minutes later, Areenna opened her eyes and turned to Mikaal. “The road is a few miles ahead, but the way is longer. This forest is a maze—the way the trees have grown is too perfect.”
Areenna reached out to Gaalrie. Through the treygone’s eyes she examined the pattern of the forest passages. The maze could have only have been created by a woman of great power.
“The way the maze has been set is curious,” she told Mikaal, explaining how with every passage through an area, the next led toward the road on the map, but only if you turned in the correct direction, which always felt wrong.
Finally, after another hour of somewhat faster progress, they reached a clearing that opened onto the road. When they did, Areenna was stunned. The road was lined so thickly with trees it was impenetrable by any means other than the way they had reached it. The trees were enormous, rising hundreds of feet into the air, their branches so interwoven they turned the sky above them into a dome of green, which allowed only a few slanted rays of the sun to light the way.
Somehow, there was more than enough light filtering through the trees to illuminate the path, even though not a speck of the cloudless blue sky was visible. Yet, it was not the trees lining and covering the road, but the road itself that held Areenna in thrall: it was a road the likes of which she had never before seen. Its pitted black surface was at least a hundred feet wide and clean and clear of any debris—no leaves, no branches, not even a pebble marred its surface. It was as if the road itself was being constantly swept clean.
She turned to Mikaal and started to speak, but could not find the right words. Mikaal leaned to her and clasped her hand. “Amazing is it not?” he said, understanding her feelings even as they hit her. “A long time ago, when we were exploring another area, my father told me this type of road was once called an ‘Interstate highway’. Its solid surface goes down at least three feet, and these highways used to crisscross the entire country and go for hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles.
“They were built, my father said, to carry tens of thousands of people who rode in mechanical carriages across the face of Nevaeh, from one coast to another, but only a few of these ‘highways’ remain. Most,” he added after giving Areenna a chance to absorb some of what he’d told her, “Most are covered by century upon century of dirt and leaves and death… Yet, this one is different. The surface is clean, the pits and holes barely breach the surface.”
“It is protected,” Areenna said.
“Protected? How?”
“A very powerful woman has cast protection over this road. The maze prevents anyone from finding it in the same way the surface of the road is clean so that our scent will not be found upon it… This is not natural. This is the work of a great sorceress.”
“Let us hope it is not one of the Dark Ones.”
Areenna stared openly at him. “It is not.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Do you not feel it? The sense of what was done here? Look into yourself, Mikaal. Go to that place of power within you. Feel it.”
Mikaal closed his eyes and concentrated on what he had discovered so short a time ago. He made himself turn inward and flow down to where the fire had been unleashed within him. And as soon as he did, rather than heat and fire, a sense of peace welled within him.
“Yes, good…you are understanding more. It would not feel like this if it was the work of the dark ones’ magic. You know what such feels like.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“And the casting of protection here is old, very old,” she added. “Whoever protected this road did so hundreds of years ago.”
Falling silent, and with Gaalrie riding Hero’s saddle bar, they moved forward along the road, intuitively certain that the dark forces following them could not find them beneath the intricately woven dome of trees. Their sense of time was suspended, but when the very air around them darkened, Areenna knew night was almost upon them and they needed to find a place to camp. She said so to Mikaal.
Within minutes of speaking, a clearing came into view to the side of the road. “We but need to think and what we think of will appear?” Mikaal asked.
Areenna shook her head. “Not exactly.”
Mikaal’s eyes narrowed. “I was being…sarcastic.”
“You still have so much to learn, so much to understand about what magic is. This was here, there are probably many such places along the road, but they are masked by this spell of protection. Speaking of what is needed brings about an understanding within the protection and allows the seeker to find what is sought.” She paused when Mikaal’s brows furrowed.
“When I was at the school, Master Thrumweld once asked the class what magic was. I knew the answer, but could not speak it because the class, not Master Thrumweld, would not understand. As I’ve tried to explain to you, magic is science—not the science that men use for building and for weaponry—but the science of spells.”
When she paused, he waited silently.
“Consider what is done. When you build a block, like the one you used with Queen Layra, how did you accomplish this? Within your mind, you constructed a…a globe or a box to surround you. You built it block by block and set it to stop anyone from sensing your power.”
Before Mikaal could speak, Areenna held up her hand. “Even if you don’t recognize how you did this, and believe me few do, save perhaps your mother and some of the more powerful women, it does work this way. We have already spoken of creating formulas but sometimes it happens so fast you don’t realize all of what went into its creation. But every spell, every piece of magic is naught but a formula created by your mind to react in a specific way.”
Mikaal took in everything she said and, while not fully comprehending it, accepted it as truth. “Can we create a formula to feed us?” he asked as his stomach gave accent to his words with a low gurgling sound.
Areenna laughed. “No,” she said with a wide smile. “But we have Gaalrie and Charka and we have my bow.”
Ten minutes later a rabt was resting over a fire and Areenna and Mikaal sat near it while the kraals grazed peacefully a few yards behind them.
<><><>
Where are they? How could they disappear so quickly? What has happened? The deformed sorceress questioned as she paced around the fire burning in the center of the cavern. Her liquid reflection cast upon the walls of the cavern made her look even more deformed.
Her seeker had lost their scent hours earlier and the anger boiling from her was like the fire she walked near. It was in
tolerable! Inexcusable! She stopped pacing and turned to the fire. She reached her hand into the burning coals beneath the flaming wood and withdrew a handful of glowing ashes.
Throwing them into the air, she constructed a spell to create another Wraith. Within seconds the dark-winged form grew within the cavern. Its glowing coal-red eyes burned down upon its creator.
“Find them!” the disfigured sorceress commanded.
<><><>
“I must send Gaalrie to Queen Ilsraeth,” Areenna said after they finished their meal.
“Yes, we should be there tomorrow,” Mikaal agreed and then rolled up the map they had been looking at by the light of the fire.
Acknowledging the timetable, Areenna wrote a message to Queen Ilsraeth of Northcrom and sent Gaalrie off. With that done, she turned to Mikaal, who was putting the map back in the bag. “Your stomach is content?” Areenna asked.
He looked at her, puzzled. “Yes.”
“Your mind is content about our safety?”
Mikaal wondered what game she was playing at. “Yes.”
“Good, then you will be able to concentrate, yes?”
“I am always able to concentrate,” he responded.
“So you say.” Before he could retort, she said, “In that case, it’s time to begin learning exactly what your abilities are. We can start with you shielding yourself.”
Facing him, her legs crossed and drawn almost beneath her, her hands resting lightly on her knees, Areenna took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “As I said before, when creating a spell, you start with a formula. Most women with power never fully grasp the reason for this, because they simply accept their power and use it instinctively, as you have been doing.”
She paused to let her words filter into his mind before continuing. “But now is the time for you to create formulas to turn into ‘spells’. Think about blocks of stone carved to form walls to repel whatever tries to break through. Picture the stone blocks in your mind and then build a shield that circles you completely, a globe if you want, or four walls, a roof and a floor, all made of the same blocks.”