by Lee M Eason
“Do not think for one minute that His Imperial Highness had any thoughts of bringing Koa to its knees. His thoughts had one aim and one aim only, his own protection, from us. Once certain of their unswerving loyalty he had all the information and pattern books linked to their design destroyed and then ordered them to kill their creator. You were not here. DuChen did not die quickly.
The Adept involuntarily shivered he had been away but had heard many reports of the event. “Why did he not use them to destroy The Panid Halleck? His knowledge ultimately made their creation possible.”
“And that is why I have summoned you here. Up to now I have been able to persuade His Imperial Highness of the Panid’s usefulness but he may well change his mind and order the Panid dead. He is still of great use to us and must be kept alive. His Imperial Highness is currently distracted as he pushes our forces outwards. Now is the time to move The Panid out of the palace. You will take him to Magor. You have a house there that will serve well enough as a prison. What the eye does not see the mind will forget.”
“As you wish Prime,” Culsen lowered his head in acceptance of her wishes.
“I will see to it that you have access,” VaCalt picked up a pen. “The rest will be your doing.”
My responsibility, Culsen suspected, should Segat become aware of these actions. “I will not fail you.”
“You will leave as soon as is reasonable. Make your plans but not in my name. Go now,” she dismissed him. “I have much to do.”
Culsen respectfully took his leave.
VaCalt completed the document and then signed it with a certain amount of satisfaction. With this order Ducat would find herself with the advance forces heading for the Amarian front, a fitting reward for misguided allegiance. As for Imalt, the favour he was now enjoying could be turned to her advantage. His absence would allow her free reign to manipulate His Imperial Highness and strengthen her position. She would suggest the use of powder weapons again. The gift she had presented him with that had pleased him no end when its effectiveness had been proved. It was time the Hallorns had a taste of smoke. Naddier needn’t think itself safe. The arm of the Ildran Order was reaching ever further west. Her hand grew ever stronger and she had a new card to place upon the table, her greatest achievement to date. Summoners loyal to her were close to achieving their goal, the creation of an Elemental, a Fury. A creation of The Panids not realised since The Great War. His Imperial Highness had his heart set on its use to further demoralise and weaken Amaria. She would utilise her spies in The Amar Order and be only too happy to grant him this wish.
***
Kellim stood at the cave entrance looking out onto the snow-covered valley. Its surface now made even and soft. Blue shadows crisscrossed its surface, sharp and clear in the moonlight. Everything was still, silent as if asleep. He should have felt calm but his thoughts would not wander far from the news of Amar and the powder attack on the Orders. Even though Maga had informed him of the disaster days ago it prayed on him, he felt frustrated at not being able to help and concern for his friends gnawed at him.
He turned to Maga, sat in from the reach of the icy wind. He felt a little uncomfortable, he had to admit and any attempt at small talk seemed contrived. His relationship with The Children had been a complex one. On many occasions he had been forced to make choices he was still troubled by.
Maga, by contrast, showed no sign of her earlier discomfort. “Winter has closed in upon us. It would be far too dangerous, even for a Panid, to attempt to travel,” she tried to ease his unspoken thoughts.
“Indeed,” Kellim was no longer troubled by The Beholder’s window into his inner emotions. “Even Naicarn will have to wait through the snow when it reaches The Plain of Coth.” He turned. “Did he find your valley?” Kellim had meant to ask this some time ago.
“No. The Guardians found him before he could get any closer, though not before he convinced some of my kind to join him.”
Kellim was obviously surprised to hear the word Guardians used in the present tense. “My list of questions has just increased considerably.”
Maga smiled, she could see his thoughts as if they were her own. It would have been more efficient to anticipate the questions but she had learnt an etiquette that made others more comfortable with her abilities and so instead said, “Then you should ask and make the list shorter.”
Kellim stepped in from the cold. “I believed there to be no more Guardians. How many still survive?”
“Only four. The two that went to meet him were more than a match for Naicarn.” She considered her words. “For the time being anyway.”
“Only four out of the original hundred. The night used to shine with their radiance. Their final clash with The Fury was the turning point of the war,” he noted absently.
Maga nodded. “I am much relieved that it was The Guardians and not The Fury that survived.” The two were quiet for a while, each with their own memories of that day.
Maga eventually looked up. She seemed to have made a decision, a question of her own to ask and with a decisive intake of breath she said. “You eventually sided with Megann, Halleck and Ollcenan and spoke out against the continued creation of my kind. Why was that?” There was no hint of accusation in her voice.
“Hmm, yes,” Kellim was distracted by the question. “The Panids had become arrogant, egotistical, I’d been troubled by this for some time. In the western conflicts during the middle of the war I worked closely with The Faithful and other Children. My perspective was further altered and I was forced to reassess my original perception of them. My desperation to end the war had blinded me to the truth. But my decision to side with Meg and the others had its consequences, which we are only now beginning to realise. Much was kept from us in the final stages of the war. Answers to question and events that now trouble us greatly.”
“You spoke of being blinded to the truth?”
“I believed your kind to be a necessary tool that would bring about the end of the war. But all too quickly many of you became more than the tools you were created to be and couldn’t be directed without concern for your well-being. The Panids would not accept this. Once I saw this for myself I was forced to think differently.” He couldn’t hide the regret in his voice. Kellim looked up at the moon, cold and distant in the deep night, it reflected his guilt. “Did you know, before The Great War, The Panids were working on a grand plan? Issa was to be their first objective. I was telling Aaron about it. To walk on the surface of another world,” he was still excited by the idea. “It was quite within their reach and then to the worlds beyond. They thought there was nothing beyond their ability, but there was much beyond their understanding.”
Maga nodded. “The Panids were powerful and their knowledge was vast. They were the masters of the field. Much responsibility rested on their shoulders.” It was strange but even now there was a reverence in her voice when she spoke of the Panids.
“But creating life simply to use it as a tool?” Kellim still couldn’t come to terms with their view. “That surely is something best left to nature and the natural wisdom of selection over time. They didn’t feel the need to consider the consequences of The Children’s creation and all involved suffered because of this.”
“You regret our existence?” Maga asked quietly.
Kellim caught the subtle tone in her voice, an unsure child asking a parent if it was unwanted. “Forgive me Maga. I’m in no position to lecture. The Panids acted and The Children brought the war to an end, but at a cost. Many of your kind have enriched us and led fulfilling lives in their own right but others didn’t. I regret only that existence was forced upon them.”
Maga nodded slowly, satisfied with his answer. Knowing his thoughts, the instant he had them, somehow wasn’t the same as hearing the words spoken.
“You had other questions,” she reminded him.
“Yes indeed,” Kellim thought for an instant, glad of the subject change. “You said some of The Children have joined Naicarn?�
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Maga’s expression hardened, her disappointment in their decision clear. “Yes. He came looking for us in the belief I would help him in some new quest. I only became aware of his approach when he was a short distance from the valley and sent several of our community to bar his way. Not all of them returned. His will is strong and he pandered to their desires and fears.” She folded her arms. “The thoughts of The Rogue Children are now lost to me. Only the arrival of The Guardians prevented him from taking more. The men that attacked you thought he had returned. It took a little time for me to get word to them.”
“What could this quest be, that requires your help and the risk of manipulating The Children?” Kellim asked.
Maga nodded in answer to his thoughts and made herself more comfortable on the small boulder, her feet barely touching the ground. “It is difficult to know for sure, he worked hard to hide his mind from me while at Aurt and then quite suddenly became almost unreadable after his failed meeting with The Corumn in Amar. I am now only able to gain glimpses of his thoughts. I believe he is looking for clues to the location of The Field’s Cap and I surmise he intends to head for Dothica, where he may find written clues. Beside you, Megann and Ollcenan there are none alive today who know of its location.”
“The location of the Field’s Cap. His plans have indeed changed,” Kellim was slightly taken aback by this.
“Yes. Originally he intended to manipulate his Order. You know he is unhappy with Amar’s current place on the world’s stage?” Kellim nodded. “And you know he was using Segat as leverage.” Kellim nodded again an air of expectation about him. “You also know he has failed in this but the wheels he set in motion did not slow. Segat has expanded his borders and seems set on bringing Amaria to her knees,” Maga said bitterly. “His thoughts are still partly masked by fields set up by Naicarn, but these cannot remain in place forever, without renewal and Naicarn is not around to do that. The Ildran Order attempt to block me with moderate success but it requires a lot of them to sustain the effort, which ties up resources they will soon need to deploy elsewhere.”
Kellim considered the implications of this. His thoughts turned to the peace that had lasted for so long and the lives that would be affected and devastated by the war. Yet, despite all of this, he was more unsettled by Naicarn’s intentions to find The Field’s Cap. “Do you have any insight as to why he seeks The Field’s Cap Complex?”
“I can offer no help. The minds of those who conceived and worked on it were masked from me at the time of its construction and are now long since gone. I have no knowledge, of The Field’s Cap, beyond that which I can read in your own thoughts and I am unable to catch any clues from what small opportunities I have to see Naicarn’s thoughts.”
Kellim drummed his fingers on his chin as he thought out loud. “We were allowed to know of its location and of course its purpose - to limit the field but we were not party to its construction or how it achieved this. There may, of course, be other things stored inside the complex, though I find this unlikely, as The Panids were not ones for creating artefacts. Only Eltram is fabled to have done this in the dim past.” Kellim thought a little longer. “I may know little about The Field’s Cap but I do know that an Adept, even one as strong as Naicarn, couldn’t hope to overcome the knowledge and arts of The Panids and gain entry. I have to conclude that his errand is a fool’s one.”
Kellim began pacing as he searched through his memory for anything he may have missed before finally setting aside Naicarn’s quest to discover The Field’s Cap location. Maga sat quietly, her eyes lowered, listening to the thoughts in his head. It felt like days long gone when she was at the beck and call of her masters. For all that was wrong with it she couldn’t help feeling a sense of nostalgia for those days. She had a role, a use, a purpose and a part of her reached for that time and those feelings.
“Is there anything else you can tell me, anything I have missed or not considered that would allow me to eliminate Naicarn from my list of problems?” Kellim asked finally.
Maga looked up. “I am aware that his Order is pursuing him and from what I can sense of current intentions a confrontation may be imminent.”
“Is Naicarn aware that his Order is set on his capture?”
“Yes, he has learnt this from other sources I am unable to place.”
“That might explain The Rogue Children,” Kellim concluded. “They could be used as protection. Is there a chance his Order will be able to stop him?”
“As you know my insight relies on the thoughts of others and can only hint at future events when collective intention raises their probability.” She relented “That said the minds of those pursuing him are confident of this.”
Then we must hope their beliefs are not misguided and his interest in locating The Field’s Cap will end there.” Kellim seemed momentarily relieved by this but then began pacing again.
Maga’s expression changed. She sensed something new entering his current thought process. “You are concerned about Jenna and The Children’s interest in her.”
This brought him up short. “My mind is full of questions with no answers. So many threads force me to look for a pattern to explain all of these events, an overall grand design. With an architect as its heart, the key to avoiding disaster. I am aware that Jenna is of interest to The Children. The Faithful described her as special and eluded to a role in their future. I wondered at Naicarn’s involvement in this.”
“That idea came into being before Naicarn had any contact with The Children. He is not the originator.”
“Do all the Children believe this? You for instance?”
Maga frowned. Realising that she would now be forced to reveal a secret. “No, the belief lies only with The Children who chose to wander the shadowed places of the continent and not join us here.” She felt bound now to explain. “After the war the few left split into two groups, those who chose to wander and those of us who chose to settle. And now we are split into three with a rogue group under Naicarn’s control.”
Kellim shook his head. “We thought we had a record of all of The Children who survived the war. Clearly others survived.” He looked at Maga unwilling to hide his disapproval. “You choose not to share this information.”
Maga held his gaze defiantly, though it was clear she was uncomfortable even now to face the disapproval of a Panid, no matter how moderate. “Yes,” she said stiffly.
“And allowed Children like The Three to remain, to wander the shadowed places of the continent!” he used her words deliberately. “You know their nature. The job they were created for. Did you stop to consider the implications of your choice? The danger it would place others in.”
Maga looked down cupping her hands in her lap. “I made them promise. Even the thought of a transgression and I would reveal their whereabouts. The threat of losing their freedom and ultimately their lives was enough. They kept their word.”
“Until now,” Kellim was exasperated.
“Until now,” Maga admitted unhappily. She went to explain but Kellim had turned away. She sat in silence.
Kellim was more shocked than angry. He was struggling with feelings he had not had to confront for decades. The sacrifices he had made were now standing on foundations and beliefs he was increasingly unsure of. After the war a lot of The Children simply died, their form fields having been designed to last a limited amount of time for fear they would be too dangerous in peacetime. It was believed all of these had been accounted for but it appeared Maga had taken it upon herself to allow some of them to escape, to slip away. Their life spans not limited as the designers believed. Others like The Faithful and Maga were allowed to go out into the world in the certainty they posed no threat but the majority were treated with suspicion, fear and hostility and so retreated from civilisation. They found life in the wilderness a struggle and reverted to their original purpose, unable to leave the war behind. When they became a danger they were hunted down and destroyed. A disturbing time Kellim could on
ly justify by thinking he was securing a safe future. He was beginning to think the solid peace that had been paid for with the lives of so many was nothing more than a veneer. To find out now that others still survived and at any point could revert or fall prey to the will of others, was disturbing. How many of The Children still out there believed Jenna to be a part of their future? What threats would she have to face? “Are you aware of the origins of this belief? What or who has led them to think that Jenna is of some significance to them?” Kellim asked keeping his voice even.
“I could not see where this belief came from.” She was glad he was speaking again. She disliked the silence of a Panid.
“Can you tell me of the whereabouts of those who pose a threat to her?”
“I cannot.”
Kellim sighed. “Cannot, or will not?”
“Please believe me Kellim I have only once lied to you and even then acted with the best of intentions. I cannot tell you where they are as they too have now been hidden from my presence.”
“Hidden,” again Kellim felt his sense of unease grow. “But not by Naicarn.
She closed her eyes in concentration and it was sometime before she spoke again. “I have focused on this much. There could be another mind at work, someone unknown to me and powerful enough to block my senses. The only hint I have to his or her identity is a strange sound, or sensation, that hovers on the edge of my consciousness whenever I try to follow the link to its sources.”
“A hint?” Kellim pressed.
“I can best describe it as a whisper, or rather the hushed voices of many.”
If there was a pattern to the events, they were all caught up in, this ‘someone’ could be its designer. Another mind at work - Maga’s words echoed in his thoughts. He still had other questions, Aurt for instance and the traces of familiarity he had sensed there. But this new revelation was a priority. He clearly had to make a decision about his next steps. Jenna was in greater danger than he had at first thought. There was intent driving The Children who believed her to be significant. The Amar Order would benefit from his aid in capturing Naicarn. It would also provide him with an opportunity to throw light on this quest and then there was Segat and the war. Cold sense clearly indicated one as the priority, feelings drew him in another direction and curiosity and a sense of foreboding drew him down yet another path. Three choices, three places to be. He turned again to look at the snow, pristine and glittering in Issa’s light a blank expanse with no answers.