“It got better because I waited,” Rajan said with a genuine smile. “Because I was patient. Because I ended up here. Now I am surrounded by people of every faith, and no one thinks me odd. I’ve even begun to study and practice faiths I had never heard of. I am becoming something I never knew I could be. Something even my parents would not recognize, maybe would not approve of.”
“That sounds familiar,” Gabriel said with a rueful sigh.
“Just be who you truly are, Gabriel,” Rajan said. “And give it time.”
“Well, if I had known it was so easy,” Gabriel said, rolling his eyes sarcastically. Rajan threw his head back and laughed, drawing Teresa’s attention.
“What’s so funny now?” she asked.
“Rajan was just giving me some advice,” Gabriel said.
“Oh, that is funny,” Teresa said with a wicked grin. Rajan stuck out his tongue at her.
A deep cough from the end of the table brought everyone’s eyes to Ohin, who was raising a glass.
“Ah, yes,” Marcus said, the first to raise his glass in response. “Another toast is indeed in order. Bad luck to end a meal without a toast.”
“Or a sentence, apparently,” Sema said, raising her glass of grape juice.
“A simple toast,” Ohin said. “To Gabriel’s return and the mission ahead.”
“Here, here,” Marcus said as glasses clinked together.
“Yes, yes. Here, here,” Akikane echoed, as everyone took a sip of wine.
“What is our next mission?” Teresa asked as they all placed their glasses back on the table.
Ohin looked toward Elizabeth, who nodded. Suddenly the noise from the dining hall vanished and only the sounds from the table existed. The change was so sharp that Gabriel found himself automatically looking around, a seed of panic growing in his stomach.
“A little trick to keep the conversation private,” Elizabeth said with a glance toward Gabriel. “I will leave Ohin to describe the details, but your team will be charged with the mission we were about to begin when Gabriel was taken from us. You will find the place in time where Apollyon is creating copies of himself and sever any branches you find. I doubt even he would be foolish enough to leave all the branches intact after he has taken his doubles from them, but we do not know. Regardless, we will need to ensure that no more branches can be made from that time and place. Akikane will accompany you to help accomplish this. And to further his education, Gabriel will accompany you, as well.”
The table erupted in comments, some surprised, but most concerned for Gabriel’s well-being. Gabriel remained silent. As much as he wanted to join the shouting, he knew the decision had already been made in his favor. Answering a comment from Ling, Elizabeth said, “He is young, but we put young mages in the field all the time. A necessity of the war. Teresa is only a year older. While I have my reservations, he does need experience that can only be acquired in the field. I think we all know that the revelation of Gabriel as the Seventh True Mage, combined with Apollyon’s multiplication of himself, will lead to a massive conflict and likely rather soon. Gabriel will undoubtedly play a central role in this coming battle and if he is not ready, if he has not explored and honed his abilities, he will not be the only one at risk.” That thought kept everyone silent as Elizabeth paused. “Ohin, I will leave you to explain the mission to your team.”
She stood up to leave the table. Everyone immediately stood. Gabriel was first to his feet. He might still be new to Council and True Mage etiquette, but months at Kumaradevi’s table had taught him to rise from his seat at a moment’s notice.
“I’ll join you,” Nefferati said as she rose up and pushed back her chair.
“The sound barrier will remain until one of you crosses it,” Elizabeth said with a nod of her head in parting.
“Unless Gabriel can figure out how the trick is done,” Nefferati said with a pat on Gabriel’s cheek.
As the elder women left, everyone resumed their seats. Gabriel watched them go, realizing that whatever conflict had existed between them had been resolved to a large degree. They seemed now like mother and daughter, walking side by side. He was glad for them. Glad he had played some small part in their reconciliation. Ohin cleared his throat again.
Ohin looked around catching each eye, even Akikane’s, before he began. “This will not be an easy mission. As you know, not even Nefferati has been able to locate the place in time where Apollyon is making copies of himself. His magic is too strong for anything less than close examination. We know he was a soldier in Alexander the Great’s army.”
“Alexander the Terrible, you mean,” Sema said under her breath.
“We can assume that Apollyon will want to double himself later in his training, when he is more powerful,” Ohin continued. “From what our spies have learned, and what Gabriel has told us from his time with Vicaquirao, Apollyon would likely choose a point somewhere in the last five years of his life while in the timeline. We also know that he is using the power of vast negative imprints to hide his branching of time. We suspect he is creating the bifurcations during one of Alexander the Great’s battles.
“We know that Apollyon died in battle in 326 BCE in the battle of Hydaspes in the Punjab of India against Raja Puru. We will start there and work backward. Our mission will be to travel to these battles, examine the evidence on the ground, and locate the point where the bifurcations occur. When we find it, we will sever any branches and seal the spot from further tampering.”
“When do we start?” Marcus said, draining the last of his wine.
“We will begin training tomorrow,” Ohin said. “A few days. No more. We want to be prepared, but we must move quickly. Gabriel will join us in a day or so, after he has had some time to rest.”
“I don’t want any time to rest,” Gabriel blurted out before he realized he had interrupted Ohin. Ohin gave him a look that seemed a cross between concern and a reprimand. He saw Sema staring at him from across the table and knew she was worried about him, as well. Gabriel didn’t care. He didn’t want his days filled with idle time. That would only lead to him remembering again and again what he had been through in the past two months. He needed something to keep him focused and thinking about his future, not reliving the horrors of his recent past.
“As you wish,” Ohin finally said. “You should all get a good night’s sleep. We begin at dawn.” Gabriel was glad his was not the only groan to be heard around the table. If he had known his insistence on beginning training with everyone else would mean another early morning, he might have kept his mouth shut.
“To bed, to bed,” Akikane said as he pushed he chair back and stood. “I will see you in the morning.”
“You’re joining us for training?” Gabriel asked as Akikane patted his shoulder.
“Of course, of course,” Akikane said with a wide smile. “We must learn to work together. It has been some time since I was a member of a field team.”
Akikane’s departure broke the barrier that had kept all sound from leaving or reaching the table. Most of the dining hall had emptied out, but the sounds of conversations flooded back to Gabriel’s ears. Knowing that Akikane could have easily resumed the barrier, he assumed the elder mage wished to encourage the others to depart for an early bedtime. Curious, Gabriel reached his hand into his pocket and slipped his fingers around the silver pocket watch. Sound waves he knew were a form of energy, but they needed a medium like air to move through. A barrier where the energy of sound waves would be dissipated could be combined with a barrier where the air became thinned to a near vacuum, creating a bubble that sound could not cross.
Everyone stood and said their goodnights, but they all stopped and looked at Gabriel when the sounds from the rest of the dining hall vanished.
“Picked that up pretty quick,” Teresa said, cocking her eye at Gabriel.
“I had to try,” Gabriel said.
“Yes, you did,” Rajan said with a smirk as he extended his open hand past Gabriel’s shoulder t
oward Teresa. She frowned and slapped the rabbit’s foot into his open palm. Gabriel hadn’t even heard them make a bet. He wondered how many times that rabbit’s foot changed hands because of him. More than it paid to worry about, he suspected. He released the barrier to sound as the team walked out of the dining room, wishing him goodnight as they headed to their respective rooms in the different wings of the castle.
Teresa took seriously her commitment not to let him out of her sight and insisted on escorting him to his room.
“You don’t need to follow me everywhere,” Gabriel said. “I can take care of myself now.” It was true, Gabriel felt. As long as he had his pocket watch, he was likely more dangerous than any mage in the castle besides Akikane and Elizabeth. And Nefferati, of course. He had Kumaradevi to thank for that.
“Yes, I’m sure you can,” Teresa said as they walked along the hall to his room. “But that doesn’t mean you should. If something happens it’s always best to make your enemies think you are weaker than you really are.”
“And you think they’ll believe that if you’re my bodyguard,” Gabriel said. “You’re just a...” he let the sentence fade as he realized it might not be best to finish it.
“A fourteen-year-old girl?” Teresa said. “I’ll let you in a little secret that everyone else knows except you.”
“Another one?” Gabriel asked.
“I’m not just a pretty face,” Teresa said, with a wink, “or just a prodigy at math. I have a natural knack for Fire Magic. More so than most, and most everyone knows it. You won’t find a more powerful Fire Mage in the castle. Being seen with me is like being seen with a pack of pit bulls for protection.”
“I’ve always wanted a pit bull,” Gabriel said, as he opened the door to his room.
“Woof,” Teresa said as she looked inside his room to make sure it was empty. “Remember, bright and early. Don’t make me toss you out of bed.” She kissed him on the cheek and turned to go.
“I won’t,” Gabriel said, blushing at Teresa’s kiss and wondering why. She always treated him like a brother and she reminded him of his sister, but she was much cuter than his sister and much closer to his own age, and she wasn’t really his sister at all, but it didn’t matter because they were teammates and…
“Good night,” Teresa said, walking down the hall. “Wait until you’re in your room to fall asleep.”
“Night,” Gabriel said as he stepped into his room and closed the door. It was good to be back in his room in the castle. Back someplace he felt safe. Some place familiar. Even if he was alone. And being alone reminded him of all the nights alone in the tower chamber of Kumaradevi’s palace. All the nights spent curled in a ball in tears came back to him in a rush. He sat down heavily on the edge of the bed and let the tears come again. This time not out of fear, but from relief. He felt safe at the castle. Surrounded by friends. People he trusted. People he loved. People who loved him. He was back in control of his life.
After a time the tears slowed and stopped, and Gabriel took a deep breath. He felt better than he could remember feeling in a very long time. He changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed. He fell asleep realizing that it was the first night in months that he wasn’t planning some escape as his eyes closed.
Morning came much too swiftly, but he woke feeling more rested than he had in ages. He brushed his teeth, showered, and dressed quickly. Teresa knocked on his door a moment later. He smiled and said good morning, trying to forget the thoughts that had flooded his mind the night before when she had kissed him on the cheek. Teresa was even less of a morning person than Gabriel, and she said little as they made their way to the courtyard of the Lower Ward.
The others were there already, Marcus looking like he regretted that fourth glass of wine. They all greeted him good morning and then set about the day’s training. For him, training began with a private lesson from Ohin while Akikane drilled the others on how a True Mage could help them in a fight. Ohin and Gabriel walked to a quiet side of the courtyard and sat under a tree.
“This exercise is very simple,” Ohin said, settling into a cross-legged position, “but it must be repeated every day for it to be successful.”
“Every day for how long?” Gabriel said as he crossed his legs in imitation of Ohin.
“For years,” Ohin said. “That is why few mages are able to cultivate and increase their inner magical energy to any great degree. But the greater the energy you have to focus through your talisman, the greater your magic can become.”
“Will I be able to do magic without a talisman?” Gabriel asked. It was the only question he was really interested in.
“With a great deal of practice, yes,” Ohin said. “But you will never be as powerful without a talisman as you are with one.”
“But I may not always have a talisman handy,” Gabriel said, remembering all the days in Kumaradevi’s palace when he would have done anything to be able to perform magic without a talisman.
“As we have seen,” Ohin said. “Now, clear your mind. Settle your thoughts. Watch your breath. Just as you learned.” This part of the training was familiar and easy. Well, not easy necessarily, it took a few minutes to get his mind to stop jumping from one thought to the next like some drunken monkey, but eventually he could concentrate clearly on his breathing. While it was easy to still his mind quickly to use magic, keeping it still and focused on his breath was much more difficult.
“Now reach within and sense the flow of your subtle energy,” Ohin said. This too was familiar and easy. He did it every time he used magic. “And now as you sense that flow of energy, I want you to imagine it flowing down into you from above, and up into you from below, the two waves of energy meeting at your heart center. Remember, they are not flowing into your physical body. They are flowing into the subtle energy matrix that is expressed as your body. As these two waves of energy meet, they swirl and multiply, flowing back up and down your body, radiating throughout your entire being, every cell, every muscle, every pore, filled with and radiating this energy.
“With each breath in, the energy flows into you from above and below, increasing at your heart center. With each breath out, the energy flows throughout you. If you find a tightness in your chest, pause for a moment and imagine your body dissolving into light. Imagine it as a body of energy-light. Then resume.”
Gabriel did as Ohin instructed and felt the energy flowing through him with a power he had never sensed before. Magnified and increased, the energy radiating through him felt pleasing and powerful. And the more smoothly the energy flowed, the more effortlessly he could concentrate his mind, the energy flow and his mind melding together and seeming to become one.
“Now you may relax your mind and let the energy return to normal,” Ohin said. A moment later, Gabriel opened his eyes.
“I could feel your energy,” Ohin said, “so, I know your practice was successful. Could you feel mine?”
“No,” Gabriel said, surprised that he would even be expected to.
“We will try to add that next time,” Ohin said. “How did it feel?”
“Powerful,” Gabriel said. “Like I had this great clarity.”
“Yes,” Ohin said. “This practice will help with focusing your mind and eventually with seeing the energy in all things, the interconnectedness of all things through that energy, and ultimately, the lack of separateness of all things.”
“But when will I be able to do magic without a talisman?” Gabriel asked.
“The energy feels more powerful than it is,” Ohin said. “While even a small amount of practice will yield some increase in the magical effect when using a talisman, it normally takes a few years before the magical energy has been increased enough to use without one.”
“I see,” Gabriel said. “I don’t think I could have kept that concentration for more than a second in a fight.”
“Exactly,” Ohin said. “But eventually, if you persist, you will be able to. Now it is time for your walk with Sema.”
&nb
sp; “Thank you for teaching me this” Gabriel said as he and Ohin stood up. He knew it was unusually early in his training for such advanced lessons.
“Thank you for coming back to be taught,” Ohin said, placing a firm hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “You are important to us, to me, for many more reasons than the magic you can do.”
“I feel the same way,” Gabriel said, swallowing hard to keep the ball of emotion in his throat from rising up too far.
Sema greeted him with a wide smile as he approached the others. She broke away from them and guided him on the familiar walk through the grounds. Sema decided that they should continue their daily talks to help Gabriel deal with his time in the hands of Kumaradevi. Now instead of talking about his family or his friends left behind when he died in the bus, they talked mostly about his experiences in the dark palace and what they meant to him. As before, Sema did little of the talking, preferring to ask questions and wait patiently for Gabriel’s answers.
After their walk, Gabriel and Sema joined the others to continue their training. They were all impressed with how much he had learned in Kumaradevi’s arena, but unlike his Malignancy Mage tutors, they were each more than willing to give him tips and pointers and help him correct mistakes with encouragement.
After lunch, he had a private lesson with Akikane, who began to teach him the basics of how to wield a sword. Gabriel was chagrinned to find that this began with learning stances and postures and the philosophical essentials of Aikido and that flailing around with a wooden blade was frowned upon. Gabriel needed only one frown from Akikane to set him straight. Learning to use a sword was not child’s play, and it would not involve playing with swords. Swords were never to be played with. They were not toys, but tools. Tools for concentration in the right hands, and tools for death in the wrong ones. Akikane insisted that Gabriel’s hands would know the difference and how to use a sword properly, without bringing harm and causing negative imprints.
The afternoon, and any free time after dinner, was spent learning about Alexander the Great and trying to pinpoint likely battles that Apollyon could use the negative imprints from to increase his magic and hide the branches of time he was creating to copy himself. They studied not only the facts of Alexander’s life, but cultures and customs of Macedonia, Greece, and the many lands he conquered. They even learned a few words in Ancient Greek from a Wind Mage named Hestia who had lived a hundred years before Alexander. Many of the team members already spoke a little Greek, but Ohin insisted that everyone have enough words to manage in case things went horribly wrong.
The Wizard of Time (Book 1) Page 27