He chanced a look behind him to see the look of awe on all but Arkin’s face, which had a wide smile on it. He waved to him, which was an odd sort of thing to do, but he waved back. They weren’t being pursued any more, or rather there weren’t people on the horses behind them, who looked to be relevantly unharmed. There were, however, blackened and charred corpses on the horses, burned to the bone. He shuddered at the sight. It had been a display of power when the Iumenta Dragon had burned a town in a breath, and that display would stay with him forever. So would this one. They had all been covered in fire, but only their pursuers had been killed, not their animals, not those they pursued, and not even the grass of the field. It was a targeted attack, executed with terrifying surgical precision.
Ahead, the large rocky peaks of the Cornis Mountains were fast approaching. They were incredibly intimidating mountains, barren except for scrub brush and goats. Because the main road was two days away, they were taking the hard way into the Precipice, a narrow goat trail bordered by large cliffs and canyons. No force would be able to go through it as it was a single track most of the time. Keither hated heights, but he hated getting beat up and attacked by the militia more, so the treacherous land it was.
Arkin rode, smiling at the land of his birth. He had been raised in this area and was looking forward to seeing people and places he knew again. There was a tug at his mind. She was leaving, and he just saw her as a dot on the horizon. Why did they send her? “She probably asked for it,” he thought. He was happy it was her in a way, the same part of him that was happy about not being dead or hurt by a misplaced spell, burning them to ashes and not the enemy. He was going to get it when they arrived, there was no doubt about it, and he could already hear the taunts about having to bail him out of babysitting duty. She respected him greatly, but even as kids she had given him a hard time. He smiled. Legon would like her, and he thought that she would like him as well.
He could feel Sasha in all their minds, checking pain centers for injury. He smiled again. For sure she would like Sasha.
Chapter Nineteen
The Precipice
“History repeats itself, or so I’ve been told. One could then ask the question, ‘If I have a perfect understanding of the past, can I see what lies ahead?’ I would be inclined to say yes, yet after all this time the future never fails to surprise me.”
— Conversations in the Garden
Sasha looked disquietedly at the looming mountains before them. There was a reason the Cornis Mountains had held back the Empire for years. They were known to be dangerous and easy to get lost in. At their base was brown grass and sage dotted with large rocks and yucca plants. The mountains rose steeply then, forced upwards by millennia of pressure. The land looked tortured as it gave way to the razor-like gray stone peaks. It would have been fitting to see vultures and ravens in the air, but there were none. There were, however, white figures dotting the side of the mountains. She stretched her neck to get a better view. Legon flashed the image from his eyes to her mind and she saw mountain goats as if they were no more than fifty yards away. They spoke to each other in their heads.
“That’s incredible,” she remarked.
“I know it is. Here, you can look around if you want.”
She felt an odd sensation as her mind not only joined his but took over much of the control of his body. Conversely, he was controlling hers. She felt what he was doing in her body but it was a separated feeling, almost like when you touch your arm after it falls asleep. The feeling of remoteness soon dissipated as she took in her surroundings through Legon’s eyes.
She could see the world in much more detail than she normally could. She saw the peaks in a new light. They were gray rock, yes, but they were also covered in lichen and there were birds flying high above them. She heard the goats too, jumping from rock to rock in the far distance. She was inundated with smells and feelings as well. His mind spoke to hers.
“Look, if I concentrate on an area my eyes will zoom closer to it, like a seeing glass.”
As he spoke he focused on the goats and her view rushed forward until she was viewing them as if like they were no more than a few feet away. Before, his field of vision had been much like hers, albeit more clear and detailed. Now she understood the true depth of his sight. He could focus on something and bring it closer. Perhaps this was something that she could do as well. She asked him to do it a few more times, paying close attention to what he was doing. He was using his mind to magnify the image, so in theory she could do the same.
She realized that she had done it before, as had all of them. Whenever you worked on something small, you got tunnel vision and the object took up your entire field of view. But could she do it consciously? She tried returning to her body. She focused on an area just ahead of them where the hill rose and the single path began. She focused her mind on it like Legon did, but it was natural for him. Her vision became a blur and he tried to help her. He took control and after a moment her sight narrowed but was still unfocused. He tried something closer and it worked.
“I wonder why it didn’t work as well in my head.” Sasha said
Legon replied, “I don’t know. Let’s see if Arkin knows anything about it.”
They broadened their connection to the rest of the group and told them of their attempts.
“Wow, you can do that?” Keither said aloud.
“I knew Iumenta and Elves could see well, but this is amazing,” Sara said after seeing the view from Legon’s eyes.
None of the rest of them could connect as deeply as Legon and Sasha could to each other, so they were not able to take control of his body, but they could still view the world through him.
“Arkin, you have incredible aim with the bow. Do you do anything?” Keither asked.
“Yes, I do, but I am using magic most of the time to make my eyes better. However, I do know what you are talking about. When you focus on something that’s close to you, your eyes are already taking in all of the detail that you see through Legon’s eyes. Your mind just discards stuff as it takes in the information.”
“So we see the same as Elves,” Sara said, looking unconvinced.
“No, not at all. Their eyes are much, much stronger than ours and are able to take the extra detail. It’s not that they are smarter than us, but that their sensory centers are far more advanced. Now, Legon can see far away because he is getting more of the image. When you do it Sasha, your eyes can’t see as much, so the image is blurry.”
That made sense to her but she still had questions. “Arkin, can you augment this with magic to get a better result?”
“I don’t know. I suppose so, but I’m not an Elf.”
She laughed. “Come on, you know everything.”
Now it was his turn to laugh. “Ok, I know that up to this point I have been a teacher and mentor to you all and I hope to always be that. But please understand that I have taught the basics. All of Legon and Sasha’s training up to this point was in fact directed by the Elves and I had to constantly contact them for help.”
Legon interrupted. “Wait a moment. You have been able to talk to the Elves from Salmont? That’s too far.”
“For one man, yes, but I checked in at the same time every week, and when I did I would connect to someone who was in range and then they with another and so on. In this fashion you can span any distance and talk in someone’s mind like we do.”
The implications were astounding to Sasha. Up to this point she was amazed by their apparently limited abilities. But to communicate across that much space was unimaginable.
Arkin went on. “I had to be precise about my time, but you get the idea. Anyway, they told me everything that I needed to do with you, and as time went on I needed less and less help. But still, the core of my training is in combat and concealment. Magic is a vast subject, but I’m sure you can ask another Venefica that specializes in this topic.”
Sasha made a mental note to do so and continued to experiment in her mind. She
knew that Arkin was limited, as were all people, and in a way it was a comfort to have finally found some of those limits. In another way she was saddened. Arkin had always been a hero to her. Nothing could stop or stump him, but this was unfair to expect of anyone. She began to admire him more for his ability to recognize when he was lacking and go to another for help. That was the true mark of a wise man, and a hero.
Arkin sat forward in the saddle as Phaedra started up the steep goat path. They rode in a line with him in the lead and then alternating pack mules and riders, with Sasha brining up the tail. She was by far the best with the horses and if there were problems he wanted an experienced rider at the back to help the others along.
Soon the rocky hill to their left gave way to a space in the rock. A deep fissure that not even a goat could jump ran next to the path. They wound along, climbing all the time. It was slower than Arkin remembered and there was moisture in the normally parched air.
After three hours they could no longer see the great rolling hills of the Empire. They were deep in the mountains, which were unforgiving. There was a certain amount of fear coming from all but Legon, whose superior senses would be a comfort in these lands. For Arkin, he felt no fear. He had grown up in Manton, which was surrounded by these peaks. He had played in them as a boy and hunted rams with his father here. No, these mountains were not his enemies, but his friends. He felt a drop of rain on his brow and contemplated stopping for the night. The rocks became slick in the rain and mudslides were commonplace.
After a while the rain came harder. Arkin searched his memory for a resting place; one was close if he wasn’t mistaken. The path was leveling onto a rock ledge, and against the wall of the mountain was an opening. To the untrained eye it looked to be a small alcove, but he saw the sanctuary within.
“We will rest here tonight,” Arkin said over his shoulder to the others.
“Why? The rain isn’t that bad,” Sara protested.
“Not yet, but I promise it will be, and the lightning will be as well. Come. This may not look it, but it’s a large cave.”
There were caves all throughout the Cornis Mountains. These were once the only true strongholds of humanity. He dismounted and walked Phaedra through the low entrance. As he was shrouded with darkness he produced a light showing the high ceiling and long cavern that he’d known was here. He heard the intake of air as each entered.
“How big is this?” Keither asked.
“It’s large. There will be chambers where the horses can stay and others where we can.”
He looked to the entrance. The rock was shaped in a way that didn’t allow the rain to enter the cave but that allowed the smoke to float out. This refuge of man dawned back to the time when dragons came to be. This particular cave had thousands of years of history.
Humans had been the first to separate themselves from the other races. He didn’t know for what reason their ancestors had done this, but he knew they had. Man lived in the desolate lands long before the Iumenta. When the Elves and Iumenta had split they were already much more advanced than man, but still they didn’t attempt to inhabit this land. After the Great War men still lived here and as they adopted Iumenta and Elven technology, these caves had changed in form and function.
He walked to the wall and ran his fingers along it, feeling the history. If they went deep into the cave there would be paintings on the walls from primitive man. Up here at the opening there were signs of more modern times, when these caves had been communities and guard posts. He became aware of the others’ silence. They were listening to his thoughts, at first waiting for instruction and now taking in their heritage.
“Even you have a place here, Legon. You are the only Elf alive that can claim these mountains as home,” Arkin explained
The rain was roaring outside. A great curtain of water covered the entrance as sheets of lightning ran across the sky. If one listened they could hear the rocks shifting as dirt turned to slippery mud. Arkin exhaled, relaxing. The rain would cover their tracks and no one would enter this area. They were safe, perhaps safer than they would be in the Elven capital.
The rain was making things cold, and Arkin could soon see his own breath. Farther into the cave was a world in itself; it refused the control of the outside, and while it was cool here, the inner chambers would be warmer than the cold rain and wind that now drove at them.
He was aware of the group’s collective interest in this place and those like it, but he was tired and pushed the feelings from his mind. He walked to a chamber. There were enough chambers here for each traveler to have their own, but he knew that the others would probably sleep together at the cave entrance. He didn’t blame them. The cave was just another vulnerable hiding spot to them, and perhaps their concerns were right. But never mind that now. He sat, leaning against the cold hard stone wall, and extinguished his emerald ball of light.
Sara sat on her bedroll at the entrance to the cave, her knees under her chin. This was a cold place to her, yet it felt like home somehow. The rain was loud outside, but after traveling the first few feet into the cave the sound became muffled and distant.
Legon searched in their packs and procured a small loaf of bread, passing it to her. “Give Sasha my portion.”
Their supplies were light and this was the last bit of bread they had. Now it would be up to Legon and Arkin to kill animals for food. They were close to the Precipice, Sara knew, but with this weather and their luck, there was no guarantee that they would be in friendly company soon.
“Legon,” Sara said.
“I am stronger than you. I do not need it.”
Sara nodded. She knew he was stronger than she was. She broke the bread into three pieces. Arkin had retired for the night, and after last night’s meal said he would rather eat the dirt of the field than more stale bread. She knew there was another reason for his distaste for eating this bread, though. They had found it with some other food on a table in one of the huts from the now burned co-op. It was she who said to take it. She knew that there was death in that place, so why save food for the dead?
Sasha was off exploring the cave, but Sara would save her portion. It was just her and Keither now. She handed a piece to him.
“I’m fine, thank you.”
She looked at him sternly. “Just because Legon didn’t…”
“I am not trying to emulate him, but while he is strong with character and has the body of an Elf, I have the fat for three. Doing without is just as much good for me as eating my ration is for you.”
He smiled at her then, and she saw that it wasn’t a bad attitude that precipitated this but rather a genuine concern for her. She ate the stale bread. She undid her water skin to drink. “Dang it,” she thought.
“Keither, may I borrow some water from you? I’m out.”
“Sure, let me get my water skin for you.”
He walked off and then returned. “It’s empty.”
“Well, that won’t do now will it.”
An idea came to her and she took both skins to the entrance.
“It will take you all night to fill those, you know,” Keither said warmly.
That wasn’t her plan. She concentrated on the magic in her mind, seeing the water coming down in sheets outside. She held one of the skins in the deluge and released the spell.
“Auga.” She used just the name for water and let her intent do the work. The water formed together, falling as a stream about three inches wide. It took almost no energy but she felt her spell slipping as her mind did. She held the skins, filling them. When they were full she walked back to Keither.
“Nice,” he said smiling at her.
Sasha rested in a chamber deep enough in the cave that all sound from the outside world was blocked off. The room was an oval about ten feet across and fifteen feet wide. The chamber wasn’t tall, only going up six feet or so, and she saw signs of tool marks on the ceiling and walls. This place was not part of the original cave. The floor was flat. She knelt, planning on
taking advantage of their rest for some training. She accessed Arkin’s memory, thumbing through it like a book, looking for the desired subject. He didn’t resist and had encouraged them to do this. Anything that he didn’t want them to know was blocked off. She soon found what she wanted. Arkin didn’t have much in the way of training on it, but she still took in what he had.
The principle was called the Pronos. She reviewed what he knew of it and began. The Jezeer was vast, and even with the training they had been given, she knew that it was a subject that they hadn’t even begun to tap into. The Jezeer was about the body, mind, and voice, about ways of thinking, acting, and even moving, but the principle or practice she wanted now was that of perspective. She was able to change her sight today and that had to be part of the Jezeer. She looked at the Pronos. In essence, it was changing the world around you, if only in your mind. You could project your mind’s eye onto your surroundings. The mind still saw the real world and noted it, keeping you aware of your environment, but your eyes and senses saw what you wanted. This room was a good place to try this out. It was isolated and when she stopped the light spell the darkness was almost palpable. She disconnected from the network, calming herself.
This first attempt was to be simplistic. She was going to keep her eyes open and select a color, then see the color in her surroundings. After that she would attempt to make other images with her open eyes.
Legon felt Sasha leaving the network in pursuit of the Pronos. It was a worthy endeavor and he knew why she did it. Life was perspective. If you changed that you changed reality. He had been walking the cave and rejoined Sara and Keither. He wondered if Keither gave up his ration. He sat next to them, leaning on the wall. Both were asleep but still sitting up. He reached with his mind, out looking for anything intelligent to link with and found it in the form of goats in the area. He settled back into the waking sleep. It was going to be good to get to the Precipice. Maybe there he could get a real night’s sleep.
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