“I’m missing something,” Sarai said. “I thought you were going to learn the pipes.”
“I am.”
“In a quarter bell?”
“It’s magic.”
She frowned.
“It’s safe,” Corim chimed in. “I’ve done it several times.”
“Truth,” Senalloy chimed in. “Besides, Mercedes is by far the best healer you will ever meet.”
“Speaking of healing,” Mercedes spoke up. “Arminwen, are you aware there is a danger to yourself and your baby?”
Sarai blinked. “How did… did someone tell you…?”
“I saw,” Mercedes said. “It is what I do, much the way your Bannor sees—only I view things in terms of medicine. You need to be fitted with a supplemental energy stabilizer soon to provide your unborn with the necessary nutrients.”
Sarai blinked. “Ummm, Cassandra is working on that for me.”
“Ah, well, she will probably confer with me in any event. If you have any questions—please ask. You have a rather unique child.”
“She doesn’t ask anything for free,” Bronawyn grouched.
Mercedes scowled at Bronawyn. “Midwife advice is free. Especially when the client is a princess of the nation where we are guests.”
The Silissian woman growled but didn’t argue.
The strange woman focused back on Bannor. “We acquired a room in the back, we can do the procedure there in privacy.” She rose from her chair and gestured to a doorway behind them.
Bannor circled around the table to follow Mercedes. The whole thing felt so strange. Everyone who knew about it acted so blasé, like it was the most common activity in the world.
Sarai followed him, brow furrowed, a mixture of curiosity and concern on her features.
Mercedes led them past some pub patrons who bowed on recognizing Sarai, then continued down a short hall to a door that she opened. Inside was nothing more than a plain bedchamber with a neatly made pallet, and two chairs.
The odd woman went to the furthest chair, flipped out her skirts, and sat down. She gestured him to the bed. Sarai she indicated to the chair beside her. Senalloy, Corim, Dulcere stood near the doorway.
“Belkirin Dulcere briefed you on what to expect?” Mercedes asked.
He nodded.
“We can proceed any time you’re ready.”
He blinked. “No turning back now I guess.”
“All right, you will be most comfortable lying down,” she said. “Remove your shirt, boots and any metallic jewelry.”
He did as he was instructed and lay back on the pallet. His skin prickled as a cool draft of air blew through the inn room. His heart had picked up tempo and his chest felt tight.
Mercedes put a hand on Sarai’s arm. “I see that you are concerned. I promise that he will not be injured in any way.”
She nodded.
Mercedes picked up her chair and moved it close to the head of the bed.
“First our tools,” the woman said. Using both her hands she described a box in the air. There was a humming sound and a muted glow as sparks of light crisscrossed between her palms. In a sizzle of disrupted air a heavy black case solidified in her hands.
Bannor stared. So did Sarai. This was a magical creature indeed.
Mercedes set the case on the bed next to him, undid the latches on the case and swung open the lid. Inside were many objects embedded in a spongy looking material. She pulled out a short wide vial, unscrewed the lid, and dumped out what looked like a five pieces of silver parchment cut into circles. Each of these she held to her mouth and breathed on it before pressing one to each of his shoulders, the middle of his sternum, and one over each of his temples.
Bannor reached up and touched one. It felt metallic and the material had adhered to his skin. It wasn’t so firmly attached to be alarming, but tight enough that it would have to be peeled off with care. “What are these for?”
“They will help relax you.” She answered her hands moving steadily pulling out objects, assembling some and putting them aside, others she placed on her own body. A crimson jewel that looked similar to the ones that Dulcere and Eclipse wore she pressed into her forehead, the flesh crawling around the crystal and accepting it with a quiet slurp. Dark gray cylinders were pressed into both of her arms just below the wrist, the material assimilated much as the gem on her forehead. Several other gems were pressed into the surface of her right arm. If any of it was painful she didn’t react. She simply moved with the swiftness of total confidence and expertise.
“These will create an information connection between us,” she explained pulling out three gold cylinders resembling thick featureless coins. She breathed on each, placed them on his forehead and on his cheekbones.
“So, let me understand. You know what I need to learn?”
Mercedes stared at him moment as if trying to comprehend his question. “Oh, well not in the way you imagine. I can know anything I want. My ‘mind’ is connected to what you would think of as a library. That library is, for all practical purposes—infinite. I simply pick out the information I want to use and localize it, if that makes any sense. These artifices here on my arms.” She indicated the gray cylinders. “These—how would you best put it—? They purify the words and pictures to make sure what I give to you is clear and without mistakes.”
Bannor narrowed his eyes. “That’s—ummm—” He felt a wave a dizziness. “That’s—a relief to know. Ugh, everything—getting fuzzy.”
Sarai stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Not to worry, that’s the relaxants working through his system,” Mercedes told her.
The pale woman took out some large bulky looking gloves and pulled them onto her hands. She closed her eyes and a soft blue glow surrounded her body. She stood silent and motionless for perhaps half a breath. She slowly opened her gray eyes. “I am prepared. Are you still willing to go forward?”
His stomach knotted. He looked up at Sarai. She took his hand. He nodded.
“All right, this first part will be disconcerting, but not uncomfortable.” She rose, reached out a gloved hand, and touched the top of his head.
Before he could even react, there was a hurricane in his mind, a gigantic presence whipping through his memories. Blue and crimson streamers spun through his consciousness as he felt Mercedes’ presence shriek through him. It was not telepathy, because she did not really communicate information to him. Her mind was impossibly fast, perusing summers of sensations, experiences, like someone riffling through the pages of the book.
When she pulled back a moment later Bannor was gasping, his fingers twisting in the bed covers. He was breathing hard, his heart seeming to lurch uneasily. What was she? She had thrown his entire life experience into a sifter and shook out the things she needed in instants.
“My One?”
He blinked and swallowed. “I’m okay.”
“One moment,” Mercedes said stepping back. “I must perform the necessary local integration and migration operations.” She closed her eyes. After a few instants, she frowned. “Interesting. A challenge. Another moment.” She sat back down on her chair, dipped her head and pressed her gloved hands together. She went still.
Sarai glanced at Mercedes then back to Bannor. “What did she do?”
“She came in my head,” he answered. “She just did it so fast that it startled me.”
After a long breath, Mercedes opened her eyes and smiled. “It is pleasurable to experience a real challenge, we get them so rarely. My transfer calculations are complete.”
“I can’t believe all of this ruckus to learn pipes. He could almost have learned the song by now if he simply applied himself.”
Mercedes looked perplexed. “Arminwen, the instrument knowledge was only the fraction of the knowledge he had me prepare. There was quite a bit to integrate. I also had to adapt the information to the way he senses his environment, which is actually in far greater resolution and detail than even many Kriar sense m
asters. Shall I proceed?”
Sarai stared at him. “You were just going to learn the pipes.”
He wished his mind wasn’t so fuzzy. “I figured—I—figured that I’d just get it—all—overwith.”
“Did you?” She growled. “Without telling me of course.” She looked to Mercedes. “Is this dangerous?”
The gray-eyed woman looked back with a level expression. “There is no threat to his life processes or normal mental functioning. There will be discomfort, synaptic wear and trauma from accelerated manipulation of sensory inputs.”
Sarai put hands on hips. “It just hurts a lot.”
“Not during,” Mercedes corrected. “After.”
She scowled at Bannor, then back at Mercedes. “You’re sure.”
The gray-eyed woman didn’t react in the slightest. “Absolutely positive.”
Sarai shook her head. “Do it. As long as he still wants to go through with it.”
Mercedes looked to him.
He drew a breath. He hoped he didn’t regret this more than he expected to. “Go.”
Mercedes shrugged and stood up. She reached into her case and pulled out a curved shiny piece of metal. “All right, I must place this across your eyes.”
He nodded.
She leaned over and slid the object down over his eyes much the way a masquerade mask was placed on the face. The curve itself was padded and fit snug over his temples and behind the tops of his ears.
Inside the mask he expected it to be dark, but instead there was a grainy light like thousands of bugs flicking around in front of a lantern.
“I will begin the transfer after a ten count,” Mercedes said. “You may feel yourself slipping away, like you are falling asleep. That is normal. Do not be alarmed. When you awake the procedure will be done.”
“Okay,” he said. “Understood.”
“Beginning in ten,” Mercedes intoned.
Bannor felt a buzzing in his skull. Something hummed where he felt his Nola sometimes.
“Nine.”
The humming grew in intensity. The scrambled view inside the mask became a black void with white writing. He saw pictures and diagrams appearing in the void. There was a sharp flicker as if the universe winked out for a moment and returned.
“Five.”
The writing in the void over his eyes began to shuffle with greater speed. He wished he could actually read, he was certain some of it had to do with what Mercedes was doing. The universe flickered green. Spirals shrieked in the view inside the mask. A billion billion threads of life and experience whirled into nothingness. A tearing pain hit the back of his eyes. Creation. The word pounded through him harder than it ever had, making his whole body leap in the bed. Annihilation. Another crash behind the eyes. Perpetuity… Something was squeezing down on his mind.
“N-n-n…” He tried to get out.
“One,” Mercedes intoned. “Engage.”
It hit him like a cold smack, sharp and sudden. The light in the mask flared and then his mind exploded into darkness…
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Two
Painful Education
« ^ »
Yes, it works. I thought nothing could hurt as much as when Hella shoved a language into my brain. I was wrong. That will teach me to curb my impetuous decisions, no matter how well intentioned…
—Bannor Nalthane Starfist, Prince Conjugal of Malan
Bannor tried to open his eyes, as the candlelight and the sun shining through the window slashed into his brain, he immediately regretted succeeding. “Argh.” He gripped his skull. “D-d-damn—head—feels—ready to explode.”
“I warned you,” he heard Corim say.
“How bad is it?” Sarai asked with a soft voice. The ache in his head must be distorting sounds. She sounded different—the tone seemed ‘off’.
“Oh owww, worse than any of my backlash. Urrrmmm.”
“Works pretty impressively doesn’t?” Corim remarked.
“Sure does,” Sarai answered. Now, her voice seemed deeper. “Did it have to be a Dykreeni accent? People will think he’s trying to look down on them.”
“He should be able to affect different nuances without difficulty,” he heard Mercedes say from nearby. “The learning is extremely thorough, it includes muscle memory for such things as trills and exotic elements of the language.”
What were they talking about? He wished they weren’t talking so loud.
“My One,” Sarai’s voice was different again, back to that softer more sonorous tone. “Mercedes says it’s going to hurt for a good while, do you want to wait it out here or back at Green Run?”
“Best—best back at Green Run,” he answered. “Oh ow, when they said the results were painful—arrr—they were not—jesting.”
“What you’ve done is phenomenal, Mercedes,” Sarai said in that deeper voice. “Will it be that way with everything? He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it either.”
What was she talking about?
“I can take you back to your chambers,” Senalloy said. “He’d have to be carried otherwise.”
“If I understand your future requirements of Bannor, I believe you should be satisfied,” Mercedes responded. “It will probably be a scoreday or more before he really has a full grasp of the information.”
“Uhhh,” Bannor mumbled, holding a hand over his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re—talking about. I don’t—ummm—feel—any—smarter.”
“My One, if you are comprehending my speak. You are smarter.”
He tried to peer at her through the spaces between his fingers. “What? You are just talking—talking like you always do.”
“Precisely.”
“Huh?”
“I apologize about the pain,” Mercedes said. “There really is nothing to be done for it except to knock you out completely. Current canon on this procedure is the patient should remain awake to ensure proper neural development of the knowledge paths.”
“I have no idea what that means,” Sarai said. “Except he should stay awake.”
“Until the pain goes away,” Mercedes added.
“Until the pain goes,” Sarai finished. “I’m certain Bannor would thank you properly if he weren’t hurting so terribly. I know he is no baby so it must ache something fierce.”
Bannor waved his free hand. “Thank—you. I still don’t—feel—different.”
“Don’t worry about it, my One.”
“You’re welcome,” Mercedes said. “It was actually an interesting endeavor. His senses are quite unique. In some ways they are similar to my own. I have never met a natural organic that can perceive in so many spectrums at once.”
“He’s a wonder,” Sarai said, patting him on the shoulder.
“There is one thing,” Mercedes said. Bannor heard her voice drop. “Right as I started the transfer, he started to go into a seizure of some type and I felt an external force connected to him. There was some kind of encoded pattern that for a moment overwrote his entire energy signature. Quite alarming actually. I blocked it, but there’s evidence in his mind that it has happened before.”
“Urgh—has.” He moaned. “Do you know—what it—was?”
He couldn’t see Mercedes’ face but he could imagine the puzzled expression on her normally placid face. “I cannot say at this time. It was something powerful. If you wish, I can do some research. I recorded the incident in detail.”
“Oh yes, please,” Sarai said. “The last time it scared us half to death. You said you blocked it. So, it can be prevented from happening?”
“Yes. I would need to study the phenomenon further to enable others to do it—but it is possible.”
“Great!” Sarai said. “You are a true marvel.”
“Thank you,” Mercedes said. “I should be getting back to Bronawyn. She’ll be getting impatient by now.”
“Pardon my asking, why do you work for her? She seems so ill mannered and unappreciative.”
“It’s just a
matter of training her,” Mercedes responded. “I have time. She’s still just a child.”
“All right, well thank you for your assistance, we appreciate it.”
“Good day, Arminwen. Take care, Bannor.”
“Uhhh,” he waved.
He heard Mercedes’ steps recede.
“Corim,” Senalloy said. “You get his right and I’ll get his left.”
“I’ll move my—” He tried to get up and fell back like a bag of wet rags. “Ack.”
“No you won’t,” Corim corrected.
Bannor felt the big man take hold of his arm and shoulder and felt Senalloy do the same. They heaved him out of the bed with ease. With their assistance he could just barely stand.
“Sarai,” Senalloy said. “If you can keep him on his feet.”
“Of course.” She answered. He felt Sarai’s warmth press against him. “Dulcere, I guess I should thank you. You made this possible.”
Bannor assumed Dulcere responded, but his head was aching so much he couldn’t hear a thought even if it had been screamed at him.
“All right,” Senalloy said. “Lets go.”
Before Bannor could brace there was a stomach churning disorientation that had him gasping. His nola senses were too scrambled to make sense of anything. The air was abruptly cooler and the sounds of the inn were gone.
“I’ll get the balcony shutters,” Sarai said.
“We’ll put him on the bed,” Corim said.
He heard footsteps come rushing in behind them as Senalloy and Corim carted him along.
“Ah dama,” Corim said in that voice that like Sarai, sounded off, strangely soft. “Some water please for the young sir.”
“As you will,” a female voice responded, and the sound of slippers on flooring rapidly retreated.
They lay him on the bed.
“Everything sounds so weird,” he murmured.
“I bet it does,” Senalloy replied.
“All right, Bannor, all the light is dimmed in the room,” Sarai said. “Shouldn’t be so bad now.”
He pulled his hand away from his eyes and opened them a little at a time. Even in the near dark it still made his eyes ache, but at least he could keep them open. “Better,” he mumbled.
Reality's Plaything 3: Eternal's Agenda Page 39