"No," Theus answered disdainfully. He released his grip and lifted his weight off of her.
The gods knew he desired her!
"I can hear a voice," he tried to explain. "I've heard it give advice for months now, and it always gives good advice.
"Anyway, it has interpreted a dream I had. The voice says I have to go to Steep Rise and rescue Amelia, the little girl I saved once before. The evil magicians have captured her,and she'll die if I don't go," Theus said.
"A voice?" Coriae asked flatly. "You hear a voice. Can anyone else hear it, anyone at all?"
"Just me," Theus admitted, knowing that it weakened his case. Even in his own ears it sounded implausible.
"Leave! Just leave our house. You were never in love with me," Coriae looked up at him and spat. "You're a fake. My instincts were right the first time I saw you in Greenfalls, when I rejected your request to travel together.
"Gods above and below, I wish we'd never met," she hissed at him as he edged backwards, unnerved by the fury in her voice. She was passionate, he knew. But he'd never expected to become the target of her disdain. It hurt. It hurt deeply, in part because he knew that her spirit was such a great portion of what he found appealing.
Theus found that he had backed to the door.
"I love you now, and I always will," he managed to say as he opened the door. "I'll come back someday and ask you to forgive me, after you've seen the truth of my words."
"I don't ever want to see you again!" Coriae's voice was full of venom. "If I do, I'll thrash you to within an inch of your life with whatever weapon is at hand. - staves, swords, cudgels, fists. Now leave; leave my room and leave our house!"
She was growing angrier by the moment, it seemed to Theus. He had no chance of reasoning with her, calming her. The expression on her face was nearly the same as what Forgon's memory had shown when she has killed Monsant's.
"Good bye Cory," he whispered gently, then opened the door and slipped out into the hallway before she could unleash another attack, verbal or worse.
He stood in the hall and leaned back against the wall, feeling real physical pain from the terrible turn of events. There probably had not been any way that his sudden need to depart would have produced a better ending, or any less drama.
He ran down to his own room and hastily packed a few items, then looked at the small dark stone he had taken from the ring in Coriae's room. There was little he could tell about the object in the darkness.
"Voice, is this stone going to give me the power of white magic?" he asked as he stood in the center of the room.
"I hope that it will allow you to learn some of the secrets of white magic," the voice replied. "You'll need to learn in a hurry, immediately as a matter of fact," It advised. "Find a place where you can be safe and alone."
"What does that mean?" Theus asked with concern.
"The memories from this stone will overwhelm you, if it agrees to teach you," the voice told him.
"If the stone accepts me?" Theus asked incredulously. "I just gave away my entire future - my heart! - for this! Are you telling me it might reject me? This would all be for nothing?"
"You are destined for this, and more. The magical order is ready to rise again. The ring is not going to reject you; it knows it must play its part," the voice was passionate, but Theus sensed a hint of uncertainty.
Theus decided to set aside the critical question of the stone and white magic. He felt a compulsion to leave the house at that moment. He was betraying Coriae and her whole family with his decision to depart on an inexplicable adventure. It was still unthinkable that he would stay any longer.
He left his room and slipped silently into the hallway, then proceeded to head towards the steps. As he passed Coriae's door he heard sobs inside her room, which made tears come to his own eyes before he hastily wiped them and moved on.
Theus gave a silent mental farewell to the whole family of Lord Warrell, people who had treated him better than he hoped. He was leaving them and hurting them, and there was no rational explanation for what he was doing, but he knew he had to try.
And hopefully, someday, he would return and explain, and with hindsight, they would understand.
And forgive.
Even Coriae.
Chapter 23
Theus was walking the streets of Great Forks, alone as the sun rose. He had just exiled himself from the mansion of Lord Warrell. In reality, he had done more than just that. He had separated himself from just not his lordship's home, but from his family, including Warrell's daughter Coriae, who had been on the verge of becoming his betrothed.
Now, he was homeless and at a loss as he contemplated how to comply with the impossible assignment the invisible voice had given him.
He was standing on a residential side street, a small, quiet, tree-lined street as the sun rose, and people left their homes to start the work day.
He recognized the house in front of him, and he realized his feet and mind had conspired to solve his problem of temporary homelessness.
The door to the cottage in front of him swung open. "Good bye, ma," a girl's voice shouted as the owner of the voice exited. The girl started down her short walk, then stopped, startled by the sight of someone standing at the edge of the street.
"Theus?" she blurted out the question, then ran to him and embraced him fiercely.
"I heard a rumor that you came back to the city! It's so good to see you!" the words came quickly and breathlessly.
"It's good to see you Glory," he spoke softly, but sincerely. She was a friend, as simple as that. He was glad to be with her, to know that the two of them would not ask or expect anything of one another. Yet he was about to ask for a favor.
"You're okay?" she asked. "Everything's okay?"
"I need a place to stay," he blurted out. "Just for a little while."
"You're not staying at the Warrell's mansion?" there was surprise in her voice.
"That's," he paused, "that's over." There was a lump in his throat as he said it.
"I'm sorry," she spoke in a different tone. There was a pause. "Yes, of course you can stay. Let's go in and I'll tell mother.
"You're not in trouble again, are you?" Glory asked as they broke their clinch. Her eyes studied his face.
"No," he answered. "We'll, maybe of a sort. I'm not sure." It was a difficult question to answer, he concluded. "But not any trouble with the law," he belatedly understood the simplest meaning of what she had asked.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Glory was leading him by the hand back to the door of her home, looking back over her shoulder at him.
"Pretty good," he replied. "I feel better knowing that you're still my friend."
"Of course I am!" she smiled at him as she opened the door.
"Ma! I'm back for a moment. My friend Theus was out front."
"He's the cute apprentice you used to talk about so much?" the mother's voice drew closer and then the woman appeared in the doorway. "Oh goodness, he's here! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't have much of a chance to, did I?" Glory blushed.
"Hello Theus. We've just had breakfast; would you like a bite to eat?" the mother asked. Her face was much like Glory's, and she was just a hair shorter, he thought.
"I've got to get to the shop, ma," Glory interrupted. "Theus asked if he could stay with us?"
"Of course, for how long?" the mother asked.
Theus wished he knew. "Just a day or so?" he tried to ask. "I can pay," he added as he remembered the purse of coins he carried, the funds Lord Warrell had given him before he'd carried Coriae's ring to Stoke. He'd not had to spend a coin yet, as Forgon and Coriae had taken such good care of him in the capital city.
"There's no money among friends!" the mother told him.
"Bye ma, bye Theus," Glory had her hand on the door. "I'll see you tonight?" she asked him.
"I expect so," he answered as he gave a grateful smile.
She was gone, and Theus was alone with her moth
er.
"We've got a small garret with a cot and a window," his hostess told him. "I hope that'll be sufficient?
"Glory used to speak about you all the time," she turned and stepped into the back hall, then reached up to open a hatch. Theus stepped into hallway; he saw a ladder and picked it up, then raised it to the hatch opening. “My name is Glenda, by the way.
"Go up and look around for yourself. I have to go pick up some sewing I do at home and I need to help serve a luncheon at a banquet hall - not one so fine as the Warrell mansion, of course," she explained.
"Theus, you're not going to hurt my daughter, are you?" she asked, with a serious expression. "She is a little rough, but her heart is pure and good, and she deserves a chance at happiness."
What would his own mother have said to protect him, he wondered. He thought she would have been as protective as Glory's mother. This woman was worried, and he felt warm respect for her.
"The first few times I met her, I didn't know how to take her. But she watched out for me, and made me part of the group of apprentices; she’s a very good friend. I won't hurt her, I promise you," he spoke passionately.
A tear appeared in the corner of her eye. "Thank you Theus. I'll be back this afternoon. You make yourself comfortable," her fingers stroked his arm momentarily, then she was gone.
Theus climbed the ladder up to the garret. The slanted roof line left no spot tall enough for him to stand upright in, but he didn't need such room, he was sure. He sat on the straw pallet and laid his pack to the side. The garret was chilly, but he felt the relatively warmer air from below rising up through the open hatch.
He pushed the hatch back in place to preserve the heat below.
He opened his purse and pulled out the small memory stone that had come from Coriae's ring, the stone that had so completely changed the course of his life. He raised it to the small window in the garret to examine it in the sunlight for the first time.
It was a translucent blue. Physically, it had a deep blue smoky appearance, but his eye scanned it looking at the contents within, the memories that had been stored on the remarkable device.
The stone carried a heavier, deeper load of information than any stone Theus had ever seen. And there was a remarkable web that tied together the memories in a way that was unlike anything he had ever seen, or even imagined. The contents had to be extraordinary, he knew. Even moreso than he had expected from a stone that was supposed to hold the secrets of white magic, this stone both tantalized and frightened him.
Theus closed his eyes, then lay back on the pallet. His hand moved the extraordinary memory stone towards his forehead, then gently lowered the stone against his skin.
He felt the cool, hard surface and he let his consciousness rise towards the stone, so that he could begin to retrieve the memories of magic that were stored within. He recollected his experience with the stone of healing memories. He had needed hours and hours of time spent over weeks in order to retrieve the full contents of that ancient repository of secrets; with the dense collection of memories stored on the stone he held, there was no telling how long he might spend collecting the contents.
"Who are you?" a question was posed in his mind.
"Voice, is that you?" Theus asked silently. Stones held no life, no sentience. A stone could not ask a question; it could only release the memories it held.
"Let me know you. Let me feel your blood," the voice he heard was not the voice he knew. He could feel the difference and the strength of this new voice.
"He is mine, my acolyte," the usual voice spoke up.
"He seems young, shallow, unexperienced. What are you thinking?" the new voice asked.
"Prick your finger Theus, and let the stone taste your blood, so that it may know your heritage," his original voice directed, and he knew he would obey.
Theus opened his eyes and lifted the stone from his forehead. He placed it down on the floor, then pulled his knife from his belt to cut a minute slice in the tip of his little finger. Blood began to well as he exchanged the knife for the stone, and pressed the stone against the bright red blood.
He felt a shock. His body began to tremble while waves of heat passed through him.
Theus jerked the stone from his finger.
"You see, he is the one," his voice spoke again.
"He has the blood," Theus heard the voice of the stone speak, even though he held the small blue disk away from his forehead. "But he has little more.
"Find another, and train this one for a few years," It spoke dismissively.
"There are few others," the first voice said without poignancy. "None can match this.
"You have been gone for a very long time. My city does not exist. There have been no people there for centuries. The high blood is nearly gone," Theus felt the pain in his companion’s admission.
"Take this one and mate it with a girl of noble blood," the stone freely offered advice. "In a generation they will be ready."
"There is not a generation of time available!" the first voice countered sharply. "Ind'Petro has risen. He has a powerful follower. The conquests are beginning."
The conversation stopped. Theus sat up in the silence.
"He cannot handle all the knowledge," the stone's voice finally spoke.
"Give him what you think he can accept," the first voice was pleased by the stone’s phrasing, which hinted at some acquiescence. "Theus, put the stone to your forehead," it directed.
"Wait!" the stone spoke sharply. "Cut your scalp so that your blood is involved."
Theus knew of many formulas that required the use of a sample of blood to cure a stone and prepare it for its owner, but he'd never learned of one that required blood to be used for the transmission of the memories.
He put the stone down while he lifted his hair with one hand and then raised his knife with the other. For a moment he hesitated, confused by the conversation of the two voices. But he had nothing to lose, he told himself, and he sliced the knife across a couple of inches of his hairline.
Theus picked up the stone again. He felt the blood starting to run down his forehead. There was no point in stopping the strange ritual he had commenced. He looked at the blood-smeared stone as he raised it above his face, then his fingers pressed the stone into the bloody hair on his forehead.
And he remembered nothing more.
Chapter 24
"Theus, thank the gods you've woken up!" the voice of Glory brought him to full consciousness.
"Glory, what's happening?" he asked groggily. His mind was full of cotton, it felt like. He needed to hear Glory so that he could focus.
"You've been asleep for three days!" the girl's voice sounded stressed. "We didn't know what to do. I let you sleep the first day, because I thought maybe you needed it. I would have sent for the Warrell mansion to care for you the second day, but all the rumors at the market place made that sound like a bad idea. And you're the best healer I know anyway, but you weren't going to heal yourself. "
"Three days? Did you say I slept for three days?" he asked. He looked up and saw the garret ceiling sloped overhead. His memory came rushing back. He was in Glory's home. He had expected to use the memory stone, and he had slept for three days.
He had taken the stone from Coriae. He had broken up with Coriae.
"Help me up, please," he requested as he struggled to reach a sitting position.
Things were in his mind. Strange things, new things. The stone had done something to him. He didn’t know if it was good or bad. He couldn't process thoughts very well.
His eyes looked on the floor, and he saw the edge of the memory stone sticking out of a crack in the garret's rough floor.
"Could you get some water please? I'm very thirsty," he truthfully said. He wanted her to leave so that he could retrieve the stone and secure it before it got lost.
Glory smiled and climbed down the stairs. Theus quickly bent and picked the blue disk free, then slid it in his purse, at least temporarily.
&nb
sp; When Glory returned, he took a long drink.
"You frightened me," she said. "What's wrong with you?"
The tone of the question indicated the depth of the question, regarding more than just his health.
He considered how to answer; she deserved an answer for the trouble she'd taken on his behalf, and for her friendship in general.
"I was in the southern lands for a while, and made friends there. But one of my friends is in trouble, so I need to go back to help her," he explained.
"That sounds noble," Glory didn’t sound convinced.
"My father was home yesterday. He promised to say prayers for you at the temple today," she changed the subject.
"Maybe that's why I woke up," Theus offered.
He felt the jumble in his mind shifting around, accustoming itself to residence within him. He needed to rest and examine what had happened.
"I think I need to rest," he blurted out.
"You just woke up! " Glory protested. She belatedly realized he wanted to be alone. "I'll be downstairs. Come get some dinner soon," she offered. She gave him a sisterly kiss, then departed.
"Voice, what happened?" he immediately asked as he lay back on the pallet.
"You weren't ready for my knowledge," the voice of the stone answered. "You were overwhelmed."
"Your body is adjusting," his familiar voice spoke too. "Stay awake and let the knowledge integrate within you."
"A bit of it," the stone added. "You'll learn a few necessary skills for now, and we'll see if you survive long enough to gain more."
Theus closed his eyes. He didn't want to listen to the criticism; he hadn't done anything to deserve it. He was giving up his own future because of the demands of the voices.
The memories he had received were asserting themselves as his confusion and emotion cleared. He began to explore them, then called out to the voices in outrage.
"This is white magic? The memories tell me I have to use some energy to accomplish things. Where do I get the energy? Do I just do the same thing Donal does? Do I steal life from others and kill them? I won't do it!" he thundered.
The Deadly Magician (The Memory Stones Series Book 2) Page 30