The boys scrambled to get their chairs back to the table and force smiles upon their faces. With a nod of approval, Bryol opened to door for Maggie, who was pushing a cart full of wonderful smells. Darian briefly wondered how she got the cart up the stairs before his stomach began to grumble. Jumping up from the table, he rushed over to offer his aid to Maggie. Maggie smiled at him and brushed away his offer as she began to assemble the food on the table. Soon, the food was all laid out on the table, and Maggie was leaving the room. Calling out their thanks to her, the boys looked in amazement at the food on the table. Although they did not recognize everything on the table, the food they did know happened to be some of their favorite dishes from back home. Sighing in contentment, the boys began to fix their plates after casting a wary glance at Bryol, still standing by the door.
Smiling, Bryol returned to the table, where he also fixed a plate. Everyone ate in silence for the entire meal, and four very contented people finally pushed away from the table. Wariness returned to the eyes of the boys as they waited for Bryol to speak.
Bryol looked at each of the boys in turn, and finally motioned for them to retire to one side of the room, where several plush chairs sat around a small table.
Chapter Eleven
After settling in the chairs, Bryol told the boys "My Lyra trust me—I have their absolute trust—and I have for almost 3000 years. You will trust me enough to tell me the truth, no matter how much you believe you should keep the information to yourself. I can not help you if you hide anything from me. Now, the first thing I need to know is, can you mind-speak with each other?"
Darian looked at Kane and Patro, then back at Bryol. Shrugging, he said, "No, we have not learned how to do that yet. Kane can faintly hear his dragon, though."
Hearing Darian volunteer that information brought a glare to Kane's face, and an immediate rebuke from Bryol, who saw the glare. "I said I need information, Kane, no need to glare at Darian for doing what I ask. Any and all information could help me help you." Kane slumped down in his chair a little at the rebuke.
"The fact that Kane can slightly hear his dragon may help all of you learn to mind-talk." Hearing this, Kane sat back up in his seat with a surprised look on his face. His was not the only look of surprise.
"How?" Kane asked.
"Well, when you hear him–"
Kane interrupted to say, "Her, my dragon is female."
"Well then, when you hear her faintly in your mind, you need to blank all thought from your mind and try to reach out to her with your mind. If you can hear her more clearly, you then need to think of Darian and Kane speaking to her also. Try to hear her, and imagine her talking to all three of you. This will help open the pathways to your thoughts." Turning to Darian and Patro, he said, "The same goes for the two of you, think of your dragons and think of talking to them in your mind. You need to think like you are actually speaking to them."
The three young men looked faintly surprised and immediately closed their eyes.
"Not now," Bryol laughed. "I still have some questions for you, to see just what your abilities are. You can practice trying to mind-speak later."
The three opened their eyes and looked at Bryol in anticipation. Now, instead of wariness and fear, they looked excited to be speaking with Bryol.
Turning to Darian, he asked, "Can you see inside a person's soul?"
Darian looked confused and said, "Of course. I can see the thread of everyone I am woven to. Some are faint, but I can see them if I concentrate."
Shaking his head, Bryol told him, "That is not at all what I mean, but we can start there. I need you to…" he paused as if to gather his thoughts, "I cannot do it, so I only understand the basics, but if you stare at a person and look beyond what you see, into the person that they are, you should be able to see them, like a light within them. Honestly, I do not know what you will really see, but if you look inside of your benyans, you should be able to see a bluish white light. That is the best I can explain it to you. I learned much from my Lyra over the years, but some things, I could only guess that I understood. Your benyans should have a pure light, unless they are going rogue. And since they are the closest to you, and actually here right now, you should be able to see them before you see anyone else. Once you can 'see' inside of them, you should be able to 'see' inside of anyone. People who are pure will have a pure light. But even people who are good will not always have a pureness to them. Jealousy causes a slight greenish tint, while anger causes a slight reddish tint. Over the years, you will be able to see colors and relate them to what the person is like. Ah, I should clarify—just because a person is jealous of something or someone does not mean they will have a green tinge—it may be because of one object they desire. The green tinge will, if I understand correctly, only be seen in a person who is a jealous person normally. An unhealthy jealousy will leave a tinge upon their soul. A person who is always angry will have a red tinge to their soul."
Before he was finished speaking, Darian had turned to Kane and was staring intently at him, closing his eyes, opening his eyes and just staring. Kane was starting to shift in his seat uncomfortably. Bryol started laughing and finally told Darian, "You can stop closing your eyes; I do know they must be open for you to be able to do it."
After a couple of moments, Darian finally, reluctantly, turned back to Bryol and asked, "What color will I see if they are rogue or going rogue?"
Bryol made a face of distaste and told him, "Black, they will have a blackness to their soul, their soul thread will be turning black. Actually, it depends on how far gone they are. The further they are gone the blacker their soul will be, and they will reach a point when that blackness spreads to the threads that bound them to our tapestry. Once the soul threads start to reach into the tapestry, you can not save them. They must be burned from our weave."
Kane was staring at Darian now, intently. When Bryol noticed, he laughed and told him, "Only fire-walkers can use this second sight, so you can stop trying."
Kane looked disappointed at this information, so Bryol continued, "Why do you think fire-walkers are so important to the race? They bear not only the responsibility of always watching the threads they hold, but also of burning the threads from the weave. An emptiness will always be felt by everyone who was attached to the person. That emptiness is felt the most by the ones more closely woven to the person's thread. Their parents, children, but most deeply by the three of you. My Lyra described it as a gaping hole that takes years to heal. Every time you have to remove a person from the weave that holds our people as one, it will hurt, it will ache, and you will feel it more intensely than anyone in our people. Learn to work with your watchers. Learn to use your skills with the skills of your watchers to find the people before the blackness takes them too deeply."
Patro had been listening and watching, but up until now had not said anything. At this bit of advice, he told Bryol, "We have not yet met our watchers. We do not know what the Watchers do, either."
Bryol looked at him, "As young as you are, there is no reason for you to have met your watchers. Your watchers do not yet hold the responsibility of the tapestry. Until you are 1000 years of age, everyone born is still woven to my Lyra, along with being woven to yours. For the next almost-1000 years, my Lyra still bears the burden of keeping our people safe. There is much for you to learn over the centuries, and much for your watchers to learn. But when the time comes, make sure you have a close relationship with your watchers. They can see the rogues form when they have the help of the Lyra." Darian started to say something, but before he could, Bryol told him, "Do not ask me how it works; some things are not meant for everyone to know. Some information will only be shared between Lyras and between Watchers. I can not teach you everything you will need to know to take your position as leaders of our race, but you have nine centuries to learn. The only thing I am planning on teaching you is how to recognize your shadow-walker when you meet—and maybe a few things I have picked up over the years that do not r
elate. Know this: you will need a close relationship with your watchers. Consider that a free lesson."
Darian and Kane looked enormously interested in what Bryol had just said about finding their shadow-walker, but Bryol noticed Patro seemed to have tuned the conversation out. Bryol did not think it really mattered if Patro, or even Kane, paid much attention to what he was saying—the only one who could actually find the shadow walker was Darian. But telling that to all three would not be a good idea, and it could cause resentment. Having reached that conclusion, he thought he should direct Patro's attention back to the conversation at hand. Maybe it would also be a smart thing to try give the impression that Kane and Patro needed to help Darian locate the shadow walker. After all, from what he understood, all three boys should be able to feel this person, and using those feelings, they should in time be able to narrow down the search. He was sure the boys would be very disappointed to realize they were not even going to start the search until Darian had mastered the soul vision, as his Lyra liked to call it. No time like the present to alert them to the fact they were stuck here for the unforeseeable future. Standing up, Bryol told the boys, "It is getting rather late. I will show you to your rooms now, and have Larcen collect you in the morning for the morning meal. After that, well we will be busy getting each of you ready for your part in locating the shadow walker. Before we can leave, Darian, you need to be able to accurately use the soul vision, and we do not leave until your dragons can each tell you that you may leave. And before you even think of trying to pull a fast one, yes, I do have a way of knowing when your dragons give final permission. We have many other things to cover before that will happen, though, so get some sleep. You’ll need the rest, trust me. You will work hard the next few weeks to accomplish everything that needs to happen before we leave."
Bryol laughed to himself after dropping the boys off at their common room and inviting them to chose which rooms they wanted to spend the next few weeks in. The boys had been shocked to hear the word weeks come out of his mouth. He could not wait to share this information with his Lyra.
Returning to his room, he took a deep breath and stepped into the void that would bring his next step out in the home of his fire-walker, separated by an ocean and half a continent. Sometimes age had great benefits, and practice, even more benefits. I should have checked to see how far the boys could step through the nothing and come out to another place. Oh well, he thought, no matter, I have months with them. Time to have a meeting with my Lyra. No time like the present to tell them what I have learned, and confirm the next steps I need to take—and laugh a bit—yes, these next few months are going to provide plenty of entertainment.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning after everyone had eaten, Bryol led them to a room with little in it beyond a few weapons on the walls. The room only had one door, despite being a fairly large room. The room also, being an interior room, had no windows. The floor was stone, with no rugs or carpeting upon it, unlike many of the rooms they had seen so far in passing. The walls were also bare, with no decorations other than the few weapons. Looking up, Darian noticed even the ceiling appeared to be stone. Turning to look at Kane and Patro, he noticed they, too, were staring around the room. Bryol, on the other hand, had continued into the room and was currently standing in the middle of the room. Motioning the boys closer, he told them, "I want to see how much you can do with the powers you have. Almost anyone can cast a personal shield—the more mature the person is, the greater the shield they can summon. The elite are trained to summon weapons, though few others learn how. The important thing is how strong you can make your shield, and how deadly you can make your weapon. I know all three of you have had some weapons and shield training, so let me see your shields and weapons."
The three boys smiled; now this was something they knew how to do. All three boys summoned their shields and weapons. In arrogance, they looked up proudly from what they had done to see what appeared to be a demon of ice, with the sharpest looking ice sword they had ever seen. Looking from what they had created—shields that did not even touch their bodies, but rather started a couple of feet from them and went up about waist-high—to the man standing in front of them, who looked to be wearing ice armor closely worn to his body as if it was a part of him, the boys’ moods went from arrogance to defeat in seconds. Their swords looked weak compared to his, as well. Patro and Kane turned to look at Darian, in his shield of fire and brandishing his sword of fire, and both thought that he at least stood a chance against the man in front of them. After all, Darian held a sword of fire, and everyone knows fire beats ice. Sadly for them, the boys had never actually seen an Elite in action. They were about to learn that although Bryol may or may not be able to hold his own with his fire walker, he would have no problem at all with the three of them. After the demonstration they were about to see, they would wonder for centuries if the stories were true that Bryol could beat his Lyra in a fight. And it would be many centuries before they would have the pleasure of watching Bryol spar with his Lyra.
The boys shuffled their feet and stared at the floor. They really did not want to look at Bryol at the moment. Unfortunately, watching Bryol was about to become a necessity.
Since none of the three of them were looking at Bryol, they did not notice his attack until too late. Before they could react, Kane and Patro were staring at the shattered remains of their swords and shields while Bryol held his sword to Darian's throat with the demand he yield and drop his shield. For a moment, arrogance overrode good sense, and instead of yielding, Darian pushed more fire to his shield and sword. Unfortunately for him, he had never learned how to fight, and he certainly did not realize that a slight waver, almost impossible to see, connected him to his fire. But Bryol was trained, he was an Elite, and he knew what that slight waver was—he knew that it resembled a thread, a thread that only had to be cut with his sword and the shield would collapse. The sword would remain since it was connected, was actually part of Darian's hand, but the shield was gone in a matter of moments.
All three boys stood looking at the place where just a second ago, Darian's shield had been, and after another moment, all three began inching away from the ice-covered demon in front of them. Realistically, they knew Bryol would never hurt them, but they had also been brought up to believe no one could get through the shield of a fire walker. When everyone in the race could summon ice, and most were very weak at it, to see ice trump fire was frightening. It was impossible—wasn’t it? Suddenly, they felt it was time to make a hasty retreat. Almost as though all three boys could mind-talk, they turned as one and raced for the door. They had just gotten a healthy dose of reality and fear, and they only had one thought—strategic retreat, or at least a hasty retreat. The room was large; they were a good distance from the door, and they had a 3000-year-old Elite in the room with them. Before they had gotten halfway to the door, Bryol had taken a step which took him out of the room and into the void, finishing his step to reappear in front of the door, facing into the room—putting him right in front of the retreating boys, who stopped so suddenly in an attempt to flee the other way that they fell together in a tangle of limbs.
Bryol doubled over in laughter and let his shield and sword absorb back into himself. Shadows, he could not wait till the next time he went home to tell his Lyra about this. Sadly, he thought it would have to wait a few days. Stepping that far twice in one night really took a toll on a person. And after doing it last night, he was tired. The boys, who had been struggling to regain their feet, seemed to calm down once he had absorbed his shield and sword. Getting to their feet, they warily kept their eyes on Bryol, who had not managed to stop laughing. Finally, Bryol regained his breath from the laughter that he was still trying to contain. Shaking his head, he told the three boys, "You have a lot of training to do. Some things I can help you with, and some things I can not. I can show you what an ice shield should look like, but I can not help you form one. Darian, I can tell you what a fire shield should lo
ok like, but of course, it should go without saying I can not show you. I can show you what an ice sword should look like, but I can not show you a fire sword. I can, though, tell you just what one should look like. By the time you go home, I expect you all to be able to make a shield that fits you. Those shields you made are good for nothing but hiding in. This afternoon, all three of you will return to this room to practice, and you will practice until called for the evening meal. For now, we have some more things I need to check concerning your abilities."
Looking at Darian, he told him, "I want you to step from here," pointing to a spot on the floor, "to the other side of this room." Looking at Kane and Patro he told them, "And I want you to follow him."
Darian looked at Kane, then Patro and shrugging, he took a step—and stepped out halfway across the room. Kane and Patro quickly followed, but neither boy made it quite to the middle of the room. Bryol took a deep breath. Maybe this is not going to be so fun after all, he briefly thought.
"Ok, Darian—now I want you to close your eyes, and keep them closed." After Darian closed his eyes, Bryol stepped over to where Kane and Patro stood, and taking each of them by the arm, he pulled them to the right side of the room. When they reached the side of the room, he quietly told them, "Do not move, and do not make a sound."
Taking a step, he came out just in front of Darian, who had turned around to face the door when he landed moments earlier. Taking his arm, he turned him a quarter turn to the right, to face the left side of the room so that the doorway was now on his left, and his benyans were directly behind him. "Now Darian, without opening your eyes, I want you to take a step forward and come out by Kane and Patro."
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