by Lisa Lowell
“Like the lady that died was Queen of Rivers?”
“Exactly. And before you ask, you let your wall down again and I know what you're going to write. No, I don't know where your gifts reside. That is another thing you are Seeking.”
“What else?” she asked, realizing that she might need an eternal life to accomplish all that this Seeking demanded of her. Or to get used to keeping her wall of shields up even in her sleep.
“You will also look for a pendant that opens the door to a palace somewhere in the Land. It will be yours and befits the title of Queen, though the idea of ruling is completely wrong. We are not rulers. We are masters of the magic of some aspect of nature or magic itself. Rivers and Mountains, while they have hidden power, they don't need to be ruled per se,” he replied.
“What is Owailion the King of?”
“He is probably best considered the King of Creation. He doesn't have any true focus unless it is crafting things. His Seeking tasks involved building those palaces for the rest of us, creating and then hiding the Talismans the rest of us must find.”
“So he makes the compulsions then?”
“No, he is manipulated by them just as we are. In fact without a way to be with his wife, he really is a slave in that sense. He cannot escape it though he would probably want to. He won't be released from that compulsion until the earth ends or perhaps when all the Wise Ones have become Seated.”
“Seated? You mean, when we have found our palaces and Talismans and everything?”
“Yes, the Land will, according to legend, be sealed again and we will have peace from all outside magic.”
Gailin was about to ask if the compulsions would end, when she suddenly felt a tug at her heart and gasped. She had only written two words when she realized that she had to go see her grandmother and dropped the stylus to do just that. She had to go. Some small part of her brain realized that she was being forced, that this was exactly what they had feared. Could she manage to tell Vamilion? Her mind shrieked, even as she made the incredible effort to pick up the stylus and book before she began walking with deliberate steps back the way she had come the day before.
“He's calling me!” she cried out, using the newly minted skills they'd been practicing all afternoon.
For one paralyzing second she heard and felt nothing from Vamilion.
“Can you take the book with you?” she heard in her mind and sighed with relief. Vamilion wouldn't abandon her in this, now that their worst scenario had just occurred.
“Yes, but I cannot look at it. I'm walking west, not even following the river. Please help me.” As she said this Gailin didn't realize she could weep in her thoughts but she could feel the tears burning at the back of her eyes. No one should be forced, especially by an evil power, just because her name was known. What awaited her?
“Relax, Gailin, and think.” Vamilion's mind voice rumbled through her, buffing away the jagged edges of her panic. “Now, you know this area. How long, walking at the pace you're at, will it take to reach your home?”
Vamilion had not used name magic to calm her, but nonetheless she did begin to relax a bit as ordered. She walked with the setting sun in her eyes and considered his question. “Probably three hours. It's going to get dark soon and I won't be able to see well in this forest. Will I be able to stop to rest or sleep?”
“I don't know, but I will follow with you. I'm behind you now, and trying to catch up. Let's use this time to plan, shall we. I think this can work for us. We know he has your name but he hasn't killed you. That's a good thing. That probably means he doesn't know you're a Wise One… at least I don't think he does. He suspects you're magic, but he wouldn't have dared this bold of a move if he knew or even guessed that you are as powerful as me. That's not his style. This hunter/sorcerer watches, waits, assesses and perhaps reports back to someone Outland. Give him as little magic to see as you can. Let him believe that you are not the one who broke your bonds, that it was me. But remember, you cannot lie to him.”
“Cannot lie…How?” Her own mental voice sounded again on the verge of panic. “If I won't be able to use magic or lie to him, how can I protect myself or my grandmother if he only has to tell me to die? He will know the minute I don't have anything to say and…”
“Gailin, breathe. It's going to take your most careful thought. He doesn't know you and you don't know him. He will probably not let you see his magic either. He's subtle. He'll be all helpful and probably kinder at first than you would suspect. He won't want to frighten you. In his mind you're a little rabbit coming into his snare and he doesn't want to startle you. He will want you alive, trapped and perhaps frightened, but he won't hurt you. He must not know that you are actually a powerful bear he has captured. I will remain outside his sensing range, helping you as I can. When you know how to get past his shields or maybe even his true name, then we can strike. Now let's practice things you can say without lying. How will you explain a blank book that you write in?”
It took only a moment to realize she had a ready answer. “A friend gave it to me. I will use it to record my findings in the forest; herbs and such. I always wanted to draw the plants I have gathered and experiment with them as medicines or supplements to flavor foods.”
“Perfect. See, you are already receiving the inspiration that comes with being a Wise One. Now, how will that help you?”
“I'll be able to keep the book with me and it won't look strange if I write in a blank book or look back on previous pages. Can you write to me so he cannot see?”
“If he is there when you read it, no. He will sense it as magic coming near him, not just yours… just like he will be able to sense my thoughts toward you unless I shield them terribly close, but if I write at odd times and then allow what I write to disappear after you've read them it will still look like a blank book. I can give you a compulsion to read them, but anything else will be obvious. Now, I've been thinking about how this can work to our advantage. If he's a sorcerer, and he knows that you are magical as well, maybe you can get him to teach you what I don't dare. Challenge him to a dual of the minds, once he admits that he has magic. He will teach you to shield as well as attack. The skill is the same, no matter that he's evil.”
“Is that safe? What if he breaks into my mind? Won't he…he…see you there?” she asked.
“You haven't seen me at all, remember. He'll be looking for me and all he'll see is what you have seen; me running away. He won't think to look in the book, which I am now filling with a few drawings and commentary on plants, like you suggested. Feel free to add more, but be aware, mine aren't coming from any true plant knowledge.”
Gailin felt herself smile at Vamilion's frank admission. She didn't think she would be able to smile, not while her legs moved her inexorably toward certain danger and possible death. The sun had set and she found herself stumbling and reaching out to steady herself against tree trunks but she held fast to the book as if her life depended on it. Perhaps it did.
“Now, there are a few more things I have not been able to tell you that might come up. Whatever you do, you must not make him any promises or oaths. Use words like 'alright' rather than 'yes', or nod rather than admit to anything,” Vamilion instructed. In the back of his mind she could hear his running pace as he trotted to catch up with her, running at an oblique angle so he would not get too close but would arrive at his closest approach before she reached her home.
“Why must I not make any promises or oaths?” she asked, wishing she could stop and rest for a bit.
“He will know that you are a Wise One if you do. When we make a solemn oath or vow…it changes us. Someday you'll see. We appear as the King or Queen we are, fit to live in one of those grand palaces and this change in appearance will be instant. He'll know and you'll be discovered. I would show you, but I don't think that's wise. Other compulsions would kick in if I tried, and we don't need that as a complication. Just trust me that you cannot promise him anything.”
“I trust
you, Vamilion,” she whispered aloud even as she sent him the message mentally as well. And she did, though she had little reason to believe anything she had experienced recently. Indeed the whole last three days seemed surreal. She would wake up in her bed, with her grandmother in the other bed, her chores waiting for her in the spring garden and all would be well: no angry villagers calling her a witch, no hangman's noose around her neck, no sorcerers casting spells on her, no… She looked down at the book clutched in her arms. No Vamilion or his magic? He was too real, too concrete to be a dream. She knew he was real even if she had not seen his face.
“Another thing,” he interrupted her thoughts that for once she had carefully kept behind her shield. “We need to make the Heart Stone disappear. He might not know what it does but you won't be able to explain it and it's obviously magical.”
“If I dropped it here in the forest, could you find it again?” she asked, but wondered if she could even summon the will to reach into her pocket and fetch out the marble he had given her on the gallows.
“No… well, yes I could find it but you separating from it would not be wise. The Heart Stone must remain with you. It is where the magic flows and it acts as a judge. If he ordered you to do something evil with your magic, it should prevent you, even above the name magic. And it can act as a guide just like the book. If I left you a message in the Heart Stone, he wouldn't even know. All you need to do is touch it. Can you make it invisible?”
“I can try,” she replied warily. Here she was, stumbling around in the dark, tripping over tree roots, clutching a book and trying to fish her Heart Stone out of her pocket without dropping either of her precious possessions. It took her supreme concentration. She found the orb in her pocket and drew it out, wondering if her wish could make it disappear. She held it out, grateful for its soft glow, almost enough to light her way, but she was about to make it fade. She set her wish on it and watched the light blink out and the dark descend again, though she felt it still in her palm. With regret she dropped it back into her pocket.
“It's done,” she called to Vamilion. “Can you sense it with me?”
“No, but that's a good thing. Only you know where it is. Now, can you tell how near you are to your house? I don't dare come much closer.”
“How do I do that? I don't think I can do magic with all this stomping through the trees and…” Gailin could sense her panic inhibiting even her mind link to Vamilion, somewhere just north of her.
Vamilion's deep voice calmed her, made her compartmentalize her fear into a separate portion of her brain and she could hear him give her precise instructions. “Reach out your mind, like when you were trying to reach for me. Instead, reach toward your grandmother. You know her and can sense if she's there. Can you judge the distance?
It would have been easier if she could stop walking and close her eyes to concentrate on this little act of magic. She wouldn't have been able to recognize anything here in the dark, off her familiar paths even if she was already in her garden, but doing so with magic meant little to her now. She did indeed close her eyes, holding one hand out in front of her so that she wouldn't run into a tree as she threw her mind forward, stretching and flowing like fresh water across the terrain. As if she could see it, she felt a gentle push. Her mind and hand were the same. She could feel the texture of wood, the flicker of a fire set to trim the night's chill and wondered at the scent of a stew somewhere near…too near.
“It's very close,” she gasped and drew her impressions back into her mind. “I'll be there in moments. Are you too near?”
Vamilion's reply gave her a different kind of comfort. “Don't fret about me. Can you tell how many people are there? Your grandmother? You need the experience of hearing some other mind than mine. Be careful to not touch the sorcerer's mind.”
Obediently Gailin moved her thoughts to the north east corner of the cabin where her grandmother's bed could be nearest the fire. She wove through the thick wood logs of the wall and found the dim, hazy thoughts of her ancient grandmother, dreaming of the warm hearth in the home of her youth. Grandmother was alive and comfortable, if not healthy. Gailin also sensed someone else, large and moving, almost shouldering her thoughts aside as he paced back and forth but she didn't dare investigate. She would meet him soon enough.
“She's there,” Gailin told her protector. “Wish me luck,” she added as her hand reached out for the cabin door.
Chapter 4 – Back Home
Overall her cabin looked just as it had the night the villagers had come to arrest her. The wood in the fire box had been replenished but other than that, it was the same. Grandma nestled in her blankets didn't stir when Gailin closed the door and looked about her with wonder. The sorcerer who stood on the far side of the table looked at her without surprise and wordlessly motioned for her to go see how her grandmother fared. As if Gailin's return were a common occurrence, he began to ladle out two bowls of the stew she had detected. She couldn't resist, but went to kneel at grandmother's side and found her little changed. Her thin, soft skin looked so pale Gailin could almost see through to the veins that ran beneath. Gently Gailin rested her hand against grandma's cheek and whispered, “I'm here.”
Her grandmother didn't react, though Gailin's face passed through the dreams behind the dimmed eyes. For her part the younger woman rose unsteadily to her feet and now addressed herself to the other occupant of the single room cabin. The sorcerer was tall and lean, dark featured and very angular, making it hard to determine his age. His neatly trimmed hair and beard bespoke of time and money, but not a single silver hair to speak of age. His finely cut suit and boots seemed out of place in a simple cabin like this. A dark navy cloak of velvet rested over one of the chairs as if he had only just arrived and she wondered how he would explain himself.
Trying mightily to keep her voice steady, Gailin addressed him as he finished setting the table. “Thank you, sir, for watching over her. Who are you?”
“I was in town, passing through and heard about a lady having to abandon her grandmother because of a rather remarkable hanging and thought I could help. Jonis was here but asked me to watch so he could get back to his crops. I hope you're hungry. I'm not much of a cook.”
Gailin steadied her shields before she thought about Jonis with a pit of fear drilling through her. She knew instinctively that her friend would have stayed here, not passed this duty off on another, especially a stranger. What had happened to Jonis? She dare not think about her fear for the poor farmer. Instead she put her hand into her pockets and felt the Heart Stone there and it gave her strength to move on.
“I am hungry, sir, but you didn't answer my question. Who are you?”
The tone of her voice must have said something to him, for he paused before he pulled out the chair for her. “Come, sit Gailin. I'm Drake.”
With her hand on the Heart Stone Gailin saw a flash of change in the sorcerer's appearance. Because of the name magic demanding her to come take a seat, she had to obey, but not without a fearful glance at the snake's tongue that slithered out of his mouth when he said his name. He was a liar at best and the Heart Stone made that visible. Was it a truth detector? Perhaps, but she expected she would see far more if she could somehow make his true nature visible. Now was not the time for her to challenge him. Instead she deliberately walked past the proffered chair and took the one opposite.
“It looks wonderful, and I am hungry,” she admitted, not making eye contact with the gentleman but instead looked at the venison stew and crusty bread he had prepared. Had he made this magically or was he skilled at cooking?
Unfazed by her rejection of his polite manners, Drake sat at the seat he had pulled out and they began eating. Gailin, for her part, kept her hand off the Heart Stone. She didn't want the magic or her reaction to what it showed her to give her away. She disbelieved all of what Drake told her as he explained how he had come to be in her home. However, when he mentioned that he knew better how to tend to the diseases and conditions of a
ged people, this fired her interest.
“You are a healer?” she asked.
“After a fashion,” he admitted. “I've studied the human body and many of the diseases found in other lands and thought I could share them here.”
Gailin had to stop eating just to stare at Drake. Vamilion had warned her that this sorcerer would seem kinder than he actually was, but she hadn't believed Drake would be so charming and have the same skills as her. She must not let down her guard, but she was indeed fascinated. “How did you know I was interested in healing?”
Drake didn't admit anything at first, but he focused on her intently. “I heard about you in the village. Everyone begged me to stay since you had run off and there was no one to act as a healer. I think they regret ever distrusting you,” he murmured and his dark green eyes gleamed invitingly.
Behind her shield Gailin had to remind herself that she had been pulled here against her will. She was his slave. She must not be lured by his enchantments. He was a deceiver, no matter how mannerly or gentle he might seem. She must make him only believe that she was interested in what he had to offer.
“Can you teach me?” she whispered.
Drake cocked his head slightly, as if surprised. “I probably know less about healing than you. The body, I know, but not the herbs and medicines, nor the methods that might work.”
Gailin swallowed her fear and went on the offensive. “Then a sharing of knowledge,” she proposed. “I will teach you of the medicines I know if you will teach me how the body works. Perhaps that way we can both grow in our understanding.” This suggestion came abruptly, boldly, brushing away her fear of it. This must be a Wise One's prompting. Somewhere privately she remembered that Vamilion wanted her to learn magic from this dark practitioner and this would do it. She would learn more than magic from him and make him pay for ever manipulating her.