Royal Falcon

by Chris Svartbeck

  A cold shiver ran down Jokon’s spine. He wasn’t so sure it was so quick and painless when Master Go created his mirrors. No one had ever watched him do it. Master Go’s cold eyes never promised anything good. “We probably can’t do it alone,” Jokon said slowly. “But what if we don’t act alone? I don’t think Kai or Tur have realized we are helping each other. They wouldn’t even think of working together. Nao, okay, Nao is another matter. I would be careful with him. But Kai and Tur...”

  “And how do you plan to become a candidate? Only Master Go nominates candidates, and no one knows the criteria based on which he chooses them.”

  Jokon stared at his book. There had to be a way. They simply had to become adepts. Only as adepts, were they somewhat safe from Master Go. And they both had to make it. He needed Tevi at his side, he needed his strength and unwavering constancy.

  Jokon tried to tease information out of Gav again. He sought her out in her room. She was sitting motionless before the open window. Apparently, she was flying a falcon. Jokon wanted to bring her back, but his hand hit an invisible barrier. He was confused for a moment. He wasn’t familiar with this spell. Very well, there was nothing he could do. Jokon sat down on the floor and waited.

  The sun had traveled three hand-widths before the falcon appeared in the window and flew to Gav. Shortly thereafter, she stirred. “What are you doing here?” Gav’s voice was biting. “I didn’t summon you!”

  “Gav, I need your help. Tevi and I...”

  “Why should I help you? Idiot! If I help you, I only make my own chances worse!”

  “But we were friends!”

  “Friends,” Gav murmured, “Yes, we were. But,” her voice grew harsh again, “that was the past. That was for children. We are adults now. Well, at least I am. You, on the other hand, seem quite immature to me.” A second falcon screeched. Gav’s falcon took off and flew out of the window.

  “You are flying with someone else?” Jokon asked, dumbfounded.

  “Nao,” Gavila responded curtly.

  “Did you tell him our secret?”

  “I didn’t have to. He knows the secret of falcon flight. Apparently, it isn’t that big of a deal.”

  Jokon’s emotions were in turmoil. Gav and Nao were flying together... and Gav wanted nothing more to do with him... “Gav, please, do me a favor at least,” he pleaded, his voice trembling. “Don’t tell Nao about us. I don’t expect you to do anything for us, but please, don’t act against us!”

  Gav glared at him for a moment, furious, then lowered her eyelids over her pale green eyes and nodded briefly. Jokon left the room feeling uneasy.

  Over the next few days, Jokon observed Gav closely. It was clear her interests lay in the tower. She had a relationship with Nao that was clearly beyond that of a student and teacher. Gav’s body language betrayed her. She was in love with Nao. Nao, on the other hand, didn’t let on at all. He was as relaxed and calm as ever during the few lessons he still taught the Blues, but he summoned Gav to the tower or his room nearly every day, and she often spent the night there.

  The Blues gossiped about Gav having very good chances. Nao would certainly make sure his student received the best training. He wondered if Gav would fight Kai.

  There was no fight. One day, Gav was summoned to the tower and never returned. The house was in an uproar. Weren’t the adept candidates and the adepts protected? How could Master Go do that? Would the infamous Crystal Chamber intervene?

  Jokon realized he missed Gav. As distant as she had been, he couldn’t forget that she had opened the door to sorcery for him. In his memories, she wasn’t Gav, the adept candidate, she was his old friend Gavila; the quiet, young Blue who painted pictures of the mountains back home and hunted the plains with him as a falcon. What had happened to her? And why?

  Jokon doggedly tried to get Nao to tell him something. Nao just raised his eyebrows. “I will tell you nothing. I have only one piece of advice for you,” he said, in his calm manner. “There are no rules. There are only winners and losers. Remember that in the arena. There will never be a fair fight between sorcerers.”

  For some reason he couldn’t understand, Nao took Tevi under his wing and began training him more intensely. Master Go took his time and, at first, didn’t nominate any new candidates. Jokon had established a permanent connection to Tevi so he was practically always at the edge of his consciousness and learned what Nao taught him. Primarily, Tevi learned to further focus his power with concentration exercises. He also learned how to create mirrors.

  Jokon quickly understood that they had only scratched the surface of mirror theory. He had created all of his mirrors from his own energy; at least the small mirrors. Only his power mirror contained the additional energy he had fought for in the arena. The trained adepts and sorcerers, however, had created far vaster sources of energy. As Jacitin and Gavila had tried to tell him, Master Go harvested his students’ energy and the adepts followed his example. While the adepts only took energy from others if they were in direct contact, Master Go had apparently refined his methods and continuously tapped the energy of everyone living in his house. Now that Jokon was paying attention, he was able to hear the humming of the energy lines which ran to the tower from everywhere in the house. Where were the corresponding mirrors? It made him crazy that he couldn’t find any mirrors, except in the main wall. Jokon knew the white crystals in the arena, like the mirrors, were also able to collect and store energy, but there were no crystals in the house, either. So how did Master Go collect the energy?

  He found the answer by sheer coincidence. It was one of the few pleasantly temperate mornings, just after the monsoon season. It had rained the night before and Marada had opened the windows in the dining hall to let in the fresh, sweet air. Several new Grays had come to the house during the monsoon season and some of them seemed to have real talent. A small, four-year-old boy, in particular, made Jokon’s head buzz whenever he came close. The little boy found it difficult to assert himself against the larger children at the table. Mugara, who was four years older, laughingly snatched a piece of cake from under his nose. The little boy went absolutely crazy, flailed about, and screamed at Mugara. The cake flew from Mugara’s hand, as though by a ghostly hand, and floated over to the little boy, accompanied by a gust of wind that came out of nowhere and shook the window sashes and felt like a barrage in Jokon’s head. Out of the corner of his eye, Jokon saw something white shimmering on the open window sash. The shimmer disappeared so quickly, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Whatever it was, white meant he should take a closer look. The crystals were white, too...

  Nao arose, interested, and walked over to the Grays’ table. They cowered, frightened. “What is your name?” Nao asked the little boy.

  “Sirgo,” he whispered and ducked his head a bit.

  “Sirgo, after lunch, you will come to the tower with me. We are going to pay Master Go a visit.”

  The rest of the meal continued in silence. Even the new Grays knew a visit to the tower was seldom a good thing.

  When they were done eating and all the other students and adepts had left the room, Jokon went to the window. It looked completely normal; a massive, wooden window, painted white and filled with bubble glass panes in lead frames. He didn’t see anything special about the glass and the lead frames looked normal. He looked more closely at the window frame. Nothing. He felt around with the tips of his fingers. Warm, somewhat cracked wood; the seams sealed by the thick paint. His fingers touched the edge of the glass. Something flickered. Startled, Jokon jerked his hand back. The tips of his fingers tingled and went numb. He took a closer look at the spot. In a corner, where the glass met the wood, there was a tiny, almost invisible mirror, no larger than the nail on his little finger. That was the shimmer he had seen before. How clever of Master Go! If the window had been closed as it usually was, he never would have noticed the white shimmer in the sunlight as it fell into the room.

  When he turned around, Marada was standing be
hind him.

  “So, you finally found them,” she said soberly.

  Jokon stared at her in disbelief. “You knew?” He glanced at the other servants. “You all knew about them?”

  Marada shrugged her shoulders. “It’s harmless. Doesn’t hurt anyone. And anyway, what good would it have done you to know?”

  “These mirrors collect energy,” Jokon said slowly. “What else can they do?”

  “Observe,” Marada responded.

  Jokon turned around like a sleepwalker and went to his room.

  A brief look confirmed his suspicion. There were little mirrors there, too. And in the corridor. And the classroom. Master Go had full access to anywhere in the house.

  Jokon thought back to the evenings when they had studied in secret in Gavila’s room. Master Go must have known. He was playing with them like a cat with a mouse!

  *

  Ioro watched the fat kitchen cat. She was playing with a little mouse. She kept raising her paw to let the mouse run away a bit. Then, she would slam her paw back down, trapping the mouse between her razor-sharp claws. The mouse was already bleeding from several wounds, but it still kept running, not giving up. Every time the cat caught it again, the mouse had inconspicuously moved closer to a hole in the wall. Ioro figured it wouldn’t need more than four attempts to get to the hole. Ioro observed them. The mouse had almost reached its goal. One more attempt lay between it and safety. The cat let go again. The mouse scurried. The cat pounced. The mouse’s spine snapped. The cat had put an end to her cruel game.

  Ioro smiled approvingly. The cat was a clever strategist. He would remember this tactic.

  Urgutan observed Prince Ioro. The young man seemed to have forgotten his meeting with the old man entirely. He was behaving normally and wasn’t showing the grand master anything but the respect he was due. The old man had planted his seed well. Now, he just had to wait to see if it bore fruit.

  Ioro was exploring the area around the temple. The mountains fascinated him. They were so different than the flatlands around the palace he called home, so he decided to explore them further. He had much more freedom at the temple than he did at the palace. He was allowed to go out alone whenever he had enough time between classes.

  Ioro was hiking along a thundering mountain stream. At least it was cool in the narrow, shady ravine. Unfortunately, the stream left little space for a hiker. Spray water had covered the stones with a slippery coat of sludge. One wrong step and he might fall into the deep gully. He concentrated, placing one foot in front of the other. The ravine narrowed before him. A rockslide had broken off the ledge and almost completely blocked the stream. The water fell from above, over the rubble and into a narrow but powerful waterfall. He couldn’t go any further. Ioro looked around, searching. He thought he saw a place where he could climb out of the ravine on the other side of the stream, where the boulder had broken off. He just had to cross the stream somehow. Ioro looked for a passable route. Just when he was about to give up, he saw a much darker area behind the waterfall. There appeared to be a hollow in the rock. Perhaps he could crawl behind the waterfall. Ioro carefully climbed over the broken rocks. A rock crumbled beneath his left foot. He clung to the rocks and held his breath. The boulder beneath his right foot held. Relieved, he exhaled and concentrated again. Hand, foot, hand, foot. There was the overhang. Indeed, there was a low, open space behind it, large enough for him to get through. Ioro slithered between the cliff and the water jet. The rocks were very slippery. Ioro started to have doubts as to whether it had been wise to take this path, but he couldn’t turn back now. He carefully pushed himself forward. His hand slipped, but he quickly found the next hold. Just a bit further. He could see the end of the water curtain just ahead. Relieved, Ioro exhaled and pushed himself forward again. A rock gave way beneath the weight of his body. Before he could cry out, the roaring water jet grabbed him and pulled him down; straight into the white, foamy maelstrom of water and boulders.

  *

  Jokon didn’t have anything to do. Master Go was traveling again and the Reds, like always, were neglecting the Blues’ lessons. Tevi had stolen away for a pleasant afternoon with one of the kitchen maids and it was simply too hot to crack the books. Jokon languidly threw a stone against the wall. Then a second. But it was even too hot for that. There was no movement in the courtyard. Jokon climbed atop the wall and sat in the shadow of the tower. At least there was a bit of a breeze there, even if it was as hot as air from an oven. There weren’t even any falcons in the sky. But he didn’t need to see them. Jokon took a small mirror from his pocket and searched for his royal falcon. He found the gray bird not far from the mountains where he had watched the students practicing sword fighting at the temple. Jokon reached out with his energy and slipped into the falcon’s mind.

  The temple lay below him, silent and abandoned in the scorching midday heat. He didn’t see a soul. He briefly flew passed the windows, only to find there weren’t any lessons being held either. The students and the priests were lazing about on their cots or passing the time playing board games in the cooler depths of the large halls. The young swordfighter who had spoken to him last time was nowhere to be found.

  The falcon was hungry. Jokon let him fly up and search for prey. Not even the mice were moving in the scorching heat. In the distance, Jokon saw something that piqued his interest. A half dozen large vultures were circling a mountainside. Jokon guided the falcon closer. What had the vultures found? A narrow ravine opened in the mountainside, from which a stream sprang and flowed into a small rock pool before it continued on, meandering gently through the valley. A body was lying where the stream met the rock pool at a pile of small and large rocks. The falcon could see a gaping gash on his back. No blood, but the constant pelting of the waterfall would have washed it away. His legs were lying in the water, his upper body and head hung over a larger boulder, half in the air. The falcon’s keen eyes saw his ribcage rise weakly. The man was still alive. It was pure luck that the torrent had thrown him to dry ground. But that was where his luck had run out. It didn’t look like the man was capable of saving himself. Jokon wasn’t even certain he would survive at all. The rock he was caught on wouldn’t hold him long. Every time a new wave of water hit him, it pulled him a few inches toward the water-filled pool. If the man didn’t wake up soon, he would fall in and drown.

  Jokon landed the falcon right next to the unconscious man. Amazed, he realized he was standing beside the same young man he had met in the temple armory.

  Hmmm. Strange.

  Jokon thought for a moment. Should he really just sit here and watch the young man die? There had to be something he could do. He moved the falcon closer. He stretched out his talons and poked the man’s arm. No reaction. The falcon clumsily climbed to the man’s head and nipped at his ear. Again, no reaction. Was the cut on his back simply too deep? Jokon made the falcon climb a bit further. Its keen eyes inspected the cut; it went down to the ribs but didn’t look life-threatening. Another powerful wave came while the falcon was sitting on the man’s back. The falcon instinctively dug its talons deep into the flesh of the man’s back so it wouldn’t get washed away.

  At that moment, Jokon felt a familiar energy structure. The falcon had felt it before during the sword fight. The young man was a sorcerer! He wasn’t trained, but the energy signature was distinct. Without thinking, he let his consciousness slip into the man’s body. The disheveled falcon shook its wet feathers, screeched dissonantly and fluttered away.

  He could take care of the owner of the body later. First, he had to get him to safety. Jokon took control of the body and forced it, despite the pain, down from the rock and onto the safety of the dry riverbank.

  Then he took stock. First, the most astonishing part... How had he managed to get into this body? The falcon had been sitting on the body, but it had touched it before without anything happening. Next option! What had changed? The falcon had been sitting on the man’s back and then dug its claws into his body. That was i
t! Contact with blood! In that moment, he had felt the energy pathways! Jokon was wildly triumphant. This opened up new possibilities!

  A wave of pain in his borrowed body called him back to reality. First, he had to take care of more pressing matters. He inspected the body. Massive blood loss, several bruises, the cut on the back, two broken ribs, a sprained hand and a concussion. The glow of the energy pathways was dim. The young man would not survive without his help. Jokon first stabilized his breathing and circulation, stopped the bleeding and blocked the pain signals. He couldn’t heal him any more than that.

  Then, he looked around for the owner of the body. The mind space into which he delved was like cottony fog. Grayish-red streaks ran through the fog. He vaguely perceived a dark, threatening shadow lurking in a corner behind the fog.

  He called out. “Where are you?”

  A voice reverberated briefly in response. “Who are YOU?”

  The fog seemed to solidify, then started rippling again. Jokon called out louder. It seemed as if something were trying to materialize nearby. He reached out for it and tried to make the fog solidify. It worked. The young man, whose body he had taken possession of, took shape in the fog. At the edge of his consciousness, Jokon noticed the nebulous surroundings transforming into an opulent palace hall with slim columns surrounding a spiraling corridor and an open ceiling with a view of the sky. That dark something was still lurking, but it was now almost completely out of view.