Relevart glanced at him and smiled. “Good. You do have self-discipline.” He set his mug on the small table between them. “Your father guessed that you had potential to become a DiMensioner when you were quite young and sent word to me. Since then, I have kept watch over you. I knew there were those who would make a play to obtain your allegiance. What I did not foresee…”
Wolloh raised his eyes from his mug and shot him a look of disbelief.
“I am not all-knowing, Wolloh. However, I do have sharp eyes and ears posted throughout the Inner Universe. These trusted informers watch and learn, and they send me information. One sent word that the Mocendi were interested in you. As well informed and fast as I am, the League was quicker than I expected. I am sorry you had to stand trial and that you are now banished from Roahymn. A time will come when the ban will be lifted, but not, I’m afraid, for a long while.
“So, with Banzel’s help, you escaped when your shuttle laid over on Persow. Getting you to Geela was important. Establishing your desire to become an initiate of the Order of Esprow was even more so. That is why I traveled back in time to provide you with the information you needed to ignite your desire to become the man you are meant to be.”
“You traveled back in time?”
“I have attained the highest ranking in the Order of Esprow, VarTerel. I can and do travel through time but only to effect good and only when it is beneficial to Humankind.”
Wolloh leaned closer. “You are Velar. You traveled back three returns to assure I would learn more about the Art of DiMensionery and begin to discover my gifts. You wanted to be sure of me and to make certain I found you. Were you the rabbit too?”
Relevart smiled and relaxed back in his chair. “I was indeed.”
“Did you bring me here, or did I teleport here myself?”
“I couldn’t let Tade take you. Your desire to become a DiMensioner acted like a beacon. I brought you here.”
Wolloh frowned.
“If you choose to do so, Wolloh, you will soon be teleporting on your own…even to places you have not seen before like this cottage. Today, it was expedient for me to help.”
A flush warmed Wolloh’s face. “I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful. It’s just that…”
“You wanted to do it yourself. Your desire to be the best will help you learn quickly. Pay attention and be careful or it could also impede your progress.”
The knowing expression on his face made Wolloh’s flush deepen. He stared into his mug of ale and watched the tiny bubbles rise. “Jaff bet me he could steal more sacred artifacts from the temple and return them without getting caught.” Wolloh pursed his lips and gave his host a sideways glance. “I bit, or at least I almost did. The thought of my mother’s disappointment and my father’s anger if they ever found out made me reconsider removing anything from the temple. I did, of course, hide a good number of artifacts in a storage room to show Jaff that I had out done him. He disappeared that night. Later two city guards arrived at our door. They found stolen artifacts in my room.” Wolloh twisted the gold ring on his finger and glowered. “If I’d actually done it, I would never have hidden anything at my home.” He looked at his mentor. “Jaff also defaced the sacred alter. That act in itself would have landed me in a penal colony.”
Relevart put down his empty mug and folded his hands in his lap. He turned a serious face to watch him from eyes as dark and deep as mountain pools. “What have you learned from the situation?”
Wolloh took a drink, let the warm brew slide down his throat, then set his mug on the table. With a supreme effort, he made himself remain calm. “Be careful who you trust. Don’t let ego trump your deck and land you in a situation you cannot escape from.” He shook his head. “I was so sure I could win, that I was better, quicker, and smarter than Jaff. Bet he’s getting a good laugh.”
“I think his journey will not be what he wished. But…that is not your concern. Let us talk now of what is to come. Are you sure becoming a DiMensioner is what you desire above all else?”
“Above all else, Relevart, I long to see my family again. Since that is impossible, becoming a DiMensioner is what I desire more than anything in my life.”
Relevart nodded. “Well said, Wolloh. Tomorrow we shall begin your training. Tonight let us take a walk in the fresh air.”
Wolloh lay in bed, arms behind his head, his gaze traveling the rough-hewed beams above him. He could hardly believe that two sun rotations had already passed. Life is full and good and exciting. I was destined for the penal colony, and now I am well on my way to becoming a DiMensioner. He brushed a stray lock of hair back from his face and returned his hand to the back of his head. I love DiMensionery. It is more fascinating and more empowering than I ever imagined. I know I can achieve the highest level. VarTerel…that’s my goal.
Closing his eyes, he reviewed the day’s lessons. Relevart had been especially demanding about every detail. Shape shifting… I’ve waited so long to learn it. Relevart suggested the osprey as my ultimate shape. I must be really good, or he wouldn’t have chosen something so hard to shape and so challenging to control. Only a small number of DiMensioner’s had managed it . Pride made him open his eyes and grin up at the ceiling.
His thoughts turned to his mentor. Relevart was the only VarTerel left in the Inner Universe. Once upon a time, he had been one of several. One by one, the Mocendi had captured and indoctrinated or destroyed his comrades. Relevart had managed to evade them by hiding in the mountains on Persow. An undistinguished, small planet, it escaped the notice of many, including his enemies.
The most exciting revelation of all, however, had been Relevart’s report that at least one new DiMensioner with the potential to master the gifts of the VarTerel would emerge during the upcoming Unfolding, a period of transition that would begin within a hidden dimension on the planet of Thera and spread from galaxy to galaxy throughout the Inner Universe.
Wolloh stretched and thumped his pillow into a more comfortable shape. Tomorrow I will prove to Relevart that I have what it takes to achieve the highest level in the Order of Esprow. Tomorrow… I will shape the osprey.
The morning, like many before it, arrived with blue skies dotted with powder-puff clouds. A feeling of anticipation made Wolloh launch himself from bed. He pulled on his clothes, admired his handsome face in the mirror, and hurried to the kitchen space.
Relevart sat at the table, smoke rising from the bowl of a long-stemmed pipe. The herbal tobacco smelled of dried flowers and dark, rich earth. He lowered it and regarded Wolloh with an air of questioning concern. “You will do exactly as I say today, or we will not continue your lesson on shape shifting.”
“Of course, I’ll do what you ask. Don’t I always?”
Relevart took a drag on his pipe and blew a series of circles into the air. “I seem to recall several occasions when you apparently did not hear my instructions. Give me your word that, today, you will hear and obey.”
“You have it, Relevart. I promise to pay attention and do what I’m told.”
“Hummmmm.” A cloud of smoke mingled with the white of his hair. “See that you do. Eat something. We have much to accomplish before the sun sets.”
Wolloh gulped down brown bread and jam and a cup of spiced tea. “I’m ready. Will you allow me to shift today?”
Narrowed eyes held his gaze. “You will shift, but not to the osprey. Come.”
When they arrived at the clearing in the woods where his lessons were held, Relevart demanded a recital of the previous day’s lessons and a detailed description of the Persow calfon, a small bird of prey that frequented the farmlands in the area.
Impatience made Wolloh testy as he complied with his mentor’s request. I’m ready. Why the delay?
Relevart turned a wary eye his direction. “Mask your thoughts if you are going to question my instructions, unless of course you want me to know that you’re doing so.”
“No one asked you to read my mind.” Wolloh snapped the thoughtless reply a
nd blushed. “Sorry. I’m just excited and can’t wait.”
His mentor pursed his lips and shook his head. “Well then, I suggest you shape the calfon. Picture it clearly. When I give you the word, shift.”
Excitement almost made Wolloh giddy. The look on his mentor’s face made him concentrate. The image of the calfon formed and focused.
Relevart’s command came shortly thereafter. “Shift!”
Effortlessly shaping the small bird of prey, he took to the air. Flight, even more amazing then he had imagined, mesmerized him. He shot skyward and circled around the clearing.
When he finally landed in human form in front of his mentor, he radiated the full power of his joy.
Relevart eyed him sternly. “I called you three times, Wolloh. Please do not ignore me again. You may not make another shift until I give you the word. Do not presume to think you are ready for the osprey. It is much more difficult to master than a calfon.”
Wolloh scowled. “But, I’m ready. I know it. Please let me shift today.”
Relevart shook his head and left the grassy clearing.
“I am ready.” Wolloh watched his mentor’s back disappear into the trees. Picking up a small twig, he twirled it between his fingers. “What could possibly go wrong? I am, after all, one of the best students Relevart has ever had.” With a deft flick of his wrist he sent the twig flying. “I’m shaping an osprey…today .”
Walking to the middle of the clearing, he raised his arms and closed his eyes. Images of an osprey formed…each minute detail, every feather, the tilt of its head, the span of its wings. Wolloh inhaled and the shift began. Bristling energy jerked his head back. A wing formed on his left side…a beak, a nose, a taloned claw, a foot He howled in terror as excruciating pain ripped through his body. The last thing he remembered was a soft word and a cool hand on his brow.
His slow and painful rise to consciousness occurred several returns later. He moaned. What is wrong with my body? Every fiber of it aches. A slow inventory brought him to the edge of panic. He could not move his left leg. His left arm was held rigid by a wooden splint. And his head and the left side of his face were swathed in bandages.
The figure of woman leaned over him. “Wolloh, can you hear me?”
He moaned.
“I’ll get Relevart.” She vanished from his field of vision.
When he opened his eye… Panic shot through him. “One eye,” he whispered.
A hand touched his arm. Relevart’s face hovered over him. “I’m here, Wolloh. You’re alive. Go back to sleep.” The hand moved to his forehead. He dropped into a deep sleep.
Wolloh sat in a chair by the window of the room in which he had spent the past several moon circuits, flexed the talon-like fingers of his left hand, and stared at his left knee. The leg muscles were responding to therapy, but he would always have a limp. My attempt to shape the osprey has left me a cripple. Why didn’t I listen to Relevart? Fear knotted his stomach. Today, the healer will remove the bandages from my face. What will I see beneath them? More importantly, will I be able to see out of my left eye?
Relevart entered the room, followed by the female healer who had attended to his personal needs over the course of his recovery. His mentor looked down at him. “We have not talked about the event that brought you to today. Do you remember what happened?”
The sympathy in his mentor’s voice made him look away. “You told me not to shape the osprey.” A tug on the left side of his mouth made the words sound muffled. Drool slid down his chin. With a self-conscious movement of his good hand, he brushed it away. Speaking more slowly, he continued. “I remember feeling angry. After that, I don’t know.” His right eye closed then opened as Relevart spoke.
“You chose to shape shift one of the most difficult birds to shape without my assistance. It took you halfway through the shift and left its mark on your left side. You will wear the results of this choice for the rest of your life. Today, we will remove your bandages. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
The healer unwrapped the dressings, all but the one holding a patch over his eye. She washed his cheek and mouth with a soft warm cloth and stepped back. “Shall I uncover it?”
Wolloh swallowed and nodded. Closing his right eye, he waited as gentle fingers unwrapped the final bandage and removed the patch. The impulse to keep both eyes closed was countered by his need to know. He covered his right eye with an unsteady hand and opened the left. A fist of despair knotted his stomach. Tears streamed down his face.
“Wolloh, tell us what you can see.” Relevart’s voice was soft and knowing.
“N-n-nothing.”
Relevart knelt beside him. “Perhaps you have done enough for today.”
He licked his lips and tested their ability to form words. “I need a mirror.” At least his speech was better. “My imagination is in all likelihood worse than the reality.”
The healer placed a mirror in his uninjured hand. Without looking, he raised it. Gathering his courage, he gazed at his reflection. At first the magnitude of what he saw did not sink in. Then shock sent a tremor through his entire body. That can’t be me. I can’t possibly look like that.
His hand began to shake. Relevart placed his around it. The mirror steadied. Wolloh stared at his left cheek where pale blue veins formed a webbed pattern on the ripple of scars that cascaded toward his chin. The pupil of his eye was a milky white. Instead of a well-shaped eyebrow, bristly feather-like things arced above his eye. The side of his neck bore evidence of healing but it would always be scarred. And finally, the corner of his mouth pulled his lips on the left side into a grimace of pain. His smile would never enchant the ladies again.
Hopelessness and self-pity threatened to consume him. The desire to blame anyone but himself made him glare at the healer. “How could you do this to me?” He lowered the mirror. “This is your fault, Relevart. You could have done something. Why didn’t you?” Anger choked him into silence.
Neither accused party responded. Pity filled the healer’s expression. Relevart’s remained unreadable.
Gathering a semblance of control, Wolloh repositioned the looking glass and absorbed the horror of his disfigured face. I did this to myself. I will be a laughing stock, a creature of to be pitied for the rest of my life. A talk he had once had with his father brought a flush to his pale cheeks. He lowered the mirror and looked at his mentor. “When I was young, I made a rather tasteless remark about a boy with a deformity. My father made me apologize and took me home to his office. His words to me were thus… ‘It takes courage to live at the best of times. At the worst of times, determination and the will to stand up and be counted will make the man. It is not what a man looks like, but what he stands for that counts.’”
He handed the mirror to Relevart. “My father is a better man than I. Anger and self-hatred are stifling my will to live. How can I go out into the world looking like this? The very idea makes me feel ill.” He held up his clawed hand and curled the fingers into a fist. Dropping it to his lap, he stared at it for several minutes. Quiet settled over the room. The healer slipped away. Relevart sat in silence. A glance at his sympathetic demeanor made Wolloh sigh. “I know I must come to terms with life and the choices I’ve made that now determine what it will be. I just…”
“You will find your way, Wolloh. Until the time when you are clear that you know who you are and what you truly want, your continued training as a DiMensioner must wait. When you are well enough and ready, I will help you to leave the planet.”
“Where will I go?”
“That is what you must discover.”
A moon circuit had passed since the removal of his bandages. Wolloh stared at himself in the mirror on the bedroom wall. The time has come to re-enter the world of men. How will they respond to the misshapen creature I have become? Will I be shunned? He turned his head to observe the smooth, handsome right cheek, the dark green of his eye, the charismatic curve of his smile. Then he gazed at his ravaged lef
t cheek, the murky eye, and the grimaced pull of his lips. A sudden sense of intriguing exhilaration made him smile. I do believe that my life has just become much more interesting .
Feeling less depressed than he had since the accident, he donned his new coat and adjusted the high collar to shade his left cheek. Pack in hand, he left the room that had been his home for over two sun rotations. He entered the main living space in the cottage and paused to observe his mentor, who sat in a chair in front of the fireplace, the dog sprawled at his feet. A sense of comfort and home filled Wolloh with such a rush of emotion he almost gasped.
Relevart turned to smile up at him. “You look chipper this morning.”
Wolloh turned his right cheek to his mentor and smiled. “I have discovered an interesting trick.” He rotated, bringing his disfigured profile into view. “Interesting, don’t you think?”
“I think your new demeanor will serve you well on many levels. Please have a seat. I have some things to share.”
Wolloh sat down and self-consciously slipped his clawed hand into a pocket.
“True power will come from total acceptance of who you are, Wolloh, and not what you look like. When you have attained this, return to me. We will complete your training.” He expression grew serious. “Listen closely. My sources have leaked the word that you failed in your attempt to shape your chosen form. I have added to that the fact that your talent for DiMensionery has been diminished, that you are a broken man, and that you no longer carry the potential to achieve any ranking in the Order of Esprow. Keep you gifts secret. Use them only in an emergency. Do not allow your ego to expose you to the Mocendi or any other organization that would use you to further their personal ambitions. If you can maintain the charade, you will learn much and you will stay safe.”
Wolloh leaned forward. “Thank you for all your help, Relevart. I promise to be circumspect. And I will return when I know I am ready to resume my training.”
The UnFolding Collection Two Page 53
