The Seeker - Finna's Quest

by E L Russell

  “So you developed or matured into what you have become simply because you grew old?”

  “Yes, we believe that anyone reaching the age of one hundred forty will naturally undergo what we call an Awakening and have these skills you keep calling magic.”

  “Finna and I aren’t that old.”

  “Advanced age is only one path to such developmental changes to the brain, Jamal. We also believe that living with one who has already awakened, as I have, will cause younger people to develop these skills sooner. That’s what is happening to you an Finna.”

  “Because we live with you?”

  Leeth nodded giving a protracted sigh. “Basically, yes. That’s it in a nut shell.”

  Jamal’s eyes widened. “What are these skills?” He shook his head. “This is sarding crazy. Does Finna know about this Awakening?”

  “You sound like Finna. Has she not mentioned any of her abilities to you?”

  He snorted. “No.”

  “I’ll ask her to share more. I think you will believe more of this if you hear it from her.”

  “The powers can make you crazy unless you accept them as a natural thing you do.”

  “I’ll never be able to accept what you do as natural.”

  “I promise you will long before you reach your one hundred and fortieth birthday.”

  * * *

  Playing the part of a woman who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Finna stood with her legs slightly bent and her arms at her sides. The blank expression on her face said she was inoffensive and harmless, but in truth, she was battle-trained and fully armed.

  When a band of wild ones turned the corner in the path and came toward her, they ran at her full speed swinging weapons wooden cudgels and screeching like crazed animals. Alarmed in spite of her readiness, she loosed three arrows through the thighs of the leaders.

  They never broke stride.

  By the time she yelled, “Time to die,” she’d loosed three more arrows into the attackers’ foreheads and dropped them on the spot.

  The rest of the wild men came to an abrupt stop and eyed Finna with suspicion and a surprising lack of fear considering she had just killed their three leaders. They were a slovenly lot with scraggly beards, dirty hair, and a miasma of body odor that choked her. The recklessness of their attack had been terrifying and her heart still beat like a captured bird from her initial freight.

  Where was Knosh? She’d killed three men and still Knosh and his men had not attacked. She glanced at both sides of the path while notching another arrow and readied six more. With a menacing scowl, she drew her bow and pointed it at the closest man. He starred and at her with dark beady eyes filled with a deep hostility. A wild one behind him drew back his arm to throw a spear and Finna’s arrow felled him in an instant, an instant that enabled the rest of the band to escape into the woods. All that remained of the attack were four dead men and several women and children.

  Blood cuddling screams of pain alerted her to Knosh's location. The wild ones had run into his of ambush and would not return. She rushed to assure the captives. Although their eyes were huge with fear, the women sheltered the children in their arms. They were in shock and Finna spoke softly to them.

  “I am with Knosh. I will protect you.”

  When Knosh finally joined her, Finna found it difficult to squash her irritation. “You didn’t stick to the plan.”

  “We took the uphill side because we know they always run for higher ground to position for a counter attack. Knowing your skills, I knew you would gain the upper hand quickly so we had only a short time to get into a better position to catch them. The rest was easy. It was only logical to know they’d preferred anything to risking their lives with you. You are a champion warrior. I salute you. We allowed one to escape to spread the word of the fear and respect you deserve.”

  His words of praise deflated her anger and she stuttered for what to say.

  He understood. “Let us see if our village still stands.”

  43

  Another Planet

  Speculation

  To say Finna found Leeth unusual was an understatement, but she thought by far the strangest thing was his constant use of a small room in his part of the castle he called a shower. She believed his intent for cleanliness had merit, but found his need to visit the tiny room several times a day, most peculiar. On the other hand, his casual lack of full dress pleased her, as long as Jamal wasn’t in the room watching her watch him. She found his body, sweaty or clean, most pleasant to gaze upon.

  This afternoon, he entered their common room dressed only in odd short pants that went barely to his knees. Wiping the excess water from his body gave proof to his recent shower. If he had plans to dress further, there was no evidence of it.

  “I understand you and Jamal have been discussing Torg. What questions do you have about the implications of fighting on a larger, or maybe better expressed as a heavier, world? Or perhaps you have questions about time travel?”

  “Uh, well, yes.” Her eyes continued to dart toward the light fuzz of hair on his chest and she lost her train of thought. His longish hair was still damp and a short curl fell over his face. She was not a foolish girl yet she had to resist reaching out to smooth it back. That was irritating, not endearing. “I do—”

  “How about you and Jamal complete your reps on the stairway from your room to the rampart and I’ll set out some fruit and coconut milk in the commons. There’s more I want to share with you.”

  His openness was a complete turnabout of his previous reluctance to share a damn thing and it knocked Finna off kilter. Who should she expect? Leeth the magician, Leeth the fighter, Leeth the non-forthcoming, or maybe Leeth the half-dressed

  Not wanting to babble on, even in her mind, she turned and started her work out on the new stairs to the rampart.

  * * *

  As prearranged, Leeth met Finna and Jamal in the room where they ate, socialized, and relaxed. He wore his usual gray hooded robe and laid a narrow, leather bound book on the table. “Come, sit closer, both of you. As you know, this is my personal journal. You think I know little of you, Finna, but—”

  “You repeat yourself, Seeker. We have been through this before.”

  “Ever prickly. I think you will find this new enough.”

  With a huff of impatience, she sat where he indicated. “I hope this means you will finally share your true intentions and reasons for taking us.”

  He gave her an enigmatic smile and lowered his cowl and knew she watched him closely as he opened the book to a page marked by a thin piece of blue silk.

  “Here on Torg, we are safe. This castle and the land surrounding it are enclosed in a giant sphere that prevents external penetration or observation.”

  “A sphere? Like a bubble? You think a bubble can protect us? Protect us from what?”

  Yeah, he knew that was a mistake. Now he had to explain the reality of construction of a transparent dodecahedron inscribed within an equally transparent sphere made by folding space at a quantum level big enough to surround the castle and adjacent lands beyond it. It was a mouthful to say, let alone understand.

  There was nothing in her experience that could possibly make the concept believable. Hell. Sometimes he had trouble believing in its existence himself, but he knew for a fact the sphere could shield them from about anything, which was a comfort what with the dammed war being waged across the galaxy.

  Frustrated at the hole he’d dig, he considered initiating a time jump undo, but he decided to adsorb the pain of Finna seething beside him and waved a hand dismissing the topic. Besides, she seemed to enjoy bugging him about the many things he was not telling her. Best to move on to something else. “Earth’s timeline is not affected by what we do here, so I can complete my primary job, which is protecting you, without worrying about the Overlords jumping all over me.”

  “You make no sense, Seeker.”

  “No, probably not.” He blew a speck of dust off t
he page in the journal. “Let’s begin with some details I discovered about you.”

  He picked up a piece of fruit, which looked much like a red apple, and took a big bite of it with his strong white teeth. Finna followed the motion of his throat with her eyes. Lord, the woman watched him. What did she expect to see? He welcomed the question from Jamal.

  “Read her the part about our new skills.”

  Finna jerked her gaze to the boy. “You know what he is about to disclose?”

  Jamal darted his eyes to Leeth than lowered them. “After you told me about speaking with our minds, I, uh, wanted to know more and stole a look at your journal.”

  Leeth’s body stiffened and he spoke in a voice sterner than Finna had heard before.

  “Going through my private things is not something you will want to repeat, boy. Trust is expensive and difficult to come by. You cannot afford to purchase it once it is lost.”

  Jamal turned red, completely chastised. “Yes, Sir Seeker. It was wrong. As you said, it will not happen again.”

  “The damage is done.” He yielded his harsh manner and rubbed his hands together speaking more as a concerned parent. “Some people are blessed with a long life and some are cursed with long life, right?”

  Finna ground her teeth. “If that’s an explanation, you fall short. Will you never get to the part where you change time and place?”

  Leeth patted the air in front of him and she mumbled something about “hoping and facts.”

  “Finna, did you ever hear voices in your head before I spoke to you?”

  Her eyes shot a glimpse at Jamal. “Well, ah, yes, sort of.”

  “When?”

  “Sometimes when I slept in my father’s home in France, I heard words as though someone was in my room. It was never clear enough to understand. I assumed I dreamed it.”

  He pointed to Jamal. “And you? Had you heard voices before we met?”

  The boy gave a bare nod, but said nothing.

  “Could you identify the voice?” he persisted.

  Jamal looked at the floor and mumbled a response. “Yes.”

  “Whose voice was it?”

  Jamal’s chin quivered slightly and he took a steadying breath. “My mother.”

  Leeth nodded. “Of course, she was strong.”

  Finna broke in. “What do you mean by strong?”

  “Yasmin, too, was on her way to becoming one of us.”

  Jamal frowned. “What do you mean by us?”

  Leeth opened his arms wide. “Us, boy, remember our discussion about people developing new skills by Awakening? People like the three of us. You have many skills to learn and understand.”

  Finna’s impatience transitioned to excitement. “Like controlling time and location, Seeker? Like where we are and what year is it? How did we get here? How did you change the year? How can you be so old and not look it?” She took a shaky breath. “When are we going home? Will I ever get to see my father again? Will I see Queen Eleanor again? Will I be able to return the chalices?”

  Leeth took one of her hands between both of his large ones and gave her the bare hint of a smile. “I promise you, as soon as you have fully awakened and have demonstrated the control and respect required for time travel, we will go back and return the chalices for your queen. Now, however, we are needed at a place called Castle Star Point on a different planet called Spes where additional training with a team of other warriors will prepare both of you for combat. That combat will take place on a third world we call the Combat Planet.”

  44

  More Skills

  Applied Powers

  She jerked her hand from his. “A team of other warriors on a planet named Combat? Is that supposed to make sense? I would fulfill my vows to Queen Eleanor first.”

  He held up one finger. “Ah, but remember, we have all the time in the world to fulfill your vows.”

  “I remember no such thing. You never explained it to me. Maybe now would be a good time?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “I mean now, as in before we go anywhere.”

  Leeth debated how much to say. Not too much. He didn’t need to tell her everything. “All right. Time travel. You experienced the benefits of it when you left Knosh and trained for three weeks. Your ability to go to a different time and return to the one you left, gave you the stretch of time you needed for training without making him wait for you. Can you see how you have all the time you will ever need to complete a task?”

  She worried her lip. “I understand the idea of it and I’m sure I’ll want to use it again, but . . . but I guess I’m more concerned about how I could actually make that work.”

  He patted her shoulder. “I can see that. Consider the skill on top of a pyramid. First you must understand repositioning and to understand that, you need to know how to remotely visualize. That’s where we will begin now.” He lifted his palms. “And before you ask, I have a serious question.” Addressing both of them, he raised a finger. “Pretend you are looking into a deep black, unlit well. Can you imagine having the courage to jump into something without seeing where you are going?”

  Both shook their heads.

  “Good. That tells me how clever you are. Let’s sit on the floor in a circle so we can hold hands.”

  “Why hold hands?” Jamal asked, sitting and crossing his arms and his legs.

  Finna followed suit. “Is the holding of hands necessary?”

  Leeth completed the small circle and reached out his arms. “By sharing hands, we share our power. Together, we are more powerful than any one of us. We’ll need this combined strength to help you learn how to do these skills on our own.” He gave them a cocked eyebrow. “Will that reason suffice?”

  They glanced at one another and nodded.

  “Good. To remotely view, you must think of something you cannot see from where you are. On the other hand, it must also be someplace where you have been so you have a mental picture of it that is real.”

  “How about the rampart?” Jamal asked. “We’ve all seen the rampart.”

  “Good choice. I’ll just place something belonging to each of you up there for this exercise.”

  Again Finna glared at him with mistrust. “Just like that? You just put something up there?”

  Still holding hands, he smiled broadly. “Oh, ye of little faith.” He jutted his chin at her. “Close your eyes.” She followed his directions. “It will help you learn this skill of remotely viewing, which we call vizing. Viz like visualizing, See?”

  “Now, imagine you are opening the trap door and stepping onto the rampart. The trap door represents a mental base that helps you make the transition from what you imagine, to what you wish to see remotely with out actually being there. After you establish your base, you can visually move away from it to see things you have not seen there before. Got it?”

  Although neither Finna nor Jamal responded, he continued. “After you view the center of the rampart, glance around for your object.” He paused. “When you think you see it, let me know.”

  He waited.

  Finna shook his hand. “My bow. How did it get up there? I left it in my room.”

  “Aha,” Jamal laughed. “I see a weapon, too, my fighting stick.”

  Leeth finished his directions speaking mind-to-mind. He eased his grip and let go of their hands.

  * * *

  Within minutes, they returned to meet Leeth at the main hall’s table. He opened his arms wide to receive them. “See? Nothing to it. Well done, you two. Vizing and repositioning are natural, once you get the hang of them. Time travel, on the other hand, is a more serious business. Break the rules and you may lose your abilities.”

  “Do you mean someone would take them or they would just disappear?” Jamal asked. “Who has the power to do that?”

  “My de
ar young charges, please understand I am neither seer nor scientist. You must just take my warning on faith. It is a cold, hard truth, whether or not it sounds plausible.”

  Finna rolled her eyes and Leeth ignored her and adopted a seriousness tone. “We will move on. Can you accept something admittedly dangerous, on faith?”

  Jamal nodded and Finna rolled her eyes again.

  “The thing I keep referring to as your mind, the thing that changes the most when you Awaken. It is the thing that connects all of us, sort of like an early morning fog connects all the trees in the woods. Can you see that?”

  “Yes,” Jamal said

  “That doesn’t sound so dangerous,” Finna said, “but if you say so.”

  “If you use your mind to time travel, it is possible for others with special advanced powers to observe that disruption. Our Time Overlords are . . . umm . . . exceptional people. Believe me, they will know you have traveled in time and they can monitor you from any place in our galaxy. I hope you heard that. I said, any place.”

  He watched Finna chew on that bit of information.

  Jamal, as always, had questions. God, he loved the kid’s mind.

  “You moved us through time,” the boy said. “Will we all be caught and punished? Will you get in trouble? Will we?”

  Finna finally spit out her questions, too. “What are the consequences of that statement, Seeker? And what kind of trouble are you talking about? Do you have to get approval before you travel in time?”

  Leeth took her shoulders in both his big hands. “Time Travel is dangerous.” He included Jamal in his statements. “If I were to go back in time and do something without knowing the implications of that act, I might set up a series of events that wipe your entire family from the timeline. Those are the consequences.”