A-Viking (Betrayed by Faith Book 3)

by Paul C. Middleton

  Brianna nodded slowly, then said, “Maybe. But I think it’s more laziness than anything. They are always issuing demands to one of the smaller groups or another.”

  Griffin shook his head. “That could be simple acknowledgment they aren’t as well suited to that problem as the group they ask to fix it. Smaller groups that live a threatened existence tend to be… more flexible and inventive. Or conversely more rigid and focused. But they don’t survive without being either better generalists than a larger competing group or so focused on their specialty that no-one can match them at it.”

  Brianna thought on that. She could see some of his points but was not really sure if it worked that way. Griffin seemed to have some strange ideas. He really was from a different time. He appeared to think Darwinian Theory could apply to cultures within human society. She really wasn’t sure that was true. Conversely, she hadn’t had two hundred years to observe people. She couldn’t be certain he was wrong either. The major Conclaves often provided compensation for any task they asked another group to complete.

  She looked up and saw Griffin’s face. It had an odd expression on it. He looked like he wanted to ask a question but wasn’t sure how to phrase it. This obviously made him uncomfortable. He was the one who usually had the answers. He was not used to needing to ask questions.

  She said. “Just ask your question. I won’t take offense, and I’ll answer it if I can.”

  He sighed. “I’ve never learned to consciously control my… abilities. Every time I’ve used them, it was either through my belief that God was protecting me.” He paused, grimaced and spat into the fire. “Or it was a reflexive reaction to someone else using them. Against David, for instance, I smelt him drawing in his power and reflexively shielded myself from him. My brother tried to teach me, but I was… worse than I am now. So, I need help.” He paused. “Please.” He said so quietly that she barely heard.

  Brianna was stunned. Most Godsborn prepared their defenses against others before they fought another with similar abilities. While anyone could do what Griffin had described, it was riskier. It also took more power. She had assumed that he raised the shield before he fought David, like anyone she knew would, given half a chance. During the battle, she hadn’t seen the flare of him drawing extra power either. His constant draw on the planes had remained steady.

  To block what David had done would have taken an immense tap into the dimension of either Air or the Etheric. It didn’t match the small draw she could see. It was terrifying in many ways. She did not want to consider what it might mean, but if she was going to teach him, she had too. There were, after all, only a few things it could mean. She might not be the best person to teach him, but right now she was the only person who could. She was here. No-one else was.

  “I’ll need to think about it,” she said. Griffin’s face fell, and his shoulders slumped. “How best I can teach you,” she continued. He relaxed, and his face showed relief and hope. “I’m not saying I will be able to either. The only people I’ve taught were just past their abilities awakening. I’ve never tried to show someone how to use them who has had them but not consciously drawn on them for centuries before. But I will give it every effort I can.”

  He shrugged, a slight smile on his face. “That is all I can ask. I thank you,” he replied. The gratitude for her willingness to even try was evident on his face. They both stared into the flickering flames of the campfire, lost in their thoughts.

  Campsite, Blue Mountains, March 9th

  Brianna woke with a start. Griffin seemed to be sleeping better on the nights that she wasn’t shielding his dreams now. The problem was she was still getting the feedback from shielding him. It was not as horrific as many of the nightmares she had shielded for others in the past decade. The overlay of guilt and failure that wove through them was disturbing. And in the half-dozen cases she saw, completely unwarranted. They were criminals from Nowhere Town. That meant either rapists or murderers after they had started living there. Internally, Nowhere Town had to be somewhat flexible on theft. The descendants of some Gods, like Hermes, just can’t help themselves.

  The clarity of Griffin’s dream images was incredible. His memory must be fantastic as at least two of them were from before she was born. She only recognized them from looking through the ‘Apprehend on Sight’ lists when she was in her father's office doing administration for him one time. They were thought to still be at large.

  That morning she approached him about it. “Griffin, you knew I might see your nightmares right?” He scowled and grunted in acknowledgment. It was evident this was not something he had wanted to happen. “It’s just I thought you should know. I recognized two of the faces last night. They were not just banished from my home. They were actively hunted by the guards and searchers, who bring in people who didn’t know they were Godsborn. One was a multiple rapist. The other tortured and murdered a fifteen-year-old boy. They were dark, evil men Griffin. They deserved to die. I’d guess there weren’t many in Australia you killed. So if the two I recognized were on a death sentence from their own towns, how many others were? They would have to attract the Order’s attention to themselves to have you sent after them, after all.”

  Griffin nodded slowly, taking in what she said. He knew she was right. But…

  “That is true. It still doesn’t absolve me of the others. The last one I hunted before I met my brother… She was younger than you. She had been reported as a Succubus type. I believed she was damning her lovers to hell. That killing her was the only way to save them. Now I see her every time at the end of my nightmares. From what I’ve learned, many possible bloodlines would have made seeking… partners… part of her nature. When she threw fireballs at me, I was really convinced of her nature, though.”

  Brianna’s initial thought was that his man was a merciless killer. It would take someone very unusual to avoid the advances, the allure, of a descendant of Venus, Hathor or Freya.

  To not be tempted by descendants of those gods would take someone not quite right in many ways, not just a single flaw. Beyond what most people would say belonged in prison, or better, dead. But she thought on what he had revealed about his history - about how he had been raised. She realized that it wasn’t Griffin now that was broken in that way. It was the way Griffin-that-was had been. The Griffin in front of her was trying to make up for his past. To seek redemption. That might be the key to teaching him how to use his powers, she realized.

  “How much do you remember of what your brother tried to teach you?” she asked.

  “Not much. I was still shocked by the truth, and full of shame for the life I had lived. Not that he didn’t try. I just couldn’t focus at all,” Griffin admitted, somewhat shamefaced.

  “We’ll start there. First, there are the Astral dimensions. They overlap the Physical. Do you understand what I mean by that?”

  “You mean they are contiguous with the world… universe… whatever, but we don’t directly interact with them frequently?”

  “Exactly. But if we draw on them we can make windows to see what is happening, either close by or distant. It is rumored that some of the Godsborn could create portals that people could walk through, but the portals were short lived. Some of the Magus can travel a similar way, pushing themselves into the astral and out at the desired location. As far as I know, there isn’t a single Godsborn alive that can do either.”

  “So you can spy on someone with the astral?”

  “Yes. Or use it to see how people are placed in a room before you enter. Or to watch over a child without waking them. There is nothing about the Dimensions that is good or evil. Just how they are used. Responsibility for that is on the user. Beyond that, some of the Astral dimensions are non-linear. Tapping into them can give a person visions of the past or possible futures if they draw on the wrong one. All the Astral dimensions also overlap each other to a degree.”

  “I think I understand the Elemental Dimensions. You tap on them to use or affect the desired elemen
t, right? Any others I should know about?”

  “Yes, and yes. There is also the Etheric. It is pure energy. But Etheric energy, like matter, can be made similar to solid. Someone powerful enough could draw up a shield that could block bullets, say. And Etheric energy is the most effective way to block elements drawn directly from their respective planes. It throws them back. There are also dimensions that can make everyone calm, angry, or even compliant. And then there are abilities like how I can shield a person’s dreams. These are instinctive and draw on a combination of planes. I don’t know if you’ll have any of those. We’ll find out as you get more comfortable drawing on the planes yourself.”

  “So has science ever been able to explain them or do anything with them?”

  Brianna snorted. “They seem to defy science. Technologies have been able to affect them, either dampening particular dimensions in an area or increasing the ability to draw on them. But it is a hit and miss proposition. Forget about chants, spells and hand movements. You may end up developing some of your own, but they are very much an act of the individual to aid their focus. You shouldn’t need them anyway. The strength of the shield you erected to block David’s lightning bolt was enormous. I could feel the shield itself, just not where it came from. It was frightening.”

  “Why? I mean can you always tell when someone is… doing the magic?” Griffin asked, fumbling for the right terms when he realized he didn’t have them in his lexicon.

  She nodded. “About half of the Godsborn can. It doesn’t seem to flow from the God a person is descended from, but rather from the human lineage. Most of the Magus can sense other Magi, but only a few can sense a Godsborn. But few normal people can detect either or both. It usually manifests through sight, but some can hear, ‘feel’ or smell the dimensional draw as well.”

  “I can smell it, I think. When you were healing, I could smell an odor like damp earth. When David tried to smite me, I could detect the scent of hot forged steel and herbs.”

  Brianna nodded. “I’m not sure if you were smelling your own use of power or a mix of David’s and your own. The flare of your shield was so bright to my… call it my ‘sight’ that David’s use was almost lost in it. But we need to move on. I want you to pick an element and try to manipulate it.”

  “What do you mean? It’s not as I’ve ever deliberately tried to do this before.” Griffin asked in confusion.

  “Like you did when you raised that shield against David’s lightning bolt.” She said in an encouraging tone.

  “But I did nothing. It just happened.” Griffin said with a note of desperation in his voice, he added, “It just… happened.”

  Brianna sighed. Explaining how to use the dimensions was always a hit and miss exercise. That he had drawn as much as he had from what she suspected was the Etheric without consciously drawing or leaving a mark of the draw on himself was unusual and concerning. She’d known a few who could do small tasks, requiring the lightest touch, without her being able to sense their draw. Raising a shield from Ether was no small task.

  She shook her head and went through the different techniques with him patiently, beginning first with Air, the easiest element to manipulate. Nothing they tried there worked, but perhaps he had no primary affinity with Air. They both agreed that messing around with Fire in the middle of summer in the bush was a Bad Idea, so next they tried Earth.

  “Reach for it with your mind and try to manipulate some dirt into a ball, and then into stone.” She said in a calm voice. Then she showed him what she meant, and a ball of earth formed on the ground in front of them, then slowly compressed into a solid piece of rock. He tried and kept trying for half an hour.

  Finally, he said, “I keep almost reaching it and feeling it slip.”

  Brianna perked up at this. “That’s the first promising news I’ve heard all afternoon. We have found the method you use and an element you have some affinity with. But it’s gonna be dark soon. You are probably tired and frustrated from all this. So we should make camp and sleep.”

  Griffin looked up and said, “Yes to the making camp and starting a small fire maybe, but I want to keep trying. Water next?”

  Brianna sighed. Even if he wasn’t tired, she was. But if he wanted to continue, it was best they kept working on it. He felt like he was making progress. Best to ride the wave, from what she knew. He was the first student she’d had who was older than ten. So she wasn’t entirely sure, but that was how it worked with the children. Surely teaching an adult wasn’t much different from that.

  After they had made their camp, they agreed to set up the fire but not light it. They walked down the hill from their camp to a stream running towards the west. Brianna took her pack to give herself something to lean against.

  After another half hour of failure, a thought occurred to Brianna. Water was often the element that Odin’s line was strongest with. Maybe it was his centuries of belief that what he was trying to do was wrong, evil was blocking him. She looked up and said, “Perhaps if while reaching for it you tried to find a way past what you were raised to believe? You’ve mentioned before that you were raised to believe all use of ‘magic’ was evil. Perhaps that is interfering with how you are trying to touch the dimensions.”

  Griffin nodded. He focused on his anger at and hatred for the Order and how it had twisted him. Turned him into a soulless killer. Suddenly he felt himself reaching deep into the dimension of water, pulling and ripping at the power it gave him making a flow of icy water come forth. He was brought out of his channeling of the dimension by a scream that was a mixture of shock and pain. He opened his eyes to see Brianna being washed downhill by the huge burst of water he had released. There was a definite end to the flow where his concentration had broken. As the water spread, it dropped her slowly to the ground. He ran down to pick her up noticing a chill creeping up his squelching boots.

  When he reached her, over three hundred feet downhill, he found her shivering, one hand clenched around her soaked pack. “Well, I did it -found how you can use your power,” she said with a glassy-eyed grin through chattering teeth. “I didn’t expect you to reach so deeply, or I would have been uphill. Now we should find our beds.” There was a look of confusion on her face, and the shivering was weakening.

  “Oh by the icy holes of Hel,” Griffin muttered as he recognized the signs of hypothermia. It had gotten cold quickly, and she was soaked to the bone. It had taken him several minutes to reach her and apparently the water he had brought forth had been near freezing point.

  He grabbed her up into a fireman’s carry taking her pack with his other hand. It seemed likely that most of her clothes, in the already damaged top compartment, would be soaked too. Her breathing was getting shallow.

  Once he reached the camp, he grabbed his chamois camping towel out of the pack and set to undressing her completely. He had to get her dry as quickly as possible. The water would keep sucking the heat from her body while it was on her. Once she was naked, he sluiced the water off her with his hand and dried her with the towel, rubbing hard to try to give her some friction heat. Once she was as dry as he could get her he felt a small piece of relief. Her breathing was still shallow but didn’t seem to be worsening. She was cold to the touch, which was bad.

  He grabbed his small blanket and wrapped her chest in it while he sorted out the sleeping bags. He was in luck here. They could be zipped together, so he didn’t have to take the extra time to get a fire going to warm her. As quickly as the hypothermia had set in, and the chill had penetrated his boots, that water had been close to freezing when it had hit her. She had been in it for at least ten minutes while he got up and slogged down through the suddenly swampy mess to her aid.

  “Brianna, are you still with me?” he asked.

  “Soo colld,” she said. That was two more good signs. She could still respond, and she still felt cold. If she still felt cold, she hadn’t slipped into mild hallucinations yet.

  He took off his boots, socks, and shirt. After some cons
ideration, he kept his pants on. Griffin did not want her to wake up and think he’d taken advantage of her. He looked through the clothes in her pack. He’d been right. Her clothes were soaked. Nothing for it tonight then. If she hadn’t been hypothermic and needing his body heat, he would have put one of his shirts on her, but she would likely need the skin to skin heat transfer. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done this before for comrades to keep them alive.

  He’d just never done this for a woman.

  ***********************************************************

  He was woken in the pre-dawn when she started shivering. That was a good sign, he thought to himself. Her core temperature was reaching the point where her body felt it could contribute energy to warming itself. He hugged her closer and tried to fall asleep again. Within seconds he was out. He had not realized how tired the effort of trying, and eventually succeeding, to draw from the planes had put on him.

  When the sun rose, the light falling through the tent woke Brianna. She found herself in a position she had dreamed and daydreamed about since he had carried her up to the track after the rock slide. There she was naked and wrapped in his strong, yet gentle, arms. She sighed contentedly and snuggled in closer. If this was a dream, she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.

  Then she felt that he still had pants on in their embrace. She racked her mind, but couldn’t clearly remember how their training session had ended the previous night. Only being cold. She mentally shrugged and kept enjoying the hug until he stirred. Then a wicked idea entered her head. As he woke, she kissed up his chest and neck until she reached his mouth. She then kissed him with passion, holding his head in place, until his hands reached her wrist and broke the kiss. She wriggled against him, trying to get a reaction, but he shook his head and said, “No.”