by Gerard Bond
He was coming to a slow realization of what he may be facing here.
“Tell me more of what she looks like Madeira, describe her physically and her features.”
“She is very tall, I’d say a couple of inches taller than you and she has a very fine bone structure but still appears athletic. Her face has fine angular features and she has the finest long flowing white hair, I cant really describe her skin.”
“It will be a smooth and even complexion, perfect to look at with the color of sun bleached bone.” Wollfen remarked.
“Yes you are right,” Madeira looked at him, “You know her?”
Wollfen shook his head,
“No, what you have described is an elf.”
Madeira looked at him in shock.
“But that cant be! Elvenkind are mythical creatures.”
“No I have known many elves and I count quite a few as friends. You know it will explain why she is able to treat your people with such disdain. She truly believes that she is superior to you all.”
Madeira wasn’t so shocked at the revelation, she was getting used to Wollfen springing surprises on her.
“So what is she doing in Isogorr?”
Wollfen contemplated that, almost all elves that he knew of stayed in the enchanted realms they had created for themselves beyond the mountains of the north.
“The only thing I can think of is that she was at some time excommunicated from her own lands or maybe she simply rejected them and left, I can’t say beyond that. But I can say they are a very long lived race and 250 years is considered a normal lifespan for them.”
It also meant there would be problems, Elvenkind were very strong when it came to magics and this one would be no exception. Safeguards would have to be prepared for Madeira, Wollfen knew she wouldn’t be able to stand a close mental scrutiny by the Queen and if she delved into Madeira’s mind she would discover everything.
“Madeira, I am going to have to ask you to put your trust in me, the Queen will have more power than you can handle and I am sure she will ask you to lower your shields so she can look into your mind.”
Madeira nodded,
“Yes that’s a normal practice for any sorc who returns from a long mission and this will be no exception, but what do you think you will be able to do for me?”
“I will need you to lower your shields so that I can enter your mind and begin a restructuring of your memory patterns. I will need to keep them intact, but at the same time mask those things that we don’t want her to see. This will take a few hours each day for about a week I should think and then one more session just before we get off the boat.
But that’s not all, I will also have to delve into your fear centers and make sure that they are for want of a better word, ‘turned off’ when she glides over the masked areas. I don’t want to arouse her suspicion when she enters your mind and finds you react in fear to her looking at certain memories. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but I can’t think of better words to explain. If she feels a natural fear response it will encourage her to look more deeply in the masked areas. If she actively delves into those areas, she will be able to push through the masks easily. I can’t block her at all, that would tip her off too if she found any blocks.”
Madeira nodded, she was adept at magics but what Wollfen was talking about was something of which she had never heard.
“You have so much knowledge of magic and the more you show me the more I realize that we your captors really were lucky in picking you up huh?”
Wollfen grinned at that,
“Yeah well all the magic in the world won’t stop a sword blow to the side of the head if you aren’t expecting it. I must say though, that sorc I faced in the tavern that day was very powerful.”
“That’s not surprising really. Each sorc that goes out on patrol is backed up by six sorcs complementing her powers. You weren’t fighting one sorc. You were dealing with the power of seven. It is also why we knew you were the one when we captured you. No one could possibly have that sort of power to resist normally.”
Wollfen thought about how coincidences happened and how little things influenced huge events. It was almost as if what was happening was meant to be and whenever he thought about that sort of thing it always made him wonder just how much in control he really was of his own life.
“So, when do you want to start?”
Madeira looked at Wollfen, he could see she trusted him.
“I have to tell you, it isn’t pleasant, sometimes it will manifest itself as physical pain from time to time too. But once I start you will not be able to resist, you will be under my full control.”
She nodded hesitantly,
“Will it be strong pain?”
“I’m afraid it is different for everyone, sometimes a strong mind means it will cause a lot of pain to change it, then sometimes it makes it easier, there are too many factors to say.”
After some thought Madeira made her decision.
“We don’t really have a choice on this, it has to be done, especially if I am to live. What I know now would get me killed instantly if the Queen ever knew. No, you must do this Wollfen, not just for the sake of me but for so many others too.”
He nodded,
“We will do it every evening for the next week as it will take a long time and both of us will be exhausted, we will probably wake up with headaches each morning too.”
“I understand and while I am not really looking forward to it, I have made my decision. So where do you want me?”
Wollfen thought about the mechanics of how to handle such a long session,
“We will have to be in the cabin obviously, but also when I start, you will go totally limp so at the very least you will need to be lying down. As for me, to hold a single position for more than two hours means I’ll have to be comfortable too. Once we start I won’t be able to stop till the session is done.”
Madeira added her bit.
“Then we will need to be lying in a cot together while you work.”
Wollfen agreed, in the confines of that small cabin there wasn’t much else to do.
“Very well let’s go now and start.”
He took her hand and led her back to the cabin. Once inside they both laid down on a cot facing each other.
“Are you ready?”
Madeira took a deep breath,
“As ready as I will ever be I guess, we wait any longer and I’ll chicken out.”
He smiled, he couldn’t imagine her chickening out on anything. Now he slid one hand under her head and cradled it from below as she lay there, then slid his other hand on the other side, his palms were on her cheeks and he looked deep into her eyes.
“Lower your shields, open up to me.”
He reached in with his mind and found her shields dissolving, he waited a little then delved further in. It wasn’t unlike the universe inside a person’s mind. A dark void filled with pinpoints of light, but the real difference was all these pinpoints were connected by tendrils of light like shiny strings. The points were her memories of things and events, the tendrils were those things that connected them.
Wollfen began searching little by little looking at each pinpoint and then entering those that were relevant. From here he could look at what needed to be covered and what could be left, most days were of the mundane and so didn’t need any adjustment. But when it came to a spot where he was involved he found a whole array of feelings and attitudes that would need to be masked, then once he had covered them he would have to redirect some of the tendrils nearby to superimpose another similar image over them so the continuity was not disturbed.
It was a long and complicated process, something he had to take great care doing as any part left out could be picked up by the Queen and if she did find any anomalies a more careful inspection would unravel it all. So he plodded along being meticulous with every single point he decided to change and it took him almost four hours to get the first stage done.
&nbs
p; At a little past midnight he finally withdrew from Madeira’s mind and looked at her. She was sound asleep in his hands, well this time it obviously didn’t hurt her. Then he tried to move, Wollfen realized his hands and arms were asleep too. Struggling a little he managed to work his hands free but not before the pins and needles started and they hit him hard. Ugh he was suffering more than she was, He absolutely hated pins and needles with a vengeance.
Wollfen lay back and felt every muscle aching in his body. The thing about magic was it would suck the energy out of you at a great rate. You could achieve great and impressive things but at the same time it drained you very quickly and it took a long time to recover. It was why magic wasn’t practiced much at all by those few that had the talent. Most of the time it just wasn’t worth it. Wollfen found himself slipping into a deep sleep very quickly, he could tell he wouldn’t be doing much tomorrow and he had another session just like this to look forward to in the evening.
The next morning Madeira awoke with wide eyes and stretched, she looked about and smiled with a big yawn. Looking across at Wollfen she could see he was still in a deep sleep. He was turned towards her and his mouth was a little open, a bit of drool had escaped his partly open mouth and created a wet patch on the cot. She realized it was already mid morning so she grasped his jaw and began giving him gentle shakes,
“Hellooo sleepy head, wakey wakey.”
He grunted then moaned in his sleep and his eyes fluttered a little. She slid a hand to his waist and gave him a tickle, this time she got a response.
“Piss off,” he moaned.
Madeira giggled.
“Come now beautiful, it’s a sun shiny day and we should be up.”
Wollfen managed to open one eye and peer at her, he grunted once more. Madeira went on,
“You know I have had the most wonderful sleep.”
Now both of his eyes were open and he responded curtly,
“Bitch.”
Madeira laughed and then cuddled him. Wollfen stretched and yawned.
“You aren’t going to leave me alone are you?”
She shook her head with a devilish grin. Crap.
Grumbling he got up and sat at the table, it felt like he had a hangover. Was he to feel like this every day? Madeira wasn’t going to make it easy on him either,
“I thought you said it was going to hurt?”
He growled back at her,
“You will keep.”
“How about I get us some food eh?”
He could only nod and lay his head down. This feeling sucked.
Madeira returned within a few minutes, she had an array of chopped fruit and even some freshly baked bread, all fresh supplies from the cargo ship they had stopped with a few days before. Wollfen attacked the proffered food with a zest that belied his previous lack of energy. Madeira sat and watched, happy to have done him a little service. After a few minutes of stuffing his face Wollfen finally looked at her,
“Thank you, it’s exactly what I needed.”
He was feeling a whole lot better now.
The next session that night didn’t go quite as before. Madeira was held in his hands and from time to time he could see the pain on her face. A little whimper would come from her now and again. He hated doing this, but for her own safety it was necessary. The session didn’t last quite as long at just over two hours but at the end of it Madeira collapsed against Wollfen sweating. He had gone to another part of her mind this time and met quite a bit of resistance. It just happened sometimes, he hoped it didn’t happen too often for her sake. Wollfen didn’t like visiting suffering on anybody let alone someone he cared about.
Over the next week it was a repeat each night of the same. Hours spent working in her mind, one of them the next day taking care of the other. At the end of the week they sat back and contemplated their next move, time on board the ship was closing fast.
“You know it’s the end of the fifth month, that means only about four weeks to go.”
Wollfen looked to Madeira, he had been giving it thought too.
“There really isn’t much in the way of preparations to be made, neither of us knows how the Queen will deal with me. Unfortunately we will have to wait until then, once she plays her hand we will have to act, then deal with the consequences.”
He watched her reaction, there was a possibility they could be dead in a few weeks. Madeira spoke up voicing a similar concern.
“What do you think the chances are of us pulling this off? I mean what are we really trying to do?”
“Well we can only deal with what is presented to us but I think the final goal will have to be to stop the Queen from attaining her prize deep in Kassandrea.”
“And what about me? After all that’s said and done, what do you think I should do? I can’t return with you to the Kingdom. For all of Isogorr’s faults I am still born of it and love it as my land.”
Wollfen sighed, he hadn’t really thought that far ahead until now, his focus had been on dealing with the Queen. An idea sparked in his head, it would fulfill his original ideas on coming here in the first place,
“Tell me Madeira, once the Queen has surveyed your mind after we arrive, are you subjected to that same sort of thing on a day to day basis?”
“No never, the Queen only ever does it to those that have traveled away from her influence for any length of time.”
Wollfen found that very comforting. He turned to Madeira and addressed her in a very formal manner.
“Madeira, once the episode with me and the Queen is over, you will be in a unique situation. You will have the opportunity to change your system from the inside, I don’t pretend to know what you should do or how you should go about it, but you must get the message about the truth out quietly and subtly to all that would listen. But also know this, you must not bring attention to yourself in doing so. You are the source and the knowledge, you will have to be very careful. It is the only way if things are to change in your land, do you see this?”
She quietly contemplated his words and realized what he was saying.
“You want me to start an underground movement in direct opposition to the power of this land.”
Wollfen nodded,
“Yes, but it is to serve a basic principle, to set not only your sisters free, but all those that are under the heavy hand of the Queen of Sorcs. The King too, he would not want to see the destruction of the sorc clique for they are the power behind his throne and he would be well aware of that.”
She looked at him but not really seeing him, she was very hesitant at first as those thoughts went through her mind, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized it was what had to be done.
“It shall be so, it is the only way if I am to help put things right for Isogorr and its people.”
Wollfen smiled at her.
“You are a very brave and principled person Madeira, I have the greatest respect for you.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“Thank you for saying that, it means so much coming from you.”
She stood up.
“I think some time sitting on the bow is in order don’t you think?”
Wollfen agreed and joined her as she moved out.
He thought about what may be starting here and how it may affect the people of Isogorr. It probably wouldn’t change much for any of them for many years, it was more likely to be a generational change but that was okay. As long as the change was brought into effect it would eventually grow and gain a momentum of its own. It made him feel good in his heart to know he was making a difference even if it wasn’t in the Kingdom.
Over the subsequent weeks they fell into monotony again while waiting, the tension for them both had been steadily rising as Isogorr approached. Neither had been able to work out any specific plan with so little to go on, they were stuck with having to deal with whatever would happen when it happened and they both felt the frustration of that.
Madeira had taken to talking to the Cap
tain which had unsettled him at first but after a couple of days he had accepted her conversations, they certainly were different to the bawdy tales he would swap with the other officers. Anyway, those old stories were getting boring, he had heard them at least a dozen times each on this voyage.
Madeira had deemed it necessary, there was to be the question of explaining how a prisoner was able to have free reign on the ship for much of the voyage. She had convinced Captain Serhatnan and the crew it would be in their best interest to keep their trap shut on that particular point and not to spread around any stories of Wollfen's exploits on board during the journey. The captain didn't need any convincing, he still feared the sorcs.
Over the last couple of days of the voyage all on board was quiet, while they all yearned to dock and get off the ship they also realized that the time they had experienced was coming to an end. It was almost like bad news had passed through the boat. Everyone kept themselves busy tending to chores and servicing equipment, it was the best way to take their minds off of things.
On the last night of the voyage the Captain invited both Madeira and Wollfen to his quarters for dinner, it was a very unexpected gesture from a man who they thought had no time for the changes they had all seen and experienced. Wollfen and Madeira went as requested, more out of curiosity than any real desire to spend time with him, they really weren’t sure what to expect.
They knocked on his door and were let in, inside stood a large table covered with a variety of prepared meals. It was more food than they had seen in six months. Captain Serhatnan quietly gestured for them to sit down and they took their places, both Wollfen and Madeira sat together opposite the captain.
“Good evening to you both, I do hope you are pleased by my small offerings I have here for you.”
Wollfen nodded and Madeira replied,
“It is much more than we could have expected, it is very generous of you Captain.”
“You are both welcome, don’t dally go straight into it, there is more than enough for all of us.”
All of the food could be eaten with their fingers and they picked at each plate at the center, placing morsels of each type on their own. Having filled their plates they began eating quietly and not much was said, they just didn’t know what to say. Finally Serhatnan spoke up.
