The Peasant

by Scott Michael Decker

  “I thought the accusations were true.” Spying Eagle frowned. “Brazen Bear wasn't a traitor?”

  “You never met Brazen Bear. I did, only once, but I've never met a person more at ease with himself, more friendly or charismatic. He couldn't have been a traitor. Anyway, the sibling-empathy link between the brothers was so strong that Guarding Bear wouldn't eat or sleep or talk with anyone after his brother died. The Lady Matriarch was worried that he'd decided to join Brazen Bear beyond. I assigned two Wizards who'd just graduated. They worked on Guarding Bear's mind for eight months before he returned to normal. Not long after that, Smoking Arrow died. Flying Arrow declared war on the Northern Empire, and Guarding Bear led our armies. The rest you know, eh?”

  Spying Eagle nodded. He was disturbed that his father would say Brazen Bear couldn't have been a traitor on the basis of one meeting. “May I ask a few questions?” His father usually didn't make such sweeping judgments.

  “Of course, Son,” Searching Eagle replied.

  For the next half-hour, Spying Eagle asked about Guarding Bear's psychological attributes. From his parent's house, Spying Eagle had gone directly to the Bear residence, knowing a few specifics about Guarding Bear's mind.

  Bubbling Water led him to a plainly adorned room. At the center stood a stuffed grizzly bear—not sculpted. A live raven was perched on its shoulder. In the far corner, just visible in the dim light, was a large man. His hair was black and unruly, his temples gray. His sonorous snore rumbled the room.

  The Matriarch stopped.

  The Wizard sensed her amusement.

  Curled up beside the General was a boy. She gestured Spying Eagle to wait and stepped to the door. Moments later a servant appeared. “Take the boy from the room without disturbing his sleep,” Bubbling Water said softly. “Afterward, take the bird outside and release it.”

  Gently, the servant lifted the boy and carried him from the room.

  Spying Eagle detected the signature of a healer. “That's Healing Hand?”

  Nodding, Bubbling Water frowned toward her mate.

  Spying Eagle frowned toward the door. Usually, medacors were certified to practice after long apprenticeships—longer than the boy had lived. Even asleep, though, Healing Hand had shone with talent.

  Pulling a portable shield from his belt, the Wizard set the dials and switched it on. Putting his thoughts and emotions into their niches, Spying Eagle quickly erased self from mind.

  For an examination, a psychologist needed his mind to be a tabula rasa, a clean slate ready to record all impression without distortion. Everyone etched attitudes, beliefs and memories upon the tablet of consciousness. So deeply did they score the slates of their minds that new impressions had to fit between the old patterns, leaving little surface for learning. Spying Eagle cleared his slate until he had the minimum processing and memory needed to examine the General.

  Sound waves shook the Wizard's eardrums. A part of his mind knew the mates were talking. Guarding Bear's assent entered the deep recesses where he'd withdrawn. Kneeling, Spying Eagle held his hands toward the General. Guarding Bear grasped them. The electrical shield adjusted to include him within its field. Spying Eagle felt the General's mindshields rise to defend him. With the skill of a lock-pick, he opened the shields, his father having given him the key.

  The Wizard looked at the memory storage and retrieval systems of Guarding Bear's brain, the Matriarch having mentioned a gap. A person couldn't forget anything that had been moved to long-term memory. The mind distributed memories in assemblies of cells, spreading them among several regions, or cortices, of the brain. The hippocampus, a wishbone-shaped organ beneath the cerebral cortex, stored short-term memories before moving them to these cell assemblies. A person retained information by associating it with past events or previous learning. A memory stored without association was instantly forgotten. No Wizard could completely erase long-term memory—too many associations. The only way a Wizard could erase memory was to stop the hippocampus from moving short-term memories to long term.

  Spying Eagle saw that the level of adrenalin in the hippocampus was low. In the body, adrenalin helped a person respond to danger. In the brain, adrenalin helped a person remember the danger and survive the danger again. The low levels in Guarding Bear's hippocampus suggested that someone had impaired his ability to move short-term memories to long term. Boosting the adrenalin to its usual level, Spying Eagle noted the traces of psychic signature.

  Engaging his own memory, Spying Eagle sorted through the signatures of Wizards he knew and quickly found a match. The other Wizard's identity didn't surprise him. He guessed that it would infuriate Guarding Bear. The Sorcerer Lurking Hawk had delved into the peasant General's mind. Like medacors, each Wizard had his or her own techniques. Guessing that Lurking Hawk had also implanted Guarding Bear, Spying Eagle searched for a circuit of brain cells that looked like it might be an implant. He didn't have to search long.

  One neuron linked three sensory clusters of fifty-four hundred neurons each to a cluster in the cerebellum. The neuron had three dendrites, the nerve branches long, their number few. Spying Eagle first traced the dendrites. One branch led to the auditory lobe, one to the visual lobe and one to the prefrontal lobe. In each of these, respectively, the brain made sense of sound, sight and psychic energy. In these lobes were three sensory clusters, each having unusually few connections with surrounding tissue. He traced the other end of the neuron, the axon, to the organ that coordinated multiple motions, the cerebellum. It stored a specialized type of memory called procedural learning. When a person repeated a task requiring little thought, the cerebellum soon “remembered” the motion. Thus the body learned how to do without a person's having to think. The place where the brain stored unconscious motions, the cerebellum was the logical place to put subconscious compulsions.

  The structure was an implant. It worked as follows: When the General heard a specific word, saw a specific shape, probably a face, and detected a specific psychic signature, each trigger cluster would send an impulse to the decision neuron. When it received all three impulses, the decision neuron would activate the compulsion in the cerebellum. With one neuron connecting the clusters, disabling the implant was easy. He simply killed that neuron. As a precaution, he detached the neurons in the sensory clusters from one another, so they wouldn't accidentally activate. He also detached the neurons in the cerebellum cluster from each other.

  Finished, the Wizard took a moment to look at the General's brain. The cerebral cortex was thick. Ridges riddled its surface. A rich childhood climate could make the brain so dense and convoluted. Or a potent talent, if Spying Eagle's hypothesis were true. Looking at the prefrontal lobes, which generated and decoded psychic energy, he smiled. Guarding Bear was a Wizard by all accepted standards.

  Spying Eagle withdrew. Regaining control of his arms, the Wizard dropped the General's hands to break their link. The electrical shield now separated them. Spying Eagle regained an awareness of his surroundings.

  He bowed to both the Matriarch and the General. “Your mental health, Lord General Bear, is excellent. Thank you for allowing me to examine you.”

  Guarding Bear grunted, glared at his mate, stood and left the room.

  Bubbling Water closed her eyes and sighed. “Please tell me what you found, Lord Wizard. I'll tell my mate later.”

  “Yes, Lady Matriarch Water.” Spying Eagle wondered why Guarding Bear sought to avoid the inevitable. “I suggest that you have a Wizard more familiar with implants examine the Lord General for latent effects in a month.”

  “Why, Lord?”

  “I don't often use implants, Lady Matriarch. Their long-term effects when not managed properly outweigh any short-term benefits. Considering the Wizard who implanted the Lord General, I doubt that improving his health was the intent, Lady.”

  Frowning, Bubbling Water asked, “Lurking Hawk?”

  Spying Eagle nodded.

  Chapter 10

  Mates develop interde
pendence as their relationship lengthens. The longer the mateship, the deeper it becomes. In long mateships, the mates develop a psychic empathy that approaches the one-mind, two-body communion of identical twins. The partners become so alike in disposition, preference and perception that each can act and decide in the other's place with little difference in result. This similarity is both psychological and neurological. For example, the more a person uses a talent, the better the person becomes with it. The mate-empathy link has an analogous effect on a person's signature. The longer a person stays mated, the more adapted the person's frequencies become to the other person's. The neurons in the prefrontal lobes grow new dendrites to help the mates receive each other's emissions better.—Propinquity: The Mate-Empathy Link, by the Wizard Easing Comfort.

  * * *

  “Thank you, Lord Wizard.” Bubbling Water winced. Numb, she gestured him to follow and strode toward the antechamber.

  First her daughter, now her mate.

  At the house entrance, Bubbling Water said, “Lord Captain.”

  Silent Whisper appeared and bowed. “Yes, Lady Matriarch.”

  She looked at Spying Eagle. “I remind you that you treated both the Lord Bear and me, Lord Wizard. Lord Captain, take the Lord Wizard to the paymaster and have him paid whatever he asks.” She knew the amount would be reasonable. “Walk with the Infinite, Lord Wizard.” Nodding to acknowledge his bow, Bubbling Water turned to walk down the corridor.

  “One moment, Lord Wizard. May I speak with you, Lady?”

  She stopped to look at Silent Whisper. Alone, she guessed, and gestured him to follow a few steps along the corridor. “Yes, Lord?”

  “If I may ask, Lady,” Silent Whisper whispered, “did the Lord Wizard perform to your expectations?”

  “He did, Lord Captain,” she said, her voice low. “Why do you ask?”

  “I know you don't have a Wizard in your service, Lady, and, uh…”

  She smiled. “I asked him already, Lord. He doesn't want the post.”

  “Eh?” The Captain looked baffled.

  “What's the matter?”

  “I, uh, don't, uh, understand how he could refuse a position in your service, Lady.”

  Surprised, pleased and knowing his praise unintended, Bubbling Water smiled at him warmly. “Bless you and thank you, Lord Whisper. I hope you choose to remain with us for many years to come.”

  The Captain grinned and half-bowed and turned red with embarrassment and couldn't find his tongue.

  Bubbling Water spared him further discomfort. Bowing as if his equal, honoring him, she walked to the stairs. Dear Lord Infinite, please protect him, she thought, liking him and praying he lived longer than his predecessors.

  She took the stairs. Halfway to the second floor, she saw that one of the recesses was empty. Odd, I thought we'd filled them all, she thought, unable to recall what had occupied the niche. Shrugging it off, she ascended to the next floor and looked down the corridor toward Guarding Bear's office. The door was open, the room dark. She was relieved. Her mate too often brooded upon the castle in the distance.

  Beside her was the library doorway. She peeked inside.

  * * *

  Looking upward, Guarding Bear reached up to pull down a volume. A slim book slid outward from the uppermost shelf high above his head and floated down into his hand. Seeing her in the doorway, Guarding Bear smiled. “Lurking Hawk disease, eh?” he asked.

  Looking sad, she nodded.

  “Odd my talent didn't protect me. By the way, that Wizard's good. Let's retain him.”

  “I tried, but he declined.” Bubbling Water shook her head at him.

  “Sorry to hear that. Did you arrange an escort for him?”

  “Oh, blast, I forgot. I'll have someone check that he got home safely.”

  Guarding Bear sighed that they needed such escorts for their guests. “Last I remember was drinking the whole chalice of poisoned wine.”

  “You knew Flying Arrow poisoned it?”

  Guarding Bear chuckled. “Flying Arrow said, 'Let's drink to your new position,' and then he called for wine. When a servant brought it instantly, I knew he'd arranged it all to poison me. I played along, took the chalice, acted as if I'd drink and watched their eyes as they followed it up and down. They were so transparent I felt like laughing in their faces. I gave the Sorcerer my knife, turned my back on him and told him to kill me. He didn't, of course. A minute later, I turned back around, grabbed him by his collar and pulled his face to mine. I told him if he ever harmed Rippling Water again, I'd feed his testicles to the Emperor. Then I tossed him onto the dais steps, told the Emperor that I hoped the poison didn't kill me and drank it all.”

  Bubbling Water looked at him, wonder on her face. “You baffle me, Guarding Bear. You're incredible, insufferable, courageous and foolish. I thought you were behaving strangely during the audience. Did you plan all that?”

  “Not until I realized the Emperor wanted to poison me.”

  “Why did you drink it?” she asked.

  “If I hadn't, Flying Arrow would've electrocuted me for threatening him.”

  “Healing Hand told me about the three assassins. You gave their weapons back, then turned around as though they weren't there. Why?!”

  Hearing anxiety in her voice, Guarding Bear sighed. “You've probably noticed, my mate, that I'm not the same person as I was eighteen months ago. I can't tell you who I am now, but I've changed.” He stroked her cheek. Beyond the windows facing the street, flashes of light too bright caught their attention. Book in hand, he leaped to the glass and looked outside.

  On the street two houses down, a psychic skirmish raged. Suddenly, it ended.

  “Did he escape?” Bubbling Water asked, stepping toward him.

  Guarding Bear shook his head, turned and put his arms around her.

  “Blast him!” Bubbling Water spat, then sighed. “What book is that?”

  He cradled her head to his shoulder. “Subjugating the Shrew, by Shaking Spear.”

  She looked up at him sheepishly.

  He guffawed. “My love, my love, I didn't mean to imply I need a lesson.” He kissed her on the forehead, his hand in her midnight wealth of hair. “Remember how we met? I told Healing Hand the story earlier. The young woman I knew then was the most beautiful in the land. She's not as young as she was, but she's more beautiful than ever. Her years don't reflect that, perhaps, but only because she has a beauty that time won't ever crack.” Guarding Bear felt her shields drop, and he welcomed her mind into his.

  Warmth filled Bubbling Water's soul. Their mate-empathy link pulled their minds together, so strong and comforting that the last week might never have happened. Years ago, the Wizard-medacor Easing Comfort, who now served the bandit general Scowling Tiger, had told Bubbling Water about the mate-empathy link.

  “… Eventually, the neurons in your prefrontal lobes grow new dendrites to help you receive his emissions better,” Easing Comfort concluded, touching the blond hair at his temple with a large hand. “In fact, you can become so sensitive to his psychic signals that you might die soon after he does.”

  “Does that happen often, Lord Comfort?” Bubbling Water had asked.

  “Oh, yes, Lady Matriarch. For mates of thirty years, twenty percent die within hours of each other. Of course, expecting to die when one's mate does is usually self-effecting, like any strong belief. It's also psychic, though. When one mate dies, the other experiences a backlash, an implosion you might call it. The neural-psychic interface assemblies—networks of neurons in the prefrontal lobes that generate and interpret psychic energy—suddenly drain of energy. Depending on many factors, it can be fatal.” Easing Comfort had smiled, his blue eyes bright and gentle.

  Bubbling Water sighed in Guarding Bear's embrace. From within their mate-empathy link, the world looked less threatening. The edges of their minds meshed together, she let their joined thoughts take her away from her troubles. She felt his need to talk. For their mutual serenity, he kept his though
ts disciplined, enjoying their contact as much as she. Together they sought the spiritual presence of the Infinite.

  A quiet scratching invaded their privacy. Bubbling Water's shields snapped back into place. They looked toward the door.

  Silent Whisper stood in the hallway. “Forgive me for interrupting, Lord, Lady. The Lord Emperor's minions captured the Lord Wizard not far from here. I thought you should know.”

  “We saw what happened, Lord Captain,” Guarding Bear said, gesturing toward the window. “We've had this happen before. For our protection and yours, please ask myself or the Lady Water if our guests require an escort.”

  “Yes, Lord General, I will. Forgive me for not thinking of it.”

  “The fault was ours, Lord Captain,” Bubbling Water said. “We shouldn't have allowed the Lord Wizard to leave without one. If you can, find out what happened to him. More than likely, we'll pay for our oversight. Do you know if he got hurt?”

  Silent Whisper smiled. “I couldn't see, Lady, but the Lord Wizard's capture cost the Lord Emperor thirteen of his minions.”

  “Good!” Guarding Bear said, cold cruelty hooding his eyes. Then he thought about the cost to their families—and wilted. “Find out their names, Lord Captain, and give the list to the Lady Stream.” He glanced at Bubbling Water. “She'll know what to do with them?”

  Bubbling Water nodded, sighing. “She'll send our condolences to their families.”

  “Eh? Condolences, Lady Matriarch?” Silent Whisper asked.

  “They're citizens first, eh?” Guarding Bear said. “We should always remember that. Also, find out the names of the Lord Wizard's parents in case we need to send them condolences also.”

  “Searching Eagle and Hovering Dove,” Bubbling Water said. “Let's visit them personally, Guarding Bear. They deserve that much, eh?”

  “Good idea, my love. Lord Captain, thank you for reporting so quickly. You've done well your first week. The Lord Puma was scant with his praise. I'll commend him for referring such an efficient man.”