by Tamie Dearen
“But—”
“Please, Bardamen.... Do you realize that if Alora completes a transport with my son, they will most likely come here? And Alora will be the main target of Vindrake? Do you really think we can afford to take the risk of leaving Alora with only wards to protect her?”
“Bright!” Bardamen swore, jerking down his hood. “Fine. I will stay. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when Vindrake sends wendts your way. I don’t know how you intend to protect all three groups with one shaman.”
“Bardamen, believe me. I wish you had two siblings. I’m well aware of how precariously this expedition is balanced.” For just a moment, Graely allowed the weight of his worry to show on his face. The gifts were dwindling with each generation born in Stone Clan. His resources were already stretched thinner than he liked, even without the expedition. He shook his head. “Truly, I fear I may never return. You are not only our last shaman, but also my closest successor after Kaevin. If neither of us returns, you will be clan leader. Then you will see for yourself how difficult these decisions are to make.”
Bardamen’s rigid posture crumbled, and he bowed his head. “Forgive me, Graely. My judgment was clouded by my pride. I should not have undermined your leading.” He clenched his fist to his heart. “My prayers are with you.”
*****
Abaddon stirred a foul-smelling brew in the large iron pot hanging over the fire. The odor didn’t bother him, for it was his greatest opportunity for glory. With this feat, he would rise to second in power in the kingdom. And who knew? Perhaps he might eventually be the supreme power. But for now, he must concentrate on the task at hand. “So, you’ve had no more contact from Lena? Not even the slightest pull?”
“None at all,” Vindrake replied. “It has been five days. I must assume she fears me too much to try again.”
“Did her spirit seem so frightened when you spoke to her? If she were that afraid, an untrained bearer ought to have closed the channel immediately.”
“No. … We spoke for several minutes. She seemed quite calm. She is extraordinary.” Vindrake spoke almost like a proud father. “She has inherited much of my strength and power. Imagine, such a feat with fifteen years and lacking apprenticeship.”
“Yes,” Abaddon agreed. “Lena will be a great boon for our cause... if we can find her. However, if her gift were melded with Stone Clan—”
“That will not happen,” snapped Vindrake. “I won’t allow it. I’m certain she isn’t in Laegenshire, for I can sense the gifts there, despite their meager wards. I believe Graely is unaware of her existence, as I was before she called to me.”
“But you stated she’s guarded by extraordinary wards to prevent you from sensing her. Isn’t it possible she is indeed in Laegenshire?”
Vindrake scowled. “I doubt greatly Nordamen has that kind of power. I’ll conduct a thorough search, beginning with Laegenshire. However, we must be surreptitious in our efforts. If Raelene or Graely were to discover the existence of the child and contact her first, they might turn her against me.”
“Still,” said Abaddon, “if you stole the child from them, surely you could compel her to do your bidding.”
“I found it impossible to make use of Wendelle when she detested me so greatly. No matter what coercion was applied, I was unable to break her spirit. I planned to use the child as leverage to bend her to my will, until they escaped.”
“Why did you not simply force her to take the bond of fealty as you have all others in your kingdom?”
Vindrake’s mouth pulled downward as he spat out the words. “I discovered some thirty years ago the bloodbond destroys the power of the bearer. Had my shamans discovered this problem before the bond was forced on my previous bearers, I wouldn’t have this void in my council and weaponry. The bearer must serve me willingly, without gifted coercion.”
“I see. Indeed that is a problem. I am afraid that was before my time so I was unaware of this difficulty. Perhaps I could—”
“Your only charge is to help me obtain the girl. I will deal with her once she is here.” Vindrake grimaced as the smoke from the draught wafted his way. “What is that malodorous concoction?”
“This concoction is the very remedy you need to conduct your search without alerting the other clans of your maneuverings. It is the solution to hiding the presence of your bond on every Water clansman.”
“How could that work? Will it remove the allegiance?”
“No. Nothing can do that except death. The bond of fealty is extremely powerful, as you know. And also totally irreversible.”
As it was impossible to lie to Vindrake due to the iron will imposed by the bloodbond, Abaddon skirted carefully around the truth with his statement. It was accurate that Vindrake’s bond of allegiance could never be reversed. While only death could remove the bloodbond, he had discovered that the death did not necessarily need to be that of the bearer of the bondmark. He kept this secret closely guarded for his own protection and possibly for future use. Some day, his life might be saved by this undisclosed knowledge, and also by a piece of clandestine black magick he’d imbued on his person, at great personal cost—magick that made his skin impervious to metal.
He paused to add a black powder to the cauldron. “But as you are also aware, the power instilled in the bond is detectable to anyone with even the slightest gift.”
“Yes, but it also multiplies the powers of my clansmen and guarantees no one will betray me.”
“True. Yet, it will be impossible to look for the girl among the clans without alerting everyone, since every citizen of the shires and countryside can sense your bondmark.” He paused for effect before adding in a dramatic tone, “This formula will solve that problem.”
“How does it work?” Vindrake peered at the cauldron through narrowed eyes.
“One only need take a small swallow and, within a few breaths, the bondmark will be undetectable for a full day.”
Vindrake pinned Abaddon with his glare. “Yet I sense you are holding something back. There is some drawback you have not revealed.”
“Only a minor inconvenience, my Sire.” He continued to stir the pot in a slow figure eight, trusting Vindrake wouldn’t detect the slight tremor in his hands. “While the bondmark is masked, all gifts are inaccessible.”
“So you would have us walk blind and gift-less into the shires? That would be tantamount to suicide. We could still be recognized and killed.” Vindrake’s voice was cool and even, but Abaddon could sense his irritation building below the surface.
“Ah, but that’s another advantage of the potion,” he answered. “It not only masks your true image, but covers it with another. Whether viewed by eye or gift, you will always appear as a different form than your own. Totally unrecognizable. In fact, you will have to drink the potion in each other’s presence to recognize one another. I would suggest wearing an identifiable talisman for that reason.”
“Totally unrecognizable? No gift would be strong enough to see through the mask?”
“Only a very strong gift of discernment could detect the slightest impropriety. And as we eliminated Valor—the only Stone Clansman possessing that gift—during our last attack on Laegenshire, that is no longer a problem.” He couldn’t resist bragging. “You will remember I was instrumental in the success of that endeavor.”
“Yes, I remember. But I also recall losing seven of my best masters to Stone Clan’s loss of two. Therefore, I was less than pleased with the results.”
“A minor loss for you, Sire. Seven who were easily replaced. A devastating loss for Stone Clan. Am I not correct?”
“It’s true Stone Clan was permanently crippled,” Vindrake admitted, his scowl softening. “Perhaps the potion will work. I shall consider it.”
“It seems to be the only way to search for the child without alerting Stone Clan,” Abaddon insisted. “Have you contemplated what you will do should you not find her in time?”
Vindrake paced with heavy steps, his shining black hair
tossing from side to side. “If I find her and she will not comply, I will kill her.” His blue eyes gleamed with vehemence. “If I cannot use her—my own daughter—no one shall!”
*****
Bozeman followed at Kaevin’s heels as though he were attached to him. Alora almost fell as she tripped over the dog while they were trying to walk. “Bozeman, find your own soulmate. This one’s mine.”
Kaevin laughed. “I’m simply glad Bozeman likes me more than your uncle does.”
“Uncle Charles will come around. He just needs time.”
“Your magick is strong here. Is it your uncle’s gift or your own? I have never seen so many amazing things,” he declared. “Lights that appear by pushing one toggle and water that flows by pushing another. Boxes that are cold inside. Wagons that move without horses. In Tenavae, no one can do these kinds of things, unless perhaps one were using black magick.”
“You’ve got it all wrong, Kaevin. We don’t have any magic here at all. None. We have something called technology.”
“And what is that?”
“It basically means some really smart people figured out how to make all these things—like light switches, plumbing for water, and trucks and such. Those are the inventors and the engineers. And then they figure out a way to make it really simple to use so the rest of us can do it, too. And every single invention is constantly wearing out or breaking down, so we have other people who repair them and make new ones.”
“Oh.” He wore a mask of confusion. “So no one has gifts? No powers?”
“We call people who are really smart or talented, gifted. But it’s not magic. Everything has a scientific explanation.”
“Really? Then explain to me how this works.” He pointed to the microwave oven, which was cooking a noisily expanding bag of popcorn.
“I don’t know. Somehow it puts out microwaves that get all the molecules excited or something and they move around and get hot.”
“That sounds like magick to me.”
“Honestly, I agree, but I know it isn’t magic.”
“And would this work if we took it to Laegenshire?”
“I doubt it. Do you have electricity at all?”
“What’s electricity?”
“Never mind. No, it wouldn’t work in Laegenshire.”
“I just thought perhaps there might be something we could bring back with us to help defend ourselves against Water Clan.”
“Like maybe a shotgun or a rifle?” asked Alora, dragging Kaevin to her uncle’s gun cabinet. “These could help, for sure, especially if no one else has guns.”
Kaevin scrunched up his nose as he peered through the glass doors. “Are those long tubes made of iron?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I mean, they’re probably made of stainless steel or something like that. I’m pretty sure that’s iron. The barrels are metal, and the triggers, but the stocks are made of wood.”
“You won’t be able to move them with your gift. You can only transport tiny amounts of iron. When you brought me here, my knife slipped right out of its scabbard. But if we can find a way to get to Laegenshire without transporting...”
“Maybe you could figure out where it is if we looked at a map.”
“Yes,” said Kaevin eagerly. “I can read a map. I might be able to recognize Laegenshire. Do you have a map of Montana?”
“I can do even better. I’ll show you a map of the whole world.” Alora led Kaevin to the computer. “Okay,” she said, “this is one of those times I need to use both hands.”
“I understand,” said Kaevin, transferring his hand to the back of her neck. “We could probably go for a while without touching. I wish I knew how long it took to recover. If only I could ask Nordamen.”
“That’s okay,” said Alora. “I don’t mind. I figure we should stay in contact as much as possible so we can kind of re-charge. After that, you said we only have to touch once a day?”
“I believe that’s true, but in all honesty, I’m unsure.”
“I hope it’s true, for Uncle Charles’ sake. He’s not very happy about all this soulmate stuff.”
“I don’t believe he likes me very much.”
“It’s not your fault—I’m the one who brought you here.”
“He’s fortunate you didn’t come to me instead,” he remarked. “Think how upset he would be if you’d simply disappeared. At least my father knows where I am.” His face fell as he spoke. “Although he may believe I’m dead.”
“Why would he think that? I thought he understood all this stuff about me being a... a bearer.”
“He certainly understands. But when I got sick, our healer said I wouldn’t survive a transport. So they placed wards on me to prevent you from moving me. Since you managed to break the wards and transport me, they might conclude I’m no longer alive.”
“But why didn’t they understand about the soulmate thing and that you were ill from the separation?”
Kaevin gazed out the window as he replied. “They didn’t believe we could be soulmates because we’re too young. The earliest known age for soulmates to form is twenty-one years. And because soulmates are also extremely rare, no one truly considered the possibility—no one but me. I believed that was the reason you called me, when all the others thought it was accidental. I believed we were soulmates from the beginning, perhaps even the first time I saw you under the waterfall.”
“That wasn’t a waterfall—that was a shower. And why did I always see you in the shower?” She purposefully didn’t mention the bathtub.
He shrugged. “Perhaps because your father was Water Clan, so you have the ability to draw power from water. But you should also be able to draw power from stone, because of your mother, Wendelle.”
“Okay,” she said, thinking the notion of drawing power from water and stone made no sense. But then, what did make sense right now?
“Look, here’s a map of the whole world.” She enlarged the map on the computer screen. “And I can center it over Montana. I can make it topographical, so we can see elevations and such—you know, see where the mountains are. Or I can do a satellite view, so it’s like we’re out in the sky looking down. And then we can zoom in, like this.” She demonstrated the zoom feature. “See, here’s Montana, and this is our county,” she said zooming out further.
He stared at the video screen with wide eyes. “That’s a marvelous gift. But I’m afraid it doesn’t look like any map I’ve ever seen. I might be able to locate a place with mountains, rivers, and seas in the correct places. But I wasn’t aware this much existed beyond the mountains. Laegenshire could be almost anywhere.”
“Well, not really. You have to be some place that’s undeveloped. There really aren’t that many places left. I’m thinking maybe in the Amazon. Did you live in a jungle? Wait—you speak English. I’m trying to think of an undeveloped place that speaks English.”
“I don’t speak English, I speak Tenavae. That’s also the name of our territory.”
“Let me Google some of these words, like Tenavae and Laegenshire, and see what I find.”
“What’s Google?”
How could she explain Google? “It’s magic.”
*****
Uncle Charles came inside just as Alora and Kaevin were cleaning up the lunch dishes. His eyes fell on Kaevin’s hand where it rested on her arm.
“Don’t you think you’ve done this touching thing long enough?”
“The plan is to kind of charge up so we don’t have to do this at all by tomorrow,” said Alora. “At least we hope that’ll work.”
He mumbled something under his breath about his being too old to deal with this kind of thing.
“But we made lunch for you, Uncle Charles. It’s on the stove. Baked beans and ham and fried potatoes with onions.” She peered with pleading eyes. She couldn’t stand having him angry with her.
His scowl fell away. “I’m sorry, Alora, but I feel like I’m out of control here. It’s my job to protect you.” He moved to wrap an arm
around her, his lanky six-feet-two frame forcing Kaevin to her other side.
“I want you to know, sir, I intend to protect her also.” Kaevin stood eye to eye with Charles, and held his gaze without flinching.
Charles pressed his lips together in a tight line. “But who will protect her from you?”
“I would never hurt her,” he retorted in an offended tone.
“Look, Kaevin.” Charles cut off his protest with a wave of his hand. “I believe you’d never intentionally hurt her, but you’re both too young to be in this kind of relationship. And if you take her to your home, it sounds pretty dangerous. So, even if you don’t mean to, you could still hurt her indirectly.”
“But Uncle Charles, it seems like it’s kind of my destiny to go there and help. You know, like it’s why I have the jewel in the first place.”
“Destiny or not, you’re too young. You’re not going off alone with anyone, much less with a seventeen-year-old boy we don’t know anything about.”
“But Uncle Charles—”
“I’m sorry, but this discussion is over.”
Alora and Kaevin escaped outside to avoid Charles’ critical gaze. “We need to tend the horses. And then afterward, I thought we might try practicing with the bearer thing. Maybe you could help me figure out how to do it.”
“I’m uncertain whether I can actually help. When I described the color of your wander-jewel, Raelene told me it would be extremely difficult to learn how to control such a powerful stone. She said it would be futile to pass advice to you through me. Originally, she was going to instruct me somewhat in case I had the opportunity to help you.”
“Well, I’m going to try it, with or without your help. What can you tell me?”
“I only know what I’ve been taught about bearers. I’ve never transported with anyone except you.”
“But you have to know more than I do. Do you at least know what I can move? I mean, you said I couldn’t move large pieces of metal. I know I can move people. Can I move objects like rocks? Or can I only move objects if people are holding them? Can I only move people to me? Or can I move them to other places?”
