Telepath (A Hyllis Family Story #4)

by Laurence Dahners

  “Careful!” Daum said. “It’s got to be somewhat weaker. If it breaks doing that you could fall on the blade.”

  Tarc said, “Actually, according to the little I’ve been able to read, a weld can be stronger than the rest of the metal. As it cooled, I was able to use my ghost to massage the crystals forming in the weld so they longitudinally bridged the gap. I think that might make it stronger than the rest of the metal because this cheap blade wasn’t folded a bunch of times like the really high-quality blades some blacksmiths can make. Anyway, I’ve already stressed it harder than this without breaking it.”

  Daum took the sword and placed the tip on the floor, then lowered the handle close to the floor and applied a heavy bending force to the blade. He shook his head as if surprised by its strength. He said, “You might be right, but I think it’s a lot safer to test it this way.” He bounced his weight on it a little, then lifted the sword and looked at the weld again. Looking at his son, he said, “That’s pretty amazing. We’ve got some other stuff you could weld for us—”

  Tarc interrupted him with a little laugh, “I knew that was coming. Just remember that I can only heat a microscopic amount of metal to a melting temperature. Daussie has to cut away metal to produce surfaces that’re absolutely smooth and fit together perfectly. Then it still takes me a long time and several sessions to weld it.”

  Daum looked disappointed, but he addressed another concern, “Tell me about how you barred the opening. I find it hard to believe you could do it so no one could break in?”

  Tarc described how Daussie’d made the holes to slide the pipes into.

  “But, if you can lift the pipes out, why wouldn’t anyone else be able to do the same thing?”

  Tarc described how they had to be lowered out of the upper part of the opening to be tilted out of the lower one. Then he described the cross bolts that blocked the pipes from being lowered. “And, you can’t lower them unless you can teleport those bolts out of the way.”

  Daum lifted an eyebrow, “Well, that was a good idea, though I guess now no one else will be able to get in out there without you along to unlock it.”

  Tarc frowned, “Vyrda might be able to pull the bolts out, but I’m sure she isn’t strong enough to lift them and slide them back in place to lock it back up.”

  Eva changed topics. “I assume you’re going back out there tomorrow?”

  Tarc nodded.

  “But you don’t need Daussie with you anymore, do you?”

  “No,” Tarc said. Then he astonished Daussie by saying, “Besides, we really don’t know what kinds of things might happen in this town yet. I’d feel better if she was here to protect you guys if things go in the crapper.”

  Daussie felt the pressure of Daum, Eva, and Kazy’s wide-eyed gazes as they realized that Tarc was doubling down on how dangerous she was. Eva said unhappily, “I hope you don’t think Daussie’s going to start killing people right and left…?”

  Tarc drew back as if somewhat surprised. “I certainly hope no one’s going to need to kill anyone, ever again. But, in addition to being the most dangerous of us, Daussie’s also capable of much more measured responses that I am. Pepper extract into their noses, eyes, or peritoneum. Teleporting blood from their jugular into their windpipe to give them fits of bloody coughing. Breaking their bones. Or,” he shrugged, “of course, killing them if drastic measures are needed.” He looked around, “You realize that, if she kills someone by cutting their brain stem or their aorta, there won’t be a mark on them. No one’ll know she did it. As long as she doesn’t make it a daily habit, no one’ll ever have reason to suspect it was her. They’ll think the person died of natural causes.”

  Daussie choked out, “I don’t want to ever do anything like that again!”

  With a wise look that belied his age, Tarc nodded sagely, “I hope you don’t have to… I once hoped the same for myself. But then I realized that…” he glanced at his mother, “some people really do need killin’.”

  Eva had a tear trickling down her cheek, but Daum was frowning, “What was that about the peritoneum?”

  Tarc said, “It’s the membrane lining the inside of the abdomen and covering all the organs in it. When it’s irritated it causes agonizing pain that doubles people over. I’m not sure when porting pepper extract in there might be the best solution to a problem. The pain would come on kind of slow and last for a long time.” He shrugged, “But it seems like there might be some situation for which having a problem person get sick without any evident reason for it, and stay that way for a while might be helpful. He looked at his cousin, “Most of the time I think it’d be best if Kazy were there and just calmed things down.”

  When Daum and Eva turned to stare at Kazy, Daussie realized no one had told them what Kazy had done with Sam. Seeing Kazy looked uncomfortable, Daussie decided it might be better coming from her. She said, “You guys know Kazy can put people to sleep for surgery, right? It shouldn’t be too surprising to realize she can do something in between. Adjust people’s attitudes, so to speak.”

  Now Daum and Eva were gaping at Daussie. She continued, “As far as I know, she’s only done it once.” She looked at Kazy, “Right?”

  Kazy nodded.

  Daussie explained how Kazy had made Sam feel embarrassed when he’d been harassing them. She turned back to Kazy, “You made him feel embarrassed that he’d been flirting with girls so much younger than he was?”

  Kazy nodded again, looking even more uneasy.

  Daussie said, “But, what I think Tarc’s saying, is that if someone’s really mad, like, killing mad, she might be able to calm them down. Put the brakes on a situation, so to speak, before it got completely out of control.”

  Eva gave Kazy a wide-eyed look. “You really think you could do that?”

  Kazy shrugged, self-consciously. “Maybe? Daussie told me what you said about peppering someone’s nose just for saying something mean. It seems like changing someone’s attitude just because they think mean things… would be kind of the same thing.” She twisted her lip, “Maybe worse.”

  Eva said, “Well, I’d certainly hope that you didn’t go around changing people’s thoughts just for your convenience. But, I agree that changing an attitude to keep someone from getting hurt, themselves or others… That seems ethical. Just like I’d expect Daussie to pepper someone’s nose to keep them from injuring someone else, you should… tamp down their emotions?”

  Quietly, Kazy said, “Okay. I hope I know when it’s the right time. And, that it works.”

  “Ah,” Eva said, a light of understanding in her eyes. “It’s kind of a problem if you never get to practice it before you really need it, isn’t it?”

  Kazy nodded, “I’m not even sure I really changed Sam’s attitude. Maybe he was just about to get embarrassed because of what Daussie said to him. Maybe I didn’t actually do anything.”

  Eva looked at Daum, then around at the rest of them. “I think… that, once Daum starts selling beer again, it might be okay for Kazy to practice her attitude adjustments on drunk and obnoxious customers. Though, she should limit her changes as much as she can. Doing barely enough to stave off violence. What do you guys think?”

  “Oh, yeah!” Tarc said giving vent to his long-standing distaste for the disagreeably inebriated. The others weren’t as emphatic, but after a moment they nodded as well.

  Timidly, Kazy said, “But, what if my attitude changes stick? I mean, you know, if the person’s permanently changed by what I do. That seems… unethical.”

  Eva said slowly, “In my experience… People who’re obnoxious when they’re drunk are usually at least a little bit rude and difficult even when they’re sober. As long as you don’t change them into someone who’s a complete milquetoast—someone who therefore gets run roughshod by other people—I think you could be doing them a kindness. Or at least… doing their family a kindness.” She seemed to give it a little thought, then said, “Though, I’d encourage you to use as light a touch as you can
.” She laughed, “You don’t want to be put in the position of trying to swing them back toward assertive-obnoxious if it turns out you overdid it.”

  “Okay,” Kazy said in a quiet voice. “But, I’m going to try not to change anyone’s attitude unless one of you guys suggest it to me. I don’t want it to be something I decide just because I’m pissed.”

  Eva yawned, “That shows a lot of wisdom.” She stretched, “Right now I’m tired and we probably have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Let’s get some sleep. We can always talk more about this some other time.”

  ~~~

  As Tarc was drifting back off to sleep, his thoughts turned to Lizeth. The first several days after she’d left, he’d found himself moping about her absence several times a day. Now he felt sad because he hadn’t thought about her since sometime yesterday. His last thought as he fell asleep was, By the time the caravan stops back in Clancy Vail again she’ll have gotten over her snit. We’ll get back together and…

  ***

  When Tarc got back to the tavern the next day, the only salvage he brought back was the box of bolts and other fasteners, carried inside a wooden box he’d taken out there to get it. Sarno had readily accepted his request that he stand out of sight while Tarc removed the bars on the entrance. Then the man dug steadily alongside Tarc as they uncovered more of the hospital “gurneys.” Tarc had found the word for the wheeled stretchers during his reading the night before.

  They hadn’t been able to dig out the gurneys without exposing the door in the south wall. Tarc had pretended to be as astonished as Sarno at finding a door. Then he’d professed marked disappointment that the door was locked and couldn’t be budged.

  He didn’t get to tell anyone about it right away, because as he crossed the serving room he saw Mrs. Gates staring at him from one of the tables. Pulling up short, he tentatively said, “Hi Mrs. Gates.” He wondered what kind of mood the irascible woman would be in this time.

  He found out when she acerbically said, “Bet you thought you were shut of me, right?”

  He blinked, “No, I…” He realized he shouldn’t say that he hadn’t even thought of her for weeks, so he said, “I’ve been wondering where you were?”

  “Hah! You Hyllises left the caravan without even letting me know you were going to do it! I had to leave those SOBs in Murchison and catch another caravan coming back this way.”

  “Um, sorry. We were in a rush and you hadn’t been coming in for treatments, so…” Tarc trailed off.

  “Yeah, yeah, I heard it all from your mother. I’m sick again like she said I’d be. Of course,” Gates rolled her eyes theatrically, “she claims she can’t treat me without your help.” She shook her head, “As if there’s something an idiot boy like you can do that no one else could.”

  Tarc pasted a huge smile on his face and said, “Gosh, it sure is great to have you around again!” He turned toward the kitchen, “Let me just go talk to my mom about what to do for you.”

  He stepped into the kitchen and set his box of bolts down in the corner.

  Eva saw the look on his face and laughed, “Glad to have your favorite patient back, huh?”

  Tarc snorted and shook his head, “Where’s the recurrence?”

  “Liver and lumbar spine,” Eva said. “But, take a good look yourself. I think you might be able to find smaller ones than I can.”

  Tarc got a jar and a rag with a tiny splash of moonshine on it and headed back out to do a treatment on Gates’ cancer. When he stepped out into the big room, he saw Vyrda coming in. He turned back into the kitchen and waved her to follow.

  When Eva saw Vyrda, she exclaimed, “Great!” She explained about Gates’ disseminated cancer. “Tarc figured out he could kill the tumor with—”

  Tarc interrupted because he thought Eva had been about to say “telekinetic heating.” He said, “I generate heat with a little bit of moonshine on a rag in this jar,” while making an exaggerated glance at Nylin, standing wide-eyed behind Eva.

  “Really?” Vyrda said frowning, then her eyes widened when she understood the movement of his eyes toward Nylin.

  Eva glanced back, saw Nylin, then turned to Vyrda again, saying, “Why don’t you go with Tarc. He can show you how he does it.”

  As they stepped out of the kitchen toward Mrs. Gates, Vyrda whispered, “Telekinesis, right?”

  Tarc nodded, “Telekinetic heating.”

  Vyrda put a hand on his arm to get him to pause, “Are you thinking this is a cure?”

  Tarc shrugged and whispered in return, “We don’t know. I’ve killed off all the tumors we can sense with our… ghirits, several times. But new ones keep popping up. They’re like cockroaches.” He glanced over to the table where Gates was waiting, “She does look a lot healthier than she used to. When we first started the treatments she looked like she was on death’s doorstep.” He looked back at Vyrda, “Maybe all we’re doing is keeping her alive a little longer, but I like to think we’re also giving her a better quality of life during that time.”

  Vyrda asked, “Do you think I’ll be able to tell what you’re doing?”

  “I’ll bet you can. I’ll do the one in the lumbar spine. If you can sense the heating and the killing of the cells and think you’d like to try it, give me a nod and you can give the one in the liver a shot.”

  Vyrda’s eyes widened, “Oh! I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

  “Have you tried to heat your finger?”

  “Um, yeah. I was able to make it hot… but it was uncomfortable. I stopped.”

  “I suspect that’s plenty hot enough. We’re not starting a fire, just making the tissue hot enough that the cells in the tumor die.”

  “Okay,” Vyrda said uncertainly, “I’ll give it a try if I think I can tell what you’re doing.” She started to move toward Mrs. Gates.

  Tarc grabbed her arm, “I should warn you, she’s pretty crotchety.”

  “Oh, should I wait till the next one?”

  Tarc shrugged, “She’s the only one we’ve got right now.”

  Vyrda looked surprised, “If you can treat cancer, I’ve got lots of patients for you.”

  Tarc wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad news. To Vyrda he said, “Well, you’d better see if you think it works then. And, if so, whether you can do it yourself.”

  When Tarc and Vyrda approached, Mrs. Gates said, “Oh, good Lord. What am I, the favorite attraction at this carnival of yours?”

  Tarc sighed, “Mrs. Gates, this is Ms. Soh. She’s studying to be a healer and wants to see how we’re treating your cancer.”

  “If that’s so, why isn’t Eva out here teaching her?”

  Tarc laughed, “Mrs. Gates. The last time I treated you, you apologized for being so ornery and for never saying ‘thank you.’ I’ve been hoping that meant you were going to change your attitude.”

  “I let you people practice on me. That should be thanks enough,” Gates grumbled, climbing up onto the table.

  Tarc sent his ghirit through the woman. The two recurrences in her spine and liver were about the size of the last joint of his pinky finger. He also found a couple of millimeter-sized ones in her brain and thought, Maybe I really can discriminate smaller ones than Mom can? He set the jar with the moonshine rag on her stomach. In a low tone, he said, “Third lumbar vertebra,” then started heating the lesion in the vertebral body.

  Vyrda uttered a low but still surprised sounding, “Oh!” Tarc thought because she sensed the heating. Since their ghirits were very sensitive to increased warmth it wasn’t surprising that she’d be able to detect it.

  Tarc heated the lesion until he could feel the cells rupturing and breaking down, kept after it until he thought they were all dead, then moved the little jar so it was over the liver. He pointed a finger at Vyrda and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

  She firmed her chin and leaned close, frowning in concentration. Tarc’s ghost sensed the liver lesion warming. It happened more slowly than when he did it. For a little while, he
feared she wouldn’t be able to get it hot enough and he’d have to help her. But then he started sensing the cells rupture. In a low but enthusiastic tone, he said, “Oh, that’s good! A little more to the right.” He moved the jar to the right so Gates wouldn’t wonder what they were talking about, but felt Vyrda move her focus to the right end of the lesion where the cells hadn’t been breaking down. “That’s got it then,” he said.

  Vyrda leaned up away, a combination of astonishment and huge satisfaction on her face.

  Tarc moved the jar up onto Gates’ forehead. “I’m just going to treat a couple of tiny ones in your head, Mrs. Gates.”

  “Eva didn’t say anything about any of them being in my head! Are you just practicing?”