by Liam Carrack
“I believe you child.” She looked relieved, but abruptly turned her attention back to the babe in her arms. “Did you notice the note?”
“What note?” Her head shot back up, and she sauntered over with an odd rocking gate that I recognized as distinctly motherly. Well well! It would seem that our Mistress has been withholding a strong maternal instinct. “Was there a note with him?”
“I noticed it when you showed me the basket. It’s written rather poorly, but I think I can make it out.” I squinted down at the thing and moved closer to her night candle. It was a wonder it wasn’t guttering, she must have gone to bed quite late. “Something… so generous… can’t take care… take care… special needs. Uhhg! I can’t make out anything. Wait!” I moved the page perilously close to the flame, and realized there was a Power lock on it. I cleared my throat and uttered open under my breath, but put my Gift behind it.
The page tingled in my grasp for a moment and took on another shape altogether. A clean square of parchment with clear concise inked handwriting was now before me. “If you are reading this then you are in part what I thought. The Child you now hold is Maersyn. He is a very special child. He is the child of the Prophecy, and I found him just before The Fall. I never managed to return to the Caverns, and that was our salvation. Do not look for me. He must not be found, and I am sought after. Please offer him asylum and care for him as your own. He chose you, and I agreed. You have wealth and power. You will need courage in the days to come. Please help him as you have shown more charity than any other I have made contact with in this city. Beware of your Sage’s Guild. They are pompous and foolhardy. They do not heed the Signs.” I read aloud the uncovered message and as I read she drew closer to me to read along for herself.
“Turn it over. There is more, a seal of some kind I believe, but I can’t quite remember where I have seen it.” I did as she requested and had yet another shock, would this day never cease to amaze me? The Seal of Whitelock had been artfully drawn there. Could this mysterious messenger truly be a part of those fabled Power Workers? “They were myth, weren’t they?” No, they were real, and here in my hands was the proof that they still existed. “Look there, at the bottom.” She shifted the child and pointed to an afterthought scrawled below the seal. “If you can not or will not take up this burden burn this note and place the child outside your doors after dark. I will know of it. But whatever you do, please do not take him to your authorities. Hmmm?” She had read to me this time as my eyes had been captivated by the seal. “Burden or no, I’d say he’s mine now.”
“What a load of rubbish!” When had Scinna entered the room? “I’ve never heard such drivel in my life. You will take that child to the authorities this instant and tell them everything you know. She’s probably a criminal who loosed her skirts one too many times, and now wants to offload the product on what she thinks is an unsuspecting girl!” Scinna was scowling ferociously, but incongruously carrying a tray with a bottle full of milk and a bowl of mashed peas from the look of it.
I moved to take the tray from her. “Scinna, please join us. Sit down dear lady. There is more to tell. If you had heard it all you would not act this way.”
“Don’t think some sly words will twist MY mind. That THING is not staying in this house! It played with my mind. Look you, girl. I didn’t do this of my own accord.” She was motioning to the food now on the tray. It certainly didn’t coincide with her leave-taking from this room. She was shaking and I pulled the tray from her grasp and set it indecorously on Llanalla’s bed. The bottle was in Llanalla’s hand and she was seating herself to feed the child before I began again. It was my intention to be the cool head in the room, but my calm was being nibbled at by the excitement of the proof I know held in my hands. Whitelock’s followers still existed. It was a dream come true.
“My Lady,” I motioned to Llanalla, “is not under any compulsions. As to your own actions I can only guess at causes, but I can tell you that an infant can in no way plant such detailed instructions in your mind dear lady.” She started, scowled, and opened her mouth to speak but I continued. “I have no doubt that you did not choose this course of action willingly, but the child, and I assure you it is a child and no thing of ill nature, could not possibly have done what you propose. He HAS however managed to impress upon you a strong desire to assuage his hunger. Did you not find yourself catering to Garvyn and Llanalla without meaning to when they were children? Bringing sweet cakes when you had originally intended something more wholesome? Did you never wonder at this?”
“Well, yes. But they were just children, they didn’t know any better, and …”
“This is just an infant. He knows no better. He was not being willful. He was hungry …” I was kind, but firm with my words, my shields were strong, but on later reflection my fervent defense of this babe must have been influenced in some way, or perhaps in my own mind I linked this infant with having found evidence of a most ardent dream come true.
“Very hungry if his rate of consumption is any guide.” Llanalla chimed in with a chuckle. Scinna and I both turned to face her, the baby, and the rapidly draining bottle she held. “Poor thing probably hasn’t eaten much for a long time.” Her bottom lip was poking out in pity.
I resumed my plea. “This child is special Scinna. This child is more Powerful than any of the Sage Guild members I’ve ever met.” That was both the truth and less than the truth. I needn’t scare the woman with the estimations I’d made earlier. “You are a good and caring woman. Somewhere in you his plea for aide struck a chord and you answered it. As for the mistress who wrote this,” I held aloft the note, “she is both Gifted and free of evil taint. On that I would stake my life. This seal is powerful and I have seen it seldom, but it can not be borne by one of evil, nor can it be looked upon rightly by followers of the Darker paths.”
Scinna sat staring at me. I hoped she respected me, and my abilities, to the degree she purported to. “Has everyone in this house gone mad?” she shook her head and stared into her hands. “How can we take in a baby? Where will we say it came from? Whose is he?” I felt triumph wash over me. She had called it a baby, not a devil or a demon, and she was thinking in possibilities. She may not like it, but she wouldn’t fight us hard.
“Scinna? How do I … something’s wrong …” Llanalla was near panic. What happened now? Scinna was on her feet and moving toward them.
“Nothing’s wrong. He just needs a burp is all, girl.” She picked him up and placed him to her shoulder patting him on the back. A tiny gurgled pop and a giggle followed. “There now, see. Nothing to worry over.” Scinna lifted him back down, and held him so she could see into the tiny little happy face. “Well let’s have a look at you,” she grumbled critically.
“He’s angelic, and if you say otherwise you’re a liar.” Llanalla was scooping the near sated child from Scinna’s grasp. “Besides, he’s still got some peas to eat.” She was like mother wolf, and a child with a doll in that moment and I savored it. Another shock, Scinna was laughing.
“All right child. Have your way. There is no one to say otherwise now is there? I’ll go find something to properly diaper him in and I’ll be back, but on your head be it. You will be the one sitting up nights with him, not I.” She was picking up bits and moving out of the room now, but she looked back over her shoulder, “You had better come up with a believable story.”
Llanalla
How could anyone not love those big eyes and those tiny digits? How Horice had convinced her so easily was a mystery, but that she was going along with things for the moment is all that matters to me. I understood why Horice was on board. The child was: A. a mystery, B. Powerful, and C. there was that seal he was so taken with. A powerful ally it seemed. Scinna was right though. We were going to have to have a cover story or keep him hidden from the outside world somehow.
“Who is your mommy little guy? Maersyn. Is that your name?” He smiled up at me and giggled like he was following the conversation again. “Ju
st another little conspirator aren’t you?” He was even eating the peas. I had seen Dalla’s mother feeding her first grandson mashed apples, something which seemed infinitely more appealing than peas, with considerably more trouble.
“Uh hum.” I’d forgotten that Horice was still in the room. “I’m not suggesting you totally disregard your new toy, but could you at least divide your attention a little more equitably?”
“I’m sorry. He’s just so cute.” I was looking at Horice now and giving Maersyn only half my attention. Well, perhaps two thirds of it.
“This woman obviously met you somewhere. Whom did you meet at the Gemsman’s Guild Hall?” He had seated himself on the divan, and was now staring frankly at me.
“No one.” I was at a loss.
“You met someone. Tell me about everyone you spoke to outside the Compound.” He expected nothing but the truth, and I was racking my brain for an accurate account of my journey yesterday.
“I walked to the Guild Hall, and didn’t stop anywhere along the way. Gemsman Gorsynn walked me through the halls of the Guild Offices, and I found myself cornered by the Weasel.” I colored at this and corrected myself, but kept moving lest Scinna come back too quickly and overhear my fumblings. “Uh, I mean Guild Head Jespyrn. There was his secretary, two men from the Kells, and Gemsman Braddyn sitting in the anteroom to his offices, but I didn’t actually stop to talk to any of them. Then Tobbyrn, I mean Gemsman Tobbyrn. He’s the man who brought back the news of Garvyn’s death. He works in the Guild Records Office. Then I left, and I didn’t stop until I … I stopped in the street just outside of the compound. I had dropped that treatise you had given me. A tiny Dynaly woman, at least I thought she was Dynaly, now that I think of it she was too dark of coloring to be Dynaly, and just tiny. She was trying to hand it, the treatise, back to me.” That’s it! “She looked so skinny, except for her middle… It must have been Maersyn! She wasn’t thick around the middle. She had you tied to her!” I was looking down into Maersyn’s eyes again, and he was giggling uproariously with peas all over his face. When had he managed to get peas all over his face?
“I tried to give her a silver renddi for her trouble, but she pushed it back into my hands. It was so odd, come to think of it. She never spoke, not once, never even opened her mouth.”
“So, she returned a book you dropped outside the Compound, wouldn’t take a reward even though she was hungry, and never spoke a word.”
“Well …” Oh Gods. I looked around the room hoping Scinna wouldn’t come back in the middle of my explaining the whole truth. “I dropped the treatise, and she returned it to me outside of the Compound. There is a difference.”
“Where did you drop the book?”
“I don’t really know. Somewhere near the city center I think. I didn’t really notice at the time and I’m really lucky someone honest was there to find it. Don’t get mad, please. I know it’s rare and irreplaceable and therefore priceless, and I don’t know what I would have done if I had actually lost it.”
He was obviously unhappy, but he sat quietly long enough for me to swallow and continue headlong into the next explanation. “And, she did take a reward, just not the silver renddi. I gave her a small pile of copper coins, which she appeared much happier with. I thought maybe she thought it was too much or something. So, I tried that little trick of letting people see what they expect and gave her every little copper bit in my purse. The book is worth a whole lot more to me than even a sack full of copper.”
“And she never said a word? Even after the coin trick?”
“No. I blessed her as I entered the Compound, she got this surprised look on her face, but she never said anything.”
“You’re sure? Even before? Did she call out to you to get your attention in the street?”
I colored at that, “No. She was at my elbow and gave a tug on my sleeve before I knew she was there. It was uncanny.”
“Well, don’t feel too bad. She may have been using some kind of Concealment Power. Do you know who or what the Whitelock Caverns are?”
“They are supposed to be some enclave of Gifted and Talented, right? They gather communally with no real purpose, but have given us aide in times of trouble?”
“No Purpose? That would be the merchant in you talking. What do you know of the Sage’s Guild and their rules and strictures?”
“They’re like the other Guilds. They assist the Gifted and Talented in finding apprentices and patrons, they set guidelines for bargaining, and police corruption within their ranks. Right?” That was what a guild was supposed to do. Why it would be any different for the Sages?
“Yes, and no. People are either born with the Gift, or they are not. The gift can skip generations or spring up unexpectedly in families not known to carry it, and therefore it is not a skill one passes on from one generation to another as one might gem cutting or carpentry skills. If one is born with the Gift to a prominent family, one might choose to dedicate one’s life to its study, and thereby join the Sage’s Guild. If one is richly gifted, such as yourself, but not of a prominent family, one might find apprenticeship with one of the Guild, and join that way. Most of the Gifted, and nearly all of the Talented, from the lower classes must learn the uses of their Abilities through trial and error to the betterment of the craft they are born to or in brief training sessions paid for by the other Guilds. The reasons for much of the laws on Compulsion are due to the business practices of some of our Gifted forbearers, and the superstitions of the people.”
He steepled his hands and lowered his head like he used to when he was teaching Garvyn and I as children. “Once, long ago, the Gifted were gathered together and trained in groups, not singly as they are today. Many great advances and discoveries were made then, but also there were those with fewer scruples who used those under them to amass great power, and use it to the detriment of others. There was warring and destruction which was blamed, in large part, solely on the Gifted. You have heard the stories of Robbizal?”
I gasped. I had thought such stories were told only to scare, and keep children in line. He was real? “Ah. I see that you have. Yes child, he really did exist, though many of the tales are exaggerated, I believe. He was a follower of Ginsal and therefore a follower of the Dark ways. He gathered together many of the Gifted and Talented, and channeled their Power, through worship of this dark lord, thereby gaining Power enough to topple cities. Any who opposed him, Ginsal worship, or his chosen, met with ugly ends. It is told that he ripped out the tongues of the Gifted who opposed him that he might use their power against their will. Our people were once under the rule of Robbizal. Phiriel itself was originally called Ginsali. Only through the work of Whitelock did Light turn the tide against Dark nearly 500 years ago.
Worship of Phirr and Phorodda took the place of Ginsal in the hearts and minds of our people, and we named ourselves Phiriaen. During the early years after the chaos that followed The Revolution many with the Gift were persecuted. It was believed that by taking the tongue of a supposed practitioner of the Gift it would bind their ability to use those Gifts. This was a bastardization of the practices of Robbizal, but it did happen. You and I know that taking your tongue wouldn’t stop your Abilities, but we are both Gifted. Slowly the Sage’s Guild began to emerge offering ‘safe’ use of the Gift for hire by the masses. The Sage’s Guild grew in power and prestige slowly, and always quietly. Those in power in the Sage’s Guild have long been wary of any who voice the opinion of teaching the Gifted in groups. These members are perceived as power hungry. The masses may have forgotten the transgressions of the past, and in large part so have most Sages, but the Guild has long standing traditions. I have wished to teach the Gifted in a school for the betterment of all people, and so have found myself victim to this prejudice.
My wish is not for secular power or prestige, but to further wisdom and knowledge. I follow what teachings of Whitelock that I can find, and he was squarely in the Light. From what I can tell, though he and his followers freed
our people from the oppression of the likes of Robbizal, they were treated no better than any of the Gifted in the time of chaos. They moved apart, and lived communally in a place called the Caverns. Those who are Gifted still go missing from time to time. I like to think that our missing Gifted flee the constraints of our present existence for that community of Learning, she has alluded to here as Whitelock Caverns. Actually I wish I had found my way there, but then I found your father and he brought me to you and your brother and I could do naught but stay and teach you. You were, are, so dear to me.
Unfortunately, from what is written on this note, I can only assume that the Whitelock Caverns have come under attack, but by whom, and how, I have no idea. That this child has some significance I am sure. I am also certain that we must not make his identity or whereabouts widely known. I think it best if he stays hidden here. I don’t know how …”
He trailed off at this point, and my mind slowly plodded back into action. I had always loved his storytelling. It was rambling and sometimes he forgot completely where he was going with it, but it always put me in a slight trance. Somehow I could always remember every detail in his story later even if I can’t always remember why I have walked into a particular room, or what I was meant to fetch moments after the task is given me.
