Mindbender

by David A. Wells

  Abigail trained hard every day. The Sky Knights were skilled warriors and they had high standards for members of their elite order. Abigail poured herself into her training and drove herself harder than was expected. There were several other young riders training with her but none as driven to master the Sky Knights’ trade. She quickly outpaced them and won the respect of many of the training cadre.

  When they started weapons drills, Abigail began to struggle. The javelin was the preferred weapon of the Sky Knights because it was heavy enough to penetrate armor when thrown from above and it could be thrown with one hand, leaving the other free to hold onto the wyvern’s reins. There was little danger of falling off in flight because the armor of a Sky Knight had a series of buckles and straps that connected to the saddle. Guiding the wyvern was the problem—the reins were as important on a wyvern as they were on a horse.

  Abigail worked hard to master the javelin, but her slender frame simply didn’t have the strength to throw one with nearly the range or accuracy of the other Sky Knights. After a particularly frustrating practice session where she missed her target in all ten of her attack runs, some of the other trainees began to tease her. Knight Raja silenced them but not before they added salt to the wound of her failure.

  Raja pulled her aside after the morning training session. “You need to work on the javelin, Abigail. You have to be able to hit your target. Otherwise, you’re just floating around above the battlefield.”

  “Let me try with my bow,” Abigail said. “If I can’t make it work, I’ll double my efforts on the javelin.”

  “The bow is a difficult weapon to use while riding on the back of a wyvern,” Raja said. “The javelin is a much better weapon once you learn how to use it.”

  “Let me try,” Abigail said.

  Knight Raja took a deep breath and nodded reluctantly. “Very well, you have the afternoon to prove that you can make your bow work. If you can’t, then you’ll focus on the javelin until you master it.”

  Abigail smiled, “Agreed.”

  They broke training for lunch. Abigail found Isabel and Wren when she returned to her quarters. It was a warm day with clear skies and a gentle breeze blowing across the ocean below. The big doors to the balcony were open to let in the sea air.

  “Hi,” Isabel said as she entered. “How’d the javelin training go?”

  “Not well,” she replied with a frown as she headed for her bedchamber. She emerged again a few moments later with her bow and quiver. “Knight Raja has agreed to let me try my bow. I hope I can make it work or I’m going to be doing javelin drills for the next several weeks.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Isabel said. “I’ve seen you shoot from horseback. I don’t know more than a handful of seasoned Rangers who can shoot as well as you do and none of them could match your bow.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Abigail said. “I just can’t seem to throw a javelin with any accuracy at all.” She sat down to the lunch of thick seafood chowder, crusty bread, and green salad that Wren was setting out for them.

  Wren had been a waif of a girl when they arrived but she’d started to gain a little weight since she’d been eating with Isabel and Abigail at every meal. She looked healthier and happier. Her face wasn’t as gaunt and she had better color. Isabel had grown very fond of the young woman and sometimes found herself wondering what would become of her once she and Abigail returned to Alexander.

  They talked of little things while they ate. The chowder was filling and well seasoned. Once they were finished eating, Abigail strapped on her quiver.

  “Mind if we come and watch?” Isabel asked.

  Wren’s eyes grew bigger and she smiled with excitement. She wasn’t normally allowed on top of the plateau when the Sky Knights were training.

  “Sure, maybe you’ll bring me some luck,” Abigail said.

  Isabel could see the skepticism worn by the trainers as Abigail approached with her bow. She had tied it to her wrist with a lanyard to ensure that it wouldn’t fall from her grasp in flight and she strode toward them like she had something to prove.

  Isabel and Wren found an out-of-the-way place to watch the Sky Knights make their training runs against bales of hay stood on end, simulating human targets. A number of them had been set out, some in formations and others alone.

  Knight Raja had Abigail shoot a number of targets from the ground first. He pointed to three targets set at about fifty yards—a good shot for a javelin but short for a bow. Abigail smiled with confidence and drove an arrow through each in turn with ease. Before Knight Raja could say another word, she sent an arrow at the farthest target and hit it with a clean shot.

  He smiled at her skill and ordered her to mount Kallistos and make ten runs with the other trainees. A few minutes later, half a dozen wyverns were floating above the plateau in a wide orbit. They took turns making their attack runs, breaking off from the circling formation and diving toward the simulated enemies. Most of the new riders did fairly well with the javelin. They hit their targets about two of every three runs they made.

  Abigail didn’t follow the same attack pattern. Instead she floated high and slow over the field of targets. Several days before, the trainees had learned how to coax their wyverns into a slow glide. Given the right wind conditions, they could almost hover. Today was perfect. The gentle breeze provided just enough lift to float without too much forward motion.

  Abigail loosed her first arrow and found a target. If she’d been shooting at an enemy, he’d be dead for sure. Her second arrow found its mark as well. She released three more arrows in her attack run before rejoining the circle formation of the other riders to let them have a turn at the targets. All of her arrows were direct hits.

  Isabel saw the Sky Knight trainers look at each other with surprise at Abigail’s proficiency with a bow.

  Her next attack run was a repeat of the first, only this time she emptied her entire quiver, each arrow finding its mark with precision. She fired ten arrows in rapid succession and didn’t miss a one.

  “She’s amazing,” Wren whispered.

  Isabel chuckled, nodding her agreement. “Abigail’s a natural with a bow. I’ve been shooting all my life and I can’t match her, especially with that bow of hers.”

  Wren frowned in confusion. “Is her bow special?”

  Isabel smiled and nodded without explanation.

  Abigail landed and the Sky Knight trainers converged on her. They offered congratulations and praise for a moment until Flight Commander Bianca approached. She had been watching from the shadows of a nearby tree. Isabel wondered why she hadn’t noticed the woman.

  The breeze carried their conversation to Isabel and Wren as they watched.

  “Impressive,” Mistress Bianca said, “but your bow is spelled. Are you as capable with an ordinary weapon?”

  The crowd gathered around Abigail fell silent at the implied challenge. She didn’t hesitate. “No, but I’m better than I would be with a javelin and probably deadlier than most Sky Knights.”

  “Bold words,” Mistress Bianca said with a little grin. “Perhaps you’d like to prove your skills in a challenge.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Abigail asked.

  “I’m sure we could find a suitable bow for you to use,” Mistress Bianca said. “Let’s see if you can repeat your performance.”

  Abigail shrugged. “Fine by me.”

  Mistress Bianca sent a Sky Knight to the armory to get a bow while Abigail went to where Isabel and Wren were watching. She handed her bow to Isabel. “Keep an eye on this for me.”

  “Of course,” Isabel said, taking the finely crafted composite bow from her. “That was pretty good. Looks like it comes as easily for you as shooting from the back of a horse.”

  Abigail nodded. “It took a moment to get comfortable shooting down rather than away from my mount but it didn’t take too long to figure it out. I knew I’d have to come in slower and higher to get a steady aim. Seemed to work out pretty well. I
hope they bring me a decent bow to work with on the next run.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Isabel said.

  Not too much later Abigail was again in the air floating high and slow over the simulated battlefield. She came in a bit lower this time to compensate for the less powerful bow but was able to get seven arrows off with deadly accuracy in her first attack run. The other trainees could only attack with a single javelin per run and didn’t have the accuracy that she did. After three runs, her quiver was empty and she had hit for every shot except two. She landed with sunlight shining off her silvery blond hair, smiling brightly.

  Mistress Bianca and Knight Raja approached as she dismounted.

  “Well done,” Knight Raja said with a proud smile.

  “Indeed,” Mistress Bianca said. “I’m convinced that the bow is a better weapon for you, but I still expect you to master the javelin over time. You may continue with your training regimen without any remedial instruction.”

  Abigail smiled with triumph. “Thank you. I’ll work on the javelin but when I ride into battle, I’ll be using my bow.”

  Bianca nodded with a smile. “I have no doubt, and I wouldn’t expect anything else, but since a bow can be dropped, you must have effective weapons in reserve.”

  “That makes sense,” Abigail said, nodding to her Flight Commander.

  Isabel spent the rest of the afternoon practicing her visualization exercises while Abigail and the other trainees practiced aerial maneuvers, formation flying, and sequential attack runs. Even though Abigail had proven herself with her bow, she was not allowed to use it for training. Knight Raja said she was good enough with it that she didn’t need any more practice so he sent her up with javelins.

  ***

  The days drifted by quickly. Abigail spent every hour of daylight training with her wyvern and the Sky Knights. Her skills and confidence grew with each passing day.

  Kallistos also grew. He was big enough to start hunting, which led to the next phase of her training—aerial attack with her wyvern as the weapon. Either with the tail or with talons, a wyvern could inflict withering damage with a single pass. Abigail remembered all too well the day she’d been abducted and how deadly the tail strike of a wyvern could be. She practiced diligently, learning the nuances of mounted flight.

  Some days she lost all thoughts of anything else except for mastering the exercise of the moment. When she was in a steep dive making a run at a target, her intensity of focus was so complete that nothing else existed except for her target, Kallistos, and the wind. In those moments, nothing else mattered. She felt more alive than ever before.

  Isabel spent her days in seclusion, practicing her mental exercises. A few times she returned to Magda to seek clarification on some concept or other but mostly she sat quietly with her eyes closed. An observer would think she was resting or even napping but she went to bed each night mentally exhausted. She focused on her training with intensity and drive. Each time she felt too tired to continue, she thought of Alexander and her mental endurance was restored.

  After she felt confident in her ability to visualize an image at will, she moved to the practice of invoking powerful emotions. The practice of deliberately creating intense emotion proved to be even more exhausting and considerably more difficult.

  She searched her memory for a moment of intense anger and found it. When Truss abducted her, she had been furious. Before Magda had instructed her to use past memories to create intense emotion, she had avoided thinking about that incident because it was so unpleasant but now she found that she was capable of drawing up a feeling of intense righteous anger almost on command. Her problem came when she tried to dismiss the feeling. It seemed so justified in the face of what had been done to her that it felt almost like a betrayal of something important to let it go.

  After several attempts she became frustrated and decided to seek help. The anger came easily but she needed a technique for getting rid of it. As she strode through the halls of the fortress island, she tried to let go of her dark mood but was still angry when she arrived at the hall leading to the triumvirs’ chambers. The guards stopped her. Isabel had to restrain her urge to lash out at them.

  “I need to see Magda,” she snapped.

  “Mistress Magda is not accepting visitors today,” the guard said.

  “I’m not a visitor, I’m a student,” Isabel replied with a bit too much intensity.

  “Be that as it may, you will have to come back tomorrow,” the guard said pointedly as the other rested his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword.

  Isabel glared at him for a moment before she turned on her heel and stormed off. She walked aimlessly for a while trying to take her mind off the memory of Truss binding her hands and loading her into a box. She wanted to strangle the little weasel.

  After an hour of stewing over the past, a thought suddenly occurred to her. Magda had suggested that she could seek guidance from Head Mistress Theresa in the training hall. After asking directions, she found herself standing in the entry hall of the big room watching a small class of young women learn the history of Kendra Reishi and how her discoveries had led to the practice of witchcraft.

  A young woman approached and spoke quietly. “Can I help you?”

  Isabel schooled her tone. She didn’t want to take her manufactured anger out on this young woman. “I’d like to speak with Head Mistress Theresa, please.”

  “Of course, she’s teaching a class at the moment but she should be finished soon. You’re welcome to wait if you like,” she said, motioning to a set of comfortable chairs in the entry hall.

  “Thank you,” Isabel said as she headed for a chair. She sat and closed her eyes. Instead of her exercises she thought about Alexander and the relatively brief time they’d spent together. They had known each other for only a few months but she felt a deeper connection to him than she had ever felt with anyone in her life. When Theresa approached, Isabel discovered that she was no longer angry.

  “I’m Head Mistress Theresa. How can I help you?”

  Isabel stood with a smile. “I’m Isabel. Mistress Magda said I could ask you for guidance if I was struggling with some aspect of my exercises.”

  “Ah, yes, of course,” Theresa said. “Please come with me so we may speak in private.” She led Isabel into a small room filled with a large desk and shelves that lined the walls. Books, scrolls, and papers lay haphazardly on every surface. Theresa took a stack of books from a chair and motioned for Isabel to sit as she closed the door and settled in behind her desk.

  “How can I help you?” she asked with a pleasant smile.

  Isabel took a deep breath and ordered her thoughts. “I’ve been practicing an exercise for emotional control using anger as my focus. I can make the anger come easily enough but then I can’t seem to make it go away.”

  “Ah, yes, that is a common problem with young acolytes and one that is easily remedied,” Theresa said. “When you are feeling angry, simply see yourself from a different point of view. See yourself from the position of a disinterested observer and your anger will subside.”

  Isabel frowned. The advice seemed so simple but she decided to give it a try. If it didn’t work, she could always go talk to Magda tomorrow.

  She thanked Mistress Theresa and returned to her quarters. When she once again called forth the anger, it came quickly and intensely. She tried to shift her perspective to that of an observer and found it difficult to accomplish, but with a little effort she succeeded. The anger evaporated almost magically.

  With work and practice, she gained greater control of her ability to dismiss her anger until she was able to bring it forth with a vengeance and then banish it with equal quickness and control.

  Next she worked on love. She found this practice to be much more pleasant. She chose her wedding as the memory she used to invoke a feeling of powerful love. It came to her easily but inevitably led to a feeling of sadness because she was separated from Alexander. That feeling proved t
o be even more difficult to banish because it was so much more important to her, but with time and effort she gained the ability to create feelings of love or anger at will and then detach from those feelings with a thought.

  The days passed and her mental control grew. She started mixing the two by calling forth an intense emotion and then seeing an image in her mind’s eye. The balancing act was daunting at first. She found that she was so focused on seeing the object that she forgot to be mad. Or she would invoke a feeling of love and was so distracted by her feelings for Alexander and her desire to see him again that she couldn’t focus on the object she wanted to see. It took time and determined effort before she felt ready for the trials.

  She resisted the urge to request the trials prematurely. Instead, she spent a few days walking the halls of the fortress island while practicing her twin mental exercises. She needed to be certain of her ability to control her thoughts and feelings. Once the trials began, there would be no turning back and failure was death. She didn’t want to die and she simply would not subject Alexander to a life of believing that he had sent her to her death because he had provided the means for her to take the mana fast.

  When she was certain, she brought it up at dinner with Abigail and Wren.

  “I think I’m ready for the trials. I’m going to go see Magda tomorrow.”

  “Are you sure?” Abigail asked. “It might be better to take a few days to think about it.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it for the past three days,” Isabel said. “I’ve mastered the exercises that Magda gave me. She said that once I could do both with control, I would be ready.”

  Abigail took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If you’re sure, but don’t rush into this, Isabel. The mana fast is dangerous. You remember the screams we heard from the tower when Alexander went through it. Even if you’re ready, it’s not going to be easy.”