by RJ Crayton
Pylum nodded. “He believes you are the child of light. He believes that you are the child the prophecy speaks of. However, the prophecy requires the child to control the talisman and the talisman can only be controlled with the help of the alab. Like Zygam, your mother believed you might be the child of the prophecy, and she thought Zygam was the alab required to control the stone. When she took you, her goal was to keep you as far from Zygam as possible.”
I looked down at the words on the page. A child with ties to the Northlands and the Midlands. I suppose I had that with my father and mother. And I had interacted with the stone when I was small. But, it seemed insane that I could control all.
“This child has too much power, more power than I do.”
“Your name means ‘powerful one,’ Kadirah. I do not believe that is simply coincidence. If Zygam had chosen that name, perhaps I would have believed it was him trying to force a prophecy into being. But Idris was very different from Zygam. His reasons for giving you that name were pure of heart and had nothing to do with his perception of the prophecy. I don’t believe your father had even read it.”
“He named me after a woman who cared for him,” I said, thinking of the memory I’d just seen. “In my mother’s memory, he said there was a bad time, a time when Northlanders were persecuted here. What did he mean? “
Pylum frowned and then blew out a breath. He looked toward the bookshelf, and I thought for a moment he would float another book over to me. But he didn’t. He turned back to me and said, “We’ve had an uneasy peace between the Northlands and Midlands. It’s been a peace for many years, but there were still a few that believed the Northlanders were wicked. Believed them all to be sorcerers of darkness, rather than simply different people. In parts on the border, parts that probably should have been more accepting, there were mages who hunted those of the Northland. There have always been tribal differences among people, and for those who crossed the borders into the upper Midlands, there were problems. Your grandparents were murdered on their way to this temple, and your father and Zygam spent several years on their own in the upper Midlands.”
I shook my head, not fully comprehending. “But they were mages. Why didn’t they come to the temple?”
“Because they were hiding from the people who murdered their parents, because they were afraid it wasn’t safe, because they hadn’t been taught the extent of their powers or even enough to fully know about their powers. Not all mages marry other mages. Your grandfather had immense power, but your grandmother was not a mage. She was kind and loving, and there is magic in that, but not the kind that we do here.”
I thought about Nigel. He had powers, yet he roamed the streets of Halcyon like a beggar. Had that been what life was like for my father? Had some part of me known that deep inside? Was that why I’d been drawn to help him when I saw him that first time? Was that why I felt so responsible for him, even now? Somewhere deep inside, had I realized he was alone in the world, like my father? I looked up at Pylum as it hit me that my father and Nigel were different in that my father hadn’t been alone. “Both he and Zygam had to fend for themselves?”
“Yes, they did, but they had help, a woman named Kadirah. She helped keep the mages who sought them away, and she gave them a place to stay. She was quite fond of your father, and when she overheard some mages, ones who seemed kind, say that they were traveling to Hakari Ahet, she convinced your father to speak with them. And then she convinced him to leave with them and be safe. She was, by all accounts, a good woman. A powerful woman. There is power in words, but there is power in action as well, and Kadirah took the most powerful action another person can: she cared and she comforted, and your father never forgot.”
I suppose he hadn’t. I wondered more and more what my father was like.
“Your father was a lot like you,” Pylum said, and I wondered if he’d been rooting around in my mind. Even though I hadn’t felt any attempted intrusion, given what I knew of magic, it crossed my mind.
“I didn’t look in your mind, Kadirah,” he said. “Like Idris, you sometimes wear your thoughts on your face. You looked like you wondered about him. And I can’t imagine a child not wondering about her father.”
As he said it, I realized he was right and wrong at the same time. Every child who grew up not knowing a parent should wonder about him. Only, I didn’t. I almost never thought of my father. Only my mother. “Pylum,” I said. “Until now, I haven’t wondered about him.”
He looked at me, but said nothing.
“Why do you think that is?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Truthfully, if you have never wondered about him, I would suspect that your curiosity about him is locked inside with your memories.”
“You can lock curiosity, too?”
He adjusted himself in his chair, and raised his fingers to smooth his goatee. “I wouldn’t say you can lock curiosity, but if you lock certain topics away, lock them deep, it will naturally stifle the curiosity, too. It must, or else, there will be this pull to unlock the information. That is the problem with locking a mind. When it doesn’t realize what has been done, it is happy and content. Once it learns what has been done to it, the mind strives for answers. It works furiously to undo what was done to it. I thought the waning connection to Talitha, combined with knowledge that your mind was locked, would start you down a path that would pry the lock open.”
“That happens?”
“Sometimes,” he said. “It depends on how good the lock is, and Talitha is excellent at such things. So I wasn’t entirely sure it would unlock. Plus, she had good reason for locking your memories, so it seemed that maybe it was for the best that they didn’t come back.”
I didn’t see how that could be for the best. Before I could follow that thought to its next conclusion, Pylum had hopped down from his chair. “I understand you have memories to finish watching, and it’s getting late, so I will let you attend to the things Talitha wishes you to know.”
I stared at him a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. “So we’re done for today?”
He looked toward the windows on the far side of the room. The sun was orangish purple as it set. “It’s getting late, and you should eat,” he said, still looking at the setting sun. He turned to me and said, “Once your memories return, I would like you to start training you in more advanced magic. That is, if you would like to.”
“Of course I would like to,” I said. “I want to be ready.”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds. But, I will explain more tomorrow. Why don’t you head to dinner? I’m sure Jasper and Nigel would like to see you. “
“Alright,” I said, feeling like I was being pushed out. I’d learned so much today, but the way he talked about my memories made me worry. He said she had good reason for locking them, and Auntie had insisted I watched my mother’s memories first, saying I needed to be prepared. I worried I wouldn’t like what I saw when my memories finally returned.
Chapter 13 - Stolen
I made my way to the eatery, which was almost finished with meal service. I grabbed one of the last bowls of stew and was scoping the nearly empty room trying to decide where to sit. While eyeing a table in the back corner, I felt a hand tap my shoulder. I turned to see Jasper standing there.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” I said, glancing around at the empty tables.
He shrugged. “Nigel and I ate earlier, but I told you I’d see you at dinner, so I wanted to wait around in case you got delayed.”
I sighed. Delayed hardly felt like the half of it. “That was nice of you,” I said. “But you didn’t have to. You’ve already been so nice, lending me your memory orb, helping out with Nigel. You shouldn’t waste your free time waiting around for me.”
He inclined his head toward a table nearby, the suggestion clear that we should sit. I followed his lead, setting my bowl down. There weren’t any utensils at the table and I’d forgotten to get them, so I turned to the kiosk in the corner and levitated a spoon
and napkins over. Jasper watched.
“You’re supposed to get it yourself,” he said to me.
I suppose I should have realized that. I’d never seen people getting utensils that way. “I didn’t know,” I admitted, sinking my spoon into the stew.
“If it’s crowded, it’s a hazard to have utensils floating around and smacking into people,” he said, grinning at the notion of it. “It’s almost empty now, so I doubt anyone cares.”
“No one but you,” I said, finding I felt a tad bit irritated that he’d brought it up.
He shook his head. “I don’t care. I just thought you would want to know about the rule.”
I nodded as I tried to parse out my feelings. “I did want to know.” That was true, but something in this moment felt awkward. I felt an edge of resentment toward him, for some reason. I looked up at him. “Did you want to tell me something?”
He shook his head. “No,” he said. “I thought you might want to talk, though. I mean, there’s been a lot going on, and a lot of it might be upsetting. I just wanted to be available if you wanted to talk.”
Talking. I used to talk to Auntie about my problems. Since coming here, I talked to Jasper and Akilah. Akilah was gone. Jasper was here, but Nigel thought he liked me in a way that I wasn’t entirely prepared to deal with. I shouldn’t talk to him. I should talk to Auntie. “No, I’m fine,” I said.
He tried to remain neutral, but there was disappointment in his eyes. Perhaps I shouldn’t have rejected the idea so quickly. I blew on a bite of stew, and then added, “I mean, you’re right that it’s been a lot to take in, but I’m not even done yet. There’s more I need to know and I think once I learn it all, I will want to talk to Auntie. She has good advice.”
He nodded, and then looked down at the table. I shoved the bite of stew in my mouth and looked down at the table, too, noticing it was a pretty pinkish marble. The table was cool to the touch and very smooth.
“Sounds like you’ve got everything you need, then,” he said, standing up. “I have some reading I should do for Master Yaritza.”
I looked up at him. “You spend a lot of time with her,” I said. “Why is that?”
“I’m considering healing as a profession,” he said.
I stared at him, a little surprised. I hadn’t considered him as a healer, but he had a good disposition for one. “Oh,” I said. “That’s nice. I guess I’ll see you later then.”
He mumbled alright and then turned and left. I finished my stew, feeling unsettled. Jasper’s departure so abruptly bothered me, even though I’d probably precipitated it by lack of conversation. But my mind couldn’t stay focused on Jasper. All the things that had gone on today, especially learning of the prophecy, of my father, of my uncle. It had all been too much.
I finished my stew and took the dirty dishes to the basin for them. I walked quickly back to my room in order to watch the second rose-colored crystal my mother had left for me. I reached in my pocket, and closed my fingers around it. I wanted to know the other things she had to say. I would watch it first, and then start on the clear crystals, watching as many as I could.
I opened the room door and planned to sit on the mattress I’d left scattered with memory crystals. Only, when I opened the door, the mattress was bare. There were no memory crystals setting on it. That had to be wrong. I looked around the room, searching for the glint of any of the clear, carved prisms filled with memories. There was nothing. There was no sign of them. I lifted the mattress, I emptied my box. I went to Akilah’s side of the room and lifted her mattress. Not there. I went into the box where she kept her things and noticed her clothes were gone. So were the books she had been reading. And a journal. She used to write in a journal sometimes. It was gone too.
Dread pooled in my gut. Where were her things? Where were my memory crystals? In mind, I called, Master Pylum! It was a scream, I realized after it had been sent. A scream of pain and fear.
What’s wrong, Dirah?
Come to my room, quickly.
There was no response, but a moment later, a portal opened into my room and Pylum stepped through it. “What’s wrong, child?” he said as he looked at my face. “What’s happened?”
I pointed to my bed roll and then to Akilah’s things. “Someone’s been in here. They took the memory crystals Auntie gave me and also, they took some of Akilah’s things.”
He walked over to Akilah’s bed and looked, then he walked over to mine. He pulled his ketesh from a slot on his waistband and once it expanded, he muttered a glyph of gold that zoomed around the room. It looked like a firefly, only without blinking. It reminded me of what searched our house that night Zygam took Auntie.
“What is it looking for?”
“Traces of magic, of portals,” he said absentmindedly as he followed the speeding light around the room. It stopped in the center of the room and sprayed an array of sparks. Pylum walked toward the area and shook his head. “I’m not sure how she did this, but she’s portaled into the room. She created an anchor here.”
“An anchor for a portal?” I asked. “But how? She told me that only could authorize an anchor that allowed someone to portal into the temple.”
He looked down at the spot where the probe had alighted and stared at it. Then, he reached his stubby fingers out and sliced them through the air. Bringing his fingers back to his nose, he said, “Linger effect.” He shook his head, his face puzzled. “She did some kind of glyph that left linger. And then she used the leftover magic to create the anchor. She mimicked the anchor I gave her the night we rescued you. It was clever. More clever than someone at her level would know how to do. Probably Zygam’s idea.”
He took his ketesh and uttered “Del-Ger.” Destroy. A symbol of a glittering sword zoomed toward the spot the probe had pointed out and slashed through the air, black sparks emerged along with a fizzle sound.
Pylum was still frowning. “I don’t know if she made more, though. If she was practicing unsubstantiated glyphs, there could be several spots for her to anchor another portal. This leaves Hakari Ahet vulnerable.”
My heart pattered faster. “You mean she could come back?”
He nodded. “She can only come to the spot where she left the linger effect.”
I gasped, raising a hand to my mouth as I realized why she had come back. “She wants Nigel,” I told Pylum.
He nodded. “I know.”
“No, I mean she can get him. She made a glyph for me, an unproven glyph to create a portal to Jasper’s room. She can get straight to him.” Pylum didn’t say anything and all I could think of was that she was portaling into Jasper’s room right then. I turned and created my own portal. As it opened, Pylum said, “Kady, no.”
I didn’t care. She only wanted Nigel to hurt me. I had to make sure he was safe. I leapt into it, as it hadn’t grown wide enough to step in. I emerged on the other side, way too quickly, unable to stop my forward momentum. I crashed into Jasper, knocking him over.
“Whoa!” he said as we toppled onto the floor, my body tangling with his. We’d landed on the floor, me on top on him, his arms wrapped around my back as he stared up at me. He was again shirtless, and I wondered if that’s how he spent all his time in his room, or I just happened to always show up when he was this way.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I tried to get my bearings. “Are you alright?”
Even though I was trying to stand, I realized he was still holding onto me. “I’m fine,” he said, releasing me. “Are you …” he looked at my face. “What’s wrong?”
I stood up, and dusted myself off. He stood too, and he put a hand on my shoulder. “Kady,” he started, his dark blue eyes staring at mine, but as he said the word, a faint glow appeared to the left of me. Another portal began to open, and Jasper stepped in between me and the portal, putting himself directly in the path of whomever would emerge from it. I peeked around him, in time to see Pylum step through the new portal. Jasper moved aside. “Master Pylum,” he croaked in surprise.
<
br /> Pylum noted Jasper’s state of undress and then looked at me, and then back at Jasper. “I’m sorry we’ve intruded upon your evening. It appears that Akilah used unsubstantiated glyphs here in the temple that have left linger effect. Today, she took advantage of the linger to anchor a portal, allowing her access to the temple. Kadirah was concerned that Akilah might have tried to come here.”
A slight smile perched on Jasper’s lips as he turned to me. “You were worried about me,” he said. “Well, thanks for trying to warn me.”
“No,” I said. “I was worried about Nigel. She tried to take him at the market, and I thought maybe she’d come here for him.”
His smile faded and I realized my meaning and my words hadn’t exactly meshed. I knew Jasper could handle himself. He was good at magic, good at combat, so I didn’t worry about him. He was more than able to handle himself. But the hurt on his face indicated that hadn’t come across in my words. Nigel’s thoughts on the subject came back to me, and I felt irritated again. I didn’t want things between Jasper and me to be different. I wanted him to be someone I could talk to and not worry that I needed to be something more complex for him.
I looked down at the ground, thinking Auntie was right. It was better when it was just her and I together. I didn’t have to navigate so many people’s feelings or worry so much about how a misstep would hurt someone.
I took a deep breath, knowing I needed to clarify what I said so Jasper’s feelings wouldn’t be hurt. “I’m glad you’re alright Jasper. I wouldn’t want Akilah to surprise you,” I said. “Though, I’m sure you could handle anything she could do. I worry about Nigel because he doesn’t know as much magic as you.”
He shrugged, but it didn’t seem like my attempt at a save had helped. He still seemed hurt.
“Jasper, I’m going to need to check your room for linger effect,” Pylum said. Then he turned to me. “And you need to stay put. I have sent a message to the various masters and they will find Nigel and keep him safe. Porting throughout the temple is not an appropriate way to travel, and especially not to the boys’ sections. So, once I have cleared Jasper’s room, I will take you to the healing room. I’d like you to sleep there tonightwhile I have Master Santana go over your room, to make sure there are no other entrances we’ve missed.”
