by Guy Antibes
Shiro looked out over the piles of unsorted scrolls. Perhaps a treatise on Affinity might be on the shelves. A yawn shut off Shiro’s musings and he reluctantly locked the door, leaving the mess behind and drug himself to the barracks to lie on his sleeping mat. Excitement ran through his head until sleep overtook his thoughts.
While Shiro worked in the fields the next morning, he couldn’t get the sword and the Sunstone out of his mind. The gem had to be worth a prefecture, but it meant nothing to Shiro while he still labored on the island. Perhaps the power in the stone would help him find the destiny Boreko and Shiro’s late wife inferred in the dream that still remained clearly in his mind.
“Find anything?” Riku said as he made his daily rounds on the farms.
Shiro gave the warden a bow. “Not yet. Most of what I’ve seen has been war histories. But there is more to see. I started by sorting the scrolls.”
Riku nodded, deep in thought. “Take off a few hours early and do some more sorting. Perhaps you might find a naughty story that might interest me.” He gave Shiro a wink and a grin.
Shiro bowed again. “Thank you, warden. I will.
He grew impatient as he worked in the fields until the mid-afternoon break. Shiro hurried to the storehouse and to the scrolls. He found another history that mentioned the speaking stones and soon had sorted all of the scrolls.
One scroll contained general information on healing, but nothing that Abe didn’t already know. After all of the scrolls were sorted, histories and battle stories still made up the bulk of the scrolls. A few books on construction, animal husbandry and farming techniques were discovered.
Shiro looked at the two shelves of old books. Perhaps he’d find what he sought there. In the twilight, he found a decent healing book that described some of the mechanisms of the body that would merit more study. Riku would enjoy the four romantic novels that he discovered. Two were even illustrated.
The warden didn’t have much of a philosophical bent or even much interest in politics, so other than the few novels, the library held little else of interest to Riku. Shiro surveyed his two days worth of work. Everything sorted. A box on a shelf held some dried up ink, a brush that needed trimming and some blank scroll sticks, so Shiro spent some time restoring the writing materials and labeled the sections of the library. Riku would get some value out of Shiro’s work.
He didn’t know what to expect, but other than the book of healing, and the two speaking stone references, the treasure trove of information didn’t yield much treasure. He locked up, taking the healing book and began to leave the storehouse. He glanced at the shelves and found a shelf of sharpening supplies and rolls of leather strips and sharkskin for weapons repair for the guards.
Shiro had no desire to steal anything from the warden, but his thoughts went to the sword. He took just enough materials to sharpen the blade and restore the hilt and left the empty building.
The next day, he asked Abe if he needed more herbs and got permission from Riku to check his snares. Shiro ran into the woods and retrieved the sword. He spent an hour cleaning the blade again, avoiding the yellow stone. He carefully wrapped the hilt with leather strapping and finished the grip with sharkskin. The Sunstone dominated the sword. With the rest of the materials, he covered the stone up with a hilt wrapping, even though it shortened the usable length of the sword.
He touched the stone and felt nothing through the leather strips. He took the sword in his hand and began to modify his practice forms to work with the double-edged blade and the hilt-extension that hid the stone. He would begin to sharpen the exposed blade on his next trip and would use some magic to speed up the process.
He found a few rabbits and made sure all of his snares were reset before gathering enough herbs to satisfy Riku and Abe.
~
“Fevers are caused by dark humors in the blood. The book says that there is an organ in the brain that controls body temperature. You don’t cool the heart, but calm the brain with a message to reduce the temperature. It doesn’t always work since there are a number of causes of fever. The book says different kinds of dark humors. Some can be affected and others can’t,” Shiro said, paraphrasing a section in the book.
“So you were wrong,” Abe said as he stitched up a worker’s injury.
Shiro frowned. “It cost the worker’s life, but even here it says magic doesn’t always work.” He still felt responsible for the man’s death.
Abe waved away Shiro’s comments and walked to his preparations room.
The responsibility of healing continually weighed down on him like a heavy blanket. He brought up his hands and examined them. He had never perceived healing as an art, a dangerous art. The power to inadvertently destroy or—he looked towards the room that held Abe — the power to purposely destroy as the healer did Boreko.
Shiro could see that the occasional moral dilemma facing healers could be difficult for a compassionate person. He didn’t trust Abe’s compassion very far and perhaps Mira’s reluctance to become a healer might be due to insight as well as arrogance. Healing through Affinity brought a moral burden. The thought humbled Shiro and brought tears to his eyes. Was he truly worthy? Most sorcerers he had known weren’t and the Ropponi culture promoted that. Healers. He nodded his head in agreement with his own thoughts. Healers acted the opposite way. The woman healer in his village acted as if healing was a solemn responsibility. He knew that the healer at the Guild had cast aside the moral aspect of his craft and Shiro thought him less for that. Abe certainly had demons of his own making that had made him an unhappy man.
Shiro would never escape the island worrying about such things. He shivered and reviewed his progress. He had learned a few healing tricks and now understood more about how to reconstruct a broken joint.
There were ligaments and muscles that needed to be bound properly and alignment was critical to the continued use of the limb. Abe handled all of those cases and evidence of his expertise limped around the farm. Shiro could close up wounds, ease joint pain and remove painful callouses and skin growths with tiny bits of his powers.
For every procedure, Shiro held Abe’s tools and put his charges to sleep with Abe’s powders so no one knew of his practice using his Affinity. Still, his mistake with the fever made him vow that after he left the island; he hoped that he could leave healing to others.
He returned to the library to go through the books he had sorted. One book that he had mistakenly took for a volume on war history was a manual, of sorts, for battle sorcerers. Most of them lived short lives, as charmed arrows would pierce whatever physical shielding a sorcerer could devise. That might be the reason the Guild no longer seemed to promote the specialty. However, the book did talk about the creation of localized wind and storms. If the day was cloudy or misty, sorcerers could create lightning on the battlefield. If your opponent’s horses outnumbered yours, rain would make the field sloppy and decrease the advantage of cavalry.
Shiro had to smile. He knew how to do that. Mistokko taught him how to shape the wind. Then his eyebrows rose as he thought about the boat that was used to bury Boreko’s body. What if the boat had a sail? Then a sorcerer could create the wind to sail to the Southern Isle and freedom. He closed the book and began to formulate a plan for escape. He’d need his sword and the shield spell that Mira knew so he could escape detection on South Isle. Mira still refused to teach him the spell. But what if he offered Mira and Abe freedom?
~~~
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~
TRUST NO ONE. BOREKO DRILLED THAT FACT into Shiro, but they had erred in trusting Ashiyo. Shiro didn’t like Mira or Abe, yet he needed them both. How could he get them to help if he didn’t give them some measure of trust? While Shiro worked with the crops, he tried to focus on what kind of strategy he could employ. He would have to develop a strategy every step of the way to avoid or minimize betrayal.
His own hand had administered Abe’s ‘pain’ potion to Boreko. If Shiro became ill could he expe
ct the same treatment? Death came to the island on a regular enough basis and with Shiro’s taking on some healer responsibilities, he’ had made his appearance on the trip to the dumping ground a regular thing, something Abe couldn’t do. That wouldn’t involve anyone and give him access to the boat. What he thought represented the biggest challenge might be his easiest problem to solve.
“You are too reflective, Shiro,” Mira said as she joined him at his work.
“I’ve noticed that you aren’t particularly talkative.” What did the woman want? Perhaps that didn’t matter. His plans outside only required her shield spell.
“Maybe I’m ready to expand my horizons.”
Shiro pursed his lips. He knew he’d need to make some kind of leap to enlist her help.
“And maybe I can help you do that. Nice day,” Shiro said pointedly looking out to sea. “I wonder what is on the other side?”
“South Isle.” Mira narrowed her eyes and followed his gaze and then turned back. “The beaches are nice this time of year.”
He smiled once he knew she wasn’t looking. “Indeed. To walk on a sandy beach again.” Their island prison had no beaches.
“I agree. If only…”
“I can make only happen,” Shiro said. He’d made the plunge and, for a moment, lost his breath in doing so. He swooned slightly, lightheaded as the risk had been taken to bring the pair into his plans. Now that he’d made the move, he would see it through.
“You?” Mira couldn’t have put more of a sneer into her voice.
What game did she play? “I have a plan, but it will come at a cost.”
“What do you have that I would possibly want?”
“Transportation off of the island.”
“Some one else to row? No one ever has made it. Riku has a charm that alerts the guards on South Isle that some one has tried to escape. Even if they did swim the three leagues, Guards would be waiting.”
“I have a different way, using Affinity,” Shiro said.
“Tell me.”
Shiro took a breath, “Not until I know the shield spell. Without it, sorcerers would know my location as soon as I touched the Isle.”
“Sooner,” Mira said. “They know your ‘taste’. The sorcerer stationed on the other side of the water already knows you are on this island.”
“So they know Boreko is dead?”
Mira nodded and lifted her chin. “As they would know if you joined him at the bottom of the sea.”
“Then let’s arrange it,” Shiro said. “Teach me the spell and I’ll invoke it mid-way to our freedom.”
“You and I?”
“Abe comes too,” Shiro said.
“I thought you hated my father.”
“I don’t like what he did to my friend, but he’s taught me how to heal.” Shiro could say that because it was true. He also admitted that he still hated Abe and wasn’t exactly thrilled to even talk to Mira. Still, he felt if he included both of them, the chances were greater that they would agree.
Mira went back to her work and looked back at Shiro from time to time. “I’ll talk it over with him and let you know,” she said as she trudged over to another plot of vegetables.
Shiro paused in his work and looked at the dirt on his feet and sandals. He felt filthy inside. How could he not? The Guild worked the same way; everyone despised everyone else. Was he any different? He spat on the ground, not wanting to pursue that line of thought any more. He would focus on getting off of the island and wouldn’t look to deeply into his motives until he had escaped.
~
“Mira is going to come into the infirmary with back spasms late this afternoon,” Abe said as Shiro walked in bearing herbs.
The frustration that built within Shiro in the last four days vanished. They had finally made their decision and the time arrived to act. “I’ll return after my workday.” He left the infirmary with a buoyant step.
While he worked, waiting for the sun to cross the sky, Shiro wished that Boreko could join them instead of rotting at the bottom of the sea. His excitement receded as he waiting the last few interminable hours until Mira showed up in his field.
She cried out and began to writhe in the dirt. He ran to her side and began to massage her back.
“It’s getting worse!” she gasped. Mira turned out to be a very convincing actress as a guard came over.
“I’ll carry her to the infirmary,” Shiro said. “I tried to work the pain out, but it isn’t working. She’ll need to see Abe.” He looked up at the guard, relieved that the man nodded and then grunted out the permission to take her.
To all appearances, Mira looked like a frail old woman, but she hardly felt light as Shiro took her the infirmary. She wouldn’t say a word, just moaning. Shiro tried to say something, even when no one was nearby, but Mira stayed to her role. He shook his head as he gave up trying to communicate.
“Bring her in,” Abe said as he walked out of the infirmary. “I have one more patient. Perhaps you can deal with him after you take this lady to the private examination room.” The private examination room consisted of a few drapes of heavy cloth around the waist high table. Shiro laid her down eliciting another wail. He just shook his head and left, closing the drapes.
Drapes. He felt the cloth and knew they’d work for sails. Smiling at the discovery, he passed Abe on his way to a man who had a gash in the calf of his leg. Abe had already put him out. Shiro made quick work of cleansing the wound and closing it up with magic. Then he sewed a few stitches for show. He’d done it before.
“Now,” Shiro said, drawing back the curtains and wondering what he’d do for a mast and rigging. “Let me know how to suppress magic and learn how to disguise myself and I’ll let you in on my plan to leave this island.”
Abe and Mira looked at each other. The father nodded to his daughter.
“Don’t expect us to help you once we make South Isle. We will go different ways,” Mira said with her chin in the air. Her attitude grated as it always had. She might be a pretty woman underneath her glamour, but she was as ugly inside as her disguise. Shiro had no desire to help her, but survival required sacrifice.
“I am prepared for that. I’ll tell you now that I will make for Boriako to exact revenge for the death of my mentor.” Shiro wished he could do as he said, but he really intended to head north towards Koriaki. Abe and Mira couldn’t be trusted with the truth.
Mira frowned and then closed her eyes. “First the spell of disguise. You need to draw the earth around you as a shell with the object of disguise well known to you. The woman all see was a washerwoman down the street from where I lived.”
Shiro could use the face of Kinoru, the old friend who took him away from Koriaki.
“The spell is…” She looked at her father with distaste and then whispered the spell in Shiro’s ear.
To others, the spell might sound like gibberish, but Shiro knew how such things were constructed and the spell was actually an instruction for invoking earth, water and air. The White Rose had an unexpectedly high level of sophistication. If so, then why were they so weak on Roppon? Implementation did take considerable talent, regardless of who intoned the spell and the mind had to separate in order to maintain the illusion.
Shiro wouldn’t give them the image that he intended to use on South Isle. He peered at Abe for a moment and intoned the spell.
Mira gasped and then screeched at him. “You are not supposed to learn the spell so quickly! You will not use the image of my father. It is forbidden!”
Using the healer’s image stunned Abe. “I look like that?” he said.
“Close enough,” Mira said, glaring at Shiro. “Stop it!”
Shiro released the image in his mind. His estimation of Mira’s capabilities impressed him. “Now, how do I suppress my magical power?”
Mira narrowed her eyes at Shiro and glared at him for a moment. “You are a very powerful sorcerer.”
Her accusation met with a shrug from Shiro. “I’m an apprentice th
at the Guild discarded.” He looked evenly at the woman. “But I’m a capable man and I learn quickly.” He fought off a smug smile.
“Vow that you will not use my father’s image, or either of mine, for that matter,” Mira said. She ignored Abe in all of this and it seemed that she regarded her father as another might regard a chair or the table upon which she sat.
“I promise. Here is a better, less known image.” He thought of Boreko and intoned the spell. “Is that better?”
Mira seemed to relax. “Ah, your friend.”
“I won’t use his image again. I have others that I can draw on.” Shiro forced a smile and then released the spell. “Now how do I suppress my magic?”
Mira laughed. “It is so simple.” She whispered the spell into his ear.
Shiro shook his head ruefully. “If only I had known that a year ago when the Guild tested my village.” The spell intoned a thin layer of the essence of earth around him. The concept wasn’t any more involved than putting a rag around the handle of a hot pot. The spell for shielding one’s magic was really rather close the one for a disguise. He intoned the spell.
The woman closed her eyes and nodded. “Not that I’m good at detecting power, but I know when it’s there and when it isn’t. It works and I told you it was easy.”
“Indeed. Now, for my part I can make wind.”
Abe laughed. “So can I, in fact I do so quite often.”
Shiro smiled. “Point taken. I can summon wind. We can steal a boat and the wind will blow us wherever we want. I can take you leagues along the South Isle’s shore in any direction and let you off. Then I will leave to go off in a different direction,” he nodded at Mira, “as per your command.” Shiro muttered an incantation and a gentle breeze blew inside of the room. “See?”
Abe threw his hand at Shiro in disbelief. “How will you steal a boat? There are guards.”
“Mira dies. You and I are on the boat to send her to the bottom. We give the guards some wine with a sleeping potion and before we arrive at the dumping grounds, they are tossed over the side and we are on our way. No one else can do it because we will sail away rather than wear ourselves out rowing.”
