The Pearl Diver

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Why should Silas agree to be trained by your Guild? What are the conditions?” Mata spoke up. She held her wine glass in her hand, its rim tilted slight so as to point at Riesta.

  “He’ll be trained! He’ll be able to control and use and adjust the power when needed, whenever needed,” Riesta answered dismissively.

  “And what do you get in return? What will it cost him?” Mata asked.

  “Nothing. It will cost him no more than the other members of the Guild. He’ll be given the robe, assigned his shifts, and live a very good life,” Riesta answered as though the answer were obvious, and obviously satisfactory.

  “I don’t know that he wants to stay in Faralag and lead a good life here,” Mata countered. “We didn’t come here to become residents,” she put her hand on Silas’s shoulder emphatically.

  “This is the best nation on the continent!” Riesta spoke insistently.

  The conversation stopped as the waiter brought plates, and dishes of food.

  “Everyone would flock to happily live here if they knew how wonderful this place is. Silas will be able to become a leader the moment he joins the Movers Guild. As for you, you can stay or you can go back to wherever it is you came from,” she dismissed Mata’s protests.

  “Ladies,” Adams spoke calmly, as he began to dish out the food. “We’re all being very premature at the moment. I simply wanted Riesta and Silas to meet and talk about the wonderful ability they share. Silas is a hero for saving that child, as Riesta mentioned earlier. There’s no decision that needs to be made at the moment.

  “In fact, Riesta has agreed that since she’s had this opportunity to meet Silas, the Guild will cancel the alert for the guards, and Silas can walk about freely in the city,” Adams informed the couple across the table.

  “I didn’t exactly say that,” Riesta started to protest.

  “It’s criminal that Silas can’t walk through the city as a hero for saving the boy at the tower, and just for getting us here alive,” Mata spoke insistently. “It’s a shame he is being treated this way.”

  “I don’t know what makes you so angry, but you need to stay out of this. It doesn’t concern you. This is about Silas’s future. He has been given Krusima’s blessing – he said so himself. We are Krusima’s disciples, thanks to the powers that he gave us as well,” Riesta warned Mata. “Let Silas speak for himself, or you’ll be banished.”

  Silas felt Mata’s grip on his shoulder tighten. He felt helpless, as though his tongue was always a step behind the swiftly developing hostility between the two women. As soon as he was ready to intercede in their argument, they shifted the direction or topic, leaving him trying to catch up.

  Mata stood up abruptly.

  “Let’s go Silas. This conversation needs to start over, some other time, with some other person,” the girl from Amenozume said dismissively.

  Riesta’s head rose. Her face was red, her pale complexion revealing her anger. Silas saw her eyes glaze over for a moment, and then suddenly Mata was lifted in the air and pressed against the wall.

  “You stay there, out of the way!” Riesta shouted at the stricken girl.

  “Back off!” Silas suddenly stood, and his own voice carried the feeling that he knew was the initiation of his own telekinesis. He saw Riesta suddenly lifted from her own seat as people at the nearby tables looked on, startled. A woman shrieked as the blue-robed Mover was lifted against a different wall.

  “How dare you!” Riesta shrieked in rage from her strange captivity. “Take this!” she released Mata from her power and turned to focus on Silas.

  Mata slid down to the floor, as Silas felt his own feet start to rise, responding to Riesta’s energy that was focused on him.

  “No, you don’t!” Silas growled, as he felt a part of his own energy clamp him back down to the ground while the rest of his efforts kept Riesta pinned against the wall.

  The wine decanter suddenly rose and dashed towards Silas’s head, while the platter of pasta erupted upward towards Silas’s face.

  “You shouldn’t have done that!” he said angrily, letting his power seize control of the decanter and the writhing mass of noodles. The noodles flew towards Riesta and coated her chest, while the decanter tilted forward over her head and poured wine down upon her scalp.

  “Silas! Stop!” Adams exploded. “Put her down. Bring her back here!” the trader demanded.

  Silas heard the man’s voice penetrate the anger and self-preservation that had engulfed him. He shook his head and looked at the humiliated Mover as she remained plastered against the wall, aghast at the victory Silas had exercised over her.

  Silas curtly nodded his head, then pulled the blonde woman back to the table, and set her down on the floor.

  “I’m finished,” he said, and he felt the surge of energy dissipate.

  “You!” Riesta looked at Silas as she pulled noodles off her shoulders.

  “You shouldn’t attack my friend,” Silas said defensively, warily.

  “You have tremendous powers!” Riesta responded energetically. “You stopped my attack and held your own! You,” she paused, then grew tight-lipped.

  “Adams, I am going back to the Guild. I’ll be in touch,” she gave a contemptuous glance at Mata, studied Silas for a second, then walked out of the tavern.

  “Silas, your companion didn’t need to make such a scene,” Adams looked at Mata. He looked over his shoulder at the hesitant waiter who stood off at a distance and beckoned for him to come.

  “There’s no need to stay here,” Adams decided with a shrug and a grin moments later. He placed several coins on the table, then rose and motioned for Silas and Mata to follow him out of the building.

  “I’m going back to my office. You two should go to an arena or armory or some other place where you can continue to be so extraordinarily pugnacious,” Adams chuckled in a manner that indicated he didn’t really care how they spent the afternoon. “I’ll send a message when I have something to report.” He walked away, leaving them standing alone on the edge of the city street, as other pedestrians swerved around them.

  “That woman!” Mata slightly slurred her words as she spoke. “She has no right to take over your life. I can’t believe the way she was ready to just take you to her Guild and make you her pet,” the girl said indignantly.

  They started walking back to their inn.

  “I didn’t like the way she looked at you,” Mata said a moment later.

  “Thank you for protecting me,” she added a few seconds after that.

  “What do you think Silas?” Mata couldn’t bear the boy’s continuing silence as they walked.

  “I think I did more with telekinesis today than I’ve ever done before,” he said wonderingly. His mind was replaying the confrontation in the restaurant, when he’d managed to control the energy to some degree.

  “What do you think about that woman?” Mata asked pointedly. She stopped walking and seized Silas’s arm, as they arrived at their inn. “What do you think about her Guild?”

  “I’m not going to agree to live here in Faralag forever,” Silas said firmly.

  “Thank goodness for that,” Mata gave a sigh of relief.

  “But I do want to have instruction,” Silas added. “I’d like to know how to control the power better, the way they do.”

  “Be careful,” Mata warned.

  “I will,” Silas chuckled. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I will be careful.”

  Inside the inn, he asked if there was an armory nearby where he could practice. After receiving directions, he and Mata went walking about the city, sightseeing, before they circled around to find the armory. They practice against one another, then practiced against others in the facility until they grew tired and returned to their inn.

  Silas succumbed to Mata’s pleas for a bath tub to be delivered to their room. The large metal basin was crammed into their small space, then Silas was made to sit outside while Mata bathed.

  “You need to get in her
e now; you need this as much as I do,” she opened the door and peered out at Silas a half hour after the hot water had been delivered.

  He stepped in and saw her drying her long hair, while she wore clean clothing. He looked at her and cleared his throat.

  “What?” Mata asked.

  “Oh, I’ll just close my eyes and not peek; I don’t need to sit in the hall,” she smiled as she assured him.

  “That’s not fair,” Silas grumbled as he undressed.

  “I’ll look in the mirror and see if Jade can talk,” Mata offered to entertain herself while Silas bathed.

  “Be careful what you let that mirror see,” Silas warned, as he turned his body while slipping into the still lukewarm water of the tub.

  “Oh, pshaw,” Mata discredited his concern, as she stared into the mirror.

  “Oh Jade!” her voice betrayed concern a moment later. Silas lay back with his eyes closed, and let the warm water relax his body. He heard Mata scribbling a message.

  After seconds of silence, Mata spoke again. “No! That can’t be!” her voice was full of emotion.

  Silas opened his eyes and looked at the girl who sat cross-legged on the far end of the bed, his mirror in her lap.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  “I’ll tell you in a minute,” Mata held up a hand to wave Silas’s question away as her eyes remained glued to the mirror, reading a note from her sister.

  Long moments later, she blew a kiss at the mirror, then laid it down and contorted her body to stretch herself towards Silas.

  “Ivaric has landed hundreds of guards in the city. The Guild say it’s just more security, but Jade says that the princess says it’s an invasion, happening a little at a time,” Mata was teary-eyed. “She’s very worried; they hear rumors that there will be more ships arriving with more of the Ivaric armsmen next week, and then they’ll take over.

  “I have to go back there; I want to be with her,” Mata sniffled, then looked at Silas with determination. “She’ll need my help.”

  “You’re an escaped prisoner,” Silas tried to sound reasonable, and kept his voice level. “You can’t help her.”

  “She’ll appreciate my help and my companionship. She’ll feel better, and who knows – maybe together we can escape from the city and go up into the mountains, or to the mainland,” Mata said. Her voice lightened, “I know a simple little path through the mountains we can take,” she smiled.

  “If you’re really determined, we’ll leave as soon as possible. I’ll tell Adams tomorrow, and we can arrange to take a ship to leave the city,” Silas hoped that he could slow her down, and persuade her to reconsider.

  “You don’t have to come. You’re not part of this; it isn’t your fight. It’s not your nation. You already came back once for a heroic rescue,” Mata told him earnestly. “Believe me, I am mindful of the fact that you put your life at risk for me,” she said. “I truly am. I won’t ask you to do it again.”

  “You won’t ask me, but I can ask myself,” Silas answered with a smile. “Now close your eyes while I get out of the tub.

  “First thing in the morning, we’ll talk to Adams,” Silas promised.

  They did talk to Adams in the morning, both of them packed and passing through the harbor gate in the city’s wall to go see the trader.

  “You absolutely cannot go anywhere right now,” the trader flatly responded to their explanation and request to board a ship. “You just bested a member of the Guild in a contest of power yesterday. She’s going to be mad, and the rest of the Guild is going to be salivating at the prospect of recruiting you into their ranks.

  “You may leave,” he looked at Mata, “but there won’t be another ship coming in for three more days.

  “Go back to the city, the two of you,” Adams firmly directed. “Here,” he scribbled on a piece of paper,” is a pass to get back into the city. I’ll have the Guild arrange a new emissary to have talks with you as soon as possible, and I’ll alert the harbor master to notify me immediately of any shipping opportunities.

  “That should satisfy everyone,” he seemed ready to end the interview.

  “Why am I captive to the Guild?” Silas asked. “I’m just a visitor. If Mata is ready to go, I’m ready to go.”

  “Is she your wife? Is she carrying your child?” Adams asked bluntly.

  “No!” both Silas and Mata said sharply.

  “Then her situation has nothing to do with you,” Adams answered.

  “If she is not your spouse, then there’s no connection between the two of you. The voice of the Guild is powerful, and not overcome by friendships. The Guild, the priests, the crown – they’re the three most powerful institutions in the city. You won’t escape from the Guild, my friend.

  “I’ll tell the Guild to make a new offer today, and we’ll settle this quickly,” Adams sat forward and shuffled papers to indicate the conclusion of the interview.

  Silas took the scrape of paper on the desk and grabbed Mata’s hand, then pulled her out of the office and back into the dingy street of the harbor district.

  “Let’s go look at the other ways out of the city,” he suggested as he released her hand and started walking back towards the city.

  “I don’t want to have to go back through the mountains the way we came,” Mata warned with a smile.

  Silas chuckled in agreement as they passed through the gate. “Let’s walk around the walls to look at the other gates,” he suggested with a wink.

  They spent the morning and early afternoon walking around the inside of the perimeter of the wall, inspecting the wall as well as the gates they found. The inspection was discouraging. They found only two gates besides the harbor gate; one was the northeastern gate they had entered upon their arrival from the mountains, and the other was a southern gate that provided access to roads and territory they did not need to visit or cross.

  They ate a simple lunch from a vendor on the street, then went to the armory and proceeded to practice their swordsmanship. The number of people in the armory was greater than it had been on their previous visit, and Silas felt an uneasy sense that many of those present were watching him.

  “Let’s go back to the inn,” he covered is mouth as he spoke softly to Mata.

  “Don’t we have time for a couple of more sets?” the girl demanded. “I’m doing so well.”

  “I think there are Movers here, watching us,” Silas answered.

  Her face paled.

  “Let’s go,” Silas repeated, and he led her towards the racks of weapons, where they could put their practice equipment away before departing.

  As soon as he had placed his equipment against the wall, he felt a slight tremor in his boots.

  “Run, Mata!” he loudly urged, and then he felt his feet fly upward, somersaulting him as his feet rose into the air. He twirled rapidly, growing dizzy and disoriented, until he came to a stop, floating upside down in the air in the middle of the room, nine people standing in a circle beneath him, looking up to him with fierce concentration.

  “Where’s Mata?” he immediately asked. “Let her go!” he demanded.

  “I’m here Silas; I’m okay,” he heard her voice and followed the direction to see her standing in a corner, a man and a woman standing guard over her.

  “Let me down!” Silas shouted.

  “You will listen to us,” a man in the circle spoke.

  Silas stared at the man, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  He needed to find his Voice, to find the version of the Wind Word speech that would unleash his telekinesis, so that he could seize control of the situation – or at least fight back. He tried to relax, and then he tried to flex his muscles in his chest, and he tightened his diaphragm in preparation.

  “Put me on the ground,” he released the words in a deep voice, one that rasped his throat.

  But he felt no power. He felt no release of energy. He knew his first effort had failed.

  “Since you are so calm about the
situation, I shall set you on the ground,” the spokesman for the group agreed. “But understand, we have enough here to bring you under control, as you can see. Don’t try anything.”

  As the man spoke, Silas floated downward, and his feet resumed the bottom-most position as they touched the ground.

  “Leave us alone,” Silas said in a different tone of voice trying to capture the strength that had turned his words into weapons.

  “We have a need for someone with the strength you displayed to Riesta,” his captor replied. “We wish for you to join us and help us allow Faralag to meet its upcoming obligation.”

  “We,” Silas gestured from Mata to himself, “just want to leave. Can’t you let us do that?”

  “You’re simply too much of an unknown,” the Mover answered. “We aren’t sure what you can do, while we do know we could use you, and we feel we have a duty to investigate you.”

  “My name is Kajam,” he stepped forward and held his hand out to Silas, who hesitantly accepted the gesture and reached out with his own hand to briefly shake.

  “We want you to come with us to our compound, so that we can examine you,” Kajam told Silas.

  “I don’t need examined; I need to be released,” Silas reiterated. “We just want to leave. Her sister is going to be caught up in an invasion, and we need to go help her.”

  “An invasion?” Kajam asked skeptically.

  “Yes, by Ivaric. Please just let us go. Show us how good the people of Faralag can be,” Silas pleaded.

  “Come spend just a few days with us; let us test you and see if we can persuade you to cooperate with us on our project, and then, at the end of the time, you both can go free,” Kajam agreed.

  “Uugh,” Silas groaned. The Mover was maintaining his position resolutely.

  “What is this project that you seek my help with?” Silas asked, secretly intrigued that his abilities were viewed as so extraordinary.

  “Once every hundred years, there is a day when the sprites must obey an ancient treaty and dance for all the city to see on a platform that is raised high in the sky among the tallest buildings in the city, and then carry out a ceremony to renew friendship,” Kajam explained.