by Pedro Urvi
Annika squatted down beside Gonars, who was working on a very large and strange trap. Hiding it was not going to be an easy job. Lasgol watched in delight. He had completely forgotten the problems that were tormenting him, at least for the moment.
“Remember, the Forest Trapper needs skillful hands and a good head.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Where are you going to hide your trap?”
He looked around. “That’s going to be difficult.”
“Find a good place. It needs to be invisible to the animal eye.”
Gonars sighed. It was not going to be an easy job.
“The Trapper is able to hide any trap wherever there’s scrub, vegetation, the slightest cover,” the Elder recited like a dogma.
“I’ll find the right place,” Gonars assured her.
“The trapper faces wild beasts, bandits, mercenaries, soldiers and enemy messengers. Your traps will deal with all of them.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Viggo half-closed his eyes. “I like this specialty a lot more.”
“It’s one of my favorites,” Lasgol admitted. “My father taught me to set traps when I was a kid... they’ve fed and clothed me...”
“And one day they’ll save us,” Ingrid assured him. She patted him on the shoulder.
Annika spent a long time with Gonars, explaining to him the best way to hide the trap once he had selected the perfect place for it. This was the most important thing, hiding it the second most important. Once Gonars had completed his task successfully, Annika sprang it. The trap snapped shut with a dreadful metallic clash of teeth, like those of a colossal shark. Lasgol swallowed. This trap was not there to catch anybody. It was there to kill them.
Viggo was delighted. “Give me three of those traps and I’ll buy them.”
“Yeah, and you’d set them off without meaning to and they’d split you in two,” Ingrid said.
“You’d like that...”
“You bet I would.”
“Ingrid don’t be mean,” Lasgol said reproachfully. “Of course, you wouldn’t want that.”
Ingrid nodded. Her expression said oh, yes I would.
Annika finished her lesson and left Gonars with a handful of further tasks, then went over to Elina.
“This is one specialty I don’t like at all,” Viggo commented. “I get sleepy just watching Elina with those gigantic tomes. She carries them around with her all day.”
“And all night,” Ingrid said. “I can see her going to bed and sleeping with them.”
Lasgol nodded. “Expert Herbalist. They say Elina’s very intelligent and has a prodigious memory.”
Ingrid was watching her. “She’ll need it for that particular specialty. It’s the one that involves the most study of all.”
Lasgol nodded again. He watched Elina, who was sitting under an oak, studying with her eyes glued to the pages of the tome, and felt bad for her. He liked her; she was bright and kind. From what she had told him she was very happy to have been chosen as Expert Herbalist. Lasgol always encouraged her whenever they spoke a little, because he realized how much she had to study, poor thing. No matter how intelligent she might be, the number of tomes she had to memorize did not grow any less, and nor did the effort and sacrifice she had to make.
Annika went over to her and showed her a strange mushroom.
“What’s this?”
Elina examined it with great care.
“A Shadowed Half-moon?”
Annika smiled. “Well done. It’s a very rare species in this region. Remember, the Herbalist is an expert in everything that nature grows in her forests. She must be able to locate, recognize and know everything about the plants of the kingdom.”
“And outside the kingdom?”
“That’s a subject for further on, Elina. Keep studying. Later we’ll take a walk and I’ll give you a practical view of everything Mother Nature has endowed the forests with.”
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
Annika went on to speak to Frida, who was beside the pond gathering medicinal plants and algae. She was wrapping them in special dry leaves and putting them in containers, which she then stowed inside her belt. Lasgol noticed that hers was a special one, larger and with more separate pockets for many more ingredients.
“How are you doing with the potion, Healer?”
“I think I’m doing well, Ma’am. I’m gathering the last few ingredients.”
“That’s good. Let me see.”
Frida showed her what she had picked, and when Annika had checked it all, she smiled. “You’re doing very well. You’ve got a talent for this.”
“Thanks, Ma’am,” Frida said, very pleased.
“The Healer Guard is a very sought-after elite specialist, and respected as much by the King as by the Rangers, because your main function is to care for their partners or the person or persons you’ll be in charge of during a mission, as well as the wounded, poisoned or sick. Many are the mishaps the Rangers can encounter and being able to count on a Healer Guard is always a help. You’ll be very popular. But the responsibility will also be enormous, as the lives of your partners, or of innocents, will sometimes be in your hands, and it will be your knowledge that saves them.”
“I won’t forget, Ma’am, I hope to be good enough.”
“You will be, so be confident.”
“Thanks, Ma’am.”
They watched them work for a while.
“It would be good if we could have someone like Frida with us on our missions,” said Ingrid.
“That would be really good,” Viggo agreed, “except that there are very few like her.”
“It’s a pity,” Lasgol sighed. “It would save lives.”
“If we really have to, we’ll manage,” said Ingrid.
“I hope so,” Lasgol agreed. He would have felt much easier if Frida had been able to go with them. Unfortunately life was like that, and you could not always have everything you needed at hand. And they were going to need all the help they could get in what was about to come.
Chapter 16
Lasgol and Camu were enjoying themselves beside a small pond near Snowflake’s lair. Astrid, sitting on a tree-trunk, was watching them. Lasgol had insisted that there was no need for her to follow him everywhere, but she would not take no for an answer. Before going to fetch Camu, they had been talking about it.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me...”
She frowned and glared at him fiercely. “Someone wants to kill you, so what do you mean, nothing’s going to happen to you?”
“I don’t want anything happening to you.”
“Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.”
“I do... don’t think I don’t...”
“Besides, it’s not just to make sure nothing happens to you.”
“No? What else is it?”
“I want to spend more time with you alone. We’re surrounded by people all day.”
“Oh...”
“You’re not going to tell me you don’t want to spend as much time with me as you can?” She arched one eyebrow. In her eyes was a look of suspicion.
Lasgol saw the trap clearly and was not going to fall into it. Oh no. He put on a virtuous expression.
“Of course not. I’m really happy we can spend more time together.”
“Yeah...” she said, not altogether believing him.
“And it’s Camu too... that’s why...”
“I love the little one, he’s so sweet,” she said, and she was sincere.
With no escape-route left, Lasgol gave up. “All right, come on,” he said, and they went in search of Camu.
Lasgol was happy to have Astrid with him. Not only because of what he felt about her, but because if he really needed a bodyguard, who could be better than her? Besides, he was pleased that she and Camu got along so well. For him this was very important. He could not bear it if the two beings he most loved did not get along or turned against one another. Luckily that was not
the case, and he was happy. Here in the mountains, away from everybody and the problems of the world, in the company of Astrid and Camu, he was delighted. He was happy, despite the circumstances he found himself in at the moment.
The little creature gave a huge leap and climbed up a tree like a large cat. With the difference that he used his hands and feet, with their wide fingers which could adhere to practically any surface, instead of the claws he did not have.
Not look. I hide.
We’re going to play hide-and-seek again?
Hide-and-seek fun.
Not all the time, it isn’t.
All the time it is.
Lasgol rolled his eyes. Camu was more stubborn than a mule.
All right, we play hide-and-seek.
Good!
But I’ll use magic to find you.
You not find me. I magic too.
We’ll see about that.
We’ll see.
Maximum distance a hundred paces.
Hundred paces.
All right then. I’ll count to twenty: one. two, three...
Camu ran along a thick branch and took a leap to jump to the tree ahead as though he were a squirrel, or rather as squirrels did. He clung to the upper part of the trunk and ran along another branch, then leapt to another tree.
Eighteen, nineteen, twenty. I’m coming, Lasgol transmitted. He opened his eyes, and of course there was no trace of Camu. The little creature loved to hide, with or without magic, and to be found. Today they would be playing with magic, which made the game all the more interesting and enjoyable. Lasgol went toward the trees and concentrated, closing his eyes. He searched for his inner energy, called upon his Gift and invoked his Animal Presence skill. A green flash ran through his body, and a wave of the same color left his body, spreading in all directions until it formed a great sphere which expanded moment by moment as it passed through everything around him. If the wave met Camu, he would sense it. He suddenly began to feel impacts at various points on the wave. He concentrated harder and began to sense what they were. Rabbit, squirrel, robin... no, not Camu. His friend was very clever and had an advantage within the forest. He could put Lasgol off the track, knowing that he would detect a multitude of animals and that this would confuse him. And in fact this was what happened.
Lasgol breathed deeply and relaxed, letting his power identify each animal he found. It was neither simple nor immediate. He had to concentrate intensely, and every discovery tired his mind and consumed more of his inner energy. Camu knew this and was making it difficult for him. He sensed a raccoon, then a snake, then a frog the snake was about to attack, then a deer... he was beginning to feel tired. He breathed deeply once again and tried to relax. Camu was there among the animals, and he would find him. So he hoped, though if he went on catching other animals he would end up exhausting his inner pool of energy and have to stop his skill. As a result Camu would win the game, and he himself would be exhausted and humiliated.
The next thing he detected was Astrid, whom he knew well. He went on, deep in concentration; he was close to finding Camu, he knew it. He found a mole, a skunk, and several more birds and squirrels. And it left him exhausted, so he had to stop. He opened his eyes and bent over, as tired as if he had been running all day. It was the price he paid for using all his inner energy. And it was a good thing he had stopped his skill before consuming the last drops of energy, or else he would have fainted. Magic worked like that; it was a universal law of the arcane world.
You lose.
Lasgol had to admit his defeat. Yes, you win. You can come out now.
Camu became visible and bounced up to him amid joyful shrieks.
Astrid was laughing. “Let me guess, Camu won.”
“Yeah... and I’m not laughing, he’s left me half-dead.”
Camu ran around Lasgol three times doing his victory dance, flexing his legs and wagging his tail.
“Very good, Camu!” Astrid said encouragingly.
Camu ran to her and licked her hand, then jumped on to her body and licked her cheek.
She laughed. “Well done, Camu,” she said, and stroked his head.
Camu was immensely enjoying all the attention he was getting.
“He used magic and he beat me.”
“I guess that’s part of the rules of the game, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but usually I can pick up something of him, even a tiny disturbance I can’t quite recognize. Today there was nothing whatever. I think his power’s growing too.”
“That must be usual enough, right? Time goes by, he grows. If he grows in size, he must do the same in power.”
“Yeah... I guess so. If Egil were here he’d come up with a theory.”
“I think that as he grows, he’ll go on getting more powerful.”
“Bound to,” Lasgol said, beginning to recover.
Camu was lying on the ground letting Astrid rub his tummy. He enjoyed that immensely.
“Sometimes I don’t know whether he’s a dog, a cat or a mixture of them, he behaves in ways that leave me baffled.”
“A charmer is what he is,” Astrid said as she played with him. “Aren’t you? Aren’t you? Who’s the prettiest creature in all Tremia? You? Yes, it’s you.”
Camu smiled and moved his long tail, giving little shrieks of total bliss.
Lasgol let the two of them play and lay down to rest. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. It was the only way of recovering some of his inner energy. He woke up some time later. Astrid was running and Camu was chasing her, trying to catch her with great bounds, but she was too nimble, and when he tried to touch her, she dodged him easily. Her laughter touched Lasgol’s heart like a balm of happiness.
He watched them play from where he was sitting on the ground. He noticed that he had regained some of his inner energy.
“I’m going to try something on him,” he said to Astrid.
“Go ahead.”
Camu, use your magic, vanish and don’t let me detect you. Don’t move, so that I know you’re there.
Yes. Fun, Camu transmitted back and wagged his tail excitedly. An instant later a silver flash left his body, and the little creature vanished.
“What are you doing?” Astrid asked.
“I’m sorry, I’m going to see whether I can manage to detect him.”
“He’s right there, isn’t he?”
“Yes, but I don’t think I’ll be able to detect him. Not when he uses that power of his that denies magic.”
“Oh... I see...”
Lasgol concentrated and tried to do it. He called upon his skill, and the wave left his body. It hit Astrid, but not Camu. He tried twice again, with the same result. Camu could hide from his ability to detect animal presences. He was refusing his magic, which they both knew, but this refusal was growing more powerful all the time. Lasgol decided to try something else. Camu refused all magic, so therefore he would be unable to receive mental messages.
Camu, do you get this message?
There was no reply. He tried again.
Camu?
Nothing. The little creature was refusing magic, so that his own messages probably either never left his mind or else did not reach their target.
“Camu,” Lasgol said aloud, “you can stop now. Reveal yourself.”
There was no reply.
“It looks as though either he can’t hear you or else he can’t understand you,” Astrid said.
“Oh, he can hear me and understand me all right. It’s just that he’s a rascal.”
Camu ignored the comment.
“Come on, show yourself...”
Astrid looked at Lasgol gleefully.
Camu became visible with an enormous smile and began to dance, wagging his tail and smiling.
“I told you... he loves to play the rascal.”
Let’s try something else. Become invisible, but don’t refuse my magic.
I invisible. Leave magic.
That’s right. I want to check something.
/> Camu began to camouflage himself until he was invisible.
“What are you going to do now? Astrid asked curiously.
“I want to experiment with mental auras. I want to find out whether I can see them, and how.”
“Because of what you told me happened when Sigrid gave you the Herb of Truth?”
“That’s right. I haven’t been able to analyze what the two skills I developed were. One of them has to do with auras, and that’s what I’m going to try to find out.”
“Fine, go ahead.”
Lasgol closed his eyes and concentrated. He wanted to see his own mind’s aura and Camu’s. He knew that to do this he needed to call upon his Animal Communication skill. So far he had always done it this way. So he did the same again, but this time he wanted to see more than just their mental auras, as had happened when he had been under the influence of the Herb of Truth. There came a green flash that ran through his entire body. He recognized that it was not the Animal Communication skill, since he knew every one of the Skills he possessed and could distinguish them with total clarity when he invoked them. This one was one of the two new skills he had developed under the potion and the situation of stress he had been in at the time.
He breathed deeply and stayed calm. He looked at Astrid and saw her mental aura. This did not surprise him, as he already knew how to distinguish these. But there was something else: a new aura which enveloped her entire body and shone with a bright glow. It was a color he could not identify, as if it were formed of infinite colors. He realized that the auras of her mind and his own were interconnected. They were one, but with two different entities, like two energies within the same being. Or at least that was how he saw them. Astrid’s question had made him think about how others with the Gift would perceive them. One day he would have to talk about it all with a mage.
