The Wizards' War

by Angela Holder

  Kevessa studied him with a worried frown. “Are you sure you don’t want Nina and me to see what we can do?”

  He shook his head, immediately regretting it. “The Mother’s power doesn’t help. I just need to rest.”

  She nodded, her eyes bleak. Josiah gripped his cane and steeled himself for the long journey down to his cabin.

  A light hand on his arm stopped him. He turned to find Tesi looking at him in concern. “You are suffering from a headache?”

  “Yeah. It’s not too bad.” That wasn’t actually true. The pain was getting so severe he could barely keep his eyes open in the bright sunlight.

  He suspected Tesi saw right through his lie. She raised her hand, her fingers hovering near his head. “Will you allow me to examine you?”

  “Sure.” He sagged his chin to his chest and closed his eyes while her light touch thoroughly probed his head and neck.

  “You’ve been having these often?”

  “Ever since the explosion. My whole body hurts, actually. All the time, although it gets worse when I’m tired. Elkan said it must be an unavoidable effect of what Sar did to me.”

  Tesi’s fingers stilled. She was quiet for a long moment, then spoke reluctantly. “I think I know the source of the problem.”

  Josiah twisted to look at her. “Really? What?”

  She pulled her hands back and folded them together, her eyes downcast. “When Sardonyx blocked the explosion, he took a great deal of your life energy, your qi, from your body. It is regenerating, but the violent disruption tore it from its proper channels, which has caused it to become badly snarled and blocked. Until it is untangled and guided back into place, it will not be able to resume a healthy flow, and you will continue to experience discomfort.”

  Vigorre put his arm around Tesi’s waist. “Do you think the Art could help him?”

  She swallowed and bent her head lower. “Yes.”

  Vigorre turned to Josiah. “Tesi hasn’t used the Art since she became a wizard. She’s not comfortable combining it with the Mother’s power. But maybe once we’re in Ramunna we can find another Girodan practitioner of the Art to treat you. She tells me some of their masters can do amazing things with it.”

  Curiosity was a welcome distraction from the pain. Josiah had heard Tesi mention the Art on a few occasions, and he’d even seen her use it once back in Ramunna before he’d gotten to know her, but he’d been too busy with other things to investigate properly. Now his interest sharpened. “That’s what you do with those needles, right? It sure made that woman’s headache go away during Ozor’s show. I always wondered how that worked. Maybe you can try it on me while I watch—” He broke off, grief stabbing his gut. He kept forgetting.

  Vigorre frowned. “I told you, she doesn’t—”

  Tesi laid a hand on his arm. “I do not wish Josiah to suffer unnecessary pain.” She took a deep breath. “Perhaps the time has come to look at the thing which frightens me. The Great Sage taught that the truth is to be sought, not avoided. Even when one finds it difficult.”

  He covered her hand with his and looked into her eyes. “If you’re sure.”

  She nodded. Turning back to Josiah, she said, “Let us find a place that is quiet and less crowded. You will need to sit still for some time while I work. I will fetch my needles from my luggage.”

  The pain in his head was so bad Josiah had to be very cautious when he nodded. “Please.”

  Vigorre spoke with Captain Yosiv and secured the use of his office. Kevessa supported Josiah as he shuffled to the stern of the ship, every step jabbing like a dagger. He collapsed into a chair and rested his head against the back.

  While they waited, Nina and Kevessa bathed his head in golden light, but the pain receded only slightly. Kevessa screwed up her face as her hand hovered over his hair. “Something’s wrong, but I can’t figure out what. It smells and tastes off, like milk that’s starting to sour, and there’s a low gurgle like water over rocks. All I can see is some sort of subtle ripple over the area, which otherwise looks normal. It feels almost right, except for a bit of roughness that shouldn’t be there.”

  Josiah could vividly imagine the sensations she described, but it was still only a pale shadow of the real thing. “That sounds like what Elkan and Tobi found. You’ve got to watch what Tesi does, if she’ll let you. I want to figure out how this Art of hers works.”

  He cracked his eyes, wincing at the light, as the door creaked open and Tesi entered. She carried a small leather case, which she set on Captain Yosiv’s desk. Vigorre moved to stand supportively behind her. She spent a few minutes getting Josiah positioned exactly how she wanted him, within easy reach of the desk. She smoothed the hair back from his forehead and loosened the neck of his tunic. Closing her eyes, she moved her fingers over his face in light soothing circles.

  Finally she sighed and slowly opened the case. Mimi jumped onto the desk beside it and looked at her. Tesi regarded her familiar for a long moment, then stared down at the neat rows of needles, her face pale.

  “What’s the matter?” Josiah tried not to move from where she’d placed him, but he strained his eyes to peer at her, ignoring the fierce stabs the motion caused.

  She shook her head. “Mimi wishes to assist me, but I fear what I will discover if she does. It is foolish, I know. The truth is the truth whether I witness it or not.”

  “What exactly are you afraid of?” Josiah gave up and raised his head, ignoring Vigorre’s frown. Maybe the question was rude, but they were never going to get to the bottom of the problem if everyone avoided talking about it.

  Tesi gave a barely perceptible shrug. “That I will see nothing. That I will learn the Art is an illusion. That the teachings of the Great Sage and the way of the Mother are incompatible after all, and I must choose one or the other.”

  Josiah started to shake his head, but stopped as agony exploded like blasting powder through his skull. He spoke through clenched teeth. “It works, doesn’t it? So it must be real. But if you’re worried, just start like you always did. Maybe let Vigorre and Kevessa watch. Mimi can join you once you’ve got the chee or whatever you call it going good.”

  For a moment he feared she would change her mind and back out. But finally she picked up a needle and moved to stand over him. “Lay your head back again, please. Close your eyes and relax. The needles are very fine, so you might not feel them. If you do, it will only be a slight sting.”

  Josiah would gladly have let her stab him with awls if that would stop the awful pounding pain. He dropped his head back into position and closed his eyes. “Go ahead.”

  Her hands moved swiftly over his face. He felt light tickling pressure here and there. The pain didn’t respond immediately, but after a while it receded a bit. “Hey. It’s helping.”

  “Some of your qi is beginning to move back toward the proper channels, but much work remains.” For a few moments she said nothing as she continued to work. At length he heard her take a deep breath. “Vigorre, if you and Tharanirre wish to look, I don’t mind.”

  Vigorre didn’t answer, but a moment later Josiah felt the warm radiance of the Mother’s power envelop his head. Tesi continued to place her needles. The pain decreased another few degrees.

  At length Vigorre spoke, his voice warm and encouraging. “Tesi, let Mimi show you what’s happening. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.”

  Josiah desperately wanted to demand a description of what Vigorre was perceiving, but he held his tongue. He wanted Tesi to continue working undisturbed even more.

  The tingles of the Mother’s power intensified. Tesi’s hands didn’t stop. After a moment she said, softly and wonderingly, “Oh.”

  Josiah’s curiosity won out over his diminishing pain. “Kevessa,” he hissed. “Take a look and tell me what’s going on.”

  Kevessa moved closer and the sensation of the Mother’s power on his head got even stronger. She absorbed what it communicated to her for several minutes before she spoke. “I can sense it v
ery clearly, although it’s nothing like what I’ve observed before. There’s a sort of current. Not like blood, more like the energy that moves along nerves, although different from that, too. It sounds like flowing water and feels like a gentle breeze. It tastes sort of like honey and smells like ginger or some of the other Girodan spices. It looks like thousands of tiny silk threads running through your body. When it meets one of Tesi’s needles, it changes direction. There are big knotty tangles everywhere. Tesi’s gradually unraveling them.”

  Josiah longed to be able to see and feel for himself. “Can Nina influence it with the Mother’s power?”

  “I don’t know. Tesi, do you mind if we try?”

  “Go ahead. Vigorre, you may too, if you wish.” A trace of excitement leaked through Tesi’s calm.

  For a while all three wizards were quiet. Josiah would have been more impatient if not for the fact that his head kept feeling better and better.

  Vigorre sounded thoughtful. “It’s… slippery, almost. Nirre can move it, but it takes a delicate touch. Like looking at something out of the corner of your eye.”

  “Try gentle little nudges,” Kevessa suggested. “Nina can direct it almost as well as the needles do, although it keeps slipping back.”

  Tesi’s voice was distracted. “Qi is energy, not matter. The Mother’s power is energy of a different sort. Watch how Mimi lets them dance together.”

  Kevessa made a sudden sound of comprehension. Vigorre grunted a few times. Josiah relaxed and let them work. A lovely warm lassitude washed through his body, sending him drifting toward sleep.

  He roused again when Tesi spoke. “I think that is all we can accomplish in a single session. See how much more smoothly the qi flows? It needs time to rest and settle into its new channels. I’d like to give you daily treatments, Josiah. Once we’ve sorted out the situation in your head, we can move to the rest of your body. From what Mimi showed me, the flow of qi in your limbs is severely diminished. If we can return it to normal levels, your pain should abate. You might even be able to regain some of your lost strength.”

  Josiah snapped his eyes open and jerked his head up. “Do you have to wait?”

  “Stop that. You dislodged several needles.” Tesi pressed lightly on his forehead and he obediently laid his head back down. He felt stings as she withdrew the needles from his neck, but the discomfort was nothing next to his excitement. “Yes, we must wait. Manipulating qi takes time and patience. From what I saw, using the Mother’s power will not change that, although with more practice I think we might forego the use of needles and still achieve the same effect.”

  “Do whatever you have to. I don’t care if you stick me with thousands of needles if it makes me stop hurting and lets me get around easily again.” He marveled at what Tesi had accomplished. Only a trace of pain lingered in his head. “Your Art is amazing, Tesi. Not only is it another treatment that doesn’t require the Mother’s power, so people who aren’t wizards can do it, but it’s a new way for wizards to use the Mother’s power more effectively, to accomplish things we never could before. You just made our mission in Ravanetha a lot more likely to succeed.”

  Her voice trembled slightly, but it was happier than he’d ever heard it. “I will be glad to teach you and the other wizards all I know of the Art. Though I know little compared to many accomplished Sages in Giroda.”

  “We’ll have to seek out some of them and see what they can teach us.” Josiah heard her case snap shut. “Can I get up now?”

  “Yes, slowly and carefully. Your qi is still easily disturbed.”

  “All right.” Josiah raised his head, waited a moment, then took Kevessa’s arm and let her help him to his feet. The thought that he might someday soon be free of pain, able to stand easily and walk without the help of a cane, filled him with excitement and impatience.

  “How does your head feel?”

  “Much better.” He turned it from side to side experimentally. “Thank you.”

  She picked up her case and took Vigorre’s hand, her smile bright. “My joy is in the service.”

  Josiah’s mind buzzed with ideas and plans. He no longer wanted a nap, so he and Kevessa returned to the bow. The ship had left the dolphins behind, and the crowd had dispersed. Probably the other passengers were busy getting settled in for the long voyage. He took advantage of the momentary privacy to wrap his arms around Kevessa and give her a long, lingering kiss.

  She sighed and laid her head against his chest. Nina perched on the rail and they took turns stroking her. Overhead a bright golden cloud filled the sails with wind, driving the ship across the waves.

  Kevessa played with his fingers. “What name do you plan to use when we get to Ramunna? Since you’re not a member of the Wizards’ Guild any more.”

  “Elkan told me I could keep calling myself Wizard if I wanted, but I don’t. I’ll just be plain Josiah Potterkin, I guess. Maybe Josiah Potterkin of Tevenar, if people insist on a surname.”

  Kevessa’s fingers stilled. “In Ramunna a wife usually takes her husband’s name, but sometimes when the woman is of higher status it’s reversed. When we marry, you could be Josiah Navorre.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I like the sound of that very much.” He ran a teasing finger down her nose. “But aren’t you Kevessa Navorre Wizard, now?”

  She gave a startled laugh. “I hadn’t thought of that. I guess I am.” Her voice warmed. “I’ll speak to Vigorre and Master Janya and Master Orine. We should make it official policy for Ramunnan wizards to take the guild’s name.”

  “Still, that leaves me out.” He fell quiet.

  She studied him for a moment, her lips curving. “I know that look. You’ve got an idea. Tell me.”

  Josiah shrugged, looking out over the water. “What I really want is to go by the name of the craft I intend to pursue for the rest of my life. But there is no Inventors’ Guild.”

  “No one in Ramunna knows that. If you and Father and Nalini start calling yourself Inventors, no one will argue.”

  He laughed. “I guess not. If we’re not asking for a position on the Council of Guildmasters, we don’t really need official approval. Do you think your father will agree?”

  “If he doesn’t, I’ll talk him into it.”

  “Nalini won’t care one way or the other.” Josiah rolled the words on his tongue. “Josiah Potterkin Inventor.”

  Kevessa squeezed his arm. “Perfect.” Her voice took on a teasing tone. “What will you invent next?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to be too busy with my classes at the University to do much for a while. But I’ve got some ideas.” He hesitated, but Kevessa was looking at him with every indication of genuine interest, so he plunged on. “More medicines and treatments that don’t require the Mother’s power, of course. But other things as well. Your father was telling me about the workshop he and Nalini put together to manufacture large amounts of insulin, and I thought of a few ways to make their process more efficient. Maybe even power some of it with water wheels, like the blasting powder mill.”

  “I can see that working for the grinding part, at least.”

  “Yeah. And speaking of blasting powder, Meira let me play with some, and I think there’s all kinds of things it might be useful for besides weapons. I put a little in a paper tube and got it to fly more than a hundred feet in the air.”

  Her eyes went big. “I wish I’d seen that.”

  “Next time I get my hands on some I’ll show you.” Her appreciation fed his enthusiasm. “And of course there’s all the things your father’s been working with. He was telling me about some experiments he was doing with lodestones and wire that sound fascinating. He had to abandon them when he went into hiding, but maybe we can continue them now. And one of his colleagues was going to use a window-glass to study the stars and moon and planets. And I want to look at lots of stuff under the expanding glass. We barely got started. All the tiny live creatures, and all the different sorts of substances, and all the different parts of
people’s bodies. Windows into the heart and liver and brain and other organs.”

  She reached for Nina, her eyes unfocused. “And bones. There was a patient at the Hall who’s had hundreds of broken bones in his life. Master Orine said she’d seen a few other cases like him. Nina and I tried to compare his brittle bones to my healthy ones, and we could sense some difference, but we couldn’t make out enough detail to tell what was wrong.”

  “Exactly. There are all sorts of diseases we can learn to understand better. You and Nina can work with us whenever we need the Mother’s power.”

  “We’ll enjoy that.” She sighed happily and snuggled against his side. “I can’t wait to get started.”

  Neither could Josiah. His future promised to be full of all the excitement and discovery he could ask for. And love as well. He was immensely glad he was alive to enjoy it.

  He pulled Kevessa close. His voice sounded rough in his ears. “You know, for a while, when I first woke up and found out how badly hurt I was, I wondered why Sar did it. Why he kept me alive instead of letting me go home to the Mother. Whether life would be worth it, with so much lost.” He swallowed. “Now I know.”

  Her voice was fierce. “Don’t ever forget.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Good. The world needs you. And I need you. The Mother can wait her turn.”

  He laughed and tightened his arm around her waist. “I don’t think she’ll mind.”

  “If she does, she can take it up with me.” Nina chittered, and Kevessa laughed. “She says the Mother knows better.”

  Someday, far in the future, when he stood before her again, he’d thank the Mother in person. Until then, prayers would do. Thank you. For everything.

  He took Kevessa’s hand and pulled her away from the rail. Nina jumped to her shoulder. “Let’s go below. I’m getting tired, and they’ll be serving the evening meal soon. We’ll have plenty of time later to enjoy the view. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”