“Now I want you to imagine releasing that heat from
him like you do energy from yourself by replacing it with new energy. Don’t
bring the energy into yourself first.”
I imagined the heat draining like I was told, but for
a long time, nothing happened.
“You have to want him to release that heat. That’s
what he’s feeling because of the memory, and you have to get rid of that memory
for his own good.”
So that he didn’t feel the embarrassment of being
beat up by a girl as small as Divina, and so I could complete a spell that I
could later use on my enemies to save my book, I tried harder. Nothing happened
for about ten minutes, but then I could feel the heat slowly dim. It was much
harder to force the energy into him than it was to pull it into me, but it was
simple enough.
I opened my eyes to look at Edward who had his own
eyes closed. As I imagined the heat fading, I could see his expression relax
just a tiny bit. With the confidence of certainty, it became easier. His head
swayed a little before gently laying back.
“Slow down at the end,” Divina cautioned.
I did as I felt the heat become almost nonexistent,
and then it was completely gone.
“Now release all energy.”
As soon as I did, Edward raised his head, opened his
eyes, looked very slightly confused, and lightly touched his jaw.
“And now you’re done. Did it work?” she asked Edward.
“It would seem so.” There was no sign of annoyance in
his voice or expression and he stood up. “Using the spell you just learned, you
can feel the way someone is thinking, so you can tell when they’re deceiving
you. It will also help you in listening to a person’s thoughts. Later I will
teach you to actually read a person’s mind and then to hide your thoughts.”
“Wait,” Divina said, “you have to let him rest. In
less than three days, he learned and made a sun charm, was poisoned, nearly
lost a foot, was infected, had a Guardian warning dream, learned an energy
spell, and learned how to erase thoughts. He can’t keep going without at least
a few minute’s rest.”
“I can go another one,” I said.
She ignored me. “So what if he can’t do magic on
Anoshii? They’re not going to attack on Anoshii.”
“How do you know?”
“Other than the obvious fact that Anoshii is crowded,
the gods would know if they are near. They wouldn’t want the books being found
because that would make Vretial even stronger. Erono would tell you if you were
in danger. Do you doubt the gods?”
“Mowa!”
I remembered that that word meant “yes.”
“My brother was killed because the gods are too
simple to think that maybe Vretial doesn’t have to follow their rules. The gods
are not the ones in danger; it’s everyone and everything else! They share none
of their information with the Guardians who can benefit from it because they
know nothing themselves!”
“Or maybe it’s because the Guardians cannot be
trusted.” Though Divina’s voice was very quiet, it was much more menacing than
Edward’s yelling. While Edward sounded like he was venting anger, Divina
sounded like she was ready to kill what made her angry. “Maybe Vretial
does
have to follow the rules, but there’s a Guardian or several who are helping him
take out the others. It makes much more sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. It makes more sense that they’re too
self-absorbed to admit that maybe the powerful Vretial has outsmarted them!”
“You sound like a supporter of Vretial,” Divina
accused.
Edward’s fists were clinched so tightly that blood
was dripping to the floor. His expression and tone faded from a venting to a
killing quality. “He killed my brother.”
“Vretial would have killed his brother if he could
have, and that’s how the gods will see it with you. You speak so highly of
Vretial. Your brother died, which would make everyone feel sorry for you and no
one suspect you of being a traitor. Furthermore, they could suspect that you
had your brother killed because he found out you are working for Vretial. It
even gave you full access to an untrained, easily overpowered Guardian. You
have to look at this from the gods’ point of view. They’re fighting a god who’s
already outsmarted them, and they have no idea how. On top of that, their
Guardians are losing trust in them and they’re losing trust in their Guardians,
who have their books. Tiamat must be especially frustrated.”
Edward sighed, closed his eyes, and unclenched his
fists. The battle was closing and Divina had won; I just had to not say
anything that would start it up again. Divina had a perfectly reasonable
argument that bugged the shit out of me.
“How do you know what the gods are thinking?” I asked
her. Damn my stupid mouth. Edward looked at her suspiciously.
“My job often involves uncovering betrayal. I have to
understand it to do what I do.”
“I don’t care how you know what you do, but if you
know something important we don’t, you need to tell us,” Edward said.
Her expression was pleading and sincere. “I don’t.”
Don’t know, or don’t need to tell us?
It was
difficult not to voice my doubts, but even though I knew her job was sketchy,
she knew things she shouldn’t, and she was apparently a natural and habitual
liar, I trusted her.
Edward sat heavily as if the argument had worn him
down.
“So what do you think Vretial is thinking?” I asked.
“Vretial’s mind doesn’t work the same as the other
gods or people. This is probably only a careless game to him.”
“Do you or the gods know how he took another god’s
world the first time?”
“Not that Erono has ever told me,” Edward said. “I’ll
try to ask him, but I highly doubt it will do any good.”
“What about the other Guardians? Maybe they know
something. At the very least, they should be warned,” I said.
Edward shook his head. “They wouldn’t know anything
and if they did, they wouldn’t share the information. Most of us would never
ask for help and only a few of us are even friends.”
That was worrisome, especially since Divina already
suggested a Guardian might be betraying the gods. “Do we need to worry about
one of them trying to attack us?” I asked. “Maybe if they found out about
Ronez, they might try to steal my book for their own god.”
“Not likely. None of them would be foolish enough to
turn on the others for fear of the rest of us retaliating.”
He pulled a deck of playing cards out of his bag.
They were the same texture, size, and shape of Earth’s cards, but they had
black backs and varying colored faces. They looked more similar to tarot cards.
He shuffled the deck and set them on the table.
“What are those for?”
“You’ll read what I hold up from my thoughts. Clear
your mind, close your eyes, and gather energy.”
Clearing my mind was difficult, but gathering energy
was pretty much second nature by now.
“Now, it’ll be easier on those whose voice you have
heard before. Think about the sound of my voice. Fall back into your
subconscious like I showed you before. Don’t fall asleep again. When there, try
to focus your thoughts on what I might be thinking, but don’t force it and keep
in mind the sound of my voice.”
Getting back into the sleep/awake stage was very
difficult; I was wound up and exhausted at the same time. It was an hour later
before I looked up to see Edward with his head down on the table and a card in
his hand, which he wasn’t staring at anymore.
“Is it a little red dragon?”
He closed his eyes with a sigh of relief. “God,
finally. I was sure I was going to fall asleep. Do you know what it’s like to
think of one card for an hour?” He indicated Divina, who was asleep at the foot
of the bed. “Next one.”
I settled down and tried to get back into the
sleep/awake state. It was a little easier, but I still took an infuriating
amount of time.
“Cold queen?” I asked long while later.
He sat up and pulled another one. “Good. Next. We’ll
continue this until you can read it very quickly.”
“Are you trying to teach me magic or to gamble?” He
grinned and I repeated the process. It became much easier. After I could do it
a few times, it really wasn’t that hard to master.
Divina awoke about three hours later and we were
still at it. Edward pulled another card. We were both sitting up and Edward was
wide awake. Divina saw the noticeably shortened pack.
“Promoted knight,” I said after about a minute.
Edward set it down and drew another. “Plague,” I said about a minute later. He
drew again. “Water spirit.” It took less than a minute.
“You’re getting good,” Divina said.
I grinned and Edward drew another one. “Gold
general,” I said after a minute.
Edward put down the card and sat forward. “She’s
right; you are getting good at this. Now what am I thinking?”
That was harder, but it only took about ten minutes
for me to read his thoughts and realize why they didn’t make sense. “That’s
cheating! Think English!” I said. He laughed and stood. I stretched. “Are we
done?” I asked. He nodded and yawned. “So what are we going to do now? Will you
teach me to blow stuff up with my mind?” I asked.
“Maybe later, when you haven’t been in my head.
Practice that skill and it will become second nature to you. You don’t want to
use it to the point where you hear everything, because it’ll drive you nuts.
Everyone can protect their minds, but I can’t tell you how many times I have
overheard vital information. Once you have rested, I’ll teach you to protect
your thoughts. For now, we’ll continue with weapons.”
I groaned and he left. I tried to lie back down, but
Divina wrapped her arm around my shoulder and forced me to follow him.
When we got to the practice room, I was thrilled to
see that Edward had picked up two wooden swords. He started by showing me how
to hold the sword, then several striking motions, and finally several blocking
techniques. We spent the most of our time on that. Then we tried combat where I
attacked and he only blocked. I failed miserably and beat myself to the ground.
Divina showed me some tricks and they both ended up trying to teach me not to
hurt myself with my sword and how to fall with minimum damage. By the time
Edward said it was enough, we were all sweating and breathing hard.
“I think we made progress,” Edward said. He was
sitting in a crouched position with his back against the wall. Divina was
sitting on her knees and leaning against his side. I was sprawled out on the
floor, twitching and panting.
“This is why I don’t use real swords,” I said.
“I agree. For now,” Edward said. “Don’t ever go to
Canjii. They may discover you and subject you to experiments.”
“Note taken. Can we stop now?”
“No. There are still a few more things I want to
teach you before we reach Anoshii.”
“Kiro, give him a break. The poor guy can’t go on
like this. You know that,” Divina said.
Though I knew she was right, I didn’t like it being
said. I wasn’t a jock or macho guy, but I wasn’t a pushover either.
“Hold off for a while. Let him eat and relax a little
before you push him anymore. Remember that red-head apprentice of yours? The
one who you gave a stroke to?”
“Daiske? I did not give him a stroke.”
“Yeah, sure. That boy did what you wanted him to
before you asked him.”
“He was a good apprentice. He was damn creepy, but he
was good. I think he could read my mind from the moment I met him.”
“He was a pervert; nobody’s hands are that
adventurous on accident. I know it was him who groped me in that crowd.”
“Are you kidding? He set up that crowd so he could.”
Edward sighed. “He worked too hard, I let him, and he paid deeply for it. Dylan
is stronger and older than Daiske. Daiske would have run off to a harder mentor
if I tried to slow his lessons. I didn’t give him a stroke. And he wasn’t a
Guardian.”
“Training does him no good if he’s too worn out to
fight the bad guys when they come.”
“What do you think, can you take more?” Edward asked.
It took a few seconds before I realized he was asking
me. “Uh… I don’t understand the question. Did someone mention food? I want
food,” I said.
Divina started laughing.
“Rest for a while. You can eat in a few hours, and
then we will continue your training,” Edward said.
My mind felt numb from all the magic and my body
burned from all the physical work. I wanted to go home, order a pizza, and fall
asleep in my warm bed with dirty cartoons on. But that would never happen
again. No more pizza, no more dirty cartoons, and no more thrill of skipping
out on work. Instead, there was strange, wiggling stuff, books I couldn’t read,
and very sharp weapons I had to learn to use, not to mention the horrible
gravity that made it hard to stand straight, and oh yeah; an evil god after me.
* * *
I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep until Divina
nudged me awake. I was still lying on the floor in the weapon room and Divina
was leaning over me with her face just a few inches from mine. She didn’t move
and I wasn’t stupid enough to say anything, so we both just stared at each
other as the minutes passed.
“You two are getting creepy now.”
I broke eye contact with Divina to see Edward
standing in the doorway.
No, what’s creepy is that you were watching us,
I thought childishly. “Is the food ready?” Divina stood gracefully and I
climbed to my feet.
“Yes. Divina?” he asked.
I turned to her and was startled as hell when she
grabbed my jaw, forced my mouth open, and sprayed the silencing potion down my
throat. I jumped away but it was too late and, after I was done choking
fruitlessly, I couldn’t even yell about it. I tried to glare at her, but her sweet
and cheerful smile shot that all to hell. Edward grabbed me by the back of the
shirt and pushed me out. They followed behind as I found my way up to the food.