Chapter 3
The Next Step
He awoke with a jolt, and suddenly thudded to the floor! Startled into full wakefulness, he wondered about the reason he would have been in the air in the first place. He was distracted, however, and soon put it to the back of his mind as he thought about the dream. He had gotten closer to them this time, had almost seen the carnage, the death he had so long hidden from himself and from the rest of the world. He, in waking hours, could never remember those long hours he took cleaning the mess, hiding lest the soldiers came back, and trying to wake himself from the horrible nightmare. He wondered at the ability of human beings to keep themselves from the things that hurt them the most, even if it had already happened. He got up, wiped of his face, and looked out the window. He saw the line of light against the horizon that foretold of the coming dawn. He walked over to his pack, and took out a sausage, some biscuits, and a piece of bacon. He went outside, and gathered some wood for a fire. While he gathered, his mind kept going back to the flash of his parents, lying on the floor, covered in blood. It was the only image his mind had relinquished, but it was enough to send shivers down his spine. He wanted to forget it all. After he gathered enough wood, he began to set it up so that it would burn hotter for longer. This, among other skills, where things his father gave to him before he died. After a while, the former magician came out, and asked him what he was doing.
"Making us breakfast, if you don't want any you can always give me your half."
"Though I probably should to make up for your parent's deaths, I am going to chose to eat."
The nonchalant reference to his still fresh memories of his parents put a damper on the mood of the young boy. After a short, but awkward, pause, the boy said, "I hope you don't mind I used your flint & tinder, but mine broke yesterday."
"Flint? Tinder? I am to poor too be having those things. I use a lens, or I use two normal rocks."
But, I used your two rocks, the ones marked "fire", and they worked perfectly!"
"Hmm… I think I know which ones you are talking about." After a second the man said, "What did you drop in your room earlier? It sounded heavy."
After a pause the boy decided not to tell the man that it was him, when he woke up, that had fallen down, because he didn't want to get into a discussion about reasons at the moment, and that was just what the man would probably do. "Just a book of mine, nothing breakable."
After a moment, the man sighed. "Oh… Ok" He seemed to emanate disbelief and disapproval.
"So, what, if you could have anything for breakfast, would you have?" Asked the boy.
"I am not used to fancy food anymore, so probably just eggs and bacon, or an omelet, though that second one would be kind of extravagant. So, what do you have?"
"I guess it is your lucky day, because I am making eggs, bacon, and sausage."
"I guess that you might be right! But can you give me help with splitting some logs after breakfast?"
"Is that your real reason for wanting me here? To do your chores? Well, we'll discuss that after we eat, when we are both in a better mood."
"I guess I can agree to that."
After breakfast the two men sat together, not saying a thing, but looking up at the sky. After a few minutes Karairun said, "Every day, when I had the gift, I thanked Him for it, I asked Him to allow me to help more people. The day of the attack, I was angry; sad for the gift I had been given. And that is when and why I lost it. I now thank him for the removal of the power. I always taught the principle that once you get ultimate power, you must take on ultimate responsibility, or it corrupts ultimately. In the end I couldn't bear the weight of my responsibility, but I am now free of that burden."
A long silence followed, in which the boy looked thoughtful. The clouds moved overhead, the grass swayed in a gentle wind, the pond rippled gently, and a rabbit or two nibbled at the grass on the edge of the field that the man had cleared for himself. Suddenly, the wind rose. The rabbits lifted their noses, turned, and ran. The boy noticed this at the same time as the man, and both sat up. The wind came from the north, and so both looked that direction. Out of the forest, looking hungry, came a wolf. The boy leaped up and rushed into the house, but came back out with his sword.
"Why are you going to kill the creature? He is just hungry."
"I mean no offence, but he could get in your house easily, and I don't intend to be his lunch; I haven't even gotten mine yet."
"Very observant. I see that you have at least learned some of battle and tactics."
"Yes, and a good deal of swordplay, but I thought at first I would be using it ON you, not defending you."
"Many things do not end up as we had expected. I wait to see how much trouble a dumb beast will give you."
The wolf had been advancing slowly, and now stopped just the other side of the house: a little over five feet away. He stood eyeing the two, as if sizing up his next meal. The boy suddenly lunged at the beast, and slashed downward. To his surprise, the beast jumped sideways, avoiding the blow, and slashed with its right paw. The boy dodged, and slashed at the leg. The beast lunged at him, and knocked the boy down, but the boy pushed it off. The two combatants stood for a second, and the boy thought he saw a glimmer of intelligence in the creature's eyes, almost as if it were testing him. Suddenly, he thought of something he had once done in a duel. It had been the hardest battle of his life, at the time, and he almost lost. He had only won by using a battle cry he had thought up on the spot. He lunged at the beast screaming "Altuus!" The creature seemed to freeze in time for a split second, but leaped out of place half a second before his head would have been chopped off. He sat there, looking at the boy, as if daring him to try again. The boy was in a slightly worse condition. The battle cry seemed to have sapped a large part of his energy, as if he was physically trying to restrain the wolf. He was racking his brain, hoping for something else, when he remembered the mage's battle cry. He leaped into the air, coming down with the yell made famous by his current landlord, "Restrairus!" The creature seemed to be struggling to move, but he acted as if bound by the air itself. He came down on the creature, but at the last second his weapon was blocked y the surprising appearance of the mage's sword. "He has done his job, let him go."
Suddenly, the wolf turned to the mage and said, in perfect Corthian, "Thank you, I thought my favor was about to cost me more than the food had cost you!"
"No problem friend, I would not allow harm to come to one of the last full Liken folk."
"Wait a second! Liken folk? Old friend? I don't know what is going on, but I want to find out, and one of you is going to tell me now! Wolves are not supposed to talk, and I am not supposed to be stopped when killing vermin! Oh, no offence meant, I of course meant normal wolves that steal, and cannot make bargains or understand moral ideas, I am not used to animals who can know what men know."
"None taken, and all you needed to do is ask. I am a Liken folk, or wolf person. Most can only change at full moon now, and the few that have full control over their power are very spread out. My friend here has been helping feed me and my village quite a while. I, as pack leader, was returning the favor. As for the rest, I'll let him chose what to explain and what to keep to himself. Like he says, "Mine is to know, and yours is to not ask." Did I get it right old friend?"
"Actually it is, "Mine is to know my REASONS," but you have the gist of it."
"Karairun, will you please tell me what is going on here?"
"Later, boy, later. I need to get something ready."
"Get something ready? What do you need to get ready?"
"You will know when you need to know."
"Please, lord, tell me instead of speaking all of this wizardly aversion."
"I admire your pluck, but my preparations will have to be revealed another time."
"Why lord? Can you not tell me?"
"Hah! You will not get anything out of me that easily!"
"Okay…okay sorry, I am a little flustered."
"That is normal since you just met our first magical creature, battled one, defeated it, and befriended it, all in two minutes!"
"Okay, I guess that would be normal."
"Darn tootin'! In fact, I believe you did pretty well for a first timer."
The silence that ensued was very deep, and seemed to be filled with the thoughts both boy and Master were thinking. After a time, the master walked into the house, leaving behind the words, "Don't follow me until you are called, and please don't wait until I have to come out to get you once you are."
Sitting puzzling about what the mage had just said, as well as what he had said earlier, and on the words of the wolf-man, the boy felt confused. His head had recently received more information shoved into it than he could process under even normal circumstances, and these were not normal circumstances. He sat a moment, allowing the information sink in, and then, remembering something else his father had taught him, began the chant that helped him remember in his studies. "Comtus estus memrus penumus, Comtus estul memrun permo, Comtus estus memrus penumus, comtan estonul menomurun permanat." After a few minutes, he knew he wouldn't forget what he had learned. He then began to sort through all of the info. He knew that there were wolf people after all. He also knew that the great magician then had befriended a clan of them, and that for some reason, he had asked the leader to fight the boy. He also knew that soon the mage would probably give him another test of some sort, and that he seemed to have passed this one. But what was it all for? Why had it all happened? Now he waited for a bit, and then felt compelled to go inside. He waited for the magician to call. But as he waited, it dawned on him that this might be the test, and walked inside. The magician looked up, and said, "Very good job, my boy. I didn't expect you to respond so soon!"
"But I thought you couldn't do magic!"
"And so I can't, but calling with one's spirit isn't magic anymore than knowing right from wrong if you just learn how."
"Okay, I can see that. Now what tests have you for me now? And when will I know what you were preparing?"
"Go outside, and cut down the tree at the north end of the clearing."
"Which one?"
"You will know. Now go!"
"Okay, okay, I'll go. Be back when I figure out which tree."
As the boy walked out, he grabbed and axe, and walked to the north end of the clearing. "Okay, which one?" As he stood studying, he listened. As time went on he realized that he seemed to be hearing voices from the woods! He looked, but couldn't see anyone. He looked around, but saw nothing. He decided to listen so he could see what they were saying. After a while he realized, it was the trees! Something about what had happened that day had made him susceptible to the voices of minds and other life. He listened, and found one that didn't speak. He tried to call for the mage, but then realized that this was probably the test. He decided to try to speak to the trees. He tried, but couldn't receive an answer. He thought this out for a while, and tried again, this time in broken Arconian, a language used by dragons in legend, and in which most creatures can not lie. He did this, and heared a response almost immediately. He was told that she was dead, and only termites and pests resided in her hollow corpse now. The trees were sad to see her go, but she was already dead, so they wouldn't mind so much, and they were glad he had more sense than other humans, and asked nicely instead of randomly cutting down everyone. So he chopped her down and brought her to the house. "Oh mage, I hope you wanted the dead one, because that is the one I brought!"
The mage walked out, and said "Dead one? How did you know?"
"Her friends told me!"
"Ah. So you did learn my lesson."
"Yes, but not quite how I expected to learn it."
"Do I really have to repeat myself?"
"No."
"Good. Now let us relax, that is enough testing for one day."
That night the boy slept easy, and without dreams.