Semper Fidelis
Chapter 11
One of the rare advantages of not being as powerful in a combat sense as Harry is that when faced with a bad situation, oh let's say just for conversation sake falling into a web of betrayal and facing a nine foot flesh eating troll, that I do not have at my disposal the ability to point a magic rune carved blasting rod at the world and knock my enemies through a wall with a column of super-heated flame. Sure such abilities certainly have their uses at times much like this one, but really what fun is there in that? But Molly it might save your life you say. Sure I agree, but think of how much Harry misses not feeling that adrenaline rush of certain death. I mean come on, I bet at the amusement park he is afraid to ride the roller coasters, you know if they actually worked for a wizard. Not me! I loved a challenge. And hopefully you readers are able to decipher thick sarcasm when you read it.
The only advantage not having Harry's skill allows me is that on exceedingly rare occasions the slower approach allows me the opportunity to take a better review of my opponents before I start blasting.
Oh sure the average wizard would see a troll and jump right to the combat because let's face it trolls are just mean and nasty. Nine feet tall is not the largest of their kind of course but still it's pretty respectable to someone only two thirds its height. Add to that inhumanly superior strength, which everything nasty from the Nevernever seems to have at their disposal, a rubbery type of skin that seems to absorb and therefore ignore most physical blows, and of course wicked teeth and claws that have been known to sheer through rock or thin metal sheeting like the sides of cars as if it were a beer can. All in all with this you have a pretty formidable foe to the average wizard and an almost insurmountable one to a mere apprentice of sensitive magic.
And this is not even counting the complication in this situation of a rather powerful figure of faith magic, or whatever they call that power. There is no way around the fact that I was serious outclassed, even accounting for having Elaine standing next to me. She is of course more of a magical brawler than I am and having come through the doorway right behind me and seen the troll for herself I could feel her gathering magic to her for an attack, probably one of her lightning bolts, at the first sign of hostile intentions.
But being both a sensitive wizard and having an actual private investigator for a master provided me unique skill and vast insight that the average combat wizard likely would not have at their disposal. First there was my highly trained power of observation that Harry had drilled into me by making me tell him the current time and other vastly difficult tasks; more sarcasm. In this case it allowed me to see that the terrible and fearsome troll was dressed in a rather impressive tailored wool three button double breasted suit. For those of you unfamiliar with trolls let me merely state this is highly suspicious attire and behavior for the average ravenous, flesh eating monster, so we in the wizard business call this a 'clue' that something odd was at play here.
Second as a sensitive mage I could feel absolutely no hostility being directed toward either of us from either of them. In fact if anything the odd pair before us I now saw that were playing chess seemed both pleased and relieved at our arrival as if they had been expecting us, and not for the reasons of a quick snack like most trolls. I held my hand out to Elaine to signal for her not to do anything rash and felt her agree and let some, but not all, of the tension and magic flow free from her body.
Hisha smiled and this and nodded his head slightly before turning back to the game and the troll sitting across from him. "It is your move of great Gronk." He said with a hint of laughter in his voice as if we had proven a key point or settled a bet.
"After all these centuries I do not know why it is that you feel the need to continue to use that childish acronym instead of my proper name." The troll said in flawless English with just a touch of a London accent if my ear and still stunned mind could be trusted. At this point I was not exactly sure what I was seeing so all my other senses were placed in the highly skeptical category as well.
He moved one of his pieces forward with a gleam of malice in his eyes, though one obviously contained to just the board before him. "Checkmate in thirty-four moves." He said with a sense of obvious satisfaction. The fact that someone once told me the first ten turns in chess had something like two million potential combinations I did not even want to begin to think how a troll, creatures not known for their intellect, could see out thirty-four moves. It sort of put my whole belief system in question.
"I was distracted by the poor quality of wool of your suit to offer you a decent game of Shah Mat! this day" Hisha said in response with an obviously laugh as if knowing this was going to evoke a further response from his opponent. "Besides with guests it is time for tea and serious business not for playing games." He stood up with a bow of resignation to the troll and then made another to us of welcoming I sensed and went over to the large gas stove and lit a burner to place an old battered copper kettle on the stove.
"I'll have you know this is an Anderson and Sheppard of Savoy street in London suit made personally for me from the finest virgin wool of Scotland you orange bed sheet wearing heathen." The troll called after Hisha in fake indignation and with an obvious chuckle in his voice that bespoke this was an ongoing game between the two of them for some time. "And Vibhishana you have not offered me a challenging game of Shah Mat! is more than two centuries so blaming our guests' arrival is hardly an honest answer for a holy man who speaks only the truth."
"You wound me old friend." Hisha replied. "And even after I willingly consent to make your that poor slop that you call tea."
"I'll have you know Earl Grey is considered the pinnacle of teas by true connoisseurs." The troll replied not rising further to the bait. "And you do not even use cream like a civilized human being so do not speak to me that you are any expert on the subject.
"That is perhaps true of you johnny come latelys as far as tea is concerned. The fact that it was brought to your lands by that heathen Marco Polo who claimed to understand the cultural pleasantries required of offering such a drink. My people were drinking it two thousand years before the arrival of his so called quest for discovery. What did he think we were all standing around waiting for some hairy westerner to come discover us?" Hisha bantered back. "There are more than three thousand strains of tea in India alone yet you dare to offer your single English type as the pinnacle of these? Your arrogance in such things ill becomes you."
"At least we westerners know well enough to make formal introductions when visitors come to call." The troll smiled and winked toward Elaine and I showing this banter was all in good fun. "You probably were all standing around in confusion until Marco Polo taught you how to make an introduction so you could talk to each other in a civilized manner."
"Ah, you are correct." Hisha said turning away from the copper pot and china tea set in obvious embarrassment and hurried back over to us bowing gracefully as the troll stood up slowly and followed in his wake. While nine feet of troll is not something to take lightly I have to admit the cut of his obviously tailored suit did much to cage the 'oh my god he's going to eat our spleens' fears from reaching my lips and embarrassing me as the formal introductions were carried out.
"I offer my humblest of apologies to the both of you for my lack of manners." Hisha said to Elaine and I again while bowing. "I fear I have been too long away from true civilization that I have forgotten the proper role of a host." He raised his head with a smile.
"They say at your age the mind is the first thing to go. Or is it the second? Oh course being a monk and all…" The troll whispered just loud enough for all of us to hear.
"Hush now and allow me to introduce the emissaries." He said with a tad of annoyance like one brother would for another. I could sense Elaine, like myself, had no desire to jump into the conversation at the moment as was quite happy to let the two banter on as we tried to play catch up in our mind of just what was going on here.
"Welcome distinguished guests and Emissaries of the Winter and Summer Courts." Hisha said displaying that he obviously knew more about both of us than a mild mannered Buddhist monk was likely to.
"May I present to you as well my distinguished friend Gr…" His hand made a sweeping motion toward the well dressed troll standing beside him who gave out a low rumble of warning as Hisha began to speak his abbreviated name. "...My apologies…my distinguished friend Lord Gerald Rudolpho Orikain Nicolai Kline…the Emissary of the Wyldfae and personal advisor to the Erlking." He said and the troll bowed with a flourish at the waist that some of the elves of Summer Court would be hard pressed to match in grace. He certainly defined grace like no other creature I had ever encountered.
"I call him Gronk so as to shorten that ridiculously pompous name of his." Hisha said just as the troll was just at the lowest point of the bow. Lord Kline finished his bow in a dignified manner but shot daggers of hate from his eyes at Hisha for this apparent long running insult but it did not let that stop him from acting the very example of gentlemanly manners.
"It is my extreme pleasure to make the acquaintance of the Summer Queen Emissary." He said taking Elaine's hand daintily in his own before she knew to even resist as I sensed she wanted to and then kissing the back of it with just a touch of his lips. "I have long heard wonderful things of the beautiful human woman the great and fearsome Abagalesidhe willingly trained to call upon the power of storms nearly as well as the Summer Handmaiden herself." Elaine was struck speechless not only by the kiss but the troll's apparent knowledge of her and merely nodded slowly as a polite courtier might do. The the troll lord took this as permission to move on to me.
"Ah and that makes you by the power of elimination the mysterious Miss Molly Carpenter, the newest Winter Court Emissary." The way he rolled the three M words off his lips like a tongue twister seemed to be a personal joke with him.
The troll followed suit and kissed the back of my hand as he had Elaine's. It was not exactly and uncomfortable experience but felt a little like wet rubber brushed across my skin. "We in the Wyldfae know almost nothing of you beyond your apprenticeship to a great wizard who has garnered the respect of our king. It was specifically to meet, appraise, and learn more of you that I was sent here for first impressions of your own exploits are nearly too fanciful to believe as truth. Thankfully Vibhishana was kind enough to provide me his own impressions and while he is a terrible Shah Mat opponent, his judgments of people tend to be reliable." The troll smiled with politeness but a mouth full of razor sharp shark teeth was still a bit disturbing; even more so with how impossibly white he kept them.
"I am please to meet your acquaintance as well Lord Kline." I said. "You must excuse our shock for we were unprepared for such an encounter. The stories of your kind usually involve numerous references to them devouring people like us so it may take Elaine and I a moment or two to come to grips that you are not here to eat us."
The troll laughed, sort of a coughing type affair, but waved off my apology. "Think nothing of it I am often beset by such racial and prejudicial profiling because of others of my breed who act exact exactly as you say." He stepped back so I did not have to strain my neck nearly so much looking up to his face. "In fact to get this suit made I had to explain to my tailors that you humans taste like chicken." He said with his wolfish smile. "And I absolutely abhor the taste of chicken!"
That last was just the right stroke to break the tension both Elaine and I were feeling and we laughed, not merely politely as one might a joke you did not actually find funny, but instead a full out belly laugh that swept away the majority of our fears and concerns. This honest response pleased the troll and made Hisha shake his head as well though I could see an honest smile on the old man's face.
"Barbarians." He said with a smile and turning back to check the temperature of the tea pot now that all our introductions had been properly accomplished.
"You must excuse Vibhishana." The troll responded. "He gets like this every time he loses as Shah Mat!"
"Vibhishana?" I asked for clarification.
"Shah Mat!" Elaine asked at the exact same moment leaving the troll with two questions but only one mouth by which to answer.
I was standing slightly closer so selected to respond to me first. "Let me guess he shortened his name to Hisha when you met?" He asked me to which I merely nodded. "He prefers to be lazy where names are concern, like using my initials to call me Gronk for example. That and of course he does not like it when people recognize his great achievements."
I looked at him askew. "Um, I have never heard of anyone called Vibhishana." I said embarrassed at this obvious gap in what the troll at least considered an important subject. And when a nine foot troll finds something important I suggest you do as well to humor him, regardless if he is wearing a Savoy Street suit or not.
"No should you most definitely should not have. It is an old story, unworthy of being repeated in modern times and should be relegated to the forgotten or at least myth." Hisha's voice called out to us with embarrassment from over by the stove.
"You must excuse him but he also lacks the ability to accept deserved pride." Lord Kline replied. "But I think if you asked him nicely Molly he would tell you the tale. He told me that he likes what he sees in you."
With that as an encouragement I went off to do just what the troll suggested. Let me point out that in a similar circumstance when doing what a nine foot troll asks of you and it does not lead to violence is probably a good thing. I will say this it is certainly a rarity in my own limited experiences.
Lord Kline turned back to Elaine. "Shah Mat! is the original term for the game we in the West call chess. It translates as 'The King is Dead.'" I could feel his emotions of innocent intrigue building up. "Could I perhaps convince you to play as we talk?" He said pointing to the board still set up from the conceded game. "I have only had this poor Buddhist monk for an opponent for the past century so another person's insights would be a rare delight and challenge." I turned to see that Elaine, like me, took the opportunity to merely nod her head, not wanting to offend our host, even if he claimed that he did not like chicken tasting humans.
I wandered over to where Hisha was working on making the tea using the old style tradition of placing actual leaves in the bottom of each cup before adding the hot water to the cup. I sensed that he was slightly uncomfortable at my interest but was otherwise very much what he appeared to be, an old man at peace with the world around him.
"Vibhishana?" I asked with a little bit of inquiry in my voice since that seemed appropriate. My dealings with older men as of late, something becoming an odd pattern for me, gave me the insight that a pleasant smile and a timid approach was likely to be the best way to open doors that they wished better remained closed.
"It is merely an old name I carried in days long past and nothing that a young wizard need to waste her time or concern herself with compared to far more worthy topics." He said trying to deter me from my inquiry. But that of course merely made me that much more interested.
"You know I seem to recall something in my reading about someone from India…" I said, well actually I bold faced lied. I had never heard this name before but I made a fair assumption that the way Lord Kline spoke of it with a sense of reverence that there probably was a story or two out there and it obviously was from the general area of India anyway. And if I knew anything it is that most people did not like the way history portrays them and given the option one much prefers to provide the true story themselves. The only thing worse to some people than talking about themselves it seemed was having someone else talk about them and be wrong when they did so.
The way he looked and then sighed shaking his head made me certain that I was onto something. He made a comment under his breath about the stubbornness of an inquisitive young mind as he poured the boiling water into the cups and carried them back to the table motioning with his eyes that I was to follow if I wanted to hear the story. Sadly for Elaine it appears her troll opponent had already checkmated her and from the few number of pieces moved on her side of the board I had to assume he had done so in less than a dozen moves. Our timely arrival with tea served as reason enough to clear the table and ignore the defeat.
Once we were all seated and the pure honey offered to sweeten our tea Hisha turned to Elaine and I in turn who sat opposite each other and started to speak. "Are either of you fine young ladies familiar with the stories of the Rakshasa?"
I of course was not but the sudden glimmer in Elaine's eyes said that she obviously was. "If I recall from my studies they were a race of demon-bred beings in ancient India I believe." She said straining to pull forth the information from her memory. "I believe they were described as tiger like, though that of course could simply be translated fierce beasts since the tiger was considered the most dangerous predator in that land."
If I recall the stories correctly they were also supposed to be natural masters of illusion which they would use to trap their prey with comforting images of loved ones or some such." She continued as Hisha sat patiently and merely nodded at each fact she mined from her memory. "Last I think they were also said to eat the flesh of humans as well which is said for just about every such dangerous creature." Wow she did know quite a bit about the subject. She looked at the troll in embarrassment as she said the last part but Lord Kline only smiled as he looked at her.
"What do you expect me to say?" He repeated his coughing laugh. "I already told you that your kind tastes like chicken. Do I need to don a white suit and open my own franchise called Kentucky Fried Children?"
"Do not be crass." Hisha scolded. "Though at least the image of you in a proper suit, even white, is something to consider as a definite improvement for you current look."
"Great now I am getting fashion advice from a man Ramada hotels always want to bill extra at checkout for stealing their linens." The troll fired back in obvious practice making both Elaine and I giggle in probably a less dignified manner than a Faerie Emissary is supposed to.
Hisha ignore the barb and turned to look at Elaine to continue the original conversation. "I would offer one simple correction that for ancient humans everything that was scary and not also human was by definition called a demon as you had a rather limited vocabulary but otherwise your description is quite accurate." He nodded and sipped on his tea but I did not miss his word of 'you' when discussing humans rather than 'we.' That queer choice of wording was all the warning I got. In a blink of an eye the old bald man I knew as Hisha was no longer sitting at the table beside me but instead there was a humanoid black and white colored tiger right where the monk had been still sipping on the same fragile tea cup in his now great oversized paws.
To his credit Hisha had obviously waited to perform this transformation when neither Elaine nor I were holding our tea, and for his own part the great troll did not seem the least bit surprised or even that interested in the change that had come over his friend. By my warning I merely scooted a little back in my seat at this display but Elaine nearly fell over backwards as she scrambled to put some distance between them. It was only the excessively long reach of the troll's arms and the surprisingly fast reflexes of Lord Kline that kept the table from falling over or any of the tea from spilling.
Hisha had been extremely careful not to move or even to follow Elaine's retreat with his eyes. I could sense her fear thanks to my gifts but I had the impression he could as well, much like any predator knew how to read the emotions of potential prey I suppose. "I will request your forgiveness for the theatrics but I have learned over the centuries that there is no gain in prolonging this revelation through further discussion. One either openly accepts this display to move the conversation forward or they grab torches to scream for my death." He said with a hint of a smile.
At this point he did turn to look directly at Elaine who seemed balanced between these two options. "If you will indulge me the same courtesy as Lord Kline I would also state that during my one experience of eating human flesh as a child I found the taste more akin to dog due to its stringy texture than chicken as my illustrious colleague claims. Perhaps it is for this reason that I became a strict vegetarian more than three millennia ago." He said carefully turning his face back to the table and slowly sipping on the piping hot tea. The next step would be for Elaine to decide on which course to take.
Elaine's indecision relaxed a little bit more with each breath she took as she calmed and I carefully kept my eyes away so as to not make her feel any shame for what was a perfectly reasonable reaction based upon the types of things she had dealt with in her life. Once more she took a deep breath and nodded before she came back to the table. He lips opened obviously preparing to apologize for her reaction but Hisha held up a hand, well okay a paw, and shook his head to say that was unnecessary.
"Now that you have seen for yourself I will resume the guise you are more comfortable with so that we might better discuss subjects of mutual interest without distraction such as how good I might look laid out before your roaring fireplace." He said with a tiger smile and in a blink once more he was the same elderly looking monk I had come to expect. The fact that this illusion was so fast and without any conscious thought or command on his part that I could perceive was truly impressive to me.
"For a priest you are still too much a fan of these theatrics. It is unbecoming of a servant of God." Lord Kline said lifting the teapot and refilling all of our cups with a well practiced sense of grace.
"The greatest of God's servants have always relied upon theatrics?" Hisha replied back. "Let them see you building a big ark in your backyard and the first drops of rain become a flood!"
"Before we end up insulting the almighty I think perhaps you should provide the emissaries your own history my friend so we can get on to the greater purposes that brings all of us together." The troll still smiled but seemed to decide it was now time to stop talking of shoes and ships and ceiling wax, of cabbages and kings. "With your revelation they will need to know it all now or they will likely be too distracted by their own speculations to focus properly on the issues at hand."
Hisha sighed and nodded his head accepting this was the wisest course of action. "As I said humans have called my kind demons because of our fearsome appearance and because many of my kind are self centered, power hungry, and as greedy as true demons, or as…well as many of you humans are also." He said with a laugh.
"But that is not an accurate description of you obviously." I said keeping the conversation on a proper track and getting a hint of a smile and a stealthy wink from the troll.
"No I have never been one for material wealth or a desire for power." He admitted plainly without judgment of those who differed on this. "From a young age I merely wanted to study faith at God's feet and be graced with the holy sight to know the beauty of the world as the creator sees it." Not exactly a modest goal, but certainly not one very self promoting as I figured it. I had a feeling Hisha would get along well with Father Forthill.
"As is the nature of both our races, the Raksasha and human, war came to our peoples as my kind sought domination over your own. While I had no part in this decision, or a desire to gain personally at the expense of others, and because I find no glory in such foolish battle that need not be fought, I chose to merely continue my prayers and studies and ignore the war. I naively thought to leave material things for those more suited to their allure and that they would leave me the same way." His words were strong and decisive though filled with obvious pain.
"As our illusions do not work among our kind, I went among yours dressed as a simply holy man offering my services, skills, or just an honest day of labor in exchange for food and shelter." He explained. "I tried to avoid those places where the war was fiercest but India is not truly so large a place and the villages all tended to hug the rivers during this age so my options were limited. I reached one village that would one day be called Bombay by the English invaders, but Mumbai was its traditional name for more than two thousand years before that. I found to my disappointment that I had arrived in the midst of preparing for a war strike of their own. Disliking such needless violence I swore to myself that I would perform my honorable service for these people in exchange for rice and a mat upon which to sleep and be gone from their midst before the sun had rose in the morning."
"A young girl, not all that different from you Molly except I recalled she had slightly almond shaped eyes, was the one who brought me a bowl of rice and talked with me for a time while I ate." He continued with a sad smile of recollection at these events. "The conversation was much like all women of her time carried on about for she had recently been married off to one of the young warriors of the village who gained a small herd of goats, a kingly dowry, from her father. While this was an arranged marriage, the girl it turned out truly loved her husband, which was rare for such time and such situations. She feared that he would die in the coming battle and that then she would therefore lose him and this love. She told me she was too young to be a widow and to cry about love lost."
"I finished my meal and returned the bowl so she could leave but her words had struck something deep within me." He continued in the same saddened voice. "I was in my heart dedicated to Brahma's teachings and the gifts upon which he gave to man and therefore opposed to violence. The greatest of these gifts though God claimed was love. I saw then that the war my kindred had brought down upon your kind was destroying these gifts in lives like the young girl that I had served me and spoken of the love she had be granted. This I realized was insulting the very God who had offered such a precious gift to all."
"I did not sleep that night as I meditated on this, but still I knew I was not a warrior by nature and remained unwilling to join the fight and give up the life I thought was mine. But still I prayed for guidance and hoped that some messenger would tell me what God wished of me." Hisha spoke softly but held us all, even the troll who had obviously heard this story before, trapped in the web of his telling.
"My own people were the messengers that God, or more likely the Dark One, sent unto me." He said with a hint of undisguised disgust in his voice. "While the village of humans lay sleeping except for a few aged warriors on guard duty I sensed my kind's approach by the magic they used. I rose to seek them out and found that they were hidden beneath and illusion of invisibility and were even now sneaking past the guards on duty so as to strike from stealth at those asleep in the heart of the village. I knew my kind would win such a fight and in doing so they would kill or enslave all in the village if I did nothing. So I chose to act." He said very simply and without pride in this action. It was an acknowledgement of a tragedy to Hisha more than a glory to be honored for it seemed.
"Did you dispel their veil?" I asked understanding the magic being used was much like my own.
"No, they were too many and too powerful for me to do so in the time I had." He explained as one practitioner to others talking of their shared craft. I understood that if each of the Raksasha's had cast his own veil spell then Hisha had to take each one down individually or else use truly powerful magic in order to make them all visible at once."
"So how did you make them appear?" I asked not seeing a solution to the problem. This was, however, certainly a skill that I needed to be wary of as my veils were my chief protection.
"I did not actually make them appear." He said with a little twinge of smile. "I merely created an illusion over the top of them so that the human warriors in the village could see them even though beneath that illusion they were still invisible."
My eyes opened wide at that idea. A magic spell placed on top of magic instead of trying to cancel it out. That was ingeniously creative and not something my master had ever mentioned to me. I knew Harry was incredibly creative under extreme pressure especially with things that go boom or cause screaming, but I wondered if he would have come up with this simple yet elegant answer to an invisibility problem.
"The sudden appearance of my kind among the alert warriors initially caught both sides by surprise but in the next moments the Raksashas more so since they had been certain of their own cleverness and not planned for what to do if discovered. The fight was relatively one-sided and the raiding party was slain to a soul." I noted he did not use the more common term to a man to describe his kind.
"So you picked a side after all." I said.
"Yes I did." He agreed but with regret. "I knew that continuing the war was an abomination to Brahma so I could not stand aside from the world around me while my kind subjugated yours." Hisha justified his actions with these words and while he seemed to be at peace with them, I could sense he still wished to this day that there had been another way to do so.
"I knew that the leader of the Raksasha's was the most powerful one of the tribes by the name of Ravana and that his fortress was on the island of Lanka, what today you call Sri Lanka." Geography was not my best subject but I think I knew what he was speaking so casually of. "Ravana had been the one to propose war. He had fed the war with our pride and that the conflicts would not end while he remained to continue the struggle."
Hisha turned to a slightly lighter subject. "Among the humans had risen a warrior equal of fame to Ravana who your people called Rama. I knew that to end this war I must guide this leader of the humans, their great champion to Ravana's sanctuary, to end this war once and for all." His voice grew quieter telling me the story was near an end. "This is what I did. Rama and his army slew Ravana and his kind." He said simply. "I remain the last of my kind to serve as an example of foolish racial pride and perhaps to show those stories of ancient demons are not all myths."
I tried to think of what that would be like, to be the last of your race. I decided after a moment this was perhaps the loneliest existence I could think of. It therefore bespoke much of Hisha's character that instead of succumbing to sorrow and remorse over these events and the actions he had taken the noble Raksasha had chosen instead to continue to look for ways to improve the futures of those around him. The holy power of faith lay strong within his frame for any with the ability to sense it, and even those not as gifted in sensing such things as I am likely understood on a subconscious level that here was a good man...I mean good Rakshasa... no I was right the first time... good man. He had made his choice regardless of the shape he wore and lived up to what we humans would consider the highest personal ideals.
But why then was such a hero here now? Could I believe mere chance made this living legend cross my path or was it something deeper? I know my father is a strong believer that there is no such thing as fate, that God provides according to his plan, but that seems to me easier to believe if you are one of God's warriors. I am a mere apprentice wizard and a very young one at that so it's not like I expect or deserve this level of attention for myself. I was not a chosen one, at least not yet. My father epitomized love, he had hope, while I was at best an apprentice in these too seeking my own understanding...
"You were sent here to be my teacher." I declared looking at Hisha and smiling now that in a fit of inspiration I understood better what was going on. Elaine looked at me with expanding eyes but did not raise any objection to the claim. Nor did the troll who seemed by his posture and emotions to be agreeing with me. Okay I admit it was based completely on his emotions. I had yet to complete a course in the non-verbal communication cues of creatures of the Nevernever.
"Some whose job it remains to watch and listen heard you ask to learn more of faith." Hisha agreed with a slow blink and nod of his head. "Your prayers reached the ears of The One Who Watches and he asked me to speak to you as I had to others before you." I knew by that shaded reference he was speaking of Uriel but for some reason, perhaps not wanting to alert him, or maybe not to make Elaine uncomfortable he chose not to state so plainly. "You are hardly the first one ever to seek faith that I have been called upon to provide instruction." There was something in the way he said that last thing that told me there was a secret wrapped in it that I was meant to unravel.
I thought on that for a moment and then looking at him as I suddenly understood what he was telling me. "You trained Shiro too didn't you?" Shiro had been the last wielder of the Sword of Faith and now that I was looking at Hisha I knew that he had even taken on an illusionary image of a man very similar in features to Shiro. This undoubtedly was part of the reason I was so open to listening to him even at first when he was a complete stranger and especially when my own mind was focused upon my dad's health; subconsciously he had been familiar to me. It seems to me that the myth that Rakshasas could appear as those we loved or trusted had some basis in fact as well.
He nodded his head. "And he was not nearly so fast to observe and pick such things up as you are child." Hisha said. "In fact I do not see that there is truly much that I can teach you that you do not already know. I think you merely require experience to more fully develop and grow into your full potential my child."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "I still need to understand faith as much now or even more than when 'someone' heard my prayers." I said with a hint of my frustration. "Surely one whom God accepted to learn at his feet can provide me some insight on the subject of faith."
"I think you merely do not see how much you already understand of these things Molly." He said. "And faith is not something one can read in a book or even have explained. I could describe to you what a ripe melon tastes like to me but until you experience it for yourself you can never truly understand my words. It is something that one must live, must experience, must just come to be part of them." He explained with some regret.
"But you said that you taught Shiro faith so that he could wield Fidelacchius." I pointed out. "Why couldn't you do this for me as well? I seek the same result as he did; to be worthy of the blade."
"I did not teach Shiro faith." Hisha corrected wearing that same instructive look of superiority that his student had worn years ago when correcting me on issues in which I was in error. "I taught him how to handle a sword for I knew that to be his weapon of choice that he was born to carry. It was through learning this that he came to understand faith."
"Then why can't you do the same thing for me?" I asked. "I need to learn the skills of the sword. That is why I had this practice blade made just like the Sword of Faith so that I could master its use."
"And if God wills it so you will." He said with an approving nod. "But there are others in your life better suited to teach you that skill than I could ever be. If I were to interfere it would be like taking a seedling away from the sun and trying to grow it by a lamp. While it will work to some degree is in not as effective as the source created for this very role in Brahma's great design. Your father and your sensei are more that up to this task of training one headstrong female wizard."
"And besides, while you wish to learn the sword, you were blessed at birth with another skill far more suited to the center of your life just as the sword was integral to Shiro's." He explained.
"You mean my magic." I said with a bit of disappointment evident in my voice. "I beg to differ though. My skills with magic do not lean to combat. Harry has told me that while I am powerful I will never master the ability to throw fire or any of the other battle magic like he can."
"And he is correct." Hisha nodded. "Were fire and force the only means to do battle you would truly be at a disadvantage. But that statement is not based upon truth. Even a sword may be used to strike many ways and not open the skin." He said with a smile making me look over at Elaine who was conveniently rubbing the evident bruise on her scalp I had given her at the same time. "Perhaps the problem is that you have not thought on how to use your 'sword' in another manner that befits your talents."
I thought about what he was saying and knew almost immediately where he was trying to take me. Hey it's not like I'm stupid or anything it just takes a moment or two to look at a situation from another angle when someone tells you to. "So a Raksasha is going to teach me illusion magic?" I said without even attempting to hide the smile that bloomed upon my face.
"I will merely show you how it is done." He said. "The rest you will develop on your own through your determination."
"That's so cool!" I agreed with an eager nod.
"Um I don't mean to be a spoilsport or anything but do we really have the time for this when we are supposed to be checking out this Highpelt Forge and Ferrier place you mentioned?" Elaine asked as I sensed her begin to get nervous as she too realized there were even greater powers at play than we first had assumed. She had been a pawn of such a one once and had no obvious desire to repeat the experience. But even with that in mind it was actually a fair question in the grand scheme of things. But I wanted the chance to try this type of magic.
"I suspect that it will take little to no time for someone as smart and gifted as Molly to grasp the concept." Hisha replied. "The skill already lies locked inside her. All I plan to do is offer her the key she needs."
"Alright then let's do this." I agreed without looking back. Elaine said nothing at my declaration but I sensed her concern.
"Which language has your master been teaching you to perform magic with." The Raksasha asked?
"Latin." I replied
"Ah...pity." He sighed. "I had hoped he would have used one of the civilized dialects."
"Ignore him." The troll stated for our benefit. "Anything not created in India is automatically inferior in his eyes. It is a prejudice you have to learn to accept. Oh and the Latin word for 'Illusion' is Noctus ex illuminus." He offered without me having to make the embarrassing request. Harry had learned Latin by a correspondence course and I was learning it from him. The fact that the troll spoke both Latin and English better than I did was disturbing on a very base level. And I did not even have the advantage of the public schools excuse to use for this.
"Okay so what do I do?" I asked starting to draw magic into me so I could try out a new spell.
"When you cast your invisibility what do you picture?" Hisha asked me calmly.
"That's simple." I said. "When I cast a veil I picture nothingness. I erase myself from the world around me like photo shopping myself out of a Polaroid." I said which caused Hisha to turn and look at the troll.
"She is talking of computers and saying she paints herself out of the picture." He explained with a shake of the head. "Brahma never said you had to be an enemy of technology you know. It is your Far Eastern pig headedness that makes you thing that for some reason gardening with a wooden stick brings you closer to God."
"Hush of I will not invite you as a friend on my Facelook page." Hisha said with a sense of superiority.
"It's called Facebook." The troll just shook his head more.
"That is what I meant... your book of faces. You shall not be invited to send me c-mail." He continued
"You really are hopeless you know that?" The troll laughed. "Now finish your lesson before you get sued by Bill Gates just on general principles?"
I could see Hisha mouth the name Bill Gates as if he was going to ask a question of who he was but instead he returned to the subject at hand. "Now illusions are like your book of faces. You picture what you want to appear firmly in your mind and call forth the spell." He explained. "For your first attempt begin simply by selecting and projecting a color."
I tried not to focus on his 'book of faces' reference and do just what I was told. I selected a color and locked it firmly in my mind, gathered the power and spoke the key Latin words while keeping my eyes closed.
"Bet you ten bucks she goes with Red." I heard Lord Kline say to Hisha and Elaine.
"Noctus ex illuminus." I called and I could literally feel a burst of red magic exploded from my fingertips, which was really annoying because up until he said something I was actually picturing purple in my mind! I was glad though that they did not know that or I'm certain Hisha would probably give me one of those same Harry-type lectures about concentrating on what I was doing and not getting distracted when casting a spell.
"You both owe me ten bucks." The troll said. "Well not you Hisha since you look like that." I heard him burst out into a roaring laughter that sounded like someone coughing up a lung.
I opened my eyes to find Hisha covered from head to toe in a wash of red as if a can of house paint had been dumped upon his head. I opened my mouth to apologize but the troll's laughter only grew as he sputtered out more words. "The... red... looks... nicer... than... orange." I was so shocked by this I released the spell and Hisha was instantly looking himself once more though the troll continued to laugh.
"Do either of you know how to send a computer bacteria?" The old monk asked staring daggers at the troll.
"Hisha I am so sorry." I said.
"Think nothing of it daughter." He replied speaking with a tone of familiarity that made me feel warm. "You now know the secret. It shall be up to you to practice this more over time. But as your friend said the time is running late if we are to get you to your destination." He wandered off to collect some things ignoring the looks of shock Elaine and I wore that he and the troll planned to come along.
As we went to follow Lord Kline pulled me aside as he stopped laughing. "Child I do not think you understand the honor Vibhishana just paid you." He said with a tone of seriousness.
"In that he called me daughter?" I asked.
"Yes." He replied. "Since the death of his brother he has had no family or anyone he chose to consider as such. The loss of his brother has haunted him for all the time I knew Vibhishana."
"Obviously if Hisha is the last of his kind his brother had to be dead." I said aloud. "Were they that close?"
"Very much so." The troll nodded. "Right up until he was killed in the war Hisha spoke of. You see Vibhishana brother was Ravana." That came as such a shock to me that I did not know how I was supposed to feel based upon this revelation.