CHAPTER 19

"Are you ready to start your lesson?" Lilaena had darkened the room, leaving only one small, flickering candle alight, in the hopes of minimizing any potential distractions for this rather important task.

Her son stood before her, a combination of excitement and uncertainty running all through him like electricity. He nodded.

"As I said, the first thing I'd like to teach you is a simple burdening spell. This will serve to sort of …slow anyone, or anything, that might try to harm you. It is the basic version of the spell I used on those twits who attacked you in the alley. I believe it's important you know this, both to protect yourself and to dispel any skepticism which might arise regarding your apparent use of it before."

"Who'll I cast it on?" Rioghnan's eyes scanned the darkened room.

Lilaena pointed to a luna moth creeping along the window ledge. "Him," she announced with a grin.

Rioghnan nodded, smirking.

Lilaena described to him how to use his mind to connect with the well of potent magicka she was certain he held within him, how to force his will upon the moth, weighing it down and slowing its movements. He struggled, completely lacking the awareness of such power anywhere inside himself. He had no idea where it might be found, let alone how to call upon it to serve him at will. His mother had seen his abilities begin to manifest as a toddler and had made it her mission to deliberately repress any awareness he exhibited of even the presence of his own magicka. It became clear to her very quickly that all those years of denial were going to be rather difficult to overcome.

By contrast, Lilaena's parents had always encouraged her to embrace and practice her magic abilities, as far back into her early childhood as she could recall. She felt a pang of guilt, realizing the disservice she had done to her son. She had no idea how to direct someone to connect with their own magicka when they lacked the awareness of its very existence.

After several more failed attempts, Lilaena told Rioghnan to wait at home for her and set out for the Mage's Guild, hoping to gain some insight as to how they might train someone under such uncommon circumstances.

She heaved the well-worn wooden door open and stepped into the dark interior, noting that the place seemed abnormally busy. As she tried to pick out any of the guild members' faces among the throng who milled about the main floor, she noticed a voice; one she vaguely recalled from the distant past. She knew she'd heard it before, but she couldn't quite place it. Everyone seemed to be gathered round one specific area, so she meandered between the tightly packed bodies to see what the fuss was all about. As she approached the front of the group, she popped up on her tiptoes, as such standing well above most of the heads bobbing around her. The remembrance of whom the voice she knew belonged to struck her at the very same instant she found herself scrutinized by a pair of alarmingly familiar blue eyes – the face far more tired and wrinkled than it had been the last time she'd seen it, but unmistakable all the same. Vanus Galerion. The old mage paused in his speech and cocked his head to one side. He motioned at her with one arthritic finger. "Eh…You – Haven't we met before?"

Lilaena was momentarily paralyzed with horror, feeling as though the room and all its occupants had drawn away, leaving her alone in some sickening, nightmare void with the very object of her deepest dread. She shook her head, desperately attempting to gather some semblance of composure. "No…" Her voice was a wavering whisper.

"Ha, well. My memory's not what it used to be," Galerion huffed nonchalantly. His eyes darted away and then back to her more than once. "Now… where was I? Oh yes – Before we depart, I'd like to speak to whomever is in charge of the curation of your tomes here…"

Lilaena rapidly tucked herself back into the crowd, her heart hammering as a cold sweat came over her. She hit the door in an instant and sprinted back to her flat as if a pack of angry nix hounds slavered and snapped at her heels. She silently chastised herself as she ran. 'How could I have been so stupid? Of course, if there's anything unusual afoot at the Mages Guild, caution must be exercised! Always! Now, all it will take is for that old fool to have one singular moment of mental clarity and it's over. Our safe, peaceful existence, ended by my own utterly idiotic lapse in judgement. He could so easily find us here. And there is no mistaking whose son I bore and have raised…'

She hid in the alley for a bit to compose herself and attempt to concoct some sort of plan in case Galerion were to somehow recall who she was. Her first instinct was to grab Rioghnan and run off to some nearby town. She quickly decided against it, as that would make it quite obvious she had something to hide; some reason to run; and she certainly didn't want to pique his interest any more than she may have already. Her memory of the events leading her to find herself in Balmora was still quite sharp. She had gone over her interactions with Galerion countless times. Had he known what her strange affliction actually had been? She could still hear the mocking tone of his voice in her mind from the fateful day fifteen years back when she had just begun to feel inexplicably sick: "I am quite sure I cannot cure what you have contracted... And I most certainly am not responsible for it." What other intent could have been behind those words? He'd known. Or at the very least, he had suspected it. There was a very tiny chance he had only supposed she'd been getting drunk, as she had first assumed, but looking back, it was difficult to convince herself that an intelligent mer such as Vanus Galerion, obviously having known what she and her mentor had been up to, wouldn't at least recognize her symptoms as having possibly been those of pregnancy. Lilaena knew she had to find a way to keep him from ever encountering the spawn of his nemesis.

She concocted a plan. While she knew that if she were to suddenly pack up and leave, it would certainly draw attention and probably suspicion, there was no reason why Rioghnan couldn't disappear for a bit. She knew that her longtime employer, Belvyn Hlaalo, had connections in neighboring towns.

Lilaena took the stairs to the flat two at a time. She must have looked as troubled as she felt because her son's cheerful expression at her return immediately became one of apprehension. She wavered for a moment between telling him the truth – at least as far as the bit about there being a dangerous mer in town – and trying to pretend nothing was amiss, but that she would need to send him away for some other reason. Knowing her son's innate intellect as of course she did, Lilaena decided to go ahead and be as honest as possible, hopefully without relaying any information that might give him the opportunity to say too much to the wrong soul.

"Ri, please gather some clothing and your hooded cloak. We're going to have to have you stay someplace else for a bit."

"What? Why?"

"There is a very dangerous individual here in town; one who I'm fairly sure was involved with your father's disappearance. Like a fool, I let him see me and he may remember who I am. If he sees you, I'm nearly certain he will recognize your face, as you resemble your father so. We need to get you out of here for a bit, at least until he is no longer in the area."

"Who is he?" Rioghnan immediately pictured a large and dodgy looking brute with a lot of scars and an enormous war axe.

Lilaena sighed, fearing she would reveal too much information. "He's an old fellow. He doesn't look to be dangerous but believe me Ri, he could kill you in an instant. He's one of the most powerful mages who has ever lived."

It took Rioghnan a moment to process his mother's words, and the realization of whom she spoke hit him like a sack of iron ingots. The old, white-haired mage.