Four days later

Once again I woke up in the middle of the night with a dream of being chased by Eric. I had relaxed a bit after the first two, but a third one could be something telling. I would have to see if I could track down the materials to make an anti-scrying ward. What I needed would of course depend on how the connection was being made, but I had to assume that it was something physical. There wasn’t a lot of time to clean up any traces when you are escaping.

Since I was up, I decided to give Scott a checkup. I had managed to drive back all the concentrations of life energy causing the wasting disease, but his cough had come back the other day and I was worried. As I got close to their room, I paused and listened.

“about him.” I heard Ellie say.

“I know, I worry too. But you can’t force him to open up Ellie. That’ll just drive him away.”

“But I can feel how much he’s hurting!” She hissed at Scott. “I know he’s not related, and I’m not trying to use him to replace Jonas.”

“You just see a lost little duckling and think he needs some mothering?” I could hear the amusement in Scott’s voice.

“You don’t think he needs mothering? He showed up with broken bones, no supplies, and his clothes were rags. I doubt anyone has given the poor boy the loving he needs his entire life.”

“I know dear, I see the signs too. But you can’t just force things like that. He will gradually open up as we build trust.”

“I don’t need trust to give that boy the love he deserves.”

“Of course you don’t. But he won’t even think to start letting you in and returning that love until he can trust you. And if I’m right with how that boy was raised, he likely doesn’t trust anyone.”

“That’s so sad.” Ellie said, and I felt a bit of pressure in my chest as I heard the pain in her voice. Slipping away, I returned to bed. Sleep was slow to return, and not just because of the dreams.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Terrance, what are you doing?” Ellie asked the next morning, coming in to see me washing the sheets that I had sweated through last night.

“I had another one of those dreams last night.” I shrugged. “I know you do the laundry here, but I didn’t want you to have to do sheets for the third time this week.”

“Oh sweetie.” She immediately hobbled over, wrapping me in an uncomfortable hug. I couldn’t hug her back with wet hands, so they were awkwardly hanging off to the sides. After a few moments she gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head. “Shoo, I got this.” She said, pushing me toward a towel hanging on a nail. I watched how she with practiced ease used the blanket to work up a good lather with a bit of soap before scrubbing it on that weird looking tool. The one that looked like someone took the shutter off a window and added a bit for a handle.

“You just leave the menial tasks to me. Go on out and get some breakfast with Scott. I’ll have a fresh set of sheets for you tonight, and any other night you have a bad dream.”

“Thanks.” I said in a quiet voice before heading down the hall to the kitchen. What was going on with me? I had to slow my steps for a bit, as I was fighting not to cry. Since when was I so emotional? Were they putting something in my food? But they ate from the same pot, and I loaded my own plate so there were no hidden powders. Maybe they were taking the antidote after dinner?

“Copper for your thoughts.” Scott said as he saw me enter.

“Huh?”

“Just a saying back at the capital. Means I’m willing to listen if you need someone to.” He said, taking a sip from his tea as I got myself a plate of oat porridge with a side of sausage.

Sitting down, I took a few bites before answering. “I’m just worried.” I admitted, going with a half-truth. “I had another one of those dreams last night, and I don’t want to hurt Ellie. I didn’t go for the magic as I woke up, but I doubt I have gotten perfect control in four days. Hell, I can’t even call up the life mana consistently.”

“Ah, that.” Scott nodded. He took a few sips of tea, before continuing, “Well. Obviously you need to be flogged for failing to be absolutely perfect in a few days.”

“Huh?” I asked, looking at him as he delivered that punishment in a monotone, as if it was something they did every day.

“Relax, relax.” He reassured me. “Sorry, picked up a bit of gallows humor as a soldier. What I meant was that from what I hear, magic is tough. That you haven’t mastered it in four days? Perfectly normal. So don’t let it bother you too much. Learning a new skill takes time, but I have faith you can do it.”

“Why?” I asked, confused. “You barely know me.”

“True, we’ve only known you for a bit less than two weeks, but in those weeks I’ve seen your determination.” He leaned forward and looked me dead in the eyes. “I talked with Nick and Sheila. They passed on how much time you are spending in meditation, trying to master this so you don’t hurt others. They’ve noticed how you stumble on numbed legs at the end of the day, because you wouldn’t take the time to move them. That’s dedication. And even if you weren’t gifted in whatever skill you were showing that type of dedication to, it would only be a matter of time before you made progress.”

“Yeah but.”

“No buts.” He interrupted. “Listen. When you get as old as I am, time starts to feel different. My old man used to say this, and it’s probably the only thing he ever said worth listening to. Taking a few days to learn something when you are young feels like you aren’t making progress because you haven’t seen enough time yet. Those few days for you are a lot bigger portion of your life than they would be to me, who has lived for an extra twenty years. One day you will be old enough to understand what I’m talking about, but until then the only thing I can do is encourage you to keep at it. You’ll get there eventually.”

I sat back in my chair, somewhat flabbergasted by what he had just said. Was I doing good? How could he know? I hadn’t made any progress at all. I could barely recognize when Dax was next to me when meditating and when he got bored and wandered off. Was that really four days worth of progress? Or any progress at all?

As I was pondering this, I felt his hand land on my shoulder. “You keep focusing on the end goal, and how far away it is. It’s ok, everyone does it. Just believe in yourself, and that you will reach the goal at the end.”

With that he headed off to do whatever he was going to do, and I headed out with Nick and Sheila. “Hey, mind if I ask you guys a kinda personal question?” I asked as we were passing the church.

“Sure.” Nick answered.

“Depends.” Sheila said at the same time. They took a second to smile at each other before Sheila continued, “I might not answer. The big lug here has no shame, so feel free to ask him anything.”

“Noted.” I nodded. “I’m getting frustrated with this life mana stuff. How long did it take you guys to figure out your earth mana?”

“Already frustrated after four days?” Sheila chuckled. “Oh man, you are in for a world of frustration then. It took me the better part of a month to get it to reliably respond. Nick was a bit longer.”

“Oh.” I muttered, shaking my head. If that was what a low affinity could do, I was probably looking to need a couple weeks. That was without trying to expand my mana channels.

“Don’t feel down.” Nick said, putting me in a headlock. “You’ll get there. If I can do it, I’m sure you can.”

“Thanks.” I chuckled, thumping him gently in the ribs to escape. “I’ll try not to be too depressed.”

“Oh, by the way.” Sheila said. “No heading out tomorrow or the next day. Hazel said that there will be a pretty bad storm.”

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“Hazel?” I asked confused. “I’ve heard her name a few times, but don’t know that I have actually met her.”

“Ah yeah. She’s our weather witch and hates company. She’s about the only person in the village that doesn’t go to church. Don’t let that fool you though, her weather warnings have saved more lives than about anything in the past few years.”

“Sorry if this comes off as demeaning, but how come your village warrants a weather witch?” I asked. “I mean, it seems like it would take a powerful mage to do it, or at least a unique combination of elements. Plus all the training, why is she out here in such a small, remote village?”

They looked at each other for a bit, seeming to have a strange, silent conversation. Eventually Sheila sighed, and Nick looked pleased with himself. “I don’t know if you’ve seen many maps of the kingdom, but you know we are pretty much in a never ending war with the necromancers, right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. The battle lines had stagnated for decades, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t constant fighting. If I hadn’t been revealed as Melnon reborn, I was likely going to be headed to the front lines in a few years for blooding.

“This is one of the few places in this entire mountain range that you can actually cross into necromancer territory. Most of the people living here? They aren’t needed to raise these sheep, and the sheep could be raised just about anywhere. We’re here to make sure nothing slips through. It’s too small a pass for an army, but a small group could make it in.”

“Ok, I can see that.” I nodded. “But why the weather witch?”

“Not just her.” He explained. “Almost everyone here is a retired soldier. Most of them are the youngest sons of lesser nobility and wandering knights. Their families get some prestige from the posting, and a good bit of money, and they get a cushy job posting.”

“So does that make you guys nobility?” I asked, intrigued.

“Nope.” Sheila immediately answered. “Part of the post is giving up all claims to any titles, including your descendants. Unless they get a reward of valor. Now, time for you to get to work.” She ordered, and I nodded.

This was interesting, and I would have to slowly press these two for more information. A hidden town of defenders blocking the pass? I knew Tomas had a communication device, and wondered how fast they could get reinforcements. With a hundred or so people here, it would take several days with the current mana levels to raise the village from death. Unless whoever it was brought enough death crystals. But those were heavily rationed, and unlikely.

Well, it didn’t matter much to me. I wasn’t trying to attack this village. Taking a deep breath to center myself, I started with expanding my mana channels. Right now they made it almost to my knees, and I was determined to add at least another inch to them today.

It was almost two hours later when I had a thought. This was trying to improve something within myself, why was I using unaspected mana to move through the channels? Surely a bit of life mana would be far more effective. Mentally chuckling at my brilliance, it took almost ten seconds for me to isolate a thin strand of life mana instead of the neutral variety. As prepared as I could be, I sent it down into my leg and immediately regretted my decision.

“GAAAAH!” I half screamed, half groaned as I rolled onto my side, clutching my thigh.

“What happened?” Nick and Sheila were both there as fast as they could be, staring down at me in concern.

“Hurts.” I groaned, trying to figure out just what went wrong. I know the mana hit the blockage. That part went fine. Then the mana seeped out into the surrounding tissue, and my thing started twitching like mad before clenching up into the mother of all cramps. Even now I could feel a knot of muscle tissue feeling like a steel ball in my thigh.

“Cramp?” Nick asked.

“Yeah.” I grunted, then screamed as he grabbed my leg with one hand and started massaging it with the other.

“Oh calm down ya baby.” He scolded, not letting my leg move as he worked at the muscle. I didn’t make it easy on him, bucking and thrashing in agony as he slowly got the muscle to loosen up.

“That. Sucked.” I eventually panted, feeling the chill seep through my shirt as my sweat froze in the chill air.

“So. Care to explain just what happened?” Sheila asked as she appeared above my head, looking down on me. I hadn’t even noticed she had gone somewhere.

“Where’d you go?” I asked, still panting.

“Oh I had to go and warn the town that we weren’t torturing you, only that you did something stupid and were paying the price. So again. What stupid thing did you do?” As she finished her question, she emphasized it by poking just under my collar bone with a finger on each word.

“I yield! I yield!” I groaned, curling onto my side. “I’ll tell, just stop poking me.”

“Oh you’re fine.” She said.

“Nick, my friend. Save yourself. You’ll never have a secret again!” I played it up, getting a laugh out of the big guy.

“Terrance. One day you will meet someone who you won’t keep any secrets from. She’ll never have to use that finger on me.” He chuckled as I stood up, slowly flexing my leg and putting gradually more weight on it. All the while Sheila was turning a lovely shade of red.

“Hey Nick.” I said, wanting to distract them for just a bit longer. “Is there a wind blowing only on Sheila? Her cheeks keep turning red.”

“Could be. Could be.” He said, walking over and getting right in her face. Taking her chin, he turned her head one way then another.

“Enough!” She growled to chuckles from us.

“Fine. And to answer your question, I tried to use life mana to clear my channels instead of neutral.”

“Why would you do something so stupid?” She asked.

“How was I supposed to know it was a stupid idea?” I fired right back.

“Weren’t you paying attention to the meditation lecture? Using aspected mana leaves a residue. So you were trying to clear channel with mana that would leave stuff behind to block the channel!”

“” I raised a finger to argue with her, then stopped. Then tried to come up with a better argument and failed again.

“I think you broke him.” Nick chuckled.

“No, no she didn’t.” I said. “I’m just now realizing what an idiot I am. I was hoping that any mana that escaped would help my muscles grow. It is life mana, you know?”

“Well I’m just glad you didn’t do any permanent damage. You didn’t do any damage, did you?” She asked, glaring at me.

“Nope!” I replied quickly. “Lemme just check that real quick.” I snaked a thread of mana down my legs, and luckily could feel them extend just about the same length as previously. “Nope. No damage.”

“Great. We still have a few hours left, and I’m going to use my authority to ban you from using your mana channels in your legs until after Father Tomas takes a look at you, and preferably Witch Hazel as well.”

“Who put you in charge?” I asked, but froze as a giant shadow suddenly blocked the sun.

“Does it matter?” Nick asked in a calm yet somehow menacing tone.

“Ummm, no?” I answered, getting a slap on the back.

“Nick, I could have handled it.” She said.

“Yeah, but my way was faster.” He said.

“Right. Anyhow, if I can’t work on mana channels, can I at least try and use the life mana with Dax?” I asked, looking right at Sheila.

“Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” I nodded, heading back to sit down next to the chair so I could use it as a back rest. “C’mere Dax.” I called, and the happy dog bounded towards me with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Must be nice to have no worries like he did.

“Sit.” I ordered, then sat down and closed my eyes. I took a few centering breaths then dropped into a light meditation that I had slowly grown used to over the last few days. I felt a furry head on my lap, and knew Dax had walked over and laid down next to me. This practice was as boring for him as it was for me, though it was probably less frustrating for him.

Time slowly dropped away. I cycled mana from my corescape to each hand and back, hoping to at least build up to where I could dual cast. My left arm could handle noticeably less, and it cycled much slower, but it did have a complete loop. It was a bit distracting using two different types of mana, but being able to divide my attention was another thing I needed to work on.

Scritches.

As I sat there, I tried to let the worries melt away. Father Tomas was bound to find out what I was and what I could do, but I was stuck here for the winter no matter what. He probably wouldn’t attack me either. He might be strong, but he probably knew just what a cornered necromancer could do.

Scritches. Itchy.

Ellie and Scott probably didn’t have any motivations other than what old people usually do. They were likely bored and hoping that for a while I could replace their Jonas. I don’t know why it feels uncomfortable when I think of their reaction when I leave, but it’s not like I can change it.

Left ear.

The dreams were starting to worry me. Eric was perfectly capable of scrying me, or even worse creating a hunter seeker. Especially considering the resources dad could give him in Necropolis. The only good thing would be that after all this time a hunter seeker wouldn’t be able to follow my trail, it would only point to my general direction. Eric would be getting frustrated with all the false starts and dead ends he was likely running into.

ITCHY! SCRITCHES!

Why does my ear itch? I’ve rubbed it a few times and it just isn’t going away.

Aaaah. Scritches.

I furrowed my brows as I stopped. Why did I keep getting a mental image of rubbing my left ear? And why was I rubbing Dax’s ear? Opening my eyes, I looked down to see the dog with a goofy look on its face, half turned onto its side and tail thumping into the ground as I scratched his ear as well.

“Dax?” I asked, confused. My hand had a very thin pink glow around it, and I could see it partially spreading into a little pool on Dax’s head.

BELLY RUBS!

This mental image was incredibly powerful, and I chuckled as my hand moved down to rub the dog’s belly as it acted like a complete fool. Dax rolled onto his back and started wiggling back and forth as I rubbed him. “Is that what you wanted? Who’s a good boy? Who? You are, silly!” I couldn’t hold back the laughter as I finally made a connection with the dog.

SQUIRREL!

With barely a moment to comprehend, I watched as Dax rolled to his feet and shot off around the shore of the lake towards the woods. I was barely fast enough to see a furry tail disappear into the taller grass before I could shake my head. I gave a sad sigh, wondering how much stronger of a connection I could have made with Argos if I had known about this growing up. Using spirit mana to forge a gentle connection instead of domination just felt. Right.

Well, if I could forge a connection with Dax with just a bit of spirit mana, what else could I connect with? Smiling, I sat back down and imagined my mana pulsing around me, forming ever widening circles about two feet high. As the circle expanded, I tried to find the exact relaxed state I had with Dax earlier. It was a bit harder with a concrete goal that I was working toward, as trying to reach it would take me right out of.

Food

Noise?

FOOD!

SHADOW! KILLER!

MOTION!

Darkness.