Truth - Hidden Truth Part 7

With a ward. To punish him."

"Did you see it?" Useless asked, his brow pinched. "The ward, I mean?"

"The ward!" she cried, shocked. "Bailic mutilated his hand, and you're worried I might have learned how he did it? No. I didn't!"

Clearly relieved, he resettled his coat about him. "If all the piper lost was a finger because of his impertinence, he was fortunate. I warned you not to underestimate Bailic's abilities or the depth of his depravity." The Master frowned at her scowl. "Unfortunately, the loss of a finger is not enough to call our agreement ended. Is Strell all right?"

"No," she said, almost sullen. "And then he made us go to Ese' Nawoer." She dropped her eyes, feeling like a child complaining about an older sibling. "He wanted to see if he could use the book closed.

Strell says he woke up the city-"

Her instructor's eyes went wide. "Wake Ese' Nawoer? Bailic hasn't the finesse to wake the dead."He harrumphed. "Neither do I. And if he had woken them, he wouldn't be sleeping in my room; he would be planning his next move."

"But Strell saw them," she insisted. "He said the grove came alive with people! Bailic doesn't know he woke the city because he didn't see them."

"Did you see them?"

Alissa winced, embarra.s.sed. It wasn't that she didn't believe Strell, but it sounded so unreal. "There are no such thing as ghosts," she said softly, and it was with no little relief that she saw the Master nod.

Last fall, she had said there was no such thing as magic.

"I thought not," he said. "Plainsmen see ghosts when the wind blows the sand. It's their nature. I would be more inclined to believe a fish can grow hair than Bailic can wake Ese' Nawoer. Perhaps we will practice reaching my thoughts from a distance before we call it done, in case Bailic is foolish enough to leave the Hold again."

Alissa reached for the warmth of the fire, glad Useless supported her own beliefs that Strell had been imagining things. The small sack of dust her mother gave her slipped from behind her coat, and she tucked it back. "Bailic said leaving the Hold when the snow was so deep was clever," she said, her eyes on the flames.

Useless harrumphed again. "Trying it once and getting away with it is clever. Trying it twice and getting caught is foolish. He won't do it again."

An uneasy silence descended as Useless removed his box of tea from under the bench. He added a handful of leaves to the steaming pot and set it to brew. The pot and the two cups had come into existence somewhere between Useless landing on her roof to wake her and her making her way down to the firepit. "May I see that bag for a moment?" he said casually. Alissa hesitated in confusion, and he added, "The one you just tucked away."

Startled, she took it from around her neck. Useless held out his hand, and she reluctantly let it slip from her grasp, not understanding her unwillingness. "Ah, this isn't good," he murmured, running a finger delicately over her mother's initials. He handed the bag back, frowning. "As soon as we have a large enough s.p.a.ce of time, I'll show you how to bind that source you have so untimely acquired. Until then, don't let Bailic see it. If he takes it, I can't replace it. Such a large volume as you have is typically generated from- ah-ashes. It's a careful secret. Even Keepers don't know."

Alissa settled the pouch back over her neck, tucking it in its usual spot behind her shirt. The unsettled feeling that had gripped her when Useless held the bag eased. "But you're telling me?" she said, glad to know she had been right in what it was.

"I like you," he muttered. "Now," he said, clearly changing the subject. "Let me see you set up the first circuit."

A sound of disappointment slipped from her. Useless might call her tracings a neural net and the first loop the primary circuit, but manipulating them was still something she already knew how to do. "But I know how to set up the first circuit," she complained.

"Then show me how fast you can do it," he said with an infuriating patience.

Alissa thumped her heels against the firepit's bench. "Faster," she said, thinking longingly of her abandoned bed. It was hard to justify leaving it for something she already knew. Learning how to reach Useless's thoughts at will would be far more useful than more practice in setting up her primary loop.

Eyes half vacant, half intent, she fussed with the fire. Maybe, she thought glumly, she could make a game of it. The next snap of the fire, and she would go.

Alissa settled herself to wait, easing her thoughts with three slow breaths. The small fire collapsed inon itself with the sound of sliding coals and she jumped, slipping her awareness into her source with a quickness she hadn't found before. The first crossed loop flowed into existence before her heart had finished its beat. She smiled. Holding herself calm had helped.

"Playing with fire?" Useless said. His eyebrows were arched, and suddenly the night wasn't so cold as she blushed. Talon responded to her emotions by pinching her shoulder painfully. "Even so," he continued, "that was excellent." His brow furrowed in thought. "You have permission to practice this alone. See how fast you can become before we meet again."

A grin edged over her. Seeing her smile, Useless chuckled. "Actually, it would be a good idea to leave you with a few other exercises to keep you out of trouble."

"That would be-wonderful," she said, trying not to sound so blessedly eager. If he knew how excited she was, he might reconsider.

"I've something in mind," he continued. "It would test your abilities, stretch your endurance. It's not a ward recommended so early in your career as a-student, but when done properly, it will offer you a measure of protection from Bailic."

Alissa's pulse grew fast. Her first ward. "Show me?"

He grimaced, clearly not convinced his idea was a good one. "Bailic's faulty decision to name Strell the latent Keeper was undoubtedly due to seeing the destruction of your neural net caused by improperly removing my ward," he said. "The layout of tracings are notably different between Keeper and commoner, but being a Keeper himself, Bailic can only perceive another's tracings when invited or the subject is near to death as you were."

Alissa stifled a tremor. The pain in her mind had sent her so deep into her unconscious, she never would have found her way out but for Strell.

"I would like ..." He frowned. "... to give you a ward to overlay an illusion of scar tissue over your tracings. Once you master it, even if you should be injured to the point of profound unconsciousness again, Bailic won't realize you've healed." Turning to her, his golden eyes appeared to flicker eerily in the firelight. "Holding it in your thoughts would strengthen your stamina, give your eventual fields more staying power. It's difficult, but if the ward is beyond you, there's no harm done." He hesitated. "Would you like to try?"

"Hounds, yes!" she exclaimed, dropping her eyes as he laughed.

With a final glance up at the star-filled sky, Useless drew his legs up under him. Sitting cross-legged on the bench, he hid his odd hands among the folds of his sleeves. "This will be easier to explain if we move our thoughts to your tracings."

Steeling herself, she nodded and closed her eyes. She heard his grunt of approval, and with a flash of outrage that was surprisingly easy to suppress, she allowed him among her uppermost thoughts. Alissa's shoulders eased down. As Useless had promised, sharing her mental s.p.a.ce was getting easier.

"Now," Useless thought, "you have deduced how to form fields in your thoughts?"

She nodded, forgetting for a moment he couldn't see. "Yes," she affirmed, forming a bubble of thought.

"So fast," he mused, then louder, "That's it. For this ward, you need a three-dimensional field large enough to encompa.s.s your entire neural net."

"The whole thing?" she asked, not sure what three-dimensional was but very clear upon the length and breadth of her thoughts.

"It need not be much ma.s.s," he thought. "Imagine a hollow sphere of mist encompa.s.sing everycorner of your pattern."

Willing to try, Alissa focused on the bubble, or field as he called it, expanding it.

"Good," he encouraged. "Next, set up the primary circuit while maintaining the field. It might take several tries to find the balance of keeping both at once, so don't be discouraged."

Alissa recalled her mornings when, while traveling to the Hold, she had practiced the art of seeing both her real sight and that of her mind's eye simultaneously. To walk a stony path without tripping, yet retain her vision of her source, had left her with stubbed toes and banged shins. Eventually she gained the skill of it, but not before acquiring a reputation for being clumsy. Now the practice allowed her to easily hold her concentration as she manipulated the field and the pattern all at the same time. She had the first crossed loop up and glowing as quickly as she could imagine it. Alissa knew she must be grinning like an idiot by now, but she didn't care.

"Um, very good," came his thought, and she grinned all the more. "If you would, show me what your neural net looked like before your burn healed."

Alissa hesitated. "How do I do that?"

"From your memory," he encouraged. "Recall it. It will show itself."

Steadying herself, she cast her memory back to when she first gazed in panic at the charred, twisted remains of her tracings.

"Bone and Ash!" Useless exclaimed out loud, nearly jolting her attention from her tracings. His horror-struck reaction slammed into her in a wave of revulsion, shocking in its honesty. She struggled to hold the memory of the burn in place as he yanked his emotions back, smoothly hiding them. But she had seen, and she now knew she hadn't been a sniveling weakling for nearly accepting Mistress Death's invitation. Rather, it was a miracle that she had survived.

"Alissa," he thought shakily. "I had no idea. You escaped death from-from this?"

She examined the holocaust spread before them with its ash and char smelling of cold, twisted metal and snow. After his response, it didn't bother her anymore. She had survived. "Barely," she thought tightly. "Strell convinced me to find a way back."

"I didn't realize," Useless seemed to whisper, apparently in awe of the destruction. "The pain alone would have... Even I-" Shuddering, he let his thoughts go unfinished. "Everyone gets their tracings burned badly at least once; perhaps now you'll be more careful." Clearly unnerved, Useless seemed to gather himself back together. "Well then, if you would turn your attention to your - your tracings." Alissa heard him take a deep breath. "I have set up the relevant path in my own network to instigate the proper ward. Do you see it resonating against yours?"

"Yes," she thought. A simple, wide-flung pattern began to glow faintly, the blue black lines weaving behind her mind's eye, giving off an even luminescence. The thin lines of gold that ran through the tracings seemed to fade under the increased light.

"When properly set, the ward will bind to your neural net, giving it the look of unusable scar tissue. Draw a trickle of energy from your primary loop to fill the paths I've indicated."

"Like this?" Alissa held everything as it was and allowed a ribbon of force from the first loop to enter the resonating paths. Immediately the lines of gold burst into life, making the larger pattern glow from within. She felt a slight tug. It was unfamiliar, and she resisted it.

"No, don't hold it so tightly," Useless advised. "You 've done it correctly. Let more energy flow, and let the two attract each other."

Alissa had no idea what he meant by the last part, but she did as he suggested. "Oh!" she exclaimedas the field collapsed, binding loosely through her tracings, carrying her vision of destruction with it.

"Marvelous," Useless praised.

She wrinkled her nose. Her tracings looked scarred and unusable. "It's ghastly."

"Marvelously so. Marvelously so," he thought as he chuckled. "With practice and concentration, the ward will remain after you disengage the circuit. Let both go right now. I want to watch you set it up without me helping."

"All right," she said, casually breaking the first loop. Her pathways returned to their original, pristine elegance as the ward fell. Useless promptly disappeared from her thoughts. Startled, she opened her eyes.

"Set it up! Set it back up!" Useless waved his arms, sending his coat sleeves flapping. If she had known him better, she would say he looked concerned, not pleased, as she would expect.

Alissa replaced the ward, surprised at the ease of it. It had taken longer to explain than it did to repeat. Looking at her handiwork, she thought about what she had done. "Useless?"

"Yes?" he said worriedly. His fingers were almost in the flames as he poked at the fire.

"Did I neglect to fix the force into a state that was stable enough to withstand the change to reality?"

She was referring to her disaster that blew out the protection wards on her windows, shook the Hold to its foundations, and put her and Mistress Death on a first-name basis.

"Probably." He looked up, seemingly surprised at the direction of her thoughts.

Alissa reached for the teapot and poured out two scalding cups of tea. "Is that how you make your cups and teapot?" she asked as she held out one for him.

"Yes. It's a large part of it." This time he sounded wary. He took his cup and downed half of it, not seeming to be bothered by its temperature.

Alissa nodded, her vision blurring slightly as she checked to see if the ward was still holding. It was.

"Bailic threatened to burn my book. Would he have formed a field about it and a bit of energy and not fixed it?"

"It's not your book; it's mine. And though that would probably work, no, he wouldn't."

She held her tea gingerly, trying to warm her fingers without burning them. "How then?" Alissa glanced from the fire to him. For an instant, she thought she saw horror or perhaps fear in his eyes, but it vanished before she could be sure.

"I'll tell you, but I want your word you won't try it."

Silently, she nodded. Just to know would be enough.

"He would have formed a containment field about it and set the molecules within the field vibrating at the proper frequency."

"Why would he need the field?" she asked, wondering where one could find a molecule and what a frequency was.

"So as to maintain a semblance of control," was his uncomfortable answer.

"I see." Alissa took a tentative sip of her tea. "It doesn't sound difficult."

"It isn't."

She took a slow breath. "So why didn't you fry Bailic when you had the chance?"

"My, aren't we blood-driven all of a sudden," Useless scorned.Shamed, Alissa dropped her eyes. "It would've made things easier," she said defiantly.

Useless harrumphed. "You think so? Your vision is dangerously shortsighted. Bailic had forged a connection between himself, you, and the book. It was so subtle, I didn't see it until our haggling was all but complete. Had I not heeded his warning and fried him, as you suggested, my source's energy would have flowed between the three of you. You would have vanished as surely as Strell's finger, turned to ash by my ignorance and lack of restraint."

Alissa bit her lip, recalling having felt such a connection when Bailic forced them to go to Ese'

Nawoer. "I'm sorry," she apologized in a small voice.

"No doubt." Useless fixed a vehement stare upon her, and she shrank back. "You cannot go about shattering everything that irks you, Alissa," he lectured. "What would become of us? Strength would dominate over wisdom. Chaos would bloom as Keepers and Masters struggled for control. There would be no time to progress in gaining knowledge, and so we would dip back to our beginnings, becoming as feral beasts, man and raku alike. That is why I practice restraint."

"But there're no Keepers left," she protested.

"That's exactly what I mean," Useless said. "Bailic has emptied my Hold in his search for dominance.

What he lacks in strength, he more than makes up for in guile. You continue to underestimate him. Watch him, Alissa. Be careful. He has emptied the skies of rakus. It's something no man has done in two thousand years."

Her brow furrowed, and she looked away, not liking what he was saying, but knowing better than to disagree openly.

Useless cast his eyes to the sharp stars above the wall. "It wasn't intended to happen like this," he said apologetically. "You shouldn't even have a source to draw upon yet. It puts too much temptation before you."

Alissa looked up, startled at the sorrow in his voice.

"There's much you should have gained first," he said gently. "An entire philosophy of restraint and control to help you tame the beast of power you're catalyzing." Useless turned away, his features tight with concern. "You have to understand how dangerous that marvel tucked away in your thoughts really is. It's capable of infinite possibilities and carries a correspondingly high price. The toll it exacts is paid by not giving in to your desires, which may sound easy, but it isn't. Slow down. See the dark purpose your small miracle of existence can be set to. Your abilities can be used against you without you even realizing it." He sighed, watching his breath steam over his cup.

A twig snapped, and Useless jerked. A chill took Alissa as Talon began to hiss, pinching her shoulder.

"Ashes, Talo-Toecan," came a pleasant, masculine voice from the darkness. "Why do you always insist on seeing the gloom in every situation? You're worse than my grandmother!"

Her eyes wide, Alissa set her mug down and looked at Useless. He looked as surprised as she.

"Who are you?" Useless said coldly, "and how did you come into my garden at my unawares?"

"I thought I had a standing invitation," came the unfamiliar voice with a familiar accent. It sounded amused, as if privy to a joke they weren't aware of. "But that was some time ago, even as rakus record it." A shadow at the edge of the firepit shifted, and an elegantly cloaked man stepped to the edge of the light.

Chapter 10