01 - The Price of Talent (26 page)

You still jealous about the practice swords and the bow?

You still a moron?
             

Chapter 16.

“Did you have enough time to think about what I said yesterday?” Said Claudius.

              It was, near as I could tell, a day after our previous conversation. I had practiced my swordsmanship until my arms shook and then took a long nap. Once I woke up, I’m not entirely sure how much time I spent either sitting or pacing around the cell, but I had spent a great deal of it thinking about my situation. Still, I wasn’t in a mood to indulge him, after all I was still obviously a captive.

“I have nothing but time to think, after all, this isn’t that big a cell,” I said.

“Still feeling surly?” He responded with a smile. “Not surprising considering your circumstances. Still, you’re avoiding the question. Do you know why you’re here?”

“You said yesterday that it was because you thought I was a danger,” I replied.

“Yes, and no,” he said. “You are here because you ARE a danger. You killed quite a few of my Inquisitors who were going about their duties as officers of the church.”

“I don’t recall anyone dying before they got involved,” I replied.

“That is beside the point,” he said. “It is our duty, as servants of god and god’s law, to remove dangerous elements from society for the common good. History proves the dangers of mages who are allowed to run free.”

“What does a 500 year old war have to do with my incarceration?” I asked.

“Oh, so you do have some rudimentary schooling in history then,” he said. “Unfortunately, it seems to not have made all that strong an impression on you.”

“500 years ago, the mages ruled Pandanu,” I said in an attempt not to sound too ignorant. “A famine came, the people refused to hand over their food, and war happened.”

“Close enough,” said Claudius. “But what I mean is the lessons OF history, not the history itself.”

“What are you getting at?” I asked, tiring of the word play.

“That mages proved their unworthiness to rule, their danger to the common man, and the need for them to be subjugated by the church,” he said. “That is why we round them up, and bring them into church.”

“If we are so dangerous, why bring us all to one place?” I asked, genuinely curious and spotting my opportunity to get some useful information out of him.

“Because your magical gifts are gifts from god,” he said. “God gave you your powers with a purpose. We here in the church, as interpreters of God’s will and instruments of his emissary the high priest, would put those skills to use for the betterment of society, as God intended.”

“Put my powers to use?” I asked. “How do you do that from inside this ‘Cold Room’, or whatever you call it?”

“Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, Tyr,” he said. “Until we know we can trust you, you don’t get to leave this room. It’s for everyone’s safety, as I’ve mentioned before.”

“And how does this room keep people safe, aside from keeping me isolated?” I asked, again trying to get more information.

“I suppose there is no harm in telling you, though your ignorance of the nature of magical powers is surprising given your obvious talents,” he said. “The secret with magic is that it is actually just energy. When you cast a ‘spell,’ as the layperson thinks about it, what you are actually doing is channeling energy around you, and within you, and putting it to a different use. This is why you felt so weak and your hands and feet were so cold, almost hypothermic as Meredith pointed out, when you summoned your sword. Your mind and body used the most readily available source of energy it had, which in a cold room is just your body heat.”

“So the room is kept cool, and I presume deep underground, to limit my access to magic?” I asked.

“Close enough,” he said. “We put you in a stone cell deep under Caer Sud, where it stays cool, to limit your access to latent heat energies. But you will note that we also keep it pitch black to limit your access to light, another form of energy. We also limit how much food we give you, something you have no doubt noticed, to limit your access to your own latent source of heat energy. The stone walls are just another added protection, because short of killing you, we can’t completely cut you off from the energy contained within you.”

“What happens if I drain too much of my own energies when I cast a spell, or whatever you want to call it?” I ask.

“Tyr, draining too much of your body’s energy reserves can make you pass out, can lead to coma and even death,” he said. “You eat food so your body has the energy and raw materials it needs to keep you healthy. If you drain too much of that for other purposes, you can die. The mind has the ability to tap far more energy and use it faster than the body can create it through your metabolism.”

“So this cell is a death trap?” I asked.

“Not quite. As long as we keep feeding you and providing you with water, you won’t die unless you tap too much of your own powers. But then, that would hardly be our fault now would it?”

“But the cell is designed to take more energy to break out of than I can safely tap, isn’t it?” I asked.

“As I said, Tyr, you are dangerous,” he replied. “We can hardly risk letting you loose when you have already killed so many people.”

“You said you want to put my powers to use though,” I said. “It’s hard to do that from this cell. So, at some point you are going to have to let me out of here.”

“That, Tyr, is entirely up to you,” he said. “You need to prove yourself trust worthy and you need to learn how to use and control your powers so that you are not a risk to anyone anymore. With proper instruction and guidance, I… well, my compatriots here and I, can teach you to use your powers productively for the good of society.”

“Are you not able to teach me everything yourself?” I asked.

“One of the most interesting things about magical ability is that it manifests itself in different people in different ways,” he said. “Just as not everyone is equally strong, or equally skilled, people who are gifted with magical talent are not all gifted in the same way.”

“Is it a matter of training or ability?” I asked. “Is it like some people are carpenters while others are blacksmiths, or is it more like some people are really strong and others can run long distances?”

“It’s actually a little bit of both,” he said. “Once we know where your natural talents lie, we can tailor your instructions so that you can use this talent in other ways.”

“How many different kinds of magical talents are there?” I asked.

“That depends entirely on how you choose to distinguish between uses of power.” He replied.

“Ok… Then how do you, or how does the church, distinguish these things?” I asked.

“Well, Tyr, take you for an example,” he said. “We know you are a pyromancer, which is just a fancy way of saying you know how to manipulate fire. You made that abundantly clear in our previous attempts to apprehend you. But I suspect that your talents go well beyond mere fire manipulation, given you were able to, perhaps accidentally, blow up your parents’ farm. I’m guessing your talent lies with external manipulation of energy. With some training, you may be able to not only manipulate fire with more skill, but also ice, lightning, and telekinetic force.”

“What other types of magic are there?” I asked.

“While you are gifted in external uses of power, there are people who are gifted on internal uses. This can augment their physical abilities in a variety of ways. There are also people who can use their powers on other people’s minds, appear more charming, seem more convincing and even be able to hypnotize others. There are those whose gifts run to healing… And well, you get the idea.”

“Interesting. Somehow, I thought, well, that magic was all the same,” I said.

              I wasn’t lying when I said that either. In my discussions with Ross, I had sort of assumed that everyone developed powers in similar manners. After all, Ross had a decent idea on how I could learn to control my powers despite his being trained as a healer.

“There is a lot to learn, if you are willing to learn it,” said Claudius.

“I want to learn more, but it’s hard for me to trust you from within this cell,” I said.

“And we won’t let you out unless we can trust that you are not dangerous,” he said.

“So, how do I reassure you?” I asked.

“That is going to take time,” he said. “But I will return tomorrow and we can run through some very rudimentary tests and lessons. Assuming you continue to be cooperative and open to learning, we will take it from there.”

              And with that he left. But the stairway through the ceiling was not retracted after he walked up them. Instead another pair of feet came down the stairs. It was hard to tell until she turned around, but it turned out to be Meredith.

“How are you doing, Tyr? Feeling ok?” She asked.

“Yeah, well, I’m doing as well as I can down here,” I said.

“I can’t believe they have you locked down here!” She said. “If my father had known what they were going to do to you, well… at least I think… he would not have called the Inquisition on you.”

“Well, given what Claudius has been saying, it seems like the Inquisition would have chased me down regardless of whether he called them or not,” I said.

“They did seem quite intent on capturing you…” She said.

“Meredith, why are you here?” I asked. “Why aren’t you with your father in Forsburg?”

“Tyr, you have been gone quite a long time…” She said, hesitantly. “My father… uh that is… I think… Well, he’s no longer in Forsburg…”

“Meredith… Why isn’t… Wait, what happened after I was knocked out by the Inquisition at your place?”

“My father hustled me outside and made me hide in the stable,” she said. “He was quite angry about being put out of his own house, but also was not quite sure what to do. Anyway, after he knew I was safely hidden away, he went back to confront the Inquisition.”

“That was… very brave of him…” I said, not liking where this was going, but not knowing what else to say.

“Yes, brave…” she said looking away from me. “I could see them all from the windows in the stable. He turned around and headed back towards the house just as the three Inquisitors were leaving. The three of them were standing on the porch. One of them had you thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes or grain. I couldn’t hear what was said, but I saw the result. He walked up to them and looked like he was saying some very heated words. The leader of the group, without so much as blinking, punched him in the face and knocked him down the stairs of our porch. He then motioned to the other two and walked away. They threw you in the back of their wagon and rode off.”

“How was your dad?” I asked her.

“After they left I came out of the stable and ran over to help him…” She said. “He was unconscious and had a huge welt forming on his jaw. I called some people to help and we got him inside and into bed. The next day, more inquisitors dropped by…”

“But if I was gone, why did they come back?” I asked.

“They wanted information,” she said. “When my dad was awake, they took him to one room and me to another and interrogated us for hours about you and your stay with us. Around midday I was allowed to see my father and see how his jaw was doing. Then…”

“What happened?” I asked.

“They suddenly got very interested in what I was doing,” she said. “The officer in charge was holding his medallion and smiled. I remember because his face seemed to be full of malice. Then he arrested me and my father.”

“They sensed you healing your father didn’t they?” I asked.

“Yes, I didn’t know it at the time, but the reason I made such a good assistant at the hospital was that I have some talent with healing,” she said. “The guards started calling us ‘sympathizers’ and saying that we were obviously lying to protect you. They hauled us away in separate carts… I haven’t seen my father since.”