The Guardian (The Gifted Book 1) (25 page)

40
Training

Daen stepped out onto the porch and stood next to Rhea while Randell remained inside with his parents. He still had some explaining to do so they would understand why he felt he needed to go.

"This place reminds me of home."

Rhea nodded, "It does look like parts of Luxatra I've seen."

"The energy flow here is abundant. Can you feel it?"

Rhea closed her eyes and extended her thoughts, mentally reaching for what she couldn't see. She started to feel a tingling sensation within her skin. "I can feel it."

"Before we continue your lessons, there are a few things you need to know about using your gift." Or
gifts
, he wanted to say, but he didn't know enough about the other powers she'd exhibited to help her understand them, so he decided to focus on the one he did know and manage the others as they appeared.

"Let's sit over here." He pointed to the lounges at the end o
f the porch. "First, energy comes in many different forms and cannot be created or destroyed. It simply changes from one form to another."

"I remember learning about that in my physics class in high school. My dad was a great tutor."

Daen leaned back in the lounge, held up his hand, and created a small silvery blue ball of energy. As he rolled it around his hand, he explained, "Good. Then we can proceed without that discussion. But before we do, I need to ask, did you feel any pain while you were attempting to create your first energy ball?"

Rhea remembered back to what it felt like. "It stung a little on my hands and arms but just for a couple seconds. Why?"

"When you created the energy ball, you tapped into energy sources around you, including the energy that sustains our life. I don't know if you affected Randell or yourself, but I could feel your pull."

Rhea didn't like where this was going.

Daen rolled the ball onto the back of his fingers. "Your objective when using a gift is not to harm those you are protecting, which means you need to avoid taking their energy, the energy they need to survive."

Rhea was stunned and little freaked. "You mean I could have hurt you or Randell?"

He shook his head. "Although what you did was unusual for your first attempt, you didn't do any permanent damage; besides, I wouldn't have allowed you to go that far." He continued to manipulate the energy ball in his hand, changing its shape, size, and color. "But, given your unusual first-time success, I believe you have the potential to do a lot more. That's why we're having this conversation."

Anxious not to harm anyone, Rhea asked, "How do I keep from using the wrong energy?"

"By learning how to recognize the signatures of common energy sources, such as light, wind, thermal sources found in the ground ... even the electrical charges found in atoms. But for now, we'll focus on energy found inside us. If you can recognize it in yourself and others, you can avoid using it and possibly risking someone's life, including your own."

"What do I need to do?"

"Experiment and practice. Here ...," Daen extinguished the energy ball and extended his hand to Rhea, "... take my hand."

Rhea shook her head. "No. I don't want to hurt you."

Daen took Rhea's hand in his. "I won't let you. Trust me. You need to learn this."

Rhea slowly, with a great amount of uncertainty, gripped Daen's hand.

"Good. Now think about me. Think about what makes me live, my heart, my lungs, everything."

Rhea shook her head. "No."

"Rhea. This is important. Do it." He could see fear in her wide eyes. He was a little nervous himself.

Rhea closed her eyes and thought about Daen. At first nothing happened.
Just when she was about to give up, however, her hand started to feel as if it were just waking up after having the circulation cut off. The pins-and-needles sensation was somewhat painful, definitely uncomfortable.

Daen suddenly felt the pull and the pain that
went with it. He hadn't truly believed she could do it, but given her success with the energy ball, he knew he shouldn't be surprised. "That's it. Do you feel it?"

Rhea nodded.

"That's what it feels like to take energy from something with a heart, human or animal. Now release my hand." The pull continued after they broke contact. "Rhea. Stop pulling."

She opened her eyes to see a rather tired
-looking Daen. "What have I done?"

"Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Rhea hoped he was right. "How do you keep from using someone else's energy?"

Daen rubbed his hand across his jaw. He was about to reveal another gift she might have and wasn't sure how to break it to her. "Um ... I can't pull the energy from anything with a heartbeat
, so I don't have any experience to share with you. I can use only my own energy and that from objects and plants around me."

This news unnerved Rhea. "So this means I have a variation of your gift?"

Daen hesitated.

"Daen?"

"I'm not sure. I've heard of a gift similar to this. It's called the healer's touch. But that gift works in the opposite direction that yours is manifesting. The healer's touch can take energy from plants and other sources that don't have a heartbeat, just like the energy ball gift, but instead of creating a ball, the gifted passes that energy to something or someone who needs it to heal. But yours seems to pull from the one who would typically be the receiver."

Pull? What did he mean by pull? This was what she'd done to him; the opposite of healing. She needed some good news right about now. "Could I be able to do both push and pull?"

Daen nodded. "It's possible. Let's perform another test." He took her hand in his again.

Rhea tried to pull her hand away. "No. I might hurt you."

Daen gripped her hand. "It's okay. Do as you did before but pull from only nonliving sources around you. Once you feel the flow of energy entering your body, think about pushing it towards me."

Rhea did as he asked. She reached for the energy around them, from the air, the grasses, the sun's heat. Once she had control over it, she imagined a trail of power flowing down her arm and into him through his hand.

Daen didn't feel anything at first but then he sensed a mild tingling sensation in his hand. It felt good, refreshing. The sensation crawled up his arm and warmed his body. Already he was feeling like he had before the first test. It felt so good he didn't want it to stop but he knew he had to. He pulled his hand away, and once again the connection didn't break. "Okay. You can stop."

Rhea stopped the flow and looked at Daen. He was refreshed and smiling.

Daen said, "Nice job."

"So this means I have the gift of healing?"

Daen nodded. "You probably can't heal every illness, but at least you know you can help. It will take practice for you to sense the injury and apply the right effort, but at least you know you have the potential to heal and defend."

While the healing gift was nice to have, she also had the power to do the opposite, to steal life energy, to kill someone. A chill ran down her spine as she looked at her hand. No, she would not be that person. She would not take a life. She took a deep breath, shook off the heebie-jeebies
, and smiled. "Now what?"

"Remember the stinging sensation you just experienced as we proceed with your lessons. I don't want you hurting yourself or anyone else."

"That's the last thing I want to do."

"What's the last thing you want to do?" Randell stepped out onto the porch.

Rhea gave him her you-are-not-going-to-believe-this look. "Suck the life out of someone."

Randell stopped and went rig
id. "Excuse me? ... Wow, look at you."

Daen and Rhea replied, "What?"

"Her aura, it's changed."

Daen looked concerned. "How so?" He'd just revealed a gift that could be used for serious wrongdoing. He didn't want to hear Randell say her color had flattened or grown dark.

Randell saw the concern in Daen's eyes. "No, it's not like that. It's bright blue and has gold flecks sparkling in it. What were you doing out here?"

"Daen was teaching me how to distinguish between the energy around me and the energy that sustains human life ... or any life with a heartbeat
, I should say."

"I tested her. She
has two gifts. She can move or transfer energy in and out of a person ... as well as make energy balls."

Randell nodded but then looked confused. "So what does the 'suck a life force' comment mean?"

Rhea cringed. "It means I have the ability to kill someone with the same gift that I can use to heal them." Rhea's body shuddered as an uncontrollable chill ran over it. "The idea of it gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"I'd say. Dang!" Randell shook his head. "Hey, the reason I'm here is
Mom wants me to show Rhea where she'll be staying. Come on."

Daen interjected, "She's got a lot to learn. I was going to start her sword
-handling lessons."

"Why don't we start with a demonstration after I show her to her room?"

Daen shrugged. "Fine. I'll get the weapons. Meet me back here."

~~~

The light from the kitchen shone through the door and windows, creating a patchwork of dark and light squares on the groomed back lawn. Daen was already warming up, executing the dance Randell had first seen when he was thirteen. Daen stood half in and half out of a square of light, his sword reflecting the light for a couple seconds before disappearing into the darkness as he went through the moves.

The familiar squeak of the screen door told Daen that Randell and Rhea had arrived. They stood silently, watching him as he completed the dance.

"That's very cool." Rhea was nodding. "Is that what you want to teach me?"

"Yes, and more." Randell reached behind the low porch wall and pulled out a dowel, one
of the dowels he and Daen had used when he was a boy. "Here, take this."

"What's this for?"

"Think of it as training wheels. We don't want you hurting yourself ... or us ... until you're used to having a 'sword' in your hands."

Daen stepped up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "You ready?" He pointed with his sword. "Randell, yours is right there." He turned and positioned himself in a square of light. "Rhea, you stand in that square of light, just behind me so you can mimic my moves. Randell, would you mind spotting her for this round?"

Randell stepped in behind Rhea and laid his sword on the ground. "Sure."

And so the dance began. After about an hour, Rhea was exhausted. She was amazed at how heavy a dowel could feel
. After the slow motion of the dance, the positions she held, and the long day, it was no wonder her arms ached.

"Can I sit the next one out?" Rhea was already heading for the steps that led to the porch.

Daen watched her wobble away while Randell took a battle stance, inviting Daen to engage. Daen obliged.

Rhea sat on the steps
, watching in awe at the power and grace they displayed. She was so entranced that she didn't notice Pam step out onto the porch until she sat down next to her.

"Amazing, isn't it?
" Pam said. "Randell's been sword fighting with Daen since he was thirteen. We wouldn't let him handle a real sword until we were convinced he wasn't going to cut off his leg or kill Daen, so they used the dowel."

Rhea held up the dowel.

Pam laughed. "Yep. That would be Randell's first sword." Pam looked at Rhea's face. Even though it was hidden in the shadows, Pam could see her exhaustion. "You should go up to bed. The boys could be at this for a while."

Rhea wanted to go to sleep but she was afraid to ... and besides, she was enjoying the show.

Pam could see the hesitation in Rhea's face. "Randell told us about what happens sometimes when you dream. Don't worry; I've removed anything that could be damaged from your room. If you have an episode, little harm will be done."

Rhea turned her head to see a loving and understanding mother sitting next to her. She felt a tiny pang of jealousy that Randell had been so lucky to be raised by a mother who believed him. Rhea was so touched by
Pam's understanding she could only whisper, "Thank you" before standing and entering the house, leaving behind her sword and also some of her fears.

~~~

"I'm free." Gauvin lay on the ground exhausted, breathing heavily.

"Don't just l
ie there; untie me," Bestian growled. His temper was at a peak. They'd woken when the sun was just dipping below the horizon and their camp was growing dark. Since waking, they'd spent their time squirming around, trying to reach something sharp enough to cut the ropes.

Gauvin
had caught a glint from the hilt of his knife when the clouds had opened momentarily to reveal the moon. Keeping his eye on the spot, he had managed to wiggle his way across the camp to his knife, where it had been buried hilt deep. It had taken some time and some cuts on his hands and arms to pull the knife free and position it so it was between his wrists and against the ropes. Carefully, patiently, Gauvin had moved the knife against the ropes.