The Shadow Of What Was Lost (51 page)

Only Ilseth’s eyes seemed to be
alive now, rolling between her and Nashrel as they spoke. Nashrel didn’t know.
All she had to do was to place a finger against that disc, let it tap her
Reserve, and Ilseth would suffer the same fate as he had given her.

She raised her hand… and then let
it fall again.

“It was the only way to improve
his company,” she said, taking her eyes from Ilseth’s face for the first time
since she’d entered. She glanced across at Nashrel. “You’ll send word to the
palace of any information you get, as we agreed?”

“Of course.” Nashrel watched
Ilseth with a thoughtful expression. “This will stay between you, me and a few
select Elders I know I can trust. But if we have word of your friends, we will
tell you immediately.”

“Thank-you, Elder Eilinar.”

She looked at Ilseth again,
pinned helplessly to the wall. Suddenly feeling sick, she turned and left the
room.

She did not look back.

Davian cracked his knuckles,
giving Malshash a confident grin.

“I’m ready.”

Malshash smiled, shaking his
head. “You’ve spent half your life trying to use Essence. What makes you so
sure you can do it now?”

Davian shrugged. “That wasn’t
really my fault. I was being taught to look for it in the wrong place,” he
pointed out. “At the school, I was always told that the only way to access
Essence was to tap into my Reserve - the internal pool of Essence that every
Gifted's body produces. But I’m not Gifted; I don't even have a Reserve. As an
Augur, I needed to be extracting it from the world around me instead.”

Malshash inclined his head. “True
enough, but knowing that isn’t even half the battle. You still need to learn to
control Essence, to harness it properly. Remember it’s an energy, active, a
force in and of itself. Nothing like kan.”

Davian smiled. “I’ve probably
studied more about the nature of Essence and how to use it than any Gifted my
age,” he said wryly. “I’ve always felt that if I could just access it, I could
use it as well as anyone.”

Malshash grinned. “Very well.
This is the final skill I can teach you, so let’s see whether your abilities
are a match for your confidence.”

Davian took a deep breath and
reached out, feeling the kan all around him, permeating everything. It had been
almost indistinguishable at first, but now – only a couple of weeks into his
training - he could touch it, grasp it almost without needing to think.
Malshash never said so, but Davian could see the look in his eyes after he’d
picked up the basics of a new skill in an afternoon, an hour. He was good at
this.
Very
good. It came to him as naturally as breathing.

He concentrated, extending his
senses using kan, looking for the telltale glow of Essence. Malshash pulsed
with it, but he knew better than to try and extract any from him – Davian would
likely just end up hurting his teacher by accident.

He focused harder. A little way
down the road, he caught the faintest glimpse of a glow through the mists,
which seemed especially heavy today. He moved forward, concentrating on the
luminescence.

Slowly the haze around the light
thinned, revealing a tall oak tree. Its glow was far from bright, but it
definitely had Essence running through it. Davian reached out.

Something blocked him.

He pushed against it, gently at
first, but with increasing frustration. There was a space of a few metres
around the tree that he could not seem to enter with his kan-enhanced senses.
He scowled, opening his eyes.

“I can see the Essence flowing
through the tree,” he said in irritation, “ but I can’t get to it.”

Malshash crossed his arms, a
smile threatening to creep onto his face. “But you were so confident a moment
ago.”

Davian made a face at him. “Fine.
I don’t know everything yet,” he said in as humble a voice as he could muster.
“What am I doing wrong?”

Malshash raised an eyebrow. “You
didn’t wonder how there are trees growing here, healthy and well-maintained?”

Davian looked again. Sure enough,
the oak trees lining the street were neatly trimmed; they were clearly set there
as part of the city planning. He frowned. “You’re right. They should all be
dead, surely?”

Malshash shrugged. “They’re like
the books in the library. Preserved in their original state.” He gestured
around. “This place was built to absorb small amounts of Essence from almost
everything except the human body, then channel it to the Jha’vett. Because of
that, there were a few things the Darecians had to shield against kan. If they
hadn’t, I doubt the trees would have grown here in the first place, let alone
survived unchanged for a couple of thousand years.” He slapped Davian on the
back. “Anyway, all you need to do is go up to one and touch it. That will put
you inside the shield, and you won’t be blocked.”

Davian rolled his eyes. “So I
wasn’t doing anything wrong after all.”

Malshash grinned. “Not as such, I
suppose.”

Davian began walking towards the
nearest tree but then hesitated, turning back.

“How am I still alive?” he asked
quietly. “I thought you said I had to get Essence from outside my body to live.”

Malshash was silent for a moment.
“You’re getting it sporadically from what I can tell,” he admitted. “I’ve tried
to see on a few different occasions, but the lines of Essence are so fine, so
thin, that even I have a hard time making them out. And I actually know what to
look for, so that is quite an accomplishment.” He sighed. “I’d rather hoped you
wouldn’t wonder too much about this. You draw some from the fire each night and
each morning. The library is shielded from the rest of the city; when you’re in
there you draw it from the Adviser, I think.” He paused. “Occasionally, when
you run low, you draw some from me.”

Davian stopped mid-step. “From
you?” It obviously hadn’t hurt Malshash, but the thought of stealing someone’s
else's Essence – their life force – made his skin crawl.

 Malshash made a reassuring
gesture. “Tiny amounts,” he said. “And you’ve needed it to help you
concentrate.”

Davian blinked. Now that he
thought about it, he’d barely slept these past couple of weeks. An hour or two
each day, perhaps? How was that possible? His brow furrowed. Why had that not
occurred to him before as being odd?

He sighed, focusing again on
their topic of conversation. “But if I were alone, without a fire, on these
streets for long enough….”

Malshash shrugged. “I don’t know
for sure. My recommendation is to not put yourself in a situation where you
find out.”

Davian grunted. “Good advice,” he
said, his enthusiasm dampened as the reality of the dangers he faced struck
home once again. Malshash had been pushing him harder and harder these past few
days; though he’d said nothing, Davian knew the time must be approaching when
he had to return, go back through the grey void. He twisted the ring on his
finger nervously. Despite Malshash’s apparent confidence in Davian’s abilities,
he’d pulled no punches when it came to the perils of the rift.

Davian shook his head, clearing
it again before striding up to the tree he had been looking at before, placing
his hand against the rough, dry bark. He closed his eyes.

He could feel the Essence now,
pulsing and vibrant within the tree. He carefully drew kan around it. It was
different to the kan he normally used - that would have engulfed the Essence in
a moment, extinguishing it completely. Instead he positioned the kan and then…
hardened
it, for want of a better word. Partly it was how Malshash had described it, but
partly it was what felt natural. It was this new form of kan that he used to
draw the Essence towards his body.

Nothing happened at first. Then
the glowing stream slowly poured towards him, into his hand and up his arm,
into his chest. He felt warmth and life flow through him, intense and
beautiful. He opened his eyes to see his hand glowing with raw energy.

He spun and flung the Essence at
a nearby wall.

It didn't have the effect he’d
hoped. Rather than the wall exploding into pieces, the bolt of energy simply
rippled and vanished, absorbed into the air. Of course; Malshash had just been
telling him how the entire city was an enormous conduit for Essence. He should have
tried something else.

His body still buzzing, he
stepped away from the tree, examining it in fascination. The leaves, which had
been a bright green against the dull greys of Deilannis only moments ago, were
now shrivelled and black. The trunk and branches, too, looked as though they
had been wasting away for years. He gave the withered trunk a gentle tap, then
leapt away as the entire tree collapsed in a puff of black dust. He coughed
furiously, trying to get the taste of dead wood from his mouth and lungs.

“What happened?” he asked.

“You took the life force from the
tree,” Malshash replied, his gaze fixed on where the oak had once stood. Now
there was only a pile of ash-like grit littering the stone. He shook his head,
looking disturbed. “You took
all
of it, Davian.”

Davian finally managed to clear
his throat. “Is that good?”

“It depends on how you look at
it, I suppose,” said Malshash, sounding reluctant. “It’s certainly… unusual.
I’ve seen it done before, but only in times of great need, great stress. And it
was certainly not good then.” He grimaced. “Regardless, it seems like that
lesson went rather smoothly. Away from Deilannis, I have no doubt you will be
able to draw large amounts of Essence, should the need arise.”

Davian grinned. “Definitely good,
then.”

Malshash held up a cautioning
hand. “You must be very, very careful with this ability, Davian,” he said
softly. “What you did to that tree? You could just as easily do that to a
person. Accidentally, if you are not careful.”

Davian looked back on the pile of
black dust and paled. “It could kill them?”

Malshash nodded. “Your body is
used to drawing on anything it can to survive; I can only assume that’s why
you’re able to take so much. But if you drained a human being like that… well,
Essence is their life force. Remove it completely, and I think you can guess
the consequences.”

Davian nodded. “I’ll be careful,”
he promised. He gave Malshash a cautious look. “Aside from that….”

Malshash laughed. “It was very
impressive, Davian. The bolt you threw looked like it would have blown the wall
apart if we were anywhere else.”

“It was less spectacular than I’d
hoped,” admitted Davian. “If only it were -”

He cut off with a grunt as pain
flooded through his stomach, and every limb went suddenly weak. He collapsed to
the ground with a moan, clutching at his belly. It felt… empty. Painfully so.
He was
so
hungry.

Malshash rushed forward, dropping
to his knees beside him. Without a word, he drew an apple from his pocket.
Davian took it and devoured it; as he ate the pain lessened, and soon he was
able to sit up straight again.

“What was that?” he asked, dazed.

Malshash rubbed his hands
together nervously. “Your bond here is weakening, Davian. It has lasted much
longer than I would have thought possible, but it’s finally happening. Our time
together is drawing to a close.”

Davian took a couple of deep,
steadying breaths. “Now?”

“No.” Malshash shook his head.
“We still have a few hours - I think waiting until this evening would be best,
maybe even tomorrow morning unless these attacks start increasing. That at
least gives us the opportunity to run through a couple of more exercises, get
you as prepared as we can.”

Davian stared at the apple core
in his hand. “How did you know I would need this?”

Malshash sighed. “Remember what I
said, about a shadow of a shadow of your body remaining in your own time? It’s
still a physical presence, Davian. And it’s had neither food nor water in the
last couple of weeks.”

“So… I’m dying? In my time?”

Malshash ran his fingers through
his hair. “It’s all just theory, but I suspect so. Your body there won't need
sustaining like a normal person’s would, but eventually it is going to need
nourishment.”

“So that’s why I’ve been so
hungry,” muttered Davian. He scowled. “You leave this until now to tell me?”

“I didn’t think you needed the
added pressure.”

Davian just grunted, in no mood
to argue. “So what now?”

“What you just felt was a
stronger connection with your body in your own time. The rift is trying to
correct the anomaly of your being here. It's trying to send you back,” said
Malshash. He sighed. “All we can do is break your binding to my time. Choose
when to begin the process.”

“By destroying this,” said
Davian, holding up his hand to display the ring.

“Exactly,” said Malshash. He gave
Davian a considering look. “I think we should practice your Reading, one more
time. It's probably the best exercise for mental focus, and you’ll need all you
can get once you’re in the rift.”

Davian hesitated. "What
about Control?" He'd been wondering whether Malshash would teach him that,
ever since he'd read about the ability. He'd been stunned to learn it truly
existed - there had always been rumours of the Augurs being able to manipulate
other people's thoughts, but nobody had ever really believed them. Even back
when the Augurs still ruled, he knew that people had been sceptical such a
power existed.

Malshash shook his head.
"No. Control is like Shapeshifting - ill-advised, and very
dangerous." He looked Davian in the eye. "This time, you need to
trust me. Don't try it."

Davian gave a noncommittal shrug.
“Very well. Reading it is,” he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of
his tone. He took some deep breaths, calming his mind. “I’m ready. What am I
looking for?”

Malshash shrugged. “I’ve left a
few things open, this time. See what you can find.”