The Shaman's Curse (Dual Magics Book 1) (38 page)
Read The Shaman's Curse (Dual Magics Book 1) Online
Authors: Meredith Mansfield
“I'll be there as soon as I can.”
Talking to Quetza and knowing that her friend was on her way
helped settle Thekila. She looked around her. The horses had run off out of
sight beyond the trees. How far could they get with their hobbles? She didn't
know and she didn't know what to do about it. That problem would have to wait
until Quetza and perhaps Orleus arrived. Orleus would know what to do. Maybe
she should contact Quetza and ask her to bring Orleus along. No. That wouldn't
be necessary. Quetza had probably already woken Orleus.
What else could she do? Get Vatar into the tent so he didn't
lie here in the sun. Thekila, at only about half his weight, could never lift
or even drag Vatar. Not in the ordinary way. Fortunately, she didn't have to
rely on muscle for this. She had a Power Vatar lacked. She could move objects
with her magic and she was very good at it. Only, she couldn't move living
objects—not directly.
She ran into the tent for one of their blankets and spread
it out next to him. With difficulty, she managed to roll Vatar onto the
blanket. She grabbed up his spear and tied the blanket to it across the top. It
was crude, but it was enough for her to work with. Using her magic, not her
hands, Thekila lifted the spear and dragged Vatar into the comparative shelter
of the tent on the makeshift travois.
Thekila was drawn out of her vigil, sitting next to Vatar's
unconscious form, by the frantic neighing of the horses. She leapt to the tent
flap just in time to see a white wyvern settling on the far side of the
waterhole. She ran forward to greet Quetza even as her form melted back into
that of a woman.
“Sorry,” Quetza said, nodding in the direction of the
horses. “But it was the quickest way to get here. I would have been quicker, if
I hadn't had to ride far enough out of Zeda not to be seen by the Dardani. Now
what happened?”
Thekila told her the story as completely as she could as
they walked back to the small camp.
“Three shape changes? And whatever turned the bear aside.
It's no wonder he almost burned himself out.”
After checking on Vatar, Quetza led Thekila back outside. “I
don't think he'll wake for a while. And there's not much to be done until he
does. You go sit by him if it will make you feel better. I'll fix some
breakfast, since none of us had a chance to eat.”
“We just wait?” Thekila asked.
“Until he wakes up. Then we'll be able to determine how
severe the damage is and what we need to do about it.”
~
Vatar groaned and opened his eyes. By the light coming
through the tent flap it was early afternoon. How long had he been out? He
tried to get an arm under him to lever himself up. There were things he needed
to take care of. Make sure of.
Thekila put her hand on his shoulder to keep him from
sitting up. “Stay down. You need to rest. And the headache won't be as bad if
you stay down.”
He blinked up at her. At least she was safe. That was the
biggest thing. “What happened?”
She smiled crookedly. “That's what we've been wondering.”
“I meant, what happened with the bear.” He wasn't sure
Thekila heard him. By her unfocused gaze, he guessed she was using Far Speech.
She focused on him again. “It ran off. Orleus has recaptured
the horses for us, but the mare is badly injured.” She winced. “Orleus doesn't
think she'll recover. I'm more concerned about you.”
“The bear's wounded. I should—”
Orleus ducked into the tent, just behind Quetza. “Quetza and
I will take care of the bear. Later. Its tracks are clear. I doubt we'll have
much trouble finding it.”
They must have been waiting just outside. Thekila hadn't
been alone, then, while he was out and a potentially dangerous wounded bear was
out there somewhere. That was good.
Quetza knelt beside Vatar, across from Thekila. “Okay,
Vatar, I want you to very gently reach out and bespeak Thekila. Just say her
name, nothing more.”
Vatar did as she asked. Nothing happened. What was wrong?
This should be easy. He tried harder.
Quetza gripped his shoulder. “Don't push too hard!”
Vatar drew a deep breath and tried again, focusing more
carefully.
Thekila nodded. “Yes,” she said, both aloud and reassuringly
in his mind.
“Good! You didn't burn yourself out,” Quetza said. “With a
few days rest, you should be fine.”
Vatar put his hand to his temple and winced.
Quetza patted his shoulder. “Yes, I expected the headache.
And I don't think your mother's salve will help.”
“Burn out?” Orleus asked.
Quetza turned to him. “It's possible. If you push your
Powers beyond your capacity, you can burn them out.”
Orleus sat down at Vatar's feet. “Permanently?”
“Sometimes,” Quetza answered. “Sometimes they return slowly.
Either way, it's not something you want to do. But Vatar didn't push quite that
hard. He just needs to rest and not try
anything
else,” she said the
last with emphasis looking directly at Vatar, “for a few days. At least as long
as the headache lasts. To be safe, maybe a day or so after.
“Now for the next question. Just what did you do? Thekila
said the bear bounced back from her almost as if it had run into a wall.”
“I don't know. I just reacted,” Vatar said.
“Go backward a bit,” Quetza suggested. “Let's see if we can
piece it together.”
“Well, I tried to use my avatar to drive the bear away. But
it wasn't enough. I added two first-level transformations to make it look like
a pride of lions.” His brows knitted. “I think Thekila added a couple more
lionesses.”
Thekila smiled and nodded.
“Impressive,” Quetza said. “Many with more training would
have had trouble doing all that, especially under pressure. Go on.”
“But when the bear turned and ran, it was headed straight
for Thekila. And she just froze there. I couldn't let it get her.”
“But you don't have the ability to move objects with your
mind. You never succeeded at distant manipulation,” Quetza said. “And, anyway,
it doesn't work on living things.”
“I didn't move it, exactly. It felt more like I put my hand
out to block it.” Vatar stared out the tent flap, trying to remember exactly
what he'd done. He tried to visualize exactly what had happened.
Quetza rubbed beneath her ear. “Hmm. That's what Thekila
described, too. Almost as if the bear bounced off of something before it could
reach her.”
“I've never heard of that Power before,” Thekila said.
Quetza cocked her head to the side, eyes narrowed. “Vatar's
Powers come from a different source than ours. It must come from his Fasallon
heritage. Orleus?”
Orleus shrugged. “I've never heard of it before, either. But
I'm not the best one to ask. Father would know more.”
Quetza nodded. “Well, then, we'll find out more when we get
to Caere. In the meantime, I don't think you should try that again, Vatar.”
“Vatar is never going to do that again!” Thekila said
vehemently. “It's much too dangerous.”
Quetza shook her head. “It's not whatever he did that almost
burned him out, Thekila. It was the combination. A full shape change and two
illusions would be more than most fully-trained Valson could do without
injuring themselves. Plus whatever else he did.”
Vatar drew in his breath. He still had no idea
what
he'd done, but he remembered something else. There'd been a voice, telling him
not to do whatever it was he'd done. Hadn't there? Or was that a result of this
“burn out” they kept talking about.
No. He clearly remembered hearing a voice inside his head at
least once, maybe twice. It hadn't been his own thoughts. He was sure of that.
It wasn't Far Speech. His breath started coming fast. Now that he thought about
it without the crisis to divert him, it scared him witless, because he could
think of only one explanation. He couldn't actually be possessed by an Evil
Spirit. Could he? After everything he'd gone through to prove he wasn't.
Thekila's hand tightened on his shoulder. “What's wrong,
Vatar?”
His eyes slid away from hers. “I heard a . . . voice, in my
mind, right before I did . . . whatever it was I did.”
Thekila's grip tightened further. “What did it say?”
Vatar swallowed. “It warned me to stop. It said I wasn't
ready.”
Quetza snorted a laugh. “Considering the consequences, there
may have been something to that.”
Vatar scowled. This was
not
a subject for humor.
Quetza sighed. “All right, what did this voice sound like?”
Vatar started to shake his head, but stopped, wincing at the
shooting pain that caused. “I don't know. It wasn't like Far Speech. It felt
almost like my own thoughts. But it wasn't. It can't be.”
“Why can't it?” Quetza asked.
“Because it said things I don't know!” Vatar winced again.
“Like it knew what I was about to do.
I
didn't even know that. I still
don't know what I did.”
Quetza put a hand on his shoulder. “All right. Calm down. Getting
excited about it is only going to make the pain worse. I'm sure it was
nothing.”
Vatar wished he felt reassured. That voice had been
unnatural. He hadn't had time to think about it when it happened. Now that he
did, it terrified him. The specter of exorcism of an Evil Spirit rose in his
mind. He was supposed to have saved himself from that with the Ordeal, but now
. . . . That, or he was losing his mind. In either case, the outlook was grim.
He needed answers.
“It may have said something else, too,” Vatar said.
“What?”
“When I rushed out to drive the bear off with my spear, I
heard or thought, I'm not sure which, that that was foolish, I should use my
magic.”
Orleus chuckled. “Well, that was only common sense. Charging
a bear alone with nothing but a spear! I'm amazed you're even here for us to
worry over.”
“But—”
Orleus interrupted. “Really, Vatar. It probably is nothing.
I've had some pretty odd experiences in battle. It does something to your mind.
Don't attach too much importance to it.”
Vatar tried to hold on to that thought. He'd been in crises
before without hearing any voices, but he'd never actually tried to fight a
bear all by himself before. Maybe there was something to what Orleus said.
Orleus would have a lot more experience with that kind of thing than he did. It
helped, but not quite enough. Deep down, he knew there was something really
strange going on. The kernel of fear refused to dissolve that easily.
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~
Professionally, I've been a financial analyst and a visual
basic programmer. I also have a paralegal certificate, although I've never
worked in that field. It's anybody's guess what I'll be when I grow up.
Imagining stories and writing have always been an important
part of my life. It's one I finally got to spend a significant amount of time
on while I cared for my mother who had Alzheimer's disease.
Discover other my other titles at
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Short stories or novellas:
Becoming
Lioness
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Novels:
Chimeria
Omnibus
(Blood Will Tell and Blood Is Thicker)
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