Wielder's Rising (20 page)

“I must admit that I wanted to teach you this from the beginning, but I knew that you needed to learn more of the basics first.  Screeing includes doing several different things with the ambience all at once.  After your success this morning, I don’t think it will be too hard for you to figure out how to do it.  Come over here.”

Traven walked to the center of the room and stood opposite the keeper.  In between them there was a small table.  On the table sat a shallow dish filled with water.  He looked down at the dish and smiled back at the dim reflection of himself in the water.  He then looked back at the keeper.

“Why is it so dark in here?” he asked.  “If we want to see something far away, don’t we need to be outside with a lot of light?”

“Oh no,” Eldridge replied.  “Screeing is much easier in the dark.  At least that’s what the texts say.  It is easier to see the image when it is contrasted against the dark in the room.  You won’t be straining your eyes like normal to see a distant image.  Screeing involves bringing the image to you.”

Traven frowned, not understanding how it would be possible.

“This screeing dish is the only tool you will need,” the keeper said while pointing at the dish of water.  “The image will be reflected on the surface of the water, just like your current reflection.  However, the image you will soon see will not be from within the walls of this room but from somewhere outside.”

Traven still didn’t have any idea how he would be able to do it, but he was excited to learn how.  The keeper had been very adept at explaining new concepts to him thus far, and he had full confidence that this time would be no different.  It would be amazing to be able to pull up images of things that were far away.

“Explain to me what I need to do,” he said eagerly.

“In a way it is like sending a message,” Eldridge began.  “However, instead of sending sound away from you, you will be pulling light towards you.  You will need to create a conduit of particles that rises from this dish up into the sky.  At the far end of the conduit, you will need to create a smooth sheet of water.  It is imperative that this sheet of water be completely smooth and still.  An image will reflect off this sheet of water, travel down the conduit, and appear on the surface of the water here in the dish.  Once you get the hang of it, we will be able to look at anything that you choose right here on the glassy surface of this water dish.”

“Okay,” Traven replied while thinking of the concept.  It didn’t seem too difficult.  It was just like reflecting an image from one mirror to another.  He glanced up from the dish towards the ceiling and frowned.  “How am I supposed to form a conduit that goes out of this room?” he asked.  “You have all the openings shuttered.”  The keeper looked at him with a confused expression for a moment and then smiled as he realized what Traven was asking.

“You don’t need any large openings.  Just form the conduit straight up through the ceiling.”

“But it’s solid rock,” Traven replied.  “I can’t form anything through solid rock, much less pull light down through it.”

“It’s not really solid,” the ancient keeper stated as he took on a lecturing tone.  “The particles that make up the stone in this keep or anything else that appears solid, have tiny spaces in between them.  With the ambience you have the ability to exploit those tiny spaces and form things through supposedly solid objects.  In the case of screeing, you can use the tiny spaces in the stone to pull light through it.  Fascinating isn’t it?”

Traven nodded, thinking about what the keeper was saying.  He knew that there were particles in the air all around him even though there appeared to be none.  Why not air in what appeared to be solid objects?  He focused and looked at the solid rock above him.  He wondered what would be the easiest to imagine in order to form a conduit from the room up into the sky.  All he could think of was a lightning bolt, but he was hesitant to try and form one through the ceiling.  If he pulled on the ethereal image too hard he could accidently blast a hole in the ceiling of the keep.  He would have to be very careful.

Time slowed, and he formed an image of a lightning bolt very slowly and deliberately.  As the particles in the air swirled to form around the expected bolt, he was startled and pleased to find that even though he couldn’t see the particles in the ceiling and beyond up into the sky, he could feel exactly where they were and what they were doing.  It was almost as if he could see right through the solid rock.

This realization caused new excitement.  He began to wonder what he could do with the ambience by sensing things but not necessarily seeing them.  Suddenly Traven felt static in the air and jerked his attention back to the task at hand.  He let the ethereal bolt back slightly away from its strained push against the barrier to the physical world.  It had been way too close.  He had almost pulled the bolt into existence without thinking.  He made an increased effort to focus on the task at hand.

Concentrating on the bolt, he let his mind travel up its length, through the ceiling, and up into the sky until he reached its top.  At the top he concentrated on creating a thin sheet of water.  It was tricky to get it perfectly level and smooth, but after struggling with it for a few moments, he managed to stabilize it.  He then willed light to travel from the sheet of water down the bolt and into the screeing dish.  He kept his hold on the water and the ethereal bolt and glanced down at the dish of water.

He smiled as small flashes of light began to dance across the surface of the dish.  Unfortunately, the small flashes never sharpened to create a specific image.  Eldridge stood across from him, glancing at the dish excitedly.  After a few moments he glanced up at Traven.  Traven gave him a shrug and a questioning look.  The ancient keeper thought for moment before speaking.

“Is the conduit perfectly smooth?” he asked.  Traven shook his head no.  “Try making it smooth”

Traven put extra focus on the bolt again.  It was anything but smooth, having all of the jagged lines associated with a bolt of lightning.  Slowly and carefully he imagined the jagged edges becoming smooth.  To his delight, the bolt melted into a perfectly smooth cylinder shooting straight up to the heavens.

He focused on pulling the light once again, and slowly a fuzzy image formed across the entire surface of the dish of water.  He smiled at it and then frowned once again.  There was definitely an image being reflected on the water, but it was too fuzzy to make out.  He allowed his thoughts to run over his smooth bolt and up into the sky.  The bolt was still perfectly smooth.  However, as his thoughts reached the sheet of water, he realized he had allowed his hold on it to slip.  He concentrated on making it completely smooth again and looked down as Eldridge let out an excited gasp.

The image in the dish had sharpened clearer than Traven would have ever expected.  It looked as clear as anything he would look at with his own eyes.  It glowed slightly, giving off light of its own.

It only took a moment for him to realize what he was looking at.  It was a bird’s eye view of the entire Blood Mountains.  Almost directly in the center of the tight range of mountains was a small, green valley, in stark contrast against the red rock.  No keep could be seen in the green valley, but he was certain that if the might stone hadn’t been shielding it, Faldor’s Keep would be visible as well.

He continued staring at the image in wonder.  He had seen several maps before, but none had come close to comparing in detail to what he was now looking at.  Studying the image, he found the path that Studell and he had taken to arrive at the valley.  He stared with wonder at the maze of canyons that zigzagged through the mountains.  Without directions, they could have explored the maze of canyons for weeks and never made it to the secluded valley in the center.

“Are you up to trying to move the image?” Eldridge asked excitedly but with a hint of caution.  Traven was beginning to feel tired, but he supposed he could maintain a firm hold on the ambience for a little longer without doing any damage to his body.

“Sure,” he replied.  “What do I do?”

“First of all, by making your conduit reach higher into the sky you can see a greater area of land.  Some of the master wielders of old were strong enough to see the entire land at once!  However, I think you should wait to attempt to make your conduit higher until you have rested.  Right now let’s just try moving the image.  The trick to moving the image is forming a second conduit that proceeds downward from your sheet of water in a direction different than your current conduit of particles.  Wherever the second conduit is pointed is where you will be screeing.  If you increase the length of the second conduit towards the ground, you can enlarge anything that you want to take a closer look at.  Does that make sense?”

The idea seemed simple enough, so Traven responded by carefully forming a second, very short conduit that extended from the sheet of water slightly to the south.  The image in the dish changed to show two mountains rising side by side.  He recognized them as the Twin Guardians.  They looked different from the higher angle.  Both had craters at their peaks that he hadn’t been able to see from below.

He stared at the two volcanoes in wonder.  Sweat broke out on his forehead as he made his second conduit slightly longer.  The two volcanoes grew in size to fill the screeing dish.  He slightly shifted the conduit and made it even longer as he peered into one of the craters.  The gaping hole at the top of the volcano was deeper than he expected.  He lengthened the conduit even further as he tried to peer into the crater’s depths.  A bead of sweat dripped off his forehead and landed with a small splash in the dish of water, distorting the image.

“I think we better take a break,” Eldridge said as he looked up from the dish and at Traven’s face.  “You are looking a little pale.”

Traven let go of his hold on the ambience, and the image disappeared.  The keeper was correct.  He needed to rest.  There was an intense throbbing in his head, and he felt exhausted.  He probably should have stopped earlier, but the screeing had been so exciting.  He was looking forward to practicing again when he was fully rested.  The wonders of screeing amazed him.

17

The throne room was full of people.  All were paying the proper respect to the next High King of Kalia.  Some were bowing and others were kneeling.  Traven sat in his throne uncomfortably, waiting for the crowning ceremony.

He looked around the room, searching for those he knew.  In the back he saw his grandparents.  Professor Studell knelt near them.  To his right Blaize towered above the others, even while on his knees.

Traven continued looking over the respectful crowd.  He saw some of his old classmates from the academy as well as some of his old professors.  He also recognized several of the generals from the Royal Army.  He kept looking, searching the crowd for someone in particular.

Someone important to him was missing from the crowd, but he couldn’t remember who it was.  Even with those in the crowd that were closest to him like his grandparents and Blaize, he still felt alone.  How could he rule Kalia without the most important person in his life at his side?

He thought as hard as he could, trying to recall who it was that was missing.  Slowly, deep blue eyes and long blond hair flitted across his memory.  A gorgeous smile and a delicate hand flitted though his mind next.  A memory of a soft, warm cheek against his shoulder.  Kalista!

How could he have forgotten her?  She was the single most important person in his life.  It was she who would guide him when he was the High King.  It was she who knew him better than anyone else.  It was she who gave him a reason to keep going when things seemed impossible.  It was she who he would lay down his life for.

Where was she?  He needed her soft, firm hand on his shoulder now more than ever.  He needed her strength and her comfort.  Perhaps she was merely finishing preparing for the ceremony.

He tried to calm himself, taking deep breaths as he waited.  Behind the closed doors of the throne room he could hear the echoes of steps approaching down the hallway.  The steps stopped at the door.  He let out a relieved breath as the large doors began to swing open.  Now he remembered.  The princess would be the one to crown him.  It was her whose footsteps he had just heard.  She would be entering the room, bearing the crown.

However, his hopes were dashed when the opening doors revealed the bearer of the crown.  It wasn’t the Princess Kalista with her mesmerizing eyes and comforting smile.  The bearer of the crown was merely a page.  Traven watched as the boy approached carefully with the crown pulsating on the pillow that he carried in his hands.  The page stopped directly in front of him and knelt respectfully.

Traven sat still as the pulsating crown was lifted from the pillow and carefully placed on his head.  The crowd rose to their feet cheering.  The room was instantly full of celebration and excitement for the new High King of Kalia.  Everyone in the crowd appeared overjoyed to have him as their new king.  He wished that he felt the same excitement.  He wished that his heart could soar with those in the crowd.

Unfortunately, he only felt sad and empty.  What did any of this matter if the princess wasn’t at his side?  What did the pulsating crown on his head even mean to him?  The only thing that mattered to him at the moment was the princess.  Where was she?

* * * * *

Traven awoke feeling incredibly distressed.  He tried to shake the feeling but couldn’t.  The feelings of emptiness and hopelessness that the dream left him with were much stronger than they should have been.  He didn’t even really know the princess.  It was true that she had been a constant fixture in his dreams for the past few weeks, but why should her absence from his dreams leave him feeling the way he did?

He tried in vain to shake the dismal feelings as he got up and went down to the courtyard to exercise and practice his forms.  Part way through his routine, one of the human guardians asked if he would like to spar against him.  Traven hadn’t sparred with anyone for a while and gratefully accepted the invitation, hoping that the distraction would help him forget the distressing dream.  He forced a smile as one of the other human guardians handed him a practice sword.