The Sorcery Within

XXVI

"HOW IS HE?"ALEMAR ASKEDas he dismounted. He and his companions looked as if they had spent the entire day on a forced gallop. Elenya couldn't help but gawk at the outlandish stranger in green, from the weathered hat to the scraggly beard. Her brother had to repeat the question before she answered.

"He's in pain, but alive."

Gast stared equally hard at Elenya as he handed his reins to her. "Yetem, my brother," Alemar said, then introduced the healer.

Gast shook his head in amazement. "You must have played the Bu very strangely in your last life to have been reincarnated in a body like this."

Alemar was already hurrying toward the tent. Gast followed.

Elenya stood, flabbergasted, then turned to Shigmur and Zhanee. The war-second chuckled and said, "He is Hab-no-ken," as if that explained everything.

Elenya hurried to deal with the animals, wishing she could unload the chore on a wife, but grooming and husbandry were male tasks. She corralled them, threw out feed, and jogged back to the tent.

When she ducked under the flap, complete silence greeted her. Omi, Peyri, Meyr, and Sesheer stood in a huddle near the purdah; Alemar waited alone on the opposite side. The priest knelt in the center, cradling Rol's head in his palms. Gast's eyes had glazed over. Rol, lying prone and naked, glanced drowsily at Elenya. After a few twitches and moans, he fell asleep.

Elenya's amulet gave out a dull warning. She and Alemar exchanged glances. She hardly needed the hints. She could smell sorcery at work.

Where was his talisman? How was he focusing his power?

The healer returned quietly to alertness. He stood up, laying Rol's head carefully back on its pillow. "I'll need your assistance," he told the twins.

"Certainly," Alemar said. "How may we help?"

"The technique I must use will create some pain. Even in his sleep, he may thrash. It could endanger his life. Station yourselves at his shoulders and knees, and be ready to hold him down should it be necessary."

They took up their positions, Alemar at his foster son's head. Gast began breathing in an exact, slow-paced rhythm, his hands limp against the skin of the boy's lower right abdomen.

Elenya stared. It seemed as though Gast had not moved at all, but something was odd. Eventually, she realized what it was. The tips of the healer's fingers had disappeared into Rol's body. The boy stirred, and the twins held him firm. By this time Gast's fingers had sunk in to their entire length.

She saw the Hab-no-ken began to manipulate Rol's abdomen, searching by touch for the root of the illness. Then his limbs began to shake. His breathing lost its rhythm. Her amulet began to flicker.

He's losing it, she thought. His spell is breaking up. She saw Gast lick his lips. He had gone pale, and looked much older than a few moments before.

Then, suddenly, she felt a vibration through Rol's body. The Hab-no-ken looked startled, but he bent his efforts back to the task. Soon Elenya deduced from the shifting of his hand muscles that the healer was pinching something. He remained there for a full minute, then carefully lifted away his hands. Rol's flesh was unmarked.

Gast held a bloated, angry-looking, oblong section of tissue over the boy's unmarked belly. "Bring your chamber pot," the priest ordered the women.

Omi rushed into the back of the tent and returned with the urn. Gast dropped the appendix inside. Immediately a horrid pus stench filled the room. Omi held her nose and left immediately to dump the pot.

"If I had not come when I did, it would have burst internally, and then no power of mine would have saved him," Gast declared. "I almost failed. I should not have interrupted my Retreat." He turned to Alemar. "How did you do that?" he demanded.

Alemar was shaking. "I felt your need, and…the energy came."

"That sort of power must be properly channelled in childhood, or you'd never be able to use it as an adult. Why didn't you tell me you'd been trained in the art?"

"I didn't want to waste any time getting back here."

"Do you know how rare you are?" Gast whispered.

"The man who taught me gave me some idea."

"Why couldn't you save the boy yourself?"

"My master only knew how to heal wounds and injuries. That's all he taught me."

"The Lesser Art," Gast said. "It's all some healers can manage. Disease has a different taste. Yet I sensed in you the ability to use the Greater. You mustn't let that go to waste. It will fade if not developed."

"What do you mean?"

"I can teach you. Become my apprentice; come with me into the hills."

Alemar began to tremble. Elenya understood every bit of his turmoil.

"I am a prisoner here," he said desperately.

Gast frowned. "I'm not sure what you mean, but rest assured – no one in this land interferes with the prerogatives of a Hab-no-ken. If I decide to take you with me, only the word of the High Scholar could stop me."

That had done it, Elenya realized. Alemar choked short his reply, almost to tears. She grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him toward the exit. "Excuse us," she told Gast. "My brother and I have to talk."

They walked away from the tent, ignoring the glances from nearby tents, and of the children in the area who had collected in hopes of seeing the Hab-no-ken. They spoke in Cilendri, Alemar unable to keep the quaver out of his voice.

"You have to go," she insisted.

"How can I?" he croaked. "I couldn't leave you here."

In truth, the thought of living alone among the tribe terrified her, but she stifled her own desires. "You know what this would mean to you. When will you get an opportunity like this again?"

He sighed. "Mother is dead. I can't save her after the fact."

Elenya knew Alemar was not as reconciled as he was pretending to be. He wanted to go, but he was afraid. What if he succeeded in learning the Greater Art? Lerina would still be dead. It had been a comfort of sorts to believe that nothing could have saved her. He would lose that buffer if he went. If Elenya didn't do something to jolt him, he would rationalize himself into staying. The fact was that she could survive without him. She had to think.

It came to her.

She pressed close to him, activating the amulets. She bespoke him with all the force she could muster. "Hab-no-ken complete their training in Setan."

He hesitated, shocked. He understood.

"I can continue with our original plan by myself," she said. "That way, we will double our chances of getting there."

He nodded, the light of excitement growing in his pupils. She had eliminated his dilemma in the most straightforward way she knew – she had made it his duty to go with the healer. By his expression she knew she had done the right thing.

Now all she had to do was reconcile herself to the consequences.

"No," Lonal said.

"You have no choice," Gast said. He held up Alemar's wrist, around which was tied a piece of green cloth. "I exercise the right ofHab-shah. He is no longer T'lil. He belongs to all Zyraii."

A small crowd had gathered. There were murmurs. It had been decades since any of the clan had been selected to become a Hab-no-ken. It had never happened to an adult.

"Silence!" Lonal shouted.

He was obeyed. He continued to the healer, "This man has designs to reach Setan."

Gast shrugged. "Then he shall succeed, should he complete his apprenticeship. I will not permit him near the sacred grounds unless it is clear to me that he will do them no harm. In any event, it is my responsibility now, not yours."

Lonal was adamant. "He is Po-no-pha. You propose to take a warrior and transform him into the very opposite of what he has been?"

"God makes those choices," Gast said. "Tebec has the gift. Whatever else he has done with his life, it would be a crime to let that talent be squandered."

"He can serve the tribe well just as he is."

Gast smiled, unintimidated. "Do you challenge thelaw, war-leader?"

Lonal was silent. Some of the observers held their breath. No one within the tribe, short of the Bo-no-ken, would have dared challenge the war-leader in such a manner.

"No, I didn't think so," Gast said presently.

Lonal turned to Alemar. "You will abandon your brother?"

"I don't wish to. But I will."

Elenya swallowed hard.

Lonal muttered under his breath. "I underestimated your resourcefulness. Very well, then, you will go."

"Thank you, war-leader," Gast said pleasantly.

Lonal stared at Alemar. "I should have dueled you," he said.

Elenya waited while her brother and the Hab-no-ken returned to the tent to prepare for the journey. Omi followed behind Alemar, a stricken, plaintive look on her face. Lonal watched them as well, and it was only after they were out of sight that he noticed Elenya.

"I could be gone, too," she said, using the High Speech. "If Tebec could find a way out of your web, so can I. Then where would you be?"

"I don't follow you," Lonal said.

"You want something from us, but you've never offered anything in return."

"What you want is impossible for me to give."

"Setan?" she asked. She knew she could get him on the defensive. Someone had to bear the brunt of the loss she felt. "Ah, but look at what just happened. My brother has found a way there. Surely you're not so uninspired that you can't think of another. Be creative. How couldI be allowed in Setan, and still obey your precious laws?"

"You were born an infidel. It would be a crime merely to let you near the holy grounds. Unless…"

"Yes?"

Lonal scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Some dispensation might be made…if you werehai-Zyraii."

"Go on."

"In that event, it would be permissible to take you to the site. Once there, you could petition the ken to let you enter the boundary. I cannot promise that they would do so."

"If I agree to help you, will you do this?" she demanded.

He paused. "Yes," he said finally, with conviction. It satisfied her. Lonal was a man of his word, if nothing else. "But becoming hai-Zyraii may not be as simple as you think."

"I'll find a way," she replied.