01 - The Price of Talent (12 page)

“Uh, didn’t you say that the church routed them and has been purging them from society?”

“OK, let me try another tack,” said Ross. “What do you think the church does with the people with magic potential it rounds up?”

“Uh, I’m not sure honestly. Kill them?”

“That’s the impression they try to give the citizens of the empire. But that’s not what actually happens, or at least, not all of them are killed. People with magical talent are given a choice, to serve the church or die. Since few want to die, they usually choose serving the church.”

“Was that in the book you were reading?” I asked.

“No, I know that last part because those were the options I was given,” said Ross.

“Oh wait! You were training to be a priest weren’t you?” I asked.

“Yes I was,” said Ross. “And that is how I know about your headaches. As I child I had them as well. I also had the uncanny ability to heal from injuries. The end result was that after I recovered from an injury that should have killed me, the inquisitors were called in and I was enlisted in the clergy.”

“Enlisted?” I asked.

“I was given the choice to either serve the church to make up for the sin of being born with magical talent, or die,” said Ross. “And obviously I’m still around and kicking.”

“How did you end up learning healing?” I asked.

“Usually, you get reported to the church for doing something unnatural. What that unusual act is hints at areas you have natural talents. In my case, since I healed better than those around me, the church assumed correctly that my talents ran in that direction. So, after some basic training in how to control my powers and some additional testing of my abilities, I was assigned to the medical branch of the seminary for further training,” said Ross.

“That makes sense. But again, what does this have to do with me?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you kid? You have magical talent. Your headaches, the fencing dummy, the inquisitors’ interest in you, they all are signs that you have magical talent.”

              At this point I was a little dumbfounded. It’s hard to know how to respond to something like that. You would think your response would either be enthusiasm or a horrified denial. Enthusiasm at having special power not available to others, horror because, like every other citizen of the empire, you were brought up fearing the power of the supernatural. But the reality was I just sat there with a stupid expression on my face staring at him with incredulity.

“You don’t believe me do you?...” Said Ross.

“Uh… I’m not really sure what to think. It would explain why the inquisitors were after me. But if I had magical talent, you would think I would just have used magic to do away with the inquisitors instead of being captured by them,” I said.

“Can you do a handstand?” Asked Ross.

“What?”

“Well, can you?”

“Uh, no?” I responded.

“But you have working arms. Isn’t that enough?” Asked Ross.

“Of course not. I bet it takes years of practice to be able to do that,” I said.

“Exactly!” Said Ross. “It takes years of training to do even the most basic of things with magic. I was trained for years in the arts of magical and non-magical healing and I am by no ways a master of it despite being born with that talent.”

“Oh… I guess that makes sense. You have to learn to walk before you can run. Or something like that anyway,” I said.

“Yes, you do. And right now, you don’t even know how to crawl. That’s why you keep getting headaches. In times of emotional stress you are drawing in power, but not using it on anything. So it either discharges or it gives you a bad headache,” said Ross.

“Is that what happened to the practice dummy?” I asked.

“Well, I wasn’t there to see for myself, but I’m guessing that was the case.”

“How do I keep that from happening again?” I asked.

“You need to start learning to focus you power. Every night before going to bed, I want you to attempt to light a candle with your mind. And, since this is winter, whenever you are getting angry or feel a headache coming on, I want you to find some ice and melt it. If there is no ice, find some water and try and boil it,” said Ross.

“How do I do that?”

“That… is not the easiest thing to teach. For the candle, focus your anger into a point on the wick. Be angry at the wick, feel the heat of your anger and focus it on the wick. Let your anger flow through you and settle upon it. For the water or ice, the same thing, but focus on the ice or the water. Focus is key. A wandering mind, or a lapse in concentration and it won’t work. Worse, channel too much power and don’t discharge it properly and you might find you destroy something that isn’t a practice dummy.”

“So then… this is dangerous?”

“Yes it is. Not as dangerous as not being able to control your powers or focus them productively. But still, not without risk. Think of it like your sword practice and archery practice. Neither are the safest things in the world, but if you are in a situation that requires you to use of force, you are better off knowing how to use a sword and a bow than not.”

“I see. Maybe I will start with melting snow and ice outside first then. After all, don’t want to burn down the lodge.” I said, trying to make a joke.

              Ross paused at that and had a thoughtful expression, evidently not thinking that as funny as I did.

“Yes… I think that would be a wise idea. Now that I think about it, I was taught to do this in a stone building… So yeah, wait to play with candles until you can reliably melt snow and boil water. In fact, when you start playing with candles, do that outside too until you can reliably light and quench them.”

“Ok,” I responded. “Will you teach me how to heal people too?”

“That is a lot more advanced than just lighting candles, Tyr. Let’s wait until you have the hang of the basics before you start healing wounds. Fire is… much less complex than human anatomy,” said Ross. “But I think that’s enough lessons for tonight. Think over what I told you and add the focus exercises to your daily routine. If it does nothing else, it should help with the headaches.”

              And with that Ross exited the room. My thoughts were scattered at this point as well. It took a long time for me to be able to settle in and sleep that night.

Chapter 10.

“Good morning sunshine. You going to spend all day in bed?”

“What?!... Huh?!!” I said, as articulate as always in the morning. “Oh… God… Moira… Uh… Good morning.”

“Yes. You going to get up anytime soon? I thought we had sword lessons to attend to.”

“This early?” I said. “I thought with the harvest in, we would sleep in this morning.”

“Just because you got the harvest in, doesn’t mean I get to stop hunting. Besides, just because the crops are in doesn’t mean your work is done as you well know. You need to clear the fields for the winter and lay in seed for next year,” said Moira. “Now get up, get dressed and get to the practice field.”

              And with that, she walked out of my room. Since there was no one left to argue with except myself and my sword, and its opinion on me learning how to use a sword properly I was well aware of, I got myself busy getting dressed so I could head out to the practice field.

              Upon getting outside I noticed that the clouds that had recently been in the sky had cleared and it was a crisp late fall or early winter morning. I could see my breath, but water was not yet freezing. I was so busy thinking about the nice change in the weather that I failed to notice Moira was not alone on the practice field.

“Hey kid, took you long enough to get out here,” said Devlin.

“Uh, hello… Or good morning, I mean.” I stammered.

“Just thought I would come out to watch you two practice this morning.”

“Um, ok. But I thought your injuries were keeping you bed ridden?” I asked.

“Thanks to Ross’s ministrations, I find that I am mending quite quickly. He has told me it was time to get some air and start taking exercise to get myself back in shape. So I figured, why not end my walk by watching you two awkwardly stab at each other.”

“Um, ok.” I stammered.

“Just ignore him.” Said Moira. “Today we are going to try some basic sparring exercises. Not free sparring, I just want you to practice blocking strikes and counter striking. But first I want you to warm up by practicing your stances and basic strikes.”

              With no other alternative, and well aware that I had an audience, I ran through my stances and basic strikes. Fortunately, Devlin watched the whole thing with no more comment than a wry smile on his face. After a while I was almost able to pretend like he wasn’t there. Almost.

“All right, that’s enough warm ups,” said Moira. “Now I want you to come over here and stand in front of me. We are going to start with an overhand strike. I want you to block my overhand strike with a high block and then counter with an overhand strike of your own.”

“Sure.” I said.

              So I stood in front of her in the on guard position and once she was sure I was set she took a slow overhand strike at my head. I raised my block over my head, deflected the blow, then I readied my counterstrike and then slowly swung through the over hand strike. Moira, of course, easily deflected it.

“Decent kid, but too slow,” said Moira. “Just because I’m going slowly to make sure I don’t hit you, doesn’t mean I want you to slowly counterstrike. I want you to make a real swing; so don’t worry, you won’t hit me.”

              With that we ran through the exercise again. This time I blocked the strike, readied my counter and swung harder. Moira easily countered again. It was at this point that I noticed Devlin was no longer smiling. He had what can best be described as a slightly disapproving look on his face.

“Better. Now I want you to try it one more time but this time smoother. Your movements are too stiff,” said Moira.

              So we ran through the exercise again, and I did pretty much the same thing as I did last time but spent less time lining up my shot.

“OK, you two, let’s stop for a second,” said Devlin interrupting. “I think I know what the problem here is. Tyr, you’ve been practicing your stances and strikes everyday right?”

“Uh, yes sir,” I said.

“And you have been making sure your stance and posture are correct every time right?”

“Um… yes sir,” I said starting to think that I was in trouble.

“And you were doing exactly that just now?” Asked Devlin.

“Yes sir.”

“OK. And how long do you think you have in a fight to line up a shot? To make a proper block? To adjust your stance?” Asked Devlin.

“Uh, I would imagine not all that much time.” I said.

“Exactly. In my experience you have no time to check any of that. So while the basis of good sword fighting is good technique, it must be natural and fast. If you have to think about things in a fight, you are going to be too slow and you will lose. It doesn’t matter if you eventually get to the right answer, you have to have it immediately. So from now on, I want you to treat every situation in training like it’s an actual fight.”

“Um… Yes sir,” I said. “But, uh, I haven’t ever been in a fight.”

“That can be remedied. Go get the pads for the practice swords,” said Devlin.

“Dev… Are you sure about this? You’re not exactly all healed yet,” said Moira, showing concern.

“If I am healthy enough to walk, I’m healthy enough to teach the kid some basics,” said Devlin with a smile.

“Did Ross say you were capable of sparring?” Asked Moira with one eyebrow raised.

“Funny, it didn’t come up,” said Devlin, smiling again.

              At this point I figured it would probably be a good idea to go grab the pads. The wooden swords were rough approximations of actual swords. The pads were just stuffed leather sheathes that went over the blade to so the wooden “blade” wouldn’t break anything if it hit you. The sheath just slid on and got tied into place under the guard of the practice sword.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous getting them. Aside from the practice dummy I destroyed, I had not ever swung a sword in earnest before. Still, there was no point arguing. So I got them and brought them out to the practice field again. When I got there Devlin was taking some practice swings with the sword and Moira was leaning against the farm shed looking a little skeptical.

“Ah, there you are. Bring me a sheath and then we can begin the real lesson,” said Devlin.

              So I brought over the pads, and he showed me how to secure them on the sword. There was more than a little fumbling on my part. It’s not that I was stalling… ok, I was stalling. I was quite nervous. After all, I had heard he was quite good, and I had only been practicing a little while at this point.

“Now I want you to stand in front of me and attack me at half speed,” said Devlin. “The goal here is to give you a taste, not to have an actual fight.”

“You… Want me to attack you?” I asked.

“At half speed, but yes,” said Devlin. “Don’t look too nervous kid. Trust me, you won’t hurt me.”

“Uh… ok,” I said.

              And having no other options, I stood in front of him and took a tentative overhand strike at him which he deflected easily.

“Don’t be so tentative kid. Attack me.”

              So I took another swing, a little faster. He deflected it too.

“Better. But still too tentative,” said Devlin. “You need to be more natural in your movements. I can see you getting into guard, prepping your strike and then swinging. It should be all one movement.”

“Uh, ok,” I said, obviously still a little nervous about this whole situation.

I got in front of him again and I just swung at him. No awkward pause, no getting into my stance, just a swing. He still blocked it easily, but his smile had come back.

“Better. Now I want you to use different strikes and attack with more than one swing.”

“You’re the Boss.”

              And with that, I started swinging at him. He ran through a series of blocks that seemed lazy and slow, but his sword was always there before mine. After a minute I was sweating and breathing heavily and he was still just standing there with a smile on his face.

“Better, much better. Your form is good and your strikes are precise. Your problem though is that such precision makes it easy to guess where your strikes are going. Once you get more experience you will learn how to disguise your strikes better. But for now, I’m not disappointed.”

“Thanks!” I said, still breathing heavier than normal.

“Now, I’m going to make some basic strikes at you. I want to see you block them,” Said Devlin.

“Ok, sir.” I said, starting to feel my trepidation return.

“DEVLIN! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” shouted a voice from the other side of the field.

“God dammit,” grumbled Devlin. “Hi Ross. Just showing the kid some basic sword fighting.”

“Devlin, I said you should start walking again. Sword fighting is a whole other level of exercise,” said Ross, while walking quickly across the field.

“Well, that ends today’s lesson kid,” said Devlin. “It appears my gaoler is back and less than pleased.”

“And now, I think it’s time you put those toys away and prep the fields for winter,” said Moira, who I had kind of forgotten was still watching us.

              So, with Ross clucking at Devlin about “running when he should be walking” while leading him back to the longhouse, and Moira heading off to get her hunting gear, I was left to clean up the equipment and get to my chores.

              The day passed quickly. There was more that needed doing around the farm than I had originally anticipated. But that is the way these things go. Once you start clearing the fields, and laying in the seed for next year, you notice all the other chores that need doing. Chief among them was properly putting away the farming tools and looking over the barn and shed to make sure everything was in good repair. Once I started my list of what needed repairing, the list grew quickly. Some things I could take care of, but others I could not. I made note to talk to Moira about them at dinner.

              The light faded fast that afternoon, more because I was busy than because the sun was going down earlier. We weren’t so close to the winter solstice that the days were noticeably shorter. That was still about a month and a half off. Still, dinner time came upon me quickly and found me with quite a hunger.

              So, after finishing up my chores and cleaning myself up from the farm work, I headed back into the longhouse for dinner. As usual, I beat Moira there, but not by all that much. By the time I had changed out of my heavier clothes and into a more comfortable outfit, she was sitting at a table with Ross and Devlin telling them about her hunting.

“I think I froze my butt off out there. Worse, I didn’t manage to catch all that much. Just a few game birds and some rabbits in my snares. I think the pickings are going to be slim until spring,” said Moira to Devlin and Ross.

“Don’t worry about it. Thanks to Tyr taking over most of the farming chores, you have laid in quite a supply of meat for the winter. We won’t be living off gruel and what we can forage this March and April,” said Devlin.

“Ah, and as if on cue,” said Ross, having just noticed my coming into the dining area.

“Hello,” I said, sort of lamely.

“So, how went the chores?” asked Devlin.

“Fairly well,” I responded. “Moira, I noticed that we have some thatch and carpentry work that needs to be done on the barn. Also, the farm tools could use a sharpening, and one of the scythes probably needs to be replaced thanks to a decent sized nick in the blade.”