Eighth Fire (27 page)

Slone was on the move before Ms. Vanmie had come
to a full stop and before James could take aim. Slone was very
fast: diagonal left one step, diagonal right one step, feign left,
then diagonal right two steps. James began firing in a continuous
burst. Slone came up next to James from a leaping somersault long
before the weapon had run out of ammunition. His riotous came up
and knocked the gun from James’ hands and continued up over his
head poised to strike a mighty blow to James had he chosen to do
so.

Ms. Vanmie said, “Nicely done, Slone,” and
turned toward the freshmen. “A sword doesn’t have to be reloaded
either.”

James pointed at a very light pink smear on the
edge of Slone’s left tunic sleeve. Slone looked at the nick. His
facial expression remained unchanged; he brought the pommel of his
riotous down, striking James in the center of his forehead. James
crumpled to his knees and then fell forward. Some freshmen gasped
and Ms. Vanmie turned to look.

James spent the rest of the day in the healing
ward.

After lunch, Mark and LeOmi joined Gerod on the
balcony outside of the healing ward for their first lesson in
Advanced Communications. There was a golden censer on a pedestal
beside the door with a plume of sweet smelling smoke issuing from
it. Gerod saw Mark and LeOmi look at it and said, “Frankincense and
myrrh; it helps establish a stronger connection between your
physical minds and your spirit’s minds. Now, I want you to just
relax and try to understand the concepts as I explain them. These
lessons will be semi-informal so you can take your robes off and
feel free to interrupt with questions or comments anytime you feel
like it.”

Gerod motioned toward the floor at their feet
and then sat down with his legs crossed. “You’ve already learned
that your spirit is a real and separate entity from your physical
self. You may not have thought of it in those terms, but
none-the-less you already know it as a fact of existence. Aaron’s
Grasp is taught in the freshman year because it’s not that
difficult to learn and it is the first lesson that shows you that
the spirit is a real entity, not just some mental abstraction. The
reason it is taught this way is so the student obtains experiential
knowledge as opposed to logical or trust knowledge. Logical and
trust types of knowledge are flimsy and easily modified since they
are based on reason and exposition. Experiential knowledge is based
on your perception of reality and your interaction with
reality.”

Mark interrupted, “How many things are taught
this way at The Seventh Mountain?”

Without missing a beat Gerod continued,
“Everything at the Seven Mountains is taught this way, every minute
of every day. In most instances in class the student is first given
the theory and then practical exercises. Outside of class students
are presented with ample opportunities to apply what they’ve
learned and allowed to get into situations that give them
experiential knowledge that they need in order to learn more.

“For example; the game of tag: you may have been
under the impression that it was allowed so that the student could
develop and improve their skills at detecting and avoiding danger.
While that is part of it, the main reason is that it is designed to
teach students that trying to injure others is not something you
want to do if you can avoid it. I can tell you this because both of
you have already learned this lesson. Every minute of every day
that you are here is designed to provide experiential learning
events, even when you’re asleep. Did that answer your
question?”

Mark asked, “Even Tent Fest?”

“Most assuredly; think about what you learned
last year and what you plan to do differently this year, and for
the rest of your life.”

Mark and LeOmi both nodded.

“Through the connection between your spirit and
your mind you can perceive things. Your spirit doesn’t need
physical light to see; this is something that you are getting ready
to experience in your regular Communications class. Your spirit can
also travel outside of your physical body which is something you’ll
experience when learning Tactical Sight. Both of these things I’m
going to teach you now. That’s why the incense is here.

“Now, I want both of you to lie down and start
to fall asleep. When you’re in that state when you just begin to
start dreaming I want you to think about the sign I’ve placed on
the other side of the balcony wall. Try to see what it says.”

The warm afternoon and the effect of the incense
allowed Mark to fall asleep quickly and when he realized he was
starting to dream he remembered he was supposed to look at the
sign. He sat up and was just beginning to stand when he saw that
Gerod was sitting beside himself. LeOmi was sitting beside her body
too. He looked behind himself and saw his body lying there. “I
think I’ve broken something.”

Both Gerods spoke in sync, “That’s a normal
first reaction; nothing’s broken. See if you can read the
sign.”

Mark got up, walked to the wall and looked over.
“I can see the sign, but I can’t read it. The print is too small
and the angle is bad.”

“Do whatever it takes to read the sign.
Remember, this is your spirit; normal rules don’t apply, dream
rules do.”

With that Mark realized he needed to be on the
other side of the wall looking at the sign and he floated up over
the wall and looked at the sign, “
Four
score
and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on
this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated
to the proposition that all...It’s the Gettysburg Address.”

“That’s right. Come back over here and sit by
your body.” When he had done so Gerod continued, “That was Tactical
Sight. Now, let’s try remanifesting. I want both of your spirits to
walk about a hundred feet away,” he pointed to his right, “and stay
there while you wake up. A good way to do that is to find something
to concentrate on, something that you’re very interested in
examining further.”

When they were far enough away Gerod said,
“That’s good. Now find something to examine while you wake up.”

Mark chose a pebble to study while LeOmi was
looking at the wall. As he was waking up the image of the pebble
stayed in his mind like the dream was continuing. He continued
concentrating on the pebble and the image resolved into something
he had never experienced before; it reminded him of the afterimages
he had experienced in regular Communications class.

Gerod said, “You can still see what your spirits
are concentrating on; now convince yourself that you want to see it
with your physical eyes.”

Mark wanted to do what Gerod had said but he
could see the pebble perfectly well with his dream eyes. It
surprised him when LeOmi’s body disappeared from where she was
laying and reappeared kneeling by the wall a hundred feet away.

“Very good, LeOmi,” Gerod smiled. “Few students
ever get it that quickly.” He turned to Mark, “Let me have your
thoughts.” After a moment he said, “I understand your difficulty.
You’re going to have to learn to motivate yourself to want to be
where your spirit is. That may prove to be a bit challenging since
you already see so well with Spirit Sight. Why don’t you try
picking up the rock and looking at the bottom of it.”

Mark thought about picking it up, but his body
stayed put while the stone rose a couple of feet off the ground and
turned over in mid-air.

“I thought so.” Gerod stood and motioned for
them to stand. “Mark, you’re going to have to work really hard on
your motivation. Well, that does it for today. Your homework:
practice. LeOmi, I give you permission to remanifest off of the
school grounds. I doubt that you’ll have any trouble getting back,
but if you do just use Tactical Sight to find me and let me know;
I’ll come get you. If you don’t mind, you can take Mark with you;
it might help his motivation. You don’t have to take him unless you
want to. I’m sure he understands that there are some places you
might wish to visit by yourself.”

LeOmi nodded and held her arm out for Mark to
grab.

They were standing by a split rail fence; Mark
let go of LeOmi’s arm. The air was humid and smelled of a fresh
rain yet the sandy ground wasn’t overly moist. Several horses were
romping behind the fence having a grand time. Less than a minute
passed before they all stopped and looked at the pair.

Two horses, a black stallion and a gray mare
started slowly toward them. LeOmi stepped up onto the lower fence
rail and called, “Fury...it’s me!” The black stallion reared as if
he was excited to see her and cantered over. The gray mare followed
at a trot. When Fury reached LeOmi he pushed her off the rail with
his nose, raised his head and laughed. Mark looked at LeOmi and she
was laughing...LeOmi was laughing. That was incredible. Mark had
seen her smile, and even grin on occasion, but never had he seen
her laugh.

She stepped back up to Fury and hugged his nose,
“Yes, I didn’t forget.” She reached into Aaron’s Grasp, pulled out
several sugar cubes and held them for the horse to eat. She looked
at Mark briefly and turned back to Fury. “Mark, meet Fury, Fury,
Mark.”

The gray mare arrived, stuck her head over the
fence toward LeOmi, bobbed it up and down a few times and whinnied
softly. LeOmi looked at her and said, “Mark, meet Henry’s Horse,
Henry’s Horse, Mark.”

Mark saw in his mind’s eye a hand holding out an
apple to the mare. He reached into Aaron’s Grasp and removed a
pear. “I don’t have an apple girl, how about a pear?” Mark had
started keeping a couple of pears in Aaron’s Grasp since that was
the favorite treat for his horse, The General.

Henry’s Horse took the pear and crunched it
wholeheartedly. Mark sensed she had never had one before and she
very much liked it; maybe even better than apples. An image of him
offering her another formed in his mind. He removed the last one he
had and offered it to her, “That’s it girl; I don’t have any
more.”

She chomped this one too and turned sideways
next to the fence. Mark didn’t need the image to understand that
she wanted to show him around, but he got it just the same. He
climbed the fence up onto her back.

LeOmi mounted Fury and both horses started
loping toward the stable. LeOmi was the happiest Mark had ever seen
her. She said, “I used to work here before I came to The Seventh
Mountain.”

“How could you work here? You were just
eleven.”

“It’s considered farm work and Henry was my
martial arts instructor at the “Y”. It was his ranch.”

“Was?”

“He died, bone cancer.”

“Sorry to hear—”

Mark was cut off by the shotgun blast. “Hands up
where I can see them!” The man stepped from the shadows in the
doorway to the stable. He looked to be an older man with a receding
hairline and a bit of a gut. He was dressed in jeans and a flannel
shirt. The shotgun was pointed into the air.

LeOmi raised her hands and whispered to Mark,
“That’s Jacque, the foreman here, and I believe that’s Henry’s gun
he’s carrying. He always kept it loaded with rock salt.”

Mark raised his hands and whispered back,
“Disarm him or make him afraid of us?”

LeOmi didn’t answer but Mark felt a feeling of
comfort and gladness like he had just encountered a long lost
friend.

The man took a couple of steps more and lowered
the gun, “LeOmi...is that you?”

“It’s me, Jacque. I’m surprised you’re still
here.”

“Work is work. Who’s yer friend?”

“Jacque, meet Mark. We go to school
together.”

Jacque walked to them and extended his hand up
to Mark, “Any friend of LeOmi’s is welcome here.” He turned to
LeOmi, “Whatcha doin’ here? Ain’t ya ‘sposed to be in that
school?”

“Well, this is sort of a homework
assignment.”