Mindbender (25 page)

“An arch mage is connected to the firmament at all times. Only their long years of training allows them to maintain the state of mental discipline necessary to defend against the rapture. Strong emotion cannot be sustained in the same way, so a witch who undergoes the mage’s fast will eventually succumb to the rapture and lose her mind to the firmament.

“One mental skill that is common to both wizards and witches is visualization. The ability to see the outcome you desire is essential to success with magic. Your first exercises are designed to teach you this skill. It is essential that you practice diligently and intensely to train your mind to create visual images on command. You will start with the mundane and progress to the extraordinary.

“Use any ordinary item as the object of your practice. Look intently at the item and make note of every detail. Focus on it until you are confident that you have a clear picture of it in your memory. Close your eyes and create an image of the item within your mind’s eye. Work with one item until you can call a perfect, clear vision of it at will.

“Once you’ve mastered visualizing the item, begin to work on seeing it quickly yet in clear detail. When you can call a perfect vision of the item instantly, then work on holding the vision in your mind without distraction. Meditate on it for as long as you can. When you can see it clearly for several minutes, then you can select another item to practice with.

“This exercise may sound simple, but it will develop a necessary set of skills. After sufficient practice, you’ll be able to call forth intense, vivid, and clear images within your mind’s eye. When you begin casting spells, you will use this skill to create visions of the effects you desire. Those visions will form the basis of your spells.

“The second exercise is one of emotional control. I want you to think back to a time when you felt intense anger. Take your time and find an event in your past that enraged you. Relive the event in minute detail. Evoke the anger you felt. Let it fill you. Feel it with every bit of the intensity that you felt when it happened. When you are in the height of this intense anger, pinch your right earlobe until you feel pain. Take a few minutes to clear your head and do the exercise again. Clear your mind and distract yourself with some other activity, then pinch your right earlobe until you feel pain. The intense anger should return quite suddenly.

“Once you can evoke the feeling of anger on command, practice nursing it and keeping it alive within you for several minutes. If it starts to wane, pinch your earlobe again to bring back the intensity.

“Now do the entire exercise again, except this time recall a feeling of deep love and pinch your left earlobe. Follow the same procedure to learn how to evoke the feeling and then focus on it and maintain it with intensity for several minutes.

“Once you can call forth a quick and intense feeling of both love and anger, then practice alternating between the two feelings. Emotional control is essential to a witch. This exercise can be unpleasant but it will teach you to master your emotions and harness them to your purposes.

“Finally, once you can call forth a powerful emotion at will and sustain it, then you will practice sustaining the emotion while seeing the items you worked with during your visualization exercise. You must be able to sustain an intense emotion at the same time that you are clearly and vividly visualizing an object, and you must be able to do both for several minutes at a time.

“Once you can do this, you’ll be ready for the trials. I know you’re anxious to begin, but don’t underestimate the importance of these skills. They will serve you every single time you cast a spell, so be diligent and be thorough. It’s better to err on the side of preparation than to undergo the trials with a poorly trained mind. Do you have any questions?”

Isabel stared blankly for several moments. Magda had covered so much that Isabel’s mind felt full. She’d learned about magic mainly from listening to conversations between Alexander and other wizards. This was the first time anyone had explained it to her so directly and completely.

“That’s a lot to process,” Isabel said. “I’ll probably have questions later but right now I need to think about everything you’ve taught me, and I’d like to get started on the exercises you gave me.”

Magda smiled. “The information I’ve just given you is usually spaced out over a year for acolytes of the coven. We find that slow exposure to these ideas leading to greater and greater understanding is a more effective method of teaching. In your case, I believe you are sufficiently motivated that the slow approach is not necessary. Think about the things I’ve told you. Practice your exercises, starting with visualization. Come back tomorrow and we’ll talk further. If you like, you’re welcome to sit in with the other acolytes in the training hall. Head Mistress Theresa is very knowledgeable, and she has a number of suitable items to use for visualization practice. It’s also sometimes helpful to discuss your practice with others who are going through the training because they see the process from a far different perspective than those who have already been through the trials.”

“Thank you, Magda,” Isabel said. “I look forward to talking with you tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll have some questions by then.”

Isabel returned to her quarters and sat down to think about everything Magda had told her about magic. She knew that the nature of a person’s connection to the firmament was unique. Alexander was proof of that. She wondered how her magic would manifest. Then she thought about the trials. She remembered the screams she heard from Alexander when he was locked in the tower for his mana fast. Now that she was training for the trials, she faced the very real possibility that she wouldn’t survive—she pushed the thought from her mind just as quickly. Alexander had given Magda the Wizard’s Dust for her mana fast. If she died, he would blame himself. She vowed to herself then and there that she would survive the mana fast no matter what.

With a growing sense of purpose, she focused on a tea cup. She observed every detail of it, made note of the fine porcelain, the worn gold rim, the chip in the base, and the pattern of the design on the side. Other thoughts tried to intrude into her mind but she dismissed them and returned to her observation of the tea cup. When she had looked at it from every angle and considered every detail, she closed her eyes and sat back in her chair.

She quickly discovered how difficult it was to create clear, vivid images in her mind’s eye. She practiced for a couple of hours until Abigail and Wren returned together. Wren was carrying a serving tray with their lunch in covered containers. Abigail was dressed in her riding armor, its buckles and straps rustling with each step.

“I see the witches didn’t turn you into a frog,” Abigail said with a teasing smile.

Isabel chuckled. “No, in fact, I had a long talk with Magda. She explained the difference between wizards and witches. I’d never given it much thought before but a lot of what she told me filled in a few gaps in my very limited understanding of magic.”

“Did she say how long until you’re ready for the trials?” Abigail asked.

“Just that it was up to me,” Isabel replied. “She gave me a couple of exercises for training my mind. I’m supposed to practice them every day until they’re second nature.”

“Have you tried them yet?” Abigail asked.

Isabel nodded. “I was just working on one a few minutes ago. It’s a lot harder than it sounds. All I’m supposed to do is visualize an object in clear detail. Magda said the ability to see an image in my mind is important for casting spells.”

“Just make sure you’re ready,” Abigail said. “I want to get back to Alexander as much as you do but the mana fast is dangerous. Don’t rush it.”

“I won’t,” Isabel said. “Besides, you need some time to train with Kallistos before we can leave.”

Abigail smiled at the mention of her wyvern.

“You should see him,” she said. “He’s growing so fast. He’s already big enough to fly for extended periods of time. Knight Raja said I can start aerial combat training tomorrow.”

“Wow, that was quick,” Isabel said. “Are you sure Kallistos is ready? He isn’t very old.”

Abigail nodded as she smiled her thanks at Wren who was dishing lunch for the three of them. “Knight Raja says that wyverns grow very rapidly during the first month of life and usually reach full size within six months. It takes them a few years to fully mature but they can join the Sky Knights after only a month or two.”

“Are you ready?” Isabel asked.

“I think so,” Abigail said. “I’ve pretty much gotten over my fear of heights. The first few times were tough but now I can’t wait for the next flight.”

After they ate lunch, Abigail went back to the aerie and her wyvern while Isabel spent the rest of the day working on her visualization exercise until her mind was exhausted.

***

The next several days passed quickly. Isabel focused intensely on her mental exercises. Occasionally thoughts of Alexander would intrude into her mind and distract her from her practice. She learned quickly how to refocus her mind and quiet all of the little thoughts that so routinely occupied her mind. When she became tired or frustrated with her progress, she thought of Alexander and reminded herself that she would only be able to return to him once she had survived the mana fast.

Abigail trained hard every day. The Sky Knights were skilled warriors and they had high standards for members of their elite order. Abigail poured herself into her training and drove herself harder than was expected. There were several other young riders training with her but none as driven to master the Sky Knights’ trade. She quickly outpaced them and won the respect of many of the training cadre.

When they started weapons drills, Abigail began to struggle. The javelin was the preferred weapon of the Sky Knights because it was heavy enough to penetrate armor when thrown from above and it could be thrown with one hand, leaving the other free to hold onto the wyvern’s reins. There was little danger of falling off in flight because the armor of a Sky Knight had a series of buckles and straps that connected to the saddle. Guiding the wyvern was the problem—the reins were as important on a wyvern as they were on a horse.

Abigail worked hard to master the javelin, but her slender frame simply didn’t have the strength to throw one with nearly the range or accuracy of the other Sky Knights. After a particularly frustrating practice session where she missed her target in all ten of her attack runs, some of the other trainees began to tease her. Knight Raja silenced them but not before they added salt to the wound of her failure.

Raja pulled her aside after the morning training session. “You need to work on the javelin, Abigail. You have to be able to hit your target. Otherwise, you’re just floating around above the battlefield.”

“Let me try with my bow,” Abigail said. “If I can’t make it work, I’ll double my efforts on the javelin.”

“The bow is a difficult weapon to use while riding on the back of a wyvern,” Raja said. “The javelin is a much better weapon once you learn how to use it.”

“Let me try,” Abigail said.

Knight Raja took a deep breath and nodded reluctantly. “Very well, you have the afternoon to prove that you can make your bow work. If you can’t, then you’ll focus on the javelin until you master it.”

Abigail smiled, “Agreed.”

They broke training for lunch. Abigail found Isabel and Wren when she returned to her quarters. It was a warm day with clear skies and a gentle breeze blowing across the ocean below. The big doors to the balcony were open to let in the sea air.

“Hi,” Isabel said as she entered. “How’d the javelin training go?”

“Not well,” she replied with a frown as she headed for her bedchamber. She emerged again a few moments later with her bow and quiver. “Knight Raja has agreed to let me try my bow. I hope I can make it work or I’m going to be doing javelin drills for the next several weeks.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Isabel said. “I’ve seen you shoot from horseback. I don’t know more than a handful of seasoned Rangers who can shoot as well as you do and none of them could match your bow.”

“I hope you’re right,” Abigail said. “I just can’t seem to throw a javelin with any accuracy at all.” She sat down to the lunch of thick seafood chowder, crusty bread, and green salad that Wren was setting out for them.

Wren had been a waif of a girl when they arrived but she’d started to gain a little weight since she’d been eating with Isabel and Abigail at every meal. She looked healthier and happier. Her face wasn’t as gaunt and she had better color. Isabel had grown very fond of the young woman and sometimes found herself wondering what would become of her once she and Abigail returned to Alexander.

They talked of little things while they ate. The chowder was filling and well seasoned. Once they were finished eating, Abigail strapped on her quiver.

“Mind if we come and watch?” Isabel asked.

Wren’s eyes grew bigger and she smiled with excitement. She wasn’t normally allowed on top of the plateau when the Sky Knights were training.

“Sure, maybe you’ll bring me some luck,” Abigail said.

Isabel could see the skepticism worn by the trainers as Abigail approached with her bow. She had tied it to her wrist with a lanyard to ensure that it wouldn’t fall from her grasp in flight and she strode toward them like she had something to prove.