Son of Soron (23 page)

When the soft morning sun started to rise in the east Nathan finally got a good look at the dead vrabers that had attacked during the night. The description of a wolf crossed with a lizard was not far off. The murderous beasts were a combination of gold and black color with a hide that resembled scales. The mouths were short and wide, the mouths full of razor like teeth. The eyes were sunk back into the head and the ears were tiny, not a pretty creature at all. The bodies of the beast stank. The smell bothered the horses; he would have to do something with the bodies soon if they were to stay here.

Done with his inspection of the dead creatures Nathan started sorting through the packs of supplies Theron had sent with them. He started to boil some water to make soup. When Verin awoke, he would need to replenish his fluids and gain strength. A good soup was an excellent way of doing this. Once he had the soup started, Nathan checked on the horses then began walking around the area of their camp. Looking to see if he recognized any plants that would help Verin heal quicker.

After an hour, Nathan found some bai cacti. He had never seen the plant before but from his mother’s lessons, he recalled the distinct purple and pink flowers that protruded from the prickly plant. The cacti were very fibrous and good at retaining moisture. Chunks of the cacti in the soup would help the body retain water. Nathan chopped up a few pieces of the bai cacti and returned to the camp. Once he finished adding the cacti pieces to the soup, Nathan sat down and quickly fell asleep. Exhaustion had finally over taken him.

When Nathan awoke a few hours later, Verin was awake but not moving much. He still seemed weak but at the least was now fully coherent. “I’ve been awake for almost an hour now but too weak to get up and get some of that soup that’s being cruelly teasing my nose. I don’t suppose you would mind handing me a bowl.” Nathan smiled, Verin might be weak, but his sense of humor had not disappeared. The soup was nourishing but with the healing herbs he had put into it the smell and taste was rather awful. Once he had finished the bowl of soup Verin weakly thanked Nathan and went back to sleep.

Nathan assessed the situation. Verin would be too weak to travel for at least a day or two as his body recuperated from the loss of blood. As long as he didn’t catch a fever he would start recovering soon. After that, he would be fine but for at least another day he would need plenty of sleep, and drink lots of water and eat more soup.

Since he was going to be there for a while, Nathan decided it was time to do something with the vraber bodies. The vraber hide was incredibly tough. The one he had slashed several times showed almost no damage, only small marks where the blade had passed across its chest, nowhere deep enough to penetrate the tough hide. If he could find a way to skin the beasts he could definitely use the hides for something. Going through Verin’s gear, Nathan found his skinning knife, a small curved blade tool.

Taking the skinning knife, Nathan went to work on the first animal body. Nathan found that while the hide was incredibly tough where the scales of thick hide were, the chest back and neck, the areas around the belly and legs were thinner. Even these thin areas were extremely tough but with a lot of work Nathan was able to remove the hides. As he finished Nathan took the carcasses far away from the camp so the scent of blood would not linger and bother the horses. Finished with that unpleasant task, Nathan made a small stand to hold the hides. Once they were secure, he scraped clean the insides of the hides. Once the hides were cleaned Nathan crushed some alber elm bark into a paste he applied this to the skins then left them to dry.

Nathan checked on the sleeping Verin. His wounds were healing nicely with no signs of infection, or fever and some of the color was returning. Verin would likely be on his feet again soon. When Nathan cooked supper that night Verin awoke and got himself up to eat without any assistance. He would be weaker than normal for a while but Verin was ready to travel once again.

Chapter thirty one

WHEN MORNING CAME, Nathan loaded his vraber hides onto one of the pack horses and finished reloading the rest of their gear. After a quick breakfast, they were once again riding their way east towards the mysterious ingla mage that his grandfather, King Theron had sent them to see.

At first they almost missed the mage's dwelling. Theron had described a cave near the bottom of a steep mountain of dark red rock beyond the third creek to the east. Finding the mountain had been easy enough. But the entrance to the cave was well hidden by an overlap in the rock and a few bushes in front of the opening. They had ridden past it twice before Verin noticed the way the rocks overlapped and moved closer to find the cave entrance.

Making a small torch, they carefully entered the cave. While the entrance to the cave was a narrow and dark tunnel, after about fifteen feet they began to see light. Soon the tunnel opened into a large main cavern. The cavern was a surprisingly comfortable looking dwelling. Furs covered a large part of the floor and glowing rocks gave off a strange warm light that filled the space. In the middle of the cavern at a large table sat an old man. The old man was reading a parchment and hadn’t even bothered to look up at them

“Well don’t just stand there looking like idiots. Put out your torch and pull up a chair Stoneblood. “Nathan, surprised by this greeting, did as he was bid. He took one of the two chairs across the table from the old ingla mage. Finally, the mage looked up and examined Nathan. “You are too young to be Verin’s boy, his grandson perhaps?” Nathan nodded, curious as to how the old man knew that he was a Stoneblood.

”I could tell you are Stoneblood by your magical aura; it is similar to that of your grandfather… only much stronger. Your father must have married someone with a strong magical presence.” The mage took in Nathan’s blue eyes and then looked over at Verin. “Judging by your blue eyes and the look of your companion, he married a southerner. Baltan if I am not mistaken, strong ingla bloodlines in Balta.”

“Yes sir, my name is Nathan Stoneblood, son of Soron Stoneblood, son of Theron Stoneblood. My mother Velaina Stoneblood was born in Balta and this is my uncle Verin Albet.”

The old mage gave a small smile. “Greetings Nathan Stoneblood and Verin Albet, my name is Amaden Blugroson. What can I do for you?”

Nathan appreciated the old mage's warm, friendly greeting. “Grandfather told us to come here. He said that you would have an idea of what type of magic I am capable of and help me to understand some of my power.”

The mage got up from his chair and walked around the table. He took both of Nathan’s hands in his own, examined both sides then let go, then he examined Nathan all over before placing one hand on Nathan’s chest. He closed his eyes and stood like that for a minute. Without a word he removed his hand, went back around the table and sat down again.

“It is good that Theron Stoneblood sent you to me. He is partly correct, I can tell you some about the innate magic you possess, but magic, like any other skill, can be learned, strengthened and honed. So what magic you can perform in time will only come from what you learn and practice.” Amaden paused a moment to study Nathan before continuing, “I can teach you about being a’kil, and how magic affects you and the world around you. First, we need to each lunch. From the looks of him your our uncle is still weak from his wounds and could use some rest.” The mage looked at Verin, “Forgive me for looking into your mind. I needed to know your intentions towards young Nathan here. Even in Balta there are those who frown upon the a’kil.” The mage touched his bony fingertips to Verin's forehead.

Verin gave a weary smile, “Theron Stoneblood trusts you, it is enough for me, and it’s not the first time a mage has snooped around in my mind.” Verin knew a lot about mages. Magic was much more common in Balta, and he had some training in how to shield his mind from such invasions but had chosen to allow the mage to look into his mind. Verin had nothing to hide.

As they ate a stew that Amaden had already been cooking, Nathan took the time to study the old mage.  A gray and white beard covered a pale and wrinkled face. He possessed bright green eyes with a twinkle that made guessing his age very difficult. As Nathan tried to figure out the mages age, Amaden interrupted his chain of thought. “How long have you been connected with the stallion?”

Nathan thought back over the last few days of travel and the time spent in Amradin. It seemed to him the time had flown faster than possible. “I first laid eyes on Thorn a week ago.”

Amaden nodded, “That makes sense. The bond between you two is still somewhat weak. As you spend more time with the animal the bond between you will grow.” Nathan understood that he had a bond with Thorn, but he still didn’t understand how it worked, so he asked Amaden about it.

“There is no easy way to explain magic. It is something like the energy within all living things yet magic can also be in none living things as well, stored like energy. The glowing rocks that give off the light in this room are an example of that. In your case, the magic within you has an attraction to the magic within your horse, Thorn. It creates a special connection between your minds. You will be able to feel its emotions while it can also feel yours and understand your wants. You will be able to tell where each other is even over long distances and be able to find each other. You will not likely have a connection like this with another animal, it is hard to say. Some with this ability only connect with one beast, others with several, but if you have strong feelings for another person, it is likely that a bond can develop. I actually sense that you have already started to form this bond. Eventually you will be able to talk to that person through your minds if the bond becomes strong enough, but that is a dangerous thing and you shouldn’t try it without the training of a master. You also have a very strong bond with the earth. From your hands, I would say you have taken on the family trade and are a blacksmith. I would guess that smithing comes easy for you. Am I correct?”

Nathan told him that he was correct.

Amaden continued his explanation of magic to Nathan. “The earth bond is very powerful. It opens the door to many different types of magic. With training, you will be able to potentially call upon the elements. At the least learning runes and imbuing jewels will be within your powers.”

With the mention of jewels, Nathan opened up the pouch of gems his grandfather had given him. “Theron said to show you these."

Amaden inspected the gems. “Ah, these are perfect, but we will get to imbuing another day. Today, we will work on your connection with Thorn. Verin, would you please go outside and untie Thorn." Amaden waited for Verin to return before giving his next command. “Nathan, tell Thorn to go for a run. Don’t specify a direction just tell him to go fast.”

Nathan focused on Thorn and told him to go for a fast run in any direction.

“Now I don’t want you to communicate with Thorn, but just feel where Thorn is.” After a few minutes, Amaden continued, “Tell me which direction Thorn is going right now.”

Nathan was focused on Thorn and could tell which way the animal was headed; he turned and pointed out towards the northeast.

Amaden smiled, Nathan was picking up things very quickly. “Excellent, now how far away is Thorn?”

This took Nathan a while but once he focused just on Thorn’s location he was able to feel the stallion moving away from him. “He is about half a mile away and getting farther away. He turned and is heading more towards the east now.”

Amaden clapped his hands together. “Excellent young Stoneblood, you will now always be able to tell which direction Thorn is from you. Over longer distances, you will not be as precise but still you will have a scope of the range between you and if it getting smaller or larger. Enough talk about magic for one day, tell me how my old friend Theron is doing.”

Nathan was pleased by the first lessons he was receiving but at the same time was disappointed the day's lessons were already finished. He would have stayed up all night to continue learning from the old mage. He thought to himself this was well worth the dangerous trip, as they chatted about his grandfather and the events in Amradin.

The next few days were a bit of a letdown for Nathan. Amaden did not spend a lot of time talking about magic. Instead, he would have Nathan do breathing exercises like his father had done. Sometimes they just did stretches or went for walks.  Nathan was ready for more magic. Finally, he could not help himself, he asked, “Why are we just walking and stretching? I thought you were teaching me about magic?” Nathan and Verin had been there a week, and other than working on his bond with Thorn, they had not done much new.

“Magic is not for the impatient. You are still young and need to understand that magic can be dangerous.  I needed to be sure you had the right temperament before I shared more. But you are correct. It is time that we did more work.” Amaden signaled Nathan to follow him. “Your patience lasted longer than I thought it would, but you could have waited a little more young man. Patience is a power unto itself.”

Amaden walked to a small shelf and grabbed a bowl and a small knife. He returned to Nathan and ordered him to hold out his arm. “I shall require a measure of your blood, son of Soron.”

Nathan held out his arm. I hope the knife is sharp and quick he thought. He steeled himself to show no emotion or fear.

The old mage made a small cut on Nathan’s arm. Letting the blood drip into the bowl, he then selected a small rock up off the ground. As he put the rock into the bowl of blood he spoke to Nathan. “Like your connection with Thorn, you also have a connection to the earth. While the earth can’t talk to you it does hold a strong magic. Even this small rock contains it, but it is inert. Only by soaking it in your magic filled blood do you gain the ability to use its power. Put the rock in your hand. Focus on the rock. Imagine it is as heavy as one the size of your head. Keep focusing on that idea until the rock actually does feel that heavy.”