The Guardian's Grimoire (13 page)

“Yeah. Mind controls body and spirit, to energy, to
everything, so mind controls everything.”

“Yes.”

The mind is God.

“Your mind has to make your body think the rock has
no weight.”

“How am I supposed to think the rock has no weight?”

“Be creative.”

I sighed and thought for a second, but then my arm
hurt and I set the rock down. When I did so, I remembered how a suspiciously
large number of teachers would make me hold out my arms during class until they
became unbearably sore for punishment. I picked up two of the rocks, one in
each hand, and held my arms out. My arms felt sore very quickly, just like they
had in school. From there, it was easy to ignore the feel of the smooth stone
in my hand.

“Okay.”

“I want you to imagine the rocks lifting out of your
hands. They can do that because they weigh nothing. Your mind can make them
rise if you want them to and if you can see it. Take in energy. The rocks are
physical energy, so you can move it with the nominal energy you’ve gathered.”

I felt the energy around me and gathered it before
imagining the rocks floating slowly. Five minutes passed, then ten, and then
fifteen, and I could still feel the cold, smooth stone as well as my scorching
muscles. It was frustrating and my arms were getting unbearably tired.

“Open your eyes,” Edward said.

I opened my eyes slowly, careful to keep focus on the
stones. When I opened my eyes, much of the pain in my arms vanished along with
the feeling of stone and I looked up. Both rocks were several feet above my
hands; I had felt them even when they weren’t there. And then they both
plummeted to the ground. I couldn’t tell if Edward was disappointed that I let
them fall.

“Why did it take longer than it did to control the
water?”

“It was harder?”

“Why?”

I thought really hard about it, but Edward didn’t
move a muscle as the minutes passed.

“The water took less energy. It was simpler. It was
like… The water did what I wanted it to, but the rock had to… I had to make it
do what I wanted it to. I could feel it obey more when I got frustrated.”

“Because you focused on it and wanted it more. You
learn much more quickly than the majority of the students I’ve had. You’re
right; the water does what you want it too. The four elements, compared to
other magic, seem as if they want to obey.”

“So does that mean you have to force other magic?”

“It’s subjective. For most wizards, the four elements
will always be their strength. For some, potions are their strong point, or
manipulating the mind. Some people develop their powers around a chosen career.
For example, I knew a woman who, realizing her natural talent for illusion-type
magic, honed her skills until she became the most successful assassin Duran has
ever known.”

“What happened to her?” I asked.

“She was paid to assassinate me.”

“Did you have her arrested?”

“No, I married her.” I gaped at him as he continued.
“After I decided she couldn’t change her ways, I told her to leave or I would
drag her to Canjii myself. She refused and spent the next six years
assassinating other inmates.”

“Why the hell did you marry her?”

“It was actually Ronez’s fault. He was angry at me
over something and when he found out about her, he pretended to be me and
married her under my name. I couldn’t very well tell her she was actually
married to my twin brother who lived on another world.”

Ronez sounded like a born troublemaker.

Edward gathered the three rocks into a pile. “Now
that you’ve learned to levitate an object, you can levitate anything. But do
you know what’s ironic about the rocks you levitated?” he asked.

I did; I’d already thought of it. “Rocks are part of
earth, so it should have been as easy as the water.”

His smile was unmistakable; he was pleased with how I
was keeping up. “Very good.” He stood. “You’re right, and you’re also wrong. If
these were regular rocks, it would have been; however, these are synthetic.”

I examined them and tried to be annoyed. Instead, I
found myself laughing.

When I stood to go back inside, I noticed Divina
standing about twenty feet behind us. She was just as incredibly beautiful as
before, but she wasn’t smiling, nor was she even looking at me.

“Bad news, Kiro. Mallet’s ship is down and the next
one to Anoshii isn’t for another three weeks. We’ll have to take a ship to west
Mijii.”

Edward sighed and I was sure I was going to learn a
new cuss word. I also knew Divina was only speaking in English for my benefit.
“That means we have to go through the Aradlin,” he said, his voice low with
frustration.

“What’s the Aradlin?” I asked cautiously.

“A very dangerous place.” He looked at me. “It
appears you are going to get your request granted.”

It was difficult to focus on what he was saying as
Divina approached. “Which one?”

“Were you serious about wanting to blow stuff up with
your mind?” he asked. 

“There’s no time. The ship leaves for Mijii in
roughly three hours.” Divina glanced at me before continuing. “After Mijii, it
will head to Moshi, Zendii before returning here. If you refuse to go through
the Aradlin after last time, we can probably just go to Zendii and find
transportation to Magwai.”

“Moshi to Magwai?” Edward’s face was almost pained.
“Then we would have to take a ship through the Togi and into the swamps of
Buron. We will probably get stuck, searched, robbed, and if we are very, very
lucky, not eaten. We might as well wait for Mallet to fix his ship.” Divina stopped
a few feet in front of him and bit her lip in doubt. I knew they were speaking
English for me, and I appreciated it, but all the place names blew right over
my head.

“The ship was hit by a pack of dasekikuma; it’ll be a
while before he can get it fixed up, especially while on Shomodii. Now, it is
the dry seasons, Buron may be dry.”

“Yes, but that just makes it harder to get through
the Togi. We’ll have to go through the Aradlin. Is going to Anoshii worth it?”
Edward asked.

“I can’t decide for you two, but I need to go. I’ve
needed to go for weeks now, but I haven’t gotten the chance. I can’t put it off
any longer,” Divina said.

Since I had thought of Anoshii as only a shopping
mall up until then, I wondered what could be so important.

“You’re not going through the Aradlin alone. Whatever
we do, we must go now; the kid does no good in forests.” He left for the house
and I turned to Divina, feeling like I should be insulted. Instead, I was just
confused.

She smiled at me. “Just make a list of words and put
them in a bag. Every night, have Edward draw one out and explain what it is or
means,” she said.

Edward returned a few minutes later carrying a bag
similar to the one he kept his clothes in. “Got what you need?” he asked
Divina.

She pointed over her shoulder and I realized that she
had a strange version of a backpack. It had straps similar to a backpack but
was shaped more like a tote bag, made of the same, not-quite-cloth material as
the clothes-bag.

That also brought my attention off her face and onto
her body… her clothing. Her peach-colored halter top barely covered her front
and only three straps tied them on; two around the back and one around the
neck. Her perfect skin was completely exposed on her back, except where it was
hidden by her backpack. She wore tight, black, shiny pants. Her black leather
boots reached up to her knees.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Edward asked me.

“I’m sure I don’t want to wait three weeks to see
Anoshii.” They both turned away, but I could see Divina smirk at Edward.

Divina started for the woods in the direction she had
come from, but Edward handed me the bag, picked up the three rocks, and headed
back into the house. I looked from one to the other, unsure what to do.

Divina stopped and gave me a reassuring smile. “He’s
just letting Tibbit out. Come on; he’ll catch up.”

That was all the encouragement I needed to go running
after her. When we got to the woods, we had to slow down, but I was determined
not to fall in front of her. It worked for about ten minutes. Divina pulled me
up by the back of the shirt as easily as Edward had, but I couldn’t manage to
be as upset that she was choking me.

“Are you sure Edward knows where we’ll be?” I asked
after twenty minutes of walking through the endless forest.

“He knows. It’s just outside his territory.”

“Where is your territory? Where do you live?” I
asked, hoping she wouldn’t call off a bunch of new words I didn’t know.

“I live on the outskirts of Ronus, about an hour and
a half north of Kiro’s territory. Keep in mind, I mean a don, so it is longer
than the Earth hour. Just so you know, Kiro lives on east Shomodii. Anoshii is
southeast of Shomodii. We’re going to head northwest to Mijii.”

“Oh. So how long will it take to get to Anoshii?”

“That depends. Kiro probably won’t let us even take a
rest in the Aradlin.”

“What happened there? What happened last time that
has him so edgy?”

“Well, the Aradlin is a forest full of dangerous
creatures and the land itself is very treacherous. The last time we were there,
it was with two travelers, one of which was eaten, and the other died from
being chased into a pit lined with spikes. Kiro’s arm was broken and he was
almost eaten. It bothers him most that he doesn’t know how he got out. That,
and he lost track of me and feared that he wouldn’t be able to save me.”

“How come you got out, when the super powerful
Guardian barely did.”

Her expression was almost grave. “I have the tendency
to get away alive, like Ronez did.”

I frowned. “Did you know Ronez? Were you close?” I
asked. She nodded, but quickened her pace slightly. It occurred to me that I
was upsetting her. I found that odd because Divina didn’t seem like the girl
who would be upset over death; the way she mentioned the two dead travelers was
so indifferent. On the other hand, she seemed rather close to Edward, so
perhaps she was just as close to Ronez.

After a while, I got the hang of walking through the
forest. It took about an hour before we got to the edge of the forest, and by
then I was out of breath and bent over. Finally the grass disappeared and the
ground evened out as we came upon a beach. The ocean looked identical to the
ones on Earth except for the sand color, which was slightly darker and redder
than normal sand.

There were fewer passengers than I had thought there
would be; only about thirty people. Some were socializing on the beach, but
most were already on the ship, which looked like a small version of the
Titanic. “Um… Are there any icebergs?” I asked.

“Of course,” she answered. Nothing good could come
out of me getting on that ship. “But they’re nowhere near where we’re going.”

“Does that really matter? The icebergs will come to
him.” Edward’s loud voice didn’t even get a little jump out of me as he
appeared beside Divina. He hadn’t literally appeared, but I hadn’t noticed him
walking up to us. “I got us a room down low so people will not need to pass our
door often.”

“How did you get a room? Didn’t you just get here?” I
asked.

“Kid, I could have taken a nap, read a couple of
books, had breakfast and still made it back here in time to get a room before
you got here.”

I scoffed and it just made him smirk.

“Come on.” Divina wrapped her arm around mine and I
had no choice but to follow her to the ship, not that I was about to refuse
her. She led me up a wooden platform onto the ship, which looked much bigger
from the deck than it did from the beach. It occurred to me that I could get
seasick.

Edward then took the lead and we went below the deck.
The halls were made of a simple, dark wood. Little candles were mounted about
fifteen feet apart from each other on the walls, but they didn’t appear to
melt. On the right of each candle was a sliding door with an indent for a
handle.

We finally stopped at a door and Edward slid it open.
The room was about ten-by-six with dark wood walls, which made it look smaller.
There was one bed against the wall, about three feet off the floor. The blanket
and pillow were identical to the ones on my bed, back on Shomodii. Next to the
bed was a wooden table, no bigger than an average four-person card table, and a
chair. An unlit lamp was lying on its side on the table. Against the far wall
was a two-by-two foot window with wooden shutters.

“Don’t stare. Go in,” Edward said. I did and sat on
the bed to try to stay out of the way. Divina sat next to me and Edward started
shuffling through his pack. He retrieved a pile of clothes and handed them to
me. “Get this on; you’re attracting stares.”

I looked at Divina expectantly, but she just smiled
back. “Don’t you want to leave?” I asked.

“Why? Do you have something to hide? I’ve seen what
men have.”

I just stared at her until she got up and left
without another word. Edward started shuffling through the bag again and I
quickly changed clothes.

I didn’t look right in Edward’s clothes. The
tan-colored shirt and dark brown pants seemed to clash with my skin. Not to
mention they were too big, which made me look small. Despite the size, they
were very comfortable. The shirt was a little stretchy but seemingly strong,
very soft, and light.

Edward pulled out a pair of boots identical to his
and there was no hope at all that they would fit. Still, he handed them to me
and I put them on without complaining. They fit better than I thought they
would, because the leather material was thick.

“You don’t need to wear those right now. It’s going
to be a while before we get to Mijii.”

“Can I wear my shoes in the forest since there won’t
be anyone there?”