The Last Of The Wilds (49 page)

Mirar felt a twinge of surprise. She had found another lover? He struggled to hold back a feeling of jealousy.
No
, he told himself.
Accept it
. He examined the feeling then pushed it aside.
Better that she is happy. Better that I am not making her miserable, anyway
.

Then he realized that she might not have been referring to a lover at all. She might simply have meant her heart was for the gods. There was one way to find out…

:I
hope he is worthy of you
, he said.

A wave of embarrassment came from her. He smiled; he had guessed correctly.

He was only sensing embarrassment, however. She ought to be betraying some feeling of happiness or joy. She wasn’t.
It won’t last
, he found himself thinking with satisfaction. This time he did quash his feelings. It was time to direct their attention elsewhere.

c can be used in healing in many ways, he told her.
Dreamweavers divide these into three levels of difficulty. The first level is the simplest: the use of magic to hold or heat or move. The second uses the same Gifts but in more challenging situations as well as using magic to boost a body’s strength. The third is so difficult it requires great concentration and a sure knowledge and experience of all processes of the body. It enables a Dreamweaver to influence tissue within a body to a degree of detail where flesh and bone may be realigned and persuaded to heal immediately
.

Mirar paused. No feeling of confusion came from Auraya, so he continued on.

t I will try to teach you is a step beyond the third level. It does not require drawing a great deal of magic, or even gaining a great knowledge and experience of bodily systems. What it requires is a mind capable of sensing and understanding the body from the finest detail to the greater whole. Once you understand, you can influence.

He guided one of her hands down to the Siyee, setting it upon the man’s chest.

.

To show her he had to lower the shield around his mind that prevented her seeing his thoughts. He took care to let it fall only while he was concentrating on healing, opening and closing the shield like a shutter and passing what he saw and did to Auraya in images and ideas.

The man’s body filled his awareness. The damage within it, and the effect it was having on the whole, was obvious. He detected something out of place—the tiny but dangerous life that should not be there, and he communicated all that he sensed to her.

w you.

She did not send what she was perceiving to him. For a long time she was silent, then he felt a thrill of excitement from her.

:I
see it! I can see the disease! Show me how to kill it
.

He concentrated on the man again, showing her how to focus magic in a way that killed the intruding malaise but did not harm the body. Now he saw her actions by watching the effect she had on the Siyee. He was surprised and pleased to see that she had understood everything he had told her.

Her attack was not ordered, however, and he found himself demonstrating how to work systematically through the body so she left no trace of the disease alive. They began working together, each responding to complement or support the other’s actions. It was like a dance. It was exhilarating.

She does this naturally,
he thought suddenly.
It is like an innate Gift. She must be Gifted enough to become immortal without the gods’ assistance.
The thought of what they could have been sent a thrill through him. Immortal lovers…
But that’s not going to happen. It would make her an enemy of the gods she loves. And I am the hated Mirar. Even if she could forgive the deception…

She was engrossed in the healing. He let her continue alone while he watched. Since this healing method was new to her, she could not be using it to stop herself aging. Perhaps the gods, through the ring she wore, were keeping her from aging without her being conscious of how it was done.

I wonder how long it will be before she makes the connection
, he wondered.
Is that why the gods do not teach the White to heat?

e disease is gone! she said.

He examined the Siyee closely.

s, he told her.

t was… easier than I thought. This way you have of sensing the body is… amazing. And logical. I cannot understand why I have never done this before. But… this man is still dying.

Yes, there is more to do.

He led her attention back into the Siyee’s body. Taking energy from stores of fat, he used them to help speed the regrowth of lung tissue. She followed suit. With the lungs restored, the blood began to improve and then the strength of the heart. Circulation enlivened, the fingers, toes and other extremities warmed. He could sense Auraya’s amazement and joy.

Finally he moved to the man’s hand. A finger had been broken and badly set long ago. Mirar carefully straightened it, shuffling the fibers of the bone into new positions. The amazement he sensed from Auraya changed into a bright excitement.

u could heal anything this way, she said.
You could give sight to a man who had been blind all his life. You could restore a cripple. You could revive a dead man
.

, but with the last it must be immediate. Memory deteriorates within minutes of death and cannot be restored.

n I heal myself the same way?

f course, he told her. He needed to steer her away from this chain of thought.
You’ve learned exceptionally fast and well
.

u thought this would take longer.

:I did. As always, you‘ve exceeded expectations. If only all my students learned so quickly.

f that is all I need to know, then I should return to the Temple Mountain tribe immediately. There are many there who may die tonight if I do not bring them this healing.

Then I won’t delay you any longer.

Their hands parted and the sense of her presence vanished. Opening his eyes, he found her looking at him, smiling broadly. He felt his heart skip a beat and quickly looked down at the Siyee.

“Thank you, Leiard. Every life I save with this Gift will be a life you have saved.”

He glanced up at her. “Don’t go telling the gods that. They can be unpleasant to be around when jealous.”

She opened her mouth to reply, then her eyes dropped to the Siyee.

“He’s awake.”

Mirar looked down at the man, who was regarding them curiously.

“Good evening,” he said. “Auraya and I have cured you, but you will have to live in the first bower until the rest of the village is well. You will be tired for a day or two. Sleep and regain your strength.”

The man nodded weakly and closed his eyes again.

Auraya climbed to her feet. “I’ll help you carry our friend here back into the bower, then I must go.”

Together they lifted the man and carried him to the bower of cured Siyee. Auraya stepped outside again. Standing in the entrance, Mirar watched as she walked a little way from the bowers. She smiled at him once, then rose up into the air and disappeared into the night.

He sighed. She had started to see the potential in the Gift within moments of learning it. It would not be long before she returned with questions.

Imenja’s ship was bigger than the raiders.’ It was a different shape, too. Reivan had explained to Imi that this ship had been built with a narrow hull so it would travel fast. Most ships were used to carry things to trade with, so they had wider hulls in which to store goods. This ship only had to carry them, a crew, and their supplies.

The entire ship was made of a black wood from a place in the southernmost part of the southern continent. The star shape that Imenja and Reivan wore had been painted in white on the hull. The sails were also black with a white star. Imi could imagine how formidable this large, narrow vessel would look to traders and raiders. She almost wished they would encounter the raiders that had captured her. Maybe Imenja would punish them with her magic.

Where there had been a large hole in the deck of the raider ship to allow access to stolen goods stored in the hull below, Imenja’s ship had a shallow depression which created a sort of low sitting area, covered by a kind of tent. There Imi, Imenja and Reivan slept or sheltered whenever it rained. The rest of the time they sat on deck and tried to keep out of the way of the crew. Imi had been inside the hull a few times. There was a bucket down there for bailing out water, but the ship was so well made it didn’t leak much. The time she’d spent in the raiders’ ship felt like a distant memory or a story she’d been told, though she occasionally had nightmares about it.

The hull was full of stores. It was half as full as it had been when they had set out a few months before. The food they ate was far better than what she’d been given as a prisoner, but not as good as what she’d enjoyed in the Sanctuary. Tonight the meat they had eaten had been too salty and there had been only dried fruit and nuts to go with it. She found herself daydreaming of dried sea grass rolled around fresh crawler meat and smiled at herself for craving what she had once considered boring food.

A crewman was clearing away the plates and utensils now. Imi looked up to see Imenja unrolling a large map. She had seen it before many times, but it always intrigued her. It was the way the world looked to a Siyee, yet it was useful to landwalkers.

The captain unrolled his own maps, which were covered in lines that made no sense to Imi, and weighed them down with various objects. Lamps within the tent swung back and forth to the swaying of the ship, throwing moving shadows over everything. The captain pointed to a place on his map, then to one on Imenja’s, and spoke.

Reivan glanced at Imi, then translated. “He says we’re about here, far enough from shore that we can no longer see it from the mast.”

“Could a boat be rowed to shore from here?” Imi asked the captain, with Reivan translating quietly.

“Yes, but it would take many hours. Worse if there are currents against us.”

“What is the risk of being seen?”

“Always high during the day.”

“And at night?” Reivan asked.

“The moon is near full,” he reminded them. “We won’t be able to see if there are any reefs closer to shore, either.”

“You don’t have to take me all the way in,” Imi told him as soon as Reivan had finished translating. “I can swim some of the way.”

They turned to regard her, each wearing a frown.

“Are you strong enough for that?” Reivan asked.

The captain said something in a warning voice.

“He says there might be sea predators. Spinerakes, which I think you call flarkes.”

Imi felt a rush of fear, but she straightened her back. “The only really dangerous sea creatures are flarkes and they like smaller prey. They’ll only attack people that are hurt, or if there’s no other food. If the Siyee see you they’ll try to kill you. That’s more of a risk for you than this is for me.”

As Reivan translated Imi’s words, the captain smiled crookedly. He looked at Imi with what she thought might be admiration.

“We have to hope there are Siyee on shore to find,” Reivan said.

“I only have to swim along it to find them. Getting back to you will be harder. How will I find you if the ship and the boat can’t be seen from shore?”

Imenja and Reivan exchanged a glance.

“We must agree on a time and place,” Reivan said. “We take Imi toward shore in the morning and pick her up at night.”

“How will I find you in the dark?” Imi asked, shivering as she considered what it would be like swimming in darkness. “I’d rather swim during the daylight.”

Imenja smiled. “Then we’ll take you at dawn and pick you up in the late afternoon instead,” she said. “If you don’t find Siyee that day, we’ll sail farther west the day after and try again.”

Imi nodded. “That will work.”

Reivan translated this for the captain, who nodded. He turned to a crewman waiting nearby and spoke. The man disappeared, then returned carrying a flask and some small, duck glasses. Imi struggled to stop herself grimacing. The drink served at the end of formal meals was too strong and sour for her, but she always made herself sip it for fear of causing offense. It did make her pleasantly sleepy, however, which was better than tossing and turning in the “tank” bed they had made for her in the hull. The tank kept her wet, but it wasn’t easy to relax in water that constantly moved with the ship.

Tonight she probably would lie awake, despite the drink, thinking of the adventure ahead. Would there be any Siyee on shore? Would they help her?

And what will we do if they don’t know where Borra is?

As Juran opened the door to his rooms, Dyara felt instantly on edge. Though he looked calm, there were lines on his face that only appeared when he was in great distress. He stepped aside and gestured for her to enter, saying nothing. Rian and Mairae were already there. Both looked bemused.

Sitting down, she waited as Juran paced the room slowly, clearly gathering his thoughts. She knew him better than the other White, but that was to be expected. They had worked together for seventy-six years. Every sign of his agitation worried her more, and it took all her self-control not to demand he hurry up and tell them what was bothering him.

“For the last few months Huan and I have been watching a… a certain individual,” he began. “We have been waiting for a sign that our suspicions about him are right, or not. Tonight we found that they were.”

“Who is this person?” Dyara asked.

Juran stopped pacing and looked at her. He took a deep breath and his expression hardened. “The man we have been watching is Mirar.”

Dyara stared at Juran in disbelief. The room was silent for several heartbeats.

“He’s dead,” Rian stated.

Juran shook his head slowly. “He isn’t. I do not know how it can be true, but it is.”

“You’re certain of this?” Dyara asked.