1618686836 (F) (29 page)

"I don't feel right about that. Shouldn't we tell Quinn we have the book at least? We've been waiting to get our hands on this for so long."

"No. She's already got enough burden on her shoulders. I don't want to frighten her any more. I don't know what this book is going to say and, between you and me, there isn't a lot they know about the empath compared to the other gifted."

"Okay. You...you know better I suppose."

"Maertn, you're her best friend, and I respect your opinion about her. I beat down on Eden for hiding the deaths from her, but sometimes, some secrets are meant to be kept. We won't hide this from her forever. We'll just make sure there's nothing in there that's going to make her want to run away again. Agreed?"

Maertn nodded, though it was clear he was unhappy at their little deception. Ross gave him a reassuring nod, and started reading from the text.

"Just so you know, lad, I haven't read this either. Best we just read it all the way through the once, then examine it after, okay?" Maertn nodded again. "Good. Right. Here we go."

Ross was glad for the knife. His palms started sweating straight away. "
We have one child in our midst. He appears to be empathic. We already know this ability is rare, and there are no others, and very few documents, for me to draw on how to watch this child. We therefore need to examine him more closely than the others, and make sure he speaks to us constantly about what he is feeling, to ensure we see as early as possible any changes in his nature.

We have to be careful with him at all times. He is fearful of crowds. In his eighth year currently, he cannot cope with the various emotions that appear to assault him from all angles. In its early stages, we know, the empath cannot filter what they see or feel. Every emotion is known to them.

The isolation seems to do him well. He is a happy child. He interacts with one or two that we send to him. He seems to have a natural affinity with healers of both genders. This is perhaps cause for greater and lengthier study, though as it is not clear how this is linked to the gifts, it is not a cause for concern in this volume.

We have asked him to begin writing down how he feels regarding certain emotions. These are too lengthy to be included in this volume. They have been noted and are in the separate volume “
Empathic Instincts
.”
Have you ever seen Sammah looking at this other volume?"

"I wouldn't even know what the volume looks like. Sorry, Ross."

"No, it's okay. Without you, we wouldn't even know he had this text. We're lucky he panicked. I can't think of any other reason he would have let you know it existed."

"Well he didn't let me know, really. I just assumed it had something to do with Quinn."

"That would be your healer brain at work, Maertn. Don't underestimate what you can do. I'll translate all of the healer section for you, when we know what Quinn is about."

"Thank you Ross, that means a lot. I'm not the important one now, though. Go on. I'm sure Quinn can tell us what she feels anyway, when she feels certain things."

"I know I know, it's just that she's only been taught by Sammah; she could find out so much more on her own if she just had access to that other text. Okay, I'm sorry, let's go on.”

The empath does not seem to change in ability at all until he reaches full maturity. In this case, being eighteen winters of age. After a crowd trauma, he fell in to a deep unconsciousness. Only the work of both of our healers, now fully mature and confident in their talents, brought him out of this latest malaise. Here within what they found when they looked in to the mind of the collapsed empath, in their own words: "His mind was dark and solid. Before, we have been able to push away any illness found there. Similar to other folk that have fallen ill inside the head, either through falls or other such head injuries. This time, we met a lot of resistance. The sickness had to be melted, before it could be pushed away. It took all of our strength to be able to do this; we felt incredibly drained after, though the empath himself has no apparent lasting illness, nor any recollection of falling ill, or feeling any pain." After this, our empath has appeared changed.

Like mature empaths in our past, he is now able to choose whose emotions to explore. He is able to feel the sensation of the emotions more deeply, and therefore is able to read them with more accuracy. Moreover, it appears that when the empath now comes in direct bodily contact with a subject, that emotion is yet more intensified. Positive emotions felt in this way leave him with euphoric joy. Negative emotions sourced directly, such as anger, especially when directed completely at the empath, have left him bedridden for days.

“This is what happened to Quinn, isn't it? Did you feel drained after you healed her?"

"No sir. I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, to be honest. I'm not sure Sammah really knew either. He was obviously just reading from the book and hoping I could do what it said."

"But do you realise the implications, Maertn? Two healers in this book completed that healing. Afterwards, they were exhausted. That means that you are more powerful than they were. The power of the healer has grown."

"Do you know how they could do that?"

Ross thought of the selective breeding throughout Sha'sek; even the men and women that had been imprisoned against their will, forced to produce gifted children, before strict laws were brought in to place. Not that that stopped anybody. "I have ideas. I'm not certain, though. We'd need to consult with scholars in Sha'sek itself to be sure. I don't know how many healers they have left, or how powerful they are."

"Would any of them have done the same thing?"

Ross shook his head. "Someone must have, but I don't think we would be able to find them. This stage, where the empath is pulled through by a healer, seems to be a common thing. As if they have to use a healer to be able to break out of a cocoon and realise the rest of their power."

"What else does it say? We know Quinn is already that powerful."

"Here. Let me see.

In the days following this healing, the empath started experiencing varying symptoms. He expressed to me a great feeling of pain in his mind. The healers are unable to see this. Where he has previously been unable to sense anything I have thought or felt, now making an enquiry on my emotions causes a great burning pain in his chest and on his skin. A healer had to attend to him the first time this happened, and his scream is of the like that I have never heard before. This is curious; for I have never heard of an empath before being able to sense anything from an apath.

Despite my love for the boy, I have felt compelled therefore to keep forcing him to sense emotion from me. I have kept these emotions positive at all times, trying to express to him the love I have built up to him in the bonds of family. He is a young man still though, and perhaps resentful of the pain this is causing him. He perseveres, and each time the pain has become greater, with much letting of blood from his mouth, nose and ears, when he makes such strains on himself. Fearing for his health, I have stopped this treatment.

It has been a year since I have last asked him to make enquiry of me. He now feels healthy, in full control of his will and his being. We have discussed the possibility of him again making enquiry of me. We have agreed, that healers will attend to him, and we will do this thing tonight.

My emotions are mixed, and they are heavy. We had success, unlike anything I have been able to describe before. He did it! He felt my love. I could see it on his face. He reached out to me, perhaps to acknowledge this. But in doing so, when we made contact, I caused him a greater pain than I ever have before. I will never forget his voice, which broke in his throat, such was the volume. Blood spewed forth from his mouth and from his nose. He was dead before the minute was out. I have caused this death on my own. It is clear to me, that an empath and an apath should never be allowed to meet physically.
"

Ross sat back, feeling slightly numb at the implications of the text. He had no doubt now that Sammah was the descendant of the Sammen that had completed these experiments. The text didn't end there, either. There was fresher ink, in a newer hand, and it was very similar to that of Sammah himself. Was Sammah going to continue these experiments on Quinn? Is that why he also needed Maertn?

"What is an apath, Ross?"

Ross stood away from the table, his hands shaking. He poured himself two more tankards of ale, swallowing them down before he could turn to Maertn and ask what should have been such a simple question. "An apath, in every single way, is the opposite of an empath. Where an empath can feel the emotions of others, an apath feels none. They have no sensitivity to the concerns and cares of others. They are therefore very logical and detached. This is why Sammen was able to carry on his research on this empath."

"But you read that he loves. How can he love if he doesn't feel emotion?"

"How many times has Sammah claimed to love both you, and Quinn?"

"Many but...are you saying Sammah is one of these? He's an apath?"

Ross nodded. "Sammen is his ancestor, I am sure of it more now than ever, because I know beyond doubt that Sammah is an apath. They are not as rare as empaths, and their abilities often lead them to careers in court. You can imagine how not becoming overcome with emotion can come as a great benefit. But spending time around normal people makes you believe you have an understanding of the way they work. Sammah has studied emotion, therefore he believes he knows what love should feel like. He has never experienced it, but he knows it is something that is expected between a father and a child. Therefore he tells you and Quinn, that he loves you. He doesn't. He's just expressing something he knows he should feel."

"Oh. Well, that changes a lot of things, doesn't it? Here, do you think Sammah picked me to be an orphan, just because he had found Quinn?"

"I think as soon as he found an empath, reading this, he knew he had to find a healer. It seems almost certain that Quinn would have died if you had not been around to heal her."

Despite himself, Maertn bristled with pride. He alone had healed someone in a manner that, in the past, had taken two of his kind. And he hadn't been taught. What more was there for him to learn? What could that book tell him about himself, that Sammah had so far kept secret? What more did it tell them about Quinn? "You said there had been one other empath recently. I've heard about the war, but we don't hear about him. What happened to him? They seem important, to Sammah at least. And if he knows this much about the gifted," Maertn waved at the book "he should have a very good reason for wanting to keep a hold of Quinn."

"You'll only hear about him for the asking. Neither side really wants to admit to the existence of Baron Talin."

"Another baron? Is Sha'sek full of them?"

"Sort of. You'll find out if you ever go. Every family that rules a city state earns the title; every man in that family will also carry that title. So whilst Sammah is not the ruler of a state, the fact his brother is, means that Sammah, too, earns that moniker. Baron Sammen, who started this research, was a ruler in his own right. That might explain some of the grudges our own Sammah holds to the world in general. That, and his apath tendencies. All he sees is a logical past, and a future that should have been his. He is therefore taking the steps required to secure that future again. And he is using this research to forge a way forward."

"What else does it say?"

Ross started tracing his fingers across Sammah's words. He explained to Maertn "This is not all from Sammen. Sammah has been doing his own research, filling in some blanks that have been left. It seems that Quinn has been causing him some surprises. I haven't read everything yet about the healers; it seems that you, too, are exceeding expectations. The suggestion that powers become stronger over generations might have some credence after all. Here.

Over the years I had thought my empath was the same as Samman's; indeed she had been showing the same lines of growth and the same tendencies, feeling the same range of emotions and in the same way. However, it appears that her power has matured some distance before her eighteenth year. This may be an indicator of greater power, or perhaps an inaccuracy in dating her birth. I suspect more of the latter.

Her healing was flawless and by an untutored healer. He must be sent to Sha'sek for either study or enhancement. He would be worth his weight in gold in mating fees.
" Ross blushed; so did Maertn. Maertn didn't ask what that meant. The meaning of the text was clear enough. "
My studies of Nerren, in its own volume, go well alongside the development of Quinn
. Another text? Any idea what this might mean?" Maertn had no idea. Most of Sammah's books and scrolls were alien to him. "Of course, my apologies. Remind me to start teaching you Sha'sek script after this."

"If we survive this." Maertn muttered.

"Indeed. Here. There's not much left.

I am going to force Quinn through the final stages of her maturity. In the same way that this caused death to previous empaths, I believe that she will follow the path of Nerren, the most likely candidate for her patronage, and survive. Like Nerren, I believe she will show the ability to manipulate emotion. She has already shown vulnerability to my powers, however unlike previously, this has only resulted in pain, and not in the loss of bodily fluid. Whilst I expose myself to her reading after this point, she will be sufficiently bent to my will that she will not have a choice but to cede to my wishes.