Gorinthians (19 page)

“
How
does
yara
translate to making all of this happen though?” Celdic asked,
hoping that it made more sense than the rest of this
had.

“
Yara
is just an energy source.”
Terrance said patiently, “It is energy in one of its rawest forms.
We take
yara
and
guide it with our
yar
, almost like tuning an instrument, until each strand
of
yara
that we
are channeling is converted to a frequency that we want to affect
other matter with. Take water for instance. If we wanted to create
water in front of us, we would need to find the right frequency for
making a hydrogen atom become attracted, or bonded, to a pair of
oxygen atoms.” Terrance paused, “You do know what atoms are, don’t
you?”

Celdic nodded doubtfully.
Tarya Henders had not been very good at teaching physics. Celdic
had usually gone home more confused than enlightened at the end of
a day in Tarya Henders class.

“
Good.”
Terrance said, looking at Celdic with a knowing expression. “These
concepts can be very hard to understand for someone that has not
been able to use their
yar
. It will make more sense to you
as you begin using your
yar
more. At any rate, the basis for creating other
objects is in learning to take the elements around you and
reconstruct them to form what you want. The frequencies that you
use to connect them are nothing more than the glue that holds the
binding of a book together.”

Celdic nodded with sudden
understanding. It sounded like he just needed to memorize a lot of
frequencies.

“
Understanding how to make a certain object will become second
nature to you, once you become used to using your
yar
.” Terrance assured
him, as if he had read his mind. “It is more of playing it by feel
than memorizing a list of formula’s. Let’s go ahead and spend a
couple of hours connecting to
yara
before we go back. You should be able to connect
to it on your own before we leave for the day.”

Celdic spent the rest of
the day reaching down into the ground with his
yar
trying to create the siphon that
Terrance had created. He kept pulling to hard at first, and the
connection would snap back into the main body of
yara
without flowing
toward him. It took several hours before he was able to pull a
steady flow of
yara
toward himself. Terrance was watching him tensely, ready to
intercede if he appeared on the verge of losing control. Celdic
directed the flow of
yara
into the ground just as he remembered Terrance
doing through him before. At first he just sent the energy back
into the ground, trying to familiarize himself with the flow
of
yara
. After a
few minutes of steady flow, he tried changing the frequency on the
stream of
yara
surging through him. It was easier than he had thought it
would be. All it required was imagining the flow getting tighter,
or higher pitched, and it followed his thought. After a half hour
of playing with the different frequencies, he bent the conduit
of
yara
back into
the main body of
yara
, and slowly shrunk the conduit until it
disappeared.

Looking up, he saw Terrance
smiling with pride in his eyes. “Very good, Celdic. Very well done
indeed. Now let’s go eat.”

Chapter 11

Lendel stretched again,
feeling like he had slept for a week. When he awoke in a simple
bedroom, he did not know where he was. He thought that he had been
drugged at first, feeling a euphoric elation that made his skin
tingle slightly and eased the cares of his troubled mind. Leaving
the room, he found Selindria in a sitting room reading a book she
had found somewhere. Lendel just stared at her when he saw her. She
was dressed in a white, full-length skirt with a white blouse that
hugged her bodice tightly. Her midnight black hair spilled over her
shoulders, shining in the sunlight. He had never seen her dressed
in anything but black. For the first time in his life, he realized
Selindria was breathtakingly beautiful, a thought that made him
blush. She smiled when she saw him, relief in her lavender eyes.
She explained where they were and why he felt the way he did. He
could only shake his head in wonder. Small bubbles of space that
existed outside of the physical world, webs that created a harmonic
vibration that brought tranquility to humans, and this man Terrance
that had created it all.

Lendel was glad to leave
Lochnar behind. When Lendel and Celdic were still at the Tar Ri’
San , they were among the best in hand-to-hand combat, with Li and
Cha'le not far behind. The way that Lochnar had trussed them around
with almost no effort had shaken him deeply. Some of the Guardians
said that people from outside Chasel Ri’ Aven did not learn to
fight as part of their education the way the Avenry did. Lendel had
left the mountain city with a confidence that they would be able to
handle whatever problems came their way. Meeting Lochnar had
abruptly and violently disabused him of that notion. There were
obviously more dangerous people out there than the Guardians were
aware of.

Making his way over to the
door, Lendel noticed the walls appeared to have veins running
through them. Just one more peculiarity about this place, he
thought without too much interest. He stepped through the front
door to look over the clearing that surrounded the cottage and
noticed that everything, from the trees surrounding the clearing to
each rock that looked to be sculpted from the earth itself, seemed
very precise in its placement. The Rajan Gardeners would have loved
to see such an extraordinary display of botanic talent. Lendel
walked over to a small arch of ground covered in soft vegetation
and sat down, noticing how comfortable the groundcover made the
naturally grown bench. He was not certain how long he remained
seated on the earthen bench, pondering the events that led him to
this place. Time seemed to mean very little here. He knew that if
he and his friends had any chance of survival, they would need to
shed their innocent shells that kept them in a perpetual state of
shock every time something unfamiliar occurred. They spent their
entire lives learning how to cope with situations such as these,
but before now it had always been practice producing nothing more
than a broken bone or bruised ego. As Lendel thought about it, he
realized that had they not met Lochnar when they did, they might be
dead right now. This thought did not give him very much comfort.
Despite himself, however, he could not help but admire the deadly
manner that Lochnar carried with him like an extra skin. One of the
things they taught in the Tar Ri’ San was to learn from your
opponent rather than waste your time and energy despising him. It
was something to think about.

At the far edge of the
clearing, Celdic and Terrance emerged from the thick forest that
surrounded them. They were talking quietly as they walked down the
path that led to the cottage. Terrance was dressed in his odd
clothing that seemed to have weapons secreted throughout. He wore
unrelieved black that ran all the way up to his chin, including
knee-high boots and gloves. He reminded Lendel starkly of Lochnar,
aside from the ever-present friendly expression. Celdic stood
shoulder to shoulder with Terrance as the older man gesticulated
slightly with his arm. Celdic nodded, intently watching Terrance.
Lendel noticed something peculiar about them. It was not how Celdic
hung on to Terrance's every word, but rather their closeness.
Lendel would not have thought that degree of closeness possible
between someone that Celdic had only just met.

They were so intent that
Lendel hesitated to call out a greeting, knowing very well how
out-of-phase with reality Celdic could be when he had that
expression. As they drew near, Terrance glanced at Lendel and
started in his direction. Lendel stood up, studying the two of them
as they approached. Celdic had a grin that he was trying to
suppress without much success.

"Lendel," Celdic began,
grinning openly now, "I would like you to meet my
father."

Lendel stared at Celdic as
if he were mad, wondering if this place had finally pushed him over
the edge or if he were playing some kind of joke. Celdic just stood
there grinning while Terrance nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
They are both mad, Lendel thought in amazement. I leave him for
four days and now look at him.

"Are you forgetting that you
already have a father, Celdic?" Lendel asked slowly, the way he
would have asked a toddler if he had lost his mother.

Celdic's grin slipped a
little. "This is my real father Lendel," Celdic said, for all the
world as if it were Lendel that was having a hard time with
reality. "It is sort of a long story, but just trust
me."

Lendel swore under his
breath. That was what he told Cha'le and Li when he told them he
had a plan for how to get out of Chasel Ri’ Aven. He thought about
using Li's response and telling him that he wouldn't trust him if
he were tied in a sack. All of a sudden, a few things came together
that somehow escaped Lendel's notice until now. Celdic and Terrance
shared the same strong chin and high cheekbones, including eyes
that were sharp enough to cut diamonds. Lendel reached out with
his
yar
and
finally realized what had been obvious since he had first met
Terrance at Chasel Ri’ Aven. Terrance and Celdic shared the same
resonance, the signature that a host’s spirit emanates. People from
the same family always had a close resonance, but Lendel could not
detect even the slightest difference between Celdic and Terrance.
If someone blindfolded him and introduced him to Terrance with
nothing but his
yar
to guide him, he would have assumed it was Celdic.

"That's impossible," he
muttered. "No one can have the same resonance."

Celdic looked confused and
Lendel knew why. Celdic would not be able to see what was plain to
Selindria, he and the other three youths from Chasel Ri’ Aven.
Terrance did not look surprised, however. He glanced at Celdic with
pursed lips before turning back to Lendel.

"Our resonances are not
entirely the same," Terrance assured him. "The parts that are
different are not detectable, however. That which you call an aura
is much stronger on Celdic and I, making it impossible for you to
see past the outer layer of our bodies."

"Why?" Lendel demanded.
"What is so different about the two of you?” Lendel was beginning
to weary of all of the mystery that had shrouded every moment of
his life since meeting Terrance at Chasel Ri’ Aven.

Celdic was looking at him in
surprise at his rudeness, which irritated Lendel even more.
Terrance did not seem perturbed by the bitterness in Lendel's
voice. He seemed to expect it, indicated by an expression that
Lendel would have said was fondly amused.

"Celdic," Terrance said,
still watching Lendel, "why don't you go check on Li and Cha'le? We
can continue where we left off later."

Celdic nodded, a small grin
appearing on his face as he turned back to the cottage. Lendel had
little doubt it had something to do with Li. Women seemed to have
that effect on men. He knew that Cha'le certainly had that effect
on him.

"Walk with me, Lendel,"
Terrance said, turning back to the path that he had just returned
from with Celdic.

Lendel walked beside him
down the path that led into the woods, feeling slightly uneasy as
he recalled the change that encompassed Celdic on his return. "You
aren't going to tell me that you are my father too, are you?"
Lendel asked, half-seriously.

Terrance looked at him
sideways as they rounded the corner in the path of lush vegetation
into a paradise that Lendel would have thought only existed in
someone's dreams. "Not exactly," Terrance replied dryly, "But we do
need to discuss who your parents really were for you to understand
what it is that you need to do, and why."

Wonderful, Lendel thought
resignedly, more surprises. Aloud he said, "Well, get on with it
then. I can't wait to meet the lovely pair."

Terrance face flashed with
grief for a moment before he said anything. "I am afraid that you
will not be able to meet them," he replied with a sad sigh. "They
are both dead."

---

Celdic walked back to the
cottage feeling happier than he had in a long time. He knew that
some of the ecstasy he felt was due to the strange effect that this
place had on humans. It was also a relief to finally have someone
who could teach him how to use the strange powers that he had
exhibited from childhood. He always thought that he was a freak
because he was the only person at Chasel Ri’ Aven unable to use
their
yar
.

Opening the front door to
the cottage, Celdic entered the sitting room where Li sat with
Cha'le and Selindria. Thistledown had left again without saying
where he was going. Li and Cha'le were listening to Selindria with
wide eyes and unbelieving looks on their faces. Celdic had not seen
a bath facility, but they both looked as if they had cleaned up
from their ordeal. Li was more beautiful than Celdic remembered,
her long, dark hair shining in the well-lighted room. She wore a
red skirt with slashes of color swirling through it and a matching
blouse. Li seldom wore skirts, preferring the freedom that pants
provided. Celdic could just make out a pair of slippers beneath the
hem of her skirt, another change from the knee-length boots she
normally wore.