Preserving Hope (15 page)

Maynard trotted up to him. Though Will had lessened his height by several inches, he was still the tallest man in the community, but Maynard was a close second. Where Will was lean, however, Maynard burst with muscle. In Will’s day, he suspected that Maynard would be a man who’d spend hours every day in a gym working out.

“Why the rush to work with her, Will?” Maynard asked. “It’s not like she’s going anywhere.” His voice gave Will chills; there was no warmth or humanity there, reminiscent of the way The Assassin spoke in the distant future.

Will shrugged. “I have some theories I’d like to test out. I don’t care to wait to do so.”

Maynard looked at him. “I heard you were pretty unreal on that Trade mission. That you just
knew
exactly what to say to everyone, without fail, every time. Also heard you apparently took out some criminals as well. You holding out on us, Will?” His fingers tapped the hilt of his sword. Maynard clearly lacked respect for a man who was unarmed, and had little concern about dropping veiled threats of violence.

Will glanced at him. “Don’t trust rumors, Maynard.”

Maynard snorted. “I’m just saying, Will… it doesn’t end well around here for people who withhold useful knowledge from the main man.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m sure I have a great deal to fear from Arthur.”

“And don’t you forget it, Will. You learn something, you talk… or else.”

“You don’t scare me, Maynard. Save it.”

“Who said
you
would be the one to suffer for your misdeeds, Will?” Maynard asked, arching an eyebrow. He chortled, and then walked away.

Will didn’t care for the sound of that. He knew that Elizabeth could take of herself, and even more so after he had the chance to work with her. But if Arthur and Maynard set a mob on her as they had apparently done with her mother, she’d struggle mightily.

When the villagers returned, most stood by the fires that were burning in the metal forges and the giant ovens used for baking and cooking, letting the heat dry out their clothing and hair. Will joined in, but eventually grew impatient and headed back to his room, where he used his Energy to heat his clothing and evaporate the moisture. He wondered if he could figure out a way to teach them to channel the heat from those flames and funnel it into each room; it couldn’t be pleasant here in the winter. It would be quite an evolutionary achievement from a technology perspective. That, of course, was a reputed hallmark of the Aliomenti, and he realized he’d almost have to be part of those achievements, especially early on. It was easy to be a few centuries ahead of everyone when your number included a man from a thousand years into the future.

Before leaving his room, Will, on a hunch, collected a few coins from his coin purse and dropped them in his pocket, and paid an extra copper coin to get two loaves of bread he and Elizabeth could eat later on that day.

The villagers had all begun their respective work chores as Will walked toward the entry of the village. He knocked on Arthur’s door, which opened at once. “Ah, Will!” Arthur said, speaking in an unnaturally loud voice. “So good to see you this morning! Have you your coin? I do have others eager to take your spot if you don’t.”

Too predictable
, Will thought. He’d suspected that Arthur would try to “forget” about the arrangement they’d made, at a minimum trying to get the usual daily fee out of him. He hadn’t suspected the threat of reverting back to Elizabeth’s scheduled appointment with Maynard, though it was a moot point. He pulled the silver coin from his pocket and dropped it into Arthur’s hand, starting the coin a foot above the man’s open palm. It was unmistakable that Will had paid the fee. Arthur tried, without success, to hide his disappointment, but recovered quickly. “A pleasure doing business with you, Will.”

Arthur led the way to the room next door. “Elizabeth!” he shouted. “Your day awaits. Move quickly!”

The girl opened the door and stepped out. Her eyes looked bloodshot, as if she hadn’t slept much, and she looked quite sleepy despite having only recently returned from the frigid morning bath. She glanced at Will, and a look of surprise covered her face. Arthur frowned. “Will and Maynard switched days, so you will spend your time in the Schola today with him. And to ensure you don’t try to flee, as you often have before, I have Will’s permission to lock the door and seal you both in.” A look of triumph covered Arthur’s face, and Will could sense Elizabeth’s disappointment in his agreement to such terms. Had she thought he might help her to escape that very day? Had she intended to try with Maynard on watch? She’d been adamant about not leaving until she’d completed her mission in this town. Or was it rather that she was disappointed that he’d not fought Arthur with more gusto on those terms?

Little did she know that such terms were exactly what Will wanted. They’d prevent anyone from checking in on them, and finding that they’d left the village unnoticed.

Arthur led the way to the Schola building and removed a large key from his pocket. Will remembered that Arthur was a locksmith, and it was only logical that he possessed a key to the Schola. Will wondered if Arthur’s key was the only one. Arthur undid the lock and opened the door, leading the way into the building. He lit the candles found on the tables inside the room. “I shall return at midday to let you out for your meal.”

“There is no need,” Will replied. He removed the loaves of bread from his oversized pockets and set them on a table. “I’ve prepared so that we may work through until evening. Do not interrupt us until then.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow at this statement, but nodded. “As you wish.” He stepped out and closed the door behind him. Will could hear the lock being fastened outside, and heard the sound of Arthur checking the lock to ensure it was securely fastened.

He turned to look at Elizabeth. The girl had seated herself at one of the tables, a forlorn look on her face. Will sat down across from her. “Why are you sad?” he asked, his voice quiet.

Her face snapped to him. “You
know
,” she snarled. “You
know
how to do all of this, yet only now do you show up? Why did you wait until now? Why didn’t you get here in time to save my mother?”

Because our children sent me a thousand years into the past and this is when I arrived
, he thought. “I wish the timing had been different, Elizabeth. I heard about your mother, and I truly wish I’d been here in time to make a difference. I cannot change what happened to her. I can only do my best to ensure that the same doesn’t happen to you.” He looked at the floor.

She looked at him, and he could sense her Energy trying to test him, to sense his emotions and thoughts. He projected directly into her head.
You can always talk to me in this fashion, and I will always listen.

Her eyes went wide.
I’ve never met anyone else able to do this. Mother was only beginning to gain the ability. Eva… I think Eva is close, but she doesn’t trust what she’s hearing to be someone else. Not yet.

Will smiled.
There are many things you’ll learn to do, as will Eva and others. Would you like to see?

Her emotions were conflicted, a mix of fear and curiosity. Curiosity won. She nodded.

Would you like to leave these walls? Just for a short time? It’s entirely your choice.

She considered this. She’d never been allowed to make her own choices before.
How? We’re locked in this room.

Will grinned.
Just say the word. The locks don’t matter.

Elizabeth tried to avoid showing her eagerness to see what he intended, but failed.
OK. Show me.

He held out a hand, and she took it. He teleported them into the cave.

Elizabeth screamed, and tried to pull away. “Relax,” he said, his voice soothing. “We just need light.” He held up his hand, and his Energy danced from his palm, lighting up his face. Her face lit up as well, and he could see the wonder and awe as she watched the ball of Energy expand to cover the interior of the cave, flooding the dome with light.

“How… how did we get here? How are you making that light?”

“That warmth you feel inside? That’s called Energy,” Will explained. “You can learn to move it around, inside and outside your body. You can learn to increase the amount of Energy you can hold in your body and how much you can generate on your own. As you gain more, you’ll develop new abilities and be able to perform others more easily, more powerfully. I will help you learn to use your Energy to protect yourself as well.” He smiled. “You can probably make light on your own. I’m able to move myself instantly to another location; we’re several miles from the village right now. While we’re here, we won’t be disturbed, and can work without worry on building your skills.”

Elizabeth’s look of awe was replaced with one of mischief. “I have learned to do several things on my own,” she said, eyes twinkling. “I have used the warmth to destroy the bad foods before they can hurt me. I have used it to make me look sick. I have used it to know which foods and grasses and roots actually make the warmth. And I have used it to take money from my father.” Her smile at this news lit up her entire face.

Will cocked his head. “How?”

“I have been able to move my Energy into his house and use it to touch the money. And in the past few months I have been able to move them into my room.”

Will was intrigued. “Are you making the coins float into your room?”

She shook her head. “No. I am…
pulling
them straight to me.”

Will burst out laughing. “So all of the coins your father is collecting…?”

“Are ending up with me. He has no idea that he has far less than he imagines.”

Will stopped laughing. “That’s… justice.”

Elizabeth looked at the ground. “I still feel like I’m stealing, though.”

“People are paying money for your time, not your father’s. Those coins always should have gone to you. I do believe that if you were to let it be known that you know the correct steps to take to develop these abilities, and that you’ll teach only those who directly pay you — and
only
you — for that information, that you’d become quite wealthy.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Yet it doesn’t solve the problem. I want my father to
choose
to do the right thing. All of these ideas and plans, they’re wonderful. I do appreciate the thought you and Eva and the others have put into them. But I will not leave until my father realizes the wrong he has done and tries to make it right. I want him to say he’s sorry. I want him… to be a good man.”

Will’s face fell. “Elizabeth…”

She shook her head. “I know what you’re going to say, Will. Even without reading your mind. But I will not believe that my father is an evil man at his core. They cannot hurt me, Will. I will let the system continue until he recognizes the evil in it. But I will not tell any of them what I know. Eva has figured out some of it, and a few others are starting to understand a small amount. But until my father repents, until each person says they’re sorry, I will not help them learn what I know.”

Will nodded. This spirit, this willingness to bear any difficulty to ensure that the right thing was always done… this is what had drawn him to the young woman he knew as Hope.

“I respect that, Elizabeth. My offer still stands, though. I will help you however
you
want me to help you.”

The girl with the flaming red hair smiled. “Teach me how to get more Energy, and show me how you got us here. The last time I was here, I had to walk.”

Will blinked, surprised. “You’ve been here before?”

She nodded. “I hid here for several days after Mother… left us.” The grief etched into her young face, and the depth of sadness bombarding his empathy senses, broke his heart. “It’s where I realized for the first time that I could do something with that warmth. I wanted to die, or run… but during those days here in this cave, I realized that they couldn’t hurt me any more, or threaten me, because they’d already taken everything I value from me. I’d stay and fight in my own fashion, to make my father find the good in him, and to prove to me that I’m not… like him. Like what he’s been.”

She wanted him to reform, because she feared that she was destined to be like him. If he couldn’t reform… to her, it meant that she, too, was evil at her core and would one day brandish her own form of wrongdoing. She needed the reassurance that it wasn’t preordained.

He held out his hand, and she took it. “Let’s go build up your Energy. To do that, we need to go visit the forest.” Together, they left the cave, forging the start of a relationship that would last a millennium. And the Energy they shared with the forest on that day, and on their trips to the cave for future training, left the forest buzzing with Energy and healthy trees and underbrush and vegetation, a situation likely to enhance the Energy development of any who unlocked those skills.

XII

Scheme

“Why does that work?” Elizabeth asked.

They’d worked on some basic Energy manipulation to start. She’d learned much on her own, but had never learned how to “recharge” after using Energy for tasks, and as such had to wait until her body rebuilt Energy on its own. Will taught her the standard approaches of breathing deeply and pulling the natural Energy flowing in the air into her body. It was the technique that Adam had taught him. Will then shared with her his discovery: that pushing Energy into living things like trees had a synergistic effect, leading to the sender receiving back more Energy than they’d supplied. Both sender and receiver would find themselves in a feedback loop, with the Energy growth accelerating the longer the connection was maintained. Will had never tried to maintain the link for long periods of time, for he’d always been worried about being caught, either by Adam and others in the Alliance, or later by the Hunters. Elizabeth would have the same problem; they’d need to get back to the Schola by mid-afternoon to avoid anyone figuring out that they’d somehow escaped a locked, windowless building.