Chapter 8

UNUSED to such august patrons to Visitor's Hollow, the servants nearly fell over themselves to properly prepare the table in the small, private room just off the main dining room. Both men were silent as they waited, each openly studying the other. The Illaini Magus ignored the young women's breathless fussing with patience only matched by the Dusvet Guardian himself.

The two looked towards the room's entryway at the sounds of agonized pain coming from the main room, the abrupt silence, then the growing hiss of whispers as the people in the main room overcame their initial shock. Ash arched an eyebrow in vague curiosity when Almek did not move. "I believe your student is having some trouble with some of the caravan thuggery contaminating the Hollow."

"As a master healer, Taylin is well capable of taking care of herself," Almek explained simply. "She needs to understand the realities of the world outside of her temple's idealistic perspective." He took the bottle of wine before Ash could, pouring a glass of wine for himself. He then set the bottle aside to allow Ash to do the same for himself.

Ash stared at Almek before he reached for the bottle. "You honor me. Few foreigners understand the intricacies of Forentan social traditions."

"Those of lower status pour for those of higher status." Almek stated as he raised his glass to Ash briefly before taking a sip. "Equals pour for themselves. Regardless of our ages, we are both the chosen mortal servants of our gods." Indicating the wine, he said, "A charming tradition. It has been many years since I was last within Forenta's borders. Not so long as I would have forgotten many of the enduring cultural particulars." The Guardian watched Ash unwaveringly, waiting for him to speak.

"I am," Ash began, and fell silent again, his eyes fixed on the liquid in his glass. "If you know of Forenta culture and of me, then you know I am—"

Almek waved a hand, cutting the younger man off, his words clipped. "I know of lowborns and halfborns within Forenta's society. They are irrelevant to me because I am not part of the social order here." Almek made a distasteful face.

"You confuse them because you are the most gifted in generations despite the circumstances of your birth. They respect and disdain you as suits their moods." Almek shrugged one shoulder as Ash raised his eyes to regard him intently. "I am a Dusvet Guardian. I belong to all nations and to no nation. I find the basis for rank by birth and not ability bothersome as it contradicts my code."

Ash was silent for a time, thoughtful. "I suppose we are not dissimilar in that." The mage took a slow breath. "There have been... incidents... throughout Forenta. Things that have struck me as abnormal for reasons I cannot put my finger on. Things have happened that I have barely managed to right, or not been able to right at all. Even with strength and abilities that surpass any three mages from the Academy, I have found myself struggling." His eyes fell to his glass, expression troubled. "I am not good enough to protect my people adequately."

Almek made a musing noise. "You said you were delayed coming here." Grey eyes studied the younger man. "What delayed you?"

"The council will say it was simply a rabid elder bear that attacked the Navar village. But there was something... wrong with it." Agitated, Ash murmured, "Darkness seemed to hover around it. It possessed a greater awareness than any elder bear I'd ever encountered." He closed his eyes tightly. "It seemed like it... enjoyed killing. I killed it, but barely."

As he spoke, Ash's hand tightened around the glass in frustration. "The Council dismisses my successes as merely my duty. They blame my failures..." The glass squealed under the pressure of his hand until it shattered. Ash growled, ignoring the mingling of his blood and the spilled wine. "They blame any of my failures on my having been a lowborn orphan or youth. And disregard my warnings that there is a greater danger behind these things."

"Interesting," Almek mused simply, watching Ash carefully.

Azure eyes dark with emotion looked up as the mage frowned. "...Interesting?"

"You are the third individual gifted in a separate art that I have encountered who also shows strength with temporal energies." Almek tossed a towel to Ash as the mage pulled a piece of glass from his palm. "I wonder how it has been that the Guardian Council had missed so many strong potentials."

Ash's frown deepened, thoughts turning inward as he thought back. "I remember seeing a Guardian from Forenta come to the Academy when I was very young. But she had to speak with Se'edai Magus Ysai before she could tap any to go to Fortress." Ash grimaced more at his thoughts than at pulling another shard of glass from his hand. "Ysai has not allowed any to go to Fortress for as long as I can remember."

"There had been a decided drop in the number of Forentan coming to Fortress over the past decades." Musingly, Almek said more to himself, "I wonder how many others may have been overlooked to be trained as Guardians because they were gifted elsewhere, if not forbidden for other reasons." Drumming his fingers on the table, Almek said nothing for a time. "We may have blinded ourselves to those gifted in dual talents because we assumed to be able to touch one energy precluded the ability to touch another."

The mage looked up sharply, frowning at Almek as the meaning beyond his words sank in. "You believe me to be able to manipulate Guardian as well as Forentan magicks?" Almek nodded, watching Ash.

The mage was silent, lost in thought for several minutes. "I am unsurprised," Ash stated with brisk self-confidence. "The abilities of Guardians are not very different than that of mages, and I am the best of any Forentan mage ever born." He set the last of the shards from his hand aside. He grimaced in pain as he forced the gashes in his hand closed, murmuring words of magic under his breath.

"Similar in appearance, but not the same." Almek twitched his fingers towards the pieces of glass. They pulled together and fused to make the broken glass whole, save for the streaks of blood now infused in the glass itself. "The significant difference between what a Guardian can do and what any other highly trained user of magicks can do is a matter of time."

Ash watched the shattered glass reform, eyes widening slightly. "You mean how long it takes to be trained?" Ash made a dismissive motion with his newly healed hand. "I doubt it would take me long. I have already mastered more of the Arts than most manage in their entire lifetimes." He looked surprised when Almek shook his head.

"No. A Guardian works with the energy of time itself. Most others float along in time's currents, oblivious to the flow around them." Almek leaned forward and stated in a low voice, "The simple fact that you sense what even some Unsvet Guardians do not, that you, untrained in time manipulation, have been able to affect what most Guardians spend their lives training to do... this tells me you are more than merely a potential. You are at the same level as an Adept." Sitting back, Almek stated, "I would like you to be my student."

"Like the Sevmanan healer that travels with you?" Ash stated more than asked, considering. "All of my life, I have sought to hone my skills. I would be a fool to turn down such an offer." His voice cut off, but hinted at unspoken thoughts.

"But?" Almek prompted after an extended silence.

Ash's expression reflected annoyance. "The Se'edai has honor bound me with two students. She would probably bind more to me if she thought she could get away with it, but a master can determine the maximum number of students he is willing to be personally responsible for. I doubt she would release me from the arrangement, even for the Dusvet Guardian. Perhaps especially for the Dusvet Guardian."

Drumming his fingers on the table, Ash added in a low voice, "And of my two students, there is only one I would be willing to dispense with. They will need to come with me."

"No. I will not have any following me who did not choose to do so for themselves. Where I go will be too dangerous to demand it of someone unwilling to bear the burden." Almek's expression was uncharacteristically grim.

Ash arched an eyebrow. "You are the Dusvet Guardian. Your word is law. Even more so than an Illaini Magus's word is supposed to be. You need only order it and it would be done."

Almek irritably waved a hand dismissively. "Other Guardians may enjoy wielding such authority. Make potentials feel that the decision to walk the path of serving the Timeless One belongs to the teacher, not to the student. Making a Potential believe they should be grateful for the Guardian finding them. That if they fail to follow their 'destiny' that the world would implode."

The Dusvet smacked the table emphatically. "That is not my belief. The choice should always belong to the student, so their success or failure rests solely with their own desire to succeed. Otherwise, unwilling students taken away from their old lives would become resentful and dangerous."

"The healer master chose to become Guardian Adept?" Ash studied Almek thoughtfully.

Almek nodded. "Taylin is my student because she chose to be, yes."

"And how did you determine she had the ability?"

The Dusvet Guardian did not allow his pleasure at Ash's intense curiosity to reflect outwardly. "I witnessed it for myself. You know successful healing is normally restricted to a time shortly after the injury occurred." Ash flinched, looking away but not before Almek noticed the flash of pain across the younger man's features. "Taylin was able to repair a poorly healed injury that would have killed the child she tended had it been left as it was."

Raising his eyes to Almek's, Ash studied the Dusvet. "You had not witnessed me doing anything, not even simple Forentan magicks. Yet you believe I... potentially... have this ability?"

"Several months ago, you encountered a lupine with one eye." Watching Ash's reaction, Almek continued in even tones. "It had attacked a wagon with several people. Only a small child remained alive. Your apprentice diverted it away from the child." Before Ash could speak, Almek held up one hand. "The creature was not simply a rabid lupine. It was possessed by a creature known as a temporal shifter. A darkling as they are called outside of Fortress."

"A darkling... My master spoke of these things. Most consider them tales to frighten young children into obedience. Figments of the imagination."

"They are hardly tales, Illaini Magus. They are quite real. And only someone who wields temporal energies can impact these creatures." Almek sipped his wine, watching Ash. "I would teach you to harness that strength within you. Coupled with your already considerable strength, you would be stronger than even me."

Ash opened his mouth, then shut it, frowning. "Guardians serve the Timeless One. I already serve the Great Mother." He held up his right hand. The image of twining ribbons of forest green and copper, both metallic as Almek's markings were, briefly appeared before fading from sight again.

Almek closed his eyes for a moment, then said in a low voice, "The Timeless One is one of the Ancient Triad. Serving Her would not conflict with your duties to the Knowing One, but would expand them beyond the narrow focus of Forenta's borders."

Ash grimaced. "Her wisdom should never have been confined to only our land. It was meant to guide everyone to fulfill their life's purpose."

Before Ash could continue speaking, a tall man in black barged into the room. "Illaini Magus," he stated with a cold, lofty attitude. "Se'edai Magus Ysai Oberlain has received word that—" He looked at Almek, his words faltering as he paled. Less confidently, he continued. "You are forbidden from speaking with the Guardian. Forenta's sovereignty comes before the outdated traditions of kowtowing to outsiders."

"She forbids, Oberlain?" Ash leveled a hard look on the man. "She believes her authority supersedes that of the divine laws themselves?"

"The Se'edai Magus is the supreme authority of Forenta," the thin man stated flatly. "Fortress and the other nations are beneath our notice."

Ash looked at his palm, rubbing an old, star-shaped scar. "You allow your students to choose, Master Almek." Looking up at the Dusvet, the Illaini Magus stated, "I have chosen. And I can do no less than to emulate you and have my students choose to remain my students or seek other masters." Ash drew his knife and cut his finger, letting the blood pool at the tip. Before Almek could ask his intentions, Ash very deliberately drew a careful glyph onto the table.

Ysai's messenger stared in uncomprehending shock. "What do you think you are doing, Andar?" he demanded. When he grabbed Ash's wrist, he was flung back against the wall, repelled by the magic field.

Ash stated flatly, "By my choice, I bind myself into your service, Almek Two-Tones, Dusvet Guardian of Fortress. I give you my Soul Oath to last until the end of this life and beyond."

"You fool! Do you have any idea what you are doing?!" the messenger demanded. His advance stopped short after a step, backing away from the dark look in Ash's eyes. "If you had any family, they would all be punished for your disobedience," he spat. "The Se'edai will hear of this." With the dire promise, he turned and left.

Almek's eyes were wide as the depth of the spell sank in, feeling the ethereal tie solidify between them. "You have sworn you life to me... Ash, you need not have sworn so strongly to me."

"When dealing with the Se'edai and the rest of the Edai Magi, nothing less than everything will sway them. And this they cannot undo." As Ash completed the glyph, the bloody image hissed as it burned itself into the wood of the table. "My life. My soul. Belong to you, Master Almek."