Duality: Excerpt

Prompt: “It is a hollow of greenery where a river sings,

Wildly catching the silver tatters of grass;

Where the sun shines over the proud mountain;

It is a small valley bathed in sunlight.”

 

© Richard Ford

  The valley was bathed in setting sunlight. Their temporary camp looked meagre and unimportant in comparison to the surroundings. Luscious evergreen trees lined the opposite bank of the river, a waterfall completing the picturesque backdrop.

It was impossible not to be drawn to the roaring, foaming cascade. It stood nearly three times the height of Anios, a strange contrast to the calm that it led into. The river wound past their camp, taking a lethargic journey deeper through the valley. He could see it stretched out before him, going down and down, until it reached a pinpoint in the distance and he could see it no longer.

His eye twitched. He turned to find sparks shooting from Leor’s fingertips, catching the already prepared stack of logs before him.

“How do you do that?” Anios asked, curiosity overcoming his dislike for the older boy. “How do you… work with it?”

“You mean channel it?” he blushed at the correction but jerked his head in acknowledgement. “I had a teacher, once,” Leor said, standing up and turning to gaze at the waterfall.

“Well where is he?” Anios scrambled to join him. “Maybe he can help, teach me how to use my power, how to control—”

“He’s dead,” Leor said abruptly. “I killed him.”

Anios took hurried footsteps back. “How, how old were you?”

“Eleven, perhaps? I forget. I lost control.”

Five years ago. He understood little about Magecraft, yet enough to know that he would’ve felt such a loss of control. His mind raced back to five years ago. He would’ve been nine, only just starting his apprenticeship. He remembered on his second or third day, a stabbing pain in his head that drove him to the ground. He had come close to fainting then. Could that have been it? Had he been responsible for Leor’s old teacher’s death?

“Relax, Ani,” Leor said, not unkindly. “I didn’t use Magecraft to kill him. You are guiltless of the old man’s death.” Anios breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t want that knowledge weighing on his conscious.

“There are others, though,” Leor continued. There was a glint in his eyes that did not go unnoticed. “Others that, as my Conduit, you are guilty of by association.”

With renewed dread, Anios remembered the last time he had suffered a powerful surge. “About a month ago,” he close to whispered, “You did something bad, didn’t you?”

Leor nodded. “It was war. I’d just arrived at our base to inspect it – it’s amazing the amount of responsibility they give us just for an innate ability. I sensed the enemy spying on us. Have you ever had that feeling? The inexplicable sensation that you’re being watched, that you can even tell where it’s coming from?”

He didn’t want to agree, but his hesitation must’ve shown.

“Well I had it then.” Leor returned his gaze to the waterfall, seeming to forget Anios was even there. “They were up on the cliff, looking down on us. Well-hidden, but I knew. I just knew. Something built up inside me. Anger, maybe? I’ve spent my whole life being watched and studied, and here I was, suddenly in a position to do something about it. It didn’t take long for them to move. They must’ve realised I knew where they were.

“One was foolish enough to stand up before thinking. I turned that anger into something horrible and threw it at him. Turns out he was the Marshall of their army. I was credited with ending the coming battle before it had even begun. Funny how things happen, eh?” he turned to find Anios backing away from him. His body was shaking.

“Fear me, if you wish,” Leor said, with a sad smile. “But we are connected. Our lives are bound together. The Weaver and his Conduit. Best to embrace it.”

“No.” Anios stopped, and the shaking Leor had taken to be fear was revealed to be anger. His hands balled into fist, a fierce look to his eyes. “I ain’t afraid of you. You use your power for bad.” His voice grew louder, the passion and fury coursing through him. “I will never, ever, be like you. I will never use my power to kill!”

The fire beside them exploded, a great plume of flame bursting up into the sky, before returning to normal.

Leor winced, hiding the pain as best he could. The outburst left him unmoved, the same sad smile staying on his face. “Never is a long time, Ani,” he eventually said. “A very long time. Come, let’s find something to eat.”