The boy screamed, grasping his head with both hands, then he rolled over and over, trying to make the pain dissipate. Gareth could have stopped it instantly, but didn’t. He allowed it to go on a full heartbeat. Then he stood and went to the boy. He knelt, ignoring Ann and Tad.
That is what it feels like when you attack others. Gareth waited. When there came no reply but an angry scowl, he continued with the thought. I am stronger than you. When you try to hurt another I will do this again—and worse.
Turning to Ann, he said, “He attacked me.”
“We know. So does everyone else. It’s my fault, I should have known and medicated him sooner. He fooled me, and I’m sorry.”
“He fooled both of us, but that will only happen once. Hand me your medication.” Gareth sprinkled some in his palm, glanced at Ann for a nod that the amount was right, then held it in front of the boy who was still lying on the grass, eyes wild with hate and fear.
Do not knock my hand away. Take the medication, it will make you feel better. Gareth moved his hand closer. And you may as well stop trying to warn the others. I am preventing your thoughts from leaving this meadow.
The boy reluctantly licked Gareth’s palm until all was gone, but Gareth continued to watch, making sure none was spit out. The boy’s eyes never left his, but they soon became unfocused. His bunched muscles relaxed as the herbs did their job.
Ann said, “You should kill him now.”
“I think he’s beginning to like me.”
“I’m beginning to not like your sense of humor.”
Gareth said, all trace of humor absent, “At least part of that outburst of his, escaped into the world. We should go quickly.”
“The road to the pass is off to our left. There are plenty of paths and trails, but I do not know where we’re going so you have to direct me.”
“Up the road, into the mountains a ways. There we’ll continue as if we’re going over the pass. Soon, after entering the mountains, there will be a valley running north and south. We’ll go north, up the valley until we reach another.” Gareth had given her the directions because it seemed that the only difference it made was the amount of trust they shared.
Ann cast him a critical look, her features pinched, as if in deep thought.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I’ve traveled that road three times. Never all the way to the pass, but to the beginning of the snows while searching for herbs that only grow up there. I have never seen what you are speaking about.”
“No, you haven’t. My father lived there and convinced all who might find their way into his valley that there were better berries, easier travel, or more potent herbs elsewhere.”
“I see. He did the same to me as I do to my household pests. Only those times I was the pest.”
Gareth pulled the boy to his feet and started walking. He said, “Unless I’m mistaken, we have a long way to go. Do you have a name?”
He shook his head. Gareth considered naming him, but the lack of a name identified how the boy was treated by whoever controlled him. Filthy, ill, and uneducated in the use of mental powers, the boy had barely survived, but the one telling him what to do didn’t care about all that. The cuts and wounds already healing, and most of the dirt washed off didn’t change what was inside the boy and Gareth couldn’t lose sight of that.
Ann and Tad went ahead, Tad now almost free of medication and beginning to ask the first of his thousand questions and making observations. Gareth blanketed Tad’s thoughts heavier so they wouldn’t escape, but enjoyed hearing him talk about the forest and wildlife. Why is that leaf bigger? There is a brown rock. Oh look, a tree that is bent. Are there frogs here?
Almost as interesting as Tad were Ann’s responses. She had an answer for each, although often he pointed out something else before she finished talking. They moved faster than Gareth expected. The ground became both steeper and rockier. The trees turned from leafy oak and ash to more fir and pine. The slopes were steeper and slippery.
The white peaks appeared more sinister, and he didn’t want to continue the trip. With each step, the feelings of fear and remorse increased. All that he enjoyed or liked was behind him, not ahead. He should turn back.
“Feel it?” Ann turned her head and asked, her voice soft and whispery.
Dread. Illness. Pain. All were ahead. Turning back would make him happier. Gareth nodded to Ann. He felt it, now. The same sort of ruse he used on his island. He projected the ideas that storms blew there, that the residents were unfriendly, and of course, the little red jumping spiders that went for the private parts.
Nothing specific. Just the mental impressions that it would be better to be somewhere else. Most would gladly obey without ever realizing they had been influenced.
Somebody ahead was using the same technique. The person had to have a mind powerful enough, and similar in strength and scope as Gareth. It was far more powerful than Ann’s, who could perform the same with animals nearby. She still felt and recognized it, though.
The method was similar but crude. Untrained. There were lapses followed by renewed efforts. Other thoughts intruded, too. Twice Gareth caught secondary thoughts not meant to be transmitted. Once he felt the mind seeking a response, possible from the boy at his side. In another, he felt a wash of rage sweep over him when the other person stubbed a toe.
“Has it always been like this?” Gareth asked.
Ann shook her head and said, “I felt it right off. If that voice had been here, others of the Sisterhood would have heard it and spread the word, not to mention the Brotherhood. If they heard it, I’ll bet they would have sent hundreds here to investigate.”
“What about now?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I would think some Sisters are close enough to hear. They have probably already begun warning others.”
“The Brotherhood?”
“Too far away, I think. They were generally all near the coast for days and days. The warning we’re hearing is low power, but high intensity.”
Gareth continued to walk while trying to think of how to phrase his next question. He and Ann were working together for mutual benefit, not because they were allied or friends. At least, not yet. He said, “Does the Sisterhood have rumors of similar warnings in this area from before? I mean, last year or ten years ago?”
She paused and waited for him to catch up. “You’re not very tactful or circumspect, are you? Your questions tell me more than you want me to know.”
“Such as?” Gareth tried to keep his voice bland and was glad it came out as intended.
“You’re telling me there have been other similar warnings around here for a long time. I’ve already told you we had not idea someone was keeping us away with their thoughts. So, you want to know if they were successful. I’m only telling you because there are times you are so transparent, Gareth. Be more careful if there are things you do not wish me to know.”
“That was quite a lecture—and all true.”
She let Tad wander to a patch of yellow dandelions while she watched. “I’m with you, but only to a point. Do not believe that anything I learn will be held sacred or withheld from my Sisters, and possibly the Brotherhood, if we believe it should be shared. If you are offended or disagree, tell me, and I’ll leave.”
“Will you hold your tongue if you leave?”
“No. I could lie to you, but you deserve the truth.”
“Then it may mean I will have to either share less or trust you more. You never answered my question.”
“I have never heard a whisper of a rumor of anyone trying to keep people away from this pass. Perhaps your father, if that is who it was, did this so skillfully, and over a long period of time.”