“Now concentrate on that rock,” he continued. Immediately, the little pebble glowed with an inner life, glowed with the power she had taken from the earth. He would have used a clear glass of water—glass being a kind of liquid, and so akin to water—if he needed a focus, which he really didn’t anymore. “Think of it as the world in miniature, and weave a single protection around it. Like this—”
He quickly shielded the rock with his own, Watery energies. These were the most basic, but basic did not mean “lesser.”
“Watch closely,” he warned, and slowly expanded the shields in all directions, exactly like blowing up a soap bubble. But unlike a soap bubble, this one remained just as tough and strong as it got bigger, for he kept pouring energy into it as it expanded. And when it met the shields he already had on the place, they merged immediately into a seamless whole.
“Now it’s your turn,” he told her. She bit her lip, and started as he had.
By Jove! She’s a fast learner! It only took a single false start, and her own shields began to expand from the point where they’d begun. The movement was painfully slow at first; she couldn’t expand and increase the energy going into the shield at the same time. No matter, that would come in time.
When her shields touched his, they did not merge. Instead, they layered, hers overlaying his. She looked nonplussed when that happened; she had probably thought that they would become a single entity.
“Is that right?” she asked, with a sharp look at him. “Are they supposed to do that?”
“Put earth and water in a jar and shake them together; no matter how hard you shake, the earth separates from the water once you stop agitating the jar,” he replied. “And that is how you build proper shields. Layer them, don’t try to braid them until you have more skill and practice. Bring them up on a central point, then expand them to meet your perimeter. Again?”
“Absolutely!” Now she seemed eager for the task; as Peter watched her establish her initial shield, he recognized it as the ‘I’m not here’ camouflage, and paid close attention to how she spun it up. When she expanded it—more smoothly this time, but by no means as quickly as he had—he was pleased to see it layer into the previous set. It was stronger now than it had been. That was part of being better integrated, but was also due to having more energy behind it.
“Feeling tired yet?” he asked her, once the shield was up and established. He knew she wouldn’t be, because she wasn’t using her own power, but it was time to call her attention to that fact.
“Why—no!” She was astonished by her own answer, and looked down at her hands with a quizzical expression, as if looking for the reason there.
“That’s because you used the energies of your Element, and not your own personal power,” he replied. “Now you don’t need to depend on yourself to work magic; you have a source of energy outside yourself. So think about that for a moment. What is that going to mean to you, and not just here and now, but outside these four walls?”
“That—Can I use this for healing as well?” she asked instantly. “Oh, of course I can! There’s no reason why I couldn’t, is there, and every reason why I should?”
Oh, well done! he applauded. “Exactly. Just make sure that you set up shields and cleanse the area first. This is another thing to remember, that other magicians and magical beings will see the flow of power and come to find out what’s going on, and some of them are not what you’d like to have hanging about you. But you can’t do that right now, all right? At this moment, right now, you need to practice all the different kinds of shields and protections you were trying to build weeks ago. When we’ve got something like what you were trying to produce, I will show you how to link the shields into the Earth energy so that the shields will maintain themselves, and that will be enough for one day.”
She blinked, and was lost within herself for a moment. “Ah. I am using my own power to control the Earth Magic, am I not?” she asked.
“Exactly so.” Brilliant! I’ll have to ask Almsley, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone picking up on the Art so quickly! He smiled. “Now, are you ready to learn about the kinds of shields that I know of?”
The hour that Maya had allotted to herself for this lesson simply flew past, and she decided to go a little short of sleep rather than cut the lesson short. When Peter Scott finally left, she was tired, but not with the bone-deep weariness that she often felt after establishing her guardian borders, and now she wouldn’t have to go over and over her protections every night. Now they would take care of themselves—unless someone tried to break them. Then she would have to make repairs, of course.
But not out of my own storehouse. She made the rounds of the oil-lamps and candles in the garden, making certain that they were all extinguished.
She had sensed the presence of strange life hiding within the bounds of her sanctuary—nothing inimical, in fact, she got a feeling of comfort and warmth from them, even though they wouldn’t show themselves. There was definitely something alive here, and she wondered, given the little she knew, what it could be. Little forest gods? It could be. The garden in the conservatory had taken on the sense of being a vaster space than it truly was.
Perhaps I’ll stumble across a faun lurking behind the vines some time soon.
She felt as excited as she had after her first successful surgery, as enthralled by the sense of power, of the things she could do with her own two hands.
“It is a start, and a good one, little chela.”
A familiar voice, but not human.
She looked up and saw Nisha’s glowing eyes gazing down at her. The owl had turned as white as bleached linen. The huge yellow eyes held her, as mesmerized as if she were a little mouse and Nisha contemplating her as a light snack.
It is not wise to tempt the gods, even (or especially?) if they are not yours, she thought, with a sudden chill.
“It is a start,” she agreed, as her heart gave an unpleasant jump. “I hope it is the right path.”
“It is, and because it is, your enemy will strew it with difficulties,” Nisha replied somberly. “Be wary, for they will not always come in a form you will recognize. Your enemy can do you much harm without needing to know where you are.”
The owl blinked once, then swiveled her head away, looking up and out into the darkness beyond the glazed roof. Freed from those eyes, Maya could move; she stepped back a pace and took a deep breath.
Nisha swiveled her head and caught her again. “She is here. Her creatures already crowd the night, and she gathers in those who walk in the sun as well as the shadows. Be wary.”
And with that, it seemed Nisha had no more to say—or rather, the being that used Nisha had said all that she wished. The spectral white of her feathers darkened, and she looked back up into the night. Maya found she had been holding her breath, and let out the air she had been holding in a long, shaken sigh.
The faint sound of something at her feet made her look down with a nervous jerk, but it was only Charan, and he showed no sign of wanting to add to Nisha’s warning. He pulled at her skirt and chirruped at her. She leaned down and gathered him up in her arms, feeling a little chilled.
It is more than time I got some sleep. Although her knees trembled for a moment and felt as if they might not hold her, she steadied herself with a hand to the tree trunk, then left the conservatory for the hall and the staircase.