"No. I am saying that when you return, you may find you have lower levels of energy available than you have here. Or the power may be there, but buried deeply." He ate the last of his fruit. "That is why there are schools of mages, who build up reservoirs of power that are available to the Masters and Adepts of those schools. And that is why blood-mages build power for themselves by exploiting the pain and death of others.
So, you must know how to work subtly. You must learn that raining down blows with pure power is not always the correct response. It was not with some of Falconsbane's creatures; that you witnessed." She shook her head; whether stubbornly or for some other reason, he couldn't tell. "Listen," he said, "Hydona believes you are doing well.
Once you have mastered the fainter sources of power, and in using the energy you yourself have stored within you, she and Treyvan wish us all to take our places on the border." She perked up at that, and he smiled to see her interest. "Really?" she exclaimed. "I've felt so useless. I know you have to learn theory before you practice anything, but-"
"But you came here to become a weapon against the enemy of your land, I know," he replied. "Now please-I know that you are impatient, but believe me. It is better to use little power rather than too much.
Using a poleaxe to kill small game destroys the game thoroughly, rendering it useless. So it is with magic. Too much can attract things you do not wish to have to deal with, as a dead creature can attract things more dangerous than it was to scavenge upon it. Master the subtlety Hydona tries to teach you. There will be time and more than time for the greater magics." He watched her face; she seemed thoughtful, and he hoped she believed him, because whether she knew it or not, her life depended on believing him-and sooner than she might think.
For Hydona had not meant that suggestion in jest, that both of them take up a scout's position on the border of k'sheyna. When they did that, there were no longer any shields, any protections, or any rules. It would be only themselves and the gryphons, and it might well be that there were things out there that were more powerful and deadly than Mornelithe Falconsbane.
*Chapter Eight
So now I'm a scout on the border of the Tayledras territories. In the Pelagirs.
Me, who never even rode circuit. Mother would have a cat. Elspeth's heart raced every time a bird called an alarm or a stray twig broke, even though she knew very well that potential danger was likely to be upon them long before there were any such warnings. Gwena was jumpy too, and that didn't help her nerves any. She had all her shields down toward Gwena, and whatever her Companion felt, she felt, and vice versa.
Or was it that Gwena was jumpy after all? The Companion was ill at ease, but it didn't quite have the feeling of nerves.
All right," she said, suddenly suspicious. "what are you hiding this time?"
"I wasn't hiding it-at least, not from you," the Companion temporized.
"I've been keeping something from the others. Well, maybe I have and maybe I haven't-I mean, I don't know how much they've guessed about Cymry and me. So I wasn't really hiding it from you, but-: Elspeth choked and coughed to cover it "Gwena, dear, you can stop babbling, all right? I'd say the Tayledras know plenty about you two, from the way Darkwind dances around you, and they aren't telling me about what they know, either. So you might as well let this great secret out, whatever it is, because even if I don't know about it, they probably do." She couldn't hide her resentment at that, and didn't try. It was obviouswould have been plain even to a child-that the Hawkbrothers considered the Companions something quite special, according them more reverence than they even got at home in Valdemar. But the Tayledras wouldn't discuss the Companions at all without one of them being present, as if they were determined not to offend the Companions or reveal something they shouldn't.
And even if there was nothing to this dancing about the bushes, it drove Elspeth to distraction.
"Well," Gwena said slowly, "I would have to tell you soon, anyway. It IS not really all that complicated.
Now that you know how to channel mageenergies, and you know how to feed someone else and be fed in turnwellcan feed you." Elspeth was past being surprised. She simply nodded. "And of course it would have been no use telling me this before I had the skill, I know." She closed her eyes and counted to ten, very, very carefully. "You aren't keeping anything else back, are you?"
"No," Gwena replied in a subdued voice. "No, not really. I can feed you if you need it, but I' subject to the same limitations you are. Except-: Elspeth counted to ten a second time. "Except?" Gwena waited a long time, and Elspeth sensed that she was choosing her words very carefully. "Except that you and I are a special pairing; so special that distance doesn't matter between us. That's all. I'm-different that way. It's like a lifebonded pair working together. Ask Darkwind about that some time, if you like; there are things a pair can do that even two Adepts working together can't do." A vague memory fluttered at the back of her mind; something about a dark, windy night, the night when Gwena had Chosen her.
But the memory escaped before she could grasp it and she gave up trying to get it back after a fruitless moment of concentrating. "I won't say I'm unhappy to hear that," she told Gwena sincerely. "If things ever go badly for us, you and I might need that edge. I-don't suppose this means you're a mage, too-does it?"
"oh, no!" Gwena replied, her mind-voice bright with relief. "No, not at all! I can just tap into nodes, energy-lines, and fields. All Companions can, just most of them can't use it for more than-oh, the usual. Healing themselves quickly, extended endurance, and running faster than a horse can.
And they certainly can't feed their Chosen. that's why we're white, you know-ask Darkwind about node-energy and bleaching." She sat up straighter, and looked up in the tree above her at Darkwind, who was "taking the tree-road." Except that right now he was just sitting; letting Vree do his scouting for him before they all moved on to another spot on their patrol. "Darkwind?" she whispered.
He looked down at her, but did not give her the hand signal that indicated she should be quiet.
"Gwena says I should ask you about node-energy and bleaching. She says that's why Companions are so white, because they use node-power to increase speed and endurance." She shook her head, still trying to figure it out.
But Darkwind seemed to get the point immediately; his eyes lit up, and he grabbed the branch beneath him. He swung down off his branch perch like a rope dancer, to land lightly beside her. "So! That is the piece of the puzzle that I have missed!" he said cheerfully. "I think you need not fear lack of nodes and power in your land, if all your Companions are able to tap them to enhance their physical abilities. That must mean that there is no scarcity of mage-energy.