“The rise of sorcery and the war that followed have a lot to do with my current condition,” said Aislinn. “Beyond that, the crimes they committed go far past my personal grievances.”
“I need her help to destroy the Darrowan supplies in Barrowden,” insisted Will.
“Easy enough,” said Aislinn. “Trade her to me. In exchange, I will do everything she would have and ten times more.”
“I already said no. I’m not a warlock.”
His grandmother smiled. “You’re beginning to think, learning lessons you haven’t been taught yet.”
Will was growing impatient. “You had some reason for wanting to talk to me. Thus far all we’ve done is discuss my problems.”
“I have a gift for you.”
Accept no debts. Will shook his head.
“But you will have to pay for it,” added Aislinn, her lips curling into a faint smile.
“What is it?”
His grandmother waved a finger in front of him. “I will not tell you. I will only say that it is a thing of such vile knowledge and power as to cause weak men to faint and cry out in horror.”
Tailtiu was standing behind her mother, nodding in agreement. “It really is. I can’t wait to get rid of it.”
“Silence!” snapped Aislinn.
“It doesn’t sound like something I would want,” said Will.
Aislinn shook her head. “It is something only you would want, as our prior conversation has already proven.”
For the life of him, Will couldn’t think of anything they had talked about that related to objects of vile power, but her statement that he would want it intrigued him. She couldn’t lie directly, only mislead. “What is the price you want?”
“An elemental,” she said immediately.
“I’m not a sorcerer either,” said Will firmly.
“You don’t have to deliver it. As a service to me, I ask that you free one elemental,” she clarified.
Will thought back to his previous fights but failed to get an exact count. “I’ve already done that several times.”
“Did we have an agreement then?”
He shook his head.
“Then don’t pretend to be stupid, William. Free an elemental and call my daughter. I will give you my gift at that time.”
“Well, if I don’t get killed, I would probably do that anyway. So you have a deal,” said Will. “Anything else?”
“Do you know the elements humans are composed of?”
Will was confused. “Do you mean like earth, wind, fire, and water?”
Aislinn shook her head. “No, they are made of three things, mind, soul, and flesh. All magic relates to those elements.”
“Where is this going?” His grandmother was beginning to remind him of Arrogan, which irritated him. It also caused him to stop and think. “Wait. How do they relate to magic?”
“The mind represents the knowledge to create spells, the soul is responsible for the will that creates them, and flesh is the source of the turyn used for magic. When a person dies, these things become disconnected, but they are not necessarily destroyed. All mages are fundamentally the same, but they have their differences. Wizards focus more on knowledge than the amassing of power; warlocks deal mainly in things of the flesh to attain their goals.”
“Why are you telling me this?” asked Will.
“Because riddles are the way that the fae coerce mortals into doing our bidding when they won’t make a bargain. Teaching you to think is the only way you’ve left me to gain what I want. Think about what I’ve said.” She turned away, walking back toward the congruence. “Think carefully. The answers to more than one question lie in what I have said.”
Will stared after at the place she had vanished for several minutes after she had gone. As always, he felt that he had more questions than answers, but one thing in particular stood out to him. She didn’t say what sorcerers focus on. Is it the soul? The will? Either way, it didn’t make much sense. From what he had seen, he had a will at least as strong as most sorcerers. Nearly all of Arrogan’s strange training practices had focused on it, though he hadn’t realized it at the time. In contrast, he was probably the most ignorant wizard in Terabinia.
“Stupid fae,” he said. “Never a simple answer when you want one.”
Chapter 58
Back at the house, Will found Selene in the garden with his mother and uncle. Together they were breaking up the hard soil to prepare the ground for planting. Since Arrogan had lived alone there was only one hoe, so Erisa and Selene were using sharpened staves to help.
They hadn’t heard him arrive, so he stood just beyond the gate that led through the brambles, watching and listening. There wasn’t much to hear, though. The three of them didn’t have much breath to spare on idle chatter.
What is she doing? Selene’s earth elemental could have probably done the entire job in a matter of minutes, but there she was, bent over and sweating in the still-cold air of late winter. He couldn’t imagine that she had ever done such labor before, and it wouldn’t take long for blisters to form on her soft hands.
Then he noticed that Selene’s hands were wrapped with linen strips. Probably Mom’s idea, since we don’t have gloves.
He didn’t have a good reason to watch. He wasn’t learning anything, but he didn’t move. Quietly, he admired her strength and stamina, as she sweated and pounded the earth with her stake. There was something bewitching about watching her movements.
“Did you kiss her?” asked Sammy from beside him. Will nearly yelped with surprise. He had been so focused that he hadn’t noticed her walk up. “Is that why she’s so mad at you?”
The exact opposite, he thought. “No, it’s nothing like that.”
“I think she likes you,” said Sammy. “Like a lot, a lot, a lot.”
“She doesn’t,” said Will firmly. “And even if she did, she’s nobility.”
“They always find a way in the stories.”
“Real life doesn’t work that way. In real life the princess puts the hero in chains and forces him into slavery.”
Sammy’s eyes went wide. “Is she a princess?”
“No. Just a spoiled brat who wishes she was.”
“She’s working awfully hard for someone who’s spoiled,” noted his cousin.
“Don’t let her fool you. She has magic that could do that entire job in a matter of minutes. She’s just trying to make herself appear honest and sincere. It’s all a façade.”
“Maybe she’s just being polite.”
“Huh?”
“Well, if she just snapped her fingers and finished everything, how would it make us feel? I don’t know about your mom, but my dad would probably feel kind of useless. He’s always been very proud of what he could do with his hands,” observed Sammy.
“Don’t let your prejudice color your judgment,” Aislinn had told him. Maybe he was being too harsh. Then again, maybe she was just trying to fool them. Will was surprised at the depth of his cousin’s thought. He had always thought of her as a pest, and more lately as rambunctious and sometimes funny. Now he knew he hadn’t been paying close attention to her. She was growing up.