The Inner Circle: The Knowing (8 page)

‘
No,’ Far-a-mael
replied. ‘Go away and practice what I’ve shown you. If you need
help relaxing, ask for El-i-miir’s assistance. If I feel you’re
ready, we’ll take the next step tomorrow evening. From there, we’ll
be able to see exactly what you’re made of.’

Seteal stood up and headed for the
exit.

‘
Just one more thing
before you go,’ Far-a-mael called. ‘How much do you know about
silts?’

‘
They avoid us and we
avoid them.’ Seteal turned and shrugged. ‘Old people think they’re
demons or something. They’re the cause of all the whisps further
south. That’s all, I think.’

‘
Demons,’ Far-a-mael
scoffed. ‘They are such silly old stories, aren’t they? My dear
girl, silts are much, much more dangerous than the fabled demons
depicted in the Holy Tome.’

‘
Oh?’ Seteal
responded. She was confused as to why he’d even raise such a topic.
Something strange was happening. Far-a-mael was doing something to
her. Seteal gasped as she felt a sharp hatred welling up inside her
chest. It was not her own, but it made her feel powerful and before
long she was basking in loathing, relishing its bitter
taste.

‘
I know you can feel
it comes from me,’ Far-a-mael intoned, ‘but that doesn’t make it
any less true. You’ve lived too much of your life sheltered from
the knowledge of such foul creatures. It is only ignorance that
prevents these feelings from being yours rather than mine. Harness
them. Take them in and believe them. They are the truth. If you
could only know . . . this is what you must always feel toward such
creatures. Feed your hatred for the wicked, grotesque, and, yes, in
many ways, demonic beings.’

Seteal’s head spun. Her fingers
tingled. She could hardly see Far-a-mael’s face and became lost in
her mind. The blood felt hot as it rushed by her ears. Creatures
with leathery wings screamed as she hunted them. Seteal put a sword
through a demon heart and laughed as its blood drained away in
torrents. The repulsion she felt for the wicked creatures was
second to none. Bile rose in Seteal’s throat, such was the sickness
they caused her. She would cut open their pallid white flesh. She
would create justice. She would kill them all. The earth would be
cleansed in the blood of demons to usher in a new age of peace and
security.

‘
Seteal.’ The word
buzzed but meant nothing. ‘Seteal?’ Far-a-mael’s face revealed his
concern as the tent swam into perspective.

Seteal rubbed at her arms, suddenly
feeling the cold. Had the old man been speaking? Or had it all been
in her head? ‘What’d they do for you to hate them so much?’ She
asked.

‘
What did who do,
dear?’ Far-a-mael raised his eyebrows.

‘
The silts. What’d
they do to you?’

‘
Why in Maker’s name
would you be pondering such creatures at a time like this?’
Far-a-mael’s expression was one of bewilderment.

‘
I . . . ’ Seteal
shook her head, but for the life of her, she couldn’t
remember.

CHAPTER Four

The Elglair Eye

‘
Where are we?’
Far-a-mael smoothed out the map’s creases over a cheap pine table.
‘There.’

He prodded the dark spot marked out as
Golmar Crossing. They’d arrived in the miniscule riverside town
just hours before sunset. The place was home to a rickety old
bridge that served as the only border crossing between Gor Narvon
and Abnatol. The town also boasted an inn, and after so much time
spent resting on the floor of a tent, Far-a-mael was looking
forward to sleeping in a proper bed. He smiled, now one country
closer to home. There was a soft knock at the door.

‘
Come in.’

‘
Far-a . . . I mean,
Gil’rei.’ Seteal lowered her head respectfully and made her way
into the room. ‘Would you like to resume my lessons?’ the young
lady asked from her place by the doorway.

‘
Certainly.’
Far-a-mael waved her inside. The silly little thing always needed
such explicit direction. She irritated him at the best of times,
but lately even more so than usual. El-i-miir, too, for that
matter. Far-a-mael rolled his neck before turning to inspect the
girl suspiciously. Seteal was hiding something. The Ways screamed
in his ears, but for some reason Far-a-mael couldn’t determine what
they were saying.

‘
Sit down.’ He
watched the girl snatch up a pillow. ‘Not on the floor!’ Far-a-mael
barked. ‘I’m tired. Just sit on the chair.’

‘
Okay.’ Seteal sat at
a small table in the corner of the room, a sullen expression
contorting her features. What was wrong with the stupid girl? She
was always so miserable, the way she trotted about with that gloomy
expression and murky, discontented aura. She should’ve appreciated
Far-a-mael’s efforts in liberating her from Elmsville, that
Maker-forsaken hole of a place.

‘
Do as you did
yesterday,’ Far-a-mael ordered, his dark mood refusing to
budge.

‘
I need your help,’
Seteal said.

‘
Haven’t you
practiced?’

‘
You only showed me
last night,’ she retorted insolently.

‘
Fine,’ Far-a-mael
waved his hand and turned to look over the river through a smudged
window. He didn’t need to meditate to become one with the Ways, as
was encouraged of most new reis. Eventually, such a tactic was
grown out of by even the dullest of students. Far-a-mael turned
back, tracing his eyes over the floor where old and faded strands
of light told stories of events that’d occurred in the past.
There’d been an argument by the door where a stain of angry red had
been left floating for none but the Elglair to see. There was a
vague purple smear by the window, the green thread knotted within
telling Far-a-mael the story of a broken heart. Anyone with white
pupils was able to see the vivid lights that snaked about the
world, but it took the knowledge of a gil to properly interpret
them.

As Far-a-mael focused on the dancing
strands of light, the room appeared to brighten, hiding none of its
secrets. There was a hidden wall cavity to Far-a-mael’s left in
which someone had once stowed a bottle of gin and then forgotten
about it. El-i-miir pursued her studies not five strides away in
the next room. There was a bird . . . the bird . . . but nothing.
Far-a-mael’s spine tingled unforgivingly. Something was wrong.
Seteal’s aura shuddered nervously and he was able to see its most
intimate details.

‘
Relax,’ he
ordered.

The young woman closed her eyes. She
was trying to focus, but murky green and purple sprays trickled
throughout her aura, disturbing her with useless concerns. There.
Far-a-mael snatched at the pale blues and yellows buried deep
within and tied them together. He pulled them to the surface where
they encapsulated Seteal, lulling her into deep, peaceful
thought.

‘
I’ve done it,’
Seteal murmured.

‘
Of course you have,’
Far-a-mael replied without bothering to mask his sarcasm. ‘You’d
better practice tonight. I’ll be expecting you to do it on your own
tomorrow.’

‘
Yes, Gil’rei,’
Seteal replied, her eyes wide with curiosity.

‘
Now, listen,’
Far-a-mael spoke softly, ‘I asked you to come here tonight for a
reason. It’s time we discovered whether you have any semblance of
the Elglair eye.’

‘
What do you mean?’
Seteal asked, her confusion causing her hold on the Ways to waver.
‘My eyes aren’t like yours. You know that.’

‘
Yes, of course I
do.’ Far-a-mael snatched at the girl’s aura and rearranged it to
calm her once again. ‘I’m just hoping that with some effort you’ll
be able to see, even if only vaguely, as we do.’

‘
All right.’ Seteal
shrugged. ‘What should I do?’

‘
Well, first of all,
what did you see when you became one with the Ways?’

‘
Nothing,’ Seteal
replied. ‘Everything looks the same . . . well, maybe a little
clearer, but that’s all.’

‘
What do you see when
you look at me?’ Far-a-mael asked, failing to keep the irritation
from his voice.

‘
I just see you.’
Seteal frowned.

‘
Try harder,’
Far-a-mael ordered. ‘Look carefully. Do you see anything? Even a
faint glow on my skin?’

‘
I’m sorry.’ Seteal
sighed. ‘It’s just you.’

‘
Torrid!’ Far-a-mael
rubbed his temples.

‘
Is there anything
else I can try?’

‘
No, child,’
Far-a-mael murmured. ‘You either have the ability or you don’t.
It’s not something you can practice.’ He released the Ways and
watched as his impression of Seteal’s aura became less vivid. ‘I’m
afraid your pupils are simply too dark to see through.’

‘
So . . . what does
this mean?’ Seteal’s eyes revealed anxiety, her aura darkening as
she lost focus. ‘You can still save me, can’t you?’

‘
What?’ Far-a-mael
raised his eyebrows in confusion. ‘Save you from what?’

‘
Dying!’ Seteal
wailed.

‘
Oh, right . . .
that.’ Far-a-mael silently reprimanded himself for having forgotten
the little white lie he’d designed to get the girl to come along to
begin with. ‘Yes, of course I can help you. I’m not going to let
you die.’

‘
Thank Maker.’ The
girl’s expression became one of relief. ‘So what’s the problem with
my inability to see like you?’

‘
Oh . . . nothing
really,’ Far-a-mael uttered distractedly. ‘It just means a great
deal of the Ways will remain inaccessible to you.’

‘
So?’ Seteal looked
at Far-a-mael expectantly. ‘I don’t care about the Ways, outside of
preventing them from killing me.’

‘
And here I was
thinking you’d come to appreciate your gift,’ Far-a-mael said
contemptuously.

‘
Sort of,’ Seteal
murmured, ‘but I’m hardly aiming to become an Elglair warrior, am
I?’

‘
You mean a hadone,’
Far-a-mael corrected.

‘
I’m
sorry?’

‘
That’s what you call
an Elglair soldier,’ Far-a-mael said softly. ‘But never mind all
that.’

‘
Look.’ Seteal
sighed, standing up and half-turning toward the door. ‘Clearly I’m
not as powerful as you thought I’d be. Maybe I’m not a danger to
myself after all.’

‘
Seteal, wait,’
Far-a-mael said firmly. ‘There are plenty of things to be good at
aside from the manipulation and visualisation of auras. Just look
at El-i-miir,’ Far-a-mael raised his hands for emphasis. ‘Did you
know she’s able to recognise when people are lying?’

‘
Really?’ Seteal said
in surprise.

‘
Indeed.’ Far-a-mael
laughed, glad to have won back her interest. ‘Along with her
incredible powers of affiliation, that was one of the primary
reasons I took her on. The ability is so rare that I couldn’t allow
such an opportunity to pass me by. You see, the knowing is quite a
different area of the Ways and it’s one in which I’m certain you’ll
excel. Keep practicing and you’ll be fine.’

‘
All right.’ Seteal
cracked a smile. ‘Thanks, Gil’rei.’ She turned and marched toward
the exit with heightened spirits.

‘
Just a moment,
Seteal,’ Far-a-mael intoned, focusing on the young woman’s aura as
she turned to face him. He dug about for a moment and pulled hard
on the slender black weaving he’d created earlier. The girl
shivered and her face darkened. ‘How do you feel about silts
today?’

‘
I hate them, of
course,’ she mumbled, staring at her shoes.

‘
And it’s appropriate
to hate them,’ Far-a-mael said as he dexterously snatched up a
thick red cord burrowing through Seteal’s aura and added it to his
earlier weaving. A moment later a fetid brown lump formed and he
pushed its pulsating mass into the heart of her aura, binding it
within the black strands.

‘
Off you go now,’
Far-a-mael encouraged. ‘You should practice what I’ve taught
you.’

‘
Yes, Gil’rei.’
Seteal’s eyes came up lifeless as she turned to leave.

The door closed with a soft thud and
all was silent. Far-a-mael exhaled tiredly and sat down, allowing
his feelings to show now that he was alone. How could he have been
so foolish? How could the silver glass have been so wrong? For
Maker’s sake, she couldn’t even see! He’d be the laughing stock of
the Elglair, an old fool who traipsed across the world to bring
home some blind, useless half-breed. His application for eldership
would be laughed out the door.

‘
Get a hold of
yourself, you old fool,’ Far-a-mael growled, irritated by his own
defeatist thoughts. ‘Give her time. You’ve waited this long. Just
give her a little more time.’

CHAPTER Five

Out The Window

‘
Hello, cutie,’ Seeol
whispered through the space in the top of Seteal’s bag. He wasn’t
certain of what the second word meant, but knew it was a friendly
greeting of some sort.

‘
Be quiet,’ Seteal
hissed. The sound was similar to that of a snake.