Call of the Herald (25 page)

"She can control people's minds?" Osbourne
asked, his face pale.

"I don't think she has any control over our
thoughts or any way to read them. It does seem, however, that she
can project her emotions to those around her," Benjin said.

"I didn't try to make you think those
things," Catrin objected. "Those were the things I was thinking
about, but I just concentrated real hard on them; that's all. I
wasn't trying to influence your thoughts. Honest." Her voice was
practically pleading now. "And I'd never try to read your minds.
Sometimes I can sense people's emotions, but I don't even do that
intentionally."

"We know you wouldn't do anything like that
on purpose," Chase said. "You should guard your thoughts more
closely from now on, though. Try not to concentrate that hard on
anything you want kept secret."

"Well said," Benjin said.

"I need to see this for myself," Catrin said.
"I'm going to try to do it again."

Benjin did not discourage her, and the others
looked as if they wanted to see it, so she took a deep breath and
centered herself. The excitement made the meditation as difficult
as her previous frustration had, but she closed her eyes and
concentrated.

This was important. This was an opportunity
to learn something about her powers, a chance to take control of
her life. Hope, excitement, and curiosity were predominant in her
thoughts, and she focused on them.

"Look now," Chase whispered.

It nearly cost Catrin her concentration, and
she kept her eyes closed until she regained her focus. Slowly she
opened them. The light was almost blinding, but soon she could see
a ball of energy floating above her cupped palms. Like a shimmering
jewel with countless facets, it was exquisite. It spun and danced
in her hands, constantly changing.

The more excited and fascinated she became,
the larger and brighter it grew. When she could no longer contain
it, she tossed it into the night sky, where it burst into a cloud
of twinkling lights no larger than grains of sand. They dimmed and
disappeared before reaching the ground, but the air was charged
with excitement.

"That was amazing," Chase said.

"I'd have to agree," Benjin added.

Catrin's mind raced with possibilities and
questions. What else could she do with her powers? What other
abilities might she stumble on? The thoughts were as terrifying as
they were exhilarating. Even after she retired to her bedroll, she
lay staring up at the stars, hoping whatever power she found next
would not destroy anything or kill anyone.

Chapter 15

Bonds of blood are sacred and immutable.

--King Venes of the Elsics

* * *

Catrin woke during the night
and
decided to relieve Benjin from his
watch
. She
figur
ed
it would be best if he were the one rested for the
next part of their journey. Pulling her
coverlet
around her shoulders, she wandered past the
glowing coals of the fire.
She found
Chase
in Benjin's stead. He smiled at her.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"I slept
great,
actually. I just woke up for some reason . . . not sure why. How
long ago did you relieve Benjin?"

"Not long ago. I'm awake and alert. I'll take
the rest of the watch. Get some more sleep; you'll probably need
it," he said. Catrin was glad to take him up on this advice. Her
sleeping spot had gone cold and she shivered, but soon she slept
again.

Chase woke them during the false dawn. Catrin
felt she had closed her eyes only moments before, and they were
still
clouded with sleep.
Their routine well practiced, they broke camp in record time,
and Catrin slowly recovered from her disorientation.

Wanting to cover as much ground as possible
while the air was still cool, they set off without delay. Catrin
set a moderate pace for Osbourne's sake since he was still
experiencing headaches and shortness of breath. His condition
troubled her, but they
had
to keep moving.
Benjin did what he could to ease Osbourne's afflictions using the
few
medicinal herbs
he still
had left, and Catrin hoped it would be enough.

The broad valley morphed into rolling hills,
and as they crested a steep rise, Catrin caught sight of what
lay
ahead
. T
he
rising sun cast a myriad of colors across the sky and the desert
below. The horizon was a lush canvas of texture and color, pastels
and blush highlighted with hues of violet. Waves of sand appeared
almost fluid, lapping against a meandering shoreline. The relative
flatness stretched into the distance, the horizon broken only by
distant, shadowy mountains. The sheer size and deceptive beauty of
the desert cast an intimidating pall on those who viewed it.

Catrin had never been away from the mountains
before. Realizing the feeling of security they had always given
her, she was glad they would follow the mountains for much of their
journey.

"Do not let its beauty fool you," Benjin
said. "The desert is deadly. We'll be skirting it for some time,
and though the mountains will give us some cover and possible storm
shelter, we won't be immune to its dangers. Keep watch on the
horizons and be alert for storms or large clouds of dust."

At the mouth of the valley, they turned
north, following the narrow band of lightly forested grasslands
that huddled between stone and sand like an emerald river. The air
above the desert shimmered in the heat of the morning sun, and they
moved along in relative silence to conserve their energy. They
drank sparingly from their flasks, knowing they could run out
before they escaped this arid landscape.

Catrin let Benjin lead and found herself
walking in a trance, part of her mind watching where she was going,
but another part deep in thought. She tried the technique of
clearing her mind that Benjin taught her, but she could not focus,
and she wandered from thought to thought, seemingly at random. The
deluge of thoughts flowed past her consciousness, and she let them
skirt her awareness, creating an odd, transitional state of mind.
She became aware of a curious hum, like background noise in her
head, a buzzing that seemed to be just behind her ears. She tried
to focus on it, but it stayed at the edge of her senses, elusive
and indefinable.

Taking a different approach, she tried to
specifically not think about it and concentrate on something else.
No matter how hard she tried to ignore it, though, the humming
crept along the edges of her senses, tickling her awareness. She
tried to evoke powerful memories and the emotions they brought,
hoping to overpower the distraction. She called up the vivid memory
of her first kiss, and the buzzing pounded into her thoughts.
Grasping it with her mind, she latched on to it with all the focus
she could muster.

Her body thrummed in the powerful chorus, a
lilting melody that ebbed to a mere whisper only to resound again
insistently. Concentrating on hearing alone seemed insufficient to
perceive the energy, and she split her focus to include the
vibrations she felt. At this point, she began to experience it in a
completely new way. The energy took shape and form, though its form
continuously shifted like the surface of a lake. Fragrances
overlaid her other senses, and even the taste of the air colored
her mental imagery.

After tripping on a gnarled tree root, Catrin
caught herself on the trunk. Her palms slammed into the bark, and
she was overwhelmed by her impression of the tree: Vitality and
strength flowed through the physical bond like a torrent of life.
The tree exuded ancient wisdom and lack of cares. It existed simply
and simply existed. It did no right or wrong, made no mistakes, had
no opinions. It was beyond reproach and indifferent to criticism.
Catrin was comforted by its energy and felt a gentle calm wash over
her. Chase stumbled into her back, jarring her from her mental
state.

"Sorry, Cat. I didn't realize you
stopped."

"My fault. I wasn't watching where I was
going," she explained, not wanting to discuss her experience until
she understood it better.

After her shocking contact with the tree,
Catrin had a better idea of what to expect and how to interpret
what she felt, and she began to sort through her perceptions of the
various energies around her. Everything she saw had its own
pattern, its own unique energy: her companions, the trees, grass,
mountains, and especially the desert. She was surprised to find so
much life energy within the desolation of the desert. Her senses
skated along the sands. She didn't know what all the energies were,
but she knew they existed.

The auras surrounding her companions were
storms of emotional energy, which gave her a strong sense of their
moods. She had always been sensitive to people's feelings and tried
always to ascertain people's mental states in order to understand
them. Posture, stance, and movements were all indicators, but none
had ever given her such clear insight as she had now. Oddly, her
new sense felt completely natural, as if it had always been a part
of her, latent, waiting to be recognized and used. But it was also
a burden. It made the fear and anxiety surrounding her companions
almost palpable and impossible to ignore. Devoid of any means to
assuage their fears, she simply accepted them and let them be.

A vibrant burst of energy off to her right
caught her attention. It burned with life. She used her eyes to
identify the source and saw an emerald hummingbird visiting the
flowers of a trumpet vine. As if sensing her scrutiny, it flew in
front of her face and hovered there. After a brief moment, it
chirped, backed up, and darted into the azure sky. Catrin's
impression of the hummingbird--vibrant and alive--stayed with her,
its bold curiosity refreshing.

The more she used her new life sense, the
easier and more natural it became. She found that, after a while,
she could sense it without focusing on it, though it was most
intense when she concentrated, just as she could hear without
consciously listening.

New sensations invigorated her, as if feeling
a cool breeze on her face for the first time, and she was
exuberant. Another small life force moved nearby, and she was
surprised to see a honeybee. It did not seem angry or aggressive,
as she had always perceived stinging insects; it was just going
about the business of being a honeybee.

There was an abundance of life in the soil
itself, including things too small to be seen. Catrin saw the ways
death served to feed life. Deciduous trees shed leaves, which fell
to the ground and decomposed. Organisms that used the decaying
leaves as food aided the decomposition. Their waste and the decayed
matter become soil, which, in turn, nourished the trees and plants.
Catrin had never recognized the chain of life as a varying cycle of
composition and decomposition before, and such realizations were
rapidly changing her perception of the world around her.

Nature, in all its majesty and glory, was
beginning to be revealed to Catrin through senses she had not been
aware of before. For the first time, she saw the ecosystem as a
unit and saw how each part of the system contributed to the whole;
without any one component, life could fail. Predators could not
exist without prey, and herbivores would die without plants, and
plants would shrivel without materials provided by the death and
defecation of animals. When she considered how many factors had to
be in place for life to endure, she was amazed it existed at all,
and yet it flourished, even in the harshest of environments--simply
astounding.

Involved in her thoughts, Catrin was
surprised when Benjin selected a place to camp. Most of the day's
hike was a blur to her, and she had to reorient herself with the
landscape. The mountains cast long shadows over the grassland as
the sun set; the air cooled quickly, and it was almost chilly by
twilight. The campsite Benjin selected backed up against the rock
face. Although a few trees dotted the area, they were weathered and
twisted. It was not much cover, but it was certainly better than
the open desert.

"I've been thinking about what Osbourne said
about an ambush," Benjin said as they ate. "If there's a trap, I
think it would be best to spring it without Catrin with us," he
continued. "There shouldn't be many places for the Zjhon to hide
near the cove, and if I make it that far without seeing
anyone--"

Catrin cut in. "So your plan is to go into an
ambush . . . alone? Without me?"

"Now, Catrin, please understand, it's to
protect you," he began, but Catrin silenced him with a look. He
clamped his mouth shut, his eyes down, and waited silently. Catrin
knew she was being unreasonable, but the thought of him walking
into an ambush was horrifying. Some other option must exist, one
without Benjin as bait. No one spoke until Benjin drew a breath,
but Catrin cut him short again.

"You'll think of another plan," she said with
a sharp nod. "Our only recourse cannot be a suicide mission for any
of us. I will not accept that."

"Why, yes, of course. There must be a better
way," Benjin replied without looking at her.

Catrin looked out into the night, terrified
by the thought of being without Benjin. He made her feel safe.
Without looking at the others, she went to her bedroll. She knew
her anger was driven by fear, and that was the only way she could
hide it.

* * *

"Now what do we do?" Chase asked once it
appeared Catrin was truly asleep.

"For now we just have to keep moving toward
the cove," Benjin said. "We have few other options."

"Maybe you and I should leave now and scout
the way," Chase said.