Esra (16 page)

       Esra nodded, appreciating the fact that Nadia could relate to how she was feeling.  She pictured a young girl with long dark curls running down the side of a mountain, a pack full of supplies bouncing at her side.  Suddenly Fynn’s song broke through her thoughts as his voice warbled across the clearing. 

      
Rabbit stew, Rabbit stew.

       Eat it raw, it’ll make ye spew.

        “So fer starters, I’d just like to tell ye that I know fer a fact that one of the hardest things yer parents ever did was give ye up,” Nadia seemed to read Esra’s mind.  “So don’t fer a second think that ye were raised by yer grandparents because they didn’t want ye.”                

       “How do ye know?”

       “Well, we all know them.  They live at the Stronghold.”

       “Oh, right.  Do all Keepers usually live there?”

       “Many of us do.  We have to be there fer training and afterwards most of us find it easier to set up our permanent homes there.  We travel and see our families, and some of us choose to live outside, like Lara.  But most of us are gone so often that it just makes sense to make it our home.  And it’s a wonderful place filled with beauty and all different types of people, each with unique outlooks and abilities.  The reason yer parents are there, Esra, is because they are both Great Keepers.  Yer mother is the Great Keeper of Destiny and yer father is the Great Keeper of War.”

       “Oh,” a surprised gasp escaped Esra’s lips.  She sat in silence for a moment, contemplating this revelation.  “Both of them?  But I thought that only happened very rarely, sometimes hundreds of years apart.”

       “That’s true,” Arland confirmed. “If a Keeper passes all five tests, which almost never happens, a Great Keeper can choose to pass on their knowledge.  It is only then that they are able to leave their physical bodies.  The Great Keepers do not do what they do fer the power or the immortality.  They pass on all of their knowledge to the new Keeper in the hopes that they will add to it.  And I’d imagine that most of them are ready fer a break after centuries of work.”

       “So my grandparents…”

       “They’re not Keepers, strangely enough.  But they both had family very gifted in the arts of magick.”

       Esra felt a weight lift off her chest in relief.  She was glad that at least someone in her life wasn’t hiding their identity. 

       “So how long has Cane been a Great Keeper?”

       “He passed all his tests centuries ago.  Not sure how many exactly. I do believe he was around to see Rїvan’s treachery.”

       “Jumping jig…” Esra murmured.  “I’d always joked that Cane was an old man, but I had no idea how true that really was.  To think that he has seen LeVara hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago.  No wonder he loved history lessons.  He had probably lived through much of what he taught.”

       “Yer parents,” Baelin explained, “they both passed all five tests.  It had been unheard of until then, two people doing this at once.  Actually, the last test yer father passed was yer mother’s.  She had become a Great Keeper just before him.”

       “Yer mother found out she was with child right after yer father finished his last test,” Arland continued, “and they were both thrilled.  Ye were conceived by two Great Keepers, and yer mother gave birth to ye as a Great Keeper.  Once again, this has never happened.  No one knew if ye would be Human, immortal, or a little of both.  But the one thing they did assume is that ye would be an extraordinary Keeper, someone who could possibly end the war fer good.”

       “Has a Great Keeper not ever had a child with a Human or Elf?”

       “No, they were usually fairly old by the time they passed their fifth test, or already had families.  And a new Great Keeper came along so rarely, you can imagine the chances of this occurring.  It had never been tested before.”

       “I’m like, some freak, then?”  Esra was astounded at this new piece of information.  She was honestly surprised that she could continue to be surprised at this point, but the strangeness just kept coming.

       “Not a freak, Esra, a gift.” Nadia took her hand and held it for a long moment.  “Ye give hope to a people who have been fighting fer hundreds of years.  It has always been said that a Keeper may come along who can end the war and bring harmony to our land.  Ye have been a beacon of light in the last twenty years through the dark times of the Keepers.”

       “But I’m not a beacon, I’m a farm girl,” Esra insisted with a sigh.  It was as if they weren’t hearing her.  “So how does someone find out what they are a Keeper of anyway?” 

       “Well,” Nadia looked from her to Baelin, “usually ye don’t find out until after yer training, when yer first test is completed and ye attend yer first Gifting Ceremony.”

       “That’s right,” Esra remembered, “Cane told me that the Keepers receive Gifts.  He said they’re a contribution to help with a skill and no two are alike.  And they’re always an item of sorts that aid the user mentally or physically.”

       “Yer right,” Nadia said. “My first Gift was the Stone of Awareness.  I am able to sense others over great distances, know if an enemy or friend is approaching.  I then received the Ring of Haste, which makes my speed increase tenfold, followed by a Necklace of Stunning, which makes any melee attack I use that doesn’t kill my opponent stun them temporarily.  My fourth Gift was the Bracelet of Evening Eye, which allows me to see in complete darkness.  Very useful tools fer someone dedicated to stealth.”

       “Bumbling Huckfly,” Esra whistled, impressed.  These Gifts were very useful indeed.  Too bad she didn’t have anything like it when the Elites were chasing her through the forest.  “So what about the rest of ye?”

       “Well,” Fynn chimed in, “my first Gift was the Ring of Tongues, which allows me te speak any language, including Shendari.”

“Can’t Elves also speak every language including Shendari?”

“Some languages, yes,” Nadia answered.  “But not nearly as well as Fynn.  He has a natural affinity fer all languages, he can speak them fluently without even hearing them beforehand.  Ours is a learned skill, one that we study fer long hours as children.  If Fynn ever met someone outside of our Kingdom we would have no knowledge of their language but he would be able to communicate with them perfectly.”

  “Then I received the Bow of Many,” Fynn continued, “which allows me te shoot up te three arrows at a time.  A nice trick fer the ladies, I must admit.  Then there was the Listening Stone.  Before that I had te touch an Animal directly in order te speak te it.  Now I can communicate over great distances with any creature.  My fourth Gift was the Earring of Recovery, which allows me te heal from any physical wound without the need of Herbs or poultices.  I am also immune te illness and disease but still vulnerable te magickal attack.”

       “So ye can’t be injured?”

       “I can, and it still hurts like it would any other, but I will heal without any outside help and much more quickly.”

       Esra had an impulse to ask Fynn to show her, to cut his hand so that she could see if what he spoke was indeed true.  But she was too shy to ask such a thing, and besides, he said it would still hurt. 

“Baelin?”  She turned towards her blacksmith friend.

“My first was the Hammer of the Shendari, which is the only tool that is able te shape Shendari scales.  The Knife of Piercing, my second Gift, is able te cut through any material, and I do mean anything.  Wood, stone, metal, it will slice through it like a cooked Carrot.  I forged it onto the end of my weapon.”

He grabbed the large wooden staff from where it was leaning on the ground and showed her the end with the spiked metal ball and the other end with a metal casing that held the knife.  He took off the covering and pressed a spot on the wood until the knife slid easily off the end and into his hands.

“The metal casing is made from the same material.  Otherwise I might cut through everything I touch.  The third Gift I received was the Amulet of Resistance, which makes me immune te all influence magick.  Tayen, the Great Keeper of Magick, was quite impressed with that one, as it is very rare te have total immunity te any type of magick.  My last Gift was the Ring of Esra, believe it or not.”

       “A ring of me?” She asked incredulously.  “What is
that
fer?”

       “It is the reason I came te Sorley.  It wasn’t just that I was asked by the Great Keepers, although I would have gone had they done so.  It was when I discovered I was a dual Keeper, fer the title became known te Cane as he was Gifting me the ring.  It was a very confusing moment fer him, as he is not used te being surprised at his own Giftings, I’d imagine.  But I am always…drawn…te where ye are.  It’s like a mother who has lost her child in the woods and can’t explain why she knows which way te go, but she won’ stop looking until they’re found.  I can’t quite describe it.  I can sense when yer in danger, when yer afraid.  Sometimes the pull te be near ye was so strong I would come find ye just te make sure ye were safe, like all those times in the forest,” he admitted sheepishly.

       “Oh,” Esra said softly.  She wasn’t sure how to feel about this.  How strange to be drawn to someone like that, to be practically unable to stay away from where they were.  Strange for her and him both.  Esra hoped it had nothing to do with their making friends, that it had been as much an act of free will as it had been a force of magick.  The thought of him not truly caring for her filled her with a heavy feeling of dread, and she swallowed hard.  Their relationship had always seemed so natural, so fated.  Her brain suddenly alit with a thought, as if she had just solved a riddle she had been brooding over for months.  It was quickly followed by a strong emotion and she shuddered inwardly as she recognized the feeling.  Although she could identify it, Esra was not ready to deal with it.  Not yet.  She turned hastily towards Arland in an attempt to lead her mind away from the swarm of thoughts.  “And what about ye?”

       “My first Gift was the Greatsword of Narajuv, as ye’ve seen.  Narajuv was a remarkable warrior from the lost tribes of the north, beyond the Eshomee Ledges of my people.  His sword had been shattered in a great battle, with only small pieces of the blade remaining and the hilt, which had been preserved at the Stronghold fer generations.  Baelin re-forged the sword with a mixture of Elvish metal and a small amount of Shendari scale, which gives the blade its reddish color.  It increases my sword fighting skills immensely.  It’s almost like having extra intuition when I’m wielding it.  Then I received the Bracelet of Dreams, which allows me to alter another person’s dreams.  I can do this to influence them perhaps, or calm them, or warn them.  There are many different reasons.”

       “Alter their dreams?”  Esra thought back to the dream of Sorley she had after her rescue and how realistic it had felt. “My grandparents by the stream.  That was ye?”

       “Aye,” he smiled, “I thought it would be refreshing fer ye to have a night in familiar surroundings.”

       Esra nodded slowly, confused by the intrusion into her mind but grateful for the gesture.  He held out his arm for her so that she could see the bracelet, which was thickly woven with a strong black material.  In the center, woven into the dark threads was a cloudy silver stone.  It was flat and round, about the size of her thumbnail, with the Tur word for dreams carved onto the surface of the stone. 
Pyrthoria.

“My third Gift,” Arland continued, “was the Armor of Deflection.  This repels most attack spells back to the caster.”

“But I’ve never seen ye wear any armor.”

“It’s not a full chainmail suit,” he smiled.  “Since it is to defend against magickal attacks, I wear it as a talisman.” 

He pulled out a leather cord that was tucked into his shirt and showed her the small metal charm shaped like a starburst.  “My final Gift was the Rock of Memories, which allows me to alter the memory of anyone I touch.”

       Esra raised her eyebrows suspiciously at this revelation before he quickly explained.  “Not that I do it every time I touch someone.  I have to be holding the rock and it requires a lot of concentration.  It’s not something I use very often.”

       “I see,” she said in relief.  Although if he was changing her memories, she supposed she’d never know the truth anyway.  Maybe they had already had this conversation.  No, that was too strange for her to think of.  “These are all very powerful Gifts.  What happens if ye lose it or someone steals one?”

       “The Gifts are meant to be used by one person alone, so it would do ye no good to steal one.  And if they are lost, they will always find their way back to their owner.  Almost like magickal tracking.”

       “I see.”

       “Many at the Stronghold believe, Esra, that ye are destined fer great things,” Arland admitted. 

       “Ye keep saying that,” Esra sighed dejectedly. 

       Fynn plopped down next to her, winded from his dancing and cooking.  “Destiny, shmestiny.  So, I take it they told ye all ye needed te know?”

       “Not nearly, but it’s good enough fer now.  I have a lot to think about,” she smiled.

       “Esra, we also want ye to know that becoming a Keeper is a choice,” Nadia offered gently.  “We are not here to kidnap ye like the Elites and turn ye against yer will.  If ye choose not to join us, we will escort ye to someplace safe in the morning.  Unfortunately, it will not be safe in Sorley, but we will find yer grandparents and take ye somewhere else.”

       It was quiet for a long moment as Esra pondered this decision.  If she choose to, she was actually going to see her parents.  That seemed to be the scariest thought of all, even worse than Tallen and his Elites.  “Although it frightens me, I cannot in good conscience deny that if I might be able to help in this fight in any way, I will.  Even if I end up sweeping the floors of the Stronghold.  I had no idea that everyone I knew had been taking fer granted the peace that we have enjoyed all these years.  The experience of being kidnapped still hangs heavily in my mind, haunting me.  I can still see their twisted faces scowling in the shadows whenever I close my eyes.  All of the people in LeVara are in danger, including the people of Sorley that I love dearly.  Mothers, fathers, children.  I can’t turn my back now, not if there is even the slightest chance that I could help end it, strange as that thought is.  Even if I can’t do a lick of magick, I will certainly do my best.”