Session 4 - A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing

16 Wandwind 850

After that fall, Talik’s morning routine changed considerably. Instead of being taken to his morning chores, he was brought to Iskar Orten, who would do something… Talik could not even understand what exactly was being done to him. Iskar Orten would wave his hands, apply various objects, and curse at his assistants using strange words. All the boy had to do was stand still, while Talik himself would feel hot, then cold, then ticklish, then terribly thirsty. A different sensation each time. Sometimes he would grow frightened and want to run, but the fear could quickly turn into joy. Talik tried more than once to find out what was happening, but they paid attention to him only when they had questions of their own.

At first, Talik kept expecting pain, but nothing hurt, not even when they began poking some cylinders with needles into his arms and legs. The first time the boy saw a needle enter his arm, he jerked hard. He wanted to run, but his legs could not take a single step. At that moment, one of the assistants smacked him on the back of the head and ordered him not to move. That was the first and only pain Talik felt during those days. Iskar Orten swore furiously then and beat the assistant across the back with some kind of tube, shouting about disrupted concentration and having to do everything over again. They spent the entire day in the medical block after that.

Talik thought they were taking him to the medical block today as well, but the guards led him to another building. Inside, it was unlike anything the boy had seen before. Everything seemed brighter, more beautiful. There were all sorts of pictures on the walls and many flowers in pots lined up along them. And the smell was unusual somehow. Pleasant, barely noticeable.

The guards stopped before a patterned door and knocked. Elvar Morren’s voice came from behind it almost at once:

“Bring him in!”

Talik was led into a large room. Here too, various pictures hung on the walls and flowers stood in pots, only the smell was different — it smelled of smoke. Elvar Morren stood by the window. His gaze was just as unpleasant as it had been when they first met. Elvar walked from the window to one corner, then another, approached the desk, and returned to the window again. All the while, Talik felt as though the man were looking him straight in the eye, even when he turned his back. Especially when he turned his back. At last, Elvar Morren sat down behind his large desk, spread some sheets of paper before him, and smiled. Talik did not like the smile. Elvar leaned back in his chair and said:

“So what am I supposed to do with you? You’ve tied my brain in knots. Half the researchers think you — and me along with you — are playing games with them; the other half are asking me to hand you over for experiments. But what experiments, when all the tests so far have found no anomaly, no magic whatsoever? What’s more, they show you’re as healthy as an ox: there isn’t even a trace of the fracture. And yet you look like a weakling. Your health is so perfect it’s impossible to believe. In the army, they’d call you the perfect soldier if you weren’t so stupid. If only you had a little more brains, you’d be priceless!”

Talik frowned. There had been a lot of words, and not all of them were familiar, but he caught the word “stupid.” Yet his mother had said that he was not stupid, just different.

But as soon as Elvar Morren heard the boy’s words about his mother, he rolled his eyes and groaned:

“Oh, gods, I wish she were here. You’d be so much easier to deal with…”

Suddenly, the Senior Overseer’s face turned to stone, and he added:

“…or perhaps not…”

With a sharp motion, Elvar swept all the papers on the desk into a single pile, pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket, smoothed it out with his hands, and said:

“Sit down. We have something to discuss.”

Elvar Morren began asking questions. Many familiar questions. Time and again, he repeated things he had already asked about many times. Talik answered as best he could. Sometimes Elvar took one of the sheets from the desk and studied it for a long time, and the questions went around in circles, though something would change. Sometimes Elvar grimaced at an answer; then the question would be repeated, but phrased differently. At last, Elvar rose from behind the desk and said:

“Boy, if you had answered like this on the first day, we would never have finished at all. Pull yourself together. I know you can answer better than this.”

But instead of an answer, he heard Talik’s stomach growl. Elvar nodded:

“Fair point… If food is all you can think about, what can anyone expect from you?”

A few minutes later, a guard brought them a late breakfast. Talik nearly snatched the bowl of porridge from the guard and eagerly plunged his spoon into it.

When he tore his attention away from the food for a moment and looked at Elvar Morren, he saw that the man was staring straight at him too. The Senior Overseer’s face either twisted into a grimace or formed a smile, and he said:

“Had I known everything would go this badly, I’d have ordered breakfast first instead of putting it off until later…”

Elvar Morren suddenly fell silent. Whatever had resembled a smile vanished from his face. He dismissed the guard with a gesture and began sorting through the papers on his desk again. His movements were so abrupt that some of the sheets ended up on the floor.

“First…. First… Where is it?”

He went through the documents faster and faster, tossing the ones he had examined straight onto the floor.

“What happened first? It has to be here somewhere…”

Suddenly, he laughed, and there was something creaky about his laughter. It occurred to Talik that this was exactly how Elvar ought to laugh.

Still laughing, Elvar said:

“It’s hard to find a black kass in a dark room… Especially when it isn’t there!”

Talik had just finished his porridge and was wiping the bowl with a piece of bread when Elvar said very gently:

“Tell me everything from the beginning, and start at the very beginning of the morning.”

Talik shrugged and began recounting his day as best he could:

“Well… I woke up, had breakfast… Then I gathered the sheep and drove them to the pasture… Well, something was humming there… Then I found a pretty stone for Mother…”

The mention of his mother made him sad again. After a brief silence, he continued:

“Well, then it took me a long time to gather the sheep, and I drove them home…well, and then the hum…”

Elvar Morren stopped the boy with a gesture and asked quietly:

“Why did it take you so long to gather them?”

Talik scratched the back of his head and answered:

“They got scared when something fell from the sky…”

Elvar began asking for details, but Talik only shrugged and said he did not know.

When the questions ran out, Elvar Morren shook his head and said:

“I haven’t had a workout like that in a long time. So much time spent, and the only new information is some strange atmospheric phenomena and a souvenir for your mother. Just to put this matter to rest as well, tell me about that pretty stone.”

Talik showed its size with his hands and added:

“About this big. Black. Like it had little stars in it. Pretty…”

The Senior Overseer was silent for a moment and asked:

“And what happened to this stone?”

The boy wrinkled his nose and said:

“It suddenly got hot and crumbled like sand.”

Elvar spread his arms. It looked somehow unnatural and strange. The creak of laughter sounded in his voice again:

“Of course. Crumbled like sand. What did I expect? An ordinary shepherd couldn’t possibly have found a second Great… Though the color… Definitely black? Not dark blue or violet?”

Talik only shrugged. Elvar Morren’s face returned to the “usual” look Talik had grown accustomed to, and he added in a calm voice:

“Another riddle without answers. Then again, I don’t work with any other kind.”

16 Wandwind 850 (afternoon)

By the time Talik was led out of Elvar Morren’s office, lunch was almost over. No matter how much the boy hurried, when he entered the dining hall, he saw that they had already stopped serving food. Sighing, he headed straight for the kitchen. His resentment toward Ratt Mossen had not gone anywhere, but his hunger was stronger. Talik expected him to be displeased, yet when the boy asked, Ratt silently handed him a portion. Grabbing the plate, Talik marched toward the kitchen exit. There were still many people in the dining hall, so the boy headed for a table in the corner, trying not to draw unnecessary attention.

Interlude

Mirin Al’Keira sat in a corner of the dining hall, picking at her porridge. It was not that the food tasted bad, but during her time here she had grown sick of it. Her hand instinctively rose to adjust a lock of hair, but jerked away when it touched her bald head. All her hair had fallen out since she had arrived at “Gareza.” The local mage, who was also the doctor, explained that she had accidentally been affected by whatever prevented men’s beards and mustaches from growing in “Gareza.” Supposedly, it was because she was from Rhaen’Mor — or, more precisely, because of her skin color. She had to take his word for it, because Mirin was the only dark-skinned woman in “Gareza.” And the only bald woman as well. The phrasing “affected by whatever…” annoyed her too — why could he not simply have said “affected by magic”? Mirin touched her head again, deliberately this time, and ran her hand over the smooth skin. Then she carefully checked her eyebrows. Fortunately, they were still there. Mirin sighed.

The porridge had already gone cold when that strange boy — Talik — entered the dining hall. Mirin watched him openly. This place changed people rather quickly, but not this oddball. His appearance and his behavior were both the same as they had been in the first few days. Tousled dark hair, blue eyes that were always downcast, and swarthy skin, as though he spent his days in the sun. The boy also moved as if he were afraid someone might notice him. Given how thin he was, it even looked natural.

As Mirin described herself, she had two passions: an incredible, even unhealthy curiosity, and an equally strong love of the truth. This combination was what made it impossible for Mirin to look calmly upon any mystery — she absolutely had to figure everything out. So when she saw Talik wearing Bracelets of Geas on both arms, she began to feel as though she would “burst” with the desire to learn at least something about him. When she managed to peek at his medical record once, it only raised more questions. In the age field, someone had first written twenty, crossed it out, then written twenty-five beside it and crossed that out as well. Below that were twenty-two and several question marks. For Master Orten to be unable to determine someone’s age on the first try… Mirin had never heard of such a thing.

Meanwhile, Talik emerged from the kitchen with a plate and headed toward the corner. Mirin looked the boy over once more. If only she could simply walk up and ask, “Why are you here?” but the Bracelets of Geas kept their wearer’s secrets safe. Mirin lowered her gaze to her plate. And how could this Talik eat with such enjoyment?

Suddenly, the woman caught a distinctive scent: aromatic oils and unusual herbs. Only one person here smelled like that. So she snorted and, without raising her head, said:

“What do you want, Lial? I thought we agreed on neutrality!”

The man she had called Lial sat beside her and said quietly:

“I want everything you’ve managed to dig up on that boy.”

The man jerked his head toward Talik and continued:

“I have a few ideas, and if everything works out, you’ll get what you want so badly.”

Mirin silently continued her lunch without saying a word, because she knew very well that the walls here had ears — a great many ears.

Lial slowly rose, cast one more glance toward Talik, and headed for the dining hall exit.

16 Wandwind 850 (late evening)

The Sun had long since stopped shining into the hole, but Talik was still walking around the yard. He was bored just sitting in his room, and he still had not made any friends here. So when he heard footsteps, he was even a little glad, but before the boy saw who was approaching, he caught a strong smell resembling certain herbs, only much more intense. Talik had smelled it before, but he tried to stay as far away from it as possible. Someone — Talik no longer remembered who — had advised him to have nothing to do with whoever smelled like that. At last, a man emerged from behind the trees. There was a smile on his pale face. The man came almost right up to him and said:

“Tell me, do you miss your mother very much?”

The coldness in his voice was so unexpected that Talik recoiled. The man remained silent, so the boy nodded slowly and said:

“Yes, very much…”

After a brief silence, Talik added:

“My special day with presents is coming soon… She’ll come… She’s sure to come…”

The man shrugged and, no longer smiling, answered:

“Then we’ll talk after your special day… By the way, my name is Lial…”

The man turned around and slowly walked away. The boy watched him go for a long time, whispering over and over:

“She’ll come… She’s sure to…”