Chapter 5: A Fifth Companion

   Ina woke with a start. Tears fell down her cheeks, mixed with a cold sweat; she trembled where she lay, her head resting on Tia’s saddle. The sun began to rise in the distance. She had been dreaming of the night she met the Dremas and how Martha had died before her eyes. She thought over her loss, and began to think of how lucky she was to be where she was. She turned over onto her back. Looking up into the branches of the oak, she watched the small birds flutter around and chase each other. They performed graceful, complicated manoeuvres as if to cheer her misery. Then she thought of the power and wanted to consider using it again. She wondered what the birds thought about in the morning when they seemed to be happiest. She spoke the words and shaped the birds in her mind’s eye. Like a sudden shower her mind was filled with music and cheeriness, she found it hard to separate the different minds as they fused together as a collective. She focused her sight on one particular bird, a blue tit perched on the branch directly above her. It preferred to sit there and sing to the world rather than join in the chaotic merriment of the others. The bird, Ina guessed, was a female and her song was about building nests and raising chicks, and courting with a mate when she was fully fledged. Ina dared not speak for breaking the beautiful tune. Its voice was very high pitched, almost childlike, and twittered along to the melody of her calling (if Ina had not accessed the Power). The song ended with images of sunsets and her young flying off into their own futures.

   What did you think? Ina jumped, it was the same high pitched tone of the bird, only not in a tune of any sort.

   What? How did..? She mumbled.

   I knew you were listening to me, as you are now, but my song had not finished. I asked you what you thought of it.

   It was beautiful; it says many things about you.

   Who are you?

   Ina. May I also say what a wonderful voice you have.

   Thank you. What brings you under this tree?

   Him, she pointed over at Bordan, and I are travelling through this kingdom on a mission.

   Ooh, very exciting. This world holds many beauties and wonders that tell secrets of the life before humans. I have seen hardly any of it, but the older birds tell us hatchlings of their sightings.

   It’s not a mission of sightseeing. Do you have a name? Ina asked, the blue tit fluttered down to her and landed on the dirt ground. Ina then sat up and leaned against the tree. She bent her knees closer to her chest and the bird hopped onto one of them.

   All animals have a name, we just do not have access to them.

   How do you mean? Surely you must known by some kind of identity or, being of the land, have straight, instinctive access to your true name. You must be known by some identity?

   No, we do not and yes, I am. My true name, the one which shows who I really am, is deep inside me within my soul. I will never know it. Some birds know me as Sida, my own kind know me as Prikal.

   Which do you prefer?

   Sida. You say you are travelling through this kindom, that would take you through many scenes, maybe ones where other small birds have never been.

   Yes, possibly.

   I’d love to see the world. The stories I’ve heard make me jealous, I wish to experience what they have, and more.

   Why don’t you come along? I could protect you.

   It is very tempting; I’ll consider it over breakfast. Sida twitched her head from side to side a while, then focused her beady, black eyes on Ina. She chirped and gracefully flew off past the tree and out of sight. Ina pulled away from her mind, not after she had seen what the little bird wanted for breakfast – worms.

   All that time Bordan had been asleep, with his head tilted down and his back against the oak. Ina studied his unmoving form, and began to wonder whether he had spent much of his life in his own kingdom. She then remembered Tia; she had not spoken to her since early yesterday. She pictured Tia’s shape in her mind and formed her character, then spoke the words. Nothing happened, her mind stayed clear of other presences around her. I’ll let her be for now, she said to herself.

*****

   The sun had rose quite high now, it must be two hours after dawn and Bordan had still not woken up. Ina considered whether it would be a good or bad idea to wake him herself. As she thought it best to be moving on. She got onto her feet and walked over to where he lay. Bending over, she poked him in the shoulder, he just turned his head. Next she shook him a little and still he did not stir. She wondered if Kelar could help her. As with Tia, she went through the mind process and spoke the words.

   Kelar? Are you there? It’s Ina, I need your help.

   With what? answered a regal voice that held the expected tone of Kelar’s stance.

   Bordan won’t wake up.

   Is that all? Stay where you are, I’ll be there now.

   Do you know where Tia is?

   She is here with me, eating grass.

   Can you ask her why she won’t let me speak to her? In the apparent distance she heard faint whinnying.

   She says she does not feel like it.

   Thank you. Ina let go and started walking around the tree. She inspected certain areas of the bark; she saw many shapes and mazes made within the knobbly covering, which protected the tree’s soft insides. Hoof beats pounded the ground behind her and, turning around, saw Kelar trotting towards the oak. He was closely followed by Tia. Their manes and tails were flowing behind them in the passing air. Kelar carried on around the tree to wake Bordan. Tia turned her course in Ina’s direction. She stopped short before her and disturbed the ground with a hoof, like a child who scraped the sand with a stick to make patterns. She then tossed her head back, then down again. Ina reached out with her hand, palm facing the horse, to touch her muzzle. Before she touched the fine hairs, Tia moved her head forward to come in contact with Ina’s hand. She smiled.

   Meanwhile, Bordan had now awoken from his very deep sleep, thanks to Kelar’s loud neighing and rearing. Ina walked around the trunk to see him, he was stretching his arms up to the sky.

   ‘Ah, there you are?’ he said.

   ‘You sleep like a log. You were asleep for ages, I couldn’t wake you so I called Kelar.’

   ‘By the Power?’ he asked, intrigue slightly hinted in his voice.

   ‘Yes, sorry. I didn’t know where he was and I knew he would now how to get you to wake.’

   ‘I’m not bothered, considering what I said yesterday.’

   ‘About yesterday. Remember when you said you can speak to other animals through the mind?’ He nodded, as he checked Kelar’s saddle. ‘Well, I managed to talk to a bird, before Kelar came.’

   ‘Really?’ He sounded amazed; Ina thought he was being sarcastic. ‘That’s an experience you should remember. The most wildest animals ever communicated were cats. I doubt no one has ever managed to keep in time with a bird’s day. So tell me what you learnt, I’m interested in how you did it.’

   Ina went on with her story and Bordan did not interrupt. The more she spoke, the more intrigued his face became. By the time she had reached the part about Sida thinking of travelling with her he was speechless with wonder at her ability.

   She had finished her story about an hour later, surprisingly she had taken all that time to talk about something which lasted for about ten minutes.

   ‘That is mesmerisingly strange and yet dangerous,’ Bordan said. ‘Dangerous for both you and other innocents around you. That is if they cannot use the Power.’

   ‘Why? Isn’t it only dangerous if I access it?’ She knew what he was talking about. He had mentioned that her Power seemed to be very strong, and that even he could not guess why.

   ‘That I cannot say, sorry. You’ll have to figure that out by yourself.’ He fell silent, never to speak on the matter for a very long time. ‘Pa na dor in fila can an semantor ol de Venod, kor ledoth de lined mes foren de radnovei,’ he said in the language, Ina understood the message: sorry to be so secretive of the Power, but sometimes the hidden better protects the innocent. She reached out her hand to touch his shoulder, reassuring him that she did not mind. Also, to tell herself that everything was to be alright and they will spend more time together. He let out a sigh, his head down, his eyes half shut. Ina pulled her hand away and he looked at her with a confident smile. His eyes never gave away any signs of perception.

   ‘I think it best if we speak more in the language. It will increase your knowledge and your mind strength.’

   ‘That would be better, then it wouldn’t take me long to think of spells,’ she replied.

   ‘Very well. You should also talk more to Tia more often now, if she so wishes. It will mean quicker access to summons of the Power as well. And you’ll need to use more complicated spells and words. What you tend to do is use – let’s say – unsophisticated ways of putting across something.’

   ‘Do not.’

   ‘You do,’ he chuckled back. ‘Don’t start arguing. I’d hate for us to fall out, especially not at this desperate time when one really needs companionship.’ She looked at him, and he to her. They each held a secret bond in their eyes, as though they had known each other for eons. Ina tried to hold his stare but her cheeks blushed bright and she turned away. With her head turned from him, she could not see the expression he now held. His eyes looked down to his hands, half shut; he felt hopelessness come between them. He shook Kelar’s reins and the horse reared, then sped away at a gallop. Ina began to panic, should she chase after him or travel on at a steady pace? When it seemed he wouldn’t slow down or stop, she thought she’d become lost.

   ‘Nesh ur ai kelap,’ she murmured, and without thought she accessed Tia’s mind. Tia? I’m sorry, but can you catch up to them?

   Yes, you’ll be surprised how fast I am.

   Thank you. She pulled away and found herself moving in a turmoil of wind. It rushed through her hair and cleared her mind of all thoughts. After her experience of Kelar’s gallop, she knew to hold on. However, Tia seemed to be much faster (despite Kelar having two riders at the time). It took less than a minute to come level with Bordan. Once Ina had patted Tia’s neck as a reprisal, she scowled at him, straight in the face. He seemed taken aback at this sudden seriousness she displayed; and then, quite suddenly, he sniggered and began laughing. It was Ina’s turn to be offended; he was howling that much he almost fell sideways off his saddle. He recovered, and released his humour by explaining to her.

   ‘It’s just... it’s just that I’ve never had a human companion before, it’s great to be within the same level of understanding than with animals. Sorry, Kelar,’ he added to his loyal mount.

   ‘I thought you were leaving me. I don’t know what I’d do without a guide. You’re the only one who helped me create a better life, and… and get away from what I suffered.’ A tear fell down her cheek and she had begun hiccoughing. Even though her emotions had finally taken control, she couldn’t believe she was crying in front of him.

   ‘It’s fine to cry. I do understand how you feel. The truth is I’ll never leave you alone. Not only do I see more of you than you show, I suspect something of you, about your past.’ He turned Kelar around, so he and Tia were head-to-tail, side by side. He reached out his left hand and held Ina’s right in it. She looked at his hand, then slowly lifted her head to look at him. He wore a rare smile of content and passion. She wiped her tears away with her free hand. How long they stayed there, hand in hand, Ina did not know. Now, she had found a brother (more than a brother) within Bordan. Like he suspected of her, she thought there must be another side to him, one of protectiveness and defence.

*****

   They rode on in subdued silence; Bordan was quietly humming to himself as he sometimes did. Ina, though concentrating on what had recently exploded between her and him, sensed a disquiet at the farthest corner of her mind. She wondered over it, yet it seemed so far away. It started to change into a buzzing tone, then muted into a soft, melodious tune. The peaceful image of Sida high above in the branches welded on Ina’s inner eye. She summoned the Power and the song became clearer than before.

   About time, Sida spoke in her high pitched voice. I want to say about what I’ve been thinking.

   Well, go ahead. Ina spoke in a calm tone so as not scare the bird; after all, the blue tit seemed so fragile and timid.

   I thought on what you insisted and I agree. I do want to see the world more and this may be the only chance I get. I’m coming with you. First, tell me where you are headed.

   Ina, as Bordan had said, was making sure she watched the land around her. She had forgotten that Bordan had told her where their next ‘city-stop’, as she called them, was.

   ‘Bordan, Sida wants to know where we’re headed.’

   ‘Sida?’

   ‘The blue tit.’

   ‘Oh, yes. The next city on this route is Lamben.’

   Lamben, Ina repeated.

   What lies in the area? Sida asked.

   I don’t know, but I’d like to find out when we arrive.

   Then I shall also wait. The bird fell silent and Ina let go of the connection.

   ‘So. What of your little friend?’ asked Bordan.

   ‘She has decided to travel with us.’

   ‘She seems very adventurous.’

   ‘She is.’

   ‘I’d like to see her. Can you call her to perch on your finger? Like this.’ He poised out how Ina should make a perch. He stretched out his left arm, his hand vertical to the ground. His ring and little finger were closed into the palm. Ina nodded. She accessed the Power and requested for Sida to come to her. Sida agreed, but sounded wary. Ina stretched out her right arm, as Bordan had done with his left, and a blue blur zoomed past her face only to land, feather light and gracefully, on her fingers. Sida appeared smaller but more resilient than when she had first came near Ina. The little creature puffed out its wing feathers and twittered a few notes. Bordan watched with a seeing eye, as if he looked for decisiveness within the bird’s innocent nature. He shrugged. The bird flew off to fly over the wild grass on their left. ‘You still surprise me. Why a blue tit? If it were me, I would have tried a crow or a bird of prey.’

   ‘There were none of them around me when I tried. And anyway, she was the only one not to be fluttering around crazily.’

   ‘Perhaps, but once I’d tried that I’d have moved on to something bigger. Are you hungry?’

   ‘Now you mention it.’

   Bordan pulled Kelar left and they headed into the grass. They stopped where the grass had thinned and flattened slightly. The two demounted and Kelar and Tia walked off together to eat the abundant grass. Bordan reached into his pack and pulled out lunch. It consisted of bread and meat as usual, but there was also fruit and nuts which gave the meal some flavour.

   ‘There are ways in which sorcerers can control weather and nature,’ Bordan plunged on into the lesson, Ina jumped. ‘When you do, you must be extremely careful of how much you control its outcome. Say you wish to blow in a mist, you must call upon the clouds to land but too much pull can cause storms, as has happened.

   ‘There are the four substances of nature that can be controlled: earth, water, wind and fire. Within these substances are classed different sources or things. Wind is just air, fire is heat and water is also rain, snow, other liquids. The fullest substance is earth, as it is the base line for all living things in existence, it is what we are connected to our whole lives. Within it are plants, rocks, soil, animals and metal.’

   ‘Can’t that be contradicted?’ argued Ina, subtly.

   ‘How so?’

   ‘Well. Don’t the birds belong to the sky and the fish to the water?’

   ‘Yes, but what I meant by animals was mammals and reptiles. Also, there are amphibians which can connect with both water and earth,’ he explained. ‘Some sorcerers have gone to many lengths to prove within which area certain things belong. However, some things do appear in more than one.’

   They finished eating and called Tia and Kelar back. Once back on the road, Bordan demonstrated how to use the Power to control earth and wind sources. For earth he made an ash sapling uproot itself and zoom ahead of them like a spear or a lance. For wind he created a strong breeze that gushed in from behind them, it twirled their hair about their eyes. He did not work upon water and fire and Ina wondered why. Were they more dangerous? she thought. ‘What of water and fire?’ she asked aloud.

   ‘Earth and wind are all around us wherever you look. For the other two, sources must be very nearby, such as a river, or fire, maybe even simple sparks or a candle flame.’

   ‘Forshenai al pa dima,’ Ina repeated. A gust of wind came in from the south. It was as strong as though a storm had approached. Ina never intended for it to be so strong, but the horses could not move another inch.

   ‘Ina! Let go!’ Bordan shouted at the top of his voice. Ina just about got the message. She let go of the Power and the invisible, continuing wall fell away. The calm silence returned to the world, though for the disturbed looks on the two riders’ faces. Bordan turned his head and his eyes were half closed, which bore an instant sign of total resentment. Ina bit her lip and looked at him, she smiled childishly. He raised his eyes and shook his head. Tia and Kelar trotted on up the road, each completely embarrassed about how their manes and tails had become full of knots and dirt.

*****

   That night, as it was a particular opportunity for Ina’s Power, Bordan decided to demonstrate on fire. They had found the perfect clearing, where they could light a fire, without risking setting the grass aflame. Ina sparked two rocks and the small pile of dried grass blazed with life as golden red waves grew wilder yet Ina kept it at bay by limiting its fuel. Bordan prepared himself, flicking his cloak behind him and moving all his hair out of his line of sight.

   ‘Even though you’re the one doing the controlling, it is still the worst one to play with,’ Bordan warned. ‘So... so just stand there and don’t do anything.’

   Ina nodded; her hands behind her back.

   ‘Din, mor ai le penago,’ Bordan commanded. He held out his hand, palm down, and a flame leaped out of the fuming pile and formed into a sphere under Bordan’s palm. As he waved his hand in complicating patterns, the ball of colour followed leaving a sparkling wave in its path.

   Meanwhile, Ina uncorked the water bottle she had relinquished out of Bordan’s pack. She tried using her imagination to think of the words, she chose them carefully. She tried to use her thought to command the Power, but nothing happened. Bordan was in a state of trance, too amused in his own enjoyment. She then whispered the words like a breath of air.  The water rose out of the bottle opening and formed, like Bordan’s fire, a sparkling sphere above her hand. Bordan never paid any attention to her (as Ina noticed). She raised her hand and the swirling globe of liquid dazzled in her eyes.

   ‘Bordan.’ She spoke the last syllable higher and longer.

   ‘Yeh?’ He looked up; she dropped the water bottle before her feet, his smile drained away. ‘Don’t you dare.’ She gave him a mysterious eye. She turned her palm to face him and gave a tremendous push on the water and a horizontal column rushed towards Bordan, who (as a reflex) pushed on his own tamed orb and a similar column, of flames, collided with Ina’s water. Where the two branches met, a swirling trunk of steam rose up into the night sky. Although the orbs had a limited supply of substance, they seemed to replenish themselves unlimitedly. Neither sorcerer wanted to pull off the charge. Ina saw Bordan’s face behind the steam; it twitched in the blur he stood beyond. His face was expressionless.

   ‘Let go, Ina!’ he yelled above the hissing water and the crackling flame.

   ‘You first!’ she shouted back.

   ‘On the count of three! One... two... three!’ Each let go of their Power and ducked, the spheres they had begun with trailed away into the scorching inferno. The flames at the collision drained away like nothingness. Ina watched the last whiff of steam flow away into the night air. It disappeared out of sight and she looked down into Bordan’s eyes; they held a faint hint of malice beyond the obvious humour he saw in the way she had started it.

   ‘You’re laughing.’

   ‘I am not,’ he replied, sniggering between each word.

   ‘Yes, you are. What’s so funny?’ she probed, placing her hands flat on her hips.

   ‘It’s just that you pay back in the most humorous ways. You used water against fire. If I had used my full strength you would be nothing but ashes by now, smouldering in a pool of liquid.’ He looked back at her, the humour drained away slightly. ‘The bad thing is, if I were of the dark I would have killed you in an instance, but I’m not so don’t worry.’

   ‘So, exactly why is it so humorous?’ she asked again.

   ‘You did not know the potential danger you might have been in, and being slightly ridiculous it makes it more laughable.’

   ‘Ridiculous!’ she shouted. He nodded in reply and turned his back on her and started walking towards Kelar. Ooh, that does it, she spoke aloud in her mind. She ran after him, and when she was within jumping distance, leaped like a leopard onto his back; but before she made it, he dodged her with a simple sideways step. She fell to the ground placing her hands out to break her fall. After a hard thump, she turned over, her hands behind her to support her back. She looked sideways at Bordan scornfully. He knelt down and looked at her regretfully.

   ‘You remind me much of a friend I lost years ago.’ He spoke very softly, and then he positioned himself (like Ina) by her side.

   ‘Do you mean your friend is dead?’ she asked grievously.

   ‘Unfortunately, yes. He was quite like you. Although, he was younger than me he was like a brother. He was one of the best sorcerers ever to live; he was so wise and powerful.’ His voice trailed away as the harsh memory uncoiled in the vast depths of his mind.

   ‘How can someone so young know so much?’

   ‘It is hard to know. Some say it is that our use of the Power allows our memory to hold greater amounts of information than normals (non-sorcerers) can. Others say that the Power is the knowledge and the more we learn of it, the more our minds become complex. That the Power is the baseline of all existence and life itself.’ Ina had become transfixed on his words; she watched his profile as now he had become transfixed on the stars above.

   ‘And you? What do you believe?’

   ‘Me? I say that wisdom and knowledge are gained by learning (sometimes from mistakes). After my friend’s death I created a phrase that I always tell myself whenever I’m in a predicament.’

   ‘What is it?’

   ‘Why die of foolish bravery when you can live from simple wisdom.’ He fell silent for a while to gather his thoughts and feelings. ‘Sometimes running away is not cowardice, especially when you know all the possible outcomes.’

   ‘Sorry,’ Ina said out of shear misunderstanding of what Bordan had experienced throughout his life; friendship, loss, pursuit, escape, possibly even capture.

   ‘What for?’

   ‘The water,’ she replied under her breath and to cover up her true meaning.

   ‘Don’t be sorry for that, it was a good lesson. And even I need to have some fun in a while; being solitary can have its effects; it can take the most needed emotions out of people. Since rescuing you, I have not looked back on it. No regrets. You’ve allowed me to and made me feel young again. I don’t have to have all the responsibilities placed solely upon me.’ Despite this last comment, Ina blushed and turned her, now, wide eyes away from him. She felt her blood rush into her head, reddening her skin. Minutes passed by in the gloom about them, but within their clearing, time seemed to stand. The two friends, side by side, watching the stars twinkle like dust high above and the noises dimmed into the world of night. With no moon, the land was darker than the nights before, and Ina now traced back over the days she had seen of a new world. Thinking back on her last memory of Jerash, she pictured the scene clearly in her mind. The dark, mysterious figures to her right, Martha stood before her and Bordan to her left. But wait. Why had Martha been there, how had she known of Ina’s threat? She thought on this, long and hard. No possible reason for Martha’s appearance that night came into Ina’s dreams; for she had fell asleep in a cocoon of weariness and passion.

*