“How do I do that?” Anders asked aloud over his shoulder to the old rider sitting behind him on Zahara’s back.
“I thought you’d done this by now when you were using magic during the battle?” he asked.
“I’m not really sure what I did during the battle,” Anders answered “For everything other than the basic healing spells you showed us, I’ve just been acting on instincts. I don’t understand how to control this power yet.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been so long since I learned how to control my powers. Even when I began, I had training before I formed my bond with Jazzmaryth.”
Anders’ curiosity was piqued at the mention of Ivan’s dragon, “That’s the first time you’ve mentioned your dragon’s name.”
“Oh,” Ivan said, fumbling for new words like a youngster caught telling a lie.
“I like that name,” Anders said.
Me too, Zahara added. It’s regal.
Clearing his throat, Ivan continued aloud, “In order to use the magical energy in your body through a focused channel, you must first void your mind of all thoughts. It is hard to do at first, especially with so many distractions like mourning for lost ones during a battle or flying on the back of your dragon for the first time, but there are a few tricks I know that helped me all those years ago when I was training. I like to close my eyes and imagine that I’m standing alone on a dark plain. There’s nothing on the dark plain, not even ground under my feet, just a sea of darkness. Once I’m alone with nothing around to distract me, then I can begin to use my mind to reach out and search. Try it, perhaps it will help you.”
Anders was doubtful that this exercise would work, but he didn’t know any better way to begin, so he closed his eyes and attempted to picture himself in total darkness. Instead of a dark plain, Anders found himself standing outside his home back at Highborn Bay. The salty scent of the bay filled his nostrils as he stood alone beside the large oak tree in front of their house. He’d spent many nights staring up at the starry sky in this very spot. Clanging noises sounded behind him – Kirsten and Theodor cooking in the kitchen. He knew this was a fabrication of his memory and attempted to make them disappear. Darkness, you’re in total darkness, he told himself. The harder he tried to imagine himself alone, the more the memories of times spent on the familiar farm kept forcing their way into his head.
“This isn’t working,” he said in frustration at his inability to clear his thoughts.
Try something else then, Zahara said in an encouraging tone. Before using my mind to sense things around me,I like to remember the time I spent in my egg. It was a warm and comfortable place, where the noises of the outside world were muted. The muffled sounds couldn’t distract me. Maybe you can remember when you were in your egg and then you will be able to clear your mind?
Anders chuckled slightly, I didn’t hatch from an egg like you did.
That’s weird, Zahara said.
One of the many differences between our species, Anders commented, forgetting how little time Zahara had spent among any race other than her own.
Anders closed his eyes, trying to remember his mother and father. At first, he felt a warming presence, but the harder he worked to focus on what his parents looked like, the less he could see. He was about to voice his frustration again when he had an idea. The warm presence he’d felt when he first thought of his parents was the most comforted he’d felt in years. He decided not to try to remember what his parents looked like, but instead to search for the feeling he had of them being near. He felt the warming presence return, which cleared his thoughts completely.
“Hey, it worked! I actually did it,” Anders said surprised at the method he’d used.
Did my egg trick help? Zahara asked.
Oddly enough, it did, but in a slightly different way.
“Okay,” Ivan said, continuing his teaching aloud. “Once your mind is clear of all distractions, you can begin to reach out with it, letting the magic within you sense the areas around you. The sensation will be strange at first, but you’ll soon learn what to look for. Start out by reaching out in a specific direction before trying to use a multi-directional sweep,” Ivan said.
Anders nodded, preparing to replicate what he’d managed to do. Again, he thought of having his parents nearby. The comforting warming sensation gave him the ability to void his mind of all distractions, bringing his mental faculties to attention.
He knew Nadir would be running slightly behind them, so he decided to test his abilities by sensing for Nadir. Keeping his focus on the empty space between Zahara and the valley floor beneath them, Anders let his mental search cast out. The vast empty space behind Zahara felt cold as his thoughts searched further in a linear direction down toward the world below. Anders felt as though his body were falling through an endless sky, waiting for the ground to arrive. His head ached with the numbing chill that came from the space between them and the ground below. Like a flash of light, the sudden appearance of the features below came into Anders thoughts. He could feel the blades of grass along the valley floor, the dips and rises of the topography as he extended out behind them. Suddenly he could sense a warmth. This warmth was different from that of his memories. This warmth was physical and felt near. He focused in on it with excited anticipation. For a moment he thought he’d come across an animal moving along the plains, but quickly noticed the pace at which it was running and recognized the form to be their elf companion, Nadir. Anders identified the elf’s familiar presence and let his connection break away.
Wow, he thought to himself, shaking his head in alarm. That’s freaky.
Next, he searched out in front of them, expanding his mind to the area where the elves encountered Merglan. The slopes of the mountainsides felt burnt, trampled and disturbed. He couldn’t explain how he knew it, but he’d become increasingly aware of the tremendous amount of pain and anguish resonating from the area. Unable to keep his mind locked on the location, he winced away, gasping for air as his mental search broke.
That’s where he attacked them, Zahara said.
“Can you feel that?” Anders asked over his shoulder to Ivan.
Ivan nodded, responding over the rushing of the wind as they flew. “My skills are not as powerful as they used to be, but I can feel the place where they were attacked. It isn’t as strong a sensation for me as it might be for you and Zahara, but I’m aware of the mark it’s left on the land.”
Zahara circled the site of initial attack several times, soaring lower with each pass. After ensuring no one was in the immediate surroundings, they landed on the hillside where the fight began. Anders and Ivan hopped off Zahara’s back, coming to land on the scorched earth. The burnt area continued to smolder where the dragons had begun to engage in combat. This extended out for several acres in each direction. The dead trees along the forested hillside hung askew, snapped and mangled after large dragons had crashed into them. In the center of the turmoil, Ivan found a significant depression in the ground, presumably where one of the dragons had crashed into the side of the mountain with great force.
“Anders. Over here,” Ivan called to him. As Anders approached the edge of the shallow craterlike depression, Ivan pointed into it and said, “Look.”
A small puddle of blood pooled on the burnt ground.
Anders stepped into the depression and knelt, examining the scene. “The dragon must have been injured after the impact,” he said.
Ivan nodded, “If the injury occurred during the impact, the blood would have splattered. It appears as though the dragon who crashed here sustained this injury after making its initial impact.”
Nadir came rushing into view, quickly coming to their side. Anders was surprised to see the elf hadn’t even broken a sweat and did not seem to be out of breath in the slightest.
He doesn’t even look tired, Anders said to Zahara, astonished that the elf had run all that way without showing any evidence of exhaustion.
Elves are funny like that, Zahara replied. They’re able to travel great distances very quickly, just like us dragons. Except that my species’ means of transportation is much more efficient than stumbling along the ground like a fool.
He doesn’t seem to have stumbled. It’s incredible how they can do that.
Zahara sighed.
With a sweep of his eyes, Nadir quickly examined the crater where Anders knelt. He crouched down next to Anders and swiped his finger in the puddle of dragon blood, bringing his crimson-tipped finger up for a closer look. He eyed it carefully for a moment, then said, “They fought along the mountains to the north.”
“You can tell that from the blood?” Anders asked amazed at his tracking abilities.
“No,” he said smugly. “I was here when the attack began. I saw them battling farther to the north. The riders were trying to draw Merglan farther away from his fortress.”
