Delver Magic: Book 06 - Pure Choice (35 page)

It was the same with the other
emotions as well, but they didn't have quite the same degree of influence. The
sadness crushed her spirit, and the anxiety closed in upon her, made her feel
as if everything was rising up against her. The confusion jumbled her
perspective and the dread had her glancing over her shoulder at every bump and
shadow.

The fear behind that dread and the
terror that struck on its own was almost as powerful as the anger. It billowed
over the other emotions and placed her in a state of pure panic. Combined with
the anger, those two emotions had forced reality from her mind. Her fear and
rage ballooned and she would have struck out against anyone who was near her.

Thankfully, when the flood of
strange thoughts had rushed through her consciousness in the past, she was
alone. No one saw her eyes burn hot with fury and her face turn pale with
terror. No one witnessed her removal from the reality around her.

It had happened three times
before. Foreign thoughts pushed their way into her mind and left her reeling,
placed her in a fit of emotional upheaval, but in all three cases, the raw
anguish eventually dissipated. With each instance, however, it seemed to take a
little longer for the reaction to subside.

Once the raw emotion faded, she
was left with a distorted recollection of confused thoughts. She remembered the
flood of images, but she couldn't piece them together in any coherent manner.
It was a jumble, a mass of disconnected impulses.

Even as she tried to coax the
images and corresponding emotions into some rational order, the effort wore on
her. The feelings she tried to grasp didn't invoke a matched response. As she
reflected on the blurred considerations of sadness or fear, her own emotions
dimmed. Pulling at the loose threads left her tired and growingly
disinterested. Her emotions began to drift far into the background.

The fuzzy haze that clamped down
on her grew stronger over time. She could recall all three episodes, but she
found she cared less about them with each encounter.

With her emotions very much in
check, she considered Ryson. She believed she should be angry with him, angry
for not understanding, angry for leaving her again so soon, and certainly angry
for not realizing she needed help.

She wondered if she was being too
hard on him. He said he wanted to help. That was why he left, to go speak with
Enin. The wizard might have an answer.

But to Linda, the consideration
held no hope. Her optimism was buried deep with all of her other emotions. She
found no solace in Ryson's attempt to find an answer for her problems.

She thought of the magic. That was
why Ryson went to talk to Enin, to better understand what they faced. He was
trying to be rational, but what was rational about magic?

Nothing.

Not to her.

That was the one thing she clearly
understood, the one aspect that came through even when foreign thoughts raged
within her. The images might have confused her, the emotions might have first
incensed her only to leave her numb, but she knew without a doubt that the
magic could never touch her.

She had been told she was immune
by individuals with great control over the energy, and she knew there was a
power flowing across the land that was always beyond her reach. Previously, her
immunity wasn't something she completely accepted, mostly because she really
didn't understand it. For some reason, she was very unique. Every one else
could touch the energy and sensed the change when the magic first returned to
the land. She was apparently very special, but she couldn't comprehend why.

Most of that changed the first
time the flood of strange fragments hit her. She still didn't understand the
magic, but she was suddenly aware that it could not penetrate her. Any doubt
about that was flung from her consciousness and any question of her immunity
disintegrated.

Upon that first torrent, she had
instantly thought of Ryson. She realized how the magic was within him, within
all delvers, but it was a part of him that she could never share. Because of
that, they would also never be able to have children. No matter how it was
forced at her, the magical energy could not alter her in any way. She could see
the spells, see their effects on others, witness illusions, hear the sound of
magical thunder and smell magical fire, but the magic itself could never enter
her body.

She wasn't sure just how much that
upset her. The emotions that were attached to the foreign memory strands were
not her own, so they interfered with any true response. Once the alien emotions
faded, she was left fatigued and indifferent. She was incapable of registering
a sincere reaction.

And so, she contemplated her
future,
their future
, with muted
feelings. She wondered if she could make realistic assessments under such
conditions, but at the same time, she didn't care much either way. Everything
seemed so insignificant. It was easier to become disinterested than to fight
through the haze.

Just as she sank into greater
unresponsiveness, another wave of sensations rushed across her. The feeling was
so odd. At first, she was aware of something trying to take hold of her, as if
she could sense a hand reaching toward her, but whatever it was, it could not
touch her. It was nothing more than a flailing attempt to reach into her. She
did nothing to avoid contact. She didn't have to. Her immunity kept her safe
from the unprovoked connection.

While the mysterious hand of
distant energy couldn't touch her, it could still somehow point to her. As it
did, she felt another intense surge press against her, but it, too, bounced
away. It was magic, and it could not invade her being on its own.

But just like the past three
encounters, the magic was not completely pure. Even as it deflected away from
her, it left something behind. The action of crashing against her broke off
small segments of the flow, particles that didn't belong but found their way
into the substance, like woodchips scattered over the top of a stream. When the
current hit Linda, it was as if the water broke away but the excess debris kept
moving in the same direction.

As these foreign substances
congregated against her, they eventually pressed themselves into her mind. Once
more she experienced the strange flash of disjointed images. They manifested
themselves like a bizarre dream. She was simply a bystander. She didn't invoke
the scenes into her memory. They just raced by unannounced and uninvited.

As the fragments of thought rushed
forward, they bombarded Linda with scores of negative emotions. All of the
previous destructive feelings, such as anger and sadness, returned with renewed
vitality. She shrank from the coldness ingrained in them, and her body shivered
despite the warm temperatures in the room.

The stream of emotions took hold
of her in a way that the initial magical contact could not. A fierce bond
allowed the segments of scattered images and crushing emotions to reach deep
into her soul. Most of her own emotions remained boxed away, but an invading
anger and frustration brought out her fury.

She leapt from the bed, disgusted
with herself for being so passive. She cursed and screamed, but there was no
one there to hear her, and in that, she thought of Ryson.

He had left her, so she would
leave him. She raced out of the bedroom and then out of their house with just
the clothes on her back. She carried nothing with her as she stormed toward the
western gate.

As she drew near the guard post,
one of the soldiers recognized her. It was odd enough for someone to be moving
toward his post so late in the afternoon on foot and empty handed, but it was
also out of the ordinary to see the delver's wife stray far from her home or
the Borderline Inn where she worked. There was little to the west but the river
and Dark Spruce
Forest, and the soldier never
encountered Linda heading off alone in that direction, so his concern grew.

"Linda? You're leaving? You
might not want to go out there alone. There's been some..."

"Get out of my way," she
hissed without looking at the soldier.

Her rebuke caught the soldier off
guard and she crossed past the gate before he could question her further. His
surprise quickly faded, and he caught up with her before she made it too far
down the dirt road.

"Don't you think you could
use an escort? There's been a great deal of activity in the area lately."

"No," she growled.

The soldier was at a loss of what
to do, but he didn't believe he should just let her continue.

"Really, Linda, it's not
safe. If something happens to you..."

She cut him off with an angry
glare.

"Did my husband need an
escort when he left?!"

"No, but he's a delver."

"So delver's get special
treatment, do they?"

"That's not what I
meant."

"If you're going to prevent
me from leaving, I'm going to demand to know why!"

The guard became defensive.

"It's my job to protect the
gate and the people that come and go into Burbon."

"And is it your job to
interfere with everyone's business?" she demanded. "If I feel like
going for a walk, I'll go for a walk!"

"But why into the
forest?"

"Why is that your
concern?"

They were going in circles and the
soldier was growing frustrated.

"I have to warn you that it's
not safe."

"Fine, you've warned me. Do
you have the authority to stop me?"

The soldier grimaced. He could
stop her if she posed a threat to the town, but she didn't. There was little he
could do.

"One last time," he
offered, "I can get you an escort, or I would recommend you head out to
the east if you're just looking to go for a walk."

"I'll go where I want,"
and she stormed away from the confused guard.

When Ryson appeared at Enin's
front step in Connel, over a half dozen dogs ran to greet him. The delver
happily bent low to acknowledge each one. He smiled broadly as they licked his
cheeks, nose and ears. It was the greatest feeling in the land to be
recognized, and accepted, by such loyal and loving animals.

"They are always so happy to
see you," Enin noted as he walked out to meet his friend.

"And I'm always happy to see
them."

Ryson spied a medium sized dog
with a dark brown coat. It was a mix of breeds too numerous to mention as well
as difficult to identify.

"He's new," Ryson noted.
"Haven't seen him before."

"You're correct."

"You find a stray?"

"No, no strays in Connel.
Dogs are much too valuable. Best warning systems in all of Uton, even better
than magic. He was somewhat of a gift."

"A gift?"

"Well, he belonged to a
friend of mine, an older gentleman. The dog was actually a gift to him from his
son. They were together for a short while, but my friend unfortunately became
very ill. He knew of my love for dogs and asked me to take care of this one if
he didn't get better."

"He didn't?"

"No."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Enin
responded sadly, but then looked to the dog and a smile returned to his face,
"but I know they will be together again eventually. We all will. Dogs and
people have a bond that is stronger than this existence."

Ryson didn't quite understand
exactly what Enin meant, but he took great joy in the words as he continued to
pet and scratch every dog around him. As he rubbed the new dog's ears, the
delver posed a question to the dog's face.

"What's your name, big
guy?"

"Stomps," Enin answered
for the dog.

"Stomps?"

"Yes, he has a habit of
stamping his front paws when he wants something. Apparently, he did it when he
was a puppy and still does it today."

The delver peered into the dog's
eyes.

"So you're a demanding
fellow? Good for you."

Ryson's interaction with the
animals made Enin's smile even stronger.

"Why don't you get a
dog?" the wizard asked.

It was a question that always
crept into the back of Ryson's mind every time he visited the wizard, but he
always suppressed any further considerations. Enin's question pulled the idea
further out into the light and forced the delver to deal with it more openly.

"Dogs aren't easy to come
by," Ryson answered as a way to approach the issue in a more practical
manner without the influence of emotion. "You said it yourself, they're
valuable; more valuable than gold, land or magic in my eyes."

"Stomps here would be willing
to go home with you," Enin offered. "I can tell. They talk to me you
know."

Ryson looked back and forth from
Stomps to Enin. The question of having a dog was no longer simply pulled from
the back of his thoughts for further consideration. It was presented to him as
a clear choice. He was pleased beyond measure to hear the dog would be willing
to accept him, but reluctance born of his insecurities quickly chased any immediate
acceptance away. Unable to simply say no, Ryson again attempted to deal with
the matter based on circumstances and not desires.

"I thought his previous owner
wanted you to have him?"

"He just wanted me to make
sure Stomps was taken care of. I know you would make sure of that. I'm not
breaking any promise, if that's what concerns you."

And just like that, all barriers
seemed to be removed. If Ryson wanted a dog, he could have one, but he also
realized it was an enormous commitment, one he shouldn't make in the spur of
the moment.

"I would love to,
but..."

"You think Linda would
mind?"

The mention of his wife revived
the concern that brought Ryson to Connel. He didn't know what Linda would think
of having a dog. In truth, he was very confused as to what Linda was thinking
about anything. With their relationship weighing on him, he realized what was
truly keeping him from immediately accepting the proposal.