Fireblood (Whispers from Mirrowen 1)

The blade from Drosta’s lair was a living thing. Annon had heard its whispers and felt the growing intensity of its compulsion to kill. It took every bit of self-control he mustered not to draw it again from its sheath. It would drive him mad. It would drive anyone mad eventually, but a Druidecht would be the most resilient. As they hiked down from the Alkire, he finally resorted to untying the talisman from around his neck. Only then did the whispers cease.

At darkfall he found himself staring into the flames of the fire, his body aching and sore from the strenuous hike through the downward maze of iron-hard rocks and evergreen. Hettie was slumped next to him, a makeshift bandage around her head. Boulders surrounded them, offering shelter from the wind. Paedrin’s arm was bound tightly against his body, and he paced amidst the camp, staring at each of them in turn and searching the falling darkness for signs of Kiranrao or other pursuers. His staff was broken, but he held a fragment of it like a cudgel. Erasmus shook his head, his eyes bleary from lack of sleep.

Annon looked up, his mind a jumble of thoughts and ideas. “We are in danger in these mountains. One of us will need to be on watch all night long. The Fear Liath will start hunting us now that it is dark.”

“Wonderful,” Paedrin said, swishing the staff fragment violently. “We should keep walking and get free of the mountains tonight.”

“Too dark and too far,” Erasmus said. “Even you know that, sheep-brains. It took us several days just to climb in. Climbing out won’t be any easier. The chances of our success are still abysmally low, unless it rains in the next day. And storms usually do not occur in these mountains this time of year.”

“Do you think Kiranrao was lying?” Hettie said softly.

“About which part?” Paedrin said with a snort. “I don’t hold much confidence in anything he told us.”

“He has ways of knowing things,” Hettie replied, bristling. “He has access…” She stopped, suddenly quiet.

“You don’t understand,” Paedrin said. “No doubt he is crafty. He would make a spider seem friendly. We cannot trust what he said because his intent was to misinform us and influence us into behaving irrationally.”

“And you can judge his intent?” Erasmus said mockingly.

Paedrin chuckled to himself. “Are any of you familiar with the principles of the Uddhava?”

Annon stared at him blankly. “Is it a Vaettir word?”

“A Vaettir word but a Bhikhu philosophy.”

“Which means no one could understand it unless he was both,” Erasmus said.

“Which I am,” Paedrin answered. He inhaled slowly, and they watched him begin to float in the air. He put his foot on the end of his broken staff and balanced himself with his free arm. He held the pose, drawing their eyes as he circled his hand fluidly in the air. Then he stepped forward and landed heavily on the ground, startling them.

“That was to be sure you were listening,” he said seriously.

Hettie snorted and Annon smiled.

Paedrin walked as he spoke, gesticulating with his free arm for emphasis. “The Uddhava is one word that describes a myriad of explanations. A chain of things. Let me try and give you the color and shade of it. The principal element of the Uddhava is the act of observing. Observing is a form of power, a very subtle power. It changes behavior in others and oneself. You behave differently in front of a crowd than you do when you are alone. The observations of others cause you to change what you would ordinarily do. I will be crude to illustrate.”

“As long as you are not disgusting as well,” Hettie said archly.

He ignored her. “You have some dust in your nose. All right, perhaps it is more than dust. All alone, you would flick it away and be done with it. But in polite company, you do so surreptitiously. The fear of being observed has influenced your behavior. It is the same thing with criminals. If they believe someone is watching them, they do not commit their crime. In fact, it is typically best to distract the attention of the person you intend to rob so that they will not observe what is being stolen from them. Simple enough?”

Annon nodded. “So you are suggesting that Kiranrao was trying to distract us with his story about my uncle?”

Paedrin laughed. “Do not even try to apply Uddhava yet. I have not finished explaining it. Observation is the key element of it. It is more than mere looking. It is more than noticing. When we observe the world around us, we begin to notice that life is a current and we are caught up in the middle of it, but our actions change the course for others. Things act and react differently, depending on the forces that are used. The second element of Uddhava is trying to intuitively understand why a person has done what they have done. What motivated them? It is not just the action itself, but the motive of that action.”