Chapter 4

Part 1

Now it was Yazadril’s turn to gape. “Sixteen! I’d guessed from your manner that you were younger than you seem, but by the Source! Have you even finished growing yet?!”

“I might be seventeen by now. I’ve lost track of the date.” Markee said defensively. He turned away, mildly embarrassed, and gazed down the valley. “I doubt I’ve finished growing. This shirt fit me loosely when I left home, and I had to take the sleeves off a few weeks ago, because they were too tight around my arms.”

“Amazing! Well I have seen some things all right, and I know much, but I know a great deal less than everything! You’re certain proof of that!”

“How do you mean?” Markee asked, turning back to the old elf. He was suddenly reminded of the delicious scent coming from the pastry he was holding, and took a huge bite of it.

Yazadril considered him carefully, and decided to be honest. “You display some remarkable properties, young fellow. Your apparent ability to see my power, for one. For another… Tell me, as you came up here, when you passed the top of the scree slope a few hundred paces downhill, did you notice anything, ah, different, shall we say?”

Markee considered as he chewed, then shook his head.

“I thought not. That’s the border of the lands of The High People, and…”

Markee swallowed hurriedly as he stood. “I didn’t know, I didn’t mean to trespass! I’ll leave if you…”

“No no, my boy, I very much wish you to stay!” Yazadril assured him, interrupting in return. “Please, sit down, you are welcome here, and under my protection.

“You see, raw magic power comes from the sun, with the sunlight. But that raw magic energy is not useful, it is not in a form that elves and wizards can use. It passes completely through most things without affecting them, like sunlight through clean water, until it strikes the stone of the world. Some rock is completely out of tune with the raw power, and it reflects the raw power back into the sky. Some rock is partly in tune with it, like the rock of the Nine Valleys of the High People, and this rock absorbs the power, and slowly re-emits it at a lower frequency. Do you understand that?”

“I don’t think so.” Markee admitted. “In tune you said, like music?”

“Yes. The small strings on a harp vibrate much more quickly than the large strings, and they sound a higher note. The number of times they vibrate every second, that is, how frequently they vibrate, is called their frequency.

“Energy vibrates as well. Red light has a slowly vibrating low note, up to violet light which has a quickly vibrating high note, so to speak, in the order of the colors of the rainbow. The rainbow is like a harp of light, showing all the notes in order. You see?”

“Yes, I think I’ve got that.” Markee nodded.

“Good. So the completely-out-of-tune rock reflects the raw magic power back into the sky, like sunlight from a mirror, it just bounces off. Yes?”

“I understand.” Markee nodded again.

“Yes. Now if you take a poker and hold it in a fire, it gets hot as it absorbs the energy from the blue and yellow light of the fire, and when it’s full of it, and you take it out of the fire, you can see it glowing red. It has absorbed the higher frequency blue and yellow light, and it releases it as lower frequency red light.

“The rock of our land does the same thing with the raw magic power. It absorbs it during the day, and constantly radiates it at a lower frequency. That radiated energy from the absorbent rock forms the usable magic field of the world, it’s the energy that wizards and elves use. You see?”

Markee nodded.

“Good. I think there are others who could explain this more simply, but bear with me; we are almost to the crux of it.

“Now air, and water, and solid material like you and me, are made of invisibly tiny parts, and those are made of tinier parts, and those are made of tinier parts yet, and so on, and all of these tiny parts vibrate. How quickly some of those tiny parts vibrate, how in tune they are with the vibrations of the energy field of useful magic, determines how they are affected by magic. Objects of power are closely in tune with the magic, they resonate to it in harmony, so they may reflect, absorb, or transmute the energy.

“Some of the tiny parts that make up the bodies of elves and wizards, and the energy of their brains and nerves, also vibrate in harmony with the field of magic to varying degrees. So, we can use magic, and elves can see the magic field itself.

“Now to the point. Some of the most important tiny parts in your body, particularly your brain and your nerves, all vibrate at exactly the same frequency as the energy field of useful magic. Not in harmony with it, in unison with it!

“Because of this, you are transparent to magic. It passes right through you, like light through clean water. So you are, for the most part, immune to the direct effects of magic, both good and bad, harm and healing. This is why you were able to walk past the Illusions and Barriers of the Wards on our borders, though they’d have stopped a flight of dragons, and you didn’t even notice them.

“Somewhere in all that is the reason you can see my power, though unlike elves, you cannot see the magic field around you. I’ll have my finger on it in a while.” Yazadril mused, absent-mindedly scratching his chin through his beard.

“So you want me to stay here, so you can study me, so you can find out how to make the magic barriers not let me past?” Markee asked.

“Yes, that’s important, though my interest is far more general. I wish to understand the phenomenon completely for the sake of understanding, not just so we can bar you from our land. Though we must know that as well, in case some wizard ever learns to duplicate your abilities.”

“Huh. You’re right. I’m sure there are others who would have explained it more simply.” Markee chuckled, then suddenly sobered as he became a bit suspicious.

“And how long would you want me to stay here?” he inquired.

“Until I understand it, or failing that, for as long as I can interest you in staying.”

Markee stared at him intently. “This is important to you? How do I know you won’t hold me against my will, or trick me? Or that another of your people won’t do so?”

Yazadril’s brows drew together a bit. “I understand your concerns. But I’ll have you know that I am Prince of my people, and I have the right to speak for them, and to make commitments upon their behalf. And I do solemnly swear that none of my people will seek to harm you, or seek to impede you should you choose to leave.”

“Hold on a moment!” Markee exclaimed. “If I’m immune to magic, how did you do that thing for me earlier?”

“Ah, I was able to purposely make myself slightly out of tune with you, and with the power field. Then my spell could resonate within you and affect you, though not very strongly.

“Of course you must realize that everything I’ve told you about magic, including that, is an analogy that is a tremendous oversimplification of the rules of reality, but at least it gives you some understanding.

“If it makes you feel better, I can tell you that I probably couldn’t magically affect you enough to harm you, even if I tried. Though if I did try the reverse of that, I could make you feel a bit more depressed, which I assure you I would never do.

“I very much doubt that there is another wizard alive who could even affect you that much. I was only able to do it because of some rather specialized theoretical work I did a few centuries ago. And because I’m a pretty good wizard, to say the least. Believe me, no one else would have thought of it.”

“Huh. How long do you think it would be? Honestly?”

Yazadril considered, and swallowed a guilty look. “I see your concern. And your suspicions are correct. I could easily spend centuries on such research. Centuries you do not have within your human life span. Still, perhaps we could agree on a limited time, just so I could understand the basics of it?” he asked hopefully.

“The basics? How long for the basics?”

“Well… Perhaps forty years?”