Chapter 8

Telmar returned to the circle after Kelly had calm enough that he had sat down, his back against the invisible barrier. Kelly immediately stood up. He brought his stick up to bare. Telmar also had a stick. His stick was polished, stained, and came across as if he were holding a magic wand. He turned sideways and pointed back.

“If you want to duel, you should turn your body sideways, effectively decreasing your target size,” Telmar explained.

“That’s stupid,” Kelly said. “At this range, who would miss?”

Telmar smiled, his wand illumining at the tip. With a flourish he released a volley of balls of light. Most of them flew wildly. One struck, mid chest, and took Kelly off his feet and took him back hard to the invisible wall. He slid down to his feet, and sank further to his butt. Telmar came forwards.

“Even the best of magic is wild, it flows through lightening shaped paths, extremely random,” Telmar said. “Are you ready to learn?”

“I don’t want to do this,” Kelly said.

Telmar nodded. He sat down on the ground facing Kelly, going into the lotus pose. He held his wand with respect.

“Once you have a virus, it will run its course,” Telmar said.

“I have a virus?!” Kelly asked.

“I don’t know. Do you? I am speaking in metaphor. You will find much of the education I give you will be symbolic in nature,” Telmar said.

“I don’t want to learn from you. I don’t want anything from you!” Kelly said.

“You want to leave?” Telmar said.

“Yes!” Kelly said.

“Then you must learn that much from me,” Telmar said. “I am not really interested in whether you stay or not. I am not really interested in whether you or your family die or not. And if you will allow me being most starkly direct, I cannot teach you everything you need to know. I can give you basics. Basics are mostly true, generalizable to everyone, but at some point, you will begin to find subtle discrepancies. You will find your path is individualized. Only you can walk this path.”

“Are you threatening my family?!” Kelly asked.

“I am not. You are a threat to your family. If you go home, you will bring them danger. If you use your given name, you will bring them danger,” Telmar said. “Once you leave the sanctity of this space, you are on your own and can do as you wish.”

“When are you going to let me leave?” Kelly asked.

Telmar extended his hand out, dropped the wand he was holding. It dropped to the earth.

“When you can do that, the present season will end, and you may depart without hindrance,” Telmar said.

“What was that thing I encountered? Demon?” Kelly asked.

Telmar shrugged. “What is your impression?”

Kelly pointed. “Just answer my questions.”

“How can I answer your questions when I don’t understand your perspective?” Telmar asked. “Things look quite different in the trenches, than they do from a mountain top perched over the terrain.” Telmar waited to add more until he had evidence that Kelly was considering the response. “Some people see demons. Some see evil. Some see death. Some just shadows. The truth of it is neither demon nor evil, but an attribute of life. It can be death. My preferred analogy is shadow. There can be no shadows without light, which means there is hope. The questions for you are ‘where is light’ and ‘what is casting shadows.’ For better or worse, you engaged this thing and it has you. Or, you engaged this thing and you were elevated, your perspective is changed and you can’t go back to the way things were before you began to see. Your old you is not lost, in fact it gave you the trajectory that elevated you at the right time and right place, and you are still alive due to circumstance, or accident, or luck, or insight, or I don’t know- fate. The other perspective is that you died, the person you thought you were is gone. You are not you. You never were you. This thing that has come is you and not you and it will be back. Every quarter it will return and you will face it. You can keep it at bay. You can surrender to it. You can befriend it, or at least come to terms with it. But you cannot kill it. It will exist as long as you exist. Change you, and it goes away.”

“And something new falls into its place?” Kelly said more than asked, resentment evidence in his voice.

“Isn’t that the way of life?” Telmar asked.

Telmar picked up his wand. He held it up, waiting for Kelly’s eyes to lock on it. He let go. It fell.

“Why does it want me?” Kelly asked. He didn’t seem to see the gesture.

“I don’t know. Maybe it didn’t come for you, but you got in the way,” Telmar said. “Really doesn’t matter why. You can ask it, next time you see it. We have evidence that they can lie.”

“We?” Kelly asked.

“Mother, Lambly, Laura, and Kimber,” Telmar said. “Mother is my host. The other three are my wives.”

“You have three wives?” Kelly said.

“They walk the path with me. You’re welcome to take one with you when you leave. Or all of them,” Telmar said. “You will likely find it difficult to find a woman to host you, given the nature of your troubles. With caveats. Once a quarter, as your encounter draws nigh, you will find the people around will have an increase in libido and decrease in discernment. You will find people, men and women, wanting to engage you sexually whether they should or not, and few will have the willpower to resist you. The closer you are to the event, the greater their wanting for you. If you survive the event, you will find they don’t remember you, or remember being intimate with you. Also, they will have a peculiar increase in disdain for you.”

“What?”

“Consider it a compensation plan for being fringed. For much of the year, you will be practically invisible, shunned, and it will take immense effort to engage people. Four times a year, you will be strangely irresistible. If you were fortunate enough to find a place or buy a place, you would need a wife to hold it- and she needs to be sufficiently knowledgeable in the arts to understand the complexity of feelings towards you. Most of the troubled simply roam the lands, avoiding others as much as possible. You don’t want to be in a city or even a village when your trouble comes calling. You are fringe.”

Telmar again demonstrated releasing the wand.

“You said ‘they.’ They can lie,” Kelly said.

“Troubles,” Telmar said. “That’s what I call them. The wives accepted my terminology.” The edges of his lips went up, but his eyes seemed sad. He quoted: “To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing- end them…” He fired a volley of light balls at the sky. They pinged against the invisible barrier, temporary illuminating the structure. He held the wand out and opened his hand, dropping it.

“You quote the Given,” Kelly said.

“There was a lot given. Some things resonate with me more than others,” Telmar said.

“I just want to go home,” Kelly said.

“You want your parents, your siblings to die? If Trouble can’t get you, it will take them,” Telmar said. “It will take them out of spite. Out of hunger. It will use them to manipulate you. The longer you withstand your troubles, the more attractive you become to them. It will take your family and friends and still come for you.”

“Can it be killed?”

Telmar shrugged. “I have learned to live with my troubles.”

“Troubles? More than one?” Kelly asked.

“Troubles rarely come singularly,” Telmar said. “Will Fortune never come with both hands full but write her fair words still in foulest letters? And takes away the stomach—such are the rich that have abundance and enjoy it not.” Telmar demonstrated letting go of the wand. “You must let go of what you hold.”

“Stop that,” Kelly said.

“Quoting the Given?” Telmar said.

“I don’t like being schooled! I am not an idiot. I know how to read,” Kelly said.

“In some ways, we are both measuring each other,” Telmar said. “I am testing you, you’re testing me.”

“How do you defeat trouble?” Kelly said.

“I don’t know,” Telmar said.

“How do I do magic, like you?” Kelly asked.

“It’s the wrong question. That sort of question should come with four solutions sets, one of which is the most appropriate response. Testing me is not unreasonable, but what you should be examining is my heart, not my intellect,” Telmar said. “Wealth and trivia are the worse measures for a human being, and likely indicates a lack of personal, essential values. Tell me, what do I keep doing?”

“You are quoting…”

“Yes, but what am I doing? With my hands?” Telmar asked. He held both fist up, one with wand, and opened them. Wand fell.

Kelly stood up and pointed. His hand shook. The stick shook. “How do I defeat them? How do I do magic?”

“You start by letting go,” Telmar said.

“I can’t!” Kelly screamed.

Telmar stood up, he let go of his wand.

“I can’t!” Kelly cried.

Telmar embraced Kelly, hugged, and patted his back. When he stopped crying he pushed away, still holding the wand. Four women entered, mother, Lambly, Kimber, and Laura. They brought with them food and drink. Sushi, rice, soup. They each carried their individualized, magic wands. They set up a meal for all of them, took their places at the table. Telmar picked up his wand and joined the women. There was a place for Kelly. Telmar, his wives, and mother each sat down the wands they were holding. They then began to eat. Kelly came to the table and sat down. He could hold neither spoon nor chop-sticks. Kimber ate with two magic wands, chop-stick styled. He also couldn’t make himself eat without confronting the fact he couldn’t put down the stick.

“Perhaps you would like bread?” mother asked.

Kelly avoided eye contact.

“What? You don’t like my cooking?” Lambly asked.

“Perhaps it’s not food you’re interested in?” Kimber asked. “Want to play?”

“Aren’t you married?” Kelly asked.

“Married, not dead,” Kimber said.

“Feel free,” Telmar said.

“But…”

“She is an adult. She gets to decide what to do with her vagina,” Telmar said.

Kelly blushed.

“What?” mother asked. “You never heard the word vagina before?”

“Not over a table,” Kelly said.

“Do you prefer under the table?” Laura asked.

“They are below the table,” Kimber said. “Our vaginas.”

A wagon arrived with a tree stump in it, towed by two horses. Dirt, roots, and all were in the wagon. A city guard arrived with the driver, and he got out to come around and address Telmar. Kelly got up from the table and retreated to the far side of the invisible dome pointing. Telmar went out and met the guard.

“Did you get it all?” Telmar asked.

“Do you know how difficult it is to ferret out roots?” the guard asked.

“Did you get it all?”

“We claimed as much of it as we could,” the guard said. “And, per the Captain’s orders, we filled the hole with liquid sand. We’re still waiting for it to cool. We’ll let you know if we see anything in the glass.”

“No need. Laura, fetch your bag. I want you to go back with the guard and inspect the site,” Telmar said.

“Yes, husband,” Laura said.

Laura departed for her things right away. Telmar returned to his meal, without further word to the guard. The guard clearly inferred he was to wait for Laura and wasn’t happy about it.

“You gonna get this stuff out of my wagon?” the driver demanded.

“Unhitch your team, leave the wagon,” Telmar said. “Captain will get you a new one.”

“I like my wagon…”

“You won’t like the trouble that comes with it,” Telmar said. “But if you like, you can empty the contents there. Make sure you get every last atom of dirt.”

Laura emerged from the house with a cloth purse. The flap to the purse was secured to the bag with her wand stuck through loops.

“So, lieutenant. May I share the horse with you?” Laura asked.

“I suppose. We didn’t bring saddles.”

“I prefer bareback. You want me in front of you, or behind you?”

“You could ride with me, if you like,” the driver said.

“I can smell you from here. I’d rather fuck your horse,” Laura said.

“I’d pay to see that,” Telmar said.

Lambly hit him.