Sianim 02 - Wolfsbane

‘Can’t you work it yourself?’
    “He shook his head chidingly, and said, with that grin he used when I was being particularly obstinate, ‘Dead men cannot use magic, child.’
    “I woke up, sweating like a frightened horse, but there was nothing in my room that hadn’t been there when I went to sleep. I thought at first that it had simply been a dream. But I’d forgotten what Geoffrey was.”
    “A dreamwalker,” said Nevyn softly.
    Kisrah nodded. “Exactly.” He looked at Gerem. “Do you know what dreamwalking is?”
    “Yes,” replied Gerem. “Nevyn does it.”
    Nevyn is a dreamwalker? thought Aralorn.
    “Right,” agreed Kisrah. “There are a number of mages who can dreamwalk at the most basic level—fardreaming, it’s called. While fardreaming, a mage can send his spirit outside his body, usually no farther than a mile or two. Dreamwalking, though, is much more powerful and unusual. Nevyn and Geoffrey are the only living mages I’ve heard of who can send their spirits anywhere they want to. Generally speaking, a dreamwalker cannot affect the physical world—like moving chairs or tables. I say ‘generally’ because one or two of the better dreamwalkers were said to have tossed a chair or two.”
    “Or a knife,” added Wolf dryly.
    Kisrah nodded. “I stand corrected. A dreamwalker also cannot work magic in his spirit form. What he can do is look and listen without people suspecting they are being watched. And, though he can’t talk in a normal manner, he can communicate in a fashion called dreamspeaking.”
    “Like a mindspeaker?” asked Gerem.
    Kisrah nodded, “Only better. It takes one mindspeaker to hear another. A dreamspeaker can make himself heard by anyone he wants.”
    Aralorn thought about the conversation she’d overheard and wondered if the dreamwalker who’d been Geoffrey had known that she was there listening.
    “Anyone?” asked Gerem. “I thought that when a wizard becomes an apprentice, his dreams are protected by the Master Spells.”
    “That’s right,” said Kisrah, though his mouth tightened just a little. “Smart lad. Yes, the Master Spells protect young wizards to a certain extent. There are other ways to ward yourself, too. It is possible for a dreamwalker to manipulate an unprotected person through dreams. Unethical, but there you are. But dreamspeaking isn’t any more manipulative than normal speech.”
    Yes, thought Aralorn, watching Gerem as relief touched his face. No need to feel so guilty. You were not protected from the dreamwalker’s manipulations. Kisrah and Nevyn had known what they were doing.
    Aloud, she asked, “Is magic necessary for dreamwalking, or are there dreamwalkers who are not mages?”
    “Dreamwalking is a magic talent, like transporting things or illusions. Geoffrey said”—Kisrah hesitated—“if a dreamwalker’s body is killed while he is walking, his spirit can remain behind. Like a ghost, but with the full consciousness of the living person. He told me that the second time he came. And then he told me how he died.” Kisrah looked at Wolf, who looked back without any expression at all.
    “He told me that you came back because you’d heard that he was looking for you, and you were tired of it. He said that you argued about your use of black magic. He finally tried to use the Master Spells to limit your ability to work magic.” Without dropping his gaze from Wolf’s, Kisrah said, “That’s one of the ways that an ae’Magi can control rogue wizards, Gerem—as a last resort.”
    He seemed to be waiting for a response from Wolf, but after a fruitless pause, Kisrah continued. “In any case, he said he underestimated your power and the strength that black magic had given you; the spell was reversed. There came a point when you could have stopped it. He said you held the power for long enough to say something ironic—I’ve forgotten exactly what—and then you killed him.”
    He believes it, thought Aralorn, at least at this moment.
    “As a point of fact,” said Aralorn mildly, “it didn’t happen like that. I was there. Wolf did not kill Geoffrey; nor did I.” She started to tell them more about the last ae’Magi but caught the subtle shake of Wolf’s head in the corner of her eye. He was right. She had to be careful not to trigger whatever was left of the charisma spells. “He was killed by the Uriah.”
    Kisrah stared at her, but she didn’t drop her gaze.
    “Only the ae’Magi, Wolf, and I were there