“I like a womanwith a sense of humor,” he replied, taking my hand in his.
“Alright there,great, great, great, great, great grandpa, stop hitting on my mate,” Phin said.
“You missed afew greats, Prince Smarty Kilt,” he said before returning his attention to me.
Haddi closed hiseyes and began to breathe deeply, chanting softly to himself in betweenbreaths. I could tell he was speaking in the old tongue, but he was using wordsI didn’t completely understand. As I focused on his words, I began to notice myfield of vision narrowing.
“What’shappening?” I rasped.
“Silence,” Haddiwhispered before returning to his chant.
Within seconds Iwas in complete darkness. Unable to see or hear anyone or anything other thanHaddi, who stood before me.
“Where are we?”I asked.
“Stað ekkert,”Haddi replied.
“The place ofnothing?” I whispered.
“That’s right. Ihave brought you here to find out if you truly are Fjarskiptamaður. Here we arefree of the distractions of the world. In this place I can see who you arewithout the influence of mortal things.”
“Fiona saidthere are only two Fjarskiptamaður in Cauld Ane recorded history and that theywere both executed.”
“That’scorrect,” Haddi said.
“But you teleportedfrom your seat to mine,” I challenged.
Haddi waved offmy comment. “A parlor trick. A magician such as I knows a thousand of them. Ican move from here to there with relative ease, but at a cost usually greaterthan its value, and no more than a few meters. What you are able to do isentirely different. Fjarskiptamaður not only have the ability to travel to anydestination on the planet at will, but also to psychically hide themselves fromother Cauld Ane. That’s the reason Phineas had trouble sensing you when hetraveled to America, and why he couldn’t hear or feel you clearly the nightyour father brought you here. Normally, once mates are within close orbit ofone another, they can sense each other quite clearly, but you don’t havecontrol of your gifts yet.
“So, I am a Fjarskiptamaður?”
“I believe so,but you must pass a test before I can be certain.”
Dang it! Itold Phin there was going to be a test.
“Oral orwritten?” I joked, nervously. “I hope it’s multiple choice.”
“You must returnto the council hall,” Haddi said, ignoring my attempt at humor.
“That’s it?”
“I warn you.This task will not be as easy as you think. Leaving stað ekkert is a difficulttask, even for Fjarskiptamaður.”
“And if I fail?”
“If you fail toteleport, you will remain trapped here, and if you succeed to escape but do notreturn to our previous location, you risk being torn apart in the oblivion oftime and space.”
“How about D:none of the above?”
“I’m sorry,Lennox. But that is simply not possible. Fjarskiptamaður are far too powerfulfor guess work. We need to know the raw extent of your power before we canbegin refining it, and this is the only way we’ll know.”
I exhaledsharply and nodded. “Okay, tell me what to do.”
“I’m going tocount backwards from ten and when I reach zero, I want you to transportyourself to the Council Hall, where your mate is waiting for you.”
“Okay, I think Ican do that.”
“You mustbelieve in your ability to perform the task at hand. Be confident and brave, YourHighness.”
