“Time doesn’t move the same in the realms. Or rather, the portals don’t. We can arrive a few days after you left with the right concentration. But to do that, you must learn. You’re a powerful fighter with your body. Can you fight with your mind?”
Fight with his mind? “I don’t understand.”
Xariel pointed to a gnarled tree several paces away. “Join me there.”
Martin started to rise.
Xariel lifted a staying hand. “Just your mind.”
How ridiculous! No one’s mind could move without the body.
Suddenly, Martin felt weightless, standing in front of Xariel—by the tree. He turned his head but felt no familiar brush of hair over his shoulders. Instead, his seated and erect body sat exactly where he’d left it. The chest rose and fell, breathing, but his eyes were closed. “How?”
“Magic.”
A second later, Martin found himself back in his body. He shook himself and opened his eyes. Had that really happened? His head hurt.
With a wave of his hand, Xariel dispelled the pain.
“How did you know?”
“A good healer reads the signs.” Xariel nearly cracked a smile. “And I received a pounding headache the first time I tried projection.”
“Now what?”
“Now, after you’ve rested, we’ll try again. Farther this time. We need to hurry, before the magic you brought with you fades.”
“How is this going to help?”
“It’s going to help you retain control when you need to.”
An image popped into Martin’s head of a waterfall, which withered to nothing, the stream beneath more mud than water.
“Do you see?” Xariel asked.
“Yes. What is it?”
“Where we’ll travel to by sunset tomorrow.”
By sunset? Really? “I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“If Thomoth has always been a threat, why did Dmitri wait until recently to work with me? Wouldn’t it have been better to start my training as a child?”
Xariel stared off at nothing visible to Martin’s eyes. “Remember the child I told you of? Who’d killed his entire family?”
“Yes.”
“According to tradition, when a child is born with immense potential for magic, we must wait, let power grow, determine if the wielder would use the abilities for good or evil. You have found good in those others might not, like pirates and prostitutes.”
“How does that—”
“Of your own volition, you have used what little power you controlled to save others, even in your position with the city guards. Don’t think that Dmitri wasn’t watching you every step of the way. He has but one chance. If he approached you too early, he’d lose the chance.”
“So the child?”
“His parents were arrogant. Instead of merely teaching him to control and use his magic, they thought they’d teach him advanced application early, create the most powerful mage ever to live.”
