Riders of Tethra Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Sayer was nervous as he walked to the remote location of Doyen Parfell's quarters. He had so many questions and yet he didn't know if he could remember them all let alone try to cover his true motive for asking them. The Doyen had said he would never ride him but that remained to be seen. Especially if Sayer, or Hunter for that matter, displayed a sense of alarm. He and Hunter were barely in their third week at Pandor and this was only Sayer's second meeting with Parfell. He knocked gently on the heavy wooden door and waited.
The Doyen opened the door fully, standing in an imposing and intimidating manner. Sayer had been nervous at their first meeting but had quickly been put at ease. He hoped today would be the same.
"Welcome Sayer," Doyen Parfell said as he motioned for the young boy to enter his quarters. He pointed to the same overstuffed chair that had swallowed up Sayer's thirteen-year-old frame at their first meeting.
Sayer sank into the beast and waited for the Doyen to begin.
"This is only our second opportunity to meet, Sayer. At our last meeting you gave me more detail as to how you felt Hunter's presence and pleas across the parallels. That was quite enlightening and yet unexplainable to anyone else here," the Doyen said stroking his beardless chin. "So perhaps you have abilities we have not yet discovered."
"I don't know sir," Sayer responded not knowing what else to say.
"I believe you have come with questions," the Doyen smiled looking directly at Sayer.
"I thought you would not ride me without permission," Sayer said immediately.
"As before, you are to the point," the Doyen smiled. "I have not ridden you. And I will not unless it is an emergency. But that does not mean I cannot read expressions."
"And I have been taught to instantly block if someone tries," Sayer countered, hoping he had not sabotaged his chance before it even got started.
Parfell looked at the young boy with a wry smile. "And as you advance in your training, should you reach master level, you will also learn how to mask your riding so that the ridden are unaware, even masters themselves."
`So,' Sayer thought to himself, `The masters give us half-truths or half-skills when it serves them.'
"So, you can ride me without my knowing then, whenever you want?" he asked out loud.
"That bit of information is never to leave this room," Doyen Parfell warned sternly. "I tell you because of your unique position here at the Fen. The masters must be able to investigate signs of disloyalty or infiltration from the inside or outside our realm. In almost all conditions, the masters will not ride without permission or direction from me."
"Then that means you can talk mentally with all the masters when you feel the situation needs it -- like talking back and forth?" Sayer was doing his best to work the conversation into answering his questions without being too apparent. And if the Doyen assumed that Hunter would not be privy to this last bit about masked riding, he had better be riding him now!
"No. Sadly, there is no telepathy between riders, even masters. We have worked on it for years and no one has found a way to manage telepathic conversation."
"But I guess you could all ride the same person so that you have the information you want all at the same time?" Sayer asked.
"Again, a very interesting question we have unsuccessfully tackled. When a rider is riding or being ridden, they are totally blocked from any other rider. Even if you are riding a non-rider, another of us cannot come along, jump in and join you -- even masked. Riding is a lonesome task, exhausting. disturbing, sometimes wonderful but cannot be shared until the ride is over."
"This is so complicated," Sayer said with a sigh. "Okay so what happens if I start to ride someone while I am being ridden?"
"Disconnect," the Doyen responded. "Ultimately, your brain makes the decisions and when you decide to ride, should anyone be riding you masked, they would be disconnected. Obviously, you could just block normally when you feel the intrusion from the outside. But when you are mounted in a hidden way, it would be purely accidental that a disconnect would occur."
`So, if I am telepathically talking to Hunter, or visa versa,' Sayer thought to himself_, `it would cause an automatic disconnect. That could be very useful to us if we suspected a masked rider. Hmm, but also would alert the rider that someone nearby was my target. Damn this is complicated!'_
Sayer decided to change the direction of his questions in an effort not to raise suspicion from Parfell. "You meet with Hunter every day and this is our second meeting. What is it you really hope to get from us?"
The Doyen sighed and looked emptily out the window. "A miracle, Sayer. We need Pandor and Farin but even stronger. Should you two be such, we have a plan -- and should you not -- we have a plan for that too. It is not something that will be discussed with you or anyone except the grand masters, whom neither you nor anyone else here knows unless they are one of them."
"Grand masters?"
"A few of us here and some working out in holding have been identified as beyond expert in the ways of Maginar and its history, giving us a knowledge that is useful in protecting and predicting. Obviously, I am one. That also must be kept secret and I will know if it is divulged."
Sayer paused to digest that new "secret" he had been given but decided to plunge on.
"Ok but then since you can't talk back and forth, I guess you can ride each other to know what's going on regardless of where you are?"
Now Doyen Parfell was beginning to look a bit curiously at the boy. "You are asking questions beyond your very short time here. But the answer is known by the older boys in training, so I will share with you even though it is not yet time. There is a range to being able to ride. So, for example, most everyone here could ride, if permitted, everyone else at Pandor's Fen. But if the person was in Lorenwood, likely, he could not. Some of us have a broader range than others but even with training the distance is limited."
"Wow," Sayer exclaimed, "So if we have to go to battle with our enemies, we will have to be there if riding is involved."
The Doyen merely nodded and the added, "That is basically true and will be very dangerous."
Sayer was silent, his thoughts racing, his eyes blinking rapidly. He took the chance. "Hunter, if you can read me, just say `yes,' nothing more," he thought at the open space.
"Yes," instantly was returned. Sayer shivered.
"How's Hunter adjusting?" the Doyen asked as if he knew that Sayer had just messaged the boy.
"You don't know sir?" Sayer replied. "You are with him daily."
"He does not share much about the two of you as friends. He did mention an exceptional day at the archery range."
"Yea, no kidding," Sayer said with excitement forgetting he was talking to the headmaster.
The Doyen laughed. "It was quite an extraordinary performance, I must admit. It will be interesting to see if anyone is successful tomorrow."