No. I have used your mind to think them. Now I am merely in contact with you, and you must do the original thinking. We know that we must work together, but you must decide how we shall get in touch with the others.
Nona realized that this did make sense. The horse had never claimed to be other than a horse, except in the matter of mind-magic. “Then I think we must get close enough to your friends so that you can talk with them. I hope this is not close enough for the creatures of the despots to spot us.”
I will try to explore the minds of the creatures we encounter. If I practice, I should be able to attune more perfectly as time passes.
They walked on toward the castle, the ground illuminated by the tiny filament curls. Then, suddenly, they were in range, for Nona heard Colene’s voice in her mind. Seqiro! Is that you?
I am with Nona, who kept me safe.
That was a considerable exaggeration, but Nona was so glad to have made contact that she didn’t protest it.
Darius has a plan. He will join you, while Provos and I hide.
Then Darius was there with them. He had conjured himself there. Nona was amazed, until she remembered what she had learned of his magic from the horse. Just as Seqiro’s magic was far superior to that of the despots, so was Darius’ magic. Despots could conjure only small objects, nothing living. Nona was the same; any object that was too large simply caused the conjurer to be drawn in instead. That was useful for flying, but not nearly as good as Darius’ instant self-conjuration. King Lombard must be fascinated by, and afraid of, the visitors. With excellent reason.
Yes, Seqiro replied. It was time for them to depart the castle.
“All right,” Darius said, speaking in his strange language, but his thoughts coming through to Nona in hers. “We believe that our chance of escaping unobserved is slight, but that Nona’s knowledge of the planet should help. So we have split our parties, and when Colene and Provos are safe, we will join them. Seqiro, have you learned enough to enable us to lead the despots astray?”
Yes. Nona has told me how they use familiars to spy on others, and that these creatures usually fly and seldom go out by night. Talk with her.
Darius faced Nona in the filament light, and she realized how handsome he was. “We fear you can not return to your village, now that you have helped us,” he said. “You must hide with us. Colene says that this planet should have many projections, some tiny, some large, and some like other planets. Is this true?”
“Yes, Oria is shaped the way all worlds are,” Nona agreed. “Except that much of it has weathered down, so no longer shows clearly. But the filaments remain. You can see their lights.” She gestured around them.
“We were amazed when we saw these,” he said. “Some extend far into the sky.”
“Yes, they are all sizes, and of course the stars are merely the joinings of larger filaments. Is this not true in your own world?”
He smiled. “Hardly! Now I propose to conjure us to different sites, staying ahead of the despots. But I can conjure a person only from me or to me, and only one at a time, safely. As far as I can tell, my range is not limited here, but it is not wise to conjure into a strange place. So one of us must go first, taking the risk, and since Seqiro represents our communication, it must be—”
“I’ll go first, of course,” Nona said quickly.
“That was not what I was about to say. You are our liaison with your people, and you know this planet. So I will—”
“But you must not risk yourself either,” she protested. “You are the only one with the conjuring magic.”
He considered. “All of us are necessary; none can be risked. We must find another way. But I do not think it will be safe to walk; it will be slow, and they will follow our tracks.”
“Maybe I can train a familiar,” Nona said uncertainly.
“A what?”
I will explain.
So while Nona cast about for a suitable animal to train, though she was in grave doubt that she could either find or train it in time, the man and the horse communed.
Then Seqiro’s thought came again. I can find a creature for you, and perhaps enhance your training of it. What is best for your purpose?
“A bat,” she said immediately. “But I would have to hold it in my hand, and they are hard to catch.”
There are bats here. If I can get into the mind of one, I will stun it for you.
Then, to her amazement, he did so. A bat fell to the ground not far from them. She hurried to pick it up, guided by the horse’s continuing contact with its mind.
It was a grown female in good health. This was ideal! Nona held the bat in her hand and exerted her magic. She felt Seqiro enhancing it. Lady bat, I call you my familiar, she thought. I will help you and you will help me. Give me your senses. And, thanks to the great added power of the horse’s mind-magic, the bat responded almost immediately. It became Nona’s familiar in a brief time instead of a day.
Nona flipped the creature into the air. Find a safe place for us to come, she thought to the bat.
The familiar flew into the night. But now Nona flew with it, borrowing the perception of its eyes and especially its ears. She saw, through its ears, the dark trees and clearings and gullies, until it came to a place in the lee of a mountain. This was suitable.
“Now I will go,” Darius said. “Then I will conjure the two of you to me. How far is it?”
Beyond my range, the horse thought.
Darius paused. “But then if I join the bat, I will not be able to tune in to you for the conjuration. You will be lost to me.”
“Then I should go first,” Nona said. “So you can remain in touch with Seqiro.”
“But then I will have no contact with the bat,” he pointed out. “I will not know where to conjure.”
They considered the matter, and realized that there was no easy way to do it. Seqiro could be conjured to join the bat, but then Darius and Nona would not be able to communicate with each other. Nona could be conjured first, but then Darius would not be able to move either of the others to join her. If Darius went first, Seqiro and Nona would be stranded behind.
“You say it isn’t safe to conjure more than one at a time,” she said. “But is the risk that great?”
“The risk is unknown,” he said. “In my own reality, with well-established settings, it could be done. But here it might lead to disaster. We might arrive far apart, or one might drop from the sky.”
She had to agree that it was best to avoid such a chance. She could float gently down, but neither Darius nor Seqiro could.
“We shall have to make shorter hops,” Darius concluded with regret.
But then Nona had another notion. “Could you conjure yourself—and carry me? So that I maintain contact with my familiar, guiding you?”
He looked at her, judging her weight. Because their minds were connected, she understood that in the process he took note of her appealing figure. Her tunic was still somewhat plastered to her, making her apparel wretched but showing very well the underlying contours. “Yes, I could do that. But it would be an unsteady ride for you, and we might fall when we landed.”
“Then we should try it once, and not again if it seems too awkward.”
They did it. Darius brought out several little dolls he had made, and took material from Nona’s wet dress to make a doll resembling her. He added a hair of her head to it, and a drop of her spit, and had her breathe on it. This was interesting magic! Then he made circles on the ground, identified one as where the three of them stood, and the other as where the bat waited, and invoked the cute horse doll. He moved that doll from one circle to the other—and Seqiro vanished.