“However,” he continued, “skill can make up for the lack of natural talent to some extent. Skill and knowledge. I am giving you the knowledge faster than you might normally gain the skill, because I may not always be available to teach you, but you can still practise. That is why I set exercises for you to do when I am absent.”
She sighed. “And when am I supposed to sleep?”
He paused. “Ah. I do tend to forget that you have not yet learned to pattern-shift.”
They had reached the end of the long corridor that had led to the crops room. A stone stairwell missing what must have once been a wooden railing descended from there. Dahli led the way down, keeping to the wall side.
“You’ve done well so far, Rielle. You’ve absorbed what a child learns over many cycles in under a quarter of one.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
“It won’t.” He chuckled. “You have no others around to compare your progress to.” He took several steps before speaking again. “Some people have more talent for one kind of magic over the others. You may still find one that suits you.”
“What kinds are there?”
Dahli didn’t answer until they reached the bottom of the stairs. They proceeded along a tunnel wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side.
“Teachers throughout the worlds divide magic into five applications: movement, stillness, world travelling, mind reading, and pattern shifting. Moving or stilling are the most basic uses of magic, and, as you know, moving produces heat and stilling creates cold. Mind reading comes as naturally as learning to speak and I am not surprised to learn that you could do it as soon as you reached a world with enough magic to allow it. I doubt this was your particular talent, however, as I have never encountered anyone who had difficulty with it or an exceptional proficiency. A sorcerer’s ability to read minds is only ever limited by their strength.
“World travelling… well, it is too early to instruct you in that, but it is as different to moving and stilling as they are to each other. It requires more magic than all the other applications, but as much skill and knowledge to do it safely. You have struggled to learn this before, so I doubt it is what you have a talent for.”
“All that’s left is pattern shifting.”
“Yes. Pattern shifting takes very little magic once you grasp it, but it is the hardest of the applications to learn.”
“What is it used for?”
He turned to meet her eyes. “Altering the very substance of the worlds.”
She considered his serious expression and when he did not elaborate she smiled. “Examples might be more useful.”
His mouth twitched with amusement. “When applied to one’s self, it can heal any wound and be used to change your appearance and your age.”
A thrill went through her. Valhan had said she would learn to stop ageing. “I suppose it will be a long while before you teach me that.”
“I won’t be teaching you that,” Dahli replied.
She caught her breath. “He changed his mind?”
“No. Valhan always teaches pattern shifting.”
“Because… pattern shifting is his particular talent?”
Dahli chuckled. “He is talented in all. How else do you think he became ruler of all the worlds?”
She nodded. “I guess with no less than that.” Then she shrugged. “I am relieved to note that I am not destined for such greatness, since I am talented in none.”
The look he gave her was sharp, and she instantly wondered if she had said the wrong thing. But his expression softened.
“You will be a great sorcerer one day, Rielle.”
Disturbed by the certainty in his voice, she looked away. “So why does Valhan allow no one else to teach pattern shifting?”
“Because the worlds would be so much more dangerous if every sorcerer capable of it could cheat death.”
She considered that. “This way, even sorcerers who might be equal to him in strength will eventually die. He only has to wait, to be rid of his enemies.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “There are no sorcerers as powerful as he.”
“What of the prophecy?” She frowned as she tried to remember what the Travellers had told her. “What is it called, again?”
“Millennium’s Rule.” Dahli’s tone was disapproving.
“Do you believe it’s true?”
He scowled at the passage before them. “No, I don’t believe it. But others do and that can be as dangerous.”
She nodded. “So if many lesser sorcerers united, with the right knowledge, they could defeat him?”
“Yes.”
“Have they tried before?”
“Yes.”
“And failed, obviously. How did he survive? How does he prevent it happening again?”
Dahli’s expression softened. “I don’t think you’d be happy knowing the answer to those questions, Rielle.”
She looked away and nodded. Over a thousand cycles Valhan must have killed countless people, either in his defence or for the safety of the worlds. After a while it must be tempting to kill off anybody who looked as if they might cause trouble in the future. Was there truth in the rumours that Valhan killed sorcerers only for the misfortune of being strong?