On Being a New Wizard in Arcadia--VII

    "You seem to have some background with the history, though, to make sense of it." Sean sounded reluctantly pleased. "Yes. In another lifetime, I was Hsia-Hou Tun. When that bumpkin of a hedge wizard finally tracked T'sao T'sao down in the afterlife, he had been studying hard. He hated Mengde, you know, with all his blighted soul, and he wanted nothing more than to pay my cousin back for all eternity. To life unending do I curse you,he said, hatred in every word. Let nothing you do for your own selfish reasons succeed, but come to ruination. You will wander the accursed world forever, unable to find peace or solace. That is what you have wrought.

    "I wouldn't let it stand. Even in the afterlife, I was forever by Mengde's side, his right arm. 'You'll not send him alone, for I will go with him,' I cried out in challenge. Chuko Liang smiled, that venomous smile of his. You would follow him into Hell upon earth, Yuanrang? I have little enmity toward you, because you are a mere dog, following its master's trail. However, if you are so determined, then on your own soul be it. Something akin to mercy must have struck him then, for his tone toward me changed. If ever you do manage to break free of his sway, then you are at liberty to pursue your own path, so long as it does not lead to domination over the innocent. I pity you, Yuanrang, for you are taking on this burden of your own choosing.

    "When we awoke, it was in the flesh of a pair of ruffians, from whom life was just fleeing. Chuko Liang is cruel, for he trapped me in a body so maimed as the one into which I had spent my first life." He tapped the patch over his left eye. "Maimed, starving, freezing, penniless. Mengde raged while I foraged for anything to help us along. Finally we were able to make our way to a village, and took the measure of our situation. It was close to three hundred years since our deaths, long enough for us to be a memory and a fairy tale. We were stuck in the far end of nowhere, and there was nothing to be done for it.

    "For a very long time, we did try. We were soldiers, mostly, though neither of us could rise very far in the ranks. It chafed, we who had once commanded vast armies consigned to falling in line under incompetent lieutenants and in shoddy regiments. Misfortune hounded our every step, and at last we both were so sick of bloodshed that we went into retirement. We traveled throughout Asia and eventually Europe, for Mengde is a scholar at his very core. We chased rumors of magic and spellcraft, seeking to lift the curse laid upon us, or at least ease its strictures. Every lead turned out to be a falsehood, sham wizards plying their trade on the foolish and desperate. At last we returned to our homeland, disheartened.

    "Time passed, of course, and we did not. Mengde, wracked with grief and frustration over his continually thwarted ambition, despaired at the false grandeur of his beloved land, and sought solace, first at the bottom of a wine cup, then with opium. And still I followed him. I carried him out of countless brothels and taverns, and sat by his side through endless nights in the opium dens." Sean fell silent, then said very softly;  "For that, more than anything else, I will never forgive Chuko Liang." The stillness was so absolute that they could hear the individual snow crystals strike the windows.

    "God Almighty," Christian said in wonder. "How on earth did you end up here?"

    "I did finally abandon Mengde, in an opium den. I could no longer bear to hear him cry out for the long-dead, whisper tender words to the ghosts in his own mind. I went and fought the British with my countrymen, of course to no avail, and I found that I could not tolerate staying in my native land. Word came from the south that grand men in America were looking for able men to come and work, and I made my way to the sea ports and came east across the ocean. I helped build the railroads in the west, and I saved my hard-earned wages. And I discovered that on my own, my fortunes held. I applied myself to learn the American dialects, and adopt the customs of this new land, and I traveled and I learned. This raw young country had its share of heroes and villains, of darkness and incredible hope, and its unapologetic newness was the balm that my spirit needed. I began to believe in humanity, even after all that I had seen that was wicked and cruel both in my homeland and in this land.

    "The thing about this land of yours, because it was settled so quickly, with so little regard to what might be lurking in the quiet places, is that it is rife with places of power. There are countless thin places and cracks in reality, and true magicians and sorcerers had flocked here for their spellcraft. I discovered more about the power that dwells in those shadows and dim places in seventy-five years than I had in the thousand previous. I learned a bit of spellwork from some of those mages, though as I have said, they are primarily wards, for I haven't the imagination or skill for more cunning conjuring. I followed my fortune and let the winds of fate direct me and at last I settled here in Arcadia. A fitting place, I felt, given the classical Greek connotations, and I so in need of a haven in which to finally settle. I was fully free of Mengde, no longer serving him or his ambitions, and as I have no interest in furthering my own glory, I found myself able to carve a nice little niche near the college. I may not be imaginative, but I do value knowledge and learning. I set a series of wards designed to keep most people from connecting too many of the dots and seeing that I have been here unchanging for the better part of a half-century, but occasionally there is someone of exceptional talent or insight who sees past them." He smiled in self-deprecation. "Even those wards that are meant to keep those talented individuals from even seeing them in the first place."

    Christian felt exhausted from the weight of the tale he had just heard. Sean was not lying, that much was clear. Every word was true. A sudden connection rose in his mind, and he laughed out loud before he could stop it. Sean raised an eyebrow, clearly trying to decide if he should look offended or not.

    "I'm sorry, it's a very ridiculous coincidence. I'm doing a paper on Coleridge for my English class." Christian tried to wave it away, but felt that he was failing in spectacular fashion. Sean's eyebrow crept a little higher, and then he burst out laughing, a genuine sound of delight.

    "And are you one of three, then?" he gasped through his laughter. "I'd like to point out that you came to me of your own volition." He let his fit of amusement wind down, wiping his eye on the corner of his sleeve. "I always preferred Kubla Khan, for the stately pleasure-dome always brought to my mind Mengde's Bronze-Bird Tower. " Sean happened to glance at his watch and swore. "My gods, look at the time! Sit still, I'll bring you something to eat. I'm a fool, I was so absorbed in my own tale that I forgot that you're still recovering from your misadventures." He hurried into the kitchen and began banging around in earnest. "You're not vegan or allergic to anything? I don't want to make you sick, even temporarily." He came out with another tray, this one loaded with two large bowls. "Leftovers, I'm afraid. I made a hot pot last night and it was more than I could eat at one time."

    "No, it's fine, thank you." Christian dug in with the chopsticks that Sean had set down on the table. "Do you mind if I ask for some explanations? Oh, not on your history," he hastily clarified. "I wanted to know what you meant when you said I couldn't die. Do you mean I won't die of natural causes or old age or sickness?"

    "No, I mean you cannot die. Even if I were to slit your throat right here and let you bleed and gasp on the floor, you would tap into some nearby energy force and keep your body going even as it healed, most likely at an accelerated rate. That is assuming that I could even make the cut. You've changed your very nature, and the universe is going to bend around it. You've walked the ways, and they have reshaped you."

    "That's horrible to contemplate." Christian stared down at the stars tattooed on his forearm, and sighed. "Okay, I don't want to think about that right now. Tell me what you know about the Veiled Lady."

    "I don't know a lot," said Sean. "I've only seen her once, and she lit off every single ward I set around this place. To be more precise, she dissolved them by her mere presence. Fortunately, I do not think she means anyone here any harm. We're curiosities to her, if anything, an interesting menagerie of simple creatures. Zoo exhibits." He made a face. "There are very few things that she actually feels are worthy of her notice, and they involve skill with the magical arts. What she is actually motivated by, I could not say."

    "Do you think I'm in danger from her, then?" Christian asked. Sean shook his head with confidence. "Well, that's a relief, I suppose. Oh, what about all these auras and, I don't know, psychic vibrations seems like too tawdry a term. Do those fade?"

    "I've not met anyone who had that particular gift. The magicians that I have met could see these things with a ward or spell, but it took a certain degree of the Zen mindset. I think you might be an anomaly, but again, most magic users spend centuries even to reach the pinnacle upon which you have alighted." Sean held him in a steady gaze. "You've started at the end of the journey. What you might need to do is find a trained mage to take you on as an apprentice."

    "Where on earth would I find one of those?" Christian asked, incredulous.