When War Calls(89)

Tarsha seemed to have given up on her question and resumed her place near the trees. ‘That is something you will have to ask your grandfather,’ she said. ‘All I know is that it is from the Forgotten Years, but has since calmed and no longer causes the damage it did all those centuries ago.’

‘But it is still here.’

‘Yes,’ said Tarsha, ‘and perhaps one day, it may even leave us entirely, and the Daijuar will be no more.’

‘What will they do then?’ asked Jaden.

‘I do not know. Live as the rest of us, without power, I assume.’

‘Then I will no longer have to wear these,’ he said, looking at his wrists.

Tarsha chuckled. ‘Yes, if it happens in your lifetime, that is correct. But for now, you have been given great power, young master. If anything at all, at least use it wisely. Do not let it go to waste.’

Jaden shrugged, rolled his shoulders and then shook his arms to loosen the muscles. ‘What did you want me to do?’ he asked.

‘Feel the energy as I said. You must let it inside you before you can push it back out. I want you to imagine the energy leaving you as a giant shield that surrounds and protects you. It is white and pure like those of the sentinels. Trust in yourself and the Daijuar, and then I want you to imagine that shield pushing away everything around you gently.’

‘I don’t know if I can,’ said Jaden, and was silenced as Tarsha raised her hand. He knew he would have to try.

He breathed deeply, repeating the steps she had told him earlier as well as what his grandfather had taught him, and then he imagined the white shield coming from him, pushing wave after wave of energy outward. After intense minutes of concentration, nothing more than a light had come.

What was he doing wrong, he asked himself, what was he missing?

He could hear Tarsha repeating the steps to him, but knew she had missed something too. His grandfather had said the mind had to be mastered first; the emotion had to be there so that the body could know how to use the energy. Emotion was the key. His anger at failing and his grandfather’s disappointment had been enough to make his hands feel as if they were on fire. What did he need to feel to release gentle repelling energy? He couldn’t think of anything in his past. He would need something else instead.





The answer came to him a moment later. The experience needed for calling on emotion did not need to be real. All he needed was to imagine something that would bring the right emotions and they would come. He thought of the energy as Tarsha had said, and then gave it reason to come forth as he imagined a child throwing berries at him playfully. It made him smile on the inside, keeping his mind calm as he played in their game with gentle energy, as he would never wish to harm them. The energy came forth as he kept his eyes closed, and soon he could feel a small shield around him. He opened his eyes for a moment to see the smoky haze in front of him spiralling in and around his body, and then closed them again to maintain his concentration.

‘Good!’ said Tarsha. ‘Now let us put it to the test!’

Tarsha walked up to the shield, seemingly unafraid, and then touched it with her finger. Her finger was pushed back away from it, but had otherwise left her unharmed. She then placed her hand on it and pushed in a few times, making the shield appear as a rubber cushion that let her move only so far in before it would push her back. It held the same low tone as the other Daijuarn shields, but changed to a higher pitch as she touched it.

‘And now for the real test!’ she exclaimed, taking several paces back.

With an underarm throw, she sent the first lemon she was carrying slowly gliding toward Jaden. The shield did its job and repelled the lemon. She then threw another, a little harder this time, and again it was repelled unharmed. Gaining confidence, she started to throw the lemons as hard as she could.

‘You’ve done it!’ she yelled, but Jaden did not seem to hear her.

He was in deep concentration, seemingly ignorant to the rest of the world as each lemon dug in a little to his shield before being pushed straight back out, just as Tarsha’s hand had been earlier.

Tarsha walked to pick more lemons and started throwing them from the trees rapidly. After she had thrown another six, she picked the biggest one she could find.

‘Here comes a hard one!’ she called out, and then threw it with all her might.

The shield disappeared at that moment and Jaden was left standing defenceless, his eyes still shut. The lemon slammed into his chest, causing Tarsha’s hands to fly to her mouth.

‘Oh!’ she cried out, hurrying toward him. ‘Sorry!’

Jaden made no gesture to her, no sign that he was hurt or had even felt the lemon hitting him.