Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance

“How would I know?” asked Lishrashic. “I’m not a mage and I don’t remember that night. I’m told that it wouldn’t take much magic to knock me out and erase my short term memory.”

I was fairly sure he was lying about this. I think he knew what he was planning to do and had a strong suspicion as to why he’d been knocked out.

“Weren’t you with him most the time?” Cloud asked Iandris.

I’d only told Breeze that I’d been with Lishrashic when he was knocked out and I wasn’t sure if she’d told Cloud.

“I must have fallen asleep at that point,” said Iandris, “and I couldn’t find him when I woke up.”

I didn’t need mind reading to know that was a lie. It was weird, I kind of thought I was psychic but also didn’t really believe that.

“Didn’t he tell you what he was planning?” I asked.

Iandris stared at me as if I was the ghost of an ancient and then said, “Can we have a word in private?”

She jumped over the wall from the bar, which was on the second floor, into the carpark. I followed.

“I told you you couldn’t tell anybody!” she whispered.

“I didn’t.”

“How good are they at mind reading?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think they’re that good.”

“Then how did Breeze know about those artifacts?”

“Maybe she used dowsing.”

“That can’t find artifacts, it can only find things you’re connected to in some way. You could find the spaceship part because it was made of the same materials as your helmet. Psychic powers can’t detect magic. That magic detector’s just a bit of polymer. The only way Breeze could have known about those artifacts was to read Lishrashic’s mind.”

“Not if she’s a magis.”

“She’s an anavah! Haven’t you worked that out yet? Nobody’s sure what they can do. Well I suppose they know, but they don’t tell anybody. What exactly did Lishrashic do to you before he got knocked out?”

I was shocked that she’d told me that Breeze was an anavah although I suspected it.

“Am I an anavah?”

“No, you’re a nibeyah. I’d have thought that would have been obvious as you’re pretty much a textbook example. All the other Winemakers in Minris, except your parents, are anavim, a blatant demonstration of why psychics shouldn’t marry each other. Anyway, what did Lishrashic do to you?”

Again, I was shocked to be told this although I also suspected this. “Is that the Haprihagfen’s secret?”

“I think they must have something else, any psychic who visits the Vineyard will figure that out. What did Lishrashic do to you?”

“He just wanted me to open the doors to the shrine crypt but I couldn’t.”

“Then what?”

“He took me onto the altar and got knocked out.”

“You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.”

“You know you can tell me anything, even things other people won’t understand.”

“Because you’re psychic?”

“No, I’m more understanding than most people. Well I understand psychic related things better than non-psychics but I don’t freak out over things that tend to freak out Winemakers or even other Trulists.”

I stared at her trying to figure out what she was referring to. “You mean homosexuality?” I realized that that didn’t freak out Trulists, or at least wasn’t supposed to.

“No, well that doesn’t freak me out but there are other things.”

“I don’t like boys so I’m not homosexual.”

“You’re parents really need to have a chat with you about that. Did Lishrashic do anything to you before he got knocked out?”

“No.”

This seemed to be a huge relief to her but I wasn’t sure why. “I thought it was quick. Anyway, still best not to tell people, do you understand. Some people, particularly the other Winemakers may not understand.”

“Because Yoho hates Astrigis more than the other gods, except Streculic?”

“Something like that. I think I can get back up with a running jump. I’m rather athletic for a psychic. Why don’t they have trees in this town?”

“They have trees in the Vineyard.”

“A tree right there would be helpful,” she pointed to the front of the hotel below the bar.

“There’s a cholla.”

“I can’t climb that! I’m not a masochist!” Then she shouted up to the bar, “Lishrashic darling, can you grab me and haul me in?”

“All right!” shouted Lishrashic, leaning over the wall of the bar.

Iandris took a running leap, grabbed Lishrashic’s hand and managed to scramble up over the wall.

I just ran back into the hotel and up the stairs.

“A talking plant!” Cloud was saying as I arrived.

“Astrigis is the god of horticulture!” said Lishrashic. “Hasn’t Yoho ever been known to talk through plants?”

“I think he has,” I said.

I’d checked that on the internet and there was a story about Yoho speaking to somebody from a plant.

“Many of the trees and vines at the Vineyard have bindings and associates,” said Breeze.

“What did Iandris want to talk to you about?” asked Breeze.

We’d jumped over the wall and into the car park and were now walking back towards the bridge.

“She thought you were a really good mind reader because you’re an anavah and knew about those artifacts.”

“You’re not supposed to tell people that other people are psychic,” said Irvis, clearly upset about something.

“I had a magic detector,” said Breeze, holding up the bit of polymer.

“That’s not real,” I said.

“How do you know?”

“Because we’re only allowed to use artifacts in the Vineyard.”

“Why was Iandris so worried Breeze was a good mind reader?” asked Cloud.

“Are we playing detectives or psychic detectives?” I asked.

“We’re always psychic whatever we’re playing at,” said Irvis. “Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“Breeze gives me the option of being a hipsickah but she always wants to be an anavah magis so it always ends up with both of us being some sort of psychic. You’re sometimes hipsickim.”

“No we just say we’re hipsickim so you think we’re psychics who are in denial about it,” said Cloud.

“Can you answer the question?” asked Breeze.

“What question?”

“About why Iandris was worried about me being a really good mind reader,” said Breeze.

“I think she thought that Lishrashic had done something she didn’t want people to know about before he got knocked out.”

“What?” asked Breeze.

“I don’t know, he got knocked out first.”

“So she did know what he was planning to do,” said Cloud. “She’s the psychic, why wasn’t she the one doing it?”

“She isn’t a mage,” said Breeze, “or perhaps I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“You were born eight days after me,” said Irvis, crossly.

“Seven and a half,” said Breeze.

“We were both conceived on the same day,” said Irvis, “the day Sand-dancer died!”

[Translator’s note: “Sand-dancer” is a literal translation of the Faharni word for “dust devil” - Winemakers wouldn’t give somebody a name including “devil”.]

“Were we?” asked Breeze. “I don’t remember my conception. I don’t remember much before I was about two.”

“Who was Sand-dancer?” I asked.

“Our last magis,” said Cloud. “She died shortly after I was born so I don’t remember her.”

“After she died, a new magis should have been conceived in or near the Vineyard,” said Irvis, bitterly. “All the other magises can be either sex but the Vineyard magis is always female. Somebody put a spell on the Vineyard to stop us having girls and Breeze was the only girl born in a hundred years.”

“That’s not my fault,” said Breeze. “I don’t know how it works, nobody does.”

“I thought I might be the first male Vineyard magis,” said Irvis, “but you’re the new magis aren’t you? You can detect magic without an artifact now?”

“That’s why, whatever the game, you want to be an anavah magis,” I said.

“Sorry,” said Breeze. “I can’t control it. I can’t make you a magis, nobody can. I’ll make you a mage when I figure out how to do that.”