“Not sorcery, Bili, farspeak.”
“No\” He shook his shaven head, speaking aloud in his vehemence. “I know something of farspeak, Aldora. Most talented is the farspeaker who can range more than a score and ten miles, and even then he must know well the mind to which he speaks!”
A smile flitted across her face. “Oh, darling Bili, there is truly much you now know not But you will. I doubt you could believe now the multitude of new skills you’ll learn, the abilities you’ll learn you possess and can develop once we get this devilish rebellion scotched and-but that is future, my love.
“As for farspeak, generally speaking, you’re right though training and practice can sometimes extend the range of one with minimal ability. Certain exceptional people, however, are born with fantastic range. I am one such, love. We have never had a way of determining just how great is my range. And the vast majority of farspeakers, who are normally limited to five or ten or twenty or forty miles, can still range far, far out if they take the time or are given the opportunity to acquire the skills of melding their minds with others in order to transmit with the combined force.
“The Undying High Lady Mara and Milo-she is almost devoid of farspeak, and he, with Sun and Wind know how many centuries of practice, can, under ideal conditions, range all of fifteen miles!-this is how they range distances, by drawing on the added power of another mind. But the mind must be willing to be so used, and it must be conscious and rational.”
Bili interrupted. “Yes, Aldora, I know a little of this, come to think of it One of the Sanderz prairiecats, Whitetip, told me that the High Lord had contacted you through his mind on the night my brother was . . . slain. But he mentioned it sometime during that first, wild, hectic day of pursuit and, quite honestly, I’d forgotten it until now.” She did not return to her discussion, but asked, “How many … on how many levels of mindspeak can you operate, Bili?”
“Uhhhh . . . lets see. Well, personal, of course, and broadbeam, farspeak . . . within limits, of course. That’s about it, unless my, uhhh . . . ability to foresense danger be considered a part of mindspeak.”
She shrugged. “Some would say yes, some no, but the fact that you can is not really important in itself. What is important, Bili, is what your possession of that rare ability reveals to those who can recognize its hidden meanings.”
“I don’t follow, Aldora.”
She sat up and crossed her shapely legs, running a fingertip along the scar of an old swordcut slanted across his chest. “Your formative years were spent either in warfare or in preparation for it, and is not your foresensing a very valuable ability for a warrior?”
“Yes, Aldora, it’s saved my skin on numerous occasions.”
Nodding, she then asked, “How many of your peers in Harzburk possessed mindspeak ability?”
Reaching out, he brought her hand to his lips, kissing the fingertip which had brushed his chest. “Well, it’s not really rare in the Middle Kingdoms, though it’s not customarily used as much as it is in the Confederation for some reason. I’d say maybe three burkers out of five have it to a greater or lesser degree. Why?”
“And,” she inquired, arching her brows, “how many “of your peers possessed the ability to foresense danger as accurately as you do, love?”
“None,” he answered flatly. ‘Tve never met anyone here or there who could actually sense as I do. Oh, many men have premonitions; I have those too, but it’s not at all the same.”
“No,” Aldora nodded slowly, “it’s not. It’s as a lampflame to Sacred Sun. But as I said, the ability itself, while valuable to one who is practically a professional warrior, means less than what your development of it means.”
“Sun and Wind, woman,” he snapped, “will you stop speaking in ciphers? After all, Tm a poor, short-lived man. I lack the wisdom of an Undying.”
She threw back her head and pealed her silvery laughter at the high, frescoed ceiling. “If I knew a way to make you such, my young stallion, you would be, and less for your mattress prowess than for your wit.