Chapter Nine: THE SEARCH BEGINS

Yrren trembled in fear and fury as his pacing fell into step behind Rigel's. His strong hand landed upon the boy's shoulder, forcing him to turn and face him. Rigel thought he was going to be struck again. The look the youngster met in the King's violet eyes was fierce and frightening--but the anger was not directed toward him.

"Young man, I am sorry. This is no one's fault but mine. If I hadn't kept you away from my daughter. . . . " The monarch's voice faltered. His shame revealed itself upon his fear- shadowed face as he called out to Clarion, "Old friend, take these abominations off this poor child's wrists." The powerful fingers of the King tightened on the stable boy's shoulders. Through that grip, Rigel could feel the strong emotions that tormented the man. His spirit was being torn apart with mourning for his missing child; with guilt that the abduction might have been prevented. When Yrren again spoke, he spoke with the voice of compassion. "I pray that I haven't damaged you. I cannot comprehend how I could have been so cruel."

Rigel's throat tightened at the anguish on the face of the King. The black forces that had held Yrren's mind had released their grip now that the abduction of Auria had been accomplished. "It wasn't your fault, Your Highness." The boy's voice trembled with fear and aching pain.

The Palace Wizard nudged Rigel's forearm, and he turned to face the old man. Clarion touched the crystal manacles with his gnarled forefingers. The shackles fell away with a snap, clattered to the floor, and vanished with a wave of the sorcerer's hand. Rigel rubbed his red, swollen wrists, and the blood surged painfully back into his hands. His arms throbbed with relief as he flexed his tingling fingers. The mage took the stable boy's hands, palm up, in his. Clarion examined the youngster, tracing an unseen path from fingertips to shoulders to face, his penetrating gaze sharpened by his magic.

"There is no serious damage," he muttered, and the boy heard a sigh of relief escape King Yrren's lips. "My apprentice is certain he can reverse whatever they've done to you. I can see nothing that should hinder him with undue difficulty. Young fellow, you have more strength than we've given you credit for."

Rigel turned to face Clairvoyant, and gasped in shock when he saw him. The young mage leaned against the Princess's headboard, arms wrapped tightly about his torso, Auria's bed robe dangling from one clenched fist. His face was contorted in pain, jaw clamped against the force of his efforts. Indigo eyes swirled with flickering pinpoints of light--fixed on some distant place that hovered between one world and the next. His lips moved soundlessly as he searched the cosmos for some sign of the abducted Princess.

The intensity of the young mage's efforts to locate Aury opened his deep emotions to shameless scrutiny, and Rigel's heart constricted with what he saw there. The unmasking revealed the magnitude of Clairvoyant's affection for the Princess--the protective love he felt for her. Aury was more than friend in Voy's heart, she was his sister in spirit--the only one who came close to sharing the degree of power he had been born with. Rigel felt his isolation from the rest of the universe, the pain of being different, and the spark of long-awaited companionship that had ignited on the day of the Princess's birth. Beneath the warmth of these feelings flowed a dark current of fear; fear of losing the only person who could even remotely understand what it meant to be Clairvoyant.

The look of compassion on Aleia's face as she gazed upon the trembling form of the apprentice told Rigel that she, too, had seen that display of his feelings. Clairvoyant's underlying fears flooded her heart with the terrifying possibility that she had lost her child forever. As she turned to Rigel, those emotions poured fourth from deep within and washed over the boy like a cold wave, drowning them both in sorrow. Tears threatened to betray him, and Rigel rushed into the arms of the Queen of Chimopotamia. She hugged him and smoothed his hair from his face as the tears broke free. He tilted back his head and gazed up at her in anguish.

"She's gone, she's gone. I can't touch her," he whispered in despair. "She's not inside me anymore."

Rigel's words deepened the lines of fear that etched the Queen's elegant features, and she turned a frantic look to her husband. Yrren stopped his pacing as the import of the boy's words struck his heart. He stared at Aleia.

"He's had continual contact with Auria since her birth?" he asked, his voice a whisper of terror, "Constant? Unbroken?"

Aleia nodded, "Whenever either desired it." She began to tremble, and the youth tightened his grip around her slender waist. "In waking and in sleep."

Rigel shifted within the circle of the lady's arms to meet the look of grief on the face of the King. "And now she's gone." The boy felt as if his life had ended--as if half of what he was had been snatched away from him and he had been left to die unwhole. The empty longing in his spirit overwhelmed him and burst forth with a mournful groan. His body shook as a violent sob wrenched his soul, and even the hand of the King on his shoulder did not stem the outpouring of his misery. That hand was trembling, and the fear of Auria's parents joined Rigel's own as the three considered what the breaking of the bond might imply.

"She's not dead." Clairvoyant's voice startled them from their fears, and they turned to face the mage. The magic that had embraced his mind no longer controlled him. He strode toward them. "She's not dead," he repeated, waving the robe. His face was lit with a mixture of anger and excitement. "I touched a spark . . . a small but living spark, and it was her."

Yrren turned on the boy, "Where, Clairvoyant? Where is she?"

He shook his head in aggravation, "I can't connect that well. I don't know. She's unconscious. More than unconscious. I couldn't find any part of her mind." His gaze pierced Rigel, sending a wave of desperation through him. "Otherwise, you'd have found her immediately. Her captor knows that."

"She must be drugged." Clarion, his face haggard with fear, turned from his ministrations to the still unconscious guards. "And likely with the same potion he used on these two. Both have been injected, with a large bore needle or perhaps some device made of thorn or reed . . . here." A bony finger pointed to several circular wounds on the neck of one guard, the flesh around the punctures bruised and swollen. "It's powerful. I've never encountered it before. I can't break through it no matter what I try. And I'm sure he had to use a much larger dose on the Princess to keep her mind in such a state that even Rigel cannot touch it."

"Who, Clarion," Yrren moaned with anguish, "Who could do this to us?"

The ancient wizard shook his head, and his face was drawn and tired. He wrung his bony hands. "I do not know, Majesty. I know of no one trained in such a degree of sorcery, that he could obstruct us all. We have one chance of breaking through. One chance of finding the Princess."

Clarion took the terrified Rigel by the shoulders and sat him in the center of Auria's empty bed. He touched the boy's thoughts with kindness as he searched the pain-wrought face. "We need you, young man. We need you desperately. Of all the talented people in this Kingdom, it is you that will find her."

Doubts clouded Rigel's mind. With effort he forced his words past the tear-swelled lump in his throat. His voice shook with anguish. "But she's gone. I can't find her."

Clairvoyant sat beside him. "You'll have to try, Rigel. We're going to show you how to break past the limits of your powers. It isn't easy, but you have the talent to do it." The apprentice closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and Rigel sensed that he was fighting the urge to panic. Voy's hands were shaking as he took Rigel's in his and searched the younger boy's face. "Remember when I told you that you underestimate your powers?"

The dark youth nodded, his heart aching with the desire to trust and believe Clairvoyant's words. He would do anything to find Aury and bring her home. The pain that wrenched his empty soul was unbearable as he felt for his lifelong friend and could not find her. She was his future and his past, and his breaking heart told him that without her he would be nothing.

A comforting squeeze from Clairvoyant's hands brought Rigel from his painful reverie, and the young seer's thoughts touched his mind. "No need to think such things, my friend. The first step is to believe that we will find Aury. Don't let your mind lose itself in despair right now. It's the most important weapon we have. Now, look at my eyes."

Rigel found himself compelled to obey. His gaze went to the indigo depths of the sorcerer's star filled eyes, and the youngster gasped in surprise as he fell into them. Downward and outward he floated, spinning through a universe devoid of all but the starlight. A bright light hovered before him, and he could feel his thoughts reaching out for it of their own accord. It was warm and white and comforting as he gazed into its brilliance, and the stars in his side vision danced and played around him. As his mind touched that pure whiteness, he knew that it was Hope, and he could feel courage building like a carefully tended fire in his heart. "The first step is to believe that we will find Aury." The hypnotic voice of Clairvoyant repeated in his mind: "We will find Aury . . . we will find Aury. . . . "

Then the vision was gone. The room was around him once again, and the wizard's young face was shining before him with serene confidence. "We will find Aury." Voy's words touched his senses once more, this time spoken aloud. The respect Rigel had always held for the apprentice wizard had magnified a hundredfold. A new confidence in Clairvoyant's power--and in his own--drove the despair from his heart.

"Sire, the boy's parents are frantic with worry. May I let them up?"

A voice from the doorway drew Rigel's attention from the enchanting face of his friend, to focus on the King of Chimopotamia. Yrren stood, haggard and worn, his gaze fixed on the youngsters that had just come out of their trance-like state on his daughter's unmade bed. His expression was shrouded with grief, but beneath the shroud there was now a tiny glimmer of hope. Rigel wondered what thoughts were holding the man's mind as he contemplated what he had just seen. The servant at the doorway had to speak a second time to get the King's attention.

"Sire?"

Yrren turned to face the woman. "Zale and Raven. Yes, of course, Leeda. Please bring them up. Tell them their son is all right, and bring them here."

Within moments, steps were heard in the hallway and the doors swung open. Altair stepped into the chamber first, eyes wide with fear. His gaze cast about the room until it settled on the sight of his brother on the bed. Rigel's parents followed behind the pale twin; Raven's face was streaked with terrified tears.

"Rigel!" She rushed toward her son.

He held his hand out to her. "I'm all right, Mother. I have to help Voy and Clarion find Aury. We are going to find her. I'll be here until we do."

Raven nodded, confused and frightened by her son's strange serenity and the clouded expression that transfigured his handsome face. Aleia stepped over to the woman and put her arms around her.

"Your son is all right, Raven. He's a strong young man--brave and gallant." Soothing the boy's frightened mother seemed to help Aleia face her own fears. She took a shuddering breath and looked upon Rigel. Fondness for the youngster radiated from the depths of her heart. "And he is our hope. He'll find my child. I've always believed in Rigel."

The StableMaster's wife sniffed back her tears and turned toward the Queen. "You know more about my son than I do, Your Majesty. He frightens me so."

The comforting tone of Aleia's words floated through the worry-clouded air of the room. "What I know, dear, is a great deal about my daughter. To know her is to know him. The two can't be separated."

"I'm just now beginning to see that." Raven leaned into the Queen's hug to give and receive the comfort both mothers so desperately needed.

Zale stood before the distraught King. "Your Majesty, let me ride with the search for the Princess. Surely if she is in Chimopotamia we have a chance of finding her." Memories of the King's recent actions had kept his fears alive, and the man's voice trembled as if struggling for the courage to speak. His shoulders relaxed with relief as the King's hands rested upon them.

"All of my forces will ride out tonight, Zale, and you shall ride with them--at my side." He spun to face Clarion. "Wizard, take over here. Do your magical utmost to find the Princess." Then, to the guards who were lifting their stricken comrades to carry them from the room, he commanded, "You men, when you are done there, alert the troops. We will organize a search of the Kingdom. Anything suspicious is to be reported. Anyone suspicious brought in for questioning. Each regiment will bring with them a telepath to relay news immediately to Clarion."

Yrren touched Zale's elbow and strode from the room. The StableMaster followed obediently at his monarch's heels. Zale cast his wife a confident look, and her shoulders straightened when she saw the solemn pride that shone in his black eyes.

Altair spoke, his face lit up with hope. "Mother, I want to ride with the search."

"No, Altair. Your father wouldn't approve."

The pale youngster paced the room, arms folded across his chest. "But I have to do something. I can't just sit here."

"Altair." Aleia's voice interrupted his agitation, and the boy turned to the Queen. "Auria's sisters are going to need comforting. I'm having special difficulty soothing Chartreuse. She is worried and frightened, and could really need a friend right now. Do you know where her room is?"

The youngster blushed crimson and nodded. He stood silent, awaiting the Queen's reaction to his admission that he had visited the royal palace without her knowledge. The soft smile that touched Aleia's lips quelled his fears.

"I thought you might. I know Treuse is very fond of you. Go to her now. She's crying. Tell her we're doing everything we can to find her little sister, and that my hope is strong that we will."

Altair turned to Rigel, respect shining in his ice blue eyes. "I'll see you later. Go get 'em, Brother." His thankful gaze returned to the Queen for just a moment before he jogged from the room.

The chamber had cleared of confusion. Only the Queen, Rigel's mother, and the ancient wizard Clarion remained gathered around the two youngsters on the bed. The stricken guards had been carried to the infirmary, where healers and psychics would work to rouse them from their potion-induced stupor. Rigel shuddered at the thought that the same poison coursed through Auria's veins, and rendered her as senseless.

Aleia stroked his hair. "You'll find her for us, Rigel. I'll return in a few minutes. I'm going to take your mother to where she can be comfortable, and then go and see to my other children. They are all shouting their fear into my mind, and they need me."

The boy gazed with adoration into the face of the Queen.

Her soft lips curved in a sad smile, and she bent to kiss his forehead. "I love you as my own, you know," she whispered. A tear sparkled from her eye and fell upon his upturned face.

Rigel's heart twisted painfully in his chest. He opened his soul to the Queen of Chimopotamia, exposing all the love and all the pain within. Aleia responded with a tender psychic caress that comforted and soothed him. Then she turned and walked quietly toward the door.

"Rigel," Raven said as she gave her son a departing hug. "Forgive me for ever doubting you. I'll be here in the castle if you need me."

"It's okay, Mother," the boy answered, and wrapped his arms around the woman. "I don't understand it myself sometimes. And you've always been here for me, whether you understood or not."

The moment the door closed behind the two women, Clarion became a blur of action. Rigel was startled by the sudden change in the quiet old man. With fluid, catlike movements, the wizard gathered crystals, a staff, and several small caskets, and arranged them on a triangular table of dark wood that appeared in the center of the room. The ancient mage seemed to have grown in stature. His shoulders were no longer stooped, and he moved with the grace of a young man. His age worn skin seemed less wrinkled, younger, and the aura that surrounded him sparked with energy.

Rigel turned to Clairvoyant in surprise. The apprentice met his friend's gaze with a knowing smile and said simply, "Watch and learn."

"Rigel." Clarion turned to the boy when he had done arranging his tools, and his deep voice resonated softly through the youngster's awe-struck mind. "This will all be new and strange to you. Don't fear--let yourself trust, and let yourself go. Your heart will know what to do as the needs arise. Don't let your surface thoughts interfere. You need to learn, in a very short time, how to work with the deep parts of your mind-- those parts that connect the magic within to the magic without you, that link you to the powers of the universe. It is a talent that often takes years of training, for even the most powerful of wizards, to master." His gaze fell on his apprentice with a rare shower of pride-filled emotion. "It is the thing that makes Clairvoyant so different-- the reason he was sent to me for training as my successor. Not only was he born with powers unlike any that have been seen for centuries, he was born with this link to those powers active and intact and under his control."

Voy's gaze fell away, and Rigel sensed that the boy was uncomfortable with the overt praise.

Clarion continued. "I tell you this not to brag, son, but to instill trust in you for this young apprentice of mine. He can guide you on this journey better than I, because of this mastery of his inner magic. Clairvoyant will link to your mind, guide you to the power within and show you how to focus it. What I will do is to direct the travels that you will be embarking on. From without, I can control the direction your search takes, and see the results that you find. The three of us, together, will find the Princess Auria."

"Ready?" Voy asked, and waited for Rigel's hesitant reply.

"Ready." The stable boy cleared his throat nervously, wondering what he was about to get himself into.

Clairvoyant took Rigel's hands in his. "No fear, now. Only trust." The touch of the young mage's mind on his was warm and comforting, and left Rigel with no doubt that he could, indeed, trust Clairvoyant completely. Voy placed Rigel's hand, palms down, on his knees. "Leave your hands in your lap like this, and let your body relax. Relax." The seer's voice became a soft, song-like chant. It floated through Rigel's mind, touching nerves and relieving the tensions it found there. "Let your joints fall loose, feel the muscles in your body as they succumb to peace. Now close your eyes . . . and look at me."

The youngster's lids lowered, shutting out the room around him. He could see the serene face of Clairvoyant hovering at a point just above the level of his vision. He focused on the mage's eyes, and again felt the strange sensation of being pulled right into their starry depths. Through those pools he found a place that was deep and wide and filled with incredible power. The power radiated light and goodness, and sent out beams of magic that linked to the starlight and the wind and all the wonders of the universe. Then, to Rigel's surprise and delight, he realized that the wondrous place he had thought at first to be inside Clairvoyant was actually deep within himself.

At that instant, a brilliant beacon of light shot out from somewhere close by his side, and Rigel's mind's eye could follow it across the universe. Clarion had intervened, and was guiding the way for the two youngsters to commence their search. Thoughts of Aury swam in Rigel's subconscious. He could see her pretty face, with its enchanting smile and brilliant green eyes, floating before him. He recalled the feel of her mind, so familiar and unique, and how her heart sounded as it beat in time with his along the strand of their bond. With Aury's memory as his focus, and Clarion's beacon as his guide, Rigel launched himself among the stars at the speed of thought to find his bondmate.