“You don’t have to do this.” He says, voice cracking with his plea. It’s as if he’s saying this down a well, which I’m already hundreds of feet deep inside it.

“I-I can pay you”. He stammered. I continue to ignore him, money means nothing to me.

It’s a beautiful sunny summer day. I’m staring at my wife, my child. We’re outside on the mountains facing the Krangston kingdom. It’s always beautiful here around this time of year. In the south, during the cold months, it’s still warm enough to just wear a sweater. The trees blow in the wind, the colours of their leaves are crimson reds and deep rich browns and oranges. The birds sing like they have absolutely no worry. I smile at my family.

“It’s a nice memory.” I said to him aloud. “It would be a lot easier on both of us if you stopped stalling and just showed me what I’m looking for.”

“Fuck you.” He spits.

I can feel my hands getting damp with his sweat and tears. “Now now, those aren’t very polite words coming from a noble like yourself. I truly expected more from someone of your station.”

“I don’t feel the need to watch my tongue with a dirty Synap like you.”

I take my hands off of his face and wipe them on my pants as I walk around the room lavished with gold and aristocratic paraphernalia.

“That’s right. That’s what I am. A Synaptic. Blessed with the ability to go into people’s minds and scour through your memories.” I say with an affected tone of grandiosity.

Must you? Paix’s voice echoes in my mind. I smile slightly, my back to the king.

Oh c’mon, did you choose me because of how serious I was? I think back. I swear I can feel her shaking her head through the bond.

I chose you because of how much you care. She responds.

I close the door to the bond before continuing with the King. “So how about this? You save me some time and effort and tell me what your plans are with the King of the North?” I say with a shrug.

He jostles in the chair that I’ve expertly tied him to. “You and your kingdom can go straight to hell.”

I sigh, walking up to him and putting my hands back on the sides of his head. “Back to it then.”

I take a deep breath and push my way into his mind. I remember the hours I spent being trained in school to break through seemingly impenetrable mental locks-and the migraines and nosebleeds that followed. I wasn’t from nobility, far from it actually, but my magic ability is coveted, so I was taken from my family at a young age and forced to learn how to use my “gift”. Back then, I considered a curse. The memories of their faces-

I can feel Paix cover me with a blanket of calm and I take a deep breath.

That’s why I’m here, to stop future generations from having to go through what I went through.

His memories flood my mind once more. We’re enjoying that fall afternoon again. The sun is up in the sky, his family is around him. I coax him, subtly influencing his memory to unlock itself for me. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a note.

Everything is going as planned. I have sent you a new batch of Magiberi. They will be traveling down the Trailwood path, all the way to Krangston. Once you’ve received them, I expect you to keep your end of the bargain.

K.R.

I let go of the King of the South’s face, shock riddling my own.

“You son of a bitch.” I hissed in his direction. “You’re dealing in magic born children? What is the king of the north getting in return?”

I get some satisfaction from seeing the confusion on his face.

“Oh, you’re wondering why I don’t already know this? I’m not here on the behest of King Salazar of the North” – I say his name with disdain, “I’m here as a part of the resistance.”

His demeanor changed immediately as he heard the word resistance. The flippant laughs that followed causes memories I’ve accumulated over the years to flood my mind; flashes of generations of war, bodies lining never ending fields and roads across the continent.

“And here I thought that oaf from the north was trying to backstab me. You’ll be dead before you’re able to take any of this information to your so-called resistance. You’re plebes, peasants, cannon fodder for the kingdoms to continue to make use of as we see fit. What difference do you think you can actually make? Seeing as how you’re not leaving here with a breath in your chest, I’ll tell you. Coin. That’s it. Your Kingdom trades the flesh and blood of your young for coin.” He laughs again, deep and unadulterated.

I take a deep breath and remove the look of shock from my face.

“First of all,” I bunch my fist and punch him directly in the nose, feeling and hearing the crack as my knuckles collide and subsequently shatter bone. He screams and coughs blood. No one will hear him though, thanks to the magical ward around the room blocking any sound from getting out of it. I thank Paix through the bond we have.

“Secondly, as much as I want you to remember how easily I broke in and took from you what you thought you guarded so well, I need this to be our little secret.”

I grab hold of his temples again and put my own mental guard in his mind where the memory of this moment now resides. If someone can break this guard, they deserve the memory.

He looks up at me, his breathing staggered, blood trickling into his mouth. “Who..who are you? Where did you come from?” He looks down to see himself tied to a chair, his eyes dart back up to me, trying to understand what’s going on.

“It’s been a pleasure, King.” I say to him with a smile.

I then walk to the window of his bedroom, hundreds of feet in the air and step off, falling directly onto the back of Paix, my white dragon.

I can sense her worry. I used a lot of energy digging in his mind and I’m feeling more drained than usual. White dragons are notorious for their speed and empathy. “I’m fine, nothing a long nap won’t fix.” I say out-loud.

Good. She simply responds. And your hand?

“Worth it.” I say, looking back at the King as we fly off.

The look on his face is exactly what I expected it to be; seeing as how no accord had been built with dragons in centuries and he was staring upon the very reason our revolution would succeed.