A Templar's Gifts Read Online Free Page A

the way it used to be between us. I told myself over and over again on the long journey home that I would someday win my brother back to my side. It hadn’t happened yet. If I didn’t take the chance now, might I lose it forever?
    With a deep breath, I started the tale as it had been told to me by the Templar. “In the beginning there was one knight …”
    The story crept out of me slowly, unfolding into the wee hours. The telling brought me back to places and faces I’d put aside. Being home had dulled the experiences into things less and less real as the days had gone by, but now they were back and the wonder of what I had seen and done was fresh and shocking, even to me.
    Torquil listened with rapt attention, breaking in with questions from time to time. There were moments when he appeared doubtful, and others when he was trulyastounded. And when I neared the end of my tale, I saw something in his eyes I had never expected to find. Dare I hope … respect?
    â€œYe escaped with an artifact o’ great power and the soldiers of the King hunt ye,” he said faintly. He shook his head as if to dispel the notion. “It’s like a legend of old, Tormod. Are ye havin’ me on?” He looked at me suspiciously.
    â€œTruly,” I insisted, “but my worries don’t end there.” Restless, I leapt up and started to pace, feeling the edginess within me churn. “There’s an oddness that’s come about, one that I canno’ control. I’ve changed.” I rubbed my eyes, feeling the throb of an aching head approach. My feelings were keyed to Torquil’s and he was worried.
    â€œChanged in what way?” he asked.
    I was afraid to speak of my gifts. I’d long hidden them, especially at home. “Ye know I sometimes see things that have no’ as yet happened?” I said. He nodded. I drifted to the rail, gripping it tightly, feeling Torquil’s unease grow. “I have abilities now that I’ve never had before. I’ve been having visions about things happening beyond our croft and land, things that I think I should be making sense o’, but I canno’.”
    He shifted, clearly uncomfortable. “I feel what others are feeling. Their emotions make me ill. Sometimes …” I hesitated. “I hear their thoughts in my head. I canno’shut them off or push them away. It’s as if my mind is full to bursting an’ I’m about to go mad.”
    He gaped. “That’s what happened the other day, isn’t it?” he asked. “Ye had another vision.” His wariness of me peaked.
    â€œAye. It comes on suddenly an’ I have no way to stop it. I’ve always believed that the visions come for a reason, to warn me that something is about to happen or to give me clues as to what I’m meant to do, but now I have all these other things going on and I don’t think it’s supposed to be that way.”
    â€œWhat ye said just now, about the visions telling ye something ye’re meant to do. What did ye mean?” His eyes were fast on the horizon and yet I felt his attention, sharp and keen as he waited for an answer.
    â€œSometimes I try my best to change what I see. He told me I could,” I said, remembering the many conversations we’d had about that very thing.
    â€œWho, Tor?” he asked. Torquil hadn’t called me that in a long while. It gave me a good feeling of home and the way it used to be.
    â€œThe Templar Alexander. He had the vision of what was, what would be, an’ what could be. He said what I saw in the visions could be changed, because the future is no’ yet determined.” I sighed. “But I’ve no’ seen any evidence o’ this. I’ve tried, Torquil, so hard to changewhat I see, but near as I can tell I have no effect on the future whatsoever. Truly, sometimes I think I often
cause
what I see to happen.”
    My heart was