Free Michael A. Stackpole by A Hero Born

stories. Her father died somewhere along the line and it wasn’t until her mother’s mother intervened that anyone realized she was very talented in the way of Clairvoyant magick. By that time, though, the girl was untrainable and not much of a fan of discipline and hard work.”
    I frowned. “I don’t understand that. I mean, I lost both of my parents, and yet I’m not afraid of hard work.”
    “No, but you were trained to it from early on. She wasn’t.” Roarke shrugged. “There’s also some hint that, at least in the case of her father, she foresaw how he died and feels she might have been able to prevent his death.”
    “Could she have?”
    “You have multiple questions wrapped up there together, Locke. First you have to figure out if what she saw was accurate, or just a dream. When spells are invoked to look into the future, as 1 understand it, there is no solid way of telling if the vision is true or not. Clairvoyance is supposed to work best when the time factor is minimized.”
    Roarke held up a hand. “In addition to that question, you have a more important one to look at. It is this: is the future seen the only possible future?”
    I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
    “Let’s suppose you decide to get up now and go fetch more water. Or let’s suppose you change your mind and sit back down. Now what if what had been foreseen was along the time line that required you to get up and get water now? Since you didn’t do that, does that future no longer exist?”
    “Ahhh, I see.” I nodded. “Or, is the fact that it’s been seen something that compels me to do everything that needs to be done to make that future come true.”
    “Right. Are we creatures of free will, or is our future determined for us and we just become players in a production for which we don’t have a script?”
    I closed my eyes and rubbed at them for a moment. “1 opt for free will, but aren’t there prophecies and the like that predict the future?”
    “Sure there are, but take a good look at them. Oracles that make such pronouncements always do so in vague terms. Your father, it was said, was destined to kill the Chademon Kothvir, but no method was specified. If your father had run him through or served him bad oysters, either method would have fulfilled the prophecy. Lots of room for free will there.”
    “Fascinating.”
    “Free will versus determinism is one of those discussions that can make long rides much shorter.” Roarke clapped me on the shoulder. “So, what did she say to you?”
    “She wanted to know who I was and why I’d invaded her dreams. She saw me fighting in Chaos.” 1 shrugged. “Sounds like she saw my father, but she didn’t like that suggestion. She marched off in a huff.”
    “Wild talents are like that. They don’t have the control over their ability. With Clairvoyants it’s especially hard because they can never be sure what they are thinking. For all you know she’ll see her meeting with you as a vision and never be able to sort truth from dreams.” Roarke smiled. “She’s a cute one, though. Having her dream of you can’t be all bad.”
    “Not my type.”
    “You grew up on a farm with your two brothers and your grandfather. When did you have time to determine you have a type?”
    I started to explain about all the Bear’s Eve celebrations I’d attended, but I stopped. “No matter what I say, you’re going to make me feel foolish, right?”
    “Gotta get back at you somehow for beating me so often in chess, don’t I?”
    Riding ahead of the caravan through a snow-dusted meadow on the last day, 1 caught up with Roarke. “The night we met you said you knew stories of my father.”
    Roarke’s lean body swayed with the motion of his horse’s walk. “1 did, didn’t 1?”
    “How did my father die in Chaos?”
    “1 don’t know what happened to your father.” Roarke exhaled a plume of steam. “I heard he went on an expedition and never came back, but then again I