Free Hyllis Family Story 1: Telekinetic by Laurence E Dahners Page B

Benson’s to pick up the tavern’s food order, he found the stock boy and one of his friends out back throwing their knives at an “X” they’d marked on the wall. Tarc stared, realizing with excitement that a relatively small knife, accurately thrown, represented a much more dangerous weapon than a pebble. He wouldn’t need to throw a heavy rock accurately if he could put a knife on target instead.
    He sat watching the stock boy ’s friend throw his knife while Jeff went in to get the Hyllis’ order. Usually Tarc helped Jeff collect their order, but he’d never thrown a knife and wanted to learn more about it. He stepped over close behind the boy and started trying to guide the knife when the kid threw it. After all he didn’t have to throw the knife himself to practice guiding it. The boy was throwing it so it flipped over one complete rotation on the way to the wall.
    About half the time it failed to stick because it rotated either too far or not far enough by the time it hit. Tarc was surprised to realize that although he had a hard time seeing whether the rotation was too much or too little, he could easily feel it with his ghost hand. He could also readily correct it when the kid threw the blade a little too much to the right or left. “Why do you throw it so that it flips over and over?” Tarc asked. “A lot of your misses are because the knife has rotated too much or too little.”
    The kid looked disdainfully back over his shoulder at Tarc. “ Everybody does it this way.”
    Tarc frowned, “That’s just not true. Sergeant Garcia, down at the armory, doesn’t. He throws with a ‘no-spin’ technique. You should at least try it.”
    “ That’s stupid,” the kid said.
    Tarc said, “Can I try couple of throws?” He pulled out his own knife.
    The kid stepped to one side, holding out a hand to invite Tarc up to the line. Tarc stepped up to the line, putting the handle of his knife in the base of his palm with his fingers paralleling the shank. It felt a little clumsy and he thought he should ask Sergeant Garcia exactly how he held his knives. Tarc took a throw that way anyway.
    Despite his attempt to throw it without spin, the knife was rotating some anyway. Tarc used his ghost to stop the rotation and guided the blade back on target.
    He blinked when he saw that the knife stood quivering exactly in the center of the X.
    “Hey! That worked pretty good!” the kid said with an awed tone.
    Tarc tried another throw, guiding it so that it also hit precisely in the center of the X. Then, realizing that he had overdone it, he brought a couple in close, though not right on the target.
    The kid said, “ Wow, let me try a no-spin throw.”
    Tarc stepped aside and the kid stepped up.
    He showed Tarc the way he was gripping the knife and said, “Is this how you do it?”
    Tarc shrugged, “Looks good to me, but you really should ask the sergeant. He’s the expert.”
    The kid lifted an eyebrow, “ You’re pretty damn good.”
    “I just got lucky those first two.”
    The kid took a throw. The knife was rotating despite the kid ’s attempt to throw it without spin. Tarc resisted the impulse to stop its spin and it clattered off the wood. “Shit!” the kid said, stepping over to pick up his knife.
    “You can’t expect to get it on the first throw,” Tarc said. “Don’t snap your wrist like that and it won’t turn.”
    The kid took a couple more throws and on the third one managed to throw it so that it stuck. Tarc could tell it was a good throw so he guided enough that it hit pretty close to the X.
    F inished stacking things on Tarc’s wagon, Jeff had just stepped up. “What the hell kind of throw is that?” he asked.
    Jerking a thumb at Tarc, the kid said, “This guy’s teaching me to throw with the ‘no-spin’ technique.” He threw again. Tarc could feel that the knife was going to rotate too much, but this time he straightened it for the kid and also guided it right to the X. As it stood