Grail Stephen R. Lawhead

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collapsed once more and lay groaning gently to himself. I knew how he felt; both head and heart were
pounding, my breath came in ragged gasps, my hands were raw, and my side ached where the beam had
caught me as it tore from my grasp.
'Rest easy,' I told them, gulping air. 'It is over. We are safe now. All is well.'
Brave words, as it turned out.
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TWELVE
Power as I possess is not, as many believe, given in exchange for a soul. To hear the ignorant speak,
one would think it merely a simple bargain, an exchange of vows, perhaps, and the power one seeks
simply flows from the fingertips for the asking. But no, it is not so easy as that! The truly great gifts are
not gifts at all, but treasures obtained after long and difficult searching, prizes won only through
hard-fought victories over relentless, near-invincible adversaries.
True power of the kind I possess is achieved only through the most rigorous and exhausting means, and
few mortals have even the slightest notion of the enormous discipline that must be brought to bear at
every step of the journey. For it is a journey - proceeding from strength to strength, adding skill to skill,
eminence to eminence, following the long and arduous path to complete mastery.
The first eminence is the mastery of silence, in which the adept must forsake all communication with
others. No external thought or word must be allowed to intrude or distract; no other voice can be heeded
or heard. The adept must abandon all contact with other minds. This leads to the second eminence,
wherein the adept gains the ability to project thoughts and images into other beings, and wherein
emotional atmospheres are generated and manipulated. With mastery also comes control over animal life
and the ability to command animals to one's bidding.
The third eminence allows the adept to project one's image over distance at will - to be in two places,
three places at once, and in different forms. In the forth eminence, the adept acquires profound
knowledge of plant and vegetable essences, the deep and intimate awareness of the nature and use of
plant life in extracts and elixirs.
Gaining the fifth eminence grants mastery over the movements of air and water, and the command of fire.
Weather can be manipulated and controlled in localized regions. The sixth eminence leads on to the
ability to pass into etheric form, to dissolve one's physical presence -disappearing in one place and
reappearing in another, whole and complete.
In the mastery of the seventh, and last, eminence, the adept achieves the ability to prolong physical life
indefinitely. The adept acquires the ability to halt the normal human aging process, and even reverse it
when necessary. Without this, all that came before would be too soon rendered useless.
The ignorant speak of hidden arts, but they are not hidden. Indeed, there is nothing secret about them at
all; they are freely open and available to any who would pursue them. Ah, but the price! The price is
nothing less than the devotion of an entire life. So perhaps the simpleminded are right, after all, in thinking
of the acquisition of power as a pact in which the soul is bartered. There is no other way.
Leaving the others to restore themselves, I walked back over the hill to fetch the horses and, with some
difficulty, brought them within the confines of the ruined caer. The horses shied from entering the place,
and it took all my coaxing just to get them to pass through the gate. Once inside, they twitched and
shivered as if they were cold, and stamped the ground anxiously. Nevertheless, I tethered them nearby
and, retrieving the two waterskins from behind the saddles, hastened back to the ruined wall.
Kneeling beside Llenlleawg, I wet the edge of my cloak and dabbed it to his lips. He did not stir.
'Is he dead?' asked Peredur; he gathered his legs beneath him and came to stand over me.
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