Wizard's Blood [Part One]

by Bob Blink

  “How long ago was this?” Jolan asked, trying to put the information together with some of the archeological information he could recall.

  “Many thousands of years ago; we simply don’t know for certain.”

  “What happened that knowledge of the Nexus and its function were lost?”

  “The Dragons were persuaded to remove the cuprum from Gaea. Only their magic would have been capable of such a feat. The records hint that they were reluctant, but eventually gave in. The task was immense, and taxed even their abilities, but they managed it somehow. It remains a mystery how, as does the whereabouts of the cuprum. Some think it was transferred through the Nexus, but we simply do not know. There were unexpected side effects, however.”

  “On the Nexus itself,” Jolan guessed.

  Chancellor Vaen nodded. “The loss of the cuprum shifted the complex magnetic and power fields within the core of the planet. That caused the linkage between the nodes on Gaea and Earth to shift. Since the Nexus core was firmly grounded on Gaea, the nodes on Earth rotated. The records imply the strength of the node was severely weakened as well, making it more difficult to make the transition. A few that made the attempt could only find one of the two nodes, and that one was in an uninhabited, fiercely cold region of the planet. Because of this, the Nexus ceased to be used, and gradually was forgotten.”

  “But Utar thought it was worth the risk?”

  “He felt with so long a passage of time, things on Earth had to have changed, just as things on Gaea had progressed. We are still recovering from the Mage Wars, but he hoped that advancements on Earth would have progressed undeterred by such a war, and that the humans on Earth would have spread across the planet until they now populated the area around the new Nexus node. He was too impatient. He should have learned more before making the attempt. From what you have told us he obviously lived, but was unable to return.”

  Something had been bothering Jolan. “You said there were two nodes. Where is the second node on Gaea?”

  “We do not know. It should be on the opposite side of the planet, but no one has been able to go beyond the great ocean since the time of the Mage Wars. We do not know what, if anything, exists far over the horizon.”

  “This is a lot to take in so suddenly,” Jolan admitted. “How does this relate to what you wanted to tell me?”

  “You are most definitely a descendant of Utar. The testing says you will not develop to his level, but it is likely you have inherited some of his traits, that could well make you one of the most unique mages in many generations. You also have a background knowledge that far exceeds that of what can be found on Gaea. It is unclear what that might mean to your use of magic. I suspect if we can free you from the effects of Cheurt’s penetration of your mind, wondrous things might result. You have already shown one such wonder in your surprising box. I understand no one has been able to discover how this is done?”

  “It continues to frustrate Mage Lonid in particular,” Jolan replied, not without some small satisfaction. He really wasn’t fond of the caustic little man.

  “I suspected as much. I doubt we will penetrate the matter, but I wonder how you are able to manage it yourself.”

  “Tell me, is there any evidence of genetic knowledge among mages?”

  “I don’t recognize the term,” she responded.

  “On Earth, some animals can transfer knowledge to offspring at birth, without having to teach them. I wonder now that I know more of my ancestor, if there is any chance that I have knowledge that is somehow inherited. Perhaps the Mage’s Box is something he was able to create, and the ability is instinctive in me.”

  “That would certainly help explain some aspects of your unusual range of talents, but it is something that seems unlikely. I have never heard of such a thing, yet I suspect no one has thought to even look for such links. If it were true, there is even the chance you have some knowledge of the trigger for the Nexus buried within your mind, although even Utar didn’t understand it properly.”

  “Are you suggesting I might have the secret to returning home buried in my mind?”

  “Perhaps. Utar’s knowledge would support a one way trip however. Even Utar was unable to return. You might have something better. From all you have said I believe you extracted as much or more from Cheurt than he took from you. We will have some idea when we are able to perform the scans in another week or so. That might mean you have all his knowledge of magic hidden within your brain, which might be able to be accessed if approached properly. It would entail some risk, but from what you say he clearly knows how to use the Nexus. It might be the only way you will ever gain the knowledge you seek.”

  Jolan sat back. All along he had been hoping they might be able to rid him of the “weight” he felt in the back of his mind. Now to learn it might be best to leave it in place and see if he could learn to access it was something he’d have to think carefully about.

  “You and Asari are still intending to learn enough to try and kill the wizard Cheurt, aren’t you? That is really your goal in seeking the knowledge of the university?”

  “It is not the only goal, but clearly it is one reason I am here. It is something that must be done. I owe him as does Asari.”

  “Revenge? That is contrary to the beliefs on which this institution was formed.”

  “Perhaps, but sometimes it is necessary. The same political correctness is common back on my world. Rather than address a problem directly, and try to find an expedient solution with the minimum impact, a code of ethics gets muddled up into the issue. There have been many instances where a very real threat could have been basically put to rest by the selective removal of one or several individuals. Since that is not considered acceptable behavior, countries have instead gone to war, destroying thousands of innocent lives and ruining the economies of nations trying to accomplish the same basic goal. Cheurt is a bastard, and a threat to at least your world and maybe mine. If we can find a way, we will kill him.”

  Mage Vaen sighed. “I have lived a very long time. I have seen the goals and ideals of the College become almost sacred in that time rather than guidelines to help choose a reasonable path for our learning and abilities. It is a noble goal to restrict the use of the power, to try and keep it pure. Yet I can see a whole world perhaps being threatened and wonder if too much can be sacrificed to pursue a wholly idealistic end. Perhaps you and your friend have a practical approach we need to consider more carefully.”

  Chapter 43

  Cheurt looked at the small piece of formed metal lying on his desktop and his anger grew in waves.

  “Curse the Dragons!” he snarled, kicking one of the ornately carved chairs nearby so hard it flew into the stone wall of his chambers smashing a leg so badly it would have to be discarded. No matter. Another could be made easily enough. Perhaps he’d have the craftsman who built such a flimsy piece of furniture beheaded. The thought pleased him.

  “Your Lordship said to bring any oddities I found on my travels to his attention. The coin does not look it, but I’m told it is almost entirely made of cuprum. Can you imagine it? A coin made from cuprum. Who would create such a thing? Then there are the symbols. I have never seen their like.”

  He’d recognized the small coin immediately of course. He knew it was a quarter from Earth. Worth almost nothing there, and almost priceless here. But it wasn’t the value that mattered. The question that mattered was much more important. How had it come to be here?

  His courier had come across it almost by chance. Like every other wizard they sought whatever copper they could find, and he had come across this piece from a vendor in Seret. Curious about the unrecognized coin and wondering who could afford to make coins out of something so precious as copper, he’d been wise enough to ask the vendor a bit about where he’d come across it. The vendor had traded for it in Carta, the inland capital of Seret from two men he’d never seen before. They’d made a deal for two such coins. The other he’d already had reduced to pure copper and tr
aded away, but he’d kept the one hoping it might have even more value to a collector of oddities, but after weeks where no interest was shown, he’d decided to sell it. He knew nothing more. The vendor had made the trade for the coins a bit over two months ago. The men could be anywhere by now, and with no leads would be impossible to find.

  There’d been a few other tidbits that now might make a bit of sense, however. Almost four months ago there had been a disturbance in the tiny village of Trailways. Someone had used the power to damage the inn and help the local constable apprehend a troublemaker. Mages didn’t typically use the power in such a manner, and none of the wizards from Ale’ald would have wasted their time on something that wasn’t any of their business.

  Then a month after the coin was supposedly traded, a story had circulated about the capture of a kidnapper named Falk, and some tales about a lad who’d used some form of magical weapon that could take down a man with power shields. The man he’d rescued had shown some magic talent according to the word that was circulating on the streets.

  He didn’t like the implications. There was only one way the coin could have come here. He was the only wizard from Ale’ald who’d crossed over to Earth through the Nexus, and he’d never brought back any coins. That meant someone else had made the transition. That someone also had to have the ability to access the power. Was there any chance some other wizard in Gaea had located the node and was using it? There was a time the Nexus would have been used to transport even those without any ability with the power, but that time was long ago. The spells that allowed it to do so were lost, and the power of the device so reduced from its days of glory that only a mage of great power could make the transition, and then barely.

  Immediately his last transition came to mind, and the oddities he’d observed. At the time he’d wondered, and asked his men if they’d seen anything unusual. He’d ask again and the Dragon’s protect any of them he suspected of lying to him. Then there was that odd feeling in the back of his mind. It had gone away, but he now knew it’d been a mistake to ignore it.

  He already suspected the answer. Somehow he’d brought someone back with him. He was also certain who the someone had to be. It must be the earther Randy. He’d never been entirely comfortable with the man, and now he suspected he knew why. Of course the man had his residence next to the Nexus node. That should have warned him to be careful. Then, when he’d paired his mind, there had been difficulties. Cheurt had thought the difficulties had been because of the lack of real magic on Earth, as well as his weakened condition. The pairing had happened early, before he had much experience with his power limitations on Earth, so he hadn’t known what to expect. Other pairings he’d done later had gone more smoothly.

  Randy had resisted him, and Dragons forbid, had perhaps extracted from him during the pairing. He hadn’t been concerned about it at the time, knowing the people of Earth were without the ability. He’d also been careful not to damage the man because he wanted to use him to become familiar with the new land in which he found himself. That had been stupid as well. Was the man on Earth for reasons similar to his own, or was he somehow a descendant of someone else who’d come there and had the ability?

  When he had returned to Earth with Ryltas a few weeks back he had not been able to find Randy. Since it was summer there, he had assumed at the time the man was off on one of the vacations common to the people there. Randy had mentioned to him at one point he planned to fly across that huge ocean to one of the other countries. A place called Australia if he remembered correctly. He’d tried to ask the woman Sharon, but the clumsy efforts by Ryltas when he took control of her had caused damage to her mind. She could remember seeing Randy at some point around the time he’d last left Earth, but could provide no specifics.

  It didn’t matter. Cheurt was convinced Randy was now on Gaea, and thereby posed a great risk. If he didn’t already, he would at some point know all that he had extracted from Cheurt in the pairing. That made him a grave risk to the plan, and Cheurt personally. He must be killed, and the sooner the better. That Randy knew the local language and was able to function here was Cheurt’s fault. He had impressed the local language into his mind, never considering it remotely possible he would ever transition to Gaea.

  He knew he’d have to send out more of his people, with the task of locating the man, as well as this boy who was with him. There was no telling how much the boy knew now. Then he would have to travel all the way there to see what damage had been done, and remove the pair once and for all. But who to send? Three of his most trusted wizards were on their way to the Nexus even now, with instructions to meet Ryltas when he made his first transition back from Earth to report progress. That meant he only had the mole Phit, who he could not allow to learn of the possibility that someone from Earth had crossed over through the Nexus, and the politically useful but magically inferior Kalnd. It would have to be Kalnd he decided. He would send Kalnd and the man who had brought him the coin. He was already involved and two people must be sent. What if they got there and found them. Someone would have to stay and track them, while the other returned with what had been learned.

  How to go? If he were back on Earth, reaching anywhere in the land would be a matter of days at most. He would have even been able to call an accomplice via telephone. Here on Gaea, someone would have to make the painstakingly slow trip there and back. Going the northern route by ship would be prohibitively expensive for the charter, and probably suicidal this time of year. Going the southern route was far longer, and probably almost as dangerous. They would have to go overland by horseback. It would take more than a month each way; maybe double that given the time of year and problems with the weather.

  He’d have to make sure Kalnd talked with that idiot he’d helped get chosen for the Parliament in Seret. The fool probably knew something and hadn’t bothered to forward it to him. Again, it was partially his fault. He had a good network in Kimlelm, which was their first target, and again in Angon, which had the only force skilled in magic capable of resisting him. Seret had just not seemed all that important for now.

  “Go and find Kalnd and return here immediately,” he ordered the courier. “Be prepared for an immediate departure. I’ll have specific instructions for the two of you when you return. Now go!”

  His anger slowly falling back under his control, he reached down and grabbed the offensive coin. Walking over to the row of scrolls, he reached behind one row and unlatched a section of the wall. Inside was his security vault, warded and protected by special shields he had devised. He felt there must be a better way than the brute force means of protecting things, but he’d never discovered any. He slipped the small piece of clad cuprum inside and closed the vault securely. As he was pushing the section of scrolls back into place he had an idea that he needed to look into immediately, causing him to hurry out the door.

  Chapter 44

  “What do you think of this place?” Asari asked as they examined the cozy one room apartment that was the fourth or fifth they’d checked out since they started the search earlier the same morning. This inn was located just a couple of blocks from the north entrance to the Inner Court, and was brushing the edges of the upscale neighborhoods that made up most of that part of town. “It’s a bit steep for us.”

  It was, but it was less than they had been paying at the Cobalo Gardens, which had been a bit nicer and had the second sleeping room that wouldn’t be needed now. Prices in Cobalo, especially anywhere in the downtown area, weren’t going to get much lower. They’d already seen that in the places they’d looked at today. Two-thirds of a silver a day would count up, but then they’d been given a great deal of coin against just such circumstances.

  “I like it,” Jolan responded. “It’s close to the Tankard and the Spilled Drop, and much closer to where I’ll be staying in the dormitory than anyplace else we’ve seen.

  “Maybe I should get one of the smaller rooms?”

  The inn had rooms that were much like studio ap
artments, but Asari would be staying here for a long time, through the winter at least Jolan figured. Being crowded would make being alone that much worse. He voiced his concerns

  “There is no point getting a place that is so small and undesirable you hate to be in it. I had a friend back on Earth once who did just that to save money. He spent far more than he saved just trying to find things to do that would get him out of the oppressive place. No, I like this one. It will be more comfortable, it has a great view, and everything you need is really close. Let’s do it.”

  By agreeing to a full month’s payment in advance, they were able to negotiate a slight decrease in the cost, and soon the two friends were headed back to the north entrance to the Inner Court. There they arranged to borrow one of the special carriages for use inside the compound so they could more easily fetch Asari’s belongings. Riding past the campus as they headed south, Jolan wondered how things would go once he actually became one of the students. He had been a student of one sort or another most of his life, but never before had he had cause to doubt his abilities or wonder if he could measure up to the task ahead.

  Once they had loaded everything, they returned to the north gate, turned in the carriage, and then hired one of the city carriages to take them back to the inn where Asari was now a resident. Once there, Asari indicated he would unpack later, since he planned on staying the night. He could see no purpose in another night in the Cottages. He couldn’t help Jolan move in the morning since he wasn’t permitted in the dormitory, and said he might as well get used to being on his own again.

  They returned to the Tankard where the food was good, the drinks excellent, and where there was a certain redheaded server that Jolan was willing to bet money Asari would be attempting to entice under the sheets before the week was out. Much later, a somewhat melancholy Jolan returned alone to the Cottages for his last night there.