“I don’t quite follow that line of reasoning,” Councilman Kim said.
“Neither do I,” another councilman said. Gabriel couldn’t remember the man’s name, but he looked as confused as Gabriel felt.
“If the Barrier comes down, the Apollyons have agreed to abandon the past for the future beyond the year 2012.” Councilman Romanov looked between Council members Kim and Jones. “That leaves one less enemy to fight here in the past. And if we can locate Kumaradevi’s alternate reality and sever it, we may find an end to the war.”
“And we are to leave the future beyond 2012 to the Apollyons’ desires?” Councilwoman Jones asked, her voice breaking slightly with emotion.
“We cannot protect everyone,” Councilman Romanov said, his tone emphatic.
“Yes, but the Barrier is there to protect the future,” Councilman Kim countered.
“That is a myth for all we know.” Councilwoman Patel raised her voice. “In truth, we have no idea why the Great Barrier exists. In spite of the suggestion that it was created using both magics, it may actually be a natural phenomenon. Or a mistake. We simply do not understand enough to say with any certainly how the removal of the Barrier will affect the Primary Continuum.”
Gabriel gasped in disbelief at Councilwoman Patel’s statements. More frightening than her words were the looks on the faces of the other council members. Most of them seemed relieved that she had spoken aloud thoughts they had been harboring for years.
He had not realized how difficult his task in the room would be. He glanced back quickly at Nefferati and Akikane, impressed they still managed to refrain from interjecting. While Akikane seemed placidly concerned, Nefferati looked like she might explode from the attempt to contain her opinions.
“This is nonsense,” Councilwoman Jones exclaimed.
“This is reality.” Councilman Romanov pounded the table with his fist. “We have a responsibility to protect the people who elected us, and we cannot hope to lead them into a peaceful future if we are all killed fighting to stop something that may not only be inevitable but harmless in the long run.”
“I don’t see how the Apollyons’ ruling the future of the Continuum could be called harmless.” Councilman Kim seemed surprised at the suggestion.
“Again, we must face facts, and the fact is that even if the Apollyons make changes to the Continuum in the future, it will not affect us here in the past.” Councilman Romanov had grown tired of the argument. “Regardless, this is not the matter before us at the moment. First, we need to choose new leadership before we consider the actions the Council will take moving forward.”
“What about Teresa?” Gabriel had remained silent throughout the discussion in order to see how the various council members responded. He also feared what he might say in response to the ideas being presented. Now it seemed time to refocus the Council’s attention.
“Your petition is denied.” Councilman Romanov gave a perfunctory wave toward Gabriel, Akikane, and Nefferati. “Now, all of you please clear the room.”
“We haven’t voted on it.” Councilwoman Jones looked indignant.
“Fine. All those in favor of mounting a rescue mission for the girl, raise your hands.” Councilman Romanov looked back and forth down the table as Councilwoman Jones’s hand shot into the air. It hung there alone until Councilman Kim’s palm tentatively joined it.
“Two in favor. Those against?” Councilman Romanov stared at Gabriel as he raised his hand along with the seven other remaining council members. “Petition denied.”
“Then I will rescue her myself.” Gabriel let his voice deepen even as he struggled to keep his internal inferno of anger under control.
“You will do no such thing.” Councilman Romanov glared at Gabriel, his voice brimming with indignance. “You are under the authority of this council and you will do as instructed. Now leave this chamber.”
“I will leave, but I will not abandon Teresa.” Gabriel fought back the urge to step closer to the table and the council members. He wasn’t sure what he might do if he got too close to Councilman Romanov.
“I know it is hard to understand and accept.” Councilwoman Patel’s voice filled with something that might have sounded like compassion coming from anyone else. “There is little possibility the girl has not told Kumaradevi and the Apollyons everything she knows. And there is even less of a chance that she is still alive. You must let her go.”
“Kumaradevi would never kill Teresa when she could use her as a hostage against me.” Gabriel knew this to be his only hope that Teresa still lived.
“Then you would be a fool to play into her plans with a rescue attempt,” Councilwoman Patel said.
“And we would be fools to risk dozens of lives to save one girl,” Councilman Romanov added. “And we would be doubly foolish to allow you to risk your life in such an endeavor.”
“It is my life to risk,” Gabriel said.
“All of our lives are in service of the greater good,” Councilman Romanov said. “Yours more than most. What little prospect there is of surviving the coming years may very well rest with you. In my opinion, you have been allowed far too much freedom to place yourself in harm’s way. The first thing I will be suggesting to the Council upon your departure from this chamber will be assigning you a new mentor to apprentice under. Someone who will not allow you to carelessly put yourself and others at risk.”
“I have a counter offer.” Gabriel allowed himself two steps forward but restrained himself from moving any closer toward the table. He didn’t think the firestorm building within him could tolerate any nearer proximity to Councilman Romanov and Councilwoman Patel.
“You have no status to make any offers of any kind. Your petition has been considered and rejected. Now leave this room immediately, or I will have you removed.” Councilman Romanov nearly leapt up from his chair.
“Attempting that would be unwise.” Gabriel clenched his fists, ignoring the desire to claim the imprints available to him.
He sensed what Councilman Romanov attempted even as the man claimed the imprints of the prayer beads wrapped around his wrist. Gabriel felt space-time beginning to twist around himself and Akikane and Nefferati. Romanov intended to teleport them from the Council Hall and into the street.
Gabriel did not reach for the imprints of his own talisman, opting instead for those held by Councilman Romanov. Focusing his mind as he had practiced so many times, he reached out with his will and magic-sense to wrest the imprints of the prayer beads from Councilman Romanov’s control. Space-time around himself and his mentors collapsed to normality.
“What!” Councilman Romanov jumped to his feet, pointing at Gabriel in barely controlled rage. “What have you done? How dare you!”
Gabriel felt Councilwoman Patel reaching for the imprints of the necklace at her chest and took control of them from her before she had time to notice. She looked surprised that whatever Time Magic she intended did not work.
“How?” Councilwoman Patel began to say something that the fear in her voice strangled.
“I am not going to harm anyone.” Gabriel raised his hands in a gesture of peace. Several of the council members did not believe him and claimed hold of the imprints of their talismans. As the council members rarely took part in field missions and hardly ever encountered battle conditions, it did not take Gabriel long to forcibly relieve them of their imprints. In a matter of seconds, he held the imprints of eight talismans. Councilman Kim and Councilwoman Jones had refrained from trying to hold any imprints.
Gabriel stared at the council members in silence for a moment. Councilman Romanov seethed with anger but appeared speechless in the face of Gabriel’s display of magical ability.
“Here is my counter offer.” Gabriel lowered his hands. “I suggest you listen closely.”
“You are in deeper trouble than you can imagine.” Councilman Romanov found his voice. “You have attacked the Council. This is treason.”
“I was merely defending myself. H
ad I attacked you, we would not be speaking now.” Gabriel allowed himself a momentary smile at that last statement, then quickly stifled it. “Here is what I propose. I will go to Kumaradevi’s world and rescue Teresa. When I leave that world, I will sever it from the Primary Continuum. Hopefully with Kumaradevi in it. Upon my return, I will ask to be made Head of Council.”
A stunned silence filled the room until Councilman Romanov laughed out loud. “I understand you are young and under the influence of those with no respect for the law, but you must realize how ridiculous that all sounds. You assume you will find Kumaradevi’s world, that you can rescue this girl, Teresa, and that you can escape. But, more than this, you assume you could be Head of Council, even if we all voted for you. You are not of age to vote, much less hold a seat on this council. You are proposing to become a tyrant. We are a democracy. If you wish to rule this Council, you will need to wait until you are of age, get elected by the people, and voted into that position by the Council majority.”
Gabriel listened to his breathing in the silence after Councilman Romanov’s words. They had been the only things that he had so far agreed about with the man. He needed to be careful with what he said next. It would be important not only to him, but to all those who decided what to do about those words and his subsequent actions.
“I will not be a tyrant.” Gabriel released the imprints he held. He did not need them. He doubted the council members would try again to use magic against him. As a caution against possibly being wrong, his pocket watch and several concatenate crystals sat in his pants pocket. “I will not try to force my will upon this council any more than I will try to force my will upon the people it represents. However, I will not yield to your shortsightedness, cowardice, and poor judgment. I will do as I have said. And when I have dealt with Kumaradevi, I will stop the Apollyons. All I ask is that you do not try to stop those who wish to join me.”
Councilman Romanov looked to his fellow council members on both sides before speaking. “Let me be clear. Any threat to the authority of this Council will be dealt with severely.”
“And let me be clear.” Gabriel starred at Councilman Romanov and grasped hold of the subtle energy and imprints within himself. He did not need much magical energy for what he wished to do.
“Any attempt to stop me will be dealt with severely.”
From the reactions of the council members, Gabriel knew he had managed the Soul Magic necessary to place his words in their minds. Aloud, he said something different.
“I am unlike anyone in this room. I am unlike any of our enemies. Ever since I was revealed as the Seventh True Mage, this Council has thought of me as a weapon. All I am asking of you is that you stand aside while this weapon destroys those who threaten us all. What I beg of you is that you do not make the mistake of turning this weapon against yourselves.”
“You cannot threaten the Council without consequences.” Councilwoman Patel’s voice was not as loud as she probably hoped it sounded.
“I will make you an additional offer.” Gabriel had not previously considered what he said next, and therefore spoke slowly. “If I accomplish all I have stated, and I am not dead as a result, I will submit myself to the Council’s judgment and accept wherever consequences it deems just, provided no one who follows me is prosecuted.”
“You threaten us and dictate terms of some future surrender?” Councilman Romanov shook his head in disbelief. “Does it not occur to you that those who follow you may not live to be held accountable by this council?”
“I am very aware of that possibility.” That thought had hounded Gabriel for years. “I am also aware that they may all die, purely by allowing your incompetence to continue.”
“I will not…” Councilman Romanov’s thought got shouted down by Councilwoman Jones.
“How will you find Kumaradevi’s world?”
“Vicaquirao knows how to find it.” Gabriel had made sure to rescue the enchanted chalkboard from Fort Aurelius before he had destroyed the compound in a wave of Earth Magic.
“The same man who you led you into a trap that cost a dozen lives?” Councilwoman Patel laughed in derision. “You are a fool, boy.”
“Possibly.” Gabriel stepped forward again, noticing how many of the council members unconsciously leaned back in their chairs. “I may be a fool, and I may die with the things I propose to do, but I will not be fool enough to hide while the world is threatened and I can do something about it.”
Gabriel did not wait for more words or arguments or discussions. He spun on his heel and walked from the room. Akikane and Nefferati fell in behind him. No one made any effort to stop them or use magic to impede their departure. When the doors of the Council Hall had closed behind them and they were halfway across the main square of Fort Madison, Gabriel let out the breath he had been holding since turning away from the council table.
“That went better than I expected.” Nefferati patted Gabriel on the shoulder. “You were right about how to approach it.”
“Yes, yes.” Akikane’s smile returned. “Very good political theater. Especially when you snatched their imprints.”
“Threatening them in their own minds might have been a step too far,” Nefferati said.
“Nonsense, nonsense,” Akikane replied. “A counter threat is hardly a threat.”
“It wasn’t a threat.” Gabriel glanced between the two True Mages at his side. “It was…an assurance.”
Nefferati laughed and slapped him on the back again. “I may enjoy taking orders from you after all.”
As they reached the far side of the square, Ohin and the rest of the team stood up from the benches where they had been waiting.
“How did it go?” Ohin looked straight at Gabriel, his face filled with concern.
“As expected.” The anger that had propelled Gabriel evaporated, replaced by a growing weight piling upon his shoulders.
“What happens now?” Rajan asked, looking between Gabriel, Akikane, and Nefferati.
“Now I rescue Teresa.” Gabriel tried to fill his voice with confidence, barely managing to convince himself that it didn’t sound suicidal.
“Not alone, you’re not.” Ling spat into the dirt of the square. “We’re a team, and she’s ours as much as yours.”
Gabriel began to say something, but Marcus raised his hand. “Don’t even think of going alone, lad.”
“We’d never let you go unaided, and you know it.” Sema crossed her arms and nodded her head for emphasis.
The indefinable weight pressing down upon Gabriel began to lift as he looked into the faces of his teammates. He could not express how much it meant that that they would follow him. He knew they each cared for Teresa, that they would do anything to save her, but knowing they supported not just his rescue attempt but his confrontation with the Council hearted him.
“At least I won’t have too many decisions to make now that I’ve decided to lead.” Gabriel enjoyed the laughter that followed his words.
“What’s first?” Ohin asked.
“First we need to talk with Vicaquirao.”
Chapter 20
Leather boots splashed through mud and slid across rain-slicked moss. A continuous curtain of droplets cascaded through layers of conifer needles to soak the forest floor. The smell of wet pine and rain-drenched earth filled the air.
Gabriel might have enjoyed the scenery of the mountainside he and his companions clambered through were it not for the wetness that saturated his rain poncho and seemed to be working its way past the barrier of his flesh and into his bones. As he sidestepped a low branch, swinging with Vicaquirao’s passage, his feet give way beneath him. The mud of the forest floor offered no resistance to the tread of his boots as he began to slide down the mountain.
He instinctively reached out for something to arrest his descent only to find Ling’s long arm, her hand firmly clasping his own.
“Careful.” Ling pulled him back to the thin path through the dense pine forest. “You’re no good to
Teresa in a heap at the bottom of the mountain.”
“Thanks.” Gabriel wiped the water from his face with a muddy hand.
“We’re almost there,” Vicaquirao called over his shoulder. “Not far.”
“I don’t see why we couldn’t have come on a day when it wasn’t raining.” Rajan groused from behind Ling.
“Because I’ve been here on all the sunny days.” Vicaquirao smiled. “Unless you’d like to meet two of me today.”
“Hmff.” Ling said. Her thoughts on the subject remained unclarified.
Ohin, Sema, and Marcus trudged along silently behind Rajan, Akikane bringing up the rear. There had been a great deal of discussion as to how to mount a rescue mission and who would comprise the team. They had considered recruiting mages from other teams to complement their forces, but Gabriel had been swayed by Ohin’s argument that a smaller team might be less likely to attract notice.
Gabriel had tried to convince Nefferati to join them as well. He preferred to have as many True Mages as possible on the mission. However, she wisely pointed out that if the mission failed, a True Mage would be greatly needed by the other Grace Mages. In confidence, she also admitted that she did not trust herself to be near Kumaradevi. The goal of the mission was to rescue Teresa, not to seek revenge upon the woman who had held Nefferati in agonizing captivity for years. Instead, she remained behind to rally support for Gabriel among the Grace Mages of the eleven remaining forts. He had also agreed with her assessment that the mission needed a narrow time limit. The risk posed by the alliance between Kumaradevi and the Apollyons demanded rapid and conclusive action. Additionally, Gabriel entrusted the Sword of Unmaking to her care in his absence. The blade would only draw attention to him in Kumaradevi’s palace.
After an exchange of messages via the enchanted chalkboard, Vicaquirao had met Gabriel, Nefferati, Akikane, and the Chimera team in the ruins of a Spanish monastery in 1876. There, Gabriel had reminded him of the debt still owed from the joint mission to attack the Apollyons in the Battle of Lepanto. Surprisingly, Vicaquirao had agreed to the plan, even though it revealed all of his patiently-acquired information about Kumaradevi’s world. He did not merely know of a relic which existed in both the Primary Continuum and Kumaradevi’s alternate world that could be used for transit between them. He had also discovered the moment in history where she had created her dark reality.
The Wizard of Time Trilogy (A Fantasy Time Travel Series) Page 78
