“What if it’s a choice between me and all those mages who came here believing you will end this war?” Teresa raised her chin defiantly.
Gabriel had no answer. He offered a question instead. “What if you had to choose between saving me and the rest of the world?”
“Which of us is more likely to face that choice?” Teresa raised their clasped hands between them, kissing Gabriel’s knuckles. “It’s not forever. But it has to be for now.”
“You’re only breaking up with me until after I save the world?”
“Until we save the world.”
“And what if I die tying?”
“Then at least it won’t be because of me.”
Teresa kissed Gabriel’s hands once more, then released them and walked to the table where the rest of the team had assembled after dinner.
Gabriel took a moment to compose himself, to set aside Teresa’s decision and to push down the passions it had birthed — the anger, the insecurity, the fear, the confusion. He put them in a box and closed the lid and shoveled dirt over it, rolling a rock overtop for good measure. It would not hold back the emotions for long, but it would give him time to think straight while considering how to proceed in this new front of the seemingly endless War of Time and Magic.
He took a few deep breaths to clear his head and walked over to stand at the head of the table. Nefferati and Akikane sat on either side of him with Ohin opposite at the other end of the table. Rajan and Ling sat to his left and Teresa, Sema and Marcus to his right. Among all those who had volunteered to follow him, these were the only ones he had requested to give him advice. They were the only ones he truly trusted. He wondered for a moment if that might be a mistake. Not trusting them, but limiting his circle of confidants to them alone rather than extending it to some of the very experienced mages who now comprised his small army. It might be, but it would be a mistake he’d live with.
“So.” Gabriel sat, trying to ensure that the air rapidly escaping his lips as he settled in the chair did not come out as a sigh. “Anyone have any brilliant ideas?”
No one spoke. Gabriel looked around the table at the faces of his friends. He placed his chin in his hands.
“Me neither.”
“Well, they know what we know now.” Marcus reached for the bottle of wine to fill his empty glass, but seemed to reconsider and pulled back his hand. “What would we do if we wanted to destroy The Great Barrier?”
“A good place to start.” Ohin stroked the days-old stubble on his chin. “They can only find the anchor points one by one. That will take time.”
“Two at a time.” Teresa’s voice sounded soft and distant. “If they start with the ones we know about, they can search forward and backward along the timeline.”
“They will need to find a relic to take them to each new anchor point they discover.” Nefferati focused on the flame of the oil lamp in the center of the table. “That will slow them down a little.”
“Yes, yes.” Akikane folded his hands on the table. “This may give us a few days.”
“We need to attack them now.” Ling dug the blade of her dinner knife into the wood of the table, unaware of her actions.
“With every passing day there will be more Apollyons at more Anchor points.” Rajan placed his fingertips on his temples. “If we stop one or two, they’ll only make more copies, and we’ll be right back where we started, like Sisyphus rolling the stone to the top of the mountain each day. We don’t have enough mages to attack them all.”
The silence returned to the table but did not last as long as previously.
“There may be a way.” Sema straightened in her chair slightly as she looked to Gabriel at the head of the table. “We could attack them the way Gabriel did at the castle. Attack the mind of one and use their psychic link to attack the others. Render them all unconscious at the same time.”
“I’ve tried it again and failed.” Gabriel’s lips curled into a frown. “They have adapted their psychic link somehow. I could put them to sleep one at a time, but not all at once.”
“Not you alone,” Sema said. “I’m thinking of a linked circle of True Mages and Soul Mages. There are six Soul Mages here at the fort besides myself. With you and Akikane and Nefferati, that would make a circle of ten.”
“Indeed, indeed,” Akikane said. “With enough imprints, we might be able to press beyond their defenses.”
“And do what with them?” Ling asked. “How long can you keep them unconscious?”
“Long enough for teams of Time Mages to locate and collect them.” Ohin said.
“And put them on a shelf?” Teresa said. “What can you do with a hundred and eight madmen?”
“Ship them off to Vicaquirao’s prison.” Gabriel said.
“Leaving Vicaquirao in charge of a handful is one thing, but this many copies of that man cannot be controlled,” Marcus said.
“It’s that or kill them all in their sleep,” Rajan said. “That doesn’t sound very appealing, either.”
“Vicaquirao’s prison.” Gabriel filled his voice with the tone of finality. “I’m not killing even the Apollyons while they sleep. Vicaquirao will keep them safe or sever his prison world.”
“You put a great deal of faith in that man.” Nefferati sounded skeptical.
“He doesn’t want all of the same things I do, but I trust him on the things we do have in common,” Gabriel said. “Saving the Great Barrier is one of them.”
“Then he and his two companions should be happy to join us in making the circle,” Nefferati said.
“Good idea, good idea,” Akikane said. “Three more True Mages will make the circle even stronger.”
“Three more Malignant Mages.” Sema’s voice sounded doubtful. “None of us have ever made a circle with a Malignancy Mage.”
“You’ve made a circle with me,” Gabriel said. “I’ll act as a bridge between the two forms of magic.”
“What do the rest of us do?” Teresa asked.
“We need to get one alone.” Gabriel looked at Teresa and then the rest of the team. “You’ll need to keep the other Apollyons distracted.”
“Oh good.” Teresa said. “I love being distracting.”
“Yes you do,” Rajan said.
“How many will we need to distract?” Ling asked.
“More than one and fewer than a one hundred and eight,” Gabriel said.
“Well, as long as we know what we face.” Marcus ignored a look from Sema and poured himself that glass of wine he had avoided earlier.
“This will require every mage in the fort,” Nefferati said. “I wish we could wait for more to arrive. I’m certain more will.”
“No, no,” Akikane said. “We must not wait too long. If they find enough anchor points, they may be able to damage the Barrier beyond repair.”
“We leave at dawn.” Gabriel raised his voice to signal the end of the conversation. “Everyone will need a good night’s sleep. In the morning, I will brief the mages and distribute the imbued artifacts. The concatenate crystals will go to the Soul Mages. They’ll need them most.”
Gabriel stood, leaning against the table to steady himself. This moment signaled the beginning of a new life for him. A life of making decisions. A life of giving orders. A life of leading others, people he loved, into danger and potential death. He could feel the sweat of his palms seeping into the dry wooden boards of the table.
“It’s a good plan. I’m confident it will work. And I’m confident in all of you. Rest well. Tomorrow determines our future.”
Another silence of quickly exchanged glances dissolved into a series of brief farewells for the evening. As much as Gabriel wanted to turn and walk into the night, seeking the solitude of his barracks quarters, he stayed until the others had left. He had watched Ohin and Nefferati and Akikane and Elizabeth leading in different situations over the past several years and he had learned that he needed to be both decisive and open to being swayed into changing his mind. He had also learned the imp
ortance of being the last one to leave the room. To guarantee that everyone felt their concerns had been heard, and to underscore the fact that he would also be the last to leave the battlefield. People could only follow a leader who remained present for them to do so.
Teresa lingered until she stood alone at the table with Gabriel, the warm glow of the oil lamp flickering in her eyes.
“We’re all behind you.”
“I don’t want you behind me, I want you beside me.” Gabriel struggled to resist the urge to reach out and hold her.
“Gabriel...” Teresa looked away into the darkness.
“You’re right. This is good motivation. Once this is over, once the Barrier is safe and the Apollyons are locked away in some alternate prison world, you’ll have to decide what you really feel and what you really want. I don’t need that motivation. I already know.”
Knowing it to be wrong, to be the last thing he should do, he turned and walked away from the light of the lamp, from Teresa, and into the cool summer night air. He didn’t look back. He kept walking until he had reached his quarters in the barracks, where he collapsed onto his bed, tossing for hours before finally falling into slumber. With his last conscious thought, he wondered how many of the mages he now led, including Teresa, would survive the following day.
Chapter 24
The high pitched warble of a tiny, yellow-breasted bird floated through the air, competing with the din of small arms fire, booming cannons, and the screams of dying men.
Gabriel crouched near the ground as he leaned against a linden tree. The bark bit into his back as he watched the final skirmish in the Siege of Namur in Southern Belgium in the late summer of 1695. The fort of Namur, held by the French, sat on a hillside across the valley from Gabriel’s current position, hidden in the nearby forest. Belgian and Danish troops fought against the fort from the low ground, as they had for months of the siege.
This battle marked the first anchor point that Elizabeth had discovered and the most likely place for the Apollyons to begin launching their search for the other anchor points spread throughout time. They assumed the Apollyons would hold themselves in a space-time bubble at the moment of the anchor point. The majority of the Apollyons would be elsewhere, seeking out anchor points or hunting relics to travel to them. Gabriel and his companions needed to find the place in time where the Apollyons were hiding and capture one of them before the others could react. The plan hinged on the hope that only a handful of Apollyons resided at this location.
Gabriel looked to his right, where Akikane sat next to Vicaquirao and Cyril, one of the two reformed Apollyons. These three men comprised his extraction team. To his left huddled two teams of Grace Mages. They would provide the distraction that would allow Gabriel and his fellow True Mages to capture one of the Apollyons. Other teams would be attacking any Apollyons at the anchor point in the Battle of Ceresole on April 11th, 1544. They would avoid any such diversion near the Battle of Shanghai Pass because of the overlapping timelines there already. The chances for paradox and bifurcations increased precipitously as more Time Mages visited each anchor point.
Gabriel watched the battle around the star-shaped fort.
He knew from his previous visit that the anchor point came into existence ten seconds after a cannon blast ripped the edge off one of the pointed battlements of the fort along the north-facing wall. They then had 37 seconds, the length of the anchor point’s presence, to find the time bubble.
The cannonball struck the wall of the fort where Gabriel had been watching, a small cloud of crushed stone billowing into the air. He extended his space-time sense and glanced at his pocket watch, noting the placement of the second hand.
He sensed the presence of the anchor point several hundred feet away, but no impression of a possible space-time bubble registered in his perception. He looked to see Akikane and Vicaquirao standing and turning slowly in place, like radar antenna seeking an incoming projectile. Cyril stood as well, but none of the three faced the same direction.
“Nothing, nothing.” Akikane frowned.
“They must be here.” Cyril closed his eyes in concentration.
“They have hidden themselves well.” Vicaquirao tilted his head to the side as though listening to a faint noise.
“Fifteen seconds.” Gabriel raised himself to his feet, glancing at the two teams of crouching mages, waiting for the order to attack.
“They’ve done something different.” Cyril smacked the side of a tree in frustration. “I should be able to sense their time bubble.”
“We may need to find another location and return to this moment again,” Vicaquirao said.
“Seven seconds.” Gabriel strained to perceive something, to no avail.
“Nonsense, nonsense.” Akikane drew his sword and closed his eyes, rotating where he stood, the blade tracing an intricate pattern in the air. The sword stopped, pointing to a clump of trees on a nearby hill.
“There.” Akikane opened his eyes.
“Now.” Gabriel gestured to the two teams of mages. They rose to their feet as Akikane warped space around all of them.
Blackness and whiteness mingled momentarily with a strange electric sensation — the effect of jumping directly into a space-time bubble. A moment later, Gabriel and his mages stood on the opposite hillside, a dozen or more pairs of identical eyes turning toward them in surprise.
The attack transpired swiftly, Akikane grabbing the nearest Apollyon in a vice of Wind Magic while Vicaquirao poured Soul Magic into the man’s mind to disable him. Cyril and Gabriel attacked the other Apollyons with arcs of lightning while the two teams of Grace Mages offered similar assaults.
Two seconds after their arrival, Gabriel warped space-time, transporting himself, Akikane, Vicaquirao, Cyril, and the captured Apollyon away, into the past. The other Grace Mages would stay a second longer and then retreat.
After seven rapid jumps through time to ensure no one followed them, Gabriel deposited the extraction team on a hillside overlooking a lake two million years before the rise of the first human ancestor. Nefferati, Sema, and a team of six Soul Mages awaited them in the tall grass. The second reformed Apollyon, Cassius, stood somewhat apart from the others, looking out of place. Ohin and the rest of the Chimera team waited in a group behind the mages. They looked determined but decidedly unhappy.
Gabriel had specifically ordered them to remain with the Soul Magic circle to provide protection. The mages engaged in the circle and assaulting the Apollyons’ minds through Soul Magic would be vulnerable to any attack. They could not defend themselves without breaking off the psychic assault on the Apollyons. Ling and the others had complained that anyone could fulfill guard duty and that the team’s talents would best be used attacking the Apollyons at anchor points to create a distraction. Gabriel had disagreed, explaining that he needed someone to watch his back. Someone he trusted without question. A successful attack on Gabriel and the others while in the circle could end not only their hopes of attacking the Apollyons but also the battle to save The Great Barrier and the war itself. There had been no arguments to that logic.
“Quickly, quickly.” Akikane lowered the unconscious Apollyon from his arms and down to the grass.
“Everyone in position.” Gabriel crossed his legs and sat down near the Apollyon’s head. He reached out to hold the unconscious man’s skull in his hands. As he had the most experience doing so, he would lead the assault on the Apollyons’ minds himself. Cyril and Vicaquirao sat on either side of him, placing their arms on his shoulders, doing the same with Nefferati and Akikane on each side of them. Akikane touched Sema and the circle continued back around to Nefferati and Cassius.
“Positions.” Gabriel nodded to Ohin, and the Chimera team formed a loose ring around the seated mages, facing outward toward any possible attack.
Gabriel closed his eyes, embracing the imprints of the pocket watch and the Sword of Unmaking. He waited a moment and then embraced the negative imprints within the three crystals Vicaq
uirao and Cyril had provided. The circle needed all the magical power it could mount from both magics.
Holding the imprints, feeling them balance each other in his mind, he let his will float free, reaching out with his magic-sense for the presence of the mages nearby. He sensed Vicaquirao and Cyril initially, linking their magical energies with his own before merging it with the magic held by Akikane and Nefferati and Cassius. He heard the others breathing deeply, no doubt trying to acclimate themselves to the sensation of an unaccustomed magic flowing through them. This was the first time these Grace or Malignant Mages had experienced opposing imprints directly. Gabriel closed the circle, including Sema and the other six Soul Mages within it.
“Just follow my lead.” Gabriel found speaking difficult with the magical sensations of everyone in the circle united with his own. “Focus on pouring your magical energy into the circle and into me. Don’t try to control anything. If we struggle over the power, the circle will break.”
Gabriel swallowed back the apprehension of the moment. He had held magical power mixed between Grace and Malignant magics before but never with others connected to it. He imagined himself as a warrior with twelve powerful horses hitched to his chariot.
“I’ll need to wake him up to establish the connection with the others. It will be too hard to do from his dreams.” Gabriel reached out with a blend of Soul and Heart-Tree magics and nudged the sleeping man back to consciousness. As the Apollyon’s eyes flashed open, Gabriel pushed his will into the man’s thoughts. The Dark Mage gasped in surprise at the power behind the invasion of his mind.
“What?” the Apollyon said.
The Apollyon’s eyes fluttered as Gabriel used Soul Magic to tame his thoughts, keeping him just above the level of unconsciousness, probing through the psychic connection linking the Dark Mage to his duplicate companions throughout time. Gabriel pushed a massive wave of somnambulant Soul Magic through that link, a spider web of minds woven together, each falling into the deepest slumber as his will touched and overwhelmed theirs. He sensed through that psychic link the panic and fury of the Apollyons he had not yet subdued. He pressed forward, pushing one Apollyon after the other into a coma-like sleep. He lost count of the number of men whose minds fell silent, but he judged by the decreasing sensations being fed back to him along the link that only a handful of them remained to find and pacify.
The Wizard of Time Trilogy (A Fantasy Time Travel Series) Page 84
