by Unknown
Seconds ticked by as Gary continued, trying to share as much information as he could before they teleported, “While you were gone, I did
manage to locate the dragon egg’s precise location, but since it is within the CC center in England I can guarantee that it is heavily guarded. As far as Karen’s location, I estimate a very high chance they have found her. While al military assets are disconnected from the network, I’ve analyzed recent satelite imagery and found evidence of an unusual amount of men and materials being moved in the region.”
“It’s as though the world is dead,” said Gareth, stil talking to himself. “There’s nothing; it’s just silence.”
Elaine finished the larger portion of the teleportation circle and stepped back. “It’s just your part now, Matthew.”
Matt felt sweat forming on his brow as he worked. This last part couldn’t be rushed; every rune had to be correct. He could feel Elaine’s eyes on him as he progressed, and Gareth was stil mumbling in the background.
“What’s that?” she said suddenly, looking at the sky and shading her eyes with one hand.
“I don’t hear anything, ” Gareth said to them, as though emphasizing some point they should already be aware of.
Gary misunderstood his remark, though, thinking he referred to what Elaine was seeing, “You don’t hear them because they travel at
hypersonic velocities—Mach five to be specific. You’l be dead before the sound gets here.”
“Done,” announced Matthew. “Step inside the circle quickly! What were you saying, Gary? I couldn’t pay ful attention.”
“I think they’re waiting for you,” summarized the AGI.
Elaine had her hand on his forearm already as Gareth took his final step into the teleportation circle. He put his hand on Matthew’s shoulder.
Physical contact wasn’t realy necessary as long as they were inside the lines, but it communicated their readiness more quickly than words.
“Make us invisible,” ordered Matthew. He waited another second while Elaine did so, and then he activated the circle.
***
They arrived in darkness, courtesy of Elaine’s invisibility shield. It was one of the main drawbacks to invisibility—since it routed al light around the user, it meant being effectively blind. She hadn’t blocked aythar, though. In a world without mages, they didn’t have to worry about being spotted by someone with magesight, so they could stil see a short distance using their arcane senses.
Unfortunately, due to the relative paucity of aythar, that meant they couldn’t sense much of anything beyond about twenty to thirty feet. Even so, Matthew immediately knew something was wrong. The one thing that should have been very visible in such a low aythar environment was the stasis field he had left behind.
It wasn’t there.
Then the world exploded around them.
Matthew’s shield held, but Elaine was surprised enough that she lost her grip on the veil she had around them. Light flooded in, showing them a world of flames and dust. While the explosion had caused the ground to jump beneath them, it was eerily silent, thanks to Matthew deciding to block sound as wel as physical attacks. He had learned his lesson regarding that back at Roberta’s house.
“They were definitely waiting for us,” said Gary, stating the obvious.
“We’re exposed, girl!” shouted Gareth. “Let me out and I’l distract them while you find the woman.”
He was already moving, so Matthew opened the shield to let him pass and then closed it again. Elaine covered them with her invisibility veil once more and he puled on her arm, making sure she stayed close to him as he headed in the direction of where the stasis enchantment had been.
Gareth’s body flowed like water as he passed beyond the shield, reforming into something distinctly reptilian. He looked like no animal Matt had ever seen as the archmage dropped on al fours and sped forward, metalic scales gleaming silver in the sunlight.
Their position couldn’t have been worse. Being at the bottom of the canyon, their enemy had taken up positions along the rim thousands of feet above. They were probably on the other side as wel, but that was too far for Matt to tel. In the immediate vicinity there was a variety of smal groups consisting of three or four cybernetic soldiers equipped with automatic rifles and grenade launchers. While the invisibility shield had been down Matthew thought he had seen larger vehicles in the distance, but now that he was once again limited to the short range of his magesight, he couldn’t be sure. He kept walking toward where he had left Karen.
The creature that Gareth had become moved with frightening speed. It raced across the distance to the nearest soldiers and proceeded to rip them mechanical limb from mechanical limb. Weapons fire rang out from every direction, but it had little effect on his heavily armored body.
His speed took the soldiers by surprise, and once he had reached the first group they had to take care not to use their heavier weapons for fear of destroying each other. Gareth had no such constraints, though. He destroyed everything within reach, and after he had dismantled the first group, he sprang toward the next.
As Gareth ran for the second group, they began firing heavier weapons, and while some of the shots glanced off, others hit him squarely,
exploding on impact and tearing large chunks of flesh from his massive form.
It slowed him down, but other than that it didn’t do them much good. His flesh flowed and reformed whenever he took a substantial injury,
even replacing a lost limb from a blast that had sent him sprawling into the dust. Then he was on the second group.
Matthew and Elaine had a much easier task, since the enemy seemed to be focusing their efforts on the foe they could see rather than the one they couldn’t. However, after traveling only twenty feet, they were struck again by another explosion, one that came from beneath them. Matthew nearly lost his shield, and Elaine’s veil flickered again.
“That was an anti-personnel mine, I think,” noted Gary.
“Mine?” said Matthew in confusion.
“A bomb in the ground,” explained the AGI. “They anticipated you would try to reach the place you left her, so they’ve set it up to kil you when you do. There are probably more of them close by.”
As if to punctuate his point, Gareth was tossed into the air by a similar explosion as he headed for the third group of soldiers. The blast sent blood and flesh flying in various directions, but the core of his body reformed as it twisted through the air, sprouting wings that assisted him in regaining control of his movement. The monstrous archmage dove for the soldiers.
“This is madness!” shouted Elaine.
“I agree,” said Gary. “I also estimate a very low probability that my daughter is stil here. If she is alive at al they likely moved her to a secure location before setting this trap for us.”
“Al right, let’s retreat,” said Matthew. “Elaine, switch to the exit plan.” They began heading in Gareth’s direction. Gareth, we’re leaving! he yeled mentaly.
The reptilian monster changed direction mid-charge, which turned out to be a fortuitous choice as the terrain he was about to cross vanished in a massive explosion a second later. If he had continued in the direction he had been going, he would have been in the middle of it.
At the same time, four identical copies of Gareth’s form appeared and began charging in different directions. More explosions erupted from two of their locations, and the entire area was cloaked in a cloud of smoke and dust. Elaine added to it by augmenting the smoke with an even larger ilusory cloud.
“What are they firing at us now?” asked Matthew. “Are those missiles?”
“I believe it’s artilery fire from the canyon rim,” said Gary. “Your friend must have scared them enough to cal a strike on their own position.
We should leave now. They may decide not to wait for the smoke to clear before they carpet bomb the entire zone.”
Gareth reached them, and after Matthew let him through their shield he immedia
tely began to shift back home.
***
They landed in the ocean, which seemed appropriate considering the luck they had had thus far. Matthew created a stable platform beneath
them and brought out the enchanted cubes that would enable him to fly and safely carry them al together. Gareth didn’t seem to be in any condition to shift into a large flying form.
The red-bearded wizard lay quietly in the mostly invisible flying construct, staring up at the sky. “I have never seen such a swift and vicious response,” he muttered. “Those people are not novices when it comes to war.” Whatever injuries he had sustained had vanished even before he had returned to his human form, but he stil seemed shaken by the experience.
“That’s how they defeated the She’Har,” Matthew informed him. “That’s also probably why the She’Har almost lost when they first came to
our world. The humans here just weren’t quite as advanced and prepared for them.”
“If that’s the case, then I think perhaps humanity is more frightening than the She’Har,” said the archmage.
Elaine was stil in shock from what she had seen. “Can al Gaelyn mages shift the way you did? I’ve never seen anything quite like that. It was amazing.”
Gareth chuckled tiredly. “Al Gaelyn mages can shift forms, yes, but what I was doing is far from normal. In the old days, some of the realy talented people in my family could have done some of what you saw, but the near-instant healing is an archmage ability.”
“I don’t think my father could do that,” commented Matt.
“The shifting, probably not, but he’s transformed into a giant of earth and stone and healed himself in that form,” said Gareth. “It’s basicaly the same thing; he just doesn’t have my affinity for taking living forms. I wouldn’t dream of turning myself into something inanimate like he did. It’s too easy to lose yourself that way.”
They fel silent for a time after that, while Matthew flew them westward, hoping to catch sight of land so they could stop and create a
teleportation circle.
Gareth seemed to doze for a while, but then he spoke without opening his eyes, “Young wolf.”
Elaine and Matthew looked at one another, and then he answered, “Sir?”
“I take back what I said the other day. I was in a foul mood. That world is a death-trap. Forget about the dragon; forget the girl as wel. No good can come of returning,” said the older man.
Matt’s lips pressed together in a firm line, but as he was about to reply the archmage spoke again. “Don’t say it, boy. If you tel me you’re planning to return, I’l inform your father and make sure he finds some way to lock you up for your own good. If you’re a man, keep your own counsel. I won’t be going back and if you say otherwise I’l make sure you can’t either.”
Elaine gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m stil wiling…”
“The same goes for you, girl,” Gareth said, cutting her off.
They flew in silence from that point onward. It was several hours before they spotted an island off an unnamed coast. None of them recognized the area. Tired, they landed and made a circle to take them back to Castle Cameron. Once there, Gareth bid them goodbye and left without
another word.
“He’s a strange man,” observed Elaine.
“Yeah,” agreed Matthew. “I think he knows I’m planning to go back, though. He just doesn’t want to be responsible for it. That’s why he told us not to talk about it.”
She frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“He’s from another time,” said Matt. “He’s also a big believer in free-wil, which probably is at cross purposes with his opinion that we’re too young to put ourselves deliberately into danger.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Elaine. “I’m a grown woman.”
“Fine,” sighed Matthew. “Just me, then. I’m barely an adult by their standards.”
She smiled, “I meant what I said. If I can help, I wil.”
Gary spoke for the first time since they had returned, “Take her up on the offer.”
“Hmm?”
“I intercepted some of their short-range transmissions while you were fighting, and I was able to analyze what their sensors reported during the battle. Her invisibility is far more effective than I had anticipated. I assumed initialy that thermal imaging would stil detect you, since she can’t see it herself to ensure that infrared light is included, but I was wrong.”
“Thanks for the warning,” said Matt dryly. “You could have told me that you thought their devices might stil be able to see us.”
“While we were here, I had incomplete data,” Gary explained. “I had no expectation we would be walking into a trap, so I didn’t think it was pertinent.”
“Plus, it’s your daughter,” added Matthew. “You didn’t want to say anything that might have made us change our minds.”
Gary paused. “There is some truth there.”
Matthew took a deep breath, “I have no intention of giving up on either Karen or Desacus’s egg. So you can put that concern aside. From now on, tel me whatever you know. I can’t plan for things I’m not aware of.”
“Then you’l be glad to know I have a suggestion for getting Karen back,” said the AGI.
“Do you think we’l need Gareth for it to work?” asked Elaine.
“No,” answered Gary. “If things go right, you won’t have to fight anyone at al. But your special talent wil be a necessity.”
They began planning in earnest, and once they had a workable idea they agreed to meet again the next morning.
Chapter 33
That evening Matthew told his parents how their journey had gone. They were understandably worried, of course, but he only told them that
Karen had been moved. He completely omitted the fact that they had been targeted from the beginning, that they had teleported into a trap, and that they had been forced to beat a hasty retreat to avoid being annihilated.
Since Gareth Gaelyn wasn’t on good terms with his father, Matt didn’t expect that he would be contradicted on his account, and Elaine had
agreed to give the same details, if she should be questioned.
As a result of his deception, his father was stil wiling to alow him to return to get Karen. His mother had been of a different mind on the matter, but after a fierce debate, she decided to alow it as wel.
Unexpectedly, it was Gram who raised the biggest objection when they met at the Muddy Pig later. They had both eaten already, so they were there just to share a mug of ale and catch up. After hearing Matthew’s tale (the unedited version), Gram became concerned.
“You need to bring me when you go back,” he said firmly.
Matthew winced. “Ordinarily I would say yes, but not this time.”
Gram looked angry, “Why not?!”
Matthew held up his dimensional pouch, “This doesn’t work over there. As cool as it is, it only works when it’s in this world; otherwise the connection to the pocket dimension doesn’t function properly.” With his finger, he pointed at the tattoo on Gram’s arm. “This enchantment is slightly different, but it works on the same fundamental magic. You won’t be able to summon Thorn, you won’t be able to summon your armor.”
“Then I won’t summon them there,” countered Gram. “I can arm and armor myself before we go.”
Matt shook his head. “There are stil problems. If we’re there for an extended period, you couldn’t take the armor off. Then there’s your
father’s heart, the gem that gives you your strength—it’s empowered by your father’s earth-bond. I guarantee you that won’t work across
dimensions, and taking it away from this plane might even destroy it.”
“I can borrow Sir Cyhan’s armor. It’s not a perfect fit for me, but it’s close enough,” countered Gram. “And I don’t have to use Thorn. There are other enchanted swords.”
“And you’l fight as a normal man?” asked Matthew.
“I have a dr
agon-bond too…”
“Desacus died, Gram. The same could happen to Grace, and then we’d have two eggs to recover. Besides, I’m not planning to fight my way
through. It’s just not possible. They’ve shown me that every time. The people of that world have the capability to coordinate their forces on a scale we simply can’t compete with, and they have weapons that can destroy anyone or anything, as long as they’re wiling to accept the colateral damage.
“You’re my best friend, and there’s no one I trust more, but I’m not taking you into a place like that for no good reason. This wil be a stealth mission. There are only three people realy suited to that, Elaine, George, or their father Walter. Honestly, even I am not an ideal choice, but I’m the only one who can get there,” Matthew explained.
Gram vented his frustration in a growl that ended with him slamming his mug down on the table. Heads around the room turned in their
direction. “This isn’t fair, dammit,” swore the young knight. “I want to break something, but I know you’re right.”
After a moment, when it was evident the young warrior wasn’t about to start dismantling the tavern, the eyes around the room returned to their own drinks. Matthew was glad for that; he didn’t enjoy being at the center of attention.
“I’m sorry, Gram. That’s just the way it is,” he answered apologeticaly.
***
Back in his room Matthew was restless, and Gary, while trying to be helpful, wasn’t making it any easier for him to relax and get some sleep.
“Before we left, I received a lot of information from my larger self,” said the AGI.
“You already told me you had the probably location of Karen and Desacus,” said Matt.
“Locations, plural,” corrected Gary. “Karen’s in the UN’s Gulf Coast facility. That’s definite. I actualy saw her being taken in there on non-military surveilance video.”
“At least she’s alive.”
“That’s a positive,” agreed Karen’s virtual father. “Her condition is easily treatable with modern medicine. My biggest concern is what her mother may do to her.”
