by Blink, Bob
A similar situation existed with the small oasis that had saved Rigo and his friends. Rigo had never gone back, but others had explored the oasis and the area around it. Nothing beyond an extended dead zone had been found to the limits teams had been able to explore. Frequently herds of Hoplani and Morvane were seen heading west, but none of them were accompanied by the diminutive nomads that Rigo claimed to have seen. There were mixed opinions as to whether they existed at all. After a number of years, almost no one bothered to return. There appeared to be no reason to bother.
The Three Kingdoms had changed over the years. Branid was the least affected, with Rhory and his consort Mos’pera still the land’s monarchs, guiding the country with a steady and practiced hand. To the south, King Arotho had passed away a handful of years earlier. His middle son Prince Briz had assumed the throne, which would have dismayed the elder monarch, but Prince Awll was clearly not competent, and the youngest son indicated no interest in becoming King. Briz had won the respect of the people during the brief war with Lopal, and was warmly accepted by the citizens of the land. Lopal had seen a tumultuous decade, and was now on its third Lamane since I’Vorris had completed his agreed to one year of rule while the country considered his replacement. I’Vorris had been killed three years earlier, and after two years of internal infighting, his eldest son Os’car had been chosen Lamane.
Closer to home, the wizard community had changed as well. Februus had died the previous summer, old age something even wizards were unable to escape. Nadav was also aging rapidly, and had retired to his ancient home, unwilling and truthfully unable to be an effective force in the wizard community. That left Gagan, who focused his effort on the smooth running of the Academy, as it was now called. Nycoh, nearing twenty years of age, had been chosen as the formal leader of the wizards. She was the most powerful among them, and after her years of study had more knowledge about magic and the history of the wizards than any among them. She guided the wizard community, now nearly three thousand strong, with an able hand.
Jeen was Nycoh’s informal second in command, although she spent most of her time in Sulen. She and her consort had twin girls, aged ten, and who had already demonstrated skills in magic. Their only son, aged six, was still too young to exhibit any potential. The girls would soon be coming to the Outpost for formal training.
Kaler and Daria remained on their estates in Kellmore. With no children of their own, the facility they had established was the temporary home for between two and three hundred youngsters at any given time. A large staff now ran the facility, but Rigo’s former traveling companions actively oversaw the smooth running of the sanctuary, as well as the search for new additions to the group. The KalaBhoot had long since retired, and while Kaler practiced daily with his swords, he no longer sought a position where they might be required.
Ash’urn remained at the Outpost as a permanent fixture. He continued to study the history of the ancient land, hoping to uncover some clues as to the origin of the Ruins or the Hoplani. He was getting old himself, but the added years had touched him lightly. It was his heritage, he told Rigo. Most of the men in his family lived to be over a hundred, and seldom showed the effects of age until the last few years. He considered himself blessed that he was able to continue his researches with a sharp mind.
Rigo was alone. He still had his friends, who he saw from time to time, but he had never consorted. The loss of Inge weighed heavily upon him, even after all of these years. He was estranged from Inge’s father, Lord Sooz, a significant loss as he’d started to look upon the man as a second father before Inge had been murdered. Lord Sooz blamed Rigo for his daughter’s death, which Rigo could understand. Had he listened to her, she would not have been where the assassin found her, and she would be alive today.
Rigo’s focus had become the Hoplani and what to do about them. His quarters at the Outpost had become his war room, and he currently stood beside the large table that held his model of the Ruins in the area of the towers and the barrier. He tracked the noted position of the Hoplani herds based on information that came in daily from the scouting teams that monitored the wastelands. With so many of the creatures and the frequent attacks on the towers, it had become a full time task for several hundred wizards to patrol the area. Sometimes, like last week, they elected to send out an attacking force to destroy an especially large herd that was approaching. Even then, some of the Hoplani still managed to get through. In the last year, every tower had been down at one time or another. Not too long ago, five towers had been breached simultaneously, with a resulting influx of the Hoplani. Before they’d been able to seal the breach, a major encounter had cost them five of their fellow wizards. One, a younger wizard named, Brice, had been savaged by the creatures before being rescued. Physically their medical experts had been able to use magic to repair his body, but mentally he still appeared to be a blank slate. He was being kept alive in the infirmary until someone could decide what to do about him.
Rigo was in the act of placing a small wooden tower onto the model of the Ruins when he heard a sharp knock at his door.
“Come,” he said without checking to see who it was. He’d been told that Nycoh wished to speak to him.
He reached out across the model and carefully placed the tiny tower onto the surface at a specific location.
“Another completed?” Nycoh asked coming up behind him.
Rigo nodded. “That’s number ten. We have a long way to go.”
“Probably too long,” she said astutely.
Rigo knew she was right. The failures and breaches had become too frequent. The last major breech that had brought down the five towers had been far too costly. When a similar breach affecting three towers had occurred two years earlier, Rigo had decided they needed a second line of defense. He had planned out a second set of towers with an independent barrier. That way, if the first line went down, the Hoplani would still not be free to proceed to the eastern border of Lopal. He knew it was only a matter of time before the entire barrier failed at some point.
At the moment they were engaged in a race against time, trying to get the second barrier built while maintaining the older system, repairing failures as they occurred. Unfortunately, they were constrained by their ability to make the towers, being able to complete barely one a month. At the current rate that meant more than five years before the second system would be completed. Neither Rigo nor Nycoh believed they had that long. Rigo couldn’t help but remember Queen Mos’pera’s foretelling that the barrier would fall before her daughter, now thirteen, would reach womanhood. Truly it was a race. Even if they won, the victory would be shallow. The second barrier would eventually be attacked much as the first had been. They would have to build a third, and then a fourth, unless another solution could be found.
Rigo turned toward his visitor. Nycoh had grown into a stunning young woman. Her silky black hair was worn to the middle of her back, today pulled back into a ponytail. Her single garment was a white shift, casual as she liked to be most of the time, but it still hinted at a shapely figure. Her warm brown eyes looked into his own. He had watched her grow, and was still amazed at how soon she had turned from a young strong-willed little girl into this confident and capable woman. As the group’s leader, she was called the Elder, a title that Rigo saw as wholly inappropriate as he looked at her.
“What can I do for the Outpost’s Elder,” Rigo said with mock formality.
“Ash’urn and I have something we would like to show you,” Nycoh replied with a small smile touching her lips.
“Ash’urn?” Rigo asked. Whenever Ash’urn was involved it was usually worth looking into. “Why didn’t he come with you?”
“He’ll meet us in the library,” Nycoh said. “Can you come now?”
“Certainly. I have stared at this model for an endless number of glass. I doubt a new inspiration is likely to strike today. The prospects are grim, but there is only so much we can do.”
“Maybe there is something,” Ny
coh said mysteriously, and took his arm to urge him out the door.
Ash’urn was waiting for them as promised. When Rigo looked at his friend, the other only pointed toward the open Bypass that led to Daim’s hideaway in the Ruins. This particular Bypass was a marvel in and of itself. Some years ago a great deal of discussion had developed around the library Daim had assembled. Some had wanted to merge it with the facility in the Outpost. Others felt it ought to be kept separate, in part because of the nature of some of the materials stored there and the fact that the Outpost library was available to students in addition to fully accredited wizards.
One of the problems with keeping the materials in the far away hideaway was access. Even those who had visited the secret hideaway that Daim had created out there, weren’t able to open a Bypass to visit it themselves. Only Rigo had been able to do so. Somehow, Daim had blocked access to the place to everyone but him, a skill that even Rigo realized he couldn’t duplicate. Because of this, many made the case the materials needed to be relocated. Nycoh and Jeen had come up with this solution. The two of them, linked with Rigo, had opened this Bypass, which was the only known permanent Bypass in existence. It acted like a doorway between the main library and the extension in the Ruins. Further, only those wizards properly linked into the system could pass through. It therefore acted as a security gate as well. Nycoh had tried to show Rigo and Jeen how she had managed the feat, but they hadn’t been able to duplicate it.
The surprise showed on Rigo’s face when he realized where they were headed, but he stepped into the portal after Ash’urn, with Nycoh bringing up the rear. He’d hadn’t been back for a number of years, and wondered what the two schemers had in mind.
Rigo stepped into the cool and well lit chambers of the lower area of the hideaway, once again marveling at how the place had withstood not only the years, but the influence of the Ruins just outside. One would never know he was standing well inside the borders of the infected lands when he was in here. He looked at Nycoh questioningly.
She took Rigo by the hand and led him over to the rack on the far wall where a pair of old wooden staffs were located. His and Gadil’s. Gadil had passed a number of years back as well, and someone had decided the two staffs should be returned to the hideaway where they had waited for hundreds of years before being triggered as Daim had intended. Rigo could tell which had been his by the slightly different shape at the top. He hadn’t thought about the staff in years. Once Daim had taken control of his body, the staff’s function had been completed, and he hadn’t needed it to access his powers any longer.
“My staff?” he asked in surprise.
Nycoh nodded, and walked over to retrieve it. She handed it to Rigo, who was surprised how good it felt to hold it once again. It was like an old friend. He had carried it for many years as he was growing up, aware it was helping him, without understanding how. He suddenly realized that while he didn’t need it, he liked the feel of it in his hand.
“Thank you,” Rigo said sincerely. “I had forgotten about it.”
Nycoh and Ash’urn could see a sparkle in Rigo’s eyes they hadn’t noted in many years.
“This is what you wanted to show me?” Rigo asked. He was glad to be reminded of the staff, which he now intended to take with him, but he was surprised they would approach the matter this way.
“The staff is just the tool,” Ash’urn said. “There’s more.”
“Follow me,” Nycoh said as she opened a Bypass.
Rigo assumed they were now returning to the Outpost. Each group of visitors to the hideaway had to create their own Bypass to leave the facility. That bit of magic hadn’t been precluded by Daim. The permanently open portal only brought one here. Instead, when Rigo followed Nycoh and Ash’urn into the portal, he found himself back in the small oasis that was far into the Ruins.
He looked around in surprise. He hadn’t been back here since that day so long ago. The small patch of normalcy seemed slightly larger, if anything, if his memories were correct. The edge looked modestly more extended, and the thin grass on the far side of the brush thicker. It was as if the oasis was slowly expanding. That was a good sign. If the trend continued, in another five thousand years, the Ruins might be consumed and disappear.
“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” he asked with a touch of doubt.
“We found something in one of Daim’s journals,” Ash’urn explained. “He knew far more about the Ruins than one would expect. I think it was the result of his studying the Rift and what to do about it. As a result of what he learned, and the fact he was building his secret hideaway in the Ruins, he incorporated something into the creation of both the staff and the facility. You can see the results of the special spells in the facility, which is wholly untouched by the forces that drive the Ruins. In the staff, it isn’t so obvious.”
“The staff has some affect on the Ruins?” Rigo asked, confused.
“When you were here before, did you try to make a Bypass outside of the oasis?” Nycoh asked.
“Of course. We tried several types of magic. Nothing worked.”
“Even a Bypass from a hundred paces out back to this place?”
“Nothing worked,” Rigo said, emphasizing his reply.
“Come with me,” Nycoh said, and walked out of the oasis into the dead zone that surrounded the area. When they were a hundred paces out, she turned and looked at Rigo. “Try and make a Bypass back to the oasis,” she instructed him.
Knowing it was pointless, he shook his head and did as instructed. To his surprise, the glowing arch appeared just ahead of him.
“How in Risos name?” he stammered.
“The staff,” Nycoh told him. “Try Brightfire.”
Once again, magic that had been denied him when he was here before, blossomed brightly on command.
“The staff overcomes the effects of the dead zone,” Nycoh explained as they walked back to the cooler area beneath the trees. “All of our magic appears to work, at least this close to the oasis, and in fact up to a day’s walk from here into the Ruins. I believe it will work everywhere. There are restrictions however. If you tried to make a Bypass back to the Outpost from where we were standing a moment ago, it would fail. There is a range limitation even with the staff in hand. That is much like you found in the caves.”
“There is still the matter of what this area does to portals,” Rigo pointed out. “We still don’t know what happened to Koess.”
“We believe the staff protects against such things happening again. We can’t be positive, so there is some risk, but until we see evidence it isn’t effective, I think it is reasonable to assume the Bypass created will be safe. By the way, the staff will also indicate if the target destination can be accessed. I’ll show you. If you try to reach the Outpost from here, you will see it is blocked. That must be done from within the oasis. Some greater experimentation will be required to see just how far the Bypass can reach in the dead zones.”
Rigo looked at the staff and stared out at the hostile land that had defeated him once before. Nycoh could see the implications dawning on him.
When she and Ash’urn had discovered the staff’s potential, she had debated whether Rigo should be told. She wondered whether bringing him here would trigger another period of brooding as he recalled Inge’s death. On the other hand, it could give him a purpose once again. It could also get him killed, she realized. But, with the staff, they might be able to get some answers which they desperately needed. The staff needed to be used, and she decided she had no right to keep it from him.
“This is an incredible discovery,” Rigo said excitedly. “Do you know what it means?”
“It means we can go deeper into the Ruins in search of the answers you believe are to be found,” she replied. “We will do so. The only question is, do you still wish to go?”
Chapter 17
As Rigo returned to the Outpost with Ash’urn and Nycoh the matter in his mind wasn’t one of whether he would return to his exp
lorations in the Ruins, it was when he could get started. Until he’d been made aware of the capabilities of his old staff he’d been of a mind that he was too busy to be taken away from his activities. He was focused primarily on fighting off the Hoplani that bridged the barrier, and overseeing the newer second barrier construction. If he was truthful he could admit that the second barrier was an extremely long term task and one that any number of wizards could attend to now that the initial planning was complete and the locations of the towers identified. As for direct confrontation with the Hoplani, his superior skills with combat magic were important, but once again, not something that couldn’t be replaced, especially if he had something potentially more productive to attend to.
Rigo still believed the critical answers to their problem were to be found in the Ruins. He had given up on finding them, because he’d seen the impossibility of pursuing the search. The staff had suddenly opened up the way again, or so it seemed. He had a personal justification for going back as well. For many years now he had lived with the possibility that his obsession with the Ruins had been responsible for Inge’s death. If he could find the solution to the Hoplani problem by returning, some of the blame he had placed on his actions might be removed and his being in the Ruins when Inge had needed him partially justified. At least he hoped as much. The possibility of a return to the Ruins reminded him of how much he had lost. Even after all these years he ached when he thought of Inge, and the child he had never seen. His child would be coming into its own ability with magic about now. Dwelling too long on the matter could bring back his depression, and he forced it away by focusing on what was ahead.
Over the next two weeks while planning for a return to exploring the inhospitable desert was formed, those who encountered Rigo noted that for the first time since Inge had died he carried the hint of a smile on his face. He appeared more optimistic, and filled with boundless energy. Even Jeen noticed the difference when she happened into Rigo on one of her rare visits to the Outpost.
