“Well, sir, all you have to do is let mereach you through your shield in the same way as you did withDarnath. You see, only telepaths can communicate telepathically. Sowhat I do is act as a communications hub linking up all the mindsin our little squad. It will make more sense once we connect, sojust let me through your shield and I will take care of the rest,”Gafar said.
Well, this would be interesting. I envisioneda small room inside my thought shield, and in that room I pictureda table and chairs for us all to sit at. Then I created a doorthrough the shield to that room and set it to allow Gafar and theothers in. As soon as I did this Gafar appeared in one of theseats, and one by one the others appeared in silence. I created athought picture of me in that room and asked, “Are you sure thatthe Magi will not be able to hear us in here?” It was a sillyquestion, but I needed to say something to break the ice.
The image that was Gafar said, “Yes, sir.No one can be part of this that I do not allow.”
With some effort I was able to turn off theimage so that I could focus on the world around me without breakingthe communication channel. “Okay, well, it might take me a whileto get used to talking without saying anything, but I willtry,” I said.
“You will be fine, sir, you’re anatural!” said Kellyn. “Now, I want you to eat anotherchocolate bar. You need to keep your strength up, at least until wecan find a safer place to rest,” she said as she handed me acandy bar.
“Sir, the bomb is ready. This red buttonis the trigger. When we are ready to use it we just connect thebutton here, and press it. Once set you will have around fifteenseconds,” said Major Jerran.
“Around fifteen seconds?” I asked.
“Sorry, sir, but we did not have a timer,so I just used enough fuse line to roughly provide the delay youwanted,” he responded.
Anyone watching us would have been baffled bywhat they saw. We used no audible language but interacted just likepeople who were talking. “Well, that will have to do, then. Ifwe are ready we should move out.” I had lost all track of timedown there and did not know how much time we had left before theDragon Claw began its attack.
As Darnath moved ahead to take the forwardguard position, I felt our net stretch and soon I could see whatDarnath saw ahead of us, and as Luke fell behind to take therearguard position I could see what he saw at the same time. I wassilent for a while as I made sense of seeing through three pairs ofeyes at once. They talked amongst themselves about various optionsin the route we could take, and other mission-related topics. Thefree exchange of ideas between them was a masterful demonstrationof how team planning should work, but never seems to. This mediumof communication seemed to allow a more pure exchange of ideas.They could talk with any combination of the five senses at once, soinstead of just describing an idea, they could show everyone whatthey were picturing.
Ahead through Darnath’s eyes I saw theentrance to the room that contained the gate. There were twoguards, firmly entrenched behind a partial shield wall with wandsat the ready, scanning the corridor in both directions. Darnathwaited for us to catch up.
“I do not like this. They are too wellentrenched there. I doubt we could get past them beforereinforcements arrived,” I said. I checked my gear to see if Ihad any hand-grenades left. I was sure I did not but hoped I waswrong. As I had thought I did not have any, but in looking for themI unintentionally sent the image of my idea to all the BlackAdders.
“Sir, that is a great idea. I can take asmall part of the explosives from the bomb and make one,” saidMajor Jerran.
“Without a timer, how will you detonateit?” I asked.
“Well, sir, the stuff we were able to getfrom the storeroom is notoriously unstable; it should be easy todetonate it with a light blast from a wand.” As he said that Ihad an image in my mind of the explosive drifting down the corridornear the ceiling out of sight, and then myself jumping out andshooting it.
“That sounds … looks … should work,” Isaid, stumbling for the right word to use. “Since the wands aretargeted by sight, can I use the view I have from Darnath’s eyes totarget, or does it have to be mine?”
“Sir, either will work, but you still needa clear line-of-sight path for the bolt to travel,” answeredLuke.
“Okay, here is the plan. Kellyn, you andAndreya will go through the gate first. Andreya, once through thegate use your power to hide the fact that we are all comingthrough. Kellyn will guard you with her wands and should you beattacked she is your best chance of survival until the rest of usarrive.
“Jerran, as soon as you are ready, send inthe bomb,” I ordered. Soon after, I saw the package travelingin the shadows towards the unsuspecting Magi. As soon as it was inplace, I rolled out into the corridor on my belly and fired mywand. When the bolt hit the package there was a bright flash oflight, followed by a loud rumble. I covered my head but could stillsee, thanks to my connection to Darnath.
The bomb destroyed a section of the corridorand the two Magi were dead, but the passage was partly blocked byrubble. I ran forward intending to climb over the pile of rubblewhen I felt myself lifted up and over it. As soon as I was back onmy feet I looked back to see the others flying over, too. It tookme a moment to realize that Major Jerran had lifted us allover.
As soon as everyone was over Andreya andKellyn approached the gate, and Major Jerran began stringing outthe explosives. I felt Andreya focus on the gate and concentrate ona single thought, “A place of safety.” Then in the center ofthe gate a blue, swirling light started to grow until it filled thegate. She and Kellyn charged through, followed by the threetelepaths. As Gafar passed through the gate I lost touch with allof them.
“The bomb is live!” called out Jerran,the last one to pass through the gate.
I started to count down from fifteen in myhead. I had to wait to make sure the bomb was not interfered withbefore I left. Just as I started to count, the pile of rubbleblocking the corridor dissolved and one of the Seven stood there,lowering his staff at me. “You are too late, old man!” Itaunted, knowing that time was up and dove through the gate. WhenAndreya activated it, she did it the same way we used the wands, soI did the same, focusing on Kellyn as my target and hoping for thebest.
Chapter Seventeen
As I entered the gate everything around meturned into an iridescent blue. It was similar to jump space, but Iwas much freer in my movements. It was not like being in a tunnelor a room, more an endless sea of blue. Looking back over myshoulder I saw him again, that black specter that always joined me.This time he was much nearer, and coming for me. Instinctively Iknew that if he reached me I would die, and I could not let my teamdown. I was still holding a wand, so I turned it on him and pouredinto it all my anger over the death of the Dark Knights. The blasthit him and sent him reeling back, just long enough for me to fallthrough the other side of the gate.
As I came through the gate I felt myselffalling towards the floor, but something caught me just in time.Soon I felt the Black Adders silently communicating with me oncemore, all urging me to be quiet and not move. I wanted to scream inpain, as it felt like my back was on fire, but looking throughtheir eyes I saw Andreya maintaining an illusionary wall thatperfectly mirrored the wall behind us, and an old man staring atthe wall as if searching for us. I did my best not to move, noteven to breathe, for what seemed like years and eventually heturned and left.
Once he was gone, I felt myself being loweredto the ground and immediately Kellyn rushed to my side. “Sir, itlooks like you took a hit just before you made it through the gate.You are hurt pretty badly; I will do what I can.” With that Ifelt her warm hands on my back and energy leaving her, passingthrough me. As she worked I lost the communication link with theAdders, but I felt a deeper connection to her. I felt her think,“Sir, I know what demon chases you, and so long as there is anypower left in me, it will never catch you.” Then I had a visionof her standing between myself and that dark specter. She washolding up her staff and glowing brightly while the specter foughtfruitlessly against her.
&n
bsp; Then it all faded away and I felt a weight onmy back. Soon I was able to re-establish communication with theBlack Adders, but Kellyn was not there. “She is overtired, sir.We need to find a place for her to rest,” said Jerran.
She was the weight on my back. With Gafar’shelp I was able to get up, and pick her up. “Then let’s find asafe place,” I said. Andreya lowered her illusionary wall andwe began to move out when he appeared again.
It was the same man as before. He was wearinga long, flowing, dark purple robe covered in glowing symbols. Hehad a tall pointed hat and a long white beard. In his hand he helda staff, but one completely unlike the sleek black staves of theMagi. This one looked more like a tree, with a crystal ball on topinstead of leaves.
“Welcome, Black Adders, I have been waitingfor you,” he said in a grandfatherly voice. “The little one needsrest, as do you all. Come, I will show you a safe place.”
With that he turned to leave, and I startedto follow him. The others seemed uncomfortable with this, so I toldthem, “My instincts say we can trust him, and rarely am I wrongabout a person.”
That immediately put them at ease. I got thefeeling from them that the instincts of a Black Adder were farbetter than any scanner. It was then I realized that they hadfinally accepted me as one of their own.
That room exited directly on to a stonespiral staircase. We followed the old man up the stairs to a heavy,wooden door. The door opened by itself with a loud creak as weapproached. The room on the other side resembled a militarybarracks, with a line of four beds down each wall. In the centerwas a large table covered with food and drink. Once we were all inthe room, the man said, “I will return shortly. I must see to yoursafety.” With that, he closed the door and left.
I laid Kellyn down on one of the beds andasked, “Can we do anything for her?”
“No, sir. She just needs to sleep a whileand she should recover completely,” said Major Jerran.
I took some food and pulled up a chair nextto her bed. “Eat up and rest while we can,” I ordered.“Anyone have any idea where we are?”
“Sir, this room is sealed. None of us cansee beyond it. I assume this would also keep anyone from seeing in,so I dare not try to break the seal,” answered Luke.
“Very well. We wait then for ourmysterious host to return,” I said.
We all ate and drank while we waited butthere was not much conversation. No one seemed to like the factthat we had stepped out of one mystery into an even bigger one. Ikept reliving that vision of Kellyn fighting the dark specter. Whatcould it all mean?
“Sir, he is here,” Darnath said justbefore the door opened.
The old man entered the room, and pulled up achair next to the table. After taking a drink he turned to us andsaid, “I know you have many questions for me. Let me see if I cananswer the obvious ones first. My name is Mantis, and you are in mytower. I have been watching the developments of your battles forsome time now, and when you opened the gate I intervened andredirected you here. You would probably like to know where my toweris. Well, that is complicated since it is not known for its abilityto stay in one place. Relative to your understanding, it is best tothink of it as lying on a planet in a different, but similaruniverse.” He stopped, looked at Andreya and said, “I mustcompliment you on your illusion. Masterfully done. I have not seenyour equal in all my travels. Had I not personally redirected yourjourney to my gate, I would have never known you came through.”
Andreya blushed a little and said, “Thankyou, sir.”
“Mantis, you said you were watching thecolony and brought us here. Why?” I asked.
“Well, that is a very long story, but youneed to hear it so I will do my best to be brief.” He paused andrefilled his glass from the jug of mead that was on the table. “Itstarts in a time so far back that no one really knows how long agoit was. At that time the known universe was limited to just oneplanet, and all men could do was guess at the meaning of the lightsin the sky. There were two powerful kingdoms on that planet, one inthe east and one in the west. These two kingdoms hated each other,and were in a constant state of war. They were well matched, andlocked in a stalemate for decades when the Kingdom of the Eastfound the Tome of Power. The Tome of Power was a book thatcontained information on how to tap a power that no one had knowneven existed. It was a kind of energy that flowed through andaround everything. Using the information in the book, it wasdiscovered that some people were gifted with the ability to tap andchannel this power. This gave the Kingdom of the East a powerfulweapon to use against their hated enemy. Seven men were trained inwhat became known as the art of Sorcery. Those seven men wieldedgreat power, the like of which had never been seen before, and theycould conjure up foul beasts from the underworld to do battle forthem. They could even animate the dead to continue to fight. It wasnot long before the Kingdom of the West was completely overthrown.The sorcerers then turned on their own king and seized the thronefor themselves. That ushered in an era of darkness where the entireknown world was forced into slavery. No one could resist theirpower.
“Then one day a young man appeared on thescene. History does not record much about him, but we know that hehad great power of his own. His power surpassed even the combinedpower of the seven sorcerers, effortlessly turning back theirbeasts and spells. The sorcerers never came out to fight him,preferring to send their slaves to do it, but none of them couldhurt him. He took on twelve apprentices to whom he taught his art.Once he felt they were sufficiently trained, he left. History doesnot record where he went, but we do know that the twelve moved toattack the sorcerers with great speed. Five of them were killed inthe battles that followed, but they soon forced the sorcerers intohiding. It was then they took to calling themselves wizards.
“With the sorcerers gone, the seven remainingwizards freed the lands from the dark curses of the sorcerers andissued in an era of peace. The wizards began to train others intheir arts so that there would always be someone around to defendthe lands against the sorcerers should they return. The long andunbroken peace lulled the wizards into a false sense of safety, andthey became lax in their vigil. Secretly the sorcerers returned,and following the example of the wizards began training others intheir arts. Then one day they struck. Instead of just sevensorcerers there were hundreds, and they brought all kinds of foulcreatures with them. The wizards rallied to defend the land butwere forced to retreat from the northern continent.
“That brings us to where we sit today. TheSecond Great War between the wizards and the sorcerers is stuck ata perpetual stalemate. Both sides are scrambling to find someadvantage over the other, and it seems we are doomed to relive thehistory all over again.”
“Okay, let me take a guess. The ones we callthe Magi, you call sorcerers?” I asked.
“The title ‘Magi’ has been taken to refer toanyone who can tap the energy, so both wizards and sorcerers areconsidered to be Magi.”
“So it seems your war has spilled over intoour Empire. Why?” I asked.
“Remember how this all started, how theKingdom of the East and the Kingdom of the West were locked in astalemate until the Tome of Power was found? The sorcerers aretrying to repeat that feat now to break this stalemate. We do notknow what they are looking for, or why they think they can find itin your Empire, but they are searching for something they thinkwill give them the edge again. Of course that means we are doingeverything we can to discover what they are looking for and claimit before they do. The obvious question to ask next is why wewatched your fight with them and did not help. After all, the enemyof an enemy is a friend.” He paused to take out a small box from ahidden pocket in his robe. “Well, the answer is simple; to do sowould devastate your lands. Let me show you something.” He traced asquare in the air that somehow turned into a window. The view outthe window was not something you would ever want to see. It was awar-torn land that looked like it could never again support life.The window faded and he said, “If we come and meet them in battlethere, all your worlds could look like that.” He let that com
menthang in the air.
I knew the power of the sorcerers, and if thewizards were equally powerful, then Mantis’ fear could very well berealized. “So the alternative is to sit back and hope you find thisnew weapon before they do?” I asked.
“Not a good plan, I know, but until recentlyit was the best plan we had.” He stopped and sighed. I could tellhe was about to ask us to do something distasteful to him. “Thereis a better plan, but it will require all of you, and could verywell be the death of you.”
“Mantis, we are Imperial soldiers. Death willnot deter us from defending the Empire. It is obvious your enemyhas made us an enemy, making us your friend for now. What is yourplan?” I asked.
“In this box are seven rings. These are notordinary rings, as you might guess. If you take them from the boxand put them on, you will be signifying your acceptance of myproposal.” He pushed the box towards me, paused and looked us over.“Until recently, we knew nothing of your Empire or of any of theother nations existing in your universe. About fifty years ago wediscovered that the sorcerers had begun to take an interest in you,so we investigated. At that time we saw no evidence that there wereany Magi in your realm, so we were baffled by the sorcerers’interest. We assumed they must be looking for reinforcements. Soonafter, we discovered why they were searching your realm so heavily,and this worried us, so we began to study you closely. It was thenthat we learned of the Black Adders, and realized that any move thesorcerers made in your realm would start with them. So we planted aspy on the colony to monitor the situation for us. When thesorcerers made their move and took over the colony, our spy waskilled with the rest. We thought the Black Adders had been wipedout. This was very troubling, as there was no one left in yourrealm capable of defending it. So we began searching for a planthat could save your realm without jeopardizing our owndefenses.
“Well, I won’t bore you with the details; Iwill just say we came up with no plan that you would like. That allchanged the day we discovered Vydor. It was obvious to us that hewas gifted with the power to be a Magus, so we began to watcheverything unfold. Then when he met up with the six of you, we hadour answer.” He stopped to drink some more. “I should clearsomething up first; what you call psionics and what we call magicis one and the same. You are all Magi in your own right. Untrainedand inexperienced, but that will all come with time. What we areproposing to you is that you seven form a new Council of Wizardsfor your realm. This is not a position to take lightly. If youagree to it, everything that you are and believe will change. Asthe ruling Council of Wizards you will answer to no mortal. Youwill have to break your allegiance to your Empire, your families,and everyone else. You will stand alone with only each other todepend on. This is important to ensure that the Council can actalways in the best interest of the entire realm, and not just thoseof one political group.
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