The Academy

by Vincent Trigili

  “Sure did!” he replied and sent me directions.

  I made my way there, the whole time feeling as if I were pushing through some invisible, viscous cold fluid.

  “Hi, Phoenix,” I said as I entered our room, and then I sent, “We sleep in shifts and conduct our search in the morning. Something is very wrong here.”

  “Hey, man!” he said and then sent, “Uh, okay. Well, you look a lot more tired than I feel, so I’ll take first watch.”

  I could see he was nervous and scared. He must have sensed something also, then. Good: that meant he would be less likely to try to run off and do something stupid; at least I hoped that was what it meant. Anyway, I needed to get some rest or I would not be able to stand, never mind fight.

  I chanted a minor concealment spell over the room to keep us from detection without drawing attention. I did not know if it would work, since I had only read about its use before then; but it was the best thing I could think of to cast, so it would have to do.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Meanwhile, back in the unknown forest six magi gathered again around the large sphere of pure tanzanite. They watched the sphere intently while chanting and weaving. They moved in a kind of synchronized dance, slowly moving around the rock. Inside the sphere a scene was being played out which the magi were watching intently.

  Eventually the dance came to a halt. They continued to watch the sphere as if it were the most important thing in the world. After a while one of them said, “Everything is going according to plan.”

  “No, it is not,” objected another.

  “Silence, fool. I never expected those urchins to actually succeed. All along I just wanted leverage,” said the first magus, who wore a circlet of pure platinum around his head.

  “Shadow will find her, probably tomorrow, and those urchins are no match for him,” said another magus.

  “Yes, he will, and I expect him to kill them,” said the first speaker.

  The other magi watched in silence as the scene in the rock pulsed and started to fade away. The first magus raised his staff and said a command word that changed the scene to a tower in some remote region.

  This tower was very oddly shaped. It was as if it was not comfortable with being a tower and was trying to be a castle instead. It had a base like a tower, but widened as it went up and branched out into many smaller towers of various sizes and heights. All these towers seemed to be contending for attention in some manner, even to the point that they appeared to move around.

  “He must fall for our plans to work. How go our preparations?” asked the first magus.

  “Slow, but we will be ready. Thrice this month alone he has moved his tower, setting us back, but we will be ready,” said the second magus.

  He stared a while at the tower, as if trying to make sense of what he saw, and then asked, “Are our mundane friends in place?”

  “Yes, and very anxious to make their move. It seems they are a bit upset about the mining colony, and that is serving as powerful motivation for them to assist us,” said another magus.

  “Do you think they suspect our plan?” asked another magus.

  “That old fool certainly does, but the rest have grown comfortable in their new roles. They have all but stopped looking for us,” said the first magus. “Pity they will not live to regret that.”

  The scene changed again in the tanzanite stone at the command of the magus with the circlet. The image was blurred, but if one looked closely enough a room could be discerned with someone sleeping in a bed. The person in the bed tossed and turned as he fought through a nightmare.

  Elsewhere in the room another man walked back and forth, as if on patrol. He constantly looked in various directions and held an object in each hand; these he would occasionally spin and point in random directions as he kept up his tireless patrol.

  “Excellent; there will be no rest for him tonight, and in the morning we will make our move everywhere,” said the first magus as he began to chant. Hands raised up and back arched, he weaved back and forth to some unknown beat. Soon dark power whipped around him and poured into the tanzanite sphere.

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  I awoke with a start, feeling more tired than when I had lain down. Across the room I could see Phoenix trying to look brave, but the pale hue of his face told another story.

  “Hey, Shadow, hope you slept well,” he said to me.

  “Not as well as I would have liked. Look, you get some rest. One of us at least has to be awake tomorrow,” I said.

  “I’m not really tired. Can’t we just start looking now?” he asked.

  “No. Phoenix, if I recall correctly, wards are your secondary line; is that right?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “Good. Lock down this room as tightly as you can, and we will both get more rest,” I said.

  “Shadow, I don’t think I’m all that good,” he said.

  “It does not matter; anyone coming in will have to go through them and that will wake us up. Cast your ward and go to sleep,” I said.

  He sighed and went to work on his spell. I watched the pattern of energy he was creating and added my own power to the mix. Soon the room was wrapped in a thick curtain of power. As the spell was completed I felt a large weight lifted from me, and I could breathe again. The ward spell was working, and that was a bad sign. That meant the sorcerers knew we were here and had already begun a subtle attack on us.

  They did not want us getting any rest, so that is what we would get. “Good work, Phoenix. Now we should be safe. Get some rest while you can,” I said.

  Once I was sure he was in bed and fast asleep, I lay down on the couch and got some sleep myself. Eventually I roused to the sound of pacing: Phoenix had already woken at some point and resumed his patrol around the room.

  “Good morning, Phoenix,” I said.

  He jumped, spun and pointed his wands at me, then collected himself and said, “Oh, sorry about that.”

  I just smiled and said, “First we get a good meal, then we hunt,” I said.

  “Are you sure, man? Haven’t we wasted enough time?” he asked.

  “No, not quite enough yet,” I replied.

  “Uh, but Shadow . . . ” he objected.

  “The sorcerers know we are here, and they are looking for us. I want to stall and make them nervous for a time instead of us,” I sent, then took down the warding spells and said, “Do not worry; all is going according to my plans.”

  “Sure thing, boss,” he said.

  As we headed down towards the diner where I had eaten the previous night, I could not shake the feeling that I was being watched again. The cold, viscous fluid was back in the air too. It was hard not to be nervous. I had never before engaged in a real fight with another magus and did not know what to expect.

  We sat down at the same table I had used the night before and ordered breakfast. Apparently being nervous did not at all hinder Phoenix’s appetite, as he ordered at least three times as much food as I did and would have eaten more.

  As we finished up our meal I felt a shift in the balance of power in the station, and not in a good direction. It was the same feeling I had had back at the park, so I knew that meant sorcerers were on the move. “Phoenix, they are coming. We must move to a place where there are fewer mundanes, or else many of them might get caught in the crossfire,” I sent to Phoenix and then said aloud, “We should start our search in the launch bays and move inwards.”

  “Sure. Can I get something for the road?” he asked.

  “If you must, but next time you are paying,” I said. I assumed he was trying to come across as calm and collected, but I doubted he was fooling anyone.

  Once we had his food we headed out. I took the shortest route I knew to the launch bays. I reasoned that there we would have a large, open area that could be quickly evacuated and, best of all, staffed with military and station guards.

  As we made it to the outer
layer of the station the lights all turned red, and a voice came over the speakers saying, “Red Alert! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill; all nonessential personnel, head to your assigned secure areas. All active and inactive military personnel report for duty immediately. This is not a drill,” and then the message was repeated every few minutes.

  “This does not make sense. Who could be attacking?” I sent to Phoenix while I looked for an access terminal. I needed more information.

  “Obviously the pirates, right?” he said.

  “No, they do not have the resources out here to attack a major hub like this,” I said as I finally found a terminal. I tried all the access codes I knew, but none worked. All around me I could sense power building. The station was definitely powering up to its full potential. Something must be attacking it from the outside.

  “Shouldn’t we, like, head to the secure areas like they said?” asked Phoenix.

  “No, that would put a lot of innocent mundanes in great danger,” I said.

  “Then what do we do now?” he asked.

  “Make a run for the hangars and try to find Bill,” I said.

  “Bill?” he asked as we started to run.

  “Yes, Bill. He will have the information we need,” I said. It was not much of a plan, but I didn’t know what else to do right now.

  Then I felt power shift again, in what way I did not know, but as soon as it had I heard, “Intruder Alert!” shouted from the announcement system.

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  We continued to run towards the hangar bay, hoping to find out what was going on. As we turned a corner I sensed power moving towards us and quickly knocked Phoenix down and covered him. I was still in my navy-issued body armor, which safely absorbed the hit.

  Phoenix and I scurried back around the corner to safety, but not before spotting several raggedly-dressed men who were presumably the intruders that the computer had spoken of. It was their pulse rifles that had hit my armor. I knew we had to act fast because they would soon realize we had no guns and rush our position.

  I looked at Phoenix and sent, “Banana.”

  He nodded and pulled out a wand. Just as he finished the command word for the wand, I charged around the corner. The spell worked perfectly. The invaders were slipping and sliding all over, completely out of control.

  Before they could recover I moved towards them, reached out with telekinesis and pulled their weapons away from them. They made a feeble attempt to grab the weapons as they left, but that just made the men fall flat on their faces.

  Phoenix came running up and sent, “I got this,” then, with a flick of his wrist, a small amount of dust spread out and covered the men. They were all instantly asleep.

  “Excellent! Leave them here, but take all their weapons. When we find some allies we can send those back for them,” I sent.

  Once we had their weapons, we took off back down the corridor. They would sleep for hours if left alone. It was awkward carrying all the weapons while running, but I could not see any place to ditch them.

  As we came around another bend we were ambushed again, but this time I was too far from Phoenix to cover him. I fell back from the fire and looked over at him. To my surprise, he was crouched on the floor surrounded by a blue-green bubble from which weapon fire was being harmlessly deflected.

  “Phoenix, stay just like that for a moment then, when I tell you, run behind me and turtle up like that again. Got it?”

  “Yes,” was his terse reply. I could sense that he was very much afraid. I was not surprised because to the best of my knowledge this was only the second real fight in his life, and the first had left him on the edge of death.

  I gathered the handful of weapons we had taken from the previous group of boarders and tossed them into a pile just out of sight around the corner. I fell back a few paces and sent, “Now!” to Phoenix, who then moved as fast as he could manage and dove behind me onto the floor. Once he was in place and his bubble back up, I moved behind him.

  I was barely ready when the attackers came around the corner. As they approached the pile of weapons I tossed a small ball of energy into the pile, which caused the power packs on the guns to explode. I ducked behind Phoenix’s bubble and was safe from the explosion, but our attackers were not so lucky. The blast left massive scorch marks in the corridor, and the hard metal walls were visibly bowed outward. What was left of the attackers’ bodies was strewn about randomly.

  “Let’s move before more appear,” I said, helping Phoenix to his feet.

  As we passed the bodies of the invaders, I noticed that Phoenix was visibly pale and shaking a little. I did my best to hurry him through and shield his view of the carnage. Once we had left the bodies out of sight he was a bit stronger and we were able to make better time. I was no longer sure where we were going, but I knew we had to stay on the move until we had more information.

  Eventually we came across a firefight between some station guards and a well-entrenched group of invaders. The weapon fire between both sides was intense, and the station guards were obviously in trouble; they were outnumbered and outgunned. I assumed their plan was to hold out until help arrived, but since they were the first guards we had seen I knew that help must be a long way off. I took hold of Phoenix and quickly moved to join them at the barrier they had erected.

  “Look, I don’t know who you are or how you got here, but this is no place for civilians. Get out of here!” said their commander.

  “I am Ambassador Shadow of Alpha Academy, and this is my assistant Phoenix,” I said.

  “Even worse,” he groaned. No doubt he was worried that if we got killed it would start a war, and that would be blamed on him.

  “No need to worry. I am a vet of The Great War, and we can help break up this little party for you,” I said, cutting him off.

  “If you are really a vet, then grab a gun and start shooting,” he said. “We have to hold out for a bit longer till reinforcements can reach us.”

  “I have a better plan. Phoenix, I need cover so light up their world,” I said.

  “Barbeque style?” he asked.

  “Of course, that is your specialty,” I replied with as much encouragement as I could muster.

  “Let’s do this!” he called out then stood up, chanting command words of power. As he stood, the fight seemed to pause for a moment as power gathered around him. I know there was no actual pause, but something seemed to change as he engaged in the fight. I could not identify where the change lay, however.

  Soon he was throwing multiple balls of fire towards the enemy line. I called out, “Charge!” and jumped over the barricades racing after the fireballs. The enemy was caught completely off guard and dove for cover, which gave me the break I had hoped for.

  I reached out with my power, lifted up their barricades and threw them into their line. Soon bolts of energy were flying past me as the guards joined my rush on the enemy position. With the barricades torn down and the chaos caused by Phoenix’s fireballs, the invaders were unable to mount much of a defense and soon most of them were killed. Those who remained surrendered.

  Once the area was secured, the commander said to me, “Thank you, Ambassador, but please do not do anything that crazy again,” he said.

  I chuckled and said, “Glad we could help. What is the status of the attack?”

  “Last report I have is that there is a fleet of ships attacking anything they can without coming within range of the station’s guns. They must have been sneaking in men and weapons for some time, as there are dozens of squads attempting to take control of key sections of the station. Most of our men have them pinned down like this group was, but we are spread out far too much and cannot bring enough men to bear at any one place,” he said.

  “The ships outside are just to prevent the Navy from helping, then,” I said. It was a brilliant plan really, and one that was likely to succeed if they had sufficient forces inside to pull it off. �
��Commander, where are they making the strongest push?”

  “The central computer core,” he said.

  That made sense; from there they could take control of many key systems around the station. “How do we get there from here?” I asked.

  After he had finished telling me, I looked over and noticed that Phoenix was not doing well at all. A couple of the station guards were assisting him, and it looked like he had been sick.

  “His first fight, I assume?” asked the commander.

  “Yes, he has never seen anything like this before,” I said with great sadness. I knew what he was facing, and it would destroy something inside him. The childlike joyfulness he had would be forever overshadowed by the deaths brought about by his attack.

  “Blasted shame,” the commander said.

  I walked over and told Phoenix, “Sorry you had to see this.”

  “I’ll be okay, man,” he said. He made an attempt to stand tall and look brave and asked, “What’s our next step, Shadow?”

  “We go where the enemy is the strongest. That is the most likely place to find what we came for, or at least acquire more information,” I said.

  “Then we’d better get going,” he said with a slight quiver in his voice.

  I thought about leaving him behind with the station guards, but I knew that was too dangerous. If the sorcerers were behind this attack, he would be a sitting duck without my help.

  “Commander, please call ahead to your men and let them know we are en route. I would like a warmer greeting next time,” I said with a wink.

  “Here, take this communicator. That will allow you to keep up with developments on the station,” he said.

  “Thank you, sir,” I said.

  “Look, I don’t know exactly why you are here, but if you need any help just give a holler. You’ve certainly earned that much,” he said.

  After thanking him again for his help and telling him about the boarders we left sleeping, we set off at the best pace I felt Phoenix could manage. I did not envy the struggle that must have been going on inside him as he dealt with what he had just seen. All warriors have to face it, and it is always at the worst possible time.