Fenmar grew red-faced.
Before the dwarf could speak his mind, Richard beat him to the punch. “It’s not that simple, Tam. Titanium’s a rare element in the magic dimension. I assume that’s why the Dragars raid our physical dimension for it. As far as the blue gems go, I’ve never heard of anyone mining them on Portalis. I’ve encountered weapons and armor with the gems, but I’ve no idea where they came from.”
Tam looked perplexed. “So who made them?”
This time it was Fenmar who answered. “The only known source for the blue gems is the tunnels under Drepdenoris. No new gems have been found since the Dragars’ vampire allies took over our homeland. As far as I know, they don’t exist anywhere else on Portalis. That being the case, you can bet any magic weapons or armor made out of the Holy Metal you’ve seen originally came from the forges under Drepdenoris.”
“Well,” Richard said trying to be tactful. “It’s a big universe. I got sent on a mission once to find 2,500 of those blue gems.”
Fenmar looked doubtful. “Where?”
“A very long ways from here,” Richard said not wanting to have to explain his mission had been in the spiritual dimension for ‘the One.’
Master Garis took on an interested look. “Do you still have them? Can you get them?”
Richard shook his head. “No. A couple a hundred have already been used. The other 2,250 or so are on another planet called Storage for safe keeping. I’ve got no way of retrieving them.”
Tam sighed. “Too bad you don’t have your dimensional pack. If you had it, you could summon those blue gems. I’ll bet you could even get all the titanium we’d need as well.”
“What pack is that?” asked Master Garis.
Before Richard could stop her, Tam began explaining. “It’s a dimensional pack. Rick here can summon lots of things with it.” She held her hands out with palms facing toward each other. “It’s about this high and yea-wide. It’s dull black color that seems to suck in light. I’ve even seen it take on the color of the background as camouflage on occasion.”
“Dull black, you say,” said Fenmar. His voice sounded strange. “And it can take on the background colors sometimes?”
“Sometimes,” said Tam confirming the dwarf’s question. “Why the sudden interest?”
The dwarf removed his apron and handed it to one of his assistants. “Take over for me, Zesstra.”
Turning to Richard and the others, Fenmar said, “Come with me. I think there’s something you should see.”
Curious, Richard followed the dwarf. Tam and Master Garis trailed behind. Richard wasn’t sure what was going on, but his intuition was tingling like crazy. He’d had the feeling before and knew what it meant.
‘The One,’ Richard thought. His fingerprints are all over this. I’d bet my life on it.
Richard had a feeling he was probably betting the lives of his friends as well.
Chapter 32 –The Gift
____________________
After a half hour and a lot of ups and downs along twisting tunnels, Richard, Tam, and Master Garis finally followed Fenmar into a side tunnel with two fierce-looking guards standing outside. They were dressed in full-plate armor and carried battle-axes with blue gems in their handles. Richard picked up strong magic from both of the dwarves’ armor and weapons.
The older of the two dwarves nodded his head in recognition. “General.”
Richard noticed a smile creep over Fenmar’s lips.
Fenmar turned to Richard and the others. “I keep telling this old fool I’m not a general anymore. Does he listen? No.”
The older guard grinned back. “You’ll always be General Fenmar to me, sir, as well as to the other surviving Drepdenoris dwarves. If that makes us fools, then so be it.”
Curious, Richard asked, “Are there many survivors?”
Fenmar shrugged. “Just a couple of thousand now. We grow fewer every decade. One day there’ll be no one to serve Queen Emerald when she regains her throne.”
“Queen?” asked Tam sounding confused. “Emerald never mentioned being a queen.”
“She wouldn’t,” said Fenmar. “She refuses to take the title until our homeland is rid of Lord Cancontus and his servants. She says until she holds the Gem Defender in her hands and takes the solemn oath in the presence of the Mountain’s Heart, she cannot truly be queen.”
“You’ve lost me,” said Tam. “What’s this Gem Defender and Mountain’s Heart?”
“Ah,” said Fenmar. “You may as well ask what the Drepdenoris dwarves are. The Mountain’s Heart is the mother of all blue gems. Since the dawn of dwarf history, the Mountain’s Heart has sustained the Drepdenoris dwarves. Its magic reverberates throughout our home, providing warmth and energy.” The dwarf pointed at Richard’s dagger. “The blue gem in the dagger you hold came from the Mountain’s Heart. As I said, it’s the only source of the blue gems in the universe. Only a few chips are taken from the Mountain’s Heart each year, and then only after great discussion and much prayer. All magic armor and magic weapons created of the Holy Metal are powered by chips from the Mountain’s Heart.”
“And the Gem Defender?” asked Tam in an effort to prod the old dwarf along before he got too sidetracked.
“It’s a battle-axe of great magic,” said Fenmar. “It was the first and perhaps the greatest of all magic weapons. It’s been passed down from queen to daughter since our earliest history.” With a sad tone in his voice, Fenmar added, “The Gem Defender was lost when Emerald’s mother, Queen Saphiria, fell. I fear it’s now in the hands of the vampire, Lord Cancontus. I’d rather it have been destroyed than to fall into his vile hands.”
While the dwarf’s story was interesting, Richard didn’t think it had anything to do with their current mission. He decided to get things moving again.
“Not to be pushy, Fenmar,” Richard said, “but why have you brought us here?”
“Ah, yes,” said Fenmar. “Master Garis told me you were the impatient one.”
Richard folded his arms and glared at the dwarf. Why can’t people just get to the point?
“Very well,” continued Fenmar. “This treasury room was provided by King Graphon to my people as a place of safekeeping for what few items of wealth we were able to salvage when we were driven out of Drepdenor. Shortly after our arrival, a strange item appeared inside the vault. The treasury room was closely guarded at the time, yet the item somehow found its way inside.”
“What item is that?” Richard asked. His curiosity was piqued.
The dwarf didn’t answer with words. Instead, he nodded to the older guard. The guard opened the door to the vault revealing what was inside.
On a shelf in the center of the room was a dull-black pack.
Chapter 33 – Politics
____________________
Richard sat in the room with the other wizard scouts, Fenmar, Master Garis, General Dandridge, Emerald and Chancee, and the two teenagers looking expectantly at him.
Pointing to the pack Richard held in his hands, Jerad said, “What’s this mean, Rick? Since you’re wearing your battle suit and carrying your weapons, I’m assuming it’s your dimensional pack. Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re right,” Richard said.
It hadn’t taken long for Richard to convince Fenmar to let him take the pack and try it out. That it was his dimensional pack, Richard knew. It was marked as 3 of 55. He’d had two packs destroyed on previous missions, so he knew this was the pack he’d been using before he’d been teleported out of the Defiant. What it was doing in the dwarves’ treasury room or how it had gotten there he didn’t know. All he knew was that it was his, and it worked. At least it worked to an extent.
Richard shoved the pack across the table into Jerad’s hands. “It’s mine, but it’s only partially functional. I was able to summon my battle suit and weapons plus a basic load of ammo. I was also able to summon Myers’s battle suit and weapons. That’s it. When I tried to get gear for the rest of you, nothing happened. I can’t even su
mmon something as simple as food. I don’t know why.”
Placing his battle helmet on the table, Richard decided to ask someone who might know the answer. “Do you want to try and explain, Nick?”
Nickelo’s voice came over the helmet’s external speakers. “Always leaving me with the difficult jobs, aren’t you? Very well, I’ll do my best. Once you were all teleported out of the Defiant, we received orders through the tele-network to pick up a passenger on Storage.”
“You didn’t tell me that,” Richard protested.
“I haven’t told you a lot of things,” said Nickelo. “Now, do you want me to tell this story or do you want to do it?”
Richard looked at Jerad. His friend gave him a knowing smile. Apparently, all wizard scouts had trouble with their battle computers.
When Richard didn’t answer, Nickelo said, “Fine. Let me see, where was I? Oh, yes, we received orders to pick up a passenger on Storage. The orders said Sergeant Ron was to transport the passenger to a space station located on the far side of the Crosioian sector.”
“Ha!” laughed Tam. “I’ll bet Sergeant Ron told them what they could do with their orders. He’s not stupid enough to take the Defiant clear across the Crosioian empire just because the empress or ‘the One’ tells him too.”
“Actually,” said Nickelo, “the orders didn’t come from either the empress or ‘the One.’ At least they didn’t come directly from ‘the One.’ The orders were given by someone completely different. They came from someone who Sergeant Ron trusts.”
“That narrows it down,” Richard said. “He doesn’t trust many people. So what idiot gave Sergeant Ron his orders? Five to one whoever it was is some mindless moron doing the biddings of ‘the One.’”
Nickelo laughed.
Richard became instantly suspicious.
“You should watch who you’re calling a moron, Rick,” said Nickelo still chuckling. “The orders came from you. Or I should say, they were given using your security code. Even I couldn’t forge the orders because I don’t know the number sequence. You’ve never given it to me.”
“Me!” Rick said. “Bull. I’ve been trapped a hundred thousand years in the past. When did I supposedly give these orders?”
“I’ve no idea,” admitted Nickelo. “Regardless, the orders came from you. They were forwarded to Sergeant Ron by Keka Derberlon.”
“Dren and Brachia’s Keka?” Richard asked.
“The one and the same,” said Nickelo. “Part of your orders told Sergeant Ron to place the gear for the wizard scouts with you into your dimensional pack. Before you so rudely pulled me out of your dimensional pack an hour ago, I was on a shelf in a warehouse on Storage. The battle helmets and gear for the other wizard scouts were there as well. Based upon your orders, they got us off the Defiant very quickly. I calculate it had something to do with not wanting to unintentionally change the future by giving us knowledge we might use in the past.”
Jerad tapped the table nervously, thinking. “What about the Defiant’s mysterious passenger. Who was it?”
“Beats me,” said Nickelo. “All I could find out was that Keka had a passenger for the Defiant to transport. Margery says she was told the passenger would be doing a snatch mission to retrieve the bottles of DNA gas.”
“What?” said Myers growing suddenly interested. “That DNA gas belongs to the empress.”
Richard grew angry. The bottles of refined DNA gas came from sacrificed dragons. As far as he was concerned, the gas didn’t belong to anyone.
Jerad ignored Myers and continued his discussion with Nickelo.
“The Oracle told Gaston and Rick we needed those bottles of DNA gas to destroy the Dragars’ temple and neutralize the blue gem,” said Jared.
“You mean the Mountain’s Heart,” corrected Fenmar.
Deferring to the dwarf, Jerad said, “I stand corrected. We need the DNA gas to neutralize the Mountain’s Heart.”
“According to Margery,” said Nickelo, “the passenger’s mission is to bring the bottles of DNA gas to you here.”
“Impossible,” Richard said. “We’re a hundred thousand years in the past. Even if this passenger of yours could time travel, they wouldn’t know when or where to go.”
“Sure they would,” said Nickelo sounding way too superior for Richard’s liking. “You included specific coordinates and a time in the orders.”
Things were getting way too confusing for Richard. He preferred action to words. “Fine. Whatever. So where is this mysterious passenger of yours? What are we supposed to do next?”
“How would I know?” said Nickelo. “Like I said, Sergeant Ron stuck me in your dimensional pack before we got to Storage. If you’re asking for a recommendation, I’d suggest talking to the Oracle one more time.”
Chapter 34 – Jeena and the Oracle
____________________
The Oracle sat on the same cushion where Jeena had left her during their last meeting. Once again, Jeena sat cross-legged facing the small girl. Brachia and Dren sat in a similar fashion to her left and right.
“What do you mean we won’t be coming back?” asked Dren. “It’s taken us three years to get the time-displacement unit running on the teleporter. How’s Jeehana going to take the bottles of DNA gas back to Uncle Rick and the others? She’ll need us to run the equipment.”
“Yeah,” said Brachia, who for once was on his sister’s side in an argument. “No offense, but you’re a hologram. It’s not like you can push buttons and operate the equipment.”
The Oracle smiled. It was a friendly smile. “It’s true the only holographic equipment still functioning in this crumbling palace is in this room. However, I don’t need to operate your teleport device.”
A lot of what the Oracle and the children discussed the last thirty minutes had gone over Jeena’s head. It was all very confusing. The one thing she had picked up on was that once her mission in the future was completed, she needed to return to the children’s lab at the Oracle’s to get sent into the past.
“Am I supposed to operate the equipment myself?” Jeena asked sounding dubious. As a high elf, she was very smart, but most of the children’s technology was still a mystery to her.
The hologram of the small girl which was the Oracle smiled. “Brachia and Dren will set the equipment on automatic. Your staff will bring you back here once you get the DNA gas. The children’s teleporter will be preset to take you to my form in the past. My form there will tell you what to do next.”
The Oracle turned to Dren. “Have you told the high priestess about the data disk?”
Jeena looked at Dren. “The what?”
The teenager pulled a disk out of her pocket and handed it over. “This is a data disk. The Oracle put orders inside one like it for the earlier version of herself. Brachia and I used our combination teleport and time-displacer to send it a hundred thousand years in the past. We also used the teleporter to send holographic equipment there.”
“Uh…why?” Jeena asked. That the Oracle needed to tell itself something went against everything she’d been told about prophetic beings.
“Because,” said the Oracle, “my form in the past doesn’t know what needs to be done. Also, what information I give to myself in the past must be handled delicately. What happened, happened. We dare not try to change it. Nevertheless, we can safely provide information to variables in the past that is required but which won’t cause the recipients of the information to change what they’ve already done in the past. Does that seem logical?”
Jeena held up her hands in a stopping motion. “Fine,” Jeena said. “Whatever.” Sometimes a part of her rebelled against things when they got too complex. This was one of those times.
Dren and Brachia gave her a strange look. Brachia leaned over and whispered something in Dren’s ear. The teenage girl nodded her head before turning back to Jeena.
“What did you just say?” asked Dren.
Something in the girl’s voice told Jeena to be cautious. She thoug
ht for a moment before answering. “I said ‘fine.’”
“No,” said Dren. “I mean after that. You said ‘whatever.’ I’ve never heard you use the word in that manner before.”
“So?” Jeena said becoming even more cautious. “I only meant let’s get on with it. I’m tired of talking. I’m ready to do something.”
Brachia grinned. “We know what you meant, Jeehana. We say it sometimes ourselves. We picked up the habit from our uncle.”
“So?” Jeena asked again.
“Oh, nothing,” said Dren.
Jeena didn’t think it was nothing, but before she could pursue the matter further, the Oracle spoke.
“I agree with the high priestess. It is time to get moving. Once you’ve taken the DNA gas to the past, you’ll be met by two variables. They’ll help you complete your mission.”
Jeena saw a potential flaw in the plan. “Once I’ve performed my task, will I be returned to the present time? Or will I—”
“Be stuck in the past?” finished the Oracle. “You may use your staff to return to the teleport pad in the current time. Just press the runes on the staff in the manner you’ve been instructed. And remember that the first two uses are preset. The first use will bring you back from the future. The second use will bring you back from a hundred thousand years in the past. After that, the charges for the time-displacer will be burned out. Once that occurs, the Staff of the Lady of the Tree will only be capable of normal teleportation.”
“But—”
“There are no buts,” said the Oracle. “Now go.”
At those words, the Oracle slapped her hands together.
Jeena felt her body tingle as the room went in and out of focus. Then everything went black.
Chapter 35 – Keka
____________________
The large insect resembled a human-sized cockroach. Two of its six appendages moved over the display console, sliding and pushing holographic levers and buttons.
Keka Derberlon crossed his antennae for luck. As a scientist, he knew it was a useless superstition, but he didn’t care. He’d done all he’d been ordered over the last year and a half. Even after all of the testing, he still had no idea if the equipment would work properly.
Wizard Rebellion (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 5) Page 30
