Wizard Rebellion (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 5)

by Rodney Hartman

  Jeena noticed Dren shake her head.

  “Not possible, Jeehana. The location of the space station is near an anomaly called a black hole. The hole is so powerful it even sucks light into it. Any teleport beams would be taken in as well. Only a starship with a good hyper-drive can get to or from the space station. Trying to do a normal teleport there would be certain death.”

  Jeena thought she detected a flaw in Dren’s answer. “I’ll be using my staff to teleport off the space station and back to Portalis. What’s to prevent Stella and me from being sucked into this ‘black hole’ of yours?”

  A raspy voice spoke up. “I can answer that, High Priestess.”

  The owner of the voice was the dragon, Bright Wing. She was curled up on top of one of the galley’s cupboards.

  Jeena gave the dragon her best smile. She’d come to like the little reptile. “Then please do. You’re as wise as you are beautiful.”

  The dragon gave a toothy grin. “Now there’s someone who knows her manners. The rest of you should take notes.”

  “This isn’t the time for good manners,” said Sergeant Ron sounding grumpier than usual. “If you’ve got something to say, say it. The longer the Defiant stays in Crosioian space, the more likely it is that one of their recon ships will spot us.”

  “Very well, Captain,” said Bright Wing sounding as if she wasn’t at all affronted by Sergeant Ron’s words. “I’m a dragon. I’m very good at sensing flows of Power. Based upon the flows in your staff, Jeehana, I can tell you that your staff will simultaneously shift you into another dimension when it does the teleport. I can sense the black hole. It connects this dimension with another. However, it doesn’t extend into the magical dimension. That’s why you can safely teleport to Portalis. By the way, that’s also how Rick’s spirit-horse and his dolgars travel. They combine dimensional shifting with teleportation. We dragons can do the same. That’s how we can travel long distances.”

  Sergeant Ron turned and faced the dragon. “Then why haven’t you said something before now instead of letting us flap our gums for the past hour. If you can do what you’re saying, then you can get Stella and Jeehana onboard.”

  “Negative,” said Margery over the galley’s intercom. “Bright Wing’s too young. She’s barely able to teleport herself. She can only travel short distances. If we got close enough to the space station for her to teleport, we’d be detected.”

  The battle computer, Danny, spoke next. “That’s why our original plan needed Rick’s spirit-horse. The older the spirit-horse or dolgar, the farther they can dimensional shift and teleport. It’s unfortunate Bright Wing isn’t older. In a few thousand years, I calculate she could do as you ask. However, I also calculate remaining in our current position and waiting four thousand years or so for her to sufficiently age is out of the question.”

  “You calculated that all by your lonesome?” asked Sergeant Ron putting a lot of sarcasm into the question. “I ain’t got no nanosecond brain and I could’ve told—”

  The ceaseless back and forth discussion finally took its toll on Jeena. Something snapped inside her. She slammed her fist down on the table.

  Bang! “Enough!” Jeena said. Although she’d tried hard all her life to control her temper, she sometimes failed. This was one of those times. “I didn’t come through time and space to listen to endless arguing. I need solutions.”

  Ignoring the shocked looks of everyone at the table, Jeena pointed to Bright Wing. The dragon was still curled up on the cupboard. “If you were older, could you or could you not teleport Stella and I from our current location to the space station?”

  Bright Wing didn’t answer right away. She stood and jumped lightly to the center of the table. Once there, she looked directly into Jeena’s eyes. “Yes I could, but as Danny said, only an ancient dragon could do what you require. I won’t have sufficient abilities for thousands of years. I’m sorry, High Priestess. I’m still what the humans would call a pre-teen.”

  “How old would you need to be?” Jeena asked. “How much would you have to age?”

  The dragon took on an expression as if wondering whether Jeena was serious or not. Finally, Bright Wing answered. “At least another 3,500 years, Jeehana.”

  Sergeant Ron stood up. “I don’t see what this—”

  Jeena stood up and whirled to face Comstar, her temper in full swing. She was the high priestess of the Lady of the Tree. She was in charge now, and wasn’t about to let anyone keep her quiet. “Can you perform a polymorph spell?” Jeena asked her fellow elf.

  The gray-haired elf looked back at Jeena. His eyes took on an expression of understanding.

  Jeena took that as a good sign until the male elf shook his head.

  “No, Jeehana. I see where you’re headed, but I can’t. Neither can any of the gnome mages. We were slaves. The Dragars only allowed us to memorize spells we needed in order to charge their weapons. What few spell books we have only contain offensive spells such as fireballs and lightning bolts. Even if we had the skill, we don’t have a polymorph spell in our books. We can’t do what you ask.”

  “Could you if you had the spell?” Jeena asked.

  “Will you wait one darn minute,” said Sergeant Ron. “What are you two talking about? I’m the captain of this ship, you know? It’d be nice to at least have a clue what’s going on.”

  Jeena’s temper had calmed somewhat. It had always been thus; quick to come and quick to depart. She turned to face the Defiant’s captain. “Two years ago, a polymorph spell was cast on me. It turned me into an old woman. It wasn’t a low-level spell, which only superficially made me look like an old woman. I actually became an old hag; weak muscles, rotted teeth, the works. Brachia saw me. He can tell you.”

  “I remember,” said Brachia while making a ‘yuk’ look with his face. “It was a good spell. You were very ugly.”

  Comstar turned to the captain. “I think Jeehana hopes to cast such a spell on Bright Wing. It’s an advanced mage spell. When I say advanced, I mean it’s so complex only the most powerful of mages can hope to control the flows of magic energy required to make the spell work. The magic would consume a lesser mage.” Glancing back at Jeena, Comstar added, “But we don’t have the spell in our spell books. No one here can do as you ask.”

  Jeena nodded her head as if agreeing with Comstar. However, she was far from defeated. She began thinking frantically. A tingle at the back of her mind told her she was on the right track. From the tingle, she knew the Lady approved.

  “I’m a high priestess. As such, I’m skilled in the ways of the flows of magic. I also have the silver hair and eyes of my ancestor, the High Priestess Shandristiathoraxen, so I’m doubly blessed. I sense your Power reserve, Comstar. It’s quite large. Now tell me, are you skilled enough to cast the spell if you had it? I’m not a mage. I can’t do it myself, but I could help you control the flows of magic if necessary.

  The male elf looked down at the table. He seemed lost in a memory of times past. It was several seconds before he looked back up.

  No one in the room spoke. They barely breathed.

  “I was once blessed by the Creator to be considered one of the most skilled mages on my home world. Mages of advanced levels came to me for training. I had a good life with my mate and my children. Then the Dragars came with their flying ships. We fought. We killed many, but in the end, my people were defeated. My mate and children were…killed. I was spared and taken as a slave to serve the Dragars on one of their destroyers.” Comstar paused before locking eyes with Jeena. “Could I cast such a spell? Yes, but as I told you, I don’t have the spell.”

  Jeena wasn’t about to let a minor problem like that stop her. She turned to the human girl sitting next to her. “Your Keka retrieved us through time from Portalis to Storage. Could he do the same for a spell book?”

  Dren shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way, Jeehana. ‘The One’ gave Keka the exact time and coordinates. Keka was able to teleport us because he knew we’d be st
anding on the teleport platform at the Oracle’s, and he knew exactly when we’d be standing there. Even if we were still there, the Oracle’s library doesn’t have spell books. I looked several times over the past three years. I didn’t find any.”

  Jeena smiled. The tingling at the back of her mind increased. She was definitely on the right track. “That’s because you didn’t look in the right library, Dren. The library in Silverton has copies of every known spell. I’m confident the spell we need is there.”

  “That doesn’t do us any good,” protested Dren. “Keka doesn’t have those coordinates. The teleporter in our lab on Storage is only attuned to the teleport pad in our lab at the Oracle’s. The teleporter I built on Storage was just an experiment. I never thought it would need to go to other places. Someone would have to place the spell on the Oracle’s teleport pad at the right time. Who would do that?”

  Jeena smiled even more. She knew who. “I will.”

  “What?” said more than one person in the room.

  “I’ll do it when I get back,” Jeena explained. “One year to the day after Keka teleported us from your lab at the Oracle’s, I’ll place a copy of the spell we need on the pad.”

  “Well, I don’t kn—” started Dren.

  “Captain Ron,” Jeena said determined not to let even Dren get her discouraged. “Is the Defiant in a position where Keka could teleport something to us if he used one of the normal teleporters on Storage? Or are we too close to the black hole?”

  “Uh, no…, err.., I mean yes, he could teleport something to us,” said Captain Ron. “And no, we’re not too close. We’re still one hyper-jump from the space station. I stopped the Defiant when the dimensional fold was still two light-seconds away. I wasn’t going to make the jump until we knew for sure what we were doing.”

  “That’s good,” Jeena said. Turning back to Dren, Jeena gave her orders. “Contact Keka. Tell him what to do. Give him our location.” Looking back at Sergeant Ron, Jeena said, “I’m assuming the Defiant will need to remain stationary. Make it so.” Jeena made a sweep of the room.

  All eyes were on her.

  “The time for talk is over,” Jeena said. “We leave in an hour.”

  When no one moved, Jeena slammed the butt of the Staff of the Lady of the Tree onto the metal deck.

  The entire ship shuddered.

  “Well?” Jeena said. “Get moving.”

  Everyone moved; even Sergeant Ron.

  Chapter 56 – Dragon-Friend

  ____________________

  Even before the line of Power touched Richard, he recognized it for what it was. The line was part of a Circle. The Circle wasn’t the massive affair Emerald had formed during the battle at Cantonsburg. The links of this Circle only touched the members of the recon teams along with Fenmar and him. The Circle did include four others. Richard recognized the frequencies of three of the others. They were the green, orange, and purple spheres he’d encountered on the mining planet a few months earlier.

  But they’re dead, was all he had time to think before he recognized the frequency of the final member of the Circle. The frequency was that of the demon he’d fought in the valley with the dolgars. The sense of hate and evil was unmistakable.

  Richard sought out the keystone link from the Circle to the demon. He found it, but it was too far away. He’d broken the Circle during his previous battle with the demon by touching its keystone link with the demon essence in his phase rod. He saw no way he could do that now.

  Only a major demon can destroy the link of a major demon, Richard thought. This link’s too far away. I can’t reach it.

  Richard decided to open himself up to the Power of the Circle. His desire for Power had allowed him to take over Emerald’s Circle on the walls of Cantonsburg.

  Maybe I can use the demon’s own Circle to steal his Power, Richard thought. I’ll have to force myself to control the Power this time. I can’t let it overwhelm me.

  With a thought, Richard released a line of Power to the link of the Circle. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out like he’d hoped. Before he could start pulling Power into himself, he was overcome with a sense of warmth and peace. A vision of three spheres of swirling gas; green, orange, and purple filled his mind. Richard dropped his line of Power as all worldly cares left him. This was how things were supposed to be. Everything was perfect. He was at peace.

  A part of Richard’s mind heard shouting. He recognized the voice as that of his battle computer. Richard paid the voice no mind. He was at peace. For once in his life, he was totally happy.

  Richard’s body changed. All aches disappeared. His sense of tiredness and hunger went away. The Circle supplied his every need. He needed nothing but the Circle. He hungered for nothing. He thirsted for nothing. All was well.

  But all was not well. Power from the reserve his body used to self-heal battled to bring his body back to baseline. Since he’d been a little tired and hungry when his DNA baseline had been taken, his baseline was set at a little tired and hungry. While the enthrall spell of the spheres tried to remove any tiredness or hunger, his self-heal dutifully brought the feelings back. The Power of the Circle immediately sought to bring his body back to the Nirvana which was the peace of the spheres. Once again, the Power from his self-healing reserve overrode the perfection of the spheres. The feeling of hunger and tiredness again swept over him driving the peace away. The Power of the Circle and that of his self-heal struggled for dominance. How long the battle would have lasted, Richard didn’t know. Fortunately, something changed.

  “Who are you?” said a thought in Richard’s mind. “We feel as if we know you. Or perhaps we feel as if we will know you.”

  Richard recognized the mental voice. It wasn’t the demon Cancontus. It was the voice of the green sphere.

  The struggle between Richard’s self-heal and the Circle continued, but during a lull when the hunger and tiredness were most prevalent, he had a moment of clarity. He took that moment to answer the green sphere.

  “I’m a dragon-friend,” Richard told the green sphere.

  “Who declared you such?” asked the green sphere.

  “You did,” Richard replied. “We’ve met before; in the future. You tasked me with a mission. You made me promise. I’m here to fulfill that promise.”

  “What promise was that?” asked the green sphere.

  Richard felt the Power of the Circle starting to gain control over him again. With no time for words, he told the story of their last meeting using dragon-speak. He sent the green, orange, and purple spheres his emotions of their last meeting. He sent them the images of the battle between the Defiant and the Dragars’ black starships. He sent them the memories of how they’d helped him escape, and how they’d made him promise to stop the slaughter of the unborn dragons. He sent them everything he remembered.

  Just as the Circle was on the verge of taking control of his mind, the green sphere replied. “Yes, we understand. We haven’t yet met in the future, but that time will soon be here. Come. Come with us.”

  Given the choice of allowing the demon’s Circle to take over his mind or of following the three spheres, Richard chose the spheres.

  The minds of the three spheres combined with Richard’s. He immediately knew what they knew. He felt what they felt. For too many years, he’d been forced to obey the Dragars. For too many years, he’d been forced to listen to the screams of the unborn dragons being slaughtered while helpless to do anything about it.

  Merged as he was with the three spheres, Richard sensed the Dragars’ pyramid under the dome. The pyramid was filled with the sacrificed dragons’ emotional energy.

  Richard remembered being at the temple before. Once again, he was inside the dome. He saw the thousands of slaves standing around the worktables. They were touching hoses filled with the red gas created from the sacrificed dragons to containers made of titanium. The containers were the equivalent of the Empire’s isotopic batteries. The red gas was the refined emotional energy and magi
c of the sacrificed dragons.

  Hundreds of four-armed Thargs were walking between the tables, whipping the slaves. As Richard watched, they beat one of the slaves for no apparent reason other than they seemed to enjoy hearing the screams.

  Richard sensed the location of the three spheres. They were arranged in a triangular formation around the pyramid. Using the knowledge of the spheres, he knew they would stay in the same location until called upon to create a time-gate for the Dragars’ black starships. From the knowledge of their shared minds, he knew they were called to do so often. Even now, dozens of black starships of all sizes were at berths around the spaceport waiting for their turn at a time-gate. A large energy source was near one of the destroyers. A dozen Thargs were using an alien-looking forklift to place a large, blue object in a metal container. Richard had never seen the dwarves’ Mountain’s Heart before, but instinctively knew he was looking at the blue gem they’d been seeking.

  It isn’t even in the tunnels, Richard thought. We walked into a trap for nothing. Switching to his shared space, Richard called out. “Nick! Nick! Are you there?”

  He heard no reply. For some reason, his battle computer wasn’t connected to him.

  “It’s the Power of the Circle,” said the green sphere. “Cancontus is using our natural defensive mechanism to enthrall your companions. How is it that you’re able to resist our peace?”

  Richard knew time was short, yet in a strange way, he sensed he had an eternity of time. The three spheres were actually a special type of dragon. The dragon, of which he was now a part, existed in a time-bubble. From what Richard could tell, their entire conversation was taking less time than it took to blink an eye. On the other hand, it was taking all the time between the here and now, and the time when he would encounter the green sphere a hundred thousand years in the future.

  “How can I resist your peace?” Richard said repeating the sphere’s question. “I guess you can thank my brother for it. Because of him, I missed a meal and lost sleep at a bad time. My body now considers that normal. It’s hard to be at peace when you’re tired and hungry.”