A spaceship that could get sick: that possibility didn’t sound good. “Masters, what would happen if Nemesis did get sick?”
“We don’t even know if it’s possible, but assuming it is, I would assume that the ship itself would have unexplainable malfunctions,” commented Master Kellyn. Looking pensive for a moment, she continued. “When people get sick they often get sluggish, so perhaps the first symptom we might notice in Nemesis is reduced responsiveness of the computers and other controls. That’s just a guess.”
Grandmaster Vydor smiled at her. “Your guess is worth more than most people’s well-researched reports, but I believe this is a more mundane problem. Return with Master Spectra and check things, to be sure, but I believe the shipyards will have the answer Greymere is seeking.”
He offered everyone a drink before continuing. “Since you are both here, I would like to return to the topic we discussed at our last meeting.”
“The person you want me to train?” I asked.
“Yes. His name is Lyshell, and the seed I have planted is beginning to sprout. He will soon be here in the kingdom, probably in the next few weeks,” he said.
“Grandmaster, what exactly do you expect Greymere to do for him?” asked Master Spectra.
Grandmaster Vydor turned toward Spectra. “Lyshell is broken, physically and mentally, but he does not know it yet. He carries on in a near-dead state without the knowledge that there are better possibilities for him. When we pull back that veil, he may spiral into deep depression.”
“That sounds more like a job for Shea,” commented Spectra.
“I expect she will be of great assistance, but Greymere was once in the same position that Lyshell will soon be. That experience may be the means of bringing Lyshell back from the edge when everything comes crashing down around him.”
Master Spectra looked at me. “There’s a story here that I’m missing.”
I smiled. “Master, I have lived many lives over the years and some of them were, shall we say, far more depressing than this one.”
She turned to Grandmaster Vydor, tensing her back. “Are you planning to take Greymere from us?”
“No, but I am going to ask you and Dusty to take on a new magus.”
“A spiritualist?” she asked, relaxing back into her seat.
“No; a new line to us actually, one from nature-craft,” he said. He smoothed a wrinkle in his robe and went on. “Raquel calls him a ranger. He has powers over weather, wards, some specialized tracking and concealment. I am still researching the details. Unfortunately, our information is sparse without access to Mantis’s library.”
The room was quiet for a few moments as we took everything in.
“Grandmaster, are you sure that Nemesis is the best place for him? He’d get better training here,” she asked.
“Training in his magic, yes, but I fear that without Shea and Greymere he will not survive. However, that ship is Dusty’s to command. If he decides not to take on Lyshell, I will find another way to help him.”
Master Spectra turned to me. “Can you take on a second apprentice who could be far needier than your first?”
I wasn’t certain I could, but I didn’t want to turn down someone in need. “Masters, what if he is put in Shea’s care and I help as much as I can?”
Master Kellyn smiled. “That was my recommendation.”
Grandmaster Vydor squeezed her hand.
Master Spectra looked my way and sent privately, “Are you sure? We both know Dusty will jump to help this Lyshell, but if it is too much for you, I can intervene on your behalf.”
“It might be, but I want to help,” I sent. I had years of abandoning people to make up for.
24
03-22-0065 — Shadow
Mathorn, Raquel, Grandmaster Vydor and myself were in the gate chamber getting ready to leave for the Hospital Station in the Phareon System. The gate chamber was a large, stone room with no doors or entrances of any kind. On one wall was a large stone ring carved with intricate magical runes. The ring was capable of transporting us to any other gate in the realm, indeed even to other realms, and soon would take us across the light millennia to the Hospital Station.
We did not need the gate to get there; each of us had our own way of crossing the distance, but it was time for other personnel to make the trip and to bring supplies. Also, if we made the trip via the gate Raquel did not need to waste any of her limited casting ability, and we would be on hand to defend the gate if needed.
Three beasts lay lazily next to the stone ring. They were massive lizard-like creatures with red scales, about thirty meters long from the tip of their snout to the tip of their tail, with massive, bat-like leather wings. Their enormous bodies and four tree-like legs hinted at great power. I had been told long ago that they were here to discourage unauthorized access, which they did very well. I certainly had no desire to cross them; even now, as an accomplished spellweaver, I did not want to challenge them.
We had many more of these creatures so that three could always be here on guard duty while the others got exercise and fresh air. A planet had been set aside for their care. Fortunately, we had been able to secure enough of them to form a sustainable population before we lost all trade with Korshalemia. One of these days I hoped to visit that planet and see the majestic creatures in a more natural environment.
“Are you sure it is still there?” I asked, drawing my mind back to the matter at hand.
“Absolutely. I can sense it still. I completely disabled it and concealed its power. Anyone looking for it should think it destroyed, but the cover is a thin sham at best. It is only a matter of time until someone unearths it,” said Raquel.
She was a tall and powerful woman yet an old one, older than any other living creature that I knew of. She was born over ten millennia ago in the first age of magic, before reality was torn asunder. She and her late husband had spent the intervening time in magical stasis, waiting for the return of magic, and had arrived on the scene just in time to defeat a powerful necromancer from their own time who had got there a little earlier.
“What are we going to do with it when we find it?” I asked.
“That is a good question, Shadow,” said Grandmaster Vydor. He thought it over for a moment. “I suggest we set it up in the gate chamber on the Hospital Station.”
As time passed, Grandmaster Vydor had begun to look more and more like the supreme wizard he now was. He still had the athletic body of a soldier, but his face was creased with premature age lines, and his shoulder-length dark hair was speckled with gray. I did not envy him the immense weight of his responsibilities.
“Grandmaster, why place it at such a distance?” asked Raquel.
“You said that there are others out there who can track its location and use it, did you not?” he asked.
“Yes, once re-enabled.”
“Then placing it there prevents those unknown persons from using it to launch an attack on our region, but keeps it close to another gate for easy access,” he said.
Raquel looked very concerned at this idea. “Grandmaster, I would prefer if it were somewhere safer. I lack the ability to craft a new one, and there are only two in this entire realm.”
“Then let us place it here in this room. It will be protected in the same way as our current gate,” suggested Grandmaster Vydor.
“Thank you, Grandmaster. I would much rather have limited access to the gate than have it unprotected.”
“Your access will not be limited. I will ensure that you can use it as much as you need to,” he said.
Raquel smiled. “You are too kind. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”
He tipped his hat and bowed. “When you find it, bring it to the Hospital Station and set it up there until things can be made ready here. May the Creator bless you and keep you.” He bowed and took his leave of us.
Supplies and staff had been moving through the gate all the time we were talking. The elite wizards who made up the gat
e guard were fanned out and ready for trouble. Opening this gate was always risky, as gates could be intercepted; if one of our many enemies succeeded in doing that, they could use it as a means of moving a large force directly into our kingdom.
So far no one had tried that. However, several attempts had been made to get a lone magus through unseen. These magi were usually eaten by the beasts guarding the portal. To the best of our knowledge no one has succeeded in getting through, but I knew that was only a matter of time.
The gatemaster looked at me. “Master Shadow, you can cross over when you’re ready.”
“Thank you,” I said.
The wizards here were all elite level, but our newly-created rank of sub-master meant that the three of us outranked them. I wondered how they felt about that. For decades they had been ranked as the second-highest wizard level, with only the Wizard’s Council senior to them, but now a new rank had been inserted over them. In effect, they had all been demoted by one level, but if it bothered them they did not show it.
An azure circle glowed softly inside the stone ring, pulsing slightly as people and supplies moved through the gate, effortlessly spanning thousands of lightyears in a few moments of time. At one time a gate could open anywhere, but as reality stabilized that situation had changed. To cross the distances essential to a galaxy-spanning civilization now required a gate to be installed at each end of the journey.
Reality was still badly scarred, and we were finding pockets where magic was even more chaotic than in the early days of this second age. The more we studied the results of the spell that had torn reality, the more doubts were cast on our knowledge. It seemed that the tear was less perfect than we had originally thought, and the healing process far short of what we had hoped.
When the last of the supplies had passed out of sight through the gate, I followed Grandmaster Vydor’s example and gave a bow and a blessing before leading the others through. I did not know if the blessing had any power but hoped it had.
At the other side of the gate, Doctor Leslie and Doctor Hawthorne were waiting for us.
“Master Shadow!” called Doctor Leslie with joy in her voice. “I haven’t seen you in ages! How is Master Flame? The kids?”
I smiled. “You will have to take some time off and visit us to find out.”
“That’s evil. Pure evil,” she chided.
Flame, my team and myself had rescued her out of slavery during an early mission, but it had been a long time since our paths had crossed. Perhaps it was habit born out of her time as a slave, or a desire to prove herself worthy of her new position, but she had become immersed in her work; too much so.
“Oh, is it evil now to care about your health? Well, then, I had better give you fair warning: Flame is far more evil than I.”
“I know, I know!” she sighed and greeted the others.
When the pleasantries were complete I said, “As much as I would like to converse with everyone, we have a mission to complete.”
Raquel was worried that, if we waited too long, Henrick would realize what we were doing and get there first. As I understood it he could not use the gate, but she did not want to risk it, nor to risk the loss of the gate.
“Raquel, can you gate us from here?” I asked.
“Yes. Are you ready?” she asked.
I nodded.
I watched her closely as she cast and saw some of her power leach away into the spell itself. I knew of her curse and Master Kellyn’s work on it, but this was the first time I had had the opportunity to see its effect. The curse was unlike anything we had seen before: she died a little with each spell she cast, and eventually needed to return to her homeworld to recharge.
There was a pattern to the curse, since all magic was just patterns of energy. If I could find it, I could unweave it and she would be free. Of course, if it had been simple to find Grandmaster Vydor would already have done so, but that would not prevent me from trying. There had to be a way to unweave the curse; it was just a matter of finding it.
When we were through the gate, I watched as she canceled the spell; no power returned to her but she lost no more either. Each time a person travels through a gate, power is drained from the casting magus. I had expected that to mean that a little of Raquel’s life would be drawn away also, but that seemed to be an incorrect assumption; only the actual casting was an issue. That must mean something, but what?
“Henrick is watching us,” Mathorn sent.
“Bah,” sent Raquel.
I should have detected his spying before Mathorn, but I had been too involved in studying Raquel’s spell. It seemed I still could learn something from my old teacher.
“As expected,” I said. Since three sub-master wizards had traveled out here, he was bound to be interested in our activities.
“What shall we do?” asked Raquel.
“Carry on as planned. He will not interfere; that is not his style,” I sent.
We were standing in a large crater which Raquel told us was where the Night Wisp had met its end. The ship had been overrun by the sorcerers’ creations and Zah’rak did not want to risk the gate falling into enemy hands, so he ordered the Phareon military to destroy the craft from orbit.
“This is an impressive crater. It is hard to imagine anything surviving this,” I commented. I expanded my awareness and quickly saw Henrick’s watchful eye; I also felt the power from the dormant gate, buried well below the surface. “I see it. We will have to dig for it.”
“That was the intention of the strike,” sent Raquel as she surveyed the area. “I came back here to disable and conceal it as soon as I had sufficiently recovered so that no one would notice it survived. I will unearth it.”
“There is no need,” said Mathorn, pulling out a scroll and reading it aloud. As he did so the paper burned up, releasing its stored magic and summoning two massive earth elementals. “My friends here will dig it up.”
As the elementals went to work I asked, “Why do you use scrolls so often? You could easily weave the pattern to summon them yourself.”
A spellweaver of his experience could cast almost any spell. The only arts beyond a spellweaver’s domain were life weaving and whatever art Shea practiced. Shea’s art was still a mystery to me. Spectra had called her a cleric, but I could not find that in any of the tomes in the library back at the academy. Someday I would question her more closely on the subject.
“What would be a better use for my power - digging a hole, or being ready for Henrick and anyone else who might appear?” answered Mathorn.
That was a good point. It seemed that there was much still to learn from my old teacher.
25
03-22-0065 Henrick
Henrick floated above as Mathorn’s elementals dug up the gate. The creatures worked deliberately and diligently. Their light brown skin contrasted with the blackened sides of the crater. They worked in complete silence, only the sound of moving rocks giving any indication of their presence. Mathorn and Shadow were some way down the hole, sharing a silent conversation. Raquel was standing alone at the rim of the depression, looking down inside.
Henrick was not watching the elementals or the two wizards. His attention was fixed on Raquel.
“Raquel, why do you continue with this charade?” he sent.
“What charade?” she replied.
“You are no wizard, and neither was Narcion,” he sent back.
“Titles are worthless. As you of all people should know,” she fired back.
Henrick smiled and drifted down by her side, turning his attention to the rock creatures digging up the gate. He floated there watching them dig for a while. Occasionally some debris would fly his way and pass right through him.
“They know of your presence,” sent Raquel.
“Of course they do. They may be wizards, but they are not blind,” he sent.
“They are more powerful than you estimate,” she sent.
“Perhaps, but you are far greater than they. Why do you continue
to play this game?” he sent.
Raquel said nothing for a long while. They both stood there in silence as the gate slowly appeared from the ground. The intricate carvings and ornate rings seemed unharmed by the mountain of rock and debris that had covered them.
“You underestimate me, and that is dangerous,” sent Raquel.
“Should I call Curetes to defend me, then?” he sent with lifeless humor.
“You sit in your little office thinking yourself king of the universe. You play with the lives of mundanes as if they were toys and wizards as if they were mere servants at your pleasure.”
“But they are, my dear, they are.”
“I am a viper in your grass, Henrick, and you are no snake charmer,” she sent back. Her mental voice was as cold as ice but under laid by fire. She never looked his way, preferring to watch the elementals work around the gate.
“Is that any way for a wizard to talk?” he sent.
Raquel flinched at that remark. Silence filled the space between them as the tireless rock creatures continued to unearth the gate. Incredibly, it appeared to be still standing despite all that had happened to it.
“Narcion is gone. You owe them nothing, nor this realm. The entire multiverse is at your fingers, and here you are digging in the dirt.”
“I owe you even less. I know your kind; you are too self-conscious to call yourself a sorcerer but aware that you are no wizard. Instead you play in the shadows between them, trying to steer one side against the other while staying out of the fighting like the coward you are.”
Half the gate was cleared now. The rock creatures worked faster than any man, or even most machines. They worked with precision and never touched the gate, carefully removing everything that covered it.
“Sorcerers and wizards are two sides of the same coin. I am of a different currency,” responded Henrick.
“You are merely the grime in the ridges on the edge of that coin,” countered Raquel.
Mage Hunter (Lost Tales of Power Book 8) Page 12
