I canceled my tracking spell and recast my camouflage spell. I would have liked to keep both going but my power reserves were running low, a problem I had experienced many times as a cyborg. That experience had taught me the importance of rationing power and how to find ways to keep going when recharging was not an option.
I slipped out from cover and found a position off to one side, some distance from where I had been hiding. My camouflage was probably not good enough to fool her, but she might be distracted enough not to notice I’d moved.
I held both wands on her and focused all my will into them. The amount of power released at one time by a wand was determined by how much willpower the caster expended into it, and I wanted to drain them both completely in one massive shot.
I screamed the command word, and a massive ball of green energy burst forth from the wands. My body heaved in pain as if something inside me had torn, and the power flew forth and sailed across the room in an instant. The wands turned to dust in my hands as the green bolt slammed into her.
My plan had worked; she hadn’t seen the spell coming and crumbled under the blow. In an instant the twins were on her, pouring out magic in a display of power that overwhelmed my vision. I could only guess at what variation of electrical attacks they might be using.
My legs almost collapsed under me as my store of illuminescence dwindled. It wouldn’t be long before my shields fell. The attack had canceled my camouflage spell, and I canceled my enhanced awareness spell to save what power I could.
I hated it, but I knew I had to retreat. Once my shields fell, I would be a major liability in a fight that had almost been won. If I stayed, it could cost us the fight. I fled into the corridor and around the bend. Stars floated in my vision and I developed a massive headache. I finally let my shields fall.
I took a deep breath, held it and slowly released it, then another and another.
Focus on breathing. Good air in, bad air out, I thought to myself as I tried to practice the meditation that Lythiran had taught me.
The twins came running around the corner. “Sir, are you all right?”
I nodded, too tired to form the connection back to them. “The sorceress?”
“She slipped away and left the realm, so she could come out anywhere,” sent Lensa.
Elanil nodded. “She was almost beaten, so she has to go somewhere to rest and heal before returning. We should be safe, for now.”
I was about to say we should never tempt fate with a comment like that, but just then a message came from Ramsong.
“Everyone abandon the station!” The mental command carried a sense of urgency.
I sighed and struggled to rise, but my legs hadn’t enough strength and I fell back into a sitting position against the wall.
“Master Raquel, we need an emergency evac. for Master Lyshell,” said Lensa over her comm.
I didn’t hear the reply. I leaned back against the wall and focused on breathing.
Sometime later, it might have been days or only minutes, a gate opened and two Battle Wizards came through to carry me through the gate.
As I embraced the darkness of unconsciousness, my last thought was:
I am a mage hunter!
Epilogue
07-06-0067 — Vydor
Nostalgia filled me as I sat in the crystal room. It had been decades since I had needed to use it. At one time it had been the only way for us to reach Mantis, but over the years as our friendship had grown, we had no longer needed the formal summoning of the crystal. All I could do now was hope that those bygone days might return.
The room was much as it had been when we had built it. The walls were of an aged cherry wood and the floor a thick, cotton-based fiber carpet. The table itself was a dark oak, and each chair had been painstakingly crafted to fit each master wizard perfectly. In the center of the table was the crystal ball which had been a gift from Mantis decades before. It was paired with a similar ball in his own realm and when activated operated as a communication system, allowing both visual and audio communications to cross the interdimensional boundary.
In the past I could travel directly to his door and knock, but with the treaty now dissolved and all communications with and travel to Korshalemia forbidden, there was no other way to reach him. It was no longer certain that he would hear the call of the crystal, but I fervently hoped that he did; his life and the lives of everyone in his realm depended on it.
“He will come, my love,” sent Kellyn.
I smiled. “Even if he does, that does not mean that they will listen.”
“You can but try. The rest is up to them,” she sent back.
I sighed. She was right. Mantis would come; he was not one to be easily reined in by rules. It was one of the main reasons that the Korshalemian Wizard’s Council did not fully trust him. He meant no evil, conformity and formality were simply foreign to his nature.
Placing my hand on the crystal, I could feel the connection to its mate in his tower. That was a good sign; I had feared he might have disabled the crystal on his side. I reached through the crystal and sent, “Ambassador Mantis, I summon you with the highest level of urgency possible. I have dire tidings which you must hear and take at once to the Council.”
“It is done,” I sent to Kellyn and sat back in my chair to wait for him.
“He will come,” she sent again.
Mantis appeared before me in person, but without the joyful greeting to which I was accustomed. Concern and worry marked his visage. He was no doubt anxious as to why I had summoned him.
“Grandmaster, I am sure you are aware that all official communication is forbidden,” he said.
“I know, and I would not abuse your goodwill with a trivial matter. I assure you that this is of the highest importance and, despite all that has happened, Grandmaster Korshalem will want to hear it. He needs to hear this information, as soon as you can reach him.”
He sighed and took a chair. “Very well, old friend. Speak.”
He had come because of our friendship and the knowledge that I would not abuse our relationship. When he brought the message to the Council it could go very poorly for him, but they needed to know. There was no time to waste.
“Ambassador Mantis, my wizards recently did battle with sorcerers from your realm who were working with a group known as the Cyborg Nation.” I placed a set of paper scrolls on the table in front of him. Such inefficient means of sharing information were all that they would accept, even at the best of times. “Those scrolls provide the broad details, but what you urgently need to communicate is that the sorcerers, with the help of the Cyborg Nation, have amassed an army and are planning a full offensive against your realm.”
He nodded. “I guessed that is why you called me. I take it that this army will be equipped with weapons from this realm, so that they will cut right through any of our armies?”
“Worse,” I said and wove an illusion before him, showing him the monstrosities pictured in the cyborg database. “They have been conducting experiments for decades and have produced an army of creatures which are practically impossible to kill and do not know fear or pain.”
Mantis stood up and walked around to get a different vantage point on the creatures. “How large is this army?”
“We do not know. The plans we found indicate tens of thousands, but they have eluded my ability to find them,” I said.
He sighed. “Well, at least I can tell the Council it was a valid reason to break the law. Do you know when the attack will be?”
“The winter solstice,” I said. It was aptly known as the longest night of the year. “Mantis, they have no intention of staying in your realm. They plan to exterminate all life on your planet and then move here permanently.”
“Why?”
“Unlike your brethren, they like technology, but they still have a burning hatred for you,” I said.
He nodded and picked up the scrolls. “Very well. I will report this at once.”
“Mantis, we ar
e prepared to help,” I said.
He smiled. “I know you are, old friend. Despite all his bluster, I suspect Grandmaster Korshalem will call on you soon.”
There are many more tales yet to tell in the Lost Tales of Power universe. Keep an eye on our web site for the latest releases and news: VincentTrigili.com
Afterword
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Also by Vincent Trigili
The Dragon Masters: Season One
The Dragon Masters: Season One follows the life of Silverleaf, a young dragonmaster who was born into a world without dragons, and doomed to die as a madman alone in the wilderness until a young woman enters his life, and a mysterious army marches across the land destroying all its path.
The Dragon Masters: Season Two
Three years before Lord Silverleaf took his famous flight against the Fifth Council's armies, Elwyn, a young dragonmaster kills his first victims ripping him from his peaceful life. Now, Elwyn must overcome the madness, and lead his closest friends into battle if any of them are to have any chance to survive the coming darkness.
Mage Hunter (Lost Tales of Power Book 8) Page 40
