I put a bubble around us, and moved us both into orbit.
"Can you move yourself this far?"
"How is there nothing around us? Where are we?"
"Look down."
He looked, and gasped. He gibbered for a moment.
"What is that?"
"This is space, and that is the planet we were just standing on. We're above the arena I created, which is situated in the middle of a desert. It’s the tiny ring below us."
"How…"
"Did we get here? I moved us of course. There is no air, or heat, here. Only what I brought with us."
"I knew you were trouble, the moment you force punched that kid your first time. He got you back really good, but I knew then I had to watch you. Damn me if I shouldn’t have killed you right there and then. But my mages told me if you tested well, you'd make a good army mage, and maybe even one day, an army mage-general. By the time I realized just how much of a threat you'd be, it was too late. How did you escape me?"
"One of the mages there added a time component to the jump magic I was creating. He thought he was moving me a day into the future, but I went a bit further than that."
"So you truly have become powerful, as those who get all yes's always do."
"There've been others?"
"Before me, I think there were six. After me, two, before you. Both of them bent a knee to me immediately I asked for it, without question, and I made sure no-one remembered the final yes. Since I took them to my service, their villages never had a reason to question it. Both of them turned out to be good servants, and never knew how much I held them back."
"Do I know them?"
"You met them yesterday. Where are they?"
"Both are on the world below us. One of them on an island, the other somewhere in the desert we just left."
"They live?"
I checked.
"No."
I was actually surprised. The one in the desert should have been able to last long enough to move himself to water. But he hadn't. His body was lying there, around the three day mark, by walking standards. Both the mages on the island were dead, without having met each other. Score two for the predators. Even a trained mage couldn’t stand against them, not knowing they were there.
"What now?"
I was quite surprised by how the conversation was going. He seemed to have lost his aggression. I’d expected him to try something once we were here, not start giving me answers.
"I'm going to leave you here."
"Why?"
"Because I find you guilty of killing when it wasn’t necessary, not to mention trying to kill me yesterday. You are what is worst about people with true power. They say power corrupts, and you are rotten to the core."
"But at least I was keeping most of my people safe."
"Safe from what?"
"Had you joined me, you’d have been taught history, and the real situation going on."
"Which is?"
"There are five kingdoms. All of them at war with the others. The latest battle was interrupted, and the armies sent home. The mage who could jump the furthest and fastest brought me the news just before you turned up. Whoever did it has upset the balance now. Things can only get worse from here. And with our army under some compulsion to return all the way home, the realm is now in real danger for the first time in centuries."
"Not really. I can stop anything which comes."
"Maybe you can. But to do so, you'll need to command. That makes you the new king." He laughed. "Now let us see how power corrupts you!"
"You won't be seeing anything shortly. I'll be leaving you now."
"What will happen to me?"
"You have one hope. If you can move yourself far enough, you might survive for a time below. If you fail to move far enough, you will simply drop to your death. If you stay here, in a few minutes you will gasp your last breath, and freeze solid."
"Not much of a choice. And I can think of a few more options than you. I will see you again, young Thorn. When I'm back on the ground, I will seek you out, no matter how long it takes."
"No, you won't."
"So certain? What makes you so sure?"
"Because the planet below, is not the planet I'll be on. I use this planet for a penal colony, and as a place to send people who should die slowly. You may make it to the surface, but even you don't have the power and necessary knowledge to get back home."
"We will see."
I nodded to him, and returned to the ground. The arena vanished, and the king's mages were left standing within a force wall. I concentrated my sight on the king in orbit.
He waited until he was gasping, and jumped. He made it past the upper atmosphere which caused things to burn up, and starting falling. He jumped again, halving the distance, and again, to just above the ground. But it was obvious he didn’t know anything about what was happening to him.
Gravity will not be denied.
Twenty Two
I must have flinched.
"What just happened?" asked the battle mage, as they joined me.
"The king is dead."
"How do you know?" asked the healing mage.
"How far can you send your sight?"
"About three villages," said the basics mage.
I'd always wondered what his strength was. Now I knew.
"Cast it that way."
He turned to face the direction I pointed. It didn’t take him long. He flinched.
"What did you see?" asked the creating mage.
He didn’t answer, just turned back to me.
"How high did you drop him from?"
"The same height as I took you to see the ship. He managed to jump a good deal of the distance. But moving distance wasn’t what was required to survive."
"What was?" asked the basics mage.
"An understanding of the way things work. Specifically why things fall."
"What happened to the king?" repeated the battle mage.
"Splat," said the basics mage.
"Splat?"
"What happens if someone jumps off the top of the tallest peak you know?"
"Oh."
"Think worse."
They all flinched.
"What do we do with them?" asked the moving mage, pointing at the group of men trying to batter their way out of an invisible cage with magic.
I moved us all over to just short of the wall.
"We could have walked!" exclaimed the basics mage.
The demonstration had the desired effect though, and the mages on the other side of the wall stopped trying to get out. I looked around them, seeing various emotions.
"Those of you who wish to go home, will submit to a few simple questions."
"What if we don’t?" asked one of the mages displaying anger.
"You won't go home. I'll leave you here when I leave."
"So leave us here. We'll find our own way home."
"Have you killed anyone off the battlefield?"
He choked for a few moments as he fought the compelling magic.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they refused to do what I told them to."
"What authority did you have?"
"I'm a mage. It's all the authority I need."
"Guilty."
I moved him out of the wall box, and he appeared as a figure in the far distance. All eyes followed mine as I looked at him, and as we watched, he jumped himself further away.
"What's out there?" asked one of the mages looking unhappy.
I turned to him, and with the angry mage now out of sight, so did everyone else.
"Nothing. This is the middle of a desert. The only people here besides us are the dead, and those in the middle of dying."
"How far is it to civilization from here?"
"There is none. There is food and water a long way from here in any direction, but even those of you who can jump a long way, will still take days to find it. And when you do, the only thing you can do is
keep on going. Which if you go far enough, will find you in worse places than here."
"How can that be?" asked another mage.
"This isn’t where you think it is. Very few places are friendly here. And none of you can jump far enough to go home."
"How do you know?"
"Could any of you jump further than your king?"
There were shakes of the head, but no-one said anything.
"Those who could are with the army," said the battle mage, behind me.
"The king failed."
"You killed him?"
"No, I took him somewhere beyond his jump range, and understanding. He killed himself trying to go home."
"How do we know this is true?"
"Those with long sight," said the basics mage, "look that way." He pointed. "Out about two villages, you'll see a red mess."
All eyes went to one particular mage. He closed his eyes, and after a few moments, shuddered. When he opened them again, he nodded to no-one in particular, and looked at me.
"What did you want to ask us?"
"The same as I asked before. Those of you who have killed off the battlefield will remain here. Killing by your king's order is not an excuse."
Two of them looked guilty. I started with them, and moved them both out in different directions. One of them jumped further away, the other started walking.
One by one I processed the others. Five were moved to the beach of the penal colony island, with a warning about the predator. Warned, their magic should protect them enough to survive.
The rest were deemed worthy of saving, and I jumped us all back to the throne room.
And right into the middle of a fire.
Twenty Three
I hadn't done anything with the king's last fireball.
The throne room was blazing, and I hastily put up a flame proof wall around us. Screams were coming from the upper floors.
Water gushed from the hands of the moving mage, and I adjusted the wall to let it through. Several other mages did similar things with water, and within minutes, the fire was out. What was left was burnt black. Even the throne was patchy black. It vanished, without me more than looking at it.
I looked at the mage I now knew was senior in the court, and nodded. He immediately ordered several mages up the stairs to see to the royal family.
"What do we do about this mess?" he asked me.
In the blink of an eye, the room was as it had been, minus the throne.
"What mess?"
He actually smiled, but nodded out the missing doors.
I took the time to move people out of the way, before putting the barbican back as it was, and replaced the doors to the throne room.
"How are you so strong? I've never heard of a mage with your abilities before."
Having seen what these mages could do, I’d actually been thinking the same thing. Why was I so much more powerful than any of them?
"I don’t have an answer. Perhaps anyone can be as powerful as I am, when thrust into the same situation I was."
"And that was?"
"Beyond your understanding."
"Everything you've done is beyond my understanding. What do we do now?"
"Does the king have a son or daughter?"
"His son was with the army."
"Someone should inform him he's now the king. Is he a mage?"
"No."
"Will it matter?"
No-one answered. I looked the senior mage in the eyes, and held it until he broke contact.
"No, it won't. All here will bend a knee to the new king."
"You can tell him I'll be back soon to talk about ending the wars. In the meantime, gather what history and information about the current situation you can, in preparation for briefing both of us when I return."
"Will you bend your knee to him?"
"No. But not for the reasons you might think."
"Will you require him to bend a knee to you?"
"No. And again, not for the reasons you might think. But counsel the new king to co-operate with me, and I will allow him to keep his kingdom."
"He won't like the implied threat."
"Of course not. And it's not a threat. He can be sensible, or I'll remove him, and let the people decide how they wish to be governed. I may do that anyway, but I'll at least let him prove himself an able leader first."
"Your will, Great One."
"Don’t call me great one. If you need to call me anything, call me Judge Thorn."
"May one ask where you'll be when the king returns?"
"I'm taking these mages home."
"I'll have someone visit your village to inform you when the king arrives."
"Not that home. Your previous king sought to destroy them, so I moved our families to somewhere safe. We'll be off now to check on how they're coping with the move. You can expect me back, when I arrive back."
"Yes, Great…, Judge."
I nodded to him, and the next moment the six of us were on the beach of my island.
"You took your time," said Tasha.
Twenty Four
It was a very strange homecoming.
Home wasn’t where I left it, and a cluster of houses wasn’t the village I left. It was my island, but it also wasn’t, and my house wasn’t here. I could fix that of course, but did I want to?
For my family, it was the tomorrow after they thought I was dead.
For me, it was seven years of thinking I’d never see them again.
I was taller, more solidly built, more portly around the middle, and no longer the kid they saw only yesterday morning.
I could see it in their eyes. They hardly recognized me.
I recognized them.
But for the life of me, I couldn’t remember their names.
Just Mum, Dad, and sister one and two. It was infuriating, and I was very thankful for Tasha and the other girls using their names all the time. All the same, they vanished immediately I heard them, just like most other names.
Even prepared, my Mum found the change in me almost unbelievable, and it took the mages at my back to convince all of them it really was me.
My Dad joined my Mum in a big three way hug, but my sisters hung back. They were still kids, and I was an adult, and it wasn’t right for any of us.
The mages drew their families outside, and had their own reunions, leaving us alone. With less people in the house, I could now see Jen and Jess standing there at the back of the room. I cast my sight around outside, and found a shuttle down by the creek. I put it back on the ship, while still being hugged.
The explanations took a while, and even though they could see we were dressed differently, they didn’t seem to have the ability to suspend their disbelief. Even though they'd seen me do magic the day before, convincing them I could not only do it, but was very good at it, took me leading them outside, where I seemingly created a very strange looking house on the only area left which was large enough for it.
Seeing was believing, but all the same, after everyone had taken a tour through the copy of my third life house, seen the differences in how beds and chairs were made, and watched a demonstration of technology working, only the mages seemed to believe me. Music coming from nowhere had almost terrified several of their family members, and the rest of them couldn’t seem to grasp it was music.
Out in the middle of the circle of houses, I created tables and chairs, and the necessaries for cooking for a crowd. Soon there was food being prepared, and people sitting around talking. Tasha brought out drinks, and the girls enticed people into trying them. There were some mouthfuls spat out in a hurry, but mainly people liked the different tastes.
I snuck away when I could, and visited my old bedroom. I’d left it yesterday morning, and while nothing had been touched, going back in was like having a dream of your childhood. Everything looked small, and none of my clothes fit. I was surprised to find I'd not missed anything.
Tasha found me sitting on my bed.
"They're
doing as well as can be expected."
"You think?"
My tone said I didn’t agree with her.
"Yes, I think. They don’t understand what's happened to you, but they still love you. Just be you, and let them see the you they remember."
"When did you get so wise?"
She giggled, and tapped the side of her nose. Her hand grasped mine, and she led me back outside. I ate with my family around me, but something was missing. We talked, we laughed, we reminisced. But it was not the same.
There was too much time past for me. I was too detached. And trying to remember names was driving me nuts.
After eating, Tasha excused us, and we walked down to the beach. The sand was a different colour, and texture, but still sand. I dropped some beach lounges just above the wet zone, and we lounged out to watch the sunset.
It had been a long day. I found a whale crooning out in the ocean, and let Tasha hear it, and the sun seemed to descend in tune. Neither of us said anything until only moonlight remained.
"Have you looked yet?"
"Looked at what?"
She shook her head sadly, knowing I knew exactly what she was talking about. I sighed. It had to be as good a time as any to answer a few questions.
I cast my sight to her homeworld, the worlds I’d visited with the girls, and the homeworld and surrounding planets of the cousins. I took my time, and Tasha stayed silent while I looked.
They all had plenty of life.
There were no people on any of them.
I sighed again.
"That bad?"
"Not bad, just unexpected. Your people don’t exist yet. I was expecting at least two planets to have people on them, but no. No-one."
"What does it mean?"
"I don’t know. None of this makes any sense. Your people and the cousins were far more technologically advanced than my second life people. They should be out there now, and not living in crude houses like my people are either."
Tomorrow's Spacemage (The Spacemage Chronicle Book 3) Page 7
