“Fine by me,” Richard said. He hated failure anyway. He didn’t mind being wrong. He just hated to fail.
* * *
The days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months. Richard received training not only in defensive shields, but also in telekinesis. By the end of the second month, Richard could deflect most of Shandria’s low and mid-level spells. He could also levitate items as well as himself using telekinesis. To his surprise, Richard found he had more trouble with his telekinesis than he did with defensive shields. He was surprised because he’d been able to levitate small items since he was a child.
“So why can’t I levitate myself up a tall building?” Richard asked Nickelo heatedly one day when the training was going especially bad.
“Power, Rick. Because of Power,” replied Nickelo just as heatedly. For a computer, Richard thought Nickelo could get very emotional sometimes. “You’d be better off using telekinesis to slow down your descent. Like I said, it’s a case of Power, just like almost everything else you do, Rick. Moving small items around takes relatively little Power. Levitating yourself up a high cliff using telekinesis would take a lot of Power. You might be able to do it, but if the cliff was too high, you might empty your reserve before reaching the top. And what would you do if you made it to the top? You’d be so low on Power you couldn’t fight. On the other hand, you could jump off a high cliff and use your telekinesis to slow your descent enough to cushion your fall. That’s assuming you’re efficient with your Power usage. Remember what Chief Instructor Winslow says, ‘Never use Power when you can do something another way’.”
To prove his point, Nickelo had Richard practice levitating to the top of the table and then jumping off the table and slowing his fall just before he hit the floor. Richard got pretty good at it after a while. By monitoring his Power usage, Richard had to admit levitating up took a lot more Power than slowing himself down during his fall.
In the afternoons, Shandria and Richard made good progress with the rewriting of some of the more inefficient spells. By the end of the first two months, Shandria had ten spells converted into their more efficient counterparts. While she had been unenthusiastic in the beginning, she quickly reversed her opinion after the successful conversion of the first spell. Not only was it smaller, but it used less Power while producing more magical energy. The first spell was a simple one for cooling an item such as a glass of water. With a lot of perseverance, Shandria and Richard were able to shorten the spell to a single magical word. According to Shandria, they had created a new word. All Richard knew was that after hearing Shandria pronounce her incantations so often, he got pretty good at sensing the changes of the Power flows with each syllable and changes in voice inflection. By directing Shandria to modify words and pitch, he was able to help her improve the efficiency of her spells. Shandria was ecstatic, and before long they were tackling tougher and longer spells.
“You know, Rick,” said Shandria. “These spell changes could have long-lasting effects if I can teach them to my people. Not only are they more efficient and powerful, the reduced size of the incantations means they will take up less space in a spell caster’s memory. As a result, we can memorize more spells. That will give me a greater set of choices during a battle.”
“I’m glad it’s working out, Shandria,” Richard said.
“You know, Rick,” said Shandria, “the time we’ve spent here training has been worthwhile. It’s not just the progress we’ve made with the spells. Your defensive shields have improved to the point where I think I can provide no more useful guidance. We can continue to practice, but it will just be to smooth out some rough places. You’re about as good as you’re going to get.”
“You still penetrate my shields a lot,” Richard said.
“That’s only because I’m intimately familiar with your defensive shields, Rick,” said Shandria. “Your Power reserve is smaller than most spell casters, so your defensive shields are not able to resist as much energy as mine. Still, your technique is excellent and very efficient. I doubt you’ll ever be able to slug it out with a major demon or master spell caster, but you could definitely at least deflect the first few blows. You’ll just have to use that time to think of a way to use your technology to defeat your foe.”
“Well,” Richard said jokingly, “I guess that’s better than getting burned to a crisp at the very onset of a fight. So, are we done training?” Richard couldn’t help but sound disappointed. He liked Shandria’s style of teaching, and even Nickelo’s training on advanced active scans was interesting. Plus, it wasn’t like he was eager to return to the loving supervision of TAC Officer Gaston Myers. He missed his friends, and he missed his instructors at the Academy. But, he had learned a lot under Shandria’s guidance that could help keep him alive when he became a wizard scout. Besides, as Nickelo and Shandria had predicted, they were safe in this room. Richard had sensed several lifeforms with large Power signatures passing through the tunnels nearby, but none stopped to investigate their secret door. The room’s stealth shield was holding up well. No, he was not in a hurry to stop his training.
“Oh, you can’t get out of my instruction so easily,” laughed Shandria with a beautiful smile. “We need to work on a few more weaknesses before we step out into the tunnels. I thought we should let you practice trying to penetrate my defensive shield for a while. Also, your link to your Power reserve is unprotected. We need to work on that.”
Richard could see his own Power line running from him to his Power reserve just as he could see the line of Power from Shandria to her Power reserve. He compared the two lines, or links as Shandria called them. He could sense no difference other than the size of their Power reserves.
“Protected how?” Richard said. “And protected from what?”
“For one thing,” said Shandria, “protected from me.”
With a strange look on her face, the elf said several unintelligible words and flicked her hand. The words sounded familiar, and Richard had a strange feeling it was one of the spells he’d helped Shandria rewrite. Richard sensed Power flowing from the elf’s Power reserve back to her. It converted to magical energy before heading towards him. Richard threw up a defensive shield between them. He assumed it was some kind of test of his shield. But he was wrong. The magical energy did not hit his shield. Instead, it deviated and latched onto a point on the Power link going to his reserve. The magical energy twisted, and suddenly Richard’s could no longer sense his Power reserve or even his defensive shield. Even his passive scan was gone.
Richard drew his phase rod with his left hand and hit the activate switch and destructive lever at the same time as he was swinging the rod at the elf’s head. The brerellium shaft was thrust out by the rod’s hydraulics as red arcs of energy snaked along its length. Richard was fast, but so was the elf. Shandria said a word as she pointed at Richard. He neither saw nor sensed her Power or energy, but he felt its effects immediately. Richard’s muscles locked in place with the tip of the phase rod a mere hand’s breadth from the elf’s head.
Shandria took a step back, her eyes locked on the red arcs of energy still snaking along the length of the phase rod. She seemed to be taking a moment to compose herself.
“Rick!” Nickelo shouted through the battle helmet’s external speakers.
Richard could not even move his eyes, but out of the corner of his vision, he could see his battle helmet atop his neatly-folded battle suit on a bench across the room. I’m sorry, Nick, Richard said with his thoughts. If I’d kept my suit on like you wanted, she’d never have gotten the drop on me. I was just too slow without your help.
“All is well, Master Nick,” said Shandria. “Your friend and I are both unharmed.”
She walked closer to Richard, keeping well clear of the deadly shaft of the phase rod.
“You were much faster than I expected, Rick,” Shandria said. “You almost had me. I won’t make the same mistake again.”
The elf stood close to Richard’s right side
. With her lips almost touching his ear, she whispered, “How does it feel to be frozen; helpless; with your life in someone else’s hands? Maybe I will leave you like this for a week, so you can get the full effect of how I felt. Do you mind if I go through your stuff? I’d ask you to blink your answer, but you can’t even do that, can you?”
Nick, Richard said. What’s her game? What’s she doing?
I don’t know yet, Rick, Nickelo answered. I still haven’t decided whether she is dangerous or whether this is all part of some kind of training.
Training? Richard said unbelievingly. If this is training, I’m going to kick her rear-end when it’s over.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, Rick,” purred Shandria seductively.
Even under the circumstances, Richard thought her voice was very alluring.
Typical male, came Nickelo’s thought.
The elf continued, “I’m going to take a few steps back to get out of range of your weapon. Then I am going to release you. If you’re good, and you don’t try to hurt me, then I’ll undo the block I put on the link to your Power reserve. Then, assuming you still want to be trained, I’ll tell you how I did it. I’ll also tell you what you could have done to prevent it. Does that sound like a deal?”
Shandria waited, but of course Richard couldn’t answer. Still, she waited patiently as if expecting Richard to agree in some fashion.
Nick, Richard said to Nickelo. Tell her I agree. I’ll be a good little boy. And tell her I think she is a two-timing, untrustworthy elf, and once I find out how to protect myself, I’m going to kick her scrawny little butt. Richard didn’t really think it was scrawny. In fact, he thought it was quite nice, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.
“Shandria,” translated Nickelo. “Rick says he agrees. He will not attempt to harm you, and he’s anxious to continue training.” After a pause, Nickelo added, “Oh yeah, and he thinks you have a nice ass.”
Nick!
Richard thought he saw Shandria’s face reddened slightly, but he couldn’t be sure. She stepped back to the far side of the room. Then she said three words and moved her right hand in a pattern he couldn’t follow.
Richard’s muscles unlocked. He almost fell on his face as his muscles tried to complete their swing. The phase rod came dangerously close to smashing their table, but he was able to stop the stroke in time.
Raising his phase rod into a defensive position, Richard looked at the elf. She stood there meekly with her hands by her side. He moved the phase rod’s lever to non-destructive and flicked the deactivate switch. The red arcs of energy dissipated, and the brerellium shaft retracted back into the handle. He hooked the phase rod back to the left side of his utility belt.
“So,” said Richard, “what was that all about?”
“Actually, Rick, things didn’t turnout like I had it envisioned in my head. When I was a young acolyte under my village priestess, she did to me what I just did to you. She blocked my Power link as a way to demonstrate the danger in a way I could not fail to comprehend. I thought to do the same with you. It almost cost me my life. Master Nick was right. You react without thinking. You nearly took my head off with your weapon. I guess I am the one who should have thought things through a little better.”
Richard calmed down a little by the end of the elf’s speech. He made a half-hearted apology. “Sorry about that, Shandria. I should have trusted you more. It just caught me off guard.” He paused before adding, “By any chance can I have the link to my Power reserve unblocked? I feel a little helpless.”
“Oh, of course, Rick,” said Shandria. “I guess I was waiting to make sure you weren’t going to try and attack me.”
“No,” Richard said. “All is forgiven.” He meant it.
The elf said several words which Richard heard but quickly forgot. After a few waves of Shandria’s hand, he could see again. Once again, he could sense not just his Power link, but also the elf’s link.
“Better?” she asked.
“Definitely,” Richard said. “Now, can you explain what you did?”
For the next several hours, Shandria demonstrated to Richard how to put a block on another’s link. She cast a spell which allowed Richard to follow along with her active scan as she probed his link for weak spots. She was a patient teacher, and she never seemed to mind him asking the same question more than once. Under her watch care, Richard was able to use his own active scan to find weak spots in his link to his Power reserve. Once Shandria was satisfied Richard could find the weak spots, she explained how to block links. She created a link between Richard and herself. She had Richard practice finding weak points in this link, and then she had him attempt to block the link. While he practiced, Shandria explained how some magic users could connect a link to their opponent and use it to draw Power from them. If the magic user could draw enough Power from their opponent, the fight would be over before it even started.
“So how do we protect our links?” Richard asked after he had practiced blocking links for what felt like the hundredth time.
“You have to find the weak spots in your own link. Then you have to put traps on them.”
“Traps?” Richard said. “I’m not familiar with the concept, at least not in the context of Power and magic.”
“Neither am I,” Nickelo admitted. “It’s not in my data banks.”
“One of these days, Master Nickelo,” said Shandria, “we need to have a long discussion on what you are. You are indeed a mystery to me.”
“He’s a mystery to me as well, Shandria,” Richard said. “What were you going to say about these traps?”
“Oh, yes, the traps” said Shandria as she got back in teacher mode. “You can use your Power to set traps on your link. If anything tries to block the link at the point of the trap or noses around it too much, the trap will activate. Traps are normally of the deadly variety. However, for our training, I’ll set some traps on our training link which will only give a mild shock. You will try and locate the traps and disconnect them. Once you get tired of getting shocked, we will switch positions. Then you’ll set traps, and I’ll try and find and disable them. Does that sound fair?”
Richard thought it sounded more than fair. It was interesting training, and they practiced late into the evening. The only bad thing was Richard got shocked a lot. When Shandria finally announced they were done for the day, he did not argue.
Chapter 23 – Breakout
__________________
Seal it up, Nick, and activate the override, Richard said as he mentally prepared himself for the invasiveness of the tubes and needles. The reddish glow of the battle suit’s visor lowered in front of his eyes. The tubes designed to help keep him alive inserted themselves in his body openings. Data readouts appeared on the heads-up display along with a map containing various colored spots denoting possible enemy locations. Two white dots in the center of the map denoted Shandria’s and his positions.
“Remember, Rick,” said Shandria in a final last minute instruction, “try to conserve your Power. If we run into Efrestra, I’ll need your help. Both our reserves are at full Power, but we can’t afford any long, dragged-out battles. My staff and jewelry are nearly drained, so once our Power reserves are empty we’ll be dead, or even worse we’ll be taken captive. Trust me, Rick. You don’t want that to happen.”
“Yes, Mommy,” Richard said. “I heard you the first twenty times you told me.”
Shandria gave a small, tense laugh. “I’m reminding myself as much as you, Rick. Are you ready?”
Richard did one final survey of his equipment. True-to-form, ‘the One’ would not let him stock up on extra isotopic batteries or extra grenades. However, Richard did have a bag strapped over his shoulder containing twenty quarter-kilo bocks of J22 plastic explosive.
Go figure, Richard thought. They’re more powerful than grenades anyway.
The logic of ‘the One’ does seem convoluted, agreed Nickelo. He even let you put timers on them. I think he wants us to get
out of this alive, but at the same time, he wants you to know you’re still being punished for your initial defiance.
Whatever, Richard thought. ‘The One’ hasn’t even begun to see how defiant I can be.
Now, don’t stir up any more problems than we already have, Rick, warned Nickelo.
I won’t, old buddy, Richard assured his battle computer. I’ll be a good little boy until we get out of here.
Richard hefted the new M12 assault rifle. It was much heavier than his standard M63, but Nickelo had insisted Richard summon it as a replacement for his M63 lightweight plasma assault rifle.
I liked my M63 better, Richard said. This M12 can only fire four hundred rounds per isotopic battery. Speaking of which, I had to use Power to summon the M12. And, apparently I’ll have to use Power to summon replacement batteries for it. The big butt-in-the-sky must not like the fact I’m not using my M63. I think the M12 should be a freebie since I turned in my M63.
Well, said Nickelo, you’ll just have to deal with the M12. You’re going to need a higher-grade weapon for this battle. As far as I could tell, your M63’s rounds only tickled that demon. The M12 has less ammo per battery, but the rounds are more powerful. Plus, the M12 has a 20mm grenade launcher under the main barrel. With the armor-piercing rounds you got loaded in it, you’ll definitely get his attention. And, you were able to summon extra 20mm rounds for it. Besides the initial seven, you’ve got another fourteen in your bag with the J22 plastic explosive.
Richard hated to admit Nickelo was right about needing a heavier weapon. Therefore, he just avoided any more discussion on the subject. Richard decided he was as ready as he would ever be. Shandria had taught him as much as she could. They had even stayed a month more than planned. If he wasn’t ready now after four months of intense training, he wasn’t ever going to be ready.
Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles 1: Wizard Defiant Page 21
