The Chosen Spacemage

by Dan Oakley

  Two weeks? We couldn’t wait that long to rescue Trella! Anything could happen in that time. They were probably poisoning her with Bysandown.

  “We can’t wait that long,” I said. “There is no reason to believe things will get better in two weeks.”

  The mages in the room seemed to all draw their breath at once, and when the admiral turned slowly to face me, I realized I’d made a big mistake.

  “You’re not used to our methods, Tomas. This is not a free-for-all. If you need to speak, you raise your hand until you are called on.”

  I took a deep breath and raised my arm.

  Her features tightened, and her eyes narrowed. “Go on.”

  “Do you have any reason to believe things will be more favorable in two weeks? Isn’t it possible the inquisitors could call reinforcements, and the rescue mission would be even more of a risk in a fortnight?”

  “When was the last time you planned a mission?” Her voice was icy cold.

  “I’ve never planned a mission but—”

  “But nothing,” she snapped. “Please leave this discussion to those experienced in these matters.” She turned away from me and looked directly at Toddo. “Take Tomas to join his friends in the kitchen.”

  I guess that meant I was dismissed. I got to my feet and considered arguing, but she wasn’t going to listen. Perhaps she had a good point. It might be safer to act in two weeks, but we had no guarantees.

  Toddo pulled me roughly by the arm.

  I followed him to the door.

  As soon as we were out in the corridor with the door closed behind us, Toddo turned to me. “What was that about?” he said, his voice low and threatening.

  “It was just a question. I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait for two weeks.”

  “You are unbelievably arrogant,” Toddo said, glaring at me before leading the way along the corridor. “The admiral has been doing this for a long time. Did you ever think she might know a little more than you about the situation?”

  “She probably does. But I didn’t hear anything about details she’d gathered or any intelligence. Just that we’re going to hide away for two weeks before we do anything.”

  “Timing is everything. If you’re not careful, it won’t only be the Kingdom’s security forces you have to worry about.”

  Toddo paused with his hand on the doorknob.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I was testy and frustrated. My headache still hadn’t gone.

  Toddo simply shook his head.

  “I am sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said for what felt like the hundredth time.

  Toddo took a deep breath and sighed. “I know. It wasn’t you, it was Valletta trying to be too clever. He’s a powerful mage but not quite connected with reality. He shouldn’t have tricked you, not when you have no control over your magic yet.”

  “I do have control.”

  “It didn’t look like that from where I was hanging.”

  “That was just a setback. I’m not normally that angry.”

  Toddo opened the door to the kitchen, and before entering said, “Don’t you see? That’s your greatest weakness. If your enemy can make you angry, then they have power over you.”

  He let me walk into the kitchen and then turned around, walking back towards the meeting.

  I was glad to see Bayliss, Draylan, and Kira sitting at a scrubbed wooden table, eating what smelled like vegetable soup. Two large loaves of fresh bread lay in the middle of the table. Bayliss pulled off a piece of crust.

  “Ah, you’re back, Tomas,” Bayliss said, dunking the crust of bread into his soup.

  “We were just about to go looking for you. They said you were training and then were going to a meeting,” Draylan said with a frown, “but we didn’t know whether or not to believe them.”

  I sat down at the table opposite Kira. “I’m not sure it was training exactly. It basically consisted of me holding a variety of different crystals, and then Valletta played a trick on me that backfired.”

  Kira put down her spoon. “Backfired? How?”

  “I think he was trying to teach me a lesson. I told him about Zarak and that I wanted to get revenge, so he thought it would be a good idea to cast an enchantment which meant everyone I saw looked like Zarak.”

  Bayliss pulled a face. “Imagine that. Everybody around you looking like Zarak.” He wrinkled his nose and then took a large mouthful of bread.

  “Are you okay?” Kira asked, gazing at me. “You look a little pale.”

  I nodded. “I’ll be okay. Just a bit of a headache.”

  “So what did you do when you saw Zarak?”

  “I sent a couple of energy bolts his way,” I said, neglecting to mention the whirlwind and shattered glassware.

  “I would pay good money to see that. I bet you caught him by surprise.”

  “You could say that. But then Toddo turned up, and the enchantment meant he looked exactly like Zarak too.”

  Kira’s draw dropped open. “You attacked Zarak…or Toddo who looked like Zarak?”

  I nodded. “Yes. He wasn’t pleased.”

  Kira pulled a face. “These enchantments sound like dangerous games to me.”

  “Me too,” Draylan said. “I’m not sure I like staying here. It’s hard to know who we can trust.” Draylan looked around the kitchen, but we were alone. “Is Finn still in the meeting?”

  I nodded, hoping that he might fill us in later if there were any other developments.

  “I don’t think we’re safe here,” Draylan said in a whisper. “The sooner we leave, the better.”

  “Well, it looks like we’re going to be here for a while. They don’t want to mount the rescue mission for another two weeks.”

  “Two weeks?” Draylan asked incredulously. “We can’t stay here all that time. We need to leave.”

  “How can we? Tomas can’t leave. He is wanted by the kingdom’s security forces,” Kira said.

  “Well, nothing is stopping Bayliss and me leaving,” Draylan said. “They don’t want us here anyway.”

  I could understand Draylan’s reluctance to stay in this place. We were outnumbered, and I’d seen a dark, secretive side to some of the mages here. I couldn’t help but worry the resistance wouldn’t let us leave freely now.

  I looked up at Bayliss, who was methodically making his way through his soup. Nothing put Bayliss off his food.

  “I think we just keep our heads down and make the best of things.”

  “Make the best of things? We’re surrounded by crazy people!” Draylan glanced at me and shrugged. “No offense, Tomas, but some of these mages are seriously not quite right in the head.”

  “Let’s give it a few more days,” I suggested, eager to keep the peace. “Maybe things will settle down, and we’ll be able to rescue Trella earlier than they’ve predicted.”

  “I hope so,” Draylan said, pushing his soup bowl away. “Because I’m getting pretty sick of this place.”

  Chapter 16

  The next few days passed slowly. They kept us fed and watered, but the other mages were watchful and distrustful.

  I knew the others were feeling the same as me. We were starting to feel like we were the enemy.

  The others had it worse. At least I had my time filled training with Valletta. They had nothing to do but sit and talk amongst themselves. We were advised it wasn’t safe to leave the building.

  They kept Draylan awash with ale, perhaps sensing his weakness, but even the drink didn’t quell Draylan’s concerns. In every spare moment, he told me again and again that he didn’t trust them. That we had to get out. I wouldn’t be able to put him off for much longer.

  Lost in thought, I stared around Valletta’s quarters. He’d already made a good repair job, I suspected using magic. But some of his equipment was damaged beyond repair. I felt so guilty I’d offered what little I had left from the pirate’s gold, but to his credit, he wouldn’t accept my money, insisting he had been the one in th
e wrong.

  My exasperation at not being able to help Trella grew hour by hour, but I couldn’t rush the resistance. If I had my way, we would act now and launch a rescue mission, but it wasn’t up to me. I tried to make the best of things, taking the opportunity to learn and improve my magic, but still, the frustration built inside me.

  After breakfast, I’d gone straight to Valletta’s quarters, and he had given me yet another boring, tedious task that apparently was supposed to help my control. For today’s lesson, Valletta had managed to source a pile of white downy bird feathers for me to work with. My job was to transport them from one end of the room to the other, using only my magic. It was harder than it appeared. The light feathers had a tendency to slip and float away from me.

  “It’s all about control, Tomas. You need to move objects slowly, rather than just flinging them about the place.”

  I swallowed my curse and focused on the next feather.

  For a while, Valletta sat in silence, watching me. When I’d moved approximately half the feathers, he said quietly, “Always remember, trust should be earned.”

  My attention was momentarily distracted, and the feather fluttered to the ground. I swiftly lifted it again and said, “What do you mean?”

  “There are people around us who are not to be trusted.”

  “Who?”

  But he wouldn’t be drawn, merely tutting under his breath and folding his arms over his chest. “Lift the feather higher, keep it steady.”

  Was he being deliberately opaque? Why couldn’t he just say what he meant?

  “Have you thought any more on what I said?” Valletta asked.

  “Said about what?”

  Valletta seemed to be a fount of wisdom over the past few days. The only trouble was I had no idea what he was talking about half the time. He liked to speak in riddles.

  “About your need for revenge. It’s holding you back.”

  We hadn’t mentioned the incident where I’d ransacked his quarters and nearly destroyed him and Toddo, but I guessed it weighed as heavily on him as it had on me.

  “I’ve thought about it, but I can’t just forget.”

  “He is nothing to you. He is certainly not worthy of all this anger and energy you keep for him.”

  The feather spiraled in the air as I gritted my teeth. “He tried to kill me!”

  “Yet here you are, still alive, working on your magic.”

  I grunted and kept my attention on the floating feather. Valletta would never understand. He’d probably never had someone betray him so severely. How could he know what it felt like?

  I decided to change the subject. “How do you feel about postponing the rescue mission?” I asked Valletta.

  He shrugged. “I just do as I am told.”

  I hadn’t known the little man for long, but that didn’t sound like something he would do. “I’m just worried the situation could get even worse while we’re sitting around twiddling our thumbs.”

  “We’re not just sitting around twiddling our thumbs. You’re improving your magic.”

  “If you really wanted to help me improve my magic, you would show me how to do those shields.”

  “All in good time.”

  The door flung open, and I turned to see Draylan standing there. He was breathless as though he’d been running.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, forgetting all about the feathers.

  Before Draylan could reply, Valletta let out a string of curse words. “How dare you barge in here! We are having a critical training session, and I did not invite you into my quarters. How did you get past the door?” Valletta’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at me. “Are you blocking my rune magic?”

  I shrugged. “Not on purpose.”

  “This is Valletta? The powerful mage who is training you?” Draylan walked into the dimly lit room and stared down at Valletta.

  Valletta drew himself up to his full height, put his hand on his hip, and said scornfully, “It is. And who exactly are you?”

  “This is my friend, Draylan. He isn’t a mage,” I quickly explained. “He didn’t mean to barge in without your permission.”

  “We don’t have time to worry about your etiquette, little man,” Draylan said scornfully. “We’ve had bad news.”

  I stood up, feeling uneasy. “What is it?” I asked again, as Valletta began ranting and raving to himself.

  “Very bad news,” Draylan said. “Trella has been transported. We don’t know where yet. The resistance has bad information.” He leaned closer to me so Valletta couldn’t overhear. “We need to get out of here, Tomas. We are wasting time. They can’t help us.”

  I clutched the edge of the bench and heard the hollow rush of blood in my ears. They’d transported Trella, which meant we couldn’t rescue her now even if we wanted to. We would need to find out where they’d taken her and hope it was somewhere with security we could breach… People we could pay off inside…

  “How did this happen? I thought she was imprisoned at the Bloodhurst.”

  Draylan met my gaze. “They’re all talking about it now. I’m sure they didn’t want me to overhear, but I listened at the door until they sent me away. I heard whispers of a mole, someone letting the inquisitors know our plans.”

  Valletta and his lesson forgotten, I raced along the corridor with Draylan to the main meeting room.

  When we burst in, there was a momentary lull, and then everyone began talking at once again. There were mages in the room who looked with open hostility at Draylan. I put my hand on his shoulder, somehow sensing he was in danger or at risk.

  I tried to ask a couple of mages what was going on, but they turned their backs on me.

  “Where are the others?” I asked Draylan.

  “Still in the kitchen. We were told to stay there. They don’t want us to hear what’s happening.”

  The admiral entered the room with a face like thunder. And finally, the mages fell silent.

  Her face was rigid with anger as she spoke. “There is one thing the mage resistance values more than anything else, and that is loyalty. I’m sorry to tell you that we have been betrayed by one of our own.”

  A gasp of horror ran around the room.

  “We all know the punishment for such a crime.” She clapped her hands together and pointed at a mage in the middle of the room.

  At first, I thought she was pointing to Jonno, and then realized she was pointing to a shorter man standing by his side. He had closely cropped black hair, high cheekbones, and green eyes almost as bright as my own.

  He looked around desperately. “Wait! No, you’ve got it wrong. It wasn’t me.”

  “You’ve been talking to the inquisitors.” The admiral’s face was impassive, and her voice was dangerously low.

  The mage gulped and began edging towards the door, but he was quickly held in place by four other mages who propelled him forward to face the admiral.

  She stood in front of him, her face set like stone, but her eyes wild with anger. The whole room was silent with anticipation.

  “Wait! Surely the punishment can wait. If he is a mole, then he could have given away our hiding place, and we are just standing around like fools, waiting to be attacked by the inquisitors. We should leave.” Draylan’s voice was clear and commanding and entirely unexpected.

  I turned to look at him, as did everyone else in the room. But he stubbornly held the admiral’s gaze. And I felt admiration. He was in a room full of mages who could have ripped him limb from limb for talking out this way, but he made an excellent point.

  The admiral snarled with anger. “I determine what we do next; not you.”

  “But—” Draylan tried to say.

  The admiral held up a hand and clenched her fist together abruptly. Draylan’s voice vanished. He looked furious.

  But the admiral had turned her attention back to the traitor.

  She let out a low hiss that didn’t sound human.

  It reminded me of the lizards back on Tor and prickl
es broke out over my skin.

  I stared in horror as the man was pulled to his knees in front of her. She leaned over him, and her hair fell like waves around her face.

  Her hair seemed to be moving. A second or two passed before I realized it wasn’t my imagination. Her hair was moving of its own accord. I felt my stomach drop when the twisting turning locks of hair turned into individual snakes, slipping and sliding over one another. Their forked tongues flickered, sensing their prey.

  I was pretty sure Draylan would have turned the air blue if he could talk. Instead, he stared at the admiral with his eyes practically on stalks.

  We both took a few steps backward. As the admiral leaned closer to the man trembling on the floor. He whimpered, and the snakes went crazy, hissing and stretching out toward him.

  The admiral brought her head closer and closer until the snakes were in striking range.

  I forced myself to turn away as the man lost control of his bladder, a wet stain appearing at his crotch. Instead, I watched Draylan’s shocked and horrified expression as the man’s screams echoed in my ears.

  Chapter 17

  I had trouble sleeping at night. It wasn’t easy to put what we’d seen out of our minds and try to rest. I’d explained what had happened to the others, but didn’t go into detail. I saw no reason why they should be haunted by what Draylan and I witnessed.

  Draylan worried me. He hardly spoke for the rest of the night and was brooding and melancholy.

  As usual, we slept in the large room on makeshift cots, two to a bed. Since we’d gotten here, Draylan had turned his nose up at sharing one of the cots and instead slept on the hard floor, wrapped in the scratchy gray blankets.

  After what had happened, it wasn’t really a surprise that I had a restless night.

  A particularly disturbing dream, involving Jonno standing over the cot, watching Kira, woke me abruptly.

  I sat up in the cot, breathing hard, staring into the darkness. Kira still lay beside me on the cot, sleeping soundly. Snores emanated from bodies scattered around the room but there seemed to be no threat. I didn’t know where Jonno was sleeping, but he wasn’t standing over us, so I tried to force myself to relax.