The steel helm kept Amir’s head in one piece, but his vision turned dark. He tried to breathe but only succeeded in drawing water into his lungs. Flailing his arms, he made a vain attempt to swim. The rushing water took him out of the hole, into shallower water, but he was unable to regain his feet. His head struck another rock, then another. Just before blackness overtook him completely, he felt something wrap around his neck. The something choked him. Dazed though he was, Amir sensed the choking was a blessing in disguise. Choked as he was, he couldn’t take in air, but then again, he couldn’t take in water either.
Amir reached up and grabbed hold of the vine encircling his throat. He felt himself being dragged through the water, then was out, lying face down on wet sand. Hands turned him over and removed the vine. After coughing up a mouthful of water, he opened his eyes. The face of the human came into focus.
The human grinned and raised him into a sitting position, then said a few words of gibberish.
Amir felt him pounding him on the back. After a few mouthfuls of water came out, he looked around. The elves were consolidating in a patch of woods twenty meters from the river. He looked up at the cliff to see orcs and goblins firing crossbows down at them.
At the human’s urging, Amir struggled to his feet. He saw Minsk, Tracer, Skylark, and Grapeon forming a square around him as they used their shields to protect both the human and him from the dozens of quarrels and arrows flying down from the cliff.
Tracer looked over and grinned at Amir. “If you are done playing with your friends, I am about ready to get the Hades out of here.”
Amir laughed despite the pounding pain in his head. I’m about ready to get the Hades out of here too he thought. In fact, I’m more than ready.
Chapter 21 – Tele-bots
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Jeena looked up from the Defiant’s mess table as the dwarves Mica and Jasper carried two more containers of tele-bots up the stairs and set them down on the table.
“Charlie said to tell you that’s the last of them,” said Mica. She flashed one of her rare grins at Jeena. “Makes me glad I’m not a magic user.”
Jeena glanced around at the others at the table. Red Wing and Stella sat on the opposite side, while Calatron and his gnome mages were sitting on either side of her. Her fellow elf, Comstar, was at the head of the table. She absentmindedly began stroking her fingers through the white bundle of fur squirming in her lap. Snowy rolled over on her back for a belly rub. Jeena smiled. It was hard to think of the little pup as dangerous.
At the dwarf’s comment, Comstar set down the thumb-sized clear box he was holding and shook his head. “Nay, Mica. Not just magic users. The stealth shields our scouts here are casting on the tele-bots are just as important as the anti-detection spells we magic users are casting.”
“More important,” hissed Red Wing. “We have been at this for hours. I for one am getting hungry.” She bared her teeth. “Even juicy gnomes are starting to look good to me.”
Kester, the youngest of the gnomes, glanced up from the thumb-sized container of tele-bots he was working on and glared at the Crosioian scout. “You may find we juicy gnomes will give you an upset stomach you won’t soon forget if you don’t watch your manners, Scout.”
Calatron laughed. “Relax, Kester. Our friend Red Wing is only joking. Everyone knows she’s one of the vegetarian species of the bats. We’re all a little tired and hungry.” He held up the thumb-sized container he was working on in the palm of his hand. “It’s hard to believe there are a million tele-bots in this container. Even casting anti-detection spells on a million tele-bots at a time, it still takes a while to finish the job when you have billions to do.”
Stella sat down her container of tele-bots, stretched her four arms, and yawned. “You lucky. There are eight magic users casting spells. There are only two of us scouts. Each of us has to place stealth shields around four times as many tele-bots as each of you.”
“That is why I say we scouts are more important,” hissed Red Wing. “Without our stealth shields, the Dragars’ instruments might detect the tele-bots through their magic spells.”
Kester stood up on the bench seat on his side of the table so his head was at the same height as Red Wing’s. “So what? Their technology might detect the tele-bots through your scouts’ stealth shields if it wasn’t for our spells. That’s why we’re more im—”
Growing tired herself, Jeena momentarily lost control of her temper. “Enough. Neither scouts nor magic users are more important. The only thing that will get us back home alive is for all of us to work together. These prototype tele-bots are a combination of magic and technology, but so are some of the Dragars’ ships. They have been raiding both the physical and magic dimension from their base two million years in the past for a long time. They have acquired equipment from both dimensions over the years. We need both magic-user spells and scout stealth shields to make sure the tele-bots gather the information Admiral Bistos needs without being detected.”
“We almost done,” said Stella as she placed a finished box of tele-bots in one container before grabbing a fresh box out of one of the boxes brought by Mica and Jasper. “My healing Power keeps my body at its DNA baseline, but mind still mush. I need go bed and sleep before moving to next phase of mission.”
Comstar tossed his box into the container of finished tele-bots and picked up another one. He glanced over at Jeena. “Jeehana, you have been sparse with your information on the next part of our operation. Do you not think it is about time you fill us in? Depending on what we are to do, I may need to memorize a different set of spells. I have been keeping a lot of defensive and anti-detection spells in memory. I suspect all of us magic users have.”
“You’ve got that right,” said Calatron. “Two of us magic users have to walk from one end of the ship to the other every couple of hours and refresh the anti-detection and invisibility spells on the Defiant. It wouldn’t do if one of those Dragar recon ships found us.”
Jeena nodded. “We have been in the middle of the Dragars’ fleets for three days now. Thanks to all of your efforts, Sergeant Ron has been able to avoid detection. He has also been able to disperse most of the upgraded tele-bots around some of the more strategically important parts of the fleets. Margery has been forwarding the data they have collected to ‘the One.’ Once we get the last of these tele-bots deployed, then it will be time to land on Portalis and complete the second part of our mission.”
Stella set down her box and looked at Jeena. “Land on Portalis? I thought shield was around the planet protecting it.”
The external speaker on Red Wing’s helmet crackled as the scout’s fighting computer, Mykias, got in on the conversation. “Not correct, Wizard Scout. According to the data forwarded to me by Nickelo before Wizard Scout Shepard and he left, that shield was placed around Portalis after he destroyed the Dragars’ spaceport and their temple. That was a hundred thousand years in our times’ past. We are currently two million years in the past. Those shields won’t be in place for another one-point-nine-million years.”
“That is all the more reason to find out what exactly we will be doing,” said Comstar. “What are we going to do when we land on Portalis? The Dragars’ will not be building their spaceport and temple for almost another two million years.”
Stella placed all four of her hands on the table. “There is more than that to consider. The demon Zenthra has not yet created his control room fortress that Rick will eventually destroy.” She locked eyes with Jeena. “I think you should tell us what we are supposed to do.”
“I cannot,” Jeena said.
“Cannot…or will not?” asked Stella.
Jeena had never liked being pushed into a corner, but she said a silent calming mantra before giving her reply. After all, Stella was her friend. They’d been on missions together and saved each other’s life more than once. “I cannot. The reason I cannot is because I do not know. I was only told we must go to Portalis two million years in
the past by someone I trust implicitly. I believe I was not given any details to make sure we do not inadvertently change the future by reacting to something in the past based upon knowledge we were given in the future.”
“She’s right,” said a high-pitched voice from the vicinity of the stairway.
Jeena looked over to see Brachia coming up the last of the stairs.
Brachia flashed a big smile. “The less we know about how things in the past affect the future, the better. That way whatever we do in the past based upon our lack of knowledge will be what happened in the past. If we knew we were supposed to do something or had knowledge of what was done, we might change our actions in order to avoid what might to us be less than desirable consequences.”
“That makes no sense,” said the gnome-mage Calatron.
Jeena laughed. “Welcome to time travel. No one said it was anything other than confusing.”
“So I’m beginning to see,” said Calatron. “Can you at least tell us who this person is you trust so much? Is it your Lady of the Tree of Light?”
Jeena shook her head. “Sorry. I do not believe I should tell you that either.”
Comstar tossed his box of tele-bots into the container holding the finished ones. “I traveled through time a lot during my years of captivity with the Dragars, using the time-bubble that the three spheres created on Portalis. One thing I learned during my travels was that time means something to us, but it is far less important to entities such as the demons we will be fighting. We are two million years in the past, but we are in the middle of the fleets of Dragar ships that have been raiding the magic dimension for more than a hundred thousand years. The reason they can do that is because the spheres’ time-bubbles exist in all time at the same time.”
“That’s correct,” said Brachia as he walked over to the mess table and sat down on the bench next to Red Wing. “Time-bubbles exist in all times, but they are only accessible through specific points in the space-time continuum. Some of you were there when the Dragars’ spaceport and temple were destroyed. The spaceport and buildings are gone, at least in our time they are, but the time-bubble created by the three spheres still exists because it exists in all times. There is an access point to the time-bubble at our current point in time. The Dragars have been using that access point to raid the future. I believe they will also be using it to bring their fleets to the future when they join the demons in their invasion.”
“That is also my thought,” Jeena said. “That is why we are going on Portalis. We are going to take a team on the X-shuttle and land near the point where the Dragars will eventually build their spaceport. Their time-bubble is already there. We must create an access point to the time-bubble and find something inside.”
“What do we need to find?” asked a squeaky voice coming from the direction of the ceiling.
Jeena looked up to see Bright Wing lying on top of a cupboard over the galley’s re-hydrator. She smiled. “Not we, little one. You must stay on board to help Sergeant Ron and Charlie. They will be hard-pressed to remain hidden from the Dragars.”
“Who will go then?” asked Stella. “Only you and I have been at the Dragars’ temple. No temple on Portalis now.”
“No, there is no temple there now,” Jeena agreed. “We were in the temple at the spaceport and only for a short time. That matters little. We are two million years in the past, and the area will be much different. As to who will be going on the mission, I will take Red Wing and you. From the gnomes, Calatron and Kester will go. Felspar and his dwarves will also accompany us. Timerman will fly the X-shuttle. Everyone else will remain on the Defiant and continue placing the tele-bots.”
Comstar shifted in his seat. “I should also go, Jeehana. As I have said, I was forced to use the Dragars’ time-bubble on many occasions during my captivity. I am familiar with it.”
Shaking her head, Jeena gave her fellow elf a sympathetic smile. “I am sorry, my friend, but I need you here monitoring the shields around the Defiant. If she is discovered, we may never get back home.”
As Comstar opened his mouth to protest, Jeena stood, holding Snowy in the crook of her left arm. “My decision is made. Everyone must do as they are told for our mission to succeed. It is the Lady’s will.”
Comstar smiled. “You know, Jeehana, sometimes you pull out the name of your Lady and use her like I would one of my wands. I am beginning to wonder if your Lady actually tells you as much as you try to make others believe. For that matter, I wonder if she actually exists.”
Jeena returned the elf mage’s smile. “Oh, she exists all right. Perhaps one day you will meet her. In the meantime, let us finish the tele-bots so we can get about our business.”
“Then we go to Portalis?” hissed Red Wing.
“Yes,” Jeena said. “Then we will go to Portalis.”
Chapter 22 – A Vampire’s Story
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A shudder ran down Telsa’s back as she glanced at the blonde-headed ranger sitting at the end of the table near Queen Emerald. After the initial meeting with the dwarf queen, Emerald had ushered Rembis and her into a regimental conference room near the guard area in order to speak more privately. Telsa wasn’t sure whether she appreciated the confines of the small, alabaster walled room where she now found herself. Being cooped up with a vampire wasn’t high on her list of fun things to do.
“I would’ve preferred to remain in the guard cavern,” Telsa told her battle computer. “At least I had room to maneuver there. I keep thinking about our raid on Old Drepdenor when that vampire tried to rip my throat out. There’s no way I can relax with another vampire sitting across the table from me, even if I do know her.”
“Well,” said Raj. “If it is that uncomfortable for you, why not seal your battle suit?”
Telsa was more than half-tempted to take Raj up on the suggestion. In the end, she opted to remain the way she was with her battle helmet in three-quarter’s mode. “No. Chancee is Emerald’s friend. The dwarf would take it as an insult. It might endanger the mission Jeehana gave us. Besides, if the ranger is a full vampire, she can shift into the void anyway. My battle suit’s not embedded with creallium like Rick’s gear. A vampire’s teeth would pass right through it, straight into my neck.”
“True,” said Raj. “Since those are the facts, I calculate the logical course of action is to stop worrying about it and pay attention to the meeting. I for one would like to find out what a vampire is doing living among the dwarves. I find it quite interesting.”
Apparently sensing her nervousness, Rembis, who was sitting in the chair next to Telsa, nudged her in the side with his elbow. “Relax,” said the gnome. “Chancee is what you might call a vegetarian when it comes to vampires. I worked with her lots of times during the years after we left Old Drepdenor.” He winked at the blonde ranger. “You’re a sweetheart, aren’t you, Chancee?”
The female ranger glared at Rembis with bloodshot eyes. “I’m not your sweetheart by any means, you fool of a gnome.” She grinned at Telsa, seeming to make sure the smile was not wide enough to show her eyeteeth. “Rembis is right in one respect, Telsa. You can relax. I only drink the blood of certain animals. It’s no different than you eating the meat of a cow. Humans, dwarves, elves, and even smart-mouthed gnomes like Rembis are not in my diet.”
Telsa nodded her head and did her best to smile. She made a show of looking at the others in the room in an attempt to hide her nervousness. Besides Emerald and Chancee, three dwarves sat at the table on the side opposite Rembis and her. Two of the dwarves were General Fenmar and his grandson Nekash. She didn’t recognize the third dwarf, but he wasn’t near as old as Emerald or Fenmar, so that wasn’t surprising. It had been four hundred years since she’d helped the elves with their rebellion against the Dragars. After thinking about who’d make the best source of information, she decided to direct her questions at General Fenmar, having found him relatively friendly the last time she’d been with the dwarves.
“Do you
vouch for her, General?” Telsa asked.
“I do,” replied General Fenmar. “After Wizard Scout Rick and the rest of you left, Queen Emerald gathered our forces and led the attack to reclaim our home under Old Drepdenor from the vampires. We succeeded in pushing them down to the lowest levels of the tunnels before they grouped together for a last stand.”
Queen Emerald rose from her chair and placed a hand on the blonde ranger’s shoulder. “Chancee was in the thickest of the fighting. Unlike General Fenmar and me, her armor wasn’t made of Holy Metal. She risked more during the fight than the rest of us.”
Chancee shook her head. “No. We all took the same risk. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when that lich popped up.”
Telsa glanced at the ranger. “Maybe I’m the only ignorant one in the room, but what’s a lich?”
After exchanging glances with Queen Emerald, Chancee said, “A lich is something I’d not wish on my worst enemy. It’s a type of undead that can come in different forms. In the case of the one under Old Drepdenor, it was, or maybe still is, a powerful necromancer that used dark spells to extend its life at the cost of its soul. The one I met was a vampire lich.” She looked at Emerald again.
“Go ahead,” said the dwarf queen. “It’s your story more than it is mine.”
The blonde ranger nodded and looked back at Telsa. “It’s not a day I care to remember, but if what you say about the future is true, then it may be important. As General Fenmar mentioned, our forces had pushed the vampires to the lowest levels of the tunnels under Old Drepdenor. I was with a scouting team that got cut off. We were ambushed by half-a-hundred vampires, and everyone was killed except me. I was forced to run.” She waited as if expecting Telsa to make some kind of comment. After several heartbeats, the ranger’s face relaxed. “I ran until I could run no more. I was on the verge of turning and making my last stand against my pursuers when I passed through…something.”
Wizard Gigantic (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 9) Page 21
