Guardians Inc.:Thundersword (Guardians Incorporated #2) (34 page)

It was a really stupid paragraph but Thomas read it aloud as ordered and there was a beep. Another message appeared:

PLEASE READ ALOUD THE FOLLOWING THREE TIMES:

FABOULOUS FARMERS FREQUENT FEDERAL FRATERNITIES FINDING FAULTS FOR FELLOW FILLIBUSTERS FREEBOOTING FUCHSIA FLOWERS.

Thomas read it. The wristpadd beeped again.

PRESS ENTER WHEN YOU CAN HEAR ME CORRECTLY.

      Sounds came from the wristpadd, very low and grave, a sequence that rose in pitch and speed until Thomas could understand a computer-generated voice.

“Are you all right, Thomas?”

He made out the words, but they were too slow, so he waited until he could hear the message correctly and pressed enter.

“Yes,” Thomas said. “I'm all right. Is that you, Bolswaithe?”

“Yes, Thomas,” the voice said, but it didn't sound like Bolswaithe. It sounded more like a voice generated from a text-to-speech converter he had heard on the Internet. It was monotone without inflexions.

“You don't sound like yourself.”

“You are actually listening to ultrasound generated pulses at a rate that make sense to you,” Bolswaithe said. “You are living at a speed different from ours and moving thousands of times faster.”

“How?” Thomas asked.

“Magic,” Bolswaithe answered. “I'll try to tell you as much as I can, but we've also prepared documents for you to read. We need to conserve this wristpadd’s energy and components.”

      Thomas sighed in relief; at least Bolswaithe was safe. “Can we go now?” he asked. He didn't want to look at Bolswaithe's broken body anymore.

“Head for the Mansion,” Bolswaithe said. “I'll explain everything.”

Relativities

“Really?” Thomas asked as they approached the entrance to the Mansion. All the doors were open, the water on the fountains was frozen mid-air, and Babcor was frozen as he pruned a bush. Thomas could make out the individual teeth of his pruner and the gases coming from the exhaust of the machine hanging mid-air around Babcor. The capybara looked comical dressed as a gardener complete with a sun hat, clear glasses, and a twig coming out from between his buckteeth. He really looked like a big, tail-less mouse, and Thomas stopped to see if he could smell the fresh-cut plants. “Has it really been seven months?”

“Over seven months,” Bolswaithe said. “From the moment Skuld placed the sand in your hand to the moment you walked out from the chamber and I held onto you, it took seven months thirteen days and six hours.”

Ratatosk had told him the names of the Norns at the beginning of his audience with them—Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld—but he had not pointed out to him who was who. “How do you know it was Skuld?” Thomas asked.

“Extrapolation,” Bolswaithe said. “I had all that time to access everything I could in regards to the Norns. Their powers are not as defined as those of the Greek or Roman Fates, but if we were to decide which one could create a time effect like the one we are experiencing, it would be Skuld. Most scholars believe that her name means something like: ‘What needs to occur.’”

“You mean like in the Future?” Thomas asked. This was one of those Bolswaithe's explanations that actually made some sense. “What about Verðandi?” Lord Odin had asked Ratatosk which Norn had been the one to open the door for him, and when Ratatosk had said Verðandi, Lady Frigg had said that it actually made sense.

“That which is happening,” Bolswaithe said. “Could mean Present.”

“So Urðr, controls the Past?” Thomas said pulling out the star amulet Urðr had given him. Maybe her gift could be used to control time. “Do you think I can control time, the past, with this amulet?”

“It's all theory and extrapolation, Thomas,” Bolswaithe said. “Humanity is almost to the point where we can travel in time, although only in one direction.”

“What?” Thomas said. “When did that happen?”

“It’s been happening for many years now. Sick people freeze their bodies or even just their heads right after they die in hopes that in three or four hundred years in the future they can be re-animated and cured. There's a whole industry around it. It’s called Cryonics.”

Thomas hopes evaporated; he had heard about that many times. Supposedly Walt Disney and Bruce Lee had been frozen and were waiting to be thawed-out in the future. “That's not time traveling, Bolswaithe.”

“It is in a way,” Bolswaithe said. “And it will be for them if they are ever reanimated. Imagine going to sleep today and waking up in the future.”

“That's not what Skuld did to me. She didn't freeze me.”

“For all purposes you were frozen in time, like a marble statue that moved just a couple of centimeters every day. Now you're moving at hyper-speed, and the rest of the world seems frozen in time.”

“And how is that possible?”

“A lot of scientists were asked to think about your state. The most promising theories came from theoretical physicists, but you know how they are.”

“Of course.” Thomas didn't actually know how they were, but most of the times Bolswaithe explained something to him out of which he understood only ten percent of, was about theoretical physics.

“There are the reports for you to read in one of the folders in this wristpadd,” Bolswaithe said.

“Can't you give me a summary?” Thomas said, and before Bolswaithe could begin he added, “very short, please?” 

“It’s Relative Velocity Time Dilation,” Bolswaithe said. “That short?”

Thomas smiled; at least Bolswaithe still had a sense of humor. “A little longer,” he said, “but simple terms please.”

“The faster you move, the more time slows down from your point of view. Although you're not moving at the speed of light, which is what the physicists would have liked to see, you're still incredibly fast... Theory of Relativity gets complicated, but I can tell you the principles.”

“It's okay, Bolswaithe,” Thomas said. “We'll file it under ‘Magic’.”

“That's right human,” Ratatosk spoke for the first time since arriving from his forage into the Mansion’s grounds. The squirrel came back with both cheeks full of nuts. “Norns are very powerful, even more powerful than the Aesir.”

“I thought they were Aesir themselves,” Bolswaithe said.

“Oh no...” Ratatosk pulled out a nut from his cheek and munched on it. “The Aesir actually visit the Norns when they need guidance—so do the Olympians and many of the others. I once took Bastet to them, because she wanted to ask them how to meet Eros.”

“Bastet?” Thomas asked.

“Egyptian pantheon, Goddess of love and fertility,” Bolswaithe chimed in.

“A beast head,” Ratatosk said, and after Thomas lifted a questioning eyebrow he added, “She has the head of a cat, but she's sexy as hell.”

“They actually have animal heads?” Bolswaithe asked. “Interesting.”

“Yes, they do,” Ratatosk said at the wristpadd. “I think that is one of the things Eros likes about Bastet.”

“Eros is Greek, isn't he? God of...love?” Thomas began to catch up with what they were saying. Eros’s name had sprung so many words that it was easy to guess what he was good at.

“Sexual love. Passion,” Bolswaithe said. “Yes, he's Greek. The Romans called him Cupid.”

“Poor Bastet,” Ratatosk sighed. “Eros’s girlfriend is Aphrodite. I mean, when  she found out about it...Wow!”

“Really? Eros and Bastet?” Bolswaithe asked.

“Doomed to fail,” Ratatosk said. “Almost as bad as Amaterasu and Tecciztecatl. Imagine a Shinto Sun Goddess going out with the Aztec ‘Old Man on the Moon,’” Ratatosk tsked repeatedly.

“Really?” Bolswaithe asked. “Sun and Moon?”

“It was a scandal,” Ratatosk said. “And then there were—”

“The Norns?” Thomas nudged Ratatosk. They had digressed too much already and something told him that if he allowed Ratatosk and Bolswaithe to go at it he would know all of the ancient Gods’ indiscretions.

“The Norns, the Fates, the Sisters of Destiny…call them whatever you want,” Ratatosk said. “They are beyond all Pantheons, but influence all of them too. If you ask me, I think they are way more powerful.” He tapped his head. “They know what's going on.”

“And they control time?” Thomas asked.

Ratatosk thought about it for a second. “This is the first time this happened to me, and like I told you in the chamber, I've taken a lot of people to see them.”

“It's not the first time in our experience,” Bolswaithe said. “There is a report that the Norns gave Agatha Christie sand after her interview at the Well of Urd and she disappeared too. But it was only eleven days, not seven months. That's how we knew how to prepare for your return and set up this wristpadd. Christie left us a detailed account of what had happened in those eleven days. She was moving so fast that time was distorted. Two days for her, eleven for us.”

“Okay.” Thomas had heard enough. “So what happens now? When will I be back on our time?”

“You're back already,” Ratatosk mocked him. “Even I got that.”

Thomas glared at the squirrel. “I mean, at the same speed as the rest of the world.”

“I can guess,” Bolswaithe said. “I've already had to adjust the frequency of my pulse-generated voice because you're slowing down. But at the present rate, it'll be about a week for you and about three hours for us.”

“That's not the same as Christie's.”

“It's not the same variables, and that's good because Christie only spent thirty minutes with the Norns. You were there a couple of hours before Skuld gave you the sand. I can only guess there is a reason why the Norns chose to take you away for seven months.”

“Reasons are their thing,” Ratatosk said. “But I'll tell you that you are different. I'd never seen the water on their fountain go crazy like it did when you touched it, and it took them a long time to decide what to do with you.”

“He's a Cypher,” Bolswaithe said. “He's actually deciphered a sign from the Oracle already.”

Ratatosk froze. Pieces of nut fell from his open mouth as he looked at Thomas with wide eyes. “You are touched by the Oracle?”

Not again...
Thomas thought. Even the Messenger of the Gods seemed to think he was very special.

“That's why the Norns didn't know what to do with you!” Ratatosk opened his hands. “Pantheons are here, and the Norns are here,” he said, indicating with his hands. “But the Oracle is way up there!” he pointed at the sky above. “It’s Pillar Magic and one of the strongest too! The Oracle is the protector of Life Magic!”

“Yes, I know,” Thomas said in a bored voice.

“It's a big honor!” the squirrel said. “I mean very big! You are the Oracle's champion!”

“I know, all right?” Thomas yelled and the squirrel stepped back.

“No,” Ratatosk said, turning around. “I don't think you do…. I'll see you later.” He took off toward the trees and Thomas didn't even try to stop him. He was just tired of people acting differently once they found out that he was a Cypher. This
honor
had only brought him troubles.

A couple of minutes passed before Bolswaithe spoke again. “Are you all right, Thomas?”

“Yeah,” Thomas sighed. “Don't worry, I'll apologize later.”

“I know.”

“So tell me,” Thomas said, sitting by the fountain and smacking some of the frozen water droplets with his hand. “How is everyone?”

Bolswaithe began to tell him about the seven months he'd been away.

It was a terrible story.

Fractures

“The League of Nations is falling apart.” Bolswaithe displayed a report and timeline of events on the wristpadd as he spoke. “Ninety percent of the African and Indian clans have retired their ministers and about half of the Asian clans too. They see your disappearance as the last drop and the Guardians’ ultimate failure.”

“Hoormel Kian?” Thomas enlarged a picture of the Minister, who was giving a speech to the assembly; he seemed full of anger and disgust.

“It's mostly his doing, but he stayed in the League where he can do more damage. He’s even convinced two of the ancients to secede already and a couple of South American clans.”

“I see King Seryaan has been very active,” Thomas read on the report.

“Damage control. Seryaan and the other Elven Nations had kept the Methos and the American and European clans in the League, but with the League falling apart, the United Nations had to react to the instability and now tensions have risen in the human counterparts too.”

“How has Guardians Inc. reacted to all of this?”

“We have short of twenty five thousand Watchmen and only thirty-seven Fire teams across the world, but we are not an army. We depend on the Fauns’ cooperation to keep the peace between all factions. Tony has been very active these last three months. He caught another Namtarii trying to get into the VECTOR Institute in Novorsibirsk.”

Thomas felt a needle in his stomach; he had forgotten already about the Namtarii escaping from their Keep, and how the Doctor had wanted that to be a victory. As he read through the reports of the Namtarii’s activities, he saw that it had been one of the main reasons Hoormel Kian used to cite the Guardians’ failure.

That and his fight at Ethipothala Falls.

“Was it one of the escapees?” Thomas realized that he didn’t even know who had escaped; his going to the Aesir had been just hours after that blunder.

“Unfortunately no. The Namtarii Tony fought against was Abbas. The VECTOR Institute is one of the holders of the last Smallpox samples, and the other is the CDC in Atlanta. Abbas was trying to get it out from the high security keep. He had never been in our custody.”

Bolswaithe displayed the profiles of those who had escaped. One had been a Guardian once, Obadiah. He had been responsible for Cholera epidemics in Mediterranean cities during the Middle Ages, and the other was the one Tony had slapped in the Keep. Tsikiko, the Daughter of the Dark Moon. She had killed her own people and decimated the Japanese Islands and the Chinese coast again and again through the ages. After Isaurus, she had been the most evil and determined, and with him dead she had become the most dangerous Namtarii alive.