Jake's Quest - Wizards V (12 page)

20.
              
Bob

‘
We’re getting into a rut’
I thought as Harlan took me to lunch. He still wasn’t talking, but he also seemed happier. Perhaps he had bet on Lana or Esta?

“How many of these tests are there?”

“It varies,” Harlan said. “There will be another test tomorrow.”

A better answer than silence, though not by much.

“Who’s winning?”

He shook his head and I gave up.

The trip back to my room was uneventful and I was left alone again. I had reached a conclusion about the bracelet. I had thought of a couple ways I could remove it. Unfortunately, they were one-time things. I could only remove it by destroying it.

That was annoying. What I wanted to do was slip it off, visit home, and then hop back here without anyone knowing I was away. Not escape.

My door opened and Bob stepped in. He moved so quietly if the lock on the door hadn’t clicked I’d never have noticed.

“Does everybody get to make house-calls but me?”

Bob looked bemused for a couple of seconds and then his face cleared.

“I have discovered that the rules allow a contestant to visit another contestant if they wish to thank them.”

“You’re not as pretty as the last one.” That was a mistake. I realized it before the words were out of my mouth.

“Wizard d’Fallon has visited you?”

I said nothing. He’d work it out eventually and put me down as gay. Still, I had no problem with that unless he then made a pass at me. There are certain directions I don’t swing, though it doesn’t bother me that others do.

“As I told you. You have no need to thank me. I had a plan.”

He nodded. “My reason was a pretext. I need to talk to you on other matters.”

I waved him to join me on the bed and moved over so we could face each other.

“Your reputation has spread before you, Wizard Morrissey. I do not understand why you have joined the competition for this scholarship.”

“We all have our reasons.”

“Do you know how many applicants have returned to their worlds after being accepted for this contest?”

I shook my head. It was only after consultation with the Balmack that the Valhallans discovered the competition existed.

“I was told it was dangerous. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few have been killed.”

“Not one has returned. Not as far back as fifty years. The Brethren has searched across many worlds, heard of many who have applied and not one of them has returned to their home worlds.”

“The Brethren?” It sounded like a cult and I didn’t get on well with cults.

“The order I belong to, the
Brethren of Zeno, we are a warrior priesthood, dedicated to bringing justice to the multiverse. My rank is Bob, which everyone has assumed is my name.”

Warrior priesthood didn’t sound good either, a bit too like the Knights of Justice for my taste.
Never trust a religious zealot
was my motto. Well, it was now that I’d thought of it. It has a nice ring to it.

“You mean there are many Brethren Bobs?” A priesthood full of Bobs struck me as hilarious and I fought to avoid smirking.

Bob answered without a trace of irony. “There can be only one.”

I held my face immobile by sheer strength of will. I wondered if Bob had cut off the heads of other would be Bobs. I suppressed a giggle and thought of goldfish swimming in a pond. That usually quelled inappropriate laughter.

When I didn’t say anything for a while he started up again.

“What is that small knife for? It is filled with the strangest magic, wrapped around it like a spider’s web.”

He was like a random question generator. It seemed to me he had more he wanted to ask than he wanted to tell.

“It was made for me long before I was born. It’s very good for peeling fruit.”

“Can I examine it?”

“I would much rather you didn’t.”

“Will you stand with me when they attempt to kill us?”

Now that was a fair question. If he was right and the Balmack would not allow us to leave, then they would have to kill me to stop me.

“The Balmack are reputed to be a peaceful people. It makes no sense that they would invite us here only to kill us. And there must be more efficient ways to go about that than these trials.”

Bob dropped his voice to a whisper. “Can you think of a better way to collect up those who wish to learn their secrets to destroy them?”

Now that was something that hadn’t occurred to me. Create a route tempting enough to attract those who might otherwise come to steal their secrets? And then kill them.

But the Balmack could defend their worlds by other means. And it was all happening out in public where their people could see it. Bob’s logic didn’t make sense.

“If and when I get proof that they intend to kill us, I will join you.”

“The lad Estan Coin would have died without you, and he and Lana d’Fallon could have died today.”

“But they didn’t, did they?” I still didn’t believe it.

Bob shrugged and stood up. He offered his hand and I took it. He had a strong grip, but mine was stronger.

“Is it true that you created a Diabli sword and killed dozens with it?”

“A Diabli sword rends universes with its power. I have never destroyed a universe.” Some part of my mind added the unspoken word
‘yet’
. Sometimes I frighten myself.

Bob laughed. “I thought as much. Even a Representative will embellish a good tale if given half a chance. Peace and long life be with you, Wizard Morrissey.”

“And with you.”

He knocked on the door and it opened for him.

After he left I spend a long time thinking through what Bob had told me. The Valhallans knew the contest was risky and I’d taken that to be a reference to the danger of the trials. Now I had to consider the possibility that the trials were designed to kill the applicants. Perhaps they would continue with them until all of us were dead.

If I broke the bracelet I could search this world, but could I find one man among billions without help from the authorities? I doubted it. And what if he was on another one of their worlds? Then I would have lost my last chance to find him.

I spent a few hours hoping Lana d’Fallon would come to visit. It had been over twenty four hours since Esta visited and a man has certain needs.

21.
              
Five Sides

Another day, another trip to the balcony. The crowd were especially boisterous and if you believed what they were chanting, this was a carnival, not a trial with a significant risk of death for the participants.

The Chancellor smiled at me as if I was an exceptional performing seal. I decided that if he tried to pat me on the head I would break his wrist. The more I thought about what Bob had said, the more convinced I’d become that he was right. These tests were designed to kill, probably taking us one at a time to draw out their fun.

A few moments later the other contestants arrived. Esta glared at me while Jeram and Bob nodded pleasantly. Lana gave me a broad wink as her hand casually traced the outline of a breast before somehow ending up on her inner thigh. It was a pity she hadn’t thought to thank me for something yesterday. I was sure we would both have enjoyed it.

The Chancellor held up a hand and that was enough to bring the crowd to silence though it took over a minute to quiet the over excited.

“This is the final trial, for which I am sure our contestants will be very thankful.”

Big crowd noise. I was surprised as I was sure the whole thing would go on much longer. After all, none of us had died yet

“It is also the simplest of the trials. Shall we let the potential scholars view their battleground?”

Shouts in the affirmative roared out and the Chancellor waved us towards the edge of the balcony.

What had been a jungle and then a minefield was now a polished rectangular marble plaza with fountains at its corners. Dominating the plaza was a five story glass pyramid, its floors partially visible through its sides. It wasn’t a typical pyramid in that it had five sides rather that four. The top floor was a single room about thirty feet across. There was something small and golden, shining brightly about four feet off the floor in that room. Whatever it was, it caught my eye and held it.

“The Golden Globe is the prize. As you can see, the pyramid has been divided into five segments and each of those segments has access to the uppermost floor holding the Golden Globe. Each competitor will be given a colored key that opens their segment door. They must climb through the maze in their segment to reach the Globe. The first to touch it will be the winner.”

“I suspect there is more to it than that,” Lana muttered.

The Chancellor laughed. “There are minimal rules. If you hop at any time you will be disqualified. Magic is forbidden across segments so do not try and slow your fellow contestants. The last person to leave a floor may find the way blocked. You shall not start the contest until the gong sounds.”

An assistant to the Chancellor came over with a silver tray on which five different colored glass keys lay. He offered the first one to me but I waved him towards Lana. After the others had taken a key I took the last one, which was blue.

“Go to your doors and await the starting gong.”

The blue door was behind the pyramid from where we were standing and I hopped to the plaza before walking slowly around the pyramid. Though I could see through it, the further through I looked the less I saw. When I got to the blue glass door I couldn’t see the doors on the furthest sides. I could see Lana to my left and Bob to my right though. Lana gave me an enthusiastic wave and I waved back. Bob nodded at me and I touched my forehead in response.

Something that sounded like a dinner gong sounded and I pushed my key into its slot. The door slid upwards with remarkable speed. I was reminded of the doors in Star Trek.

Inside was like one of those mirror mazes you find in fair grounds. It wasn’t difficult to navigate, but the faster I tried to go the more likely I was to get a face-full of glass. I settled on a relatively slow gait with both hands stretched out in front of me.

I was determined not to rush. Winning had taken second place to getting out of this trial alive and I kept setting up hop points in front of me as I walked. If someone was out to get us I was going to take precautions. I had a shield up for additional protection, but everything of Balmack construction had gone through magic shields like butter, so I didn’t have much confidence in it. Hopping seemed safer, even if it meant I lost the contest.

The maze led me to the center of the pyramid and once there I could see the other contestants. They all looked to be ahead of me.

Esta climbed up a couple of glass boxes and discovered there wasn’t a ceiling above her. She began to haul herself up to the next level with the others following close behind. I found the equivalent boxes in my segment and started to make the climb. I would have been the last one out, but Lana slipped and fell. As it was, we were neck and neck when we pulled ourselves up to the next level.

If I hadn’t got my magic senses at maximum I would never have hopped in time. A sheet of glass moving at incredible speed tried to cut me off at the knees and I hopped a few feet to the floor above.

There was a muffled scream and I saw Lana topple to the floor, her left leg cut off below the knee.

I hopped through the segment glass to her side. Blood gushed from the wound. Slipping my senses into her body I temporarily sealed the blood vessels to her missing leg. She stopped screaming and gave me an agonized look.

“Back in a minute. You seem to have left something behind.”

She mouthed the word “
bastard,”
before slumping to the floor.

I let go of her and hopped to the level below. Pink gas seeped into the room and a quick magic sight investigation showed it was poisonous. Picking up Lana’s severed leg I hopped back to the floor above before the gas could get to me.

I turned the severed leg so it was in the right position and held it against it its counterpart. Magic flowed as I re-attached bone and then joined flesh and nerves. Damage and blood loss were minimal. She’d probably only lost a pint of blood, but Lana had drifted into shock and I had to get her body to stop pumping out the chemicals that might kill her. Long minutes passed.

Lana’s eyelids fluttered.

“What happened?”

“You were a limb short for a minute. You need to rest.”

“A girl should never hind herself legless with a man like you.”

That brought a smile and she lost consciousness again. I took the opportunity to see what the rest of the contestants were up to.

They were safely up on the next level. Bob was clearest through the glass so I took hold of Lana and hopped to him. He gave me a quizzical look.

“I thought that hopping was against the rules?”

“Stuff the rules. They chopped off Lana’s leg.”

He came closer to look; there was still a lot of blood I hadn’t bothered to clean up. His finger sliding across her leg revealed a faint red line where the cut had been. When he looked up there was a new respect in his eyes.

“You are an excellent healer. There is a position open in the Brethren if you are interested?”

“I think this pyramid is a death trap and we should put the rules aside, don’t you?”

Bob drew his curved sword and grinned wolfishly. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

I picked up Lana, who was showing signs of consciousness, but still wasn’t able to stand.

“Let’s join the others.”

Bob put a hand on my shoulder and hopped us up to Esta, who was in the lead at the fourth level. The door to the third level slid shut the instant we materialized.

“Jeram is in trouble,” Bob shouted and we all looked down.

Jeram was on the level below and we waved at him to hop to us. He shrugged and put his hands out as the purple gas began to cover his feet. I extended my magical senses and saw an intricate web of magic around Jeram.

“He can’t hop. They must have blocked it.”

“Everybody down,” Bob shouted.

I put a shield around me and Lana and huddled close to the floor. I saw Jeram dive away as Bob threw something small and black. A moment later there was an explosion and glass rained down. A few seconds later Jeram was kneeling beside us.

“Is something going on?” he asked.

Lana opened her eyes. “Did someone just set off a bomb?”

“Prayer Ball, the Balmack thought the magic in it was religious,” Bob’s grin was infectious and we all laughed.

“I will never doubt the power of prayer again,” I told him. “Bob and I think they are trying to kill us. That purple gas is poisonous.”

Lana gave a harsh laugh. “You don’t need to convince me. Thanks for the leg up by the way.”

“It’s the least I could give you under the circumstances.”

The looks Bob, Esta and Jeram were giving us suggested such banter was better suited to another time. Lana gave me a friendly punch on the arm.

“I suggest we hop to the final level,” Jeram said. We all touched and hopped.

We stared at the Golden Globe. Apart from being eye-wateringly bright it seemed safe enough.

Lana used me as a crutch as she pulled herself to her feet. I couldn’t help but notice that she copped a feel on the way up. Some people are irrepressible. She limped towards the Globe. It would take some time for her body to accept that the leg was back and uninjured. Flesh and bone remember such things.

“Touch it together?” Lana suggested as she stared down at it.

“I think we should take some time to set up our strongest defenses,” I said. I was getting a bad feeling about touching the thing and I’ve learned to trust my gut.

“We can’t come all this way and not touch it,” Esta said.

I sighed. This was a bad idea, but they were determined and I couldn’t offer a bad feeling as a reason not to. But I was sure we would come to regret it if we were still around to regret anything.

My magic spread out to form the strongest shield I could generate around us. I felt the others add their powers, which to be honest were pretty feeble when compared with mine.

“Nothing to it,” Lana said as we all reached out to touch the globe.

Then the world exploded.