Resurgence of Ancient Darkness (15 page)

“Yes, he has you four listed as his closest living relatives. While I know that is not really true, he considers it to be true, and that’s enough. That means I can freely talk to you about his case, and it means you’ll have some decisions to make.”

“Family … ” whispered Spectra.

“Shea, it sounds like you are preparing us for bad news,” said Shadow.

“Master, I can’t give him his powers back,” stated Shea.

I gasped, but Shadow remained cool and asked, “What is wrong?”

“Master, to get there we need to go back a bit. If you think back to when you had that fight with the spirit at Flame’s parents’ home, you lost the use of your powers for a while. Do you recall why?” asked Shea.

Shadow answered, “I was never really sure. Rannor said something about healing both the physical and spiritual parts of the body. All I really understood was that I had to go through all that physical therapy before I could begin to use magic again.”

“That is correct, Master. Until you recovered your physical health, you could not access your powers. Also, have you noticed that all the top-level wizards, while they are very old, are in good physical shape?” she asked.

“Yes, I have,” said Shadow.

“The reason is that there’s a strong tie between your ability to do magic and your physical health,” she said.

“So then if I was sick, my magic would be weaker?” I asked.

“Yes, Master Dusty. Processing illuminescence apparently uses some kind of physical mechanism that we have not yet identified,” she said.

“Are you implying then that the stronger a person is physically, the more powerful his magic?” I asked.

“I am not positive yet, Master, but I think so. It is not brute force strength, though. It’s more a matter of endurance and overall fitness,” she said.

Shadow seemed to think about that for a bit, then said, “So the obvious conclusion is that Phoenix needs to lose weight and get fit?”

“Yes, Master. I believe so,” she said. “Until that happens, I do not expect that he will be able to cast more than the most basic of spells.”

“How did this slip by unnoticed for so long?” asked Shadow.

“I can’t be certain, but his records all show perfect health. They don’t match what my tests now show,” she said.

“Are you implying that the records have been falsified?” asked Shadow.

“I was not his doctor for those evaluations. All I know is that they do not match up,” said Shea.

“What is the plan, then?” asked Shadow.

“Well, assuming he agrees, we can surgically remove most of his excess fat, and then he will have to drastically change the way he eats to keep it off. He’ll also need to get into an exercise program to build up muscle mass,” she said. “I can easily design a diet for him, and I’m sure we can find a trainer to work with him physically.”

“At least we now know why he did not want to see a doctor,” said Shadow.

“Why, Master?” I asked.

“Because once this is entered into his medical record, he will be removed from active duty,” said Shadow.

I couldn’t believe what I just heard. “But, Master!” I cried.

“No, his health makes him a liability and a danger to his crew,” said Shadow.

“Then assign him to my crew!” I said.

“Master Shadow, I have not entered any of this into his file yet,” started Shea.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“Well, I can release him for conditional light duty, if he agrees to the surgery and shows dedication to a diet and exercise plan,” said Shea.

“I have a mission I was thinking about sending the Fox on. I could assign him to the Fox as an advisor, and then you could monitor his treatment for a while,” said Shadow.

“Perfect, when do we launch?” I asked.

Shadow chuckled and said, “Shea, how long before he starts to see an improvement?”

“He’ll need a couple of weeks to recover from surgery. After that, I would guess at least one to two months for him to improve his fitness enough to reverse the degrading of his powers.”

“If he’s on the Fox, then he can join my training sessions with Lythiran,” I said.

“It sounds like we have a plan, then. All we need to do is get him up and see if he agrees to it,” Shadow said.

“Actually, I’m awake,” said Phoenix as he walked into the room from where he had been sleeping in sickbay. “Sorry for eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help but hear.”

“How much did you hear?” I asked.

“Most of the conversation about your powers, and everything about me,” he said.

Everyone was quiet while he made his way to a chair and fell into it. Just walking that little distance seemed to tire him. I could see now that he was in very bad shape. Somehow I had missed it all these years, but now it was obvious.

“I appreciate the thought, but I just can’t do it,” he said.

“Sure you can! We’ll all help you,” I said.

He looked at me and said, “Once Shea removes the fat I will be ravenous. My body will still demand the amount of food I was eating before the weight loss. I’ll lose control and begin to binge eat again. In a few years, I’ll be back in this condition. It’s hopeless.”

“You have done this before?” asked Shadow.

“Twice,” said Phoenix.

“Yes, but have you ever had help before?” asked Spectra softly.

He looked at her for a moment and then said, “No. My father gets his fat removed regularly; it’s just what we do.”

“Then this time will be different,” said Spectra. “You’ll have a full team behind you.”

“Phoenix, tell me about your medical records,” said Shadow.

“Sorry, Shadow. I panicked when I first discovered this and faked the test results. I thought I could get it under control before I was discovered.” He sighed and continued, “This is the end of my career, isn’t it?”

I could not imagine a future without Phoenix among our number. I looked over to Shadow, pleading with my eyes on behalf of Phoenix, but I had no words. It seemed like years before Shadow finally responded.

He walked over to Phoenix, got down to his level, and said, “You did this successfully as a prospect, and you can do this now. I will do what is necessary in order to get you the time you need, but you have to promise me you will be honest with us from now on.”

Phoenix looked at Spectra, then over to Shea. He was silent for a long while but eventually said, “I couldn’t bear to go back to the life I had, and I’ve nothing to lose by trying. Let’s do this.”

“My love? Are you coming to bed?” asked Kellyn.

“In a while, in a while,” I said.

I walked alone into my study holding a scroll. It contained a message from the one we had taken to calling ‘the Old Man.’ It presented an amazingly difficult problem that I did not know how to handle. I relaxed back into my favorite chair and read it again.

Grandmaster Vydor,

I hope this message finds you well. I know that someday we may face off for control of this realm, but at this time it is far too large for either of us to control. Until now, my magi and yours for the most part have left each other alone. Recently I even rescued your magus Dusty from certain doom at the hands of the necromancers as a sign of goodwill. I hope you see that I bear you no ill will.

Recently our combined attacks on the Korshalemian sorcerers drove them from this realm, which allows us both to work on building up our own territory. I have intentionally chosen a region of space far from your kingdom so that we will not interfere with each other and have been building my own kingdom, mostly in secret, until now. I believe we were both content with this arrangement until now; however, there is a new problem.

When Shadow and his team healed the realm, he released something that should have never been released. It is a vile force, far darker than anything I have ever encountered before. I know you see it too, and you have sent Shadow and his team to try to figure out what it is. You cannot see it as clearly as I can because you are too enveloped in light, which drives back some of the darkness. I cannot yet tell what it is, but I know that it is bad for everyone.

Make no mistake, Grandmaster, we will have to work together to beat this new enemy, and we have to do it soon because it grows stronger. I am also searching for its hiding place, and I believe I have found a clue. I do not understand the clue, but I believe that if you send Shadow’s team to the first planet in the system whose coordinates I give below he will find what we discovered.

I send this information as a gesture to show that I am sincere in my desire to work with you and defeat this attack on our realm. I hope you will accept my offer to work together against this darkness. As a wise man once said, “The enemy of an enemy is a friend.”

Sincerely,

The Old Man

Never in a million lifetimes could I have guessed I would receive a letter like this. We still had no idea who he was, but before this we were sure he was not on our side.

While I sat there pondering, Kellyn came in and said, “Still thinking about that letter?”

“Yes. I want to believe it is legitimate, and a real offer …” I started.

“But?” she asked.

“But, everything we know about this magus points to him being a deadly sorcerer, possibly even the grandmaster,” I said.

“True. Have you talked with anyone else about this letter yet?” she asked.

“No, just you,” I said.

She sat there quietly without saying a word. She did not have to; I knew what she was thinking. She wanted me to call in the full council and decide it as a team. I smiled and said, “Perhaps in the morning.”

“Perhaps now, my love?” she asked.

I looked deep into her eyes and decided she was right. “
Council of Wizards, we must meet on a matter of grave importance.
”

We no longer bothered to gather in the same room for these meetings. Instead, we used our telepathic network to build a room in our minds where our avatars could meet at any time and speak with much greater clarity and depth than was possible with mere words alone.

Once we were assembled, I sent out a telepathic bundle that contained everything I knew about the message and the old man. Once everyone had had a chance to absorb the bundle, I said, “
The question is: do we take this magus at his word and send Shadow, or not?”

The debate flowed freely for a while. In this virtual room ideas moved back and forth like packets of information on a computer network. Words could not be put to the discussion, as the conversation transcended such mundane vehicles.

They all thought we should investigate the clue, but differed about how to do that. Andreya wanted to send the Shadow Fox instead of the Nevermore II because it was too risky to send Shadow. Luke thought that one of us should go if we were truly worried about the risk. In response, Darnath offered to go himself to investigate. Kellyn pointed out that we had our own leads to follow up, and should not put all of our faith in the one basket of that planet.

“
Shadow has a lead already to follow up. If all are in agreement, I will ask him to send the Shadow Fox after this lead and will tell him about this letter,
” I sent.

There was some more discussion of that option. I knew that if I allowed it they would argue all night long, so after a while I stopped the debate and called for a vote. It was in favor of my plan. As I was about to close the meeting, Gafar sent, “
I think we should tell Mantis about this, too
.”

“
That is a good idea. He might have some insight into it,
” I sent.

Once the meeting was over I said to Kellyn, “I am going to deliver this message to Shadow, and then I will join you in bed.”

Flame and I were in our quarters enjoying a quiet night together when someone came to the door. I wanted to ignore it, but as captain of the Nevermore I was never really off duty. Nothing could have prepared me for the visitor
waiting for me when I opened the door.

“Hello, Shadow,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

“Grandmaster,” I said. “I am sorry, I did not know you were coming or I … ” He raised his hand to silence me.

“It is late, or at least it is very late at my home, so I will be brief. Please assemble your second-rank wizards in your main meeting room, and I will explain to you all at the same time,” he said. “Oh, and invite Shea, too, please.”

“Yes, Grandmaster,” I said.

With that he walked away in the direction of the meeting room. I quickly dispatched a telepathic message to everyone and also sent it over the ship’s comm system just in case anyone was in their telepathically-shielded quarters.

By the time Flame and I had arrived, Dusty, Spectra, and Shea were already there. Dusty looked very nervous, and Spectra had reverted to her former emotionless self. Shea, on the other hand, was completely calm and cool. Nothing much ever seemed to trouble her. “Grandmaster, everyone is here.”

“Where is Phoenix?” he asked.

I had forgotten that he did not know about that situation. “Grandmaster, he is in sickbay and will not be able to join us.”

“What happened?” he asked. I heard his concern in his tone.

“He needed some surgery to correct a medical issue and is recovering. He just needs to rest and heal for the moment,” I said.

“I would like a full report, but that can wait. Now, let me tell you about a letter we received,” he said and then showed us a letter from the Old Man. When we had absorbed the contents he said, “We know how risky this is, but we feel we need to investigate it. I would like to send Dusty and the Shadow Fox to investigate this lead, while the Nevermore II stays on its current mission.”

“Grandmaster, we appreciate the visit, but you could have sent this order without coming out in person. Is there something else we should know?” I asked.

“No, I have told you everything. Mainly I wanted all of you to know how much I depend on you. You are the best students the school has ever produced. Before sending you off on such a risky mission, I wanted to make sure you knew how important each of you is to me. I know I can trust you completely, and you are the example on which I hope to model future generations of wizards,” he said. “Shea, while you did not come up through our school, I consider you also a member of this group of elite wizards.”