Resurgence of Ancient Darkness (16 page)

The room was silent for a bit until I said, “Thank you, Grandmaster. That means a lot to us. We will find out the truth of this matter and report back as soon as we know something.”

“Excellent. Now tell me about Phoenix,” he said.

I looked over at Shea, who smiled and nodded slightly. I took that to mean I should tell him all, so I did and finished with: “Two nights ago we removed the fat as planned, and he is now recovering in sickbay.”

Grandmaster Vydor leaned back. He did not speak for a long time, then finally said, “You did not tell me, because you were afraid I might take his rank?”

“That would be the standard protocol for a wizard who could not perform his duties,” I said.

“Bah,” he said and turned to Shea. “I agree completely with your plan, and I want updates on his progress,” he said.

“Grandmaster, I am sorry, but without his permission I can’t do that,” said Shea.

He smiled and said, “Shea, thank you for that. However, I am exerting my full authority to overrule his privacy on this occasion. I know he is a dear friend to us all, but we cannot lose sight of the greater consequences of this information. If you are right in your diagnosis, then we need to know since bad health can strike anyone at any time. We need to have plans in place to handle wizards who lose their powers temporarily like this, and we have to make sure all wizards maintain a reasonable level of fitness. In short, every magus alive needs to know how successful this treatment turns out to be. I will protect his anonymity, but I need the information. I also need you to inform Rannor about everything to do with this case.”

“Grandmaster, I understand, and I will contact him,” said Shea.

“Excellent. I would like to see Phoenix if he is well enough for visitors,” said Grandmaster Vydor.

“When I left him, he was sleeping. I would prefer not to wake him right now, Grandmaster,” said Shea.

“No, do not wake him, but please tell him he has my blessing on this plan, and I will try to come in another time to visit him,” said Grandmaster Vydor. “Shadow, do you have any other news for me?”

To my surprise, Dusty spoke up and said, “Yes, Grandmaster, we have. Shea, please fill him in on my case.”

Shea smiled at Dusty and told Grandmaster Vydor everything we knew. “I’ve prepared a package to send to Master Rannor with DNA samples and all our records, but have not found a secure way to get the physical samples to him.”

Grandmaster Vydor looked around the room and said, “Everyone, please do not keep things like this from me. I trust you, and you need to trust me. Both of these cases, while they might normally be protected by doctor-patient confidentiality, are very important both to me personally and to the future of wizards everywhere. Do you understand?” Everyone nodded, and then he continued, “Dusty, please cast one of your mage bolts at me. Do not worry, I will catch it. I want to see this change for myself.”

Dusty stood to cast and hesitated. Spectra placed her hand on his thigh and looked up at him. Something in that look gave him the confidence to continue, and soon there was a spirit bolt flying at high speed across the room. Grandmaster Vydor never even moved, but the bolt stopped just short of hitting him. It hung there in the air, motionless, as if suspended on a chain.

“Amazing. Its pattern matches one of Kellyn’s bolts. There is no doubt that is a spirit bolt.” The bolt faded away in front of him. “I will carry the DNA samples to Rannor, Shea. He needs to look into this without delay.”

“Yes, Grandmaster. They are in my lab; I can get them now, if you like,” she said.

“In a moment. I will take you down,” he said. He spoke for a little longer about how important we all were to him, and that we should reach out to him with anything like this in the future. Then he remarked that he really must go to bed, pronounced one of his blessings over us, and said goodnight. He left with Shea to get the DNA samples to bring back to Rannor and then weave-walked home.

The day after Grandmaster Vydor visited us on the Nevermore II, I assembled my command staff in order to inform them of our new orders and work out a plan to fulfill them.

“The problem now is that, once the Shadow Fox leaves on its mission, we have two targets and only one ship. The first is here,” I said, pointing to a location on a holographic map. “We have received reports of problems in this region. Several weeks ago a team of Battle Wizards and mundanes went to investigate these reports. They should have arrived in that system by now; however, they have failed to report back. The mission is to find out what happened.”

“Master Shadow, what kind of suspicious activity?” asked Karlith.

“A trading hub appears to have been taken over by unknown forces,” I said.

“Master, the team was sent under cover. Perhaps they have not yet had an opportunity to report?” suggested Stalker.

“Their cover was quite flimsy,” I said, “so I suppose that is possible, but it will take us months to get out there. If they are in immediate trouble, there is not much we can do. If they have been forced into hiding, then we could rescue them if we get there in time. In either case, someone needs to investigate,” I said.

“Maybe, maybe not, Master. We do not know their status. They could be doing all that needs to be done and merely not had a safe time to call back,” said Stalker.

I lit up a second target on the map and said, “The second target is here. I had originally planned to send the Shadow Fox to this one. At this location there have been reports of suspicious activities, possibly the work of a necromancer.”

“Those targets are at least six months’ travel apart,” said Flame.

“Yes, which is why we need to choose one. We cannot do both,” I said.

“Master, that second target is outside our space,” said Dusty.

“Yes, Dusty, it is. Grandmaster Vydor and I believe that, whatever the source of the growing shadow is, it must be far outside our region of space. If it was close by, we would have seen it easily, as it would have stood in dramatic contrast to the light in our region. Both of these targets, we believe, can help us decide in what direction to go. Once we know that, we can begin to track this shadow down and put an end to it,” I said.

“Not only are those two six months apart, they are both quite far away from Dusty’s target,” said Flame.

“Yes. It will take Dusty two to three months to reach his target, and from that point on he will be alone for a while,” I said.

“Couldn’t we use the gate back at the Academy?” asked Flame.

“Unfortunately that gate is only suitable for a small number of people, not star ships. We will have to do this the mundane way,” I said.

“Master, how then did Grandmaster Vydor get out here?” asked Shea.

Originally Shea had not been on my command staff, but I had decided that her insight was too valuable not to have and inclu
ded her. This was her first meeting as a member of the team. “Shea, he used Weave Walk. It is a power of Spellweavers that is unlimited by distance.”

“So, Master, if there were some emergency, you at least could travel to the Shadow Fox and help out?” she asked.

“Yes, but I could not take anyone with me, at least not since the changes occurred. I can gate, like Spectra, but the distance possible is much too limited to cross that gap,” I said.

“Well, it is good to know we have that option, at least,” said Flame.

“Now, we have two options before us. Which do we choose?” I asked.

I sat back and let them debate it for a while. I did not want to intervene and stifle the discussion. Flame wanted us to go and see if we could help the missing Battle Wizards, but Stalker and Karlith felt that we should let them handle that system and head to the target that had no coverage. The discussion soon broke down to Flame versus Stalker and Karlith. Dusty, Spectra, and Shea had all fallen silent.

Then Shea asked, “Master, we have two other ships. Can’t we cover all the targets?”

“It would cut our forces too thinly. Maybe in the future when we have grown our forces significantly, but now we can handle only two targets at a time,” I said.

“Master, then the only way to handle all targets is to contact the Battle Wizards and have them send a ship after their wizards, while we head to the other target,” said Shea.

“I certainly like that better than abandoning our wizards,” said Flame.

“I suppose it is time we trusted them to stand on their own. That will be our plan. After our next jump, the Shadow Fox will launch to follow the Old Man’s clue, and we will head for the Quillain system.”

“
How do you keep getting yourself in these messes, Ramsong
?” I wondered to myself.

I do not know why Master Dougherty chose me to lead this team of Battle Wizards, and I sure did not like having to be saddled with these mundanes. But the worst part of this mission was sitting idle while some of my magi were in prison pretending to be mundanes. They could easily have escaped at any time by teleporting to freedom, but that would blow our cover and leave the mundane naval officers trapped alone.

Several members of the joint team were captured shortly after arriving. Our shabby cover was too thin, and the station guards saw right through it. Most of our mundanes and several of our wizards were arrested, but in the commotion I was able to get most of my magi to safety. Eventually those of us who had escaped rejoined the remaining mundanes, and we went into hiding.

Our squadmates in prison were comfortable and being treated well, but we knew that would change if it was ever discovered who they were. The plan was to lie low for a while and watch for an opening to spring them while gathering as much information as we could on the rebels who had taken over the station. We had hoped that if we lay low they would think they had caught everyone and relax security, but that hadn’t happened.

Not all was lost; we did discover their leaders and their headquarters. Now all we had to do was spring our troops and take down the leaders. Once we had their headquarters under our control, and had captured their leaders, we could free the station without risking the civilian population.

“Yellow squad in position,” I said over our secure comm link.

“Roger, Yellow,” came back the response.

Our plan was simple: my three wizard squads would attack the jail and spring our mundane naval friends. Once we had accomplished that, the wizards in prison would teleport away and join the main force. The main force would use our assault as a distraction and launch their attack to capture the headquarters.

“All teams, prepare to move on my mark,” came the voice of the naval commander over the comm. It seemed like an eternity had passed, but then: “Yellow team, move out!” came over the comm.

“Roger. Yellow team in motion,” I replied.

The three of us came out of our hiding place and walked towards the entrance to the prison sector with our full battle armor disguised under our robes. As we approached, the mundane guards spread out and drew their weapons.

“Halt!” they cried out as we approached.

“I am Seventh Rank Battle Wizard Ramsong, and I am demanding the release of several of our men whom you have imprisoned. If you do not comply, we will take them by force,” I said. I had no false hopes of them complying, but our creed required us to give them a chance to settle things peacefully.

“If you take one more step, we will open fire,” said one of the guards.

“So you are refusing my command?” I asked.

“We do not respect your authority here,” he said.

“Are you sure? This is your last chance to comply,” I said.

“You are hardly in a position to threaten us. Leave or die. It’s your call,” he said.

“
Firewall, now,”
I sent.

Suddenly fire leaped from the hands of the wizard on my right and formed a massive wall in front of us. With a command and a propelling gesture, he pushed the wall of fire right at them. The guards jumped out of the way as fast as they could, but at least half of them were set aflame by the attack. Moving quickly, we all drew wands and charged their now broken line.

It was not long before we had smashed through all their defenses and reached the prison cells. Not wanting to risk waiting long enough to find out exactly which cell doors held our men, I unlocked all of them at once and shouted, “Prison break! Make a run for it!”

Soon the halls were filled with men and women of all species charging the guards, who were trying to mount a defense to trap us in. In the crowd it was tough to find all of our people, so we just joined the rush and charged out with the escaping prisoners.

“Yellow team retreating. All cells empty,” I said over the comm link.

“Roger, Yellow team. We could use back-up here,” came the command.

“
All wizards, get to ground!”
I sent.

“We could use backup” was our code phrase to alert the teams if a team was captured. This was bad. If their attack had failed, our cover was now blown sky-high.

“
Ramsong, what about the mundanes we just sprang?”
asked Zal, one of my magi.

“
We will have to meet up with them at the safe house in a few days. Until then, everyone get clear,”
I sent.

I teleported free of the crowd and made my way into the most populated area of the station where I had hidden a package containing a change of clothes. I quickly changed and did my best to blend in with the other civilians gathered around a news broadcast terminal, which was airing live reports about the prison break.

We had lain low for about a week when new orders came in from Master Dougherty. He told us we had till the end of the month to round up whoever was free and retake the station or he would authorize a full assault. Apparently he was worried that if we allowed our enemies to use hostages against us, we would constantly be dealing with hostage situations.

Of the twenty people that were deployed on this mission, only six battle wizards and three mundanes were still free. The others had been either captured or killed; there was no way to tell.