Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (22 page)

“
You can count a man’s nose whiskers with that thing,” he remarked when he stood up.

Jolan replaced him at the bench and opened a box of the ammunition. He pressed three rounds into the internal magazine, and nodded to the others to slip on the ear protectors he’d brought along. Finding a comfortable position behind the rifle that rested on homemade sandbags, Jolan carefully fired off the three rounds. When the runner brought back the target, there were three holes with a maximum spacing of just over an inch and a half. Not great for one hundred yards, Jolan thought, but the others were impressed. Next he shot at the five hundred yard target, resulting in a three shot group that covered almost fifteen inches, but each shot would probably have killed a wizard at that distance.

Samm took his turn after Jolan adjusted the scope and explained about bullet drop, and, while he didn’t do as well as Jolan, he turned in an acceptable performance. By the time he’d finished the second box of ammunition he’d adjusted to the nasty recoil and was printing groups better than Jolan had done. Both Samm and Wylan could already see the potential of the rifle and were enthusiastic about the prospect of getting a number of them. Jolan promised at least a dozen of equal or better accuracy. In turn, Wylan promised to begin selecting the men for the teams from the ranks. They wanted men who had already proven themselves in combat, were dedicated to bringing down the enemy, and who had already demonstrated excellent marksmanship skills with the Gaean made rifles the military was currently using.

They also fired a few boxes of ammunition through the Mini-14 to demonstrate what it could do, which really caught Wylan’s attention. Jolan told him frankly there was no way he could get any reasonable quantity of the guns nor enough ammunition to make arming many of his men a viable proposition. He would turn it over to Buris and maybe they could come up with something. Jolan realized how valuable Shyar would be right now, and how much he missed her.

Jolan left them to clean up the guns and went to see how Asari had done. He was shown a couple of targets made at twenty-five feet that had patterns roughly ten inches in diameter. While Asari was very pleased with the results, and loved the new pistol, Jolan couldn’t bring himself to tell his friend that it came from the factory guaranteed to shoot groups under and inch and a half at three times the distance Asari had been shooting.

“
I think you should take someone with you next time you travel,” Chancellor Vaen said when they were alone in her office. “You’ve made a strong case for how important Earth is going to be for the survival of the people on Gaea. Yet you are our only contact there. Should something happen to you, how difficult would it be for us to establish ourselves there?”

Jolan had to admit it was a reasonable request. Once again he’d been so focused on the tasks he needed to complete that he hadn’t been thinking of the broader implications of establishing extended relationships between those here and people on Earth.

“
Did you have someone in mind?” he asked, wondering how much thought Chancellor Vaen had put into the matter.

“
It seems like it ought to be one of your group. That keeps our secret restricted to those who already know, and they have all had their memories enhanced with the
pairing-crystals
you made up. How has that worked out?”

“
Very well. Better than I could have hoped actually. I had them watch one of the movies afterwards and then answer a series of questions I made up. The test was in English as well as the answers. Everyone did extremely well. You’d put a lot of marginally effective language schools out of business back on Earth with this technique.”

“
You still have some of the crystals left, I understand.”

“
I made one for you, in case you wanted it, and then I made two for Altz. It seemed that he might benefit from the scientific background, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted him to have it. He’s apparently had a checkered history here. From what I was told, you told them not to give him that information. That means they still have one with the English plus scientific background on hand as well. We can save those against a need along the way.”

Vaen nodded. “My relative has always been a bit erratic. I should have seen it years ago, but I wouldn’t want him to be our only contact with Earth other than you. I vote him out of the selection. Besides, he’s content and happy searching through the vast library with Rifod and Nerila.”

“
Your relative?” Jolan asked, wanting to verify what she had just revealed.

“
Altz. He is essentially a many times over great grandson. He was always brilliant, but never one to follow the rules. So, given that Altz isn’t an option, whom would you select?”

“
Asari desparately wants to go, but we still haven’t discovered how they used to take those without the ability to tap the power. We know it can be done, but I don’t want to experiment with someone’s life at this point.” Actually, Jolan had a suspicion how it would work, but wasn’t about to voice it at this time. Once his thought became known, there would be someone that would want to try it, with potentially disastrous consequences if he was wrong.

Mentally he thought through the list of his friends and how they might react or benefit from making the transition. Rifod and Nerila might find the trip the most interesting with their keen interest in almost everything. Neither would want to go without the other, and that would mean all progress with the library investigations would come to a stop. They were also a bit more timid than some, despite the impressive achievements they had turned in. The value they had here was reason enough not to select them. Their current task was undermanned as it was, so he couldn’t see that as an optimum choice.

After a minute he said with certainty, “I think it should be Tishe.”

He’d managed to surprise Vaen.

“
Tishe? Why Tishe? Given the way you two sometimes argue, I’d have thought she would be your last choice.”

“
There is something unique and untapped in Tishe. We’ve already seen she has unique abilities. Also, she would see Earth through a youngster’s eyes, without any of the preconceived ideas we all have. I just sense it might be a good thing. Besides, none of the others seem quite the right fit, or they are needed here. If Shyar were available, I’d select her. I owe her a trip there anyway.”

Vaen rested her chin on a fist and thought. “Tishe. You know that I suspect she will most likely replace me one of these days.”

“
Never happen. You must be good for another couple of hundred years now.”

This wasn’t idle speculation on Jolan’s part. Vaen now looked to be in her mid thirties. It seemed she was no longer getting younger, but if her past history was correct, then she’d a long time to go before she once again showed the age she’d carried when Jolan first met her.

“
I suspect when the time comes, I might be willing to step down for her. I also sense something special there, but she has a lot of years of growing up to do before we will really know.”

“
Do you want to tell her, or should I?” Jolan asked.

“
Why don’t you invite her and see how that goes? If there is any issue, let me know and I’ll talk with her. Do you know when you are planning on going back?”

“
Two days, three at most. There are a number of tasks that are going to require some advance effort back there. I need to get them started. If Tishe comes along, spends a few days, I can send her back with another load. Later, once things are moving along, she can come back again if she wants.”

“
How do you plan to work these trips?”

“
After I returned, I made it back to the Nexus after being here a little more than four hours. The sensation I couldn’t travel was gone, so it seems at most I have to remain here only a few hours each trip. That’s another thing that is different than Cheurt experienced. From Earth I can return to Gaea at any time. Initially I was going to plan on being gone for a couple of months, but now I suspect I’ll return every couple of weeks with whatever items I have gathered. I might simply drop them in the cavern, and go back. If someone needs me to come into town, they could leave a note, or even better, send Tishe to tell me.”

“
You sound as if you expect the Nexus to cease to be available later.”

“
I don’t know what covering it with the copper shield might do. It might make it so we can’t use it while covered either. In addition, come the spring, I suspect we will all be very much occupied with Ale’ald’s advances, and traveling then might be ill advised. At some point I’ll need to be here to demonstrate and help deploy everything I want to bring back.”

“
Is there anything you need from us?”

“
Probably more gold. I thought I had enough, but after talking with Buris and Wylan, I can see some additional expenses coming up.”

“
That should be simple. You have already brought back copper worth many times the value of the gold you took. Angon’s treasury could swell given such an exchange.”

“
Anything else?”

“
A couple of items I want to experiment with, but I can get them in the dorms.”

“
Then perhaps you need to go and find Tishe. If she doesn’t want to go, we will need to find another.”

Tishe was shocked by being offered the opportunity to make the trip as she was as eager as Asari to see Earth. Jolan spent a long time with her, explaining what to expect, and what she would feel upon arriving and finding herself essentially cut off from the power for the first time since she’d made her link to the source.

“
You will be using your English for real. No one else there will understand the language we use here. There will be cultural differences, only some of which I was able to pass along in the crystal.”

He told her about a friend’s wife who had visited another country on Earth some years before. She had read all the books about where she was going, and talked to others, even studied the language. She’d thought herself prepared. But in the end, she’d envisioned a place in her mind that was just like home, but where they spoke a different language. When she arrived, she had been totally shocked by what she’d found. This would be somewhat the same. Earth would be nothing like what she was familiar with. It would be unsettling, but he promised her, very interesting.

“
I understand,” she said, but he knew she didn’t really. Only by going there would make it all become real to her.

Asari was predictably upset when he learned that someone was going to go along with Jolan, and it wasn’t him.

“
It’s not fair,” he complained bitterly when Jolan told him that Tishe would be going to Earth with him in a couple of days. For the first time since he’d known him, Jolan could tell that Asari wished he were a mage himself.

“
Be patient Asari,” Jolan tried to soothe his friend. “We know it is possible, but we don’t know how yet. Rifod, Nerila, and Altz are all trying to find out whatever they can about the Nexus. I told them how important it is to me that we find this out. It’ll take some time, but I know you’ll get your chance.”

The others on the team were told of the plan at the next meeting, but surprisingly, none were particularly put out by not having been selected. The idea of going to an unknown place where they wouldn’t be able to use their power was enough to curb the enthusiasm of most mages. It had been that way in the past from the records, and it seemed the situation hadn’t changed that much. Ward was the only one who showed any interest in possibly going, a fact that Jolan noted against future needs.

With all of the tasks he needed to complete out of the way, Jolan was getting anxious to get back to Earth. With the seasonal shift being later than he’d expected, he needed to get started on some of the activities there. Besides, while the end of fall and the coming of winter here had put a halt to Ale’ald’s advance, that would change in a couple of months when spring returned.

* * * *

It was early morning, the day after he’d told Tishe she had been chosen to make the trip, and they stood once again in the underground chamber looking at the Nexus platform. Jolan carried a wrapped package in his left hand, and a box of gold in his right. Asari was there, as was Chancellor Vaen. The rest of the team was about their own tasks. They had seen this before, and had elected to pass this time. It was amazing how quickly a miracle became commonplace.

“
Are you ready?” Jolan asked Tishe, who for the first time since he’d known her looked a bit nervous.

She swallowed and nodded.

“
I’ll go first, and I’ll be waiting on the other side for you. It’s simple. Just stand on the platform and execute the spell.”

Tishe nodded a second time and looked over at Chancellor Vaen who smiled encouragingly.

Hoping this would go as smoothly as he’d said, Jolan stepped onto the platform, and, with a confident smile, winked out of existence. A moment later he stepped off the mound onto the grass in the backyard of the house in Boulder.

He had to wait a few minutes, long enough that he started to wonder, when suddenly Tishe solidified in the air in front of him. He’d half expected the prickly feeling in his head to manifest itself, but it didn’t happen. That too must be an artifact of the manner in which Cheurt was using the Nexus.