by Daniel Ruth
The Duke had the grace to look embarrassed. I wasn't sure if it was because he hadn't heard of any of the things I had accomplished or the fact he was still harping on the possibility of me being a demon.
"While all of those are grand accomplishments, there is no guarantee that the being standing in front of me is the same person that did those," he said gravely. "I had intended you to sit there." He gestured towards the seat hundreds of feet from him. "Under the floor beneath it, I have carved wards of power that will crush any demons. Circles of binding that will trap creatures of the nether planes and have even placed an ancient artifact that will reveal truth from lies..."
I was standing there tapping my foot skeptically until he reached the last part. As soon as he mentioned the artifact of truth I was in motion, practically leaping across the room to reach the seat.
"Why didn't you say so," I stated excitedly. "I'm happy to show I'm not one of those foul demons. All you had to do was ask!"
As I briskly walked over, I felt magics lash out at me, attempting to get a grip on me. Since I actually was not a demon, they slid off of me. The only thing that caught on me was an illumination that seemed directed at my soul. It tore and ripped at me, mostly centered on the rune on my chest. The cracked and almost shattered rune 'Human'. The light gathered there and filled the seams. It grew and stretched until it was almost ready to shatter.
Then the pressure subsided and I was left with disappointment. The artifact was powerful but it wasn't any more powerful than what was buried under the city council's building. In fact, it seemed almost identical. If I had to venture a guess, I would postulate that this was one of a pair of items that were created by the same being. In other words, it was useless. I needed stronger magic, not something on par or weaker than the other magic of 'truth'.
"How disappointing," I murmured to myself as I slouched in the chair.
"You didn't change," the Duke said startled. "Is that really your true form?"
"It's either my true form or your magic's are simply too weak," I said dispiritedly. I tried to focus on the Duke. Despite how things had turned out there was something I wanted from him. "Let's deal."
"You have proven you are not a demon," he said hesitantly, taken aback by my human form. "Are you a dragon?"
"I assume you would deal with a dragon," I asked. Then I froze. There was a powder or residue all over the chair. I rubbed a bit on my finger and stuck it in my mouth.
"Dragonsbane? You do realize it's not actually deadly to dragons. It's more like it mildly itches." My breed is immune to poisons so it doesn't even do that. However, I wouldn't be able to get close to Maribel until I had cleaned it off of me. I frowned at the Duke.
"I am aware of that," he stuttered, taken by surprise at my knowledge. If he'd bothered to keep up with current events, he wouldn't have been so unprepared. "Never mind then. You know what I want. What do I have that you want?"
I waved my hand and cast the Clean spell on myself and the throne. I sniffed in disgust. It may not be terribly effective on dragons but coming home covered in Dragonsbane was no better than wallowing in feces and prancing back home to spread the joy.
Of course, the spell didn't work. I concentrated a bit and realized I was sitting on top of an anti-magic ward. I glared at the Duke. "I would like to keep the identity of Albuthy."
"Of course," the Duke nodded attentively. "Obviously I would have to remove you from the line of succession, but as long as you don't use that identity to perform any foul deeds, it shouldn't be an issue."
"Right, I'll avoid prostitutes and debauchery," I nodded agreeably.
He stared at me a few more seconds and the silence began to stretch out. "Well? What else?"
I perked up, I suppose that using his son's identity was trivial. I would have to see how much I could milk from this. "You may know that they call me the Professor."
The duke looked at me blankly. I sighed. The first time I tried to cash in on the damn name and the idiot doesn't even recognize it.
"I study things," I said grouchily. "Wards, circles, spell magic, alchemy, mind magic, you name it and I have an interest in it. If you supply me tomes of knowledge, I can supply you with geographical knowledge. Once we have a portal's location, I can allow you passage through that portal. As you know, the portals all form part of Vatapi's chain of worlds. Normally only mortals and supernaturals he personally allowed can pass through."
He seemed surprised by my information. "I was unaware of this. However, I and my household are all mortals. I don't think I'll need your services."
"You appear to have undergone the transformation that the mage school provides?" I asked flatly. "That places you in the supernatural category as far as his restriction is concerned."
He was silent a moment. "Then this meeting is more advantageous than I thought. Normally magical information and tomes are restricted. However, you are not even from this dimension. I can't see how it would be reasonable to apply the terms in the treaty to you."
"I agree," I said, working up enthusiasm.
"We should probably be discrete about the transaction. The kingdom and its neighbors are very strict about the agreement. You will not be able to cast anything beyond the basic apprentice level spells as long as you have the form of my son."
"Very reasonable," I agreed hurriedly.
"We can do it on a quid pro quo basis," he said sagely. I stared at him and rubbed my ears. Even as a dragon that inherently can speak, read and write every language in existence, translation magic was odd. That came across as earth Latin slang. Peculiar.
"Right," I said distracted by the language quirk. "So as our first trade, what are you willing to give for my map and notes?"
My terminal's power reserve chose that moment to go into conservation mode. The luminous planets circling around me faded from existence. The duke apparently thought I was playing hardball because he nodded in understanding.
"I understand, let's talk."
Chapter 17
Several days later I was back in the apartment looking over my new hoard of books. There weren't actually that many. Apparently when the other person didn't have a terminal to send the information to or display said holographic information it was difficult to sell it.
I had really wanted a spell that summoned a speck of antimatter in a warped reality shell of about ten feet in diameter. Pretty much anything in that ten feet was annihilated. The Duke did not consider my contribution worthy of this magnificent spell.
Looking back on it I suppose it was just as well. Just reading the description I could see the limitations. Slow cast speed for one. The warped reality spell was ten feet but the anti-matter was encased in a baseball-sized energy shield for delivery. In other words, you threw it like a baseball. You also held it like a baseball. For about ten seconds while the spell stabilized. If the shield was hit during this time it would go off in your hand. So, it definitely had a major drawback. Still... antimatter in the palm of your hand. I really wanted that spell someday.
I settled for an anti-poison spell. Yeah, the Duke was one of the bigwigs that had healing magic. He would have been handy at the party. Instead, we had to settle for a spell that stopped time. Oh well.
I actually asked for that spell. The duke did not have that one, however, he did have one that was targeted, as opposed to affixed to a location and slowed time. I was learning that one specifically for a big dumb alien I knew of, assuming he survived.
The second one was the opposite. It sped up the local time of the caster. This was also earmarked for any dragon vs alien conflicts. Even then he may be faster than me but I wouldn't be completely steamrolled.
The third was a common item creation spell that allowed you to store spells into items and jewelry. It only stored either raw energy or a single charge of a precast spell before the caster had to 'fill' it up and recharge it. Never the less it allowed instant casting, avoiding the embarrassment of standing there like an idiot waving your hands and waitin
g for someone with an IQ greater than a cucumber to interrupt your spell. Creating batteries with magical energy couldn't be ignored either. Generally, an awesome spell, mostly limited by my own small repertoire.
The fourth wasn't really a spell. It was a technique a mage could use to merge their essence into a ley line and travel along it. It was terrible unless you knew where the ley line went, since your perceptions were almost non-existent while inside.
However, if you did know where the ley lines went it could allow almost instantaneous travel. Since my intra-dimensional teleporting was limited to a few hundred feet and extra-dimensional travel was not only excruciating but presently limited to my anchor shard locations, I thought it was an excellent utility spell.
Lastly was information on demonic containment circles, such as the one the Duke attempted to trap me in. While I had wards and circles that could affect demons, they were mainly focused on keeping them out or damaging them if they were powerful enough to force their way through. However, when all killing does is send them back to their home plane, this loses out a bit to trapping them.
That was it. The Duke used a crystal to record the holographs. The final charge allowed for a meager five seconds and the fidelity was lousy but he seemed happy. When I have more information for him, I am determined to get that antimatter spell.
I was studying the first temporal spell when Beth burst in. She rushed up to me and started shouting.
"You got first place in the examinations!" Beth squealed. "And I got second place!"
"Good job," I said, patting her on the head. She must have been in a good mood because she completely ignored this. I went back to reading.
"Didn't you hear what I said?"
"Sure did," I nodded absently as I mulled over the temporal theories in the book. Very complex in a 'what if I killed my grandfather' sort of way. "I am very proud of you. Jeremy will also be very proud of you. We should buy something nice for you."
"But you came in first place," Beth said in confusion. "Aren't you happy?"
I looked at her blankly. "Are you saying I should be proud of doing well in an examination against hundreds of human ten-year-olds?"
"Yes," she stated in a quavering voice. Oh my gosh. I think I triggered some hormonal reaction. She may just cry.
"Of course, I am proud," I said, smiling an extra wide smile. "And I owe it all to you for convincing me to stay and take it!"
"Oh goody!" she said as her chin lost that odd quiver and a smile bloomed on her face.
"However," I continued in a quiet voice. "You know that no one is supposed to know who I am and I really should be keeping a low profile. Let's... not mention to anyone about this fabulous news and just keep it between us. We can go out tonight for dinner to celebrate but let's have it be all about your fabulous results!"
"Okay," she said in a quieter voice, obviously not liking it but no longer upset. "I'll make reservations!"
I went back to my book and she ran out of the room to make plans. Shaking my head, I tried to forget about the exams. Goodness. If anyone important knew I was taking advantage of the age-impaired I wouldn't be able to live it down.
Later that night the three of us went into town to celebrate. As expected, Jeremy was proud of his sister. Since she was also doing extremely well in her more modern correspondence course, he was especially pleased.
"You two have mastered the basic psionic attacks and defenses," I began. "Now it's just a matter of practice to build up your stamina."
Jeremy grew serious, knowing where this was going. Beth sensed something different and grew a bit nervous.
"It's time?" Jeremy asked solemnly.
"Pretty much," I nodded. "I'll be heading out tomorrow morning."
"Wait!" cried Beth. "You can't go! You still have to teach me all the spells!"
"You already learned up to the third semester," I said. "Anymore and the teachers would start to look into you."
"You haven't finished researching the fridge yet!"
"I actually did," I replied. "The spells I am researching now are also temporal spells. Seeing it from another angle was just enough to make it click."
"But we haven't found out where Stella is!"
"And we may never find out if I stay here," I countered. "We need to map out where the portals are in order to find her before... never mind," I trailed off. I didn't want to advertise my worries about Stella wiping out a planet full of indigenous lifeforms. "We also need to find Vatapi. The buoys arrived and there's no point in waiting."
"But Mei and Diego wanted to go too," the young girl whined.
"Beth, you know they can't go anywhere until Derek maps the way there," Jeremy said, stepping in. "We have to let him go ahead so we can visit him. He's only a teleport away."
"But he said he doesn't want to visit cause it hurts," Beth said.
"I didn't actually say those words," I interjected. I had meant that, but I definitely did not say that.
"Derek just likes beating around the bush," Beth said dismissively, still addressing Jeremy. "He thinks he's being smart by playing his word games."
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. That was true but I didn't like being called out by an eight-year-old. I opened my mouth to defend myself but Jeremy spoke first.
"Derek has his own responsibilities," Jeremy stated. "He can't be with us all the time, as much as we want him to. He will call once the buoys set up the network. And he will occasionally visit us."
"But..."
"Let's just enjoy the evening," Jeremy said firmly as he took a bite of the pie. "And especially enjoy the desert. Trust me, he'll be back to check on us."
I glanced at him suspiciously. That sounded strangely accurate. I shrugged and went back to eating the pie. Then I ordered another round of all the deserts as my companions looked on queasily.
The next morning, I got up early. Making sure everything was packed in my storage bag I slipped out the door. I wandered the academy for a few minutes. As I did so I realized I hadn't really spent much time here other than the few classes I went to, the exam hall and the library. I shrugged to myself. I would be back soon enough. Moving to a more secluded area I changed to my favorite suit and face.
Gathering my will, I sent my senses outward. Moving in that special direction only certain species and mages possessed I touched briefly on the anchor shard that was once part of the floor of the academy's apartment. Then I pulled myself to it.
Once again, I felt myself dissolve into a slurry of particles and energy and spiral into a pinprick size opening in the fabric between the dimensions. It was agonizing and all-consuming. It was an experience that as an apex predator of the magical variety I rarely felt. Generally, we felt pain but it didn't impact us. We acknowledged it and mostly ignored it or let it fuel our anger and rage. I would never get used to having the pain wash my senses away.
Then I was drowning. It was dark and the sheer unexpected weight of the water flushed the air from my lungs in a long bubbly geyser. Still too weak to move I barely gathered enough energy to cast the Breathe Underwater spell. As always, I was grateful it had no vocal components.
The darkness didn't bother me much. I could see fine in the dark. However, my arrival had stirred a lot of silt and I couldn't see anything through it. I activated my psionic senses and looked around. It wasn't much better. A few fish. A whale. The shard was underneath me.
After ten minutes I had the strength to roll over and grab it. Floating there was pretty comfortable except for the darkness and pressure. The pressure didn't hurt but I felt a bit claustrophobic.
An hour later I was pretty much recovered. Kicking my feet, I swam up. And up. And up. Yeah, apparently, I was really deep. Finally, I cast Float on myself and with the added buoyancy could feel the water rush against my skin. It still took an extremely long time before I could see the light of the surface.
Minutes later I broke the surface and shot into the air. I reached about a hundred feet up in the air before I slowl
y began to drift down. I activated levitation and settled down a few feet above the surface. One Clean spell later and I was dry.
I wasn't sure if I had been down in the ocean that long or there was a time difference, however, the sun was directly overhead. It was a beautiful day other than that. The ocean was spread out around me as far as I could see and there was a clear blue sky. Naturally, I didn't enjoy it one bit. I was completely lost.
If I had thought of it, I suppose I could have set up the terminal with the protocols to communicate with the satellites in this era and get a GPS signal. Pity I hadn't thought of that. I had expected to land in New York, not the middle of the ocean. Still, I was probably somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
Surely the shard wouldn't have blown through the alien and then myself and afterward traveled around the world. If it had been traveling that fast and at that angle, it would have ended up in space. Wow. I really hadn't thought this through. I mean the Breath Underwater spell should work in space too, but I hadn't even thought of the possibility.
So, I sat down and relaxed for an hour while I waited for the sun to move from directly overhead to the west. While I was waiting, I pulled out my bag and threw up the Buoys. There were dozens and dozens of them. As they went up in the air their programming activated and the lights on their side flashed and lit up, a slight humming from inside was barely perceptible. At the top of their arc, they slowed to a stop, spun around slowly as they oriented themselves and shot off in different directions.
It suddenly occurred to me that the buoys should be connected to the local satellites and the internet. Activating my terminal, I checked on their status. They were indeed relaying a GPS signal. They hadn't hacked into the local networks yet. Beth had provided a nice little status line showing their progress. It wasn't terribly fast.
I frowned. So much for Arc's superior technology. Still, the buoys were cheap mass-produced models. Hopefully, their stealth was good enough for the time period. Since I now had the means I checked my location. I was indeed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. About fifteen hundred miles east of New York.