Once we were down, I brought out two sets of stones, the ones for my flying device as well as the ones that would create an enchanted shield. “You’ll need to take a smaller form to fit inside this,” I told Gareth.
“A human form?” he asked, skeptically.
“You can use that lizard-man crossover of yours if that makes you more comfortable,” I explained. “The main thing is that you can’t be much larger than we are.” I gestured to Moira and myself.
Moira frowned, “Lizard-man?”
“You’ll see,” I answered.
In the span of less than half a minute, Gareth had shrunk and reformed into the same half-human, half reptile shape he had used when I had first met him. The ease and speed with which he shifted from one form to the other was nothing short of amazing.
“You certainly don’t waste time,” I said, somewhat admiringly.
He replied with an unsettling smile full of sharp teeth, “The family gift.”
I hadn’t given it much thought. “I thought it was an archmage talent.”
Moira stepped in, “It is for us, but the Gaelyn wizards were all capable of full transformations, whether they were archmages or not.”
I reviewed some of my ancestors’ memories of Gareth and they agreed with what she had said. Having near limitless knowledge was a flawed gift in many ways. I often had to know what I wanted to know before I could remember it. It resulted in a number of blind spots.
“You were a genius even among the Gaelyn family,” I muttered without thinking.
“I find your odd comments very disconcerting,” replied Gareth. “At one moment you seem ignorant, and at another you seem to know things that shouldn’t be possible.”
Moira nodded her head, “It would help if you explained where your information comes from.”
“Too bad.”
She wasn’t enthused by my response. I ignored the glare she gave me and uttered the words that would cause the stones to form my mostly transparent airship. The stone disc flew apart into its twenty eight separate pieces, six formed a hexagon above, and six formed an identical hexagon beneath. That was the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of my flying device, and they were separated by six feet to enable most people to stand upright within it. Twelve pieces formed a dodecagon midway between them, much larger than the hexagons, giving the overall airship a disc-like shape that, had it been more visible, would have looked something like a jeweler’s diamond cut, if both sides looked like the top. The four remaining pieces helped round out the top and bottom, giving my device a more aerodynamic shape.
Gareth didn’t look impressed, but I suspected his semi-reptilian face wasn’t capable of such subtle expressions. At least that’s how I chose to interpret his nonchalance as he stepped aboard. For Moira’s part, she looked wistful, almost sad.
“Something wrong with it?” I asked her.
She shook her head as she entered. “No, not at all, it just reminds me of the past. The world that was lost when we fought Balinthor. It gives me hope that perhaps mankind can rise again. Perhaps we can rebuild the wonders of the past.”
Her words touched something within me, but the only reaction that reached me was a spark of bitterness. “You mean ‘they’,” I corrected her. “You and I are not part of humankind.”
“You’re right of course, but I have had a lot of time to dwell on my existence. I like to think that our actions are more important than the truth of our origins. We can have meaning, even if we are ultimately fictitious,” she stated with a certain conviction.
I filed that away under things to think about as I activated my second set of stones. These were my enchanted shield stones. While the flying airship created a sort of force-field around us, it wasn’t meant to be protective. My shield stones on the other hand, could be set to protect us from almost any type of external force. More particularly, it should prevent the She’Har spellweave from affecting Gareth and Moira’s minds. It would protect mine as well, but with my armor on, it wasn’t really necessary.
Once I had finished, we were encased in a sort of double walled shield, the outer one provided the aerodynamic shape, while the inner would keep our minds free from external magic. Using my magic, I shaped the air around us and lifted us into the sky, propelling us forward with the wind.
The experience should have been as exhilarating as it had been the first time I had done it, ferrying Roland to see Marc, but it wasn’t. My emotions had become much duller over the past two days, and consequently I felt only a faint thrill. Based upon what I knew, I figured I had only a couple more days before my emotional level became what I considered dangerously ‘numb’.
And considering how much power I’m holding now, that wouldn’t be wise.
I flew us close to the surface, staying only about twenty feet above the rolling ocean, following the proper course now. There was a sensation of almost intangible pressure against my shield stones, and while I couldn’t yet see anything; that pressure told me we were getting closer to our goal.
“I really can’t tell any difference in the direction you’re taking,” offered Gareth. “I was heading due west before.”
Since he wasn’t connected to my shield, he couldn’t feel the magic it was keeping at bay. “Just wait,” I told him. “It won’t be much longer.”
“Until what?”
That was when we finally passed through the illusion that had shielded the island from both our eyes and minds. Where only a moment before there had been nothing but endless waves in every direction, we now faced a truly enormous island. It was thirty miles across, judging from our current perspective, and the central region rose with several snowcapped peaks. The island was formed around those few mountains, with sweeping and deeply forested lowland reaching out to surround them. It was easily the size of the Lancaster and Cameron estates combined, with Arundel’s thrown in for good measure.
“What the hell!?” shouted Gareth in alarm. Moira’s reaction was more subdued, but I could tell she was surprised as well. “Where did that come from?”
“It was there all along,” I supplied blandly. “Well, for the last two thousand years in any case.”
“It’s huge! I should have been able to see something that size from fifty miles away.”
“Their magic was concealing it.”
“Their magic?” Moira had chosen that moment to speak up.
“The She’Har.”
She kept her calm demeanor. “I was taught to believe that they were all gone.”
“Well, yes, and no. As you have seen already, one of them lay in stasis within my family’s home. Her mate, the last remaining father-tree, dwells here,” I said, beginning my explanation.
“So there’s only one—besides her,” said Gareth hoping to clarify.
I nodded.
“Then how in the world did he manage to cloak that entire island and hundreds of miles of ocean around it? Never mind the fact that I’m not even certain an enchantment could accomplish such a thing…”
It could, I started to say, but that was another topic. “It was done with a massive spellweaving. That’s the term used to refer to the She’Har magic, which is similar in many ways to our enchanting, except for its rather more spontaneous attributes. Most spellweavings can be created as rapidly as you or I might cast a simple spell, but their nature is much more immutable…”
“We learned about that as children,” interrupted Gareth. “They used to tell us about it in our history lessons. I just never expected to ever encounter them.”
“You’re about to encounter a lot more than illusions once we land,” I informed them both. “The entire island is most likely guarded by the Kriteck, and they’ve had a couple thousand years to fine tune their defenses.”
“The ‘Kriteck’?” questioned Moira.
“Think of them as the guardians and soldiers of the She’Har, but they’re a bit more complicated than that. The father-tree can create them in any form nec…,” I began.
Garet
h interrupted again, “You just told us there was only one here.”
I nodded, suppressing my irritation. “That’s right. The Kriteck aren’t considered in the same way that the She’Har and their children are. They’re temporary and sterile. They only survive two to three months, and they possess only as much intelligence as the father-tree endows them with. Some of them are less intelligent than your average dog, while others may be as smart as you and I. It all depends on what the father-tree has in mind when it creates them.”
“How many of these—things, could there be?” said Moira.
I shrugged, “I have no way of knowing. A lot, a few, it depends in part on their size and complexity. He could produce legions of tiny ones, a few very large ones, and anything you can imagine in between. The main limitation is how many he can grow in a given time span, because they all expire within a few months. The bigger the father-tree, the more he can produce.”
“Why would it produce small ones?” asked Gareth. “Wouldn’t they be too small to fight effectively?”
I grimaced. “Two thousand years ago humanity was nearly wiped out by very small ones. They were so small you almost couldn’t see them without a magnifying glass. A soldier can’t fight what he can’t find.”
“How would something that small hurt someone?”
“It’s a long story, one we really don’t have time for today. The important thing to realize is that the Kriteck could be anywhere and almost any size. The larger ones can use magic, and there could be a lot of them, so diplomacy is paramount,” I explained.
Gareth grinned, showing a mouth full of uncomfortably sharp teeth, “So don’t start any pissing matches. Don’t worry.”
Moira seemed puzzled. “There’s one thing that bothers me. If this ‘father-tree’ you keep talking about is that powerful, why didn’t it finish the war with humanity? Why are we still here?”
Her words brought a lot of uncomfortable memories to the surface, things that were best left unsaid, at least for now. “This one is the one that saved us from the She’Har.”
“You’ve left a lot out of your story. Why did he help us, when he should have been our enemy? Surely he has a name? You haven’t mentioned it yet, but with as much information as you seem to have, you must know it.”
Her questions were probing areas I didn’t really want to discuss. A name? I thought to myself, the only one that would mean anything to you is Illeniel, and I certainly don’t feel like explaining that right now. “If you need a name you could think of him as ‘Tennick’,” I suggested.
“That’s a rather human surname,” she observed. “I used to know several Tennicks. Why not just call him ‘Smith’ if you’re going to make things up just to satisfy my curiosity.”
Plainly she thought I was lying. “Whatever you prefer,” I said noncommittally, “but his name is Tennick.”
We were almost to the shore, a thin strip of beach overshadowed by a looming jungle of trees and vines, when we got our first sign that the island was inhabited. Lines of power shot forth from three locations to grapple with our airship. Our forward progress slowed dramatically, and I didn’t bother fighting their efforts. We weren’t here to start a war, quite the opposite.
“Is that them?”
That was Gareth, tension written in his posture. I nodded, “The Kriteck—yes, they won’t let us near the tree until we’ve gotten permission.” They were drawing us in now, and I had given up any pretense of controlling our movement. Our craft came slowly down to land on the beach. A delegation emerged from the trees to meet us.
The creatures that came forward to greet us looked like something from a lunatic’s worst nightmare. Two of them had the appearance of something like a praying mantis, if praying mantises were seven feet tall. Their bodies were covered in a black chitin looking substance, layers of hard armor, which if you were to examine closely you would discover that it had more in common with wood than chitin. Another slunk forward on four legs looking much like a massive cat covered in dark spikes rather than fur, it was at least twice the size of a tiger.
A rough but vaguely human-like voice issued from one of the mantis-like forms, but the language was nearly unintelligible.
“What was that?” said Gareth. “I couldn’t understand.”
“I think it said ‘purpose’,” suggested Moira.
The words had brought more memories to the fore. “It was our language, but the dialect is very old,” I explained. “They asked us to state our purpose.” Addressing the Kriteck I responded, but not with the same tongue. While I could understand the old human dialect, I wasn’t sure I could replicate it properly. It was similar to my own language but had a very different system of pronunciation. Instead I used the language of the She’Har, “We have come to see the father.”
“That is not possible.”
“I have come to present information about the father’s kianthi,” I explained.
“Present your information to us,” they responded.
I thought hard for a minute, staring at them. Tennick had become a lot more like the She’Har than I had anticipated, and his Kriteck reflected that. With a few words I disassembled our shield and our airship, then I recreated the enchanted shield, but this time I left myself outside of it. It now protected Gareth and Moira.
“What are you doing?” asked Gareth.
Don’t leave the shield, I told them both silently, if you do, they will be able to use you against me. Normal shields won’t keep their spellweavings out.
You aren’t going to fight them are you? asked Moira with some concern.
I hope not. If I do I will lose, in which case Gareth must destroy the island before they breach the shield around you, I explained.
What? How? Why? Gareth seemed alarmed.
I gave him my most charming wink. The island was created by an archmage, and it can be destroyed in the same fashion. I looked down, indicating the earth beneath us. If they try to take us by force, you must make sure the father-tree doesn’t survive.
I’m not sure if that’s possible for me, Gareth relayed uncertainly.
I had already wasted too much time. Returning my attention to the Kriteck I addressed them, “You must take me to the father. She sent me here to assist with reuniting her with her kianthi.”
“She is not here,” said one of the mantis-like creatures.
“You will not approach the father,” added another. “You must give us your information.”
“I will give you nothing until I have spoken with the father,” I answered adamantly.
What are you saying? asked Moira silently; neither she nor Gareth could understand the ancient tongue.
I’m negotiating. Don’t distract me, I replied.
Apparently I was the only one that felt that way, though. “We will take the information,” came the voice of the tiger-like Kriteck, while simultaneously its magic sprang forth. Spellweavings struck me from three sides, attempting to reach what passed for my mind.
The armor protected me from most of it, but it wasn’t meant to be an absolute protection, not like the shield I had placed around my two companions. The She’Har magics were tenacious, and they writhed and wove, seeking the openings in my suit; like living things they were worming their way inward.
I bore the might of a god, but my power would be useless once their spells reached me. Similarly, my magic would be all but useless against my opponents directly; something human wizards had once had to learn the hard way. Kneeling, I thrust my hands into the ground, channeling my power crudely but effectively. I didn’t bother attacking them with my magic; I simply removed the ground from beneath them.
It was a tactic my original-self had once used against Cyhan. The three Kriteck disappeared, falling and then being swallowed as I buried them with the sand that flowed back over the holes I had created. I acted with such speed and force I hoped the sand would crush them, but their bodies were far too resilient for such an easy victory. I drew my sword and held it horizont
ally in front of me, waiting for them to unearth themselves.
I didn’t have to wait long. Within seconds their power made itself felt, thrusting the sand apart and downward as they began to rise from their ineffective tombs.
Sweeping my sword in a sideways arc the line of power I channeled down the runed blade of my sword and neatly bisected each of them as they appeared one by one, cutting through their armored bodies with ease.
“You should have thought about your defense more. Overconfidence is a killer,” I told their bodies somewhat smugly.
Gareth gave me an odd look. “You said you would lose.”
“Try not to sound so hopeful,” I returned. “This isn’t a victory though, there will be more and they’ll be more cautious. If they fight smart I can’t win.”
More were approaching already. I could sense them moving, large and small, through the dense forest. They made no attempt to hide themselves as they closed upon us.
“Let me speak to the father!” I shouted in their language. “There is no need for conflict. I am here to help, but if you try to force my hand, I will destroy this island!” I wasn’t sure I could follow through on my threat. With as much power as I currently held it might be technically possible, but their spellweavings might be able to control or absorb such a crude attack. Realistically, Gareth’s ability as an archmage was the best hope for that type of retribution, but I doubted he would be allowed the time it would take him.
More importantly, that wasn’t my mission.
They were around us now, fifty yards out and remaining still. Large and small, in forms that flew, climbed, and crawled, they waited. The smallest of them had very little aura, but the larger ones glowed with power in my magesight. They were poised to wipe us out of existence.
A tense minute passed before one of them spoke, “The father has awoken. He would speak with you.”
Mageborn 05 The Final Redemption Page 17