Back to the Vara

by John Kerry

  The minister nodded. “Very well.”

  “The Naziarabad Monument will be our last stand against the demon. If we can’t defeat it there, we won’t be able to defeat it anywhere else.”

  “But what of the snow base? If we don’t stop the demon in Ameretat, then what happens when it reaches the portal in the mountains?”

  “Alleged portal. I’ve sent magi into the mountains to investigate. If the fight against the demon begins to slip, then they’ll be given the instruction to destroy the equipment, the portal, the entire base if necessary.”

  They sat in silence while the Grand Master paced.

  “And what of Hami, and this other potential Mother Worlder?” the minister asked.

  “Piruzan is sending some men south to retrieve them. Hami has been cloaking his location since he left the network, but this potential magus, this magi-sensitive person, can’t block theirs. They’ve recently connected to the network again and we’re using that signal to track them down. We’re closing in. When we have them, we’ll know more about what’s going on.”

  –THIRTY-THREE–

  OFF THE GRID

  Mehrak placed a steaming cup of mushroom tea in front of Sammy. “This will keep you awake while Hami teaches you to cloak yourself from the magi,” he said. “I’m going to finish packing up outside. I’ll be back in a little while.” He smiled, then descended the stairs to the back door.

  Sammy cupped the tea in her hands, closed her eyes and inhaled. She wanted to go back to bed. But there were worse things in life than being woken up to drink Mehrak’s mushroom tea. She opened her eyes and watched the multi-coloured birds circle above. She hadn’t truly appreciated Golden Egg Cottage last time she’d been here. Something she fully intended to remedy from now on. If Hami was going to force her to go home, then she was going to soak up every moment of being here. It wouldn’t come to that. She’d dig her heels in when they got to the portal. Or maybe she’d destroy it before Hami could send her back. She’d do something, anyway. Then he’d have to find some other purpose for her. And magus recruit was the obvious solution.

  Sammy sipped the steaming brew, savouring the subtle aroma. There wasn’t much flavour, kind of like celery, although it didn’t taste of celery. It didn’t even taste like mushroom. The closest she could liken it to was a mixture of parsnip and almonds.

  Sammy wondered if everyone in Perseopia made tea the same way. Because if Mehrak found his wife at the snow base and Sammy suddenly found herself homeless, would she lose mushroom tea too? That would be a disaster.

  But seriously, what would she do if Mehrak found his wife? The thought momentarily left her feeling hollow and she gripped her cup tighter. She wasn’t ready to leave Golden Egg Cottage yet. To leave Mehrak.

  She was getting worked up again. No one knew what would happen when they finally reached the snow base. Hami said it was days away and they had no idea what they’d find.

  She took a long draught of mushroom tea. She savoured the mouthful, then gulped it down as Hami climbed out of the staircase hole in the floor into the kitchen.

  “Are you ready to learn how to block your brainwaves from the magi network?” he asked.

  Sammy looked up. Shrugged. “Remind me why we’re doing this again.”

  “So the magi can’t locate you.”

  “And that would be bad, wouldn’t it?”

  “This is serious.” Hami sat down opposite, his jaw set.

  “Okay, let’s do it.”

  Hami let out a long, slow breath. “Your brain has been attempting to connect to the magi network. Which is normally the first step to becoming a magus.”

  “I want to be taking the first step to becoming a magus.”

  “I understand, but if you connect to the network the magi will be able to track you down, which means they will be able to track me down. I know you don’t want to return home, but if you allow us to get caught, we’ll fail to close down the portal at the snow base. So regardless of which decision you ultimately make about your future, please will you learn how to block your location for the time being?”

  Sammy shrugged. “Okay.”

  “I should’ve thought to teach you this earlier,” he said. “You heard the enrolment whisper before I woke you, yes? The same rhyme you heard shortly before Victa arrived to collect you?”

  “Cross the river of light … something, something … along the path, tower will fall …”

  “Yes, that one. The magi normally retrieve a recruit shortly after they’ve heard the whisper for the first time, then we help them set up a connection to the magi network. Because neither Victa nor I set you up and it’s been a while since you first heard the whisper, your brain will have polled the network again, trying to establish a connection. Both times you tried to connect, you sent out location markers. It won’t have slipped the magi’s attention that you’ve somehow travelled all the way from the depths of the Fungi Forest to where we are now, the approximate area that the demon was last spotted in, and all in a reasonably short amount of time. The magi aren’t stupid. They’ll have figured out I’m behind this, and Piruzan will have sent some of his men back to fetch us. Hence why Mehrak and the others are outside packing up camp and why I’m here teaching you how to close your mind off from the network.”

  “Let’s do this then.”

  “Okay. First we need to connect you to a simple network before you can learn to block it. But because we don’t want you to transmit your location across the whole magi network, we’ll set up a local network, just you and I.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “I’ll initiate the connection. You’ll experience a slight tingling in your brain.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “It’s not unpleasant. It’s very slight, and you can ignore it easily enough or even block it. Don’t try to block it in this instance. Try to concentrate on it and open your mind to allow the sensation in.”

  “You want me to surrender my brain to you?”

  “You’re not surrendering your brain, or even giving me access. All you’re doing is allowing me to speak to you.”

  He made it sound almost pleasant, yet Sammy wasn’t convinced.

  “It’s not hard. You’ll pick it up straight away.”

  “You’ve already started, haven’t you? I can feel a strange tingling. I felt it after you first woke me, but I thought I was still half asleep so I ignored it.”

  Hami’s face went pale. “That’s not me. Push it away! I haven’t started yet.”

  Sammy blocked the buzzing from her head and it gradually receded. “Gone,” she said.

  Perspiration glistened on Hami’s forehead. “The magi are trying to talk to you. If you initiate a connection, you’ll send out another location marker. We need to go. Now.” He got up from the table. “I’m going to chase up the guys outside. Wait for me upstairs in the tower.” Then he left down the stairs to the hatch.

  Sammy drank more of her tea while she listened to Hami call out orders through the open kitchen window. Mehrak, Leiss and Calven entered the kitchen soon after.

  Golden Egg Cottage rose up, then shifted, and settled back into its easy side to side rhythm over Louis’s hips.

  Sammy placed her cup in the sink and climbed the stairs to the tower.

  Hami caught up with her in the bedroom. “They’re going to try to communicate with you again,” he said. “The next time they do, I want you to concentrate on their signal and try to answer it. They may ask you some questions. But I need you to act dumb, like you don’t know what’s going on. Don’t tell them who you are and don’t tell them you’re with me. Keep the conversation as brief as you can, then disconnect mid conversation so it sounds like you disconnected by accident.”

  Sammy didn’t like the sound of connecting to a strange magus. “Why do you want me to talk to them now?”

  “Because we’re going to give them false information.”

>   “We’re going to lie …?”

  Hami held up his hand. “We must do everything in our power to ensure success.”

  Sammy kind of understood why he was doing this, but she didn’t have a good feeling about it.

  “I’ll tell you what to say,” Hami went on. “But first we have to prepare you, and make sure you know how to block your brainwaves when it comes time.”

  Sammy moved to the bed and sat down on the edge.

  Hami pulled up a chair. “You aren’t sensing any tingling right now, are you?”

  Sammy shook her head.

  “How about now?”

  Sammy could feel it now, the tingling sensation again. This time it was different to the last signal. This time it was Hami. She could tell. The frequency of it was the same as the feeling Hami gave off when he was close. He was inside her somehow, filling her head. Sammy opened herself up to him and heard his voice.

  Hello Sammy, can you hear me?

  Yes, she replied.

  That was easy enough, wasn’t it?

  It was okay. Sammy didn’t trust herself to think anything. Didn’t want Hami to know her intimate feelings. Can you hear everything going on in my head? Everything I’m thinking?

  No. Only what you project towards me. Do you want to try and disconnect?

  Sammy closed off her mind and Hami disappeared. She experienced a slight feeling of detachment. Hami filling her mind had been a pleasant sensation. Him becoming a part of her, yet at the same time she hadn’t felt truly comfortable with it. The intimacy of it made her want to withdraw from him. She didn’t trust herself with him being so close.

  Sammy experienced the sensation of Hami trying to connect again. She let him back in and his voice filled her head.

  That was good, he said. Now we’re going to teach you to block me. Okay?

  Why do I need to block you?

  You’re only going to block me temporarily. You need to learn how to block a signal in case your mind accidentally reaches out to the magi network again while you’re asleep. This part is more complicated but not hard. You can tell the difference between me and the other signal you felt, can’t you?

  Sammy nodded.

  Okay. Concentrate on the frequency of my signal.

  How do I do that?

  I suppose you concentrate on the way my mental voice sounds. It’s unique only to me.

  I’m not sure I have it.

  You probably do, you just don’t realise it. Brain functions are subtle.

  Okay, Sammy said.

  You’re probably experiencing the signal reverberating in the centre of your head. Take that signal and move it to the back. Place it away. Mentally put a lock on it.

  How?

  Imagine yourself locking it in a box and tucking it away where no one will find it. Hami said nothing more. He’d gone.

  “Did it work?” Sammy asked.

  “You tell me? I’m trying to communicate with you right now.”

  Sammy felt nothing. “I think it worked. I’m not getting any signals.”

  “Good. I need you to mentally retrieve that locked box and open it again. So I’m not blocked anymore.”

  Sammy raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I like you being blocked.”

  Hami responded with a wry smile. “As soon as we’ve finished, you can block me for good.”

  “I was just kidding,” Sammy said, a little too desperately. She liked the way they could talk in secret.

  Hami held up his hand. He was serious again. “We don’t have much time and we need to get this right. I need to connect you to the magi network, then you need to block it so your brain stops calling out to it while you’re asleep. Security on the network is high so only a magus can give you the correct key to connect you. Are you ready?”

  “I don’t think so, but let’s give it a shot.”

  “This is serious.”

  “I know.”

  “After I connect you to the network you need to concentrate on the signal, then disconnect and lock it away like I taught you. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “I won’t talk to you while you’re connected in case you accidentally mention my name or broadcast my signal onto the network and give me away. Alright?”

  “Alright.” Sammy retrieved her mental box and concentrated on Hami’s signal.

  Excellent. You’re back, Hami said. I’m going to connect you to the magi network now. You’ll hear faint whispering and voices. It sounds a little strange but they’re just conversations travelling back and forth. Anything you mentally project into the network can be heard by any magus so be careful what you say. Perhaps just ask if anyone’s there. And ask why there are voices in your head. Before anyone answers, disconnect and then lock away the signal. Then we’ll be safe.

  Grand Master. Wake up!

  Master Aegis sat up, momentarily disorientated. He was in a strange bed. The room was empty. It took his sleep-addled brain a moment to realise he was in the Grand Master’s suite at the magi consulate.

  And he was receiving a communication over the network. Principal Emmes. What was he doing calling at this hour? And why was he being so forceful? Ordinarily a communication wouldn’t have woken him, but Emmes was bombarding him over multiple frequencies.

  Aegis opened his mind.

  Master Aegis. She connected to the network. The recruit Victa went after. It’s another girl, like the one Hami found.

  Where did the signal originate? Aegis asked. Have you located it?

  Yes. She’s not far from where she was last located. She’s still heading in the same direction. Towards Master Piruzan.

  Thank you, Emmes. I will contact her now. Relay the message to Master Piruzan’s men and send them the location. We’ve got them now.

  Sammy was getting a new signal, not the same one she received after the enrolment whisper. She sat up stiff, turned to Hami. He was calm. He looked her in the eye and nodded.

  Sammy accepted the call.

  Please don’t be alarmed, said the voice. My name is Master Aegis. I only want to talk.

  Who are you? she asked. Why are you talking in my head?

  I’m a magus, came the reply. I’m a protector of this realm. The one you find yourself in. I imagine everything must seem very strange and scary to you. But we can help you.

  I don’t understand.

  Why is Hami hiding you from us?

  The question caught her off guard. Hami? she responded, but too late.

  He’s breaking his orders, and putting you in danger.

  I don’t know any Hami. Please leave me alone. And Sammy disconnected, then blocked the signal. “Done,” she said. She gave Hami the thumbs up and tried to look optimistic.

  Hami got up and walked over towards the front balcony. He parted the curtain and leaned out. “Okay Louis, change course. Take us north west away from the magi.”

  –THIRTY-FOUR–

  CRABBY PATOIS

  Behnam and Ghobad had been travelling through the Fungi Forest for less than a day before they ran into crabmen. In typical fashion, the creatures announced themselves ahead of their arrival with loud chattering, providing plenty of time for the two men to lead their horses off the forest track and into the mushrooms.

  They tethered the animals to a rock and headed back towards the road. A short way off, they veered away, creeping through the bushes and vines parallel to the path.

  It wasn’t long before Ghobad’s eyes picked out the crabmen. Five of them, moving slowly, chattering as they went. They slowed as they neared the men’s location.

  Then stopped.

  Behnam froze. And waited.

  And then a realisation. He could understand what the crabmen were saying.

  Not him, but Ghobad. The guard could understand their language. His brain was processing everything they were saying and converting it into something Behnam could understand.

  “Enemy. Hidden,” one of the crabm
en said.

  Behnam’s skin prickled. Had they seen him? Or one of their horses? He remained still, out of breath, breathing hard, trying to slow down his intake of air. He was panicked, but the thrill at being able to understand the crabman language had him excited. The brotherhood had undertaken multiple missions over the years to try and understand the way crabmen communicated, yet no progress had ever been made. After fruitless years of investigation, it was assumed that crabmen were incapable of conventional speech.

  But there was language there. Hopelessly basic, but there. The chattering they made was a decoy. Instead, the almost inaudible grunts in amongst the noise formed their words. No wonder the brotherhood had never deciphered it. Ramaask must have given some high up workers the ability to understand the creatures because only through processing the noises via Ghobad could Behnam understand what they were saying. Almost like it was a power bestowed, and not something you could learn. Behnam believed he would eventually be able to absorb it, but it would take time. Ghobad would have to be kept alive until then.

  “Home. New orders,” one of the crabmen said.

  “Enemy. Hidden,” the first repeated.

  “Master dead. Demon come. New orders. Hurry.”

  But the crabmen didn’t move on. They remained, scanning the forest with their stalk eyes, flinching with their jerky unnatural movements.

  Behnam watched the crabmen from Ghobad’s viewpoint while his own body lay prone and sweating. He could tell the guard was well hidden, but himself? There was no way of telling without turning Ghobad’s head, and he didn’t want to risk the movement. There could be a part of his body sticking out of the undergrowth. And if the crabmen spotted it, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. He had barely mastered walking both his body and Ghobad’s at the same time.

  Taking out five crabmen would ordinarily be an easy proposition for a master magus. Without a working set of eyes, they posed a serious threat. The creatures moved with the speed of insects. If you mistimed a strike or a lunge, it meant death.

  Several tense moments passed while the crabmen searched the area.