by Vic Broquard
“See dear, too much ale is not good for you,” Jarmila teased him. Both grinned. “What’s he say next?”
“Unfortunately, it is about the continued deteriorating relations with the dragons. Apparently, their President is giving away more and more concessions to the dragons and the people are protesting. However, the President’s perfect speeches continue to win back their support, even though he continues to do the opposite of what he is saying he’ll do. Bandar’s calling them fools once again and idiots too,” he replied.
Later on, he exclaimed, “Hey, listen to this.”
Deciphered Kazimir’s cryptic notes. His magical invention at the pyramid allowed him to search across the vast space of the universe in search of habitable planets. He cleverly devised a star-sun blocker and a giant planet blocker — not sure what he means by that last bit yet. He found eight other worlds. He did what I would have done — invent a way to take a closer look at them. Ah, so it was Kazimir who made the first contact with the dragons. He stated that each of these new worlds that he found contained a different color of dragon. Question: how did he manage to communicate with them and how did he manage to bring them to Voss? Will have to wait. Too tired this early morning.
“Wow, he did bring the dragons to Voss and then Zoran brought them to our worlds. How ironic,” Jarmila noted. “What’s he say next?”
“More of the political stuff. Another argument-discussion with Valentýn. Have to read more, dear.” An hour later, he came across more relevant notes. “Say, here’s a bit more.”
Kazimir named them after the color of the dragons there. The Gold Planet, the Black Planet. Well, I would have picked better names. How did he communicate with them? Come on, Kazimir, out with it.
“That’s all that’s in this entry,” Miroslav said disappointedly.
Shortly, Jarmila found the continuation of that thread of discussion. “Here we go, dear.”
So old Kazimir wasn’t so smart after all. A Gold Dragon named Tereza sensed him watching her via his magical device. It was her curiosity that got it all started. Kazimir says that she magically came to him. I wonder how she did that? Ah, Kazimir states that Tereza knew many magical spells and Morphed into a human form so that she could speak with him. Interesting, but how did she travel from her world to Voss? He ought to have logged that piece of critical data. Wish he had also noted what she said to him. Maybe it’s later in his notes. That’s something that I would have logged — first contact and all that. Probably he felt badly that it was she who came to him and not the other way around. Got to remember to tell Valentýn about this tonight.
“Next part is washed out. I think Bandar spilled ale on his journal page. Here, he continues the next night,” she continued, fascinated with the writing.
Kazimir’s notes indicate that she taught him the magic on how to move through space. According to him, she called it Shadow Walking. Fascinating. Come on, Kazimir, how is this Shadow Walking done? Well, I’ll be, Tereza seduced the old mage! Ha. So that’s how she got him to agree to allow some of her friends to come to Voss originally! Interesting. Wait til Valentýn hears about this twist!
The next page continued the same thread, but was a night later.
Got drunk with Valentýn. He pointed out many salient facts that we need answered. Promised him I’d continue with this, as if he had to ask. Today’s translations yielded a bit more information. The golds came and Morphed into human shapes per Kazimir’s request. He didn’t want to shock people. Duh. Well, that was smart, considering how huge a dragon is! No brainer, Kazimir. The old lecher traded magic spells for her affections! Sex will do it every time! Ten more pages of drivel, come on, old man, out with the key data. Have to wait. Too tired to translate more of his love-sick notes tonight.
Unfortunately, Bandar’s subsequent pages dealt with several nasty events on Voss. Dragons and humans were definitely having serious problems getting along with each other. It wasn’t until the next day that the two finally found more on this thread.
Kazimir documented the fact that other colored dragons began appearing on Voss about a month after Tereza arrived. According to the old mage, it was Tereza who encouraged interspecies breeding, but only with those highly knowledgeable in magic. Ah ha! The dragons were just using you, old fool!
The next entry continued on from this point.
Finally, Kazimir! He reports that eventually Tereza taught him to Shadow Walk. Come on, where are your notes on how it is done? If you didn’t write that down, Kazimir, I swear I will dig up your bones and resurrect you and force you to divulge that!
“Gee, Bandar really wanted to know how Shadow Walking is done, didn’t he?” Jarmila noted. “I wonder if it was Bandar who taught everyone else how to do it? These journals are priceless!”
“Eureka. Here it is, dear. Bandar is describing how Shadow Walking is done. Say, it is just like we do it. Someone who can do it has to take you into the Shadows and show you around. Kazimir says that he got ill at first, nausea, just like we do. After that first trip, he could then do it himself. Interesting. Whoa, listen to this!” Miroslav exclaimed.
So it is not something that one can read about its casting and then learn to do it. One has to be taught it by another who can Shadow Walk. Damn! I have to learn how to do it. I wonder how I can coerce a dragon into teaching me? Where there is desire, there is always a way, heh, heh. I have an idea just how I can do it. Kazimir is long dead, but dragons live ten times longer that we do. I’ve got to find this Tereza dragon.
“Did he find her?” Jarmila asked.
“Don’t know yet. Several more entries about his fruitless searches for her. Let’s see. Ah, here we go.”
Found Tereza today. I can see why Kazimir fell for her. Her human shape is most appealing. Going to meet with her tomorrow.
The next entry is a bit smudged.
Met Tereza officially. I have gotten what I wanted. Note: dragons love magic and spells. I agreed to teach her several mid-level spells in return for a Shadow Walk session. She claims that I will only need one such session. We’ll see.
“He continues the next day.”
Beyond my wildest dreams! I am changed now, physically. I can tell, something is very different within me. This is the coolest thing ever! Going to teach Valentýn to do it tonight. My reactions are significantly increased. Not sure what else is altered. More later. Got to meet Valentýn at the pub.
“There is a substantial gap in terms of days before the next entry, dear,” Miroslav explained.
Valentýn and I have been Shadow Walking to the eight dragon planets. Coolest thing ever! Tereza suggested that we should learn how to do it before we reach adulthood or full growth. He and I barely qualified, since we are now twenty-one. Valentýn has been codifying the physical changes that we’ve undergone. Our reaction time is half of what it was before. He’s also discovered that we are alerted to trouble coming our way before we are even aware of it. Could be a very useful aspect.
Valentýn has a good friend in the Republic State of Valtr. We’re going to see her tomorrow and induct her into Shadow Walking too. She’s his betrothed, Zelenka Pavel. She’s medically trained, so I am hoping that she can shed more light about our physical changes. Will they be permanent or just a temporary thing?
“His next entry is four days later. I guess that he had to do some traveling or he was too occupied to keep his journal up,” Miroslav suggested.
Zelenka took to Shadow Walking rather well. She’s been dissecting old Kazimir’s body looking for any changes. She’s found a gland in the base of his brain that is many times larger than normal. While one case doesn’t prove anything, our going theory is that this gland is somehow enlarged when we learned to Shadow Walk. I found it kind of gory and a bit unnerving digging up his grave. Tomorrow, I am going to introduce my fiancé to Shadow Walking too.
Ari loved it! I asked her to marry me. Yahoo! She agreed as long as she is called Ari Zar and not Rayna Ryba Zar. She hates her given name. Still
haven’t been able to get her to tell me why, but I think that kids must have teased her about being a fish when she was a little girl.
“Rats, the next entries are political again,” he complained. “He and Valentýn believe their Democracy is going to collapse and that there will be a conflict between humans and dragons soon. Ah, they are trying to figure out what they can do to avoid it. Listen to this.”
Valentýn and I believe that we are witnessing the fall of the Democracy of the Sixteen. We both want to abandon the sinking ship. He suggested that we see if we can find other planets that would support human life. If we can find some, he would like to Shadow Walk there and leave Voss before we get caught up in the great battle that he foresees coming. He’s leaving the discovery of the planet up to me. Ha. And just how am I to do that? Well, I am going to see if I can find old Kazimir’s pyramid. If so, can I activate it and search the universe as he once did? Worth trying. Besides, I am dying to see that magic invention of his.
“His next entry continues this thread. Listen to this!”
Found Kazimir’s pyramid. Was under an Invisibility spell and an Antipathy spell that keeps everyone from getting too close to it. I found it by noticing that I kept avoiding going to the area in which it was located, even though I saw nothing there at first. He had a lot of second-rate traps set. Defused. Inside, found a mess, but the machine still works. Following Kazimir’s directions, I located the eight dragon worlds. All are nasty, except the Gold Planet. Red Planet is fiery hot. I’d never survive there. White planet is snow covered and presumably way too cold for humans. Tomorrow I will begin our search.
“What did he find?” asked Jarmila. “Let me read a while.” She took the volume from her husband, who grinned. This was fascinating reading for the two.
My patience was rewarded. Four days. Found a great looking planet. Valentýn likes it and has declared it will be New Adapazan. We’re going there tomorrow to check it out more closely.
“The next entry expressed Bandar’s thrill of discovery. Listen to this.”
How do I put down in words what I felt as I set foot on a new world on which no human has ever set foot? It is indescribable! Exhilaration. Elation. Extreme pride and self-satisfaction. Forget it. I can’t. The new world is very similar to our Republic State, only it is a whole world and not a small part of a larger world as it is here on Voss. Valentýn says that we now have the opportunity of a lifetime — to begin a whole new way of life. He thinks that we should colonize the planet. Valentýn always does think big.
The political climate here on Voss is deteriorating at a rapid rate, though I swear the average person is completely blind to what’s going on and where it is leading.
Perhaps we had way too much to drink tonight — I dread my hangover in the morning, but we agreed to actually go through with the notion of colonizing the new world. Leave the planning to me, he says. You find more worlds. I’ve got other friends who might well be interested in bailing out of Voss before it sinks. I like that idea better. So tomorrow or perhaps the next day, I will see if I can find more worlds. My head is likely to be mush tomorrow.
“The next entry was extremely short.”
It is mush! But the ale sure was good.
“Ah, politics again,” Jarmila announced.
Well, our Democracy has sunk to a new low. Some dragons — eye witness accounts vary slightly — attacked a village in the Republic State of Rehor. Death toll is estimated to be two thousand dead. Our illustrious President has called for the dragon’s representatives to explain their attack. The senators voted on a declaration of war against the dragons in retaliation, but they ended up in a tie vote. Nothing whatsoever is actually going to be done, save perhaps the imposition of some unenforceable sanctions against the dragons. Pathetic.
Valentýn and I had a lengthy conversation about this today. We’ve agreed that we need to abandon Voss and start over on some new worlds. He claims that we ought to find sixteen planets, each similar to the conditions within each of the Republics. He must have a whole lot of friends. Well, I agreed to see if I can find them.
Did find a water world tonight. Am hopeful I can find more, though it is mostly a blind search and it takes a lot of time. Thought about calling these new worlds New Adapazan and New Asami, but opted for just Adapazan and Asami. At least we can tell the planets apart this way.
“Looks like he scribbled some notes but continued writing a week later,” Jarmila noted.
Tonight, met with Valentýn and fifteen other men. Apparently, each is from a different Republic State. All are fed up with the Democracy and are keenly interested in backing our search and colonization of these new worlds. Damn, these men have money! I am hopeful this will be a most successful venture.
We discussed how we would govern these new worlds. I suggested they were jumping the gun and we should settle them first. I was outvoted sixteen to one. The consensus was to abandon democracy altogether. Valentýn’s suggestion of a benevolent monarch won the support of the others. I laughed. These sixteen men planned on becoming the benevolent monarchs of the sixteen new worlds, assuming I can find that many. Now they are planning how many others to bring along to settle and colonize these worlds. Money. The sums that they are throwing around make my head spin.
I then asked them if they were all going to learn to Shadow Walk. Valentýn pointed out that perhaps we should restrict such knowledge to the chosen rulers and their most trusted friends. I suggested that we should call those who can Shadow Walk Duskas, meaning exactly that — Shadow Walkers. For once, they agreed with me. Pavel suggested that they call themselves barons and their wives baronesses. Matous suggested that each baron rule his own planet, but Pavel added that the barons ought to meet at least twice a year to work together as a group and deal with issues concerning all of them. Weatherby suggested these be called High Council meetings with each baron getting one vote. I asked what happens if the votes are tied. I was promptly told to shut up and find the planets.
Valentýn suggested that I be put in charge of teaching others to Shadow Walk. Pavel suggested that some sort of official ceremony be used to help make this appear official and said that the ceremony was up to me to work out. Matous wanted some kind of bond between our ruling locations, but they decided to leave that up to me, since I was in charge of Shadow Walking, et cetera. I think that I am being dumped upon. I think that I need lots more ale at this point.
“Wow,” exclaimed Miroslav, “you can see the formation of our Federation! These original sixteen men plus Bandar set the whole thing up! Incredible. Here’s a bit more on it.
Ari and I decided that I will find the planets and find a way to hook them all together via the Shadows and such. She will become our High Priestess and deal with the initiation of others into becoming the Duskas. Ari is really getting into this whole idea. She says, “The worms are going to destroy us all, so we best get ourselves out of here.” My gut tells me she and Valentýn may well be right about the worms. Heard about another village being attacked last night. It’s getting a bit grim.
The two read more pages and finished the current volume and tore into the next one. For quite some time, the entries denoted more incidents with the dragons, the discovery of more suitable worlds, and Ari’s invention of appropriate “ceremonies” to go along with the “Shadow Walking” skills. Ari decided to call the most important one the Ceremony of Ascension, because the person was ascending to new, undreamed of skills and abilities. After that, many pages were filled with Bandar’s notes about the advance planning sessions, preparing the way for the mass exodus to the new worlds. During these same days, according to Bandar’s journal entries, the worms’ raids on small villages across the Republic States grew more and more frequent.
The later journals contained even more of the newly designated barons’ plans for colonizing the new worlds. All of it was done in secrecy so that the dragons would not find out about the exodus of a large number of humans from Voss. Further, the new barons had Hi
gh Priestess Ari Zar perform her Ceremony of Ascension on their wives and trusted kin. It would be these who Shadow Walked the many others who wanted to join them, along with the vast amount of supplies that the barons planned to bring with them.
Each baron was limited to bringing along a total of one thousand people to help colonize their new planet. However, Bandar was quick to point out some immediate problems facing several of the barons. Asami was mostly a water world and those living there would need to be importing much of their food supplies from other barons. Likewise, the two desert planets would need to import agricultural products as well.
“Interesting, Jarmila, right from the day that the worlds were first settled, there was the acute separation into the ‘have planets’ and the ‘have-nots.’ That struggle has been with them ever since,” Miroslav pointed out.
“Yes, dear, but remember, the original barons made their own choice to settle on a ‘have-not’ world. Today, the people living there don’t have that choice, unless they are Duska and can travel off-world,” she countered.
As the days passed, the volumes outlined more and more of the plans for the mass exodus of Voss. Already the future barons had worked out advanced trading arrangements, much to the relief of those whose new worlds were going to be problematical for long term survival of humans, such as Asami and the desert worlds. While the two found this interesting reading, it didn’t offer any real help for Zoran and the Dragon War currently being fought above ground. Still, they could not help noticing the parallels between ancient Voss and their worlds now. Back then, the reds and blacks appeared to be the driving force behind the war, just as it was now. Only in the present war, somehow all of the dragons were involved, except the golds. However, by Volume P, the other colors of dragons had been pulled into the war on Voss, again excepting the Gold Dragons. It was at this point that the Exodus to the New Federation began with the barons leading the way.