“Don’t kid yourself,” said Rembis. “Others do as well. I will admit that most of those who do, received their training back in time like me, but they exist nonetheless.”
Telsa nodded. “Yeah. Rick taught me how to fend off attacks on my link when we were on the mission to destroy the Dragars’ temple. Since I’m not a diviner, I can’t set traps on my link or anyone else’s. I also can’t break anyone’s link.”
“Nor can I,” admitted Rembis. “Still, you and I are in better shape than any of the elves in Silverton as far as protecting our links is concerned.”
Telsa had no argument against the gnome’s observation, so she said nothing.
Shrugging his shoulders, Rembis turned and led the way toward the far left corner of the first floor. As they drew closer, Telsa made out miniature buildings surrounded by a white wall no higher than her little finger. A tree twice the size of her fist was in the center of the miniature city. Reaching out with her passive scan, she detected magic around the entire mockup.
“It’s an illusion of Silverton, isn’t it?” Telsa asked, enthralled by the detail of the miniaturized city. As far as she could tell, every minute detail of the elf city was captured by the spell.
Nodding his head, Rembis walked into the illusion and began pointing out various buildings. “That is correct, Wizard Scout. Here is the palace, the library, and this little black building is the Mages Guild where we’re currently located.”
As she stepped into the illusion, Telsa made out miniature figures walking down the white-stone streets. “Is it real time?”
Shaking his head, Rembis said, “No. That would be a complicated spell indeed.” He laughed. “Don’t suggest it to Master Jathar. He likes challenges way too much for his own good. Besides, it’s not needed for my purpose.”
Telsa remembered the gnome’s words about an experiment. “What exactly is your purpose, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Grinning, Rembis said, “Mind? Not at all. I value your opinion.” He gave her a wink. “Uh, as one scientist to another, so to speak.”
Laughing, Telsa had a hard time thinking of the little gnome as a scientist.
“Do not laugh,” said Raj in their shared space. “He is not much smaller than you.”
“Mind your own business,” Telsa snapped back. “At least I’ve got a body.”
“Ah, yes,” said Raj sounding sympathetic. “That’s the burden you have to bear for not being a gaseous-based life form. Just so you know, I do not hold that against you, so take heart.”
“You’re talking to your battle computer, aren’t you?” asked Rembis. “You have that same ‘I am not in this room’ look Rick gets when he talks to Nickelo.”
Telsa felt her face grow warm. “That’s right. Raj was discussing how much better it would be to have a carbon-based body than to be a gas.”
“Liar,” said Raj over the battle helmet’s external speaker. “I was arguing just the opposite.”
Rembis laughed.
Telsa thought the old gnome laughed a lot. She supposed that was why she liked him so much. He reminded her of her.
“I can see advantages to both sides, Master Raj,” said Rembis. “Perhaps you can spare a couple of minutes to help Telsa and me with a problem.”
“A problem,” said Raj. “I think at nanosecond speed. Give me the data and I will process it into a possible solution before you can say Alakazam.”
“Alaka-what?” asked Rembis as he reached up to scratch at his long beard.
“Ignore him,” Telsa said. “That’s what I do. Nickelo has been teaching him to use phrases from his ‘cute sayings’ book. I’m not sure I like it.”
“Well, nevertheless, I could use both of your opinions,” said Rembis, turning his attention back to the illusion of Silverton. He pointed to the western quadrant of the city. “You will notice the obelisk with the yellow top. I have set up a scenario in the illusion so that the obelisk is empty.” He pointed to the remaining three quadrants of the city. “The illusions of those three obelisks contain their respective blue, red, and green gems.”
Telsa thought back to the battle on the planet Storage two weeks earlier. To their good fortune, the warehouse containing the blue, red, and green gems Rick had recovered over the years hadn’t been damaged during the fight. Although she hadn’t seen it herself, Telsa remembered Dren explaining how a place in the warehouse was reserved for a yellow gem, but that it was currently empty.
“So you’re setting up the illusion as if you’re using the blue, red, and green gems on Storage?” Telsa asked. “I guess that makes sense. To what end?”
“Watch,” said Rembis as he stepped outside the illusion.
Telsa followed and stood beside the gnome facing the miniature city. As soon as she was clear, Rembis pulled a wand from his belt and waved it at the illusion. The simulated blue, red, and green obelisks began glowing. Beams of blue, red, and green light reached out and touched the Tree of Light. The tree began oscillating between the three colors with the change in colors speeding up with each change. Suddenly the Tree of Light erupted into a ball of yellow fire so powerful that it consumed the entire city. Only a black hole remained where the tree had once been. What remained of Silverton resembled blackened ruins more than it did the vibrant city it had been only seconds earlier.
Telsa wasn’t sure what to say. “Uh, I’m guessing that’s not the outcome you were striving for.”
Grinning, Rembis shook his head. “Not hardly.” He waved his wand at the illusion. It wavered momentarily before returning to its original form. “This time I have set the illusion with a yellow gem based upon specifications provided by Dren and Brachia. Naturally, they had to make assumptions on the composition of the yellow gem, but it’s the best we can do.”
With a wave of the gnome’s wand, beams of blue, red, green, and yellow light shot out from the four obelisks and merged at a point just above the Tree of Light. The tree began oscillating between the four colors until the changes were happening so quickly they became a solid black color. The now black Tree of Light wavered and disappeared. Only a flat clearing of blackened rock remained.
“Uh, what just happened?” Telsa asked. She stepped into the illusion to get a better look at the place where the Tree of Light had been.
Rembis walked over to stand beside her. “The illusion of the gate below the Tree of Light has been permanently closed. The Tree of Light merged with the energy of the four gems to close it.”
“What happened to the tree?” Telsa asked. “Where’d it go?”
The speaker on Telsa’s battle helmet clicked. “I believe I can answer that,” said Raj. “I realize this illusion is just a controlled experiment, but even so, I calculate that once the purpose of the tree is fulfilled, its presence on this world will no longer be required. From a logical standpoint, whatever entity makes up the tree would have nothing left to do here, so it would go back to wherever it originally came from.”
Telsa thought of Rick’s friend Shandria who was the Lady of the Tree. “Maybe we should keep this little experiment to ourselves for now. I’m not sure Rick would take it well.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Rembis. “That’s why I wanted to show you. The end result is that we need a yellow gem to close the gate. That’s all there is too it.”
The mention of the yellow gem reminded Telsa of why she’d come in the first place. “I’ve spent the last week practically living at the library. Chief Librarian Elisinsar has every available scribe looking for any references to yellow gems. Except for the story of the destruction of a yellow gem of great Power in the keeping of the Ecarian giants, we’ve found nothing. I was hoping you might know something.”
Waving his wand at the Silverton illusion, the gnome reset the spell to its original form. Once the miniature Tree of Light was reformed, Rembis turned to face Telsa. “You were there when I told Rick everything I knew about the gem. You have to remember that although I was born twenty thousand year ago, most of my
adult life was spent living with Queen Emerald and her dwarves in New Drepdenor over a hundred thousand years in the past.”
“So you haven’t been there recently?”
Rembis laughed. “Not unless you call a hundred thousand years recent. I only know how it was when I left. I’m told the place has been uninhabited since the time of Queen Emerald. From what I remember, the guardian dragon doesn’t like intruders. I imagine the guardian only put up with Queen Emerald and the rest of us because we were friends of Rick’s.”
“So what happened when Queen Emerald died? Surely the dragon didn’t force everyone else out.”
The gnome looked at the Silverton illusion before turning to respond. “I’m told there is no record of Queen Emerald’s death in the Silverton library. She and her dwarves stopped communicating with the outside world shortly after I was captured. I’m also told that adventurers and even small armies have tried forcing their way into the caverns beneath New Drepdenor over the millenniums, but that none have ever succeeded. At least not as far as the elves know. As I said, the guardian dragon doesn’t appreciate intruders.”
“So there might be a yellow gem in New Drepdenor that we don’t know about?”
“I would not bet on that,” said Raj over the battle helmet’s speakers.
“Nor would I,” said Rembis. “I heard no mention of a yellow gem being in the caverns before I was captured.”
“You said yourself that was a hundred thousand years ago,” Telsa said, refusing to give up her hypothesis so easily. “One could be there now, right? Perhaps your Queen Emerald didn’t tell you everything.”
A stern male voice sounded behind Telsa. “Does any leader ever tell their subordinates everything?”
Spinning to look behind her, Telsa spied a tall, white-bearded elf wearing a black robe with silver trim. Although she could see the elf plain as day, she detected nothing with her passive scan.
“Good stealth shield,” commented Raj in their shared space. “It is almost as good as yours.”
“Master Jathar,” said Rembis. “I didn’t sense your approach.”
The elf gave a half smile. “You honor me, Master Rembis. If one as skilled as you could not detect my stealth shield, then all the practice my instructors forced me to do over the years has been worth the effort.”
The elf turned to face Telsa. “A few weeks ago, I would have said the idea of a human being allowed in the halls of the Mages Guild was preposterous. Yet here you are.”
Rembis shifted on his feet. “Uh, perhaps I should have—”
Waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal, Master Jathar said, “Do not fret, Master Rembis. As the elf friend told us before he departed, we must learn to work together even if it means associating with those we considered enemies in the past.”
“Sir, I assure you that I’m no enemy,” Telsa said.
“Of course you are not,” said the elf. “If I had even the slightest concern about your loyalty to our cause, I would not have left word for our guards to allow your entry should you ever pass our way. I am honored that one of the elf friend’s fellow wizard scouts has chosen to seek wisdom here before going to the Priest Guild.”
“Hmm,” said Raj in their shared space. “It sounds to me like there is a little inter-guild rivalry among the elves.”
“Hush,” Telsa said before returning her attention to the elf mage. She gestured toward Rembis standing to her left. “I came hoping to find more information about the yellow gem. Rembis was kind enough to show me his experiment with the Silverton illusion and the gems. I believe it is more important now than ever to find another one of the yellow gems.”
Glancing at the illusion of the elf city, Master Jathar nodded. “I tend to agree with you, Wizard Scout. On the other hand, you may have set yourself an impossible task. As I am sure Chief Librarian Elisinsar has told you, there has been no mention of a yellow gem of Power since the disappearance of the Ecarian giants.”
“The elf is right,” came Raj’s thought. “I told you as much.”
Ignoring her battle computer, Telsa pressed on. “Perhaps I should go to the home of the giants and see if I can find anything out.”
The elf didn’t laugh, but Telsa thought the corners of his lips twitched as if he was fighting the urge.
“I am afraid that would be difficult,” said Master Jathar after getting control of his expression. “From what we know of the Ecarian giants, they were destroyed by a catastrophe fourteen thousand years in the past. A series of earthquakes ravaged the Thandarhar Mountains and much of our continent. Elf Friend Amirithoda and his giants calmed the earth before our lands were destroyed, but the damage to the home of the Ecarians was irreparable. Nothing in the histories of any of the civilized races in Slyvrastra ever mentions the Ecarian giants again. I fear their fate and whatever they knew about the yellow gem is gone forever.” The old elf frowned and rubbed his chin. “Perhaps…”
“Perhaps what?” Telsa said, eager to hear anything that didn’t predict total failure.
The old elf actually smiled. It wasn’t a teeth-revealing smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. “I was just thinking that New Drepdenor’s guardian dragon might have the knowledge that our histories do not.”
Telsa frowned. She looked at the gnome before looking back at the master of the Mages Guild. “Rembis was just telling me the dragon guarding New Drepdenor isn’t all that friendly. He mentioned something about small armies being unable to gain entrance to the mountain.”
This time the master elf’s smile showed his full set of teeth. “I doubt even large armies could enter the caverns under the mountain without meeting their doom. The dragon is renowned for guarding the treasures of the dwarves. However, you would be seeking answers, not treasure. The dragon guardian might allow you to live long enough to answer a few questions.”
Telsa grinned back. “Somehow that doesn’t give me a warm and cozy feeling.”
Gesturing toward the Silverton illusion, the elf mage said, “I tend to agree with Master Rembis that acquiring a yellow gem of Power is an urgent priority. Whether another exists, I do not know.” He turned back to look at Telsa. “In my opinion, if one does exist somewhere, it is worth taking a risk. The guardian dragon has let others before you approach and live. Has the high priestess not told you how her life was saved by the guardian fifty years ago?”
Out the corner of her eye, Telsa saw Rembis shrug.
“Obviously he doesn’t know any more about that than me,” Telsa told her battle computer in their shared space. “What about you, Raj?”
“Oh, yes,” replied Raj sounding eager to share his knowledge. “I know all the gory details from listening to conversations of the elves we have been around. To make a long story short, the elf Leethor was in charge of a recon team that found the high priestess after Wizard Scout Shepard freed her from the Dalinfaust. With a magical gag ball in her mouth, she was in danger of dying. Leethor’s team took her to the dragon guardian who saved her.”
“So the dragon is a healer?” Telsa asked.
“Far from it,” replied Raj. “I told you this was the short-story version. Do you really want me to recite the whole tale now? The end result is that the dragon can be reasonable if you are not trying to steal the dwarves’ treasure from its mountain.”
The last thing Telsa was interested in doing was stealing treasure from a dragon or anything else, for that matter. Treasure mattered little to a wizard scout. “So you think the dragon can be reasonable?” she asked the elf. “If so, how do I get there? Is it a long walk?”
“It is definitely a long walk if you choose to travel that way,” said Master Jathar. He glanced down at Rembis. “Your friend does not get around much, does she?”
The old gnome winked at Telsa before replying to the elf. “Oh, she gets around, but things work differently in the physical dimension. She’s not used to having a master mage for a friend.”
Telsa wasn’t sure whether the gnome was referring to himself or Mast
er Jathar. She liked the old gnome, but the word friend seemed a little strong for their relationship.
“Oh, do not be so picky,” said Raj in their shared space. “You need every friend you can get; especially one who knows how to cast a teleport spell.”
“Are you talking about teleportation?” Telsa asked, directing her question at the gnome this time.
“Naturally,” replied Rembis. “I am a master mage of the ninth circle. Unless Rick’s niece and nephew have gotten the primary teleporter for ‘the One’ on Storage working reliably enough to transport living beings again, I’d say a teleport spell is your best bet for traveling on Portalis.”
“Master Rembis is right,” said Raj using the battle helmet’s external speaker. “Brachia and Dren are still working on Storage’s primary teleporter. It is reliable enough to send equipment to Wizard Scout Shepard’s dimensional pack, but the risk is still too high for life forms. The time differential component is also down.”
Telsa didn’t mind the last part. She had no desire to travel in time again. Things got way too confusing. She looked at Rembis. “All right, so will you teleport me to New Drepdenor?
“He will,” said Master Jathar before the gnome could speak. “We have a few preparations we need to make first.”
Telsa cocked an eye at the elf. “We?”
Master Jathar smiled. “Yes. We. Rembis and I will both accompany you. I will have a talk with High Lord Trenadine and see if we can also get Commander Leethor to come with us. He is somewhat familiar with the guardian.”
“So when do we leave?” Telsa asked, finding herself suddenly eager to get going now that they had a plan.
“Tomorrow,” replied Master Jathar. “Tomorrow morning will be soon enough.”
Telsa hoped the old mage was right.
Chapter 6 – Matthew
Wizard Defender (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 8) Page 7