Telsa nodded. “During the temple raid. But I didn’t—”
“No, you did not destroy the yellow gem,” agreed Ratira. “At this point, it does not matter who did or did not destroy it. All that matters is that the yellow gem is no longer. The Ecarian giants failed to protect the gem. Now it is no more.”
“Then our quest is hopeless,” said Rembis speaking for the first time.
“Ah, Master Rembis,” said Ratira. “My ancestors remember you from the time of Queen Emerald. You have been gone from New Drepdenor far too long.” She smiled a dragon smile. “As to the hopelessness of your quest, perhaps it is not as hopeless as it seems.”
Rembis glanced at Telsa and the others before looking back at the blue dragon head. “You said the yellow gem was the only one.”
All three dragon heads laughed. The red dragon head, Chancartos, spoke in a gruff almost angry voice. “My species memory tells me that you never did listen, Master Rembis, especially when you were young. We see that has not changed much as you have aged. My brother said there were no more in the magic dimension. There are a nearly infinite number of dimensions.”
Rembis’s face turned red in the fading light of the sun. He glanced at the ground. When he looked back up, his face was no longer red. “Unfortunately we do not have time to search an infinite number of dimensions. Nor do we have time to pull information from you. I remember your ancestor, Chancartos. He was just as condescending as you.”
The red dragon head rose high above the canyon wall. “How dare—”
“That is quite enough, Chancartos,” said Ratira. “Master Rembis is right. You are condescending at times.” She lowered her head toward the gnome until she was close enough that her breath stirred his long white beard. “Another of the gems you need may exist if you are brave enough to seek it.” She glanced at Telsa, Jathar, and Leethor before returning her gaze to Rembis. “What would you give us for this information?”
Leethor laughed. It was not a friendly laugh. “And there it is. I should have known.” He turned to Telsa and winked. “What did I tell you? Dragons never give anything away for free.” Facing back toward the blue dragon head, he asked, “What is your price, Ratira? We do not have time for word games.”
The blue dragon head rose. The red and yellow dragon heads drew close to their sister as if the three heads were conferring in a manner unheard by any others. Finally, Ratira lowered her head until it was level with Leethor’s.
“You were ever an impertinent elf during the twenty-five years you served us,” said Ratira. “Still, you are right. There is no time to bandy words. You ask what is our price for providing information that could possibly save the three galaxies? Our price is more than you could ever pay.”
“Then why are—” began Leethor.
Ratira snorted a laugh. “Fortunately for you, the price was paid long ago by the dragon friend when he freed our young ones from the grasp of the Dragars. We give the information to you now as partial payment for his past act of kindness. We cannot say for sure if another yellow gem the size you need exists, but we believe there is a chance one may be found in another dimension if your companions and you are brave enough to go there to find it.”
Telsa could stand the word play no longer. She had a feeling she’d been around her friend Rick far too long. “Enough already. Where the hell do we need to go to find another yellow gem?”
All three dragon heads laughed.
Ratira turned her head to look at Telsa. “Where the hell indeed, Wizard Scout? You have given the answer yourself.”
“What are you talking about?” Telsa said growing increasingly frustrated. “Where do we need to go to find another yellow gem?”
Ratira squinted her eyes.
Telsa was drawn into their golden depths. A vision of a lava spewing landscape filled with nameless horrors filled her mind. Suddenly she knew where they needed to go. Her friends must have sensed that the blue dragon head was passing her the knowledge they sought.
“What is it?” asked Master Jathar. “What has the dragon shown you? Where do we need to go?”
Telsa shuddered as she replied, “Hell. We need to go to hell.”
Chapter 13 – Feigned Indifference
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When the Defiant landed, Richard led the way up the ramp feigning indifference to the Crosioian scout following on his heels. They were met at the top of the ramp by a red-faced Sergeant Ron and the Defiant’s entire security team armed to the teeth. Weapons of every kind were pointed at the Crosioian scout. From the fierce expressions on the dwarves’ faces, Jeena could tell they needed only a single word from their ship’s captain to blow the scout to kingdom come.
Jeena didn’t blame them. The scout was dangerous. She hung back a few paces, remaining prepared to send a blast of pure magic into the bat’s body at the first sign of impending harm to her bondmate or any of the ship’s crew. She had no doubt the Crosioian scout was as aware of both her pending magic and the physical weapons pointed at her orange-suited form. Still, the bat acted as indifferent to the situation as did her bondmate.
Well, Rick can act as nonchalant as he wants, but he cannot fool me, Jeena thought. I sense his emotions. He is strung tighter than a vine of ivy on a falling tree. If he is not careful, he is going to get himself and the rest of us killed. It was foolish of him to agree to be the scout’s prisoner. She cannot be trusted.
The ring on Jeena’s left hand tingled. “I calculate you are right,” said Danny in her mind. “Yet you also volunteered to be the scout’s prisoner. If Rick is a fool for doing so, what does that make you?”
“I had to do what I did,” Jeena argued. “I will not let my bondmate face death without me by his side. Anyway, I have faith in him. He knows what he is doing.”
Danny laughed. “I have faith in him too. Only I calculate he doesn’t actually know what he’s doing most of the time. I believe he feels more than knows that he needs to appear before the Crosioians’ tribal council. Unfortunately, I have run ten thousand algorithms trying to find a path to success. All logical paths have resulted in horrible deaths for both Rick and you.”
“Thanks for the words of encouragement,” Jeena said.
“You are welcome, High Priestess,” replied Danny. “By the way, I’ve been emotionally contaminated by Rick during our years of association. Unlike a lot of battle computers, I recognize sarcasm when I hear it. In case you are wondering, my reply to you was also sarcasm. As you can tell, I am a battle computer of many talents.”
Lucky me, Jeena thought trying to keep the thought private.
“I heard that,” laughed Danny. “You’re not a wizard scout. We do not have separate shared and private spaces. If you think it, I hear it, and vice versa.”
Before Jeena could reply, Sergeant Ron pulled a phase pistol out of the holster on his hip and pointed it at the bat-creature. “That thing is not coming on my ship,” said Sergeant Ron. “I should order Felspar and his team to open fire right now and be done with it.”
Richard stepped between the Defiant’s captain and the Crosioian scout. “The Defiant isn’t your ship. It’s our ship. And she is coming on board. I gave my word that we’d give her safe passage to her home world. I’m her prisoner.”
Moving forward to stand at her bondmate’s side, Jeena said, “As am I.”
“No,” said Richard. “I’m her prisoner. You’re not a wizard scout. You need to stay on the Defiant.”
Jeena whirled to face Richard as she slammed the butt of her staff onto the metal plating of the ramp. “As I said before, wherever you go, I go. I am the High Priestess of the Lady of the Tree. You may be my bondmate, but that does not mean you can order me around like some servant at your beck and call. I gave the scout my word the same as you. That’s the end of it. We will speak of it no more.”
His eyes growing wide, Richard opened his mouth to speak.
Sergeant Ron beat him to the punch. “Prisoners! Are you both crazy?” Taking a
step to the side, he tried to bring his pistol to bear on the scout.
Richard shifted position to block his shot. “Yes, prisoners,” he said. He looked around at the security team. “Lower your weapons. I gave the scout my word she wouldn’t be harmed.”
The dwarves’ weapons remained trained on the bat.
Sergeant Ron walked over to the ship’s bulkhead and touched an icon on the display panel for the ship-wide intercom. “Everyone to the cargo bay now. Bring your weapons, and prepare to repel boarders.”
The Defiant’s crew was nothing if not well trained. Pounding feet sounded on the metal decks overhead. Within thirty seconds, the entire ship’s crew was assembled in the cargo bay sporting every kind of weapon, magic or otherwise. Calatron and his gnome magic users assembled near the stairs with wands at the ready. Jeena sensed the gnomes feeding magic into their leader to increase the potency of any spells Calatron chose to cast. Comstar, her fellow elf, stood next to Sergeant Ron. Although the old mage didn’t carry a weapon or even a staff, a ball of magic energy shone brightly in his hand. Jeena sensed that only a word was needed to release whatever spell Comstar had at the ready.
Richard continued to stand between the Crosioian scout and the Defiant’s crew, doing his best to shield the bat. Jeena moved alongside her bondmate and used her body to protect the scout as well. I would just as soon kill her, she thought, but I will support my bondmate. If he is determined to give his life to protect the scout, I am honor bound to do the same.
The ring on Jeena’s left hand tingled. Danny’s voice came over the miniaturized speaker built into the ring. “This is quite enough! Your actions are not logical. Why do carbon-based life forms have to be so stubborn? What’s next? Are you going to start killing each other? Are you that determined to do the demons’ work for them?”
“Danny’s right,” said Margery over the ship’s intercom. “Danny, Nickelo, and I might be battle computers, but that doesn’t mean we are going to remain idle while our friends let their pride and plain bullheaded-stubbornness endanger the lives of everyone on board, not to mention jeopardize the existence of life as we know it in the three galaxies.”
The barrels of automated weapons Sergeant Hendricks had installed in the walls of the cargo bay to repel boarders swiveled to target all parts of the cargo bay. Jeena noticed beams of condensed lights from the weapons’ sights appear on everyone’s chest, including hers and Richard’s. The only exception was the Crosioian scout. No beam appeared on her body.
“Stand down, all of you,” said Danny. “This stops now, or I swear Margery and I will stun every one of you.”
“Uh, Sergeant Ron,” said Nickelo over the external speakers of Richard’s battle helmet. “If I may be so bold, perhaps you and Rick should discuss this in private before the situation gets totally out of hand.”
“This is mutiny, Margery,” said Sergeant Ron growing even redder in the face.
“Mutiny is such a harsh word,” said Margery over the intercom. “Think of it more as a plea for sanity.”
Everyone remained frozen for the count of ten heartbeats.
Finally, Sergeant Ron shoved his pistol into his holster and pointed a finger at Richard. “You! In my cabin. We’re going to settle this right now.” Spinning on his heels, the Defiant’s captain turned toward the stairs leading to the upper levels of the ship and stomped out of sight.
Unsure what to do, Jeena remained frozen along with the rest of the crew. Movement from her bondmate drew her attention.
Removing his battle helmet, Richard handed it to her. “Hold onto this for me,” he said. “I think Sergeant Ron and I need to settle this between the two of us, alone.”
“Now wait one darn minute,” said Nickelo over the helmet’s speakers. “I think—”
Richard was already up the stairs and out of sight before his battle computer could finish speaking.
“Humph. Humans,” mumbled Nickelo.
Within seconds, muffled shouts could be heard overhead. Given that Sergeant Ron’s cabin was three levels above the cargo bay, Jeena got the distinct impression the Defiant’s captain and her bondmate weren’t wasting any time on polite niceties. The muffled yells lasted for a full ten minutes. Except for the occasional shuffling of feet of one crewmember or another, no one in the cargo bay moved. Everyone, including Jeena, kept their weapons or spells trained on the Crosioian scout.
For her part, the scout stood perfectly still while appearing to remain oblivious to the score of weapons pointed at her or to the shouts from overhead. After ten minutes, the scout slowly spread her wings, extending them two paces to either side of her body.
So, she is not made of ice after all, Jeena thought. I knew as much. I can sense her emotions. She is intensely aware of what is going on around her. She must know her death is certain if she makes the wrong move. Even a scout could not dodge every weapon and spell pointed at her. I wonder what she is thinking.
Chapter 14 – Red Wing
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After several minutes listening to the shouts overhead, the Crosioian scout spread her wings to show the crew that she was not intimidated at being surrounded by armed Empire guards. She was anything but. She had a plan.
I gave my word, but if any of them try to attack, I will kill them all. Then I will kill their captain before I disable the wizard scout and make him my prisoner. This starship will be mine. I swear it by the heads on my tribe’s Wall of Honor.
Swiveling her ears as she sent out a sonic wave, the scout pinpointed the exact position of everyone in the cargo bay.
It will be a tough fight, but I can win if I am careful. The two adult elves are magic users. They are the greatest threat, especially the female. I have never fought magic users before, but I worked with enough of them during the Estos mission to know their weaknesses. Once I kill the two elves, I will have to take out the dwarves.
She turned her ears to examine the six short humanoids with long hair and beards that flanked her sides with weapons at the ready. Three of the guards held phase rifles while the other three grasped wicked-looking battle axes in both hands. She noticed blue gems in the pommels of the axes and sensed Power coming from the gems.
The frequency of the gems are the same as what I sense coming from the female elf’s staff. The gems are obviously magic. In these close quarters, the magic axes will probably be more dangerous than the rifles. Should the crew break the wizard scout’s word and attack, I will need to take the guards with magic weapons out after I dispatch the two elf magic users.
The shouts from above ceased. The scout swiveled her ears upward. The sound of double footsteps on the metal decks of the ship foretold the arrival of the wizard scout and the ship’s captain. In less than a minute, the thin captain with the scraggily hair and beard walked down the stairway and into the cargo bay before stopping at the head of the ramp. The human scratched his beard. He turned and looked at the wizard scout who had followed him and now stood by his side.
“Never in my born days did I think I’d allow one of these bats on my ship. I hope you know what you’re doing, Rick. You’re taking a mighty big risk.”
The wizard scout motioned at the guards to lower their weapons. This time they did so, but from the rapid beat of their hearts and heavy breathing, the scout could tell they did so reluctantly.
“Weapons aren’t necessary,” said the wizard scout. The scout sensed him point at her. “She gave me her word, the same as I gave her mine.”
“And you trust her?” asked the male elf magic user.
“Yes, and you can too. She won’t cause us any trouble.” The wizard scout turned to look at her. “Will you?”
The scout retracted her wings. “No. Why should I? You are my prisoner.”
The scout’s eyesight wasn’t good in the bright light, but she didn’t need it to sense the ship captain’s face grow red. She could tell by the change in his thermals.
“I don’t like this one bit,” said the scraggily-haired
man. “I’m the captain of this bucket of bolts, and if it were up to me, I’d jettison her out the cargo door as soon as we’re in deep space.”
The scout spread her wings again. “And if it were up to me,” came her voice from the translator attached to her belt, “I would steal your ship and eat all of you for breakfast. The only reason I do not do so is because I gave my word that I would not harm anyone on the ship.”
“You would, would you?” growled one of the guards raising his battle axe. “I’ll show—”
“Stand down, Stovis,” ordered the wizard scout. “If things work out the way I hope, we’re all going to be allies. There’s been too much killing already on both sides.”
The scout hissed at the naivety of the wizard scout. If what the other prisoners on the ship that brought me to Diajor told me is true, the humans killed untold millions of our soldiers and sailors. We will never be their allies. The only peace between us will be when every human is dead.
The short guard lowered his axe, but the scout sensed the tenseness in his grip on the weapon. The little one wants to kill me, she thought. That is the sign of a good fighter. Perhaps the tribal leaders will allow the small ones to live if they pledge allegiance to our empire.
The wizard scout stepped in front of her. “Sergeant Ron’s agreed to take us to your tribal council. In the meantime, I’ll show you to your room. Follow me.” With that the wizard scout walked ahead, exposing his back to the scout.
Part of her wanted to shove her wing point into the human’s spinal cortex at the back of his head, but she’d given her word. She folded her wings and followed the human up the stairs. I will have plenty of time to kill him after I present him to the tribal leaders.
At the top of the stairs, the wizard scout turned to the left, ignoring another flight of stairs that continued up. The scout started to follow the human to the left until her passive scan picked up a large energy source to her rear. The engine room, she thought. It is different from the hyper-drives I have been around. Why?
Wizard Defender (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 8) Page 15