Crystal Enchantment

by Unknown

  "We're very much concerned about the possibility of problems in the Outer Ring," Panera stated. "And if that concern increases, it may become necessary to stop all commerce with the Outer Ring in order to avoid the possibility of contraband being smuggled in and out."

  Panera's voice was even, but there was no denying the implied threat. He either knew or had guessed about the arms smuggling and was ordering Danto to cease immediately.

  "That would be very unfortunate," Danto replied in the same tone. "Not only would it mean a substantial loss of income to several worlds, but it could also have a very negative effect on the Federation's request to expand the base here."

  Jalissa could barely restrain a smile. Miklos Panera might just have met his match in the veiled-threat department.

  "Naturally, we hope it won't come to that," Panera stated. "But as you know, when it comes to matters of galactic security, the Council can only advise."

  Of course Danto knew that; everyone knew it. Under the terms of the Federation agreement, the militaryand the Special Agency that controlled itcould invoke emergency powers and override any decision of the Council. Those powers had never been invoked, but the very fact that Panera was mentioning them now told her how seriously they viewed this situation.

  Danto's reaction, though he tried to conceal it, told her that he too was thinking about that. And this was not just any Special Agent speaking either. If the Vantrans controlled the Special Agency, the powerful Panera family controlled Vantra.

  Following a retreat by both sides into less threatening conversation, they took their leave of Danto, who told her that he would be seeing her later, since he planned to come out to the "homestead," which was what all the Kendor family called the house where Joeb and Neesa lived.

  Jalissa was glad that she would have the opportunity to speak to Danto again, without Pa- nera being present. If she had any hope at all of finding the rebellious Warlock and persuading him to return to the Coven, she would need the assistance of Danto's contacts on the Outer Ring worlds.

  And it was also possible that Danto had private thoughts about the likelihood that the Warlock wasn't acting on his own. No off-worlder knew the Coven better or was more trusted by them.

  Chapter Five

  "An impressive man," Panera commented as they left Danto's headquarters.

  "Yes, he is," Jalissa agreed. "Is the situation really so serious that you would cut off trade with the Outer Ring? It seems to me that would only make it worse."

  "It could become that serious very quickly," he replied. "But our objective now is to find that would-be Warlock. I had little hope of finding out anything about him here, so I'm not disappointed. We will leave in the morning for the Outer Ring."

  She hid her disappointment at their hasty departure. And in view of his comment, she won- dered why he'd bothered coming here in the first place.

  "Then why did we come here at all? Was it so that you could deliver that threat to my uncle?"

  He seemed surprised at her candorbut only for a moment. "It seemed wise to let him know personally just how seriously we take this situationand also to remind him that his niece is intimately involved."

  She stopped in her tracks and stared at him, her anger rising. "Exactly what are you saying, Miklos Panera?"

  "Only what I have already said. His actions could have repercussions for you as well."

  Jalissa was appalledand she was also deeply hurt. Could this be the same man with whom she'd just spent a pleasant morningthe same man she had thought she actually liked? Those feelings vanished rapidly now, buried beneath a layer of hot anger.

  "How dare you threaten me, Miklos Panera? If you think the Special Agency could write off the death of another Whisperer to an 'unfortunate accident,' you can forget about it. The Council would never stand for it!"

  He looked genuinely shocked, although she quickly reminded herself that he could not be trusted to be genuinely anything. Then his shock gave way abruptly to an icy anger that also seemed very real. He stared at her for a long mo- ment, then leaned toward her, his voice cold even as his green eyes blazed.

  "If arranging an 'unfortunate accident' had been my goal, Jalissa Kendor, I could have done that on Temok eight years ago."

  She was stunnedtoo stunned to speak. He turned sharply and strode off toward his hovercraft, anger apparent in his every step. And as she watched him, an uneasiness came over her that seemed for one brief second to hold a tiny fragment of memory.

  She thought again about her separation from her colleagues and her return to consciousness far from the scene of the battle. The memory remained beyond her grasp, but she knew from his bio that he'd been there somewhere.

  She thought about the hovercraft the children in the park had seen. One of them had said that it was a Federation craft. Could it have been Miklos Panera who had saved her and then brought her there?

  A city-bound shuttle appeared, and she hurried across the plaza to take it. She'd already told him that she intended to visit family and friends in the city. As soon as she had boarded, she watched his craft lift off and turn in a wide arc toward the base. Even from this distance, it was easy to identify it as a Federation craft because of its dark blue color. She recalled that when she'd questioned the children, she'd doubted their ability to distinguish a Federation craft from one of the many private craft that could have been in the area of that park.

  By the time she reached the city, Jalissa had almost convinced herself that Panera had merely used his own knowledge of her missions to make her believe he had saved her. The incident on Temok had been widely publicized, not just because of the sudden, terrible battle, but also because a novice Whisperer had lost his life.

  She made her rounds of her adoptive family and friends, but her mind kept veering back to his words. It seemed too much of a stretch to believe that he could have come up with such a story on the spot. And yet she knew that he was highly trained to think on his feet and to take advantage of situationsjust as she herself was.

  Jalissa simply could not believe that if he'd found her there unconscious in the path of the battle, he would have done anything to help her. No Special Agent would forgo an opportunity to get rid of a Whisperer. And in the hearings afterwards, Trans/Med had become convinced that one of the other Special Agents present at that time could have prevented the death of her colleague.

  Furthermore, even though she was still a novice at that time, it was common knowledge within Trans/Medand almost certainly within the Special Agency as wellthat she showed great promise. If Miklos Panera had found her there, he would have left her there to die. Jalissa was now forced for the first time to confront the incident honestly. She'd tried over the years to convince herself that she'd somehow managed to 'port herself out of there just as the stunner had struck her. But she admitted now what she'd always known deep down inside: It hadn't happened that way. She'd only just remembered that she could 'port herself when the stunner had struck her.

  For most Witches and Warlocks who regularly 'ported from place to place, thinking about it and actually doing it required only a second or two. But she wasn't that skilled. It would surely have required more time for her to compose herself than she had been given before the stunner struck her down.

  That evening, in the gardens of her old home, the talk was all of Panera's threat to Danto.

  "You'll have to stop bringing in the arms," Joeb told his brother. "And the trips to the Coven as well. Jalissa told me about the new propulsion system on the U-. Who knows what else they have that they're keeping quiet?"

  Danto nodded soberly. "There's been talk for some time that they've perfected the new tracking system for all spacecraft, even though they claim to be having problems with it."

  "But if they have perfected it, then they might already know of your visits to the Coven," Jalissa said with a gasp.

  "No, I doubt that very much. If they knew, they would certainly have demanded an explanation. But just as a precaution, I started s
ometime ago to use only the smallest freighters to go there. What I've been able to find out about the new tracking system suggests that it's still incapable of spotting smaller craft.

  "Still," Danto finished with a heavy sigh, "it's all coming to an endor a new beginning."

  Joeb nodded solemnly. "I think you're right. Whether or not the Coven intends it, they're about to make a re-appearance. And now they will face a Vantra far more powerful than before."

  "But perhaps somewhat more restrained, thanks to the Federation they created," Danto reminded him. "They're smart enough to know that their power is greatest when they don't use it."

  "What do you think are the intentions of the Coven?" Jalissa asked Danto. He certainly had the closest ties to themfar closer than her own.

  "I don't know," he replied, shaking his head. "And I can't even begin to guess. But I'm surprised that they haven't told you."

  "I wish you hadn't disobeyed them, dear," Neesa put in.

  "I disobeyed them because they didn't know what they were asking. They've lived in isolation too long to understand the danger they're in now."

  "But dear, to disobey them is to disobey the gods," Neesa protested.

  "They sent me away from them," Jalissa stated stubbornly. "They should have guessed that their hold over me would lessen. Now I'm a Whisperer, not a Witch."

  She almost added that her loyalty now was to the Federation, not to the Coven. But that wasn't entirely true either. The part of her that "wasn't human," as Panera would have put it, was still drawn to that magical, mystical raceand it always would be.

  "I think they knew you would come to feel that way," Joeb said, nodding.

  "Yes," Danto agreed. "I can remember your uncle, High Priest Kamor, saying just before we left that you were destined always to walk in two worlds."

  "It must be part of their plan," Neesa said to her.

  Jalissa doubted that, but she didn't want to shock her devout, Coven-worshipping adopted mother any more than she already had. She hadn't yet told them about Panera's threat, and now decided not to as she listened to them discuss the possible rebellion. She didn't want them to worry about her any more than they obviously already were. Then, to her surprise, Danto brought up the subject. ''You must be very careful with Miklos Panera, Jalissaespecially since you're going to the Outer Ring. As charming as he may be, he is also ruthless when it comes to pursuing what he believes to be the Federation's interests.

  "I'll give you the names of people I trust completely on each worldpeople in whom you can even confide your true identity, if that becomes necessary. I know you have an excellent memory, so memorize their names and then destroy the list."

  He reached into his pocket and produced the list, together with a tiny silver-colored rod. "I have this for you as well. It's the latest weapon developed in the Special Agency's research labs: the smallest stunner they've come up with yet. And it's made of a new alloy that can't be detected by any weapons scan."

  He showed her how it worked and told her about its range. She thanked him and pocketed it, together with the list. Only the gods knew how he'd managed to get hold of the stunner, but she was grateful.

  "But if all else fails, use your powers," Joeb advised her. "The secret of the Coven's existence isn't likely to be a secret much longer in any event."

  And my career in Trans/Med will be over, she thought bitterly. After all this time, why should the Coven surface now? She hated herself for her anger, but she could not control it. She wanted to remain Jalissa Kendor, Whisperernot Jalissa Kendor, Witch.

  Jalissa sat up in bed, instantly aware of what had awakened her. At first, she wanted to close off her mindbut the habits of a lifetime cannot be so easily broken. Furthermore, she'd fallen asleep amidst uneasy thoughts about just how far she'd strayed from the Coven.

  This time, the mind that brushed against hers was that of Kamor, the most powerful of the Priesthood that governed the Coven. She conjured up an image of the man, knowing that it was years old and that he would have gone from early middle years to old age in the interim. But his mind was clearly as powerful as it had ever been.

  Kamor was her uncle, her mother's older brother and a Warlock so powerful that others found it difficult to be in his presence for long. Others said that Kamor might well be the most powerful Sorcerer the Coven had ever producedeven more powerful than the Priests who had combined their talents to help the Coven escape from the Vantrans a century ago.

  His words whispered along the corridors of her mind. He wanted to know what progress had been made in finding Kavnor, the renegade Warlock. She told him they'd made no progress at all, but were about to leave for the Outer Ring. It surprised her that he made no mention of the fact that she'd disobeyed orders to stay out of the search.

  She also told him of Panera's suspicions that a conspiracy might be forming, and about Danto's decision to halt the visits to the Coven. But she told him nothing about the Special Agency's suspicions regarding her. She knew that there was a chance he could glean that information from her without her knowledge, but she was counting on the Coven's long-established ban against probing each other's minds.

  Then she asked the all-important question that had been tormenting her: Was the Coven planning to re-emerge after all these years?

  "We do as the gods tell us, Jalissa. You knew that once, but perhaps you've forgotten."

  There was a pause, but she could feel his presence. Then he went on.

  "The gods do not always tell us their ultimate goalmerely the steps along the way."

  "Why did you send meand the othersaway?" Jalissa asked.

  "Because the gods decreed it. You are a child of the Coven, my dear niecebut even as a child, you did not belong to our life here. So it was for the others as well."

  Jalissa was startled at that, but chose not to pursue it. She could tell that Kamor was tiring, so she asked him one final question.

  "Did Kavnor leave on his own, or was he sent by you?" "The gods told him to leave, and we did not stop him. Be careful, Jalissa. May the gods be with you."

  And then he was gone, leaving a strange emptiness in her. She pounded the pillow in frustration. He'd told her almost nothing, and what he had told her was anything but encouraging.

  But he was right about her not belonging there. She'd always been a dreamer and a rebel. The fact that she'd adjusted to life outside the Coven proved that he was right: She didn't belong there. And now she'd grown so far from their ways that she could not comprehend their willingness to follow a course blindly, trusting that the gods would take care of the future.

  How she wished that she could find them and force them to listen to her. But she could not ask Danto to take the risk of going there now, and even if she could, she knew that her words would fall on deaf ears. The Coven was unchanged and unchanging. The gods spokeand the Coven listened. If the gods had decided it was time for the Coven to emerge from its long isolation, it would happenand many people would go to their deaths.

  "I'd like an explanation, Miklos Panera, and I'd like it now."

  He had been avoiding her ever since their departure from Tevingi nearly four hours agoand that was no mean feat aboard the small space- craft. Jalissa had had ample time to decide if she wanted to pursue his cryptic remarks, and while she recognized the dangers inherent in doing so, what it had come down to was that she had to know. There were too many unanswered questions in her life just now.

  She sat on the edge of her bunk and stared at him. It was time for them to enter their sleep cycle. She was tired because she'd slept poorly the night before, and because the atmosphere and gravity force within the craft was being adjusted to that of Dakton, their destination in the Outer Ring.

  Panera had delayed coming to their shared cabin, which suggested to her that he was determined to avoid any conversation with her. She suspected that he regretted his outburst, and she was determined to take advantage of that.

  To his credit, he didn't ask what it was she wanted him to e
xplain, but neither did he immediately offer any explanation. Instead, he just stood there, looking, she thought, as though he'd rather be anywhere in the galaxy right now but here with her. She took a secret pleasure in knowing that even Miklos Panera couldn't hide his thoughts all the time.

  Finally, he seemed to settle for putting as much space between them as the tiny cabin would permit.

  "What do you remember of what happened on Temok?" he asked. "I went there as a novice Whisperer with several others to mediate a dispute that no one expected to turn violent," she replied, then added angrily, "Of course, we didn't know that the Special Agency would be there to undermine our efforts."

  "We weren't there to undermine your efforts. We were there because we did believe that the situation could get out of control. But I wasn't referring to what happened in general. I want to know what you remember about what happened to you."

  "I found myself cut off from the others and right in the middle of a laser battle," she said, suppressing a shudder at the memory. "Something struck me. It must have been a stunner, since if it had been a laser weapon, I wouldn't be here. And when I woke up, I was miles away, in a park at the edge of the city."

  "How did you explain that to your superiors?"

  Now she knew why she shouldn't have pursued this. The files of Trans/Med were supposed to be safe from the prying electronic eyes of the Special Agency, but no one knew for certain that that was in fact the case.

  "I never told them," she answered truthfully, if a bit defensively. "As far as they know, I found my own way back to them." Which she had, but by a very circuitous route.

  "I hired a private hovercraft to take me back to the area," she explained. "By that time, they were fleeing the battle zone, and I simply rejoined them."

  She was sure that he would ask why she'd lied, but he didn't. Apparently he believed her, but it wasn't true. As soon as she'd recovered from her ordeal, she'd taken a hovercraft partway back, then dismissed the pilot and 'ported herself the remainder of the way. In the confusion, no one had questioned her lengthy absence or her great good fortune in finding her way back to safety.