Casting Shadows (The Passing of the Techno-Mages #1)

by Jeanne Cavelos

  Kell revealed nothing, yet Elric knew he must be disappointed with Elizar.

  “I was relieved when Galen joined us. Galen convinced Elizar that my shield had no special power. But then Elizar began to question Galen about the spell he’d done in the hall. Elizar wanted to know how it had been accomplished.” Isabelle’s voice strengthened, and she enunciated deliberately. “He seemed to feel an urgent need for this information. He accused us of wanting power for ourselves, of withholding information at the behest of the Circle. He said we wanted to crawl when we could fly, and those who crawled were crushed.”

  Blaylock made a disapproving grunt.

  “Then he brought his hands to his mouth, as he had done in the hall, and I was certain he was going to attack. I had been prepared to throw up a shield, and so I did. Galen, I think, was more shocked, and instinctively cast a counterattack. I thought I recognized the same effect he’d created in the hall. A sphere formed around Elizar and began to darken. But then it changed, distorting and releasing a plume of fire. Galen told me later he had tried to change the spell, to neutralize it, but apparently that was only partially successful.”

  Elric had been occupied elsewhere, preparing the Being, when all this had transpired. He’d been flipping through images from his probes, searching for some tardy mages, when he’d checked the probe on the side of the tents that faced the sea. He had seen only the very end of the confrontation, and had sped toward them immediately, terrified Galen would be injured.

  Later, Elric had accessed the probe’s record, stored in his place of power. It was then he saw the full confrontation, as Isabelle had described it, Elizar’s extreme agitation and Galen’s precipitous attack. He had watched it over and over through the night, haunted by memories. Galen’s instincts were wrong, as seemed true in so many mages. In this case, vastly, dangerously wrong.

  It had been perhaps his one hundredth viewing when Elric noticed an abrupt dip in the energy generated by Galen as he cast his spell. Elric isolated the second in which the spell was cast, accessed energy readings every tenth of a second, then every hundredth, every thousandth. There he found Galen’s attempt to alter the spell, the energy vibrating wildly out of control. Galen had tried to stop the destruction, to reverse his error. But the attempt had come too late.

  Isabelle’s gaze met each member of the Circle in turn. “I should have gone to Burell or someone else when Elizar first confronted me, rather than considering the use of my chrysalis, which is forbidden. I blame myself for the escalation of events.”

  Burell had raised a truly outstanding mage. Isabelle had skill, determination, and honor.

  “We thank you for your truthful accounting,” Kell said. “Galen, have you anything to add?”

  Galen raised his head. His eyes were hollow, the planes of his stubbled cheeks drawn. “Yes. Isabelle is wrong. What happened was my fault alone. I misread the situation, and I reacted prematurely and violently.” His gaze remained focused on Kell, avoiding Elric. “Elric had forbidden me ever to use that spell again. We both realized that it carried the possibility of great destruction. I violated Elric’s instruction. I violated the Code. I injured Elizar, I endangered the lives of all the mages, and more than that, I endangered the lives of all.” It was an unqualified admission, as Elric had taught him to make. Galen bowed his head unable to look at any of them any longer.

  “Elizar,” Kell said “what have you to say?”

  Elizar had been studying Galen intently, and it took him a moment to realize he’d been addressed. He turned to face the Circle and gave a deep bow, his left arm dangling. “Esteemed mages. I desired only to learn from my fellow apprentices. I apologize that my desire was so strong it somehow caused anxiety. I take very seriously the charge to ‘know all that can be known.’ I was disappointed at their failure to share information, and I acted improperly, using my chrysalis to conjure an image that I hoped might remind them of the necessity for solidarity and cooperation.

  “At no time did I intend an attack upon Isabelle or Galen.” He hesitated a moment, then raised his good hand, palm upward. “I would like to request lenience toward both Galen and Isabelle. As the injured party, I hold no ill will toward them. We are all young; we were all unwise. We all regret what has happened. Galen and Isabelle are both great assets to us and should not be cast away. For that I humbly beg you.” Elizar bowed again.

  He was full of surprises, Elric thought. To harass Galen and Isabelle for secrets of power, to accuse them of seeking power for themselves. And then, when attacked, to request leniency for them. Perhaps Elizar felt more regret than he revealed. Of course, if Galen and Isabelle were cast away, Elizar would never be able to learn their secrets.

  “Does the Circle require any further information?” Kell asked.

  If all went as usual, Blaylock would present some challenge or complication. Blaylock and Kell were often at odds, and Elric learned much from their disputes while revealing nothing himself. Elric hoped Blaylock’s instincts would not fail him this time.

  Blaylock stood, a severe figure with his black skullcap and gaunt face. His pale skin, scoured of all hair, including eyebrows, had an almost waxy sheen. Blaylock did not need to stand to speak—Elric stood only when he had something of particular import to convey—yet Blaylock always stood, claiming the floor and discouraging interruptions, even if he had only a single word to say. “Isabelle spoke of a threat to the mages,” Blaylock said, dependably resurrecting the topic Kell had tried to bury. “Elizar, what threat is this?”

  Elizar’s heart rate jumped, and his right hand curled closed, his thumb running nervously around his fingertips. He bowed, stalling for time. He couldn’t lie without risking discovery, yet for the clever, there were ways around lying. “You may find my comments presumptuous, but I believe the techno-mages are threatened by decay. Our numbers have been declining, our accomplishments lessening, our reputation fading. I fear the galaxy is leaving us behind. Instead of putting our energy into clever magic tricks, we should use our power to its greatest extent, to influence peoples and planets, to make lives better, and to earn respect through our actions.”

  Blaylock nodded with narrowed eyes, the way he did when he had a victim in his sights. “And to fight this threat of decay, to make lives better, you need Galen’s spell of destruction.”

  Another jump in heart rate, accompanied by a jump in respiration. “We need mastery of our tech. Galen’s spell reveals potential previously untapped.”

  It was clear that Elizar was withholding something. A threat that required a weapon to fight it was a threat from without, not within.

  Yet both Kell and Elizar were trying to suppress this information. If the threat truly was the Shadows, what reason could they have for hiding it? Did they believe someone within the Circle couldn’t be trusted? The secrecy was too clumsy, in that case. In the past, Kell had proven himself extremely skilled at secrecy and misdirection. If there was something Kell didn’t want the Circle to know, then they would not know it until he deemed them ready.

  Elizar was the weak link here, having revealed the threat to Isabelle and Galen. How could Kell trust such dangerous information to an apprentice? Had he begun to lose his judgment? Elric had seen no evidence of that.

  Perhaps the threat Elizar spoke of was not the Shadows at all. Perhaps Elric was seeing their hand where it did not exist.

  “Are there any further questions?” Kell asked.

  The only questions Elric had were for Kell himself, and those would not be answered.

  “You will await our decision,” Kell said.

  The three left the amphitheater, Galen last, his head low. Would today be the last day Elric would ever see him?

  Kell sealed the chamber and asked first for their judgment on Isabelle. They decided quickly on a mild rebuke, with the standard wording for a chrysalis-stage apprentice who has cast a spell without her teacher present but caused no serious harm.

  Then they turned to Elizar.

  �
�I propose a mild rebuke for him as well,” Kell said. “He should not have used his chrysalis, yet he did no harm with it. And his forgiveness toward Galen and Isabelle is commendable.”

  Herazade spoke next. She had exchanged her usual sari for a black robe, and her thick black hair was piled on top of her head. “I agree. However, I found his comments about the future of the techno-mages offensive and wrongheaded. A return to the old desire for power and glory is a step backward not forward. Yet we do not punish mages for foolish opinions. If we did we would be a very small group indeed. On the issue of his actions, Elizar deserves a mild rebuke.”

  Herazade had been in the Circle only two years, yet Elric had a hard time believing she could be as narrow-minded as she seemed. This was but one of many instances in which she seemed so focused on her own agenda—moving the mages toward a more people-friendly, social services role—that she completely missed the point.

  Blaylock had been tapping the arm of his chair the entire time Herazade spoke. As soon as she finished he stood again. His voice was harsh and certain. “This is idiocy. Elizar’s behavior is erratic and overly emotional. He claims there is a threat to the mages. He uses this claim to try to acquire secrets of power and destruction. Yet when we ask him of this threat, he evades the question.

  “He seeks power for himself. He seeks a weapon for himself. My belief is that he fabricated this threat. If not, there can be only one reason he does not tell us of it: he seeks to use it to his own advantage. He is a threat to the mages, the greatest threat, perhaps, that we have faced in many years. That some of you cannot see this frightens me even more.” Blaylock paused for effect, a tall, thin specter. “We must cast Elizar away.” He sat.

  Kell’s eyes flared in alarm. “Your conclusions have no basis. Elizar has done nothing to endanger the mages.”

  Elric stood. It all came down to one’s faith in Kell. What Blaylock said could be true. Yet it didn’t explain why Kell was supporting Elizar, why he sought to suppress the discussion. That suggested Kell possessed some additional knowledge, knowledge that for some reason he felt couldn’t be shared with the Circle at this time. Blaylock had strong philosophical differences with Kell, though, and so could not accept on faith that Kell knew best. Elric, however, knew that sometimes secrecy was necessary. And he believed in Kell. “I vote for a mild rebuke,” he said and sat.

  Ing-Radi bowed her head. The oldest of them, she had formed her views in an earlier time, and they didn’t fall neatly into any segment of the current political spectrum. Yet she tended to be cautious and compassionate. “I agree,” she said.

  Following the will of the majority, the Circle would rebuke Elizar.

  Elric found he had received a message. In his mind’s eye, he opened it. The message was in simple text. From Blaylock, of course. You have your own reservations about Elizar. Why didn’t you vote with me?

  It was inappropriate to send messages during a meeting of the Circle. But Blaylock was not one to be put off.

  Elric visualized a blank message screen. I trust Kell. That is all. He visualized the message being broken into bits of information, traveling through the air to Blaylock, reassembling itself.

  Kell spoke again. “Now we must discuss the fate of Galen. Elric, tell us what you know of Galen’s spell.”

  Elric reviewed what Galen had told him about deriving the spell from a progression, and then described what he himself had deduced from studying the readings of his own sensors and probes. “These huge energies and instabilities seem to coalesce in the creation of a new, unstable universe. A spherical area of our own universe is pinched off to create another. In the training hall, as this pocket universe formed, it also began to collapse. But the collapse occurred while I was working to erase the spell. I’m uncertain whether the collapse was due to my interference, or whether it was part of the spell.”

  “The second time he cast the spell,” Kell said, “he altered it, so we still do not know its ultimate consequences.”

  “Yes. The new universe could form completely, separating and vanishing from our own and having no further effect upon it, other than removing a small piece of our universe. Or the integrity of the membrane separating our universe from this new one could fail, loosing wild energies whose destructive extent is unknown, but potentially vast.”

  “Are there any limits to the size of the sphere?”

  A curious question, Elric thought. The spheres of energy that mages commonly conjured were limited to about twelve feet in diameter, and Elric’s guess would be that Galen’s sphere was similarly limited. But if not, could it then pinch off an entire fleet of ships, or an entire planet? Elric found it hard to believe such destructive capability might be within the province of a techno-mage; most of a mage’s powers were confined to limited sizes and short distances. But it interested him that Kell would think along such lines. “That could only be determined with experimentation, I believe.”

  Kell dismissed the issue with a casual wave of his hand. “What is your recommendation, then, for Galen?”

  This was the question that had dominated his every thought since he had seen Elizar’s burned arm. When Galen had conjured the spell in the training hall, Elric had recognized the danger. Yet he had hoped Galen would be able to maintain lifelong control. With the burden of power Galen carried, there was no choice. His hope had been, perhaps, unrealistic. Yet without it, he would have been forced to recommend that the Circle cast him away.

  Now, what hope could he have in Galen’s control? The chrysalis-stage apprentices were given their chrysalises to wear a full day before initiation. It was a test of control. Over the years, a fair number had failed the test, as had Isabelle and Elizar. Nonetheless, most were given a mild rebuke and went on to be fine mages.

  But Galen could not be held to the same standard. Galen had not only failed to maintain control. He had attacked, in violation of the Code. And he had attacked with a weapon of potentially vast destruction.

  Elric gathered himself. It was his duty, as one of the Circle, to speak. “Galen is guilty of everything he said. Mages have fought in the past, and will do so in the future. Yet no chrysalis-stage apprentice has ever attacked with a weapon of such power. We do not know how he will behave as a full mage. We dare not—” Elric found he could not continue. He could not say the words to cast Galen away. “I will not vote in this matter.”

  “If I may,” Ing-Radi said. “Has Galen ever reacted with violence before?” she asked Elric.

  “No, he has not.”

  “To cast away after one incident seems premature.”

  Herazade brought her palms flat against each other. “Perhaps he has never been in circumstances that would bring out his violence. Elric, has Galen ever felt threatened before?”

  “No, he has not.”

  Herazade hated violence, Elric knew, even when it was justified. She could vote to cast away. Blaylock would likely do the same. Kell had devoted his life to making the Code more than something the mages paid lip service, but something many of them actually believed and followed. He had worked to change their focus from power and feuds to learning, beauty, and good. He did this partly through force of personality, partly through his own considerable power, partly through a vigorous weeding-out of unfit apprentices, and partly through harsh punishments. During his time in the Circle, he had turned many violators into examples.

  It was time for an example, Elric knew. With three votes, Galen would be cast away.

  Blaylock stood. “The very purpose of having apprentices is to discover whether they are worthy to become one of our number. An apprentice who violates the Code does not deserve to become a mage.” His gaze met Elric’s, and Elric knew that behind his severe expression, Blaylock regretted what he had to do. “I can vote no other way.” He sat.

  Kell stroked his goatee. “I would argue thus,” he said speaking slowly. “With great power comes great potential. We should cast away such potential only if we are sure it will be used for ill. I have
watched Galen as he has developed, and I have found him to be skilled, disciplined, and dedicated to the Code. His spell language is unique, and now leads him down avenues it may be none have trodden before. To cast away someone with Galen’s great ability, unless we are absolutely sure he is unfit, would be unwise.”

  Elric knew then for certain that Burell’s deductions were true. The Shadows were returning, and Kell knew of it. He knew, and he was frightened. If they were to become involved in war, Kell wanted a weapon. He wanted Galen.

  “If the Circle agrees,” Kell said with a practiced flourish of his hand, “I will personally oversee Galen’s initiation. It will be a test of personality, and a lesson. For his first act as a mage, we will then set him a trial, a task that will put him in harm’s way and test his reaction.

  “His attack on Elizar was a serious error in judgment. We must know if he will make such an error again. If he uses the weapon forbidden to him or reacts with inappropriate violence, then he will be flayed.”

  Elric shivered, and was startled at his loss of control. To be flayed meant that the techno-mage implants would be removed. But once inserted, the implants quickly intertwined and connected with the mage’s own body, so that they could not be removed without also removing fair portions of the body’s natural systems, particularly the brain and spinal cord. If done soon after implantation, the mage would become a brain-damaged husk at best. A month or two later, death was certain.

  Perhaps, Elric thought, it would be better to have Galen cast away. In time he could find a new life, new pursuits. He would not have to bear the burden of his discovery, nor the trial of the Circle. But Elric knew that to be cast away would destroy Galen. The lore of the mages was already a part of him; to be cut off from it would be almost as bad as flaying.

  “He must not know of the trial,” Ing-Radi said. “Else he will modify his actions.”