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

by Jeanne Cavelos

  The Circle had lost its center. Kell had been the one whose wisdom moderated their extremes, whose achievements commanded their respect, and whose vision illuminated their proceedings. They had been like planets revolving about a sun, held to it through the attraction of gravity. Now that sun, Kell, had removed itself. What remained to keep the planets together? Without him, they threatened to fly off in different directions.

  Elric wished he had deduced Kell’s plan weeks ago. He’d had all the pieces; it simply had not occurred to him that Kell was using Elizar as an unwitting pawn. To use one’s apprentice in such a way was a horrible violation of the bond between apprentice and teacher, as Blaylock had said. And to send one’s apprentice alone to face the Shadows, expecting him to be the salvation of the mages, was folly. Knowing Kell, though, it made perfect sense. Kell had pinned such hopes on Elizar. He was blind to Elizar’s flaws.

  Kell’s folly had sent Galen and Isabelle into unnecessary danger. It had killed Burell and Isabelle. It had provided the Shadows with two mages who could reveal much about their order and their ways.

  As much as Kell’s actions angered Elric, a future without Kell frightened him much more. Without their leader, Elric didn’t know if the mages could remain intact. Kell had held them all together. Now they faced the threat of the Shadows without that unifying force, and with a weakened Circle. If the authority of the Circle and the Code was lost, they would fall to chaos.

  Elric tried to focus on the Circle’s debate, but Galen’s face haunted him. Since Galen had arrived that afternoon with Isabelle’s body, he had seemed stunned, his huge eyes unblinking, as if struggling to absorb something that could not be absorbed.

  He had shown great skill in fighting Elizar and the Shadows, and most important, he had maintained control. He had not succumbed to the impulse for destruction he had surely felt. He had borne his burden well. Any wounds he had suffered seemed to have healed, though the back of his shirt was peppered with small holes and dark splotches of dried blood. Yet his mind was far from healed. He had retreated to some distant hiding place, as he had when his parents were killed, but that distance was threatening to collapse. As Galen had spoken before the Circle, Elric had seen him struggling to remain detached. The raw vulnerability on his face was almost too much to bear.

  Galen had taken years to recover from his parents’ deaths—if he had ever truly recovered. Elric didn’t know how long this wound would take to heal. Galen had come to love her; that Elric had known from the moment he’d seen Galen in the last electron incantation.

  Now, with the Shadows, there would be more trauma, and likely more death. Elric feared how Galen would cope.

  “We must elect a new member to the Circle,” Ing-Radi said. “Before we do anything else. There must be five. There must always be five. Five is the number of balance.”

  “We have no time.” Herazade was sitting on the edge of her seat, her hands in constant, emphatic motion. “Even now, Elizar could be leading the Shadows to attack us. And he will tell them everything.” She believed in the Shadows now. And she was in a panic.

  “That is not the way of the Shadows.” Blaylock seemed to be permanently standing, as if his unyielding figure could hold the Circle together by force of will. His harsh enunciation revealed that his patience was at the breaking point. “They do not attack directly. And as Galen revealed to us, they still hope to gain us as allies. The Shadows’ message to us was that we shall join with them or die. We still have some time, I think, before the alternatives narrow to only one.”

  Elric stood, hoping to slow the frantic pace of the discussion. “I agree that we may have some time while the Shadows continue to gather their forces, though we cannot be sure how much. We must use this precious time to its fullest advantage. We must formulate a plan, now. Postponing any decision until after an election would cripple us.

  “I again propose that we take an active stance against the Shadows, gathering information, forming alliances, sharing what we know with others, and preparing for war.” Fighting the Shadows would mean the death of many mages, Elric knew, and likely even the end of the mages altogether, yet he could see no other alternative. Perhaps this was their destiny.

  Herazade shook her head. “Kell said that we are not ready to act. We do not know enough about the Shadows. If they can penetrate our illusions so easily, as they did with Burell, if they can conceal themselves, if their powers are greater than ours, how can we fight them?”

  It was easy to be brave and bold and do good when they were the most powerful beings in the galaxy—save only the Vorlons, who hid their power so well and used it so sparingly, it was described only in legend. Now that the mages were threatened with a greater power, many of them would collapse, as Herazade was doing. Her vision of a benevolent universe in which superior mages did good for the less fortunate ceased to make sense when the mages were no longer superior, and the universe no longer benevolent.

  Blaylock, Elric knew, would vote only to find a place of safety and wait out the war. He did not believe they should become warriors. He felt it went against their destiny. Blaylock had long supported the idea that the mages should remove themselves from others altogether. His belief was so strong, Elric knew, that he was willing to leave his place of power permanently. The coming of the Shadows merely added strength to his conviction.

  That meant Elric had to convince both Herazade and Ing-Radi to fight, which would require extreme measures. Herazade was terrified because she was not prepared. She had not believed in a universe where Shadows existed. Ing-Radi, though, was well prepared. She knew the threat they faced and knew well that they might all die fighting it. She would be convinced only if she thought they had a chance. Elric used the only argument he thought might convince them. It was a desperate gambit.

  “We could form an alliance with the Vorlons,” he said. “Legend tells that they are the ancient enemy of the Shadows.”

  Blaylock’s face soured. “The Vorlons cannot be trusted. Throughout our history they have treated the techno-mages with nothing but contempt. We need information, not impenetrable pronouncements.”

  “I met a Vorlon once,” Ing-Radi said, and for the first time since Elric had known her, her slit pupils narrowed in anger. “Do you know what they call us? Fabulists. Tellers of tales. Liars.”

  Herazade waved off his suggestion. “If we ally ourselves with the Vorlons, that will simply give the Shadows another reason to attack us. They will be hesitant to attack the great forces of the Vorlons directly. Instead they will attack the Vorlons through us, the weaker link.”

  Elric felt the Code, all he had lived for and believed in, crumbling.

  He found he had a message from Alwyn. He read it quickly and viewed the attached recording. At that, his hopes fell even further.

  The Shadows had begun to show their hand. Anarchy was loosed upon the galaxy. “Then we can find other allies,” he said. “There are good beings of many species who would stand beside us—Humans, Minbari, Narns. We have a responsibility to them. I have a responsibility to mine here, a responsibility to do good. Is that not the final and most important word of the Code?” He paused, forcing the Circle to linger over that point. “I have just been informed by Alwyn that the Narn outpost in Quadrant 37 has been destroyed. Ten thousand Narns are killed. Before Alwyn’s probe there was destroyed it detected this.” He conjured the image from Alwyn’s message, the same image the Narn G’Leel had described, a black shape out of legend. Against the grey-blue planet, the spiky silhouette wheeled and dove as if alive, blasting out great streams of energy. “What chance do the Narns and all the rest have if we leave them behind?”

  The Circle fell silent, and Elric hoped that perhaps this new development would drive them to fight, hoped that the vision he had always held of the techno-mages was consistent with the reality. If they abandoned the galaxy in its time of greatest need, the order Elric had thought they were would cease to exist.

  Blaylock had averted his eyes as A
lwyn’s recording played; now he looked up, and his gaunt face seemed shaken. He spoke slowly. “Elric, I understand your impulse. It is difficult to see a galaxy about to descend into war and chaos, and do nothing. I, too, have feelings for these beings. Yet war and chaos will come no matter what we do. They have come before, and they will come again. We have devoted ourselves to learning and understanding. If we abandon that now for war, then who is ever to bring greater understanding to the universe? Who is ever to break the cycle of war and death?”

  Blaylock had great dreams, Elric thought, but the reality was that billions would die, and he would have the mages stand by and do nothing. “I do not think,” Elric said, “that the cycle can ever be broken. Only that we must do good to the limit of our abilities. As for any understanding we may someday offer the universe”—Elric straightened, determined to say at last what none of them would say—“it seems likely to me now that all paths lead to our end.”

  Herazade brought her palms flat against each other, raised her praying hands to her lips. “I support Blaylock’s plan. Create a place of safety, to which we can withdraw as soon as possible.”

  “I as well,” said Ing-Radi. She extended a hand toward Elric. “I am sorry, Elric. We have a responsibility to our order, to keep them safe. I believe, against this enemy, we have no choice.”

  “Then it is decided,” Elric said. They would hide and let the galaxy burn. His vision of the techno-mages, if it ever had been reality, was no longer. He felt himself drifting away from them, even while he knew he must not. The Circle must not be broken.

  Blaylock’s voice regained its harsh certainty. “The mages will return home to gather their belongings and destroy the artifacts of their presence.”

  Ing-Radi’s eyes were cast downward. She was thinking, no doubt, of her place of power. “Let none of the tech or our knowledge be left behind, so that it might be used for ill.”

  “We can leave tomorrow,” Blaylock said, “as is normal, so that nothing will be suspected. We must then gather as quickly as possible in a secret place, where we can prepare for our migration in safety.”

  If Kell had stayed, Elric felt they would have come to a different conclusion. But Elric had failed to find the plan or the argument to convince them.

  Their plans made, the Circle ended its meeting.

  Elric brought his platform to the ground, dissolved it so that his boots sank once again into the soft, familiar mak. While the others huddled in conversation, Elric left the chamber. He accessed his place of power, pulled images from a number of probes. On the far side of the planet it was day. The wild tak had submerged themselves in the Lang River to escape the heat. The krit skittered over sun-baked rock. Across the continent, the desert city of Drel came to life as sunset approached its colorfully dressed inhabitants filling the narrow streets and bazaars.

  On this side of the planet it was night. The coastal city of Tain had grown quiet except for the neighborhood around the port, where sailors caroused and fought late into the night. The town of Lok had settled into a sense of stillness and expectation. Jab slept peacefully on Des’ vast stomach. Some of the townspeople sat outside, waiting for the light show that had been promised at midnight, commemorating the final night of the convocation. The mages were already an hour late. Others of the townspeople waited down on the mak, staring skyward. Farmer Jae and Farmer Nee stood together, sharing a drink.

  All around him, the planet lived and breathed. Magma circulated; volcanoes exhaled; water nourished; life grew. He could not imagine leaving Soom, walking without the soft carpet of moss beneath his feet, breathing without the smell of sea air. He could not imagine leaving the town and its people. He had sunk his bones deep into this planet. It was as much a part of him as his heart.

  Yet how could he stay and defy the Circle?

  Elric received a message from his computer demon. Attached was a file from the EarthForce New Technologies Division. The subject was Morden. Elric paused a moment to scan through it. The information seemed irrelevant at this point. He skipped to the end to see if the file contained any information about Morden’s alleged death.

  Morden had been on loan to Interplanetary Expeditions when he had been declared dead. While on the IPX-funded archaeological dig, his ship had exploded leaving no survivors. Or so the file said. Explosions seemed to follow Morden like footprints. Had he arranged both the deaths of his colleagues and the deaths of his family? The file contained no details of the dig, only the location: Alpha Omega 3. It was a planet on the rim of known space—one among thousands on the rim, the legendary home of the Shadows.

  Elric would continue his investigations later. For now, Morden’s sins were not his concern. One of Morden’s victims was.

  As Elric left the tents, he saw Galen standing a few feet away, motionless in the night among the activity of others. Elric knew instinctively that Galen had been standing there since he’d been dismissed.

  Elric stopped before him. Galen’s face was blank, his brilliant blue eyes caught in a place far away. Elric was uncertain how Galen would react to the Circle’s decision. He would no doubt be unhappy with it. But whether he would accept it with detachment or flash again with the anger he had shown Kell, Elric did not know. Elric wished he did not have this disappointment to add to Galen’s burden.

  “The Circle has come to a decision,” Elric said. “We will create a hiding place and retreat into it. We will leave known space. We will flee.”

  Galen’s eyes snapped into focus, fastened on him. Galen had been in a hiding place of his own, and this had brought him from it. “What of the Shadows? And Elizar? We must fight them. We must destroy them.”

  “The Circle has decided we are in too much danger. We must preserve ourselves.”

  “They intend to let Elizar go?” Galen’s breath was hard, and color rose in his stubbled cheeks. “What of the Shadow war? The Drakh said their provocations would begin within weeks.”

  Elric would have preferred to suffer what had happened to Galen one thousand times over, rather than watch Galen suffer it even once. “Their provocations have begun,” he said. “And so the Circle believes we must leave as quickly as possible.” Galen’s face tightened and Elric searched for the words that would bring him to acceptance. “Of us the Shadows know all. Of them we know nearly nothing. That is a situation rife with disaster.”

  Galen’s lips bit out the words. “We will learn more, then.”

  Elric found himself echoing the arguments of the Circle. “They have given us a choice. We must join them. Or we must die.”

  “They try to frighten us. But we can fight them.”

  “The Shadows have great powers. We are few in number, and they could easily exterminate us all. They might even draw more of us to their side, through promises, threats, or even force.”

  “How can we run away and leave everyone behind? Where in the Code does it say that?”

  “The Circle is afraid, Galen. Until a few days ago, no mage had been killed in our lifetimes. Now two have died, so quickly. And two lost to the Shadows. We are used to being the most powerful. We are used to being in control, to manipulating events. Now the Shadows have returned, and it is we who are being manipulated.”

  The anger seemed to abandon Galen. His face was bare. “Did you vote to flee?”

  “No.”

  Galen’s voice rose with desperate hope. “Could some of us not stay behind, then? I would stay with you. And there must be others who would be willing to fight. We could—”

  “No. Division would only serve the purpose of the Shadows. Above all, we must remain unified. Solidarity,” he said, speaking one of the words of the Code. It resounded with years of history, years of devotion, and Elric realized Galen had pushed him into the commitment that he needed to make. “Obedience to the Circle and the Code has been our salvation. They are the only reasons we have survived as an order. The Circle is already weakened with Kell’s resignation. The direct line of Wierden is no longer represented, f
or the first time in our history. We must support the Circle with all our energies, or it will not hold. And if it does not, the mages will fall to chaos. The Shadows will have triumphed.”

  Elric had given over Galen to the Circle’s task when they asked it; now, he would give over his place of power. That was as it had to be. Galen must realize the same. “I know that you believe in the Circle, and the Code,” Elric said. “You have followed their ways and obeyed their rulings, which I know could not have been easy. We must both trust in their wisdom now.”

  Galen moved closer, lowering his voice. Elric fought the urge to look away from the intensity of his gaze. “I nearly used my spell of destruction on Elizar, when he attacked us. I don’t know what it would have done. I don’t know if it would have killed him, or all of us.” His lips parted with an odd eagerness, almost as if he wished it had killed them all.

  Then Galen’s gaze fell, and his mouth tightened in a way Elric recognized. He was doing a mind-focusing exercise, struggling to regain his detachment, his stillness.

  “You did well not to use it. The dangers are too great. And it may be that Elizar hoped to provoke you into casting the spell. Perhaps he believed he could somehow survive it and discover its secret.” Elric hesitated to go further, yet he realized Galen’s commitment to the Circle then was the key to his acceptance now. “You followed the Circle and the Code in that most terrible hour. Do not fail them now.”

  When Galen looked up, his face was composed, still. Yet his voice revealed the acute need behind his words. “Can there be no justice for Elizar, then?”