Being closer to the blast, the mage was just starting to rise to all fours. Jeena ran to his side and shoved him facedown to the tunnel floor. She pulled back on the mage’s head and placed the blade of her dagger against his neck. Jeena always kept her dagger very sharp. She noticed a thin line of red where the sharp edge of the blade touched the mage’s throat.
“Yield!” Jeena shouted into the mage’s ear.
Before the mage could respond, an old, red-robed mage came running around the bend of the tunnel with wand raised. He said a word Jeena didn’t recognize. A beam of green light left the end of the wand and struck her in the upper chest. Jeena was flung backwards and hit the tunnel wall behind her. The dagger clattered out of her paralyzed hand and onto the stone floor.
Paralyzed but conscious, Jeena heard the sound of many feet. A slew of red, white, and light-blue robes passed across her vision.
“Is he hurt?” shouted the old mage who’d paralyzed her.
“Just a slight cut on the neck, Master Jathar,” said a young, white-robed female bent over the fallen mage. “He’ll be fine.”
Master Jathar turned quickly to an old, white-haired, female-elf dressed in a light-blue robe. Pointing his finger accusingly at the old elf, Master Jathar said, “You assured me there’d be no danger. How could I have explained it to this student’s family if he’d come to harm?”
“Calm, Master Jathar,” said the old elf. “Our medic said he’d be fine. No harm has been done.”
“No thanks to you, Priestess Aldriss,” said Master Jathar.
Pointing down to the prone Jeena, he added, “Or to this young ruffian you claim as one of your acolytes. She has no business in the priesthood. I don’t care whether she has the silver hair and eyes of her ancestors or not. Her actions are unsuitable for a priestess of the Lady of the Tree. Her actions and temperament have always been unsuitable. Sometimes I think she acts more like one of those human barbarians than a high elf.”
Rather than giving an angry reply, Priestess Aldriss said in a calm voice, “Alas, you may be right, Master Jathar.”
In spite of her paralysis, Jeena drew in a sharp breath. Is Priestess Aldriss going to expel me from the priest guild?
Jeena could well believe the old elf would. Priestess Aldriss had been a hard taskmaster these last ten years. While the old priestess had never been openly against Jeena, she certainly hadn’t gone out of her way to make things easier either.
“But…,” said Priestess Aldriss, “it’s not my decision to make. And my pardon, Master Jathar, but neither is it yours. Only the Lady may decide who will or will not be one of her future priests or priestesses.”
When Master Jathar opened his mouth to protest, Priestess Aldriss said, “I wouldn’t presume to advise you who should be in your mage guild, Master Jathar. I would appreciate the same courtesy from you.”
Jeena could just make our Master Jathar’s face. She saw his neck muscles tighten. A blood vessel under his chin expanded until Jeena thought it would burst.
Surprisingly, when Master Jathar spoke, it was in a reasonably calm voice. “I will be protesting directly to High Priest Questor.”
Jeena saw the old priestess give a tightlipped smile. “Please give my regards to the high priest when you see him. He’s always interested in hearing about the progress of his acolytes.”
“Humph!” was the only response from Master Jathar as he turned and stomped off.
By this time, a group of the white-robed medics and some of the red-robed mages had gotten both the male and female mage apprentices up and walking.
Priestess Aldriss said nothing until the medics and the mages were gone. Even then, the old elf remained silent until the last vestige of sound from the mage’s footsteps had faded into nothing. Then and only then did Priestess Aldriss turn to look down at Jeena.
“Well, for once I get to speak without you interrupting me,” said Priestess Aldriss.
Jeena noticed the priestess purse her lips as if trying to find the right words. Jeena braced herself for the tongue lashing she was sure was soon to come. Jeena knew she’d done wrong.
Why did I use my dagger? Jeena thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Once again she had acted without thinking. It had always been thus. While other elves acted with forethought and logic, Jeena knew her emotions often made her act irrationally.
“You were very lucky,” said Priestess Aldriss. “You should have noticed the polymorph spell on the mage before you did. The only reason she didn’t stun you first was because activation words for priest wands are faster than those for mage wands. Do you disagree?”
Still paralyzed, Jeena couldn’t answer even if she had wanted; which she didn’t.
She’s right, and she knows it, Jeena thought.
“Still…,” said Priestess Aldriss, “there aren’t many tenth-year priest acolytes who could disable two twentieth-year mage apprentices on their own.”
That shocked Jeena. Is she giving me praise?
“But don’t let it go to your head,” continued Priestess Aldriss. “You may soon face foes more dangerous than fellow students of the higher arts.”
The old elf waved a hand and said a word Jeena didn’t recognize. Magic flowed out from the priestess and enveloped Jeena. Warmth replaced the cold in her muscles. With the blessed relief, Jeena found she could move again.
“Your training is done for the day,” said Priestess Aldriss. “Gather your things. High Priest Questor wants to see you tomorrow at midmorning in his chamber. Don’t be late.”
“I will be there on time, priestess,” Jeena said biting off several retorts straining to escape. She’d like to have told the priestess what she thought of being pitted against mage apprentices ten years her senior, but Jeena refrained. She knew it would do no good to whine. Priestess Aldriss was not one of those instructors who calmly listened to student’s complaints. Besides, the old elf’s comment about facing more dangerous foes intrigued her. Not to mention it was unusual for the high priest to meet alone with a tenth-year acolyte.
Well, Jeena thought as she stood up and began gathering her things. I think tomorrow may turn out to be a very interesting day.
Chapter 7 – Missions
_____________________________________
The next two days on the Defiant settled into a dull routine. Sergeant Ron assigned each of them to an eight hour shift. Since the Defiant pretty much ran itself while in hyper-drive, the duties for the three of them consisted mostly of odds-and-ends maintenance on the starship. Richard tried arguing he could work longer than eight hours since he only needed occasional catnaps, but Sergeant Ron wouldn’t hear of it. He was all about fairness. Still, Richard tended to use a lot of his off-time to help Charlie. The old, or depending on how you looked at it, not so old lizard was a wealth of information on how to use scans to monitor waves and lines of energy. Charlie even knew some tricks about interacting with computers which he willingly showed the Defiant’s resident wizard scout. Richard learned a lot over the course of the two days.
On the rare occasions when he wasn’t working, sleeping, or in the kitchen cooking, Richard was in the common room reading. During his youth, he hadn’t gotten the opportunity to read much. Getting enough food to stave off starvation always seemed the higher priority. Even during his five years at the Academy when he’d had plenty to eat, any reading he’d done had consisted primarily of boring technical manuals.
After graduation, Richard’s priorities changed. He had a lot more free time, especially on missions for ‘the One’. Thanks to his dimensional pack, Richard had an almost inexhaustible supply of books; real, honest-to-goodness hardback books. Nickelo had created a list of ‘ten thousand books you need to read before you die’ and given it to Richard. Before long, Richard discovered he was a prolific reader at heart. Even so, he figured he was going to have to live a very long time if he wanted to make more than a dent in his battle computer’s booklist.
The afternoon of their third day in
hyperspace found Richard sitting at the common-room table reading. He was dressed in a semi-clean, black jumpsuit with the top half unzipped and tied around his waist. Sergeant Ron liked to keep the inside of the Defiant cool, but it was not so cool Richard felt he needed more than his t-shirt to stay warm.
Richard was currently reading an ancient classic about a woman and a man who just couldn’t seem to get together. Every time Richard thought the couple was going to work things out, one of them would let their pride or their prejudice get in the way.
Lowering the book, Richard thought about his own love life, or lack thereof. Since his breakup with Liz, he’d had a few of dalliances, but nothing serious or long term. He was long past his infatuation with Liz. Richard had a feeling it might be hard for an outsider to understand his change in feelings. After all, he’d come close to telling her he loved her. But for Richard, the time was much longer than the year since he’d left the Academy. ‘The One’ had sent him on twenty-two missions over the past year. The unofficial missions spanned a total of eighteen years in the magical dimension. The additional missions made keeping track of time screwy for Richard. As far as the Empire was concerned, he was only twenty-seven years old with a physical age of twenty-six. Since wizard scouts didn’t age, he’d always appear to be twenty-six physically.
“So,” Richard said out loud. “Am I twenty-seven? Or am I forty-five? I don’t feel forty-five.”
“Are you asking me?” asked Nickelo over the external speakers of the battle helmet.
Richard had laid his battle computer and utility belt on the table when he’d sat down.
“Sure,” Richard said out loud “That is, if you have an answer.”
“Oh, I always have an answer. It’s just that sometimes my answer isn’t what you want to hear.”
“Is this one of those times?” Richard asked unsure whether he wanted to start one of those confusing conversations with his battle computer.
“I guess we’ll see,” replied Nickelo. “Logically, your age is forty-five standard years. However, the reason you don’t feel forty-five is because part of your memory gets wiped whenever you return to the present after performing a mission for ‘the One’.”
“Yeah, I know,” Richard said disgustedly. “Most of my missions for ‘the One’ seem more like half-remembered dreams than they do real life. What I do remember doesn’t even make any sense. You once told me ‘the One’ is sending me on missions to prepare me for some big task in the future. Why bother if he wipes my memory whenever I return. I can’t learn if I can’t remember what I did.”
“Ah, but that’s where I see the beauty of his logic,” said Nickelo with a hint of admiration. “The size of your human brain is limited. You’re a stubborn man, Rick. ‘The One’ may calculate it’s going to take a lot of training to prepare you for your future task. ‘The One’ may only be allowing you to retain memories which are in line with his eventual purpose for you.”
“Well…,” Richard said beginning to grow a little heated. He didn’t like being controlled, and he hated not being able to do anything about it.
“Well, what?” asked Nickelo sounding curious.
“Well…,” Richard said again trying to remember his past missions for ‘the One’. “There are at least two missions where I don’t have any memory of what I did at all. By looking at my Power’s timeline, I know I spent several months on those missions. But I’ve no recollection of them. Why does ‘the One’ send me on missions if he’s not going to let me remember them?”
“My guess would be that those were failed missions,” answered Nickelo. “He didn’t allow you to keep those memories because either you failed to do something important, or you did something contrary to what would help you in your overall goal.”
“It’s not my goal,” Richard pointed out. “I haven’t been told squat by ‘the One’. All I have to go on is what that master demon told me a couple of years ago. I’m supposed to make some kind of decision at some point which will affect the continued existence of three galaxies. I’m not sure I actually believe the demon. Even if I did, I’m not sure I want that kind of responsibility thrown on my shoulders.”
“Whatever, Rick,” said Nickelo apparently deciding to end the conversation. “You’re the big, bad wizard scout. I’m just the subservient and humble battle computer.”
“Well, say what you–,” Richard started to say.
Richard didn’t get a chance to finish. An all too familiar tingle began running through his body. His surroundings began blurring in and out of focus.
“Put up your best stealth shield, Rick,” ordered Nickelo. “You’re teleporting.”
Richard did as he was told. He threw up his best stealth shield and made a grab for his utility belt where it lay on the table.
Just as his hands wrapped around the belt, a voice in Richard’s head said, Heal them. Heal them all.
Then the room disappeared and everything went black.
* * *
Nickelo turned the battle helmet’s visuals onto the spot where his wizard scout had been sitting. The spot was empty. His wizard scout was gone. The helmet’s visuals picked up Richard’s utility belt still lying on the table. The black jumpsuit his wizard scout had been wearing was crumpled up on the floor along with his undergarments and boots. The battle helmet’s sensors picked up Richard’s dimensional pack. It was still lying on his wizard scout’s bunk.
That sucks, Nickelo thought. ‘The One’ has sent him on another mission without any equipment and without me to advise him. I was afraid of that. I told him he should’ve been more cooperative on our last mission. But no…, Rick wanted to be stubborn again. Will he never learn?
Nickelo wished he had someone to talk the situation over with. Existence without his wizard scout was boring beyond belief.
There’s Sergeant Ron and Charlie, of course, but they aren’t as interesting as my wizard scout. Besides, I can pull my wizard scout’s chain without even trying. Other people aren’t nearly as much fun.
Five minutes passed, then another five. The seat where his wizard scout had sat remained empty. The nanoseconds passed intermittently. Nickelo checked various calculations to pass the time. Without unfettered access to the tele-network, his ability to perform useful tasks was limited. He had no purpose.
“Nick,” came Sergeant Ron’s voice over the common-room’s intercom. “Where’s Rick? I’m not picking him up on the ship’s sensors.”
“My wizard scout is currently on a mission for ‘the One’,” Nickelo answered. “May I be of assistance?”
“Great. That’s just great,” said Sergeant Ron sounding like he was more worried than frustrated. “How long before he returns? I need to make a jump. I want to talk to him before I do.”
“Hmm,” Nickelo said using the time to make calculations. Their plan had been to make the run to Risors using standard hyper-drive. Their flight time was scheduled for a full two weeks. Making hyper-jumps was too expensive to do without a good reason. Routine meetings between a wizard scout and the Imperial High Council were not important enough to warrant the expense of a hyper-jump.
“I can only guess when my wizard scout will return,” Nickelo said. “Normally, the elapsed time in the physical dimension is less than five minutes. The previous longest time has been thirty minutes.”
“Well,” said Sergeant Ron sounding none too happy. “As soon as he returns, have him report to the control room. Apparently, our mission’s priority has been significantly increased.”
“Wilco, Sergeant Ron,” Nickelo answered. “Assuming Rick returns, I’ll do as you request.”
According to his calculations, the odds his wizard scout wouldn’t return were extremely low. Of course, nothing was ever guaranteed. In any regard, Nickelo prepared for his friend’s return by loading the memory backup for his wizard scout. Depending on the length of his wizard scout’s mission, Nickelo calculated he might have to load parts of Richard’s memory backup into his shared space in order to br
ing him up to speed on current events.
Thirty minutes passed, then another thirty. Sergeant Ron kept calling for status reports. Nickelo could only tell him his wizard scout was still missing. After a full two hours had elapsed, the battle helmet’s sensors picked up a disturbance in the air around the table.
A moment later, Richard was sitting in the chair. He was naked, and he had a wild look in his eyes. Nickelo’s wizard scout jumped to his feet.
“No! Not yet, damn you!” shouted Richard.
“Rick! You’re back,” Nickelo said out loud with a great sense of relief. “Where were you? What was your mission?”
Nickelo watched as his wizard scout took a quick look around the common room before collapsing in his chair and slumping forward with his hands over his face.
“Not yet, Nick,” whispered Richard aloud. “Give me a minute to adjust.”
Nickelo remained silent, although the wait was interminable. His friend didn’t say anything for several seconds.
“I don’t remember what we were doing when I left,” Richard said finally. “It’s been too long.”
Nickelo gathered the information from his wizard scout’s most recent memory backup and began feeding it into their shared space. He sensed electrical discharges in Richard’s neurons as the memories were refreshed in the faded areas of his wizard scout’s brain. The knowledge transfer took longer than normal. Nickelo calculated his wizard scout must have been gone a very long time.
“Better?” Nickelo asked trying to adjust his wizard scout back to the here-and-now as gently as possible.
“A little,” responded Richard. “So we’re on our way to see the Imperial High Council? How long was I away this time?”
“You left a little over two hours ago,” Nickelo answered. “Uh…, where were you, and how long were you there? That is, if you don’t mind my asking.”
Nickelo’s wizard scout didn’t answer with words. Instead, Richard sent a stream of images into their shared space. Nickelo saw Richard’s arrival on Portalus in a snow-covered land. His wizard scout was naked. A short sword was stuck in the snow at his feet. The sound of wolves could be heard in the distance. From the changes in the howls, Nickelo calculated the wolves were drawing closer.
Wizard Omega (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 4) Page 10