It was the scarred man we'd given food to almost a year earlier. This had happened sometime after that, because Randl hadn't seen a meeting with the Prophet in the scarred man before.
I itched to ask Randl whether the man had been infected with the Prophet's spreading disease, but I worried I'd interrupt the images.
Before, Randl had only seen this meeting from behind the scarred man. Now we watched from the side as the Prophet stabbed a finger in the scarred man's chest.
Did that just go through his skin? Trent sounded half-spooked. The Prophet removed his finger. No blood covered it, and the man's chest remained whole. I didn't think his spirit was whole, however.
I knew we were watching past events, but the terror I felt was real.
That's when I felt Dori's hand grip mine, and somehow, I knew to grip Trent's. Randl peeled the four of us away from the wall, and still inside his vision, we walked toward the cross-shaped pattern of missing stones.
The Prophet and the scarred man disappeared, leaving only a shadowy Gungl behind—the Gungl that was neither now, nor the time when the Prophet met the scarred man. We were between those times, somehow, and I couldn't say how I knew that.
Randl placed a foot on the cross-shape. I was grateful my hand was locked with Dori's and Trent's, because we were flung far away from Gungl amid silent screams.
Randl
We dropped onto a hillside, on a planet that was making its way back to life after centuries of poisoned existence.
Like Bornelus and many other worlds, plant life was returning to almost barren ground. Across from us, forests of stunted evergreens struggled to thrive.
In the distance, a stand of young deciduous trees grew. Something was odd about that, as there were no other trees like them anywhere else—only in that one place.
There was no sound of birds, animals or anything else—just the wind sweeping thin, knee-high grasses that grew between boulders. Those boulders were scattered about, as if a giant had played a game with marbles and then left his playthings behind when the planet died.
Around the edges of this vision, if vision it was, things fluctuated, as if they hadn't finalized their materialization. Something about the unusual stand of trees beckoned, however.
"No," Travis said aloud, and reached out to drop a hand on my shoulder.
I shrugged it off.
A sound came in the distance. I knew that sound, now. It began as a soft rumble, until it gathered in noise and intensity.
Mutant Ra'Ak were here—on this abandoned world, just as they'd been on Bornelus.
"They're coming," Travis shouted, before tossing Dori onto a nearby boulder. He and Trent—I could feel their change as they became dragons and lifted from the ground behind me.
One of my blades formed in my left hand as I gazed at the ground between me and the trees ahead. Beside me, atop the boulder, Dori's ocelot hissed a warning.
Five of the massive worms broke through the ground with a terrible roar. Above me, Travis and Trent's dragons sounded their own challenge to the Ra'Ak.
I didn't have a ranos rifle with me now, and considered it luck that Vik and David had been left behind on the deserted streets of Gungl.
My second blade appeared in my right hand and I stalked forward, as more mutant Ra'Ak burst from the ground in front of me.
Travis
There is a tale the Falchani tell, of Caylon Black and a small band of warriors, who were attacked by more than a hundred enemy warriors in the distant past.
That tale says that Caylon and fifteen Falchani fought the enemy, killing as many as they could until Caylon's men began to fall.
Until only Caylon was left.
When he fell, surrounded by the enemy, he and his men accounted for more than ninety enemy lives.
Because of Caylon's bravery and talent on that day, he was chosen by the gods to become a member of an elite race that protected worlds from the Ra'Ak.
Trent and I called him Uncle Caylon, and neither of us could defeat him in a battle of swords.
I almost wished Caylon could have seen Randl on this day, fighting mutant Ra'Ak with two blades and the power he held. When they lunged toward him, he lopped off their heads, his blades slicing through those terrible, horned and crested monsters like a hot knife through soft butter.
I knew as well as anyone how difficult any Ra'Ak was to kill, and more than once, the teeth of a monster met with the unbreakable shield Randl held about himself as he fought.
If it survived the encounter, the monster jerked away, roaring in pain and fury before attacking again.
When the Ra'Ak began to dust, blasting huge chunks of dark, stone-like clumps everywhere, we were grateful that Randl could shield himself so well.
Somehow, he'd shielded Dori, too, although I had no idea how he managed to do that and concentrate on fighting giant worms with sharp, poisonous teeth.
One would leap in, followed by four or more of his companions, only to be rebuffed by the shield, a power blast or a slice by a deadly blade. No Grey House wizard had made these blades—our older sister would have told us if they had.
I attempted mindspeech with Kooper while Trent and I flew above the battle, but it failed to arrive at its intended destination.
That confirmed my suspicions—that Randl had somehow deposited us between times. I'd never seen anyone do this sort of thing before, although I suppose if one were powerful enough, one could do it.
Powerful enough.
It took a mighty power to bend time; that much I knew.
A huge Ra'Ak roared and died beneath me as I flew across the battleground, watching for other monsters to arrive.
Randl
I'd fought my way forward, toward the trees, as more mutant Ra'Ak appeared to drive me back. For whatever reason, they had no desire for me to reach that stand of trees.
My strength was failing, along with my power, when I removed the head from the largest of the monsters who'd come to attack me.
Three remained—the large one had been their leader.
Now would be the time to help, I sent to Travis and Trent, who'd been content to fly across the battlefield while I worked.
Dragons descended from the sky, and vicious claws and fiery breaths tore and burned two creatures while I, with one last effort, launched one of my blades at the third, where it pierced one of its eyes.
The second blade followed the first, taking out the monster's other eye. It screamed in pain before falling to the ground, writhing, tossing clouds of dirt and rock in the air and then dying and dusting.
I almost didn't have the strength to maintain the shields about Dori and me, before the dusting stopped and I collapsed on the ground.
Travis
"Randl, please wake up," Dori patted his cheek desperately. We couldn't leave unless he took us out of here, because we'd already tried that.
Our folding skills had been neutralized, and I had no idea how that was.
"Huh?" Randl mumbled before blinking his eyes and struggling to focus on Dori's face.
"Randl, I sure hope you can get us out of here," Dori said. "This place is creepy and there's Ra'Ak dust everywhere."
"Oh, uh, all right," he sat up, rubbing his head. "Come on, let's get you out of here, sweetheart."
Dori helped him stand, and once upright, he swayed on his feet. "Ready?" His question to us was slurred.
I hope he can get us back, Trent's voice breathed in my mind.
He did, but barely.
David shouted and Vik reached out to catch Randl as he collapsed in front of them on the streets of Gungl.
Chapter Fourteen
Mountain Retreat, Campiaa
Dori
"Drained."
That was Karzac's diagnosis. Randl was still unconscious, although he was now in a healing sleep the physician had placed.
"He killed nearly fifty of those things," Travis said, sounding ashamed. He and Trent had watched while flying above the battle, and I—my ocelot wou
ldn't have been a mouthful to any of those monsters.
"How many did you kill?" Karzac asked.
"One."
"Ah."
He didn't say that it was after Randl asked for help.
"Lafe will have to strip some of these tattoos off us," Trent mumbled and stalked out of Randl's bedroom.
Randl
What I recalled about my extended bout of unconsciousness, was the fever-like dreams I'd had—particularly of the trees I'd struggled to reach while fighting mutant Ra'Ak.
In my dreams, something kept pulling me away, and I'd fight my way forward, my feet sticking in deep, watery concrete.
The trees began to scream, then, and I saw that they had faces—two of the faces belonged to the scarred man and his friend who limped.
When I woke, I found myself shouting at them to get away.
"You should not be dreaming in a healing sleep," Karzac's voice was calm as he sat beside my bed.
"Right." I croaked and fought to calm my pounding heart. Closing my eyes, I hoped to find some peace from my nightmares by attempting to meditate.
Sometime during my meditation, Karzac left me alone and I slept peacefully for a time. When he came back, he told me I should rise and eat.
I followed him to the kitchen willingly.
Travis
"You can't make us feel worse about this than we already do," I said. "We thought he had things well in hand—or well enough. Turns out he was exhausting himself and didn't ask for help until it was almost too late."
Kooper wore a deep frown as he listened to my words. So many things had gone through my mind while Trent and I had flown above Randl, not least of them that we should have taken Dori with us, so Randl wouldn't have to shield her.
A part of me was angry at Randl, too, because he'd done the foolish thing of taking us between times anyway, without consulting me or anyone else.
"Do you know where you were?"
"No idea. Gungl is empty, though. I think the Prophet took all the people for one of his sick sacrifices."
"Does Randl know where you were?"
"Maybe. I don't know," I said, turning to Trent. He shrugged, indicating he had no idea.
"Tell me again how Randl just walked through time with all of you."
"I don't know how he did that. I've gone with Mom a few times when she bent time—this felt nothing like that."
"You say the Prophet stabbed a finger through the man's chest without leaving a mark?"
"Yes," Trent and I both answered.
"It was the scarred man we saw before?"
"Yes."
"This just keeps getting more bizarre and much, much worse," Kooper's voice lowered to a rough growl. "Karzac says Randl is up and eating, but it may take a few days before he's at full strength."
"That's not good," Trent rumbled.
"Agreed. Look, I've never seen either of you back away from a fight, so I'm going to chalk this up to experience. I'm not sure what I would have done if I knew I was somewhere—what did you call it—between-time?"
"It felt weird," I admitted. "Afterward, we found out we couldn't fold space to get away, either. Something negated that in us. Have you ever seen that happen before?"
"No. This bears thinking about," Kooper grimaced. "Go get some sleep. I assume Vik and David are all right, since they didn't end up there with you?"
"They're fine, and probably wondering what the hell happened, just like we're wondering."
"Explain it as best you can, and I want a report. Mark it for my eyes only."
"We will, Director." I rose and dipped my head to him. Bed sounded good—if I could keep the willies away, as David always said.
Randl
"You should have taken me with you," Vik said. He and I stood on an outcropping high above the retreat, so we could have a private conversation.
"And out you to your brothers?"
"There's that," he nodded. "My Thifilathi wouldn't have held back when the Ra'Ak showed up—even if they were mutants."
"And you'd be outed to your brothers."
"Yeah. Damn." He shook his head and hunched his shoulders against the higher-elevation cold. "You know you were only gone for a few minutes—my time."
"I suspected, but I'll be honest, I haven't been awake much since we got back."
"True. Do you think you killed all of them?"
"I don't know. Unconscious, remember?"
"Where were you, do you know that, at least?"
"Tem'Bek II."
I waited for Vik to stop laughing.
"It's a place," I said.
"Yeah, but," he chuckled again.
"Go ahead and talk to me about Old Earth. I'll wait," I said.
"Nah, I'm done," he said. He was still grinning, though.
"I should go talk to Kooper—he's wondering about it."
"Can you get yourself to the palace?"
"I don't know. I let you get me up here, remember? I feel—drained, like Karzac said. Empty."
"What if it had something to do with where you were and when you were?" Vik asked, his deep voice thoughtful. "I've never heard of anybody splitting time like that, to get somewhere."
"Splitting time?" I turned to blink at him before turning away to gaze down the mountainside. Far below, I could see the roof of the retreat. It looked tiny from our high perch. "Splitting time," I repeated and nodded slowly as a few snowflakes floated past. "I think you're right."
"Feel strong enough to visit Kooper?"
"I suppose. I can only answer questions, though. If he needs anything else, he may have to wait."
"Want to be folded in by one of the others, or take mundane transportation?"
"You know, I think I'll take the mundane method. I haven't seen what's between here and the city, yet."
"Mundane it is," Vik agreed and skipped me back to the retreat.
The ride to the Founder's Palace took more than an hour at the hover-car's best speed. I enjoyed it, though, and found the scenery restful as the images settled into my mind.
Vik and David acted as my guards when we climbed from the vehicle and were escorted through a back entrance. Teeg's guards were everywhere, and one of them was Galaxsan Starr, a member of his four warlock guards.
Galaxsan was bursting with questions, but held those back while he led us inside the palace and toward a trans-vator. Again, I'd never seen the lower levels of the palace—I'd always been transported directly to Teeg's study or his library and meeting room.
My boots echoed on polished tiles as we walked onto the trans-vator. Galaxsan could have folded space with us, but I think he wanted to take the long way himself, this time.
I was a curiosity to him—I understood that. He wanted to know about a new kind of power wielder, because that's how he saw me—neither warlock nor wizard—something different.
"If you think I'm different, it's because you haven't met the Prophet, yet," I informed the warlock as we stepped off the trans-vator three levels up.
"They told me you'd see it," he laughed. "I have a million questions, but they'll wait."
"How about a beer or three later tonight?" I invited him.
"I think I can squeeze that in."
"Good. Send mindspeech when you're available. We can drink at the retreat, or meet somewhere in the city. Your choice."
"Retreat sounds good. Here we are. Enjoy your meeting," Galaxsan grinned before folding space.
He'd left us outside the doors to Teeg's library, which stood open. Inside, Kooper, Wyatt and Teeg stood near a table, talking and waiting for my arrival.
"And so the inquisition begins," I sighed and squared my shoulders. David snorted at my comment, but didn't say anything. He, Vik and I strode into the library.
"You're calling it splitting time." Kooper made a face, as if he were struggling with the term.
"Want more tea?" Wyatt asked after consulting his comp-vid. He was in contact with someone from the kitchen.
"How about a sandwich to go
with it?" I asked.
"I'll have them send a tray," Wyatt agreed and tapped an answer on his device before setting it down again.
I was hungry; Vik and David were half-starved. They'd been listening patiently while Kooper and Teeg asked questions. They'd already told their part of the story, which included waiting for only a few minutes before we popped out of the air right in front of them on the streets of Gungl.
"Splitting time fits best," I agreed. "It was—difficult. Travis and Trent couldn't fold space to get away because they were stuck in time where we were. Dori, too. Only I and the inhabitants of Tem'Bek II could do anything with power during those moments. Drake and Drew had to use what their dragons had, because they have that naturally, without power to force it."
"You're saying you split time, and forced a moment to last for however long it took to kill at least fifty mutant Ra'Ak?" Teeg asked. He was quite calm about it, actually, and I appreciated that.
"I think so, yes."
"That's rather unnerving," Teeg sighed. "And amazing, at the same time."
"It drained me—I couldn't push your teacup half a finger-width with power right now."
"Early arrivals are already coming in for Conclave," Wyatt pointed out. "We still don't have a reply to Charla's message to Jewl, either."
"I'm not sure things can get any worse," Kooper growled.
"Jett's increasing security around the Sandswept Hotel," Teeg said. "Your people are in place already, and the displays are being brought in. I have one of my warlocks checking everything delivered for the tourism tables and spaces."
"If they notice anything unusual, will you let me take a look?" I asked.
"Of course," Teeg agreed. "Do you have someone who can transport you wherever you're needed? Until you have your strength restored?"
"I'll have someone assigned," Kooper agreed. He intended to order Travis or Trent to do it, because he was miffed at them, still, for their perceived inaction.
"Director, I wouldn't have asked them for help at the last if I hadn't needed it. This is an unknown—like an empty space between one second and the next. We have no idea whether there will be adverse effects from this—for them or anyone else."
MindMage: BlackWing Pirates, Book 2 Page 19