“I think you got him,” said Sparky.
I nodded, re-slung my rifle and leapt across to the other building. In the air, I drew my blasters and did an active sensor sweep of the roof. No other targets found.
I signaled back to Sparky that it was clear.
Sparky appeared next to me and we made for the door. He moved with the skill of a veteran soldier as we leapfrogged each other, using what cover we could find on the roof. He reached the door first and stationed himself to one side. I was expecting reinforcements to arrive on the roof at any moment.
When he nodded to indicate he was ready I sprinted forward, bashed free what was left of the door and entered the stairwell behind. With a single leap, I reached the bottom of the stairs. The platform was deserted, and there was nothing on my scanner sweeps.
“Clear!”
He appeared next to me. “Report from below is that the sorcerers are making their stand on the second floor.”
“So they’re not retreating as expected?”
“No, and there are more of them than we had estimated. Our forces are locked in a stalemate.”
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy. “Well, then, let’s go make some noise.”
He smiled and drew two wands.
After verifying that the path was clear, I leapt over the railing and down to the next floor. He teleported after me, and we found no resistance all the way down to the third floor.
Now we find out if you’re as crazy as you look, Sparky, I thought to myself as I ran onto the third floor. I stopped above where I thought the main sorcerer position would be, based on the thermal patterns I was reading through the floor.
“Bad guys below us?” I asked Sparky.
He nodded.
“If you want to check out of being my partner, now’s the time,” I said, setting my targeting computer to blast through the supports under the floor where we stood.
“Not a chance,” he said. He put his wands away and began casting a spell. I waited until he indicated he was ready.
I smiled and fired. My blasters cut the supports away in a circle around us and we fell right into the center of the enemy position. As we landed Sparky called out a command word, and a massive ball of lightning burst forth around him. Electricity arced from sorcerer to sorcerer, and they screamed in pain.
Lightning hit me also, but having been built to fight magi I was well-grounded, and the power flowed harmlessly through me into the floor.
Engage combat level three.
I set my computers to target each sorcerer who’d been hit by lightning in the same spot that the bolts had struck. The sorcerers fell back from our position, seeking cover in two different directions.
“Get ready; the spell is almost used up,” sent Sparky.
I bent my knees in preparation to move, then the lightning stopped and Sparky disappeared. I quickly located him one floor up. He lay down and fired with his wands, putting a cover of fire around me as I continued to fire my blasters. A blast of ice slammed into me, then one of fire. The Imperial armor I was wearing was destroyed quickly. My fake exterior skin also crumbled under the attack, but the damage was superficial. I smiled. We had never properly combat-tested my armored exoskeleton, not to this extent at least, but it was holding out remarkably well. I was virtually immune to the most common forms of magical attack.
“Look out!” called Sparky.
I turned and saw several large rocks flying towards me. I was well-shielded from heat, cold and energy attacks, but those rocks were massive enough to cause serious damage. I leapt just before they hit me, up through the hole we had made in the ceiling and onto the third floor.
The rocks hit the floor where I had been standing and smashed through to the floor below.
“Thanks. Any status on our forces?” I said.
“They’re advancing. We’re being advised to fall back and find cover to avoid being caught in the crossfire,” he said.
“Advised or ordered?”
He smiled. “Advised.”
I was really taking a liking to this partner. I pulled out a small concussion grenade, tossed it up in the air and caught it. “Let’s make some noise.”
I moved away from the hole as the firefight intensified below. They would be too busy dealing with the wizards to worry about us up here. Once again, I stationed us right above the sorcerers’ positon, but this time I targeted a small hole in the floor.
“Fire in the hole!” I called out and dropped a concussion grenade through to the center of their position.
The shockwave shook the floor under our feet, but I had calculated the yield correctly and it was confined to a small area directly inside the sorcerers’ position.
“Alert!” said Sparky.
I spun to see him open fire with both wands as three sorcerers came up through the hole we’d made. He focused his fire on the one in front, and I used my blasters to augment his attacks.
The first sorcerer fell under our assault. The one on the left leapt through the air toward me. I spun out of his path. When he hit the floor, it cracked under his weight. He was using some kind of magic to increase his mass and probably his strength. He spun towards me impossibly fast and leapt again.
Engage combat level four.
My body was alive with energy, and the air crackled around me in response to my shielding coming online. I spun into his jump and my fist met his chest, launching him backwards. Warning indicators flared across my screen as my arm absorbed the impact. It was like punching the armor plating on a battleship instead of flesh. The blow should have shattered his sternum and ruptured his lungs and heart, at the very least, but he didn’t seem to be injured in the slightest.
He got his feet under him and smiled, skidding to a halt.
Moving with speed that would have been impossible for any primitive, I charged him. He matched my speed with his own charge. At the last moment before impact I lowered my stance, slammed my shoulder into his waist and lifted, tossing him over my shoulder and into a support column. He was heavy, heavy enough to cause my spine and legs to be stressed beyond their tolerance, and more warning indications lit up on my internal damage array.
Engage maximum combat mode.
All safeties off.
I spun off the toss and leapt into the air even before he hit the column. The sorcerer smashed through it, but got his feet under him just in time for my foot to connect with his temple. His head rocked to one side. The blow should have removed his head from his body, but his neck stubbornly held on.
I had guessed that might happen and continued the spin, bringing my other leg around and kicking a second time. He put his arm up, but my foot drove through and smashed his arm into his head. This time I was rewarded with a sickening crack as his arm bone shattered under the force of the impact.
I landed from my kick and allowed my momentum to continue spinning me. As I came around, I stretched out my leg and swept his legs out from under him. He fell back to the ground and cried out in pain.
I moved quickly before he could recover and slammed the tips of my fingers into his windpipe, crushing it and cutting off his cry of pain. Then I gave a second blow to his head, killing him.
Spinning, I looked for Sparky. He was standing over the body of the third sorcerer with his staff at the ready.
“Clear!” he said.
Engage combat level three.
Reset safeties.
System status yellow.
Combat effectiveness at forty-three percent.
“Clear!” I said, dismissing the annoying indicators urging me to retreat and plug into a regeneration station for repairs.
I walked over to the hole and tried to gauge what was going on below us. “Status?”
“Our forces have control and are sweeping for any remaining sorcerers.”
Engage combat level one.
Initiate field repair protocols.
“How are you?” I asked.
“I’ve depleted most
of my illuminescence and used up my wands, but I still have my staff. You?”
“That last sorcerer beat me up a little, but I can take a few more. How’d he get so strong and fast?”
“Lightning and earth. Lightning for speed, earth for strength.”
“He depended mostly on brute strength, thankfully. Had he been better trained for hand-to-hand combat, he would have been much harder to defeat.”
“Advanced hand-to-hand combat is required for all battle wizards, but I guess the sorcerers are not used to meeting someone like you.”
I smiled. That was probably true. Had I been a primitive, that sorcerer would quite literally have crushed me.
“Orders coming in. We’re to rejoin the main force and assist with the mop-up.”
31
04-02-0065 — Lyshell
“Welcome to the Wizard Kingdom!” said Grandmaster Vydor as I exited the gate into a large stone room. The room was obviously a travel hub, containing two of the permanent gates and a contingent of wizard guards. The guards were accompanied by a pair of massive beasts, though the term ‘massive’ hardly did them justice. They were bigger than some shuttles I had flown. I hadn’t known living creatures could grow so large.
I didn’t recognize the species, and there was no datanet in this room that I could access to retrieve information about them. Judging by their size, I was sure that even if all my systems were stretched to the maximum, the beasts would be stronger and deadlier. They were an excellent choice for guarding such a sensitive area, as long as they could be controlled.
“Thank you, Grandmaster,” I said.
“I trust you are fully recovered from your last mission?” he asked.
When the order came to report here, there were specific instructions that I was not to report until I was fully repaired and operational. I didn’t understand why but I complied.
“Yes, Grandmaster,” I said.
“And have you sent the full battle report to the Emperor’s security team?” he asked.
“Yes, Grandmaster.”
“Excellent,” he said, opening a gate for us.
The gate let us out into a large library. I had heard about this several times over the years; many people wanted the Emperor to build one like it for public use. Hearing about it and seeing it were two different thing: there were hundreds of books and scrolls on bookcases stretching out as far as the eye could see. The display was impressive, but I didn’t understand the need for it. One tablet could hold all the books I saw, and would be easier to carry around.
We were in some kind of reading nook, complete with reclining chairs and refreshments. The lighting was comfortably dim, but the hue was not what I was used to. It was slightly cooler than the usual lighting on the capital planet and far from the harsh lighting of a spaceship.
“Please sit and relax. We have important matters to discuss,” he said.
“Yes, Grandmaster,” I said as I found a chair.
“Normally I would offer a guest something to eat or drink, but I know you have no need for it so I will refrain.”
I smiled. “Thanks. It is a bit awkward, since I have no taste buds and everyone wants to know if I like what they serve me.”
He took the seat opposite and sipped on a steaming mug of coffee. “You were designed to hunt magi, so I assume you are well-educated on magic in general?”
“I have extensive data, Grandmaster. Most of it is based on the histories and only a small part from personal experience.”
“Magic today is very different from it was when I first came to power. Reality is hopefully in its final stages of stabilization, and that is both good and bad: good, in that we can finally trust our observations and cease to worry that the rules will change, but bad, in that the healing of the tears was imperfect.”
“What does that mean, Grandmaster?”
“We have found areas of the galaxy where magic is very chaotic, and some places that are dead zones.”
“What are dead zones?”
“Areas where no life exists and the presence of the weave is very limited. Less powerful magi who enter those zones become ill and die if they do not leave in time. Mundanes can survive for longer, but eventually they too will grow sick and die.”
“That doesn’t sound like a place I’d want to visit,” I said, guessing that right now I was one of those less powerful magi.
He smiled. “We have also learned that there are different spheres of magic, which fact is not in the histories you have studied. There is the sphere of magic which we traditionally associate with wizards and sorcerers; this is the sphere you know about, the one that was torn from reality. There is a second sphere that we have taken to calling life-craft, which so far contains only life-weavers; I will explain its relevance to you in a moment. A third sphere encompasses natural magic, and a fourth spiritual magic.”
“So a fire elementalist would be in the natural sphere?” I asked.
“No. The natural sphere encompasses those who draw their power from nature; a fire elementalist draws their power from the weave. Spells can and do overlap, but what matters is the source of the power.”
“Then the spiritual sphere draws power from the Spirit Realm?” I asked.
“Exactly. Now, the important sphere of power for this discussion is life-weaving, because that is the skill you will need if you are to become a wizard.”
“Am I a life-weaver, then?” I asked.
“No, your powers come from the sphere we call nature-craft. You are what Raquel calls a ‘ranger’, the first of your kind that we have found, but your powers are currently blocked.”
My data-processing subcore was hard at work processing this new information. I knew it would all be useful someday, but right now I was confused. “Blocked in what way?”
He pulled out a thin wooden stick and handed it to me. “Do you know what that is?”
I turned it over in my hands and saw the azure writing on the side of it. “A wand, Grandmaster.”
“Yes. Do you know why it is made of wood?” he asked.
“My records tell me that only natural, organic materials can be used to make wands, wood being the preferred choice of wizards though many sorcerers use bones.”
“Your records are correct. Now, wood is relatively easy to burn, break or destroy, so it would make sense to reinforce that with technology; correct?”
“No, it has to be pure in order to work,” I said.
“Yes, you are correct. For the wand to conduct the power of the weave, it must be purely organic. The same is true of scrolls, and similar rules apply to the gems used in enchanted jewelry. Nothing that conducts the power of the weave can do so unless it is pure.”
I saw the leap of logic he wanted me to make. “So I can’t cast spells unless I get rid of all of my implants?”
“That is correct.”
I could feel depression set in before my implants intercepted it as an unprofitable emotion. “But that isn’t possible. I’ve had too much replaced; I can’t survive without them.” To come all this way and learn this now seemed cruel.
“That is not accurate.”
“What do you mean, Grandmaster?”
He smiled. “Remember what I said, that life-weaving would become relevant to you.”
I nodded, waiting for him to clarify his meaning.
“My wife, Kellyn, is a master life-weaver. She can remove all your implants and make you wholly human again.”
My mind reeled at the idea. “But then I’d be helplessly weak, like the primitives.” I said that without thinking and immediately regretted it. He was purely organic and might take it as an insult. “I’m sorry — ”
He raised his hand to cut me off. “No need. Yes, you would lose all your advanced strength and dexterity. You would be slower, weaker and much easier to kill, but you would have taste buds again, so there is that.”
Understanding continued to grow in my mind as I connected the dots he was drawing before me. “In doing so I’d
unlock all the powers of a mage.”
He nodded. “You have seen what we can do. How do you think your advanced mage hunter program compares to one of my trained battle wizards?”
My mind returned to the fight with the sorcerer and Sparky’s comment that all battle wizards had advanced hand-to-hand combat training. That sorcerer was stronger and faster than even my highest setting; it was only my training that had allowed me to get the upper hand. Had he had similar training, he would have beaten me. Sparky’s ball-of-lightning spell could easily clear a room, and while I was immune to that attack, the large rocks thrown at me could have been my undoing. None of the magi I had fought was a fully-trained battle wizard, and some of them had proved very hard to defeat.
Maybe I was too weak, but that meant the Emperor’s plan was a failure and technology couldn’t beat magic. The evidence was mounting that a mundane couldn’t match a mage. The only viable option for the Emperor was to recruit magi loyal to him.
“The program is still in its infancy, but — not well,” I replied.
He smiled and lifted his hand. Alarms went off across my display as my power cells drained away to almost nothing. “No matter how advanced the program becomes, you need power to run. Is that not so?”
Fear filled my mind, another emotion with which I was not well-acquainted and was unprepared to deal with while my implants were drained of power. This man had merely raised his hand to disable me completely. I didn’t even have the power to hold myself up and started to slide from the chair. He had stopped me in my tracks in the Emperor’s courtroom, but then he had merely held me in place; this time he had stripped me of my ability to function in any way.
He smiled again and slowly my power returned. “Now, what is your opinion of the future of the program?”
“Mage hunters will be effective only against random, poorly-trained magi,” I said as I righted myself and my fear receded.
“Then consider this. If you give up your implants, will you be weak?” he asked.
“Yes, but logic dictates that state will be temporary, until I’m trained.” I had my subcores running thousands of scenarios, all indicating that the only wise course of action was to give up my implants, but my organic brain rebelled at the simple logic. The implants were who I was; how could I give them up? I would cease to be myself if I did that.
Mage Hunter (Lost Tales of Power Book 8) Page 15