"Are you sure you have to?"
"Talia hasn't been able to find any useful information on Jaron's ship. Either he didn't record that stuff or he purged it at some point during his travels."
"But why do you need it?"
Landry stopped to consider his answer. Saying he couldn't let Talia go alone wouldn't cut it. Stefan had no idea how persistent she could be. If Landry didn't take her to Orek, she'd find a way to go on her own. He needed a reason to send a team. One Stefan could support.
"Think of their technology. He traveled across light years of space. Their people knew of other planets with sentient life. We need to know all of that."
Stefan returned to his seat. "I'll think about it. What's the second reason you're here?"
"I've got this feeling trouble's coming."
"But you've no idea what or when?"
"It'll concern the new mages. People don't like change and the existence of magic workers is huge. I'm surprised we haven't had any incidents yet."
"Maybe we won't. The population of Algodova is well educated. Give them time to adjust and it'll be fine."
"I hope so." A growing unease gnawed the fringes of his nerves. Not being able to separate his own anxiety from the emotions of the community around him, bothered him more every day.
Ryce Andre stepped off the elevator. He noticed the strip of data on his apartment door as soon as he turned the corner in the hall.
"What's this?" He peeled it off, activating the message.
"You have been evicted from the premises, due to closer investigation of your person in light of the recent events regarding the mages. It is obvious you are one of them and have used your magic abilities to avoid paying rent for the last four years. We have claimed your possessions as partial payment."
They can't do this! Ryce dropped the message strip and tried the door. It rattled but didn't open when he swiped his card. Everything he owned was inside. Including his supply of emotion vials. He only had four or five basics in his pocket. That was nothing to the shelves of them on the other side of the wall.
Ryce twisted the bottom of his tunic in his hands trying to calm himself. He'd kept the secret all his life. Now people suspected, but they couldn't really know he'd used magic to manipulate them to get what he needed. What he wanted. If he could get more vials he could fix this.
He pounded on the door, but of course no one answered.
What should I do? He paced the length of the hall twice before returning to the elevator. "I'm a citizen of Algodova, and this is discrimination! I'll appeal to the courts. The manager can't prove I used magic to obtain the apartment."
As soon as he stepped out of the building he moved to a public COM station.
"Begin message." His voice activated the screen.
"Please add a recipient." The automated voice reminded him he had no idea where to start.
At twenty-three years old, he'd never needed help getting what he wanted. Since learning to collect, refine, and bottle the essence of raw emotion, he simply took what he wanted. It had provided a life of luxury and fun without the work. His lifestyle didn't require friendships, just compliance.
For the first time in his life, Ryce felt alone. His mouth dried out. The bottom of his tunic had been tied in knots from his worry. Who would understand him, fight for his rights?
"Cancel message. Open news net forty-two. Search mages."
The screen filled with articles and links to discussions. He scanned quickly. Hundreds of mages had been turned out of homes or dismissed from their jobs. Some reported spouses leaving and taking children from them for no reason. Mages called for the protection of their rights, but the non-mages wanted a complete list of names of all those who could work magic.
"How can this be? We saved them, all of them." Ryce stared at the people moving around him. How many hid secrets? What gave them the right to pass judgment on him? The anxiety he'd felt over losing his apartment melted under the heat of a growing anger. Everyone on the planet owed the mages. They owed him.
A sudden idea returned him to the screen. "Search Talia Zaryn."
Please let her be safe. Ryce had been privileged to stand near her for the unbinding. He'd felt her power as it shot into one arm, moved through his body and out toward the mage on his other side. She had complete control of her magic at that time. It filled him, making him stronger than he'd ever been.
"Talia can protect us." He scanned the net and was surprised at how little news had been posted about her. Most listings were pre-Dragumon. The others contained only speculations on her whereabouts.
"Begin message to Talia Zaryn." Ryce waited for the blank screen before starting. "My name is Ryce Andre. I'm one of the mages who helped with the unbinding. Since returning home I've been locked out of my apartment, dismissed from my job, and shunned by all who previously knew me."
He didn't feel bad about exaggerating his problem. It was true for many others.
"We need help. We need protection for our rights as citizens. Please help us, tell us where we should start, what we should do. Respond as quickly as possible. Thank you. End message."
"Message recorded. Press one to review and two to send. For all other options press three."
Ryce hit two. He would move to another town while waiting for Talia to respond to the message. A thrill shot through him as he remembered her face. Her beauty and charisma had tantalized him that day. Even among thousands of other mages, her presence had been overwhelming. The magical scent that followed her had been intoxicating before the spell, but afterward it affected him like a drug. It had taken a week to stop thinking about her every moment.
After another week he'd almost forgotten. Now he wondered if he could arrange to see her again. See if she affected him the same way she had that day. With her influence and his powers of manipulation they could protect all of the mages.
CHAPTER THREE
"Looks like the Dragumon left one of the docking bays open." Talia pointed to a gaping hole on the side of the ship.
The Dragumon spacecraft was larger than she had imagined. It would easily fill four square blocks of Joharadin. A long flat rectangle sloping down to a point at the back, it had wings three stories tall sweeping out both sides of the fuselage. A giant spike sailed on top.
"It's all angles. There's nothing soft or inviting about it." She shivered.
"We don't have to do this. Other people can study it." Landry eased Jaron's ship through the opening. Lights flickered on across the length of the hold.
"I needed to come up at least once." It amazed her how comfortably he flew the alien spacecraft. He maneuvered it as if he'd done it all his life, not a month. She turned her attention to the science screen. "Scans show the air is breathable. There must be some kind of barrier keeping the bay pressurized. All life support systems are operational."
"Okay, let's get this over with." He set them down.
The cool air had a strange metallic twang to it. She frowned and considered the loading bay. Other than the view of the planet outside, it looked like any hanger. Black rectangles marked where smaller ships could dock. Machinery sat between marked areas for repairs. Several hoses dropped from the ceiling. Talia frowned as she took it all in.
"What is it?" Landry asked.
"I thought it might smell different. Feel different. More alien or sinister."
"Yeah. There's nothing in here that says giant dragonoid demons lived here."
She playfully bumped shoulders with him. "Come on. That looks like a control center by the door."
The console stood taller than comfortable. She ran her fingers over the screen and the soft blue-green glow of a keyboard appeared beneath it. There were twelve unique symbols and a separate keypad that looked like it might be base ten.
"They may have spoken Dovan, but these symbols are like nothing I've ever seen." She turned to Landry. "I'm not sure where to start. Languages aren't my area."
"We can always come back after the SEF work it
out."
"Can we walk the ship? I need to understand who they were." She stepped to the door. "Maybe I can use magic to open it."
"How?"
"I only need to--" She closed her eyes and moved her hand along the side of the door. Thin lines of moving energy flowed through the circuits. "There. I can feel the electrical pulse."
She moved it with her will. The door swished open.
"When did you learn that?" Landry moved to the door, checking the dark corridor in both directions before letting her enter. The lights snapped on the moment they stepped into the hallway.
"I think I've always blended my knowledge of circuitry with magic but didn't realize it. Now that I'm aware of it, I don't have to waste as much time figuring things out. It's like a short cut."
He laughed. "Where to?"
They wandered the corridors and rooms. There was nothing remarkable to take note of. Nothing that showed monsters had lived on board. In fact, Talia's mood darkened the longer they searched room after room of dark gray and silver.
The cafeteria contained lines of machines similar to metabolizers. Talia pushed a button and a steaming plate of fluffy coral stuff materialized. It smelled like eggs.
They passed rooms with exercise equipment, gardens, a swimming area made in the shape of a mountain lake, and two rooms with giant vid screens. The crew quarters remained simple--extra long beds, a desk, and sanitary station. The Dragumon had taken all personal items to Sendek with them, leaving the rooms cold and sterile. In one room, Landry tapped a screen and music filled the space. Strings, drums, and some high pitched wailing. Other than the keening noise it wasn't that unpleasant.
The bridge resembled Sendek's shuttles, but on a larger scale. Otherwise, it contained all the same equipment. Talia scowled as they took the lift back to the docking bay.
"What are you thinking?" Landry touched her arm.
"They were like us. They ate, slept, worked, lived, and it wasn't any different than what we would do. We could have reasoned with them. Found a way to live together."
"Maybe, maybe not. There's no way to know. I noticed there are no schools or nurseries. What do you think that means?" He held her hand and led her back toward the loading bay.
"If you're trying to distract me it won't work. I killed an entire species. There are no more like them anywhere in the universe. What does that make me?"
He squeezed her hand tighter. "You didn't act alone, and at the time we didn't know any other way to save our people. It can't be undone."
"What's to stop us from doing it again? We're as bad as they were when they destroyed worlds."
"We acted in self-defense. There'll never be another need to destroy a sentient race. And if there is, we can learn from this experience and make a better choice next time." He stopped in front of the door leading to the bay where Jaron's ship waited. "Open the door so we can go home. This was a mistake."
Talia reached out and moved the current to flip the switch. "A mistake?"
"You're too sensitive, taking all the blame for an impossible situation. The Dragumon were not your fault, but now you'll brood about it for days."
"Brood? And how can anyone be too sensitive about genocide?" She stomped toward the ship.
"Come on, you're over-reacting." He stayed close on her heels.
"Seriously? I destroyed an entire race of sentient beings without trying to find another way." She punched the keypad and the outer airlock door opened. "Maybe I don't know you as well as I thought."
"There wasn't another choice and you need to accept that." He grabbed her shoulders, trapping her in the small equipment room. "You are not like Shishali. Never have been and never will be. You don't destroy for the pleasure of it. Neither do I. However, I have no problem doing what's necessary to protect the people I love. You knew that when you married me."
Talia stared into his eyes. She sensed his mental walls melt away until she could feel the truth of his words. It wasn't that he didn't have a regard for life, but the fact he would do anything in his power to protect it that scared and awed her.
"What scares you is you're like me. You would give up your own life without hesitation, but to protect another's you will and have killed." He rested his forehead on hers. "Like it or not, we have to live with who we are."
"What if I can't?"
The dragons left the portal and reentered space around a young star in one of the spiral arms of the galaxy. Gas giants formed around it, but they lay too far from the sun's energy to fulfill their purpose. Jenska led them closer to the yellow dwarf, gauging the distance needed to create the ideal situation for the new planet.
Other dragons spread into the solar system, gathering clouds of rock and dust that trailed behind them as they rendezvoused near Jenska.
"We will try again. Form a planet and one moon." Jenska spoke to their minds and the dragons commenced with the creation of a world.
Since sending the first message, Ryce had become obsessed with speaking to Talia again. However, she never responded to his letters. The only option left was find her in person. It had taken a week to locate her home in Gneledar.
He walked through the archway into an empty yard. The trees swayed in the breeze, as did the tiny blue flowers growing up the side of the house, but there were no other signs of life. Even the windows had been boarded up.
This was her house. Ryce breathed in her essence all around. The area vibrated with her charisma, the lingering taste of mint and earth. He remembered it from the unbinding. That sensation and smell had followed in her wake.
Ryce knocked on the door. No one answered. He wandered around, looking for any sign that she would return. The trees seemed to hum all around him. Even their spirit reminded him of her. He found imprints from an aeroflyer in the front yard. The air around it contained the scent of another mage--strong, almost as strong as Talia. Did she have a guard? Was she hiding?
"Why would she do that?" he mumbled. Ryce reached out and plucked a leaf off a tree. "I didn't take her for a coward."
Talia had the power to bring all the mages out of hiding, but she had let them slip back into obscurity.
Maybe she doesn't realize what she can do? That must be it. I can show her what she could do if she used her magic on people.
Ryce soaked in the aura of her home. He closed his eyes and concentrated on that quality in the air that contained bits of her life force. They drew closer until he could breathe them in. This part of the process had always been easy for him, but redirecting them outward drained him of energy. That's why he'd learned how to distill the qualities into vials.
Sometimes it was difficult to separate individual emotions, but he had been at this for years. By bringing the stored emotion to the surface, he focused it out through his breath into a beaker. Add heat and the liquid drops could be stored in the vials.
The emotions he collected today would have to wait to be stored, but it was a start. He would continue searching for Talia, find out where she stood on the issue of the mages, and help in any way he could. With her influence, they'd make sure every mage on the planet gained recognition for their talents.
CHAPTER FOUR
Landry watched his wife from the shadows of the hallway. It had been a week since they walked the Dragumon ship. In that time she'd been quiet, withdrawn. Working through her emotions. At the moment she sat on the couch talking to SEF President Cahal on the viewscreen. Her hands waved through the air, emphasizing her excitement. It was good to hear her participating in a normal conversation.
A wave of dizziness engulfed him. Landry leaned against the wall. The room grew brighter and warmer until he stood outside. The wall felt solid under his hand, but he couldn't see it. Instead, mountains lined the horizon. The sky, more purple than blue, framed a cottage, white with faded red shutters, peeking out of the green vines that covered most of it.
A woman chased a toddler. She stopped and smiled, sending a wave of longing through him.
These are not my
memories. They must be Jaron's. Landry shook it off, dragging himself back to his hallway. Talia's gaze flicked his direction before she focused on Cahal again.
"Craig Gibbs broke the code this morning. I've never seen anyone use binary to decipher a language. His program is running and translating everything on the Dragumon ship to Dovan as we speak." The SEF president beamed down at her. "They used a language chip. That's why they spoke Dovan. Craig is waiting to download the files, but he thinks they used nanotech to download our language straight to their brains."
"I can't believe it." Talia shook her head. "That would explain a lot of things."
Cahal continued. "It's exciting to see the new tech on the ship. We need to learn as much from Jaron's craft."
"The Royalists cleared the team yesterday. We've already set up the equipment inside the ship and will start our diagnostic tomorrow." Talia held up her datapad as if Cahal could read the list of names.
"Good, meet with me in the morning before you go to the site and we'll discuss your plans."
"I'm looking forward to it, Sir." The screen blinked off and Talia turned to stare at Landry. "Are you okay?"
He joined her on the couch determined not to talk about the vision. It wasn't the first time the wizard's memories had forced their way to the surface of his consciousness, but he'd never lost control before. "I'm fine. Who's this Gibbs person?"
"A genius when it comes to languages."
"Good." In spite of his best efforts, Landry's gaze drifted to the double doors leading to their patio. Night had fallen and the city blazed with lights. He needed a break.
Talia snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hey, where did you go?"
"We should get out of here."
"And do what?"
"I have no idea, but there's always a party somewhere in the city. We can wander the streets until you see a place or activity that interests you." He needed to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of a busy world.
Dawn of the Mages (The Magic Wakes Book 2) Page 2