The Forbidden Spacemage
Page 26
She took a couple of shaky steps towards me. Her right leg was completely bare as that section of her uniform had been torn off. I noticed the frayed edges were stained with blood.
“What happened to you?” Kira asked the question I’d been wondering and saved me from having to deliver the bad news to Trella straight away.
“I had a run in with a lizard. It bit my leg clean off, and I had to regenerate.” Trella leaned heavily against the desk. “I’ve never had to do it before, and it took up a lot of energy. I lost a lot of blood.” She smiled weakly at me. “I thought maybe you guys had left me behind.”
I didn’t answer, but the expression on my face betrayed me.
“They’ve gone, haven’t they?” Trella asked.
I nodded. “The crew found your headset covered with blood, and they assumed the worst.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Figures.”
“How are you feeling now? We’ve got food and water. You should rest until you get your strength back.”
“I’ll be okay,” she said. “When I left the group, I was ambushed by a lizard. The damn thing dragged me out into the jungle where I regained consciousness and was able to split the scaly sucker in two. I found some shelter and stayed there until I healed my leg well enough to walk. Then I headed to the nearest building and was attempting to get the communication system working when I heard your voice.”
“Let’s get back to our base room,” I said, allowing Trella to lean on me as she hobbled along. “Do you think you will regain full use of your leg?”
“I am not sure. Healing has never been my strong point, but at least I have a leg even if it’s not working properly.”
I was worried about her. She looked pale and sick.
When we got back to the room Kira and I had been living in, Kira poured us all some water and selected several boxes of prepackaged food.
Trella sniffed it and then surprised me by sprinkling it all over a counter and placing her hands slightly above it. She muttered a few words, and a moment later instead of dehydrated grey strips, I was looking at succulent roast chicken breasts.
“How did you do that?” Kira asked, her eyes going wide.
“Magic,” I said, feeling pretty impressed myself.
“Wow, she’s going to be very useful to have around. Even better than you, Tomas.” She smirked at me.
“Thanks very much.”
All three of us tucked into the juicy roast chicken. I don’t think I’d ever enjoyed a meal more. I was ravenous, and the meat was tender and delicious.
“How did you do that?” I asked Trella.
She shrugged. “It’s just a matter of rearranging molecules using energy. When you think about it, most food contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and some sulfur along with a sprinkling of other elements. They are the building blocks, and I just rearranged them into something more appetizing.”
“Amazing. You’ll have to teach me that.”
When we finished, Trella turned to me. “So what happened while I was gone?”
It took me a while to fill her in, and I left the stuff about Zarak until the end.
“He stabbed me and left me to die. If it hadn’t been for Kira, I probably would have. He told the rest of the team I was dead after being attacked by lizards, and the team jumped without me.”
Trella’s face tightened in anger, but she didn’t look shocked by what I told her.
“You don’t seem surprised,” I said.
“I’m not. For a long time, mages have been treated as second-class citizens. People like Zarak believe they’re better than us.”
“Well, he won’t get away with it. When we get off this planet, I’m going to hunt him down.”
“I am not sure that’s a good idea. He’s from a powerful family, one of the most influential in the Seven Kingdoms.”
“I don’t care,” I said stubbornly. “He’s still going to pay for what he did.”
“And the commander?” Trella asked. “I am surprised he allowed the rest of the team back on board.”
Draylan made it seem like they could back up Commander Taggert’s story. I just hope when they got back on board they were able to report him and make sure he doesn’t get away with what he did to his sister.
Trella covered her face with her hands. “What a mess.”
“What are the chances of you jumping us off this planet?” I asked.
“Until there is a ship in range that lowers its shields, then the chances are very low.”
Kira seemed pleased by that response.
“I don’t see why you’re in such a rush to leave anyway,” she said. “We have most of the lizards contained, and we can use this whole building as our own. And now, we have Trella, who can fix us delicious meals from this prepackaged, tasteless muck. What more could you want from life?”
Trella smiled at the compliment and grabbed some more dried scraps from the box. This time she put them in a small container and held her hand over the top. Within seconds, the container was filled with a creamy looking substance.
“Ice cream?” I looked at Trella in astonishment.
She offered a weak grin and pushed the container towards Kira, who groaned in pleasure as she sampled the ice cream.
“Teach me, oh wise one,” I said.
“Give me a break.” Trella waved a hand at me.
I was only half joking. I wanted to learn. I was desperate to soak up every scrap of knowledge I could so I could get back to Terrano to help Maureena and then track down Zarak. Until we were able to hail a passing ship, we had nothing to do but survive and learn.
I’d started my journey as a forbidden mage, who knew nothing about magic, but now I was a trainee spacemage, and if Trella trained me, by the time we got off Tor, I would be a powerful mage ready for revenge.
So Zarak had better watch his back.
“Are you okay, Tomas?”
I turned my attention away from revenge and smiled. “Sure, why don’t we pick you out a room and get stuff organized. It seems like we’re going to be here for a while.”
We picked rooms close to Kira’s and made up beds. Tomorrow, we could search the building for clothing and get to work on the plumbing. Maybe Trella’s magic could help with that. At some point, we’d need to eradicate the lizard within the perimeter fencing, but for now, we needed to rest.
I threw a blanket over Trella’s bed as Kira gave her some toothpaste and a toothbrush. Things could be worse. I could be stuck on Tor with people I didn’t like. The three of us would make this work. We’d watch each others’ backs for as long as we had to because we were survivors.
Although we were lost to the Seven Kingdoms and no one knew we were here, I still believed we’d be rescued eventually. Then, Zarak better watch out because I was coming for him.
Author’s note
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the start of Tomas’s adventures in Forbidden Spacemage.
The book was a lot of fun to write. I tried to come up with something I’d like to read myself. I’ve always loved to read, and from an early age, one of my ambitions was to write a book. With this novel, I wanted to create an exciting storyline with engaging characters that I’d enjoy if I picked it up in a bookstore or downloaded it to my ereader.
I attempted to write this story with an outline, but the characters seemed to come alive as I wrote. They refused to stick to the plan! So the ending is different, but I think there is a lot of scope for future adventures in Tomas’s universe as he explores his magic and learns about the corruption in the Seven Kingdoms.
There are a few more ideas for this series sketched out in my notebook, and poor Tomas is in for some tough times ahead! I want him to be a character who will grow and increase in power as the series progresses.
Please give this book a review on Amazon. I’d really like to hear what you think of the story. I’m writing the second book in the series now, and I bet I’ll write a bit faster if I know people are enjoying the
series so far!
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All the best,
Dan
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