Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  Baizel shook his head and smiled softly. “She is healing. I just…I have never experienced a being with pathways for magic that were so open and so raw. Even inside the pathways of Meligornians, we have restrictions. She is open almost all the way.”

  The man looked at him and then at the witch, his face clouded by concern. Baizel raised his hands when he’d depleted most of his power and put one on Lar’s shoulder. “She will be okay. Let’s get her to her room so she can rest.”

  He nodded and they moved her carefully upstairs, and he insisted on carrying her the entire way. They laid her down in her bed and covered her and there she stayed. A thick dream world enveloped her mind and soothed the pathways as they healed from channeling the sheer mass of energy she had drawn through herself.

  Lars stayed in her room on a chair beside her bed, his head inclined toward her, and kept his eyes open for as long as he could.

  The ship had been in rough shape, but the crews worked around the clock to make sure they made the translation smoothly. As soon as the ship lit up with power, the Dreth vessel retreated, knowing that it was better to avoid whatever was happening. Jaws dropped as the ship translated and ensured that the resistance would remember Stephanie’s name.

  Unaware of the impact she’d had, she slept on. A light knock on the door made Lars look up in time to see Baizel enter.

  The Meligornian was smiling. “Her color is looking very good. Fresh and pink like a human should look. I wanted to tell you we are arriving on Meligorn. They will dock in an hour. We came to help pack her things.”

  Lars straightened and rubbed his face to rid himself of the last traces of sleep. “I need to decide where to take her when we get there.”

  Baizel shook his head and smiled at his sister as she entered. She went to the closet and pulled out the suitcases inside. He walked over and stood beside the team leader. “Do not concern yourself with that. I will take care of the arrangements. I have very good contacts on my world. My uncle was not only a good man but a brilliant businessman. When he was alive, he taught me everything he knew, and I opened my own company. It has grown by leaps and bounds and my uncle and I were coming home to merge our businesses. He was ready to retire. I am only getting started.”

  Lars put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “I am sorry for your loss. I didn’t think of it until now.”

  The Meligornian smiled, knowing his shoulder squeeze was a gesture of sympathy and friendship in the human world. “We mourn death like humans, but in different ways. We still have parts of our loved ones mixed in with us. When he died, his energy transferred to all of us. For you, it means little, but for those who can sense that energy, he became imprinted in our pathways. Meligornians stay connected with all others throughout time. A speck of Meligornian dust is all it takes. The rest floats out to the stars where we first came from.”

  Lars smiled kindly at him and the visitor patted Stephanie’s hand before leaving. Crystal packed everything and left it ready for the team. She was still taking care of Marissa. They had discovered she had no other family and, if taken back to Earth, she would be put into the system. The woman couldn’t accept that, so she made arrangements through her uncle’s connections to keep the little girl on Meligorn. It was an unusual arrangement but the best thing for her.

  When they arrived at the docking station, a group of local healers boarded the ship and moved Stephanie gently to the Meligorn side of the massive space station. She was put into their side of the hospital since the healers knew who she was and what kind of magical powers she possessed. She was more like a Meligornian than a human in that respect.

  A couple of days passed, and she gradually began to return to normal. Her cheeks were rosy, her breathing steady and deep, and her connection with magic seemed restored as her body refilled quickly from the magic around her.

  The planet was the best place for that since MU seemed the easiest to access and process. Lars remained by her side but went to his room at night to sleep, update Elizabeth and her parents, and take care of the team.

  When he wasn’t doing that, though, he stood beside her bed, one hand in his pocket and the other touching hers. Baizel came to visit one afternoon, dressed in business attire with his hair no longer wild and uncombed. The team leader chuckled. “You look like a new man.”

  Baizel hugged him, something Meligornians did with few people. “And you, my friend, look tired.”

  He shrugged. “I won’t sleep well until I know she’s awake.”

  The visitor nodded and studied her peaceful face. “It’s a pity.”

  Lars looked at him in confusion. “What is?”

  He ran his finger down her cheek and traces of MU escaped him and entered her. “I suspect if she ever goes without MU for too long, she will waste away.”

  Lars snapped his head toward Baizel but the Meligornian had already turned to flag down one of the attendants. “Yes, sir?”

  He lowered his voice. “See to it that the ambassador, her very close friend, is notified of where she is. The humans have not been able to contact him here on Meligorn.”

  The attendant nodded and he turned and gave Lars a half smile before he headed out of the ward.

  “Well, they simply needed to be reassured,” the ambassador said as he stood in front of the king and queen. “And you did exactly that. You reassured them that they would continue to be prized and welcomed in their home, even if they chose to explore other planets.”

  The king nodded and rubbed the queen’s arm. “I told you we did the right thing.”

  She rolled her eyes playfully. “He always needs reassurance that he is the greatest king there ever was. Silly man. The people of Meligorn adore you on every level and they trust you. Those who rebel do it for many more reasons than the Universal Cooperation of Governments. They have agendas, and this extra entity blocks some of those. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

  The king smiled and refocused on the ambassador. “My wife, the queen of queens. She is brilliant. She will go down in history as the crown jewel of Meligorn.”

  V’ritan chuckled and bowed lightly to her. “I could not agree more, my queen.”

  A messenger entered the chambers and handed the king a small silver cube. He thanked him and waited until the boy left again. The ambassador backed away. “I will excuse myself.”

  The king shook his head. “No. This is addressed to you as well.”

  A small hologram emerged from the top of the cube. It was the assistant to the king. “I have just been notified of two points of interest. Stephanie Morgana is currently being treated on the Meligorn side of the space station hospital. Apparently, the Meligorn Dreamer is damaged because it was attacked by pirates looking for the ambassador. The Federation witch and her team have been credited with not only eliminating the pirates and removing a bomb they planted, but the witch also apparently used her own energy to repower the ship. Unfortunately, she has not yet regained consciousness. I will update you as more comes in.”

  The hologram faded and the royal couple looked tentatively at the ambassador. He had turned to the side, his fists clenched and a look of shock and anger on his face. “They were looking for me…” He choked on the words. “But they found Stephanie.”

  His eyes narrowed in rage as he turned abruptly and stormed toward the exit. The king and queen watched him with concern and heard him mutter as he grabbed the door handle, “I will kill them all—”

  Silence settled inside the throne room for several moments as they watched the door close behind him. When he was gone, she slowly turned to the king, a perplexed look on her face. “Did he leave without our permission?”

  He exhaled a deep breath and shook his head. “My queen, please forgive him. Stephanie has become his new daughter and she was almost killed because they were looking for him. I believe the pirates have brought about the healing of the King’s Warrior.”

  The queen, her mouth open, glanced at the door when she heard a scratching sound and sa
w that it had closed on the ambassador’s robes. She shook her head and smiled lightly before she stood and smoothed some of the creases in her dress. “Oh, the things that happen in Meligorn are like those human soap operas. Well, I suppose I will inform his wife that the Most Trusted Advisor might be late for dinner.”

  She wiggled her eyebrows and leaned down to kiss her king on the cheek before she walked sedately across the room and into her private halls. He remained seated, his hand on his chin and concern on his face.

  The door opened a fraction and he saw the ambassador’s robes slip from beneath it before it shut for a second time.

  His gaze darted to a large painting suspended by magic on the walls. It was of him and V’ritan in their younger days, adorned with ribbons and without a worry in the world. “Oh, old friend. I embraced your advice as we worked through our peace. Please do not bring Meligorn to war in your anger.”

  He shook his head, slapped his hands to his thighs, and grunted as he stood from his throne. One of the servants hurried over, draped a cloak about his shoulders, and handed him a pen and parchment. “Very good. Now, bring my ship to readiness. We go to the space station.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Unmerciful flights of consciousness gripped Stephanie in a twisted battle of thaumaturgic power. She fast-forwarded through a confused realm of dreams in which she caught only a glimpse of one before she jerked into the next.

  Some were calm and comforting and others violent and distressing, but none lasted long enough for her to break her body’s self-imposed hibernation. Her magic tanks were empty, and her body snatched at the MU floating around her in an instinctual effort to pull it in. She lay unmoving, her hands folded, her breathing steady, and her eyes closed.

  On the outside, she looked peaceful and at rest, but on the inside, she traveled. Through dimensions? Maybe. Through time and space? Possibly. Only the magic knew, but until the world around her stopped its kaleidoscopic wandering, Stephanie had no idea.

  Days passed as she lay in silence, the faint beeping of the monitors the only sign of life. Her nurses, guards, and allies came and went, stared sadly at her, and wondered when she would open her eyes.

  Conversations were held at her bedside, and Lars talked to her every day. Around her, the doctors and nurses spoke of her heroism as they tended her body and checked her vitals before moving on to other duties.

  Somewhere during her travels, she began to hear her own voice—the one she used when she tried to calm herself. Her dream self was breathless from being shuffled through so many different realities, and she walked a very fine line between sane and crazy.

  Concentrate, Morgana. You have to stop moving. Control it. Control it.

  It took her a few more moments before she could force herself to an abrupt stop. She kept her eyes closed, focused, and felt her pulse slow and the sick sense of fear subside.

  A sense of weightless suffused her. Her arms floated out to the sides, her head rested unsupported, and the exhaustion drained from her body—the one in her dreams, at least.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes before she blinked and looked around. At first, she could see nothing but blackness. It wasn’t dark because she could see herself perfectly. The weightlessness reminded her of space, but there wasn’t a star or a ship in sight.

  As she registered that, her body shifted so she stood upright. Her feet touched a hard surface the same color as the rest of her surroundings.

  Her weight returned to normal and she could feel the slight static of her magic waver at the tips of her fingers. All around her, the strange darkness remained.

  “It only stays strange if you want it that way.” A woman’s voice echoed through the blackness, startling her where she stood and she tried to make sense of this strange development.

  She glanced around. “Hello?”

  As if to answer her call, a woman descended in front of her. She landed lightly, straightened, and quickly smoothed the pleated skirt of her knee-length gray dress.

  Stephanie took a moment to study her and noted the thin black belt that cinched the dress at the waist and the gray, short-sleeved jacket that covered the woman’s arms. Her hair was pulled back in a simple but elegant pompadour style. Whoever this was, she wasn’t flashy or done up—and her eyes gave her away.

  She took a step forward, tilting her head to the side. “Morgana.”

  The newcomer smiled and returned her gaze. “As are you.”

  The older woman looked around and put her hands on her hips. “This is quite the space…but you’ll probably be more comfortable with...this!”

  She snapped her fingers and a flash of purple sparked from them. Suddenly, the unmistakable ambiance of Meligorn surrounded them. Stephanie gazed at the lush field with purple flowers teased lovingly by the breeze and felt herself relax. “Thank you.”

  Her companion studied the scene and her eyes widened slightly at the sight of it, then she shrugged. “Well, each to their own, I guess. You must really like purple.”

  As though the sight of Meligorn was an everyday occurrence, the woman walked forward and scrutinized the girl with a critical eye. Stephanie watched her approach, suddenly self-conscious of the hospital gown she wore. “Are you hurt?”

  She frowned, then nodded. “I think so. I used all my magic to save people.”

  The other Morgana pursed her lips, her expression a little regretful. “That will do it. The world always was a scary place. Especially where I am, now. I did what you did, once—and I spoke to the Morgana who came before me.” She sighed. “Well, I guess it’s my turn, and I don’t have a lot of time.”

  “Your turn for what?”

  “To tell you the things you might not know. Listen carefully, because I’ll only be able to tell you once. The Allies have a break at the moment, but we’ll close in on Hitler’s SS soon, and I’ll have to go. Are you ready?”

  Hitler’s SS? It took her a moment to connect the term with a distantly remembered history class, but she nodded anyway, and her companion began her explanation.

  “I will assume you are aware that there are four types of energy.”

  “Four?”

  Her puzzlement must have shown because the woman stopped and sighed with obvious impatience. “Yes, four. The first…” She floated a translucent orb with small sparks of light flashing inside. Enlarging it, she continued, “The first is Creation Energy. This is the energy repurposed by our world and its life.” She looked around at the world of Meligorn and added, “And, most likely by other worlds, too.”

  Thinking back, Stephanie realized this Morgana would never have seen another world and probably thought the likelihood of humans ever reaching one was pure fiction.

  Until now. She looked at the orb. “I call that gMU, and the variants that repurpose it eMU and MU.”

  The older Morgana smiled and brought a rainbowed orb down to eye-level. “This would be your eMU and MU, then. I call it Variant because its form varies on each planet dependent upon the flora, fauna, and life forces there.”

  She returned the woman’s smile and reached out tentatively to touch the orb. The different color magics wavered at her touch. Her predecessor set the two orbs aside and brought a third orb into being. The magic it held was like pale-green fire and spun wildly inside.

  Her gaze grew distant and she stared into the orb as if she recalled fond memories. “This is Neutral Energy. It absorbs gMU and the planetary variants. It is an interesting type of energy—almost completely in tune with those who possess the power to wield it.”

  When she set the Neutral Energy globe aside, she brought the last forward and grimaced with distaste as she handled the orb. The black energy inside pulsated and actually emitted a small growling noise like the muted roar of an approaching tornado. “The is Nihilistic Energy. It is the opposite of Creation Energy and expands when the matter housing Creation Energy is killed or destroyed. When those vessels crack or are damaged, it does not expand because only destroying the form releas
es the other energies for it to consume. For instance, a cracked or broken vase would not let Nihilist Energy expand, but one powdered to dust would.”

  Stephanie reached up to see how the magic would react to the proximity of her hand, but the older Morgana quickly collapsed the orb. “I wouldn’t stick your finger too close to Nihilistic Energy. Such actions have...regrettable consequences.”

  She nodded and clasped her hands in front of her. “Right. Do you do any work with Nihilistic Energy?”

  Her companion took in a deep breath and put one hand on her stomach. “Those working for Hitler study Nihilistic Energy and are in contact with others from somewhere not of Earth. These others are teaching the Nazi’s more about Nihilistic Energy, including the use of death ceremonies to provide the wielder with advanced abilities.”

  She paused and raised an eyebrow as she stepped closer. “That is all I have for you, now, but there is one thing I need you to tell me.”

  Stephanie waited, not sure what her ancestress could possibly need to know from a future she knew nothing about or a descendant she’d only just met. “What?”

  Anxiety clouded the Morgana’s features. “Do we win?”

  Stephanie took a breath to reply, but the woman held her hand up. “No details. I only... I need to know if it’s all worth it, or if...if we lose anyway and are merely wasting our time…and the lives—” She paused. “Was he stopped?”

  She held her breath and studied the woman’s face as she tried to decide on her reply. How much could she say without saying too much? In the end, she could think of only one safe answer. “Yes. He was stopped.”

  If the older Morgana was anything like her, she knew that answer would be enough. When she faced her darkest moment, that was the knowledge that would get her through

  Her companion sighed with relief and nodded. “Good. That is all I need to know—that we are doing something right.”