“Had you not been here, the traitor would still be head of the Royal Guard, privy to the king’s personal security and our world’s plans for the future,” he replied. “Do not apologize for that. You did not mean for any of this to happen. You’re a destiny-changer, Stephanie. You can’t change that about yourself. It’s merely what you are.”
“Am I?” she asked. “Or am I simply a girl with some cool powers who tries her best to use them for good? I don’t know.”
The Ambassador smiled. “I have never met a human like you. You are so powerful, you could have all the worlds at your feet. Yet here you are, questioning your own relevance and asking others how they are when you’re the one who just got out of the hospital and had her privacy violated.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” she told him. “If you have something that could be used to help everyone, wouldn’t you share it?” She paused, then added, “My mother taught me that when I was little.”
“She is a smart woman,” V’ritan told her. “And to answer your question, yes, I believe you are a destiny-changer. I believe you hold the knowledge and the power to change our world and many others, to make a better universe, a better planet, and a better life for all. And I know that sounds like a lot—”
Stephanie scoffed playfully. “Too much? No way. Merely changing everything from bad to good in the whole galaxy and everywhere beyond. No big deal. I can knock that out on my lunch break.”
The ambassador tilted his head back and laughed. “You know what? Give it a couple of years and I bet you’ll be able to. It will be no sweat for you at all.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Yeah right. So, tell me about the Mysteries. Unless it’s a mystery up until it’s not a mystery.”
He looked thoughtful. “Well, there are three Mysteries you will need to complete in order to pass. Whether you pass or fail is not only dependent on the tester. There are parameters you have to work within and goals you have to meet, even if the tester has the final say—so don’t give them too much sass when you roll in.”
“Me? Sass? Yeah right,” she told him. “I know how to be serious. I’ve practiced that my entire life.”
“Good, because once you’re in it, you will probably go right back to that mode,” he replied. “If you pass all three, you will be set up as an honored Meligorn Mage. If you fail, you will have a chance to try again in ten years.”
“Ten years—that’s a long time for a retest,” she replied.
He shook his head. “You have to survive to wait for it. Don’t fail. I can promise you it won’t be in your best interest.”
Stephanie went serious when she heard the concern in his tone. She realized right then and there that she was heading into something she really didn’t understand but had to trust him enough to follow the process. That was a lot to ask of anyone, including her.
Lars finally spoke from his seat beside them. “What are the three tests?”
They both looked at him, and she wanted to tease him until she caught the worry on his face and saw it was reflected in the expressions of the rest of the team.
V’ritan could see it too, and he clearly shared that worry. “The first concerns the illusion of magic. The second concerns its extent. And the third is the presupposition of the power of magic. All three tests are meant to see if a student is ready to wield magic in a wise and gentle way or if they will seek to…”
He thought about it for a moment and snapped his fingers. “I think the humans say, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. We seek to make sure that those who wield great power do not treat everything like a nail.”
“So it’s not only a physical thing, it’s a spiritual thing as well,” Brenden said and looked up from his cards.
The ambassador nodded at him. “Yes, very much so. A Meligornian—or any magical person—must be in touch with themselves. They must be connected to their inner souls and not only the surface view of what magic can be used for. The full extent of that needs to be shown. Once one passes the crucible, they are allowed to see the inner Mysteries and ponder them for the future, contemplating where greater power comes from.”
Stephanie puffed out a breath. “This is far deeper than I expected. I assume these are not easy tasks—that there is some danger involved.”
“Of course,” V’ritan replied but didn’t elaborate. “Although the specific scenario for each test is usually different, I have seen my fair share to know my way around them. I am, however, forbidden to speak to you about specifics before your time. They will know if you have been told.”
She nodded. “Are the examiners Mages?”
He thought about it for a second. “I believe so, yes. Of course, they are part of the mysteries. We merely call them Teachers. There are currently three—two women, and one man. You have exactly two days to prepare, and I will meet you here on the third day to take you to the first master. I may escort you to the test and back, but for the test itself, you are very much on your own. Something I know you can cope with.”
“I sure hope so,” she told him, but the pressure of it weighed heavily.
Stephanie wasn’t the only one under pressure. A galaxy away, Todd looked at the group of guys he would train with. It was a lot smaller than any of the groups he’d been with before. They’d been told they’d move into the more real-world scenarios and that part of that was to split into smaller teams since operations seldom involved forty guys.
Most missions would require a small group, and that team would become like a family. Each member would have a specific task, and everyone would work together to get the job done. To start the process, their intake had been broken into small groups.
The guys he was with were like him—near the top of their course with one particular skill they excelled at. If he thought about it, he was with a fairly good team.
This time, the pod scenario had taken him to a dark hollow between two hills, where the team leader slapped him on the shoulder and introduced him to the rest. “All right, Todd here has made a strong showing in small arms and defensive tactics, as do Caplan, Fieroza, and Dreigus. They’ll be responsible for making sure the rest of us get in and out with the target. Edgeworth, Zoreck, and Teifler, your primary role is to secure the target and bring him out. Once we get in there, however, I expect you to flex with the situation, because you all know what happens to plans, right?”
The guys chuckled and he continued. “We’re responsible for retrieving a captured Federation Navy sailor, one Melena Alvarez, from the building behind us. We need to get in and get out without being seen, and we need to do it fast. Once we’re out, the overwatch will call in an air strike to level the place, so don’t leave anyone behind.”
The team set up and headed down to the building. They moved through the shadows, cautious and quiet.
Getting into the building was easy, and they made it to the room without being discovered. Petty Officer Alvarez was badly beaten but she could walk so they tucked her in the center of the team and headed out. Todd brought up the rear.
The trip out proved far more difficult. They had to stop several times to avoid more people as they crept through the building. It was only once they’d begun to cross the last hall that they were discovered, and all hell broke loose.
Bullets and las-bolts erupted as the enemy soldier shouted the alarm. Todd and Fieroza covered their tails while their teammates hustled Melena to the exit.
Zoreck moved to cover Edgeworth and Teifler but the enemy caught the sailor before he could find cover. He took a bullet to the shoulder and fell, so Todd hauled him up and over his shoulder. Fieroza maintained fire as they bolted to the door.
As soon as they were out, the team on overwatch gave the green light for the strike and the first missile howled in.
The team kept moving at a steady pace. Todd carried Zoreck and Edgeworth now carried Melena. By the time they reached the pick-up point, they were exhausted but happy.
The scena
rio ended and they emerged from their pods to find the chief waiting.
“I suppose you misbegotten sons think you did a great job,” he began as they formed up in front of him. “Well, you’re lucky any of you got your sorry asses out of there alive, let alone the sailor you were sent to rescue. You!” He rounded on the team leader and dressed him down for what he’d forgotten before he moved onto Edgeworth and then down the line.
Todd was left until last, and by the end, he had no doubts about exactly what he’d done wrong...but also a vague idea of what he’d done right.
“Dismissed!”
Never had that word sounded sweeter, and it was followed by, “You’re off duty until oh-five-hundred. Make it a team night out.”
“Hooyah.”
As soon as the chief had left, Zobeck turned to Todd and shoved him in the shoulder. “Thanks for getting me out of there.”
“You better be thankful,” Caplan told him. “I’da left your sorry ass behind to slow them down.”
Zobeck laid his hand over his heart and replied in mock shock. “I’m hurt, Cappy. Really hurt.” He made a show of rubbing his butt cheeks. “I’ll have you know this ass deserves your utmost respect.”
“Just for that, your ass is buying the first round,” the team leader snapped and jerked a hand toward the door. “Let’s get out of there before the chief comes back and changes his mind.”
The team laughed and headed over to the bar for well-deserved beers. Once they arrived, the team leader stood on his chair and raised his glass. “Tomorrow is our last test, then we are done. So make this beer your last for the night. I can tell you right now, I’ll be as lucky as hell to get to serve with any one of you bastards.”
They all cheered, drank their beer, and reluctantly switched to soda as they scarfed their meals. While they’d rather have gotten rolling drunk, not a single one of them was willing to mess up their chance to get the hell out of Dodge.
Chapter Forty-Five
Stephanie sat in the back of the shuttle and jiggled her feet, her hands pressed together in front of her. She was nervous knowing she still had a lot to learn.
For the first time since the ambassador had suggested it, she was afraid she couldn’t possibly pass the test. She leaned back, pressed the back of her head against the wall, and closed her eyes. If you can’t possibly pass, then why be so nervous? Go into it calm and do what you can.
This shuttle was smaller and moved much more swiftly than the one that had brought them down from the station. V’ritan had explained the technology but she still didn’t get it.
It had something to do with the crystalline transfer of MU into the power circuits and blah blah blah. She looked out the window as they flew low over a small village, and she looked out in awe. The place was absolutely enchanting.
The village consisted of thatched-roof homes with small painted doors and wildly colorful gardens surrounding a small town center. It looked like it had jumped out of a fairy tale, and she loved it.
They left the village behind and the shuttle descended and skimmed its way along a narrow dirt track to a small cottage set well away from the main thoroughfare.
It was only a short flight, but it would have taken someone the best part of two hours to reach it from the village. Stephanie checked her safety straps as the shuttle slowed and pivoted to land carefully in a stone-lined circle outside.
Once they landed, V’ritan moved to the back where Lars and the team sat anxiously.
“This is where she leaves you,” he said to them. “I will be with her and we will be back soon.”
“Not happening,” Lars told him and stood. Marcus and Frog stepped alongside him. “Our job is to protect her. We can’t do that if we’re not there.”
The ambassador looked at him, then surveyed the rest of the team. When he saw the determination on their faces, he sighed.
“One,” he agreed finally. “I think I can have the Master forgive that, but the rest of you will have to stay with the shuttle. We’ll bring her back.”
Lars looked at Stephanie and frowned. He studied V’ritan’s face and saw his own determination reflected there. With a soft growl of protest, he nodded.
“Very well. Marcus, you’re in charge of keeping Frog out of trouble. The rest of you do what Marcus tells you to. If we’re not back by nightfall, you know what to do.”
The team nodded and slapped hands with her as she walked out. Lars immediately moved ahead to ensure the area was clear. She put on a brave face for the guys but on the inside, her magic swirled restlessly, and her feelings were in chaos.
As V’ritan followed her, she reached the landing pad and looked around in awe. “It’s beautiful here.”
He smiled and kept a watchful eye on Lars. “It is. The village is there to support the Master and those who wish to see her. Almost everyone travels by foot.”
“I see you brought a friend,” a voice called from ahead of them. “It’s a good thing I understand the human protocol, V’ritan.”
Lars moved back to Stephanie and they looked up as a tall Meligornian woman approached. Realizing it must be the first Teacher, Stephanie watched as she reached out, took the ambassador’s arm, and bent low.
She couldn’t help but notice how elegant the Teacher made the movement seem, although she was surprised when they embraced. When the woman turned to greet her, she kept her hands in and greeted her like she should address a Mage of her rank.
The woman nodded in appreciation but, although she acknowledged Lars’s presence, she did not greet him and merely fell in step beside the ambassador and led them into her home. “You look good, V’ritan. Old but good.”
V’ritan laughed and glanced at Stephanie. “Melistar and I are distant relatives. She has had to put up with me all three hundred and twenty-three years of her life.”
The Mage leaned toward Stephanie. “Which requires more patience than I care to admit.”
She laughed quietly and nervously. The woman was younger than she’d expected, and her face gave her the idea that they might be close in age...although how that could be possible, she didn’t know.
Melistar studied her for a moment. “You must be worried about the fact that you’re human. So, let me put your mind at rest. I am not here to test your species, merely your understanding of the Mysteries here.”
Stephanie relaxed a little and Melistar beckoned. “Come. Let us begin.”
Leaving V’ritan and Lars in the first room, Stephanie followed Melistar through to a room where there was no furniture and no windows or door. It was empty save for a slick white marble floor and a roof that was open to the sky.
The Mage brought her to a halt in the center of the room and raised her hands. “Close your eyes and relax. You will begin when you open your eyes. Take your time. Think about it and trust your instincts.”
With a nod, she shut her eyes. Melistar pressed her fingers to her temples and whispered. “To the gates she storms, bring her to the beginning of three.”
She felt a rush of air as if she moved really fast. When it stilled, she opened her eyes and looked around. She was inside a small cottage. A little girl hummed as she skipped past and played with a shuttle similar to the one they’d arrived in.
Her gut told her to follow the girl, so she did. The child did not react to her presence but continued to move uninhibited, skipped out of the room and along a corridor, and out the back door.
When Stephanie emerged, she heard the child crying and saw she had fallen. She raced to her and found she had skinned her knee.
Her first instinct was to bring her hands up to heal her, but she remembered a time when she had fallen and skinned her knee on the sidewalk. Her mother had picked her up and taken her inside to clean and cover the minor scrape. The pain had soon faded, and the graze had healed in only a couple of days.
She frowned. It seemed such a little thing and one easily fixed on its own. It would be far too easy to use magic on it, and for what? To heal something that p
osed no threat to the child’s life? To spare herself a few tears, which would soon dry?
The easy solution made her immediately suspicious, and she paused. Instead of using her energy, she leaned down and scooped the girl up, took her inside, and set her on the counter exactly like her mother had done. She looked around the tidy kitchen and soon located a first aid kit high up on a shelf, but when she turned, the little girl was gone.
Slightly confused, she looked around until the room shifted like a pod session finishing in the Virtual World, only much more violently. The kitchen blurred and she felt like she was falling.
She jolted to a stop in what looked like someone’s front yard. It was late at night and when she saw no one, she assumed they were all asleep.
There seemed to be no obvious reason for her to be there, and she wondered what the point was when she heard voices. They were hushed, as though their owners didn’t want to be heard, so she walked carefully down the side of the house to peek around the back.
There, at one of the ground-floor windows, were two men. Both were dressed in black and one held a crowbar. “Break the window,” the other urged. “The girl’s upstairs. Snatch her and we can get the hell out of here.”
Stephanie felt a swirl of anger. She wanted to fireball the pair so badly it hurt, but she knew this was a test. Rather than follow her first instinct, she studied her surroundings. She found a discarded baseball bat near an abandoned glove and ball. There was also a jump rope tossed over a bush nearby.
Slow and silent, she snuck over to retrieve what she needed and devised a plan. Half of it was simple enough to do without magic, while the other half needed only a small amount to ensure complete success.
As she gathered the bat and rope, the kidnappers broke the window and muffled the sound using one of their jackets. She crouched in the shadow of a bush as they cleared the glass, folded the jacket over the windowsill, and climbed inside.
When they’d disappeared, she hurried over and followed them. She entered quietly as they started up a set of stairs inside. A trace of magic muted the sound of her movements as she crept up the stairs behind them, looped the rope around their ankles, and yanked it tight.
Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2) Page 50