Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (47 page)

“What is it?” she asked.

“My avatar,” Dominic said softly.

The word sounded vaguely familiar to Leesa, but she
couldn’t place it
.

“What’s an avatar?”

“An
avatar is an
alternate, magical version of
myself
.”

Now Leesa remembered. “You mean like in that movie a few years back?”

Dominic looked at her blankly.
Leesa realized he had probably never been to a movie in his life.

“It was about this crippled soldier who assumed the identity of an alien warrior on another planet,”
she explained. “He wasn’t crippled at all in his other form. So that was sort of an alternate version of him. The movie was called
Avatar
.”

Dominic shook his head. “No, it’s not really like that—not too much, anyhow. My avatar is identical to me, except that it’s not really alive and can’t actively use magic.”

Leesa frowned, still not understanding. “If it can’t us
e magic, how can it help us defeat
the black waziri?”

“By making them think he is me and luring them to the place we want.”

“Will your avatar really fool them?”

Dominic nodded. “Oh, yes. Not for very long, but for as long as we need, I hope.”

Leesa thought for a moment. “
If you can fool them
with your avatar, why haven’t you used it yet,
to throw them off your trail?”

“An avatar is
very
difficult to create. They require an extraordinary amount of magic. I fashioned this one a hundred years ago, when I was first fleeing my enemies, in case of a dire emergency. Fortunately, I have never had to use it, because it can only be used once. I think this is the time.”

“
Okay
,” Leesa said. “What do you want me to do?”

“Before you can do anything, I must first discover the boundary of the magic-eating zone.”

“Can you do that? The volkaanes tried to find it and failed.”

“That’s because their magic had already been diminished. You told me they were trying to find a distance where their magic would return. That is a much different thing
from finding the line where the effect starts
. Since I know what I’m
lo
oking for, I believe that as long as
I’
m careful, I will see the fringes of the zone before I enter it.”

“What exactly are these ‘fell powers’ you mentioned that are causing this? Are they evil? Will we have to battle them next?”
Leesa hoped not, because they seemed awfully dangerous.

“They are neither good nor evil, as
far as I know. They sim
ply are.” Dominic paused to gather
his thoughts. “
They are remnants of a long forgotten age, slumbering beneath the earth, powerful beyond imagining. To them, we are as nothing. Be thankful we shall never have to battle them, for they could extinguish us with what to them would be but the blink of an eye.”

“If we’re so insignificant, why are they doing this to us?”

“They are not really doing anything, not intentionally, at least. I believe your mag
ic, on top of all the volkaane magic
, partially awakened them. Their energy is simply drawing magic in, to no particular purpose. These powers exist in a number of places in the earth. Occasionally, they stir. The results are usually ascribed to earthquakes or volcanoes.
Left alone, they return to their slumber.
”

“Okay, I
guess I
understand, sort of. Go on with your plan.”

“Once I find the edge
of the zone, I will tell you exactly where it is. I will give you a time when you
must bring the box to within a hundred feet of the boundary and release m
y avatar. I will lead my pursuers
near to there, and then the magic of activati
ng the avatar should draw
them
in, thus weakening their magic.”

“Are
you sure they
’
ll mistake the avatar’s magic for yours?”

Dominic smiled. “There will be no mistake. The magic of the avatar
is
my magic—and
it is active magic
. It
will be newly released, and therefore a
powerful draw
to my former brethren
. I think
they will rush to confront it.”

Leesa nodded in understanding. “And then
once their magic is weakened,
you wi
ll attack from outside the zone
with the full force of your magic.”

“Exactly.”

Leesa liked the sound of Dominic’s plan, but then a question popped into her head.

“Are you sure your magic won’t weaken as it crosses into the zone?”

“Pretty sure, yes.
I believe the weakening effect is on the owners of magic, not on the magic itself. As long as I remain on the other side, my magic should lose none of its power.”

“The black waziri won’t have a chance, then,” Leesa said confidently. “I’ve felt how severe the diminishing of my magic is, and Rave’s, too.
Weakened, t
hey will be no match for you.
” She imagined one of Dominic’s yellow-white energy beams disintegrating the black waziri into oblivion and smiled at the image. “There’s just one more thing I don’t understand,” she cont
inued. “You said this would be
dangerous for me. I don’t see how. All I have to do is put your box in the right place and then skedaddle away. The black waziri won’t even know it’s there until the avatar is activated. I’ll have plenty of time to get away, won’t I?”

Dominic put his hand on Leesa’s again and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I think I forgot to mention one thing.
You
are the one who will have to
activate the avatar.”

38
.
DANGEROUS CHOICES

L
eesa
blinked, not
sure she had heard Dominic correctly.

“What do you mean, I have to activate it?” she asked.
“How?
Why?
I don’t understand.
”

Before Dominic could answer, t
he
train
pulled into another station and lurch
ed to a stop, the seventh or eighth such stop since they had boarded
this train
.

“I’l
l tell you in a moment,” he
said. “
But f
irst,
it’s time for us to
change trains again.”

Leesa didn’t really want to wait for his answer, but she had no choice.
The doors slid open and
they exited the car. At least they didn’
t have to go above ground
to make the transfer this time
. Th
ey simply hurried across a
wide
, dimly lit
platform and boarded a
n identical looking
train
getting ready to
head
in the opposite direction.
Once again, they
managed to fi
nd a seat that afforded them at least a little bit of privacy.

“
Now, to answer your question,” Dominic said after they sat back down. “
The avatar is activated simply by opening the box
,
but the box can only be opened by physical contact from me—or
from
someone to whom I have imparted my magic.
Since
I cannot enter the zone without weakening my magic
, it must be you who
open
s
the box.”

Leesa took a couple of moments to digest what Dominic had just said.
As his apprentice, she was the only other person in the world who could open his box
and activate the avatar
.
She was beginning to see the danger
in his plan
, b
ut without the avatar, there would be
no plan.

“How long will I have after opening the
box before the black waziri show
up?”

Dominic stroked his pointy beard with the fingers of his right hand.
“Not long.
A matter of minutes, at most.
For this to succeed, I will need to be nearby, with our foes close on my tail. The timing must be near perfect.
”

“
A couple of minutes?”
Leesa said
, surprised
. “
I guess
that’s not too bad. I should be able to get far enough away in a couple of minutes
so
they won’t see me.”
She stuck out her bad leg. “Even with my limp.”

She
could tell by the look on Dominic’s face that she was still missing something.
She was almost afraid to ask what it was.

“What?”
she asked finally

“
I’m afraid y
ou can
’t risk running away. Our enemies
will sense it and know something is wrong.”

Leesa frowned, more puzzled now than ever. “I don’t understand. How
will they sense me? Josef didn’t know I was there, even when I was using my magic
against him
.”

“
Our fo
es cannot sense
your
magic. But w
hen you touch the box to open it, you will be marked
temporarily
by
my
magic. That is what
they will sense,
in the same way
they
are able to
sense
and follow
me.
”