Resurgence of Ancient Darkness (21 page)

“
Master, they won’t let either of you out until one of you is beaten,”
sent Rigal.

“
What about security?”
asked Ferran.

“
The crowd will make sure they don't break up the fight before everyone has had their fill,
” sent Rigal

“
Okay, then try to fade into the crowd the first chance you get,”
I sent back. Then I hopped on to the table and flipped off it, landing on the floor behind the Zalionian. He spun around swinging his tail with great force but very little control.

“We are leaving. I cede the table to you,” I said.

“You think you can mock me? You will pay for that!” he said as he launched forward towards me.

As he came in I jumped up and met his charge with a kick to the face. His forward momentum, and my battle-armored boot, greatly enhanced the power I was able to deliver through that hit. His head rocked back hard, and he collapsed to the floor.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd, and that gave Rigal and Ferran the distraction they needed to slip away. I landed on my feet and waited, hoping the Zalionian would not get up again, but he did. Slowly and shakily he stood to face me. I was worried that if I let him recover too much I would regret it. Being a Zalionian, he was much stronger and had a far greater reach.

As he stood to his full height I ran forward, jumped up as I neared him, and threw a kick. I planted my boot right under his jaw, again snapping his head back. He did not fall this time, but stumbled back a few steps. As he shook his head trying to clear it, I sprang into action again with a third kick to his head.

“
We are clear, and security is trying to get in now
,” sent Rigal.

The Zalionian fell to the ground and did not move. I turned and had started to walk out when the crowd slowly closed in, screaming, “Finish him!”

I looked back and saw the Zalionian starting to stand again. I was amazed at his ability to recover from those blows. He eventually got to his feet, but he was very wobbly. He held his head with both hands, and I could tell he was in no condition to fight any more. Looking for a way to end this competition, I ran straight at him and with a jump kick to his chest sent him flying back into the crowd, which created an opening for me to slip through. Once I was mixed up in the crowd, I teleported out of the bar into a dark alleyway. Shortly after that, Rigal and Ferran joined me.

“
Well, I think we can remove that bar from the list of possibilities
,” I sent.

“
Master, why don't we try one of the public news terminals?
” asked Rigal.

“
Excellent idea! See if you can find one. We can download the last year’s quota of news and bring it back to the Nevermore II to process later
,” I sent.

We quickly found a terminal and had begun downloading the data when a man walked up to us and said, “I saw your fight back in the bar.”

“I am sorry, do I know you?” I asked. I was not sure about the laws here and did not want to risk incriminating myself.

“Not yet, but I’m looking for some cool heads who can handle pressure well,” he said.

“We are not looking for work,” I said.

“Of course, but I think you will be very interested in what I have to offer,” he said. He then proceeded to name a price many magnitudes greater than necessary.

“Sorry, but we are not looking for money right now,” I said. I was suspicious, but I had to keep focused on our goal.

“Then what are you looking for?” he asked.

“Simple information, which I expect we will find on our datapad soon,” I said.

“Information about what?” he asked.

“Just some information on the Quillain system. I expect it will be public knowledge,” I said.

He visibly stiffened at that comment and said, “Stranger, I don’t know where you are from, but I would suggest you don’t speak that name aloud again.” He looked around as if he was worried someone might overhear us.

“
What is that all about?”
I asked over our telepathic network.

“
I’m not sure, Master. But as this data is downloading onto the datapad, I have the pad searching for that system, and it has not yet found anything,”
he sent.

“Why not?” I asked the stranger.

“Come with me. It is not safe to speak here,” he said.

“
Master, he might be our best lead. I got all we can get from this terminal, and nothing appears to be recorded about the Quillain system
,” sent Rigal.

“Lead on,” I said.

We followed the stranger as he led us through the station and into the spaceport. Once there, he led us to a light cruiser that appeared to be designed purely for speed and stealth. There were no obvious weapons on the craft, nor any markings.

Once aboard the ship he took us to the cargo bay and said, “In this box I have a valuable shipment. I need help getting it delivered. Once it is delivered, I will tell you all I know about the Quillain system and what happened there.”

“
Master, this ship would easily fit in the Nevermore’s hold,”
sent Rigal.

“
You think we should take this job?”
I asked.

“
As we walked I kept searching all the records that we downloaded, and there’s nothing about that system anywhere. I suspect someone is covering up what happened. He might be our only source of information,
” he replied.

“What is the cargo?” I asked. He hesitated and looked reluctant to reply, so I said, “Look, I will not risk helping someone deliver illegal cargo. If you cannot show me the goods, we will move on.”

He sighed and said, “Fair enough.” He opened the cargo container and it was full of wands; all kinds of different wands, hundreds of them.

“Where are you taking this?” I asked.

“To the Wizard Kingdom,” he said.

“Interesting,” I said, picking up one of the wands. It was an ice bolt, with several charges remaining. The energy pattern on it suggested that it was from this realm. “These are fake.” I could plainly see that they were real, but I wanted to draw more information out of him.

“No, they’re not. Watch,” he said as he took the ice bolt wand, pointed at the wall, and said the command word. A bolt flew out of the wand and hit the wall. “As you can see, these are the real deal.”

“
Master, that would make him a magus, right?”
asked Ferran.

“
Apparently so
,” I said.

“Interesting,” I said again. “So, we see to it that you can safely deliver this to the wizards, and you will tell us what we want to know about Quillain?”

“Yes, exactly,” he said.

“Then we have a deal. How soon can you launch?” I asked.

“Well, they want everyone off the station as fast as possible to get more ships in, so probably in a few minutes,” he said.

“Then let’s launch,” I said.

“What about your ship?” he asked.

“We will catch up with it later. Just get off this station,” I said.

“Okay, come up to the bridge with me,” he said.

As we followed him through the ship Ferran sent, “
He seems awful trusting.
”

“
Yes, too much so. He is either a fool, or this is a trap of some kind,”
I sent.

He was right about how soon the station wanted us to launch. We were still strapping in when the station’s robotic arms picked up the cruiser and put us in the launch tubes. Soon we were flying clear of the station and he said, “Engaging cloak.”

“Once you are ready, come to heading 276 mark 37 and hold at two thousand kilometers from the station,” I said.

“Why?” he asked.

“My ship is out there cloaked. Once we are close enough, I will coordinate a jump with it and we will meet up with it in a safer area,” I said.

“Um, this wasn’t part of the agreement,” he said. I could see he was getting nervous.

“You want to reach the Wizard Kingdom safely, do you not?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Then we rendezvous with my ship,” I said.

He set the heading as requested, and once we were in telepathic range of the Nevermore II, I coordinated a jump with Flame.

As we came out of jump space he was able to lay eyes on the Nevermore II. It was many times larger than his own craft, and many times more advanced. He swallowed hard when he saw it and said, “That’s your ship?”

“Yes, and we do not like staying uncloaked for long. I want to you to land in one of our shuttle bays,” I said.

“Yes, of course,” he stuttered out.

“Relax, you will be much safer aboard that ship than trying to make the run to the Wizard Kingdom alone,” I said.

He was shaking a little, but complied with my request to dock on the Nevermore II.

“
I think he’s just naïve,
” sent Rigal.

“
Yes it is starting to look that way,”
I sent.

“
Master, do you think he can really help us?
” asked Rigal.

“If not, then the information about how he acquired all those wands will certainly be worth our time,
” I sent.

“
Do you think he was expecting to sell them to us, Master?
” asked Ferran.

“
He must be expecting something of great value for the price he was willing to pay to guard them
,” I sent.

“Initiating automated docking procedures,” said the computer as he let go of the controls.

As the ship was locked into the bay and the Nevermore returned to its cloaked status I asked, “What is your name?”

“Most just call me Glimmer,” he said.

“Well, Glimmer, welcome aboard the Nevermore II, the flagship of the Wizard Kingdom navy.”

Glimmer had not said anything since we docked. I led him up to a conference room where Flame had a meal waiting. He took one look at the meal and paled considerably. He sat at the table in silence.

“
Shadow? Are you going to say something to him?
” asked Flame.

“
I am just trying to guess what he is thinking,”
I sent back and then said, “Glimmer, relax and eat. You are safe here.” He still sat there silently and did not budge. He just stared at the food and made no move towards it. Gone was all the confidence that he had portrayed back on the station, replaced by fear.

“Glimmer, are you okay?” asked Flame.

“Glimmer, I am Shadow Weaver, First Rank Battle Wizard. This is my wife Flame Weaver, Second Rank Battle Wizard.” He still sat there quietly. “
Flame, serve us both the same thing he has, and let’s sit to eat with him. Maybe he will relax then.
”

Once Flame had put food out I said, “Do you mind if we eat with you?”

“No,” he said quietly.

We sat and ate in silence for a while, and then Flame said, “Glimmer, what is wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said.

“Then why are you so quiet?” she asked.

When he did not reply, I asked, “What are you afraid of?”

He looked at me and said, “Nothing. Do whatever you are going to do and be done with it.”

“I do not know what you mean,” I said.

“It’s obvious. You captured me with that cargo and will punish me now,” he said.

“Oh, my!” said Flame. “Is that what you think? Well, you’re wrong! You’re our guest here!”

He looked up and said, “What about my cargo?”

“We are very interested in it, but you are not in any trouble,” I said. I decided to leave the word “yet” out of that statement. I needed to get him talking. He hesitantly reached out and took a drink. “Why did you think you would be in trouble?”

“Well, it was just the way this all happened,” he said. “It kind of felt like the abductions you always hear about.”

“Abductions?” asked Flame.

“Yeah, you know. Ships go missing, and people talk about how some wizard somewhere captured them for experimenting. I never believed it, but … well, this seemed suspicious,” he said.

“I can promise you, we have no intention of doing any experimenting on you,” I said with a smile. “I would like to hear more about those wands on your ship, though.”

“You can have them. I will be glad to get rid of them, finally,” he said.

“Earlier it sounded as if you were planning to trade them for something valuable,” I said.

“Yes - my life!” he said.

“What?” I exclaimed.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. Then he said, “Ever since I acquired that crate everything has gone poorly. Good men have died, ships have been lost, and most of my fortune is gone.”

“And you think the crate did that?” I asked.

“I know it did!” he exclaimed.

“Then why not jettison it into a star or something?” asked Flame.

“I did! Three times! It just kept reappearing on my ship,” said Glimmer.

“Okay, relax. You are safe here. Whatever is wrong with that crate, we can handle it. We just need you to tell us how you got it in the first place,” I said. “
Rigal, please make sure Glimmer’s ship is completely sealed and shielded. Also, post a round-the-clock guard of magi. There could be a curse at play here. I will come down later to check on things.
”

“It was part of a larger haul that we collected a while back,” he said.

With some prompting he told us the story. From the time he had acquired the crate, they had faced disaster after disaster. They tried several times to destroy the crate, or leave it behind, but it stayed with him no matter what.

“So I was hoping that, if I could get to the Wizard Kingdom, I could get help,” he said.

“Well you made it, and we will help,” said Flame.

“If it was this bad, why were you trying to hire help?” I asked.

“I know that was probably foolish, but I was scared. I didn’t know if I could make it alone, and hoped if I had some professional help it would make a difference,” he said.

I leaned back in my chair and slowly sipped my coffee. I was not sure what to make of his story. If it was all true, then he was acting out of desperation and really did need our help. It seemed very unlikely, but sometimes life was like that.

“We will certainly look at the crate and see what is going on. I wonder what you will do next when you are free of it?” I asked.