Rise of Shadows (31 page)

“Of course, but for now we have more immediate concerns,” he said as he turned to Darius. “Darius, in order to officially join this crew and the forces of the Battle Wizards you must submit to a full psychic probe. During this probe, if it is decided that you are a sorcerer trying to sneak in, you will be killed. If you turn out not to be a sorcerer and do not want to join with us in our fight against darkness, we will be forced to put a block in your mind to prevent you from using magic, and send you on your way. Do you understand and accept these risks?”

Darius hesitated for a long while about his answer and finally said, “Master, I am tired of running and going at it alone. A week with this crew has reminded me what it was like to have family, so I willingly submit with the desire to become one of you.”

“Very well, then try to relax and lower all your defenses,” said Master Gafar as he approached Darius and stared deeply into his eyes. They stood there a while locked in a blinkless stare until eventually Master Gafar said out loud, “Welcome, Battle Wizard Seventh Rank Darius!”

I jumped up and cheered while Shadow walked over and shook his hand, welcoming him to the team. “We will have to get you a proper uniform made,” he said. “It will take some time, as we do not at present have anyone in our realm who can enchant clothing or jewelry. It all has to be ordered from the Korshalemian wizards,” he said.

“Dusty, I am heading to sickbay to meet your doctor. Would you mind stopping by Shea’s quarters and bringing her to me? I think it would be best if you explained to her what will be expected of her before she meets me,” said Master Gafar.

“Certainly, Master,” I said.

As I approached Shea’s quarters, I wondered exactly how I was going to explain this to her. I had told her she would be tested, but this was much more intense than a simple interview would be. I doubted she had ever experienced anything like what I was about to ask her to do. It was not until I was knocking on the door to her quarters that I began to wonder what we would do if she for some reason failed Master Gafar’s test.

“Hi, Dusty! Come in!” she said with a big smile.

“Hi, Shea, what are you up to?” I asked as I entered.

“Oh, just redoing my alchemy notes so that they are more organized and easier to search,” she said.

I looked around her quarters and saw nothing of her old life. No quills, no papers, nothing of the sort. She had some plants growing, but they were all in modern hydroponic containers and not pots or whatever she might have used where she came from. She was even dressed in modern clothes and holding a datapad, which I assumed she was using to store and sort her notes “Wow, on datapads?” I asked.

“Yes, these are really remarkable devices!” she said.

“And these?” I asked as I gestured to the plants.

“Those are seedlings for the plants I need to make potions. Once they are strong enough, I will move them to the ship’s hydroponics lab,” she said. “Flame sent a request to Alpha Academy to find out if any of these plants grow naturally here in this realm so that I can get more seeds, but we have not heard back yet. We might have to import some from the Korshalemian Realm to get my crops started properly.”

“You seem to have adapted to our ways extremely fast,” I said.

“Your ways? Oh, you mean all the technology. Flame was able to package up all the knowledge I needed for this and give it to me telepathically, so that was really easy,” she said.

I had heard rumors of spells to transfer learning, and I suspected that is what Master Mantis used to give Shea knowledge of our language, but the extent of information needed to get her from where she was up to modern levels seemed massive. I had no idea it could bridge that much learning difference, but it made sense. The sorcerers had adapted to our technology very quickly too.

“But adapt to your ways? To be honest, that's a bit hard,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, we are out here among the stars, and yet we can’t go outside and admire them? Seems like a cruel trick,” she said.

“Huh, I never thought about it that way before,” I said.

“Yeah, that's the thing I have noticed when hanging around the others here. You all think differently somehow. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that is different, it just is,” she said. She paused and sat down at her desk and looked around a bit. “You warned me it would be like this, but I did not really believe you. At least, I though you were exaggerating. No trees, no plants, nothing but cold metal everywhere. I was not really prepared for that.”

“Are you having second thoughts?” I asked.

“No way! How could I go back with what I know now? You need me,” she said.

I wondered in what way she meant that, but decided not to press it, as I did not want to keep Master Gafar waiting. “Shea, where is Flame?” I asked, hoping to have some help with this.

“She left earlier. She said an important guest was visiting so she went to help Master Shadow get ready for him,” she said.

“Ah, well, um, that guest came to see you,” I said.

“Oh?” she asked.

“Yes. Remember how I said you would have to be tested before you could get in? Well, it’s time,” I said. I explained to her the way we handled the testing process and why we had to do it that way. I could see my explanation was making her nervous, but I did not know what to do about it. Everyone had to go through it, as it was the only way. Besides, I was sure she would pass without any problems.

“And he is ready to do this now?” she asked.

“Yes, when I saw him last he was heading to sickbay to test the doctor and asked me to bring you to him. By now he’ll be finished with her and waiting for us,” I said.

“Well, I guess then I’d best get it over with,” she mumbled.

“Okay, but it is not that bad, really,” I said as I started out the door, expecting her to follow me.

She did not move at first; she just sat there looking down. I stopped just outside the door and waited for her. I am not sure how long I stood there while she just looked down over folded hands, but I did not want to rush her. Finally, she stood with a slight smile and said, “Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m ready now.”

“
Shadow, we are on our way now,”
I sent over our telepathic network.

“
Great, how is she doing?”
asked Flame.

“Very nervous, but I think she will be fine,”
I sent.

We traveled to sickbay in an uneasy silence, and all that I could think about was all the things she had told me about how she had been hunted most of her life. I had to wonder if she was thinking that she had finally been captured and what that would mean.

“Well, here we are,” I said as we reached sickbay.

She nodded, and before I could say anything else, she squared her shoulders, lifted her head up and walked into sickbay as if she was a warrior maiden heading into an arena.

Once we were both inside, Shadow introduced Shea to Master Gafar, and then Master Gafar asked her some questions to make sure she understood what was about to happen. Throughout his questioning, she held her head high and kept her back stiff, as if she felt she had something to prove in the way of her courage. Once he was satisfied, he began the probe.

Their eyes locked just as had happened with Darius. It was then I realized that this probe was different from what I’d gone through back at graduation. In that probe, Master Gafar merely glanced around the room, and I felt him in my mind only briefly; however, with both Darius and Shea, the probe seemed much more intense and definitely lasted much longer.

Eventually Master Gafar broke off their stare and said, “Welcome, Battle Wizard Seventh Rank Shea!”

A look of shock passed over Shea’s face, but soon it turned to joy. She ran over and gave me a hug, saying “Thank you,” repeatedly with tears of joy. I was not sure what I was being thanked for, but it sure felt nice to be in her embrace.

Once she settled down, Master Shadow asked her what role she thought she could fill on the Dust Dragon, and she asked without hesitation to take over the hydroponics and all food production. In addition, Doctor Leslie asked her to serve as a nurse in sickbay, and she agreed.

“You did well, Admiral,” said my aid as I came off the stage. I hated this part of the job, above all things. As leader of the offensive against the Scorpion Gang and primary liaison with Alpha Academy, I was expected to hold regular press conferences to update the nation on how things were going. It was a massive waste of my time and a tremendously stressful balancing act. Somehow, I had to tell the press enough to keep them off my back and yet not tell them anything that would help our enemies.

The worst part about this was that it was sometimes necessary to feed them misinformation. I hated this with even greater passion but, in the end, it was the best way to feed bad information to the pirates. I think they watched our news broadcasts with far greater attention than our own people did.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said as I pushed my way out to the rear exit of the room. I had to do something to relieve the foul mood this whole thing put me in, and staying here was counterproductive to that goal.

“Sir, with all due respect, you can’t leave just yet,” started my aid.

“Watch me,” I said as I exited the conference room.

“But sir, you are scheduled to do an interview in ten minutes,” he said.

“Tell them something came up. We are at war after all,” I said. I was struggling not to curse at him, but I knew he was doing exactly what he was supposed to do. The president had assigned him to me with the hope that he could improve my public presence.

“Sir? I was not aware of anything … ” he started, then gave up and started trying to contact whomever it was that cared about my interview to reschedule it.

I headed into the secure section of the space station where our military outpost was and barged through the gates while the guards did their best to jump to attention and look sharp for their supreme commander and his stressed-out aid. For my part, I ignored them, knowing that I was in no mood to deal with the deck of cards and dice I saw them try to cover up as I passed them by.

Once past security I made for the officer’s lounge. I slipped up to the bar, and the bartender immediately dropped my regular in front of me. My aid was trying to say something about how it was not a good idea for me to be drinking right now, as I had an image to maintain, so I bought him a drink.

I really felt bad for him. His job was to take a crusty flight jock and make him into a shiny clean public figure. He worked very hard at his job with a dedication that should shame many of my soldiers. The problem was that if he did his job well, he was always trying to correct my public behavior, and thereby getting on my nerves.

“Look, I just need to clear my head a little after that,” I said to him. “Try to relax for a few minutes. It will do you good.”

He sat down at the bar and shook his head slightly. I wondered what he thought of me. Was I some kind of grand challenge that he relished, or was I the worst assignment he’d ever had? Before I could get too far with that thought, an old man approached us. He stuck out because he looked nothing like an Aleeryon Naval officer. He was too old, for one thing, but there was something else wrong about him. There was something I could not quite put my finger on, something in the way he carried himself. His presence spoke of great power, and my instincts were screaming at me to run, but I could not figure out why.

“Please pardon my intrusion, Admiral, but I had to deliver this message in person. It is just too important to risk anything else,” said the old man.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

“Just a friend who wants to help you,” he said as he put a datapad down in front of me.

It was then that I noticed the room seemed to be frozen around us. No one was moving. It was as if we were in jump space, except that the old man and I seemed to be able to move about freely. I cautiously picked up the datapad without taking my eyes off the old man. “What is this?”

“The key to your victory, of course,” he said and then walked out of the room.

No, that is not quite right; it was as if he walked out of existence. He turned, and seemed to begin to walk but instead just faded away. As he disappeared, the room around me came back to life as if nothing had happened. My aid was trying to explain to the bartender that he only wanted water because he was on duty, and countless other conversations were continuing around the room as if nothing had happened.

The only indication that anything had happened was the new datapad in my hand. I stared at it for a minute, trying to decide what to do with it. Eventually I decided to turn it on and see what it said.

What I read on there was impossible, so impossible that I dropped my drink and ran from the bar. I had to get to my comm center and find out if there was anything to this information. Things like this do not happen in real life; they only happen in stories. No one just walks into a bar in a secure naval base and hands this kind of information to the head of the Navy. It just does not happen, and yet it just did.

When I burst into the comm room, I called out, “Get me Stealth Wing Six, maximum priority!”

“Sir, they are in deep. It might … ” started the officer on duty.

“It doesn’t matter! Get them, and get them now!” I interrupted.

“Yes, sir!” he said and then turned to his comm unit and started working the controls.

I knew it could take a while to reach them regardless of my orders. That was the nature of a stealth fleet, but this was too important to let sit. If the information on this datapad was legitimate, we might only have a very short window to exploit it. I had to get it verified and Stealth Wing Six was the only one that I trusted for so critical a mission. They were not only an elite wing, but also the best of the best.

I told myself not to get excited over this information; there was no way it could be real. I told myself again that this kind of thing does not happen in real life, but I could not shake the memory of that old man. There was definitely something about him which made me believe that he was someone who could actually have this kind of information.