The 13th Mage (19 page)

“Dinner is served… Oh, if Señor had told me we had company… I will make immediate arrangements,” said Raul and left in a hurry.

“If you will do me the honor to dine at my table?”

The Great Rossini bowed in acceptance and followed the young mage down the stairs to the dining room.

They ate in silence, the Great Rossini going through the entire menu Raul had to offer, which was good.
He was slightly taller than Owen, but his frame was large and muscular, which made him look like a giant.

Owen had heard that The Great Rossini had been a military leader in several mortal wars, moving around the world looking for action before being initiated into the Council.
Next to him Owen felt thin and weak, something he was not.
A lot of it had to do with faith.
As
Owen believed himself to be weaker, the actual belief made him weaker.
Yet believing himself to be stronger didn’
t necessarily make him stronger. T
hey both had to believe it for it to work, reality among mages was based on mutual agreement.
Whatever they agreed was true, was real.

Owen began to think in terms of his membership to the Council, if his mind had been working properly he wouldn’t have placed himself in such a precarious position, an inquisition by the Council could conceivably last years, he would have to prove that the bonding was not deep, that he had overcome it.
But how?

This was ridiculous, thought Owen.
What was the big deal about mages bonding anyway?
Witc
hes didn’t think anything of it. I
n fact he was sure they actively encouraged it.
The Great Rossini was looking at him now, looking at him as if looking at a ticking bomb.
The Great Rossini was on edge, thought Owen.
What was making a man like The Great Rossini go on alert like this?
Why had he come to see him personally?

Owen had changed his pattern of behavior; this is how The Great Rossini kept an eye on the possible
Staff Challengers. H
e watched to see if they changed their patterns.

Owen had changed patterns in a way that made The Great Rossini nervous.
But what had changed? Owen wondered.
He didn’t feel changed. Was it his new ability to merge into the nature of things?
His new ability to see life?

He had become younger than ever before, that was a change, he thought. He was bonded, more a weakness than a change.

That must be it, thought Owen, he was weak now, The Great Rossini could squash him out of existence in no time at all, could have him expelled from the Council for breaking his Oath.

Suddenly Owen had a new thought, get rid of the competition before they even challenge, that was Rossini’s plan and he, Owen, had fallen right into it by admitting having broken the Oath.

There was only one way to stop The Great Rossini from taking him in front of Council inquisition at this time, Owen had to formally become The
Staff
Challenger, then no Council member could accuse him of breaking his Oath, or anything else for that matter.
He would be untouchable, and free, for a while at least.

Challenging The Great Rossini now was a guaranteed defeat.
He would lose the
Staff. H
e would lose his powers and maybe even his life.
The only thing he would gain would be time, if he played his cards right it would buy him enough time to carry out his plan.

The Challenge would have to be formally declared, the battle zone formally chosen, this could buy him two or three months, enough time to
help Jennifer with the Shadow Ones, enough time to teach her how to survive, how to stay out of the Other’s way, and enough time to bring his plan to fruition.

If his plan worked out he would be able to get his hands on the
Staff
without even having to Challenge Rossini.

No, he hadn’t changed that much after all.

It was a calculated risk. One he wouldn’t have had to take if the Great Rossini hadn’t turned up.

The Great Rossini
drank the last cup of coffee and burped, he was finished.

Owen tensed up, if he
C
hallenged he might gain a few months, but if he didn’t gain enough time he would lose everything afterwards.

Calculated risk, he thought.

He stood up, took the formal stand and opened his life and mind to the Council Members in all the worlds.

The Great Rossini stared at him in amazement.

“I Eoghan Uí Néill,” Owen said pronouncing his birth name, “challenge the Holder of the
Staff
on this the 16
th
Day of the seventh month of the Age of the World 7201,”

The Great Rossini sat back, he was in his right to know the true reasons behind the Challenge, more than once Council Elders had challenged for reasons other than the
Staff
, and if this was the case the Challenge was illegal.

Rossini knew this was the case, Owen was not displaying any of his new power, he was still unaware of it, there must be another reason, if he could get to it, then he would be spared the Challenge and have a chance to squash the power out of Owen before he became aware of it.
He had to know what had made Owen take such drastic action.
If he asked directly, Owen would have an explanation, but not necessarily the right one.

“Why are you doing this Owen, you know you are not ready,” said Rossini, informally, away from Council minds.

“I cannot let you take me to be questioned by the Council at this particular time Great Rossini.
I have weighed things in my mind and feel the promise made to my adoptive mother is of greater weight to the Oath.
I need to protect my adoptive mage children at this time, the Shadow are after them for reasons unbeknown to me.
I have no intentions of breaking my Oath to the Council and will humbly submit myself to them when this crisis is over.
If this is not possible then all I can do is become
Staff
Holder and change the rules that forces me to be subjected to Council inquisition at this time.”

Very well put, thought Rossini, a reason to challenge for the
Staff
.
One thing he was sure about, Owen’s bonding to a young mage in danger was making him uninterested in the
Staff
, which meant there
was little or no danger of him using his power against Rossini.
Yet it gave Rossini a great opportunity to find out how to gain that power.
If he was able to observe Owen he might be able to fathom a way to absorb the power, learn how to get it.

“I accept your reasons as legal Owen.
The promise to your adoptive mother was made before the Oath and the
refore takes precedence over it.
I cannot accept your Challenge at this time as it would violate a mage Oath,” he said making the last sentence audible to the Council Member’s minds, which closed immediately.
The word of the
Staff
Holder was, after all, final.

There was a risk involved and Rossini knew it.
By letting Owen go it would give the younger man time to become aware of his new power.
Yet the risk was less than accepting the challenge now, Owen was more likely to become aware of his power during battle than out of it.

The risk also meant opportunity.
Rossini had a military strategists mind; every move meant a new opportunity.
What this turn of events meant was a chance to learn how to gain that power himself, which would mean no weakness, no way anyone could successfully challenge him.
If he didn’t manage to learn how to harness that power he was unworthy of the
Staff
.
Time to retire.
"
That was okay,
"
thought The Great Rossini, he was getting bored of sameness.

There was one more thing to do, he would be unable to Borrow into Owen’s mind, or the mind of anyone around him, without Owen finding out, yet he had to observe him.

“Owen, your condition and your present situation intrigues me, I will accompany you so I can observe you,” he said.

Owen nodded. T
he Great Rossini had surprised him.
His reaction was completely unorthodox, very unusual, out of pattern. He was up to something.
It didn’t matter, thought Owen, there was absolutely no way Rossini could find out what his plan was, and not having to carry out the challenge was a great weight off his shoulders.
Whatever
Rossini was up to would come to light sooner or later.
Hopefully much later.

A few hours later they were on their way to the airport.

Rossini liked elegant clothes, but being a warrior by nature seemed to squeeze any elegance out of the most fashionable attire, making it look more like a uniform than any uniform conceived by man.

As they walked into the airport the police saluted, he was allowed to bypass the customs check, something that Owen was always subjected to.
As they waited for their flight in the VIP lounge, the head of security came over to greet Rossini personally, and allowed him to board the plane before any of the other, surprised, VIPs.

Owen dragged behind, holding their hand luggage, unused to being completely ignored by everyone, including every woman they passed by.
They seemed hypnotized by Rossini’s presence.
The flight was a nightmare, the female hostesses dropping trays, giggling and one of them actually fainting while walking past him, the male ones walking straight as soldiers and trying to follow his orders to the letter.

The pilot, a woman in her thirties, left the cockpit to personally salute him and wish him a good trip to her country.
Rossini shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Owen stared at the pilot and then at Rossini.
Rossini accepted her salute and took her
dossier. S
he was actually asking him for a job.

“Where I come from women tended the fields,” said Rossini, “now it’s a huge confusing mess.”

“It’s called equal rights,” said Owen, who wasn’t about to start teaching his rival about humans.

The arrival at
Dublin
airport was a carbon copy of what had happened in
Rio de Janeiro
and
London
, except this time they were actually offered a police convoy to take Rossini wherever it was he
was going.
It took a lot of effort on Owen’s part and one word from Rossini’s to let them go by themselves in a hired car.

Owen felt overwhelmed, Rossini didn’t make any effort to stop the
adoration of all those mortals. H
e wo
ndered how Jennifer would react. W
hat if she was also taken
in
by him?
What would he do then?
Maybe that was Rossini’s plan, destroy his heart.

Well, at least that would release him from his pain.
If Jennifer fell in love with the Great Rossini there would be no heart left in his chest to be hurt.

Aeoife was busy in the kitchen preparing a luscious dinner for their arrival.
She greeted Owen then turned to the older man, offering her hand and turning scarlet.

Owen was seething, how could Aeoife fall for someone like Rossini?
He looked down and grated his teeth, then felt something very strange, Rossini was silent.

He looked at his senior in the Council and saw that he too was looking at the floor gritting his teeth.
Must be the shock of meeting a witch, thought Owen.

“It is a great honor for me to meet Owen’s Mother,” said Rossini, still holding on to Aeoife’s hand.

“Call me Aeoife, any friend of my Owen is a friend of mine,” she said letting out a little giggle.

Owen thought he had already lived his most embarrassing moment, but it had been nothing compared to this.

The Great Rossini’s eyes shifted, digging into Owen’s own.
Owen grabbed his mother by the arm and led her into the house, only this seemed to infuriate Rossini even more.

“Children,” said Aeoife, brushing Owen away and taking Rossini’s arm instead.

Owen was dumbfounded.
He watched them go into the living room and closing the door behind them, leaving him on his own in the hall with the front door open and the luggage still in the car.
Rossini traveled heavy.
Not that they had plans of staying at Aeoife’s house, not Rossini anyway, he had a room booked at the Sea View Hotel.

He felt a soft tap on his shoulder, turned and saw Jennifer smiling up at him, her red hair all over the place, her eyes sparkly and her breasts bursting out of a T-shirt.

She looked down at them, “oh, these, well, you see, I am breastfeeding, not all the time, I am sort of share feeding, alternating between bottles and breastfeeding, only I haven’t been with Heather for three feeds now and they’re bursting, that’s why they look so big.”