Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (16 page)

She shook her head, but he knew she understood his reasoning. Finally she relented. “Okay, how do you want to do this?”

“
I’ll go alone. It makes no sense to risk more than one of us, and there is little anyone else can do on Earth to help me. It is actually easier if I’m on my own. If it all works as we hope, I’ll have issues to deal with on the other side. To start with, I disappeared suddenly, without explanation and have been gone more than two years. I’ll probably have been declared dead. If I suddenly show up, I’m not going to be able to explain my absence in any way that won’t get me locked up in a loony bin. Hopefully my sister still owns the house, or a lot of things become more complicated. Oscar’s old papers have to be there, and what money I have would have gone to her. I have some money hidden in a secret place under the floor of the barn, but even that could have been discovered if there are new owners.”

“
How long will you stay?”

“
I was thinking four or five days the first time. That will give me time to gather a few things I can put my hands on quickly, assuming things are as I hope. Then I’ll return with what I can bring. It’s going to be important to see how much I can transport. From his memories, I know Cheurt was severely limited in what he could carry. I’m hoping that was a peculiarity of his abnormal triggering location of the Nexus, but we won’t know until I try. Then, I need to see how long before I can go back. Long term planning will depend very much on how these two things affect my trips.”

“
You could simply go and come right back?”

“
I don’t want to waste a trip. In case I can’t make frequent or repeat trips, I want to bring some useful items. I also want to learn as much as possible the first time.”

Vaen nodded. “What about Asari?”

“
I know he wants to go, but not the first time. If your people can figure out how to bring a non-mage, maybe he can come with me next time.”

“
How about you take some gold with you from here?”

“
Might be a good idea. Things are going to cost there. It would be best not to try to steal them. That would be just one more complication. Can you have it made up in small rectangles? I don’t want to confuse things by bringing coins someone will want to try and identify.”

They worked through a variety of other details, talking well into the evening.

“
So when do you want to try?” Vaen asked as they were about to break for the night.

“
Tomorrow,” Jolan answered without hesitation. “The sooner we know, the better our planning will be. Oh, and I want to leave these with you.” Jolan handed her his staff, and then pulled Morin’s ring off his finger. Best these remain where they can be of use in case I don’t get back.”

Vaen took the two items and set them carefully in a small room behind her desk. “I’m counting on giving these back to you before too long.”

* * * *

The next afternoon Jolan and his friends were once again in the Nexus cavern. He had said good-bye to each one, and still found it remarkably hard to turn and walk the few steps to the small raised platform. Tishe looked at him as if reminding him of her request. She wanted him to bring her something that couldn’t be found on Gaea. He looked out at the group, watching with concern. He mentally crossed his fingers, and executed the spell that should take him home to Earth with an option to return. Almost immediately he became transparent, and then vanished completely.

Although Jolan may have looked at ease when he stepped onto the Nexus platform to attempt his return to Earth, he was anything but comfortable. As badly as he’d wanted to return to Earth when he’d first arrived on Gaea, he now even more strongly wanted to be able to return to Gaea. Had it not been for the importance of getting supplies and information from Earth, he’d have walked away and forgotten the whole idea. He was deathly afraid of triggering the wrong spell and finding himself trapped on Earth like Oscar had been so many years ago. He wished he hadn’t ever seen the one-way spell, but having seen it, it was now part of his memory, and he knew of no way to purge it. That meant being careful. He carefully selected the longer of the two spells, the one everyone agreed would also bring him back, checked again to verify he had chosen correctly, and with an unconscious breath, executed the spell.

The room around him faded, and then, after a momentary hesitation, vanished completely. Preparing himself for a soul jerking transfer like the one that had brought him here, he was completely surprised when the gray emptiness was suddenly filled with a view he’d known for most of his life. The large backyard with a view of the old family house suddenly solidified, and he found himself standing on the small grassy rise in the yard from which he’d departed more than two years before.

While the transition was smooth as could be, the landing wasn’t. Once he was firmly in place, Jolan was shocked by the total emptiness he felt suddenly. He hadn’t realized how accustomed to the presence of the power he’d become, and, having just executed a major spell, how fimly he’d firmly connected to the source. Suddenly there was nothing. Emptiness. The loss struck deep inside him and left him feeling abandoned. Finally, after a few moments of groping, he could sense the faintest whisper of the power tickling the back of his brain.

He wanted to turn right around and go back. How could one live without the comfort provided by the power? He wanted to be sure he would be able to get back. Maybe this was all a big mistake. It took several seconds to settle down. He’d known this was coming. It was simply a bigger shock in execution than he’d expected. After all, he’d lived most of his life here without the power, so it wasn’t that big a thing.

Shaking himself, he reached down and picked up the heavy box at his feet that had successfully made the trip with him, and stepped off of the little grassy rise as he looked around. He was a bit surprised to find it was late afternoon, sometime in the fall if he was right. He’d been mentally prepared for summer, since when he’d left the season on Earth had been about five months behind that of Gaea. He’d forgotten to consider the relative lengths of days and years on the two worlds. Gaea had slightly shorter days than Earth, but a longer year. While two and a third years had passed on Gaea, that translated to more like two and a half Earth years. It was now the end of summer or the beginning of fall here. It looked like it might be September.

As he walked across the back yard, his feet pushing aside the fallen leaves, he wondered what he would find. He’d disappeared abruptly and been gone for those two and a half years. Even without any evidence of a body, he was certain he’d been declared dead. That meant his planned activities here depended a very great deal on what had happened since then. Without a body, it would have taken a while for the courts to act, but by now his accounts would have gone to his heir, which in this case meant his sister. His interest in the house would be hers as well and, given the feelings she had sometimes expressed, she might have sold it, despite the clause in Oscar’s old will. His personal property could be gone, and his funds spent. If someone else owned the property, getting into the secret area in the floor of the barn would be far more difficult, and they may have actually discovered the secret hiding place. Even more important was what might have happened to the old box of materials he knew had once belonged to Oscar. He had great hopes of finding some answers there. He knew also that he would no longer have any standing at the University. Having disappeared from classes and failed to complete his teaching assignment, they would have dropped him from the rolls. That would make a few things harder as well.

There was only one way to know where he stood, and that was to knock on the door and ask. He knew he was dressed oddly for here, but that couldn’t be helped. He came to the side gate and found it locked. Rather than fight with the lock, he simply grabbed the top and vaulted over it. He’d knock on the front door. If a stranger lived here, it would be better to seem a random inquirer rather than someone who’d already violated the property boundaries. He’d worry about how to check out the barn later if it came to that.

It felt odd to knock on the door as a stranger to the house he’d considered his since birth. He held his breath as he heard footsteps approaching from the inside. The hardwood floors echoed indicating that whoever lived here hadn’t changed some things. A moment later the door opened and a face appeared. Janie. Thank heavens. If his sister lived here, his tasks were a thousand times easier.

She started to ask what he wanted, then he saw the realization dawn on her face. She paled visibly, and for a moment he thought she might faint. He started to reach out to her, then stopped as he could see her recover.

“
Randy,” she said, her voice weak. “My god, we thought you were dead.”

The harshness of English was odd in his ears after so long. Even his own name didn’t sound right. He’d been Jolan long enough that he thought of himself that way. Mentally he switched gears and tried to speak naturally.

“
Hi, Janie. I know it’s been a while, but I’ve finally come back. Do you live here now?”

She looked at him intently as he talked, as if to verify her eyes weren’t lying to her. He could tell she was checking out the clothes, and listening to a voice she hadn’t heard in a great while. Physically, he looked much the same, if a bit more muscled and in better shape than she’d ever seen him.

She nodded in answer to his question. “Where have you been?” she asked. “Have you been doing drugs? Is that what happened? You got addicted and dropped out of sight. You look okay now. Did you go through some kind of treatment and have come back now that you’ve recovered?”

“
Nothing like that Sis, although it’s a bit of a story. Can I come in? It’s going to take a while to explain.”

She let go of the door and stood back so he could enter. He walked past her into the house, and could see that very little had changed. She had her own pictures scattered around the room, and had moved one of the chairs to a different spot, but it was basically the same as when he’d left. He walked past a picture of her kids.

“
They’ve grown,” he remarked, but she only nodded.

He walked over to the couch and sat down, placing the heavy box on the floor next to his feet. She came and sat in the chair adjacent to him.

“
Randy,” she was more insistent now. “Where have you been? What happened to you? The police found your car, and you had simply vanished.”

“
I have wondered how to tell this story if I ever got back, but I don’t think I can do it without you thinking I’ve lost my mind. You are going to have to listen, and then let me try and show you as best I can that what I’m about to tell you is the truth.”

“
It starts out behind the house. I know why our great ancestor wanted the place to be held in family hands. You know the small knoll in the backyard?”

She nodded, and looked at him oddly. “There’s been a strange man out back a couple of times.”

“
I thought as much.” Randy described him, and Janie indicated that it sounded like the same man.

“
Do you know him?” she asked.

“
I know who he is. I’ve never actually met him.”

“
Why would he be in our yard? What does he want?”

“
It’s because of the knoll. It is far more than we could have realized. I know this will make me sound crazy, but it’s actually a gateway that can transfer people between worlds. It’s called the Nexus.”

“
Randy!”

He held up his hand. “I told you what you’d think. Hear me out. This is going to take a while. Can you order a pizza and a soda? I haven’t had either since I left. I’m going to need to eat before we get through this. Maybe we should wait for Bud?”

“
Bud and I have divorced. The kids won’t get home for hours, but they will have other things on their minds.”

After she placed an order and brought him a cold drink with ice cubes actually floating in it, Randy began his tale. They were only interrupted once, when the delivery came, but otherwise she sat and listened, although the doubt was clear on her face from time to time. It took him almost four hours to tell her what had happened, and when he finally came to the end, he looked at her to see what she would say.

“
How long did it take you to come up with such a story, and why? You could simply say you dropped out and are back now. It wouldn’t matter, although I’d like to know the truth.”

“
It is the truth, and I’ve told it to you because I’m going to need your help. I’m going to be going back, but I need some things from here to help the people there.”

“
Come on, Randy! Magic? Another world?”

If they’d been on Gaea, showing her would have been easy. He was a bit afraid of trying here and failing, but he needed to do something that would convince her.

“
Remember how mad Dad got at me on that one summer camping trip when I was ten?”

“
Yeah. He never said why, and you wouldn’t tell me either.”

“
That was when I first discovered an ability to do something. Dad wouldn’t tell me why and tried to scare me into never experimenting with it. I did anyway, even though I wasn’t very good at it. Now I know what it is.”

Janie looked at him strangely. “Why do I have goose bumps?”

The payment slip was lying on the table next to the ashtray.