Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (34 page)

While they were laying out a new design to have Buris’ man make for them, Gene expressed the belief that they might be able to put in small amplifiers that might boost the output. The frequencies were common enough, and micro-amps were readily available. With the battery in place, they already would have the power. Randy was initially reluctant, but eventually gave in and they added the location for an amplifier in each of the six radial lines from the core. Designs complete, one with the amplifier and one without, Randy headed back to Gaea to see what Buris could do about getting them made.

While he was on Gaea and waiting, Jolan took care of several matters that had come up, and spent a bit of time with Asari. He had the knowledge transfer from this pistol course, and had been practicing, amazed at what he could now do. He wanted more ammunition. Randy was glad to learn they were still taking care to harvest the copper from the sand berms, if for no other reason than to keep it out of the hands of Ale’ald.

He also had another long meeting with Vaen after making crystals with the language information he had received from Oscar. He had too much on his plate, and it was necessary for them to consider a change in the way things were being done.

“
Now you want to open up our system. I thought you were concerned if too many people knew about it?”

“
I was, and I am, but we are penalizing ourselves because of our caution. There are too many things that aren’t getting done because we are relying on a handful of people to try and do everything. Eventually more people are going to have to know anyway. The assault teams Wylan is forming are only going to be effective if they can use the portals. That means men who are at the greatest risk of capture, are going to be aware of the system.”

“
So how would you suggest we approach this?”

“
I can see three levels of awareness. First, will be those people who know the portals exist and are taken through them. At some point, we can expect that knowledge to be compromised. I can see the need for a great many people to travel. Second level would be how to use the portals. We can take people through without their knowing how it is done.”

“
That’s a pretty simple thing. My experience says they are designed to be easy to use.”

“
We have a bit of an advantage in that people can’t read the destinations. We have built up a matrix. We can at least keep that secret. Someone might hesitate if he didn’t know where he would be popping out.”

“
And the third level?”

“
Only a handful know how to activate the portals. We need to keep that knowledge, especially the idea of the activator crystals, closely held. We don’t want someone else able to open up a portal. Any open portal appears to be able to access any other. That could prove a real issue.”

“
Assuming we all agree to operating this way, how do you see it helping us?”

“
To start with, we need to carefully select people, and impress on them the importance of secrecy about what they learn. We now have an understanding of the old language, at least to some limited degree. Already I can read some of the symbols when I go through the portal whereas before they were just a bunch of scribbles. I have no idea how the words might be pronounced, but I know what many mean. I think we need a major research project started. Select fifty people and vet them. Then give them the old language and send them to work for Nerila and Rifod. They can be escorted through the portal rather than making their own way each day. That will expose the existence of the library and the portals, but they won’t know how to use the portals themselves, and they won’t have a clue where the library is. Of course, they might stumble onto the knowledge, but I think it’s worth the risk.”

“
You also believe there is something to be found there that can help us?” Vaen said, indicating she also believed they needed more effort there.

“
Absolutely. But no progress can be made because of the limited resources. Give Nerila and Rifod a real chance and I’ll bet we’ll be amazed. Half of the progress we’ve made has been because of their efforts.”

“
What else?” she asked, knowing Jolan had more on his mind.

“
The mages’ language. I suspect there is a wealth of potential there. I have seen what understanding a few of the symbols can do. If I had time, I’ll bet I could unravel a lot of the existing spells and come up with ways to either modify them or develop new ones that would be useful. We need a team that can start on that. Altz might be the one to lead such an effort. He told me once how he desperately wanted to understand and be able to create.”

“
I’ll have to think about Altz. He has the right abilities, I’m just not sure if I want him leading something so important. He has a lot to make up for. Have you thought any further?”

“
Not near enough, but we need to get some of Wylan’s experts in the loop. They need to study the maps and where the portals exist. If we can use the portals to support the teams, we will be far more effective. Hopefully we will find a way to remotely control them. To fight effectively, they will have to know what options are open to them. Buris, of course, is overloaded as well. He needs some trainees who can become familiar with the systems he is trying to keep going.”

“
How about yourself? Did you learn anything else from Oscar that will be helpful?”

“
I picked up a number of new spells. Some of what he had saved I either learned or picked up from Cheurt. He also had a means of holding onto spells he couldn’t use that I need to understand. Now, if one is unable to use a spell, it isn’t captured in memory. Oscar had a way of holding onto spells that even he couldn’t use.”

‘
Did you pick up any that are useful?”

“
Several interesting ones but I need to think about them a bit. One of them is restricted to a level nine, but you might find it interesting. It is a rejuvenation spell, which might be a cousin to the spell used to extend your lifetime. I also picked up a reflection spell, which seems to be capable of reflecting back an attacker’s spells to the source, even if it originated from a stronger mage or wizard. One he called
shieldlock
supposedly has the ability to lock an existing mage’s protection shields so they can’t be dropped, essentially imprisoning the man inside. I’m not sure how that would be used. There is also something he thought of as a travel-box, somewhat akin to the Mage’s Box. He didn’t seem to know of the Mage’s Box, and I haven’t experimented to figure out what this new one can do.”

“
That’s quite a collection.”

“
There’s more, including a levitation spell, but it also requires a high level; an eight in this case. One that intrigues me is a spell that creates a temporary ‘no-magic-zone’ where the power is ineffective. Oscar had the spell but from the information he saved, he had never tried it. He also had a spell that supposedly could temporarily boost a mage’s level. There is a level seven spell that is a significant improvement over the standard cloaking spell, which works in the brightest light and completely hides the user so long as he stays still. I know that Oscar used that one before. Some of these spells Oscar captured, but didn’t have much information on, which makes me think he hadn’t experimented with them. I’m concerned there might be consequences to some of these that aren’t anticipated or desirable. They should be approached with caution and I certainly haven’t put any time into thinking about them.”

“
You have been preoccupied with that amplifier. How is that going?”

“
It definitely works,” Jolan explained. “I am having Buris make up a couple more designs. There are some things I want to try.”

“
Have you decided what to do about Ryltas. He will be due to make another trip soon. I would rather he didn’t have the opportunity. And don’t forget, spring approaches.”

“
With the amplifier, I have the ability of a level two, perhaps a level three on Earth. Unlike the power crystals, it won’t run dry, so I have a decided advantage over Ryltas. I am thinking I’ll try and capture him, but it would be nice to have some support. I don’t think it would be right to ask my friend Gene, so I might have Luzoke come along. Give me another week to plan.”

That had been a couple of days ago. He had returned to Earth with the base units from Buris, along with a list of items he would like from Earth. After moving the core over from the existing functional unit, then making a couple of false starts with the direction the amplifiers should be installed, they managed to get the newer design working. Another series of trips back and forth were required to get the unit tuned, and finally he had a unit that could be switched to work on either Earth or Gaea, and was considerably more powerful than Oscar’s original. The capability on Earth was still limited, so there had to be something else that could be improved, but he had let the device distract him for too long already. On the other hand, he could now perform basic magic here, including minor shields, and on Gaea he could draw power far beyond his unaided capability. The new unit had a battery, and it would cease to function entirely if the battery failed, but he could easily enough bring along a good supply of the thin Lithium devices. In the worst case, he could simply move the core over to the previous unit that he intended to save, which would give him Oscar’s original device back. He wanted to run some tests when he had the staff and the fire ring and see if he could match up against a level six or level seven wizard, which might be required if he expected to face Cheurt.

He was cleaning up when he came across the “enabler” band in the padded compartment of the toolbox. For some reason he hadn’t left that with Vaen. Something about it pulled at him, and he picked it up and examined it more carefully. It was made of six links, and was almost too small to be a bracelet. He held it up next to the amulet, which was also a six-sided device. The enabler would almost fit around the outside of the amulet. Suddenly he knew, that was where it belonged. Oscar’s device wasn’t complete. Carefully he slipped the enabler in place around the outer edge of the amulet. It was fortunate he had carefully maintained the original dimension when he made the new copies. It “clicked” into place, the corners making contact with the silvery “buttons” at the corners of the device. He could tell the device was now more powerful than before, but it was going to take some experimentation to understand its capabilities.

As anxious as Jolan was to experiment with the device, he had other matters that were clamoring for his attention. He knew it worked without the enabler, so in any case he could proceed that way. If, as he suspected, the enabler improved the operation of the amulet, so much the better. He had just returned to Gaea, where he hoped to stay a few days and see what matters needed to be attended to here before they closed off the Nexus in a couple of weeks. The shield was already made, sitting in a corner of the cavern with a faint coppery gleam. Once they moved it into place, they wouldn’t be making trips back and forth either, although if the need really arose, they could move it out of the way to support the trip. That would leave open the chance that Cheurt or one of his people could slip through while the node was unprotected.

Today’s load from Earth wasn’t anything of major importance, just lots of little things that had been added to the list over the past couple of weeks and he’d spent the last two days accumulating. He would go back and get some help to offload it and bring the stuff back to Cobalo. He was about to leave when a sudden dark shape slipped out from between the boxes and latched onto his leg. His heart leaped for a moment, and then he heard a familiar meowing sound, and realized what it was. He reached down and picked up the interloper.

“
Boots,” he said. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

Suddenly the implications dawned on him. He hurried out of the cavern and made his way back to Cobalo and hurried up to Chancellor Vaen’s office. As usual she was there, and was surprised by what he was carrying.

“
That’s an odd creature,” she said. “Where did you find it?”

“
I need my ring,” Jolan said without answering. “The healing one.”

Vaen frowned, but went into her storage area and returned with it. Jolan slipped it on, verified it was glowing properly, and laid his hand on Boot’s back, watching to see if any of the healing lines appeared. Nothing. He knew the ring worked on animals because he’d had to heal one of the horses some months back. He sighed. He hadn’t expected anything, but he’d needed to verify.

Vaen had been watching this carefully. “You expected the creature to need healing?”

“
Actually, I suspected it was fine. I simply needed to verify the fact. Chancellor Vaen,” he said formally. “Please meet Boots. Boots, this is the Chancellor. Vaen, Boots is from Earth. She is my niece’s pet cat. She sneaked along on my trip back here.”

Vaen was quick as usual. “She made the trip through the Nexus? She is unhurt. That means it is possible to transfer living creatures unharmed.”

Jolan nodded. “I wondered for a long time if it mattered. We transfer whatever goods we place on the platform. Would it matter if some of the goods are alive? It appears not. I think all that is required is a single mage to trigger the transition. Whatever, or whoever is on the platform at the time goes along. It could be other mages or non-mages.”

“
Asari will be very pleased,” she said, knowing how badly his friend had wanted to go, but had all but given up hope.