Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (97 page)

“
She probably knew that we would suspect her. When the triad fails to return, they will have to know something happened and it was probably an elaborate trap after all.”

“
Perhaps. Maybe she will turn up in time. If so we will deal with her. It was very fortunate that we happened upon those several instances where she seemed to be at the heart of things. I was uncomfortable about her in the past, but somehow the matter was dropped.”

“
Long ago the Queen’s brother had wondered about her when his father was still King. I had forgotten that until you began a quite careful screening of everyone with certain levels of contact in the Inner Court after the triad attempted to kill the dragons.”

Once they had discovered that Denelere had too frequent access to information that had been compromised in the past, their plan had been hatched. It wasn’t a sure thing, but they had carefully set the stage so she would overhear Jolan and Vaen in the halls discussing a falsified story of what awaited Cheurt. When she had slipped away, they were certain the word would get back to him. They had chosen not to follow her, since it was unlikely that she would go to Cheurt directly, and if they were discovered, the effort would have fallen apart. In the end, it had worked.

“
And now?” Vaen asked.

“
We need to keep going. Winter will slow most efforts for a time. It will give us an opportunity to prepare for spring. The skimmers will supply and build up the resistance, and Wylan will have his armies prepare for the assaults when the weather clears. There will still be some fierce fighting, but Ale’ald doesn’t have the resources to continue. The rulers in their capital have always simply been a front for the wizards. With the Academy gone, they might even surrender without a battle. Other than hunting down a few renegade wizards, by this time next year I suspect the worst will be over.”

“
Now who could be at the door?” Asari wondered as he walked out of the study and down the hall toward the front door. As he passed the window looking out to the back of the house he saw the grove of Binta trees, the branches full of fruit. He would have to get someone up here to pick it before much longer.

Jolan had been right about the fruit. It had made him rich. He’d also been right that Gene’s father would know what was necessary to get him started with the land and orchards needed to develop the trees. When Asari had settled in after he’d dealt with Cheurt, he’d taught him how things on Earth worked. Asari had taken a couple of years to explore Earth, and finally he’d returned to Boulder.

After Asari’s return from his exploring, Gene’s father and Asari had taken the seeds Jolan had given him and planted them in several hundred acres they bought in one of the more fertile areas just outside the city. It took five years for the trees to mature, and another two for the fruit to be in such demand they had to expand. He’d been careful about the trees. Unlike the native fruits, there was no seed in the fruit itself. The tree produced a seed pod. Asari had let the first year’s crop mature and had harvested and stored the seed. Then he had cut the seed pods off all of the existing trees so no one would be able to get any of the seeds, even if they figured out where the seeds should be.

Twenty years later he’d more money than he could ever spend. For another decade and a half, he’d continued to manage the company himself, while spending his free time during the off seasons to enjoy this world with his family. In the last couple of years he’d gone into franchising the product, and had gotten out of dealing with the growing and harvesting himself. When Jolan’s sister finally put the old house up for sale and moved away to Los Angeles, he’d been the buyer. He’d gone through a lawyer, so she’d never known it was him, but he felt a need to keep the place in the family, so to speak. He’d moved in, renovated the structure, and then planted a small grove of the trees in the back. Now they were fully grown, and they gave him far more of the fruit than they could use themselves.

He’d been on Earth almost forty-three years. He was going gray, and was definitely slowing down. The kids had all grown up and gone, so a man would think he could have some peace, but it never seemed to work out that way. His wife Sally was off this week to her sister’s in California for a few days, so he couldn’t imagine who might be at the door now.

When he opened the door a middle aged man stood there eating one of the fruits from the trees.

“
Can I help you?” Asari asked, realizing the man looked familiar.

“
You have some real fine Bintas here,” the man said, the juice running down his chin as he ate.

“
Thanks, but…..” Asari suddenly realized the man had called them by their real name, not the name he marketed them by here on Earth. It couldn’t be, could it?

“
Jolan,” he cried, suddenly recognizing his old friend and pulling him into a tight embrace. “I never thought I’d see you again. After a couple of years went by, I figured you’d never get the link up again.” Jolan had been ten years older than Asari, but now he looked to be in his mid forties. Well, those with the power had often aged slowly.

“
It took us a lot longer than I expected,” Jolan admitted.

“
Us?”

“
Oh, yeah,” said Jolan, stepping back and reaching off to the side where Asari now realized someone else was waiting.

“
Shyar!” Asari exclaimed happily when she stepped into view, still looking beautiful.

* * * *

“
Tishe is now the Chancellor?” Asari said in disbelief. Jolan and Shyar had been bringing Asari current about events on Gaea. Asari had already told them the story of what happened when Cheurt stepped through onto Earth. “I never thought Vaen would leave the position.”

“
Vaen is old and frail, but her mind is still sharp. I know she often advises Tishe.”

“
Vaen is old?”

Jolan nodded. “Remember when she was infected and almost died, then suddenly reverted to her youth. Well, that same event seems to have taken away her slow aging, and as the years progressed she grew old just like any other mage. She’s handled it well, but then she’s had over four hundred years.”

“
And Gene was the dean of a new university for non-mages?”

“
That’s right,” Shyar said. “He and his wife had ten kids, and he only retired a short time ago.”

“
Buris?”

“
Gone a long time ago, I’m afraid. But he was key to much of what we were able to do.”

Asari suddenly thought of something, and said he’d be right back. After a couple of minutes he returned and handed Jolan a cloth bag filled with something. Jolan dumped the contents into his hand, and saw the two rings and the remains of the amplifier. He set one of the rings aside, a red one, and gathered the other parts into his right hand. He closed his fist and for a moment his hands glowed. When he opened his hand there was nothing but dust left.

“
You can do that here?” Asari asked surprised. “Did you become as strong as Iach-Iss predicted?”

“
Stronger,” Jolan said simply. “Shyar too.”

Asari looked at his old friend, then changed the subject. They spent a long time talking about the many people Asari hadn’t heard about for so long when he suddenly asked, “Why did it take so long to open up the Nexus again and make it back to Earth?”.

“
That’s a bit of a story,” Jolan said with a smile. “In the beginning we didn’t think it could be done. Then Gene had an idea. First of all, it required a trip up to the Dragonship. . . . . . . . ”

Important Names

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright

2011 by Robert Blink

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.