The Enemy of an Enemy

Chapter Fourteen

We traveled for a while in silence as Ithought over all the new information I had. I had a lot morequestions to ask but wanted to sift through the data a bit first.Suddenly, I saw Darnath jogging back towards us, and Luke camejogging up from behind.

“Greenskin patrol, twenty strong, headingthis way,” he reported.

“Sir, we should hide. Right now the Magi haveno idea where you are. If we fight, then this hallway will beflooded with reinforcements,” suggested Major Jerran.

“I agree, but where?” I asked.

Then they all gathered up tight near a walland pulled me in. Next I saw Andreya waving her arms around in theair as if drawing something with both hands. Soon after, asemi-transparent rock wall appeared and completely surrounded us.It was not long after that I saw the Greenskins coming down thecorridor. I held my breath as they filed past at a fast march. Oncethey were out of sight, I saw Andreya relax a little and the walldisappeared.

“Amazing. I take it all they saw was a rockoutcropping?” I asked.

“Exactly, sir, and if they reached out totouch it, they would have felt it too. Their own minds make itreal,” answered Andreya.

That was probably the same thing the Magi hadbrought against us in orbit. It was not a new weapon at all; justone that the Empire had decided to keep secret and confine to thisplanet, a move which could end up being the worst tactical mistakeof this century.

“So then are the Magi also master-levelpsionics?” I asked as we resumed our walk.

“No, sir, we do not know what they are. Onthe surface some of our powers and theirs look similar, but inreality they are extremely different. For example, they can scanfor us, as you saw, but they do not have any other telepathicabilities that we can detect, nor can they block our powers anymore than we can. The only thing that stops us from probing themconstantly for all their information is that they can detect uswhen we do that and locate us instantly. But it’s more than justdifferent powers, it is more like a different form of energycompletely. We do not truly understand how either our powers ortheirs work, but we can tell they are fundamentally different,”answered Jerran.

“No telepathic powers, but earlier you saidthey used a telepath to fake Lieutenant Tom’s message?” Iasked.

“Well, sir, there are different degrees ofMagi, and the most advanced ones break all the rules,” hereplied.

Before I could ask for more information,Darnath came back to the group and said, “The storage depot isahead. It looks like two Magi apprentices are guarding it.”

“You know their ranks?” I asked.

“Not completely, but we have a general idea.It appears that seven older humans rule them, and they are by farthe most powerful. Under those there appear to be a few levels ofpower, and each lower level addresses the people in the levelsabove them as “master”. During the early battles we discovered thenames of a couple of the lower ranks. “Apprentice” appears to bethe lowest,” answered Darnath. Well, that at least explained whothe “Seven” were.

“Well, if there are only two, I want you sixto stay hidden. Right now they probably assume I am the only threaton the planet, and I would like to keep it that way. About how longdo we have from when the two Magi see me until reinforcementsarrive?” I asked.

“On average it takes them about five to sevenminutes to respond, sir,” answered Gafar. “But that assumes theyare completely unprepared. They can be anywhere in less than aminute if they are fully prepared to move.”

“Okay, then: the instant it is safe to do so,charge in there, get all the explosives you can carry and get out.I will be looking for detonators and timers. If anything happens donot wait for me. Head down this corridor and hide when you get farenough to be safe. If I do not show myself in fifteen minutes,carry on the mission without me,” I ordered.

“Yes, sir,” was the reluctant reply.

I drew out two of my wands, one in each hand,took a deep breath to steady myself, and then slipped around thecorner to where the guards were. The instant I could see them Ifired both wands, one at each of them in rapid succession. Both ofthem were caught completely off-guard and were killed instantly. Ithen turned both wands on the door and fired again, blowing thedoor wide open. As soon as I was sure the room was secure I wavedthe Black Adders in and started grabbing anything that looked likea timer or detonator.

“Here they come,” whispered Gafar.

“Get out,” I ordered.

Everyone sprinted down the hall a mere fewseconds ahead of me. Before I got far I felt an icy cold chill onmy back. When I turned and looked I saw one of the older Magistanding with staff in hand just a few meters behind me.

“Pity you have to die, Vydor. Had you beenborn amongst us you would have been a great power,” he said.

Not wasting any time, I pointed both wands athim. He did not seem at all worried about it and casually loweredhis staff. I quickly re-aimed my wands at the ceiling and fired twobolts, causing it to collapse. When the dust cleared the corridorwas completely blocked off and he was nowhere to be found. I ran tocatch up with the Black Adders.

As I rounded a corner I saw them tucked tightagainst a wall with a translucent rock wall in front of them. As Iapproached them, Darnath reached out and pulled me in whilegesturing to be quiet. Almost as soon as I was behind the wall, asquad of Greenskins came running down the hall heading in thedirection I had just come from. They passed us without even aglance.

“It is clear,” said Gafar.

“We need to get out of here quickly. It willnot be long before this whole area is filled with Greenskinpatrols,” I said.

Darnath took off on point as before and weall moved out. The next hour was spent constantly hiding from scansand dodging patrols. We traveled deeper and deeper into what lookedlike older and less-used pathways. Eventually we reached a smallhollow just off the main path. “Gafar, is anyone near us at all?” Iasked.

“No, sir, we appear to have completelyavoided their search net,” was his reply.

“Excellent. Rest here in this hollow then,and we should eat while we still can,” I ordered.

For a while it was quiet as we feasted on thefood the Black Adders had been stealing from the Magi. Each of themlooked scared, tired and spent. I wondered if they would have thefortitude to carry on. We had too much information on the Magi now;we had to get off this planet with it.

“Sir, can I ask you something?” askedGafar.

“Certainly, feel free to ask whatever is onyour mind,” I replied.

“Well, sir, we know that just as we got awayone of the Seven appeared in the hallway. What happened?” heasked.

“Not much, really. He said something abouthow it was time for me to die as I pointed my wands at him. He didnot seem at all concerned about the wands, so I blasted the ceilingover his head instead, which caused part of the tunnel to collapse.I do not know what happened to him, only that when the dust settledhe was gone. I assume he was either killed by the rubble, or wasjust on the other side of it. After that, I ran until I saw you,”was my reply.

“That was a smart move, sir,” started Gafar.“The Seven have a way to block the wands; they seem to catch themwith either their hands or their staves. Had you tried that youwould be dead now. At least one of them seems to be completelyimmune to any wand or staff attack.”

“Catch them?” I asked.

“Yes, sir. We found out in our fights withthem that not even staves can generate enough power to overcomethis ability of theirs,” he replied.

“You know, I wish I could have seen yoursquad in action against the Magi. I bet it was a sight to behold,”I said, hoping to instill some pride.

“Oh, it was, sir,” called out Kellyn. “Theywere brilliant!”

“Sir, if you want, I can show you,” saidDarnath. “You would just have to let down your thought shieldenough for me to show you.”

“Is that safe? I thought you said never tolet it down?” I asked.

“Sir, Gafar and Luke will alert us if anyonelooks our way, and while I do not know how you create your thoughtshield, I suspect you can crack it just enough to let me in withoutgiving away our position,” answered Darnath.

I thought about it for a minute. On one handI did not like the idea of letting a telepath poke around my head,but on the other hand I suspected this was a test. “Very well, giveme a moment and I will see what I can think of,” I replied.

I envisioned my thought shield as a rocksphere around me, completely and totally protecting me fromeverything, with no doors or windows. Then I pictured a door on it,and I cracked it just a little. Just on the other side of the doorI saw what I knew to be Darnath, but he looked more like a spiritthan a person. He was holding a box. I reached out and took itinside my sphere, closing and erasing the door behind me. I openedthe box to look inside when out of it came what looked like aholographic movie which wrapped around me. Suddenly I was elsewhere…