The Enemy of an Enemy

Chapter Seventeen

As I entered the gate everything around meturned into an iridescent blue. It was similar to jump space, but Iwas much freer in my movements. It was not like being in a tunnelor a room, more an endless sea of blue. Looking back over myshoulder I saw him again, that black specter that always joined me.This time he was much nearer, and coming for me. Instinctively Iknew that if he reached me I would die, and I could not let my teamdown. I was still holding a wand, so I turned it on him and pouredinto it all my anger over the death of the Dark Knights. The blasthit him and sent him reeling back, just long enough for me to fallthrough the other side of the gate.

As I came through the gate I felt myselffalling towards the floor, but something caught me just in time.Soon I felt the Black Adders silently communicating with me oncemore, all urging me to be quiet and not move. I wanted to scream inpain, as it felt like my back was on fire, but looking throughtheir eyes I saw Andreya maintaining an illusionary wall thatperfectly mirrored the wall behind us, and an old man staring atthe wall as if searching for us. I did my best not to move, noteven to breathe, for what seemed like years and eventually heturned and left.

Once he was gone, I felt myself being loweredto the ground and immediately Kellyn rushed to my side. “Sir, itlooks like you took a hit just before you made it through the gate.You are hurt pretty badly; I will do what I can.” With that Ifelt her warm hands on my back and energy leaving her, passingthrough me. As she worked I lost the communication link with theAdders, but I felt a deeper connection to her. I felt her think,“Sir, I know what demon chases you, and so long as there is anypower left in me, it will never catch you.” Then I had a visionof her standing between myself and that dark specter. She washolding up her staff and glowing brightly while the specter foughtfruitlessly against her.

Then it all faded away and I felt a weight onmy back. Soon I was able to re-establish communication with theBlack Adders, but Kellyn was not there. “She is overtired, sir.We need to find a place for her to rest,” said Jerran.

She was the weight on my back. With Gafar’shelp I was able to get up, and pick her up. “Then let’s find asafe place,” I said. Andreya lowered her illusionary wall andwe began to move out when he appeared again.

It was the same man as before. He was wearinga long, flowing, dark purple robe covered in glowing symbols. Hehad a tall pointed hat and a long white beard. In his hand he helda staff, but one completely unlike the sleek black staves of theMagi. This one looked more like a tree, with a crystal ball on topinstead of leaves.

“Welcome, Black Adders, I have been waitingfor you,” he said in a grandfatherly voice. “The little one needsrest, as do you all. Come, I will show you a safe place.”

With that he turned to leave, and I startedto follow him. The others seemed uncomfortable with this, so I toldthem, “My instincts say we can trust him, and rarely am I wrongabout a person.”

That immediately put them at ease. I got thefeeling from them that the instincts of a Black Adder were farbetter than any scanner. It was then I realized that they hadfinally accepted me as one of their own.

That room exited directly on to a stonespiral staircase. We followed the old man up the stairs to a heavy,wooden door. The door opened by itself with a loud creak as weapproached. The room on the other side resembled a militarybarracks, with a line of four beds down each wall. In the centerwas a large table covered with food and drink. Once we were all inthe room, the man said, “I will return shortly. I must see to yoursafety.” With that, he closed the door and left.

I laid Kellyn down on one of the beds andasked, “Can we do anything for her?”

“No, sir. She just needs to sleep a whileand she should recover completely,” said Major Jerran.

I took some food and pulled up a chair nextto her bed. “Eat up and rest while we can,” I ordered.“Anyone have any idea where we are?”

“Sir, this room is sealed. None of us cansee beyond it. I assume this would also keep anyone from seeing in,so I dare not try to break the seal,” answered Luke.

“Very well. We wait then for ourmysterious host to return,” I said.

We all ate and drank while we waited butthere was not much conversation. No one seemed to like the factthat we had stepped out of one mystery into an even bigger one. Ikept reliving that vision of Kellyn fighting the dark specter. Whatcould it all mean?

“Sir, he is here,” Darnath said justbefore the door opened.

The old man entered the room, and pulled up achair next to the table. After taking a drink he turned to us andsaid, “I know you have many questions for me. Let me see if I cananswer the obvious ones first. My name is Mantis, and you are in mytower. I have been watching the developments of your battles forsome time now, and when you opened the gate I intervened andredirected you here. You would probably like to know where my toweris. Well, that is complicated since it is not known for its abilityto stay in one place. Relative to your understanding, it is best tothink of it as lying on a planet in a different, but similaruniverse.” He stopped, looked at Andreya and said, “I mustcompliment you on your illusion. Masterfully done. I have not seenyour equal in all my travels. Had I not personally redirected yourjourney to my gate, I would have never known you came through.”

Andreya blushed a little and said, “Thankyou, sir.”

“Mantis, you said you were watching thecolony and brought us here. Why?” I asked.

“Well, that is a very long story, but youneed to hear it so I will do my best to be brief.” He paused andrefilled his glass from the jug of mead that was on the table. “Itstarts in a time so far back that no one really knows how long agoit was. At that time the known universe was limited to just oneplanet, and all men could do was guess at the meaning of the lightsin the sky. There were two powerful kingdoms on that planet, one inthe east and one in the west. These two kingdoms hated each other,and were in a constant state of war. They were well matched, andlocked in a stalemate for decades when the Kingdom of the Eastfound the Tome of Power. The Tome of Power was a book thatcontained information on how to tap a power that no one had knowneven existed. It was a kind of energy that flowed through andaround everything. Using the information in the book, it wasdiscovered that some people were gifted with the ability to tap andchannel this power. This gave the Kingdom of the East a powerfulweapon to use against their hated enemy. Seven men were trained inwhat became known as the art of Sorcery. Those seven men wieldedgreat power, the like of which had never been seen before, and theycould conjure up foul beasts from the underworld to do battle forthem. They could even animate the dead to continue to fight. It wasnot long before the Kingdom of the West was completely overthrown.The sorcerers then turned on their own king and seized the thronefor themselves. That ushered in an era of darkness where the entireknown world was forced into slavery. No one could resist theirpower.

“Then one day a young man appeared on thescene. History does not record much about him, but we know that hehad great power of his own. His power surpassed even the combinedpower of the seven sorcerers, effortlessly turning back theirbeasts and spells. The sorcerers never came out to fight him,preferring to send their slaves to do it, but none of them couldhurt him. He took on twelve apprentices to whom he taught his art.Once he felt they were sufficiently trained, he left. History doesnot record where he went, but we do know that the twelve moved toattack the sorcerers with great speed. Five of them were killed inthe battles that followed, but they soon forced the sorcerers intohiding. It was then they took to calling themselves wizards.

“With the sorcerers gone, the seven remainingwizards freed the lands from the dark curses of the sorcerers andissued in an era of peace. The wizards began to train others intheir arts so that there would always be someone around to defendthe lands against the sorcerers should they return. The long andunbroken peace lulled the wizards into a false sense of safety, andthey became lax in their vigil. Secretly the sorcerers returned,and following the example of the wizards began training others intheir arts. Then one day they struck. Instead of just sevensorcerers there were hundreds, and they brought all kinds of foulcreatures with them. The wizards rallied to defend the land butwere forced to retreat from the northern continent.

“That brings us to where we sit today. TheSecond Great War between the wizards and the sorcerers is stuck ata perpetual stalemate. Both sides are scrambling to find someadvantage over the other, and it seems we are doomed to relive thehistory all over again.”

“Okay, let me take a guess. The ones we callthe Magi, you call sorcerers?” I asked.

“The title ‘Magi’ has been taken to refer toanyone who can tap the energy, so both wizards and sorcerers areconsidered to be Magi.”

“So it seems your war has spilled over intoour Empire. Why?” I asked.

“Remember how this all started, how theKingdom of the East and the Kingdom of the West were locked in astalemate until the Tome of Power was found? The sorcerers aretrying to repeat that feat now to break this stalemate. We do notknow what they are looking for, or why they think they can find itin your Empire, but they are searching for something they thinkwill give them the edge again. Of course that means we are doingeverything we can to discover what they are looking for and claimit before they do. The obvious question to ask next is why wewatched your fight with them and did not help. After all, the enemyof an enemy is a friend.” He paused to take out a small box from ahidden pocket in his robe. “Well, the answer is simple; to do sowould devastate your lands. Let me show you something.” He traced asquare in the air that somehow turned into a window. The view outthe window was not something you would ever want to see. It was awar-torn land that looked like it could never again support life.The window faded and he said, “If we come and meet them in battlethere, all your worlds could look like that.” He let that commenthang in the air.

I knew the power of the sorcerers, and if thewizards were equally powerful, then Mantis’ fear could very well berealized. “So the alternative is to sit back and hope you find thisnew weapon before they do?” I asked.

“Not a good plan, I know, but until recentlyit was the best plan we had.” He stopped and sighed. I could tellhe was about to ask us to do something distasteful to him. “Thereis a better plan, but it will require all of you, and could verywell be the death of you.”

“Mantis, we are Imperial soldiers. Death willnot deter us from defending the Empire. It is obvious your enemyhas made us an enemy, making us your friend for now. What is yourplan?” I asked.

“In this box are seven rings. These are notordinary rings, as you might guess. If you take them from the boxand put them on, you will be signifying your acceptance of myproposal.” He pushed the box towards me, paused and looked us over.“Until recently, we knew nothing of your Empire or of any of theother nations existing in your universe. About fifty years ago wediscovered that the sorcerers had begun to take an interest in you,so we investigated. At that time we saw no evidence that there wereany Magi in your realm, so we were baffled by the sorcerers’interest. We assumed they must be looking for reinforcements. Soonafter, we discovered why they were searching your realm so heavily,and this worried us, so we began to study you closely. It was thenthat we learned of the Black Adders, and realized that any move thesorcerers made in your realm would start with them. So we planted aspy on the colony to monitor the situation for us. When thesorcerers made their move and took over the colony, our spy waskilled with the rest. We thought the Black Adders had been wipedout. This was very troubling, as there was no one left in yourrealm capable of defending it. So we began searching for a planthat could save your realm without jeopardizing our owndefenses.

“Well, I won’t bore you with the details; Iwill just say we came up with no plan that you would like. That allchanged the day we discovered Vydor. It was obvious to us that hewas gifted with the power to be a Magus, so we began to watcheverything unfold. Then when he met up with the six of you, we hadour answer.” He stopped to drink some more. “I should clearsomething up first; what you call psionics and what we call magicis one and the same. You are all Magi in your own right. Untrainedand inexperienced, but that will all come with time. What we areproposing to you is that you seven form a new Council of Wizardsfor your realm. This is not a position to take lightly. If youagree to it, everything that you are and believe will change. Asthe ruling Council of Wizards you will answer to no mortal. Youwill have to break your allegiance to your Empire, your families,and everyone else. You will stand alone with only each other todepend on. This is important to ensure that the Council can actalways in the best interest of the entire realm, and not just thoseof one political group.

“A Council of Wizards has three primaryobjectives. First and foremost is to prevent the sorcerers fromever getting a foothold in your realm. Should they ever get afoothold, you must do everything in your power to remove them.Second, you need to master all aspects of magic, not just each ofyour specialties. Finally, you must maintain absolute authority andpower over all forms and uses of magic in your realm. To accomplishall this you will eventually need to raise an army of wizards, andappoint them to control sections of your realm, with wizards intraining under them as their replacements. We can provide you withthe details of how we worked all that out here. That will get youstarted, but you will probably need to tailor it to your realm. Theresult of this will be to force the sorcerers into a war on twofronts and give both of us the edge we need to win safety for bothour realms. If you should all accept our proposal, I will appointVydor as grandmaster of the Council, in keeping with the ranks youhave already established.” He paused and looked around the room. Noone said anything, as we were trying to digest what he hadsaid.

Then he looked at me and said, “Vydor, youhave already surpassed the others with the little bit of power youhave learned to use. You see, each of you has all the powers of theothers, and more. You just need proper training to unlock them.” Hestopped there and looked like he was waiting for a reply.

“All this assumes they do not find thisweapon they are looking for,” I said.

“Of course both our forces will have tosearch constantly for that, too. If it is what they think it is,then whoever finds it wins the war.” He paused there and thencontinued, “It also assumes that each of you has a strong moralcore which extends well beyond our primary objectives. You must allswear to strive to do good in every way, without counting the cost.Based on what I know of each of you I am not concerned about this,but it must be said.”

“What if they have the same idea and plant aCouncil of Sorcerers?” I asked.

“Then we risk them raising a second army ofsorcerers, which would force us back into a stalemate, this timewith both our realms devastated by the war. That is why they mustnever get a permanent foothold in your realm. The lives of everyonein your realm and ours depend on your preventing that,” was hisreply.

“Assuming that we accept this burden, how dowe get back there, and what will our first move be?” I asked.

“The plan is simple. Right now the sorcerersthink you are all dead. We will wait for the planet to be destroyedby your armies, which I consider a most devious plan! They have noidea that it is coming because they do not consider floating rocksto be a threat. The confusion of the forced rapid withdrawal, andthe devastation to their number caused by it will give us anopportunity to slip you back into your realm unnoticed,” was hisresponse. “After that you must work to build your own power quicklywhile trying to find out what you can about this weapon they seek.As yet, you lack the skill to combat them, so you must avoid anydirect confrontation until you have sufficient knowledge to put upa fight. This may mean letting them take over another planet andgetting a small foothold. I know that contradicts what I havealready said, but we have to face reality. If you met them in adirect fight now, you would all be killed, and that would hand therealm over to them.” He stood and looked around the room again,then continued, “Now I know I have given you a lot of informationto consider. I will leave you to talk about it alone.” He pulled asmall bell out of another hidden pocket and said, “Ring this bellwhen you are ready for me to return. Until then you are safe here.Rest, eat, and think.” With that he left the room.

I could tell no one was really sure what todo next, so I reached out mentally to the others and said,“Everyone, eat and get some sleep. I do not want anyone to talkabout this right now. Each of you must think about what we havebeen told. We will meet back around this table in twelve hours. Atthat time we will discuss this idea fully and freely without regardto rank. When Kellyn wakes, I will brief her on what has transpiredwhile she rested.”