The Enemy of an Enemy

Chapter Twenty-Seven

My alarm told me that it was time to get up,but I had not had much sleep. I spent the night fighting offnightmares. Ready or not, we would be leaving soon, so I headed upto the bridge.

When I arrived, everyone except Kellyn wasthere; apparently she was still in the clinic curing people. “Wewill launch when Kellyn is finished. Darnath, is the jump routelaid in?”

“Yes, everything should be set,” heresponded.

“Okay, just a word of warning. Kellyn and Iwill not be meditating before the jump, so you will have to handleeverything during our recovery.”

“Vydor, only Darnath needs to be awakeafter the jump to execute the second jump. The rest of us willstand with you,” said Andreya.

“The six of us bring a lot of power to thetable. Your demon does not stand a chance against the united forceof the Council of Wizards,” declared Gafar.

I looked at each of them as they allindicated they would not let me stand alone, and I was touched bytheir dedication. “You are right, for if any of us tries tostand alone, we will fall,” I said. I was not sure where thatcame from; someplace deep inside me, some forgotten corner of mymemory.

Not long after, Kellyn returned and came upto the bridge. She looked lovingly at everyone and said, “Thankyou.”

I contacted the station and requestedpermission to launch, to which the reply came that we were clear todo so. “Gafar, engage stealth mode and take us out.” It wasimportant that we did not give away the location of where we hadbeen staying, since everyone knew we had come to meet with theEmperor. After we cleared the station I said, “Best speed tojump space.”

“I estimate ten minutes until we canjump,” said Gafar.

“Wow, this ship is impressive. It wouldhave taken an hour with the Dark Talon,” I replied. The shipdid not lurch forward like the Dark Talon did; it was a very smoothand even acceleration. The only indication of the change in speedwas a slight change in pitch of the engines, which were anever-present background noise.

“Jumping in ten, nine, eight, seven, six…” As Darnath counted down I felt four sets of hands beingplaced on my back, and Kellyn grabbed my hand with both of hers.“…three, two…”

Suddenly we were in jump space, and this timeI turned completely around and faced the demon head-on. I lookedhim right in the eye and called out, “Not this time!”

I lowered my right hand at him and cast agreat bolt of energy directly at him that pushed him back quite abit, but he recovered quickly and charged. Then I felt powerpouring into me from the others, and I grabbed all that power andcast the bolt again. This time the blast hit him hard enough toknock me back and keep him at a very great distance. Just then theship dropped back into normal space, quickly reentering jump spaceas we executed our second jump.

This time the dark specter was standingcalmly at a great distance. He just stood there staring me down, asif to say, “Time is on my side. I will have you sooner or later.”This time I looked to the other spirit that followed me, and helooked greatly pleased. It was as if he was basking in the lightfrom the love and support of my fellow wizards. Before I could tryto talk to him, we reentered normal space.

Once we had all recovered, I saw Darnathlooking very anxious to know what had happened. I turned to him andsaid, “Round one goes to the Council of Wizards!” Thisbrought much cheering and exchanges of high fives.

“Vydor, I want you to know we are in thisfor the long haul. We realize that we will have to do this duringevery jump until we have victory, but victory will be ours as longas we remember what you said about standing alone,” saidAndreya.

“Thank you, Andreya, that means a lot tome. Darnath, what is our ETA to the Dragon Claw from here?” Iasked.

“I expect we will meet up with the DragonClaw in about seven days,” he responded. “Our next jump willbe in thirteen hours, as we have to coast by this neutron fieldbefore we can jump again.”

“Kellyn, please join me in the ready room.I think we have some news to discuss with the captain.” Theready room was a room off to the side of the bridge that was usedprimarily as an office for the captain of the ship. On our ship wehad no real use for it, but I thought it would be more proper touse that for this conversation than the general viewing screen.Mundane people really did not understand that they never talked tojust one of us, so they naturally felt more comfortable with moreprivate settings. I guess it helped them to forget how different wewere.

I took my seat in front of the screen whileKellyn put us through.

“Greetings, Master Vydor,” said the captain.I was surprised at his use of the formal title. I wondered if hewas trying to get used to my new position.

“Hello, Captain. Now that we are en route Ican talk a bit more freely,” I said.

“That is good to hear. When do you think youwill get here?” he asked.

“Darnath estimates seven days on our presentcourse. We are currently coasting by a gravity well and will not beable to jump again for thirteen hours,” I said.

“We have lost all contact with Terathan XV.This is playing out exactly like Arken IV. I would like to getthere as soon as possible. Is there any way you can get heresooner?” he asked.

“Well, this is the shortest route that thestation’s computers found for us. I could ask Darnath to see if hecan work out a faster one,” I said.

“I hear you are in a Raven. If I estimateyour location correctly, I think you can make it in four days.”

“Well, it is a Raven Mark II, actually, so wehave twenty-five per cent greater jump range than a Mark I.”

“Excellent, then you should have no problemwith this shorter route.”

“Well it seems you have a better database ofroutes than we were given access to. If you can send it, that wouldbe great.”

“I will get one of my officers to contactDarnath and they can work it out.”

“Captain, now that is out of the way, I havea personal request to make of you.”

“Certainly, Vydor,” he answered.

“Kellyn, come sit by me,” I saidprivately. Once she was settled I turned to the captain and said,“Captain, let me properly introduce to you Master Kellyn, formerlyof the Black Adders, and now master wizard and member of theCouncil of Wizards.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, MasterKellyn,” he said.

She smiled and said, “Thank you, I am surethe honor is all mine.”

“Captain, would you do us the honor ofmarrying us?” I asked.

“Vydor, I would be honored!” he said with abig grin. “You can use our wedding chapel and all our facilitieshere.”

“Thank you, Captain, but Kellyn wants to getmarried here in her private garden,” I said.

“Well, I have done many weddings in my timeand one thing I have learned is that you never argue with thebride. If Kellyn wants it in her garden, then I will do it nowhereelse. Kellyn, if it would be acceptable to you, I would like tohost your reception here in our banquet hall. There are a lot ofVydor’s old shipmates who will want to come.”

“Captain, that is a most gracious offer, andI am happy to accept. Invite all whom you feel proper to thereception, but please only yourself, Zalith, and Dr. Rannor to theactual wedding. My garden is not big enough to hold many, and wewill already have the seven of us,” was her reply.

“Wonderful, then it is all set. Carol willcontact you about the arrangements after you arrive,” he said.

“Captain, can you ask Carol to contactAndreya instead? She is handling the arrangements for Kellyn,” Isaid.

“Thank you, Vydor,” responded Kellynprivately.

“Certainly. I must get back to my dutieshere, but I look forward to seeing you in a few days’ time,” hesaid and we wrapped up the call.

“FOUR DAYS??? HOW AM I GOING TO PLAN THISIN FOUR DAYS?!?!?” started Kellyn. Being the grandmasterwizard, supposedly with more power and knowledge than any othermortal in the realm, I knew exactly what to do. I called in Andreyato help with Kellyn’s panic attack, and slipped out.

I headed back to my quarters, planning to getsome rest. When I entered my room I saw the book on my shelf. Ithad been over a year since I had first cast the spell which allowedme to read it, but I had not yet opened the cover. Something insidetold me I was not ready yet, and still warned me against it.Logically there was no reason to worry; it was just a book, but Icould not get past that feeling that it was not yet the right time.Yet I knew in some way that this book had the answers I needed.

Just as I decided to sit and read it, I hearda voice come over our intercom. “Vydor, I just got off the linewith the Dragon Claw, and we have a nice data stream coming inupdating all of our navigational data. It seems likely with theupdated maps we can be clear of this field in six hours and shouldmake it to the Dragon Claw’s present position in about three days.”It was odd to actually hear a voice on this ship and it took me aminute to place it as Darnath’s. He had to use that to contact mebecause I was in my quarters.

“Thank you for the update, Darnath. As youheard the captain say, we need to get there as soon as we can, sotake whichever course is fastest. I am going to get some sleep. Asksomeone to wake me before the next jump,” I responded.

“Sure thing, Vydor,” he replied.

I looked again at the book. It was not veryremarkable from the outside. In fact, compared to the books fromMantis, it was downright plain. I thumbed through it brieflywithout really reading it and it seemed to be a collection ofshorter books. Well, that would have to wait until after thismission. I could not afford to be distracted by a new project justyet.