Sac'a'rith (3 page)

“Special Agent Byron,” said the stranger.

“I knew you weren’t dead!” shouted Ragnar.

“Are you sure it’s Byron?” I asked.

“He talks just like him, his recollection of events matches what Byron would have remembered, AND he has Byron’s command codes. Who else could it be?” asked Ragnar.

“Thanks, Ragnar,” said the stranger. “I am known as Greymere now. The Byron identity must remain dead to protect those who helped me.”

“Understood,” said Ragnar. “Where are you?”

“I am on board the Nemesis with thirty or so magi and we need Zah’rak’s help,” he said. “We are near Hospital Station. Are you close by?”

“Ragnar, are you sure this is Byron?”
I sent privately. I wanted to believe our old friend was still alive, but it would be a dangerous mistake to be wrong about this.

“Like I said, I can’t read his aura through this device, but it sure seems like it to me,”
he sent back.

“But why doesn’t it look or sound like him?”
I sent.

“If it is he, then he can’t risk being discovered in this body any more than he could in his previous one. Remember that everyone out here wants to kill him because of his race,”
he sent.

“How can we be sure?”
I asked.

“If I see him with my own eyes, I will know the truth,”
he sent.

I turned my focus back to the comm. “We can meet with you in two days at the following coordinates. Then Ragnar can read your aura and we will know the truth of this matter.” I then sent him our current coordinates.

“Master Dusty, does that work for us?” Greymere asked of someone off-screen.

“Yes,” came the answer.

“Okay, Zah’rak; see you in two days,” said Greymere.

“Did he say ‘Master Dusty?’” asked Ragnar.

“Agreed,” I said and Greymere cut the channel.

“I believe so, why?” I asked.

“If he means THE Master Dusty, that is big news!” he said.

“Who is this Dusty?” I asked.

“Master Dusty is third in command of the Wizard Kingdom’s naval force,” he said.

“Would that mean that Byron, or whatever he’s called now, is aboard a naval craft?” I asked.

“Most likely,” said Ragnar.

“Crivreen, can you hide us from them?” I asked.

“If we shut down most of our power systems and give the ship time to cool before they arrive, we will look like just another piece of space debris and their sensors should automatically filter us out of their reports,” he said.

“Do it, then,” I said.

“Why are we going to hide if we intend to meet them here?” asked Ragnar.

“I want the option to abort if we need it.” I left the bridge and went down to the room I had converted into my shop. We had just picked up some more supplies and I was experimenting with new materials, trying to improve our armor. The basic combination of leather, spider silk and cotton worked well to enchant our battle suits, but I wanted to know if there were other things I could use for different effects.

It was the perfect project to work on with the Night Wisp running on lower power, as the process of enchantment would only work if I used all natural tools and only my bare hands. Any power tool or artificial part in the process would ruin the enchantment.

The two days passed without event. Ragnar and Crivreen were excited about the prospect of meeting real wizards, but Felix was cautious. He had a real problem with authority and didn’t trust any military craft, even if the ‘dead’ Byron was on board.

It was hard to tell what Shira thought of the whole thing. She worked hard to help out around the ship, but showed very few signs of emotion. I knew she was plagued by nightmares, but she refused to talk about them. Her years of service as a slave to a necromancer must have left a terrible legacy, and I could only imagine what haunted her at night.

Eventually the time came for our meeting with Greymere and we agreed for him to fly over solo. If it really was Greymere, then crossing the hard vacuum of space should be easy for him, as his race was born and lived out its life in deep space.

We all gathered at the airlock to greet whoever this was. I set the exterior door to open, and a man floated into the airlock without a space suit.

“Only Byron could do that,” remarked Crivreen.

“Or any other of his species,” added Felix.

“Be ready,” I said and cycled the airlock to let him in.

As he walked onto the Night Wisp, Greymere asked, “Okay, satisfied?”

“It is definitely Byron,” Ragnar said.

Crivreen, Ragnar and I had a flurry of questions for him, and eventually we extracted from him the information that his race had been discovered by an underling who wanted his job. He knew that exposure of his race would lead to the discovery of those who had helped him, and that could land them in jail or worse.

After a short while he steered the conversation to the situation at hand. “Over there, cloaked, is the Nemesis, with magi on board who range from new apprentices to highly-trained wizards. More to the point, they have spell books for all the major spell lines.”

I felt as if I could jump out of my scales. “Even mine?”

“Yes, and that’s why we are here,” he said. “In a recent trip to the Spirit Realm my armor was destroyed and I need a new set. Master Dusty and Master Spectra, my superiors, would like to barter for new armor for me and also some spares. So what do you say, knowledge for armor?”

“Hold on,” interjected Ragnar. “Did you just say ‘Master Dusty and Master Spectra’?”

“Yes,” he said. “Do you know them?”

“Master Dusty is third in command of the Wizards Kingdom’s Navy, and Master Spectra is his wife. I never met them, but they are famous,” he said.

“Would you like to meet them?” he asked. “We can dock the two ships together and our cloak will more than cover the Night Wisp.” The Night Wisp was a much smaller ship than the Nemesis, so the additional mass and energy that the cloak would need to cover it was relatively small.

Crivreen almost jumped out of his armor when he said that. “You mean we can meet real wizards?”

“As real as you are,” he said.

“I’ll go right up to the bridge!” responded Crivreen. “Just ask them to contact me so we can interlink our computers, and we can be docked in no time.”

As Crivreen ran off Greymere turned to me. “Just to warn you, Nemesis is a special kind of ship and, well, not all its occupants are what you would describe as normal; but they are all my friends, so don’t be afraid.”

“What would I have to be afraid of?” I asked.

He just smiled and said, “You’ll see.”

Crivreen worked with someone on their side to dock the Night Wisp to the Nemesis and came down to join us at the airlock. Felix stated that someone should stay behind and make sure the Night Wisp was secure and headed towards the bridge. I assumed that meant he was volunteering for the job.

Master Dusty and Master Spectra met us at the airlock and, once he’d been introduced to them, Ragnar bowed deeply and said, “I am honored to meet you both. I have heard many tales of your adventures, but never expected to be fortunate enough to come into your presence.”

A human woman with red hair walked into the room and said, “Ragnar? What are you doing here?”

“Shea? I should ask you the same!” he said.

“So you two know each other?” asked Greymere.

“Ragnar used to buy potions from me back in Korshalemia, but I have not seen him in many seasons,” she said.

“How is your brother? Is he here, too?” asked Ragnar.

“No, he stayed behind,” she replied and they wandered off to catch up on old times.

Greymere gave us a tour of the Nemesis and introduced us to Nanny and Nemesis himself. Once that was finished, we left Shira and Criveen in the mess hall with Nanny while Zah’rak, Master Dusty, Master Spectra and I moved into a conference room.

“A ghost cook and a living ship,” I commented. “No wonder you warned me!”

“Masters, Zah’rak and I used to hunt wraiths together,” Greymere informed them and then related some of our adventures.

“A table?’ exclaimed Master Dusty. “Describe it to me.”

When he had done so, Master Spectra said, “I found none out this way. How long ago did you destroy it?”

“It was sometime in November of last year,” I said.

“That was before we went searching for the others,” said Master Dusty. He explained that they had found and destroyed several of the tables.

“So our fates have been intertwined for some time now,” I said.

“It seems so,” said Greymere.

“As for armor, I only have two sets ready right now; they are not quite as good as what you are wearing,” I said.

“That’s fine,” said Master Dusty. “I will give you a datapad that contains instructions on how to make not only these suits but also the jewelry we use as standard equipment. We will take what you have now, and when you have more sets of armor ready we will pick those up.”

“How many are you looking for?” I asked.

“Three dozen,” he said.

This was a much bigger undertaking than I had ever previously considered. I didn’t even know how to estimate the work it would involve. “That will take a lot of time and materials.”

“The instructions in the book will help with that, I am sure,” said Master Dusty.

“Ragnar?”
I sent, probing for his mind. Ragnar could not start up a telepathic conversation, but if one of us initiated it he could then communicate with us.

“Yes
?
”
he replied.

I informed him of the offer made by Master Dusty and asked him,
“What do you think?”

“Take it. If nothing else, befriending people so high up in the Wizard Kingdom will be very beneficial to our future dealings,”
he replied.
“While I have you here: I think I have found some help for Shira. Shea has taken on the role of counselor for the Wizards and she is meeting privately now with Shira.”

Before I could ask him more Master Spectra said, “We hope to make this an ongoing deal. As we grow we will need more and more magical supplies, and Greymere trusts you so we are happy to give you the business.”

“Tell me later; I must finalize this deal, but that sounds great!”
I sent privately to Ragnar and then said, “This datapad: may I see it?”

Master Dusty slid the datapad over to me and said, “It is all on that.”

I flipped through the screens for a few moments. I would guess there was more information there about magic than in all the rest of the region; not only complete instructions for how to make armor, but also what looked like the basics for many different powers which Crivreen and the others had started to teach me. “It would take me a lifetime to learn all this.”

“Then, if you don’t mind, start with the armor,” said Master Dusty with a grin.

“Do we have a deal, then?” asked Master Spectra.

“Absolutely,” I said.

After making arrangements with Master Dusty to report on the progress of the armor and arranging for delivery, I met Ragnar and Crivreen at the airlock. Apparently Master Spectra wasn’t concerned about the possible distance between our ships, and would pick up the armor in person when I had the sets ready.

“Where’s Shira?” I asked as we boarded the Night Wisp.

“She’s still with Shea and will be along shortly,” said Ragnar.

“Shea?” I asked.

“Yeah. As I mentioned, Shea and I spent some time together back home. She is
apparently serving as their co
unselor, so I asked her to speak with Shira.”

“She know we’re leaving?” That was good. Shira had been withdrawn ever since we’d killed her former master. She was a hard worker and dedicated member of the team, but it was obvious she was deeply wounded by her time as a slave to a necromancer. I had served as a slave myself for most of my life, but that was to mundane humans, not a lord of the dead.

“Not sure, but Shea will make sure she gets back to us,” he said. “Did you get the spell books?”

Before I could answer, I heard the airlock cycle behind us to let Shira onto the Night Wisp. She was carrying a large box that I didn’t recognize.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, just a gift from Shea,” she said. “I’ll look through it later.”

“Felix, detach us and pull away,” I said over the comm.

“Sure. What heading?” he asked.

“Um, how about one-two-three mark four,” I said.

Ragnar rolled his eyes at that and Crivreen chuckled.

Shira seemed a bit brighter, but it might have just been my imagination. She had put the box down and was sitting on it.

“Yes, Ragnar, I got the datapad,” I said.

“What datapad?” asked Crivreen.

Felix came down from the bridge and said, “Okay, course to nowhere set, and we’re making great time.”

“I agreed to make them some armor in exchange for spell books,” I said.

“Real spell books?” asked Crivreen.

“Well, as real as this datapad here in my hands. On it is the basic information for all spell lines, including mine. They lost their armor vendor and want me to take over.”

“Their armor looks different to the type you make. I would assume it’s better?” queried Crivreen.

“Yes. On this pad are the instructions for making it,” I said, swiping through the screens until I brought up the correct formula. “Looks like I need diamond and gold dust to make it, in addition to what we already use.”

“Well, diamonds are easy enough to make from common carbon, and gold is pretty cheap, so that should be easy to get,” said Felix.

“That won’t work,” said Ragnar. “The diamonds have to be natural.”

“Natural diamonds? I wouldn’t even know where to look for them,” said Felix. “I’m sure they would be extremely expensive if we could find them, and how would we know if they were real?’

“I’d be able to tell, as would Zah’rak,” said Ragnar.

“Great; still, though, how will we find any?” asked Felix.

A quiet voice spoke, so out of place that I almost missed it. “I know where.”

I looked over to where Shira was sitting looking down at her feet. Normally, by now she would have wandered off to be alone. I summoned up my most gentle voice and said, “Where, Shira?”