Wizard (The Key to Magic) (16 page)

She awarded him a half hopeful look. "I could go with you."

"That's not possible."

Drawing back slightly, she pressed her lips together, pursed them back and forth in agitation for a moment, then shrugged. "You're right. I'll be better off if I'm not in the company of the two most wanted men in Dhiloeckmyur. I know some people that know some people that can get me out of the city. Anyway, I deserve a holiday." She went to the door. "Byon, look me up in six months at the Bazaar."

The man grinned. "I'll do that."

She opened the door, went right, and was gone.

EIGHTEEN

2170 by the Common Reckoning

(3211 Before the Founding of the Empire)

Secured City of Dhiloeckmyur

Seething, Nali stepped into the lift. "Lobby."

After the lift started down, she cast the beacon charm. "
Mhashlecklsha!
"

Zso appeared in the corner. "I see that all is proceeding well."

"I went through all that for nothing!" Nali accused, flushing. "He threw me aside like an old shoe!"

"Leaving you, who he has every reason to believe is a capable and resourceful person, to your own devices is not the same as being cast out like rubbish, my dear Nali," the wizard countered. "The outcome of this episode actually indicates substantial progress toward our goal. There was a significant though not overwhelming probability that he would just leave you in the cell. That he did not do so indicates some concern for your wellbeing."

"If he thinks anything about me at all, I can't tell it and I normally can read men very well. I may be crazy, but somehow I get the feeling that he doesn't think that I'm actually real."

"In point of fact, to him you are not. You will understand this eventually. This is a race of baby steps, my dear, and the finish is a long while yet. There are many elements of the plan that have still to unfold. When all is in readiness, he will be receptive and you will be there."

"If you had allowed me to take a more direct approach, he'd be more than receptive
now
."

"The probability that an overt attempt at seduction would fail has increased by thirteen percentage points since the monks' last calculation and now stands at ninety-eight percent -- a virtual certainty. For various genetic and experiential reasons that would take too long to explain, Mar has greater mental acuity than the average man. One side-effect of this is that he has a vise-like grip on his own impulses, romantic and otherwise. Your normal arsenal of temptations will have no effect, as I am sure that you have already determined. You must follow the plan."

Nali sighed. "What now?"

"You have the pleasure of accompanying me again."

"Will it hurt as bad as the last time?" She gave an involuntary shudder.

"No, my dear, this time it will be most restful."

NINETEEN

Byon used the stolen comm in a service tunnel beneath the apartment building.

Curious about the magic, Mar watched as the man keyed the spell with a sequence of taps that used the four fingers of his right hand. Focusing on the flux modulation, he listened with only half an ear as Byon spoke into the device.

"Kaliope. Eight. Oxbow. Three."

"Scaffold. Six."
The answering voice that sprang from the air near the device was overlaid with a low pitched buzz that made it impossible to determine whether it was a man or a woman.

"I'm in play."

"How?"

"The individual that you sent. He wants to meet."

"Regular place and time foxhound. Understand?"

"Yes." Byon rubbed his thumb across the ovoid, canceling the spell, then dropped the device and kicked it away.

"Midnight," he informed Mar. "I'll lead you to the place. It'll take at least two hours on foot, so we had better get moving."

"Can you locate the spot from the air?"

"Of course. You want to fly?"

"I certainly don't want to walk for two hours."

"We'll be spotted. And there are wards all over the area that we have to pass through."

"I have a strong glamour that will keep us from being seen. That's why the
automatons
-- I think you call them drones -- didn't follow us when we fled the Faction stronghold. We'll steer wide of the towers and I should be able to sense any strong spells in time to divert around them. We won't have any trouble."

Mar's prediction proved accurate and the trip was uneventful. Like Mhajhkaei save only tenfold more so, Dhiloeckmyur was a city that went about its business all through the night. The promenades and ground level streets were lit as bright as a sunny morning with floating lamps and the pedestrian traffic diminished only marginally. As far as he could tell, his glamour continued to conceal the two of them from all eyes as they swooped over and through the spiderwork.

The building to which Byon directed him was another unremarkable structure similar in its external facade to the
water treatment plant
, with its entrance equally unobserved. Like the warehouse, the interior of this new magical marvel was another vast open space inhabited by legions of mindless, uncaring
automatons
and contained what he could only think of as a farm. Troughs filled with orange-glowing liquid were arranged in rows that covered the entire floor and rose in levels suspended from nothing up to the roof. Lit bright enough to cause him to squint, the entire farm produced a single crop that he believed must be a type of bean.

"Since we're early, will we have to wait?" Mar asked Byon, thinking about trying to go out to buy something to eat.

"No, they'll know that we're here."

Byon led him down a stair and along a circuitous, constricted route through a cellar crowded with stuttering pumps and humming pipelines. In just a few minutes, they came to a small room tucked into a corner.

Apparently a storeroom, the bright, gray-walled chamber had a few dozen dust-covered metal barrels stacked to one side. Here they found the group of unnamed already present. The five were standing together but not speaking and were watching the door as if they had known exactly when Mar and Byon would enter.

With a squeal of joy, Young Woman instantly dashed forward to envelope Byon in an embrace that he energetically reciprocated. The hug contained affection rather than passion and seeing the two standing together, Mar could readily identify a familial resemblance. As their ages were similar, he guessed them to be siblings.

While the two continued their quiet but emotional reunion, he turned to the other four. "I've completed your task. I'm ready for you to make good on your end of the bargain."

Bearded Man held up a hand in negation. "There was no bargain. We made no promises."

Mar's expression hardened. "I could always put Byon back where I found him."

Clearly discomfited by the prospect, Byon disengaged from his sister. "I would prefer that you didn't."

"It's a bluff," Auburn Hair declared.

"Let's not let this triumph descend into conflict," Short Man urged in a soothing tone. "We're all on the same side here."

"The only side that I am on is my own," Mar said.

Short Man nodded in accommodation. "But like us you oppose the Faction and the wise thing to do would be to form an alliance."

Young Woman, Byon's sister, spoke up with enthusiasm. "We'd like to ask you to join us. We want you to become a part of our righteous crusade to end the scourge of tyranny on this continent."

"We -- those of us here and many others throughout the provinces -- are members of a secret movement whose goal is to combat the evils of the Oaurlervy Faction," Short Man explained. "We seek the overthrow of the illegal dictatorial regime and the reinstitution of popular government in the Commonwealth."

Mar threw up his hands before the serial argument could gain ramming speed. "None of that has anything to do with me. The only thing that I am interested in from you is instruction in wizardry."

Auburn Hair twitched in a way that was almost dismissive. "Under the current circumstance, putting you in contact with a wizard is not as easy as you make it sound. The borders of the Commonwealth are constantly patrolled and the frontier wards are some of the strongest in the world. Getting a single message out takes months. Smuggling a person out might take as much as a year of preparation."

"I don't have time to wait."

In every sense of the word, this was true. More than ever, he felt a compulsion to return to his own age. If he could find no one to teach him, then he would attempt wizardry once more on his own and work, as he had done with all of his magic, to learn what he needed to know. Though he had hoped for a sample to carry with him, he believed that his delving of the
rifle
at the Bazaar had given him sufficient understanding of its spells, mechanical parts, and alchemical components to eventually recreate it. He would be able to give the armsmen of the Empire weapons that would combat the Brotherhood's steel beetles and he had no further need to tarry here in this lost age. It was long passed time to return to where he belonged.

"You took the time to rescue Byon and I, at least, am extremely grateful for that," Young Woman said. "Can you not spare just a bit more time to allow us to make our case?"

Mar clenched his jaws together, but turned out one hand in an uncaring gesture.

"Every sorcerer on this continent is a member of the Faction or has been killed by the yellow jackets," Byon told him with earnest sincerity. "They have established a near monopoly on higher order magic and absolutely control the production of all everyday magical devices."

"We are a people oppressed by our own common technology," Auburn Hair groused. "No aspect of our lives can proceed without monitoring and oversight. Any attempt at creating new spells or utilizing devices that violate the Faction's Internal Magic Regulations is instantly suppressed."

"The yellow jackets come in broad day and drag people away," Young Woman said. "Most of those people are never seen again. Our parents were taken four years ago and we've heard nothing of them since."

Short Man's expression worked as if he were wrestling with grief. "A lot of people have disappeared. Even children."

"The yellow jackets have slaughtered their way to power," Bearded Man said. "Only force will be able to drive them from it."

Byon again took up the plea. "We can and will fight, but without sorcerers of our own, any rebellion that we raise will be put down immediately by the combat trained Compliance Officers. Our only chance is to recruit equally powerful sorcerers to our cause. While we could hire foreign mercenaries, we could not trust them not to betray us for higher pay."

None of this moved Mar. The people and things that mattered to him and the evil that he had to fight were waiting on the other side of undertime. The story of these people -- their every struggle and failure -- was already written and discarded by time. They were all five thousand years dead. "I am not your man."

Auburn Hair was not ready to accept defeat. "Let us investigate what would be required to place you in direct contact with a foreign wizard. It may turn out that it would take only a few days."

Mar made a face.

"We have access to scholarly works that should provide some understanding of the school," Short Man suggested.

"I can't read your language."

Auburn Hair began to look desperate. "It will require a great effort, but we can --"

"Enough!"
Mar's outburst silenced the rebels. "
There is no time
. Not for me. Not for you."

Eyes flaring, Byon's sister stared down Auburn Hair when the latter woman looked as if she would start up again.

"As believers in individual liberty," the young woman declared, "we
must of course
respect your decision." She took her brother's hand. "We owe you a debt that our movement evidently can't repay, but if there is anything that my brother and I can do for you, you have but to ask."

Auburn Hair did not try to conceal her anger. "We're done here?"

Mar returned her hard expression. "With me you are."

Without another word, the woman ported away.

Wearing near identical scowls of disappointment, Short Man and Bearded Man immediately followed.

"As I told Nali, I can often be found in the Bazaar -- when it's back in operation," Byon told Mar with a parting nod. His sister touched her port bracelet and the pair of them winked out.

Somewhat surprisingly, Old Man did not immediately port after his fellows. Using a rough, raspy voice, he spoke for the first time. "You deserve something for your trouble."

With one motion, Old Man took an object from a pocket and tossed it toward Mar, then immediately ported.

Mar stopped time, halting the glinting shape mid-tumble, and read its modulations; it was not unthinkable that the
something
was a flux weapon of some sort intended to eliminate the risk that he represented to the security of the rebel cause. Although it teased a faint mist of several trace modulations, the
something
evidenced no complete spell, so he allowed the flow of time to resume and raised his hand to catch it.

Shaped like a fat rod, it was light enough to be hollow and when his fingers closed around it, he felt the cold, slick surface of metal. He brought his hand down and examined what the rebels had left him "for his trouble."

Its yellow surface shining in the light, the
something
was a brass cylinder.

TWENTY

As far as Mar could determine, the cylinder was identical in size and fashioning to the two that he had found in his own time. With an apparently identical alloy, the base color of the metal was the same, but this one's luster was clear. Unmarred by scratches or the patina of tarnish, it looked as if it had not long come from the craftsman's workbench. When he grasped it, the end cap came free with a familiar twist. Not quite holding his breath, he turned the open end toward one of the lamps.