The Enemy of an Enemy

them.

“The bomb is live!” called out Jerran,the last one to pass through the gate.

I started to count down from fifteen in myhead. I had to wait to make sure the bomb was not interfered withbefore I left. Just as I started to count, the pile of rubbleblocking the corridor dissolved and one of the Seven stood there,lowering his staff at me. “You are too late, old man!” Itaunted, knowing that time was up and dove through the gate. WhenAndreya activated it, she did it the same way we used the wands, soI did the same, focusing on Kellyn as my target and hoping for thebest.

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