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,
Chapter Eighteen
