The Enemy of an Enemy

heleft.

Looking around the room I was a bitoverwhelmed by all the books. “Well, I really did not get muchsleep during our break. I spent it all in thought, so I am going tolie down and deal with this later,” I said, heading back to mybed. The others made similar comments and left the room, but Kellynwas undaunted. She walked over to the stack of books and said,“I think I have slept enough for today. I will see what I canfind in here.”

Chapter Nineteen

I fell asleep so quickly that I am not suremy head even reached the pillow before I was out. When I awokelater I saw Darnath, Gafar and Andreya eating quietly at the tablethat never seemed to run out of food. Luke and Jerran were stillasleep. I poured a drink and headed into the other room to findKellyn poring over a book.

Immediately I felt her reach out to me andsay, “Morning, Vydor. I have something for you.” Shementally pulled a scroll from her memories and handed it to me.When I opened it to read I was transported back to earlier in theday and saw myself leave the room. Then I, as Kellyn, walked overto the bookcase and started taking down books at random. None ofthem made any sense. They were all filled with strange writing, andmany had odd illustrations that did not make sense without thetext. After a while I found a book with writing on its side that Icould read. I pulled it down and saw that it was entitled “AWizard’s Primer.” I took the book over to a large reading table andopened it at the first chapter, which was entitled “The Spell ofMany Tongues.”

After studying this spell I took another bookoff the shelf and attempted to read it, using the spell. Success! After casting the spell I could read any of the books I pulleddown.

The memory ended there. So I lifted a bookoff the shelf, attempted the spell I had just learned, and itworked. I could read all the books on the shelf. “Where is theprimer now?” I asked Kellyn.

“Here,” she said and handed me a bookfrom her stack, barely looking up from her studies. “I amfinished with it.”

I spent the next few hours studying that bookuntil Darnath and the others finally wandered in. I handed them thebook and told them all about the first spell. We all spent what weassumed to be the rest of the day in there studying. With nowindows it was hard to guess the time. Eventually we took a breakfrom our studies to eat a meal together.

Talking with them now as Magi, I noticed thatwe had all shifted to a more casual tone, and any thought of rankwas almost completely gone. I was pleased to see this because Iknew from experience that all those formal ranks and rules just gotin the way of getting things done.

At first the talk was mostly about what wehad learned. Other than the primer book, we were each reading outof different books and learning about different things. Kellynstudied all the books she could find on spirits, demons, andmagical healing while Darnath was more interested in spellsregarding shields, protection and hiding. Jerran seemed to favorspells dealing with fire, explosion, and the like. Gafar and Lukewere working very closely together studying natural and weathermagic, while Andreya stayed focused on illusionary magic. Myinterests lay much more in how magic worked, and what its originswere.

“When we get back I suppose the firstthing we must do is resign,” Darnath said, which seemed tosilence all communication.

“Yes, that would be best,” Iresponded. “Officially we are all dead now, so I am not sure ofthe best way for you to do that. For me it is easy. I have to go tomy former captain and officially announce my resignation, but youall … can you even resign when you are sent to a quarantine colonylike that?”

“Well, I’m not sure. None of usvolunteered for the position, nor does our status officiallyexist,” said Darnath thoughtfully.

“This is what we will do, then. When weget back we will travel to High Command, and we will inform themthat we are leaving the military. It is likely that no one will behappy with this, and we will be seen as traitors, but in time thatwill pass,” I said.

“Aye, but it could be worse. Being what weare, they might try to imprison us,” interjected Gafar.

“Well, we will deal with that if it comesup. All we need now is to make sure we have a good escape plan fromany meeting. Has anyone studied the art of teleportation yet?”I asked. They all shook their heads. “Jerran, please make it apoint to find a book on that. Gafar, find out what you can aboutgate travel. I suspect we will need to learn both before we leave.Andreya, please see what you can learn about opening a window tolook at places like Mantis did, and any other monitoring means youcan find. It is important that no two of us learn the same thing.We can exchange memories later. For the moment we need to maximizethe time we have in this library. Darnath, go on with what you arestudying, we will need that for sure. Kellyn, you are on a goodtrack already, too. Luke, please find out what you can aboutsummoning creatures to help us. Surely the wizards have somethingother than the foul beasts the sorcerers use. I will see what I canlearn about crafting wands, staves, and other magical tools, as wewill need to know how to make our own. Study what you can, but makesure you get good rest and nourishment. It could be a long timebefore we enjoy safety like this again. As silly as this sounds,take it slow and easy, but study as much and as fast as youcan.” I smiled at that. They indicated they understood what Imeant. One by one they finished their meals and entered thelibrary.

Chapter Twenty

The rest of our time there passed with littleof note occurring. We ended up splitting our time between studyingand trading memories of what we learned. This constant exchange ofmemories helped draw us much closer as a team than ever before.Soon, though, the purple sands of time began to run out, and Mantisreturned to speak with us.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed your little rest.As we speak the first of the rocks is closing in on the colony.Your crewmates did well. In this first wave at least six largerocks will hit in rapid succession, with three more waves on theway. When all is done, well over fifty large rocks will hit thatworld. The sorcerers are just now realizing their error and, sincetheir gate is not yet repaired, most will not make it off theplanet. The elite and higher level of their number can travelwithout the gate, but the rest will perish. This will be theirbiggest single loss in a century. That would be an impressive featfor an army of wizards; it is completely unthinkable for an army ofmundanes!” Mantis said with obvious astonishment.

“I take it then my message got through to thefleet,” I said.

“Yes, it did,” said Mantis. “You are probablywondering how we kept tabs on you while you were on the colonysince you spent most of the time hiding. Well, the truth is we havespies on the Dragon Claw and in the sorcerers’ forces that kept usadvised of everything, and between the two we were able to piecetogether what was going on down there. We also discovered that theDark Talon never returned to the fleet.” He stopped there andhesitated, but then continued, “Since we had intercepted yourcommunications to the Dark Talon, we were able to recreate yourcommands and contacted the ship. Yesterday it was still in orbitaround the planet, so we sent it away from the area to a saferlocation. Our plan is to put you on to the Dark Talon when wereturn you to your realm.”

“Will you reveal who your spies are?” Iasked. “Since we will not be part of the Imperial Navy any more, wewould find such a source of information helpful.”

“Well, we could but it wouldn’t do you anygood. You see, the spies do not know who they are. We have simplyfound some people in key positions who are very susceptible to ourmind-reading. I assure you they have no idea they are helping us,”was his answer.

I was relieved to hear that. I would hate tothink I had promoted or rewarded someone who was a traitor. “Well,yes, we would still like to know so that we, too, can monitor themif need be.” I really had no intention of doing that, but it wouldbe good to know who was being used and who was not in case ourfriendship with this other