Fleet of the Mage Read online

  “And that is exactly why he does it!” said Ruth.

  The bartender came over with a tray of glasses and a reverently hand-carried bottle. Placing it gently on the table, the bartender nodded at Pawlik and went back to the bar. Corel looked at the bottle, and both eyebrows rose. “It looks like we are celebrating. Other than a really sharp lesson in assumptions and the danger that will get you, what would we be acknowledging?”

  Ruth laughed and said, “We would like to retain you as our reserve for additional troops. We will pay you a retainer and provide you with the munitions for your ship. Additionally, we will provide you with an offset to the amount you paid for the purchase of the ship. Depending on how often we have to call on your services, we will make available to you for an extremely low purchase amount up to three other ships.”

  Corel and the rest of his team stared open-mouthed at the Mage. Shifting his eyes to Pawlik Corel was unable to speak. The mage’s mate answered the question that he saw in his old friend’s eyes. “Yes, it is real. And there is a bit more.”

  Ruth added, “If your efforts are crucial to our success, I will also provide you with a world of your own.”

  Chapter 17 – No Place Like Home

  Planet – Borachland Hot Barrens

  Tired, but feeling satisfied, Ruth watched as the ships left the spaceport. As each one was released for departure, the entrance was reversed in timing and action. First, the protective wall energy wall dissipated. Then the outer keep guards and the Marines walked into the small guard tower. Seemingly to ignore the law of physics, the bulk of the armor-clad Marines and outer keep guards kept traveling through the small doorway into the guard tower without apparently crowding it. Once all of the guard towers had swallowed its guardians, the guard tower slowly pulled into the ground, and the light in the 2-foot band that surrounded the ship went gray as the light seem to trickle away from it.

  The umbilicals for various attachments of power and fuel disconnected with quiet snakes. They retreated rapidly underground in the landing surface formed of them. All vehicles were pulled away from the landing ramp in the landing ramp was raised.

  The rumble of engines was heard, and a force similar to a repulsor ray lifted the ship up in the air so that the effects of the engines on the ground and the air close to the spirit spaceport were mitigated. The ships continue to rise till they were approximately 500 feet in the air and looked suitably smaller than they had when they were on the ground. At that point, the ship was under its own power and departed.

  All in all, it had been a very satisfactory day. The agreements with the mercenary group and the Honore Debito worlds were signed, and the Rovers were all set. They had all accomplished miracles in a few days, but it was time to relax and retrench. Everyone was tired, and it was time to go home. Back to Borachland Castle.

  Planet – Borachland Castle

  The sun was just over the horizon, and the cloaked figure stared into the emerging light. Cal looked out over the town from the height of the tower brooding over memories and remembered pain. He missed his wife, he missed his son. The injustice of it all ripped his heart.

  He heard a step behind him, knowing instantly that it was his mother, Ruth. Silently, she joined him in his contemplation and watched the double sunrise above the horizon. Still, without a word, she slipped a comforting arm around his waist and leaned into his shoulder. Drawing comfort from the warmth of her body and wondering anew at the transformation that had accompanied her mage crisis, Cal sighed deeply. Ruth turned to look at him, really stared him in the face, and asked. “What was wrong?”

  “I’m homesick, Mom. I miss my wife, I miss my son. I even miss my silly little dogs.”

  A sharp indrawn breath of shared pain and grief was the only sound from the Mage.

  Cal continued, “God forgive me, but I even miss the boring aspects of my life. The early morning exit for work, the feeling that I can never get anything done.” He heard the whimper in his voice and hated it.

  She heard the pain and longing in his voice and wished that she could take it for him. That she could take that burden from her child and put it on her own shoulders.

  The two of them stood there wrapped in the darkness of their cloaks and the even darker cloud of their regret and grief. Ruth was silent, knowing that anything she said at this point would not be helpful.

  “I wonder sometimes if they have forgotten us. Have they gone on with their lives and left us behind? Every morning, I’m conscious that my arms are empty. And I miss the soft feel of her arms around me in turn. I find myself sniffing for the scent of her hair, the flash of her smile. All of those are gone from my senses. And in the absence of her smile, I feel shadowed, diminished.”

  Still, Ruth was silent. Silent was not still, however, and she gently turned her son, her boy, toward her, lifting a gentle hand to lay against one side of his face as he continued his tortured speech.

  “How are they living without me to help? What if they are hurt, frightened? I’m not there for them. I’m not there to help take the pain. I’m not there to teach my son how to be a man. I’m not there for the sunshine, and blinding light of my oldest boy’s smile.”

  Voiceless, the mother and mage lifted her other hand and cradled the other side of her son’s face. She could feel the trickling of slow tears, hot with passion and loss, slipping down his cheeks. Her eyes full of love, she whispered softly to him, “It will be all right.”

  A convulsive clenching of his eyes with not enough to prevent the dam from breaking. Cal pulled his mother into his arms and clutched her close to his chest. Resting his face on the top of her head, he finally gave in to the pain in his heart and cried the deep ripping sobs of immeasurable pain.

  Standing there, holding her son as tightly as he held her, Ruth let the waves of grief and anger pour over her. If this was the only comfort she could provide him, she would stand there forever.

  And stand there she did, as day overtook their night.

  <<<>>>

  The warm light and pleasant sounds of awakened Castle greeted Pawlik as he rose from his bed. He probably would’ve stayed in bed a little bit longer but he had wakened to a lonely bed, one that had cool sheets and no Ruth. Somewhat concerned by her absence, Pawlik had decided to get up out of the bed and move around more quickly than his usual morning speed. Dressing had been a snap and he was actually feeling pretty positive. The sale of the spaceships had been something he had dreaded, but the new spaceport had made it far easier to accomplish what they needed.

  Wandering out into their sitting room, Pawlik found Ruth staring contemplatively at the fireplace, where a small fire had been laid. She didn’t appear to hear him coming, continuing her silent perusal. The catog was visible, its head laid gently against Ruth’s right leg, as she scratched idly behind its ears.

  “Good morning, my dear. Is everything alright with you?”

  Ruth was startled and looked up quickly. “Good morning, Pawlik. No, everything is just fine, I was just thinking.”

  The man could not put his finger on it, but something sounded off in what she had said or the way she said it. Her energy levels were different this morning. Not wanting to push her, he thought that perhaps she just needed some time to work out what it was that she was thinking about. Instead of pressing her on such a nebulous issue, he asked her how her day was going to go.

  Ruth outlined the general plan for the day, which included discussions with the castle staff about building up staff both for Borachland and other general needs and objectives. They had a definite requirement to more than double the staff on the inner keep and Ruth was concerned about doing that without disrupting existing operations.

  Pawlik slipped into the discussion on the day’s activities, letting the worry dissipate that he had felt at the sound of her voice and the fluctuations in her energy levels. He kissed her goodbye and then left for his breakfast with several of his old crew members. Ruth’s farewell kiss was oddly intense and passionate, raising
once again a tendril of warning at the back of his spine.

  Ruth continued to sit in the chair for a few minutes more after Pawlik left. Her thoughts kept chasing themselves around her head, leaving her spinning in place and without a clear direction. Taking a deep breath of resolution, the Mage stood up and moved determinedly toward her bedroom. Sorting through the belongings that she had stored in the closets, she located a hooded cape. Folding it over her arm, the Mage headed out the door.

  It was time to solve some problems.

  Chapter 18 – Phone Home

  Planet – Borachland Castle

  Ruth had been over every square foot of Borachland Castle multiple times since she had come to live there. At this point, she probably knew the castle better than most of the people that had resided there for years. To her, it felt like she had bonded with the castle, somehow making it an extension of her skin, fingers, senses. The mage knew exactly where she wanted to go.

  The rooms she sought were on the upper floor of one of the towers. Unsure of its original purpose, Ruth had noted the large airy room, surrounded by windows and potent with the option of pleasant cross breezes. Today, the weather was stormy, and the feel of the room was different. The early morning light had succumbed to incoming storm fronts. Gray clouds had occluded the sun, and the smell of a storm was rising in the air. The mood of the room was no longer open and pleasant. Instead, it had a dark and brooding feel to it, waiting for something to crash into awareness, the promise or threat of power humming in the background.

  The castle staff had been in the room already that morning. The shutters were closed over the windows in preparation for the storm. Curtains have been drawn over each of the windows further hiding the threatening clouds and insulating the room from the effects of the weather.

  The room could have felt depressed or restrictive, but it didn’t. Instead, there was a feeling of expectation, a feeling of waiting. It was as if the castle itself was aware of the Mage and that she had need of this room today.

  Ruth had noticed a group of candlesticks that had been arranged against one wall when she was last in the room. Moving each one of the eight elaborate candleholders onto the circle, the Mage found that there were equally spaced subtle markings for their placement at the cardinal positions. As she placed the last one, there was a slight shivering of her senses. The atmosphere of the room took on a subtly different feel. Mentally noting the change, but not taking the time to investigate it further, Ruth moved to the next stage of her plan.

  The mage took a standing position in the exact center of the circle. Stretching her arms up over her head and then moving her hands down to the level of her shoulders, Ruth rotated her arms forward and back to loosen up. She really didn’t want to go into this effort stiff or with cramped muscles. Centering herself and searching for her core energy, the Mage sent a brief splash of energy from her feet up to her chest and out her hands. Purple light, spiked, danced on her palms.

  Ruth drew one more controlled breath and brought her hands abruptly together, clapping them with the sound of thunder. The purple light exploded from the force of that motion, splashing the entire inside surface of the chamber in a growing network of incandescent light. Even through her closed eyelids, Ruth could see the illumination and feel the heat of it on her skin.

  The thrumming vibration of her spell attenuated into a soft underlying hum and the piercing light gentled to a soft glow. The mage opened her eyes to see that the chamber was completely encased in a soft pearlescent film. Taking a deep breath, Ruth reached out with her awareness and closed her right hand into a fist. The glow disappeared.

  Stage one complete. The form of the protection circle in the room had been completed. Now was time for the next part. It would be harder, but it had to be done.

  Before Ruth could do anything further, she heard the voice of her grandson, Troyer, calling for her.

  “Grandma? Grandma, where are you?”

  “I am in here, Troyer. I was just about to come get you.”

  The young boy came into the room, for once without his sister or any other attendant. Ruth wondered briefly where Techla was and why Troyer had no protective detail with him.

  <> she thought to herself.

  “Troyer, I would like to find out if you’re willing to help me with something I’m trying to do.”

  “Grandma, you know that I’m happy to help you! Just tell me what you want me to do.”

  “Troyer, this could be a little dangerous. I’m going to try to find where your mommy is with my mind and I don’t know what will happen.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Grandma. I really miss my brother and my Mom. And I know Daddy does too. Sometimes he cries when he thinks I don’t know it. So even if it hurts, let’s find Mama.”

  Touched, Ruth was humbled by his faith in her and worried about how she could protect him. The mage thought quickly and decided on a few extra precautions to set before she tried the planned spell. Following her nose, she located concealed drawers in the cabinet built into one side of the room. There were hundreds of tiny drawers, all concealed behind a carved panel. It reminded Ruth of an apothecary cabinet she had once gotten from Chinatown on Earth. Oh, she had loved that cabinet. The many places to store things had been a delight and endless amusement. This cabinet was equally intriguing, and she promised herself that she would take time later on and explore it more fully.

  However, right now she needed the right kind of incense, and her nose led her unerringly to something that reminded her of sandalwood. Knowing that the distinctive scent would help keep her connected to her body during the spell, Ruth had Troyer carefully place the small cylinders of incense on the base of each candleholder. There was a convenient flat surface that was central to the column and positioned under the candle itself, appearing as if made for something like this. Ruth was grateful and somewhat bemused by the creative planning been done by the designer of the candleholder.

  One last piece and she would be ready to try this experiment. Taking a chair from against the wall, Ruth placed it in the center of a faint, small circle etched in the stone floor. She realized as she positioned the chair that there were actually five small circles in the center. One in the absolute center and four lined up with the main cardinal points. Each of those circles had been inscribed into the surface of the floor. The one in the center was approximately 8 feet across. It was large enough to allow a mage to lie down or even have several mages inside the casting circle. The other circles in the center were not as large. Big enough to easily fit the chair into, the circles were approximately 4 feet in diameter.

  Ruth sat Troyer down in the chair, warning him not to leave the circle. The child’s eyes were large with curiosity as he nodded, but he asked no questions of his grandmother. Stepping back from Troyer, the Mage raised her hands in front of herself again, calling forth more of the purple protection light. It came forth more easily than it had the first time. Whether from recent practice or some increased affinity in the room, the raising of the light and its placement in a protective wall around Troyer was accomplished in a split second.

  Now if anything bad happened, her grandson would be safe.

  Resolute and focused, the woman, mother, grandmother, and mage began her spell. Rapid flicks of her hands sent darts of red light slashing toward the incense at the base of each the candles. As the scented smoke began to rise, a second, similar motion lit all eight of the candle simultaneously. Ruth appeared to be in a daze, moving rapidly and surely through the choreographed steps of her planned actions.

  The incense lay heavy in the air as a strange hum began growing in intensity. Twin expansive movements of her hands sent the protective coverings up onto every surface of the chamber. The hum grew in depth and range as the pearly glow brightened. Calling out to Troyer in a voice that sounded strange even to herself, Ruth asked her grandson to think of his mother and how much he missed
her.

  “Think of your Mommy, honey. Think about her smile and the way she looks at you. Think about how much she loves you. Can you feel her? Can you tell where she is?”

  The expression on the little boy’s face would bring tears to Ruth’s eyes when she thought about it later. Right now, she focused on the feeling of his will, that desperate yearning of a child for his mother. That need, that desire, pulled an invisible tendril out of the child. Reaching, stretching for a location a vast distance away, Troyer’s grief and yearning for his mother drove him past the confines of the room and Castle, past even the limitations of the planet and the star system he was in.

  As Ruth felt his focus and attention reaching out, she followed it like a guideline to a place unknown. Pushing harder and harder to follow him, she was vaguely conscious of the quiet background hum escalating to a near shriek of tortured sound. Ruth felt like she was being pulled in different directions. Part of her was anchored in the tower room, standing in the spellcasting circle. The other part was like a big piece of taffy being pulled along with Troyer’s need and desperate longing for his mother. The emotional bridge provided the support that Ruth needed to stretch even further.

  Pulled enough to feel like she was going to break, Ruth held on with all the stubborn defiance of her mind and will. She could feel Rena’s essence getting stronger, that core part of her daughter-in-law that sang her name in loving tones coming nearer. Troyer was leading his grandmother to his mother, and it was getting close enough that Ruth started to pick up flashes of images. The familiar solar system of her home planet, the greenery that still looked somehow right to her in its blue-green shades, and flashes of a smile tinged with sadness.

  Suddenly, Ruth felt her daughter-in-law next to her, so real and close that it was like an embrace. The mage caught her breath with the impact of the storm of grief and longing that covered the younger woman’s soul. Buffeted by the guilt and rage hidden there, she strove to reach through. Finally, with the last of her strength, Ruth made it through the wall.