“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,“Everyone, eat and get some sleep. I do not want anyone to talkabout this right now. Each of you must think about what we havebeen told. We will meet back around this table in twelve hours. Atthat time we will discuss this idea fully and freely without regardto rank. When Kellyn wakes, I will brief her on what has transpiredwhile she rested.”
Chapter Eighteen
I stood and walked back to where Kellyn wassleeping. I moved my bed next to hers in such a way that no onecould get to her without waking me first. Then I climbed into bedand began to integrate all the new information I had into the weavethat I had started when this mission began. That seemed like alifetime ago now. I slowly slipped deeper and deeper into mythoughts, and lost all connection with the outside world.
The problem with all this new information wasthat no matter what happened now, I could never go back to justbeing Commander Vydor. That life, that once held so much promisefor a shining career in the Imperial Navy, had ended. Indeed, whatI had learned and experienced during this mission had shatteredmany of the beliefs I had held since childhood. The cover-up aboutthe planet, the imprisonment of the Black Adders, the memory blocks- all that I had learned along the way had severely damaged my viewof the benevolence, infallibility and power of the Empire and theEmperor. In fact, they look rather weak and helpless in the face ofthis new threat.
I do not know how long I lay like thatpondering all that I had learned, but I was awakened by a touch tomy face. Without opening my eyes I reached out mentally and foundKellyn kneeling next to my bed. I silently said, “Good morning.Sleep well?”
She mentally gasped a bit, and thenresponded, “Sir, I am sorry to disturb you, but I was worriedabout you. You looked so lifeless.”
“It is okay, Kellyn. I have a lot to tellyou about what happened while you were asleep, but before I do Iwant to ask you something. What did you mean about the demon?”I asked.