I paused and reached into my pocket andpulled out a small box. She gasped when she saw it. Before shecould say anything, I opened it and showed her a diamond ring.“Kellyn, would you accept me as your husband?”
She broke down in tears; I was not expectingthat reaction. Unsure what to do next, I just sat there. Then,speechless, she held out her hand and nodded. I placed the ring onher finger and said, “I would like the captain to marry us whenwe meet up with the fleet.”
She could not get any words out but theemotions overwhelming our connection were clear, a mixture ofshock, joy and love. When she could finally talk she said, “Andall this time I thought I could predict your every move!”
After we had talked for some time, Andreyafinally lost her patience and barged into the room to congratulateus. Kellyn asked her to be her maid of honor, and Andreya let herknow that there was no way she would let Kellyn even think ofgiving that position to anyone else. From then on all the excitedtalk was about where and how to have the wedding. Andreya suggestedthat she should do all the decorations, and Kellyn said she wantedto hold it down in the gardens. After a while I left them to workout the plans. I knew that a man’s place in such affairs was justto smile and nod, so I left to get out of the way.
I headed to the library to read, and was metby Darnath, Gafar and Luke in the lift. After their playful kiddingaround Gafar spoke up and said, “Okay, Vydor, how did you keep thathidden?” Gafar, being a master telepath was a bit put out by thefact even he had not known.
“Easy, I am the grandmaster wizard,remember?” I said.
“No, seriously. I never even saw you buy thering. You must let me in on your secret.”
I smiled an evil smile and tried to come upwith my best Mantis impression, “That’s simple, because you did notknow to look.”
“I guess a bachelor party is out of thequestion,” commented Luke.
“Yes, I think that would be a horrible idea,”I said as quickly as I could, which brought on more kidding fromthem about me being henpecked already, until we all heard Kellynremark how terrible it would be if she just let us suffer the nexttime we got sick.
Once I finally got away from the jokers, Iwas able to get to the library to study. The first thing I wantedto do was resync the ship’s database with the station’s database sothat we would have the most accurate information possible before weleft the next day. That would take several hours, and probablygenerate a few complaints from the station administrators, butsince I would be gone tomorrow I was not too worried about theirwrath.
While that worked I started digging throughwhat we already had. I wanted to see if there were any legends ormyths that could explain the dark specter. Tomorrow would be thefirst time we reentered jump space in over a year, and I was notlooking forward to another contest with him. In fact, I was worriedabout it. Sooner or later I knew he would win, the question waswhen. He seemed so much closer and more powerful the last time Isaw him than ever before.
While I searched I felt Kellyn’s familiartouch as she ran her fingers through my hair. She wanted me to growit out now that we were free from the Imperial requirement of shorthair, and I was glad to oblige. “Vydor, you are scared. I cantell.”
“Yes, I cannot hide that from you. Tomorrowwe will face him again.”
“I will be with you, and we are much greaterthan the last time we fought him. We have both grown considerablyin power; he does not stand a chance. With your awesome might andmy healing, how could he win? You are no longer a helpless mortal;you are the grandmaster of wizards!”
“You are right, of course, thank you. Butthere is something else I need to tell you, something you shouldknow before we get married.” As I said that I pictured myfather on his deathbed, and his father before him, and so on.
To my surprise she just smiled and said,“Oh, Vydor, I know about all that. The reason medical sciencecannot cure it is because it is not a physical illness.”
“What do you mean?”
“The dark specter that chases you is thecause of it. It is a dark curse on your family line going back moregenerations than I can imagine. When we beat the dark specter, thatwill be the end of the disease too, and until then I can keep youhealthy. Now, I am off to bed. I hope to get an early start andmake one last pass through the hospital before we leave,” shesaid, then gave me a kiss and left.
If I was the grandmaster wizard, why did Ifeel like a child playing at being god? I shut off the terminal andheaded for bed. I would need my energy for the next day, that wascertain.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
My alarm told me that it was time to get up,but I had not had much sleep. I spent the night fighting offnightmares. Ready or not, we would be leaving soon, so I headed upto the bridge.
When I arrived, everyone except Kellyn wasthere; apparently she was still in the clinic curing people. “Wewill launch when Kellyn is finished. Darnath, is the jump routelaid in?”
“Yes, everything should be set,” heresponded.
“Okay, just a word of warning. Kellyn and Iwill not be meditating before the jump, so you will have to handleeverything during our recovery.”
“Vydor, only Darnath needs to be awakeafter the jump to execute the second jump. The rest of us willstand with you,” said Andreya.
“The six of us bring a lot of power to thetable. Your demon does not stand a chance against the united forceof the Council of Wizards,” declared Gafar.
I looked at each of them as they allindicated they would not let me stand alone, and I was touched bytheir dedication. “You are right, for if any of us tries tostand alone, we will fall,” I said. I was not sure where thatcame from; someplace deep inside me, some forgotten corner of mymemory.
Not long after, Kellyn returned and came upto the bridge. She looked lovingly at everyone and said, “Thankyou.”
I contacted the station and requestedpermission to launch, to which the reply came that we were clear todo so. “Gafar, engage stealth mode and take us out.” It wasimportant that we did not give away the location of where we hadbeen staying, since everyone knew we had come to meet with theEmperor. After we cleared the station I said, “Best speed tojump space.”
“I estimate ten minutes until we canjump,” said Gafar.
“Wow, this ship is impressive. It wouldhave taken an hour with the Dark Talon,” I replied. The shipdid not lurch forward like the Dark Talon did; it was a very smoothand even acceleration. The only indication of the change in speedwas a slight change in pitch of the engines, which were anever-present background noise.
“Jumping in ten, nine, eight, seven, six…” As Darnath counted down I felt four sets of hands beingplaced on my back, and Kellyn grabbed my hand with both of hers.“…three, two…”
Suddenly we were in jump space, and this timeI turned completely around and faced the demon head-on. I lookedhim right in the eye and called out, “Not this time!”
I lowered my right hand at him and cast agreat bolt of energy directly at him that pushed him back quite abit, but he recovered quickly and charged. Then I felt powerpouring into me from the others, and I grabbed all that power andcast the bolt again. This time the blast hit him hard enough toknock me back and keep him at a very great distance. Just then theship dropped back into normal space, quickly reentering jump spaceas we executed our second jump.