Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) (5 page)

Then we won’t get caught,
Anton interrupted.
Liz, there’s always a risk, but we’re smart and we’re careful and your brothers will be too.
He stepped closer to me and placed his hand on the small of my back as he continued.
And if you take Luke on anything less than a real mission, he’s going to know that you’re hiding something.
I pressed my lips together and turned to Anton. He rubbed my back gently. At last, I nodded.
  This was decided. My brothers were going to help me stage a jailbreak from a wizard prison. 

Tamer offered Luke a slice of his fruit.

Enlightenment Station – November 2184

Elizabeth

We were holding Wizard Sub-Lieutenant Merador Uba in the brig. According to Tamer, the mission was to break his son, Eln, out of a wizard prison. There was no way I would take my team into that kind of danger without talking to Merador myself. But first, I would have to do something I dreaded. To interrogate a wizard sub-lieutenant, I needed to command authority and respect. Sneakers and black jeans weren’t going to cut it. This part made my stomach churn. My cool skin broke out into a sweat at the mere thought of it. But we were on our way, and I couldn’t put it off any longer. The time had come for me to change into uniform.

I said the spell as we walked, but held off on the last word until we stood in front of the brig entrance.
What did I do to deserve this?
My feet remained planted before the metal door as I gathered my courage. The sound of everyone’s expectant breathing carried to my ears as they anticipated what was in the room. I released the spell. Mark’s jaw dropped the instant the burgundy dress appeared. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

“This is an interrogation, guys,” I commanded. Mark and Luke would never get the chance to start if I had anything to say about it. “If you two want to sit in on this, I need you to shut your mouths and look mean.”

“But, but, but…” Mark pointed at my uniform and wore the biggest grin I’d ever seen grace his face. “You’re wearing a dress!”

So much for my say in the matter.

Even Luke couldn’t help himself. “You seriously think you can scare anyone wearing that?” he smirked.

“Don’t you know?” Tamer declared. “Liz is famous for interrogating prisoners by seduction.” Luke’s grin disappeared but Mark doubled over with laughter.

I wacked him hard across the shoulder. “Do you guys want to interrogate a wizard or stand here and make fun of my clothes?” I asked. “Merador will know the rank this uniform signifies and the power that comes with it.”

“I’m pretty sure we can do one first, then the other,” Anton countered.
Not helpful.

I raised my eyebrows to indicate to Mark that it was time to get serious. Mark took another ten seconds to enjoy the moment and then relented. “Follow me,” I said, as my hand reached for the fingerprint scanner that opened the automatic door. Luke grabbed my arm before my hand could make contact.

“Just one last question before we go,” he said.
Not again.
I shot him an irritated glare. “Why are you calling the shots?” he asked. “I saw a few adults as we were walking over here. Why aren’t they handling this?”

I smiled ruefully. Finally he had come up with a decent question. One I had asked myself. “I’m the ranking agent on this station,” I replied. “When Dad passed, they needed someone with an understanding of time-travel physics and his moral compass to fill his shoes.” 

Luke’s face turned grave at the mention of my father.  I trailed off as I considered the rest of my reply. “We don’t rank our agents based on age,” I started again. I was about to explain that our ‘children’ stopped being regarded as such at a very early age, but even that wasn’t the full account. I sighed and tried once more. “They needed me to make the kind of decision only Dad would have been able to make. Some useless god-like beings used their influence with our people to get me the authority to make that call.” 

Even that wasn’t the full story, but it would have to do for now. I lifted my arm again and placed my hand on the fingerprint scanner. A single short beep emitted from the pad and then the doors parted. I marched into the brig before there could be any more discussion on the topic. Anton, Tamer, Luke and Mark tracked in behind me.

The small, dim room was divided by a blue, semi-transparent force-field. On Merador’s side was a bed bolted to the floor and dressed with ivory sheets. There also was a chair and table, both made from cork-like material. Our side of the force-field was equipped with a similar brown chair and no other furniture. The top of the wall was lined with smooth black bumps: sensors and security weapons.

I pointed to the corner of the room to indicate to Luke and Mark where they should stand. They moved into position, crossed their arms and hardened their expressions. Next, I fixed my gaze on Tamer and tipped my head toward the wizard, giving him the go-ahead to begin. Tamer smiled and walked over to the force-field.

“My interrogation team tells me you have a little sob story for us,” Tamer said. “You have a chair in there. Pull it up.” He pointed to a spot just behind the force-field. The difference between Tamer’s average, teenage stature and the towering wizard was all too obvious. Anton reached for the chair on our side of the divide and set it up for Tamer. “Sit down,” Tamer ordered. Merador didn’t say a word. Aside from his unusual height, he’d been blessed with stereotypical wizard features: pale skin, triangular chin, and blond, military-cut hair that he covered with a small, pointy hat. He was clean-shaven and dressed in the typical blue wizard uniform, which resembled a floor-length trench coat. I studied his calm, narrow eyes. He didn’t appear angry, nor did he seem to mind taking orders from Tamer. He sat down and waited for Tamer to do the same. Anton remained behind Tamer’s chair with one fist wrapped around the top of the backrest.

“Before you start storytelling,” Tamer said as he took his seat, “you should know that I’m a psych expert. By now, you’re aware that I’ve cast a spell that allows me to know when you’re lying.”

“I’m glad,” Merador replied. His voice was gentle. He looked past Anton and Tamer toward me. “May I begin?”

I smiled and allowed the question to hang in the air. The AC stopped humming and allowed the ozone scent created by the force-field to settle around the room. No one moved. I nodded.

“My son, Eln, was born without magical ability,” Merador began.

“No such thing as a wizard without powers,” Tamer interrupted. We knew the tale Merador had told when he arrived at our station. This was about getting the real story. 

“He’s late developing powers. Not our concern,” Anton continued.

“A wizard who doesn’t develop powers by the age of eight is probed to see if they will ever gain their abilities. Eln won’t,” Merador countered. “He is Forsaken.” His gold eyes studied Anton.

“Retest him,” Tamer said.

“I have,” Merador affirmed. “The confidence interval is seven standard deviations out. That means the probability of a false negative is less than point—”

“I know what it means,” Anton cut-in. “Still not our concern.”

“Let’s go,” I said and started toward the door. I wanted to see how hard Merador would try to push his story. Tamer began to stand up.

“Please wait,” Merador said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. “They will kill my son.”

“Perhaps you haven’t been paying attention, but we kill wizards too,” I said.

I looked back at Tamer and met his eyes. He returned my gaze with a curt node to indicate that he hadn’t detected any deception from Merador. Either this man was an honest wizard or he was evading Tamer’s lie detector spell. I wouldn’t bet my money on the former.

“So cut to it,” Tamer said. “Why should we want to help you?”

“For thousands of years, wizards have been killing any offspring without powers,” Merador replied. “That trait has been so fully weeded out of our gene pool that a child like mine hasn’t been born in over a thousand years. We thought it was impossible at this point.”

“Parent thinks his kid is special,” Anton mocked. “Still not hearing why I should care.”

“I’m getting to that,” Merador said. “The boy has a small following. About five hundred years ago, my people discovered an ancient text written seven thousand years before that. The text talked of ‘the cleansing’: a movement to raid the wizard genetic pool of a second gender and the Forsaken. The army turned on the rest of my kind. A short civil war followed, and then most ‘female’ and powerless citizens were killed. A select few were kept for reproductive purposes until we developed the technology to reproduce asexually. Then they were killed as well.”

“And the point of this wizard history lesson?” Tamer asked

“Most of this we already knew,” Merador continued. “But what the text revealed is that a counter-movement was created and somehow managed to send a child to the future so…she…could mate with a male who would be born powerless.” Merador hesitated on the word
she
as though he was uncertain about the term. “The two of them together and their offspring could revive the lost gender and the Forsaken.”

“And we’re supposed to believe all this just because some ancient writer had a grand imagination?” Anton asked.

“It doesn’t matter if you believe it,” Merador replied. “There’s a small group of wizards, called 'The Omniscients' who believe it. If you free my boy, the rest of my kind will go after him but the Omniscients will fight back.”
The Omniscients? The Egotists sounded more like it.

“Why hasn’t Eln been killed yet?” Anton asked.

“Wizard law requires them to wait five days to confirm that he won’t develop powers,” Merador replied. “It’s an archaic law written in the days when it took that long to verify the test results, but they still abide by it.”

I turned and walked out of the room. My team followed me. Merador was offering us a chance to create infighting within wizard-kind, possibly even a chance to change the nature of wizard culture. If it worked, this would be a huge win. Eventually, it could even spell the end of the war.

I looked at Tamer expectantly. He stared back. He knew what I was asking, but I guess he was taking a moment to consider his response. Finally he spoke. “I wish I could sense deception from him.”

“The history he shared is accurate,” Anton confirmed. “However, that part about his son and this “Omniscients” movement…” Anton shrugged. “Hard to believe our intelligence never picked up on this group’s existence before.”

Tamer nodded and stared at the floor. “If they sent a messenger to deceive us, they would have picked someone who could evade my lie detector,” he said.

I looked around at my team. Everyone, except Mark and Luke met my eyes. My brothers stood casually to the side and listened. They were the only ones who didn’t realize we were about to head into a trap. Wizards had dangled before us the kind of bait we couldn’t pass up and Merador knew it.

Anton shot me a wistful smile. We both knew that there was no choice but to walk into the ambush. However, responsibility to give the command was mine. “Don’t follow me,” I said and pushed back into the brig.

Enlightenment Station – November 2184

Elizabeth

We still didn’t know if Merador was lying. The situation justified a more drastic interrogation. Otherwise, if I didn’t get the truth, I risked walking my friends into a gruesome death. I wouldn’t bring my brothers to the prison until one of my agents or I set foot there first.

My first spell provided the authorization to let down the force field. Merador stared back. I searched his eyes for any signs of fear or anger, but found none. My next spell disabled automatic environmental controls. Then one to create a small personal shield around myself, followed by one to drop the temperature in the room down to negative two degrees Celsius. He didn’t move. Finally, I said one to convert the oxygen in the room into nitrogen and hydrogen at a rate of 0.75% per minute. My shield would protect me from the direct physical effects of this environment.

“Do you think we won’t kill you if we find out you’re lying?” I asked.

“No,” he whispered. His eyes were pleading but he didn’t say anything more. I wasn’t sure how much oxygen wizards require per minute so I needed to monitor the effects of this spell on him. Basic life signs like heart rate and blood pressure wouldn’t tell me how he was feeling the strain so I set up something more direct. I would feel everything he did.

“If you stay in this room, you have five minutes to live,” I threatened. “Leave now. We’ll plant the evidence so any wizards watching you will think you died. Then we can forget all about this.”

“No,” Merador replied. The game of chicken had begun
.

Both of us stood there and waited. I was safe, but through the link to Merador, I could feel it getting hard to breathe. The biting cold air cut my skin.

“You’re going to die,” I said. “Get out of here while you can.” He didn’t respond. I wanted to bend over and lean on the chair, but I resisted. I didn’t want Merador to know I was monitoring his discomfort. Merador fell to the ground but he was still conscious. He looked up at me with fearful eyes. We continued to wait. “Is killing a few of us really worth dying for?” I asked.

“I’m not trying to kill you,” was all he replied. I was too dizzy to remain standing. With my gaze fixed on Merador, I took two measured steps forward and took a seat in the chair. It seemed my heart was racing. Merador’s hands were turning blue. More time floated by. I was getting drowsy and my thoughts were slow and muddled.

“Run!” I yelled. It was the only word I could get out as I fought the urge to gasp for air. He shook his head no. The cold air slashed my throat; it hurt to breathe. I lost any sense of how much time had passed. Merador’s body fell forward, nearly succumbing to sleep. I jerked awake and said the word to bring the environment in the room back to normal conditions.

In a moment, the fog in my mind lifted. My skin felt like it was burning as warmth and oxygen returned to my body. I disconnected the link between Merador and myself. “That was unpleasant wasn’t it?” I asked, as I stood up. My head was spinning, but I didn’t let him see it. “As soon as I walk out of this room, I’m going to reactivate the spells you felt a moment ago. Only this time, the temperature change and drop in oxygen levels will be extremely slow and you will be trapped behind the force field. When I come back from rescuing your son, I’ll deactivate the spell. If I don’t come back…” I paused for emphasis, “this is how you’re going to die.”

Merador stood up himself and stepped closer to me. He met my eyes and said, “I understand.”

“Your last chance to escape,” I reminded him. He shook his head again. I brought the force field back up, deactivated environmental controls, set the temperature to drop at 1.75 degrees Celsius per hour, and the oxygen to deplete at 1.5% per hour. Then I walked out of the room.

“Anton, get someone down here to…” I ordered as I stepped out. Anton wasn’t there anymore. Mark was missing too.
Shoot.

“Which way did they go?” I asked Tamer.

“Would you like me to bring someone else to—”

“In a minute. Which way did they go?” I asked again.

“Okay, I can give it another try with Merador until —”

“Tamer!” I interrupted. I didn’t have time for his games.

“Anton asked me where the interrogation team was being quartered,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“Tell me where,” I said. If I had to ask again, so help me, Tamer was going to grow a black eye.

“Liz, cool it,” Luke said, using his parental tone. “They went for a walk.”

For a second, I thought I might punch him too.

“Anton didn’t go for a walk,” I wasn’t yelling, but it was close. “He went to get the information Merador gave the interrogation team. Information he needs to go to the prison caves without us. If we don’t stop him… Tamer, for heaven’s sake, please tell me where...” I trailed off when I spotted Mark at the end of the hall, walking toward us. The blood drained from my face.
He’s gone.

I ran down the hall to meet Mark. Luke and Tamer followed me. “Please tell me he didn’t go,” I begged Mark. He stared at me and then glanced to Luke and Tamer.

“He said to give him two hours,” Mark said. His voice was firm but sympathetic.

“Like hell I will. Do you have the coordinates?” I demanded.

“He said that…” Mark trailed off.

I took a deep breath, rested my hand on Mark’s right shoulder, and answered for him. “He said to remind me that if it was a trap, storming in now would just guarantee our capture and do nothing to help him.” I could feel my stomach twist itself into knots. We would have to hold back, despite the risk that Anton was being tortured.

Mark took a step closer to me and squeezed my right arm for comfort. “If something goes wrong, he’s going to try to relay the message to us. Otherwise, he’ll send us the all clear in two hours.”

He could be dead by then.

“We won’t wait that long,” I answered. “We take half an hour to prepare. Then we go in.”

I looked at my watch and allowed my eyes to linger on its face as I composed myself. A tear began to blur my vision, but I blinked it away and looked up to meet Luke’s gaze. “We’ll use that time to get some spells ready and familiarize ourselves with the site,” I explained. Luke’s scrutiny traveled from me to Mark’s face. He frowned at his brother as though Mark still held the key to making sense of everything.

“Tamer, have someone monitor Merador’s vital signs. They can deactivate my spells as soon as we leave for the caves,” I commanded. He could hear the lump in my throat, but I ignored it. “My threat to Merador won’t do us any good after we’re gone.”