Sac'a'rith (30 page)

“I suppose so. Well, take charge till we get back,” I said. I had to admit I shared Shira’s desire to go back and welcomed the opportunity.

“And by ‘take charge’ you mean ‘make sure Crivreen puts all his toys away’?” he joked.

I chuckled and said, “Yeah, and brief everyone on what we just learned.”

Shira met us in the gate room with the black backpack Raquel had prepared for our last trip. “I can’t wait to see the trees again!”

Raquel smiled. “Yeah, me too.” She carried no technology on her at all, not even the purple armor that she usually wore into combat. Instead she was dressed in leather and animal skins, more like Ragnar’s people.

I had wanted to take my armor but she insisted that I travel dressed as she was, more primitively. She also wanted me to leave my blasters behind, and all forms of technology - even my swords.

She walked over to the gate and said, “The sun should be coming up about this time. The last time we went through we made a forced run to the fortress, but we won’t being doing that this trip. Later in the day Shira can gate us there, but this trip is more about learning what it means to be Sac’a’rith.”

She turned to Shira. “Did you remember to leave all technology behind?”

“Yes,” she said. “I rarely carry more than a datapad and armor, so no worries there.”

She looked at me and I just grimaced in response. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ for you, too. I think, as your training progresses, you will learn to lose your dependence on technology. It slows you down and hinders you; you’re better off without it.”

“I notice you normally still wear armor,” I said.

“Yes, but remember I’m cursed and can’t use my powers without great risk.” Darkness passed over her face as she said that, and I wanted to kick myself for my gibe. It was unfair and hurtful.

She turned and opened the gate to the homeworld of the Sac’a’rith. As we stepped out, the power of the forest passed over me like a warm summer breeze. I felt stronger and more alive. I tasted the air with my forked tongue and picked up dozens of scents. I scented prey animals who were fleeing the area that we had just entered, predators cautiously pulling back and evaluating us, birds flying high up on the wind untroubled by our appearance and a dozen more scents that I’d never experience on a spaceship.

Shira’s countenance was that of a small child given access to a candy store. Her eyes were closed and her head thrown back. The wind ruffled her dark hair and she laughed a little. “Oh, it’s so good to be home.” She inhaled deeply and held her breath for some moments before slowly releasing it. I could almost see her tension being released with that breath.

Even Raquel was a bit brighter. “In time, with training, you’ll learn how to reach out to nature even in the vacuum of space; until then, forests like this one are so full of life that it becomes easy to understand what we are.”

“Which is what?” I asked.

“Sac’a’rith – or in the common tongue, Warriors of Nature. Actually, perhaps ‘Champions of Nature’ is a better translation.”

“Me?” asked Shira. “A champion?”

“Oh, yes, little one, very much so. You and Zah’rak are the progenitors of a new generation of champions. Centuries from now, stories will be told about you to upcoming generations. Families will name their kids after you and many will proudly boast how they are descended from you in some way, even those who are obviously not.”

Shira was taken aback by that. “But, how? I’m not exactly – ”

“No, not yet,” Raquel interrupted. “But today, we’ll begin to change that.”

I leaned against a tree, feeling its power rush into me. A thought occurred to me that I was surprised I’d not considered before. “Raquel, didn’t you say that this planet is where you were born, ten thousand years ago?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Then this must be … Alpha World!” said Shira.

“Alpha World?” asked Raquel.

“A legendary world that no one really believed in,” I said quietly. It was hard to believe I’d been flying around with a passage to Alpha World all this time. “The world where life first got its start before spreading out to the stars.”

Shira continued the explanation in a very excited voice. “People of all species have been searching for it for generations, without success. Many times someone claimed to have found it, but they were always proven wrong. It became one of those reoccurring myths that everyone loved to pretend to believe in, but no one really does.”

“Well, it very much exists,” said Raquel. “I never thought about it that way, but yes: at one time all life got its start here.”

“Where in the galaxy are we?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I always use the gate to get here,” said Raquel.

I looked over to Shira and said, “We should bring a datapad on our next trip and get an image of the night sky, then the computer on the Night Wisp can use the stars to locate the planet.”

“No!” Raquel exclaimed. “Until we reclaim this world, we shouldn’t let anyone find it. It’s better that only true-born Sac’a’rith can get here via the gate for now.”

I wasn’t sure I understood her reasoning, but I knew she wanted to see the Sac’a’rith reborn as a pure order. There were only three of us, so I couldn’t see us conquering a planet without help, however.

“So this is our world?” asked Shira.

“Yes, though it’s currently occupied by the enemy and I have much to teach you. It’s fall, so the days are getting shorter. Once you’re trained it won’t matter as much, but we need to fear the night, still,” she said.

“Last time we were here, you said the forest was dangerous even during the day,” I said.

“Oh, it is, which is why we need to get you a proper weapon,” she replied. “This way.”

I had plenty of proper weapons back on the Night Wisp, everything from knives to heavy anti-armor artillery and explosives. I couldn’t imagine what we could find out here in the woods to match that.

She headed off through the woods down a game trail until she came to a clearing where a massive tree grew. It was wider around the trunk than my full reach could encompass and stretched upwards to what seemed like the edge of space, impossible though I knew it to be. Birds and small animals of all kinds lived in its massive branches, far above the ground.

The aura of life around this tree was the strongest I’
d ever experienced from a plant; it seemed
almost more than a tree, closer to a person than a plant.

There were tears in Raquel’s eye as she touched the bark. “I planted this tree as a memorial on my wedding day.”

I looked in awe at the majesty of life that it represented. This tree was ten thousand years old. It was still healthy and strong, and might last another ten thousand years for all I knew. I could only imagine what it had witnessed in all that time; the rise and fall of empires and nations, countless storms and beautif
ul summer days.

Shira walked over to Raquel and silently hugged her around the waist. I stayed back as they bonded. Eventually Raquel took a deep breath and turned towards me. “This tree will give you your first real weapon as a magus and a Sac’a’rith.”

“How?” I asked.

“Ask the tree,” she replied.

I slowly approached the tree. I had spent a little time reading about plants while Shira was learning hydroponics in case she needed help, and I’d heard of trees believed to be several thousand years old, but I didn’t recognize the species of this one. That was hardly surprising since none of the plants here appeared in our database, but they all felt familiar. It was as Shira had said: somehow this was home.

I placed my hand on it to feel the bark that had weathered countless storms and received a sense of its spirit. Slowly my awareness drifted deeper into the tree and I felt it reaching out to me. As the sensation deepened, I could feel all the animals and insects that made the tree their home. A myriad tiny lives going about their daily business filled my thoughts.

Behind me I heard Raquel say, “Take the branch.”

I looked up. Perhaps my eyes deceived me, but it seemed as if the tree had lowered a branch to where I could easily reach it. I grasped the branch it offered and it came off in my hand.

I stepped back and looked at the branch. It was long and strong, almost as long as I was tall. I turned it around in my hands a few times and it felt well-balanced. There was a power in the branch that connected to me as I held it. It grew and shifted slightly in my hands and became more comfortable to grip.

“Shira, draw down your staff,” said Raquel.

As I watched, Shira reached into the air and pulled out the same staff I’d seen her use before. She spun it around with such grace and speed that it blurred into a disk. She stopped, stood up straight and planted the staff in front of her. It was slightly shorter than her, as the branch in my hand was just a little shorter than myself.

“A staff?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Raquel. “Shira can teach you to fight with it, but first you must enchant it so that it truly becomes yours.”

“But you use swords. Why can’t I continue using mine?”

“I’m cursed, you aren’t,” she said quietly. “Now let us begin the binding process. You’ll understand better when the staff is finished.”

The staff had a much greater reach than my swords, but the lack of a blade struck me as a serious disadvantage. I doubted the wood could hold up if I swung it with any force against an armored target, but Raquel was here to teach me something and there was no way I could think of to protest which would not insult Shira as a teacher or rub Raquel’s face in her curse.

Shira taught me the proper way to hold the staff and guided me through some basic moves. It seemed to make her happy to teach me something for a change, and I decided that I’d make an effort to learn to use this weapon, just for her. It would also give me another tool in my arsenal.

Raquel started to speak, but I sent,
“Let Shira do this first, please.”
She smiled, nodded and wandered off out of the way.

After maybe an hour practicing with the staff, Raquel called me over. I was glad of the break, as my muscles weren’t used to the movements required. I was sure I’d be sore in the morning, but the light in Shira’s eyes as I successfully copied her movements made it all worthwhile.

“Now that you have the feel for it, let’s begin the binding ritual.”

Elsewhere, deep in an unknown forest, six magi gathered around a large sphere of pure tanzanite. The sphere was mounted on a large pedestal that looked as if it had been there for a thousand years. Surrounding the sphere were seven lampstands made of iron, each with a blue flame at the top, despite the fact that there were no candles. The flames danced in the light breeze, giving them the appearance of living things.

The six magi watched the sphere closely while chanting and weaving. They moved in a synchronized dance, slowly making their way around the sphere. Inside it, a scene was being played out which the magi were watching intently; a fleet of military spacecraft were gathering at a station.

Eventually their dance came to a halt, but they continued to watch the sphere as if it were of unsurpassed importance.

“They suspect our plan,” said one.

“No, they have no idea. They are merely reacting to their bases being lost,” said another.

“We must be more discreet,” said a third.

“We have no time for that. We must build our army before the wizards realize what we are doing. If their idiot grandmaster ever learns to swallow his pride and obtain assistance from the other realm, we shall be ruined.”

While they debated two more magi approached, both wearing pitch-black robes. They were wrapped in such evil and darkness that the very ground at their feet seemed to age and die as they walked towards the group. Energy crackled up and down their staves and wrapped around their forearms.

The six turned in unison and one of them, whose face resembled a skull more than a man, said, “Who dares disturb us?”

“I am Grandmaster, and you will not speak to me in that way!” called out the taller of the two approaching magi.

“Grandmaster?” laughed the skull-faced magus. “We shall see!”

With that he spun his staff and called out a command word. Fire leapt from his staff and engulfed the challenger and his partner. Neither of them even flinched.

“Is that the best you have, pyromancer?” asked the challenger. “Let’s see how you fare against your own!”

The challenger chanted a spell, moving his arms and body as if he were pulling something out of the ground. Humanoid creatures of pure fire rose from the ground between the two opponents and cried out. The bravest of warriors would justifiably have run in fear from that cry, but these combatants ignored it.

The pyromancer had not been idle while the challenger was summoning; he also was chanting and pulling fire from the air around him, weaving it into a great ball. When he had finished, he launched the ball at the two challengers. The smaller one moved to intercept it, and the ball of fire hit him with a deafening crack as the superheated air rushed skyward at the speed of sound.

The summoned fire creatures marched towards the pyromancer, and the explosion from the massive fireball knocked the smaller challenger far back. His body skidded and rolled away. He did not rise to rejoin the fight, and smoke from his corpse carried the scent of burning flesh across the battlefield.

The remaining challenger took no note of the fall of his companion. He began to cast a second spell while his army moved towards the pyromancer.

The pyromancer began chanting and moving his arms in a ripping motion as the fire elementals approached him. The entire line of elementals dissipated as he finished his spell.

The challenger used that time to weave a dozen fireballs, which he launched towards the pyromancer in rapid succession. Each flew through the air with blinding speed and accuracy. Smoke trails filled the air between the two magi and sparks flew everywhere, threatening to start a forest fire. The combatants paid no attention to the forest around them. Neither of them could afford to risk diverting his attention from the fight.