The Four Kings (6 page)

“Basically act like a liaison between the Liberators and us. They have hundreds of reforms in mind. They want me to set up a nerve center, giving them reports as needed. I’ll also be organizing for the Debate Days and Petition Days.”

“I don’t like this, Amanda. You’re copping out. You’re co-operating with the enemy,” Adam said.

“Just a minute,” Trevor thoughtfully said, holding up his arm. He looked down at the table, appearing pensive.

“We may not have a choice,” Maggie said. “These wizards have incredible powers. We’re no match for them.”

“They said they’d only serve for three years,” Trevor added.

“I know! I know…” Adam acted as if he had a brilliant idea.

Trevor nodded his approval.

Adam leaned forward to face his sister, whispering conspiratorially. “Can these hotshots hear what we’re saying?”

“No,” Amanda said.

“Okay, sister. You work with them –” he leaned back, “And you work with us, too.” Trevor held out his hand. “A double agent.”

Maggie appeared worried. “I don’t like the sound of this. What if they punish her?”

Amanda straightened out her back. “I’m pretty sure they won’t. They don’t appear to be vengeful.”

All around the table, the three family members seated opposite Amanda nodded to themselves and to one another, implicitly sealing a family pact.

Maggie took one last look around the table. “It’s all settled, then.” She stared at Amanda. “Amanda, you have our blessing. Just be prepared for a few things.”

“Mom –”

Maggie held out her finger, wrinkles still creasing her brow. “Be prepared to be very unpopular with our people. Be prepared to be hated all over the world.

“And…” she sighed, “be careful, Amanda. Never lose sight of who you really work for.
Us
.”

Chapter Ten

Games Day was about to begin. Standing in front of a huge grassy field – totally magical, tethered to the sky about half a mile above ground, Amanda apprehensively turned to Demus. All the wizards were still dressed by the colors they were known by – Demus, red; Justica, blue; Regi, yellow; and Indie, purple. All they did was change their styles and patterns every day, adopting different shades of the color – but the one base color remained irrevocably the same.

“I won’t fall all the way down?” Amanda asked, gazing at the edge of the field, which ended into nothingness. She also worried that if she took another step on the artificial plateau, a hole would swallow her, and she’d be screaming all the way to a certain death.

“No,” Demus said with a grin. “All our Mortals who’ve been invited up here are protected by a spell.” He pointed to the edge of the field. “For example, if you choose to jump off there, you’d simply walk among the clouds, just like we do.” He laughed. “Go on, try it.” He gave her a playful shove.

Amanda shuddered at the thought of attempting a sky dive over two thousand feet above the Earth’s crust. “No thanks.”

The three other wizards walked up to them. “Are we ready?” Indie asked, clearly animated.

“Ready,” Demus said.

Indie spread out her arms dramatically. Instantly, dozens of huge screens appeared in the distance, encircling the field of green. All over North America, thousands of gigantic screens appeared over the major towns and cities, affording the citizens of North America a close-up view of the wizards’ antics.

In the far distance, with a buffer zone of empty space of about twenty feet surrounding the field, dozens of unknown wizards appeared, all seeming to be under thirty years old. They hovered in the air, excitedly anticipating the contests ahead.

“Welcome all,” Indie said, “Welcome Mortals of North America and fellow wizards mostly from North America, but also found around the world. Our first Games Day is about to begin!”

“Give ‘em bread and circuses!” Demus whispered to Regi, and they both laughed. Amanda didn’t hear the remark.

Her senses heightened as she observed the dozens of wizards, including the now-familiar four. It was a different world, one she wasn’t accustomed to.

Indie held her arms up and addressed the dozens of wizards in attendance. “For the first game,” she announced, “we have the Spheres of Doom.”

Regi jabbed Demus in his side playfully. “I love this one.”

Indie made a sweeping motion with her hands, dreamily closing her eyes. Instantly, the grassy field disappeared. Amanda gasped at what she saw next.

One hundred silver balls, all humming and rotating, appeared in a neatly fitted grid: ten balls lengthwise and ten balls in the other direction. Each ball appeared to be twenty feet in diameter, and the total area was two hundred feet long and wide. Amanda had no idea how the balls rotated on their own; there seemed to be no set of pins threaded through each ball’s center.
Magic
, she thought. Each ball was spinning not fast, but not slowly either. She guessed each revolution took about ten seconds. Each ball relentlessly and continually kept rotating, all on different axes opposite to one another.

“Regi, you start,” Indie commanded. The thousands of screens scattered in the skies over North America were tracking close-ups of every move. Millions of Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, and others were spellbound, watching the action and hearing every sound.

“Oh boy!” Regi, rubbing his hands together, started at the first available corner. He stood at the edge, about ready to jump on the giant spinning ball closest to him.

“The goal’s very clear,” Indie announced. “The objective of the game is to jump from ball to ball until you reach the corner diagonally opposite. You may start in any corner, but you must ultimately reach the opposite corner. You may go on any ball you wish, but you may only go to the next immediate ball, wherever it may be. There’s no time limit. While there is one best path, there may be more than one track to your destination. If you fall, you may start over on the last ball that you were on. Falls count against you.”

“I know the drill,” Regi sighed, mocking her.

“Yes, but millions of Mortals don’t,” Indie playfully reciprocated. “Now, go!”

“Wait a minute!” Demus cried out. “Why should we wizards have all the fun? Let’s see how a Mortal does it!”

Dozens of wizards circling the spectacle enthusiastically clapped their approval. Even at great distances, the sounds of heavy clapping were broadcast throughout the continent-wide network.

Demus grabbed Amanda, who was standing next to him, and with his magical strength, catapulted her into the air for about fifty feet, to a waiting Regi. Amanda screamed at her sudden predicament, which lasted less than a few seconds. Regi gently retrieved her, and then set her down on the ground. Sheepishly, Regi said, “Sorry.”

Amanda experienced a rush of emotion from the sudden invasion of his touch. One that ignited sparks and flutters all throughout her.
What the hell was that?
She breathed heavily. Then Regi took her hand, and together they materialized on top of the corner ball that had been the closest.

Gasping, Amanda realized she was standing on top of a giant revolving sphere, metallic to the touch. Solid silver. Surprisingly, despite its shiny surface, the sphere offered good friction to Amanda’s loafers. To her horror, she realized that, standing still, she was now rotating away from the top of the ball, and would possibly fall off and be crushed in between the enormous spheres. Recovering quickly, she darted up the top of the ball, where Regi was still holding her hand.

“Keep moving your feet,” he gently told her, “Walk opposite to the direction of the ball.” His words were still being broadcast to millions of viewers.

Of course,
Amanda thought.
Duh.

But, from where she was, she saw it’d be difficult to jump from ball to ball, in the process navigating dozens of random rotational forces, all independent of one another. Actually, exceedingly difficult. Ahead of her, the field ground on, as whirring sounds clicked everywhere. She wondered if anyone would ever be able to make it to the far corner. Several close-ups of Amanda’s terrified face dominated the screens all over.

“I recommend that you carefully scan the balls right next to you,” Regi advised her. “If they keep rotating away from you, it’s best to make the jump. If they rotate against you, it’d be very hard to complete the jump successfully.”

Amanda gulped. “I have to
jump
?”

Regi smiled his charming grin. “Well, how are you going to get across?”

She nodded, still petrified. “What happens if I fall? Do I get crushed?” She stared ahead at the mind-numbing churning of the balls, all spinning robotically.
Stare at them long enough,
Amanda thought,
and you’d be hypnotized
. Just like staring into huge metallic rolls in a newspaper print plant.

“No,” Regi assured her, “All our games have built-in safety features. No one ever gets hurt from a game… except maybe for strained or twisted muscles. If you fall in between the balls, they simply will stop, and you’ll instantly reappear on top of the last ball where you were standing.”

Whew,
Amanda thought. “I don’t want to do this.”

She kept moving her feet away from the edge, her mind paralyzed. It was like swimming against the river’s current away from a waterfall, yet staying static in position.

“You’ll be fine,” Regi said, still holding her hand. Then he disappeared.

“Regi!” Amanda yelled, nearly freaking out. She fell backwards, but still remained on the top of the ball. In a sitting position, she was now rapidly heading toward a fall-off position, toward the shiny surface of the next ball, which rotated in an opposite direction. Terrified, she suddenly regained her senses, and using her hands and feet, scrambled backwards on all fours, eventually standing up shakily. Just moments before she was about to slip and fall off the edge of the ball, she swivelled, and ran up back toward the top.

Oh my God, oh my God.

The cameras decisively recorded her every facial tic, her dishevelled hair, and her panic attacks.

Amanda, forcing herself to think, glanced at the three balls directly next to her. In her corner position, there were only three balls available to jump to. Number one, perpendicular to her on her left, number two, diagonally opposite her, and number three, perpendicular to her on her right. However, number two was much further apart, since it did not directly touch the ball where she was standing. Could she even jump that far? She doubted it.

Number one, on her left, was rotating
toward
her. Not good. If she jumped there, she’d be fighting its punishing direction, and probably fall. Number three, to her left, was spinning
sideways
to her right – which should be okay. A neutral direction, as far as she was concerned.

Ball number three it was then.

Remember to over-compensate, by tilting to the right when landing.

Amanda took a deep breath. Turning around, she stopped walking and allowed herself to be lowered down.
One… two… three… this was it!
She leaped. Having absolutely no experience in this game, she stumbled and fell when she landed on the other ball. She landed on her backside, and spun herself quickly around to face, feet first, her impending doom. Then, she started sliding down rapidly to the relentless grind of the two spheres, just barely touching each other. Her heart rate accelerated and she felt as though she might hyperventilate from her pure panic.

Am I going to die?

Suddenly, as if delivered safely from purgatory, she materialized right beside Indie, safe.

Indie smiled as she placed her hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “Not bad,” she said, delighted. “For a Mortal. We didn’t think you’d last more than a few seconds.”

Amanda experienced an overwhelming rush of emotion, fighting back the hot tears building behind her eyes.

Indie lifted her hand off Amanda’s shoulder. “Regi,” she called, “back to your position.”

Amanda was grateful that soon the cameras would be facing away from her fragile state. While she didn’t know Indie well, Amanda craved more physical acknowledgment of her horrendous experience – a hug, or a lingering touch from anyone, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Everyone was now watching Regi.

Amanda finally broke off her thoughts and gazed at him.

Showing far more dexterity and cunning than Amanda had displayed, he jumped off the corner ball into the one that Amanda had selected previously. Nearly hugging the surface of the target ball with his low center of gravity, Reg quickly climbed to the top and scanned the newly adjoining balls for the best path ahead. Only taking a few seconds to plan ahead each time, Regi jumped, dived, ran, scrambled, and maneuvered his way through the maze, ultimately reaching the opposite diagonal corner ball in about five minutes. He had fallen off three times; each time, the balls all halted their grinding movements at once, and allowed Regi to materialize atop the immediate preceding ball. Beaming, Regi raised his arms in victory as applause swept throughout the congregation. Jokingly, he pretended to flex his arms, and hammed it up for the cameras.

“He’s pretty good, huh?” Justica had walked up to stand beside Amanda, who was still transfixed by the spectacle.

“Yes – he is,” Amanda said, still gazing at Regi showing off.

“This is a hard game for me,” admitted Justica, “I’ve tried many times, and the best I could do is fall only five times in one round. No one has ever been able to cross it without falling at least once.”

“I can’t even imagine going across it at all.”

“You will someday, if you ever want to practice. After all, the wizards don’t use any magic when they cross it. They’re back to being Mortals, so to speak. They’re just like you and me when they play.”

Amanda looked at Justica. She appeared even more beautiful in person, with no make-up and a natural allure about her. No dye or gel was apparent in her soft, luxurious hair, flowing out with radiant volume. Amanda found it hard to believe Justica was a wizard. She seemed just like any ordinary person, with slightly sad, softened features on her face.