Third Earth, page 3
What in the sheesh?
He lifted his head out of the circle and growled in various pitches. Dragon speech. It didn’t translate into Ademic. He must have been talking to other dragons on his end. Several roars responded.
Then I heard, The Arch Mage has agreed to come.
I hadn’t agreed to anything. What was going on? The sparkling ring and Regent Menneth vanished from sight.
“What was that all about?” Lumi asked.
“You didn’t hear?”
“Only your side of the conversation.”
That didn’t make sense. Dragon telepathy worked like speaking out loud, everyone within ear shot heard it—unless they intentionally cut someone out.
“He blocked you? Why?”
Ears flattened and clearly irritated, she growled, “Don’t know. What did he say?”
“That I agreed to go look for a sun larva on Third Earth.”
“What?” Her flat ears lifted in surprise. “You said no such thing.”
“I know. He lied too. He said it was his decision. It wasn’t.”
Lumi tensed with wariness. “Something’s off about all of this.”
“Yes.” I agreed completely. “Off.”
The air in front of me glittered and the circle returned. This time, the regent’s demeanor radiated caution rather than confidence.
I’ve only a moment, Arch Mage, he hissed. I can’t trust anyone so listen carefully. My reign is threatened by a secret society. They are powerful and informed, but every time I catch one, they kill themselves rather than give up their leader. I believe they have orchestrated your visit. You are walking into a trap, but I can’t help you without becoming suspect myself. Wielder of Truth, you must help me root out their leader and unveil their secrets or the freedom of Third Earth is doomed.
“What?” I squeaked. A sharp tingle of pain raced from my toes to my hips, and my leg jumped involuntarily. “Ow. You want me to what?”
Come at once.
“But I can’t. I’m late for a mission on Earth 22. And I don’t have an Aether Stone to Third Earth.”
That is good. It will buy you time. Tell Odric everything and bring protection.
“Protection? Against radical dragons? Like what?”
Dominath. Bring Dominath.
The window vanished again, leaving me pale and shaking.
Lumi swatted me with a paw. “Are you alright? What did he say to you?”
“Lumi,” I breathed in terror. “I have to go to Third Earth and expose a ring of dragon traitors!”
3
A Treacherous Tear
Mom bravely accepted the news when I called to tell her the regent of Third Earth summoned me. She didn’t understand all the politics of the magical worlds, but even she knew dragons made better allies than enemies. And I might have glossed over the part about the secret society of dragon radicals. I didn’t lie; I just emphasized the part about returning favors.
Lumi wasn’t fooled. Her fur stuck out around her neck and tail, and she paced back and forth like a tiger in a zoo.
“I’m sorry, Lumi, but I don’t know how to get out of this.”
“You’re just lucky I’ll be there,” Lumi snarled. “Arch Mages don’t get many breaks, do they?”
“I don’t want you to get bored. We’d better head to the palace and tell Odric everything. If we hurry, we’ll catch Temnon and Arch Mage Claude before they leave to meet us on Earth 22.”
“Wait just a second,” called a tinny voice.
I’d forgotten about Colucci and Kymm. They obviously watched and heard everything Lumi and I had said on the computer. Kymm jumped up from her keyboard.
“Open your mage door,” she said, running to close her closet. “I have to clear up space on your watch’s microchip.”
“Space for what?” I grabbed my watch from the charger and wished for Kymm’s lab at my mage door.
“Your watch takes a picture every ten seconds.”
She hadn’t told me that. A wave of anger flooded up into my mouth. Like every other tech-using female on the planet, I’d been warned about devices taking secret pictures.
I yanked open the door. “You’ve been recording my every move. On purpose. Without telling me.”
Kymm hunched guiltily. “I know it sounds bad—” she started, but I quickly cut her off.
“Taking pictures without permission is not cool, Kymm!”
“Simmer down, missy.” Colucci frowned at me. “We’re here to help you and protect your cover. The only weapon we have is information.”
“They have a point,” Lumi said. “Trouble haunts you.”
“But I wear that watch all the time.” I snuggled my face in her fur to hide my blushing. “Even when I change clothes.”
Kymm gasped in horror. “Oh, gosh, Agnes. Private pictures are filtered out before I see them. I swear I’m only keeping records of who you meet and where you go.”
My gift hummed. Truth. Stupid, quick temper. “Sorry. I jumped to conclusions.”
She gave me a sanctimonious nod. “I’m glad you finally see things my way.”
“And your motivations aren’t selfish at all?”
She froze in her holier-than-thou position, then crumbled under my penetrating stare. She threw out her hands at me.
“But you’re a wizard and you see magic all the time. That’s so flipping cool! Is it so wrong to want to watch?”
“Jeez, Kymm. My life isn’t a comic book.”
“Agnes,” Colucci said sternly, “you’re the only magical-type person on the planet. That affects all of us. Other worlds too. Kymm is right to record your life.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Records were important. If the histories of Second Earth were more complete, my job as arch mage would be much easier. I gave in.
“All right. I suppose you can record me, but it has to be so, so, so protected.”
She crossed a finger over her heart and held up her other hand. “I swear no one will know you exist until you want them to.” She connected the watch to her computer. “Now if I had better cameras—oh!” She grabbed a little black item off her desk and ran through the open mage door into my Apex.
“What’s that?” I asked.
She placed the black thing on the shelf by my computer.
“A drone,” she said, powering it up. “You could be alone and dying in here, and without the proper camera angles, I’d never know. This baby will help me check on you after every mission.” She dashed back into her lab and pulled my watch from the cord. “Download complete. Take your watch, and go save the dragon world from evil radical spies.”
“And don’t die,” added Colucci with typical gruffness and unusual sincerity.
“I’ll give it my best shot. Thanks.”
I closed the mage door and grabbed my carry-on.
“First Earth,” I said. Lumi stepped into the golden circle.
The floor disappeared, and Lumi and I fell into the blackness. Soon, the stars of the Fulcrum and swirling colors of spinning galaxies blazed. The healing hum of raw magic calmed my neuropathy and my fear. I loved traveling in the Fulcrum. The vast heart of creation shone like a 3-D sci-fi movie, enthralling me as the raw magic centered and filled my reserves. Protected in the magical tube of the Jent Path, I could finally relax a little. I sighed in pleasure as the Path hurled us through the Fulcrum to the wormhole that connected to First Earth.
A flash in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Lumi’s long, white-tipped tail was captured between her impressive fangs.
“Don’t stare. I’m busy,” she said defensively.
“Doing what? Protecting the universe from your tail?”
A slightly irritated yowl colored her tone. “I’m sharpening my skills for the mission. Dragons are excellent hunters.”
So much for relaxing. Boy, I was glad the regent said I could finish my sun larva mission before going to Third Earth. I needed time to prepare, mentally and physically. “You have to survive the core of Earth 22 first.”
Her only reply was a fierce growl directed at her tail.
Lumi looked like a fully-grown huntress, but she was young, barely more than a kitten, and tomorrow would be her first time in a planet’s core. She trained hard to imitate her father’s upgraded helcat form. It was an exceptionally difficult form for even an experienced sciftan like Grimmal; for Lumi to achieve it so young was extraordinary.
This was my fifth mission. Planetary cores didn’t worry me anymore, at least, not too much, but now I had Dr. Buchanan’s contract to deliver, and Kymm’s test, and dragon radicals, yikes. Oh yeah. On top of all that, I had homework for Mistress Glaydn. Might as well cross that off my list.
“Zero-gravity pouncing. Nice. I’ll train, too.”
I pulled some magic from my reserves, and my left hand glowed with clean, white light. With my right hand, I shaped it into a solid ball. Once I felt resistance, I trapped the ball of light between both hands and physically squeezed while mentally holding the solid nature of the light. It was a preschooler’s exercise for illusionists on First Earth, and eight-year-old Chiri mastered it in one afternoon. She must have inherited her passion for training from her sister, Sempira. The Jolo were warriors and fire elementals, and Sempira had been their chief, before she died saving a bunch of paladins, and me, from Second Earth’s sun larva’s heat attack. She asked me to bring Chiri to Tirinad and train her to be a warrior, and not just an illusionist. We’d been learning to manipulate light for several months now. Manipulating fire was easier. At least with fire, I felt the heat, but light was tricky to feel, let alone harden. The first few days I mushed out the light balls in seconds, but now they kept their shape.
“You are improving,” Lumi remarked, her mouth full of tail fluff. “Painfully slowly but improving.”
“Thanks for the encouragement.”
Smirking, I tossed the ball of light at her. She snagged it, grasping it with her teeth and forepaws, while raking it mercilessly with her hind claws. A vicious kick popped it from her grasp and hurled it into the depths of the Fulcrum where it joined the sea of shining stars. Only living things were protected in the Jent Path.
“You lost it,” I complained.
Lumi caught her tail again. “Why do you bother? Light will never compare to physical strength.”
The slight jitter of an unintentional lie ran down my spine. Interesting. I formed a new ball and pushed against its energetic resistance.
“Light is all I have.”
She had no rebuttal for that. She knew my physical limitations. With a guilty turn of her head, she released her captive tail and licked it smooth.
Traveling to First Earth only took about ten minutes, but I used every second I had to practice. I grew a light ball bigger than my arm span, and I held it by will alone.
Even Lumi approved with a satisfied purr, rumbling deeper than normal.
“Better release it,” she said. “We’re approaching the wormhole.”
The roaring of the magical wormhole explained Lumi’s loud purr.
“Catch, Lumi,” I called, propelling the light at her with my magic.
With a sweeping swat of a spread, furry paw, Lumi knocked it into the Fulcrum. I grabbed the handle of my carry-on, ready to move and get back on schedule.
“What is happening to your light ball?” Lumi hissed.
In the dark of the Fulcrum, my ball of light swooped in a circle. Slowly at first, but it gained speed until it tumbled as fast as the spin cycle of a giant washing machine. Leaving behind a streaking tail of light, the ball spun in a continually shrinking radius, until it merely whirled in place.
“What the…” I wondered.
With a loud pop, my light ball imploded, and a wave of power hit the Jent Path. I felt the flexible barrier bounce me into Lumi’s furry chest. A dark vortex bloomed. Swirling with particles of black, twinkling magic dotting its edge, it rotated in space where my light ball vanished.
“Whoa!” I yelled.
My hair stood on end and Lumi bristled as spine-jarring power twisted the calm, straight Jent Path into a knotted mess. Ricocheting against the invisible barriers, we hurtled down the path of disrupted power. I shot out my magic like a jet pack, trying to steer, but I couldn’t get my bearings. My loose shirt flapped wildly, despite the zero gravity, and my carry-on tugged away from me. I clung tightly to the handle as it pulled me from Lumi.
“Something’s sucking my bag,” I yelled over the deafening roar of the wormhole.
“That’s impossible,” she cried back.
Her lips drew back in a snarl when she saw my hair and shirt flapping in some kind of wind. As I bounced off the barrier, she snagged me by the leather strap of my Aether pouch and wrapped me up with all four paws and her tail. Together, we banged into the walls of the Jent Path at every crazy curve and the bag’s handle inched out of my grip with each impact. With a plastic zip, the main compartment of my carry-on burst open, and two days of clothes hurtled down the path ahead of us.
“Crap! What’s going on?” I shouted.
“Agnes,” yowled Lumi in fear, “your clothes!”
Outside the Jent Path, my pajamas floated in the cold reaches of space, framed by the dark, twinkling vortex. Then my jeans followed, unfolding and performing their own version of a spacewalk. I stared, not comprehending what happened before my eyes.
Lumi figured it out before me.
“There’s a tear in the Jent Path. We’re in the wormhole. That’s not the Fulcrum out there! We’re going to be sucked into outer space!”
A tear? No way. Like Lumi said, it was impossible. Maybe my pajamas didn’t make a curve and floated out of the Jent Path. Tumbling out of control, I tried to see downstream.
“I can’t see anything,” I said.
A set of feathered wings sprouted from Lumi’s shoulders, and our wild flipping steadied. My enchanted armor, heavier than my everyday clothes, plastered against the Jent Path barrier curving closest to the dark vortex. It had to be a tear: our trajectory would have thrown my pajamas outside the curve, not inside. Then the fierce wind ceased pulling at me, and I got a good look of the tubular Jent Path.
“There,” I shouted, pointing, “my armor!”
“It’s plugging the tear.”
Fighting to stay centered and facing downstream, we both watched the red armor. If it stayed put, we were safe. I hooked my knee in the extended handle of the carry-on and shot magic from both hands, trying to reverse our direction. We slowed—it was working. But then, just as we neared the next bend, my armor burst through the tear and floated away. Once again, the air being sucked out of the Jent Path pulled us toward the hole, ten times stronger than my magic propulsion.
“It tore bigger,” Lumi yowled.
Her fear fueled a defiant anger inside me. Protesting the stupidly powerful force of the vortex, I thrust a flood of light ahead and willed it to coat the Jent Path. A fierce stab of nerve pain jerked my legs into the fetal position.
“Harden!” I shrieked.
The light splashed against the wall of the Jent Path, spread around the entire tunnel, and solidified enough to patch the hole as we flew by. Lumi let out a mewling cry of relief. A few swooping curves later, the path straightened and left the dark vortex behind.
“Agnes, you saved us.”
She snuggled me into her furry belly and rubbed her head on the back of my neck as the roar of the wormhole faded and First Earth grew before us.
My pulse still throbbed with an insane pace. I did save us. But from what?
4
Pile on the Disasters
What in the name of high holy Hannah just happened? The wormhole shot us within view of First Earth. I hoped Temnon and Claude were still there. I had to tell them about the tear in the Jent Path before someone got sucked into outer space.
We zoomed past thick pine forests and lush mountains to the capital city, Tirinad, and straight to the caramel granite spires of the palace. The Jent Path phased us through the upper floors into King Odric’s throne room, but it was empty. Only two sentries in red tailcoat uniforms stood with weapons at the ready. Security enchantments settled like fairy dust, coating my rumpled shirt and sinking into Lumi’s thick fur. The clever spells judged the intention of visitors, and enemies were instantly sent to a high security prison. We weren’t enemies, so we weren’t atomized, and the sentries dropped the golden barrier.
“Arch Mage Agnes, Pharess Lumi,” one sentry greeted, “welcome.”
“Where’s Arch Mage Claude?” I asked, skipping pleasantries.
“The forward team traveled to Earth 22 this morning,” the sentry said.
That meant Claude, Temnon, and Grimmal already left to confirm the reports before our dive into Earth 22.
“Trouble?” the sentry asked.
I nodded. “There’s a hole in the Jent Path.”
“A what?” The sentry instantly tensed, and his pale partner sent a telepathic message about an emergency halt on interplanetary travel. “We’ll alert the maintenance crews. You’d best go straight to the king.” The sentry gestured to the tall golden doors. “He’s taking his midday meal in the family’s private dining room.”
“Got it,” I said. “Thanks.”
As I exited the throne room, another sentry snapped to attention.
“Miss Agnes. Shall I escort you?”
“Private dining room. And hurry, please.”
The sentry set off down the hall. King Odric’s familiar palace, with its gilded arches and intricate paintings, calmed my breathing, but I still felt jumpy after my close encounter with the space vortex.
“Setting off on a new mission?” the sentry asked.
“Yeah.”
So, what was that thing? I’d never seen Jent Paths affected like that before. That swirling vortex struck me as familiar…like a mini black hole.
“Exciting life you lead,” the sentry said, interrupting my thoughts. “Anything new on your schedule?”
Sentries were usually friendly, but I wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat. “Yeah.”
