Master Mage: Ordained Magic: Book Three, page 8
Maybe it was an odd thing to find amusing, but I think I did because I really hated that rust bucket, and I’d just ensured it would last for my lifetime, for my husband’s sake.
I’d also laid enough of the groundwork for the GPS walkie talkie master spell, that I was fairly sure I’d finish it tomorrow, and if not surely the morning after. It was definitely a simple master spell, at least in complexity and power, and no more than twenty glyphs.
Rosa dropped by mid-morning, and we moved into the kitchen and sat the table with coffee.
Rosa said, “I have a problem.”
“What’s that?”
Rosa said, “One of the ships were stolen.”
I giggled.
Rosa snickered, then shook her head, “It’s really not funny. The owner hasn’t reported it yet, I only know because of my connection with it. There are only four mages aboard, no human crew or scientists, and its star hopping again looking for a world no doubt.”
“You think they want to find and claim a living world, to get rich.”
Rosa replied, “Probably. They’ll be the only mages that can get to it, after they return the ship, and it will add a twenty first competitor and world to this first push to the stars for humanity. They’ll probably return the ship to that owner’s new world’s orbit when they’re done with it?”
“We can’t let them do that, or groups of mages bit by the bug will all try to duplicate it. Let me see if Brett and Violet are free to help us reclaim the ship, you should be able to deny their control and portal us onto it.”
She nodded in agreement.
I called Brett, and he and Violet showed up a few minutes later.
It was over fast, they were almost no threat at all, and we took them down easily. Two of them had been sleeping, and the two on the bridge were no match for the four of us working together.
At the moment they were all magically suppressed, and under arrest for grand larceny.
Brett asked, “Did you really think we’d let you claim a world, if you’d found one?”
They all looked confused by that, and it seemed our assumptions were off.
I asked, “If not for that, why did you steal the ship?”
One replied, “We built our own. I mean, it works and everything, but the one thing we can’t duplicate with simple glyph spells is navigation to new stars for the interstellar portal spell. We were trying to study the magic in action and reverse engineer it, so we could build and sell our own ships. We just… borrowed it, we work for Interstellar Capital.”
Interstellar Capital was the name of the company that a large group of investors had come up with for buying the ship and getting into colonizing other stars.
I snorted, so that’s why they were hopping around stars, not to find a world to claim, but to reverse engineer the magic. That would have never worked. Even if they could discern all the glyphs involved, which was doubtful, they’d be lost on the intents of the glyphs as well as the foci of the caster.
They’d also just confessed to industrial espionage, which would be added to the charge of grand larceny. These guys weren’t the brightest bulbs around.
Brett and Violet took them in, while Rosa and I returned the ship to where it belonged and helped the crew get back aboard her. Which honestly, was all no big deal, except for what happened after that.
The story was sensationalized, and it became somewhat of a scandal. No, not the idiots that stole the ship, but that we caught them so quickly, and what that implied. The idiots were interviewed in lockup, and they fully explained how they’d lost control of the ship, opening up a whole can of worms.
The only buyer happy with us was of course, Interstellar Capital, for getting back their ship and avoiding a huge headache. The rest of them were riled up, that the ships were ultimately still under Rosa’s overriding control and oversight.
It had been in the information packet, that she had to remain connected to all the ships to maintain the spells, but they either hadn’t read that part or hadn’t understood the full implications of it. They’d been too enamored of the function and the dollar signs it represented for them and their investors, that they didn’t probe into it or ask questions about it.
Now that they had the new world, they were complaining in hindsight. To put it to a new level of absurdity, they were complaining about something that secured their interests, that they hadn’t known was there. Out of a paranoid fear that we cared enough to use it to spy on their business.
That arrogant jackass, Jameson Conroy, had even threatened to sue later on that same day, in a sound bite. He said we were guilty of fraud and misrepresenting the product, not explaining we had a back door into the system, magically speaking.
No mage had ever been sued before, for an offered product or service, so it was new legal ground, or it would be if the jackass actually did it.
It was a fuzzy thing. We used the magicless court and jail system, but we also policed our own independently. No one in the mage society was going to arrest us for fraud, or attempt to put magic suppression in us, given the facts and shortfalls was simply a misunderstanding on the part of the buyer. No matter what a judge in a court said.
It would be the first time that independence of ruling justice was tested, and most magicless would say we were putting ourselves above the law. And, they weren’t entirely wrong, although that wasn’t quite right either. It was more that we were the ultimate decision makers on when a mage broke the law and charges should be submitted to the DA.
At the same time fraud was a deliberate act of deception by publishing or saying an untruth about a product or service.
Publishing unclear truths was not fraud, it was just the level of true details, and it was their own fault for not asking for clarification on what and to what depth that magical connection involved.
But in short, the only body of authority able to charge Rosa and I with a crime, was the Mage Society. It would be them that Jameson or his lawyers would have to convince, to even get it to trial. At least, a criminal trial, but I could still be called to a civil court where they’d try to make me pay monetary damages, or something. Which was absurd, and would make those very rich people look petty, given we’d given them the keys to all become trillionaires several times over.
All of which was why I found myself doing yet another interview, because despite not worrying about going to jail over this, I did care about the perception problem that would come about if Jameson or one of the others actually sued. Perhaps together, in a class action.
It was… annoying.
Mostly because I thought he was greedy without reason to consider pursuing this, and a part of me thought it might be petty and partially revenge for stopping him cold in his attempt to get up my skirts. Clearly, I’d embarrassed him, and he was the type to hold grudges.
Or, maybe I was doing him an injustice, but I was never quick to make accusations like that without proof, or to think the worst of the male species. My instincts were telling me he wanted to get back at me for not jumping into his bed.
If nothing else, by the threat alone, to embarrass me and give me bad press, even if he had no intentions to follow through on it. Only time would tell, I was sure he’d put lawyers on it to determine the viability of winning, along with a cost analysis, before making a decision.
“Hi, Carmen.”
She smiled, “You look great, Maya.”
I looked down, “This old thing?”
She laughed, “Have a seat. Before I get started on the questions, why don’t you tell me what happened first, in your own words.”
I told her the simple story, ending with the apprehension of the mages and the successful return of the property.
She asked, “So, can your spells on the ship be used to spy?”
I shook my head. “No, past where they are, and the number of crew aboard. There are no audio or visual taps on the ships. Rosa knew the ship had been taken because there were only four mages aboard, which isn’t a full crew, and the ship was jumping between stars. As I said earlier, we just knew something was wrong, we even got their motivations wrong at first, since it was all guesswork past that as to why they’d stolen the ship.”
She asked, “Can you prove that, by independent study?”
I laughed, “Nope. Magic is too diverse, another mage couldn’t discover if it was true or not. The only way to prove it would be to submit to a truth spell while giving testimony.”
She tilted her head, “Are you willing to do that?”
I smiled, “Only if I’m sued, and in court. I have no need to prove myself, let them calculate that risk and make a decision.
“To say we committed fraud is ridiculous, if anything we should bill them for the recovery of the spacecraft, which was a service not offered in the sale. We were just being nice. You can be sure we won’t recover a ship without payment again, if any of the others are stolen. A service we might’ve helped with, but it will now cost them a million dollars per incident.
“The backlash is absurd, and entirely built on incorrect speculation. Especially since we did provide the information that Rosa would be connected to the ships to maintain the spells, so of course she can control the spells. They’re her spells,” I didn’t say ‘DUH’, but it was heavily implied in my tone, “It’s their fault for not asking clarifying questions while dreaming of the trillions they could make with the investment, and if they take us to civil court they will lose.”
She asked, “Isn’t that a bit much?”
I nodded, “Of course it is, and that’s the point and my retaliation for their defamation of my character and my sister’s with no proof. It’s also a seller’s market, since once they get their current world off the ground, they won’t have a ship to find the next living world, or the next multi-trillion-dollar goldmine if you will. They can afford it, and they can’t afford not to pay me.
“Realistically, not a big deal, but don’t forget in essence my sister and I risked our lives to recover that ship. We had no idea the capabilities of those mages before we acted. This is the thanks we get? All after selling them for a steal, given the opportunities the ships represent. No, I am not happy.
“At least Interstellar Capital was happy and thankful. We might send them a million-dollar coupon, if they need help again. Just to put the point on it.”
Carmen outright laughed at that, “This is a new side of you.”
I shrugged, “They should’ve thought it through first. They could’ve called Rosa with their concerns, before going to the press after jumping to bad conclusions. Especially given all the other related facts. Annoying your mage cash cow with nonsense is a bad idea.
“We gave away the interstellar expansion market for a pittance, a market we could’ve dominated, if we had any interest in doing so. I don’t have time for that. The only thing dear to my heart related to that business is seeing humans spread out among the stars, and not having all of our eggs in the Earth basket anymore. That’s it. In short, we don’t care what they’re doing or what they’re planning, why would we? Outside of clarifying it, and that million-dollar recovery fee in the future, I have no plans to address this further in any way.”
Carmen asked, “Is there more you could do though? I mean legally.”
I nodded, “Of course. I could become their twenty first competitor and do everything cheaper, so they could enjoy their empty twenty living worlds while everyone flocks to mine, I’m sure now there are tens of thousands of them here in the Milky Way alone. But I’m not that petty, and besides the fact I have more important things to do, doing that would also harm the economy and there’d be a lot less jobs involved which would hurt the average person on the street needing one.
“They’re good businessmen, despite their recent mistake, probably made out of fear of mages and magic. I think there’s enough competition to keep everything reasonable and fairly priced, all while giving a lot of people jobs while doing so, so I’m content to work on my passions and ambitions. Healing, teaching, giving back, and keeping San Antonio safe, not to mention spending time with my family.”
Creating new spells and similar opportunities for humanity too, maybe, but I couldn’t say that one, or reveal that I was creating the spells myself when no one else save Gabriella was allowed to mess with them. Which felt absurd, because it should be obvious, but with gods on overwatch, it wasn’t for some reason. I’d tried to detect their interference a few times, just for fun, but it was on a level that my magic couldn’t detect.
Perhaps it had been implanted in our minds at the moment of their arrival, so there was nothing ongoing to detect, but if that was true what happened to the new people who were born after that? I supposed when it came to the gods, all us mortals could do was guess.
Carmen said, “Thanks for coming on to clarify your thoughts on this issue. As always, it’s a pleasure to have you on the show.”
“Thanks, Carmen.”
She signed off, and then I chatted with her a bit longer before heading home. She was almost a good friend at that point, but I knew her dedication to her profession would trump that friendship at any time.
Chapter Ten
I did finish the Walkie Talkie master spell the next morning, and I shared and distributed it. I’ll admit it was a bit odd knowing I could talk to Brett, Violet, Rosa, or Jessica whenever I wanted, just directing it that way by intent, but I got used to the idea after a couple of hours. It didn’t affect much, and it was a good safety measure. We no longer had to use wards after that, to do the job, and it was far less intimate than the commune glyph spell.
It was also worth noting after my interview the backlash reversed direction, quickly. I no longer thought it even remotely likely I’d be sued for damages. The average person was seeing it as corporate big wigs getting ridiculously petty, and they tried to counter that with press releases that they’d just been doing their due diligence and after review had decided not to pursue the case further.
It was also time to choose a new master spell to create, and not so incidentally close to a week since my epiphany, which was the date I’d given myself to act. It was just three weeks or less before the attack, and I might need every day of it to meet the challenge. I couldn’t stop them, with a spell I intended to make, only with one I’d made.
I’d decided with a lot of struggling, that it was an epiphany I’d had last week. It wasn’t burying my head in the sand, because I had the ability and power to make my truth a reality. That I didn’t have to make a decision between two evils, or even break my word. The defender in a war calculation had never had a choice save to participate in war or surrender, until now, but I was a master mage with a thorough understanding of the universe, and I had decided to treat war like anything else. Killing was bad, period. Neither could I throw them in jail for waging war, nor could I let them harm a single hair on the head of a San Antonio mage.
So the answer I was looking for became obvious at that point. It’d take a new master spell to defend from an invading army of mages, but not necessarily an offensive one. I was thinking more along the lines of something similar to Demon Overwatch, a spell that would supersede and prevent the violence from even starting. I hadn’t worked out all the details yet, or even named it, as I started to design it.
Then it came to me. Peace. I would name my new master spell, Peace.
That wasn’t the only conclusion I’d come to during my meditations on it. The magicless were still violent in places, but not as far as war. There was simply no magicless war anymore, at all, anywhere. I thought perhaps that was all about them not being able to claim absolute rule and control over the country, so it sucked the ambition out of them to rule, at least in that way.
The mages had inherited that trait, because we had the power, even those that didn’t fully exercise it, like the San Antonio Mage Society, and everyone knew it. The wars were between mages now, mage groups trying to subdue and take over another group’s authority.
My new spell, Peace, would keep that in mind as well. Because… I planned to share this spell with all the other masters on the planet, that had access to my shared master spell book file.
It was fully my intention to stop the inevitable, or at least what I used to think was inevitable. It was my intention to make the spell and set the example, so that every city was free to be led by their own mages, keeping our mage governments small, and there to support the humans, or in some cases rule them too.
It was audacious to say the least, I blush even writing it down. My intention was to end war. Period. Talk about arrogant, but I was fairly sure I could pull it off.
Nothing was forever, but it was my hope to come up with something that would at least last a lifetime. My lifetime, and hopefully beyond. After all, it would only take a master mage with my training from the gods, that wanted war, to come up with a spell to break my spell.
All of that was a lot to ask, ending war in San Antonio and hoping the world followed and even embraced my example, but the more I thought about it, the easier I realized that second part would be. I only needed one master mage that lived in each city, to embrace the possibility for their city. That almost guaranteed no cities would be left out.
I wasn’t sure what the spell would do yet, but I had more than enough to start. The spell would target anyone with the following intents, either separately or together, after they’d cast the first attack spell, or by ordering an elemental to cause harm to another.
One, if they were attacking the city with the intention to replace the current leadership. That would include others besides the leader, who weren’t going to take leadership themselves, and just put someone else on the throne so to speak.
The second intention was cruel enjoyment married to the intention to kill. I mean, some mage soldiers in an army would be of that kind, not fighting for the cause of their leader at all, but merely a part of their leader’s war machine because they enjoyed the slaughter. It was an excuse to kill without worrying about being punished.
