The Worlds of the Sheaf

Escape - Part 6

    "You're back!" cried Edward Parsley a week later as Thomas strolled into Pondar Walton's laboratory. "The wanderer returns!"

     Thomas smiled as Karem and Tassley gathered round, eager to hear about his triumphant tour of Belthar. They demanded to know what the King was like, what the palace was like, what the border forts were like and Pondar, seeing that no useful work was going to be done for the rest of the day, gave in to the inevitable and gave them the rest of the day off. The junior wizards dashed off in delight, looking for a shady patch of grass where they could sit, and Thomas spoke until his mouth was dry and his throat began to ache.

     "Sounds like you had a good time," said Tassley, staring at him with eyes that glittered with jealousy. "We went back through the portal at least a dozen times looking for you, getting a dose of skydeath each time for our trouble, and what thanks do we get?"

     "You'll have your moment," promised Thomas, patting her on the hand. "Everyone who ever set foot on the Jules Verne will be heroes before this is over, you mark my word. The King will make sure of it. The more heroes the better as far as he's concerned, and a young woman as beautiful as you will be worth her weight in gold. Every hero he can parade before the cheering crowds is another testimony to the continuing greatness of Belthar. Proof that, despite the loss of the provinces, the Kingdom is greater now than it's ever been."

     His words cheered her somewhat, and this promise turned out to be true a couple of years later when the beautiful wizard saved the ship from another close shave. The King was a shrewd man. He'd left some of the ship's crew in the shadows for now for a reason. He didn't want to play all his cards at once. Tassley and the others were kept in reserve, to be brought out and feted as heroes later, as the people lost interest in the previous heroes. That way, he could keep interest in the ship alive for years, when it might otherwise have become old news very quickly, and he was guaranteed a burst of popularity whenever he needed it.

     Thomas explained all this, and the woman scowled in outrage. "Politics?" she spat. "We're just political pawns, is that what you're saying?"

     "Hey, don't knock it," said Edward with a smile. "Not if it means you get to be a world hero. Just think of all the men who'll be throwing themselves at your feet after that."

     "Men aren't the only thing I think about," stated Tassley in annoyance, and even Karem was forced to smile as the other two men collapsed in helpless laughter.

     "So," said Thomas when they were in control of themselves once more. "What's been going on here while we've been away?"

     "Lots!" cried Edward excitedly. "They've compared the Master's charts you brought back with the felisian charts and they think they've located both the Shipbuilders' and the Masters' homeworlds. They're preparing to go visit them, just as soon as they've figured out how to outfit and defend the Jules Verne. The weapon you used to destroy the ring weapon's scared the giblets out of them. They don't want to take the Jules Verne into a confrontation with a whole fleet of silver ships armed like that."

     "Not my problem," said Thomas, smiling smugly. "I don't expect to be going to the Masters' homeworld. My talent for sensing Rossemian magic will make me useful for the mission to the Shipbuilder world, but not to the Masters' world, and I'm not in the least sorry for that. You're right, it's a scary prospect."

     "They're talking about giving the whole crew latent amnesia spells," said Edward, "so that if they're captured they won't be able to tell them where Tharia is. Saturn's even talking about rigging the teleport chamber to blow up if it looks like the ship might be captured. Blow up the whole ship, sacrifice the whole crew, to protect Tharia" He looked at Tassley, who nodded soberly. "She's going to be aboard. I've tried to talk her out of it..."

     "Is that true?" asked Thomas in surprise, and the woman nodded. "Why? Why take such a risk?"

     "Someone's got to," she replied. "Why did you risk your life to rescue Gunther? Why were you aboard the Bescot, when you knew there was a good chance you wouldn't be coming back? I like Tharia. I've had a lot of fun in my life and I want to go on having fun. If there's a bunch of monsters out there who enslave whole planets, we have to learn about them so we can figure out how to defend ourselves against them. You know all this. It's what you said yourself when someone asked why you were joining the crew."

     "No-one should go," said Karem, however, the scar running up his face twisting as he scowled. "The Masters have been to Tharia. They came here a couple of hundred years ago, according to the records we translated. They left because there was nothing here to interest them, but if they find out we now have the ability to cross space and dimensions to their world, they may think we’re a threat. We should leave the Masters alone. Give them no reason to come back here.”

     "But it may be just a matter of time before they come back," replied Tassley, and Thomas knew he was hearing the continuation of an argument that had been going on for some time. "They used the felisians as slaves. They may see us as a handy source of slave labour.”

     “All the more reason not to draw attention to ourselves.”

     Karem stared at Edward and Thomas, urging them to see his point of view, but while Edward nodded the other wizard could only shake his head. "I don't like the idea of Tassley going into danger any more than you do," he said, "but she's right, we've got to know. Besides, there may not be any risk. No-one in any of the universes we've visited have seen a living Master for a long time. Maybe their enemies killed them all..."

     "In which case it is their enemies we must not alert to our existence," replied Karem.

     "No, learn about," said Tassley, however. "If there's someone out there so powerful that they can wipe out the Masters like vermin, then we definitely need to know it. The purpose of our mission hasn't changed. It was originally conceived when we thought the Shipbuilders were the threat, then we learned that the Masters were the bigger danger and now there's the enemies of the Masters. It doesn't matter who they are, though. If there's a powerful civilisation out there that has the ability to send a fleet across space to invade our world, then we need to investigate that threat. We need to know!"

     "Hiding makes more sense," stated Karem stubbornly. "If we stumble across them and lead them here, future generations will curse our names until the end of time."

     "Obviously neither of us is going to persuade the other," said Thomas as Tassley opened her mouth to reply, "and I didn't come here to get into arguments. I want to know what's been going on while I've been away. What's the other news?"

     "Shall we tell him about Braddle's discovery?" asked Edward, equally keen to change the subject. "He's been studying the artefacts you brought back from Veglia, and a couple of weeks ago, while you were living high on the hog up in Belthar, the Jules Verne went back to Fechlon..."

     "I didn't know!" cried Thomas in surprise. "No-one told me!"

     "Didn't want to interrupt your party," said Tassley, grinning. "We weren't attacked. That habitat you destroyed must have been the only remaining pocket of surviving Ringbuilders, although, strangely, we didn't find any fresh bodies when we went inside. Just mummified corpses, thousands of years old, just like everywhere else."

     "So who attacked us?" demanded Thomas in bewilderment. "It doesn't make sense. Someone attacked us! Who? Could it have been ghosts?"

     The suggestion was meant seriously. The undead were a frequent danger on Tharia, as demonstrated to the dismay of the whole world during the Shadowwars, and although it was unheard of for spirits to remain after so many thousands of years, no-one was ready to dismiss the possibility out of hand.

     "We saw no evidence of an undead presence," said Tassley, however. "I've got no idea who or what attacked us, except that it doesn't seem to be there any more."

     "But you brought back tons of artifacts and souvenirs, didn't you?" prompted Edward. "And Braddle took a look at it, using his expertise as a diviner."

     "What did he find out?" asked Thomas eagerly.

     "Why not let the man tell it for himself?" suggested Edward, and the four of them stood and strolled off towards the teaching buildings.