The Gem Lords

Lord Sapphire - Part 4

     Saturn stepped out of the teleportation cubicle onto the deck of the Hummingbird, making sure to close the door behind him for the benefit of those following him.

     The door opened again almost immediately as Natan Crowley emerged, the first time he'd left Lexandria Valley since ascending to his high office nine years earlier. He wanted to inspect the site for himself, make sure that such serious measures as Saturn had proposed were really merited. Technically, he had no authority in the outside world. If Saturn wanted to summon demons to guard the umbilici, to prevent the inhabitants of the Realms from being able to come through to Tharia, there was nothing legally he could do to stop him. If it was decided that he couldn't be allowed to do this, it would be down to an alliance of warrior wizards, acting on their own initiative, to stop him, although the Director would no doubt give them all the assistance the University had to offer. The venture Saturn had proposed would be made a great deal easier, though, not to mention less hazardous, if he was allowed to make use of certain objects from the artifact repository, and only Natan Crowley could authorise their release. That gave the Director a welcome say in this affair, enough leverage to make Saturn include him and a pair of specialists to assist in the planning and execution of the summoning.

     It was strange, thought Saturn, to see the Director dressed in common wizards robes instead of his garb of office and carrying a regular wooden staff instead of the Staff of Lexandros. It might almost have been the old days again, and only the grey in the Director's hair testified to the time that had passed since their paths had crossed back in Bosphora, shortly after the end of the Fourth Shadowwar. Dressed as an ordinary wizard, he was suddenly revealed for what he truly was, what Saturn had always considered him to be. A humdrum wizard of only mediocre power who would never have amounted to anything if not for the untimely demise of his predecessor. This had left a chair needing to be filled by a man whose lack of any real talent for magic meant that he could easily be spared from the teaching post he'd previously held. The teaching post he'd taken in order to escape from the harsh outside world in which he'd been barely capable of holding his own.

     It was extremely annoying that Saturn owed his life to such a low achiever, that the man had somehow managed to save him from being buried under a collapsing cliff face during a battle with a priest of Skorvos. It meant that Saturn had never felt right about pouring the scorn on him that he would have liked. Also, the fact was that, no matter what his shortcomings as a wizard, he was a brilliant administrator. Precisely the kind of man the University needed to run things, to do the kind of work that no more able wizard would have wanted to do. Saturn had always felt a kind of grudging respect for the man, therefore, even if only because he freed Saturn to carry on with magical research, secure in the knowledge that someone else was doing the paperwork.

     No sooner had the Director closed the door behind him than it was opened again by Locon Tax, the University's head of demonology, and a moment after that by Hatherbil Jonderol, the head of the School of Conjuration. As they were patting themselves down, making sure they'd arrived in one piece, Saturn strode over to the railing and looked out over the encampment growing up beside the ship, the encampment that was now beginning to take on the appearance of a permanent town.

     A dozen wooden buildings stood around a circular open space that was serving as the town square. The defensive palisade that circled it was almost complete and Beltharan soldiers strolled along the walkway near the top, looking out over the surrounding countryside. The work had progressed fast, and ordinarily Saturn would have been well pleased with it, but now he had other things on his mind and he barely noticed.

      His gaze rose to the red sun that was rising into view above the eastern mountaintops. Was it possible the Gem Lords were correct, regarding the threat it posed? The idea was so awful that his mind shied away from it. No, he decided. They're just a bunch of crazy Derronians. Lapis Lazuli had believed it, but only because she'd been told by the other gem raks. She didn't begin to understand the incredible theories behind the prediction, which meant she couldn't see what nonsense they were. No, the idea was preposterous, he decided. The red sun had shone for at least a million years, and there was absolutely no reason to believe that they happened to be living during a special moment in its evolution. All logic suggested that it would go on shining, peacefully and serenely, for at least a million years longer, by which time the Tharian solar system would have drifted away to a safe distance.

     The Gem Lords had gone to an awful lot of trouble in the name of their flawed theory, though. They obviously believed it completely, believed that Tharia would die in the most horrible way imaginable sometime over the next few centuries. They're three thousand years old, Saturn reminded himself. Lapis Lazuli herself conceded that some of their number had been driven insane by the immense duration of their lives, and Saturn now believed that they were all crazy. Maybe they were even responsible for founding the Derronian religion here on Tharia, he mused. There was a threat, though, A very real threat, but it came from the Gem Lords themselves, not from the red sun. They knew the secret of immortality, the secret that now survived only in the Realms. If they allowed that knowledge to seep back into Tharia's wizardly community, it could be disastrous. It could lead to another Mage War, another Massacre of the Mages.

     Saturn could feel the temptation within himself. The temptation to grasp at the chance to live forever. It was a temptation he'd succumbed to once before, to his shame, and he knew that most of the world's other wizards would fall as well, once the temptation was there. That knowledge had to be kept in the Realms. It had to be safely locked away where it couldn't tempt anyone. He could use the sheer size of the Realms as an excuse for closing off the seven umbilici. He could point out the huge size of the armies the Gem Lords could raise, so huge that, even without magic, they could overwhelm the entire world in less than a year.

     Only he, Saturn, knew that they had no intention of invading Tharia, that they had no interest in conquering a planet that they believed was doomed to a horrible death. He could raise the spectre of an army of a hundred million marching through the gates of the Ruby Keep. The other senior wizards would flock behind him, and all the resources of the University would be at his disposal. Once he had their cooperation, it would be the very simplest matter to summon a few demons or elementals to guard the umbilici. Supernatural creatures that could only be controlled or fought with magic, and which the Gem Lords, who had lost the ability to use magic in this world, would be powerless to overcome, no matter how great the size of their armies. He'd already laid the foundations of the project, and the next step now was to visit each of the seven portals in turn and cast the necessary spells. The spells that would prepare the ground for the summoning.

     "The Ruby Keep is at the end of that valley, I believe?" said Natan Crowley, pointing with one hand while he shaded his eyes with the other.

     "That is correct," replied Saturn. "A few miles in. The castle itself has now vanished, but we've marked its location and marked out a perimeter where I'd like to place the wards. The terrain appears to be favourable..."

     "I will decide whether or not the terrain is favourable," declared Locon Tax gruffly. "When I have inspected the ground and rocks below for fissures and hidden watercourses, when I have tested the air for any residual magic flows, when I have climbed the surrounding mountains and ascertained that they are free of any malign influences, when I have carried out twice a dozen other tests and experiments to make sure that the wards will be secure and won't release the demons to ravage the surrounding countryside, then, and only then, will I decide whether the terrain is favourable."

     Saturn felt the heat rising to his face and forced himself to remain in control of his anger. "Yes, of course," he said contritely. "I did not mean to imply that my expertise in these matters equalled yours."

     Locon Tax nodded his acceptance of the other wizard's apology and hobbled over to the steps leading down to the ground.

     Saturn summoned a Beltharan officer with a nod of his head. "We require an escort to the castle," he said. "Gather your men."

     "Yes, sir," said the soldier. "Er, sir, we were just about to send a message. The Ruby Keep has reappeared."

     "What!" cried the wizard. "When?"

     "The observer just returned from the valley to tell me. I was just on my way to send a message when you returned."

     "Gather your men."

     The officer saluted and trotted off to obey, and a few minutes later the four wizards left the encampment, escorted by half a dozen soldiers.