Here you are! Another chapter out so soon! I know, I'm brilliant, no need to say it (why is no one saying it?) Anyway, I know that it's on the short side, but what do you expect when I wrote this one today only after finishing the last chapter last night?
Anyway - feedback is not only wanted, but it is demanded. That doesn't mean that I'm going to stop writing or anything, it just means that I get de-motivated (Is that even a word?) when I don't get feedback. I think I'll stalk the boybands channel tonight. anyway send any comment that you've got here - power@utvinternet.ie.
Ummm. SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION TIME. You should read this other story that's on the archives called 'TimeWeave'. A... friend of mine writes it... yes, you'll believe that... and it's really really good. It was just updated last night too!
This story is not based on real life. No, really, I swear you couldn't figure that for yourself but anyway... some of the characters are based on real people, however, I do not know the sexualities of those people. This is FICTION. If you're too young... you know the drill.
Now we all felt the same as JC had earlier. A concentrated look appeared on each of our faces as we rushed through the diary section. We got to the nearest well in what I suspect would have been record time and hurtled up it, with Justin clasping the volume of Potrasis tightly in his hand. We flew up as far as we could and then ran past the Practise rooms, ignoring the effects. As soon as we got to the top of the library we started flying again but when we got near to the exit JC stopped us.
"What is it?" Asked Justin.
"We've got to check the book out!" Said JC.
Despite the seriousness of the situation Justin nearly cracked a smile. "Always thinking of the details, that's our Josh."
"Yes. I can see why you're concerned. This is very serious." Said Baram, whom we'd found in her office. She'd remained amazingly calm during our entire explanation. Of course, she'd already known about Justin's magical power increasing, but she said she hadn't known anything about the 'Creature of Darkness' which Potrasis had described. "I don't see any alternative, but to get everyone in here."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Every single family and creature that is loyal to us is going to have to move into the mountain. We don't really have any other choice, we haven't done that since the long night."
I'd been told about the long night. A period of twenty years, where the forces of darkness had been at their strongest. Coincidentally, that was the time that Potrasis had been talking about, when he said that the council, the white wouldn't be able to fight the beast.
"Will everyone fit?" I asked. Even with the statistics that told me that only one person in a hundred thousand had magical powers, and only a third of them were people with white power, that still made for twenty thousand people. And on top of that there were the family members who weren't magical, and then all the creatures too...
Baram smiled at me. "There is a reason that the main hall is that big. And you saw how big the library truly was today. We can easily accommodate about forty thousand, and at a stretch, we could take sixty. I'll give the order now." She said, and the classic look of concentration appeared on her face that appeared when someone was communicating with several people telepathically. "It's done. By this time tomorrow the main army will be ready, and in a little while longer it'll feel like the old days again. How's Tim by the way?" She asked.
"Umm, not good." I said. "He was demanding to leave this morning."
"Oh really? Why?" She asked, a knowing sparkle in her eye.
"I think you know full well." I said, suspiciously.
"Well, if the boy doesn't learn any magic then maybe he'll at least learn some social lessons."
"You're really something Baram."
"By the way, Tom, you do know this move includes your family don't you?" Asked Baram.
"What?" I asked. "But my family isn't magical!"
"But you are. You're among the strongest mages that we have Tom, and if you've got a weak point it's your family. They can't look after themselves the way that Justin and JC here can.
"But wouldn't they be really out of place here? I mean, they've got no magic and they'd be surrounded by it here."
"You know that there are plenty of people here who don't have magical powers. Plenty of families have at least a couple of family members who don't have any power at all."
"I know but..."
"Tom, I'm not giving you a choice in the matter." She said gently. "They've got to be here, and that's that."
"I don't know what my sister is going to say about all this." I sighed.
"That is sooo cool!" She screamed. "Do it again! Do it again!" Mum had left it up to me to tell my sister while she went to pack. My mother had understood completely the reasons behind the move to the mountain. Obviously Ashley didn't believe me when I told her, but after we went flying in the clouds... well, that convinced her. She wasn't quite so happy when I told her that we were moving for a while, into the side of a big mountain. "So that must be where you got this ring from!" She said, making a grab to get Drayn's ring off my finger.
"Ashley." I said, in what I thought was a calm voice. "Don't ever try to grab that ring again." There must have been at least a little bit of power behind it, because he sat down in shock and tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. I realised my mistake quickly and sat down beside and explained why she couldn't go near it. I figured that the truth was probably more likely to ward her then some simplistic lie. She really was an intelligent girl, despite the fact that she was eight years younger then I, and at the tender age of thirteen.
"So, what's this mountain going to be like?" She asked while drying the tears from her eyes.
Before I could answer her Mom popped her head in the door. "How much stuff can we bring with us? I mean, am I going to be restricted to two suitcases or what?"
"No, you're not going to be restricted. There's plenty of space. You're going to have your own apartment with Ashley, and this place was built when they built places much bigger." I replied.
"Well then, how are we getting there and how much stuff can you carry?"
"I can carry as much as you can bring, and we're going to be teleporting." I said.
"The shimmery way or the window way?" She asked.
I looked at her in exasperation. "Does it really matter?"
She looked at me, pretending to have been offended. "Maybe not to an all-powerful mage like you, but to a simple little countrywoman like me..." She sighed.
"You grew up in the city!" I exclaimed.
"Sure, but at heart I'm really a countrywoman." She said, and wasn't able to keep from laughing anymore. "Ok, Ok. I'll just go pack." She said, ducking out the door.
"What were we saying?" I asked.
"I asked you what the mountain was like." She said.
"Oh! Well, it's big with some trees on it, and snow in winter. A lot like most mountains really."
She punched me, lightly, in the stomach. "You know what I mean! What's the inside of it like?"
"Well, the first thing that you see when you go in the front is this huge hall, going as far as the eye can see, with it's roof lost in shadows. There are smaller hallways leading off it, but you can't really see them unless it's bright. The hall leads all the way down to the elder hall, where the council sits."
She interrupted me. "The council?"
"The people in charge. Well, the hall that the council sits in is so big, that you'd think that you'd laugh when you see the council, sitting on this little dais in a small pool of light. But the power and respect that they have just puts you in awe. Anyway." I said. "The sooner you're packed the sooner that we can go! Oh, and Ashley - you can't tell anyone where you're going, ok? Because if you do, you're putting yourself, all of us, and the people that you tell at risk."
"I understand." She said.
"Good." I stood up and gave her a peck on the cheek. "I'll be back in a little while. Tell Mom that I'll come back in about half an hour. I muttered the teleportation spell under my breath and shimmered away and disappeared from my sister's view.
Already people were filing into the mountainside, the main doors flung open, with mages at either side of them, casting protection spells and making sure that no one would notice a big open hole on the side of the hill. Once I got inside I saw that the entire place was ablaze with light and there were students rushing around everywhere, helping to show people where their apartments were. And since the only place inside the mountain that you could teleport was the library, because of the protection spells on the rest of it, everyone was rushing around by foot. As I got further in it became more and more crowded, until it reached the point I decided to fly over the crowd. Not wanting to hurt anyone, I rose up gently, but as soon as I was in the air I felt someone tugging on my trousers. I looked down.
"Sorry Sir, but you can't fly around here. Too great a risk of accidents." He explained.
With a gesture, I changed my clothes into my black robes, which legends said were woven from the fabric of night. The student who'd pulled on my foot lost some of his colour.
"I'm sorry sir. I didn't know." I ducked back into the crowd and rushed to someone else to 'help' them. I quickly changed my clothing back to normal, while the robes were comfortable, when you're flying over a crowd of people they're a bit revealing. But, conscious of his warning I did nothing more then drift over the crowd below to get to Baram's office.
"So, your family is on the way?" She asked.
"They're still packing. It's really busy outside."
"I know, it'll calm down once everyone gets off the main hallway and into the other sections."
"I didn't think that they'd be here this quickly." I said. "I mean, it's only an hour since you gave the order."
"Well, all the mages who fight are supposed to be ready to relocate here given two hours warning. And the rest, well, they've got magic to help them pack."
"Yeah... do you know where Justin and the others are?"
"No, you'll have to check with the housing people, but I do know that Justin packed for you."
"Including my books?"
She laughed. "Tom, you've got the largest collection of information in the world about a mile from this office and you're asking about your books?"
I joined in laughing. "Good point. I guess I'm tenser then I thought I was over this business."
"You've every right to be. It's a very serious thing."
"Yeah..." I said, and then my mind skipped to another train of thought. "Could the increase in Justin's power really be permanent?"
"There's no reason to believe otherwise. Besides, I think that we could use the extra power, don't you?" She said.
"Oh I've no problem with it, it's just seems strange to me, that's all." I said.
"After everything that you've seen here, and in the world, you still think of things as strange?"
"I've got to hold onto something!" I protested. "I should go. I've got to help get my mother here."
"Let me know when you get back."
"You mean you won't know?" I grinned.
"I've got other things to look at." She replied.
I left the building and headed for the outside. Now the main hall was even busier, so much so that some mages were working on a way to support a second floor of people on top of the first, before they attempted it for the first time I jumped over the crowd and got to the exit, teleporting quickly to my mothers house from there.
"Are you ready yet?" I called up the stairs.
"Just give another five minutes and I should be!" She shouted down to me.
"That's what you said ten minutes ago!"
"Well just do one of yours time speeding things and make last for less time!" She exclaimed. It actually wasn't a bad idea; I didn't know why I hadn't thought about it myself. I stretched out my fingers, felt around with my mind and slowed time down for myself, so that everything around me would seem to be going more quickly. Within a couple of seconds of doing that (my time) my mother and sister rushed down the stairs and I came back into normal time.
"Are you ready?" I asked.
"You were all blurry. What were you doing?" Asked Ashley.
"Making things go a little quicker for myself." I answered. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, we're ready whenever you are." Answered Mom.
"Where's all the luggage?" I asked.
"In my room. Can we go from there?" Said Mum.
"Sure." I said, walking up the stairs. "Now, this place is going to be really crowded when we get there. So, if you get lost just ask one of the goblins, short green men, to show you to your room. They'll know where it is, ok?" I thought for a second longer and then transformed my clothes into my robes again. It never hurt to have the respect that being a black robed mage would get you, plus the circle of distance that people would keep away from you. You never knew what kind of spells you could upset by knocking into a mage.
Ashley gasped. "They're beautiful Tom! Where did you get them? Oh Mom, I've got to have it!"
"I don't think that they're for sale Ashley." Said my mother gently.
I turned around, and this time said the window teleportation spell, I traced out a rectangle in the air with a glowing black finger and once completed, the room disappeared from view behind the rectangle and in its place was the mountainside, with hundreds of people milling around in front of the entrance, chatting, laughing, practising a spell. Ashley gasped again; I leaned over to her and said. "Want to find out how deep the rabbit-hole goes?"
She looked up at me with an incredibly serious look on her face and said. "Let's."
I glanced at the bags lined up beside me and one by one they picked themselves up and flew through the window into another country. "You first." I said to Mom, because she'd been teleported before and knew that she'd nothing to fear. I didn't think that Ashley would have a problem, but I wasn't sure that she'd be confident enough to step though. As it turned out, she stepped through right after Mom. I went through and the then closed the gateway way behind me, making sure that we'd forgotten nothing. Ashley was still standing in awe at the sight that was unfurling in front of her eyes, we could see far more then we could through the gateway, people were flying in and landing gracefully. Goblins, taken off library duty were busy organising where everyone was to go. Soon one rushed up to us, he looked at my sister and mother and then nodded.
"This way." It said, not being nasty, just not pleasant. It understood as well as anyone that it was important for everything to go as smoothly as possible. I was right and my robe did help to get us through some of the crowds and through the winding corridors until we eventually got to the apartment that had been set aside for my family. I brought the bags telekinetically in and then thanked the goblin, who didn't wait around for a tip.
That's that! Another chapter finished. I wasn't expecting to have this one out for ages, but I had a burst of inspiration. Write to me - power@utvinternet.ie.
Tim.