The sky was a perfect blue and the wind strangely warm. Cal thought of Ben as the breeze caressed him, as though the air were made of Ben’s essence and he wasn’t truly gone. That idea brought solace to his troubled thoughts as they laid the old man to rest beneath Rosencrantz’s shade.
Cat stood beside him. She hadn’t let him out of her grasp since their talk in the Scottish bedroom. She was still angry at him for the secrets he held from her, but Helen’s loss put things in perspective-a dark foreshadowing of what Cat might experience soon enough. Lelani leaned against the tree, drawing in its healing energies and recuperating from her injuries. Seth brooded in his own lonely corner.
Ben’s children had argued with their mother that he needed to be autopsied and then put to rest with his ancestors at the family cemetery in Puerto Rico. But Helen would hear nothing of it. Ben had been caretaker of the world’s only sentient tree… the world’s last wizard. There were greater traditions to uphold.
It was a beautiful service. A local minister who knew of Ben’s special circumstances led the service. He added elements into the service that reminded Cal of the Druid culture back home. Ben’s children each read from scripture. They sang hymns. His body had been anointed with lavender oil and wrapped in a clean white linen. He was placed directly into the earth without a coffin. In time, his flesh would become part of the meadow, and those who knew him in life would always feel his presence in this place. The Reyes children looked at Cal and his group as intruders who brought carnage to their parents’ home. The bodies of men and monsters were still strewn about the meadow when the children had arrived. Cal and Seth had spent the rest of the morning throwing them into a pyre. They worried that the lingering smell of burnt flesh would pollute the ceremony, but a timely warm breeze cleared the air at the last moment. No doubt, the tree’s doing. The kids hadn’t said anything to Cal, but he knew they blamed him for their father’s death. He agreed with them; another burden to carry.
Cal had gone to too many funerals in his day-too many fallen comrades on both worlds. It was part of being a soldier, a protector. As a young man, duty and honor motivated him. This conflict was not a job, though… it was about family. It was everything he held dear in the universe thrown like dice into a cosmic crapshoot of war and peace. So many pieces in flux. How could he possibly make it all right?
Seth was taking the death especially hard. He sat on a fold-out chair next to the trailer, smoking a cigarette, contemplating the grass. Seth hadn’t spoken since Cal found him huddled with Helen and Ben. The cop couldn’t understand it. The boy had no conscience, and yet he was broken up over a man he knew barely a day. He wished he could expel him from the mission, but Lelani insisted that Seth had a purpose. She had faith in her old teacher’s decision.
The Reyes family headed back to Puerto Rico via the conduit, leaving the four of them alone. Lelani took out the lead canister Cal had found on the mage and turned it in her hand. Seth joined them, looking worriedly at the canister and its bright yellow and black markings.
“Well?” Cal prompted.
“It does not bode well,” Lelani said.
“Our ‘bodings’ always suck,” Seth said.
Cal gave Seth a stern look, and Seth dropped the attitude.
“There are certain forbidden magicks in Aandor,” Lelani continued. “They are carefully monitored by wizard councils in every kingdom. I believe Dorn is taking advantage of the lack of oversight here to engage these taboo sorceries.”
“And he needs plutonium?” Cat asked.
“These spells are unique. They cannot be powered by normal means. They need irradiated elements-radium, uranium-as catalysts. These are accelerators and increase the magic’s potency exponentially.”
“But…,” prodded Cal.
“But they are unpredictable; unstable. The energies can get away from sorcerer’s control in the blink of an eye. Mages have killed thousands, entire villages, trying to harness this kind of power. No one has successfully tamed it. And this is with the elements we know of. We have no enrichment processes in Aandor. I have no idea how plutonium will react to magical energies. This world is in grave danger.”
“That’s just fantastic,” said Seth. “A psychotic megalomaniac has found a way to supercharge his magic spells.”
“Who is supposed to fight this guy?” Cat asked. “Didn’t you say you’re still just a student?”
Lelani looked at Seth.
Seth pointed at her accusingly. “No way!”
“It’s us and Rosencrantz,” Lelani explained. “You have to come up to speed and relearn how to wield magic. What we lack in power and experience, we must make up in numbers.”
Seth looked morbid at the prospect.
Cal took a deep breath and tried to look commanding. “We still have a mission to find the prince,” he said in his most confident voice. “He’s out there and in serious trouble. Dorn is trying to find him before we do. There are a few towns nearby. I’ll check their records to see what happened the night we all came through thirteen years ago. We also have the other members of our party waking up from their long sleep. Most will honor their obligations. We need to make ourselves accessible to them-help them. They will have families. Cat, I want you to come up with a strategy to help the guardians’ families cope with this disruption to their lives. You’re best suited for that. Once we find a trail, we’ll divvy up the tasks according to our resources at the time. We’ll figure out how to save the world along the way.”
Seth remained bothered by his role in Cal’s grand scheme. “I can’t fight wizards and dog-men,” he pleaded. “I just can’t.”
“You did fine last night,” Cal said, coming dangerously close to a compliment.
“I’m a pornographer,” Seth insisted. “I can’t save the world.”
Cal placed his hands on Seth’s shoulders. He didn’t know himself until he had done it whether he would thrash the young man or something else. Cat and Lelani became tense. Seth looked like he wanted to be punched… to be punished. Cal realized they’d had enough violence recently for a lifetime. He relaxed his grip and slid his hands down to Seth’s upper arms. He looked the boy in the eye, and with a gentle shake said, “You’ve just been promoted.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Let’s go,” Cal said with finality.