The Enemy of an Enemy

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kellyn woke me early the next morning andreminded me that we would be jumping very soon.

“The Dark Knights are still here, so Iasked them to handle the jump. I hope you do not mind,” shesaid.

“No, that was a good idea. Where are theothers?” As we were still in what was now our quarters, I couldnot sense them.

“We are meeting on the observation deckfor the jump in one hour,” she said.

“All right. I will have a shower and go upthere,” I said. She went back to her previous quarters to getready herself, and then we went up to the top deck together.

“You know, Vydor, you are very lucky. Notmany people get to be woken early the day after their wedding nightto face battle with a demon,” commented Luke as I arrived. Itwas a good thing that Kellyn’s primary power was healing, becauseafter the look she gave him I was sure he was going to needemergency treatment.

I noticed that Rannor was with us, so Iasked, “Can he hear us yet?”

“Yes, Master Vydor, I can. Master Gafar isserving as a link for me until I learn how to do this myself,”Rannor replied.

“Good. Have you been told what is about tohappen?” I asked.

“Only that we will be jumping soon,”he said.

“Well, I wish I had more time to explain.I will just say that jumping is dangerous for me at this time and Icannot do it alone. You may see some odd things, but do not worry;united we can handle it,” I said. “Rannor, make sure youhave a good physical hold on Gafar and do not let go until the jumpis over. We will take care of everything else. Focus on holding onto him while you have a grip on him and it will hold through thejump. Okay?”

“Yes, Master Vydor, I can do that,” hesaid and grabbed hold of Gafar’s arm.

“Commander, we will need the jump countdownup here. I do not have time to explain why, just be aware that wewill probably face greater than normal hangover coming back,regardless of our preparations,” I said over the comm, taking careto leave it open so that we could hear the countdown as I walkedback to the group. Privately to the other master wizards I said,“I plan to take the offensive this time, so be ready for somefun.”

Then we heard over the speaker, “Jumping infive, four, three, two …”

The blueness of jump space surrounded us all,and I saw the dark specter moving towards us. This time I lookedhim right in the eye without fear and said, “Foul creature, beware!I, Grandmaster Vydor, and all six of our realm’s masters standbefore you. Prepare yourself for battle!” With that I called up abolt of pure magical energy and blasted him in the dead center ofthe chest. He screamed out in pain and shrank a little in size, butflew right at me in spite of the blast. I stared him down withoutblinking, and then raised my left hand, with my wedding ring on it,and channeled the power that I felt coming from Kellyn through thering and into him. The bolt cut a hole right through him; this timehe fell back in intense pain. “Spirit of old, you have no powerover me. Your curse on my family ends, NOW!” As I screamed “now” Ichanneled another bolt, this time combining the powers of all thewizards, and when this bolt hit him he burst into fire and wasconsumed, leaving only us and the spirit of light.

“Well done, Grandmaster Vydor, you arefinally free,” the spirit of light said. “Now you must prepare foryour greatest battle yet. Take this scroll. It contains vitalinformation that you will need soon. Do not worry about how to readit. When you return to normal space you will have the knowledgecontained in it.” I took the scroll the spirit offered withoutpausing to think about it.

Almost instantly after that we were back innormal space, but none of us suffered any side effects from thetrip. I looked around at each one, and as they realized what hadjust happened there was much cheering, jumping and hollering. Oncethey calmed down, I spoke, using my real voice so that Gafar wouldnot have to relay my words. “Today we united and defeated a demonwhich has plagued my family for countless generations. This is amajor turning point for us, as it shows our greatest power comesfrom our unity. We must stand united, since we are the last andgreatest defense the forces of light have in this realm. Everythingdepends on us.” I stood in front of them and said, “Soon we will befacing the greatest battle this realm has ever seen. Many will die,perhaps even some of us, but we cannot falter, or sacrifice ourdedication to the battle; so I ask you now to repledge your loyaltyand dedication to me and our cause.”

Starting with Kellyn, one by one, they statedtheir support with a bow. Then over the loudspeaker I heard thecommander of the Dark Knights say, “The Dark Knights will standwith you to the end, Grandmaster Vydor, no matter what happens.” Itwas only then that I remembered I left the comm open before thejump.

“Commander, how many Dark Knights remain onthe Dragon Claw?” I asked over the comm.

“None, Grandmaster. All one hundred of usmade the journey over yesterday,” he said as he entered the room,turning off the comm as he passed it.

“Commander, the Dark Knights’ skin is notblack because you dyed it; it is because you are a subrace of theZalionians. Correct?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered.

“And your race has a natural ability tocommunicate through a form of telepathy?” I asked.

“Yes, sir,” he replied.

“Your race also has a natural resistance tomagic, has it not?” I asked.

“Yes, sir,” he answered.

“Well then, I plan to ask the Empire toassign you to my craft indefinitely, if you and your Knights arewilling,” I said.

“Yes, sir, but there is no need since we havealready informed Zalith of our decision to join you here,” repliedthe commander.

“Excellent. Then prepare this ship for thenext jump. I expect that we will be jumping into a hot battlezone,” I ordered.

“Yes, Grandmaster,” he snapped as he turnedand left.

“Rest and eat. I must call the captain,then we must have a full council meeting before the next jump. Imet with Mantis two nights ago and have much to tell you,” Isaid to the wizards. “Rannor, I will need you to take your oldposition in the medical bay, as there are too many of us here nowfor Kellyn to treat alone.”

He seemed to light up with that comment andasked if he could be excused to check out the medical wing beforeany battle occurred. “Go, but be back before the next jump,”I said.

“Oh, do not worry. After what I justwitnessed, I will be back early,” he said and left with aspring in his step, looking younger than before. This baffled meuntil Kellyn sent via our link, “You gave him a job; he feelsneeded again.”

“Ah, of course! Thank you, Kellyn. Okay, Iam going to call the captain. Feel free to listen in. Just stay outof sight,” I said.

I wandered off to find a private-looking nookto place the call from. Kellyn followed me over and set up thecall, then returned to the table with the group to eat.

“Master Vydor, I am glad you called,” camethe captain’s greeting. “I need to talk to you about the DarkKnights.”

“Go on, Captain,” I replied.

“Well, it seems that they are not reallyImperial citizens, nor truly part of our Navy,” he said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Yesterday they all started packing up to flyto your ship, and I told them that the first twenty-five was reallysufficient. Then they just quoted a treaty reference to me andsaid, ‘The time has come.’ I could not get them to stop packing up,and I didn’t want to make a fuss on your wedding day, so I let themgo.

“I had not heard of this treaty, so I spentmost of last night researching it, and I was surprised at what Ifound. Apparently the Dark Knights were not part of the ZalionianEmpire at the time of the merging with the our Empire. They had aseparate agreement. Vydor, this agreement dates back over threethousand years and supersedes anything that would be in effecttoday.”

Zalith entered the room at this point, butdid not say anything. I could see something was eating at him,though. After a brief greeting to Zalith, the captain continued,“This treaty clearly states that they have their own government,and serve the Empire only until the return of the one who will leadthem to victory over darkness.”

“I am surprised such a treaty even exists,” Isaid.

“So was I, and I checked thoroughly. Nothinghas been done to change its terms in all this time. It seems theEmpire figured enough time had passed that, whoever the ‘one’ was,he was dead and not coming back,” he said.

“This is very interesting, but how does thataffect us today?” I was sure I knew what he was going to say, butdid not want to jump the gun and insult Zalith if I was way offbase.

“Vydor, they believe you are the ‘one’, basedon some ancient prophecy,” he replied.

“Somehow I knew you were going to say that.What do you know of this prophecy, Zalith?” I asked.

Zalith seemed relieved to finally be able tospeak and said, “Vydor, the prophecy just predicts that you willcome, and how we will know you when you come. The first sign isthat you will come from a foreign people, but earn respect inbattle as one of our own. The second sign is that you will rise upsix others from your own people who will follow you withoutquestion or hesitation and will also be greatly honored in battle.Once you come into your power you will lead the armies of lightinto a great battle in a faraway place against the greatest army ofdarkness ever seen. There is also an obscure reference to beatingan ancient power in a place out of time, but I know nothing aboutthat. There are many other signs like these, and they all point toyou, Vydor.”

“A demon out of time? Such as in jump space?”I asked.

Zalith’s eyes went wide, “You actually didthat?”

“Yes, Zalith, a demon that has hunted myfamily for countless generations. With the help of my Council ofWizards we were finally victorious, thus ending the disease thathas plagued my family almost to extinction,” I answered. Before Isaid that I would never have thought a Zalionian could go pale, butnow I knew better.

“I do not really know what to say in the faceof all this. The treaty clearly states they are not under mycommand, but only serve out of mutual benefit until the ‘one’ … Iguess you … returns,” said the captain.

“Well, Captain, at least this explains whathappened just before I called you,” I said.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Their commander came up here and swore theloyalty of the entire squad to me,” I said.

“Then I guess they are yours now. It reallyis a wise move. You need a crew on that ship in case we find abattle waiting for us,” he responded.

“Zalith, are you happy with this?” I asked. Icould not figure out what he was thinking, but he was obviouslygreatly torn over something.

“Vydor, not only am I happy about it, I amproud of them for following through on an ancient promise. I almostwish I could join them,” he said. “All Zalionians hold dearly tothat prophecy.”

I thought about it for a minute, then said,“Zalith, I need you on the Dragon Claw as my officialrepresentative and to take care of the Zalionians who are stillpart of the fleet. The Empire needs our help, and I need you tospearhead it in the Navy.”

He smiled and said, “It will be a great honorto serve you in that way, thank you.”

The captain looked at me and said, “You areturning out to be a great leader, Vydor. I am proud of you.”

“Thank you, Captain, but we have morebusiness to attend to. I have just learned that we will be jumpinginto a hot battle zone. The sorcerers are amassing their forces andplan to strike now before we have time to raise up an army ofwizards to face them. Are there any fleets nearby that you can callon for help?” I asked.

“The Phantom’s fleet could probably make itin about twelve hours. They are the closest,” he said.

“We do not have the time to wait for them.Let them meet us at the battle. If they arrive after the fightstarts, that could work to our advantage,” I said.

“I agree. If the sorcerers are stillgathering power then we dare not let them have any more time thanwe have to. I will also shorten our jump a little so that we havesome extra time to recover from the jump before rushing in,” hesaid.

“Captain, you must understand that everythingis at stake here. Call in all who can make it. If the battle dragson long enough for them to reach us we will definitely need them,”I said.

“I will have to delay our jump, probably byan hour, so that we can prepare the fleet for this. Do not worry,Vydor, we will win, no matter what they bring against us. I havenever lost a battle or war yet, and I do not plan to startnow.”

With that I wrapped up the conversation andcalled all the wizards to meet me in the Crystal Room. Once insidewe each took our official positions, and I said, “There is muchto discuss. You heard some of it when I spoke to the captain, butthere is more you must know. First, let me give you my memory ofthe meeting with Mantis.”

I looked around at each of them as theyreviewed it. Long gone was the ragged-looking group that I hadfound last year. They no longer bore the effects of the stress ofconstantly hiding and fighting underground for months at a time.They all looked strong and vibrant now. The power each of themradiated was immense. Soon they had absorbed the memory and werewaiting for me to talk.

“I have learned much since then. You heardsome of it during my chat with the captain, so let me go back andfill in the details. I will start with the identity of the darkspecter that we just defeated; he was the embodiment of a cursecast on my family line by the very first grandmaster sorcerer inthe hope of preventing my birth. His power came from my anger andfear, and his destruction was brought about by your love andsupport.”

“So then, he is gone for good?” pipedup Kellyn.

“Yes, Kellyn, we won.” I responded.That brought great joy to the room. It was our first great victoryas wizards, and there was nothing like complete and total victoryto cheer a team. Once the room was settled again I continued,“There is a lot more to cover, starting with what I was shownabout the future. When we come out of the next jump the largestarmy of darkness ever created will meet us. It will be made upalmost entirely of spirits, demons and other creatures from thedarkest and foulest abyss. This massive fleet will be outnumberedalmost three to one.”

I just let that settle in for a minute. Noone said anything while they visualized what that might look like.Then I continued with the bad news. “I foresee a death tollamongst the forces of light greater than that of any previous warin the entire realm. I cannot see who will live and who will die.You may or may not want to believe in the prophecy that Zalith toldus about, but the key is that our enemy does believe it, and theybelieve I am the one to fulfill it. Their plan is to wipe us outbefore we can reach full power.”

“Vydor, do we have the power to face themyet?” asked Andreya.

“The army of darkness we can handle. Thelower-ranked sorcerers, regardless of their numbers, we can handle.But any one of the Seven is more than a match for us,” Isaid.

“Then how can we fight them?” askedLuke.

“Well, we have two major advantages in thiswar that offer us a chance, if we exploit them to their fullest.The first is the battlefield itself. This is interstellar space;this is where the Imperial Navy is at its most powerful, and it isa completely alien terrain to the sorcerers. As far as I can tell,they have only fought wars on planetary surfaces before. What wewill see when we come out of the jump is a large army surrounding alone space station. All the sorcerers will be on that station.”

“Destroy the summoner, and you remove thesummoned,” commented Darnath.

“Exactly. The key to this fight will bethat station. And you can be sure they know that. I fully expectthe Seven to be on that station,” I said.

“But how do we beat them?” askedGafar. “If they are greater than us, then that station is safe,and we lose.”

“No, they are not greater than us, but anyone of them can defeat any one of us. You see, our second advantageis our ability to combine our powers. To do that you need atremendous level of trust and loyalty,” I said.

“Something sorcerers are not knownfor,” said Kellyn.

“Yes, and when we combine our powers theresult is far greater than the sum of the parts. No single one ofthem can match our combined power, just as the dark specter couldnot.”

“What of the weapon?” asked Gafar.

“I have found the weapon, and the funnything is, I have known where it was all along,” I said.

“You are the weapon they were lookingfor,” stated Kellyn.

“Not just me, but all of us. They weretrying to destroy me and prevent the creation of this Councilbefore we discovered our powers. They foresaw our coming and theyknew they could not match two Councils of Wizards, so they aremoving pre-emptively to secure a victory,” I said.

I looked around the room, meeting each oftheir eyes and said, “This fight we are about to face seemsdaunting now, but each of you must remember that we are their worstfear. They are assembling all this power because they know theirtime is short, and that we come in great power to fight them. Theyare far more afraid of us than we are of them.”

“Vydor, did that other spirit tell you allthis?” asked Kellyn.

“Some of it, and some I finally figuredout. I also know who he is now; he is the same man from the historythat Mantis told us, the one who raised up the twelve wizards tofight the sorcerers the first time,” I said.

“What else do we know about him?”asked Luke.

“Nothing, but that book back in my room isconnected to him. I do not know how yet. Later, when we have peaceagain, I will take the time to read it, but now our main task is toprepare for this war. I plan to summon Mantis and see if they canspare any wizards to help us here.”

“Brilliant! Since they are amassing herein great numbers, they must be pulling forces from Mantis’ realm touse here,” said Kellyn.

“That is the hope,” I said. I thenturned to the ball and summoned Mantis, for the first time using myfull authority as grandmaster to command his appearance instead ofmerely requesting a chat.

He answered the call fairly quickly andappeared in a purple puff of smoke. When he saw me, he stopped andbowed and said, “Greetings, Grandmaster Vydor, what can I do foryou?”

“Mantis, war is upon us. I have foreseen thearmy we are about to face and it is a great gathering of darkness,greater than has ever amassed before. The sorcerers are makingtheir move now on this realm, and using all their might.”

He looked surprised at my statement and said,“Then they have found the weapon?”

“No, Mantis, you did. But it was not aweapon; it was this Council. They knew that if we were created theycould not face both of us. They wished to strike us down before weever got up,” I replied.

“Vydor, you have grown tremendously sincelast we met, but how can you know this?” he asked.

“I have met with the same man of light thatyou told of in your history lesson, and he revealed much to me, andopened my eyes to what I already knew,” I said.

The look of surprise that passed over hisface was priceless; I had never had the edge on him before, andwould have enjoyed it if not for the desperate times we faced.“Mantis, I have summoned you here to formally request anyassistance your realm can provide. Even if it is just a handful ofapprentices to scatter through our armies, anything would be ofgreat help. We fully expect to fight the Seven in this battle andwill not be able to lend our power to help the Imperial Navy.”

He slumped his shoulders and said, “I amsorry, but we cannot help at this time. In fact, I was instructedto ask you for help; it seems they are making a move in both of ourrealms. Our forces are already committed to battle. I do not knowwhere they suddenly got the numbers from to achieve this, but itseems they are calling our bluff on the two-front war.”

“And they only need to win one to take itall,” I said.

“That is why you must not lose. You mustbring everything you can to this fight. Both our realms depend onit.” He paused and looked around the room before continuing. “Youare by far the best students I have ever seen. I have faith in yourability to win this. No matter how big their armies are, there arestill only seven master-level sorcerers, and we have fourteen now.They will have to choose a place to make their stand, and it islikely to be here because they will underestimate the power youhave acquired. When that happens, their power in our realm will dipconsiderably and we should be able to win on our front and thensend reinforcements here, if you have not won already.”

“So we really just need to keep them busyonce they arrive,” said Kellyn.

“I fear help will not be able to reach us intime. If we see the enemy, we must engage them to the fullest,” Isaid.

“Yes, Vydor is right. If they know you arestalling they will exploit that to their own advantage. Now,Grandmaster, with your permission I need to bring this news back tomy realm and rejoin the fight,” said Mantis.

“Go forth, Mantis, and I expect to see you atthe victory party,” I said. He smiled, winked and disappeared.

“So we are on our own,” said Luke.

“No, we are not. Not only do we have theseven most powerful wizards in the realm here, but we are alsobacked by the might of the most powerful military in history. Wewill win this so long as we continue to stand together and notwaver,” said Kellyn.

“Well said, Kellyn. Do not forget they areused to fighting against men on horseback wielding swords, notmassive battleships, destroyers and particle weapons. The onlyadvantage they have is in numbers; the rest favors us. We will bevictorious!” I said.

“Now, we are running out of time before wewill be jumping into the battle and I must meet with the captainand discuss our fight plan, so unless there are any questions I amgoing to adjourn this meeting.” No one spoke, so I closed themeeting and we returned to the observation lounge.

“Commander, please come to the observationlounge for pre-battle briefing,” I said over the comm.

When he arrived I said, “Commander, when wecome out of the jump we need to be in full stealth mode. We willnot be joining the opening moves of the battle. Once the two armiesare locked in battle we will move to hit their primary center ofcommand. It is a space station that will be in the center of theirforces. I want you to lead three groups of Dark Knights topenetrate and conquer the station. Once your men are on the stationand actively fighting, I will send in the Council of Wizards andthen follow to open a fourth front inside the station. Control ofthat station is key to this battle. Each sorcerer killed there willweaken the forces outside the station, and if we kill their leaderstheir whole army falls apart,” I ordered.

“It is a wise plan, Grandmaster, and we willgladly give our lives for it,” he said.

“Thank you, Commander. Go and prepare yourmen. Once our time to fight is at hand, speed of execution will becritical.” As he left to carry out my orders I went over to my commstation to call the captain. Kellyn came over and set up the callfor me, then took a seat beside me.

“Hello, Master Vydor,” the captain said as heappeared on the screen. With him were several important officers,including Zalith.

“Pardon me, Captain, but his proper title isGrandmaster Vydor,” interrupted Kellyn.

“My apologies, Master Kellyn. I will make anote of that,” said the captain.

“Captain, I am aware that we do not have alot of time, but we need to go over the battle plans before wejump,” I said.

“Definitely. We have been expecting yourcall. Since you know the enemy best, why don’t you tell us what youhave in mind?” he replied

“Master Andreya, I need you,” I said,speaking aloud for everyone’s benefit. When she came over I askedher to show them a vision I had in my mind of the upcomingbattlefield.

“As you can see, there is a large forcewaiting for us, grouped around that station. That station is key toour victory,” I said. “What I will need your forces to do is toengage their fleet with everything you have.”

“If the station is the key, it would makemore sense to push through and destroy that,” said one of theofficers.

“In a normal battle, yes, it would, but inthis case that would grant them victory. That station isinvulnerable to any attack this fleet can muster, but that is wherewe come in. Once you have them fully engaged, we will move on thestation. You must keep their military engaged so that we can get onthe station and take control.”

“What of their powers?” asked Zalith.

“Their powers will be tied up in creating andcontrolling the army that you fight. That is why you must keep themengaged. Once we are on the station they will have to startdividing their power between controlling their forces and fightingus, and you will start to see sections of their forces fall apart.It is important that you keep up the pressure on them so that theycannot bring their full strength to bear against us. If either yourfleet or our men have to face their full might alone we will lose.It is only through this joint attack that we can overcome them.” Ipaused there for a moment, and memories of the first squad of DarkKnights I ever led came rushing back to me. “If something happens,and there is an opening in the shields on that station, you mustdestroy it regardless of who may still be on it.”

“Your plan sounds wise, Vydor. What can weexpect to be fighting?” asked the captain. I knew that I couldtrust him to follow through with that order. He would not like it,but he would not hesitate. He had too much combat experience to dootherwise.

“Master Andreya, please show them this,” saidKellyn as she started mentally picturing all kinds of horridcreatures. As they were being displayed one by one to them, shesaid, “They are immune to most physical attacks, but your energyand particle weapons will work well. Many of them will have shieldsaround them, but they can be overpowered. Just keep increasing yourfocus fire until you break through. I am just showing you a sampleof the kinds of beings they have available to bring to bear, butthey can all be defeated the same way. You just need to overwhelmtheir defenses by coordinating your attacks. Their primary weaponswill all look very different, but in the end they are all pureenergy-based attacks, so your defenses should be structured to takethat into account.” Then she privately said to me, “I guess allthat time spent in the library studying demons while trying to findyour demon wasn’t wasted after all.”

“Do you have this data in a form we can loadinto our computers and share with the fleet?” asked Zalith.

“No, it is all in real books at present. Ifwe had a couple of months to transcribe them, maybe, but we donot,” answered Kellyn.

“Captain, as far as I know they have onlyfought wars on planetary surfaces before this, so the battlefieldstrongly favors us,” I said. “Have you been able to call in anyhelp?”

“We have two more fleets arriving. The firstshould arrive about four hours after the battle starts, and thesecond should arrive about two hours later. Combined, they willalmost double our numbers,” he said.

“Excellent. At present I estimate theirnumbers to be about three times greater than the Dragon Claw’sfleet,” I said.

“Grandmaster Vydor, it sounds like you havethought of everything that could be thought of before the battle.If I understand you right, these things we will be fighting cannotfunction without their masters, and you will be attempting toeliminate their masters, while we kill the … things,” he said.

“Yes, Captain, that is it exactly,” Isaid.

“Then we will spread the plan to the ships,and jump in one hour. Good luck,” he said and signed off.