Chapter 16

It was getting close to supper time when I returned to the gym. I sat among the girls and talked about what I wanted to do and why. With the Plugga as an example they came to understand that this may not be as bad as first thought. Some had the religious hangups of Earth, others had fairy stories to guide them and this had to be pointed out.

The two worse damaged trainees were too damaged to even attempt this type of spell. The next most damaged had been dead for twenty minutes before I had placed a time spell over them. This one would have mental problems if any of them did and I wanted to find out how much a healing spell would work after he was revived.

The Plugga came back and took up stations while the trainee's body was brought it. This happened only after I got both the girls and myself warmed up. A Plugga body is not as horrendous as a human one. Making love in the same room as a human body is not that easy.

I used the same spell as I had just used on the Plugga. The energy used though was considerably more. The large crystal had to supply most of our power but the procedure seemed to work. The trainee was now breathing and the heart was working. Reanimation had to take care of a great many details that were not encountered when dealing with a living creature.

The final healing was difficult too but after a certain point it was the same as repairing a damaged human. All the spells on the trainee had gone when his life was extinguished. If I had to deal with them then the process may not have been possible.

I took very tentative steps to enter the mind of the trainee. In a way I needn't have worried. He was now childlike in intelligence. The memories were still there but were not being accessed by Yossup. The trainee was not like Hondilas and was an evil man struggling to get higher in a corrupt society. On impulse I called for one of our amulets and cast the spell to gather all of his memories.

The former personality was completely absent. When the process was done I manufactured a new personality from scratch and used the better fragments of memory form Yossup's mind. I was going to do something similar to Malochuck and this would give some practice.

Yossup was allowed to sit up and had great difficulty controlling his muscles and I could smell excrement from him. Like an infant I called out a spell to clean him and his clothing. His voice had not come back but I thought it might in time. He said, "Master!"

"Hello Yossup. I want you to move over to the wall and sit beside one of the Plugga until I am ready for you. I do not think it is time to learn to walk yet."

"Yes, Master."

I examined the amulet and the information on it for depth and clarity and found it only a bit less concise than Hondilas' or Malochuck's. Both of course were more adept at magic though.

We had a rest then began once more. This time the mage Milsa was brought in. He had been exposed to time less and his injuries had been less too though they were still fatal. Again it was only the fact that we had the large crystal that allowed this to succeed. When he was breathing on his own I used another amulet on his memories before continuing.

Milsa was almost as bad as Yossup. His personality had died with him too. I made his personality the way I wanted. Since he was dead I thought it only proper to do this to him.

Milsa sat up easier than Yossup and his mind was much clearer. The shield that was on his fellow mages was not present. I saw variations in what Hondilas had shown me but nothing was important. I figured it was just a matter of perceptions when the memory was first stored.

I cleaned Milsa as I had the trainee and sent him to sit by the wall and out of the way. We continued to make love and try to fill what was taken from the crystal. At the same time I tried to quantify how Milsa was different from a human that had not died. Short term memory was completely gone which was understandable. The thinking process was not as good but there was a chance on improving this.

The health of the body and mind would have to be monitored. They at least were not grey of skin and the slight smell of corruption was gone from them.

With a few orders to Yossup and Milsa I had the Plugga assist them to where Sonya, Sara and Hondilas were working on Alison. Instead of barging in I called to all of them, "If you guys are not in the middle of something, will you come out into the hall?"

In a moment they came out. Hondilas immediately put up a shield and prepared to hurl a bolt at Milsa. His actions and frame of mind carried on to the girls.

"There is nothing to fear. Milsa and Yossup have been revived. I was able to use an amulet on each of them with no problem."

Surprisingly it was Hondilas that said, "They were dead. I saw this."

"They were, and so were the five Plugga. I modified the old spell that was used on the Plugga and found that their memories are still retained. They can now remember the past. We haven't found if this is beneficial or not yet but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. This same group of spells were used on Yossup then Milsa. Their former personalities were totally obliterated and I made new ones for them. The same was true of the spells that were placed on their minds."

The three of them slowly explored the minds of the two that had been dead just a short time ago. Sara said, "I have never heard of reanimating humans."

I said, "It was not in the books or computer either but there is references to the process and the results."

Hondilas said, "This would sure be a quick way to work around our present problem."

"Let's talk to Alison and find out if she wants to give in now or later?"

Sonya came close and whispered so nobody else would hear. "Are you really going to kill her?"

In the same way I said, "No, but I can threaten." She seemed to relax then.

Alison was asleep when we came in. I could see that we were even closer to a break through than where we were before. I said to the group, "Let her sleep. Her mind is the way we wanted but it will take a conscious effort to decide whether to accept our offer."

I woke Alison up and said to her, "Hello Alison. Some of your friends came here to rescue you. While some of them had the misfortune of dying in the attempt, others are alive and in custody."

The woman groggily looked at the two carefully but her mind was not clear enough to think much on the matter. "These two died and I reanimated them like what is done to the Plugga. A curious thing happened. Death seems the negate their shields. When they were revived and all the other spells on them were neutralised too. I used two amulets to record all of their memories. You can think on this until tomorrow then you will lower your shield voluntary or I will kill you and get the same results." I just turned and left now and the others followed me.

We spent the next hour talking about what I had done and what I had done differently. The Plugga had been uncharacteristically nice in answering questions. They not only gave full answers but added points of their own. The remainder of the Plugga were ordered to come with us to Toronto. Yossup and Milsa went into storage like the trainees. I had nothing for them to do until tomorrow and that would be to talk to Alison.

It was a tight squeeze getting through and nobody wanted to be too near the Plugga. A similar thing happened when we arrived. The Plugga though sat with us and ate our food. We talked of our day but I glossed over the revivifications.

The Plugga were taken back to their quarters in Houston after they talked about their race to the rest of us. I found that what I knew about the people seemed to be slanted. They were indeed very vicious but not all the time. They were much like humans in this matter.

The next day Yossup fed Alison by hand while she frantically read his mind to gather all the current data. When she was fed she scanned Milsa even deeper. Instead of asking her now I just brought her to the gym and with some new volunteers brought in the next most damaged dead trainee.

She was very surprised with the size of the crystal we had. The closest one she had ever heard of was only a sixth of the size. She knew the body was indeed one of the dead trainees and watched intently as it came back to life. I used no amulet this time and contented myself with giving a new and much better personality.

When the process was done and Tanso communicated with us I said to Alison, "You knew the trainees, even if it was not well. Milsa had a shield that was similar to yours. I can only surmise this because I never made his acquaintance while alive. His shield is now gone completely."

"I am going to offer this once. You will lower your shield completely. I will use the amulet on you to get a copy of your memories. I will then remove those tendencies that make you cruel. You will then be my slave but you will have a chance to be happy and enjoy certain freedoms. The alternative is to die and give me everything you have but then you have to have a completely new personality. All of the old Alison your friends knew would be completely gone."

"Do you have some questions or anything to add?"

"You... you are not even an apprentice."

"That is true but it does not mean that I cannot do as I say. You saw that I have enough power to reanimate a body including your own. Do you somehow think that you can hold out against death or that I will not cause you to die?"

She was now thinking fairly clearly. She uttered two syllables before a Plugga reached forward and quickly twisted her neck. The snap was readily heard by all. I could feel the spell that she was going to cast and I foolishly was not ready as I should.

The woman slumped to the floor and the Plugga stood ready to die if need be. I said, "I thank you very much for saving my life. I was not fully prepared and it is a good possibility that I would have died."

I cast a time spell over the body and said to the rest. "Let's use the occasion to do what needs to be done."

It took much longer to get started. I was amazed at the woman's speed and at my own ineptitude. I should have been ready for this. You trap a rat in a corner and it will fight to survive without another way out. When we started we had to stop and have a break.

There was one possible good point in this and I went to get Elaine. She was standing alone in a corner still under the influence of the time spell. This was the room that the trainees and Milsa had worked so hard to get to.

Another Plugga got behind Elaine when I cast the counter spell but she was still asleep. She was simply picked up like a child and carried to the gym. She now wore some beryllium restraints and a ball gag. I was not going to allow her the chance to get herself killed before I was ready.

When Elaine awoke she found herself beside the body of her compatriot. It was easy to see how the face was turned completely around that the woman would be dead. I could feel her mind going out but rebounding off the field.

I said, "I brought you here to see this, Elaine. I have a good time spell. You have been under it for a while. I offered Alison a choice and she refused. Now that she has made her choice I want you to have the same options. With the cooperation of a lot of family members I have more than enough power to reanimate a body. I found out recently that when a person dies the spells and the shield on the mind dissipates along with the entire personality."

She mentally screamed at me, "What do you want?"

"I want you to lower your shield. I will make a copy of your memories. You will become my slave but some of your more detestable traits will be toned down considerably. You will be happy and relatively free. Alison will get a personality of my choosing and it will be far different than what it was. She didn't choose to cooperate."

"How can I trust you?"

"I have you in my power completely. One of the Plugga will gladly twist your neck as Alison's now is. You of course will get a personality with none of what you now are in it. I am not asking you to choose yet. You will see that it is indeed Alison when I remove the time spell then you will see how I will get a copy of her knowledge. You can ask questions to prove that it is indeed Alison before you are compelled to make your choice."

"I will do what you want. Just release me."

"Alison had her gag removed and she tried to kill me. That is why she is now beside you. You will stay as you are and observe. If you try to disrupt then I am afraid more people than you know how to inflict pain."

We had problems starting and Elaine was dragged from the circle. The Plugga casually kicked the head to make it face the right way. Out of the circle he held Elaine with one arm around her head and the other around her chest. She made no move to attack. Sonya and Sara stayed out of the grid and just monitored Elaine so she could not gain control of the power we were producing.

We had a practice run to generate power for the crystal then I removed the time spell on the body.

Sonya said, "Look now to see if it is not your friend. You will be the same if you don't do as you are told."

The spells began to be chanted. This was somewhat easier seeing as the woman had died so recently. When she started to breathe once more I called for the amulet and started to chant the spells.

Sonya got quickly to her feet and held Elaine by the hair on her head and put two fingers an inch from each eye. I heard her say, "Try something and I will pluck your eyeballs out of your skull." It was lucky that the spell to grasp the memories was simple and in a few minutes the process was finished.

More spells were now cast to hasten healing while I began to make a personality for the woman that tried to kill me. I was still angry and to tell the truth it was mostly at myself. Alison's real name was Uula. I made her the type of slave that most mages wanted. She would do exactly what was asked of her no matter what it was. For good measure I temporarily made her intelligence far less to emphasise the fact that she had been dead a few minutes ago.

It was only well after the spells were done that Sonya backed away from Elaine. Sonya said, "Look into this thing's mind. See if she has the same memories as the person you used to know." Elaine did as she was asked and started to cry. Uula did too when she was first questioned but it didn't work.

I too examined Uula and found that Elaine's real name was Sisla. They had both very bad childhoods. The two women were lovers. Uula thought that men had forced her to do all the despicable things she did but that was only partially true. There was very little we would learn from Sisla that would be new but I wanted to give her the chance.

Sisla eventually pulled from her lover's memories. The woman that now held them was not anywhere near what the former personality was like. She cried till Sonya slapped her hard.

"You have nothing new to offer us. Lower your shield and live with some of your personality or die and lose it all."

I said to Sonya, "Let her have some more time. Look at what I have found buried in Uula's mind. It is the identity of Calldas."

Everybody including Sisla followed my lead and found the various faces of Calldas. He had worked very hard to hide the identity. The two women we had were his favourites or at least that is what Uula thought. They were his extra hands and eyes and many people died in his name.

It was Hondilas that said, "What! It can't be."

I let them continue to find more and more small pieces of data until they all knew for sure.

Sara said, "We had him all along!"

I said to Sisla, "We have your master, Sisla. He is going to be offered the same options that you were given. He will probably die but he will still be my slave. You can save part of yourself and I will try to make you happy or you can be the same as Uula. Choose now."

It took a moment but she said, "I will try. There are many spells within my shield that have not been removed. I know they are there but I do not remember putting them in place. I can only think that my master put them there for his own reasons."

I said, "That sounds like a dangerous place for you and for me. From Uula's memory I know how tricky Calldas really is. I think he should simply die and we can remove your spells with his knowledge. You are going into a time spell until this is taken care of."

To the Plugga I said, "Put her gently on the floor and against the wall." When that was done, I chanted the words and concentrated on what I had to do in the forth and fifth dimension and Sisla froze into position.

Sonya asked, "Are you really going to kill Calldas?"

"I can see no other way. Uula has very good memories of what he is really like. I feel that it is more like stomping on a cockroach than it is a killing a human."

Hondilas said, "I agree Master. Calldas is a very bad person. For personal reasons I would like to see him dead. He will be the person coming after me now that I have shifted my allegiance to you. He is also the person that will look to kill you too."

Sonya said, "The world of Sookra will be thrown into turmoil if Calldas does not come back. Fassie is currently the stronger country but that is partially because of what Calldas does to make it strong. I think he has to go back and he still has to have the ability to fight and kill or he himself will die there."

Sara said, "Master, have you considered that he may have a spell that destroys his mind if he dies? I have heard of this when a mage gets strong enough to require this protection."

I said, "I have heard that too and now that we know about reanimation I can see the reason why. We can take some precautions but we have to proceed. He dies."

Calldas came back to us and his sleeping body was put on the gym floor. I still saw him as Vessio, a promising trainee that would soon make the apprentice level. I knew that in reality he was setting up Earth for a takeover. Maximus was the only person that stood in his way. Both were evil men and though I ordered an execution I hoped that I would not end up the same way.

With the intent in mind, it was difficult to get started and Sonya had to help me. We built up a very large shield around Calldas and looked again for small crystals. One was found under the skin of a finger but it was still the size of a grain of sand. Three smaller ones were found in his head and I worked to drain the power rather than remove them.

The only reason I had looked is because of the information in Uula's memories. The woman herself was now part of the ring and providing power with the rest of the women. She was shunned but she still knew her place. Uula now provided assistance of other tricks and we worked through them to remove other spells we had not known existed.

With the shield the strongest possible, a knife controlled by my PK stabbed his heart. It was distasteful to do and my Plugga training helped. It was also not a job that could be given to somebody else.

I waited three minutes and after a thorough check began the revivification process. As soon as possible the amulet was put in place and the memories extracted. This took much longer than any of the others. I continued with both spells but I knew that the amulet was the more important.

The healing spells had to be used very quickly now because it didn't look like we were going to make it. I realised that Calldas must be very old and he himself must have had many spells to keep away the ravages of time.

Hondilas and then Uula worked frantically with me to save the man that we wanted to die. The energy consumption went very high and we were taking energy from all the crystals we had. Sara and Sonya came in only slightly slower. The pain in my mind was excruciating because of the power I was handling. When the amulet finished I grabbed full control of the grid and shifted power to a shield to protect the amulet.