Chapter 108

The Council was in closed session in a sealed chamber. Only the twenty-one Mages who were entitled to a vote were present, plus me. The reason was, of course, to discuss the proposal put forward by Morgana that I be permitted the opportunity to trigger an emergence. Morgana had asked for the closed session to prevent any news of what I believed I could do getting out into the general Council grapevine before the actual Council had had a chance to discuss it. Hence she didn’t even tell anyone, save Simon, Julia, Rowenna and Cixi, what the meeting was about until the doors were sealed. She then explained what was being requested, who Dorry was (sort of) and went over the dangers before throwing the debate open to the floor.

“You are sure you can trigger an emergence, John?” Mage Rowenna asked.

“I believe so, though the proof naturally lies in a successful attempt,” I replied.

“Does this ... Dorry know how dangerous this could be for her?” Mage Sofya asked.

“She does indeed, Mage Sofya. We have apprised her thoroughly of the risks,” Morgana replied.

“I take it she’s not of this Earth?” Sofya asked.

“Indeed. Her Earth is not covered by any of the accords,” Morgana noted.

“Well, that allows some leeway. Experimenting with a mundane from our Earth would be a serious breach of the accords,” Sofya nodded.

“That, in part, is why the request was put by me,” Morgana acknowledged. “I certainly would not have countenanced it for one of the people of our planet, nor any of the other Earths we have an accord with. At least, not until we know we can do it.”

“If this attempt is successful, we’ll look at the accords with a view to permitting it in certain circumstances,” Simon added. “Though at the moment there are just too few of us to turn everyone on Earth and there are some to whom the power would corrupt even more.”

“Is she one of the wildlings we occasionally run across?” Sofya asked.

“She doesn’t consider herself so,” Morgana replied ambiguously.

“It would be interesting to see if it will work. Plus, as you said, she’s aware of the risk,” Sofya stated, drawing a lot of nods from the assembled Mages.

“You mentioned a set of conditions necessary for the triggering, John? Is this dangerous to Dorry?” Julia asked.

“The switch, as I see it, only appears in moments of great anger or stress and it has to be naturally occurring. The work I’ve done with Dorry has produced it twice so far, though I’ve been unable to induce it via my powers. It has to come from within. She was however under medical supervision and was not at any risk,” I replied.

“I take it, doing the exact same thing under the same conditions does not produce the same reaction?” Rowenna asked.

“I’m afraid not, Mage Rowenna. Once Dorry had been through a situation causing it to occur, the second time was simply different as she’d become somewhat adjusted to the situation ... less surprised, or shocked, as it were,” I answered.

“Understandable, if frustrating. Still, it only has to be a set condition which only has to work the once, particularly if it’s successful and we plan to repeat it with a new candidate,” Rowenna nodded.

“Do we have a designated sponsor? One who is willing to be a Master for this young lady?” Mage Liang asked.

“In consultation with Mage Rowenna, we decided on Mage Brianna as she has direct links to Healing Magic and will be in a position to allow a full examination. No doubt Dorry will be a person of interest for a good long while,” Morgana replied.

“Brianna? Merlin’s daughter?” Mage Sofya asked curiously. “I often wondered what had become of her.”

“Yes, she’s heading a project for me regarding the gulag ladies,” Rowenna replied. Though she didn’t mention that Brianna was my wife, as it wasn’t common knowledge.

“If you believe she’s a good choice, again no objection from me,” Sofya shrugged, clearly deciding that asking where would get her nowhere.

“Assuming we grant assent, which seems likely, where would this experiment take place?” Mage Zola asked.

“We hope to have it here,” Morgana replied.

“Why here?” Zola asked curiously.

“Controlled environment, witnesses, Seers and the head of Healing Magic,” Morgana replied getting a lot of murmurs of agreement.

“I agree,” Zola replied after a moment’s thought.

“Dorry has requested the presence of two of her friends,” Morgana added.

“Mundanes?” Cixi asked.

“Yes, we can adjust things if necessary, though they are aware of the presence of Mages from their time working for government,” Morgana replied.

“I can’t see them being any sort of a risk. I take it they don’t want to be made emergent though?” Cixi added.

“No, they have just started a family and do not want to have that disrupted,” Morgana chuckled.

“Understandable,” Cixi replied with a smile.

“The proposal put before us is that journeyman Mage John be permitted to attempt to make emergent the young lady known as Dorry, in so far as he believes he may be able to do this?” Simon placed before the Council.

“Proposed,” Mage Sofya stated.

“Seconded,” Mage Liang added.

“Vote is unanimous, twenty votes in favour. You may proceed. Please make the arrangements, Mage Morgana,” Simon announced, as he’d only cast a vote personally if an issue was tied.

“Suppose they read my mind and discover Loegria, John,” Dorry fretted as she sat between Ketty and Niras in Morgana’s office and looked to be in her early twenties again, thanks to my other gift, which I suspected was what gave me the ability to spot the ‘switch’ inside non-Mages.

“Seers won’t let them,” I replied.

“John’s right. For all we can read surface thoughts to aid with translation and communication, we don’t often read anyone’s mind,” Morgana added. “Doing so in the Council chamber would be a gross breach of trust as well as manners and the Seers would come down on whoever did it like a ton of bricks. That’s how Merlin was able to walk amongst us for so long disguised as Hermes.”

“Never, ever thought I’d get to be here, save in chains,” Brianna chuckled.

“Rather suspect a few eyes might be on me as well,” Jude added.

“Fame has its price and not many Mages have seen you unless they’ve been doing something involving Mage Morgana,” Brianna replied with a smile.

“True enough,” he replied, returning her smile.

“Surprised Mage Sofya went for it,” I added into the silence.

“Her reasoning will be complex, but, I rather doubt she’d want to see you fail though. Not in this at least. It could be the singular breakthrough we Mages have been waiting for, for millennia,” Morgana replied.

“Pile the pressure on why don’t you,” I chuckled.

“You’d just better hope it works,” Morgana grinned.

“Won’t know till I try,” I nodded.

“They’re ready,” Arch announced, sticking his head around the door.

“Let’s go,” Morgana said and led the way.

The Council doesn’t often do ceremony, but when it puts its mind to it, it can do it pretty well. The Chamber had been tidied up. A semi-circle of tables and seats for the Council Mages had been arranged with the open end facing the doorway with chairs ready for us. The Council Mages rose to stand as we entered. To either side were seats for the Seers and Mages from Healing Magic, including Mage Xi, who smiled at me when we came through.

Mage Brianna, Dorry and myself made a reverential bow to the assembled Mages and took our seats in front of them.

“Young Dorry, have the risks of this been fully explained to you?” Simon commenced the proceedings by asking.

“They have, Mage Simon. I’m prepared to accept them and the consequences should this go wrong,” Dorry replied.

“Mage Brianna, should this go as planned, do you take responsibility for training Dorry and all the necessary obligations that go with it?” Simon asked.

“I do, Mage Simon,” Brianna replied.

“You may proceed, John, and good luck,” Simon announced.

I hadn’t told Dorry what I intended to do. If she knew, it could never work. Fear was out of the question; Dorry simply didn’t fear me and trusted me implicitly, so that left frustration. For this I had to create a weave spell around her, temporarily making her forget where she was but doing it so gradually that any and all suspicions in her mind were removed and she became one with the weave. In essence I placed her in a situation where she was trapped in a maze and needed to find a way out with the greenery of the maze snagging against her clothing and making any movement difficult. After twenty minutes I began to see what I’d hoped for as the Council and observers watched intently. Dorry’s mind was struggling within her induced dream state. Dorry believed she had reached the exit, could even see it when I used the weave to make branches lock onto her clothing to hold her back and prevent any movement. At this point Dorry mentally turned and screamed in frustration, trying to drag her clothing clear and in her mind I saw it form, the switch I’d been waiting for, though with Dorry, unlike Jukar there was nothing mentally to throw it for her, until I reached in to flick it.