Chapter 11

The following day after treating Róisín to a West End show and a meal I set off to the world called Kurukshetra and then onto Loegria.

Even to this day, Loegria is a secret world, not many Mages know of it, even on the Council of the Wise, even fewer how to get there. It is essentially the only world we've discovered where the native people cannot do magic. Nor are we sure as to how its people got there in the first place, all other worlds with people on were former Sidhe worlds where humanity was used as a source of slaves and food. Had the Sidhe settled Loegria however they'd still be there, the humans living there would have no defence against their glamour and other magics than cold steel. It's also a world of high technology, decades ahead of our own and other worlds we know of. Mostly it's run by an authoritarian jumble of competing scientist overlord clans, save for the land of Loegria, which owing to an attempt by the ruling Over-masters to expand into other worlds had ended up trapping me there. Eventually with the aid of Morgana, Arch, Simon Magus, Rowenna and Róisín I was rescued, though Rowenna had remained behind to set up her medical facility in the magic free environment, plus keep a few Mages around to keep an eye on the place, just in case they managed a reliable method of expansion, or attracted something really nasty with said method.

Loegria is accessed via another world; yes I could possibly portal direct, I knew where it was and my power levels were far higher than they were when I was there last, but, with the need to keep Loegria's technology a secret from the Coalition, it was deemed that the only portal would be through the Council's old medical facility on the prison planet of Kurukshetra.

Kurukshetra is perhaps the saddest place I've ever been. Its non-human inhabitants had mostly wiped themselves out over 1000 years ago after almost three millennia of internecine warfare, culminating in the use of the magical equivalent of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The very few survivors (presumably the victors) had migrated to other Earths in the Vedic Commonalty and there is precious little left alive on the planet. The atmosphere is poisonous to not only breathe but to come into contact with. It did contain the Council's prison population in a sealed bubble almost a mile underground complete with internal Null and anti-teleport fields and it was the prison entrance which was the only safe place to port into the planets survivable zones, which amounted to the prison and what was once our medical wing. I'm not sure why our medical wing was there, I suspect it was to remove all magic from the patients save for the staff and the patients themselves. The only portal to Loegria was situated in the wing itself, guarded by trusted prison staff of the Council.

Loegria had not changed greatly since my last visit, though the atmosphere felt a lot different and a lot more of the mechanical vehicles were moving around.

"John!" came a loud squeal.

"Dorry?" I replied.

"Yes it's me, you came back. It's so good to see you!" she exclaimed.

"You look good," I said. "Are you our doorkeeper here now?"

"Yes, Rowenna gave me a job and it's so nice to meet all the Mages," she bubbled. "I so wish I could do magic though."

We chatted for a little while just catching up with what was going on in her life, she had a boyfriend, her parents were something high up in the rulers of Loegria and she was probably going into politics once her education was complete, though at the moment she was happy enough simply meeting and greeting Mages.

"Is Rowenna about, I'd like to speak to her if she's not busy," I finally asked.

"She's about somewhere," said Dorry. "Just go through that portal over there," she pointed.

After bidding Dorry farewell I emerged into a garden with beautiful flowers and plants with the air full of fragrances. For all it was winter on all Earths, clearly some of the Mages here had decided that a warm summer's day was the ideal environment to help the healing process and had done a little local tampering over the medical facility. There were a fair few people there, mostly women and, for all the relaxed atmosphere, it was a trifle tense when I appeared. Fortunately Rowenna spotted me and came across to greet me.

"John, it's so good to see you," she greeted me.

"Mage Rowenna, it's good to see you too," I said with a formal bow.

"And how is my favourite journeyman?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm very well, dear Lady. How are you?" I replied.

"Oh, so formal still, John, how many times have I asked you to call me Rowenna?" she teased. "I'm quite well, though the work here is not easy, mind you; the conditions are much improved from Kurukshetra."

"Did you contact Mage Benjamin?" I asked.

"Yes, he's been here several times in the last three months and has been a big help in dealing with many of the women damaged by the collars," she said. "Sadly the collars aren't the only problem, many are still suffering from psychosis and trauma resulting from multiple rapes and forced pregnancies, roughly on a par with extreme combat fatigue, particularly those who had their sons seized. Saying that, there may be one you can help with..."

Rowenna led me into one of the surrounding buildings and into a room with an old lady lying in a bed.

"This is Irena," she said. "Our oldest patient and sadly suffering from dementia, otherwise she might be able to reset her body clock and cure herself. However it occurred to me that you could do the same for her, John?"

"I'll try," I said and stretched out my mind as I had for Róisín and allowed energy to flow into her, resetting her cells to divide and teleporting the damaged ones away from her body. There was no immediate change, though there hadn't been with Róisín, but her breathing eased and colour returned to her complexion.

"Thank you, John," said Rowenna. "I think that might just do the trick, though I'm damned if I know how you do it, or how Benjamin does his trick either."

"Well, you could always marry Benjamin and study him that way," I laughed.

"Oh, he wouldn't be interested in me; he has that new apprentice to train and his work," she said.

"You might be surprised," I said with a smile, leaving her with a thoughtful expression on her face. "As to my real reason for being here, I'd like to see Mage Brianna, if you've no objections?"

"None at all, John," she replied. "She volunteered for this mission when she found out about the abused women; I think she sees it as a sort of penance. She'll be in the dayroom at the moment."

Bidding Rowenna farewell I wandered back to the garden and crossed it to the dayroom as Rowenna had directed. Inside it was cool and bright with several groups of women and one or two men sitting around low tables in comfortable looking chairs. As with the garden I felt an almost palpable nervous tremor go through the room at my entrance. I spotted Brianna and wandered over to speak to her, keeping as far from the nervous women as possible.

"Mage Brianna," I greeted her.

"John," she replied.

"I was hoping you might have a moment to answer a few questions I have," I asked.

There was a long pause, before she nodded. "We can talk in the office," she replied.

The office itself was cramped and full of medical looking records, but it had a desk and two chairs and we sat facing each other.

"I'm sorry to take your time away from your work," I said. "But I'm conducting an investigation into certain events and hoped you could help."

"I had hoped my past was behind me," she replied. "But seeing you brought back some very uncomfortable memories. But if I can help, I will."