Chapter 19

Morgana, Arch and the rest of the team, including Róisín and myself, ported back to the Department and we went off to file our reports for Mage Thomas before he had a chance to have a stern word with us. Thomas was perhaps the most gentle soul I'd ever met save only in one respect, he expected that the paperwork got done and woe betide you if you didn't do it. Personally I'd rather have a dressing down from Morgana than face Mage Thomas and one of his lectures on the proper way to file a report. At least she'd only go on for a couple of hours, even Arch hurried off to his office in order to comply.

After it was done to Thomas' expectations I went to Morgana's office to have a word with her about the idea I'd had.

"My Mage, am I right in assuming that interrogation of the higher prisoners is not going quickly if at all?" I asked, when I finally got in to see her.

"Yes, John, unfortunately the power required to break their personal mindblocks would also wipe their minds. Why? Do you have a solution?" she asked curiously.

"It occurred to me that if we could place a device on their heads which altered their mental frequency to say that of a Loegrian, it wouldn't matter how good the mindblock was, they would not be able to raise it if say we put it on them in Null and took them out of Null," I said.

Morgana sat back and simply stared off into space for a while.

"I don't think a magical device would or could do that, at least not any that our Mage studies are looking into," she finally said.

"I wasn't thinking of using magic," I said. "I was going to ask Archon Ketty to see if some of her scientists could come up with something. If they can it may even allow Loegrian Mages, though God alone knows how we could make one emergent."

"Interesting idea, John," said Morgana. "I take it you want permission to go to Loegria?"

"Only if there's nothing I'm needed for here, my Mage," I replied.

"Nothing springs to mind, John. Take Róisín with you though, she could use the experience," Morgana said by way of dismissal.

I told a delighted Róisín that we were going on a trip to Loegria and to pack for at least a week.

It took a couple of days to actually arrange things so that some of our more routine tasks to do with the department were covered by our fellow journeymen and women. Apart from monitoring and countering Nephilim infiltration units, there wasn't a lot of activity going on. The Coalition had withdrawn from the Council's territories and were certainly reconsolidating their forces and organisation, but were as yet abiding by the terms of the truce. Although, Mage Roxanne's people had uncovered an attempt by the Coalition to open a dialogue with the Nephilim, only for the Coalition team to be eliminated without a trace.

We arrived through the portal on Loegria to be greeted by journeywoman Elena who greeted us both with warm hugs and explained that Dorry was currently back at a higher education establishment, but would like to know that I had returned and to see me if possible.

"I think she wants you as a witness at her wedding," said Elena.

"If I'm free I'd be delighted," I said. "Is Mage Rowenna available?"

"She'll be in the medical wing somewhere," Elena replied. "You know your way?"

We nodded and passed some time catching up with various bits of gossip before entering the portal which took us to the Council's medical wing on Loegria.

Finding Rowenna was easy, her mind simply blazed compared to the other Mages around us as well as a few Loegrians who were wandering about.

"John, Róisín, how lovely to see you," Rowenna beamed at us when we had her attention. "How are two of my favourite young people?"

"We are well, Mage Rowenna," I replied as, along with Róisín, I gave her a formal bow.

"You're doing it again, despite my asking you not to," she said as she swept both of us up into a hug.

"Are you here to see your friend Roger?" she finally asked.

"Yes, well, not officially," Róisín replied.

"Figured as much," Rowenna said. "This place is perhaps the biggest secret in the Council territories. Not even a majority of Council members know its name, never mind where it is, yet you two young people do."

"Which is why we don't just drop in, Mage Rowenna," I replied. "Much as I'd like to. We have good friends here."

"Perhaps one day that will change, John, though I suspect it will be a long while," sighed Rowenna.

"How are the women we rescued from the Gulag doing, Mage Rowenna?" asked Róisín.

"Very well, Róisín," Rowenna replied with a smile. "Not all are fully recovered, but all are able to cope around men now. Education has taken over from healing, though it's a shared experience for them as we cannot bond them to any Mage who does not know about Loegria. Mage Brianna has taken over that aspect of their lives quite successfully though."

By this time we'd wandered into one of the wings and were facing Roger, the journeyman of Mage Alice who was in the last stage of re-growing an arm.

"John, Róisín, wow, how great to see you!" he exclaimed. "How did you get here? Wherever here is, they won't tell me and I can't contact anyone not in the hospital itself."

"Not allowed to tell you where we are as they'd just remove your memories," giggled Róisín. "But it looks like you won't be too long in getting back."

"Another month," said Roger. "I'm just starting to get touch sensations back in my fingers."

"I'll let Mage Alice know," I said.

"I know she's not allowed to visit," said Roger. "Yet I miss her; she's my friend as well as my Mage."

I told Roger of the activities of Mage Alice on Arch's team, getting a good few laughs from him as well as Róisín and Rowenna over me getting beaten up by the Nephilim female Mage.

"Hi John," came a voice I recognised.

"Mage Brianna, it's good to see you," I replied with a formal bow.

"What is it with you, friends and formality, John?" said Brianna. "You do it to Rowenna too."

"I'm just a journeyman," I replied. "Respect and honour cut both ways, at least for first greetings."

Brianna just grinned and gave me a very big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"It's so good to see you again, John. May I ask who this young lady is?" she asked.

"This is journeywoman Róisín, my friend and partner," I replied.

"Pleased to meet you, journeywoman Róisín," said Brianna. "A friend of John's is a friend of mine."

"Honoured, Mage Brianna," replied Róisín.

"I met your father around seven months ago," I told Brianna. "He sends his regards for whatever that's worth."

"Not really a lot, John, but thank you for mentioning it," she replied.

"I think it really bugs him not knowing where you are at all," I said with a smile.

"A little frustration won't hurt him," she replied with a smirk.

We all chatted for a while until I asked if Rowenna could arrange for us to visit Archon Ketty or have her visit us.

"Come to my office the both of you and I'll phone her, or at least her secretary, who is really confused as to why Ketty always prioritises my calls to her," said Rowenna.

Once at her office we explained to Rowenna what we were planning to ask Ketty.

"That's a damned intriguing idea, John," she said, after giving it some thought. "I can see a few medical uses too. For example, where the host fights off unknowingly some of our attempts to heal them. After all, that is why we're here on a world where magic for the most part does not exist, we can sense the background spells and wards a lot more clearly."

"That and keeping them from expanding via alternate Earths or attracting something really nasty whilst trying it," I replied.

"That too," laughed Rowenna.

She then picked up what I presumed was a phone though it had no wires and no antenna which suggested it wasn't a radio either, not if the tiny flat television screen on it was to be believed. I'd seen similar in the hands of Ketty back when I'd first discovered Loegria. Well, discovered isn't quite the right word, but it's close enough. I also knew this device had a camera built into it too, though where the film was I hadn't a clue either. It took five minutes before Ketty answered and promised to pop round when she had a free moment, though that would probably be the evening after seven.

"It'll be good to see you again, John," came her clear voice from the tiny speaker. "You too, Róisín."

We said our bye-for-now's and sat back.

"She sounds tired or stressed," I said.

"Running a country will do that to you," said Rowenna. "That's why most Mages simply don't. She's aged in looks about twenty years in the few years I've known her."

"I could help a little there," I said.

"Unless you've managed to sort out some sort of age lock that might not be a good idea, John," admonished Rowenna.

"Was just going to do an energy restore and remove various fatigue poisons for her, Mage Rowenna," I replied. "Not a reset."

"You make that sound so easy," she sighed.

"To me it is," I replied. "Damned if I know why no one else thinks so."

"Benjamin says pretty much the same thing whenever he calls," she said smiling at the memory.

"He's still calling?" I asked.

"Yes, he's trying to persuade me to enter into a relationship with him," Rowenna said, blushing slightly.

"Oh lovely," gushed Róisín.

"I'm considering it, though goodness knows why he thinks I'm worth his time," she replied.

"Apart from the fact that you're lovely?" I replied.

"Well, yes, there's that," said Rowenna with a giggle. "Now stop teasing and allow me to show you to your room."

We had been assigned a small set of quarters in the medical wing set aside for guests, which also contained a wardrobe with a variety of local Loegrian clothing in case we needed to interact with the outside world. It also had one of the wonderful Loegrian flat television screens that covered half the wall and we sat and began to flick through a variety of channels, though much of what was going on was simply confusing as we didn't really understand Loegrian society at all. A lot of the news programmes seemed to be based around either exports, criticism of the ruling committee and demanding the head of Ketty on a stick for refusing to use the orbital bombardment system in the form of pre-emptive strikes on Over-master territories.

"Excitable lot aren't they?" I murmured to Róisín.

"Indeed so," she replied. "They don't seem to quite have the knack of being polite either."

We began unpacking until a mental message told us we had a guest.

Downstairs Ketty was waiting for us with a beaming smile that couldn't hide the shadows under her eyes nor the signs of stress in the way she looked and carried herself.

"It's good to see you again, John, and you, Róisín," she said. "I don't seem to have so many friends these days."

"We saw some TV," I said. "They weren't kind."

"Just politics," she sighed. "It was easy when the Over-masters were the enemy, you didn't have to watch your back so much. Now, how can I help you, my friends."

We wandered over to the medical wing restaurant and ordered some food whilst I explained what I wanted.

"I can see a few difficulties," Ketty said finally. "First is trying to sort out what frequency you see compared to how we measure it. Then how to change it without killing or hurting the changee."

"Yes, you'll need to use a Mage to experiment on and we're here for at least a week to help you take initial measurements." I replied.

Ketty held up her phone and typed a few symbols into it.

"I've made an appointment for you at my office for tomorrow afternoon. I should have some answers for you by then," she said.

"Good," I said with a smile. "Now can I do something for you?"

"Do something, John?" she replied.

"Magical stress relief, my lovely friend." I said.

"What exactly does that entail?" she asked. "Because if this is a ploy to bed me, I swear I'll punch your lights out, John. I don't do threesomes," she added with a laugh.

"I never knew you cared," I said with a grin. "No, it's just a means of removing fatigue poisons as well as re-energising your cell energy."

"I won't crumble into dust will I?" she asked.

"Not unless you want to," I replied with a straight face that got me a punch from Róisín.

"OK, John," she said. "I trust you."

"I stretched out my mind and released all the toxins and waste from Ketty's cells and dumped it down the sewers, then allowed energy to pour into her cells, rejuvenating them without resetting them.

"Oh my!" Ketty gasped as the years fell away from her and she returned to the young woman I remembered so well, if slightly older.

Róisín held up a mirror for Ketty, who looked stunned at what she saw.

"Oh my gods, Róisín! Can I keep him?" she laughed out loud.

"No, but you can borrow him if you want every so often," replied Róisín with a smile.