Chapter 90

The events with Jukar turned the microscope on me; there were demands by Rowenna’s Office that I go to Loegria for an examination that stopped just short of a vivisection. However, Morgana stepped in to prevent that, citing that the mission to Kedyrn on Tír na nÓg was of vital importance to the Council and that I was an integral part of that mission. Naturally enough this meant that some members of Healing Magic moved into the cave to examine us both, along with Seer Simone and two of her sisters who were there to see if anything more could be gleaned from my memories.

Naturally enough I swiftly developed a fetish for getting up early to go scouting, or rather mind-cloaking myself and sneaking out. In this, initially, I had a partner in crime in Jukar, who seemed to find the entire process as off-putting as I did and, although having been taught by Imelda how to turn her inner glow off, still used her amulet as turned on by myself to disguise her presence as the mindcloak was still way beyond her abilities. Our relationship had improved somewhat, although I still don’t believe she fully understood the ramifications of her emergence. Still, that was a problem for her and Imelda to work through and for the moment Jukar was stuck with us on Tír na nÓg until our mission was resolved and her real training could begin.

Oddly enough, once she became aware of our desire to escape, Imelda also came with us despite working for Healing Magic. She said it was to keep an eye on Jukar, but mostly it was, I suspect, an attempt to get out of what was becoming a very claustrophobic and at times antagonistic cave. She was joined swiftly by Róisín, Abi, Brianna and Tu’tar as well as Arch when he could get away from Jemima, which wasn’t an easy task; then again, Jemima sometimes came with us too. I rather suspect Simone and the others were monitoring me via Abi and Jemima, but at least they were doing it politely, which is more than could be said for the ten Mages of Healing Magic.

The Sidhe had stepped up their patrols in the area, but seemed to be treating the incident as one of Verenestra’s hit and run attacks for which I was grateful. There had been some worries that it might alert Oonagh’s Daoine Sidhe that there was a build-up of forces on Kedyrn. However Verenestra, upon learning of the incident, had sent Mage William away with a whole series of other ‘incidents’ all over the globe to give the impression that it was just a stepping up of Verenestra’s campaign, not a critical move. Nor had they run across any of the assembly points we were preparing with a series of hidden portals. A few Sidhe towns and villages had been earmarked for attention, particularly those who were known for ill-treating their slaves. The main slave holding area itself was marked for destruction and Mage Benjamin along with a few specialised Mages with some skill in mental recovery were on standby to come in and assist the wretched inmates.

I had, as promised, given Jukar her own tailored armour and showed her how to tune the colour to blue, a fairly simple task done under the observation of Imelda, one of the first bits of actual magic she learned along with how to remain human looking. The rest of the time one of us had to reset it to the camouflage mode as Jukar hadn’t had time to learn how to cover all the variables as yet. Her natural intelligence had blossomed massively and she was reading and studying voraciously when not out with the rest of us and we were all keeping her learning telepathically as well, when out.

“Do you think we can take this land, Arch?” I asked as we all met in a secluded hollow near the Sidhe military encampment.

“Yes, John. Not so sure on the holding of it though,” he replied thoughtfully.

“Not enough people on the ground; Verenestra doesn’t have that many people,” Jemima added as she peered out, keeping an eye on things.

“That’s the main issue. A lot depends on whether the villages and hamlets will support her, which is mostly what we’re trying to ascertain,” Arch went on.

“I believe they will,” I replied. “From what we’ve seen, much of their treatment of their slaves has improved from what we know of conditions before the rebellion. It’s not because they can’t get more either. There are a few exceptions, the slave encampment itself being one, but overall I believe things have markedly improved.”

“So the message is getting out, that other sentients deserve respect?” Róisín asked.

“I believe so my love, but we won’t know till we make our move,” I acknowledged. “I do rather suspect though that it’s fear, not compassion driving the change. The Sidhe will have seen the examples Verenestra’s forces are leaving of the worst offenders. Still got the potential for a bloodbath though.”

At this point a hidden portal opened allowing Seer Simone and Talshish to step through.

“Hey, Talshish! How’s life?” I greeted him.

“It is good, John. I come bearing news,” he replied with a grin.

“Good news I hope, my friend,” Róisín responded.

“It is indeed, Róisín. We’ve moved all our forces into place and are ready; we just need a go signal from Mage Morgana. We’d like you to follow the original plan and take out the guards at this slave encampment as my Princess believes that the inmates there will be less ... perturbed at seeing human faces liberating them,” he answered.

“Our forces are on standby. If it blows up in our faces they’ll step in and assist,” Brianna added. “Hopefully though it will be seen as a victory for Titania and Verenestra alone.”

“That’s the plan. It will raise our credibility as Oonagh and her generals are claiming that we are being propped up and used by humanity to wipe the Sidhe out,” Talshish replied.

“We’ll do our part,” Brianna replied.

“Thank you. You should move into position and wait for Mage Morgana’s signal,” Talshish acknowledged as Simone re-opened a portal to allow him to go back to wherever it was Verenestra’s command centre was.

“You should know, John, that Mage Xi is trying to stop you from going on this or any other mission until the situation of Apprentice Mage Jukar is resolved,” Simone said after Talshish had left.

“Figures,” I replied with a frown. “I’m still not sure what Healing Magic hopes to gain from an examination of me that you Lady Seers won’t be well ahead of.”

“I’m pretty sure Mage Rowenna is being kept out of the loop on their excesses,” Simone replied getting a nod from Imelda as well. “However as she’s currently on Loegria, we can’t just drop in. I have spoken to Mage Julia and Mage Morgana about the presence of Mage Xi and her team, but so far all attempts to get them to behave ... or at least be polite have come to naught.”

“Rowenna’s probably too busy to bother with the petty stuff,” Arch added.

“We believe so too. I suspect it will be resolved soon though as Mage Rowenna and Mage Benjamin will be called here soon to deal with the released slaves,” Simone replied with a nod.

“Well, I intend to go directly to the encampment and observe, hence will be incommunicado until after the mission,” I chuckled.

“Me too,” added Jukar.

“Ahem!” Imelda interrupted.

“With your permission, my Mage,” Jukar added contritely.

“Granted. I feel the need to be away from Mage Xi myself. We don’t really get along too well, as brilliant a healer as she is notwithstanding,” Imelda sighed. “Plus this is probably the last time to get out in the field for a while as we’ll be off to Auckland when this is over to concentrate on your studies.”

“I’ll be living with you?” Jukar asked.

“And John, Róisín and Abi too, as you well know,” Imelda replied. “Mage Brianna will be a regular visitor as well.”

“Goody!” she replied with a sultry smile in my direction.

“Get that out of your mind, girl. Until you can properly control the energy flows through your mind, sex with someone else is not a good idea,” Imelda chuckled.

“Aw!”

“Get used to using your fingers for a while,” Abi giggled.

“How long?”

“About ten years or so; after that you should be able to not explode in a cloud of fiery atoms if someone gives you a damned good time. Plus, you need control over your fertility as well, just in case you try with someone other than a Mage,” Róisín chuckled.

“Is it the same with men?” she asked.

“No, lucky buggers, then again their survival rate in emergence is four times lower than women,” Róisín replied. “That said, we can talk when you’re ready, assuming I can persuade John, with whom you’ve done yourself no favours.”

“I just wanted his attention!” she said with a delightful blush.

“Try killing him, not embarrassing the hell out of him,” Róisín replied with a wink in my direction. “Anyway, back to the subject at hand,” she stated looking at Arch who was looking somewhat bemused by the direction the conversation had gone.

“Looks like we’re all in, including you, Seer Simone,” chuckled Arch as he saw the nods from the team or in the case of Tu’tar a back flipped palm gesture.

Simone then opened another secure portal for us that took us into dense woodland near what on our Earth would be considered Lincolnshire. We (apart from Jukar and Tu’tar) swiftly spread out and the Mages tested and checked the Heinrich wards as well as checking the boundaries to ensure no trace of our presence was showing.

“Our job is to liberate the camp, or essentially ensure the guards do not simply execute all the inmates,” Arch went over the mission brief from Morgana.

“Tricky, they mostly stay in the barracks which are shielded,” Róisín observed.

“Yes, that’s why we’ll be going in first; our success will trigger Operation Liberation,” Arch explained.

“Estimate about thirty guards,” I said.

“Use Null bullets when you encounter them,” Arch added.

“Yessir!” we all chuckled as we gave him a series of awful mock salutes.

“Jemima, Simone, Abi, I want you to launch the heavy Null grenades into the ... for want of a better word, Admin Block, as well as the barracks if you think they can reach. It ought to keep things confused during the initial push,” Arch went on.

“You realise it’s going to get really ugly if there’s even a token resistance?” I questioned.

“Yup, but the idiocy over your witnessing Jukar’s emergence is threatening to spill over onto this theatre of conflict and disrupt Morgana’s plans and she won’t have that,” Arch answered.

“I’m not irreplaceable, Arch,” I demurred.

“With what you have in your head at the moment, yes, you are,” he chuckled. “That’s what has Xi all stirred up trying to get you into somewhere safe ... and padded.”

“Take it my Mage doesn’t care for high handed demands then?” I asked with a grin.

“Yep, she also wants you to be damned careful, but accepts the fact that you probably won’t be,” he replied with a grin of his own.

“He’ll be careful,” Róisín mock growled.

“Too right!” murmured Abi getting nods from Imelda, Brianna and Jukar.

“I’m always careful,” I stated to looks of total disbelief from the entire group, save Tu’tar.

“I’ll make sure John of Earth is OK,” Tu’tar stated hefting his new Mage designed battle-axe.

“Fine, you nursemaid John,” Róisín added with a grin as she reached into a pocket universe to hand Jukar a pump action shotgun filled with iron buckshot cartridges along with a reload bandolier.

“Thank you, Róisín,” an amazed Jukar said, clearly thinking Róisín had produced it from thin air.