Alliance (5 page)

Then Palos reappears behind the lizard
humanoid and grabs the back of its neck with her right hand. Her
red ring flashes and the lizard humanoid bursts into flame before
it can even scream. In fact, it does not just burst into flame, but
it also burns into ash. Sensors indicate that Palos had superheated
the lizard humanoid to over 300 degrees, which is an unusual amount
of heat for a Delanian witch to generate. That tells me that Palos
is far more dangerous than I originally believed, which means I
must keep an eye on her in case she turns out to be hostile to
me.

Dropping the ash to the ground, Palos then
looks up and says, “I see you, Jornan! Are you going to come down
and fight or are you going to—”

Jornan appears behind Palos as silently
and abruptly as Palos appeared behind that lizard humanoid. She
grabs at Palos, but Palos disappears again and reappears beside me.
She raises her ringed fingers above her head, which the mobile
Database tells me is a common battle stance for Delanian witches
and wizards to take.

Jornan, on the other hand, merely crosses
her arms, scowling at us both. She looks the same as she did
before, but I notice a cut above her right eye. Perhaps it is a
blow Sir Alart landed on her, which is the most likely explanation
for it, because it had not been there the last time I saw her.

“
Palos of Targia,” says
Jornan in a mocking tone. “I believe that we've met before, haven't
we?”

“
I am surprised ye
remembered, ye scoundrel,” says Palos. I sense her skyras levels
rapidly rising, as are Jornan's. “That was ten years ago, at the
Tournament of Magic. 'Twas when I uncovered your dastardly scheme
to steal the Tournament's Trophy for your own nefarious
ends.”

“
And I would have gotten
away with it, too, if you hadn't gotten in my way,” says Jornan.
“But no matter. What's past is past, and there's no changing it. I
would ask why you are here or how you even know I was here, but I
have more urgent matters to attend to, so I think I'll just skip to
the part where I murder you in cold blood and destroy your little
robot friend while I'm at it.”

Jornan hurls a lightning bolt at Palos and
me. Palos responds by throwing her own lightning bolt at Jornan,
even though I am about to tell Palos that that would not be a wise
move at all. But I am too late and so can only watch as the two
lightning bolts meet halfway between us and Jornan.

When they do, the lightning bolts explode.
As soon as they explode, however, Palos bends over and grabs my
arm, and then, before I know it, we are gone, although not before I
hear Jornan cursing in Delanian above the sound of the exploding
lightning bolts.

***

Chapter
3

W
hat I am experiencing now must be
Delanian teleportation. I have never experienced it before. On
Xeeon, I have used teleportation pads to go from one end of the
city to the other, but this is completely unlike that.

Xeeonite teleportation is gradual, with
the environment melting around you like metal left out in the Dead
Lands’ sun for too long. It is one of the few areas where Delanians
have us beat, because teleportation is a highly complex science,
one which Xeeonite scientists struggle to understand.

Delanian teleportation, however, is quick.
One instant, I am watching the explosion caused by the lightning
bolts striking each other and listening to Jornan's angry curses;
the next, I am sitting in a dark room that I do not recognize, with
Palos standing next to me, her wet hair clinging to her head like a
starfish on a rock.

Without waiting for Palos to explain where
we are, I immediately begin a scan of the area. The room is square,
at 140 square feet, with a few inches to spare in either direction.
The ceiling is five feet above our heads, while a closed metal door
is the only entrance or exit in this room. Temperature is 70
degrees, although it is slightly warmer near the vents on the
ceiling, where air is blowing through, though it does not feel like
Xeeonite interior heating. That suggests that this room is in a
colder area, though where it might be exactly, I do not know.

But despite knowing all of this
information about our destination immediately, I still do not know
the name of this room or its exact location. If the Database
existed in Dela, I would be able to pinpoint this place's location
with exactitude.

Palos lets go of my arm and staggers to
the side. Sensors indicate she is far more tired than I first
thought. Still, there is nothing I can do to help her, because my
inoperable leg has left me unable to do as much, especially with my
extremely low power level.

Instead, I ask, “Palos, where did you
teleport us to? I do not recognize this room.”

Panting, Palos wipes her hair off her
forehead and says, “Law enforcer, we are in the only safe spot in
the world right now. Not a single soul can find us here. Not even
Jornan can find us, even if she uses the blackest magic she
knows.”

“
I am sorry, but that is
not very specific,” I say. “I need the name and location of this
place so I can estimate how far I am from the nearest Portal. I
need to return to Xeeo right away so I can report on what happened
and receive the repairs I need.”

“
I apologize, law
enforcer, but we cannot let ye do that, at least not right away,”
says Palos. She puts her hands together, a gesture I sometimes see
Delanian humans do when they wish to emphasize their apologies. “We
cannot guarantee that ye will be safe. I must speak first with the
Head before we let ye go anywhere.”

“
Who is the Head?” I
say. “May I speak with him?”

“
Not yet,” says Palos,
shaking her head. “The Head may not even wish to speak with ye.
She—the Head is female, by the way—is a busy person, after all, and
rarely makes time to speak with non-members such as yourself unless
it is urgent.”

“
Non-members?” I repeat.
“I still do not understand. Are we in your organization's
headquarters? Just what
is
your organization? Can you at
least tell me the name so I may catalog it in the mobile
Database?”

“
Nay,” says Palos. “Ye
are not even supposed to be here, law enforcer, but I hope that the
Head will understand that I had no choice but to bring ye
here.”

Before I can respond to that, the door I
noticed earlier bursts open. Two beings enter the room, two beings
who I have never seen before in my life and for whom the mobile
Database records fail to provide any information.

The first one is a dwarf, but unlike most
dwarves, he is completely bald, without any hair on his head or his
face. He wears thick wizard robes, like the kind the mobile
Database tells me are worn by wizards living in the Winterlands,
but I see no skyras rings on his fingers, which makes me wonder why
he wears that clothing. Sensors indicate that his blood pressure is
rising, which tells me that he is angry, though I do not know what
he is angry about.

The second is a female elf, one with short
blonde hair. She is wearing a simple Delanian tunic, though she has
apparently sewn pockets into it, or perhaps someone else sewed
pockets onto it, based on its appearance. In addition, the tunic is
made of a thick wool, which suggests she has been in a cold
environment recently. Unlike her dwarfish friend, she is armed with
a sword, although it looks different from the skyras swords usually
used by the Knights of Se-Dela, as it is a dead gray color rather
than a shining white. And unlike her friend, she is not angry, but
she is worried, perhaps dreading some future problem that is going
to happen.

Palos turns from me to face the two
newcomers, saying as she does so, “Ah, Rozan, Nacina, I—”

“
Don't say another
word,” the dwarf snaps, pointing at her with an accusatory finger.
“You know the rules, but you went against them anyway.”

“
Rozan, there's no need
for that tone,” says the female elf, who I assume must be Nacina,
in a much lower tone than the dwarf. She puts one calming hand on
his shoulder. “I'm sure that Palos has a reason for her actions.
Right, Palos?”

“
Of course I do,” says
Palos, folding her arms across her chest. “I will explain them
directly to the Head herself if I must. Let it be known that I did
not save this machine to spite our organization.”

“
I don't care what your
reasons are for saving it,” says Rozan, shrugging off Nacina's hand
and pointing at me as if I can not understand what he is saying.
“The rules say that we're not supposed to have any non-members of
the Foundation inside either of our bases. And this robot is
certainly not a member of the Foundation, for sure.”

I quickly run the term 'Foundation'
through the mobile Database files. My search turns up the
Foundation for Homeless Jikorian Children, a non-profit Xeeonite
charity that helps get homeless Jikorian children off the streets,
but I sincerely doubt that that Foundation is the same as this
Foundation, not in the least because the mobile Database files show
that the charity does not have a Delanian branch.

“
I am quite aware of the
rules, Rozan, but I still refuse to apologize for my decision,”
says Palos. She gestures at me. “After all, if I had not saved him,
then Jornan would have destroyed him. Would that have been a good
thing? Of course not.”

“
You're acting like this
robot is valuable,” says Rozan. He glares at me. “All I see is
trouble. Now that he's here, he knows we exist, and no one is
supposed to know we exist. Not even Waran-Una knows we exist, for
the earth's sake.”

“
I think we should
discuss this another time,” says Nacina, before Palos can respond.
“Palos, you need to report to the Head about the status of your
mission, although I can see that it clearly did not go as planned
if you had to return without stopping Jornan.”

“
Yea, I did fail to stop
her,” says Palos with a sigh. “Jornan proved far smarter than I
thought. She killed all of the Knights and has already moved most
of the cargo to Xeeo.”

“
Damn it,” says Rozan.
“I should have come with you. Jornan wouldn't have stood a chance
against me. Would have been running like the coward she is, she
would have.”

“
Excuse me,” I say,
causing all three of the Foundation members to look at me. “I still
do not know what is going on here. Does anyone care to
explain?”

“
No,” says Rozan. He
shakes his head at me. “Don't try to trick us, you robot. We're not
telling you a thing about us until the Head gives us permission to.
Until then, keep your mouth shut.”

His rudeness does not phase me, although I
am disappointed that I will not be learning about the true nature
of this organization anytime soon, or so it seems.

Therefore, I ask, “All right. But if you
will not tell me that, then will you at least take me to a
certified J bot technician and a certified recharging station as
well? My left leg is broken, you see, and I am extremely low on
power as well.”

I say this while pointing at my leg, which
is still inoperable. I also do a quick check of my power level:
15%. It is draining far more rapidly than I thought, which makes me
hope that these Foundation members will at least grant me that
request, if nothing else.

“
Don't know if we can do
even that much,” says Rozan. He looks at Nacina. “Do we even have a
technician around here? Or a recharge station?”

“
I don't know,” says
Nacina with a shrug. “I tend to doubt it, but you never know. And
we could always use magic to repair him, if necessary.”

That thought makes me uneasy. Delanian
magic rarely interacts well with Xeeonite technology, even though
both use skyras energy. While I know that there are some
individuals on both Dela and Xeeo whom are studying ways to connect
the two, there is a good reason they are usually kept separate. I
remember one time seeing a visiting Delanian wizard attempt to put
back together a fallen comrade of mine, which ended with my comrade
bursting into flame. It might be better for me to wait until I can
return to Xeeo before getting the help I need.

“
Robot, you stay here
until we return,” says Rozan, pointing at me as if he thinks I am
going to try to run away. “We are going to speak with the Head
about you first. But don't worry; we won't be long at all, although
if things go the way I think they will, then I doubt you'll like
it.”

Rozan then turns and stomps out of the
room, followed by Nacina, who looks back at me apologetically, and
then Palos, who does not say another word to me as she leaves. I
watch all three of them go until they close the door behind
themselves, leaving me alone in this strange room.

-

My internal clock shows that thirty
minutes pass before the door opens again. While I am incapable of
sleeping, I do go into power conservation mode while I wait, as my
power level is too low for me to risk waiting in full-power mode.
This turns off some of my functions, such as my connection with the
Database, but that is fine because I do not need it at the
moment.

When the door opens, however, I raise my
head in time to see a man enter the room, a man I have never seen
before. He is tall and thin, similar to Jornan, but his face is
scarred, like he was attacked by a wild animal at some point.

He carries at his side a large black
toolbox, which he rests on the floor near my broken leg. He gets on
his knees, flips open the lid of his toolbox, and begins digging
through it for the tools he needs.