Tre Lloyd Adventures Ch. 11

None of this helped to ease her mind and she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t register the first movement from behind her, or the second. It wasn’t until she heard a ragged groan of pain from the bed that she spun and with only a thought disappeared from the window and reappeared at Tre’s bedside. She took one of his hands and leaned down over the bed.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

I closed my eyes against the wave of pain rushing through me as another groan was torn from me. I didn’t remember this kind of pain ever before. Then again I had never pushed myself as hard as I did against that spirit Telemon summoned for my Testing. I felt the pain throbbing in every nerve ending in my body, my heartbeat a pounding bass drum in my skull.

I groaned again as I felt one of my hands grabbed, I heard Arianna’s quiet voice, tinged with worry. “Tre, are you ok? Are you awake finally? Please tell me you’re awake.” I couldn’t answer her but I did open my eyes a little bit. That turned out to be a big mistake and I closed them again with another groan of pain as twin lances of sunlight bored into my brain.

I saw the light level decrease through my eyelids and chanced to open my eyes slowly. I saw Arianna reappear beside my bed and I tried to speak but all that came out was a quiet croak. “Water… please.” I glanced around carefully as Arianna poured me a cup of water and turned back to me, holding it out for me to drink.

To my confusion I saw that unlike earlier I was still hooked up to all of the medical equipment. Add to that the pain washing through me and I was seriously confused. I thought about it as I drank from the cup of water slowly. The only thing I could come up with was that Hecate had dragged my astral body off to her sanctuary for a talk. Nothing else made any sense at all.

Before I knew it I had drained the cup and Arianna pulled it from my mouth to refill it. When she put it back to my mouth I drained it again before leaning my head back on the pillow. I closed my eyes and turned my head towards Arianna. “What happened? I remember fighting a hell of a spirit and then nothing.” I opened one eye a bit and looked at her.

Arianna nodded. “Yes, Tre, you were testing and Telemon summoned a spirit for the final test that was almost too much for you.” She reached out and took my hand carefully. “You were badly injured and suffering from serious mana burn. Your nose looked like a blood fountain right before you passed out. I tried to help but Telemon stopped me.”

I looked at her curiously. “Stopped you? How did he stop you?”

“He cast a spell that just stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn’t move.” Anger flared in her green eyes and I squeezed her hand. “He has changed, Tre. He isn’t the same Telemon that I knew before. He said that Hecate was directing him on what to do. That he had to see the extent of your power.”

I opened both eyes and looked at Arianna. “What do you mean? How was Hecate directing him?” I broke off, confusion setting in. “The extent of my power? What does that mean? He knows how strong I am.”

“Yes, Tre, I do know how strong you are.” Telemon said, closing the door to my room behind him. “I knew your strength before you ever started. I also now know that you have even more strength available to you than you know.” I watched as Telemon walked through the room and sat down in the other chair near the foot of my bed. “I designed the wards on the testing room myself. They should have been able to stop any spell you could have thrown without me even noticing. Instead, when I activated the wards to suck the magic out of the room, the backlash drove me to my knees. The power you had drawn for that last spell was enough to overload the wards. They will have to be repaired before the room is fit for testing again.”

“Overloaded the wards? How is that possible? You just said that they should have been able to stop anything I could do.” I gave my head a small shake, biting back the groan that tried to escape my lips.

“I don’t know how it is possible. You drew on more of the power than I can ever remember seeing someone draw unaided.” He gestured to the equipment I was still attached to. “More than even you can safely draw without damage. From the backlash, I would say you drew more than a third again more power than you ever have before. Even more than you drew at the beginning of the testing. That in itself is surprising.”

He leaned forward in the chair, resting his arms on his knees. “In the time since your original testing your power has grown exponentially. More so in fact than in any mage I have ever met in my life.”

“You always said I had the potential to be the strongest mage in millennia if I survived. But you seem surprised, Telemon.” I looked from Telemon to Arianna and back again. I wasn’t too reassured to see the look of concern on her face.

“I am surprised Tre.” Telemon leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. “You are only in your mid-thirties, Tre. How many levels of Initiation have you gained? Ten, twelve?”

I looked at Arianna and then back over to Telemon. “I was a level thirteen Initiate of the Order when I came here. I think that the testing increased me to level fourteen now though.”

“Thirteen or fourteen, and you’re only in your mid-thirties. Tre, I know mages who are past their first century before they break the tenth level of Initiation. The majority of the Inner Circle has only hit level fifteen. A couple of them are in the upper teens to lower twenties. You have the potential to outstrip them before you breach your first century if you don’t get yourself killed.”

“Again, you said I was going to be powerful, Telemon. You knew that when I first tested. And now there is some concern among the Inner Circle about me becoming too powerful?”

Consternation crossed Telemon’s face. “Not that you are going to become too powerful. I am concerned that your strength is outstripping your experience. You have come farther in a short span of years than any mage that I can remember. Your strength is amazing. Your experience, for one your age, is just as amazing. Despite the experience you have, the knowledge you have gained, many of the Inner Circle are concerned that you are still acting with the impetuosity of youth.”

I narrowed my eyes at Telemon, my entire body tensing as I got an inkling of his meaning. “You want me to cease my fight with Freyja. That is what this is about.” He tried to speak but I barreled on forward, cutting him off. “You and your talk of my strength and lack of experience is just a way of trying to convince me to stop my war with Freyja. Forget it, Telemon. That bitch took everything from me and she is going to pay.”

I felt Arianna squeeze my hand and looked at her, breaking off. Telemon spoke quietly. “Yes, Tre, I do want you to stop your war on the Dominion of Memphis. Not for the reasons that you might think, but that is what I want. I know that it won’t happen. But I would like to see it anyway.”

“You’re damn right it won’t happen.” I snarled, ignoring Arianna’s urgent squeeze of my hand. “Freyja took everything from me, Telemon. She took my fiancée, my future. It even turns out that she took my son!”

Telemon’s face didn’t even register the tiniest bit of surprise. “Yes, I heard, Kimiko and Robert Tanaka.” Apparently my face did register some surprise because he smiled. “I have heard of the vampire and her dhampir son that have joined the war on the vampires. He is rumored to have the strength of his parents. He is a strong Hermetic mage despite his mother’s affinity for Shinto shamanism. He also knows much about Rune Magic and a bit about the use of Blood Magic from his contact with Freyja and also learned much about demons from her. He doesn’t have the control over his power that you do but has a significant amount of raw strength to make up for it in most cases.”

I was in shock hearing Telemon recite a summary of Robert’s powers like that. “How do you know about him?”

Telemon chuckled. “I have my own sources within the assorted Vampire Dominions. They told me about the ‘Dhampir Project’ that Freyja started. Your name wasn’t mentioned as the boy’s father, but given who his mother was it was easy to deduce. I have had my eyes on Memphis for quite some time. To be honest, ever since your war started with Freyja I have diverted a large bit of my intelligence-gathering resources to the goings on in Memphis.”

I felt anger begin to surge within me. “You have known about all of this and you didn’t tell me? What is wrong with this picture, Telemon?”

“I could not tell you, Tre, without revealing to you my interest in what was happening. The Inner Circle does not know about me keeping an eye on Memphis. They don’t know about my spies within Freyja’s Court. That is how I have been able to block every major attempt to get you tried for violation of our pact with the Kingdom.”

Telemon looked at me and leaned forward again, his eyes serious. “My spies in Memphis are also how I know that you most likely have a traitor in your ‘Sun Swords’.”

Arianna looked at me, surprise on her face, as I shook my head, biting back another groan. “No way, Telemon. There is no way one of my Swords is a traitor.”

“I believe there is a way, Tre,” Telemon said, standing up. “My spies tell me that Freyja has intimate knowledge of every facet of your defenses at the Villa. She has knowledge that could only come from one on the inside.”

I looked at Telemon and then at Arianna as Telemon’s words caused me to remember the impending attack on the Villa. “The Villa. The vampire’s attack. What happened at the Villa? Have the vampires attacked already? Is everyone alright?”

Arianna nodded. “Yes, Tre, everyone is fine. The vampires did attack but were driven back. Dave was bitten by a ghoul and his hand is pretty badly infected, but they have him in a circle and are trying to beat the infection by keeping it starved for magic. One of Robert’s friends from the Sunchasers got in touch with him before the attack to warn him that it was coming. During the attack she went over the wall and joined the Swords.”

I tilted my head slightly. “A defector?” At Arianna’s nod I continued. “Get in touch with Akiro. I want her watched at all times.”

“I don’t think that she is the traitor, Tre.” Telemon said. “Freyja was gathering information from someone on the inside in the days before she sent the attack. I’m afraid that the traitor is one of the Sun Swords.”

“I have to agree with Telemon, Tre.” Arianna said. “The Sunchaser, Anita, is staying within the magic circle with Dave for the most part. Chilo said she hasn’t even left to eat. Even Robert has gone out to feed. I don’t think it’s her.”

I nodded slowly, eyes thoughtful. When Telemon spoke I looked back over to him. “I will return soon, Tre. You need to get some rest. You have had a hard time of it and need to recover. We will talk again soon.” I nodded, realizing that I did feel kind of tired surprisingly enough considering I had been unconscious for around three days. Telemon gave one last look at me and turned to head out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I adjusted the bed to lay back not quite prone and looked over at Arianna. “Get in touch with Akiro. Tell him and Keio to watch everyone for suspicious looking actions. If there is a traitor in my group I want to know about it. I’ll be a few more days before I can go home. Tell them to just hold down the fort until I return.”

Arianna nodded. “Yes, Tre, I’ll tell them right away. I’m also going to swing by New Orleans and see if my people have come up with anything on the Houngan that provided those ghouls to Freyja. You rest and I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With that she hugged me and kissed my cheek before turning and heading out the door.

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I guess I could have used my cell phone to get in touch with Akiro and Keio but I really didn’t want the call listened in on. And since I wasn’t quite up for using my magic in any form right now, much less summoning even as simple a spirit as a watcher to deliver a message, it was up to the old fashioned methods of using a messenger to make contact.

I closed my eyes and began to try and still my racing thoughts. A traitor in my Swords. Telemon keeping an eye on my activities in Memphis. Hecate directing Telemon to push me harder than ever before and then dragging me off to her sanctuary to teach me magic that has not only not been used for centuries but is also actively suppressed. No matter how tired I was sleep did not come quickly thanks to the whirl of thoughts. Not even the relaxation techniques I had been taught were able to help me calm my mind enough to sleep. Finally though I dropped into an uneasy sleep, one haunted with a torment of dreams as my mind tried to filter through everything I had learned.