Chapter 5

Before answering, Dreya asked Cat to open her notebook to the page where six sets of portal co-ordinates were written.

As you will recall, gentle reader, during their fight with Kullos, Dreya and Mandalee had combined their efforts to shatter the shadow warrior’s dimensional control device into fragments. It had taken virtually every drop of strength and power the two young women possessed – shadow warrior technology did not break easily. Kullos, in an act of petty defiance, had managed to open half a dozen Prismatic Sphere portals simultaneously and send a fragment through each one.

Aunt Dreya had done her best to track the destination of each portal, but there had been so much Temporal magic flying around that, ironically, there hadn’t been much time. The notation had been largely instinctive as she scribbled them in Cat’s notebook and she wasn’t sure how accurate they were, but they represented her best effort and frankly, I defy anyone else to do even half as well. Even in my time.

Since then, the three of them had finished off Kullos, ended the war with his army, used a unique combination of magic and technology to give Aunt Mandalee the female body she’d always dreamed of, endured endless Council meetings, ratified the Guardianship, and Aunt Dreya had proposed to my mother.

In short, gentle reader, they’d been busy, and so they hadn’t yet found time to even think about the lost control device fragments. Now, it seemed, Time had caught up with them.

Dreya looked over her notes and pointed out one particular set of co-ordinates. “Work out the date on that one.”

Cat analysed the sympathic impression they were giving her and answered, “That would be about three hundred and twelve years ago.”

She gasped, her eyes widening as the implications hit her, but Mandalee got in first.

“Right at the heart of Ulvarius’ Reign of Terror. Are you saying a fragment of a shadow warrior’s dimensional control device flew out of a portal and landed at his feet?”

“I’m afraid so, yes,” Dreya confirmed.

“Hang on, slow down,” Sara spoke up. “For the benefit of those of us who aren’t from around here, who’s this Ulvarius bloke and why is it such a problem if he gets one of these fragments?”

Dreya explained that Ulvarius was generally regarded as the most dangerous renegade wizard of all time, a terrible tyrant and the only former owner of what was now Dreya’s home.

Until Aunt Dreya came along, gentle reader, he had been the most powerful wizard in known history, being the first to harness the interplanar forces from above the mortal plane, rather than those below. Those above were more potent, and it had taken an unprecedented co-operative effort to stand against him. Though the wizards of the time didn’t manage to stop him at the famous Battle of Compton, they did force him to retreat. Even that much was viewed as a great victory, and that success was a critical event that led to the formation of the Council of Wizards. It proved the value of order and co-operation in magic.

“A single fragment of a shadow warrior’s dimensional control device would grant access to higher planar energy,” Dreya continued. “If Ulvarius got his hands on it and learned how to use it, his power would grow massively.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, Dreya, love,” Jessica put in, “but you can use higher planar energy with your magic, can’t you? So why did you have to retreat from your home?”

“Because fighting his power with mine, besides destroying the Black Tower, would devastate half of Gaggleswick and probably take a good chunk out of Sylfrania. When I took the Black robes, I swore to myself I would do things differently. Yes, I want power, but I won’t be a tyrant, I won’t cause mass devastation.”

“Besides,” Mandalee added, “from what I’ve already seen, taking back Dreya’s home in the present would be treating a symptom, not the cause.”

Cat nodded. “There’s a new Timeline in effect, overwriting the one we fought so hard to create to save Tempestria.”

Dreya explained further, “Three hundred and twelve years ago, a portal opened. Ulvarius found what he probably thought was a fragment of a magic sword. That gave him more power, the co-operative effort failed, and so the Council was never formed. Maybe he still killed himself in the end, or maybe not, I’m not sure of the details of the new Timeline. The presence of his lich form suggests he probably did, but either way, I can be certain of one thing: In this new Timeline, I didn’t have the power to take the Black Tower for myself when I’d just finished my apprenticeship. That’s why Ulvarius’ defences are still intact. I never went there to tear them down. That’s also why I don’t have my elite undead guards anymore: I never took the Black Tower, so those forces were never sent to attack me, so I never killed them.”

“And those are just the changes we know about,” Cat pointed out. “There could be a million other consequences.”

“Without the aid of the Council, did you still stop Kullos?” Sara wondered.

“Is Daelen still dead?” Jessica added quietly, still feeling his loss.

“We can’t be sure,” Mandalee admitted.

“This is why the Guardians were created,” Cat explained. “It’s our job to fix things like this. We’re Timeless, so even if our personal Timelines change, we’re protected from its effects.”

Mandalee took up the thread. “But we won’t be Guardians forever, and whenever we decide to hang up our timepieces, there can’t be any major contradictions in our own Timelines.”

Dreya nodded. “Otherwise, the Guardians might not form at all, and a paradox like that would weaken the fabric of reality, perhaps allowing IT a foothold.”

“Which could unmake everything,” Cat concluded.

Sporting a cheeky grin, Michael pointed out, “These Timeline changes can’t affect me. As a demigod, I’m above it all!”

Dreya rolled her eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but in essence, Michael’s right. That’s why we brought you here, so you’ll be safe.”

“Woah there!” Jessica objected, an annoyed look on her face, wagging her finger. “Just you hold your horses, love! What do you mean, ‘safe?’ When you took the last of Daelen’s power, did you absorb some of his personality, too, because you suddenly sound a lot like him!”

Sara backed her sister up, saying, “My sister’s right. When we came to live here, we never asked for ‘safe’. We weren’t safe riding those dragons, blasting Kullos’ army with our laser guns and we weren’t safe when we were holding Kullos’ throne room against all comers, waiting for you to come back.”

“No, we weren’t,” Jessica agreed. “You can’t just park us by the side of the road out of the way when things get rough. We can help.”

“Admirable sentiments, both of you,” Michael approved. “Come to that, I’d quite like to feel useful myself. After over a thousand years fighting by Daelen’s side, I’m hardly a stranger to protecting Tempestria. If it’s in danger again, you can’t expect me to just stay here and build my house, and these two obviously don’t need a babysitter. Let us help you.”

“We know you can take care of yourselves,” Mandalee assured them, “but I’m not sure how you can help in this case. Not if it involves Time Intervention.”

“Ah, but what about the other fragments?” Cat wondered. “Do they all need Time magic?”

The sorceress shook her head. “Not all, no. In fact, there is one fragment that our two Chetsuan friends might be ideally suited to retrieve.” She pointed one out to Cat, who nodded in appreciation of the idea.

“Now you’re talking!” Jessica cried. “Where is it?”

“Lavos,” Dreya answered.

“I’m sorry?” Sara asked, convinced she must have heard wrong.

She hadn’t.

“Didn’t you guys say you’d been there?” Cat checked.

Lavos was one of the worlds Daelen had frequented. One of the Prismatic Spheres in his portal room had led there. It was a world of technology where, conversely to the Chetsuans’ homeworld of Phitonia, people hunted dragons.

The girls had indeed visited Lavos on several occasions. They even had a friend there, but they had never felt entirely comfortable there because of the dragons. Intellectually, of course, they understood that the dragons of Lavos were different from the dragons of Phitonia. They looked very different, for a start. They were about half the size and had only four limbs – their wings were extended from their forearms, whereas Phitonian dragons’ wings were separate appendages to their four legs and attached to their backs. Lavosian dragons were clearly not the dragons that had tried to exterminate the Chetsuans. Lavosian dragons were in no way responsible for making Jessica and Sara genetic plague carriers – biological weapons against their own people. Lavosian dragons were innocent victims of oppression and violence.

In that sense, Sara and Jessica had much more in common with them than the people who ruled there – even if they looked similar to Chetsuans. Even then, the situation wasn’t that simple. The people of Lavos were diverse in their views on dragons. It was just that, the last time they were there, the anti-dragon political faction was in control. However, they remembered that during the time Cat and Mandalee spent on Earth, Daelen had taken a side-trip to Lavos, according to him, to put a stop to some genocidal plot against the dragons. Something similar to what had been done to Sara and Jessica. They had no way of knowing how that intervention had been received by the general population. They would only find that out when they got there.

“That’s a great idea!” Mandalee enthused. “While we go back in Time and prevent the Ulvarius catastrophe, you guys can be off-world. Your knowledge of that world will help you where we wouldn’t have a clue.” It would also help to shield them from any consequences of Time Intervention on Tempestria.

“Even given the difference in Time flow rate,” Cat pointed out, remembering that Time on Tempestria moved at about a quarter speed, relative to the rest of the mortal plane, “the fragment should only have been on that world for a few weeks at most.”

“If we can find it, I’ll recognise it,” Michael asserted. “I know a shadow warrior dimensional control device when I see one, no matter what shape it might take or how many pieces it’s in.”

“But how are we supposed to find what looks like a fragment of a sword on an entire world?” Jessica wondered. “It’s gonna be like…” She broke off to check, “Do you have an expression about needles and haystacks on Tempestria?”

Mandalee smiled. “Yes, we know that one.”

“Well, it’s gonna be like that.”

“A magnet!” Sara piped up. The others looked at her strangely, so she clarified her seemingly random statement, “If you want to find a needle in a haystack, you use a magnet. They have some pretty good tech on Lavos. I could probably rig something up.”

“Failing that, just ask around,” Cat suggested. “If someone’s found it, it’s bound to be having an effect.”

“What kind of effect?” Jessica asked.

“Not the good kind,” Mandalee answered.

Dreya backed her up, saying, “The two of us hit that thing with everything we had, just to get it to break up. Those fragments now contain a mix of different forms of magic as well as higher planar energy.”

“A bit like my staff,” Cat put in, “except in those fragments, the mix is bound to be highly unstable and the trip through a portal won’t have helped matters.”

“Plus, even before that, it had just been in the middle of a massive Heaven’s Surrender explosion,” Michael added. “It’s imperative that we collect all the fragments and bring them together in stasis in my old tomb.”

Mandalee agreed, “Otherwise, we’ll be partly responsible for any harm those fragments might cause.”

On a practical note, one last thought occurred to Dreya.

“Michael,” she began, “did Daelen ever show you his Prismatic Spheres?”

Jessica snorted with laughter. “I don’t think they had that kind of relationship, love. Not that I’m judging.”

Cat didn’t think Michael was physically capable of blushing, but he seemed to be giving it a good try. Clearing his throat, he replied, “He showed me how to open portals to other worlds, yes.”

“Then I’d say we all know our jobs,” Catriona concluded, “and I suggest we meet up back here when we’re done.”

There were no further questions, so each team simply wished the other luck, and opened their respective portals.

*****

After leaving the construction site of Michael’s new home, the Guardians stopped off at their Timeless Meadow, once more, to decide on a plan of action. Typically, Mandalee had been keen to get right to the heart of the matter in Walminster, but she was persuaded otherwise.

“For a start,” Cat began, “if we open a big blue portal outside the Council building, we’re going to attract attention. That’s the last thing we want to do.”

Dreya agreed, “I’m sure there will be other Time Interventions where we can just dive right in, face down a threat and put a stop to it. This isn’t one of those occasions. If it were as simple as stopping Ulvarius, I could probably do it myself. There were plenty of isolated areas three centuries ago, where he and I could fight it out without collateral damage.”

“With the three of us and our Temporal magic,” Cat added, “we could tie him up in knots, no question, but that won’t fix history.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Mandalee admitted with a sigh of resignation. “This can’t be a victory for the Guardians; it has to be a victory for the people of that time so that they’ll realise co-operation and organisation in magic is a good idea.”

Cat nodded in agreement. “We have to tread lightly. Don’t worry, though, we’ll get to the fighting eventually.”

Before that, though, as usual, Catriona was keen to gather more information.

*****

Three hundred and twelve years back in Time, the Guardians’ Temporal portal opened in the grounds of a large estate in Ainderbury. It was almost the exact spot where, in their time, a young Faery princess liked to sit and watch the Black Tower. If it was a good vantage point for her, it would work equally well for them, too. The estate was empty. The owners had presumably either evacuated or been early victims of Ulvarius.

Dreya left the others almost immediately. The sorceress couldn’t be sure how far Ulvarius’ detection magic might extend, and she didn’t want her power levels to set off any alarm bells by straying too near her future home. Besides, it made sense for her to be the one to check on the progress of the wizards’ co-operative effort. She was used to cutting through politics and getting things done in her own time. No reason why she shouldn’t be able to do that equally well in the past.

Mandalee stayed with Cat. Together, they were going to use their different nature powers to spy on Ulvarius. Hopefully, they would get a sense of the signature of the control device fragment that they needed to confiscate. Their other job was to make sure the tyrant didn’t get wind of Dreya’s attempt to get Council history back on track.