The private laboratory of Morteous Blackheart housed a variety of oddities. There were shelves of books and rows of glass jars containing various specimens of life. Tyson sat at one work bench gazing into the crystal that housed Sam's mind. The object glowed with a soft light and Tyson's view of the scene held suspended within was exactly what he had promised the boy. Within the confines of the crystal's magic, Sam's mind was frozen in time as well as the embrace he was engaged in. Sam would have no sense of the passage of time. As far as he was concerned, he was in the loving arms of his mother.
"How is our guest?" Morteous said as he approached from the door.
"Unaware of his condition, as we had hoped," Tyson replied. He handed the crystal to Morteous. "See for yourself."
Morteous raised the crystal to his eye and peered into its depths. "That is the boy's mother?" he asked.
"Marlena, yes that is she."
"She is quite lovely, isn't she?"
"That she is," Tyson agreed. "In spite of the fact that she is almost eighty-five years old."
"Really?" Morteous asked surprised. "How did she retain such youth and beauty?"
"That was Ultrecht's doings," Tyson told him. "Ultrecht himself is hundreds of years old. He discovered a method for regenerating the body back to its youth."
Morteous was impressed. "I think we may add that bit of information to the list of things we want from your former...associates," he said avoiding the use of the word, friend.
"I suppose you’re right, in that we could use the specifics of his process," Tyson said as Morteous passed the crystal back to him.
"The boy does not appear to be under any stress," Morteous commented.
"He was a good kid and I was rather fond of him," Tyson explained. "I saw no reason to torment him in addition to holding him captive."
"It is of no consequence," Morteous agreed. "He is frozen in time, so even if the instant were an instant of anguish, it would be no worse to him than simply stubbing a toe or something."
"That’s what I thought," Tyson said. "When we finally release him, he’ll be unaware of what has happened and will only be grateful that we gave him a moment to be with his mother."
"So for the immediate moment, he will still be under your influence," Morteous finished. "Very crafty," he commended. "But I think that you may presume too much in thinking that the boy will ever be released at all."
"Do you think that we’ll have to keep him locked up like this forever," Tyson asked. His voice did not betray his anger.
"Oh, no!" Morteous corrected. "I mean that we will not be able to release him until your former associates are defeated or neutralized. And as you yourself pointed out, that may not be entirely possible. Fear not," he reassured Tyson. "The boy is frozen in time. Even with the ability to sustain youth, they will grow careless or forgetful. They will not live forever, and when they are gone, we or our descendants will release the boy to live out the rest of his life in the service of House Blackheart."
Tyson thought on this a little longer then decided to change the subject. "So what do you suggest we do now?"
Morteous appeared not to mind the change. "I think we might be best served by conducting a raid on their camp."
"We can’t be certain as to where that is," Tyson reminded. "I homed in on Sam because he was wearing a buckle that I had designed specifically for that purpose. If they were still traveling then they could be leagues away by now."
Morteous scratched his black beard. "Question," he announced momentarily. "What do you think their response to the abduction would be?"
Tyson leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Well first they would find out what happened."
"How would they go about that?"
"Well It wouldn’t be too difficult to determine that Sam's mind had been stolen," Tyson explained. "And they could probably guess that I’m behind it easily enough."
"So we can assume that they know who and what happened," Morteous concluded.
"Right. So now they’ll try to remedy the situation," Tyson decided.
"And how would they go about that?" Morteous prompted.
Tyson frowned. "Well if I know them, and I do, they’ll spend about half a day trying to apply their abilities to free him."
"That is not possible," Morteous said. "You assured us of that when we created the crystal."
"Right. Now after failing in that, they’ll discuss their options. As I see it they’ll only have two options. They can forsake the boy and continue with their lives."
"For some reason," Morteous interrupted, " I just do not see that happening."
"Agreed," Tyson continued. "Or they can attack us."
Morteous was startled with that last suggestion. "Do you think they might?"
"Not at first," Tyson assured him. It pleased him to detect a little fear at Morteous' thought of having to face either Armegon or Ultrecht again. "Armegon and Ultrecht might jump the gun on something like that, but now they have Avery with them."
"That is the healer, correct?"
"Yes. But don't let that fool you. He is also a ranger and is skilled in reconnaissance, spying, and stealth," Tyson warned. "He’ll urge the others to scout the area and the House defenses before launching any kind of offensive plan."
"So during all their thinking, and planning," Morteous offered, "where do you think they will be traveling?"
"They won’t move until they are decided as to what their course of action will be," Tyson said. "That would only have taken a day at the most. Then they’d be on the move again. I would point out that it has been more than three days since I was there."
"So we can assume they have started marching south." Morteous sounded a bit smug to Tyson and he wondered what he was thinking. He did not have to wait long to find out. "I think there might be one more option," Morteous said after a moment. "If these people are as intelligent and resourceful as you say, it may occur to them to seek outside magical help in assisting the boy."
Tyson shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "Armegon in particular is pretty arrogant and egotistical. I don't think the thought that someone can do something he can't would ever occur to him, and if it was even suggested, he’d be insulted."
"I am not so sure I agree," Morteous disagreed. "Fatherhood makes some very drastic changes on a man. You yourself said that he had changed a great deal. The question I would ask instead is would he ask for help for his boy's sake?"
Tyson was forced to agree. "Yes, I think you may be right," he relented. "So who do you think they would consult."
"Well," Morteous picked up a chart from a shelf and unrolled a map of the known world on the table in front of Tyson. "You said that this is the place where you left them," he pointed to a location near a small village on the map. Then he traced a line northward. "Given their rate of travel and the terrain type you observed, you probably met the boy in this area. That is only a few days south of Tycho. Tycho is very opposed to us and they would find willing assistance there, so that is probably where they went."
"Will you send a team of operatives after them," Tyson asked.
"No, our people would be far too easily recognized," he replied, "but we do have allies there, and I think they can keep an eye on them for us. I will speak with Miguel about arranging it. We will leave them alone for now, I don't want to attack them in Tycho. In spite of our recent success, we don't need a war. We will wait until they are back in the wilderness then we will hit them and annihilate them."
No comments:
Post a Comment