The Worlds of the Sheaf

Lost in Space - Part 5

     Matthew needed someone to talk to. A friend. He went in search of Thomas, but the wizard was nowhere to be found. For a ship of such small size, it was surprising how easy it was to lose someone in it. He wasn't in his cabin, and when he went to the common room he wasn't there either, although a good looking girl, one of the wizards he thought, told him he'd been there and had just left. "Any idea where he went?" Matthew asked, but the woman just shrugged and went back to her drink so he left to continue his search.

     Eventually there was only the wizards' workroom left to look, but he hesitated outside the door, worried that Saturn might be inside and that he might be angry at the intrusion of a mundane into a place where he had no business. In the end, he pushed the door open a crack and peeped in. He was pleased and relieved to see Thomas, talking to an elderly nome.

     He looked like an incredibly old man, his skin crinkled and leathery, and half his face was covered with a huge white beard that hung down to his knees. He was dressed in a wizard's robes and was surrounded by the threatening aura of of a magic user, something that Thomas also had but which Matthew had never noticed because of his friendship with him. Had Matthew come upon the nome alone he would have crept quietly away, a little intimidated by the sense of power he carried, but since Thomas was obviously good friends with him he found the nerve to enter fully, closing the door behind him. "Hi," he said.

     Thomas greeted him warmly and introduced Braddle Bandock. The nomish wizard and one of the best diviners in the University. "His speciality is learning things, finding things out," Thomas explained, "and that's what we need right now. Knowledge as to the location of the portal."

     "Been having any luck?" asked Matthew hopefully. If he was able to solve the problem, it would mean no-one having to go outside the ship any more. The condition of some of the men was leading him to worry that Bobby Fell might only have been the first victim.

     "Well, it's not the sort of thing I normally deal with," the nome replied. His voice was high pitched and had a bit of a whistle in it somewhere but it still somehow managed to sound powerful and full of authority, reminding the soldier that, for all his frail, elderly appearance, this was a wizard. Powerful and knowledgeable in ways he couldn't begin to imagine.

     "Give me something I can hold in my hand and I'll tell you what it is," the nome continued. "Where it came from. Who possessed it. What they used it for. Who made it and why, and how much they were paid for it. I can even discover a lot about a thing without ever seeing it, although the spells required are rather more complicated and difficult to cast. But finding this portal... I just don't know where to begin! Saturn's already sought my aid in this matter and I had to give him the same answer. I've never been faced with a situation like this before and, frankly, I'm lost. I don't think I'm going to be of any use to you here."

     "None of us have ever been in a situation like this before," pointed out Thomas. "Nevertheless, you're a diviner. Your job aboard this ship is to find things out. I can't believe there's nothing you can do."

     "Can't you summon, er, things from other dimensions?" asked Matthew. "I remember Tom telling me once that you wizards can summon spirits and things to answer questions for you. Can't you just ask a spirit where the portal is?"

     The nome gazed at him with some sympathy through bloodshot, rheumy eyes. "Summoning a Power is no small undertaking. It takes days, weeks of preparation, and it's certainly not something I could do here. This whole ship's full of magic that could interfere with the spells. The Gods alone know what would happen."

     "Couldn't you go back to Tharia to cast the spells?" ventured Matthew cautiously. "Summon the spirit in the valley. You can do that, can't you?"