Out of Phaze

The Purple Adept swung his angry gaze around to bear on Bane. ‘Thou hast wrought this deed!”

Bane shrugged. “If thou dost say so.”

“Then learn the consequence of thy defiance!” The ground shook, and began to crumble beneath Bane. There was tremendous magic in the air. He realized that the Adept, in his fury, meant to kill him. Bane sang a spell to protect himself, but he was after all only an apprentice; the force of the magic being brought to bear against him was overwhelming. Then a new face appeared.

“Hold thy malice, Purple!” Bane recognized the face, as it hovered in the air between himself and the Purple Adept in three-dimensional detail within a watery bubble. It was the Translucent Adept, as strong as any but not as malicious as some. Yet this man was allied against Blue; why should he act on Bane’s behalf?

“What business be this of thine?” Purple snapped at the face.

“I made the first offer for this lad’s service,” Translucent replied. “I braced him, or his other self, in the Brown Demesnes.”

“And got nowhere!” Purple retorted. “I took effective action.”

“And blew it,” Translucent pointed out. “Now the mare be gone, and thou hast no hold on the boy. What will it gain any of us, an thou destroy him, other than the warfare of Blue?”

“Fornicate Blue!” Purple swore.

Translucent smiled grimly. “Easier said than done. He will have thine entrails strung across the landscape of thy Demesnes, and thy minions transformed to toads. And for what? For vengeance against thy rashness that should ne’er have been started! Thou didst ne’er have a chance to coerce that lad into serving thy will; thou didst only interfere with the job I was doing correctly.”

“Oh, thou couldst have bought cooperation from the apprentice?” Purple demanded unbelievingly.

“Assuredly, an thou hadst not interfered.”

Purple got canny. “Thou couldst accomplish it now— without the hostage mare?”

“That be more challenging, after thine alienation of the lad. But yes, methinks I can.”

“Wouldst wager on that, Trans?”

Translucent’s face hardened. ‘Thou dost desire it thus? Then wager me this: an I succeed, the leadership of this enterprise be mine for the duration.”

“And if thou dost fail, domain o’er the watery East Pole be mine!” Purple said.

Translucent paused, evidently wary of such a risk. Then he nodded. “The East Pole,” he agreed. “Now give me the apprentice.”

“Take him, then,” Purple said.

The floating face shimmered as if dissolving; then the liquid bubble expanded, almost filling the passage. “Step in,” the face said to Bane. “An thou prefer my company to his.”

Bane knew what kind of treatment to expect from Purple! He did not like to remain a captive, but certainly Translucent was more civilized than his present captor. He stepped into the shimmering bubble.

The surface tension of the globe pressed against his face and form, then traveled around his body and snapped into place behind him. He was inside, and though it seemed like liquid, he had no trouble breathing.

Then the globe shimmered, and the scenery outside it was lost in the play of distortion. When the bubble firmed, the exterior had changed. Now it was a deep sea, with fish swimming and seaweed waving.

The globe dissolved, but there was no change; Bane still stood and breathed normally. The water surrounding him seemed illusory, though he knew it was not. Translucent’s magic enabled him to survive.

“Come, we must talk,” the Adept said, and walked along the floor of the sea, showing the way.

Bane followed him, knowing that he could no more escape the power of this Adept than he could the other. Translucent could cause the water to become unbreathable at any time, forcing Bane to try to swim for the surface before drowning, or could summon a water monster to consume him. True, Bane could use his own magic to protect himself—but how well would his spells work, when garbled through water? He would do best to treat Translucent with respect, at least until he knew what the man intended.

Translucent brought him to a bower in the water, a palatial cave guarded by a water dragon. Surprisingly comfortable stones were sculpted as chairs, and large fish hovered in the manner of servants. A mermaid brought a platter of sea delicacies: nutlike and fruitlike treats, and seaweed very like salad vegetables. They ate at leisure, and even had wine to drink; the fluid remained in its goblets despite the environment. Bane had never been here before, and he found it most interesting. Translucent had always been a somewhat shadowy figure to him, seldom participating in the interactions of Adepts.

After the meal, the Adept got down to business. “Thou dost know my purpose be similar to that of the others who oppose thy father,” he said. “Merely my means be other.”

“What purpose be that?” Bane asked somewhat tightly.

‘To reestablish contact with our brothers of Proton. We had always thought it theoretically possible, but hitherto no avenue had manifested.”