Wizards At War

“If ‘okay’ includes being tragically embarrassed,” Tom said, “yes. But we couldn’t help it, any more than any other adult wizard on the planet could.” He turned to Nita. “I remember saying exactly what I said… and I believed it.” He shook his head. “It was terrible.”

Carl was nodding; he ran his fingers through his hair. “Imagine not doing anything but work for the TV station.” He shuddered. “It was a nightmare. Thank the One there’s more to life. Meanwhile, let’s see your manuals.”

Nita and Kit pulled them out and dropped them on the table. They were both back to their normal size.

“So it’s over,” Kit said.

“Oh,” Tom said, “I very much doubt that.”

Kit looked briefly panic-stricken. “You mean the Pullulus could happen again? But It said—”

Nita shook her head. “It’s never going to do that again,” she said. “The whole reason for the Pullulus was to keep anyone from helping the Hesper wake up. It’s too late for that now, and the Lone One won’t waste so much energy again on an attack. This was a one-off.”

“Is that a precognition?” Carl said.

Nita opened her mouth, closed it again. “Uh,” she said. “I don’t know…”

“Well, you’d better start keeping an eye on what you say,” Tom said. “You started your Ordeal with a precognitive event, as I remember. At the time I wondered if that was going to be something that would develop in more detail later on. Looks like I was right; you may be changing specialties again. Better get back to your manual studies and make sure.”

Nita shook her head. “And just when I thought things might get quiet now, stay the same for a while…”

Carl shook his head, smiling slightly. “There’s only one part of this job that’s the same for life,” he said; “that everything’s subject to change without notice.”

Tom nodded. “Anyway, I’d agree with your assessment,” he said. “The Pullulus itself is retreating rapidly everywhere now. Within days, even hours, perhaps, it’ll be completely gone. And in the event on the Moon, it was burned clear out of space for something like eight light-years in all directions. As far away as Sirius.”

“The Dog Star,” Nita said softly, and smiled.

“There was also another interesting development associated with that burnout,” Carl said. “It seems to have duplicated itself on a smaller scale in the neighborhood of Rirhath B. They burned clean about the same time we did, the manual says.”

Kit managed a small smile. “Probably someone saying ‘thank you’ for all the blue food,” he said. “Carmela told us about that when she got back from checking on Sker’ret.”

“Did they track down the Master, finally?” Tom said.

Nita nodded. “It took some doing, but once wizardry got working again in the neighborhood, Sker’ret found him and the Crossings staff on some little ice planet orbiting a brown dwarf in the Lesser Magellanic. I think the Tawalf and their masters had some idea that they might use them as hostages, or hold them for ransom, if the attack didn’t go as planned. They were all suffering from exposure, but Rirhait are tough: they’ll recover in a few months. Sker’ret will be the Master for the time being.”

“Good,” Tom said. “That place works best when a wizard’s running it.” He stretched.

Carl sat back, his arms folded. “Well, the universe is fortunate to have come through this with so little damage,” he said. “Not that in other times and places the Lone Power won’t attack in ways that are as awful, locally. But that doesn’t change the fact that this was a victory of a kind we may never see again in our lifetimes.”

Kit had been looking out the window into the backyard, his expression unreadable. Nita looked at him with some concern. “Is it true, you think, what we heard from the Powers?” he said. “That we’re going to see more ‘births’ of the Hesper, and each one’ll get stronger?”

Carl, too, had been wearing a brooding look. Now he stretched and stood up. “It seems likely,” he said. “But the Powers, like the One, are cagey about their scheduling. They’re not going to give away anything that will make it easier for the Lone Power to derail what They’ve got planned.”

He went to the window, looked out to see what Kit was looking at: Annie and Monty, the two sheepdogs, playing out on the lawn, taking a bone away from each other and running around the yard with it. “But in the meantime, take a little while to feel good about what you’ve just done. Any victory that can be won in the physical universe is just a picture of the bigger, slower one that started happening outside of time ages ago, and will keep happening outside of time until it’s all over.”

“And we win?” Kit said. He sounded doubtful.

Carl put a hand on his shoulder. “As long as we don’t stop fighting,” he said, “we always win. Because what we do, They do.”

“Not the other way around?” Nita said.

Tom shook his head. “It’s a popular misconception.”

He stood up. “You both look wrecked,” he said. “You should go get some rest. I understand that tomorrow is a school day.”

“Don’t remind us,” Kit said.