Summoning Light (19 page)

He would not deceive John. Instead, he would test John with the truth.

Carvin ran up to them, breathless. Her hands twisted anxiously together. "The Tidewell has exploded."

Elric nodded. He should have been relieved that the Shadows had acted as he'd anticipated. But instead he found himself filled with dread. As Ing-Radi questioned Carvin about the details, he told himself there was no reason for his reaction. Yet the explosion somehow seemed a harbinger of greater destruction to come, of an intelligence that could not possibly be manipulated, a power that could not possibly be survived.

It was the emptiness inside him, pushing him again toward despair. He reminded himself that the explosion was part of his plan. He'd been only an hour off in his expectations, believing the Shadows would strike a bit sooner. The Tidewell had just been leaving its last stop before Babylon 5, where it was scheduled to arrive tomorrow. The Shadows sought to delay the mages, to limit their options, to frighten them. Soon would follow one last attempt to gain their alliance. When that failed, their enemies' focus would turn from delay to destruction.

Within a few hours, the Shadows would learn of the mages' other ship, the Zekhite. The Shadows would pretend they knew nothing of it, hoping to trick the mages into boarding so they could then destroy it. They would believe themselves in command of the situation, the mages desperate after the destruction of the Tidewell. They would not know that they had done exactly what Elric wanted.

Unless they had somehow discovered the mages' true plan.

The possibility of a traitor remained one of the greatest dangers they faced. In secrecy, Elric had assigned Gowen to observe the activities of the other mages. Elric had no doubt of Gowen's loyalty; Blaylock had indoctrinated him thoroughly. The choice of Gowen carried another advantage: It kept Gowen occupied, when he had seemed determined to hover over Elric. Elric suspected Galen had asked Gowen to watch over him. Now Gowen's full attention was taken watching his fellow mages. It violated their basic etiquette, yet Elric needed to know if any would betray them. Gowen had as yet seen no sign of it.

Elric stood, suddenly tired, and dissolved his chair. Carvin's face carried a mixture of expectation and nervousness. In her Centauri silks she appeared a beautiful young woman, nothing more. She was perfect for their purposes. She had grown into an exceptional young mage, skilled and inventive. Alwyn had taught her well. After leaking the information to Rabelna Dorna and joining in the Drazi brawl, she had spent a night in the brig with Alwyn and several angry Purple Drazi, yet never revealed a hint of her true identity.

Elric turned his attention to the casino, accessing those cameras. There, in safety and luxury, Londo gambled and drank, as was his habit. "Wait thirty minutes," Elric said to Carvin. "Then go."

Carvin sucked her lips in nervously, nodded.

"All is according to plan," he said. "They will believe we have sent you in a desperate attempt to secure another transport, another misdirection. You are prepared?"

With a quick flick of her hand she produced an ace of diamonds between index and middle fingers. On her index finger she wore the signet ring engraved with the rune for solidarity.

Elric smiled. "You will do well."

Carvin's grin lit up her face. With a flourish of her hand the card vanished. She hurried off.

In his mind's eye he visualized a blank message screen. Begin. He imagined the message being broken into bits of information, traveling through the air to Fed, reassembling itself.

Fed would steer Vir toward them now. The extra hour the Shadows had taken meant that Vir had made a few extra trips around Down Below, but he would arrive only a bit worse for the wear.

Elric looked up at Ing-Radi. "I will take care of John Sheridan. I had planned to meet him, in any case."

"If I may. You must first take care of yourself. Else our task will not succeed."

She reached toward him, and he stepped back. It was her nature to heal where she saw hurt, as she had always done. Yet now she had no organelles to spare. She needed all her healing powers for herself.

He straightened, trying to hide his fatigue. "I am well enough. In two more days, we will have eternity to rest."

"It is not yet your time. That element of your plan is flawed. You must save yourself for the mages. And for Galen. He still needs you."

Elric pushed thoughts of Galen from his mind. What Galen needed, or what he himself needed, could play no role in their plan. "What the mages most need is for us to succeed. No matter the cost. I am sorry. I must go."

"We will discuss this again."

Elric left the observation room through the heavy circular metal hatch and made his way through the shadowy, irregularly shaped spaces that comprised the large section of Down Below they had claimed for themselves. These levels had not been built for habitation, but to contain the machines and structure necessary to support the rest, in an arrangement that allowed maintenance personnel access when necessary. The recycled air, confining dimensions, and unrelenting lifelessness were oppressive.

He entered the corridor that marked one boundary of their territory. Like much of Down Below, it exhibited a peculiar structure, stretching two stories high, with a catwalk running above. The overhead lights had been dimmed and repeatedly faded on and off, creating a forbidding atmosphere. To warn off intruders, the mages had marked the walls with glowing runes and arcane diagrams. The rune for solidarity occupied a prominent place.

Elric reached an intersection. Vir would come from the left. Elric withdrew to the right and created the illusion of a solid wall to hide his presence. Here he would wait.

Over the next two days, Elric knew, his deception would either succeed or fail, and their fate would be sealed. Events must be controlled precisely, each falling into place at exactly the right time. His energy and concentration must not flag. Elric worried that he would not be equal to the demanding schedule. Yet the best deceptions happened quickly, before the targets had time to think. And all was ready.

False arrivals had continued for days, and the fifty of their group were constantly appearing in many different guises in various locations throughout the station, so that their numbers seemed much greater, and so that mages who were not here, including the other members of the Circle, appeared to be among them. Their numbers had been increased in the station database as well.

Extensive food and supplies had been ordered, as if to sustain them over a long period. It had been made clear to all the vendors that the supplies must be available by the day after tomorrow, when they were leaving.

Three of the younger mages – Emond, Chiatto, and Ak-Shana – were generating an elaborate web of false communications, from mages who were not here to other mages who were not here, discussing their fictitious activities. All on the chance that the Shadows could detect their communications.

Of course that was the great unknown: the Shadows. Their powers and their thoughts. The mages had searched the station for anomalous bodies of static and found none. Shadows, if they were here, had to be few. But it would take only one to see through their illusions. Elric hoped that the Shadows, if here, remained hidden, depending on Morden to serve as their eyes and ears.

Elric had studied Morden as much as time had allowed. Though the Shadows' servant remained an enigma, Elric believed he knew enough to manipulate the man. As Elric had expected, Morden had avoided the mages since their arrival. Instead he used others, whether they knew they were being used or not. Morden used the senator and John to try to detain the mages, Londo and Vir to gather intelligence on their numbers and purpose. And in just the same way, Elric would use Londo and Vir to carry what information he desired to Morden.

But soon, Elric knew, Morden would confront him. And Morden would present the Shadows' final offer.

In his mind's eye, Elric saw Vir drawing close. Several mages in disguise ran past Vir, as if fleeing.

"What is it?" Vir cried out in panic.

"Techno-mages!" Beel yelled, pushing past him.

Vir pressed himself back against the wall, murmuring to himself. "Attaché to an ambassador. How dangerous can that be? They never told me that the ambassador was a madman. 'Go to the techno-mages, Vir. Arrange it, Vir.' Obviously they don't want to be bothered. Obviously they won't be happy to be bothered. And who will they take that out on, I wonder."

He took several heavy breaths, straightened, continued onward.

From Elric's position, the illusory wall he'd conjured appeared no more than a dark screen. Through it, he watched Vir approaching the intersection. It was time now to convince Vir that the mages wanted nothing to do with Londo, when the opposite was actually the case.

Vir peered around the corner into the corridor that separated them, took in the glowing runes on the walls. He withdrew his head, then, after a moment, extended it again. "Hello?"

Vir took a few steps into the empty hallway. He spoke loudly into the silence. "I am Vir Cotto, diplomatic attaché to Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic. I am told by the people running that way that this is where I can find the techno-mages. I am here on behalf of Ambassador Mollari, and I need to speak to someone who is in charge."

Fed was positioned at the next cross-hallway down. A low growl came from there, and it began growing steadily in volume. Elric accessed the probe on Vir's cheek, the image appearing in his mind's eye. A red light leaked from the cross-hallway into the main passage, and then there was the sound of massive movement.

Vir stared anxiously at the light. "Obviously it would be at your earliest convenience."

The demon emerged, scaly and red, its massive form bent, filling the two-story corridor. The floor shook with its footsteps as it stalked toward Vir, studying him with two piercing white eyes. Its mouth opened to reveal a set of fierce pointed teeth and breath that reeked of rotten meat.

Vir stood frozen in place. Only when the demon stopped, towering over him, did his lips somehow regain the power of movement. He spoke very, very quickly.

"My name is Vir Cotto, diplomatic attaché to Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic. My name is Vir Cotto, diplomatic attaché to Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic. My name–"

Elric created an illusion of himself standing on the catwalk above Vir. He visualized the illusion speaking, giving it voice. "Stop program."

The demon vanished.

"You don't frighten easily," Elric said through his illusion. While Vir's attention was fixed on his image, Elric dissolved the false wall of the corridor, stepped out behind Vir.

"I work for Ambassador Mollari," Vir said. "After a while, nothing bothers you."

Elric dissolved his image in a flash of fire and spoke now with his own voice. "What does your master want from me?"

Vir jumped at the sound of Elric beside him. Yet he quickly recovered. There was more to this fool than his foolishness. "My employer requests an audience."

"I'm sorry," Elric said, his tone modulated to convey he was not sorry at all. "Neither I nor my brothers do private audiences. We have nothing more to say to anyone on this side of the galactic rim." If their purpose in gathering here had been unclear to any, it would remain so no longer.

Vir smiled and rubbed his thumb against index and middle fingers. "Aha. But he's willing to pay." Londo's mind-set had contaminated his servant.

"Money is also irrelevant. Where we are going, it will do us no good."

"Let me put this another way. If I go back without a yes, the personal consequences will be profoundly unfortunate."

"And if you try to force us to walk where we do not choose to walk, the consequences will even be more unfortunate." Elric turned away and started down the corridor.

"Excuse me. Could I at least get a name," Vir said.

Elric stopped and faced him. "Elric." He paused for effect. "There is an old saying. Do not try the patience of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. Do not come again, Vir Cotto." He walked away, satisfied with the encounter. Vir would deliver their message, and Londo would refuse to accept the rebuff. His ambitions would not be so easily denied.

As Fed and Beel manipulated Vir back through Down Below, Elric retreated to his private room, little more than a utility closet with a sleeping pallet. His duties were not ended, yet the throbbing in his head was growing stronger, and he could not let the others see him like this. He cursed his weakness.

He lay on the pallet and accessed the security cameras in the casino. Cameras were numerous there, to watch for cheating, so he could observe nearly anything he wanted.

The casino created a comforting, intimate atmosphere with dim background lighting and soft music. Occasional bright lights emphasized various areas. Glowing bands of white ran along the circumferences of the gaming tables, while brilliant columns of blue marked the way to the wheel of fortune. A bar surrounded by a cluster of tables provided a place for refreshment. Among the many patrons sampling the entertainments, Londo sat at one end of the bar.

Carvin entered. Dressed in her Centauri silks, she caught Londo's attention immediately. Londo's appetite for power was followed closely by his appetite for beautiful women.

She settled herself at a high-stakes poker table, opening her purse and pouring a pile of chips out onto the table. Before a new game began, he downed his drink, slipped off of his stool, and approached her.

Elric accessed the camera over the dealer's shoulder.

"My dear lady, you must be new to Babylon 5. I would remember if I had ever seen someone of your incredible beauty before." He thought himself charming, this butcher of Narns.

She smiled. "Yes. Thank you."

He took her hand, laying his on top. "I am Londo Mollari. As ambassador to Babylon 5, allow me to officially welcome you."

"Carvin," she said.

He released her hand, sat down beside her. "An unusual name. You are alone, my dear?"