The University - Part 1
The embryo dragons floated serenely in their cylindrical glass tanks, twitching now and then as they tested their developing muscles. Crimson arteries pulsed beneath the translucent skin, and huge eyes stared dreamily out at him as he strolled slowly down the central aisle, his footsteps and the sound of pumping machinery echoing around the vast underground cavern. The sense of deep satisfaction was still there, tremendous pride in what he had accomplished, but now it was accompanied by a powerful sense of urgency. The knowledge that time was in limited supply and rapidly running out. Things had to be speeded up, if that could be done without endangering the chances of a successful outcome, but the forces being balanced here were so fragile, so delicate...
Then the cavern faded away, leaving him floating in the pleasant limbo between waking and sleeping. It was a nice place and he wanted to stay there, especially as he had a vague, dreamlike memory of an excruciating agony in his recent past. Someone had different ideas, though, and he felt himself being pulled, gently but irresistibly, back towards the waking world and whatever unpleasant truths waited for him there. He fought to remain asleep, but that only woke him up faster and he became aware of a bed under him. Blankets covering his body and someone holding his wrist.
Memories of who he was and what he'd been doing began to come back to him, along with a sense of alarm and terrible fear. "Lenny?" he mumbled. "Lenny?"
"He's waking up," said a woman's voice, and Thomas was instantly more alert. That wasn't Lirenna's voice. "Just rest easy now. Everything's going to be all right."
The implications of that statement, that everything was not all right at the moment, was enough to bring him fully awake with a surge of fear and he sat bolt upright, staring around in alarm. He was in an infirmary, both long walls of which were lined with beds, most of them empty except for two, one on either side of him. He recognised Derrin and Lirenna, both pale faced and asleep, and he leaped out of bed with a cry of fear. He was still weak from whatever it was that had happened to them, though, and his knees buckled under him. The woman and a man who'd come in response to her call were instantly at his side, helping him back into his bed, and the man had to hold him down to stop him making another attempt to reach his wife's side.
"Easy now! Easy!" he said impatiently. "Lie still or we'll have to tie you down."
"Lenny!" cried Thomas in anguish. "My son!"
"They're going to be fine," said the woman reassuringly. "They were badly hurt, but they've been healed and they're going to be fine."
He looked at Lirenna again and saw that she was breathing softly and regularly, as was Derrin, and he relaxed, sagging in relief. "What happened?" he asked. "Where are we?"
"You're in the infirmary of Lexandria University," replied the man, also relaxing as he released his hold on him. "My name is Kelsta, a cleric of Caroli, and this is Sharla, one of my acolytes. You tried to teleport, after every wizard in the world has been warned against it."
"What?" cried Thomas in confusion. "What do you mean? Is the spell faulty?"
"You need rest," said Kelsta firmly. "All your questions will be answered when you're stronger. Sleep now."
Thomas no longer had any desire for sleep, though. "Tell me now!" he insisted. "What happened to us?"
The cleric gave a sigh of annoyance. “Teleportation spells no longer work properly over long distances,” he said. “Neither do farspeaking spells, or any other magic that covers long distances. They still work fine over short distances, just a few hundred miles, but any longer than that… Well, let's just say that you're lucky to be alive.”
“Is it the Magister?” asked Thomas. “Is it failing to keep the spells updated?”
“Not so far as we can tell. There's some kind of interference affecting magic all over the world. We've warned every wizard we know about, but we still get the occasional one or two who somehow hasn't heard, like you."
"Interference!" gasped Thomas in horror. He'd heard some terrible stories about what happened when you tried to teleport through interference. "We didn't know. We've been out of touch."
"Well, you survived, by some miracle," said the cleric with a smile. "Some others weren't so lucky. Now get some rest. You'll be a bit wobbly for a while. Best to just stay where you are." The cleric then moved away, followed by the acolyte who gave him a last reassuring smile before leaving the ward and closing the door softly behind her.
Thomas lay there for a moment or two, and then made another attempt to leave his bed. His head swam as his bare feet touched the cold, tiled floor and he clung to the bedpost until the dizziness passed, but then he was able to lurch his way over to Derrin's bed and sit down on the edge of it, close enough to get a good look at his son. The boy was deeply unconscious, but he had a good colour and a warm feel to his skin. Thomas pulled the sheets back and looked at his body. Everything was where it was supposed to be, on the outside at least, and there was no sign of any scarring or discolouration. He felt himself relaxing with relief.
The air was cold on his bare body, so his son would be getting cold as well. He replaced the sheets, therefore, leaving one hand outside so he could hold it and feel the reassuring rhythm of his pulse. He thanked the Gods for their close escape and muttered a prayer of gratitude to Caroli. Then he got up and made his slow and unsteady way around to where his wife was sleeping. A quick examination reassured him that she was also not seriously hurt, but he sat longer beside her, holding her hand and gently stroking her cheek. Then, as the fatigue of hs brush with death grew heavy, he wobbled back to his own bed, collapsed onto it and fell instantly back to sleep.
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