A Long Time From Home

Author's notes:

Happy Easter, people :)

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings

:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 34 -- Flashback: The Northern Anchor

Arcem Discendi in Lescare

Traveling to Arcem Discendi took several Gates, which puzzled me, because the distance from Baylon to Kemet was almost the same as the distance from Kemet to Arcem. However, Tia explained that her gates from Baylon to Kemet was the result of a magical item, that allowed her to travel between the two places, despite the distance exceeding her normal range for a Gate.

So, to get us to Arcem, Tia used the various trading posts and colonies as steppingstones. First, she gated us to the trading post in Dilmun. The next gate took us to Cinnamon Island and from there we gated to Fog Island south of Lescare, from where we could finally reach Arcem Discendi.

Despite the stops along the way, it didn't take that long, and we arrived in the gating room of Arcem Discendi about half a glass after we started.

As usual, there was a squad of Feminae Bellum on guard in the room, but after a moment the Sergeant saluted Tia Magnus. "Welcome to Arcem Discendi, Dominus.", before she looked at me, saying "Welcome home, Captain.", which meant the magical defences had been disengaged.

"Thank you, Sergeant Sibylla." I replied with a slight smile as I returned the salute, while Tia just gave a nod and a 'Thank you' in return. Lucia Sibylla was one of the few Feminae Bellum I had shared pleasure with, and it had been a fun experience for both of us. That was years ago and now she was married to a baker, have had a child, and had just returned to active duty after a year of maternity leave.

A little smile crept onto her face. "Vice-Captain Serranus asked us to tell you that she would like a word with you, if you showed up."

"Thank you. We'll go find her." I replied and walked out of the gating room, followed by Tia. As soon as I was outside, I reached out with my mind to contact Verina.

"< Hey Verina. I'm at Arcem now. You wanted to talk with me? >"

The reply came almost immediately. "< Hey Ivah. Did you feel the power surge? >"

"< Yes. It could be felt even in Grove >"

"< Both the Southern and Western Anchors are gone >" The worry that came along with that message betrayed her calm mental voice. "< The Return will start any moment now >"

"< There's a problem... as usual >" I said and explained about the calculation on to her, as Tia and I walked towards Verina's house. I finished by saying. "< I know you've said that you won't return to Baylon, but if we for some reason doesn't manage to dispel the last Anchor, the backlash will kill about three quarters of the human population on this planet. If you want to save Jia, we need to get her to Baylon >"

"< That sounds like a good idea >" she sent. "< Except it isn't possible, so I'm going to come with you instead. You can't keep doing things on your own... You'll get killed >"

"< Why isn't it possible to fetch Jia? Where is she? >"

"< Visiting her sister in Lescare, but not the usual place, since they moved >" sent Verina along with a feeling of regret. "< There's no way we have time to fetch her, get her to Baylon

and

reach the northern anchor in time >" There was a humourless chuckle over the link. "< So like you, I'm betting on destroying the dimensional anchor before she's killed by the backlash along with everybody else >"

"Flaming shit." I cursed verbally, causing Tia to ask. "What's the matter."

"Verina's wife is in Lescare."

She shrugged. "So, what's the problem? Let's go get her."

I felt like slapping myself. If I could get a mind-image from Jia, Tia could make a gate there as easy as anywhere else, provided it was within range. "Do you have the power to gate there?"

"Yes, I think I can manage." She said with a smile.

"< So, what's the plan? >" asked Verina at the same time.

"< We go to the armoury, get anti-magic items, weapons and armor as well as anything useful we can find, and go fetch Jia in Lescare before we dispel the last anchor >"

"< Fetch Jia! >" Sent Verina with hope in her mental voice. "< How're you going to pull that off >"

"< I have Dominus Tia Magnus with me. She can gate us there >"

A massive amount of relief flooded the link, followed by a "< Thank you! >". There was silence for a few heartbeats, and I could almost feel Verina's mind shifting focus, when she said. "< Back to the Anchor. You mentioned armor and weapons. Do you think it's guarded? >"

"< Yes. I know it's pointless to guard one anchor when the others are gone, but I could say the same about trying to prevent me from leaving Grove, and I had to take out two dozen opponents, soldiers and magi both, along with Angus Nigrus Cor, just to get out of the city >"

That caused her to pause, and her mental voice was thoughtful, as she sent. "< So, yet again, there's something we don't know >"

"< Yes, that would be my guess as well, and it's starting to piss me off >"

"< Send me the calculations. I have a suspicion, but I would like to see the calculations first. Both the original and yours with Vis added >"

"< I'll do that... and Verina... pack a bag. Once we have left, we're not coming back to Arcem >"

"< Got it >"

I sent the calculations and looked at Tia, who had been walking silently beside me, while I talked with Verina. "Exactly how many more gates can you make before you run out of power?

"That depend on the range." She said with a sigh. "Unfortunately, I used a lot of power this morning to enchant an item, but I should have power enough for four or five Gates."

I accepted that with a nod. It wasn't enough to get everything done today, but Pandora had said that we had three days from the moment Baylon started to drift into the dimensional rift, so we had time to sleep and regenerate power.

"Don't worry about it." I told her. "I used a considerable amount of power during the fight today and getting some rest when we have reached Lescare is a good idea. We all need to regenerate power before we reach the Northern Anchor. It might be guarded."

"Do you happen to have a mage-armor somewhere here?" Tia asked with a sly smile as she looked down at her Ordo Architectus robe. "This outfit don't offer much in the way of protection."

"There should be some in the armoury. Normally, I would have to swear you in as a volunteer before I can get you one, but that's not really an issue with you being a Dominus." I pointed at the house Verina shared with Jia. "There it is."

Verina greeted us, looking pale but collected and I quickly introduced them.

Verina's face lit up in a smile and she gave Tia a quick hug, whispering "Thank you!"

I waited until they had stopped hugging and then asked. "Did you look at the calculations?"

Verina nodded. "The anchor will be guarded."

I raised my eyebrows. "Explain."

"I looked at the original calculations but as it's really not my speciality, I contacted Sabia and had her look at it as well." She ran a hand through her hair. "We haven't had time to go over them in detail, but she has a few comments on the situation. First of all, she estimates that the number for the shield strength is five times too low. Secondly, she thinks they have underestimated the effect of destabilizing the planet with a dimensional rift, while the power lines from an Anchor come crashing into it. According to her, backlash of the power lines alone will kill every human mage on the half of the planet where the Anchor is located, in addition to the other catastrophes."

Tia opened her mouth to say something, but knowing Verina's body language, I stopped her with a gesture. "Wait. There's more."

Verina nodded. "Despite what your sister and her friend told you, there's no way the transition will go as smooth as they say. Sabia came with a long explanation with a lot of magical theory, but what it boils down to is that the only way to make the transition to go as smoothly as they claim, is to keep one of the anchors functioning. The power lines will act as a restraint, sending Baylon into the rift at exactly the right course or whatever it's called, eliminating the need for active guidance. If the third anchor is dispelled, the Dominus Grande Ex Magica will need to step in and control the passage through the rift, most likely dying in the process along with the assisting magi."

Tia cursed, causing us to look at her. Seeing it, Tia explained. "The current Dominus Grande Ex Magica is Marilla Nigrus Cor, and the Disease didn't hit the Cor family as hard as many other families, so they have no less than three magi among the assistants."

I vaguely remembered Marilla Nigrus Cor being elected to Dominus Grande Ex Magica while I was on a mission, but I haven't known that the Cor family had three magi among the assistants. It was regarded as a position of honour within the Ordo Magica itself and not something the Ordo Magica made public.

It looked like the Cor family was trying to both have their cake and eat it too. If Baylon returned safely to its own dimension while Marilla Cor was Dominus Grande Ex Magica, it would ensure their fame and reputation for thousands of years, especially with three magi among the assistants.

"Well," I said slowly. "I assume that they're willing to sacrifice most of the humans on the planet in order to not only force the Return, but to gain fame, reputation and perhaps even a noble title."

Tia nodded. "Humans mean nothing to them, only power, and if the last anchor disappears, there's a good chance that they will lose the head of the clan and the most powerful mage they have had in centuries, as well as three of their best magi." She looked at Verina. "You're right. That anchor will be guarded."

"Not by that many and not before the Return is official." I said, "Until then, the Northern Anchor will be guarded by the Ordo Presidium and nothing the Cor's can do will prevent that. However, as soon as it becomes official, the Ordo Presidium will call the guards home and the Cor's can move their own guards in. On the bright side, they can't send the Dominus Grande or any of the assistants along with their armsmen, because according to the law, those must stand ready to guide Baylon home."

"They also can't send any Baylons to guard it." Added Verina. "The moment the Return becomes official, the guards will either leave for Baylon or they'll be contacted by Ordo Mentalis and fetched by Ordo Vectio as soon as their family realise, they're missing."

I nodded slowly. For the last thousand years, there had been a plan on what to do, if or when the Return started. Obviously, the greatest problem was getting people back to Baylon as soon and efficient as possible. Not that there was that many, since most Baylons reacted badly to the human world. So, everybody reported missing, or just unable to make it home by their own, would be contacted and brought back.

In the meantime, all the human slaves would be transported off Baylon using gates to the western Middle Sea. Mostly because the Magi who had made the plan had determined that there was no way of knowing if the presence of that many humans on Baylon would affect the transition through the dimensional rift.

However, Verina had a point. If the Cor's sent Baylons to guard the anchor, there was a good chance, that those guards would be whisked back to Baylon before they were needed.

"Good point." I said. "But the same goes for us: We can't just bring thirty Inquisitors along with us, and nothing stops them from using humans, so we still need armors. Let's get to the armoury and then to Lescare."

I used the walk to do the calculations again, but this time with the additional shielding Sabia had told Verina about. With that level of shielding, Baylon could withstand a real beating and unsurprisingly, the calculations showed that Baylon would survive. At least when I used the same numbers I had in Grove.

Unfortunately, those numbers were even further from their true value than the shield and as I started added the number of people in every city I had been in or heard of, the chance of Baylon surviving vent down fast, as the force rapidly approached the point where the shields would be crushed. Fortunately, even with the shields down, there was an even chance, that Baylon would make it, though it wasn't something I would bet millions of lives on.

Unlike Baylon, it wasn't an all-or-nothing scenario for the humans, but the floods, massive earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions the event would trigger, would still kill of three quarters of them and make societies crumble.

All in all, it was just a shitty situation.

--------------------------

Neither Verina nor I had any trouble getting into the armoury, but since she wasn't a member of the Ordo Gladius, Tia had to stay outside with the two Feminae Bellum guards stationed there.

We walked inside, passing row after row with weapons, armor and every accessory that could be imagined. Ignoring them, I walked to the end of the room and pressed my captain's seal against the door. It opened, revealing a smaller room, filled with equipment that was either magical, high quality, made from enhanced materials or all three.

Three of those items that was magical, high quality

and

made from enchanted materials, was the black and gold Inquisitor Battle Armor. One of the rarest types of magical armors in existence, the three armors was made almost a thousand years ago and as far as I knew, they had rarely been used since. Mostly because wearing such armor required so many permissions, that it was usually impractical to even try. When a situation arose, that might require the use of such an armor, Inquisitors didn't have time to sit on their assess and wait for the permissions.

"You do know that we haven't a permission to use those, right?" Said Verina when she discovered what I was looking at.

"I don't care. Either this works or there will be nobody take us to court for using these without permission." I said drily, as I looked at her. "What Sabia called 'my greatest estimate' was just what would happen if Yinxu, Pi-Ramses, Waset and Babylon as well as a few smaller cities are destroyed. It didn't include Illum, Alashiya, Kashi, Dvārakā or any of the hundreds of larger cities in the human world, meaning that the real number is at least fifty time greater than the largest number I used." I sent the calculation I had made while we walked and saw her becoming pale, as she asked. "What if there's something you don't know? We have discovered new twists and turns to this all the time."

"I would rather be wrong and in prison, than dead along with Baylon and almost every human on the planet."

Verina thought about it and nodded. "Good point. Let's get those armors."

We stripped down to our loincloths and helped each other donning the armours.

First, the enchanted leather pants and shirt followed by the equally enhanced leather booths and gloves. On top of that, we added light shoulder-, elbow-, forearm- and knee-guards made of the golden, and magical, metal malanga. A protective hooded black Iron Silk cloak, complete with a black and malanga facemask that covered the lower part of the face.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the armor for a heartbeat to activate it. The magic kicked in and where it had been too large and cumbersome before, it suddenly adjusted to my size and became as light as an ordinary set of clothes.

"This is awesome." Declared Verina and looked down at herself. "It's as light as my kimono!"

"And you make it look good," I added with a smile and took a mage armor from a rack. Basically, just a hooded mage robe made from iron silk, it had been kept in the same black and golden malanga style as the battle armors.

I showed Verina the mage armor. "For Tia."

Verina nodded and soon we were both busy picking weapons.

Six magical adamant throwing daggers went into the sheaths in my armor, and a quiver filled with arrows went on the back along with an adamant sword, while I kept Shadow Fang in the belt as usual. For a long-range weapon, I examined several recurve bows, until I found one that suited my size and strength. That done, I packed my belongings in a bag, slung it over my shoulder and walked to the shelves with magical items.

There were two anti-magical devices, and I took both, just to be on the safe side. Two portal makers went the same way for the same reason. Since portal makers can make a temporary portal to a predetermined place from anywhere else, the Ordo Architectus normally inscribe the destination on the item. These ones weren't different, and I discovered that they led to the hospital in the Capitol, which made sense, since they were designed to be used in emergencies.

On the shelves with non-magical items, I found a medical aid kit, a silver mirror, a set of smoke-flash bombs and an iron silk rope. The last items I took was a few extra Securitas Interna seals of the non-magical kind used by the Feminae Bellum, just in case I needed to enrol some extra personnel including Tia.

"Are you done?" asked Verina, "I want to get out of here."

"Yes. Let's go."

To my surprise, both Tia and the guards were missing when we came out of the armoury again, but she wasn't hard to spot, as both she and the guards were standing some thirty cubits away, encased in the same kind of magical energy chains that had hit me in Grove.

Next to them stood a man dressed in an official looking robe and while I had never seen him before, I could see from the markings on the robe, that it was a senior mage from the Ordo Magica.

He wasn't alone, as there was another mage there and this time it was someone I knew very well: Dianna Piso. The mage from Ordo Architectus that had been my lover and then had tried to sabotage my work, due to our disagreement over half breeds in general and Tia Magus specifically. Older now, she would still look both cute and sexy, if it weren't for the triumphant look on her face as she looked at the chained Tia Magnus. Apparently, she still held a grudge again the Baylon-Kemetian mage.

Aside from the two magi, there was two squads of troops and magi in dark red armours, standing to attention to each side of the two magi. The same type of troops I had met in Grove, but this time I wasn't freshly rested, and I doubted that I could do the same as I had done in there.

"Shit." Mumbled Verina and I could only agree. It looked like the Cor's had caught up with us.

"Ah, Inquisitors!" Said the senior mage when he discovered us. "Stealing armors? Oh well, I guess that is a small thing compared to all the other crimes you have committed."

"What exactly are you talking about, sir?" I asked calmly, while trying to decode the situation. Something was very wrong. I could feel it in my bones, but I didn't know exactly what it was.

"He's trying to get us to attack." Stated Verina in a low voice.

"Agreed. The question is why." I replied.

Reaching out with my mind, I got hold of Sergeant Sibylla. "< Sergeant, did you admit some magi along with their armsmen recently? >"