Gaenor's Prophecy - Book 2 Corrected Visions

By Jonathan Edward Feinstein

In Book Two of "Gaenor's Prophecy", Artur, Gaenor and their allies must prepare the World against the continuing aggression from The Holy Empire, formerly known as the Southlands. They have already conquered several technologically advanced nations in lightning-like strikes and are now adapting their newly captured technology into weapons unlike anything the World has ever seen. To hold them off the rest of the World must stand united, but not everyone sees the threat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387059188

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Gaenor's Prophecy - Book 2 Corrected Visions

Gaenor’s Prophecy – Book 2   

Corrected Visions

by

Jonathan Edward Feinstein

Copyright © 2017 by Jonathan E. Feinstein

All Rights Reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Megafilk Press, Jonathan E. Feinstein, 923 Drift Road, Westport, MA 02790

Cover art:    Glasshouse, Adelaide Gardens by Andrew McMillan - 8-23-2016 courtesy of www.public-domain-image.com

ISBN:   978-1-387-05918-8

Stories by Jonathan Edward Feinstein

Gaenor’s Quest

The Red Light of Dawn

The Black Clouds of Noon

The Rainbow of Dusk

The Cold Clear Skies of Midnight

Gaenor’s Prophecy

Signs of Change

Corrected Visions

Inspired Dreams (Forthcoming)

The Maiyim Stories:

The Maiyim Tetralogy

World of Water

Men of the Earth

Island of Fire

Gods of the Air

Three Stories of Maiyim

A Deadly Union

An Interesting Title

A Shattered Family

Ars Nova Magica (and related side stories)

The Maiyim Bourne

The Staff of Aritos

A Promising Career

A Fine Adventure

The Tears of Methis

Freshman Orientation

The Book of Candle

Dry Dock

Ars Scientiaque Magicae

Unexpected Reactions

Hypothetical Notions

Theoretical Bases

   Lift Off!

Required Components

Experimental Proofs

Desired Results

The Terralano Venture

Agree to Disagree

By the Light of the Silvery Moons

There Goes the Neighborhood

The Dyslexic Wizard Spelling Disabled (Forthcoming)

Down Time, Ltd.

Down Time

Taking Time

Time Out

Show Time!

Double Time

A Plethora of Deities

Downhill All the Way

In the Sky with Diamonds

The Seed

The Tree

Tempting the Fates

Teasing the Furies

Inspiring the Muses

Dancing with the Sphinx :Waltz

Dancing with the Sphinx :Tango

Dancing with the Sphinx :Foxtrot

Chasing Rainbows

The Care and Feeding of Your Elder God (Forthcoming)

The Wayfarers

A Land without Borders

A World without a Name

A Nation without Maps

A Country without Unity

A Continent without Form

An Ocean without Charts

An Empire without Order

An Island without a Shore

The Pirates of Pangaea

An Accidental Alliance

The Unscheduled Mission

A Planned Improvisation

The Forced Alternative

Other Stories

Elf Alert!

A Study in Ethnology

Off on a Tangent

Author’s Foreword

It must be something about Gaenor and her magic that is to blame. I originally plotted Gaenor’s Quest as a trilogy. Unlike Douglas Adams (or maybe just his publisher), I know that a trilogy is a set of three. Yet when I got down to writing the second book, I found that too much was happening to fit in a single volume without one book of the series being much thicker than the rest. So, I had to cut off at a reasonable spot. Then, when I went on to write the third book, it too was a bit too long even with everything left over from the second. That was just as well since the final volume would have been a bit thin otherwise.

Well, it has happened again with Gaenor’s Prophecy. Gaenor’s Quest was one of my early projects and I thought that since then I had gotten better at judging how long a plot would run when written out. It is true that it was not as bad this time, but I did not get as far into the story as I had hoped. Therefore, this planned trilogy will be a tetralogy as well.

It could be worse and I did have a title for the extra volume in mind, just in case, and so it goes. I feel that the expansion inot four books greatly improved Gaenor’s Quest and we shall see if I feel the same way about Gaenor’s Prohecy.

Not much else to say that this book picks up the story a few months after the events in Signs of Change. The raid on the Holy Empire’s slave labor camp may have done more damage that Artur and Gaenor originally hoped. Hostile activity along the Holy Empire’s border has dimished, but not ended altogether, but it gives the rest of the world a chance to prepare although not everyone sees the Holy Empire as a threat.

And so… no… I shall let you read it for yourself.

Jonathan Edward Feinstein

Westport, Mass.

May 31,2017

Prologue – Somewhere in the Deep South

Ayame waited nervously in the basement room. Above her, most of the building had been destroyed several months ago when the Holy Army had rolled through this town. Once the town had been an active farm community, but no one lived here now. Most of the survivors had been rounded up and marched to a Holy Re-education Center. The few who had escaped remained only long enough to bury their dead and then left as well.

Ayame looked around in the feeble lantern light and wondered why she thought sitting in a dark room had been a good idea. She had carefully chosen this particular basement. Even if the door had been wide open, the light from inside could not have been seen from the surrounding countryside. The rubble from the surrounding buildings blocked the view, but for some reason it had seemed a good idea to keep the light subdued. The reason escaped her now and she wondered if it would have done any harm to light a few more lanterns. Too late now.

She took a sip of water and then heard the soft sound of footsteps outside. She got up and was behind the dead-bolted door when whoever it was knocked out a short prearranged pattern. She slid a small panel aside and could barely make out a dark figure on a short stairway beyond. Yes? she asked, betraying none of her fear.

The weather is dreadful tonight, a man’s deep voice informed her. It was the password she had hoped for.

You can’t be from around here, Ayame responded with the countersign. You’re just not used to our weather.

Will it change if I wait?

If you wait long enough, Ayame finished the ritual, opening the door to reveal a short, middle aged man. He was wearing the rough clothing one might expect of a farmer and was a head shorter than Ayame. That did not surprise her, however. She was tall for a woman and was used to being at least as tall as the men she had to deal with. General Yi? she asked, closing the door behind him.

I am, he confirmed, and you are Miss Nyima?

Mrs. Nyima, she corrected him. My wife made it safely to Mishanda before the war.

General Yi had flinched slightly as Ayame mentioned her wife, but said nothing. A marriage between two people of the same gender was not common in Corinia and nonexistent, so far as he knew, within the Army, but there was no law against it either. He shelved his prejudices and nodded politely. You must miss her, he replied at last. Oh! She would be the famous scientist, Eliyama Nyima?

Yes, I am very proud of her, Ayame replied. You came alone?

Not really, Yi shook his head, I have a squad of soldiers waiting in a barn on the south side of this village. Well, not all soldiers, not before the war, I mean.

We’re all soldiers these days, I fear, Ayame told him. My people are here in town in various buildings. I’ve arranged for a dinner of sorts which will arrive once we are all here. It will be cold, but we did not want anyone seeing smoke rising from an abandoned town. We can send some to your people.

Thank you, but we are well-supplied with rations, Yi told her.

There was another rhythmic knocking on the door and Ayame went through the ritual of signs and countersigns once more while Yi quietly drew a small hand-sized fusee, a pistol, from underneath his clothes and moved toward the lantern, in case he needed to light the fuse. A moment later he returned the weapon to its place as Ayame welcomed two other gentlemen into the dark room. One turned around and instructed a dozen others, Find a place of shelter. This will take a while.

Wait a few minutes, Ayame stopped them. My people will guide you when they bring dinner. General Kochar?"

Yes, the taller of the two men admitted. He was muscular with long black hair. His companion was average height and had shaved his head. Both wore khaki-colored shirts and trousers; typical peasant clothing in Tindi although Ayame knew Kochar was from Nundro. My colleague is Captain Lara Sing, late of the Navy of Tindi. Ayame looked again and realized that the person was, indeed, female despite her initial appearance.

One more to go, then, Ayame informed them. There was another knock and long ritual and a tall dark-skinned man entered the room and introduced himself, Halchar Tsung, Tindi Resistance.

Welcome, General Tsung, Ayame told him, please find a seat. She was about to close the door once more, but her promised dinner arrived just then.

Cold rations, Commander, one of the men told her, but we found some charcoal and managed to make some hot tea over a smokeless fire.

Thank you, Ayame replied. She waited until they had left and once more locked the door. Please, my friends, let us enjoy the tea while it is still hot. We can get down to business as we eat.

Whose idea was that ridiculous set of signs and countersigns? General Kochar asked after his first sip of tea. It sounded like something from out of a bad play.

My fault, I am afraid, Ayame told him. Of us all, I was not military before the war. I thought passwords were common.

Do not take the blame for me, General Yi chided her. The coded knock on the door was Ayame’s idea. I added the signs and countersigns. It is a good thing we found this deserted village. The weather really is not so terrible this evening, and anyone overhearing would have been suspicious. We can come up with something better before we leave.

My apologies, to you both, Kochar told them in an abrupt turn around of attitude. That came out far more critically than I had intended. We do need signs and countersigns, but the knock might have been sufficient.

Perhaps not, Captain Sing disagreed. We need something other than weather to discuss, I suppose, but a single word or phrase dropped into conversation with another related one as a countersign might be in order if we need to meet in a less private situation. Such passwords will need to be changed frequently and not overused, I think, but none of us really know each other. Until we do, this will help us to identify each other and new comrades as we find them.

That is a good point, Lara, Kochar admitted. Let’s get down to business. Where shall we start?

Ayame? Yi indicated that Ayame should chair the meeting.

I think we were all shocked by the ease with which the Holy Lands invaded our nations, Ayame began. In previous wars, they were driven back without too much trouble and with great loss of life to them. So far as we knew they were backwards and ignorant and no match for our technology. We even knew about their rockets, but in the past they were used strictly as limited range incendiary devices. We had heard about their cannons but discounted them, unable to believe how destructive they could be.

How could we take them seriously? Yi asked. Their primary means of transport were horse-drawn wagons.

It turned out that horse-drawn cannons were more than a match for motorized catapults, Ayame replied.

Our land-sailors had no trouble driving the Holy Landers back in the past, Kochar pointed out, but they were like toys in comparison this time.

Nundro held out against the invaders longer than either Corinia or Tindi, Captain Sing told him. Because the Holy Landers came over land, our Navy never came into play until after they had captured the Corinian Steamships and mounted their infernal cannons on them. The war was over for us by then and since that time we have all been engaged in organized resistance.

Which brings us to today, Ayame nodded. The time has come to take our scattered resistance fighters and forge them into a coordinated force.

To do what? Lara Sing asked. If we could not drive the barbarians from our gates when we were strong, what can we do now?

I suggest we look to the ancient Tindi philosopher general, Han Tao, Ayame replied. His book is required reading in the Tindi military, is it not?

He lived over fifteen centuries ago, Sing replied. He knew nothing of rockets and cannons, not to mention these armored motor cars we have seen lately.

No, but I believe his tactics of using small strike forces with limited goals still applies, Yi replied. The point is to harass, the Holy Landers, to make us more trouble than we are worth.

There are rumors of new weapons being developed by the Holy Landers, General Kochar told them. Perhaps they are only scare stories, but even if only slightly true we must exercise caution. If we become more trouble than we are worth, they might use those weapons on us.

I have heard those rumors too, Yi replied. I seriously doubt they could devise a weapon powered by nuclear fission. In Corinia our scientists were just starting to work at refining fissionable metals. They were decades away from such a development, or so I was told.

My training was in the arts, Ayame admitted, "but I am married to the woman who may be the greatest mathematical genius of our time. She and her friends explained some of this to me, Relativity, the nature of radioactivity and so forth. Yes, it is true that we do not yet have the technology to refine fissionable materials to the point they could be used in a weapon. It is possible we never will have, but nuclear fission is not the only danger from radioactives. A good friend of ours, Doctor Mai Tanaka, died of a skin cancer that developed years after she suffered a radiation burn on her leg. Because the cancer began in the same spot we believe there may be a connection.

She was very sick for weeks after the radiation burn and was never truly well again even after she was able to go back to work, Ayame continued. I too have heard the rumors and I too do not believe they can devise a bomb that kills by nuclear fission, but they can build a more conventional bomb with radioactive shrapnel. That is what worries me. My friends, we know they have captured scientists and technicians from our countries and have forced them to work, building bigger and better weapons. The new armored motorcars; does anyone really think the Holy Landers have the educational background to devise such things even if they have one to copy? I do not. We need, however to know more about what they are doing. Some of their research facilities, they call them Centers of Holy Research, are here in our lands. We must find a way to infiltrate and shut them down, but to learn what has been developed at the same time.

Is it true the northerners recently raided such a center? General Kochar asked.

I believe so, General Yi replied.

I have been in contact with Mishandan Navy personel, Sing informed them. It is very true. The Holy Lands’ primary research center was situated on the norther border of Sorvohn, right against the Parch. A team of Mishandan and Gostrinan commandos attacked the compound and rescued the captive scientists. Several have subsequently died of radiation damage but they were probably the source of these radioactivity warnings we have heard. I am told that Mrs. Niyima’s conjecture of a radioactive bomb is correct. What we do not know is whether that was the only facility that was working on such a weapon.

You have had contact with the North? Kochar asked. That could be invaluable. Is it regular contact?

Not as regular as I would like it, Sing replied with a shrug. I have instituted a regular drop point on the Ping Tu Peninsula. Most contact is in the form of writing; messages, reports, some time they provide us with weapons. They have a new sort of gun they call a musquette, I think. It is similar to a fusee, but with a firing mechanism that provides an almost instantaneous ignition. I brought some samples of them, in fact. In turn we send back reports of whatever we can learn and of what we have been doing. Sometimes they give us suggestions. The suggestions do help most of the time. Because we never know when someone is going to be at the drop point, however, we rarely meet face-to-face.

We must all send reports north through your drop point, General Yi decided. Will you handle that?

My people can make sure your reports are at the drop point, Sing nodded.

Not too many reports, General Tsung warned them. We would not want them to fall into the hands of the Holy Landers.

True, Kochar agreed, We must work out a secure means by which to deliver these reports to Captain Sing’s people, but we will.

Ayame? General Yi asked. You have demonstrated excellent organizational skills. You brought us together today, in fact. Perhaps you should work with Captain Sing.

I will, Ayame agreed. Captain, what if we set up a number of secure drop points from which our agents can eventually get reports to your people?

That is a good start, Sing agreed, although this is intelligence work and you may be better suited for the organization of rebel intelligence than I. We shall work together, however, and share our strengths.

Good, Yi nodded. Now is there other news from the north or our friends in the west?

I have spoken to some traders from Maxforn, Tsung told them. They call themselves Travellers. So far, they have been allowed to move freely through parts of the Holy Lands. There used to be a lot more of them, but only the bravest or most reckless have been coming south lately. Still, what they tell me is of great importance. From their reports it seems to me that over one third of the Holy Lands’ Army is stationed in Tindi, Corinia and Nundro. That so many of them are here means we are keeping them from expanding their invasion to the north. However, there are large numbers of Holy Lands military being amassed in Northeastern Sorvohn, near the Pahnese border and there is another large force gathering in Nider. The Sorvohnian force is obviously being positioned for a strike on Gostrina and the Nider force maybe threatening Maxforn or perhaps Drombra.

Drombra? Sing asked, but they are across the Minue Estuary from Nider. It might look narrow on a map, but it is almost fifty miles across there. That would not be an easy invasion.

Not unless Maxforn allowed them to pass through their territory, Kochar told her. This may be the most disturbing news I have heard of late, but the prime minister of Maxforn has been making conciliatory speeches aimed toward the Holy Lands lately. The Travellers are worried that Maxforn might be attempting to ally themselves with the Holy Empire.

General Yi suddenly spat on the floor. They would be the gods’ own fools if they did! He told them with a derisive laugh. They would only remain safe until Gostrina and Wanlaria fell to the Holy Landers.

Maybe not even then, General Kochar told him. The Cilbens are not likely to tolerate an ally of the Holy Lands on their border. Maxforn is in a very delicate position as a buffer state. I can understand if they are trying to stay neutral.

There is no neutral stance with the Holy Empire, Ayame told them all. They have declared a holy war against the gods of all other nations. The only way to keep them from eventually attacking would be to denounce one’s own gods. Does anyone here see that happening? She was met with silence. "Very well. For now, we need to work out the best ways for us all to coordinate. I am sure there are other resistance groups out there. We need to contact them and work together. We need to get what we learn to the northern lands, especially concerning troop movement and weapons of the Holy Lands and to maybe get some further assistance from them.

It is getting late, Ayame continued, but let’s see what we can outline over the next hour and then see what the people we brought with us think. We’ll meet again tomorrow evening and maybe the one after that, until we have a coherent plan. Agreed?

Part 1 – Kimn

One

A fat, silver sausage of a balloon rose up into the sky. The flag of Mishanda had been emblazoned its sides and the bright green and gold could be seen for miles around as the craft, a ship of the air, started to circle around the city of Misha. She is beautiful, is she not? King Pawlen III asked. He was a well-built man just slightly taller than average. His light brown hair and beard was just starting to show a stray strand of gray, but the grin on his face made him look like an excited teenager.

She is, Your Majesty, Mnierri Kshantu, a light-skinned vari from the isolated island called Ichtar agreed. She is, indeed. Mnierri may have been tall for a vari, she was certainly several inches taller than Cornellya Vasylya, a darker-skinned vari who called the desert Parch, her home and who was standing next to her.

Standing closest to the king was Lady Gaenor of Narmouth. Her dark brown hair was slightly longer than most ladies of the court because that was the favored style in her home town, a day’s journey away. In deference to the local fashion, however, her hair had been tied into an elaborate braid that morning, although her preference would have been to either keep it in a ponytail or allowed to flow down her back.

Sir Artur, sometimes called the Southlander although he had been born into a noble Cilben family, stood on Pawlen’s right side. He kept his curly blond hair short and today it was beneath a dark brown top hat, that Gaenor had insisted he wear with the long, tan woolen coat he had been favoring since the cooler weather had set in.

Queen Ibbet had chosen to host a viewing party of the new Ship of the Air the RAS Corinia, in one of the gardens at the palace, but Pawlen had wanted to fly on board the new ship on her maiden voyage. In deference to his advisors, he had to content himself with viewing the spectacle from the newly christened aeroport on the outskirts of Misha.

The queen, however, was present in a very special way. She and Gaenor’s adopted daughter, Lady Elena Carolena appeared directly in front of Pawlen and Gaenor as semitransparent, slightly blue images, courtesy of the latest prototype of a teleconference spell a select team of adepts had devised. Their images, however were facing Gaenor and the king, not the new airship, although several miles away the two women were looking upward at the large flying spectacle as, indeed, was a large population of their capital city.

The spell was held within a pair of amulets that Gaenor and Elena carried in their hands, careful not to let their fingers get in the way of the projected images. They had invoked the amulets over seven hours earlier and, so far, the spell showed no sign of running out of magical energy. They represented an advance in technology as remarkable as the flying vehicle in that this was the second time the amulets had been invoked and they had managed to recharge themselves in only three days without an adept required to recast the spell. On its second usage, however, the novelty had worn off and the king’s attention was almost entirely on the airship until a warning chime rang sweetly in the air around them.

There’s our five-minute warning, Your Majesties, Elena informed them. Precisely the same as last time. I would say the prototypes work perfectly.

Excellent, Lady Elena, Pawlen told here enthusiastically. You and Sir Radnire are to be commended. The team of adepts who had worked on the teleconferencing project had been elevated to the Mishandan Orders of the Distaff and the Hawk, respectively the previous evening.

Thank you, Your Majesty, Elena replied, but we could not have done it without Lady Gaenor. It was her idea that was the breakthrough we needed for a self-charging amulet and let’s not forget Sir Tellynar whose knowledge of power systems was essential as well.

It was a team effort, Lena, Gaenor told her modestly. I may have provided you with some ideas, but you made it work. I predict that collaboration will be the hallmark of modern magic.

Well, I am delighted, Pawlen told them all. How long before we can have several sets of amulets sufficient to confer with our fellow monarchs?

I think we can have the first set ready to send out in a week or so, Elena told him, but the next one after that… she was abruptly cut off by another chime and her image and that of the queen faded out.

I wonder if getting cut off at the most interesting times will also be a hallmark of modern magic, Pawlen mused.

Perhaps we can revise the warning chimes to sound a quarter of an hour before the amulets run down, Gaenor suggested. I do not think we will get the full set of teleconference amulets to last over seven hours, however. From Radnire’s calculations I think the best we can hope for is maybe a little over four.

Four hours is better than we have now, Pawlen pointed out.

Four hours every three days, sir, Gaenor added.

We must learn not to waste time, then, Pawlen chuckled. Our royal father made an issue of telling us that frequently.

I think Elena was about to say that the second set could take over a month to make, though, Gaenor went on. It is a very complex process and some of the ingredients are very rare and expensive, not to mention that some need to be made by magic and aged before being used. We have enough to make one set left over from the prototype, but after that it could be another three months."

I should have expected that, Pawlen admitted. I shall make sure you all have the monetary resources to make them. Hmm, I suppose three sets will have to be enough. That would be one conference per day, although having another set for emergencies, might…

Just how much do diamonds cost, Pawlen? Gaenor asked, uncharacteristically using the king’s unadorned name in public. It was a trick she had learned could snap him back to reality on a moment’s notice.

What? They are fairly expensive, I believe.

They are, Gaenor confirmed, and we do not have any diamond mines in Mishanda. Each set of amulets consumes four ounces of diamonds. Fortunately, we do not need gem-quality stones. Even chips and diamond dust suffices, but it is still expensive and that is just one of the ingredients. Until we learn how to synthetize diamonds, if that is even possible, the supply of telecon amulets is going to be limited.

Would a synthetic diamond even work? Pawlen wondered. Wouldn’t there be a difference between that and a natural stone?

It ought to work, sir, Gaenor told him, at least in theory. It is the carbon in the specific crystalline form of a diamond that is needed. How it is come by should not affect the spell. We cannot synthetize gold and silver, however.

I have always wondered why magic cannot be used to turn some base material into gold, Pawlen told her.

Gold and silver are elements, Gaenor informed him. They are not made up of anything but their atomic components. I suppose it is possible to smash two smaller atoms together and get them to combine