Sorcerer's World

By Jim Gantz

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 20, 2002
• ISBN: 9781465331700

Jim Gantz

Born in Wisconsin, Jim moved to Florida in 1975. After retiring in 1995, he now divides his time between Florida’s westcoast and the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia. A biology major in college, writing was not his ambition. One significant job was as a hypnotherapist, where he became fascinated with the mind. Working for the state mental health division, Jim saw people who confused fantasy with reality and occasionally he would think, What if? He was required to write factual reports. The first one was tersely rejected. Obviously these facts needed sanitizing. Thus began Jim’s creative writing career in fiction.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

THE SEPARATION

For the first time in his eighteen years, Cody was now separated from his parents. He had often been physically separated, but never out of mental contact. Even before he was born and within his mother’s womb, he felt love, comfort and the security of his parents’ minds touching his. Now as he reached out to the limits of his considerable psychic power, he could not even sense their presence. There was something about this place that was disturbingly different, even eerie. For the first time in his life he felt a wisp of foreboding.

Karen and Tom Weston and their son, Cody, had been traveling to alternative worlds for the past five years. Unlike mother earth, most of the worlds supported no intelligent life. A few contained people like themselves with a wide diversity of cultures. On one world, intelligence had evolved through reptilian ancestry.

As strange as many of the worlds they had visited, none had a more alien feel than this world, and yet Travis could see clear evidence of human life and familiar flora around him.

Any time they had traveled to new alternate worlds along an uncharted psychic vector, they had made special preparations. Cody and his parents always mind melded in a seamless union. They carefully measured the teleportational vectors at the four critical points of reference so there would be no mistake about finding their way back home.

Originally, before Cody was born, Tom and Karen had accidentally crossed into another dimension and another world. At the time, Tom had a theoretical hunch that they might teleport into another dimension. They were trapped in a burning house and surrounded by a disrupter field, and a dozen gunmen bent on killing them. Regular line of sight teleportation was impossible. This last desperate gamble was their only hope. The discovery of being able to teleport to alternate dimensions led to extensive study for Tom, Karen and the research people at the Foundation for Psychic Development. It was actually young Cody Weston who finally was able to incorporate all the data into a workable hypothesis.

Though Cody was young physically, he was advanced beyond his years mentally. His parents began communicating with him psychically before he emerged from his mother’s womb.

Karen and Tom along with their unique combined mind, shaped Cody’s developing mind initially on a cellular level. They cleared away any impedance that could hinder development of his psychic abilities as well as his mental capacity and emotional stability. Cody was able to incorporate the qualities and unique abilities of his parents combined mind within his own mind. His development was rapid, but not without some speed bumps. He was four years old before he said his first words out loud. It was easier to speak telepathically and as a baby the concept of personal privacy was incomprehensible. His parents were forced to block his telepathic abilities and then encouraged him to listen with his ears and speak verbally. Within a week Cody could speak fluently.

With mind melding between Cody and both parents, he was not only able to acquire the knowledge of his parents, but also understand their history and why they did the things they did. Mind melding is much more complex and comprehensive than simple telepathic communication which reveals primarily surface thoughts. Getting to know his parents in this intimate fashion did not make Cody a clone of them, but rather he viewed them from his own individual perspective. This took time and his views on things would often change as he grew and matured. He was a brilliant student, able to assimilate academic subjects easily. He enjoyed learning.

At first Cody would complain to his mother, Why do I have to read books? You could read them for me and I could get the information from your mind.

It was challenging raising a unique prodigy, but Karen and Tom were patient and they had good role models at the Foundation where Cody grew up. Sometimes when Cody was troubled, he would seek out Carl or Meg Metzner who were in charge of the Foundation, but were like grandparents to Cody. Often you could find Cody in deep conversation with his good friend Ryan Lebowitz, who he called Uncle Ry.

Ryan had always been a loner until Tom and Karen came into his life. He was a certified electronics genius and passionate about the things he liked, such as electronics, motorcycles and now his adopted nephew, Cody.

Karen home taught Cody for the first few years of his education. School would have been too limiting for him for one thing, but the main reason was to allow him to mature enough so that he could handle his great gifts with other children. He skipped high school and entered college when he was ten. At twelve he graduated with seven majors.

Cody’s counselor, Mr. Waxler, complained to Cody’s parents that Cody insisted on taking too big of an academic load and he didn’t seem to have any specific direction. Tom and Karen knew that Cody wanted to learn as much as he could about a diversity of subjects, as fast as he could. He was the best judge to gauge his own learning pace. This was far too broad a goal for Mr. Waxler to understand. He eventually quit graduate school to pursue his own less limited educational agenda.

Cody continued to scan his surroundings, but couldn’t catch the tiniest hint of his parents. There was always the presence of a faint aura of people that adepts knew. The only time that the aura would disappear would be upon their death. He felt no aura of his parents and yet he had no sense of their death. It was confusing and very frightening. They had leaped to this alternate world together, but now he was alone.

There was another subtle strangeness that permeated the surroundings. He sensed a difference in the ambient energy around him. He was used to examining things using his mind’s psychic abilities first, as it was his first contact with life even before vision, hearing or touch. Now he began to view this new environment with his natural senses.

He found himself on top of a grassy knoll in an area of gentle rolling hills. In the distance he saw a narrow dirt road winding around small patches of cultivated land. It was impossible to tell directions, as the sun was directly overhead. The day was warm but not unpleasantly so. There was a breeze, which brought a faint acrid smell of manure along with the sweet scent of wildflowers.

Cody began to walk across a meadow toward the road he had spotted earlier. There was a large stand of woods to his right. He sensed an animal crouched in the grass ahead of him. Suddenly it sprang forward bounding away from his approaching footsteps. It was obviously a rabbit, but much larger, the size of a sheep or a dog. He felt somewhat relieved that he could sense the animal before he saw it. At least I haven’t lost all of my psychic senses here. Where ever here is, he thought.

As Cody approached the narrow dirt road that he had seen from a distance, he saw a figure emerge from one of the small plots of cultivated ground and turn along the road. He appeared to be carrying a simple garden tool. Then Cody noticed that there were other people, with similar tools strung out along the road. They were all walking in the same direction.

Cody reached out with his mind to touch the mind of the first person he had seen. The man whirled around, looking frantically. Seeing nothing he grabbed the top of his head and then dropped to his knees.

Cody did not mean to alarm the man and was surprised that he was even aware of his mental touch. In Cody’s experience it would take another adept to be this sensitive to a gentle psychic touch and yet he knew from that brief connection that the man had no psychic ability. He was about to try to enter the man’s mind again, but this time more subtly, when suddenly from the woods, four horsemen appeared. They were all dressed in silver garments with blue trim. They each wore blue capes around their shoulders flaring out behind them as they galloped along the road on their magnificent horses. All the horses wore a blue blankets and silver reins and halters, which extended around the horse’s face forming the outlines of a fierce mask.

The farm hand that Cody had been watching heard the pounding hoofs and turned to look at the horsemen. He attempted to leap out of the way, when he stumbled and fell hard. Momentarily stunned, he lay on the road as the horses thundered toward him. Their riders showed no sign of pulling the horses up or veering around the fallen man. Acting instinctively, Cody teleported the man off the road to a soft area of the meadow about twenty feet away.

The horsemen who had previously made no attempt to avoid the farmhand now suddenly reined in their horses. They milled around searching, but it was not for the farmhand, as he was in plain sight.

Cody felt mind probes coming from all four of the horsemen. They were adepts, but not very powerful ones. Cody probed their minds, easily breaking through their defenses. He wiped out the memory of the last few minutes and replaced it with routine thoughts that were a continuation of what they had been thinking about before this incident.

After a brief moment of confusion, they gathered their horses and continued down the road for about a hundred yards and then halted their horses once again, turned around and came back.

Cody probed their minds again and to his surprise their memory had been restored along with the fact that someone had erased it. The difference that he felt in their minds, when he had first probed them, was clear now. They had been in some sort of telepathic contact with a person or group who was able to hide their presence when he probed the horsemen’s minds. Now they were looking for him. Cody could easily hide his mind as well as his body, but the farmhand was a different matter. He was standing in the open, mentally and physically vulnerable.

After searching around the area, but not finding the person who would dare interfere with the Silver Scepters, they closed in on the farmhand. He was literally shaking, but despite his obvious fear, he stood up, straightened his shoulders, and faced the four horsemen.

By clamping his mind shut, Cody effectively cloaked himself from any psychic probing, but on the other hand, he couldn’t use his own mental force without revealing himself. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to see that the farmhand was in serious trouble. Cody would have liked to know more about the power that was behind the four bullies that now surrounded the farmer. He would have liked to simply probe their minds to find out what was going on, but it was difficult to get a clear picture without knowing the language. All people use language as a tool to facilitate thought. Emotions needed no language, but more intricate thought patterns did.

The horseman in front of the farmer drew his sword slowly from his scabbard. A thin smile began to form on his lips as he extended the sword toward the farmer’s chest. The farmer’s neck and facial muscles tightened in anticipation of the inevitable pain that was sure to follow. The tip of the blade was about three feet from the farmer’s chest.

How did you acquire the magic to escape from my horses’ hoofs? asked the horseman.

I do not know how I was saved. Zucurra’s will, perhaps," answered the terrified farmer.

No dirt-tilling serf could have escaped and managed to erase the memory in the minds of four Holy Silver Guardsmen. You will suffer the pain of the thousand silver swords if you do not tell me the whereabouts of the cowardly sorcerer who mistakenly aids you.

My Lords I have no knowledge of such a wizard. Please let the Holy Reader see into my mind, the farmer pleaded.

Most assuredly the Holy Reader will find he truth, but not before your worthless body is reduced to quivering gelatin. Let this be a lesson to any other dirt tillers who would challenge the might and right of the Holy Silver Empire.

The soldier did not bring the sword any closer to the farmer, but simply focused his mind on the poor farmer’s chest and then slowly began to twist the sword. The farmer screamed as blood started to roll down his chest.

Cody could wait no longer. He sent a psychic bolt to each of the soldiers strong enough to knock them out. Then he ran to the farmer and the four unconscious soldiers. The farmer was beside himself with relief, fear and wonderment. He was talking rapidly, but in a language that Cody did not understand as yet. On one level Cody was probing the farmer’s mind reading his thoughts and coordinating them with the words he was speaking. On another level, he sent a telepathic message to the farmer to calm down and all would be well. Cody then went to the soldiers and ripped their shirts, making strips of cloth to tie them up. Cody reasoned that whatever force had so quickly restored their memory would soon restore their consciousness and he wanted to delay them short of killing them.

While Cody was tying the men, he felt an ever-growing psychic force trying to restore the soldiers’ consciousness. Cody blocked the force. The force quickly turned its attention to Cody. It tried to probe his mind and seemed surprised when it couldn’t immediately break through. When it realized that Cody was not merely defending against the mental probe, but actively trying to follow it back to its source, it began to significantly increase its power.

Cody wanted to gather more information before he would be forced to make any direct challenge. After Cody finished tying the soldiers, he injected a couple of mental twists into their minds in order to delay their return to consciousness. Then he installed a mental shield in the farmer’s mind, blocked his own mind as well in order to keep the force behind the mental probe from finding them when he broke off contact.

In the time Cody had been in the farmer’s mind he had learned the rudiments of his language. His name was Tacino 1041. The number referred to the plot of land for which he was responsible.

Tacino bowed before Cody and said sadly, Thank you for saving my worthless hide, but I fear that I will shortly be a dead man anyway.

Why would they kill you? Cody asked.

You must really be from a far away place that you know not the laws of Assize and the Holy Silver Empire. You most assuredly, my young and foolish friend, will sadly share my fate. There is no escape, Tacino said shaking his head sadly.

Do not despair. After all you are not dead yet and I posses more power than you know, Cody responded.

No doubt you are a sorcerer and probably know much magic, but no lone sorcerer can stand up to the might of the Assize, Tacino concluded.

Then Tacino looked up at Cody, his eyes moist with emotion speaking sincerely; I am most grateful to you for giving me this one last day. My only daughter, Celano, is now sixteen and goes this very night to the Hall of Choosing. There is a chance that I would never see her again if she is found to have the gift.

Why is that? questioned Cody.

If Celano was found gifted, she would be taken to the Circle of Learning where she will become blind to me.

What happens if she does not have the gift? Cody asked.

Then she will be taken to the place of mating, where she will be taught her duties. She’ll then enter into the mating games after which she will become bound to another’s seed and our relationship would end. It is of course proper, but . . . I will dearly miss her. I know that sounds selfish. She gives joy to my life, particularly after her mother died trying to give birth to a second child. Celano and I became close. We would talk to each other. She had wonderful and wild dreams of her future. How she could think of such things and laugh and be so happy, I’ll never understand. I fear she will be sorely disappointed. It is perhaps right that I die now, but I did want to see her once more before she goes. That’s why I must go home now. Tacino said.

Don’t you think that your home would be the first place the soldiers would look? Cody questioned.

Perhaps,7 Tacino responded. They’ll find us soon enough anyway, he said with a fatalistic shrug.

I’ll come with you if you don’t mind, Cody said now really getting into Tacino’s language.

It may be wise if you don’t come with me. As you say, they probably will look for me at my home first. You are a powerful sorcerer and could escape them for a time. Why do you make it easy for them? Tacino asked.

I can’t wait to meet your daughter, Cody said with a grin.

Tacino shook his head at the foolishness of making jokes in face of sure disaster and then turned and headed toward his home.

When they arrived at Tacino’s hut, Celano was waiting outside. Her arms were crossed across her tall slender body in a stance of mock severity, but her gray eyes gave her away as they registered relief in seeing her father.

Where have you been? You’re late, Celano said.

Tacino introduced Cody and then related all that had happened to him. Celano at first acknowledged Cody with a polite nod, but then turned back to him when she found out he was a sorcerer. Suspicion grew, as she looked at him in a new light. Her raven hair glowed in the sunlight as she turned back to her father, but not before Cody saw the mind of an adept.

You must go to the Hall of the Choosing before the soldiers arrive. My fate is set, but I must see you safely off before . . . before they come for me, Tacino said haltingly.

I am not going. I told you that before. I will not be a part of these sorcerers’ oppression. I could not live with myself in the palace concubine knowing I was supporting their cruelty. Celano cried.

But you know that only a few are chosen. The chances are you will not go there. Tacino answered.

Cody kept silent, but suspected that the ruling class was looking for people with natural psychic ability and Celano was certainly a natural.

Celano shook her head at her father and said, The other option is just as bad. To be taken to a mating pen like some cow with no choice and no future but this, she said gesturing to the hut around her.

I’m sorry father. I don’t mean to hurt you and I know you did your best. I know you loved my mother and me, but I need more. I must be free to be my own person. I know you think I’m wrong, but please try to understand that my whole being cries out for a different life, Celano said earnestly, holding back tears of frustration and anger.

But there is no other choice. You have your duty and you must make the best of it within the rules and possibilities that are before you, Tacino answered

There is another possibility. I will go to the Valley of Oblivion and you will go with me because your only other option now is death. Celano said this with tears now freely rolling down her cheeks.

Oh my dear daughter you have pointed out a choice for me, though I do not believe it is a chance of life. To stay here of course is certain death. So perhaps going to the Valley of Oblivion would be something different, but it would still be just another avenue whose end is still death.

Tacino sighed and paused for a moment of reflection and then continued. You, on the other hand are young with years ahead of you and a chance to live many happy moments. Don’t throw it away on an empty forlorn gesture.

Celano’s lips tightened as she threw back her shoulders. Tacino knew that look. She was very stubborn when she thought she was right.

And what are you going to do, wizard boy? Celano said turning to Cody and at the same time trying to change the subject.

I came with my parents, but we got separated and I’m trying to find them, Cody said simply without going into any detail.

And where do you come from? Your speech has a strange sound, Celano asked.

Cody hesitated before answering because there was no way that they would understand an alternate universe without a very long explanation and an even longer period of education. Finally he just said, I come from a faraway place.

Celano was quick. She asked, Is that place beyond the Valley of Oblivion?

Well I guess it is, but I’m not sure where the Valley of Oblivion lies, Cody responded somewhat less than adequately.

So there must be a place beyond the Valley and if this boy can make it, so can we father, Celano blurted.

There is only one place other than here and the Valley of Separation and that is the place where dwells the Golden Hordes, Tacino said to no one in particular. That idea had not occurred to Tacino before this because so much had happened. Thoughts of the Golden Horde brought to mind feelings of fear and dread as it would to all properly raised citizens.

Tacino turned to Cody and asked incredulously, Are you a spy for the Golden Horde?

No, I don’t even know what the Golden Horn is, Cody answered.

Horde, you dolt. If this boy is a spy for the Golden Horde, the Silver Empire has nothing to fear, Celano said laughing for the first time.

I’m two years your senior, Cody lashed back feeling awkward with this uneducated beauty.

Enough you two. I think it is high time I left. I do not think you should go with me, but alas, I am unable to stop you. Tacino said to his daughter.

Good, I’m glad you agree that I should accompany you, Celano said ignoring the real content of his wishes.

And what of you Sorcerer MAN? Celano said emphasizing, man with a glint in her eye.

My search is for my parents and so far I find no sign of them in this land. It may be the strange power flux that I feel here. Be that as it may, I feel that our goals lie along the same path. I will need you to guide me and you will need my help to protect you, Cody concluded.

I need no help from a sorcerer, Celano announced with an edge of bitterness in her voice. Then she continued, You seem to have treated my father well and for his sake I will allow you to accompany us, but stay away from me.

Cody wondered about the open hostility that Celano showed him. He had only just met her. At this point, however, she was a companion and his training would not allow him to invade her privacy without her permission. Perhaps in time she would reveal the reason for her animosity.

CHAPTER 2

THE EDGE OF OBLIVION

Tacino and Celano hastily gathered up a few necessary belongings for the trip to the Valley of Oblivion.

Let us head northwest through the woods and across the rocky plain. There will be fewer people about who will see us. The Assize will no doubt send a mind picture of me to everyone to watch for me. Then after dark, we can circle around toward the Valley, Tacino said.

What is this mind picture? Cody asked.

Do you know nothing? Celano said with more surprise in her voice than the taunting that had characterized their previous exchanges.

I told you that I am not from this land, Cody reminded her.

If that is true then we can expect little help from this sorcerer who seems to know nothing, Celano sighed.

Then help me learn. It seems to me that you have nothing to lose, but a little time and breath. It would greatly speed things up if I could directly enter your minds, but in my culture we do not enter another person’s mind without their permission, Cody said.

Rest assured sorcerer you will never get my permission, Celano retorted.

Then tell me, Cody said raising his voice.

Celano turned away angrily saying nothing.

Enough of this bickering, Tacino said, looking sharply at his daughter. Cody is right, we need all the help we can get and we don’t need to fight among ourselves.

Tacino then turned to Cody and answered his question. The Assize will send a picture message directly into our heads to watch for me. Anyone who sees me would only have to think of the Assize and say, ‘Master of life and death my eyes are yours.’ The Assize will then look through their eyes to find me.

Are the Assize so loved that everyone would cooperate with them and turn on their own? Cody asked.

Each year all citizens of age must journey to the house of truth where each person confesses their sins under the eye of the Holy Reader. If a person were to lie or to sin against the Assize, he or she would be instantly put to death.

That’s another reason I did not want to go to the House of Choosing. There is the beginning, where they rob us of our thoughts. It is bad enough they see fit to abuse our bodies, Celano said bitterly.

What do you mean by that? Tacino said turning abruptly to his daughter.

Nothing, it’s unimportant now, Celano replied.

They had walked less than two miles when they entered the woods. Tacino turned to Cody and Celano and said, Be very alert in these woods. Carmatoebs dwell here and they would just as soon feast on people as any other animal.

What is a Carmatoeb? Cody asked.

They are large fierce animals, that can disembowel a person with one swipe of its mighty claw. Tacino said.

Cody looked into Tacino’s mind to get a more accurate picture of the animal. It was the size of a grizzly bear covered with steel gray fir, but it was built longer and sleeker for speed, somewhat on the lines of a large cat.

What do we do if we run into one? Celano asked her father.

"They are fast, but they have little stealth and can be heard crashing through the woods. They are capable of climbing trees but are not very good at it because of their great weight, and can only climb on to the larger limbs.

I hope we never see one, Celano said with a slight shiver.

My wishes too, Tacino concurred.

The woods were pleasantly cool and quite beautiful. Flowering shrubs of various colors dotted the way along the narrow game trail they followed. The trees looked very similar to ones back on earth, but Cody spotted some small differences in the shapes of the leaves and the color of the bark. Several tree trunks were shades of orange, from pale yellow to dark cinnamon. The leaves were varying shades of green, like earth. There were also evergreen-like trees with needled leaves among