by Jamie Davis
“Mr. Merrilyn recognized you from a photo the police showed him,” said the nurse. “He’s one of the hospital’s private benefactors and arranged for your private room. He’s a wonderful man, isn’t he? How do you know him?”
“We have a mutual friend,” Ellie said, surprised.
The more she thought about it, the more it frightened her. She’d met Artos Merrilyn on exactly two occasions. Both times in the company of Ricky Canter.
Was Artos watching out for Ricky and his crazy plan? That could explain why he’d put her in this private room, where she wouldn’t talk to anyone before he could silence her.
Fear gripped her. Ellie started to pull at the wires and tubing. “I have to get out of here. It isn’t safe.”
“Whoa, Ellie,” the nurse said rushing over and pulling her arms away from the wires. “You’re safe here. No one is going to hurt you, I promise.”
“You don’t understand,” Ellie exclaimed, her voice rising in alarm. “If Ricky comes looking for me, he’ll hurt me again, or worse.”
“No one is going to find you, Ellie, I promise. Artos left strict instructions that your privacy was to be protected at all costs.”
“What do you mean?”
“He asked the hospital administrator to clear all record of you being dropped off in the emergency room. Your name isn’t on our rolls. No one will know that you’re here except for a select few nurses and doctors.”
“Why would Artos do that? Why would he—?”
“He said he’d be back later today to check on you. You can ask him yourself. In the meantime, I need you to rest.”
The nurse puttered around the room, checking Ellie’s vitals on the monitor and the tubing in her arm.
“You know, when you showed up last night, your electrolyte levels were all out of wack. The doc said she’d never seen anything like it. You almost died.” She gave Ellie’s blankets one last check. “You get some rest. You’re safe here.”
Ellie sat back in the bed when the nurse left, letting her head rest against the pillow. Then she looked out the window, staring at the blue sky and puffy white clouds. She wondered why Artos had intervened for her, a girl he barely knew.
But Ellie didn’t have to wonder long. Soon after the nurse left, there was a knock on her door and a man called out, “May I come in?”
Ellie, pulled the covers up to her chin. “Y-yes, I’m awake.”
“Excellent.” Artos entered the room, then, gesturing to the monitor next to the bed, said, “Are they taking good care of you?”
Ellie nodded. “Yes, the nurse was very nice. She said you told them my name and asked them to keep my presence private. Why? You’re Ricky’s friend, and his boss.”
“I was very worried about you, my dear. The officer who found you is an old associate of mine. He told me you kept muttering something about Ricky coming after you before you lost consciousness.” Artos turned and walked around the bed to look out the window. “I know of some of Ricky’s predilections. And given that knowledge, I thought it best to provide you with privacy and comfort until we could determine what happened.” He smiled kindly. “Care to share?”
Ellie looked away from Artos. She felt nervous about saying anything about what Ricky was doing in his ugly little lair. She’d promised to keep his secret, and she didn’t trust Artos, no matter what he’d done for her here in the hospital.
“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” Artos said. “But know this: I have been suspicious of Ricky Canter’s extracurricular activities for some time. He’s mixed up with something, though I’ve not been able to discover what that something might be. If you can be of some help, perhaps we can … redirect him.”
Ellie looked up at Artos. He had not moved from his spot by the window and didn’t appear to be threatening her. The old man seemed genuinely concerned for her safety.
“Ricky is practicing with some sort of awful, dark Sable magic,” Ellie began. “He has a hideaway in the basement of an abandoned row house and he’s practicing his experiments on live creatures there.”
“What exactly is he doing, Ellie?”
“He’s found a way to drain the life force from a living creature. He converts it into a power source. Ricky says it will be the solution when magic fails here in the Americas … but that can’t be right, can it? Magic is still working fine for me and other chanters. What happened in Europe won’t happen here.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, my dear. We still don’t know all that happened in Europe to trigger the collapse. Some say it was due to the overuse of magic; others believe it has to do with the combination of magic and technology.”
“What do you think?”
“I think it may well be a blend of the two. We chanters can be a bit too free with our magic. There are times when I think we should rely more on technology and less on magical means to support our cities.” Artos took a seat in the chair by her bed. He sighed. “But what do I know? I’m an old mender and businessman. I’m sure smarter people than myself are investigating the matter.”
“What about Ricky? When I told him I didn’t like what he was doing, he turned the power on me, and I felt it taking my magic away.” Ellie shuddered. “He would have killed me.”
“All the more reason to help me track him down. I tried his apartment on my way here. He wasn’t home. He might be in this hideout, trying to avoid the authorities.”
It bothered Ellie that the authorities hadn’t already picked him up. If Ricky was in the hideout, only she could lead them there.
“Will you make sure you catch him?”
“I may need your help,” Artos answered. “The nurse said that as soon as your blood work came back from the lab, the doctor was inclined to release you, so long as everything appeared normal. I’ll wait to take you home.”
“That’s very gracious of you, Mr. Merrilyn.”
“Once you’re settled, I want you to take us to Ricky’s hideout. He might not be there, but I want to see what he’s been doing. It may help us understand some of the other things he’s been up to.”
“Like what?” Ellie asked, curious about the boy she’d been dating.
“That’s for me to worry about for now. You focus on getting well. I’ll wait outside so you can rest.”
Artos waved, then left.
Finally alone, Ellie exhaled. She’d never been more scared.
But she would help Artos. That was the only way to make sure she’d stay safe.
Ellie settled back in the bed and waited for the nurse to return. She hoped they’d release her soon. Now would be good.
———
Mr. Gunderson kept the limo idling while Ellie led Artos down the alley between the row houses. “The stairs down to the secret room are located somewhere in here,” she said.
Ellie ran her hands along the wall, looking for the brick Ricky had pushed to reveal the stairs. But she didn’t know which one it was and paused to consider how she could identify the right brick. If she didn’t figure this out, she and Artos might never gain access to Ricky’s room, or bring him to justice.
“This isn’t working,” Ellie complained.
“Take your time. Close your eyes. It might help you remember.”
Ellie closed her eyes and ran her hands along the wall. She checked a section of bricks a row higher than she had found before. This time, as her fingers passed over the rough surface, she felt a change between one brick and the next. One brick was smoother than the others around it.
She opened her eyes, pressed on that brick, and was rewarded by a click.
The bricks folded backward, revealing the stairs.
Artos stepped forward, producing a flashlight, and started down the stairs with Ellie close behind him.
The old chanter called down the stairs as they descended. “Ricky, it’s Artos. We’re coming to see you. It’s just me and Ellie — we only want to talk.”
Ellie wanted a lot more than talk if Ricky was here,
but she remained silent, staying behind the chanter boss, keeping him between herself and the room below.
When they reached the bottom, Artos shined his light around the deserted room.
No sign of Ricky.
Ellie walked across the floor and found the kerosene lamp and a box of matches. She lit the lamp, illuminating the entire room in its soft glow.
Ricky’s research and papers had been taken, but the rest of the room was just as it had been when she’d managed to flee the evening before.
She pointed to the glass aquarium full of hardened bodies. “Those are what he used to show me his experiment. He was so pleased with himself, sucking the life from those roaches.”
Artos pulled a pen from his pocket and used the tip to poke at the mass of bodies. He turned and looked at Ellie. “Is there anything different here now than before? Has anything changed?”
Ellie looked around the room, trying to remember what it had looked like the night before. She was uncertain if anything was different other than the missing papers and notebooks.
“There were research notebooks and papers on that table.” Ellie pointed. “But they’re gone now.” She looked around some more, then pointed to the wall opposite the stairway entrance. “That scrawling on the wall is also new, though I don’t know what it means.”
White chalk marred the red brick. In ugly handwriting, it read: ENAK MERLIN.
Artos walked to the wall, touching the words before bowing his head with a sigh.
“Do you know what the words mean, Artos?”
“I do. This is an ancient language. One I’ve not seen written by anyone for a very long time. It means ‘Child of Merlin’ in the old tongue.”
“Merlin? You mean the evil old sorcerer from children’s stories?”
Artos looked at Ellie and, for some reason, seemed hurt by her words. Under his breath, he muttered, “The victors write history.” Then he stared at the wall. Finally, he said, “Let’s just say history has misunderstood the man that Merlin was. The children of Merlin and his consort, Morgan le Fay, overthrew their father in rebellion against his teachings. It was they who branded him evil.”
“What does this have to do with Ricky? Maybe he’s a follower of Merlin’s teachings.”
“No,” Artos said. “This means that Ricky is a direct descendant of Merlin’s son, Fenris. I’d suspected it for a long time but hoped he would rise above his family’s history of treachery and guile. I was wrong.”
“You say it as though he’s gotten away. You sound like you’re giving up.”
“Far from it, Ellie. We will see Ricky again. Until then, we must do what we can to protect you. I shall speak to your parents, and provide some security for the time being, just in case. Hopefully, we’ll be able to locate him before too long. He can’t have gone far in the few hours since you left this place.”
Ellie looked around the room again, wondering if the old man was right. Ricky could be anywhere in the city, or even beyond. And she suspected that they’d never find him unless he wished to be found.
Ellie left the basement with Artos, hoping that she had left Ricky behind, too.
CHAPTER 10
Ricky let the curtain slide back into place after watching Ellie and Artos climb back into the limo.
Mr. Gunderson, ever the attentive assistant, held the door open until they’d climbed inside and then returned to his position in the driver’s seat. Then the limo left the curb.
The room was dark, but Ricky didn’t mind. This home’s occupant obviously hadn’t paid his electric bill. Judging by the spoiled food in the fridge and the cold baseboard heating units lining some of the walls, the power had been dead for a while.
He turned to look at the home’s former owner, seated in a corner chair. The withered husk of the man who had once lived here was the first successful human victim of Ricky’s new process.
Ellie had been the first, though he’d been unable to finish. It worked well the second time around, and Ricky felt invigorated by the new, raw power.
He turned back to the table, which was barely illuminated by the muted sunlight coming through the single window. His eyes fixed on the identity papers belonging to the old man, a chanter of limited powers and even less imagination. He had believed Ricky’s ploy offering him a chance to win a free steak dinner in exchange for a few survey questions. He’d invited Ricky into his humble apartment without question.
Looking at the papers laid out on the table before him, Ricky drew on the powerful magic filling him, channeling his magic at the photo ID.
The black and white picture changed to look like Ricky. Then he altered the rest of the man’s ID, changing his race from chanter to middling, and filling in the vital stats to match his own.
The last step was to create a new name. The task made Ricky pause. It must have meaning. A name without meaning was useless and offered no connection to the past or future.
After a minute’s thought, he leaned forward and directed a delicate flow of magic to the spot on the ID where the name had been. The words ENAK MERLIN appeared. Ricky considered them for a moment before smiling and touching the letters with the tip of his finger.
The letters rearranged themselves, reversing direction on the plastic card.
He eyed the result with a smile.
Perfect.
Time to alter the rest of the documents.
Ricky leaned over the other papers and began repeating the process of changing the name and vital stats for his new identity, altering the birth certificate, work papers, and school diplomas.
He finished. He stood and stretched. The meticulous work had taken more time than he’d expected, but it had been worth it.
Ricky Canter was reborn and ready to embark on the grand quest to restore his family to power, and himself, to their rightful place in the world.
Mother would be so proud.
He picked up the papers and placed them in an envelope, saving the photo ID for last. He held up the plastic card and looked at it.
“Nilrem Kane,” he said aloud, tasting his new name. He laughed at the powerful history hidden within it. “I like the sound of that.”
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE WORLD OF THE CHARM RUNNER?
With magic banned and now against the law, one chanter has a spell that could change everything …
Winnie Durham just wants is to run an honest business selling magical items at her beloved store, Charmed, so she can take care of her mother’s declining health. But when a law is passed outlawing magic, Winnie must find a new way to make a living, and fast.
Caught between Resolution 84, her mother’s escalating medical bills, and a vow to never deal in the dark magic of the Sable trade, an opportunity comes along that is too good to refuse, and Winnie is hurled into a world that puts her at odds with everything she thought she stood for.
CONTINUE WITH THE BROKEN THRONE SERIES
Click here to get THE CHARM RUNNER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jamie Davis, RN, NRP, B.A., A.S., is a nationally recognized medical educator who began educating new emergency responders as a training officer for his local EMS program. As a media producer, he has been recognized for the MedicCast Podcast (MedicCast.com/blog), a weekly program for emergency medical providers like EMTs and paramedics, and the Nursing Show, a similar program for nurses and nursing students. His programs and resources have been downloaded over 6 million times by listeners and viewers.
Jamie lives and writes at his home in Maryland. He lives in the woods with his wife, three children, and a dog.
Jamie’s other books include the Extreme Medical Services series, The Eldara Sister series and the upcoming Accidental Traveler series. You can check them out at http://jamiedavisbooks.com. His Broken Throne series is published by Sterling & Stone LLC.