by Tom Larcombe
* * *
Some minor persuasion convinced Anne to take the other children with her back to her own house. They were out the door in under twenty minutes. Michael thought that the earliest the oily man would show up would be around seven-thirty. He had Anne and the kids on the way back to her place by seven-twenty.
“Phew, that was too close for comfort,” Michael said. “The kids might even pass him on his way here. But at least they should be safe.”
“Now how about you? How do we make sure you're safe?” Rynn asked.
“I'm not as worried about that, especially after you restored my Water magic to me. If the man from the Board doesn't know I have that back, he's in for a surprise. I still remember how to do most of the things I used to with it. Although, it's stronger now. I kept working to increase the strength of my Earth magic and evidently that carried over.”
“So, what do we know?” she asked.
“A man is coming up here, with two muscle types. He claims to be from the Board. If he really is, then we can count on him being a wizard. I don't know about the muscle types, but I'd guess that if they have any magic, it won't be anything spectacular.”
“We also know that he plans to evict you, unless that's just a cover story for him trying to kill you outright,” Rynn added.
“Yeah, I'm pretty sure he knew the sheriff would turn him down when he asked for help. But it looks better for him now since he actually asked.”
“What do we have in our favor?” Rynn asked.
“Well, I know the terrain. I have my Water magic back and I'm guessing they're unaware of that, and you're here, which is also something they probably don't know.”
“Don't forget the little Fae. If they've adopted you, they're liable to lend a hand somehow,” Rynn said.
“And Calvin, he doesn't like to see people threatening me either,” Michael added.
Rynn snorted.
“What's the crow going to do?”
Michael bit his tongue and stopped himself from explaining what Calvin had already done for him. Instead, he tried to focus on planning.
“How do you feel about playing god?” he asked Rynn.
She looked blank.
“Staying hidden at an upstairs window with a rifle and your magic? Picking who dies? Never mind, I guess you missed that one.”
Rynn shook her head.
“I get it, you want me to play sniper. I just never heard it referred to that way.”
“You don't see many movies, do you?” Michael asked.
“No, I go in theaters and sometimes stuff goes nuts around me if I like the movie too much.”
“That's part of the reason I developed some of the things I did. You can ground that out, you know? Attach a crystal to yourself appropriately and the magical interference ends up stored in it.”
“Michael, planning?”
“Oh, sorry. So, do you want to play sniper? Or more accurately, are you willing to play sniper?”
“I'll do it. I'd rather be out there with you, but I don't trust the Board. They're liable to try something, even if you willingly submit to whatever they have planned,” Rynn said.
Michael nodded in agreement.
“Come with me for a moment,” he said.
He led Rynn to his gun safe.
“I recommend the Mini-14. It's lighter weight and holds more rounds.”
“Nope. Are those Garands I see in there?” Rynn asked. “That's what dad used when he taught me to shoot a rifle. I'll take one of those.”
Michael slung the Mini-14 over his own shoulder. The extra magazines went into his pockets. He offered Rynn her choice of the Garands and showed her the ammo and spare clips.
“They won't want to do anything out front where the town could see it,” Michael said. “So let's set you up at one of the back windows. If he really is here to kill me, then I'll probably fall back towards the mine buildings. Having the water from the stream close to me will make things easier and faster than if I have to condense it out of the air first.”
Rynn picked the window where she had the best all-round view of the land behind the house. There were a couple of blind spots where the mine buildings blocked her view, but she could see the rest of the area well.
“I'll go downstairs. If he comes right here from the sheriff's office when he finds out he's getting no help, it'll only be a couple more minutes before he arrives,” Michael said.
He poured himself a glass of water, sat on the back porch, and leaned the Mini-14 against the wall where it was readily available. Then he stretched his Water magic, testing it again. The water in the glass quickly froze, turned to slush, turned back to water, and then developed a minor whirlpool.
He nodded, satisfied that he could use it the way he remembered and had sufficient control to not break the glass.
He almost didn't hear the knock on the front door. When he did, he called out.
“I'm out back, come around the side of the house.”
A man came around the corner, by himself. His black hair was slicked back and loaded with some sort of hair treatment. He was a bit shorter than Michael and had let himself go. A paunch stretched the front of the button down shirt he wore and Michael's first impression was of a fifties greaser all dressed up. Now he understood why Darren had called him the oily man.
“My name is Raymond. You would be Michael? Michael Hart?”
“That's me, what can I do for you?”
“First off, I'm looking for Joshua.”
“I'm sorry, he isn't here.”
A look of annoyance crossed Raymond's face.
“What do you mean he isn't here? He's supposed to be with you all the time.”
“Well, he isn't here now, so...”
Raymond drew himself up. He took a deep breath and let it out. Then he puffed himself up.
“Fine, then. I suppose I'll just have to proceed without speaking to him first. I'm from the Board and I'm here—”
Michael took great glee in interrupting Raymond's officious speech.
“Oh, hey, you're with the Board?” he said. “Then I can give you Joshua's message. He asked me to tell anyone from the Board that showed up that he quit.”
Raymond was taken aback and thrown off his stride.
“What do you mean he quit?”
“A few nights back, when things starting going sour? He tried to call his family and when his wife and kids didn't answer the phone, he told me to tell you guys that he quit. Then he took off in a hurry. I hope his family is okay, I kinda like the guy,” Michael said.
Raymond muttered something under his breath.
“What was that?” Michael asked.
“Nothing.”
“Good, I'd hate to think I heard you say that Joshua and his family wouldn't be okay when the Board was through with them. That would start us off on the wrong foot here.”
“As if things aren't already going awry from the plan,” Raymond said.
“What, you got a plan? What's the plan then?” Michael asked, forcing his voice to sound cheerful.
If I keep this guy off-balance and stall him, Rynn has a better chance of spotting the muscle. I'm sure he didn't show up without them, so they must be somewhere close by.
“No, I don't have a plan.”
“Okay, since Joshua isn't here, is that all? I mean, heck of a trip to miss the guy you wanted to talk with, but I need to get working on my garden,” Michael said.
He got up and walked off the porch, headed for the tomato plants. It took Raymond a moment to realize that Michael was just walking away from him. When he realized that he'd been dismissed like some flunky, he turned and followed.
“You like tomatoes?” Michael asked. He plucked one off a plant and tossed it to Raymond before continuing.
“Try that one. They're coming in early this year, really tasty too.”
Raymond raised the tomato and almost took a bite before stopping himself.
“What is this?” he asked. “What do you
think you're doing?”
“I'm doing my chores. I'm sorry the guy you wanted to talk to isn't here, but I can't change that. It doesn't mean I don't have work to do though, so I'm doing my work,” Michael said.
“Joshua isn't the only one I needed to speak to, I need to speak with you as well,” Raymond said.
Michael sighed in mock exasperation.
“Then why didn't you say so?”
“I tried, but you kept interrupting me.”
“I only interrupted you once. Since you were interested in Joshua, when you said you were from the Board I passed along his message. I figured you'd want to know.”
Michael noticed the upstairs curtain twitch once, then a second time. He glanced around and saw two areas shining with the little Fae's glitter.
Good, the little Fae are helping Rynn. Now I can stop playing the idiot, he thought. But I do need to keep him off-balance. I bet he'll be easy to piss off, he's halfway there already.
Michael looked at Raymond as though he were an insect about to be squashed underfoot.
“So Ray, lay it out. What are you here for?” Michael said.
He started to work on a shield, taking it far enough along that he could finish raising it in an instant.
“My name is Raymond, not Ray.”
“Sure Ray, what are you really here for? I figure Joshua was probably supposed to be your backup or something.”
“I'm here to inform you that your services are no longer required. Your employment with the Board is terminated. You are to remove yourself from these premises immediately.”
“Sorry Ray, that's not how it works,” Michael said. “It might be thirty years old, but I still have my copy of the contract. It was a generic version they had me sign and it states that I have fourteen days to remove myself if my employment is terminated. So, I'm going to have to ask you to leave this property.”
“We own this property. You can't kick me off it,” Raymond spluttered.
“I only have your word that you're with the Board. Show me some identification that proves it.”
Raymond's face grew purple with rage.
“Careful there Ray, you don't want to give yourself a stroke, do you?” Michael asked.
Raymond raised one arm in the air and clenched his fist twice. Michael snapped his shield the rest of the way up just before two gunshots rang out.
The shield was six inches thick and made from water which raced around Michael faster than a whirlpool. Anything with enough velocity that tried to penetrate the shield would have its trajectory redirected at a right angle.
Raymond dove to the ground as one of the bullets fired at Michael whizzed by close to his head after it was redirected.
Another gunshot rang out, this one deeper in tone than the previous two. When Michael was fired on again, there was only a single bullet this time.
The Garand barked a second time and Michael looked down at Raymond.
“You're missing your muscle Ray. I think they were involuntarily terminated, just like you were trying to do to me. So what are you going to do now?”
Raymond glared up at Michael.
“Will you just shut up?” Raymond yelled.
Michael felt the ring in his pocket grow warm. He wondered what effect Raymond expected to occur. He didn't feel threatened by the situation at the moment, so he stayed silent.
“Finally, something works the way it's supposed to,” Raymond said.
He slowly stood and brushed the dirt off of his clothing.
“Walk towards the porch,” Raymond said.
Michael started walking towards the house, his shield still raised in case Raymond tried something.
“Stop,” Raymond called when Michael was midway between the garden and the porch.
Michael stopped.
“Turn around.”
When Michael turned around Raymond had a shield of his own raised. It shimmered in the air in front of him like a heat wave.
“Now you'll get what you deserve you mouthy little son of a bitch,” Raymond said.
Michael lost his desire to play along.
“No, now I'll get to avenge my mother. You bastards from the Board let her die when a hospital trip would've saved her and now you have the gall to badmouth her? You're history dude.”
Raymond froze in shock when Michael stopped following orders. He hesitated for just a moment.
Michael had been angry with the Board for years. But now he was in a rage, a cold rage. Michael drew on the water from the stream and in a heartbeat there was a moat around Raymond. The water shimmered and froze as more appeared on top of it. Raymond was half surrounded by ice when he finally reacted.
Raymond began to levitate. He lifted off the ground, raising himself out of the ice. Michael's next batch of water arrived when Raymond's knees were level with the top of the existing ice. This time, the water flooded Raymond's body from the knees down and froze there, holding him in place.
Michael shook his head.
“Don't think you're getting away that easily. I'm not done with you yet.”
Raymond gestured and a blast of air struck Michael's shield, sending him staggering. A crackling, hissing noise filled the air, like water striking hot grease. When Michael regained his balance, Raymond and the large chunk of ice encircling his lower legs were farther up in the air.
Raymond's shield flashed simultaneously with the shot Michael heard. The bullet didn't hit Raymond, only his shield, but it sent him tumbling through the air, back towards the garden.
Michael sprinted to the porch and grabbed his rifle. Then he ran back out into the yard and did some rough calculations. He positioned himself and shot at Raymond who tumbled farther out into the yard, and closer to the stream.
A pillar of fire enveloped Raymond, but Michael saw that it didn't penetrate through the shield.
Michael took another shot, driving the floating wizard towards the stream. He didn't look directly overhead until he heard Rynn scream.
“Michael, look up! Move!”
There was a vortex of dark clouds directly overhead, with a funnel stretching down towards him.
Michael sprinted forward until he was right under Raymond.
“Think about it Ray, if that thing comes for me now, who's it going to get first?” he called over the sound of rushing wind.
The funnel retreated into the sky, but the vortex remained, and grew darker. Lightning started to flash along the bottom of the dark clouds.
There's no way he's doing this with his innate power. He must be using a crystal. I wonder if I can...
Michael sent a sliver of his consciousness up into the sky. The shield Raymond was using didn't keep his consciousness out, it traveled right through the shield. Michael scanned with his Sight, looking for a crystal or other energy storage device. He found two, one in either pocket. Raymond was tapping one of them at the moment so Michael wrapped that crystal in the fragment of his consciousness and tried to drain it, just as he would the crystals from the mine.
He didn't have another crystal to store the power in so he simply grounded it out into the soil beneath him. Energy began to flow through him, starting at the crystal, traveling down the tether from his consciousness to his body, through his body, and into the ground. The crystal, with its ordered power flows as opposed to the chaotic ones he was used to working with, drained in seconds.
Michael's consciousness returned to his body just in time to spot a ball of lightning closing in on him. He spared a glance upwards towards Raymond.
Raymond was drifting back down. Michael sent his consciousness out again, targeting the second crystal he'd seen. He glanced back and saw that the ball lightning was right on top of him now. It began to spin, hurling out bolts of blue-white electricity.
The smell of ozone preceded the first bolt of lightning by a brief moment. He braced himself and kept his grounding connection open.
Then the lightning struck him, over and over. He was woozy after the first two strikes,
exhausted after the third. When the fourth one hit him, he lost his ability to ground them out into the soil.
Michael tried to concentrate, but the agony overwhelmed him. He tried to transform his agony into something he could use, but it was too much. The pain bore him to the ground.
The screech of a crow and an indignant cry from Raymond signaled a moment's respite. He looked up and saw that Raymond's shield was gone and Calvin had just struck him in the face. It looked like the crow had missed Raymond's eyes by less than an inch. The two second reprieve Michael gained from Calvin's attack allowed him to reorient himself. He wrapped his consciousness around the second crystal again and started pulling the power out of it.
Raymond glared murderously at Michael. He gestured with his hands and Michael spun just in time to be struck by a final bolt of lightning, several times larger than the previous ones.
Michael no longer had his ground connection, he hadn't thought to re-establish it during the brief lull in the attack. The blue-white arc struck him and he spasmed.
He ground his teeth, in an attempt to not bite through his tongue. Then he pulled on the energy from Raymond's crystal, trying to create something to lessen the effect of the lightning. When he drew on the energy, it was more difficult than normal. It felt as though he were pulling it through another current of power. He reversed his efforts when he realized what was happening. He sent power back towards the crystal and the electrical charge of the lightning bolt found the conduit he'd created and raced up it.
A loud explosion was followed by screams of pain. The air took on a pink haze as tiny drops of blood fell to the ground. Michael glanced up and saw that when the crystal exploded it had taken a portion of Raymond's thigh with it.
Michael lined up a final shot with his rifle. When he fired, the bullet struck Raymond, who was already falling out of the sky. The shot pushed him out over the stream.
Michael glanced at the water and it roared upwards in a spout. He closed his fist and the waterspout, centered around Raymond, froze solid in an instant. The effort taxed Michael enough that he had to either sit down or fall down. He compromised and fell into a sitting position, staring at the stream.
He sat for several minutes, waiting to see if Raymond would reappear. When he glanced behind him, the vortex of dark clouds was dissipating. Finally he relaxed and his adrenaline stopped pumping.