Juan grinned. “Everybody does.”
I left my truck parked near the coffee shop and climbed into the back of Juan’s white van. He had a dozen different decals for various companies, and he slapped the local power company’s logo on each side of the van.
In the back of the vehicle, I changed into the company’s uniform, complete with an authentic-looking nametag that identified me as Rick Smithers. I had no idea how Diana or Juan had gotten the uniform, but it fit me perfectly. Then I sat in the front passenger seat as Juan drove.
When we got to Medina’s well-maintained, two-story brick house, I jumped out with a real gas detector in hand. After striding up to the door, I rang the bell.
No answer. A few seconds later, I rang again, and I kept ringing like our lives depended on it.
A minute later, a man with a groggy voice yelled through the door, “I was in the shower. What is it?”
“Power company, sir. We’ve found a gas leak in your yard!”
As Medina unbolted the door, I used the hand I’d left in my pocket to spray a small amount of the chemical they use to make natural gas stink. By the time the door opened, the chemical had filled the air.
Medina obviously smelled it, because he said, “Holy shit! What—”
It distracted him just long enough for me to push him back inside and bolt the door behind me. “I challenge you for magical power!”
Then I froze in place.
He had ten seconds to run, but he must’ve been groggy. For a few seconds, he paused to figure out what was happening. Then he screamed, “You fucking asshole!”
Something about sorcerer culture made them cocky as hell. I’d only met eight, but not one of them had run from a fight. Neither did Medina.
The buzzing in my ears began as I unfroze. He’d already taken a fighting stance. Not like a boxer’s; more like an Asian fighter’s, except that Medina was wearing a gray bathrobe.
Because of my size advantage, brawling was better than trading spells. I shuffled forward, trying to punch him.
He slipped sideways—damn, he could move fast—and spun on one leg. The ball of his raised foot caught me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me.
I bent over, gasping for breath.
He didn’t hesitate for a second. Using his knee, he smacked me in the forehead, which knocked me backward onto the hardwood floor. Then he wrapped his hands around my neck and choked me. Within seconds, my vision was narrowing to a tunnel.
Close to passing out, I smashed the heel of my hand against his chin and knocked him backwards. He rolled over and immediately landed on his feet. The son of a bitch was obviously a trained martial arts fighter. But before he could hit me again, I thought, Holarthon, protégé!
A half-assed wall formed around me. It wasn’t enough to keep much magic out, but it did stop his body. His head connected with the barrier and bounced off. Then he dashed for the kitchen.
Rather than attack, I concentrated on my memory of the limestone outcropping at Carter Pass. Once ward strengthened considerably, I chased after him.
He ran out the back door, onto a redwood deck, and down the steps to the lawn. After bending down behind a hot tub, he silently launched some kind of lightning. It hit my ward and surrounded it as I was running across the deck.
Little of the spell got through to me. When my head cleared, I kept after him. Time to finish this.
I stretched out my hand and yelled, “HOLARTHON, CHOQUE!”
Yellow lightning burst from my fingers and shot for his head, but at that instant, he ducked behind the hot tub. My bolt flew harmlessly over him.
I was tempted to jump on him for a change, but he’d taught me a rude lesson. Play to your strength, idiot.
So, I stuck with spells. As I got closer, he dashed from his hiding place to behind a small tool shed.
I thought of how Raul Escobar had slaughtered my family back in Oklahoma, preying on the weak because he could, just like Medina was preying on a family here.
I circled the shed opposite to his direction, and when he came around the corner, I pointed my staff at him and screamed, “HOLARTHON, CHOQUE!”
White lightning fired so strongly that I staggered backwards. The bolt hit him in the side of his head and left a pattern of tiny lines like a spider web across his skin. He convulsed once and dropped to the ground. The buzzing in my ears stopped. He’d lost consciousness with his eyes still wide open in surprise.
-o-o-o-
AFTER I’D CAUGHT MY breath, I nudged him in the side with my foot. He remained out cold, eyes peering straight ahead. I hoped I hadn’t killed the bastard, but the memory of my family dying was still searing enough to create huge rage.
I bent over and slapped his cheeks a couple of times. He blinked. It took him a minute to come around, but then he sat up. A crow cawed from the sky and landed on the fence not far from us. Maybe he’d sensed a fresh kill, but not today.
“Can you walk?” I asked.
“Yes, Master.”
“Then stand,” I said. “Who taught you to fight like that?”
“Sensei Egami.”
“Is he a sorcerer who teaches karate?”
Medina nodded.
I obviously wasn’t going to learn from a sorcerer, but I needed to find out what this son of a bitch already knew. He’d almost cleaned my clock without casting a single spell.
“Don’t tell a soul about this fight.”
He bowed his head. “Yes, Master.”
“I claim the spoils of victory.”
The warm flow of magic poured into me, but this guy hadn’t been that strong a magician. His real strength had been in hand-to-hand combat.
“How much do you have in your bank account?”
“Twelve thousand and something.”
“Write a check to the man you’ve been blackmailing for twice the money you’ve taken.”
He went to get his checkbook and wrote the check.
I took it. “Put some clothes on so you can come with me.”
Chapter 4
BY LUNCHTIME, LAURA HAD made me as good as new. She and I sat with Tess and Diana, sharing a pizza.
I waved a slice in the air. “The access road to Brainard Lake is going to be closed tomorrow, and it isn’t that far from the trailhead to Lake Isabelle. Laura and I are going. Are you two interested?”
“Sure,” Diana said.
Tess gave me a frown. “I have to teach this afternoon.”
Laura, Diana, and I started hiking at the trailhead near Brainard Lake. We didn’t bring horses because part of the trail was already icy. The heavy snow cover glistened in the bright sunlight. We all put on sunglasses to keep from burning our eyes, and we slathered suntan lotion on our faces.
Because of the ice, we walked carefully toward Lake Isabelle, each of us relying on our staff for better footing. We finally reached the lake and walked off the trail a short distance to the edge of the water. Even though it was a warm afternoon, all the shallow parts of the lake remained frozen.
I sat on the same large flat rock Laura and I had sat on the last time we’d visited. “This is where it all began for me—where I first consciously made magic.”
I told Diana about turning off my magical aura, then pointed at a stunted fir. “That tree inspired me, and I took a second trunk that’d broken off the back to make my staff.” I waved it in the air. “I’m glad to see the rest of the tree is still hanging on.”
I examined my staff, and I was surprised to see that Medina’s face had already made it onto the shaft alongside those of every other sorcerer I’d beaten so far. Just like magic.
Diana said, “No wonder you’re inspired by nature. This spot is amazing.”
It was. We were surrounded on three sides by towering granite peaks already covered with snow and ice. A small dazzling-white glacier clung to one steep cliff.
After a few minutes, Diana wandered off by herself around the lake,
and Laura and I sat and chatted about our first visit here.
Eventually, Diana called out to us and beckoned with her hand.
When we got close, she said, “I’ve stumbled across an injured bird.”
I looked at a huge brown lump under a bush. “It’s a golden eagle. I wonder what it’s doing way up here? They prefer the plains and lower mountains.” I picked it up and examined it. It was a male, I guessed from the size. “Oh, no, he’s almost dead. It looks like he’s been shot.”
“Ian,” Laura said, “I assume you know you’re getting his blood on your hands.”
I could smell blood mixed with dirt from where the eagle had bled. “Yeah, I’ll wash my hands off in a minute. I want to see if I can save him first. He’s pretty far gone.”
I cupped the eagle’s body in my hands and melded with my inner magical core.
“Wakonda, please heal him.” I willed the eagle’s body to go back to the condition it had been in before the gunshot.
Diana stared at me. “That’s it? Only one prayer?”
“With any luck,” I said. “I’ve learned from Holly that, if you do it right the first time, you don’t need to repeat yourself. Let’s hope I got to the poor guy in time.”
My chest filled with warmth and happiness, and the scent of catnip surrounded me. That was invariably the sign that someone up above had decided to grant my prayer.
The three of us all stared at the eagle. Over the next few minutes, it improved steadily.
Eventually, the bird moved his wings like he wanted to be free. I set him on open ground, and, after another few minutes, he spread his wings and flapped a few times. Then, with a jump, he flew about fifty feet before landing again. A moment later, he launched high into the sky.
His piercing cry echoed back from the surrounding mountainside.
Laura and Diana applauded, and the three of us watched the eagle as he circled back and swooped down toward us, then landed on a large rock nearby.
I sat on the same rock. His claws scratched the granite surface as he waddled closer to me, not graceful on the ground.
After we’d spent a few minutes mentally communing, I wandered over to the lakeshore, soaking in the view. All the while, the eagle stayed near me.
The steepest walls surrounding us were mostly free of ice, but the plants on the flatter ground were buried by the glistening snow. That bright blue sky contrasted wonderfully with the gray granite peaks.
Laura brought over my pack, which contained some snacks. I washed my hands as best I could using snow, and within a few seconds, they lost all feeling. Then I stuck them in the pockets of my coat to revive them. Damn, they hurt when the feeling returned.
Once I was back to normal, the three of us shared grapes, cheese, and a bottle of wine. It was turning out to be a perfect day in the high country.
I didn’t try to tame the bird because it’s illegal for citizens to own eagles. While we were hiking back, though, I could see the eagle soaring above us in the air. Each time he came within a hundred yards of me, I saw the world through his eyes. Even after we arrived back at the ranch, he still hovered above us, a tiny dot in the sky.
-o-o-o-
Monday, October 21st
Sullivan’s Animal Hospital, Boulder, Colorado
HOLLY AND I SPENT all morning saving several goats that had been hit by a drunk on a Harley who had failed to make it around a corner, and she taught me a new spell for healing to repair damaged joints.
This job was working out much better than I’d imagined was possible. She’d even hired a security guard to make sure no other sorcerers loitered around the hospital.
After we’d finished, she said, “After almost two months of learning to be a witch, you’re ready to qualify for the Red Level in the Mendile Order.”
I still wasn’t sure I wanted to be in any of the dozen or more Celtic witch guilds. Diana was pressuring me to join the Holar Guild, and I’d stalled on that so far. I preferred to get involved in an intertribal magic group, but according to my grandpa, Samuel Sitting Bear, there wasn’t one. He was a powerful medicine man in the Osage tribe, so he would know.
“I just don’t know enough about Mendile, and most of my power seems connected to Osage magic. What are the Mendile levels?”
“Just remember the rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. I’m a third level master, so, a Yellow Witch.”
“Hold off on qualifying me. I’m still sorting out the path I want to follow.”
Holly frowned but shut up about it, to my relief. To distract her, I told her about healing the eagle. When I got up at sunrise, he was perched on the top of the barn at the ranch. I hadn’t checked to see if he’d followed me down the mountain to town, but if he had, I hoped he was smart enough to stay away from most people.
“He’s wild,” she said. “And he makes his own choices. It’s quite a compliment that he trusts you so much.”
That warmed my heart. If he continued to stick around, I decided to call him Lazarus because I’d almost raised him from the dead.
-o-o-o-
LATER IN THE EVENING, I shared a pitcher of margaritas with Diana and Tess in the lounge. We were sitting close to a spectacular marble fountain that shot sprays of water into the air.
I asked, “What’s the latest on Oran?”
Diana swirled her drink with a straw. “No news. It’s like he isn’t interested in bothering us. He worked in our office today, mostly getting to know people. With that grin of his, he’s very popular, and he actually got some work done. I can’t figure him out.”
“Then, what about Hudson and his band of sorcerer scum?”
“I hear they have a handful of match fights coming to Brooks Gym,” Tess said.
I’d known that his headquarters was in town, but I’d never been inside.
Diana nodded. “I expected Oran to gravitate there, but there’s no sign yet that he’s mingling with the local sorcerers. Which is good for us, if it lasts.”
I sipped my margarita. It was better than most of the ones I’d tried in restaurants. “Tell me more about this whole gladiator business.”
“They schedule match fights all over the country,” Tess said. “It’s like our battles with them, street fighting with magic. Anything goes. Huge money prizes and lots of gambling. Some of them don’t come out alive.”
That sounded typical for them. “Do any sorcerers get away with avoiding fights?”
Tess shook her head. “You either get strong, or you get beaten. There are lots more slaves in their world, including many of their gladiators.”
“It’s their culture,” Diana said. “Hudson supposedly also sells lots of drugs and runs a network of female witches forced to be prostitutes. He’s making a fortune.”
“Why don’t we go directly after him?” I asked.
“Technically, you could,” Diana said. “But he’s a bureaucrat appointed by the regional slayer, Escobar. If you beat Hudson, another guy will take over tomorrow. We need to focus on their champions. They’re our real threat.”
“Thank God you took out Pestone,” Tess said. “I’m sure he was Hudson’s most powerful fighter at the time. That’s why he had to go outside to hire the one you fought at Holly’s hospital.”
I swigged down part of my drink. “What keeps him from hiring another hitman?”
Diana shrugged. “Mainly cost. Those guys get paid tens of thousands of dollars for each attempt. The last one told me he got paid twenty-seven grand, and Hudson doesn’t get any of that back. In fact, it’s yours because he’s your slave.” She wrote down a number and password. “Your account information. As for Hudson, he’ll need to raise a lot more cash before he can pay anyone to attack again.”
Tess sighed. “Well, dear master, what do you intend to do about Oran? He seems to be the looming threat. What’s the council doing about him?”
Diana avoided eye contact with Tess or me. “As long as he l
ies low, there’s little we can do. Just watch yourselves. I’m collecting as much information as possible on Oran, Hudson, and the gym. Good intelligence will help us stay safe.”
It didn’t sound like she had much of a plan other than to hope Oran didn’t bother us.
“On another subject,” I said. “What do you two know about karate?”
“No much,” Tess said. “Why?”
I gave her a sanitized version of my fight with Medina. “He’s terrific at hand-to-hand combat. I’d really like to get trained.”
Diana paused for a moment. “You can take lessons in the short term, but you really want to learn from whoever taught him.”
“I asked,” I replied. “It was a sorcerer, so we need to find a different teacher.”
She sighed. “I’ll add it to my to-do list.”
-o-o-o-
Friday, October 25th
A FEW DAYS LATER, Crystal approached me as I was leaving for the animal hospital. “I’ve made contact with Samuel again using the witches’ network. Diana signed him up.”
He and I hadn’t been able to communicate freely before, because the cops were monitoring all my calls. They were convinced that I had helped assassinate Cantor, the asshole sheriff in Oklahoma.
“We still need to be extremely careful,” I said. “Our network has hundreds of members. That makes it easier to hack.”
Crystal nodded. “That’s why it’s taken weeks for me to make contact. We can send direct messages over the server with full encryption. He’s coming back soon for another sweat ceremony.”
The first one had helped me make a stronger connection to the Great Mystery Spirit, so I was pleased to hear there’d be another one. “Perfect. When?”
“Early Sunday.”
-o-o-o-
Saturday, October 26th
Brigid’s Community Ranch, Boulder County, Colorado
WHILE I WAS PLAYING with Christina and Rascal in Laura’s apartment that morning, Diana dropped by.
“This will only take a minute,” she said. Her eyes glinted with excitement. “I wanted to follow up with you about the Holar guild. I’ve contacted the national headquarters, and they insist that you train with another Holar master before they’ll induct you. You’ll have to travel.”
Sanctuary: The Sorcerers' Scourge: Book Two Page 4