Wanderers 4: A Tough Act to Follow (The Wanderers)

by Richard Bamberg

  “No, child, you don’t know what you offer. Owing a god a favor is serious business. I can’t let you make that exchange.”

  “It’s not you promising the favor. It’s me. I’m a grown woman. I can make my own decisions.”

  “No, you can’t. You are mine. Any exchange of gifts or favors with the other gods would have to be through me and I say no.”

  “That’s not fair, damnit!”

  “Fair? What has fair got to do with it?” Verðandi asked.

  I took a step toward her. “Okay, if you don’t understand fair, then how about right. It’s not right that you refuse to let me make a trade to restore Rafe.”

  Verðandi stared at me for a pair of seconds before shaking her head. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

  “But–”

  Verðandi disappeared.

  “Son-of-a-bitch!” I shouted.

  I felt Cris’s hand on my shoulder and I turned toward her. “Damn it, it isn’t fair.”

  Cris put her arms around me and pulled me in tight. “I know, Tess. Life is rarely fair and the gods play by their own rules. You shouldn’t expect fairness from them.”

  I hugged her tightly and tried not to cry. I was a Wanderer, after all.

  “But she’s supposed to be on our side. We’re her descendants for God’s sake.”

  Cris’s lips caressed my cheek and I turned toward her. She kissed me tenderly on the lips and then drew back. Her fingers wiped at the moisture on my cheeks and then she kissed me again.

  “It’ll be all right. I’ll go call Abigail and see if the priest is still around. I’m sure I can get him to help Rafe.”

  I nodded and then glanced toward him. He hadn’t moved from his rigid position.

  “What are we going to do about him?” I asked.

  Cris moved to him and studied his face. “Well, since Verðandi didn’t say how long he was going to be like this, we probably should get him in the house.”

  “Okay, you make the call, I’ll bring him in,” I said.

  “You can carry him by yourself?” Cris asked with a trace of doubt in her tone.

  “Trust me. I may still be just an apprentice, but I’m a Wanderer Apprentice. I can handle moving him.”

  “Okay,” Cris nodded. “I’ll hold the door for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  I focused energy into my muscles and as the strength flowed into me, I studied Rafe. His limbs were frozen in the process of moving and he would be awkward to carry. I took a firm grip on the back of his pants at the waist and lifted. He spun around his center of gravity and I had to grasp the collar of his shirt to keep his face from planting into the ground. I shifted him a little to improve my hold. He may have been well within my ability to lift and carry, but he was also difficult to carry without bumping him against my shins as I walked across the yard toward the back door. Finally, I just lifted him over my head and that settled that. At least until I reached the screen door.

  Cris stood to the side holding the door open and watching me. When I reached her, she shook her head. “I don’t think he’ll fit through the door like that.”

  I lowered Rafe to his feet in front of the opening and studying him. I could see that Cris was right. His legs and arms were set much too wide to fit.

  “So, do we just leave him here until he wakes up?” I wondered.

  “Maybe we can speed up the process. Want to try?”

  “Yes, we could get a bucket of ice water and throw it on him,” I suggested.

  Cris stared at me as if I had lost my mind.

  “It’s a joke,” I said. “Well, at least partially a joke. You have a better idea?”

  “Do you often throw water on him?” Cris asked.

  “Only when he’s being a dick. Or when he pisses me off. Or sometimes just because he deserves it,” I added.

  Cris grinned. “Sounds like you know how to handle him.”

  “Sometimes, but it’s not like he hasn’t dunked me in cold streams when I wasn’t ready for it. Sometimes I think he’s actually the age he appears to be. Other times, he displays the restraint and wisdom of his true age.”

  Cris chuckled. “I don’t think men ever truly grow up. It’s just more pronounced in Rafe because his body is still so young. His hormones levels are probably about the same as a teenager’s.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, definitely. Okay, you suggest something to wake him.”

  Cris smiled and her eyebrows rose for a second.

  “What are you thinking?” I said.

  “Traditionally, you kiss someone to break a sleep spell.”

  “Hah, I think I like my idea better, but give it a try if you want.”

  Cris moved to Rafe, cradled his face in her hands, and raised her lips to his. I waited patiently, still holding on to Rafe’s collar and waistband. For a few seconds, there was no sign of an effect, and then Rafe’s hands moved to Cris’s head and held her.

  I gave them another dozen or so seconds and then cleared my throat. “Really? Don’t you two think we have more important things to take care of?”

  Rafe and Cris slowly separated and they both turned toward me.

  I let go of Rafe and stepped back.

  “I’m just saying; you’ve plenty of time for smooching later.”

  Chapter 29

  raphael

  After learning from Abigail that the priest was indeed still alive. We got his address and dressed for traveling.

  After I leathered up with boots, pants, jacket, and gloves, I returned to the rear porch and stared out at the colorful azaleas that formed an informal border between Cris’s back yard and the thick pine forest. The ladies were still changing and while I would normally enjoy watching them dress, I had wanted a few minutes to my own thoughts.

  My nerves were still on edge from the open hostility I’d displayed toward Verðandi. While I often didn’t appreciate her lack of openness in my work for her, I had never before felt such animosity toward her. Was it just the night magic taint that had brought the hostility out or was I actually still upset with her. All of the things I’d said to her were true and had upset me more than my normal disappointment in her refusal to provide anything remotely useful in the way of intelligence about my foes or tasks. Was the night magic just giving me a more aggressive attitude or was it something more.

  My thoughts were interrupted midstream by a loud snap. For a moment, I couldn’t decide what the sound had been, but then it came again and yet again. In the forest behind Cris’s house, something was snapping branches or maybe trees. Each snap was louder than the one before and, if my unaided ears were capable of localizing the sound, nearer.

  Uh-oh.

  Something was coming. Something big enough to sound like a bulldozer going through trees. Only the lack of a diesel engine’s roar told me that it was nothing that mundane.

  Turning toward the house, I raised my voice. “Tess, this would be a good time for you to get out here.”

  The rear door opened a second later and my apprentice, fully dressed from chin to toe in leathers, stepped out onto the porch.

  “What is that racket?” Tess asked.

  “Good question, but first I suggest you put up a shield and unlimber your crossbow.”

  “Done,” she said as she slid the crossbow off her right shoulder. As the bow’s strap slid out from under it, the wyvern protested plaintively and shifted from her right shoulder to her left. Tess notched a bolt as I opened the screen door and went down the steps to the ground.

  “What on earth is that noise?” Cris asked as she joined us, pulling the house door shut behind her. She wore slacks and hiking boots below a thin blouse and a light leather jacket that was zipped up tightly against the swell of her breasts. Her long brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and held with a stretchy.

  “I’m afraid we’re about to find out,” I said as I pulled my Colt Model 1911 from my jacket. I cocked the hammer back and looked at what I had been reduced to. A damn gun. I’d always
liked the Colt, but it was for emergencies, or for stopping a mundane threat when I didn’t want to reveal my true self.

  I held out my left hand and Tess immediately took it in her right. Seconds later, we were meshed. Immediately, the forest became sharper as I was able to see through Tess’s eyes. She’d already triggered her senses tat and everything stood out in bright relief. I could see her shield shimmering in the air around us. We dropped hands and I stepped far enough to one side to let Cris come up close between us.

  “Any idea what’s coming?” Tess asked as she raised the butt of her crossbow to her right shoulder.

  “Not a clue. Powerless Wanderer, remember?”

  “I remember. I just–”

  She stopped suddenly as our guest made its appearance. Pines, nearly fifty feet tall, separated and one snapped off with another explosive sound as a monstrosity appeared at the edge of Cris’s yard. A moment later, two more appeared to either side of the first. They were massive creatures, mostly man-like in appearance, if men grew to more than forty feet in height. Their shoulders had to be more than twelve feet across. Arms, with biceps as thick as a horse’s belly, ended in hands that could wrap all the way around a car. Except these hands didn’t carry automobiles. They carried clubs that were shaped like baseball bats, if the ball was larger than a beach ball. All three were bearded, with brown and brown-gray beards that hung down to the top of some sort of gray animal hide that covered them from neck to knee. With a start, I realized that the hides were from elephants. Damn, you could still see the trunk of the elephants hide swinging between these creatures’ legs like some enormous penis.

  Above all else, the one distinguishing feature was the single colossal eye centered above the creatures’ noses.

  “Cyclops?” Tess asked.

  “I think the proper term is Cyclopes, members of the Titans in Greek mythology. They’re as powerful as the gods,” I responded.

  “Who the hell cares what the plural form is? What are they doing here?” Tess said with more volume than normal. Okay, maybe she was a little stressed that she was the only one with major fighting capabilities just now.

  “I think why they’re here is obvious, the how is what has me concerned. No one was supposed to know we were here.”

  “Can’t you worry about that later,” Cris asked. “They don’t look like they’re going to wait for you to ask questions.”

  She was right. The three Cyclopes were knocking the last of the trees out of their way and making the ground shudder as they stomped toward us.

  Bruno began growling and smoke streamed from his mouth. The little wyvern surprised me; he wasn’t trying to fly off or to hide behind Tess.

  “Boss?” Tess asked.

  “Drop your shield long enough to shoot the nearest and then put it back up,” I said, considering our other options. The handgun wasn’t going to be much use. It’d be like shooting a T-Rex. The bullet would probably not penetrate their skin. Hell, it probably wouldn’t penetrate their hide clothing.

  In one smooth motion, Tess raised the crossbow’s stock to her cheek, sighted, and released the bolt.

  There was less than one hundred feet for the bolt to cross, but that was enough time for the lead cyclops to see the danger. It put one massive hand up to protect its chest. The bolt struck the center of its palm and it bellowed it pain and anger. It dropped its club and clutched at its chest with its uninjured hand. The bolt had passed through the hand and embedded itself in the creature’s chest.

  The cyclops clutched the feather shaft between finger and thumb and yanked it free.

  Blood spurted from the wound in its chest, but the flow slowed immediately.

  “Hell, it can do a healing spell,” I said.

  Roaring, the cyclops threw the bolt to the ground and bent for its club.

  Meanwhile, the other two Cyclopes had come close enough to use their clubs. The nearest of the two started a swing that would knock more than the cover off the ball.

  “Don’t anchor your shield,” I said and immediately saw Tess shield separate from the ground.

  A second later, the bat struck the globular shape of her shield.

  Chapter 30

  Raphael

  The impact was enormous, even with the shield I felt that I might have to be checked for a concussion. Without an anchor, the shield rose as if it were a fly ball, with the three of us pinned to one side of it by the acceleration.

  We rose fast, higher than the nearest trees and continued to rise, crossing over the creek and sailing on toward the distant lake.

  “Holy cow!” Cris said.

  “When did you become Hindi?” I asked as I watched the Cyclopes and Cris’s house dropping away behind us.

  “What?” she asked, her voice confused.

  “Never mind,” I said with a grin. “Well, that worked better than I hoped for.”

  “What did? Did you mean for us to take off like a rocket?” Tess asked.

  “More like a fly ball,” I said. “Yes, I figured they’d either try to pound us into the earth or if they struck your shield from the side we’d go flying. That’s why I told you not to anchor it. We are overmatched by the three of them and getting away is the far safer play.”

  “And what would you have done if they’d decided to just pound us into the ground?” Tess asked.

  “Well, then we’d switch to plan B,” I said. “Heads up, we’re coming down.”

  “What’s plan B?” Cris asked.

  I grinned again. “I was still working on it when it became unnecessary.”

  We had passed our apogee and were descending on a ballistic trajectory that would drop us in the lake.

  “Now what?” Cris asked.

  In answer, I reached into my jacket and drew out the dog whistle at the end of its leather lanyard. I blew on it, two sharp blast.

  Bruno squeaked at the sound of the whistle and blew a smoke ring into my face.

  “What’s that do?” Cris asked.

  “It calls Beast, if he’s close enough to hear. Otherwise we’re going to get wet,” I said with another grin.

  “What’s so damn amusing?” Cris asked.

  “Nothing really. I just wish I’d taught Tess the levitation spell. Maybe next time.”

  “There’s Maia,” Tess said suddenly as she pointed to the west.

  “And Beast?” I asked, but I could already see him rising from the forest below Maia.

  I judged the distance between them and us. They weren’t going to get here before we hit the water. I put an arm around Cris, pulling her to me.

  “Tess, join us,” I said.

  We were all standing close at the bottom of Tess’s shield, but for my next trick, we needed to be very close.

  Tess slung her crossbow and slid into us until we all had arms around each other.

  “Okay, but is this going to keep us from getting wet?” Tess asked.

  I was surprised at her. As long as she kept power in her shield, we would stay dry. The lake wasn’t moving water. Now if we’d landed in a river…

  “We’ll see. Open your shield up above us; make it as wide as you can get it.”

  Tess smiled and nodded. “You mean like a parachute.”

  “Yep, the wider the better. Pour enough power into it to arrest our fall. It shouldn’t take too much to slow us down until Beast and Maia catch up.”

  Through our link, I felt Tess concentrating on expanding her shield. As soon as it was no longer surrounding us, the wind whipped at us, threatening to separate us. The shield reformed into a dome over us and then spread out in two dimensions. Instantly, we began to slow and the wind decreased. Tess strained harder, pushing more power into her shield and it expanded until it was at least eighty feet across.

  “Wow! You’re doing it,” Cris said.

  A minute later, with us still more than one hundred feet above the lake’s brown water, Beast and Maia flew under us.

  “What happened to you three?” Beast growled.

 
; “We’ll explain later. Let Cris and then me drop onto your shoulders,” I ordered.

  Beast maneuvered beneath us and we released our grips on Tess. Once Cris was safely aboard, I dropped down in front of her.

  “Okay, now move aside and let Maia get under Tess.”

  Beast dove lower and glided in a circle while Tess dropped onto Maia.

  Cris slid her arms around me and hugged me. “That was wild. Now what? Are you going back?”

  “Not hardly, at least not until I get my mojo back. We’ll go find that priest and see if he’ll help me.”

  Cris wiggled around for a second, trying to get comfortable on Beast’s massive form. She pulled in close and laid her cheek against my left shoulder. “I’m looking forward to this,” she said into my ear.

  “I’m so happy for you,” I said.

  I would have preferred she remain at her home and let Tess and I go see the priest alone. Anyone around us was in danger and until I had my powers restored, I couldn’t defend her. Cris had argued that the priest would remember her and it’d make him more likely to help me. You’d think a white magic user would be willing to do anything to reverse the effect of night magic, but that wasn’t my experience. I didn’t even want to have to tell him I was a Wanderer for fear that it might sway him against helping us. But the Cyclopes had shown that leaving her behind was not an option.

  Cris pulled herself tighter against me and her fingers went far lower on my belly than they needed to. “Lighten up, Rafe. This will be fun, if you go with the flow.”

  “That’s not my usual experience,” I said.

  I told Beast to head due north. We leveled off about two hundred feet above the pines and began to pick up speed.

  According to Abigail, this priest, a Monsignor Padalecki who was apparently a Protonotary Apostolic, an honorary title bestowed by the Pope himself, was semi-retired and lived on Lookout Mountain, outside Chattanooga, Tennessee. That was fortunate for us in two ways. One, we could be there in an hour or so. Two, the man wasn’t dead.

  Tess was handling navigation, as I didn’t want Cris trying to follow a map on her phone while holding onto me. Without my powers, I couldn’t do much to save her if something happened. Tess, on the other hand, could activate her shield and withstand a fall from a few hundred feet, not that I thought she’d ever fall off Maia. In the five or so months since she’d acquired her familiar, Tess had become an experienced flyer.