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

by Richard Bamberg

  “Okay,” I said reluctantly. “I admit it. Having the two women I’m closest to here together is about everything an old man could want or hope to get.” I waggled a finger at the two of them. “Don’t let it go to your heads. We won’t be together forever or for all that long in your case Cris. I may love having you here, but nothing has changed the fact that it’s dangerous for you to be around me.”

  “But yet, here I am,” Cris said as she moved toward me again.

  I put a hand up. “Cris, love, just now it’s dangerous for you to be anywhere. The target Rowle pinned on my back has revealed your connection to me. I don’t think you’d be safer elsewhere.”

  “Sounds like a justification for getting what you want,” Cris said.

  “Read me, if you don’t believe me. I still think it’s dangerous for you to be here, just probably no more dangerous than you being alone just now.”

  “You know he’s right,” Tess said putting an arm around Cris’s shoulders. “You know we’d both love to have you here, but anytime we aren’t here you would be next to defenseless against anyone bold enough to come after a Wanderer.”

  “But Rafe told me that no one comes after Wanderers, at least not twice.”

  I nodded, but then shook my head. “I’m not sure what’s changed, but something has. Before my first fight with Rowle back in Huntsville, hardly anyone ever came looking for my blood. Now it seems to happen regularly. Hell, before the big battle with here last November we even had mundanes attack us. That’s never happened before.

  “We’ve had several months of being left alone and things were starting to seem normal again, but ever since Verðandi informed us that Alex was reaped, it’s been just one thing after another. I expect that we won’t be safe here for long so we’re going to go on the offensive. Hunt Rowle down, take Alex away from him, and maybe put an end to these attacks.”

  “You really think Rowle could get those Cyclopes to come after us?” Tess asked.

  “I don’t know if he actually put them up to it or if it was just a by-product of everything else that’s going on. That’s another reason that it won’t be safe for Cris here after we settle with Rowle. If Rowle’s attempt at starting Ragnarök has kicked off events that are going to be spiraling in magnitude then it won’t be safe for any of us.”

  Cris slumped a little in Tess’s embrace. I could see the resigned disappointment in her body language and I wanted to comfort her, but it’d do little good. Our fates were not to be together.

  “Now where were we? Oh, yeah, you were bragging about knowing something about magic that I didn’t know,” I said.

  Cris brightened. “That’s right. You don’t know how to shield yourself from a locator spell.”

  “And you do?” Tess asked.

  “Certainly. If you’ve ever been stalked by an ex who happens to know magic, you learn how to protect yourself.”

  “Someone stalked you?” I asked with a bit of heat in my voice. “Have I met him?”

  “Who said it was a ‘him’?” Cris asked.

  “Whomever, are they still an issue? I’d be happy–”

  “Rafe, not everything needs a Wanderer to stop it. Please, I may not have your fighting abilities, but I can slap down a witchy stalker without too much trouble. Anyway, Abigail taught me a cloaking spell that prevents anyone from using your DNA to cast a locator spell on you.”

  “Well, well, that would definitely be useful for us.”

  “Do we have what we need to cast it?” Tess asked.

  “Sure, it’s mostly a spoken spell with just a drop of your blood to create the particular effect of hiding your DNA from anyone else’s spell,” Cris explained.

  “How long will it last?” I asked.

  “How long? Gees, I’m not sure. I used it the once and then forgot about it. I expect it faded away with time, but I didn’t really notice when it passed. It must have been at least a few weeks, but I’m not certain.”

  “A few weeks works for me. We’ll just renew the spell occasionally,” I said.

  Cris slipped out from under Tess’s arm and went to the table where she’d left her purse.

  She opened the bag and took out a paperback sized grimoire. She checked an index of spells and then flipped through the pages. I thought it odd that she couldn’t just command her grimoire to find what she wanted, but decided to wait until another time to point out something she didn’t know about magic. It might spoil her elation at knowing something the Wanderers didn’t know.

  “Here it is,” Cris said holding up the book.

  Tess bent and took out the knife she’d taken to carrying in her right boot. It wasn’t magical like mine, but a knife is often handy whether magical or not.

  Cris stared at Tess for a moment and then said, “Tess, what’s that for?”

  “You said we’d need blood for the spell.”

  “Damn, girl, you Wanderers are just too butch. I said we’d need a drop. You won’t need to open a vein.” Cris reached back into her purse and a few seconds later held up a small cloth wrapping.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Sewing kit.”

  “You carry a sewing kit in your purse?” Tess asked.

  “Well, I don’t need to carry a crossbow or a hunting knife so, yes, I carry a sewing kit,” Cris said.

  She went to the cabin’s circle, sat down, and then eyed us expectantly.

  First Tess and then I joined her in the circle.

  Tess and I meshed and then pulled Cris in with us.

  I directed a little energy into the circle and the protective dome formed above us.

  “Okay, what do we need to do?” I asked.

  “Just recite the spell and then prick your finger. Let the drop of blood fall onto the page and the spell will activate,” Cris said.

  “Sounds easy enough, after you, Rafe,” Tess said.

  I took the grimoire from Cris and turned it to face me. The spell was simple enough, four lines of text and no hand gestures required. While Cris opened her little kit and took out a needle, I read the words. I could feel the energy build as I finished reading. I held out my right hand and with a quick movement, Cris jabbed the needle into the tip of my finger.

  Hell, I flinched.

  Both girls smiled at that.

  I ignored them and squeezed the injured digit with my thumb until a drop of blood appeared. Holding my finger above the page, I squeezed again, and the drop fell onto the paper. There was a snap of power and the blood vanished from the page.

  “Did it work?” Tess asked.

  “I guess. You felt the power so something happened.”

  “Do you feel any different?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Why should he feel different?” Cris asked.

  Tess shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought he might be able to tell it was working.”

  Cris took my wounded digit and licked the remaining blood off it.

  “I thought wiccans didn’t use blood magic,” Tess said.

  “Only our own blood. We’d never sacrifice anything living.”

  “Oh. Okay, my turn.”

  I passed the grimoire to Tess and watched while she read the same spell. When finished, she held out her hand to Cris and received the pinprick without flinching. Then she gave me a smug look while she held her finger above the page and squeeze out a single drop of blood. The spell completed with a snap of power. Cris took a moment to put Tess’s finger in her mouth and sucked gently on it with a much sexier display than she done with mine.

  I felt my pants tightening and forced myself to look away.

  Both girls giggled and I felt their thoughts moving across me in a very suggestive fashion.

  “Hey, enough of that. We’ve got business to take care of,” I said and tried to avoid thinking of what they were suggesting.

  After a bit, they stopped giggling.

  “Sorry, Boss, you’re right,” Tess said.

  I felt Tess’s thoughts of
the two of them stripping off my clothes fade away and then Cris straightened and grew serious.

  “You’re right. I didn’t mean to distract you when you’re working.”

  “Thank you. You know I’m more than happy to please you both, but not when there’s work to do.” I took my small grimoire from a pocket and held it flat in my palm.

  “Show me what I seek.”

  The book opened and pages flipped by until it stopped at the locator spell.

  “Cool,” Cris said. “Can you show me how to make my grimoire do that or is it a Wanderer thing?”

  “I can show you, later. Now let me concentrate. I’ve never tried looking for someone related to me.”

  “We can help,” Tess said.

  “Of course, you may need this someday too,” I agreed. I always tried to include my apprentice in any magic I cast. It was the only way she’d learn.

  “Keep your needle ready, I’ll need another drop of blood,” I said.

  “Sure.”

  I pulled my phone from a pocket and called up Google Maps.

  “You’re using your phone in a spell?” Cris asked.

  I shrugged. “Well, this locator spell is for maps and not for something nearby. I figure the map program is as good as anything.”

  “Really, what if it just burns it up?” Cris asked.

  “Why would it do that?”

  It was Cris’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know, but advanced technology and magic is iffy at the best of times. Maybe you should get a paper map.”

  “I don’t think there’s a large map in the cabin. Either this will work or I’ll have to run to a book store for an atlas.”

  “It’s your phone,” Cris added.

  “What’s the matter, no faith in my abilities?”

  She grinned. “Oh, I have faith all right, but I’m from Missouri, you have to show me.”

  “I thought you were from Alabama,” Tess commented.

  I grinned. “It’s an old saying about having to prove things to people from Missouri. The state nickname is actually The Show Me State.”

  “Really, why?” Tess asked.

  I shrugged. “I have no idea. The saying goes as far back as the state itself.”

  I focused on the locator spell and then recited the words while I drew a glowing pattern in the air above the grimoire. When I’d read the words and finished the pattern, I held out my hand and Cris pricked the same finger. This time I managed to avoid flinching.

  Concentrating on the spell, I tried to focus on my mind’s image of Alex as I raised my finger to the glowing pattern. When the bloody spot on my finger touched the center of the pattern, there was a snap of power.

  The screen of my phone glowed and the image pulled back until a globe view of the Americas displayed. It swirled around, and then the bird’s eye view began a rapid descent into North America. For a moment, I thought it was coming to Colorado to show my location, but as it dropped lower, I saw it was focusing northeast of us. The image continued to zoom in until green mountains appeared, not the Rockies, the Black Hills. Somewhere west of Rapid City.

  I noticed an astringent odor just before there was a snap of power and the phone burst into flame.

  “Crap!” I said as I focused on pulling the flames energy away from the phone. I should have burned a chiller tat replacement. The quantity of energy was more than the three of us could safely pulled into ourselves. I dropped our meshing and the circle, picked up the flaming phone by the edge, and tossed it into the fireplace.

  I triggered my healing tat and stuck my blistered fingers in my mouth. “Damn, that smarts!”

  “What?” Cris asked.

  I realized that talking with my fingers halfway in my mouth did not come out intelligible. I removed them and repeated myself.

  “I would say so. Does the mighty Wanderer want me to kiss his boo-boo?” Cris asked with her lower lip poked out.

  “Don’t forget what Tess told you about being overly sassy,” I said and then blew on my fingertips. The blisters were already shrinking in size. In a few more minutes, I’d be able to cancel the tat.

  “Promises, promises.”

  I gave Cris one of my best icy glares and she smiled wide enough to produce dimples.

  “Did you get enough before it self-destructed?” Tess asked.

  “I think so. It looks like the Black Hills area. We’ll go there and then I’ll redo the locator spell to narrow their location.”

  “You’re going to need another phone,” Cris said.

  “Ya’ think? I’ll buy another burner before we leave town.”

  “Fly or drive?” Tess asked.

  “Depends on our familiars. If they’ve already changed once today, we’ll go in whatever form they’re in. If they haven’t, we’ll fly.”

  “Are you sure they’re back?” Cris asked.

  “Beast has no problems opening portals. He’ll be around here somewhere. I’ll whistle him up when we’re ready to go.”

  “Am I going with you or staying here?” Cris asked.

  I met her hopeful gaze. I was torn. Normally, I’d feel she’d be much safer here, well away from any fights that I might have, but after being attacked twice in the last twenty-four some odd hours, I was afraid to leave her alone. If someone tracked us here and attacked while Tess and I were gone…

  Even without the meshing, she could read the expression on my face and hers brightened. “All right! Another ride on Beast.”

  I sighed.

  Chapter 38

  raphael

  An hour later, we had a replacement phone for the one I destroyed, and we had landed in a clearing atop a promontory in Palmer Park, just a short distance from Tess’s aunts’ home.

  We’d decided to attempt to open a portal to the Black Hills. I wasn’t positive I could remember the area well enough, but the monument to four of our better presidents did leave a lasting impression on me, so I was willing to give it a try.

  While astride Beast, with Cris sitting behind me, much closer than she actually needed to, I cast a portal spell while concentrating on the enormous granite monuments.

  My memory was better than I hoped, for a portal opened immediately and we flew through before the altitude differential could bring in too much air.

  We popped out about a mile from the faces and one hundred feet above the visitor center’s parking lot. As soon as Maia, Tess, and Bruno had followed us through, I closed the portal and looked around for a good landing spot.

  The lot was out of the question as it was crowded for the off-season.

  “Beast, take us above the monument and land somewhere up there,” I ordered.

  Without comment, Beast began to gain altitude and soon we were flying over Washington’s nose in route to the top.

  Gray clouds were moving in from the northwest and I could see the pines bending against a strong wind. South Dakota often had late season snowstorms, but this was late even for the Black Hills. I felt for any sign that it wasn’t natural, but as far as I could tell, it was just a mundane storm. For most of us, that wasn’t much of a problem, but Cris would be another matter. I’d have to keep an eye on her and make sure she was warm enough.

  I let Beast pick a spot and soon Cris and I were standing beside Beast on a granite boulder larger than Joe’s cabin. Maia and Tess set down close and joined us. Bruno was curled around Tess’s neck like some kind of weird reptilian shawl.

  “So, Rafe, still think you’re ready to take on Rowle?” Tess asked.

  “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. I’m not ready to fight him, but maybe we could just try to get him to see reason and give Alex to us.”

  Tess’s eyebrows rose. “Say what now?”

  “You can’t be serious, Rafe. He tried to kill you,” Cris said.

  “Well, maybe. He had several opportunities to kill me and didn’t take them. I think he has a soft spot for his descendants and maybe we can play off his feelings for the two of us.”

  “Sheesh,” Tess
said, as she threw her hands into the air, startling the wyvern awake. “He didn’t even bother to tell you that you were related. Are you forgetting that his dragon tried to eat you?”

  “No, I’m not forgetting that, but his dragon is dead. Tit for tat.”

  “Tit for tat, my ass!” Tess shouted. “What’s the matter with you? When did you develop a death wish?”

  “Tess, hear me out before you start judging my sanity. He’s acquired an apprentice, a Wanderer apprentice. He must know that Alex is my son and therefore another of his descendants. Rowle started ignoring Verðandi’s summons back in the 19th century. Since then, he’s had plenty of opportunities to take an apprentice and yet he never did. Something has changed, I don’t know what, but perhaps he can be reasoned with now.”

  “Oh for Christ’s sake. Rafe you can’t be serious!”

  “I’m with Tess on this, Rafe,” Cris commented. “This man has twice almost killed you. Granted, as you say he had opportunities to finish the job and didn’t take them, but given a chance, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t kill you now. And what about that trap you sprung that removed your tats. That sounded like it was supposed to be fatal and if you hadn’t called lightning down on yourself it probably would have been.”

  “Yeah, what she said,” Tess said. “Neither of us think you’re ready to confront Rowle, but that doesn’t mean you have to try and make peace with the bastard. Let’s just stay away from him until you’re back at full strength and then we can make a go at getting Alex away from him.”

  “I hear your logic, but I’m willing to take a shot at getting Rowle to listen to reason,” I said.

  “Rafe, Boss, I know I’m the apprentice here, but you taking a suicidal course isn’t going to get me trained. You’re the one who needs to listen to reason. This is crazy talk.”

  I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re right. I am the boss and I’ve decided to give Rowle a chance.”

  “Bullshit! Did he give Walt a chance? How about the other Wanderers? They haven’t been dead a year yet and you’re talking about making peace with this bloodthirsty bastard. Rafe, you can’t trust him.”

  “I know what he did to Walt and the others, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have a better chance of getting Alex away from him with reason than with force.”