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

by Richard Bamberg

  “So that’s it? You’re afraid that Alex will be in the line of fire if you try to confront Rowle?” Cris asked.

  “That’s part of it. A Wanderer has to have complete faith in his apprentice and vice versa,” I said with a hard glare at Tess. “If we show up and attempt to sway Alex away from him, Rowle will have to be careful of what he does. Alex is fond of Tess and he has no issues with me. If Rowle attacks us without provocation then Alex would never make a trustworthy apprentice. Alex already knows that Rowle and I have fought on multiple occasions. If I come bearing an olive branch, then Alex will expect Rowle to hear us out rather than attacking us.”

  “Boss, damnit, that sort of logic doesn’t apply to someone who tried to start Ragnarök. In case you’ve forgotten, that’s the twilight of the gods, the end of everything,” Tess said.

  “I haven’t forgotten anything,” I snapped.

  Cris stepped close and stared into my eyes.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I was wondering if there’s some lingering effect of that night magic that’s causing you to act unreasonable.”

  “I’m not being unreasonable.”

  “Rafe, dear, I still have to side with Tess on this. You can’t trust Rowle.”

  I stared down at her. “Siding with Tess doesn’t change anything. It’s my decision to make and I’ve made it. If you don’t want to come along, then I’ll drop you off at a motel before I meet with Rowle.”

  “Boss–”

  “That’s enough, Tess. I’ve listen to your concern, but my mind is made up. I’m going to try and talk to Rowle. That’s all there is to it.”

  “Even if you get us both killed?” Tess asked.

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  Tess pursed her lips as though biting back another comment, but then she nodded. “You’re the Boss.”

  “Thank you. Cris?”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t want to see you get yourself killed, but I’ll come along. If a fight starts, I’m not totally helpless.”

  I grinned and leaned down to kiss her.

  She stepped back out of my reach. “Just because I’m consigned to your course of action doesn’t mean I’m okay with it. You want to kiss me? Then get us out of this alive and I’ll consider it.”

  I nodded, a little surprised by her coldness. She’d come around, assuming I didn’t get all of us killed. “All right, Cris. That’s understandable.”

  Chapter 39

  therese

  I didn’t get it. Rafe was often cocky, but I’d never seen him suicidal. I watched as Cris spurned his kiss and wondered if that night magic spell had done more to him than remove his tats, interfere with ability to use magic, and make him insanely pissed off at Verðandi. If someone had told me a week ago that he’d be trying to make peace with Rowle, I’d have thought them stupid for even suggesting such a thing. It just wasn’t possible that a sane Raphael would consider mending fences with someone who had nearly killed both of us and almost brought about Ragnarök.

  Should I try to summon Verðandi and see if she could talk him out of this? She might be able to convince him of his folly, but going over Rafe’s head would leave him pissed at me and I didn’t need or want that. We still had years and years of living together before I was a fully trained Wanderer ready to go off on my own adventures. I did not want to spend that time with a man who was upset with me. No, going outside the chain of command to contact Verðandi would be the last thing I’d try. Hell, I’d rather ask Loki for help rather than stepping on Rafe’s toes.

  Wait a minute. Loki had given Rafe a talisman that would summon him back before the Garden of the Gods’ battle. Rafe had been skeptical of using anything that would put him in Loki’s debt, but I knew Rafe still had the talisman. I saw it a couple of weeks ago when I fetched his grimoire for him. If I could get my fingers on it, I could use it to summon Loki if things with Rowle went sour. I just needed an excuse to get into Rafe’s saddlebags.

  “So, how are we going to contact Rowle?” I asked.

  “What? Oh, well, we could just continue to track Alex with another locator spell. I could do it without the map and it’d lead us to him since we know he’s in the area. Or,” he hesitated.

  “Or what?” I asked.

  Rafe reached into a pocket of his leathers and removed his billfold. It was old cowhide, stained from years of use, and was as much a money clip as a billfold. I knew it contained a couple of credit cards (he’d given me one to use, but had since had another one issued in my name and had even made his accounts joint with me), a driver’s license, and a couple hundred dollars in cash. He fished in behind his driver’s license and extracted a piece of paper. It looked like a business card.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  He held it up and I could see it was old, stained, and dog-eared. There were only five letters on it and they spelled Rowle.

  “Rowle gave this to Walt one day when he was still trying to get Walt and me to join up with him. He told Walt to burn it to summon him.”

  “You think it’ll still work?” Cris asked.

  Rafe shrugged. “Beats me. I don’t even know why I kept it all these years. It’s not like I ever had any intention of using it.”

  I gritted my teeth at the absurdity of him doing so now.

  “And after all this time you’ve decided that you have to use it?” Cris asked.

  “No, I’m not certain I should use it. It will bring him to us, I assume, but since we’ve already come so close to him he would know we used a locator spell to track him. Maybe we should go back to the Springs and use it there.”

  Beast growled deep in his throat. “We’ve come this far, why go back just to get him to come to you?”

  “Well–” Rafe began.

  Beast interrupted him. “It couldn’t be that you’re having second thoughts about the sensibility of trying to reason with Rowle?”

  “Not you too,” Rafe said.

  “I’ve been with you nearly as long as you’ve been a Wanderer. I think I’ve earned the right to tell you when you’re doing something more stupid than normal,” Beast growled.

  “Everyone has an opinion,” Rafe said.

  “The fact that everyone is against this course of action should tell you something. It’s crazy stupid.”

  “That’s enough, Beast,” Rafe snapped. “I understand your feelings, all of yours,” he added while looking from Beast to both Cris and I. He looked toward Maia, but she was looking off into the distance and staying out of our argument. I couldn’t blame her. “I appreciate your wise council, but my mind is made up, or didn’t you hear me say that?”

  “I heard you, but that doesn’t make it any less crazy,” Beast added.

  Rafe frowned, and then he returned the card to his wallet and the wallet to his pocket. “We’ll use the locator spell and save this for the future.”

  “If there is a future,” Beast growled.

  Rafe’s frown turned into a tight-lipped glare. “That’s enough out of you today, Beast.”

  Beast continued to growl in his throat, but didn’t raise any other objections.

  “Rafe, you know, if he will come to you when you use that card, perhaps you could arrange an ambush back at the cabin and take Rowle down,” Cris suggested.

  Rafe stared at her for a second and then shook his head. “I’m sure he would come in expecting a trap. No, I’ve decided we’re going to him. Do you still have that needle?”

  Cris looked disappointed, but without comment, she opened her purse. “Yes, give me a second.”

  Rafe held out his hand toward me and then turned his glare on me when I hesitated. Reluctantly, I took his hand and we meshed. He tried to hide his thoughts from me, but that was near impossible when we were meshed. I could tell he was worried that he might be doing something stupid and risking all of our lives, which made me a little more comfortable with his decision. If he weren’t worried about it then I would think he was crazy. I tr
ied to relax and not think about Loki’s talisman. I didn’t want Rafe to order me not to use it. As long as he hadn’t expressly forbidden it, I could probably get away with summoning the god without totally pissing Rafe off.

  Instead, I gave Rafe a reluctant smile. “I’m with you, Boss, no matter what course you decide. You know that.”

  He nodded slowly and some of the tension eased out of his body.

  Cris didn’t approach and Rafe didn’t wait for her to mesh with us. Instead, he held out his hand and she pricked his index finger with the needle. Boy, she must have been distressed about his decision, because I could feel the pain when she jabbed him. It was far more than just a pinprick.

  Rafe managed not to flinch, but I could feel his surprise at her hostility.

  He cast the spell from memory and the blood welling from his fingertip smoked and vanished. The spell completed and a second later, a glowing arrow appeared above us. It spun around for a few seconds and then pointed north.

  “Okay, we have our direction. Mount up,” Rafe said and dropped out of our mesh.

  I went to Maia and swung up onto her shoulders while Rafe got on Beast. When he lowered a hand to Cris, she stared at it for a second and then looked away.

  “Cris,” Rafe groaned. “Come on, I can’t leave you here. The weather could break before we get back and you aren’t dressed for a storm.”

  Cris stared off to the northwest at the approaching clouds. She turned to eye Rafe. “Maybe you should just open a portal back to your cabin and I’ll wait for you there.”

  “We’ve already determined that you’ll be safer with us than at the cabin alone,” Rafe said.

  “Yeah, but I don’t know if I want to see you die.”

  “I don’t plan on dying today,” Rafe said.

  “None of us plans on dying, but it still happens.”

  “Cris, you just got through saying that you would go with us. What’s changed your mind?”

  “I just have had more time to think about it. Rafe, you may be able to survive a fight with Rowle again, but there’s no guarantee. Even with Tess and me with you, I’m not sure you’ll be able to beat him.”

  “But we’re not going in to fight him. I’ve made that clear.”

  “Just because you’re going in with an olive branch, it doesn’t mean that he will accept it. He must know that you still haven’t recovered from that booby trap. It’ll only give him an incentive to attack you while you aren’t at your best.”

  “Cris, damnit, just give me your hand.”

  “Rafe, you know I love you, but you can’t order me around,” Cris said.

  Rafe turned to face me. “Can you talk some sense into her?”

  I frowned and met Cris’s eyes. She seemed resolute in her decision, but Rafe was right about her being safer with us. “Cris, you know what happened at your house and at the cabin. If anyone shows up at Joe’s cabin when we aren’t there…” I hesitated when I saw my words weren’t working on her. “Cris, as I understand it, you are a powerful Wiccan. If you want to make sure Rafe and I aren’t killed, then you should come with us. We could use the extra firepower until Rafe is back to full strength.”

  Rafe frowned at my words and I thought he was going to make one of his usual damn cocky boast, but before he could say anything, Cris spoke, “You’re right. I may not be in the class of Abigail or you two, but I might make the difference if it comes to a fight. Give me your hand, Rafe.”

  Rafe tried to hide his surprise, but I could see it and I’m sure Cris noticed. Rafe lowered his hand again and when Cris clasped his forearm, he swung her onto Beast’s shoulders behind him.

  “Okay, Beast, let’s go,” Rafe said.

  Beast took off with Maia and me following closely.

  Rafe’s glowing arrow flew on, staying a few yards in front of him.

  We climbed until we were a couple hundred feet above the trees and flew toward the approaching clouds.

  About twenty minutes later, the arrow changed to point at a downward angle and Beast began to descend. I triggered my enhanced senses tat and peered into the distance. Ahead of us, a large structure appeared on a hilltop. Getting nearer, I saw that the structure was a log home made of immense logs. A green metal roof almost hid the structure in the trees. A long gravel drive led up to the home from somewhere off to the east. We were approaching the side of the house and the front looked to face east. That side was more glass than anything else and the second floor windows rose to a peaked cathedral roofline. To the west was a covered porch.

  Behind the house was a similar structure, but with few windows and an enormous barn style door facing the house.

  “Circle the structure once, give them a chance to see us before we land,” Rafe ordered.

  Beast did as instructed without comment. It gave us a good chance to take a look all around the house. I didn’t see any sign of people or animals, but there was a single light glowing at an entrance, made of a covered carport supported by tree trunks. I wondered where he was getting electricity this far out, but then I spotted an electric line and poles that ran through a break in the forest to the rear of the house. Overhead, a strong ley line ran from north to south over the house and another intersected it directly over the house. I could see why Rowle would choose this location.

  Beast completed his circuit and glided to a landing in the driveway a good hundred feet from the carport. Maia and I set down beside the others.

  When Rafe didn’t immediately climb down, I followed his lead and stayed on Maia.

  I watched the house, tempted to trigger my shield, but Rafe had not triggered his own. We waited; I assumed for some sign that we’d been seen.

  My phone buzzed and I jumped in my seat. Who the hell was calling me at a time like this? I withdrew it from my pocket and stared at the display. It was from an unknown caller.

  “Well, see who it is,” Rafe said without taking his eyes off the house.

  I swiped right and raised the phone to my ear.

  Alex’s voice came from the speaker, “What in the hell are you doing here?”

  Chapter 40

  raphael

  “Alex!” I heard Tess exclaim. “Are you all right? Are you safe? Did he hurt you? Where are you?”

  Without taking my eyes off the building, I said, “Don’t you think you should give the boy a chance to answer?”

  She may not have heard me, but she stopped talking and listened.

  I flipped a leg over Beast’s neck and slid to the ground. Turning, I held my hands up for Cris. She only hesitated for a second, and then she gripped my biceps while I clasped her around the ribcage and lowered her to the ground.

  “Thank you,” Cris said.

  “My pleasure, Cris.”

  I thought I noticed some of her usual warmth returning, but then her eyebrows narrowed and she let go of me. I held her for one more second and then dropped my own hands and stepped away.

  “Alex, we’re here in peace. Rafe wants to talk with you and Rowle,” Tess paused. “I don’t care whether you want to talk to him or not. That’s Rowle’s decision to make. Just tell him Rafe wants to talk. Alex, please, have I ever lied to you?”

  Apparently, that last bit worked. Tess slid to the ground and came to where Cris and I stood beside Beast.

  “Shouldn’t you at least raise a shield?” Beast growled.

  “That would either show that we were afraid of him or that we were here to fight,” I said.

  “You aren’t afraid of him?” Cris asked.

  “Afraid? No, I respect his power, but I wouldn’t say I fear him.”

  Tess offered me her phone. “Alex said he would put Rowle on.”

  “Thank you.” I took it and clicked on the speaker symbol to let Cris and Tess hear.

  “This is Raphael. Are you there Rowle?”

  After a second, I heard Rowle’s distinctive voice in the speaker. “Well, Raphael, how nice of you to visit after all these years. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

&n
bsp; “We need to talk, Rowle. You’ve taken something that by custom and decree should be mine,” I said.

  “Raphael, you know I don’t follow Verðandi’s orders or wishes. I haven’t since your great-great-grandfather was a boy. Her rules and decrees mean little to me.”

  “But they did once. You know that once reaped, a Wanderer has to go to another Wanderer to apprentice.”

  “I can train Alex better than you ever could. You are skilled Raphael, but there’s so much that Walt never got the chance to tell you. Wouldn’t you rather he be trained with someone who remembers more than you ever learned?”

  I felt my irritation warm. I tried not to snarl my response, but I wasn’t successful. “You know why Walt didn’t get to finish my training and if you want this to be pleasant, you won’t mention him again.”

  “All right, Raphael. I’ll keep a civil tongue in my head if you will. Do you wish to come inside to talk?”

  “If I can trust you not to attack any of us while we’re inside your home.”

  Rowle hesitated. “In my day, Raphael, if you invited a man into your house you had to protect him with your own life.”

  “I’ve heard the custom, I wasn’t sure you still followed it.”

  “We are all impacted by our upbringings, regardless of the centuries that continue to change. Very well, Wanderer, I offer you and your two ladies the hospitality of my hearth and bed. You may come inside and I will prevent anyone from harming you and yours while you are under my roof.”

  “Thank you, Rowle,” I said calmly, trying to put a little respect in my tone. The man was probably close to three hundred years old and a direct ancestor. Even if I tried to kill him later, I could grant him a little respect, regardless of what he had done to me and mine in the past.

  I closed the connection and handed the phone back to Tess.

  “Well, you heard him; shall we go inside before the storm gets here?” I asked.

  Cris and Tess both glanced toward the house and the storm clouds that hung behind it like some supernatural menace.