Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective (The Tallow Novels Book 1)

by Trevor H. Cooley

  “Where did you hear that?” Douglas said, bewildered.

  “A book in my school library,” Agatha replied with a shrug. “I was bored one day and picked it up.”

  Tallow nodded. “Ancient Greek lore. They got a lot of it wrong, didn’t they? Though come to think of it, no one really knows what a basilisk’s natural form looks like. I can’t imagine it’s as mundane as a lizard with a chicken head,” he said with a chuckle. “Then again, maybe they kill anyone who sees them in their natural state and that's why no one knows. That’s a thought.”

  “C-could there be more?” Aarin asked, her voice numb.

  “I doubt it. They’re extremely rare and costly to hire,” Tallow replied. He rubbed his chin. “I should have figured out what that receptionist was earlier, though. It explains so much.”

  “So . . . this thing was brought here from ancient times?” Douglas asked. It was all so confusing. He was having to accept so much absurdity that it was hard to know what to be skeptical about.

  “No,” said Tallow confidently. Then he frowned. “I don’t think so, anyway. This thing was brought here from the other world. Just like the moonrat. It is odd, though, that so many things from that other world have similarities to our world’s mythology. I have theories on why that’s the case, but . . . I don’t believe now is the time to discuss them. Do you?”

  “I suppose not,” Douglas said, looking at the ten foot boulder and shredded stone creature. “We need to figure out what to do with this.”

  “Agatha,” said Tallow suddenly, looking around. “Where is the officer that was watching you? Is he still alive?”

  Douglas’ back straightened. In the immediacy of the situation with his daughter in danger thoughts of the policeman had left his mind. “Officer Clayton. Where is he?”

  “In Aarin’s bedroom,” Agatha said, pointing towards the house and the look on her face told him that she didn’t think his survival likely. “He tried to protect us but it . . .”

  “Get an ambulance on the way,” said Tallow and he broke into a run towards the front porch of Aarin’s house. As he passed the giant boulder that was Reginald, he reached out and smacked it. Reginald shrunk in an instant, becoming a tiny pebble before falling to the ground.

  Douglas stifled a curse and went after his uncle, pulling up dispatch on his phone as he ran.

  Tallow entered the house, probing ahead with his magic. He turned down the hallway to Aarin’s room. The scene was somewhat similar to the one at the Roberts’ house. Blood spattered the door frame and ceiling in front of Aarin’s room. It was also pooling around the fallen policeman. Only this time, the basilisk hadn’t finished the job. The cop hadn't been its target. He had only been in the way.

  Tallow sensed a pulse before he reached the man. He leaned his cane against the wall and crouched next to the fallen cop, heedless blood of the beneath his shoes. He stuck his hands out over Clayton’s body and sent flows of magic into the man. “He’s still alive. Barely. Dammit, he’s lost a lot of blood!”

  Douglas, already on the phone with a dispatcher, put a hand over the microphone and snapped, “Then fix him!”

  “Healing’s not my specialty!” Tallow barked back, but by the strain on his face Douglas could see that he was already putting every bit of training and skill he had into the effort.

  “What was that?” said Jen, the dispatcher, in Douglas’ ear. It probably spoke to the fact of how often he called in that he was able to match her voice to her name.

  “Just get an ambulance here. I’ve got an officer down, Jen!” he said for the second time.

  “I’m on it, Detective,” she assured him calmly and he realized that she was already typing away, sending off messages. Dispatchers were chosen for their ability to multitask and Jen was one of the best. “We already have officers converging on the area. We've had two separate reports of gunfire called in on that street just minutes ago.”

  “Okay, good,” he said, anxiety building in his stomach as he watched his uncle sweat over Officer Clayton. He realized that it was the first time he had seen Tallow sweat.

  A lot rode on Tallow saving that man. If a cop died here, this scene was going to get a lot bigger and harder for FIU to keep under wraps. And the problem wouldn't just be with the media, but with the rest of the force. There was nothing that cops took more seriously than the death of another cop. Douglas felt the same way, but they would want answers and he was having a hard time figuring out how to explain this.

  “Listen, Jen. Can you patch me in to the chief?” Douglas asked.

  “Are you sure?” Jen said, and he didn't blame her. The chief didn't like being interrupted by individual officers.

  Normally, Douglas wouldn't risk it but after their meeting earlier that day, he felt it was the smartest move. “I am.”

  “I can try. Just give me a second,” she replied.

  Douglas put his phone over the mic again. “Tallow, how is he?”

  “Very close to dead,” Tallow grunted. “I've patched the larger vessels that were severed and I've flooded him with water magic and got his bones working overdrive to make more blood, but it's tricky work.”

  “Sounds to me like you're doing good,” Douglas said encouragingly.

  Tallow snorted. “In terms of healing skill level I'm like an EMT. What this guy needs is a surgeon. He's still got a deflated lung and a perforated stomach that's leaking into his abdomen. Not to mention the zillion other smaller vessels that need to be repaired so that he doesn't bleed out.”

  Jen's voice spoke up in his ear. “Sorry, Detective. The chief's office phone went to voice mail.

  “Thanks for trying,” he said.

  “Hold tight. The ambulance is about five minutes out,” she said.

  “Will do,” he replied and ended the call. Chewing his lip, he pulled up his contact for the chief. Douglas hesitated briefly before tapping on her personal cell number. Susan might ream him out, but this was an emergency. He spoke to his uncle again while it rang. “What about that elf potion you gave Ross? Got another one of those?”

  “Didn't you hear me mention his perforated stomach?” Tallow snapped. He grimaced. “Besides, I only have two of those left and if I give it to him and he still dies it's wasted.”

  “Wasted?” Douglas said in surprise, a surge of anger building within him. But before he could bark his anger out at Tallow, Susan picked up.

  Her voice was filled with barely restrained anger. “This had better be an emergency, Detective Jones. I ducked out of a meeting with the mayor to take this.”

  Douglas could hear the sounds of sirens outside. It was about to get crowded. “Chief, I'm right across the street from that murder we were investigating yesterday and we have an officer down.”

  “Oh hell,” Susan swore. “Who is it?”

  “His name's Officer Clayton. I hadn't met him before today. He was cut down by an assailant, wounds similar to the victim yesterday. It's bad, Chief. My uncle and I are trying to keep him alive until the ambulance arrives. Patrol cars just pulled up. Ambulance is about five minutes out or so.”

  “Double hell,” she said. “Any witnesses?”

  Douglas cleared his throat. “Yeah. My daughter and her new nanny I just hired this morning.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “It's the nanny's house. Look, it's a long story. The reason I'm calling you now is because it's about to be real nuts down here and I want to make sure we have FIU in charge,” Douglas explained, watching his uncle work his magic, his expression desperate. “Clayton's captain is going to want his people on this.”

  “Of course he is,” she said. “And I wouldn't blame him. You sure this is connected to our other case?”

  “Directly. Same perp as yesterday and it all has to do with that travel agency and the company behind it all. Brenda and Ross found new evidence to prove it,” Douglas said. Car doors were slamming outside. He heard Aarin and Aggie saying something urgently and raised men's voices.

 
The chief sighed. “Alright. I'll get Cheese and Martinez assigned to it. Keep that man alive, Jones.”

  “On it,” he said and he hung up just in time to see Tallow tilt back Clayton's head and tip a vial of green liquid into his mouth.

  “You did it anyway, huh?” Douglas said.

  Tallow looked back at Douglas, a sort of queasy smile on his face. “I'm still not sure if he'll survive, but every time I thought about not using the vial I could hear my dad's voice in my head scolding me.”

  Before Douglas could reply, he heard boots pounding up the steps to the house. He took out his badge and called out, “We're down the hall! The area is secure!”

  The ambulance arrived a minute later and EMTs loaded Clayton up and took him away. The next hour was filled with procedure as the officers cordoned off the area and waited for forensics to arrive. The TV squad showed up and while Douglas filled them in, Agatha pulled Tallow aside.

  “Uncle Tallow,” she said, her brow wrinkled. “How did you do that to Reginald before?”

  “Do what?” Tallow asked wearily, still exhausted by the expenditure of his magic.

  “Shrink him up.” She held out a small pebble that she had picked up from the ground next to the receptionist's stone leg. A tiny symbol was embedded into the side of it. “You turned him into this but now he's back in his cozy.”

  “Won't he tell you himself?” Tallow asked.

  She pursed her lips. “He doesn't say much, remember? He just says, 'Seeds'. How does a rock got seeds?”

  Tallow chuckled. “They aren't seeds in the way that a plant makes seeds. Think of them as holding places where he can send his mind. You see, Reginald can move around a little, but he is limited because of his form. So he likes to leave these 'seeds' behind in places where he likes to go. He can send his mind and powers to any of them.”

  “Ohh,” she said in understanding. So that was how he was able to come back after flying out the window. “I thought he could teleport.”

  “I'm afraid not. That would be a hefty trick. Even for him,” Tallow replied.

  “Then they're really not his poops,” she said in relief.

  “No,” Tallow said. “Though I used to tease him about that. He leaves those things all over the place. It’s like a compulsory thing with him. Like he feels the need to blanket the world with his presence one pebble at a time. Don’t worry about it. He usually leaves them in useful spots. If they start to pile up, throw some of them away.”

  Agatha’s eyebrows rose. “He didn’t like you saying that.”

  “He never liked it when I did it,” Tallow replied.

  It was another half hour before they were finally able to drop Aarin and Agatha off at Douglas’ house. They took a few minutes to bring in Aarin’s things and Douglas left her with a list of rules and instructions. Tallow assured the two girls that they were perfectly safe with the wards he had in place and he and Douglas left to go back to the station.

  It was 2:00 by that time and Atlanta lunchtime traffic was giving way to Atlanta post lunch traffic. As the two men made their slow way downtown, Douglas’ mind churned over the revelations and events of the day. There were so many things that didn’t make sense. So many holes in the story.

  Tallow noticed his nephew’s disquiet. “Well, at least that’s one part of the case solved!” he said with a smile of satisfaction. “Without the basilisk to worry about, we can focus on the rest of the evidence at hand. I’m itching to get down to the forensics lab and get my eyes on the contents of the crates that were on that dock, aren’t you?”

  Douglas grunted. “Actually, Uncle Tallow, I haven’t thought about those crates at all.”

  “No?” said Tallow. “There was something magical in there. Those crates could hold crucial clues as to what this ERL Investments is up to.”

  “And I’m sure we’ll get to them, but right now my mind is on other questions,” said Douglas. “Questions for you.”

  “For me?” said Tallow .

  “And about you,” said Douglas. “Frankly, I’m full of questions.”

  Tallow nodded as if expecting this would come up sooner or later. He spread his hands wide. “It so happens that I am full of answers, Douglas. Ask away.”

  “Things you’ve said today have got me thinking. You’ve talked a lot about this ‘other world’, but you have yet to explain where exactly it is or how you know so much about it,” Douglas said.

  “That’s true,” admitted Tallow. “There has been a lot of vaguery on my part. But those are broad subjects. Where do you want me to start?”

  Douglas thought a moment and said. “How did you become a wizard?”

  Tallow smiled. “That’s not one of the subjects you mentioned, but it’s all kind of tied together anyway so I suppose it’s a good enough place to begin.” He grasped his cane in his hands and ran his fingers over the intricately-carved silver handle. “I should warn you that each question I answer is only going to lead to more questions.”

  “It’s a good thing you told me that you are 'full of answers' then,” Douglas replied.

  Tallow sucked at his teeth, thinking for a moment. “Okay. How I became a wizard was a bit of an accident. I was on a case back in Boise, sneaking around in the mountains while chasing down a man for a client. I had tracked him down to this cabin by this old mining town and . . . I wasn’t much of a wilderness guy back then. It was dark and I was stumbling around, trying to get an angle on the place unseen. I was heading across a steep embankment when I fell.

  “I blacked out. I don’t know exactly what happened after that. Maybe I just hit my head so hard it knocked me through some magic tear in the fabric of reality. But when I awoke let’s just say I wasn’t in Boise anymore.”

  He paused, eying Douglas to see if he was going laugh at the reference. Douglas just stared at the road ahead of him. He stomped on the brakes as some aggressive driver swerved across the lane in front of them.

  “Idiot! It’s times like this that I miss my patrol officer days,” Douglas said with a scowl. He glanced over and saw Tallow’s expectant look. “Sorry. So you ended up in some other world and you don’t know how you got there?”

  “I have spent countless hours trying to understand it. It was a fluke as far as I can tell. Some type of freak accident.” Tallow cleared his throat. “I awoke in an unfamiliar landscape, completely turned around. I was stuck in the wilderness for two days, helplessly lost and practically naked. ”

  “Naked?” Douglas said with raised eyebrows.

  “Yeah. There’s something about the atmosphere there. Most of my clothes disintegrated on me within hours. The only things that stayed together were my leather coat and a pair of woolen socks and that leather coat was super thin after the lining rotted out of it. I almost died of exposure and thirst. I was fortunate when some . . .” Tallow paused. “Kind farmers found me and clothed me and took me in.”

  “You found some kind farmers in this other world?” said Douglas. “And they knew English?”

  Tallow scratched his head. “I know it sounds bizarre, but yes. Heavily accented English, but English. They just call it the Common Tongue. Anyway, it was while I was in their care that I first discovered that I had magic ability. We wizards call it an awakening. There was a drought, you see, and it was blazing hot outside and I was helping them to dig a deeper well at the time. Their old well had dried up and they had no water to irrigate their crops and, well, I was thinking that I had joined the company of these people only to die of thirst alongside them. The next thing I know, clouds started to form in the sky over us.”

  Tallow’s eyes took on a haunted cast and as he recalled this next part he gesticulated, punctuating each sentence. “Lightning struck all around us! A terrific storm rained down. It was a deluge. More water than they wanted! Far too much. It washed away much of their topsoil and wind battered their already weakened crops. We huddled in their house thinking that it would come down around us. And it was all my fault.”

  Dougla
s was squinting as he tried to take this in. “So . . . you’re saying that this storm was caused by you? You can do a thing like that?”

  Tallow raised a hand and waggled it in uncertainty. “Well . . . an awakening is a wild and uncontrolled thing. When a wizard's talents are first triggered they often are able to do something that they’re never able to duplicate again. I didn't have a clue it was me at the time, even though the farmers were convinced it was. I had no reason to believe it. After all, I’d never done anything like that before. And I didn’t know that magic really existed in this place. I thought they were going crazy with their accusations.”

  “Huh,” said Douglas, feeling an unexpected surge of skepticism. The story was wild, but after all he had seen over the last few days it shouldn’t have been all that hard to believe. Still, something about the way Tallow told the story made Douglas’ detective senses tingle. He wasn’t being told the full truth.

  “But the farmers weren't the only people that knew I had done it,” Tallow continued. “A few days later we had a visit from a group of wizards that had sensed the magical disturbance. They were from a place called the Alberri Mage School and they were quite surprised when they discovered that I was the source. After all, most awakenings happen when a person with magical talent is a young teen.”

  “So not everyone over there can learn to be a wizard?” Douglas said.

  “Oh no. It’s quite rare,” Tallow replied. “You’re either born with the talent or you’re not.”

  “Then . . . how did you get it? You were born here. None of us has any kind of magic,” said Douglas.

  Tallow scratched his head. “I've wondered about that quite a bit over the years and I really don’t know the answer. Maybe it’s something in the air over there. Or something in the food. Anyway, it happened. Those wizards were able to prove it was me that caused the storm. They grabbed me and took me to the school.”

  “They just took you? Against your will?” Douglas asked.

  “They have harsh rules over there, Doug. Anyone with the talent is forced to learn. I know it sounds harsh, but you've seen just a bit of what magic can do. A person with untrained magical talent is like a kid running around with live grenades.