Sorcerer's Creed Books 1-3

by N. P. Martin

  Baal still held his smile as he reached out and turned up the radio a notch, filling the car with the sound of The Police's "Every Breath You Take."

  10

  Warded

  I was never as glad to arrive anywhere than when I finally parked the Lincoln on a back road that ran alongside the sprawling forest in Red Branch Falls. About half a mile back was the small town of Red Branch Falls itself, a place that prompted Baal to make some remark about humans being like ants because they would build a nest anywhere. I barely listened to him, however. The revelation he had hit me with earlier was still seriously stuck in my craw like a diseased tumor. Between that and the presence of the demon in the car, I felt sick and as if I needed oxygen or I would soon pass out.

  I practically abandoned the Lincoln on a grassy verge next to the tall trees and jumped out immediately to try and shake the feeling of claustrophobia that clung to me like a suffocating blanket. Walking away from the car a bit, I took in deep lungfuls of air to clear the mess of bad feelings that had built up in me since Baal's sudden appearance in the car. The cold, fresh air went some way towards making me feel slightly better. The rest I had to do myself, beginning with focusing on what I had to do next. The fact that I was marked for future possession by the very demon that had slaughtered my family would have to be pushed aside if I was to have any hope of finding the witch in that sprawling hiding place of hers. My mind had to be clear for my senses to be at their keenest, and for my magick to work as it should.

  So I stood for a few moments with my eyes closed as I forced myself to focus. Then, when I was ready, I turned and went back to the car.

  Baal was leaning on the hood with his arms folded like some nerdy professor version of James Dean, looking like he was enjoying the fact that he was now in the great outdoors.

  More like enjoying the fact that he's here busting my balls.

  I sincerely hoped that he wouldn't follow me into the forest. Aside from the fact that I work best alone, the last thing I needed was some fucking demon tagging along like a monkey on my back who delighted in making little barbed comments in my ear now and then. No fucking thanks. But at the same time, it wasn't like I could stop him, was it?

  "You feeling okay, Creed?" Baal asked. "You look a little peaky there. Perhaps a touch of car sickness, eh?" The smile on his face widened.

  "I'm fine," I said, strolling past him to the back of the car where I popped the trunk to get what I needed for the trek ahead. Given the fact that the forest covered hundreds of square miles, I was well aware that it might take days to locate the witch, assuming, of course, she was in there at all. Not that I didn't have faith in Sanaka's and my uncle's abilities, but they were both blind drunk when they did the Location Spell. There was a chance they could have messed up somehow. Still, with no other leads to go on, it was a chance I had to take.

  Besides, I was no stranger to the woods. I grew up next to a massive woodland near the family home in Ireland. With not much else to do with our irregular free time, my brother and sister and I would often venture into the woods and go exploring for several hours at a time. Sometimes we took camping equipment and stayed overnight. Once, just to test ourselves (and with our father's permission of course), the three of us spent three whole days deep in the woods with no equipment. All we had was the clothes we wore and our magick abilities. Over those three days, we hunted our own food, made our own shelters and also conversed with the many nature spirits in the woods, sometimes taking over the animals with our own spirits so we could run or fly through the forest in the body of whatever animal we had chosen. It was a fun few days, and intensely freeing to be away from everything. And despite the gravity of the mission I was now on, I was still looking forward to entering the deep woods and experiencing that sense of wild freedom once more.

  Preferably without the demon professor beside me.

  Speaking of which, I looked up when I heard a loud crack of energy to see Baal being thrown back several feet into the air before landing hard on his back in the middle of the road. Shocked, I bit my cheeks so I wouldn't laugh at Baal's misfortune.

  "That bitch!" the demon roared.

  I frowned over at him, doing my best to conceal my amusement. "What is it?" I asked, knowing full well what the problem was. The shimmering blue light that stretched around the woods--turned temporarily visible thanks to Baal's contact--made it very clear what the problem was (although for me, it was less a problem and more of a welcome solution).

  Baal looked none too happy. "She has warded the forest. I cannot enter."

  I had to fight to keep a smile of gratitude from appearing on my face. "Really? That's...what a bitch, eh?"

  At that point, I found myself feeling grateful towards the witch for having the foresight to ward the forest against demons. But surely she wasn't that powerful that she could ward an entire forest, was she?

  "Like I said before," Baal said walking back towards the car. "The woman is as devious as they come."

  "She's just protecting herself," I said. "She knew you would make it here at some point."

  Baal glared at me with eyes that now burned a deep orange. He thrust a hand out then, and the next thing I knew I was being lifted into the air without him even touching me. Then with a sickening speed, I was turned and slammed down hard onto the ground. With the wind knocked out of me, I lay choking in the dirt, my vision blurred and my head was spinning from the sudden impact. "What...the hell?" I managed to choke out.

  The demon stood over me, his eyes filled with cold rage. "Do not make the very grave mistake of defending that woman," he spat out.

  "I was...just saying..."

  "Remember, Creed, the terms of our agreement." He leaned down closer to me, his eyes now demoned out completely. "You find the witch and hand her over to me. If you sympathize with her or try to help her in any way, I will devour your bitch girlfriend's soul. She will suffer greatly for your actions, Creed."

  Nodding, I held my hands up slightly. "Okay, I understand."

  Baal nodded back with a sneer on his face. "We will see," he said. "We will see."

  Then he vanished, and I let my head roll to the side, partly in relief that the demon was gone, partly in despair at my situation. "Somebody fucking kill me now," I said.

  11

  Into The Woods

  It had been a while since I had done any hiking outdoors. Almost all of my business was centered around Blackham City and its decayed underbelly (and believe me, there was enough business there to keep me going for the next one hundred lifetimes). So when I finally set off into the woods, a sense of relief and even freedom gradually built up in me, a feeling like I was leaving everything behind as I headed into some new world. Such feelings were familiar to me from when I was traveling the world a long time ago. It was that sense of walking away and leaving the past behind--of entering a new future in a different place--that kept me on the move for over six years. Maybe that's why I felt so relaxed as I made my way up the incline, picking my way through the tall trees and often dense undergrowth. In the height of summer, when the undergrowth would have been at its densest, I imagined trekking through the woods would have been tough going indeed, especially since the forest was on the slope of a mountain. After an hour of walking my legs had begun to tire somewhat, my muscles burning as if they were struggling to keep up the pace.

  "Jesus," I said as I paused to lean against a tree while I took a long swig from a bottle of water I had in my trench coat pocket. Rivulets of sweat ran down my face and soaked my back. Suddenly, the thought of spending perhaps days trekking through the thick woods didn't seem quite so romantic as it did earlier. It was bloody hard work! I just hoped I wouldn't have to walk for too long before I picked up the witch's trail. Wherever she was, I guessed she wasn't that deep into the woods. She had already warded the place against Baal and his supernatural ilk, so she had no need to go all the way to the top of the mountain or deep into the heart of the woods. I was also pretty sure the witch wo
uld be surrounded by some sort of Glamouring Spell, something that would cloak her residence and keep everything hidden from view. Most likely her abode would look like just another part of the woods. It's what I would have done. If you had the magick, it was the only sensible and safe thing to do if your intention was to stay hidden from everyone.

  Just in case the trip lasted longer than I anticipated it would, I had a small backpack with me that contained enough food items to last for a few days. Also in the pack was more bottled water (I could refill in the stream that ran down the mountainside if need be), a few healing ointments in case I took any damage (a distinct possibility if the witch turned out to be hostile, which let's face it, was a distinct possibility) and finally (and arguably the most important item for the trip) a flask of whiskey. At the very least, if I managed to subdue the witch and hand her over safely to Baal, I could have myself a well earned drink. That wasn't to say I couldn't drink any before that happened, of course. That would just be crazy talk.

  I was also packing my pistol (loaded with Chaos Bullets) and the Killing Knife that would, well, kill most things stone dead. Supernatural creatures mostly. Magickslingers such as the witch I was searching for, not so much (at least not the ones who knew their shit).

  In my left hand, I also held an old fashioned compass that used to be in the possession of George Washington. The compass was a gift from a grateful client many moons ago. It was said that Washington used to use the compass to detect the presence of powerful magick. The compass arrow, instead of pointing north, would point in the direction of a whatever magickal presence was nearest. The closer you got to the magick, the faster the compass needle would spin until it was just a blur when you were right upon the magick source. The compass didn't work so well when I got it, so over time, I made some alterations using my own magick and recalibrated it as I went along. The compass was now able to detect any strong magick source from a considerable distance away. Not so useful if you are in a place were magick and the supernatural are everywhere (like many of the clubs and hangouts in Blackham), but very useful if you are in a large space where you know only one source of magick existed. It was doubtful if anyone but the witch lived in the woods. If anyone else did live there, they would just be a tribe of hillbillies, not Adepts.

  The compass had yet to pick up on any sign of magick as the needle hadn't locked into place yet. Instead, it was gently swinging back and forth on its bearings as it searched for sources of power. When it found one, the needle would lock in place, pointing in the direction I needed to go, eventually spinning constantly the closer I got.

  The compass was more for backup than anything else. First and foremost, I was relying on my senses to help me find the witch. Senses that had been finely honed to a very accurate degree thanks to all the bounty hunting cases I had taken on over the years (I hated that term, by the way, bounty hunter...I just found people, that's all there was to it).

  After rehydrating, I started walking again, trudging through the undergrowth and the trees as I continued to climb the slope I was on. Which wasn't getting any less steep, I had to say.

  Then, after ten minutes of walking, I heard a noise behind me, and I spun around to see what it was, thinking it might be a deer or some other animal. Imagine my surprise when I saw a little girl standing there. She was no older than eight or nine, scruffy in appearance, her light brown hair long and braided, her face grubby like she hadn't washed in a while. Her clothes also looked handmade, stitched together from some dark material that I didn't recognize. "Hello there," I said to the girl, smiling, doing my best not to come across as threatening.

  "What are you doing in here?" the little girl asked. "You don't belong in these here woods."

  I couldn't argue with her there. "I'm just...looking for something. Someone actually."

  As the girl regarded me with suspicion and very little fear, I realized that she must belong to one of the clans of people on the mountain side. Large groups of them were scattered all over, having made the mountain and the surrounding woods their home. Not many knew of the mountain people's existence since members of the clan rarely ventured into populated areas except once in a while to pick up supplies that were unavailable on the mountainside. I gave the woods a quick scan, expecting to see members of the little girl's tribe around somewhere, but I saw no one.

  "Ain't no one in these woods that want's to be found," the girl said. "You should turn back."

  "And why would I do that?" I asked her.

  "Cause if you don't," another voice said from behind me, a male voice that made me spin around, my hand automatically reaching for the pistol under my trench coat. Three men had appeared out of nowhere it seemed. Large, burly men in their twenties with beards and animal skins attached to their clothing. Mountain men, all armed. Two with knives. The biggest of the men--a bear of a man with long dark hair and a bushy beard--came walking forward holding a bow in his hand, an arrow drawn back and aimed right at me.

  "Guys," I said, holding my hands up as if I didn't want any trouble, which I didn't. "I'm just out walking in the woods. I don't mean anyone any harm."

  "You're trespassing on our land, friend," the man with the bow said. "I've killed for less."

  I didn't doubt it. The man looked savage, yet fully in control. Not a man you would want to pick a fight with. He looked like he could easily break me in half given a chance. A chance I didn't want to give him. "Like I said," I told him, thinking now that I was going to have to use magick to defend myself. "I'm not here looking for trouble. I'm here to see the witch. You know where she is?"

  The two men behind the guy with the bow both looked at each other when they heard the word witch. I thought I would throw it out there to see what reaction I got. It was evident from their slightly fearful reactions that they knew exactly who I was talking about.

  The man with the arrow pointed at me took a few steps closer. "You ain't seeing no witch today, friend," he growled. "Now I ain't gonna tell ye again. Turn around and move on out of here. Otherwise, I'll put this arrow in your chest." As if to emphasize his point, he drew back harder on the bow string.

  Clearly, the men were not messing around. If I didn't do what they asked, they were going to kill me. And if I did do what they asked and turned around again, Baal would likely kill Leona. Which meant I didn't have a choice. "She told you to stop any strangers that come in here, didn't she?" I asked, mostly to stall for time while I inwardly recited the words to a spell that would hopefully get me out of the sticky situation I was in. Although as I explained before, magick use in the presence of Sleepwalkers was not a good idea and often caused adverse effects. I didn't think the mountain men would be any strangers to magick, however. Their clan no doubt had a Shaman amongst them, maybe even a few witches or warlocks that dealt mostly in nature magick. Either way, I was confident my magick wouldn't go awry when I used it in front of them.

  Used it on them.

  Which I was already doing, starting with the bow man since he posed the greater threat. As I cast the magick, I saw the look of consternation on the bow man's face, which soon turned to concern and then confusion as he realized he could no longer move his body. "What are you doing to me?" he asked, his voice a mixture of anger and fear.

  "Nothing that's going hurt you," I said, stepping to the side, so I was no longer facing his arrow, which he still held in place. It wasn't like he had a choice. His whole body was locked in place now. He couldn't loose the arrow even if he wanted to.

  The two men behind him looked confused as they wondered what was happening to their fearless leader and why he hadn't yet put an arrow in me. The two of them tried to walk forward (presumably, so they could stab me with their hunting knives), but gradually slowed to a stop as the magick worked its way into them, freezing the two of them in place like statues. "Witchery!" one of them cried out before his mouth seized up, and he couldn't talk anymore.

  "You'll be stuck that way for a few hours," I told them. "Long enough for me to ge
t far away from here."

  You might be wondering why I didn't just teleport out of there. Well, for one, teleportation uses up a lot of my magick reserves, and I would need as much juice as possible when it came time to face the witch. I didn't want to be doing that if the tank was half empty, so to speak. There was also the fact that you needed to know where you were going before teleporting anywhere, otherwise who knew where you would end up? As I wasn't familiar with the geography of the woods, I didn't want to risk going off course too much. Besides, I always relished the chance to practice my spells. Spells and magick are like anything else. You either use them or lose them, and I rarely turned down an opportunity for live practice.

  "What did you do to them?" the little girl asked from behind me, still standing in the same spot, although now she had a rather large knife in her small hand, which made her look more cute than dangerous. Still, fair plays to her for standing her ground and not running off in fear.

  "Don't worry," I said. "They just won't be able to move for a while."

  "At all?"

  I shook my head. "Not a muscle."

  A smile crossed the little girl's face as if she was now thinking about all the devious things she could do to the men and they couldn't do a thing to stop her. "You'd best be moving along, Mister, before any more of my family sees you."

  Before I left, I asked the girl about the witch. "You know where she is in here?"

  The little girl looked like she knew but didn't want to tell. It seemed like the mountain people were all scared of the witch. Probably with good reason. "She'll turn me into a toad if I tell you anything."

  I suppressed a smile as I wondered if the witch had actually said that at some point or if the little girl was just surmising about what might happen to her. Either way, I was sure the witch had said something to keep her neighbors in line. "That's okay," I said after a moment. "You don't have to tell me anything. Have fun with these three, won't you? And remember, they can't move a muscle." I smiled over deviously at the three men and winked. No doubt if they could move their eyeballs, they would have thrown me daggers.