by Booth, John
Jake’s Women
Wizards IV
By
John Booth
Jake has been teleported to the Conference Between The Worlds along with his friend and dragon, Retnor.
His wives, Jenny and Esmeralda, are pregnant and very close to term. Urda’s sister is missing. There is still an enemy out there who nearly killed Jake when he blew up a police station. All in all, it was a terrible time to be stolen away to the Conference, which could go on for years.
Jake is determined to escape, but he soon finds out that no one has ever found a way out of the Conference and that nothing there is real. On top of that, he discovers that some of those who wanted to kill him before the Conference started are determined to carry on trying.
The big question is whether Jake will survive long enough to escape.
JAKE’S JUSTICE
Wizards IV
Copyright ©2014 John Booth.
Second electronic edition published by John Booth Enterprises
Cover Design by JBE
John Booth asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Other books by John Booth on Amazon Kindle
Wizards Series
Wizards
Jake’s War
Jake’s Justice
Jake’s Women
Jalon
Jalia on the Road
Gally Delbar
Jalia in the North
Jalia and the Slavers
Jalia at Bay
Jalia Prevails
Tom & Laura Series
The Spellbinder
Scotland Hard
Revenge of the Brotherhood
Magic Series
House of Silver Magic
Sapphire Magic: Breaking Glass
Gold Magic: Terror in Mind
The Magic Series (Anthology)
Standalone Fantasy
Andrew Hawks
London Gothic
Carlotta and the Krius Scepter
Shaddowdon
Horror
The Lost
The Inspector Monde Mysteries
Visit the author’s web page Scrawls in the Dust
Contents
1. Surprises
2. Saved
3. Home
4. Frustrations
5. Attacked
6. The Matrix
7. Raped
8. Cocktails
9. Diabli
10. Escape
11. Heirs
12. The Cult
13. Looking for Bronwyn
14. The Harem
15. Anna
16. The Letter
17. Valhalla
18. Wives
19. The Damaged Zone
20. Norn Magic
21. Council
22. Preparations
23. Conference World
24. Eyes
25. Decisions
26. Dealings
27. Visits
28. Problems
29. Allied
30. Truths
31. Heat
32. Meetings
33. Crucified
34. Revelations
35. Through the Looking Glass
36. Truce
37. Visits
38. Friends
39. Mistake
40. Sights
41. Special Delivery
1. Surprises
I heard my name and felt someone shaking me. The last thing I remembered was standing beside my wives while Fluffy told me we were about to be summoned to the conference. There was something else, something important Fluffy said just before we dematerialized, but try as I might I couldn’t remember what it was.
“Jake! Jake Morrissey, wake up.” I didn’t recognize the voice. The shaking got a little rougher.
It was difficult to pull myself out of the darkness. A kaleidoscope of blurred images flowed across my eyes before resolving into the face of a ginger haired teenager. He was suntanned or something because his skin had a golden tint. No one in Wales ever looked like that naturally. I strongly suspected his skin color must have come from a bottle, probably true of his hair as well.
I was lying on a long couch. Pushing up to a sitting position I discovered something a little shocking. The teenager in front of me was stark naked and turned out to be extremely well endowed in the gentleman’s department, said items hanging at my eye level. So well equipped it took an effort to draw my eyes away. While not the slightest bit that way inclined, they were a truly impressive sight. I looked up into disconcertingly dark red eyes.
“Who are you?”
The boy looked surprised for a second and then his face took on a grimace that was quite inhuman in nature and yet instantly recognizable as a grin. It couldn’t be?
“Fluffy?” I asked hesitantly.
“You make a fine looking dragon, Jake.”
His words flummoxed me, but not quite so much as his endowment, which I struggled to take my eyes off.
“Why are you naked?” Why was he human was the bigger question. Okay, not necessarily bigger, but certainly more important. My thinking wasn’t entirely rational as I stared at my friend.
“Dragons do not wear clothes,” he said rather huffily.
Sometimes I think that Fluffy is convinced I’m a few brain cells short of a set. It’s not what he says, but the way he says them that gives him away.
“But you look human to me.”
The youth turned his head to one side to show me his profile. “Handsome as always, I trust?”
I nodded, as he was indeed handsome, and walking around flashing his equipment like that would certainly get any girl’s attention; not to mention more than a few men.
“It must be your perverse human mind. Get it out of the gutter and I am sure suitable clothing will appear. We are existing on a transcendental plane where we see everybody as being the same species as ourselves. I expect it helps the representatives understand each other’s point of view.”
Closing my eyes, I muttered ‘cover it up, cover it up,’ under my breath, mantra fashion. When I opened them he was wearing an orange toga. It was an improvement of sorts, now he looked like a Greek god. Then my memory of the moments before we transported came flooding back and I slumped back onto the couch.
“Five bloody years!”
That was how long he said the last conference lasted. I had two very pregnant wives about to pop at home and every minute away from them felt like a disaster waiting to happen. My stomach felt like a butterfly farm had taken up residence and were being disturbed by a herd of puppies.
“Ah, but the conference before only lasted six months,” Fluffy said cheerfully. “And females with hatchlings are best left to their own devices. I believe we are both well off out of it.”
That may be his view but it wasn’t mine.
“We have to get back,” I said as panic started to set in.
The trouble was, as soon as I stood up, I realized there was nowhere to get out of. A white expanse of nothingness, kind of was, in all directions as far as the eye could see. The couch vanished as I star
ed at it. At least, the floor beneath my feet stayed firm, even though it was indistinguishable from the rest of the white. It was like one of those films where people have gone to heaven, except that Fluffy wasn’t wearing a crucifix and there was no white smoke billowing around our feet.
I reached out with my magical senses. Of late, I’d been able to perceive the multiverse in new and unexpected ways, but this time there was nothing to see, no magic, no structures, no nothing. Even Fluffy had no reality to him, though a faint glow outlined his form. He was as insubstantial as air.
Fluffy sighed. “We are not really here, Jake. We are stuck in a realm of imagination until those who called the Conference choose to let us go.”
“They would be the mythical beings no one has ever met?”
“Exactly.” Fluffy relaxed onto the couch that appeared below him and as he sat and he smiled at me.
I followed his lead and sat on a comfortable chair that appeared beneath me. As soon as I imagined it, it appeared. I fought down the panic fluttering in my stomach and collected my thoughts.
We were delegates at ‘The Conference Between the Worlds.’ It happened once every hundred years. Representatives proposed by every magical civilization across the multiverse were judged for suitability by the mysterious Progenitors, a race of beings who could manipulate magic and Hop Space in ways the rest of us didn’t understand.
Candidates deemed suitable by the Progenitors found their names and addresses (Think Galactic Coordinates) posted in a strange temple in Hop Space.
I had volunteered to represent the Valhallans in exchange for the magical energy I needed to defeat Bronwyn. (It’s a long story that I’ve chronicled elsewhere.) It turned out this wasn’t quite the excellent deal I thought at the time. I’ve been struggling to stay alive as a result of that decision ever since.
Once accepted as a candidate, your sponsor civilization got access to the locations of all the other candidates’ worlds when you arrived at the conference. Knowing the location of a civilization’s worlds made them vulnerable, and I had made a lot of innocent people vulnerable to the Valhallans; who didn’t have the best of reputations.
It hadn’t gone down well with the other civilizations. Come to think of it, the United Nations back on Earth might not be too happy either, but fortunately they didn’t know about it. I was the only functioning wizard Earth had and so far I had kept that a secret.
A large gong boomed out. My teeth vibrated. Before I could ask Fluffy what it meant, a voice reverberated in my head. These Progenitors had obviously never discovered the volume control, unless they were a species of rock stars and had set the amp to 11.
“A petition has been raised against the Valhallan Representative. The Conference will address the issue at once. The accused will be confronted by his accusers so that justice may be seen to be done.”
The air swirled around me looking like someone was stirring a dirty stick in circles through its pristine whiteness. Vague shapes that formed congealed into hooded people lined up in front of me, each row higher than the one in front until all the space was filled with blank staring faces. They looked like shop store dummies dressed in hoodies. One face stood out from the rest as I spotted Fluffy standing in the second row back. His hood was pulled back to reveal his face. When he saw me staring at him, he winked.
Still sat in the chair, I decided to stand to face the assembled multitudes. A crazy idea was forming in my head and I grinned when I decided it was well worth a try.
“Let those who would give witness speak,” the voice rumbled in my head. I wondered if I opened my mouth the sound would come out.
One of the faces zoomed forward till it hung inches away from mine, looking at least twice as large as life. It smeared out of shape before coalescing into Alisandra, the Representative from Malevon. She had tried to seduce me a few weeks ago as a way of getting me out of going to the Conference. Looking back on it with all the benefits of hindsight, I should have let her succeed.
“I offered him love and he turned his back on me. He would not take any action to protect us from the Valhallans. He is a hard man.” Despite her words, she smiled wickedly at me. I had a good idea of what part of me she wanted hard and what she wanted to do with it. Malevon women controlled their men with sexual magic and it wasn’t a totally bad thing. Nor was it entirely one sided. The women were as randy as their enslaved lovers.
Her face faded back into the crowd.
Another replaced it. A heavy jowled man with a Henry VIII beard spat into mine. The spittle never reached me as I imagined it away. I wanted to get the hang of this place before it killed me. I had no idea how close I was to achieving the latter.
“He killed the Order of the Knights of Justice. How will the Diamond Worlds protect itself against evil wizards?”
There was a space provided after each accusation in which I could have offered a defense, but I chose to stay silent. The Knights had attacked me and the Dragons killed them for their own reasons. It was best to let everyone believe I was the guilty party. Beside which, I don’t think the Dragons killed the whole order, just most of them.
Another face appeared and then another, then a multitude. Mostly they expressed their fears that Valhalla would take an interest in them now they knew where to find them. There were a lot of accusers and it went on for a long time. I started to get bored.
The last face to appear was Farolan. The elf shook his head sadly as he gazed at me. However, his words surprised me.
“I set much of the multiverse against this wizard. But I was acting while possessed by a strange creature the Elves do not yet understand and have never encountered before. Wizard Morrissey has a true heart and it is only his intelligence that lets him down. Let us put aside this pointless attempt at vengeance. The deed is done and no good can come from picking at the open wound.”
The voice inside my head boomed again. “The accusers have spoken. What says the accused in his defense?”
I looked around at the blank faces. Fluffy nodded encouragingly and I wondered if he had any idea what I planned to do. Probably not, as he is a lot smarter than me. Taking a deep breath I stated my case.
“I admit my guilt. I have wronged these worlds with my blatant stupidity. I should never have accepted the Valhallan offer and it has already resulted in many thousands, if not millions of unnecessary deaths. I should be banished at once and sent back to my home world where I can do no further harm.”
‘Clever ploy, eh?’
I certainly thought so. With one bound, Jake gets to go home and take care of business, not to mention his wives. I never wanted to attend this stupid conference in the first place.
There was a sound like a million sharp intakes of breath. The voice in my head boomed again.
“As the accused admits his guilt the case is proven. The sentence is death.”
Shit. I never did learn to learn the rules before I started playing the game.
The world began to darken around me.
2. Saved
There wasn’t any air. I was breathing in and out, or thought I was, but my lungs ached for lack of oxygen and the world was going away. At least I was going out while carrying out the stupidest idea of my life. Esmeralda would understand.
“I would like to speak for the defense,” Fluffy said somewhere off in the distance.
“He has admitted guilt,” the voice in my head said; rather reasonably I thought, given the circumstances. The world began to spin.
“What he has admitted to, is that he followed his nature. However, he did not appoint himself as a Representative. That honor must go to our illustrious hosts.”
Good point. My lungs were burning and Fluffy had given me an idea. Wherever I was being suffocated, it wasn’t in the Conference. That had to be an illusion. Somewhere out there, my real body had run out of air, and if I could reconnect with it I might survive. Provided magic was out there as well.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on trying to feel my real
body, my actual lungs. The world of the Conference faded away. I was floating in liquid. There was something over my mouth and nose; a mask. I sucked hard and felt it press harder onto my face, but no air came through. Magic swirled around me, tantalizingly out of reach.
Air flowed into my lungs and I was instantly back at the Conference. Globs of red light danced across my vision as I sucked in life giving air. I reached back for the place I’d just discovered, but it was gone. Without the pain in my lungs to guide me I couldn’t find it. I was stuck here again.
“Very well, we will hear your plea.”
The voice didn’t sound pleased and I must admit I was a bit annoyed myself. I had almost escaped. Of course I might have died if I couldn’t have reached that magic, but I have confidence in me. Someone has to.
“The Conference recognizes Retnor, Representative of the Dragons.”
Fluffy appeared on the stage. “How are you?” he whispered anxiously. I nodded to let him know I was okay. “Do you ever think before you open your mouth?” he asked rhetorically before turning to face the Representatives.
“We call them the Progenitors, our mysterious hosts of this Conference. We hear their voices in our heads, but we never see them. They possess magic beyond our understanding, can create solidity in Hop Space, are able to transport us across the multiverse from wherever we happen to be. They know all about us while we know nothing of them. They post the location of our worlds in their temple, making us visible for all civilizations with a representative, thus revealing and making us vulnerable to each other. But they never post the location of their own worlds during the process. We have no idea where we are at this moment.”
Fluffy had a point and I could feel the tension rising around me as he spoke. Our hosts must have felt it too because they were quick to respond.
“No civilization is forced to offer a representative,” the disembodied voice pointed out.
Fluffy made that grimace, which was a dragon’s equivalent of a grin.