by Booth, John
“No sign of the Cult?” I asked eventually. Esmeralda seemed to be avoiding the subject.
“The Palace received a message from Danel Block. He’s the village elder where Urda’s cottage is located.”
“I’ve met him.”
“He says that one of the local children saw Urda at her cottage through a window. When he investigated, the cottage was deserted.”
Wizards tend to see all the places they can hop to as equidistant. I think nothing of dropping in on my parents to pick up a pair of socks while I’m getting dressed in the Palace. Perhaps Urda was doing the same.
“I’m going over to have a look.”
“Take care husband. The Cult wants you dead.”
I’d worked that out for myself. Still, it was nice that Esmeralda cared. Rather than hop to the outside of the cottage I decided to arrive in an armchair. The chair must have been moved since I was last there, because I ended up falling onto the floor with the chair pressing against my back. While working my way up into the chair I put a glamour around me, which would render me invisible to anybody looking in through the window or using magical sight. I heated the room, which was a little cold, and promptly fell asleep.
I woke to the sound of someone walking into the room. Urda stood looking down at me in horror, a bundle of clothing in her hands. She looked around wildly, her eyes focusing on the net curtains over the windows. She tried to hop and failed.
“I learnt how to make that shield around you from a cave where my parents nearly died. It’s well beyond your skills to break it.”
“Jake you’ll ruin everything. If they see us together you will have to kill me. Let me go or kill me now.”
That sounded improbable, on all counts.
“What happens if they see us together?”
“The plan would be lost, along with Anna and Bronwyn’s lives. Please let me go.” Urda started to cry, which was most unlike her.
“No one knows I’m here, except Esmeralda and she won’t tell.”
“They are watching us. All the time.”
“I hopped directly to this chair. Well, just missed it actually.”
“Jake. I have to go.”
“And I’m shielded from magical sight. I can’t be seen from those windows in any case.”
Urda relaxed a little at this news and wiped her eyes.
“I’m glad you are still alive,” she said after a long awkward pause.
“Me too.”
“But I can’t tell you what’s going on and I have to go. Before they begin to wonder what is taking me so long.” She sounded totally sincere and very worried.
I released the field around her.
“Then compose yourself and go.”
She took a minute to wipe her face and calm down. Grabbing a book from her bookcase, she put it on the pile of clothes before picking them up. Then she hopped.
I extended my magical senses out from the cottage to the woods beyond. Sure enough there was a magic user watching the cottage. He or she hopped away before I could make out any details about them.
I decided to hop back to the palace.
Esmeralda was nodding with quiet satisfaction when I finished my story.
“It is clear what they are up too.”
“It’s not clear to me. Would you mind explaining it in simple sentences?”
Esmeralda smirked, “I can see why they don’t want you to know. You can’t keep a secret to save your life.”
“I take it that is wife speak for I’m not going to tell you?”
“It would not help. Be on your guard and expect the unexpected. The Cult will make at least one more attempt to kill you.”
“You are such a comfort, wife.”
Esmeralda took me in her arms. “That is my role. Now tell me exactly what you did with Jennifer last night. Do not miss out a single detail because I will know if you lie.”
It was lucky I got some sleep in Urda’s armchair, because I didn’t get much that night.
Surprisingly, I felt refreshed the next morning. Perhaps I need less sleep as I grow older. I hoped my stamina increased with age, but suspected it wouldn’t. Esmeralda was snoring on the other side of the bed and I got out with exaggerated care to avoid disturbing her. If she woke she might demand an extra performance.
Before I could put on any clothes, Ella walked in. She ignored my naked state though her eyes did lock on my nether regions for a little longer than was strictly appropriate for a maid, especially such a young and pretty one.
“I’ve brought you clean clothes, Lord Wizard,” she said demurely.
“I need a bath, first.”
“I take it the Heir has kept you up all night. It is part of my duties to wash the Lord Wizards body should you desire it.” There was a definite twinkle in her eye, though she was playing with fire with Esmeralda sleeping so near.
“Do not forget to take a brush to his manhood,” Esmeralda said sleepily through her pillow. “Who knows where it has been?”
Ella tipped up on her toes with what looked suspiciously like anticipation.
“I will be sure to pay it particular attention.”
“And do it quietly, Ella. I was breast feeding for two last night and am exhausted.”
“I can wash myself,” I said, to Ella’s considerable disappointment.
“I’ve no doubt you often do,” Ella said as she retreated from the room, walking backwards and never taking her eyes off me.
One day I will figure out Salice and what they expect of their Wizards. Esmeralda in particular remains an enigma. I mean, if I had done what they were hinting at, what would have happened? They were not the slightest bit put out over me marrying the heir to the throne and Jenny at the same time. I needed a rule book.
Once refreshed and dressed I headed out for a walk around the cloisters. This was the day of our house viewing, but that wasn’t until the afternoon. I had plenty of time to relax.
Perhaps it was relaxing that allowed the attackers to get me. I certainly had no premonition before fields of magic wrapped round me.
33. Crucified
Taken totally off guard, they dragged me into the middle of the lawn. My attempts at resistance failed as a vortex of power swirled around and through me. It wasn’t that I had been stripped of my power; it was that I couldn’t use my magic because it was ripped away by the vortex as soon as I started to form it into something useful.
I felt a fool. Even the simplest of shields would have made this attack impossible. Now it was impossible to break out of their trap.
My attackers were a team from the Cult. I could see eight of them, but there must be more behind me. I heard chanting coming from behind me as well as in front. The Cult sounded very like monks from Earth singing to the glory of God.
A for real, Jesus type cross appeared on the ground in front of me and two Cultists crouched beside it, large copper nails and hammers in their hands. Bronwyn’s dark sense of humor appeared to have gotten the better of her in planning this attack.
I struggled as if my life depended on it, because it certainly did. The Cult were taking no chances, a powerful magic shield surrounded us, though they would still have been vulnerable to an air attack as the shield was virtually non-existent above us. Fluffy could have crisped the lot of them in seconds. Unfortunately, I had no telepathic link with my dragon to call him to my aid.
I saw Esmeralda at our window; then she was gone. Probably off to find the palace guards. Not that they would be able to get through the shield. It was strong enough to be visible to ordinary humans, shimmering in a large circle around us and it would resist any attack they could come up with. Not even bullets would get through it.
I tried to set up a shield to block the vortex swirling around me, but my attempts blew away as soon as they started to form. My arms were forced straight out and I was spun around and pushed onto the cross fast enough to knock the wind out of me and leave me seeing stars.
Fortunately, I didn’t see them s
trike the first blows, but excruciating pain in the palms of my hands let me know they were nailing me to the cross. To say it hurt would be an understatement. The pain was blinding and for many seconds I couldn’t think. Then they pulled off my trainers and drove nails through my feet. I lost consciousness.
As the cross lifted into the air I woke, mainly because the pain in my hands was so intense. They tied ropes around my torso fixing me to the main pole of the cross, because otherwise my hands would have been ripped apart by my weight.
As chance would have it, the cross pointed at our royal apartments. The phrase ‘I can see my house from here’ rippled through my mind and I laughed.
The chant the Cult had been performing since the start, stopped.
I laughed again, more to annoy them than for any other reason. Somehow, my mind was blocking the pain. I knew it was there, but it was no longer incapacitating.
“Jake Morrissey, we have come to execute you.”
The spokesman pulled back his hood to reveal a teenager, certainly a man younger than me. His face was horribly disfigured. That was one of the many things the fanatics of Tydan had done to boys with magic powers. The girls they raped first, then they cut. A wave of sympathy ran through me. The Cult were as much victims as villains.
“The Goddess has told us you are un-killable, but we know that is her compassion speaking; her unwillingness to contemplate the death of a fellow god. She gave us leave to prove her wrong and as a consequence you will die. Then no one can stop us creating an empire for the Goddess.”
Judging by the amount of blood pooling below me, my wounds were severe and I would soon pass out again. However, there was no reason I couldn’t scare this little shit before I went into the big night.
“You can't win. If you kill me, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Well, what were the chances of him having watched the film that came from?
Judging by the way his face paled and his fellow Cultists stepped back it was score one for Jake, with a little help from Hollywood.
It might well be my last words. It was getting difficult to see and my heart was beating unreasonably fast. I didn’t have long left. Looking up to our apartment window I searched for Esmeralda. I wanted to see her one last time.
She was out on the steep roof and the crazy woman was carrying a flag. She had it raised and as I watched she brought it down like she was cutting off someone’s head.
There was a long loud cracking sound. I looked down to see the Cultists falling to the ground. Their heads looked wrong and it took me a second to see that most were missing parts of them. The vortex slowed and then was gone.
Seconds passed before I realized I should be doing something. I stopped the loss of blood from my wounds and ripped the nails out of my body. Sagging against the ropes, which were now the only things holding me up, it was relatively easy to heal my hands and feet as most of the flesh was still there and still alive, but I couldn’t deal with the loss of blood so easily. I was going to faint any second. I cut the ropes and fell to the ground. It was a long way down and when I landed, it hurt.
I rolled onto my back to see Esmeralda standing above me, hands on hips and looking ready to kill.
“Did I not warn you to be careful, you incompetent fool.”
Losing consciousness seemed like the only option available, so I took it.
I woke up in my bed. My hands and feet hurt, though a quick magical inspection revealed they were ghost pains rather than actual damage. You can heal the body, but sometimes the mind insists on showing you who is boss.
Esmeralda stepped into sight holding Morgana at her breast.
“It’s Morgana you have to thank for your life. She screamed the place down when you were attacked and I felt an overwhelming desire to look out of the window.”
“Thanks kid, I owe you one,” I said to my daughter, who stopped suckling long enough to gurgle happily at me.
“And you owe Captain Assad your life. I was all for storming to your rescue. He came up with the idea to use the snipers from the rooftops, high enough up to get above that shield of theirs.”
That explained a lot.
“Please convey my thanks to Treva. Who came up with the flag?”
Esmeralda smirked. “That idea was mine. We didn’t want any of them to escape and had to sort out who was going to shoot who, as well as the signal to fire. I was hoping you would look up and see me to give you hope, but you did not.”
“I was busy with other things.”
“Dying while making stupid speeches?”
She had a point, so I didn’t respond.
“I am furious with the Cult for invading our home,” Esmeralda continued.
Home? That reminded me I was supposed to be with Jenny viewing a house. A glance at my watch showed I was already ten minutes late.
“Got to go and meet Jenny.”
Esmeralda frowned.
“Jake, you are in no condition to go…”
But I was gone before she could finish the sentence.
I arrived in Jenny’s bedroom and nearly fell over. Only grabbing onto the bed prevented me from falling.
“Jake, is that you? See Dad, I told you he’d be here.”
Jenny ran up the stairs and into the bedroom.
“Are you all right? You’re so pale.”
“Lost a tiny bit of blood. Nothing serious.”
I walked across the room using magic to keep me upright. “I’ll be fine.” Taking her hand I hopped us downstairs. Walking down the stairs would have been a mistake. It was a great relief to get into the back of my father in law’s car.
The car started and I put my hand over my mouth to prevent spewing all over Jenny. The world was spinning.
“Stop the car, Dad,” Jenny said urgently.
“Jake, how much blood did you lose?”
“A few pints. I was being crucified at the time.” A man should make light of his problems, I’ve always believed.
“Dad, get us to the hospital as fast as you can.”
That sounded like a good idea under the circumstances and I let unconsciousness take me again.
I woke briefly at Accident and Emergency. Jenny was telling a doctor to put me on a drip immediately as I’d lost a lot of blood. The doctor wanted to know how I’d lost the blood and Jenny gave a pretty good impersonation of Esmeralda in full regal mode. I think he must have surrendered because I felt a needle being stuck in my arm. That’s my Jenny. Then I fell asleep again.
34. Revelations
I woke up feeling wonderful. Sunlight streamed into the room and though there was a slight smell of antiseptic, I could live with it. I rolled over and opened my eyes to see Betty smiling at me. For all her smiles she looked anxious and slightly worried.
“Where am I?”
“Hospital. Don’t you remember?”
Now it was pointed out to me, I did. I remembered Jenny screaming at the doctor before it all went black.
“They pumped five pints of blood into you.. You have been crying and whimpering all night, though you seem to have forgotten it now you’re awake.”
Leaving aside why Betty was sitting next to my bed, I was glad she was with me because something was bugging me.
“I nearly died yesterday. I’ve been getting premonitions before danger, but there was absolutely no warning this time.”
Betty nodded.
“I told you your magical sight would grow deeper. You should be delighted. Very few wizards have that gift.”
She was missing the point.
“It didn’t work.”
Betty reached over and patted my hand. “Did you die, dear?”
“No but…”
“Did the bad guys?”
“Yes, but…”
“You didn’t need a premonition. Not that you should rely on them. The magic that permeates the universe is not in time, but exists outside it. It can’t warn you of things a long way in the future because there are too many possibilit
ies. It’s only good for the immediate stuff. It isn’t the same as a Norn prophesy.”
“I could have used it yesterday, though,” I grumbled.
Even if it hadn’t been life saving it would have saved me a lot of pain. Betty should try being crucified before she dismissed my grievance. Those nails really hurt and I shuddered as memories came flooding back. I was never going to be able to look at a cross without thinking about it. It took real effort to push those memories back into a hole and bury them. My hands were shaking though Betty didn’t seem to have noticed. She had her serious face on.
“Jake, what would you have done if you had had a premonition?”
“I’d have put up a shield.”
“And what would they have done?”
That was simple, their vortex would have failed and they would have hopped back to Barren and waited for another opportunity, probably when I was at Jenny’s or my parents. That was when it dawned on me what she was getting at.
“Okay, it might have been better this way, but it hurt.”
Betty patted my hand again. She reached to the floor for her handbag and took out a stapled document made up of what looked like ten pages or more.
“Be a dear and sign this.”
She handed me the document and a pen. The title was Agreement on Treasure Trove Distribution. I turned to the last page and signed where it indicated.
“Didn’t your parents teach you to read things before you sign them?” Betty asked, eyebrows raised in mock surprise.
“If I can’t trust you then I’m doomed anyway.”
She patted my hand yet again and stood up to leave.
“Jake, you think you have dealt with what just happened to you, but you haven’t. For the first time in your life your magic had no control over events and you nearly died. You remember the pain, but you haven’t dealt with the emotions. You have buried them deep inside you. They will come back and overwhelm you when you least expect it.”
I laughed. “I assure you I remember it all very clearly and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”