Wizard's Nocturne: The Sixth Jonathan Shade Novel

by Gary Jonas

  “Cute,” Kelly said. “Coming to you was a mistake. You're sitting this one out. I know where the temple is. Jonathan, Naomi, and I will handle this. We'll take Winslow out now before he gets any stronger.”

  “Bad idea,” I said. “He's invincible. I think we should wait for whoever had Sharon send us all back to send someone else. This time will get scarred over again, and maybe the next person will have better luck.”

  “That's the best you can do?”

  “It's all I have.”

  “That’s not good enough,” Kelly said. She grabbed me and pulled me close. “I’m not into waiting for someone else to do my job.” She pushed me backward through the hall to the living room, and forced me to sit down in my reading chair. “It’s time for you to take a nap.”

  She pinched my carotid artery closed.

  I started to object, but the world went away.

  ***

  When I woke up, I found myself tied to my chair. Kelly made sure I was in a comfortable place, but my bladder had other ideas. I had to piss like a Russian racehorse. I tried to hold it, but after several hours, I had to let it go. I shouldn't have had that tea.

  Hours passed.

  My nose itched.

  I couldn't scratch it.

  I struggled but couldn't get loose, and I couldn't get my face turned enough to rub my nose on the chair.

  I didn't think it could get worse.

  My stomach rumbled.

  “No,” I said.

  Now I had to shit.

  I shook my head and tightened my sphincter.

  I breathed in and out quickly. I tried everything I could think of to keep it at bay. The feeling slowly passed and I relaxed.

  I fell asleep.

  Sunlight through the window woke me.

  The need to drop a load returned. I fought it to a standstill a second time.

  The morning slowly drifted to afternoon. I was thirsty. I was also hungry. And I had to piss again.

  Afternoon gave way to evening, and I felt gas bubbling in my colon.

  A common rule for old people is this: Never trust a fart.

  I tried to hold it in but couldn't.

  I tried to let it out slowly, and I shit my pants.

  “Fuck it,” I said and let the piss go too.

  “I'm going to have to buy a new chair.”

  An hour later, I added, “If I survive.”

  The smell was awful, but I acclimated and eventually drifted off to sleep.

  I woke the next morning, still tied up, thirsty, hungry, stinky. My wrists hurt from pulling on the ropes. My legs took turns going to sleep, and when I tried to flex muscles, the tingling pins and needles hurt like a son of a bitch.

  I sat there in my own shit and piss for another eight hours before I heard a knock on my door.

  “Come in,” I said, my voice weak.

  Another knock.

  They hadn't heard me.

  I tried to summon some spit to swallow so I could coat my throat. “Come in,” I said as loudly as I could then went into a coughing fit.

  The knob turned and the door swung open. Carlton leaned in. “Anybody home? Oh!” he said when he saw me. He waved his hand in front of his face. His left eye was purple and nearly swollen shut. “Oh, God, it stinks.”

  I managed to force out a single word. “Untie.”

  He wrinkled his nose but finally moved in and worked at the knots. He made a lot of faces. Eventually he went to the kitchen to get a knife. He cut my hands free and handed the blade to me. He stepped back to let me work on getting my legs released.

  “Water,” I said as I sawed at the ropes.

  He nodded and took advantage of the opportunity to get away from the aroma. He returned with a glass of water. I had my legs free by then, but I didn't try to stand. I sipped at the water, knowing it would be bad to gulp it all down the way I wanted to.

  “Who did this to you?”

  “Magically engineered warrior woman,” I said and took another sip. “Is Henry all right?”

  “Of course. Three assholes tried to bump him off, and you went missing. I tried calling.”

  “My phone never rang,” I said.

  “Granted, I tried only the one time. No answer. Figured you weren't home.” He wandered over to the kitchen and held up the phone cord, which had been severed. “Perhaps I should have checked on you sooner, but I had other concerns.”

  “How'd you get the shiner?” I pointed at his eye.

  “Jonathan Shade.”

  “He's still here?”

  “Came to the temple to finish the job he started. He sucker-punched me.”

  I took another sip of water. “Tell me.”

  “I'll give you all the details later. Right now you need to get cleaned up. Shall I send a car to pick you up? We're going to have an emergency meeting at the temple.”

  “You can't just wait for me?” I asked.

  “I can't take the stench any longer, Jon. I'll send a car.”

  He strode to the door, took one last look at me, and shook his head. “They didn't even torture you.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?”

  “They knew where to find Henry. You must have told them.”

  “The warrior woman followed me,” I said. “I did not tell her where to find us.”

  “Says you,” Carlton said and closed the door behind himself.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Being rich didn't suck. For example, I had a bathtub with a built-in shower in my apartment. As the health benefits weren't touted much in the twenties, I was seen as an eccentric old man when I had a crew install the unit. “Eccentric” is a word reserved for people with money. If you're broke, you're just crazy.

  I managed to get cleaned up, and I was thankful for the shower in so many ways. Once I dressed, I cooked myself a meal and asked a neighbor to help me carry my soiled chair out of my apartment. He didn't ask for an explanation, and I didn't provide one.

  I burned some sage to mask the odors because air fresheners had yet to be invented. Incense and spices and flowers were the go-to methods to get rid of nasty smells.

  An hour and a half after Carlton untied me, I arrived at the temple, clean, fed, and ready to face whatever Kelly, Naomi, and Shade had tried while I'd been tied up. I entered the temple and stopped when I saw Ankhesenamun standing with Winslow in the main hall. Robed members of the temple stood in rows before them.

  Ankhesenamun looked so young, and Winslow looked so healthy. He was fully healed and radiated energy and charisma.

  Shade, Naomi, and Kelly stood behind them, gagged and chained to a large anvil in the center of the dais. I'd never seen the anvil, so that had been brought in special. Ankhesenamun glanced in my direction when I entered the room. I'd grabbed a black robe on the way in, so I donned it as I entered, but I didn't bother with the gold mask. The other members weren't wearing their masks either, though they did wear their robes. The Egyptian queen didn't recognize me, so she dismissed me and kept her head high as she waited for Winslow to address his audience.

  Carlton leaned against the wall in his red robe, a slight grin on his face. I approached him, gave him a nod, then took up a position beside him.

  “He's about to start,” Carlton said.

  “What's with the prisoners?” I asked.

  “Do you recognize them?” Carlton asked.

  “The Chinese woman is Kelly Chan. She's the one who tied me up. The man is Jonathan Shade, and he's the one who killed Henry. I don't know the other woman.”

  “Naomi Shade,” Carlton said. “Evidently a powerful wizard in her own right. They claim to be from the future.”

  “So they're either insane or lying.”

  “Rayna Noble made a comment to me that suggested she was from the future too.”

  “Perhaps they've been reading Edward Bellamy or H.G. Wells.”

  “None of them look like Julian West, and if a time machine had been invented, I'd know about it,” Carlton said.

>   I kept my comeback to myself because I wasn't looking to upset him. With age sometimes comes wisdom. Then again, sometimes it just brings senility, so your mileage may vary.

  A few more people entered the temple, donned robes, and joined the crowd. Winslow pulled out a pocket watch, flipped it open, and gazed at it for a moment before snapping it closed.

  He held his hands up as if reaching for the stars.

  What little talking had been going on now stopped.

  Winslow kept his arms outstretched. “They say that timing is everything.” He brought his arms down to his sides. “And it is definitely time to get things going. Carlton, lock the front door. Anyone who isn't here is no longer a member of Alpha et Omega because if they can't respect my time, I will not respect theirs.”

  Carlton motioned to a robed man standing in the foyer, and the man bolted the door.

  Winslow paced in front of the dais.

  “I've met all of you,” he said. “Some of you have been with me for decades, some for mere months. All of you are important, each in his or her own way.”

  The audience nodded practically in unison.

  “My first order of business is to introduce the lovely young woman to my right. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my fiancée, Ankhesenamun. I met her in Egypt, when she was married to King Tutankhamun, and she's an amazing woman. Would you like to say a few words, my dear?”

  Ankhesenamun swept her gaze across the audience. “I have been queen of Egypt,” she said. “I have ruled and decided the fate of nations. I came to know your United States, and while many of the concepts here elude me, I do appreciate the devotion to country. I am also pleased that my former husband is now very well known around the world, and mere weeks ago, people from your time have been granted access to his tomb.”

  She nearly spit those last words because I knew she was furious that tourists were visiting Tut's tomb. They were trespassers, and if Ankhesenamun had her way, every one of them would be sent to work the mines. But she was following a script provided by Winslow. She'd chosen her side, and she would stand there and do whatever needed to be done.

  Winslow stepped forward, and when he had everyone's undivided attention, he said, “My next order of business is to end the lives of two people in this building.”

  The audience started talking among themselves, shocked.

  “Settle down, people. We'll get to that in good time, and I can assure you that I have no intention of killing any members of Alpha et Omega. But there are people trying to kill me, and in order to put a stop to those attempts, I will have to take two lives.”

  The audience quieted. They all knew they were safe. None of them had done anything to Winslow.

  “Behind me,” Winslow said, “are two former friends and a woman I do not know.”

  Ankhesenamun pointed at Shade and Kelly. “This couple is Jonathan Shade and Kelly Chan,” she said. “They tried to help me in Egypt, and they taught me much about these United States, but they were unwise to go against my future husband. I hope we can get them to change their ways.”

  Winslow placed a hand on her shoulder, and she stepped back so he could take center stage once more. “Jonathan Shade is the man who murdered me.”

  Shade tugged at his chains, but they were strong. He tried to mumble something around the gag, but his words were unintelligible.

  “However, murdering me was part of my overall plan because without death, there can be no resurrection. For that, I should be thanking him. He and these women also tried to murder me a few days ago, though that was more amusing than anything. I can forgive them for that. But Jonathan Shade also murdered my father, and that is a crime I cannot forgive.”

  Shade looked confused.

  “Would you like to speak, Jonathan?” Winslow asked.

  Shade nodded and tried to speak around his gag.

  Winslow turned and pointed at me. “Mr. Easton,” he said. “Will you please join us up here. You can remove Mr. Shade's gag.”

  I didn't know what to expect here. My Henry had been absorbed, but did that mean Winslow had his memories woven into his own? Or did Winslow know only what Carlton had told him and what he'd learned from his dealings with me in the basement? Would he remember me from his childhood? Or was his childhood different?

  Time is a many-layered thing. What part of the chaos would be there for him to draw on?

  I walked to the dais with confidence. If Winslow didn't have my Henry's memories, I would be fine. If he did have my Henry's memories, I needed to keep a wary eye out for weapons. As I neared, I kept my eyes forward and relied on peripheral vision for any attacks. None came.

  I stepped up to Shade and met his gaze. He wasn't looking at me, though. He was focused on Winslow. He looked scared. I pulled the gag from his mouth.

  “Speak carefully,” I whispered.

  Winslow took three steps and stood right next to me. He glanced at me for a moment then faced Shade. “Jonathan, do you have anything to say?”

  Shade spit in his face.

  Winslow grinned and wiped the spittle away with a sleeve. “Is that any way to greet a friend?”

  “You're a lying evil fuck,” Shade said.

  Winslow laughed. “Please tell me what untruths I've spoken.”

  “I didn't kill your father.”

  “Really? Are you claiming that there is another Jonathan Shade?”

  Shade gave him a confused look.

  “My father was murdered by a man named Jonathan Shade. I was murdered by you, Jonathan Shade. Are you telling me there are multiple Jonathan Shades? Is that even possible?”

  “I'm the only me,” Shade said.

  “But I watched Jonathan Shade shoot my father in the head with a Colt Peacemaker back in 1877. He looked exactly like you.”

  “I don't own a Colt Peacemaker. I use a Beretta 92S or sometimes a Glock.”

  “Let's play this out.” Winslow smiled and stared out at the audience. “Jonathan, please tell the members of Alpha et Omega the year you were born.”

  “1979.”

  A murmur went through the crowd.

  “Jonathan, what year is it right now?”

  “1927.”

  “So you killed me fifty-two years before you were born? And you killed my father fifty years before that?”

  “I didn't kill your father,” Shade said.

  I started to step back into the crowd, but Winslow put a hand out to stop me.

  “Are you going somewhere, Mr. Easton?”

  “Evidently not,” I said.

  “Good, because I still require your assistance. I don't want my future wife to sully her hands as we interrogate these attempted murderers.”

  I glanced over at Ankhesenamun. She wasn't looking at me. As far as she was concerned, I was just the hired help, or in her vernacular, little more than a slave. “Understood,” I said.

  I glanced at Kelly, but she kept her gaze on Winslow. Good. She knew better than to give me away, though I suspect she thought my cover was blown, and I feared she was right. The chains holding her were thick and new. There was no way I could help her escape.

  Naomi looked defiant, but beneath that false bravado was cold fear. It practically radiated from every pore of her being. She had magic drawn up into her hands, but she didn't use it because she knew it was useless.

  “Speak up, Jonathan,” Winslow said. “You claim to be from the future. Am I to believe you escaped here alive so you could then go back to meet me in ancient Egypt and then again in Council Bluffs, Iowa, followed a few weeks later with a meeting in San Francisco?”

  “You're the one telling stories, pal. I shot you in the head, but here you stand.”

  “So you don't deny the initial crime.”

  “I sure wish I'd killed your old man,” Shade said. “But trust me when I tell you that I'd have killed him before he ever hooked up with your mom.”

  Winslow smiled. “You didn't have a link to that time.”

  “A link?” Shade asked. />
  “Your team was sent back to kill me at different points in history.”

  “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  “Am I explaining it incorrectly?” Winslow asked.

  “Just saying it doesn't make any sense to me,” Shade said.

  “In that case, perhaps I can have someone else explain it to you.”

  My heart sped up.

  “I can't wait to hear it,” Shade said.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Winslow said, looking out at the sea of faces. “I'd like to reintroduce you to someone.”

  I swallowed hard and clenched my fists. I might be old, but I'd go for a throat punch and hope I got lucky before they killed me.

  Winslow pointed to the staircase. “I'm sure you all remember the lovely and enchanting Rayna Noble.”

  Two robed men shoved Rayna down the stairs. She went down a few steps faster than she wanted, but she was in great shape and had herself under control in no time. Her wrists were bound. She wore a long black skirt and a white blouse.

  I closed my eyes. A sinking feeling threatened to swallow me whole. I wanted to speak up, but I needed to work out some kind of plan first. If I acted now, all of us would be killed. I was ninety percent certain Winslow knew who I was, but I clung to that ten percent like a life raft and refused to let it go. The doorway to safety was locked, and the expanse between me and that door was too wide and filled with members of Alpha et Omega. Those members would consider Winslow to be in charge because he had the greater magic. They might not want to kill me because I'd been part of their lives for so long, but if they learned the truth, any loyalty would likely be erased like a sand castle on the beach at high tide.

  The men walked Rayna up to the dais.

  “Hello, Miss Noble,” Winslow said. “It's so nice to see you again.”

  She glared at him. Steam erupted from her nostrils.

  “Have you worked up a fire in that belly?” he asked. “Feel free to breathe the flames in my direction whenever you feel the urge.”

  “How did you know where I was?” she asked.

  “My good friend Mr. Easton had men keeping track of your every movement, and I simply had them report to me as well.”

  I wanted to disappear into the shadows. It was difficult to breathe.