Part of me is thinking it’s good to get this all out in the open.
Another part of me is wondering when the next shoe will drop.
Chapter 44
We must have sat there in silence for minutes - Sil playing with the pleats of her leather skirt in that nervous habit of hers, apparently deep in her own thoughts. Me, just wondering what the hell.
She looks up at me finally. “I need to show you two things. I can do more than be a... a... pleasant distraction. Will you let me come close and touch you?”
It was something in her eyes, I was not being propositioned, not being enticed. It was more like something very important. “Sure Sil”
“Thank you,” she says to me and her face changes to something I can only categorize as worry. She moves from the bed to the floor and crawls over to me, sitting up on her knees in front of me. She’s looking at me curiously, studying me. “Okay, first thing” she says and takes my face in her powerful, slightly oversized hands.
I meet her eyes wondering what all this is about until I feel it – like a charge through my whole body. Every nerve more sensitive, arousal coursing through me. I’m being succubussed! My mind races and I reach to my will to compel her to stop. “Sili..”
Her mouth on mine silences my voice and any thoughts I had of making her stop. The kiss is slow, soft and I am enraptured. She breaks the kiss and I’m confused. She gently turns my head and kisses my ear. I about jump up off the floor. I try to force her to the ground, but she just gives me a demure smile and says, “No Arthur.”
What a beautiful voice she has. Then, very gently she pushes me down to the ground and straddles me. She closes her eyes and begins grinding on me, eyes staying closed. I reach down to undo my belt and her hands stop me, eyes now open and she guides them up above my head, where she pins me to the ground.
“Okay, promise me you won’t be angry” she says.
“I promise when we’re through I won’t be angry.”
She releases my hands, sits up and says, “Take a deep breath. There won’t be a we’re through – we’re not doing this. This was the first thing I had to show you. I am capable of saying no and also… just capable of taking what I want.”
I inhale a deep breath. She’s broken the neuromantic connection. Anger starts to swell. Not that she’s not going to do me, but that she did what she did. A soft finger with a black nail across my lips breaks that moment.
“You promised not to be angry.”
Dammit. I did. I collect myself and say what comes to mind. “Sil would you mind not sitting on my dick anymore, please. And goddamn it!”
“Of course,” she unstraddles me and looks at me sympathetically. "If it makes you feel better, I'm rather worked up too." Her eyes roll down to my waist and I see a large wet spot on my pants - not from me. "Reflectivity, remember?"
I do remember. What my summonlings do to me comes back to them in multiples.
“I want to show you the second thing now, I think you’ll like it.”
My face gives away my thoughts before my mouth can. She doesn’t let that stop her.
“It’s another talent I have from my training at the sisterhood. I can undo the whole arousal you’re feeling. It instills a clarity of intellect too. It’s not something I enjoy doing because it's kind of counter to my normal flow of energy. We actually barter that service with sorcerer and higher-up kinds. Trust me. Let me undo what I did. You’ll see I’m good for… other things.”
“You could have just told me,” I’m still feeling the effects of her first thing. I try to shake off thoughts and rationalizations that I should lay her down to make us both feel better.
“You needed to see” she says again. “If I wanted you against you will – I’d be having you.”
She makes a point. “Ok, it’ll make this damn horniness go away?”
She nods a “yes” at me. “Take off your shirt and turn your back to me."
I do as I’m instructed and she basically drags me into her and us to the edge of the bed. “Something to rest my back against,” she says very calmly as her hands lightly push me downward, then move up and down my back.
It’s driving me crazy. “Not helping Sil.”
“This technique works best with a focus point. I’m thinking of a problem for you to solve."
“OK, got it,” she says “Listen up” she says breathily in my ear making every hair on my body stand up and something else stand up even more.
Her hands go to my shoulders and dig in deep, like one of those Swedish massages that hurt at the time, but leave you so relaxed afterwards. She makes this little “eew” sound like she’s just smelled something really disgusting.
“Arthur, think about our resources. We have you, us. We have a bad-ass glowing holy sword you can swing. We have a guardian angel. Now, we have Ahtsag Znuul – not small things. Do you have any doubt that if we were to meet the Collector we would prevail?”
It seems obvious to me, crystal clear obvious. “No doubt.”
“Good, so here’s your question – how do we find the unfindable? How do we find one who can be anywhere randomly? How do we bring our resources to the target?”
Her hands let up on the pressure and she gently pats my shoulders. “That’s your question.”
Holy ka-moly! That is the question. It’s right there. “Damn” I say repeating my thought: “That’s the million dollar question.”
My head spins. First off Sil is wrong. Nothing is un-findable. And he can’t just be anywhere randomly. For his dragon to whisk him off, it needs to have psychically created a landing at that place. I read that at Grey’s Chateau. That and intelligent creatures are never random.
“Talk it out Arthur,” she says quietly, her chin resting on my shoulder. “I see your wheels are turning.”
“He’s not random – not totally” I say back to her. “There’s a pattern there somehow. This is more of an issue of probability. The dragon can only go to places it’s marked. If it randomly ports out it ends up at the place farthest from intelligent life at the plane, world, dimension whatever. We need to understand his patterns of movement and then we can…”
I jump as I’m stopped dead in my tracks as one of Sil’s hands plunges into my crotch.
“Where’d it go?” She says.
Wow, she’s right. Boner is gone. Urges? What urges? All I feel is very in the moment and engaged.
“Thanks, this is much better.”
“Told you," she says softly - her hand leaving my private areas. "Now, you were getting somewhere on the question. Probability something…”
“Yea, if we can understand his patterns of movement we can maybe predict where he might be. The Protectorate doesn’t have much. Maybe sources in the Grace have some information.”
“Sounds risky, they don’t really care for us.”
She’s right.
“Damn, Arthur. If we had kept some of his blood we might be able to do one of those tracking spells.”
“Great thought Sil.” A thought percolates, maybe if we had something of his. Maybe we already do.
“Did Maldy give you that communicator coin thing?”
“He did, but remember I broke mine in the white.”
I ask her to get it for me. She reaches under her skirt and produces two halves of a wood-like disc and drops them in my hand.
I bounce them in my hand. He gave them to her. That made them his at one time. It’s a long-shot. I share my thought out loud.
“Sounds like a stretch to me, but maybe,” Sil replies. “It would have to be a pretty specialized tracking spell.”
“Arix” I say aloud. I need Arix.
“Go get him” she says calmly
I stand up and turn around to Sil who hands me my shirt. My mental wheels are turning at a pace that is incredible. Then another questions poses itself, “Sil, what exactly did you do to me?”
“A nasty thing,” she says with a wan smile. “Well nasty for me. I gave you a cocktail of n
euromantic energies that cool down the primal and pleasure centers while engaging the rational/logical centers. It’s like opposite to my normal flow of energy, so it feels kind of disgusting to do - kind like how a cat feels when you pet its hair backwards.”
“Well, damn Sil I feel great.” Then the next question comes up – how did she did she get to me to begin with? She’s compelled not to seduce me.
“Sil, how did you…”
“Arthur…” she says interrupting me. “That wasn’t a seduction - that was an assault. I figured that one out a while back. I can’t seduce you, but I can rape you.”
That unsettling revelation is broken as the door to Sil’s room opens and Shey almost walks in. She takes one look at me and Sil, then stops dead her tracks. Her jaw drops. You don’t need enhanced reasoning abilities to know what she’s thinking – I’m shirtless and have a wet spot on my trousers.
“She’s had you.”
Before I can say a word, Sil flips around sitting up arms on the bed looking right at Shey. “Oh my, you were soooo right. It’s like the whole world shook when he came!”
Shey doesn’t say a word, her lips quiver a little, then she steps back and closes the door. I imagine her running down the hall crying. I start for the door, but my left leg snags on something.
Really something snagged my leg – Sil’s tail, now curled around my ankle. I turn to let into her. But don’t get the chance.
“Shush Arthur, before you even start. That little pixie makes it a point to share all the gory details of every tryst you two have. She knows it makes me crazy jealous. So, this is a little payback.”
“She does what?”
“No biggie, really. I’d want to know anyway,” she says. She stands to look me in the eye. “Listen, you need to stay focused on the problem. I’ll handle Pixie. What matters is finding the Collector. Our family isn’t safe until he’s dead.”
Sil appears very serious now. Her hands take my face and her face scrunches like she just ate a lemon, rind and all. I sense a very subtle feeling, like I’m even more awake.
“That’s a touch up. Don’t let her get you off track. Or me. Work the problem, Jerry and Marge deserve no less.”
She’s right – Jerry, Marge, Svea, and Grey deserve revenge. I meet Sil’s now intense gaze. “I’ll get Arix and see what we can do. Maldy’s link to the communicator thing has to have something to exploit.”
“Make sure to summon Arix outside the house, if you know what I mean" she says.
Demon word games – in this case I may have to play this one. Not welcome in his house, indeed.
Chapter 45
After my bee-line to the porch area, I step beyond it to take in the night. Clear sky, half moon. Unlike the Kentucky bunker, Z had modified this one with an awning over the porch and a privacy fence. Not that there was too much nearby anyway.
Arix. I walk back under the enclosure and run my finger across his sigil. The air ripples and my sorcerer appears. He looks around quickly, I presume for Ahtsag.
“Thank you for bringing me out,” he says.
“Most welcome. We have work.” I bring him up to speed with where I’m at - the communication talisman being our “in” to Maldy.
Arix, sits down and gives me a look of consideration. “I am sorry my wielder. That could never work. You see our prey would be using the same method of glyphic cover that Ahtsag Znuul does – or at least some variation. If we could make a connection, it would only be if his protection was down; which would not be for long. You cannot track that which you cannot connect to.”
I look at Arix and he blanches a little at my glaze. He knows I didn’t want to hear that. But, it’s the truth.
“So, what if we call him on yours and create a connection?”
He looks at me disapprovingly. “My wielder, then we are using the device to speak and not to track. We cannot do both simultaneously.”
Damn. I take a deep breath. Perhaps I’m not approaching this right.
“Arix, how does this communication disk work?”
“He has a central talisman. He can extract others, like mine or Silithes’ from it using proper conjurations. Each one he conjures produces a sigil on the original, indicating which device is communicating with him. It is not complicated magic, just detailed in the creation of the original device, like the one he carries.”
I look at Arix, “So it’s a telephone with caller ID.”
He sneers at me. “That is very much over simplifying the concept.”
But that changes the playing field. We don’t have to track Maldy. Just his phone.
“Okay Arix, we can’t track Maldy. But what about tracking his phone, err… talisman thing. Or better yet, what about being able to monitor its position. They can do that with cell phones. Is that something we could do… figure out its frequency or something?”
Arix’s eyes open wide. And by eyes I mean all of them. The third one that glows purple is wide open too. “Master Arthur, I don’t mean to sound demeaning, but when did you become so insightful? That is brilliant. We don’t need to know where he is. We just need to know where his talisman is.”
“Can it be done?”
His third eye closes and his other regular eyes dart around, presumably in thought. “I think so. It will require us to make a connection to establish what magical frequency it accepts transmissions at.” He looks at me seriously.”It will take some doing, but yes, yes it can work. I think we can even track him ongoingly. It will take a certain kind of device and calibrations to point to where he is in the world and of course, if he leaves our particular plane of existence we cannot track him.”
I am pumped. I shoot up out of my seat and pace the porch. “Really? Are you sure?”
Arix shrugs. “As much as I can be until we test it. But, a device to take the energy and move a pointer to his location is key, I can’t stress that enough. I can supply the spell and energy, but we will need more than a simple map and my hand to guide a needle. We’re talking the entire world and thus there is a need for some precision.”
I take that in. A world map can only show us at best what city he’s in. “Ok, we have your device and pieces of Sil’s – can we make hers work? If we can, then we can have a macro device and a micro device… you get me?”
That statement gets me another look of disbelief from my sorcerer. “I don’t mean to imply you have been a dullard in the past my wielder, but you seem to be functioning at a higher level now. Having two levels of detection makes a great deal of sense. Though, the second detailed one would require a sorcerer’s touch given an inability to pre-calibrate.”
I take that answer as a yes. “So, what do we need to pull this off?”
Arix looks at me seriously. “I need the luchorpean, he is good with technical things, practical and physical things - he tinkers well. We will work together and he will tell you what materials are needed for the physical portion. I will work on the magical calculations, spell composition and energy holding vessel.”
Despite the fact that I know it’s rude, I do it anyway. I run my finger along Pffif’s rune and send him to the white. Then I do it again and summon him before me. The air shimmers and there’s my leprechaun.
“Ye tellin’ me ye couldn’t just knock on me door?”
“Times wasting for me Pffif, I need you and Arix to work together. We’re going to track the collector. Arix is up to speed. I’m going to go tell Znuul what’s up.”
I put my hand on Pffif’s shoulder. “Not time for the flask, this is serious shit. Do what you can and if gets beyond you let us know.”
“Beyond me… Bah!” Pffif’s eyes are accusing me of a slight.
I open the sliding glass door and make my way past the kitchen and down the hall to the giant red doors that enclose Znuul’s bedroom. I knock on the door. A moment passes and nothing. I knock again. He needs to know what we can do.
The door opens and I am greeted by Znuul in all his demon glory, wrapped in a velvet bath coat. Ki
tten is sitting in the bed, sheets pulled up to cover.
“Best be good news Arthur,” Znuul tells me. “You are interrupting special time.”
I meet his gaze with my smile. “We can find him… Maldgorath. Arix is needed. He’s outside, not in your house, but we need him, so don’t squish his head again. There’s a device that we’ll need to build. We can find the bastard.”
Znuul’s eyebrows furrow, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing, we can find him – I figured it out.”
Znuul looks me up and down. His eyes stop on the spot on my trousers and he appears to sniff. “You’re mind jacked. You made her do that clarity thing didn’t you sly dog? I knew I liked you – way to command your assets.”
“It didn’t exactly go down like that, but yea she hit me with the whole reason thing and we can find him. I think.”
“You think?”
Now that kind of pisses me off. We had nothing. Now we have something. “Hey, what do you got?
“Point taken,” Znuul looks back at Kitten, who is now on her knees bouncing in response. “Meet you on the porch, when we’re done.”
Then he closes the door in my face. Nice.
Then the door opens again. “Good going. Change your pants before the fairy sees that."
The door closes again. That's good advice, but way too late.
I head to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. Sil’s neuromancy was starting to fade and with it me too. I head back out to the porch, coffee in hand. Pffif and Arix are huddled together, talking animatedly about what is needed.
I plop down in a porch seat and take a sip off my coffee. I watch them talking, gesturing. They are very much into it. Damn, I was so on top of things. Now I just want to be on top of my bed.
After a while, I hear the sliding glass door open and turn my head to see Znuul has joined us. “Bring me up to speed.”
I look over to Arix and say “tell him.”
Arix tells Znuul "Most likely we can find Maldgorath." Pffif starts talking about needing zero friction pulleys and sorts. Arix is mentioning soil samples. They are very engaged – all three of them. Me, I’m cradling my coffee feeling very tapped out.
The Wielder: Sworn Vengeance (The Wielder Series) Page 17
