by Booth, John
“No… Look, I was naked and I needed to cover myself…”
Jenny's mouth made a big O. “You mean you wore them? If I'd known you were into that I'd have brought you some of Mum's old flannelette ones.”
“Stop it!”
It took some time before Jenny stopped laughing long enough for me to begin another explanation. I really don't know when it's best to keep my mouth shut.
“I wouldn't have gone except I was sticky…”
“And why exactly was that, Jake Morrissey?” Jenny put her hands on her hips and I knew I was now in big trouble.
“If it wasn't Urda and it wasn't any of the staff… You've slept with Esmeralda!”
“No, I…”
“You did! It's written all over your face and after she got me to sign up to that abstinence thing as well.”
“Well, you broke it first and she…”
Jenny's look of outrage increased. “You told her! That was private between the two of us and you told her.”
I put up my hands in surrender. “She guessed and you know what a lousy liar I am.”
Jenny calmed a little. “That makes sense and you probably had that self-satisfied smirk on your face.”
“I don't have a…”
Jenny laughed. “God yes. The whole world knows when Jake Morrissey's been laid.”
“I…” Actually I gave up and lay back on the bed. I know when I'm beaten. Jenny stayed quiet as she thought for a while.
“How many times?” she asked, taking me off guard. Don't give anything like an answer, I thought desperately.
“I spent the night.”
“That many?” Jenny got off the bed. “Come on…” She beckoned me towards the door.
“What?”
“You're coming to my room and you better have taken lots of vitamin E. I'm not letting Esmeralda get one up on me. I want full restitution.”
I got up trying to look reluctant. This two wives thing might have an upside after all.
It was early afternoon before I hopped home. I wanted to keep an eye on the house while my parents were away and it was still the place where I stashed all my clothes. I changed into a fresh pair of jeans and wandered down to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. There was a note propped up in the center of the kitchen table next to a mobile phone I didn't recognize.
The note said “PLAY THE VIDEO.” It took me a few moments to figure out how to work the phone. A video icon was on the screen.
I started it up and Bronwyn appeared on the screen, face much too big as she was holding it too close. She looked older and tired. That was the impression that stuck with me later, how tired she looked.
“Hi Jake. Bet you didn't expect to find this. I can go anywhere, do anything.”
She paused and the phone moved away showing an anxious looking Wenna standing beside her.
“I could get your family any time I wanted. I could kill Jenny's parents too. How could you stop me if I wanted to do it?”
My blood chilled. She was right. Until I could find her there was little I could do to stop her.
Bronwyn giggled insanely and then a haunted look crossed her face.
“I've killed a lot of people, Jake. Crushed their balls while they died in agony. They all deserved it, though you wouldn't think so… Have you got my children safe, Jake? They didn't deserve what those men did to them. You look after them good.”
Bronwyn bit her bottom lip and turned her head from side to side the way kids her age do with videos. For a second I saw her as a normal twelve year old girl.
“I'm calling a truce. You leave me alone and I'll leave your families and Salice alone too. I don't need that kingdom anyway. It's a bit tatty and they never even invented the shower. I'll leave that whole world alone, Jake. Provided you send me a text message agreeing. Your call, Jake.”
The video ended. There was a text message in drafts that said 'I agree to the Truce' and was addressed to 'Bronwyn'. I didn't hesitate for a second. I pressed the button and sent it.
Not that I believed Bronwyn was really calling a truce, but I was tired of chasing her and the best approach seemed to be to let her come to me. If she thought I would be off guard so much the better. I checked the phone for magical traces and then switched it off and put it in my pocket.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ida
My next stop was the Grand Hotel to see how Mam and Dad were getting on with their charges. I hopped outside the hotel doors and walked in. The background music was off and Reception was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. There was no one at the desk. A sense of foreboding swept over me and I rang the desk bell, but nobody came.
My feelings that something was wrong were getting stronger. I couldn't see any people in the lobby and the doors to the lounge bar area were closed. Rather than phone my parents' room I walked to the bar and pushed the doors open as quietly as I could.
The bar area was where they served breakfast. That much was obvious from the half-eaten food and broken crockery scattered across the floor. Chairs lay on their sides scattered all over the room. I almost missed Mam and Dad. They stood motionless in the far corner of the room. Running would have been too slow. I hopped to them and sighed with relief when I found they were alive. They stood rigid, not even blinking.
“I release you,” I said touching their hands. They collapsed and I held onto them to stop them falling. They put their hands to their eyes and started screaming. I sent my awareness into their bodies and saw the problem. Their eyeballs were raw from not being able to blink. I healed them, taking care to also remove the blood clots in their muscles that might have killed them.
“Thanks, son.” Dad flailed as he tried to get to his feet. I helped Mam up and she staggered off towards the toilets, stopping only for a moment to give my hand a quick squeeze.
“What happened?”
“The older boy, Ida. He got upset when one of the girls serving breakfast laughed at him. He hurt her, son, and when we tried to stop him he ordered us to stand where you found us. I didn't know he was a wizard.”
“Neither did I. Where are they now?”
“He ordered everybody else of the room, that's the last we saw of them.”
“Where was Urda?”
“She ate earlier. I don't know where she is now.” Dad staggered to a chair and sat down. I needed to find Ida and quickly. With luck he would still be in the hotel.
“When Mam gets back tell her to stay here. I'll send anybody I find to join you. Don't leave this room unless you have no choice.”
Dad nodded. He's a bright guy. I wish he'd passed some of it on to me.
I went back to reception and sealed the hotel doors. Distraction magic would make anyone trying to get in go away. Anyone in the hotel would find it impossible to open the doors. The question was where to look for Ida and the other children. The sound of metal clashing on metal gave me a clue and I ran in the direction the sounds were coming from.
This led me through a pair of double doors into the kitchens. They must have been well soundproofed because the kitchen was in a state of utter bedlam. Women screamed and there were shouts of agony. Every stove was stacked with metal pans filled with boiling water. Water spat out of the pans and hissed as it hit the hot oven surfaces. Gas rings blazed on full and the room was heavily scented with it. Some people huddled against the walls while others stood before the stoves with rolled up sleeves and looked as though they were about to stick their arms into the boiling water. Something appeared to be stopping them following through.
The room buzzed with magic. So much so that I couldn't see what was going on. I moved through the kitchen staying close to the walls and spotted Ida with his arms outstretched. The other kids stood behind him and they didn't look very happy. Then I saw Urda, crouched with her sister behind her and I finally worked out what was going on.
Ida was using mind control to get the adults to plunge their arms into the boiling water and Urda was stopping them. She hadn't been entirely successfu
l judging by the people rolling about in agony.
Ida glowed with a staggering amount of magic. I couldn't have missed that much before as it was so bright. What looked like tiny triangular mirrors revolved around his head in the magical plane and as soon as I tried to take his mind over I knew their purpose was to block mental attack.
Fighting Ida here would be far too messy. I needed to move us somewhere where we had room to fight.
Little more than a magical twitch was required to switch off the gas supply at the mains.
I hopped Ida to the desert outside Sparse.
“Look after everyone here,” I shouted at Urda before hopping after him.
I can't hop people or things accurately unless I'm touching them. Up until a few weeks ago I couldn't even have hopped Ida without touching him. I must have judged the height wrong because he lay on the ground looking winded. He snarled at me and waved his hands.
A boulder the size of a small car lifted into the air and flew at me. I translated into hop-space before it arrived and then returned to the same place.
“Can we talk about this?”
Sand whirled into the air between us in the shape of a whirlwind. The tip of the cone lifted into the air and aimed for my mouth. I split the cone in two as it got close, scattering the sand about me. This was getting annoying.
“I hate you!” Ida shouted. Good, we had managed to establish communications. Trouble was, how was I going to calm him down long enough to talk? He began to move his hands in what I took to be a magic gesture and my patience ran out. I hopped his clothes off him. If I knew boys his age, being naked was going to unnerve him.
Ida staggered back and tripped, landing hard on his backside. This desert was mainly rock coated with a sprinkling of sand. Not the most inviting place and not a good place to trip. I winced in sympathy as he yelled in pain.
If I could penetrate the shield protecting his mind I knew I could bring this fight to an end. I probed at the shield and my magic scattered harmlessly around him. A page from one of Esmeralda's books floated across my mind and I knew how he'd constructed it. At the bottom of the page a sentence was circled in red ink. 'This shield is impenetrable.'
“There's a first time for everything,” I muttered to myself. Esmeralda was convinced the rules didn't apply to me and in this case I had better prove her right.
I knew I could kill Ida. I could rip him in two right now if I wanted. The trick was to find some way of stopping him short of murder.
Ida finally twigged that being naked is much the same as being clothed and got to his feet, fists clenched at his sides. I saw he was trembling, though whether it was due to rage or fear I couldn't tell.
“Give it up, kid. You can't win.”
It would appear that my negotiating skills need some work as this spurred him to attack again.
“Nobody laughs at a wizard,” he said with exaggerated slowness, his fists clenching and unclenching to some beat inside his head. The ground beneath my feet exploded.
I must have created a shield around me earlier because I shot into the air with nothing touching me. Clouds of dirt, smashed stone and sand billowed about me. I allowed myself to float slowly back to the ground. It was a pity I didn't think of floating when I hopped to Fluffy in flight. I'd remember to do that in future.
The dust settled enough for me to spot Ida still standing in the same pose. If he wasn't so scrawny it would have made a great epic photograph.
I put a magic field around him to stop him going into hop-space and then I made the ground beneath his bare feet hot, very hot. He screamed and hopped about in the more traditional manner. I pushed at his chest with a gentle thrust of magic. It was enough to land him on his bottom for the second time in as many minutes. Only this time I'd made the ground beneath that hot as well. He howled in pain.
Magic requires concentration. His mental shield dropped a small amount and I pounced. He was instantly under my control and unable to move.
I cooled the ground and walked over to him. Not as easy as I'm making it sound, as I had to clamber in and out of the crater he'd created. I made him stand in front of me, unable to move beyond a slight tremble. His eyes glowed with hatred.
“Go and put your clothes on, you'll find them over there.” I pointed in the direction I'd hopped them. “Then return to me.” Ida spun on his heels and walked away.
I looked at the boy as he stood in front of me again. He could be any fourteen year old on any street corner in Wales except for the glowing power within him. What was I going to do with him?
“Why did you hurt those people? They didn't hurt you.”
Flat contemptuous eyes stared back. “They're worth nothing, ours to do with as we please.”
“They're humans, just like us.”
“They're weak, feeble and worthless.”
Magic can't let me look into a person's soul and judge it. I wouldn't want to do it if I could. Who am I to pass judgment on somebody else? I knew Ida went through terrible things at the hands of some sick adults, but now he had become one of them.
“How long have you been a wizard?”
“Bronwyn brought out my powers months ago.”
“And hid them from me?” Ida looked puzzled. “Did she do something to you to hide your powers from me?” He shook his head.
“Did she tell you to do this, to cause me all this trouble?” Ida shook his head again.
I scratched at my head. I took his hand and hopped us to the spot where I'd first seen the village of Sparse. It looked unexpectedly peaceful and happy. Adults were out in the streets moving around purposely. Small children played with sticks and balls outside their homes. Ida was old enough to be an adult in Sparse. He was certainly capable of doing adult things.
I reached into his mind and squeezed the magic from it. When I'd finished there was nothing left. I felt unclean as I did it, but I had no choice. Removing the mind control took only a second. Ida slumped to the ground with all the fight knocked out of him.
“Go down and rejoin your people.” Ida stood up and began to walk down the hill. “Oh, Ida.” The boy turned and looked back at me. “You will never physically hurt anyone again.” It was a command and I burnt it into his brain. He nodded and carried on walking.
I vomited for a few minutes before I regained control. Then I hopped back to the hotel.
My parents, Urda and Bronwyn's children were in the lounge. Everything looked normal. I looked into Reception and saw people trying to get the doors open. I removed the magic and tried not to giggle as the concierge fell over when the door flew open.
Urda was eager to tell me the news as soon as I sat down.
“I healed all the burns then changed their memories so no one would know. They think they've been out on a fire drill. Mr. Morrissey suggested it, though I'm still not sure what a fire drill is.”
“What have you done with Ida, Jake?” Mam asked. “You haven't … hurt him have you?”
“I took away his powers and left him in Sparse. Things seemed to have settled down there and it looked safe enough.”
“Can you do that, Jake? Take away a wizard's powers?” Urda looked anxious.
“It seems I can.”
Urda stared at the floor and her sister placed a hand on top of hers.
“What about the rest of them?” my Dad asked.
I put my hand out to Urda. “Take my hand.”
Urda looked as though it was the last thing on Earth she wanted to do. Her sister squeezed her arm and Urda reluctantly took mine. She was trembling.
I poured power into her. She looked up into my eyes, startled and surprised. Then she smiled as I filled her to overflowing with magic.
“Oh Jake, that's better than sex.” Urda flushed as she realized what she'd just said in front of my parents.
“You sound surprised. What did you think I was going to do?”
Urda's head tilted down and she said in a whisper. “I thought you were going to take my powers away.”
&n
bsp; I will never understand the working of the female mind. After the horror I'd gone through stripping Ida of magic I couldn't imagine ever doing it to anyone again. And why would I do it to a friend?
To get my mind off that horrible thought I pulled out Bronwyn's mobile phone and powered it up. I played Bronwyn's video to them.
“She's lying,” Urda said the second it stopped.
“I know. Urda, I want you to compel all the children not to use magic. Nothing else, just place that command on them for now.”
Urda nodded.
“I'm going to Salice to check on things.”
I hopped directly to Esmeralda's room, as that's where most things in Salice happen.
Esmeralda and Jenny stood around a table with some officials. Esmeralda looked up and smiled.
“Good timing, Jake. We desperately need your help.”
Chapter Thirty: Fire
“I was hoping to get some rest.” I stepped closer to the table to see what was so interesting. A highly decorative map of Salice lay on the table. Someone had placed checker board pieces on a forest to the north, grassland to the east and farm land to the south. If Esmeralda hasn't placed books on the edges of the map I might have taken them for weights to hold it down.
“This is our problem, Jake. I gather you slept late this morning; surely after so much sleep you can't be tired?” Jenny turned away to hide her face and I tried my best to look innocent.
“One of Bronwyn's kids caused me a bit of trouble.”
“Salice has an emergency and you've been worrying yourself with the children?” Esmeralda waved at the map. “We have three fires running out of control that threaten to destroy the kingdom.”
One of Esmeralda's advisers stepped away from the table so I could get a closer look. If the checkers indicated fires the city would be under threat whichever way the wind blew. And I knew that the crops were close to harvest. Fruit trees were threatened to the north and grain fields to the south.
“Is this sort of thing common at this time of year?”
