Wanderers 3: Garden of The Gods (The Wanderers)

by Richard Bamberg

  “Hello, Maia. Was Beast pleasant enough?” I asked as I swung a leg over the seat.

  She chuckled, and Beast growled. “He was pleasant, for a manticore.”

  “I guess we can’t hope for more than that, eh, Rafe?”

  Rafe grinned. “That’s about all.”

  As their engines roared to life, I asked, “Rafe, what did Joe mean about his cabin being shielded? Is it like some kind of camouflage?”

  “No, not that kind of shielding. It’s like our personal shield spells. I haven’t mentioned that capability because we’ll never have a place that we will need to shield the way I could if I stayed in one place. Joe already had his cabin pretty well shielded when I first saw it, but I helped him with a few other spells. Now I don’t think a tank could break in his door. It’s a lot of work to maintain at that level, he has to refresh the spells every few days, or they start to fade, but since he built directly under a ley line, there’s plenty of available power.”

  “Then he was right when he said we’d be safe?” I asked.

  “In the cabin, we’re as safe as we can be anywhere on the planet. I just worry about drawing attention to him. He’s not a young man anymore.” Rafe’s head turned toward the cabin. Joe was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, watching us. Rafe lowered his voice and leaned closer. “He’s aged a lot since I was last here. I’m not sure how much longer he’ll be around.”

  I felt a twinge of regret and sorrow tighten my chest. “Really?”

  “Yes, I’d hate for him to have to spend his last days worrying about the government or the kind of people that Rowle keeps siccing on us.”

  I didn’t know what else to say. I glanced back toward Joe and realized I’d grown fond of the old shaman faster than I would have thought possible.

  Beast began to move, and I dropped the transmission into gear and pulled alongside Rafe as we started down the mountain toward the city.

  Chapter 15

  Raphael

  We left Joe enjoying the mild November afternoon and dropped down the mountain, passing The Broadmoor Resort. We went around the traffic circle and turned left onto Cresta Road. Cresta led north, bordering the older Skyway neighborhood and became South 21st Street around the nearly six hundred acre Bear Creek Park. The dog park section was crowded as it had always been as far back as I could remember. We crossed the hill, and I was surprised to see a largely residential neighborhood in the area called Gold Hill Mesa. I couldn’t recall there being anything in that blighted area in my lifetime. It used to be the Golden Cycle Mill but had closed about the time I was born. The area was polluted with lead, mercury, and arsenic and I had never thought to see it developed. I had to guess someone had found a way to clean up the pollution.

  We crossed busy Cimarron Street, which doubled as Highway 24, the four-lane blacktop that led west into the mountains, and then turned west when we reached West Colorado Avenue. Colorado Ave led us through Old Colorado City, a large tourist area between downtown Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs at the base of Ute Pass. We idled past the restaurants and touristy shops that lined the street. My feelings were that our summoning was still northwest of us. When we reached Ridge Road, I felt we needed to turn more north and I motioned for Tess to make the turn onto the smaller street.

  Almost immediately we began to see the red rock formations that gave the Garden of the Gods it signature landscaping. Ridge Road led directly into the park, and I knew we were getting closer to our summoning with each mile we traveled. We reached Juniper Way Loop, a one-way circuit around the most massive of the monoliths that drew so many tourist to the park.

  We motored on without speaking. I was concentrating on identifying the source of our summoning, but I could see that Tess was having trouble concentrating and was spending her time taking in the magnificent scenery. We passed Gateway Road, which led from the park’s east entrance and continued north.

  Almost immediately, I noticed the source of the summoning had moved to the west. So, we’d gone as far north as we needed to. We continued along the loop, passing the north parking lot, which sat in the shade of the Tower of Babel, and shortly thereafter began to curve back to the south. Just after the curve, we reached the high point of the road and the park opened out before us. It was a tremendous view. I motioned to Tess to stop at the left hand pull-off.

  The source summons was somewhere straight ahead. In the valley that stretched a half-mile or so to our south, the terrain was heavily wooded with mostly spruce and scrub oak. There were a few open meadows and a hiking trail snaked between the open areas and the massive monoliths to the east.

  “Wow!” Tess said with a note of wonder in her voice. “You don’t get views like this back east.”

  “Pretty much, although there are a few.”

  She pointed toward the nearest of the red massifs. “Do these things have names?”

  “Sure, although I don’t know all of them. The northern most outcropping, there,” I said pointing. “Is the Tower of Babel. It’s really part of the larger structure that makes up the North Gateway Rock. At the very top…” I pointed again. “Is Kissing Camels.”

  “What? I don’t see anything that looks like a couple of camels,” Tess said, shielding her eyes from the southern sun.

  “Well, it only looks like that from the east.”

  “Are you screwing with me?”

  I laughed. “Not at all. We can circle back around and I’ll point it out to you then.”

  Tess studied the scene for a few more minutes and then turned back to me. “So, why’d you stop here? It couldn’t be just to show me the sights.”

  “No, I thought I’d get a good look at the valley. The source is somewhere down there, probably between here and Pulpit Rock.”

  “Pulpit?

  I pointed again. “That one, over there. When you’ve seen enough, let’s continue.”

  I stared out across the terrain and at the distant slopes of Cheyenne Mountain. With just a little self-deception, I could believe that I could see Joe’s cabin, but not even my enhanced senses could spot his place at this distance.

  In a couple more minutes, Tess nodded and pulled back out onto Juniper Way Loop. I sped up, but kept Beast below the 20 mph speed limit.

  The summoning remained focused off my left shoulder until we reached the intersection with Garden Drive. At that point, it was more behind us than off to our left. Parking Area 6 appeared immediately on our right, and I motioned Tess into it.

  There weren’t a lot of visitors this November afternoon, and we were able to find a parking space for both motorcycles. I killed Beast’s engine and dropped his kickstand. Tess copied my actions, and we dismounted and stretched.

  “Is this the place?” Tess asked, looking around.

  “If you’d been paying more attention, you’d have realized that it’s just north of us,” I said.

  Tess looked like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I guess I was being too much of a tourist to really keep up.”

  “Take a moment and see if you can locate it,” I said.

  While Tess was trying to pinpoint the source of Verðandi’s summons, I studied the sky above us. There were at least four ley lines converging on the point directly above the summons. There was an incredible amount of power here for casting spells or opening portals. I could see why Rowle had chosen this spot for whatever mischief he was planning.

  I pulled a small charm from my saddlebags.

  “Okay, give me a second.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She pivoted around and came to a stop facing what we’d come to find. “There, you’re right. It’s that way, not far either.”

  I cast a trigger spell on the charm, looked to make sure no one was watching, and tossed it into the scrub oak north of us.

  “I place it as less than one hundred yards.”

  “What was that you did?” Tess asked.

  “I set a little trigger alarm. If any large amount
of magic, like a portal being opened, is used within a half mile of that charm, it will ping my personal ward.”

  “Great, now what do we do?”

  “Now we wait,” I said.

  “Wait? Just wait? How long?”

  I shrugged. “I can’t be sure. Not more than a couple of days.”

  “Days? We’re just going to hang out here for a couple of days? That’s how it works?” Tess sounded incredulous.

  “We don’t have to be right here all the time. We can get here in five minutes from anywhere in town if we fly. But a lot can happen in five minutes.”

  “Shouldn’t we be looking for the help Joe said you’d probably need?” Tess asked, looking north and shielding her eyes from the sun.

  “That would be nice, if I knew where to look. I'm not really used to looking for assistance. I’ve had it a few times, but in those instances, I just happened to find temporary allies among people who were being affected by what I was there to take care of.”

  Tess lowered her hand and turned back to me. “Like what happened in Huntsville.”

  “Exactly, the local coven was trying to protect the grimoire that held the page Rowle was after. When he took it, they fought him while I joined in. It was a good thing they did; I couldn’t have stopped Rowle otherwise.”

  “And the page? What happened to it?” Tess asked.

  I gazed around, there was no one within earshot, but you never can tell with mages and witches. I triggered a tat on the left side of my neck. The air around us stilled.

  “What did you do?” Tess asked.

  “Privacy spell, it dampens any audio frequency within ten feet of me.”

  “Then how can I still hear you?”

  “Because ten feet is a circle around me, not a filled circle, but like a shield. It’s a line that sound waves cannot pass,” I explained.

  “And you did that because you’re going to tell me a secret?” Tess said with a grin.

  I grinned too. “Yep, I have the page. It’s in my grimoire now. I disguised it as just one more spell in a book of spells.”

  “Like The Purloined Letter.”

  “Exactly.

  “But what are you going to do now? You can’t expect me to replace a coven in a fight.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, you’re learning fast.”

  “Fast enough that you think the two of us can best Rowle and whoever is with him. Don’t forget that Joe said ‘hordes.’”

  “I haven’t forgotten. I’ll do my best and if it isn’t good enough, well, then Verðandi had better have something in mind besides the two of us,” I said.

  “Has she ever participated directly?” Tess asked.

  I almost laughed. “No, Tess. The most she’s ever done was to pull you and me to Asgard when we were trying to get back home. The warning about the shades was as much help as I’ve ever gotten from her.”

  Tess frowned. “That sucks.”

  I did laugh then. “Don’t let it worry you. We’ll manage, somehow.”

  “I wish you sounded a little more confident.”

  “Beast believes that cockiness is the greatest cause of Wanderer deaths.”

  “I don’t think showing confidence is exactly the same as cockiness. You could at least make your apprentice feel like we’re going to win.”

  “Would you try as hard if I told you I thought I could handle Rowle?”

  “Of course I would. I’m not going to pull punches just because you’re winning. That’s for suckers. I say hit them hard and fast and get the hell back out.”

  I laughed cheerfully. “An admirable technique in most battles, one I should have paid more attention to over the years. I’ll put some thought into it and see if I can come up with something that will improve our chances.”

  “You don’t have a lot of time to think something up,” Tess said.

  “Necessity is the mother of invention,” I quoted somebody or the other.

  “Yeah? Well, you’d better be Nikola Tesla.”

  I nodded. For a moment, I thought I had a flash of insight, but then it was gone before I could get a full grasp of it. Nikola Tesla, eh? I’d have to give some consideration to the man.

  “Where’s this aunt of yours live?”

  “Aunt Emily gave me her address. I haven’t mapped it yet.”

  “Mapped it?” I asked. “Oh, yes, you mentioned that before. Show me how it works.”

  Tess pulled out her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and then showed it to me. The screen displayed a map of Colorado Springs, centered on our location.

  “Well, how ‘bout that? Maybe these phones will be of some use after all.”

  She tapped the screen and then typed with her thumbs. I leaned over her shoulder and watched as she typed in an address. The display changed and showed a route from where we stood to Jend Lane. An annotation in the corner of the screen read 23 minutes, 9.1 miles.

  “And all of these phones have that capability?” I asked.

  “Yep, it’s a basic feature of all smartphones,” Tess replied. “Do you know the town well enough to get us there?”

  I studied the location for a second. Jend Lane was a short street off North Chelton near Palmer Park, another of Colorado Springs larger parks. I nodded. “No, problem, it’ll be pretty easy to get to.”

  “Can we go now?”

  “I don’t see why not. I need to do some thinking and riding helps clear my head.”

  “Really? In the city?” Tess sound incredulous.

  “You forget that I can let Beast do the driving. I don’t have to pay much attention to what he’s doing.”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s cool. Can Maia do that too?”

  “She wouldn’t be much use if she couldn’t do her own navigation. You saw the map, just tell her where you want to turn or let her follow Beast.”

  We mounted our rides and pulled back onto Juniper Way, heading toward the park’s east entrance. I let Beast drive, only telling him which turns to make while I considered Tesla and his inventions. The big one that I could remember was transmitting electrical power through the air. Was there some way I could use that? Maybe I should see what else the genius had thought up.

  The map application had been pretty close. Except for some weird modifications to the Fillmore interchange over I-25, the drive was uneventful. The interchange snapped me out of my thoughts as the traffic pattern took us into what I considered the westbound side of the bridge before directing us back into the eastbound lanes. That was different.

  Fillmore became North Circle at Union and a mile or so later, I had Beast turn left onto Holiday. Holiday dead ended at Chelton, and we turned right for a couple of blocks before reaching Jend Lane, a short street that dead-ended against the ramparts of Palmer Park. There were only a half-dozen homes on Jend and Tess’s aunt had one that backed up to the rocky ledges of the park.

  There were no cars in the driveway, but we parked in the street near the mailbox. It was a nice house, what I thought of as mid-century modern. The ranch home featured large west-facing windows that would provide a magnificent view of Pikes Peak and the rest of the front range mountains. We dismounted, and I studied the area around us. Tess’s aunt had to be doing well for herself. The lot looked to be nearly an acre, and the house would have to be worth upwards of a half-million.

  “I thought you said your aunt was in the military,” I said as I stripped off my gloves. I stowed them in a pants’ pocket as Tess copied my actions.

  “She is.”

  “Nice digs on a soldier’s pay,” I commented.

  “Yeah, it does look nice.”

  Tess was studying the house but was making no move to approach it.

  “Cold feet?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “Are you getting cold feet about seeing your aunt? I thought you were eager to see her and let her know that you hadn’t been kidnapped out of the hospital.”

  “Well, yeah, sure, but how do I tell her?”

  “I thin
k when you show up with two legs and two hands, she’s going to figure something strange happened. After seeing you, the conversation should evolve without much thought.”

  Tess glanced down at her legs and then looked back at me. “You’re right. I just have to walk up to her door and knock.”

  I chuckled and placed my right arm around her shoulders. I started forward, pulling her with me. “It’ll be okay, Tess. I’m here, and there’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Then why am I worried? What if I scare her?”

  “She’s family, Tess. Family has to accept you the way you are. I think it’s a rule.”

  “Yes, but…wait a minute. You said you didn’t have any family.”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t, until you became my apprentice and, of course, now I have a son.”

  “That’s right, but you didn’t tell him that. If family has to accept you, why didn’t you tell him?”

  We’d reached the wide steps that led upwards to a wide deck that made up the front deck. A few chairs were clustered in a sitting area to our left. I put my foot on the first step, and Tess resisted. I dropped my arm, took her by the shoulders, and turned her to face me. “You know why, Tess. I’d just killed his mother. How could I tell him that I was his father then? Give it some time. We’ll find him, and I’ll tell him when her death doesn’t weigh so hard on him.”

  She studied my face as if searching for something. “You promise?”

  “I promise.”

  Tess nodded. “Okay, Rafe. I know your promise is good.” She faced the front door as I dropped my hands. She took one step and then another, climbing the six steps to the deck with no sign of her earlier hesitancy. I followed Tess up the steps, and my eyes dropped to her leather encased cheeks. The black leather was stretched tightly across her hips and made a most appealing sight. I shook my head. Damn, just when a man thinks he’s maturing past constantly thinking of sex, hormones kick in, and he’s just a teenager in rut again.

  We reached the eight foot wide, Trek-clad, front deck and I felt a tingle against my ward. Instantly, I was paying more attention. Tess raised her hand toward the doorbell, and I caught her wrist.