"The real letter said nothing about war, surrender, or Eric Tuttle!" Moco claimed. "It spoke of the peaceful new World Paranormal League and invited Hope to join it! There is no such thing as an official leader of the Unaligned or the League; Dale organized the League but is only one of more than a dozen American representatives and fifty international representatives to the League, which has no president. Is this traitorous act of yours Hope's irrational response to the League and the outside world, Grim? And who or what is pulling your puppet strings?"
"Your words betray you and your fellow conspirators, werewolf," said Grim. "You are clearly allied with Dale, well known traitor to Hope and now the leader of the Unaligned!"
"Dale and many others are no longer unaligned, they are simply not aligned with Hope," replied Moco. "My alliances are primarily to family and pack, Wizard, but in this matter I agree with Dale. Hope has too long walled itself off from the rest of the world and arrogantly claimed to rule and represent all peoples of the world that have paranormal powers! In today's world of growing numbers of paranormal people your little town's absurd claim of legitimate dominance of them is increasingly absurd! Dale has traveled the world and found several other cloistered towns much like Hope, and persuaded them to join together as a world organization of people with powers. Some are Wizards, some are vampires or werewolves or shape-shifters and everything in-between. He invites Hope to join League also! His is a message of peace, unity, and progress!
"Together we can from a position of united strength confront the Norms of the world and come out into the open and live with them as equals! We are all creatures of power, yes, but more than that we are all humans and citizens of Earth. It is time that we openly join together and ally ourselves with elves and other peace-loving peoples of the universe to thrive together and confront common enemies such as prejudice, Demons, and Evil!"
Ben was astonished to hear such a lengthy and impassioned speech from Moco! He didn't know that the Wolf ever even thought about such issues!
"Live with Norms as equals?" Grim retorted sarcastically. "The real message is the one I displayed. You are mad, werewolf, totally mad, to think that changing your story now to save your skin will work! We Wizards are superior in every way to mere humans, while werewolves and others with limited powers are abominations that will never have even the full rights of Norms, let along equality with Wizards! Hope stands against your nonsensical assertions and against outsiders such as the Unaligned and the elves, and against their nonsense about Demons and Evil!"
"You presume far too much, Chairman Grim, and certainly do not speak for the full Council," objected Fredrick Kroner. He stood tall and spoke strongly, though his clothing was blackened and tattered, and to stand he had to brace himself against the charred table. "Fundamental equality for all Hope citizens has always been a core Hope value, even though as a practical matter Wizards receive preference, training, and privileges that are meaningless for non-Wizards anyway. Wizards, weres, vamps, and Norms, we are all humans with equal rights!
"As to the prisoners, we must interrogate them further and seek truth. However all prisoners will be treated with honor and dignity, in particular our long trusted colleagues Eric and Elizabeth. What we have experienced and heard here today is shocking and incredible and requires very careful study with open minds, not rash reaction. Besides, if Dale has indeed established some sort of world-wide organization for paranormal humans and invites us to join it I want to hear more about it! The Wolf spoke wisely and his words need to be fully considered. I move that we adjourn this meeting and begin our investigations and deliberations immediately!"
The vote was five to four, with the motion passing, much to the consternation of Chairman Grim. The public was dismissed and prisoners were led away in chains while Grim and Kroner argued loudly.
****
At the King home Amanda the vampire wasn't surprised to soon find Elizabeth the Master Wizard at her door. She had sensed her approach. She ushered the Wizard inside the darkened house and away from the brilliant burning light of the sun.
"My husband and children have been arrested, and so have Moco and Ben," Elizabeth stammered, so upset that she could barely speak. "Eric and an elf are accused of terrorism. Eric, Ann, Mark, Ben, Moco, and the elf are all arrested and accused of treason and being in-league with Alan Dale! Eric told me of it all telepathically, but now he is in a well-warded prison and we can't communicate at all!"
"Yes, I am aware of all that and more," Amanda said calmly. "Compose yourself Master Wizard; cool heads and strong competent action are required but we can provide it."
"Eric fears that you and I will also soon be arrested!" said Elizabeth. "He wants us to flee to the home of his friend Fredrick Kroner while the Council sorts this all out."
"The Council can't be depended on to sort anything out, Master Wizard, not with Horace Grim in charge of it," said the vampire. "He must have created the fake version of the letter from Alan Dale that brands both of our husbands as traitors."
"You might be right," said Elizabeth. "I can't believe that the Council has turned on Eric so ruthlessly! They know him well enough to never believe that he could be a traitor to Hope!"
"The Council's actions aren't entirely unexpected," said the vampire. "In response you can help me distribute these throughout Hope." She handed a printed sheet of paper to Elizabeth. "This is a copy of the real letter from Alan Dale."
Elizabeth read the letter aloud. "But this is incredible!" she said when she had finished. "Imagine a world-wide league of Wizards!"
"No, it's a league of all paranormal humans, not only of Wizards. And by the way, vampires, werewolves, and other variants of paranormal humans greatly outnumber Wizards!"
"Of course," said Elizabeth. "If this letter speaks truth it knocks Hope off its self-ordained pedestal and nullifies Wizard notions of superiority! The concept excites me! But bigots like Grim would go totally crazy! No wonder Grim replaced the original letter!"
"There may be much more to what is happening here than Grim's petty bigotry and love of self and power," said Amanda. "There are Demons involved. Exactly how we don't yet know, but it can't be good, and it's about time that Hope knows about everything that's really happening! You likely have via your computer and smart-phone the email distribution for everyone in Hope? Could you distribute the authentic letter to everyone? I already have the Hortegas distributing two-thousand printed copies all around town and giving a head's up about Demons."
"We can't use regular email," said Elizabeth, "it's far too insecure with regard to the outside Norm-ran world. Emails from my home computer typically travel across town via a San Francisco server farm that is probably monitored by the Federal Government. But I can email a message that vaguely refers to your hardcopies as being the genuine article and speaks against Grim and the imprisonment of our families. Also we have a secure land-line internal to Hope that is used for emergency purposes. I'll put your letter on that, but it will only reach a couple of hundred Hope school and city government people."
"Good enough, but you'll have to do all that later. Right now we need to hide elsewhere until my son-in-law arrives to provide what help he can. Just before you came I informed him of the situation."
"Your son-in-law?"
"Yes; the husband of my daughter Jewel: Alan Dale. Jewel and I have crystal balls that are in tune with the amulets. Now let's get out of here!"
Elizabeth was shocked "Alan Dale is your son-in-law?" she managed. "THE Alan Dale from Hope? The Council says he's a murderer! Police and Missionaries sent to bring him to Hope have totally disappeared!"
"Alan's a very nice fellow, for a Hope-born Wizard," said Amanda. "Dozens of your missing police and missionaries were converted to his cause by him, none were harmed or murdered! Instead of arresting him they became emissaries working with Alan to establish the World Paranormal League." She hurriedly put on a black broad-brimmed hat and dark glasses, and led the stunned Wizard towards the front door.
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"Actually that sounds more like Alan," said Elizabeth. She knew him well, long ago.
The doorbell buzzed as the women reached the door!
"Open up, it's the police!" said a loud voice from outside the door!
"Crap!" said Amanda.
"Indeed," agreed Elizabeth.
****
The Council holding cell was comfortably outfitted with cots, chairs, a kitchen with food, and a bathroom. There were enough ceiling lights to read by, though there was nothing to read. All in all it was a comfy living space. However to the discomfort of the prisoners it was oppressively warded to obscure magic of any kind, and the walls and doors were too solid and warded to invite a breakout. There were no windows, only a few tiny air vents, and the locked doors were of heavy warded wood and steel.
"This cell is totally escape-proof," said Eric. "I should know, I designed it myself."
"You should be proud of your work, Daddy," said Ann. "I sense no weaknesses in this cell."
"I'm sure that we can all appreciate the irony," said Moco, as with a shrug of his wide shoulders he casually snapped off his heavy steel shackles and then circulated among the other captives, snapping off their handcuffs effortlessly. "The dampening wards you designed for inside this cell actually weakened our shackles, Eric. You might want to reconsider some of your ideas next time you design a prison cell. Any ideas about how we get out of here?"
"I suggest that we exchange information between us," said Soone. "Perhaps enlightenment will suggest to us a means forward."
"I'm beginning to get the idea that you elves are much more oriented towards study than action," said Moco.
“I am actually most oriented to studying and cultivating life,” said Soone. “Considerable action is required.”
"It is truly an honor to converse with an elf," said Eric. "Particularly one as illustrious as you! You and an older elf named Lucian were personally involved in establishing Hope here over three centuries ago, were you not? We have writings and old drawings and paintings that depict the occasion."
"I recall well your forbearers, young Tuttle," replied Soone. "You are the spitting image of the Tuttle I worked with three centuries ago to establish Hope! Alas my old mentor Lucian is gone now and of elves involved only I remain to directly recall those days! Establishing an Earth town with a human Wizard Council seemed like a good idea at the time, but as Moco's remarks suggested, perhaps something more than study is needed now, both here on Earth and on Alure. But we digress into history and politics. We face more immediate problems to alleviate, such as our current imprisonment."
"We need to get the hell out of this pen!" said Moco. "If I had something solid to batter the walls and doors with, I'd give it a go, but no doubt they are heavily warded and that would be a waste of time and effort anyway."
"Yes it would be," said Eric.
"And it would make a terrible racket!" added Soone. "Unsuitable for sensitive elf ears, I am sure."
"And then what if we did break out?" asked Ben. "What would we do then? We must have a plan."
"Then let's come up with one before the Council interrogates us," said Eric.
"What do you suppose is the hold up with that, Dad?" asked Mark. "Kroner seemed anxious to get started and he's your friend."
"I don't know," said Eric. "I'm anxious to tell him my side of things, but Grim is doubtlessly mad as hell that Fredrick stood up to him and may be preventing interrogations. Grim replaced the letter from Dale and set us all up for jail time. Plus it is no coincidence that only Kroner and his friends were attacked by the Demons; Grim has to be in league with them! Who knows what they have planned next?"
"I'm much more anxious about the Demons than I am about Grim," said Soone. "Apparently two or more Demons frequent both Alure and Hope, spreading the corruption that is Evil. But young Ben can see through their cloaking disguises and identify them and also identify Evil. Not even videos fool him, and that troubles me. Very sophisticated spells were required for the deception, and I have never heard of Demons capable of such magic!”
“In any case, Ben was able to see through the spells,” noted Elizabeth.
“Yes, he has seen two Demons, but there could be even more,” said Soone. “It is said that lead Demons can create gateways to the Void and call multitudes of lesser Demons to themselves."
"Lesser Demons?" asked Eric.
"Yes," said Soone. "Horde Demons. Lesser in terms of intelligence, at least. Deadly killers, of course: pure killing machines. They act by instinct to attack any life they find and anything built by living beings. We need to stop the intelligent lead Demons and prevent them from calling forth legions of lesser Demon. And of course to stop them we need to first locate and identify them. We need to also locate all the Evil. I can lead efforts to destroy the Evil once it is located."
"Legions of lesser Demons would create a Demon apocalypse," said Ben. "But at least none of the Council members are Demons. Nobody I've personally met in Hope is a Demon, but I saw one in the school at a distance. Two Demons disguised as elf and man attacked the Council. As to Evil, there are many tons of it in the King backyard, and there could be more hidden elsewhere in Hope. There is certainly Evil inside Council Hall; I sensed it!"
"That sounds like enough Evil to subtly influence the health and disposition of all Hope residents," said Soone, "and it would also help power the activity of any Demons hiding in and near Hope."
"You'll never convince Grim of that," said Eric. "But Kroner and some of the others might listen."
"And I should tell you something else that I noticed, though I'm not sure what it means," said Soone. "The image of the Demon disguised as me in the attack on the Council wasn't quite right."
"It looked just like you!" said Eric.
"Not exactly," said Soone. "It looked like me perhaps a century or two ago, when I was scarcely past middle-age. The memory of what I looked like centuries ago had to come from somewhere. Where would a Demon get that? It is a puzzle."
"One thing I puzzle about is Demon horns," said Ann. "I can understand Demons having legs, arms, eyes, and so-forth for practical reasons, but why would they have horns? With Earth life it's evolution that leads to features like horns."
"Physical form with Demons is whatever shape they feel like having," said Soone. "Millions of years ago elf ancestors had horns, and elves have four fingers and toes per appendage, also like many Demons have. Perhaps they copy ancient elf features to mock elves. Or perhaps the legends of Demons possessing elves is true. We don't know, Ann. There are many things that even elves don't know about Demons. Always there are many more puzzles than answers, but that is what makes life interesting."
"Right now our situation is too damn interesting a puzzle!" said the Wolf, who had been testing the strength of the cell door to no avail.
"Which reminds me of that other puzzle that Mark mentioned," said Eric. "Why isn't the Council interrogating us as they said they would?"
****
In his private office behind Council Hall Horace Grim Junior sat before the desk of Horace Grim Senior, shaking his head in denial. "I can't do it Father! I can't say that I agree with Kroner on issues very much, but I've known and trusted him all my life! He was my English teacher and magic mentor in high school! Anyway, within a few years he will retire and be gone! With Red Eric soon also out of the way, I'll have no strong rivals in Hope! I will fully rule Council to carry out your bidding! Troy will be an adult soon and carry on after me, just as you have agreed! But I see no reason to murder Kroner, Father! I won't do it! And I still don't understand why Eric and the elf tried to kill him either! I am very confused!"
The Demon in the form of Horace Grim Senior smiled, and human-like, shook his head, and then began to change form. Gray hair disappeared to be replaced by black. Wrinkled skin smoothed. Thin arms and legs added muscle and old shrunken bones strengthened and lengthened. "Eric and Soone didn't try to kill Kroner, you idiot!"
"Father! You can shape-shift?
What do you mean they didn't try to kill Kroner! I saw them!"
"I haven't been your father for over twenty years, fool! I disguise myself as him when it suites me!"
"That can't be!" Grim said. "I would have known! Old age is merely finally catching up with you, old man! You are my father! I know my father's memories and mannerisms!"
"Those I took those from his mind as I killed him," said the Demon. "As I have done with dozens of creatures over the centuries. As I do now with you! You have outlived your usefulness, Wizard fool! Now I do you a great honor, human. Your short useless life is over, but you will in a sense live on through me! I will carry forward your program of hate and destruction beyond anything you ever imagined!"
The Demon that reached out to seize Horace Grim Junior looked exactly like him in every detail! Grim could only cower in shock and fear as the Demon duplicate of himself grabbed both his wrists and squeezed them with enough force to crack bones. He tried to cry out in pain but found that he had no voice, and that he couldn't even breathe. Or physically or magically do anything. Or think. Mercifully he was dead in moments. The body itself shriveled up and disappeared as the Demon Horace Grim absorbed it into himself, along with Grim’s thoughts and memories.
It would have been satisfying to then destroy what was left of the Hope Council, but the Master Demon was bothered by the news that the elves of Alure were regrouping and that Soone had come to Earth. Having an elf Wizard on Earth meant that Alure and Earth had to both be attacked at once. He decided it was time to leave Earth to his Apprentice while he personally destroyed the Alure Council. As he changed himself into elf form and gathered energy to teleport himself to Alure he telepathically relayed his orders to his Apprentice. As he expected, his eager Apprentice was overjoyed that he would be the one to at long last openly attack the arrogant Earthlings!
****
CHAPTER 10:
Apprentice Wizards of Hope Page 16
