Light in the Barren Lands: Travail of The Dark Mage Book One

by Pratt, Brian S.

  But the problem still remained; how could he acquire the money they so desperately needed? Then an idea came to him as one of the Wheel of Fortune games came into view. An upright spinning wheel should be easily enough manipulated, slowed just enough so that no one would notice, and have it stop on whichever number his money rested upon. Nodding to himself, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a five.

  In lieu of numbers, Wheels of Fortune had bills of varying denominations from one to twenty placed along its outer edge. The lower the denomination, the more places on the wheel it held. Twenty, as it turned out, held but four places and the space in which the Wheel’s paddle could fall was narrow indeed. The payoff multiplier coincided with that of the denomination; places with a one dollar bill paid one-to-one, while the twenty paid twenty-to-one.

  James broke his five into five singles and bet one dollar on the paddle coming to rest on a five dollar. If he won, he would retain his one along with gaining five more.

  The man behind the betting table spun the wheel.

  Clack-clack-clack-clack

  Spinning furiously, the wheel clattered as the paddle hit the small knobs dividing the different denomination areas from one another. As it spun, James sent his senses out on a small tendril of magic toward the wheel’s hub. Once there, he worked to create a magical spell that would add, or lessen the friction of the wheel. He had it about right when the wheel abruptly, and with irregular suddenness, stopped.

  “What the…” the man behind the counter exclaimed. Never before had the Wheel stopped in such a manner. A glance to the paddle revealed that it had come to a stop on a one dollar spot. James had lost.

  “Keep your dollar,” said the man. “The Wheel must be broken.”

  James nodded, grabbed his dollar and hightailed it out of there. Coming to the buffet area, he caught Jiron’s eye and signaled that they were leaving. Then, without waiting for them to join him, he made for the exit.

  Out on the street, he moved a short distance down the sidewalk from the doors. When Jiron emerged, he waved him over. “I fried one of their machines and maybe ruined another.”

  “So what does that mean?”

  “It means I’m not quite the mage here as I was back home,” James explained. “Earth magic is throwing me off. If I concentrate really hard, I can make it work. But the slightest distraction and it all goes haywire.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, though I am beginning to get the hang of working with it.”

  It was one of the conveniences of Las Vegas that you didn’t have to go very far from one casino before arriving at another. And now was just such an instance.

  “Let’s see if we can’t get it right this time.”

  Two hours later, James sat in the Keno lounge of yet another casino. This was the sixth since his disastrous beginnings. Jiron and Jira had returned to their motel room after the third when Jiron realized James could be at this all night before finally getting it right.

  Not wasting his time with the slot machines, James had learned his lesson about trying to manipulate that mass of temperamental circuits. No, he was still after the Wheel of Fortune game, and by this time had it almost perfected. In the third casino visited, he actually had the Wheel going in the opposite direction which caused the girl running the game to do a double-take. He still chuckled when he thought of her expression.

  At least now he had a fairly good idea of how much, and to what degree, magic should be used in making the wheel stop on the number he wanted. During his visit to the previous casino, he thought he had perfected his technique, but his efforts caused a stutter in the wheel’s movement that prompted it to be shut down for inspection.

  From his seat in the Keno lounge, he had an unobstructed view of yet another Wheel of Fortune. If he didn’t get this right soon, he knew he many have to come up with another idea or risk arousing too much attention, if he hadn’t already. In his hand he held a dollar five-spot Keno ticket which he half-heartedly kept an eye on. The ticket was his reason for occupying the seat, and he didn’t really care if he won or lost. Sure, winning would be great, but by now he was more interested in learning to control the magic. The fact that it didn’t behave as the magic on Jiron’s home world bugged him no end.

  For the moment, the Wheel of Fortune had no players. Glancing to the big Keno board, James saw that he had two of his five numbers. One more and he might win his money back. The thought of using magic to control the Keno winning numbers fleetingly crossed his mind before dismissing it. He dared not risk it.

  By the time the current Keno game ended with no more of his remaining three numbers being picked, a couple walked over to the Wheel of Fortune. James prepared to try again to manipulate the spinning of the wheel.

  “Care to play it again?”

  Turning his attention from the Wheel of Fortune, he saw one of the Keno Runners standing before him. “What?”

  She gestured to the Keno ticket in his hand. “Care to play it again?”

  “Sure.” He pulled another dollar out of his pocket. Handing it and the ticket to the Runner, he said, “Here.”

  “Be right back.” Taking the ticket, she moved along to the next Keno player.

  Returning his attention to the now spinning wheel, he sent his senses out and made ready for it to slow. Once it began to slow, he sent micro-bursts of magic toward it, causing a tightening of the friction around its axis. He watched as the wheel continued to slow and the space bearing the twenty dollar bill approached the top. A couple more micro-bursts and the wheel gradually came to a stop. The paddle rested upon the twenty dollar spot. He had done it!

  “Yes!” he softly exclaimed to himself.

  About that time, the Runner returned with his ticket and informed him that the Keno game was about to commence. He remained in his seat while the twenty Keno balls were picked, only one of which corresponded to a matching designation on his ticket. He hadn’t really expected to win.

  Coming to his feet, he crumpled the ticket and tossed it into a nearby garbage can on his way to the Wheel of Fortune.

  “How about a buck on the five dollar spot,” he announced when he came to a stop before the Wheel. Laying the dollar atop the five dollar betting area, he waited for the girl running the game to spin.

  As soon as the wheel began to turn, he again sent out his magic. Then, just as before, he used micro-bursts of magic to cause the wheel to stop on one of the five dollar spots. “Winner,” the girl announced and laid a five dollar chip atop his dollar. “Care to play again?” she asked with a smile.

  “Don’t mind if I do. I’m suddenly feeling rather lucky. Let it ride.”

  And the Wheel spun again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ________________________

  A knock at the door brought him instantly awake. From the other side he heard, “It’s me, James.” Jiron quickly disengaged from beneath Jira’s arm which had draped itself over his chest while she slept and eased off the bed.

  James gave his friend a big smile when the door opened.

  “Well?” Jiron asked. Closing the door once James had entered, he locked it once again. “How did it go?” Turning to find James looking quite smug, he could see that it had gone quite well.

  “For a while I thought I was never going to get the hang of it,” explained James, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of money. “Then I did.” Tossing the bills upon the table, he added, “There’s almost twelve hundred dollars there.”

  “Is that a lot?” Taking a seat, Jiron picked up the roll of money and skimmed through it.

  “For us it is. I plan to go back tomorrow and do it all over again.”

  “Is that wise?”

  James shrugged. “Whether it is or not, we need to get a few things before we head back.”

  Jiron was interested in this concept of paper money. Other than letters of account between money lenders, he had never seen anything like it before. Coins crafted with precious metals ma
de more sense to him. Laying the money back on the table, he returned his attention to James. “Like what?”

  “For one thing, more crystals. A lot more. I don’t know how much power it’s going to take to bridge the distance from my world to yours. Better to have too many than find ourselves in need at an inopportune time.”

  The inside-out fish James that had shown him back on the island came to mind. A shiver ran through him when he thought of meeting such a fate. “I don’t want to arrive back home with my skin on the inside.”

  “Neither do I. And I’m still not completely sure the modifications to my teleporter spells that I put into place just before your arrival on the island even work. Although, the fact that we were teleported here would seem to indicate they are correct. I’ll just need to adapt them to Earth magic.”

  Frowning, Jiron said, “Isn’t that much more complicated than your orb?” At the mention of the orb, both turned to look at the charred section of the carpet that his previous attempt in calling forth the orb had caused.

  “I will admit, there is an element of risk involved. That is why I propose we do the following. First, tomorrow we’ll return to Harry’s and buy more crystals. Second, we’ll place the crystals around town so they can begin to draw power. It will take at least a week before they reach peak capacity.”

  “During that week, we’ll go out into the desert where I’ll ensure the spells will work and that I can control them. Once I have adapted the spells to Earth magic, we’ll return, gather the power-filled crystals, and head to Disneyland. I can’t get the memory of Igor saying that Disneyland was a focal point out of my head. Perhaps its being a focal point will aid us in what we plan to do.”

  “Certainly couldn’t hurt,” commented Jiron.

  James shook his head. “No, it sure could not. Plus, there may be some sort of magical focal point there as well. And if I’m right, and there is, we’ll have more power at our disposal.”

  “Sounds like you have it all worked out.”

  “Everything except how to keep the authorities off our backs long enough for us to pull this off.” A sudden yawn stretched his jaw to the limit.

  “You should get some sleep,” Jiron suggested.

  “I think that might not be a bad idea,” he replied as yet another yawn escaped. Undressing, he slipped into bed. Jiron remained at the table, examining the various denominations of American currency while James drifted off to sleep.

  Next day, Jiron and Jira accompanied him on his jaunt to skim the casinos of more money. They hit two casinos, winning a sum total of three hundred, fifty-three dollars at Wheel of Fortune games, before James thought about Roulette.

  Basically, it was the same thing but with a horizontal turntable rather than an upright wheel. The only added component was the small marble which he felt confident could be manipulated with little difficulty.

  Roulette had another thing in its favor as well; players often spent long periods of time playing it. Whereas on the Wheel of Fortune, James had felt uncomfortable if he remained longer than ten spins.

  Selecting a Roulette table currently having three other players, James took his seat and handed the man two hundred dollars who in turn slid three stacks of chips of varying denominations across to him; the greatest quantity being worth a dollar.

  He slid a dollar chip onto Black, one of the three color designations in the game of Roulette. The Roulette Wheel bore numbers ranging from one to thirty six, each number being either red or black. By betting Black, he would be paid if the ball settled upon a number in a black slot. If he won, it was a one for one payout. The other color was green. Only the numbers “0” and “00” were designated green.

  The dealer made sure all bets were made, then spun the wheel and sent the ball on its way. After the ball made two revolutions around the outer track of the wheel, the man announced, “No more bets.”

  James was already at work, using magic to practice tweaking the wheel and ball with even smaller micro-bursts than used on the Wheel of Fortune game. As the Roulette Wheel slowed, he tightened his efforts. Then with a final nudge as the ball came to rest, he made it land into a black slot.

  “Twenty-eight, Black.”

  First, the dealer removed all losing wagers, then paid off the winners; James had another dollar chip added atop the one that he’d bet on Black. He let his money ride.

  Once more he won on Black, then reduced his bet back to a dollar and transferred it to Red. Also, so as not to appear out of place by winning all his bets, he also placed two other dollar chips on the table. One was on number twenty-eight, the other, “00.” These he planned to lose.

  This time when the Roulette Wheel spun, he didn’t try to make the ball land on just any Red number, but instead tried to make the ball fall into a specific Red slot: Number Fourteen. This was much more complicated.

  It took him three tries with a loss of another six dollars before he managed to hit Number Fourteen. Confident in his growing ability, he divided thirty dollars between three numbers: five, sixteen, and twenty-four. Since the other players consistently made multiple bets, so did he. What did it matter if he lost two of his three bets, when winning but one yielded a thirty-five to one payout?

  With the spin of the wheel and the loosing of the ball, he began. A nudge here, a slowing of the wheel there, and when the ball finally came to rest, the dealer said, “Five, Red.” Taking his two losing bets totaling twenty dollars, the dealer then placed three hundred and fifty next to his lone winning one.

  It felt great to pull that much money back and he could feel the envious stares of his fellow players. But he couldn’t allow his excitement to cause him to win too much. The last thing he desired was to attract the attention of the eye-in-the-sky. Unobtrusively glancing up toward one of the many black half-spheres attached to the ceiling from where hidden cameras watched, he knew that if he won too much and too often, someone up there would notice.

  So, planning on losing the next couple of rounds, he once again placed his trio of ten dollar bets on various numbers and allowed the wheel to go about its business without interference. Another half-hour with one or two more big scores, and he would move on to another casino. He had their number now.

  The wheel spun, the ball rolled, and James couldn’t help but smile.

  Lunchtime found them at another buffet, this time one of the better ones. High end menu items such as crab, lobster, and made to order steaks were but some of the delicacies laid out for their pleasure.

  James worked on some crab legs while Jiron waited on a sirloin. Jira was quite content to have a variety of other items such as fried chicken since the “fishy stuff” didn’t appeal to her all that much. She would rather see it cavorting in the ocean than lying cooked on her plate.

  “We’re up eight thousand and some change,” James informed them. “More than enough for our needs. When we finish with lunch, we’ll return to Harry’s.”

  “How many crystals do you figure you’ll need?”

  “Dozens. It’s not so much those that I plan on leaving behind to gather magic, but rather those that will be expended while I try to fine tune the teleportation process.” Dipping a succulent piece of crabmeat into a small dish of melted butter, he quickly took a bite before the butter could drip away. “My spells may have worked to get us here, though how exactly they managed that feat is still unclear. But having to use them in conjunction with the magic here on Earth, well, you get the idea.”

  Jiron nodded.

  “After we return from Harry’s, we’ll take a stroll around town and place a crystal every block or so. I had six crystals powering the teleporter back on the island. I’ll use sixty here.”

  “Sixty?”

  “If I can. Too many is preferable than being caught one short at a crucial juncture.”

  “You’re the mage,” shrugged Jiron.

  After lunch they caught a taxi over to Harry’s where James negotiated for ten dozen of his crystals. Both surprised and pleased to have s
omeone buy in such quantity, Harry gave them a good price and even offered to help in the selection process. Two bulging sacks later, they returned to the taxi and headed back to Vegas.

  That afternoon, and throughout most of the evening, James, Jiron, and Jira walked throughout the Strip area and around the casinos placing crystals. James would find a likely spot in close proximity to a well traveled area, place a crystal at shoulder level against the wall and magically adhere it to the surface. Then after a brief spell to render it all but invisible, and another to activate the embedded gathering spells within the crystal, they moved on to the next location.

  Jiron carried a backpack bought for just this occasion that was loaded with crystals. Jira’s job was to mark on one of those Vegas tourist maps the location of where James placed each crystal. It wouldn’t do them much good if they couldn’t find the crystals when the time came. By the time the last of the sixty crystals to be placed were in position, James was footsore and Jira rode atop her father’s shoulders after having complained once too often of being tired; which in the grand scheme of things had been her plan from the beginning.

  It was a weary trio that walked in through the motel room door. Jira was asleep in Jiron’s arms. He laid her gently upon the bed then joined James at the table. Sitting down, he tossed Jira’s map with crystal locations across to James.

  Sixty dots speckled the map, along with Jira’s doodlings she had scribbled during the more boring moments while waiting for her uncle to complete placing crystals. James felt confident that in a week’s time, the crystals will have gathered sufficient power to more than satisfy his needs to get them home.

  “Better put that in your duffle so we won’t lose it,” said James wearily.

  Jiron nodded and slipped it into his duffle bag lying not far away.

  “Tomorrow we head out to the desert after buying a tent and supplies to last for several days,” began James. “Once I have the spells down, we’ll return and collect the crystals. A day later we could very well be back on the island.”