Tallow Jones: Wizard Detective (The Tallow Novels Book 1)

by Trevor H. Cooley

  “Are you sure?” said Tallow. “Do you think she’ll understand?”

  “Aggie’s a tough kid, man,” Ross said.

  “I know that,” Tallow replied. “But this is-.”

  “I think she’ll be relieved,” Douglas said.

  Tallow grimaced, a million reasons for delay rising to his mind. But in the end, they were hollow arguments. “Okay, I’ll tell her tonight.”

  Douglas shook his head. “I want you to go straight to the house so that you can tell her now. Agatha has felt guilty ever since you left the house that night. She wonders if she could have made you stay if she had just tried harder. I don’t want her to feel that way any longer than she has to.”

  Tallow bit his lip. “I agree with you, Douglas, but we have a different priority at the moment.”

  “What else is so important it can’t wait?” Douglas asked.

  “The prisoner that we have in custody. The swordsman,” Tallow replied. “He’s our biggest resource right now and Erl’s biggest liability. Earlier I thought he was safe in the jail. But if that dark wizard had a lupero handy just in case a wizard showed up here after him he might have something that could get to our prisoner even there.”

  “But the dude’s not talking,” Ross pointed out.

  Tallow gave him a grim nod. “He hasn’t met me yet.”

  “Okay, we’ll go there first,” said Douglas. “Ross, would you call ahead? Make sure he’s being watched carefully?”

  “Already dialing,” Ross replied.

  Chapter 25: A Crown of Magic

  They arrived at the Atlanta City Detention Center to find an ambulance parked outside with its lights flashing. Worried, the three detectives rushed inside and flashed their badges. The desk officer looked up their prisoner and allowed them to go back to the cells. Along the way they saw paramedics approaching with a man on a stretcher, one of them pressing bloody bandages against his belly.

  “Please don’t be our guy,” Ross groaned and as they stepped aside to let the stretcher pass, they were relieved to see the pale face of an unfamiliar prisoner instead of the swordsman they were coming to interrogate.

  “It can’t be a coincidence,” Douglas said.

  They continued down to another junction and saw several uniformed officers questioning inmates in their cells. Standing not far from them, close to two forensics techs with clipboards, was a familiar face.

  “Hey, Jimenez,” called Ross and the sergeant looked over at them.

  “What are you three doing here?” Jimenez asked.

  “We came to see an inmate,” Ross said. “We’re glad to see it wasn’t ours that was-. What the hell?”

  Lying on the floor in between the two forensic techs was a naked man with a knife sticking out of his chest. He was a muscular man with a crew cut but he wasn’t the swordsman they had come to see. A snarl of surprise was frozen on his face.

  “That’s exactly what I said when I saw him,” Sergeant Jimenez replied.

  “How did he get here?” Douglas wondered.

  “We’re trying to find that out, but the inmates are talking crazy,” said the sergeant with a shrug. “Some of them were being transferred back to their cells when one inmate thought he was bumped from behind. He turned and pushed back.” He snorted. “Some of the inmates say they heard someone hit the bars but there wasn’t nobody there. Then the guy who pushed at the air got cut by something. He started flailing around like he was wrestling with someone and bam.”

  “Bam?” said Douglas.

  “Yeah,” said Jimenez with an amused grin. “The guards grabbed him. The inmate’s struggling, trying to hold his guts in from a gash in his belly and when they turn around they see this dead naked guy on the floor.”

  “It’s like the Invisible Man,” Ross said, looking at Tallow.

  Tallow shook his head slightly.

  Jimenez laughed. “Yeah. That’s what they want us to believe. As far as we can tell, he’s not one of the prisoners here so we’re looking to see if we can find out how he got here and where the inmates stashed his clothes.”

  “Wasn’t there an officer with the inmates during the transfer?” Douglas asked.

  “Lopez,” the sergeant said with a shake of his head. “Got his head bounced off the bars early in the scuffle and claims he can’t remember anything.”

  “Come on,” said Tallow, grabbing Douglas’ arm. “Let’s leave him to it.”

  “Yeah,” said Ross and he followed Tallow and Douglas near a group of empty cells where they stopped to talk. “Come on,” he whispered. “That was totally the Invisible Man.”

  Tallow shook his head. “Not every Hollywood creature is real.”

  “But he was invisible,” Douglas said.

  “I looked at him with my mage sight and saw traces of air and earth magic in his body, so technically you are right. But there are three ways someone could be invisible. A wizard who knows the right spell can cloak themselves, but they can’t cloak someone else from a distance. It can also be done with illusions, but that requires the use of spirit magic that not many wizards even know exist. Or it can be done temporarily with a potion.”

  “And if you drink a potion the magic will only work on your body, not your clothes. So you gotta be naked if you don’t want people to see you,” Ross theorized.

  “That would be correct,” Tallow replied.

  Ross rolled his eyes. “Exactly like the Invisible Man!”

  “He was an assassin,” Tallow corrected. “Who took an invisibility potion so that he could sneak in here and kill our mute swordsman.”

  “And that’s freaky,” Ross replied.

  “It’s actually good news for us,” Tallow said. “It means they’re desperate. Sending a naked invisible assassin into a place this crowded has a high risk of discovery. This tells us that they don’t have a second basilisk. It also tells us that they don’t have a big enough presence in Atlanta that they dare storm the jail.”

  “That’s definitely good news,” Ross agreed.

  Douglas sighed. “Okay, now that we have our theories out of the way, let’s make sure our man is still alive and they didn’t send two naked guys.”

  “Good point,” Tallow replied.

  When Ross had called ahead from the car, their prisoner had been transferred to a more secure section of the jail to wait for them to arrive. They met a guard at the entrance to the area and he took them to an interview room where they could speak with him. It was a small room with a table in the middle with brackets set into it so that the inmate could be shackled during the interview.

  A pair of guards brought the swordsman in wearing an orange jumpsuit. When the beefy man saw Tallow his eyes widened slightly, but his surprise quickly faded, replaced by a blank look of boredom. The guards shackled the man to the table and left to stand outside the door in case they were needed.

  Tallow pursed his lips at the prisoner, then turned around and touched Douglas and Ross’ foreheads. “You two should see what I see.”

  Ross grimaced and blinked. “Again with the surprise touch.”

  “I think I’ll be able to teach you two to do it on your own eventually. You have the base ability in you,” Tallow told him.

  Ross gave him a shocked and hopeful look. “Magic ability?”

  “I doubt it. And you’d probably have to go over to Gaiana to awaken it if you did,” Tallow explained. “But you don’t have to have magic to learn how to see it. The Mage School likes to keep this a secret, but somewhere around one in ten people can learn to use mage sight with training.”

  Douglas was staring at the swordsman. “What is that on his face?”

  “That,” said Tallow, turning his attention on the prisoner who was sitting there looking blandly ahead as if he couldn’t hear them. “Is why he doesn’t talk.”

  A glowing contraption made with threads of gold and red magic encased the lower half of the man’s face. It looked to Douglas like a very nasty muzzle. Could he even move his jaw? The man
chose that moment to feign a yawn and the contraption stretched with his mouth.

  “What is that thing?” Ross asked.

  “That is an ingenious spell,” Tallow said, bending over the table to look closer at it. The man continued to pretend he didn’t understand them as he shied away from Tallow’s gaze. “From what I can tell, it’s designed to cause him terrific pain if he tries to communicate. If he continues it will simply explode, likely killing him and anyone nearby.”

  “You call that ingenious?” Douglas said with a grimace.

  “I don’t approve, obviously,” Tallow replied. “But I’ve seen similar spells before. Quite useful for a secret organization like the one we are facing. The spell is placed on the wizard’s thugs before they go out to do dirty work and if they are captured the spell is engaged.”

  Ross frowned. “Yeah, but you can disengage it . . . right?”

  “I’ll certainly try,” Tallow said. He looked at the swordsman. “Would you like that?”

  A panicked look passed over the man’s face. But he didn’t even dare shake his head.

  Tallow smiled and showed the man his left palm. “Don’t worry. You are in good hands.”

  He reached out and touched the center of the swordsman’s forehead. A choked sound left the man’s throat and the spell flared, causing him to wince in pain.

  “You can see my magic now. Careful, I wouldn’t make another sound until I get that nasty spell removed,” said Tallow. He raised his hand and a field of yellow surrounded the doorway. “Now the guards standing outside won’t hear any loud noises.” He glanced at Douglas and Ross. “You two should stand back while I disable this.”

  The two detectives took a step back and Tallow raised two golden shields in front of them. As Tallow leaned closer to the man, a blazing network of multicolored energy flared atop the wizard’s head like a crown. The swordsman tried to back away, but he was chained to the table. Sweat stood out on his forehead.

  “Be very still,” Tallow recommended, and in an added bit of intimidation made fire blaze around his eyes.

  He reached out and the spell contraption on the swordsman’s head began to distort. One by one, strands of fire and air magic were pulled away from the central spell as Tallow pulled it apart. Finally, as he pulled out one thick strand of earth magic, the rest of the spell fell apart and faded.

  “There,” said Tallow. “The spell is gone. You may speak.”

  The man licked his lips and he made an experimental grunting noise. When no pain accompanied it, he cleared his throat. His voice was much higher pitched and softer than his large frame suggested. “Uh, who are you, m-master wizard?”

  Douglas and Ross shared awed looks.

  The crown of magic on Tallow’s head flared. “I am Master Tallow, Wizard of Mysteries. I was sent by the Mage School to hunt down the dark wizard that you have been serving.” The man swallowed, but he didn’t look quite cowed enough so Tallow pressed on. “I killed that basilisk that liked to take the form of a large mouthed woman.”

  The man’s jaw dropped. “You d-did?”

  “And I killed the lupero that your master sent after me,” he smiled. “And just tonight, my friends killed an invisible assassin in the halls of this jail not so far from your cell.” Tallow paused to let that last part sink in. “So, your life is in my hands. Do you understand?”

  “Y-yes, Master Tallow, sir,” the man said.

  “What is your name?” Tallow asked.

  “I am called Pell the Blade. Master.”

  “The Blade. How original,” Tallow said with a nod. “I suppose that means you are from Dremaldria?”

  “Yes, Master.”

  Tallow clicked his hand and golden plugs of air covered the man’s ears. He turned to face the detectives, letting the golden shields in front of them fade. “He’ll tell us anything now. But he’s just a pissant warrior mercenary. Probably a reject from the Training School.”

  “Nice crown,” said Ross.

  “Oh that,” said Tallow and he dismissed the magic. “It was just done in naked elemental threads so that he could see it, but it can’t be seen by the naked eye. If the guards looked in I just wanted them to see me chatting.”

  He turned back to face Pell and the earplugs faded. “Who is the dark wizard who brought you to this world?”

  “The one who hired me and brought me over was the dwarf Erl,” Pell said. “He needed humans because if he brought too many dwarves to this place it would look strange.”

  “And who is Erl’s boss?” Tallow pressed.

  Pell blinked. “I-I don’t know about that, Master. But the wizard who put the spell on us was Saokarlo. He’s not Erl’s boss, though. They just work together.”

  “Saokarlo,” Tallow repeated, his eyes closed briefly as he tried to recall what he knew of that name.

  “Sow Carlo,” Douglas enunciated, his eyebrows raising. “S&C Travel.”

  Ross nodded. “Nice. If Erl’s gonna name a company after himself, why not him?”

  “Maybe,” said Tallow, with a frown, unsure about the spelling. He plugged the swordsman’s ears again. “I have done decades of research into known dark wizards trying to figure out who could be behind the portal. Once I knew that the mirrors had been stolen I knew it had to be a dark wizard powerful enough to take down Master Flynn. I had it narrowed down to three that I thought could be responsible, each of whom hadn’t been seen on the sixty years since my arrival in Gaiana.”

  “This Sow Carlo guy wasn’t one of them?” Ross said.

  “I was certain it was either Jeline, Veldar, or Whimmel. Powerful wizards all. Saokarlo was on the wanted list, though,” Tallow said. “And the timeline fits. But he didn’t seem strong enough to have taken the master down.” He shrugged. “Then again the spells that I’ve come across since I’ve been here have been more intricate than I would have thought possible by his reputation. So perhaps he is just better than the Mage School knew.”

  He turned back to Pell and removed the plugs. “Tell me, where are the people that Saokarlo and Erl have stolen?”

  “Uh, the new slaves are kept in many places in the city. They are moved around a lot,” the man said.

  “I will need a list of these places,” Tallow said and Douglas got out his notebook and pen.

  The swordsman paled. “I’m s-sorry, Master. I don’t know that. I just keep guard or fight whoever they tell me to. I don’t go anywhere in this world unless they send me. The slaves could be anywhere.”

  Tallow plugged the man’s ears again and turned back to Douglas and Ross. “Wonderful. We know who we’re dealing with, but our guy knows nothing about Atlanta. There’s no way we’re getting directions.”

  “Uh, Master?” Pell said eagerly. “I don’t know what you’re saying or anything, but if you want to know where the slaves will be tomorrow I can tell you that.”

  Tallow unplugged Pell’s ears. “Why tomorrow?”

  “It’s Friday.” He frowned. “Right? That’s what I heard someone say.”

  “Yes. Tomorrow is Friday,” Ross replied.

  Pell nodded. “Fridays are when they open up the mirror and send stuff through.”

  “You know where this will happen?” Tallow asked.

  “They call it, ‘Warehouse G’. We all have to be there because that’s when we send the slaves to the dwarves and the dwarves send us the stuff Erl wants,” Pell said with a smile.

  “Do you know how to get to this Warehouse G?” Tallow asked.

  Pell nodded. “In the white van.”

  Ross pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Brenda. Get her looking into properties tied to ERL Investments. See if she can discover what Warehouse G could mean.”

  “We’ll need to get eyes on those white vans from Peachtree Warehousing,” Douglas said. “Even if we don’t have a warrant to search them, there’s no problem with us following them.”

  “Pell,” said Tallow. “Can you tell us anything else about this meeting tomorrow? What time it will be fo
r instance?”

  “Oh. It’s always right after lunch,” Pell replied.

  They continued Pell’s interrogation for several hours, getting all the details possible. They were able to get vague numbers as far as how many more mercenaries Erl had and Tallow jotted down the names of a couple more monsters. But it looked like Erl had kept Pell’s knowledge base about their operation pretty vague.

  Tallow could see why he had made that choice. Pell had a mind like a brick. This was likely the case with all the hired thugs. The less they knew the less they could blab. Also having a wizard cast a spell that pops their head off if they talk was an added bonus.

  The Friday gathering was an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up. The mirror, the abductees, and all the enemies would be gathered in one place. They would have to hit it and hard. They just had to narrow down where it was.

  While Brenda looked into warehouse properties, Douglas and Ross set up surveillance on white vans owned by Peachtree Warehousing and Erl Industries. The FIU was stretched so thin that they had to pull stakeout duty on the Peachtree Warehousing fleet themselves. Tallow wouldn’t be joining them though. He had his own preparations to make.

  Before they separated for the night, there was one more stop to make. Together they headed back to Douglas’ house.

  Agatha was waiting in the hallway when they arrived, a look of distrust on her face.

  Douglas smiled at her and opened his arms. “Aggie!”

  “Hey, Daddy,” she said with none of her usual cheer. Her eyes were focused on Tallow. “Is it true?”

  Tallow gave her his usual easygoing smile. “Is what true?”

  “What Reginald told me,” she said, arching one eyebrow. “Aarin and I don’t believe it.”

  Tallow glanced over and saw the nanny sitting on the couch. She was squeezing a pillow to her chest and looking at him with confused eyes. He returned his gaze to Aggie. She was waiting for his response with arms folded, a scowl wrinkling her lips. “What exactly did he tell you?”

  “That Asher’s gone,” she accused. “That he got taken to the other world where that receptionist came from and got really old and then came back. As you.”