by C. M. Lance
Sig pulled out his wallet. "Here′s my license. I′m sure the registration is crisped by now." He nodded towards the Jeep as the firefighters sprayed it.
The officer nodded and copied information from Sig′s license. He looked at Arianna. "And you are?"
"Arianna duMayne, I′m a student at Northwestern and a friend."
"How do you spell that?"
Arianna handed him her license. He copied her info and handed it back. "You saw the lightning strike the vehicle?"
"Yes, a tremendous flash lit up the parking lot. When I looked up, flames covered Sig′s Jeep, and then it exploded."
The officer took notes. They watched the firefighters spray water until the Jeep stopped burning. The asphalt around the Jeep had charred and blistered.
The police officer handed back their licenses. "Sorry about your vehicle, Sir. Act-of-nature. Can′t do much about it. Here′s my card, you can call for the incident report tomorrow after noon. You′ll need it for the insurance company."
Sig took the proffered card and nodded. "Thank you officer."
"Do you need a ride anywhere?"
"No, I can drop him off," Arianna said.
Sig responded with a wan smile. "Thanks."
She returned his smile warmly. "It′s the least I can do."
After Sig got into Arianna′s car, he called Rick and found that the Professor would be OK. The University hospital ER physician finished stitching up the wound in his shoulder. Rick would bring him home along with pain medication the emergency room supplied.
Arianna dropped Sig at home. By the time Rick arrived with the Professor, Sig was sound asleep on the couch in the parlor.
A door slammed. The house trembled. A scream echoed The Black Wizard shuddered inside his glowing circle.
Feet thundered down the stairs. The door to the basement blasted off its hinges and shot into the room, blazing. Smoke curled from the door jam. Andras stalked up to the summoning circle and threw himself against it. The circle bulged inward. He drew back and hurled himself again. It bulged further. He shrilled, "I will eat your heart".
The wolf paced around the circle, stopping to sniff, and then moving on.
Silent, the wizard′s head swiveled, trying to keep an eye on both apparitions of Andras. Sweat trickled down his face. He panted through parted lips.
Andras placed hands against the invisible wall surrounding the circle. He leaned forward, staring with unblinking owls eyes and growled, "He had friends to protect him. He took my sword." He pulled his hands away and hissed, as if the wall were hot.
The wizard′s eyes widened. "How… How could he steal your sword?"
"It is buried in the earth. It won′t come to me. Now you will die." He hammered on the circle again. It bulged.
The wizard sobbed. "You must go back. Leave now and the sword will go with you. Stay and someone with power may claim it and it will be lost to you."
Andras purred, "What a wonderful idea. For that, all of this is yours." He waved his arm, casks appeared with jewels and gold coins spilling out on the basement floor. "Come out and celebrate with me. Claim your prize."
The wizard stared longingly at the riches but shook his head. His voice quavered as he said, "You must return by my command or the sword won′t go with you. If you kill me first, it will stay in this world after you return."
Andras screeched like a hunting owl, waved his arm, and the casks, gold, and jewels disappeared in a puff of smoke. "If you summon me again, you will die." He vanished through a portal that appeared in mid-air. The wolf leapt through after him.
The portal winked out and the wizard collapsed to the floor whimpering.
The insurance agent′s voice sounded incredulous the next morning when Sig called to report that lightning had totaled his vehicle — again. "I′ll drop the police report by your office in the next few days," Sig said.
"Please do. I′m sure the home office will want to see it. I′m guessing that two lightning incidents in less than one month must be some kind of record."
"It′s not a record I′m very happy with." Sig disconnected and pitched his phone back on the bed, before he flopped down next to it. He massaged his temples. He felt terrible. It wasn′t the Jeep. He could get a new one. Two women died because of him. Two of the Amazons he worked out with almost daily. He considered them friends, no matter what the Commander said.
Sig had tapped gently on Professor Herman′s door a half hour earlier. He took the lack of response as a good sign. He needed sleep to recover from his injury.
Sig prepared breakfast, hoping the Professor would feel like eating. Rick ambled in through the back door, poured a glass of OJ, and sat at the kitchen table. "Wow, that was some powerful shit last night."
Sig glanced at him with a weak smile, "Yeah." He turned back to the stove and pushed the scrambled eggs around in the pan.
When Sig remained quiet, Rick asked, "Is the Professor awake yet?"
Sig shook his head and continued pushing eggs around the pan. "Not when I checked."
Rick hopped up and started out of the kitchen, and then stopped. "The Professor said that Andras has gone back."
Sig turned to him, holding up the spatula. "How does he know?"
"He saw you jam the sword into the concrete. He made me go back and keep an eye on it. About two o′clock this morning, it disappeared. One minute it was there, and then it was gone. An empty, blade-shaped hole remained. I came back here and told the Professor. He said it meant that Andras had gone back."
"How did he know that?"
"The blade is part of Andras. No one took it. One moment it was there and then it was gone, which means it left this world when he did. The black sorcerer could leave the summoning circle, if Andras left him alive."
"Let′s hope not."
"We could only be so lucky. After I reported on the sword, the Professor finally took his pain medicine."
"I′m sorry I got him hurt."
Rick shook his head. "He says you saved his life. He said what you did saved a lot of peoples' lives last night."
"Nobody would have been in danger if it weren′t for me." He turned back to the stove.
Rick looked at his back for a moment before he said, "I′ll check on the Professor."
Rick returned in a few minutes. "He′s awake and hungry. Did you put cheese in the eggs?"
Sig shook his head. Rick grated some cheese and handed it to Sig with a smile. "Melt this over the top. I′ll make some toast. He likes cheesy scramble."
Sig dished up the eggs, Rick put buttered toast on the plate, poured coffee, and handed the tray to Sig. "He asked to see you. Why don′t you take this to him? I′ll be there in a few minutes."
The Professor had managed to sit up in bed by the time Sig walked in. "Ah, there′s the hero of the day."
Sig forced a weak smile as he handed him the tray. "I′m pleased you weren′t injured any worse."
"More was made of my injury than it deserved. I′ll be out of bed in no time. If it hadn′t been for you, I′m sure I wouldn′t be lying here recovering."
"If it weren′t for me, you′d be up and about now. Andras came after me. People got injured and killed because they were near me when he attacked."
"Dear boy, the war between Dark and White magic has raged for ages, perhaps before mankind walked on this earth. If you are to take your great-grandfather′s place, Dark forces will assail you, as they have assaulted me. Your role must be to maximize damage to Dark practitioners while minimizing harm from them to all others."
"I didn′t do well on that second part. Two of my friends were killed.′
"You remained alert for Andras after he retreated. Without that, it would have been much worse. The deaths occurred in the first moments of Andras′ attack from an unexpected direction."
Not convinced, Sig nodded politely. He′d have to think about the Professor′s arguments.
The front doorbell rang. "Are you expecting anyone?" Sig asked.
"No
. Maybe Rick ordered pizza. I may not have enough meat in the refrigerator for him."
Sig chuckled.
Professor Herman responded to a knock on his bedroom door. "Come in."
The door opened and Giselle poked her head in. "Are you decent?"
"Come in, come in my dear. Suddenly, I feel better already. Thank you for stopping in."
"I heard about your injuries." She helped up a small ribbon wrapped box. "Medicinal chocolates for you."
He chortled and held out his hands. "Dear, dear Giselle. You should be a physician. You have a firm grasp of the healing arts."
"Where are you hurt?"
"Just a scratch on my arm." He started to raise his right arm and winced.
Over her shoulder, Rick said drily, "Twenty three stitches and orders not to use it for two days. That means not to raise it like that."
The professor sent him a grimace and turned a smile to Giselle. "I′ll be back at work in no time at all."
"I′m so glad to hear it. I heard you went to the hospital."
She smiled at Sig. "I′m glad you′re OK too."
"I′m so sorry about what happened to your sisters."
"Arianna said that nothing could have been done by anyone. They were busy celebrating that the demon ran. They should have been watching for an attack instead."
Sig looked at the Professor who smiled at him and winked.
"Our Training Master agreed. She also said she′d like to talk with you."
Sig frowned. "Oh?"
"The progress the girls have made in martial arts and fencing impressed her. They gave you credit. She thinks that perhaps the Commander made a hasty decision. You may be able to work out something with her," She said with a warm smile.
Rick interrupted, "Why don′t we let the Professor eat his breakfast?" He held up a pill, which he placed on the breakfast tray. "And take this. You need your rest."
In the hallway, Rick asked Giselle to stay for a cup of coffee. "I forgot to ask the Professor something. You two go ahead. I′ll be right there. Please pour me a cup of black coffee, thanks," Sig said.
The Professor looked up with a smile when Sig opened the door. "Professor Herman, Rick said something that made me think."
"Excellent, thinking is a good thing."
Sig smiled, and then turned serious. "Rick said that the Black Sorcerer was trapped in the summoning ring while Andras was here."
"That′s true, if he valued his life."
"That eliminates Dean Heathcoat as a Dark Mage suspect. He couldn′t be in the Game Room and the summoning circle at the same time when Andras attacked."
"An admirable deductive reasoning process."
"If the Dark Mage was in the summoning circle, then who threw the lightning bolt that I blocked?"
The Professor frowned, pursed his lips, and rubbed his goatee with his fingertips. Under raised eyebrows, his black eyes fixed on Sig as he said, "That is an excellent question. You have been thinking."
The Professor mused. "Dark wizards operate alone. They surround themselves with minions, and lesser powers, but they don′t share with equals. There′s a 'Trust′ issue amongst Dark practitioners."
"That′s not a surprise."
"So, who did throw lightning that night? That may be a key question that needs to be answered."
In the kitchen, Rick poured coffee for Giselle and Sig, and refilled his glass of orange juice.
Sig walked in and looked at Rick′s glass. "Carnivores drink fruit juice?"
He looked meaningfully at Sig and said, "I′ve been told by some in this kitchen that I′m too hyper. If you think that′s bad, you don′t want to see me under the influence of caffeine. I used to drink it, but stopped when Starbucks wanted to make me their official mascot."
Sig raised his cup. "That′s nothing; the dishes in my house are all coffee cups."
Rick smirked. "The only vegetable I eat is the coffee bean."
Giselle′s head bowed over her coffee and her lips moved silently.
"I′m sorry. I didn′t realize you were saying your prayers."
She looked up. "I′m praying that the crappy jokes stop."
Sig rolled his eyes and looked at Rick who shrugged and said, "Obviously Amazon humor is on a different plane."
"I think I missed that plane. I′ll take the next train."
"Bodda-bing." Rick drummed on the table and tapped his glass.
"You two will never be a comedy team."
Rick smiled sheepishly. "I don′t think the jokes are funny either but I′m wound as tight as a spring. I haven′t hunted in three months and after last night; I′m ready to climb the walls."
"Dare I ask what you hunt? Four legged or two legged?" Sig asked.
"Usually deer." He licked his lips. "There′s something about warm, bloody deer meat…"
"I like deer meat, but usually in a stew or a charbroiled back strap steak. I haven′t hunted in over two years."
"I like deer chili, with pinto beans, not kidney beans. There′s something special about chili from a deer that you bring down yourself. It′s been six months for me," Giselle said.
Rick looked between the two of them. "What do you hunt with?"
"I′m an Amazon. I use a bow."
Sig nodded. "For deer, I prefer a bow, but sometimes I use a rifle."
"I hunt in wolf shape. Why don′t we three go hunting?"
"Where would we hunt?" Giselle asked.
"We could go to our farm in Minnesota. We′ve got four hundred acres of woods with some decent deer," Sig offered.
Rick shook his head. "Too far, that′s what, at least eight hours driving? A relative in Wisconsin, a few hours from here, has four thousand acres of woods filled with deer. He told me to come and hunt any time. He wants the deer culled. He says there are too many."
"He′s got that right. Cars in Minnesota hit and kill more than thirty thousand deer every year. They′re a menace. Mom says we have more deer than rats."
"Wisconsin has a lot more deer strikes than that."
"It′s not deer hunting season. Your relative wouldn′t mind?" Sig asked.
"Naw, not if it′s for food. He′s not into the trophy thing. He wants to keep the population down so he only wants me to hunt does." He smiled. "Besides wolves can′t be arrested for poaching."
Giselle gestured at Rick, "This relative of yours, is he …"
"A Were? Yes he is. He is the proverbial 'Lone Wolf′. An uncle that married a witch and fought for the right to live outside a pack. He′s the biggest wolf I′ve ever met. He still has to fight occasionally, but the fights are getting fewer because the results are always the same. He still lives outside a pack."
"So we wouldn′t be competing with a pack for the deer?"
"No. That′s the main reason for the fights. He doesn′t allow any pack to hunt there."
"But he lets you?"
Rick grinned and polished his fingernails on his shirt. "He′s my godfather as well as my uncle. I get special privileges."
Sig looked at Rick and Giselle. "Let′s do it. When?"
"I′m free next weekend."
"Me too."
"That makes three of us."
"Have you ever hunted with a wolf?" Rick asked.
Sig and Giselle exchanged glances. 'No. Have you ever hunted with humans?"
Rick shook his head and laughed. "We′re all in for a new experience. You can join my mini-pack."
Giselle curtsied and said, "I′d be honored."
Sig gave him a sweeping bow. "Enchanté."
"Who′ll drive?" Giselle asked.
Sig gave her an embarrassed sideways look. "I guess that would be you. Rick′s car can′t drive at night and… you′re not going to believe this … my car got totaled by lightning last night."
"Again?" She asked incredulously.
"You sound like my insurance agent. Someone or something threw a lightning bolt. I blocked it and tried to deflect it away from the people, towards the parking lot…"
"I heard about that. It was your car?" She started laughing. "You knocked the lightning into your own car?"
Rick laughed.
Sig looked between the two of them; both laughing hysterically, and then he laughed too. "I guess it won′t rank as the brightest thing I′ve done. I did try to miss the Professor′s Maybach.
Sig′s phone rang after Giselle left. He answered and Mom asked. "Are you OK?" Concern in her voice obvious as it traversed the radio waves.
"Sure, I′m great."
"How is the Professor?"
"He′s upstairs sleeping. He′s a little under the weather."
"You′re sure you′re both OK?"
"Why are you asking?"
"I had a strange vision. When I told Fiona about it, she said that since my powers are still emerging and the vision was so unclear that I should wait and see if it clarified. I wanted to call you about it, but she said wait two days. I guess she′s right. I had the vision for two days, and today — it′s gone."
"Will you tell me about the vision?"
"Oh, it′s silly. And since you and Professor Herman are OK, I′ll just forget about it."
"Mom, I′m interested in what′s going on with you. Will you please tell me?"
"Then I′d have two people thinking I′m nuts you and Fiona."
"Mom, c′mon."
An audible sigh heaved across the airwaves. She spoke rapidly, "I saw an owl riding a giant wolf, carrying a flaming sword. It cut off the professor′s arm but it grew back. You fought the owl and you batted a lightning bolt into a homerun. A man with black and white striped hair did something, but I couldn′t tell what he did. OK, is that enough?"
Sig was astounded. She had related the Cliff Notes of last night. OK, maybe a drug induced version. No, the real episode seemed to be drug induced. Hers was a blurry vision of the real thing.
"Sig, say something. Do you think I′m nuts?"
"Mom, if you have any more visions that I star in, please tell me about it—in vivid detail."
Silence echoed.
"Mom, are you there?"
"Did anything in my vision happen?"
"Well, the Professor′s arm didn′t get cut off. His shoulder needed stitches. He came home from the hospital the same day. Otherwise… pretty close."
