Magus

by R H Frye

  As Danny stepped out of the elevator with Carol beside him, he was mildly surprised to see the woman from the Dodge Ram waiting to get on the elevator. He was lost in thought and worry concerning Maraydel, so he gave little thought to the strange coincidence that had them tripping over each other at every turn. Danny turned to Carol and pulled her into his arms.

  “Baby, I want you to know no matter what happens, I love you.” Danny’s voice broke and tears welled up in his eyes. Until now he had struggled and been mostly successful in hiding his fear from Carol, but their proximity to Maraydel was wearing down the façade of strength that he had erected. The simple fact was that Danny was terrified to be around the evil man once more.

  Carol was actually relieved to see Danny’s fear. She had been feeling like an awful weakling since Maraydel had entered their lives, and it was a relief to her to realize that Danny was just as scared as she was. Ironically, his fear acted to strengthen her resolve. We’ll find some way through this. I won’t be his toy for much longer. With those thoughts, she reached up to pull Danny’s mouth toward hers and kissed him fiercely. “We’ll get through this Danny. I know we will. I love you too. No matter what.”

  Danny marveled at the strength that he felt emanating from Carol. As she broke their embrace and led the way around the corner, he was pleased to find that her strength had calmed his fears and given him hope that they may yet find some way out of the dark mess that their lives had become. He wiped the tears from his eyes and resolved once more to look carefully for any opportunity to win their freedom from the monster that was incompletely controlling them.

  John raced through the forest. He knew that he had a chance to escape, and he was flying desperately towards the clearing in an attempt to reach it before his opportunity slipped away. Above him, glimpsed briefly through breaks in the canopy of leaves overhead, he could see that the sky was still a stormy gray, but the deep black thunderheads that had heralded his entrapment were still missing. He lowered his eyes back to the path ahead as he continued his headlong dash through the forest.

  Maraydel’s eyes fluttered open, and he struggled weakly to raise his head from his pillow. He knew that his slaves were just outside, but he could also sense the presence of another that was closer to him. His thoughts brushed against the mind of the policeman where he sat outside the door to his room. Something would have to be done about the man, but Maraydel had been invading minds from the earliest days of his power, and he reached out to the man with contemptuous ease.

  What a bitch. I can’t believe she blew me off like that. Maraydel was pleased to see that the policeman was already distracted thinking about some woman that he desired. It was a simple matter from there to amplify the man’s emotions and drive him to do something that he would ordinarily never have considered.

  I’ll show her a thing or two. The thought was an oily poison in the policeman’s mind. Suddenly, he found himself furious with the nurse that had slighted him, and he lunged to his feet to move towards the elevator, nearly bowling over Danny and Carol in the process. At the last possible second the unhappy couple managed to slip to the side and watch in confusion as the cop plunged past them.

  “Hey, what’s your problem?” Danny was too keyed up to let the jerk blow by them without even saying excuse me, but the officer never slowed in his rush towards the elevator. “What was that about?”

  “Well, look where he was sitting. You don’t think he wants anyone to see our little reunion, do you? I’m sure he found some way to get the cop out of the way.”

  Danny sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Well, if we don’t have a choice we might as well get this over with.” He took Carol’s hand gently in his own and moved towards the doorway that the cop had been guarding.

  As John burst from the forest and sprinted up the hill, the sun broke through the clouds overhead. One final hard gust of wind blew across his face and served to shove the scattering clouds from the sky. As he reached the top of the hill, he realized that he had made it. He closed the eyes of his mind and willed his spirit back along the connection to his body.

  When he opened his eyes, he was sitting in Adam’s living room once more, but something was different. After the long flight and unexpected freedom, it took his exhausted mind a moment to find the difference. Slowly, understanding dawned, and he turned to look at Adam where he sat in his chair.

  “Where is Sarah?”

  “She went to save you.” A resigned sadness was in Adam’s voice as he answered John. “It looks like she succeeded.”

  “Whoa. Slow down. What are you talking about? How long have I been gone?” There had been no real way to estimate the passing of time in his vision. In the vision, it had always felt like the middle of the afternoon on a summer day.

  “You’ve been gone for about three hours. When we realized you were trapped, I did a few things to try to help you, but I figured you needed help to get away from him. I’m sorry John. I had no idea that you could be trapped outside yourself that way.”

  “You still haven’t told me where Sarah went.”

  “Yes, I did. She went to the hospital where he is healing to try to kill him.”

  “What?” John was so upset by Adam’s explanation that the question came out as a shout. “She went to do what? Are you both crazy?”

  “No. We’re not crazy. She loves you.”

  “I love her too, and you knew that. How could you let her do something like that? You know how dangerous that guy is.” John jumped to his feet and started to move towards the door leading to the store. “I have to go help her. God only knows what he’s done to her.”

  “Wait!”

  John whirled to face the old man where he still sat in his chair. “What do you mean, wait? Wait for what?”

  “Wait because she took your truck. Wait because you have no way to get there. Wait to make a plan. Wait for a lot of reasons John. You’re too important to go running off and get yourself killed. If you fall, who will stand against him?”

  “I don’t care about that. I just want Sarah back.”

  “And you can get her back, but you need to think. How will you get there? I don’t have a car. I don’t need one. I live where I work and there is a grocery store one block from here. So how will you get there?”

  John forced himself to think rationally. The old man certainly had a valid point. How could he get to Asheville? And how could he get there as quickly as possible? “Uh, do you have a phone I can use to rent a car?”

  “Yes, you can use my phone, but I think you could get there faster another way. Think, John. Think. What’s the shortest way to get from one point to another?”

  His irritation threatened to get the best of him again, but John struggled to hold on to his temper. Did the old man mean…? “You mean as the crow flies, right?” Adam nodded. “But I’m not a crow.”

  “Really? Charlie used to tell me stories about the ancient medicine men who could become animals. How do you know you can’t do that?”

  John started to brush aside the question, but then he realized that he had already done something much like the old man described. While hiding from Maraydel in his vision, he had changed himself to a fish. Could he do something like that in the real world? Maybe it was worth a try. And he could certainly get to Asheville faster flying than he could if he wasted time renting a car, waiting to be picked up, and then driving. Besides, he knew in his heart that Sarah was in danger.

  “Okay old man. Let’s try this. And be ready to open the back door. If this works, I’m going to want to be on my way in a hurry.” Adam smiled and moved to stand by the back door.

  Chapter 15

  “How nice it is to see you again.” The voice was pleasant enough in its intonations, but it contained an undercurrent of gleeful evil that Danny and Carol were all too familiar with. Neither Danny nor Carol could quite stand to meet the wizard’s evil gaze, but they could feel the heat of his anger beating against their faces anyway.

&n
bsp; Thinking that it was best to try to minimize the damage, Danny said, “Master, we’re here to serve you. What do you want us to do?” The words were vile in his mouth, but he had to at least make an effort to blunt the monster’s rage.

  “First I want you to get over here and kneel before me. I want you to apologize for failing me when I was wounded. I want you to beg for my forgiveness. And then I want you to get me out of this miserable bed and dress me for our journey.”

  Danny gently removed his hand from Carol’s. He slowly approached Maraydel’s bedside and sank to his knees on the cold tile of the hospital room floor. Before he could begin to beg, the magus spoke to Carol. “And you, my darling little whore, come over here and give your master a kiss.”

  “Master, please, I beg for your forgiveness. Don’t take it out on her. It was my fault. I was the one that talked her into running away. If you must punish someone, punish me.” Danny hated the necessity of groveling before the evil wizard, but he hated the idea of seeing Carol tortured again more.

  “Shut up. I’ll deal with you soon enough. You will both learn that there are consequences for betraying me.” While Maraydel was addressing Danny, Carol had made her reluctant way to the opposite side of the bed. Danny could see her sneakers as she neared Maraydel’s side, and he willed himself to keep his eyes cast downward instead of raising them to meet the sight of Carol kissing the foul thing in the bed. He felt like a coward for averting his gaze, but he was afraid if he looked, he would be unable to resist the urge to disregard the consequences and attack Maraydel.

  Carol was finally forced to look at Maraydel where he rested in the hospital bed. As her eyes took in the disfigured face of the wizard, she had to fight the urge to vomit. Bile rose into the back of her throat, and she struggled to swallow it back. Maraydel noticed her hesitation and chuckled. “What’s the matter? Don’t you like what you see?”

  Carol forced herself to maintain her composure as she replied, “Of course I do, Master. What’s not to like?”

  “Then kiss me as I commanded you to do.”

  “Yes, Master.” Carol’s words were a whispered reply as she forced herself to lean in and press her lips to Maraydel’s cracked and blistered lips. She started to draw away after a brief kiss, but Maraydel’s hand reached up and clamped onto the back of her neck. She heard a wet pop as his hand tugged against her neck, and a warm fluid began to ooze down the side of her neck before turning to follow the line of her clavicle towards the cleft between her breasts. She gagged as she realized that a blister had burst on his burnt hand, and it was pus from the blister that was running down to soak her bra. With a horrified retch, she managed to pull free of the Maraydel’s clutches. She staggered back against the window ledge behind her before she finally lost her battle with her gorge and turned to vomit into the corner of the room.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter. We’ll have plenty of time to reacquaint ourselves when I’m feeling more myself.” Danny had to struggle to suppress the anger that the monster’s amused voice caused. Forcing himself to focus on other matters, he slowly climbed to his feet. “I’m going to find you something to wear. I’ll be right back.” He turned and walked from the room.

  In the hallway, Danny stopped and leaned against the wall for a moment. He needed the break to stop the enraged shaking that was coursing through his limbs. How can anyone be so evil? The thought went unanswered, and Danny knew that he needed to pull himself together. If he allowed himself to dwell on the problems he faced, he was afraid that he would become unable to act, and he knew that failing to act was often more dangerous than acting without thinking. So, what do I need to do first?

  A moment’s thought gave Danny an idea, and he immediately set off to look into the various rooms of the critically ill and injured patients in the Intensive Care Unit. The first room was no good. There was a nurse checking the vitals of the elderly man in that bed. The second room was also out of the question. There was no one there other than the patient, but the patient was a young lady. At the third room, Danny finally found some good fortune.

  The third room contained a middle-aged man lying in the bed. He had a tube from a ventilator running into his mouth and the edges of a nasty bruise were peeking out from beneath the edges of the bandage that was wrapped around the patient’s head. Danny slipped silently into the room and tiptoed to the closet that was in the room’s far corner. He opened the door and was relieved to see a battered pair of blue jeans and a flannel shirt hanging in the closet. The clothes appeared to be bigger than Maraydel would need, but Danny knew that too big was better than too small in this case. He grabbed the clothes and a muddy pair of hiking boots that were on the floor of the closet. With his loot in hand, he headed out the door and hurried back down the hallway to the room where the love of his life and his mortal enemy were both waiting for him.

  Sarah and Amy emerged from the elevator and approached the desk for pediatrics. “So, who did you say you were here to see anyway?” Amy seemed blissfully ignorant of Sarah’s discomfort. She had chattered amiably to Sarah during the entire short ride to the floor for Pediatrics, and she was one of those people that could maintain a conversation almost entirely unassisted. Sarah had only been required to supply an occasional word or sound of acknowledgement to send Amy off on another conversational tangent.

  “Amy, listen, you’ve been really sweet, and I’m glad I could help, but I know where I’m going from here. I must have hit the wrong button in the elevator, that’s all. Then I got off on the wrong floor and lost my bearings. Sorry, but I’ve been a little scatter-brained today.” Sarah hoped that the pleasant young nurse would allow her to slip away at this point, and she was so focused on the conversation that neither of the ladies noticed the sound of the elevator dinging to announce the arrival of another passenger.

  Derrick Davis was the policeman that was supposed to be guarding the burned patient upstairs. Derrick knew he was never going to be what the ladies considered attractive. He had a tendency to gain weight no matter what he ate. He was slightly bucktoothed and wore thick glasses. He tried to make up for his genetic shortcomings by being charming and witty, but mostly he just made himself a nuisance to the women he met. Of course, like so many other men like him, he had no idea that he was just annoying. And because of his lack of awareness, he always felt slighted when women brushed off his attentions.

  Maraydel had used Derrick’s hurt feelings to stimulate an intense anger at the nurse that had (in his mind at least) snubbed him. Ordinarily a peaceful man, Derrick stepped from the elevator with lust and vengeance on his mind. He heard the hateful nurse chattering happily to Sarah around the corner, and as he stepped around the corner, he had his 9mm Beretta in his hand. Amy had a clear line of sight to the corner, but Sarah had her back turned to Derrick, so it was a simple matter for him to step forward and bring the butt of his pistol crashing down into the base of Sarah’s head.

  Amy drew in a deep breath to scream as Sarah’s eyes rolled back into her head and she crumpled soundlessly to the floor. Before Amy could scream, Derrick stepped forward and delivered a stunning blow to Amy’s sternum with his free hand. Her scream changed to a choked cough as her breath exploded from her lungs and she doubled over from the force of the blow. Derrick caught her chin in his hand as she bent forward, and he yanked the unlucky nurse upright. He spun her about and clamped an arm around her throat before turning to drag her towards a nearby linen closet.

  “I’ve got something to show you, you prick tease.” Derrick fumbled with the gun for a moment as he struggled to turn the handle to open the door behind him. He wasted a few seconds fighting the handle before giving up and shoving the pistol back into its holster. As he backed into the closet, he could feel Amy’s struggles starting to grow more frantic as the momentary paralysis began to ease in her diaphragm and her lungs struggled to draw air. Derrick backed into the room and paused to kick the door shut with his foot. As the door shut, he turned to shove Amy farther into the room before re
turning to lock the door.

  Amy’s senses were reeling. She had nearly been knocked out from the force of Derrick’s punch, and she was struggling to cope with a life that had suddenly gone horribly wrong. She was trying desperately to catch her breath so she could renew her screams, but the most she could manage so far was a tortured wheeze. She stumbled as she was shoved into the room and crashed to the floor. As she continued to struggle for breath, she rolled to her back to see her deranged attacker moving towards her.

  “No, please, don’t do this.” She had finally managed to draw just enough air into her tortured lungs to begin to plead with Derrick.

  “Shut up, bitch. I’ll show you. You stand upstairs and tease and flirt, then run off when I start to get interested. Well, you’re not getting away with it. I’ve been putting up with prick teases like you my whole life.” As he finished speaking, he slid to his knees in front of her. Amy tried to close her legs, but Derrick was too quick for her. He lunged forward, causing her skirt to ride up over her hips, and she could feel his manhood pressing into her through his trousers and the fabric of her panties. One of his rough hands pawed her breast. The other reached forward and wrapped itself in the hair on the back of her head. He pulled her forward and crushed his mouth against hers.

  Something gave way in Amy’s mind, and an angry animal that she had never suspected resided within her emerged. She drew in one deep breath, and she would remember Derrick’s sweaty, aroused smell for the rest of her life. Her hands struggled to push him away, but he was just too strong. As her hands slid down his side, she felt his pistol where it was still loose in its holster. She opened her mouth, and when Derrick, thinking that she was beginning to give in, slid his tongue into her mouth, she bit down on it with all her might. She felt the end of his tongue tear free in her mouth as he lunged backwards in pained surprise. As he pulled away, the pistol tumbled free of the holster into Amy’s lap.