Magus

by R H Frye

  And so Maraydel had ruled for centuries until finally the forefathers of the Cherokee Indians had banded together all of their strongest braves and all of their medicine men to fight him. At first he had laughed at their attack, but soon he realized that this was a threat more dire than any he had faced. He had never believed that the wild, free flowing magic of the nomads that he abused could challenge him. He still did not believe that the medicine men posed any real danger until he had been bested in the contest on the mountain.

  For millennia he had dreamt of his return. And while he was dreaming, the world forgot—for the most part—that his kind had ever existed. When Carol and Danny had unwittingly roused him from his slumber, he had been delighted with the things he had learned from Danny. The world had seemed ripe for retaking, and he had set out to kill the only threat that was nearby as quickly as possible. As it turned out, he was convinced that this had been a major error. Every time he had faced the shaman, he had been defeated. It was maddening!

  He roused himself from reflecting on the distant and the recent past. His attention returned to Carol just in time to see her fling another, much larger bolt of lightning at the stump. This time there was a strong smell of ozone in the air and the stump was split in two. Carol whirled to face Maraydel, and seeing that he was impressed, she ran to him and flung her arms around his neck. The young woman was breathing hard, and she ground her crotch against him as she hugged him. His body responded, and Carol laughed. She grabbed his crotch playfully with her right hand before turning and hurling another bolt of electricity at the stump.

  Maraydel was never one to be teased, especially by an apprentice. He stepped forward and spun Carol around by the arm. He yanked Carol hard against him and growled, “Never forget who the master is. I can take your power as easily as I gave it to you. You would do well to remember that.”

  Carol had initially flushed with anger and fear, but her recent success made her bold. The fearful look faded from her eyes as she smiled seductively. “Let me show you how much I appreciate what you’ve given me then…Master.” The last word was slightly impudent, but Maraydel ignored her mild rebellion as she tugged him to the grass of the yard. Sometimes it’s nice to have a willing partner, Maraydel thought.

  The sun was setting outside as John finally roused himself from his vision. Sarah, Adam, and Danny had been having a muted conversation for hours about inconsequential items. All three felt closer for the time spent together, but they were also relieved when John opened his eyes. They had seen no signs of a struggle, but Sarah and Adam had filled Danny in on what had happened the last time John went looking for a vision, so his safe return loosened a band of tension from around the chest of each person that was waiting for him.

  John sat up and crossed his legs to sit more comfortably in the center of the circle. He gazed intently at each of his friends in turn, but still did not break his silence. Danny opened his mouth to ask if everything was okay, but the words never passed his lips. Before the eyes of every person in the room, John had begun to drift gently upwards from the floor. Danny’s mouth dropped open in astonishment and Sarah was wide-eyed with awe, but Adam simply relaxed back against the couch with a smile on his face. “I see you’ve learned a thing or two,” the old man said.

  When John was levitating at the correct height, he lowered his feet to the floor and stood up as if the whole scenario was more natural than breathing. “I’ve learned more than a thing or two, my friend. Tell me, how long have I been gone?”

  Sarah glanced at her watch before answering. “You left us at about 2:30 this afternoon. It’s nearly 8:00 now, so you’ve been gone about five and a half hours. Why?”

  John stretched. “It feels like I’ve been gone for days and days. I guess time passes differently there than here.” The shaman shook his head as if to clear it. “Hey, do you want to see something cool?” Without waiting for an answer from any of the other three people in the room, John started to squat down. Before the motion was finished, his form flowed, and a cheerful wolf was sitting in the circle where John had been standing a moment before. Danny jumped to his feet and started to move behind the small sofa where the three had been sitting when John awakened, but in another instant John was squatting on the floor in the place of the wolf. “Relax, would you?” John said with amusement clear in his voice.

  “How the hell did you do that?” Danny asked. He had stopped his rush around the sofa, but he did not seem quite ready to return to his seat.

  John laughed for a moment before answering. “That’s just it. It’s kind of complicated but kind of simple. I don’t know if I could tell you how to do it if I tried. You just have to reach out and feel the magic. And there it is. It seems to do whatever I ask it to do.” John paused as another thought crossed his mind. “Hey, I want you to try something.” Danny gave the shaman an apprehensive look, but did not immediately disagree, so John continued. “Grab that big container of salt and throw it at me.”

  Danny looked at John as if he had lost his mind, but he retrieved the salt container and weighed it in his hand. “How hard should I throw it?”

  “Put your back into it. Really heave that sucker at me, okay? Try to knock my head off with it.”

  Danny still looked doubtful, but he did as he was asked. He took a stance much like a major league pitcher and hurled the salt at John. The metal spout was closed when he threw the container, but the force of his throw still caused a few loose grains of salt to go flying across the room. The grains of salt did not behave as they were expected to, however.

  As the container flew towards John a peculiar thing happened. The container and the loose grains of salt began to slow as if they were stuck in some sort of invisible web. Only six feet or so had separated Danny and John, but before the container was more than halfway to John, it stopped to hang inert in midair. As everyone in the room watched, the container slowly spun around until it was upright, and the spout opened. The errant grains of salt slipped themselves into the open spout which promptly closed behind them. Finally, the container moved gently towards John and dropped softly into the hand that he opened to receive it.

  Sarah and Adam exchanged a relieved look as they realized that John must truly have learned a lot while he was away. Danny stood looking at the salt container with astonishment for a long moment. He finally realized that he was standing with his mouth open and closed it with a snap. John chuckled again and asked, “So can we go get something to eat, or what? I’m starving…and I’m buying.”

  Sarah smiled lovingly at John as she said, “Sure honey, we’d love to…just as soon as you put your shirt on.”

  Maraydel rolled off of Carol and collapsed panting on top of the covers beside her. “So, what else do you have to teach me?” Carol asked.

  Maraydel chuckled as he rolled off the bed and onto his feet. “There will be time for more learning in the morning. For now, little slut, you’ve worn me out. I’m going to relieve myself and then I’m going to bed. We’ll continue your training in the morning.”

  Carol rolled to a sitting position on the edge of her parents’ bed. The sheets were a knotted-up mess, but she made no move to straighten them. Instead, she got to her feet and walked naked from the bedroom. There was another bathroom just down the hall between her bedroom and the guest room, and this was her destination.

  As Carol stepped into the bathroom, she flipped on the fluorescent light overhead. She walked past the sink and primly sat down on the toilet. It only took a moment to finish her business, and she flushed the toilet as she regained her feet. She stepped to the sink to wash her hands and then splashed water on her face. The cool water felt good against her sex-heated skin, and she paused for a moment to let the water cool her as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

  The new medallion really was quite beautiful to Carol. The serpent’s eyes were chips of blue ice and the diamond in its mouth was obviously a focal point for the energies she was learning to use. She thought she might like
to take a closer look at the fine details of the medallion, so she reached behind her neck to find the clasp of the chain. It was then that she realized that the clasp was gone. Thinking that perhaps she had just missed it with her hand, Carol slipped the chain around her neck while the medallion remained dangling just beneath her throat. After perhaps a half minute of fruitless searching, she faced the facts. The chain was seamless. If she did not know better, she would have sworn that it had somehow been made with her neck already in the chain.

  Carol left the bathroom and walked quickly back to her parents’ bedroom. The magus was waiting in the bed for her, but his eyes were closed, and his breathing was already the deep breathing that led the way into sleep. He started awake as Carol slapped him hard across the face. “What the hell did you do? How do I take this damned thing off?”

  Maraydel looked at Carol in obvious puzzlement. “Why would you ever want to do that? Have you ever seen me remove my medallion?” The palm print from Carol’s slap was turning into an angry red welt, but the sting seemed not to bother the magus in the least.

  “Well I’m not you, you son of a bitch. How do I take it off?” Carol was angry, but she had a sudden, sinking feeling that she was not going to like the answer to her question. In a moment, she discovered that she was right.

  Maraydel closed his eyes as he answered. “You can’t take it off. Ever. It is forged of magic and silver and is unbreakable. Now go to sleep before I lose my patience with you.” His cold blue eyes snapped open and his icy gaze held Carol transfixed. “And don’t ever strike me again. You are growing important to me, but there has never been anyone on this planet who was irreplaceable to me.”

  Danny was trying to sleep, but sleep kept eluding him. Something was very wrong with Carol, he just knew it. There was no explanation for what he was feeling, but the feeling was there, and it was ruining his sleep. He rolled over on Sarah’s sofa and punched his pillow. All he wanted to do was get some rest. Was that really too much to ask?

  After many more long minutes spent trying to relax, Danny gave up. Maybe the television would help put him to sleep. He sat up, grabbed the remote, and turned on the set. The volume was high on the television, and he hurried to find the volume controls on the remote before he woke up Sarah and John. At last he had the volume set on a more reasonable level, and he flipped through the channels until he found a movie that he had already seen. He leaned back against the cushions and propped his feet on Sarah’s coffee table. Apparently, the movie he picked was just the distraction that he needed, because in less than five minutes he was asleep.

  John and Sarah were just settling in after quietly making love. They had heard the television turn on in the living room, but the loud babble of voices had quickly been muted. They figured that Danny must be having trouble sleeping, and neither of them could really blame him. Sarah had taken John into her confidence regarding the line that she had seen snap, so they were both worried for Danny, but without saying anything to each other, both had already given up their hopes for Carol.

  Sarah rolled over to throw an arm across John’s chest and use his shoulder for a pillow. John rubbed Sarah’s back with one hand and caressed the arm thrown across his chest with his free hand. The young lovers snuggled together without speaking for a time, but John gradually became aware that Sarah was shaking against his shoulder. “What is it honey?” John asked. He gently tugged on Sarah’s chin until he could see her face, and he was dismayed to see tears rolling from her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  Sarah removed her arm from John’s chest just long enough to brush away her tears. “I’m just a little scared, okay?”

  “It’s more than okay honey. I’m scared too.”

  “You may be scared, but you’ve got all these new abilities and what do I have to offer? I’m only a country psychic. I can’t change my shape, or levitate, or stop things in midair, or any of the other things that you can do. I honestly didn’t even really think that I was a very powerful psychic until I met you, but somehow you seem to amplify my powers. What can I do to help you John? I’m worried for you. And I’m worried for us.”

  Fresh tears began to slip slowly from Sarah’s eyes, and John hurried to answer her before despair could overwhelm her. “You want to know what you have to offer. I’ll tell you. You have my heart. I trust you completely, and I can’t imagine going to face that man without you on my side. You give my world meaning, and you give me something to fight for. I love you Sarah, and don’t you ever think you’re not important. Something tells me you’re going to be more important than either one of us can imagine before this is all over with.” John tenderly kissed away the tears from Sarah’s eyes. “Please don’t cry. We’ll get through this together.”

  Sarah rolled on top of the shaman and threw her arms around his neck in a fierce hug. John returned her hug and Sarah delighted in the strength of her man’s arms. Her fears ebbed slowly away were replaced with a desperate need to hold her man close once more. She kissed John long and passionately, and she could feel him stirring against her thigh once more. She broke the kiss to breathe and John whispered in her ear, “Again?” Sarah only nodded in reply, and both of the young lovers surrendered to their needs once more. Their lovemaking was urgent and powerful and served to push away the troubles of the world for one more night.

  Adam was sleeping in his small bed in his apartment behind the store. His dreams were restless, and he was sweating profusely. Nightmarish figures chased him through his dreams, and he struggled to awaken, but the dreams would not let him go. He fled through a forest as quickly as his arthritic knees would carry him, and an unknown monster was crashing through the forest behind him. He kept casting fearful glances over his shoulder, both hoping and dreading to catch sight of his pursuer, but the shadows were always too thick to allow him to see.

  He had just looked forward again when he saw a light in the forest ahead. Gasping for air, he stumbled towards the light and as he drew closer, he was relieved to see his old friend Charlie waiting for him. Charlie smiled and opened his arms to Adam. The old man stumbled into his embrace and Charlie supported his friend as he sagged with relief. The crashing noises in the forest behind Adam had stopped as soon as he reached Charlie. Adam turned his head to look over his shoulder, but the forest behind him was empty. Charlie spoke, and Adam was both saddened and relieved at what his old friend had to say. “There’s no need to look back any more my friend. You’ve done everything you had to do there. Come with me. Our time in that place is through for this lifetime.”

  In his small bed behind his store, a smile formed on Adam’s wrinkled old lips. He took a long, relaxed breath, let it out, and never took another.

  Chapter 24

  John awakened to the ringing of his cell phone.

  “I have got to learn to turn that damned thing off before I go to bed,” he grumbled. He struggled for a moment to extricate his right arm from underneath Sarah, and when he finally managed to do so the fingers of his right hand were numb and unresponsive. By the time he managed to roll over and awkwardly grab the phone with his left hand, it had stopped ringing.

  John sighed and collapsed back against his pillow. Sarah giggled and rolled over to snuggle against his shoulder. “So, who was it?” she asked.

  “I didn’t even look.”

  Sarah leaned heavily on John’s chest as she reached across him to grab his cell phone from the nightstand. When she had the phone in hand, she returned her head to his shoulder and dropped the phone lightly onto his chest. “So, go look, silly. It could be important you know.”

  John sighed again. He really hated to get phone calls first thing in the morning, but he opened his phone and brought up his list of missed calls. There was only one recent number on the list, and he quickly recognized the number as belonging to Mike Donovan. John admitted quietly to himself that the call probably was important, so he punched a couple of buttons and called Donovan’s number.

  “Hey John, I was just leaving you a me
ssage.”

  Donovan’s cheerful voice at such an early hour grated slightly on John’s nerves, but the policeman had been enormously helpful during the madness at the hospital, so John swallowed his irritation and responded pleasantly. “Good morning Lieutenant. What can I do for you this morning?”

  “Well I finally got a day off from work and I thought maybe I’d drive to Cherokee and see my new friends, John and Sarah. I’m on the road already.”

  “Really?” John sighed quietly again to himself. “So how far away are you?”

  “I just left Asheville, so it’s probably going to be about an hour before I get there. Do you think maybe I can get the address to your lady friend’s house? I’ll just enter it into Google Maps and it’ll lead me right to you guys. Of course, I’m assuming you’re still staying at her house…”

  “Yeah, that’s where we are. Give me a second.” John covered the phone and asked Sarah for the address. She looked up at him quizzically but gave him the address, and John parroted it back to Donovan. When he was finished giving the address to Donovan, John asked, “Did you get all that?”

  “Yep, I got it all. Look, I’m not intruding or anything am I? I just thought maybe you could fill me in on what’s been happening with you guys. I want to see the guy you’re after put back in the ground where he belongs, too. I take it kind of personally when someone throws lightning bolts at my head.”

  “Of course you’re not intruding. We’re grateful for all the help you gave us at the hospital, and we need all the help we can get.” John’s bad mood was fading as gratitude for Donovan’s friendship quickly replaced his irritation at being awakened. “We’ve been a little lazy, so we need to get off here and get started, but we’ll look for you in about an hour okay?”

  “Alright. I’m looking forward to it.”

  John heard the connection go dead and was just about to flip his phone closed again when it started ringing once more. “You have GOT to be kidding me.” John paused before pressing the send button long enough to see who his next caller was. The caller ID showed the number for Matthew Running Deer. John had not expected to hear from Matt so soon after the man helped him make the arrangements to bury his grandfather, so there was a look of puzzlement on John’s face when he answered the phone. “Hello, Matt. What’s up?”