by R.E. Packer
Chapter 18
We went to a safe house, outside of the city, which was really just a house they owned in another name. I guess one of the perks of being alive so long was accrued assets and compound interest. The house was in Front Royal, VA, tucked into the Blue Ridge mountains. It was secluded from prying eyes, a fence went around the property surrounded by trees. The farm house wasn’t in a name that could be traced to either of the sisters. A law firm that worked for them for a hefty fee kept them virtually invisible on paper.
I took a long swallow of the beer I was holding and looked out at the mountains. They reminded me of growing. I’d loved the feel of the outdoors even if my childhood was wrought with bad memories, from my parents dying to my aunts boyfriends getting drunk and pushing me around. I could always go outside and get away from everything, and usually everyone. Sometimes my sister and I would pack a lunch, being careful to not let my aunt see how much food we’d taken, then head into the woods for the day. A few times we even camped overnight which always ending in a huge fight with our aunt.
Now I had the US government, with the help of a vindictive and perhaps unstable witch, trying to capture or kill the people I was originally hired to protect, not to mention yours truly. Werewolf / hybrid / or whatever agents with a potentially deadly serum were actively hunting us, and probably Reynolds and his clan as well. I traveled to another world where I freed a wizard from a gremlin spell that an evil wizard— we never did talk about that in detail and I made a mental note to do that in the near future— things were shaping up just fine.
I turned and looked in the door leading to the kitchen. Gwen sat talking to Maeve, she had the same quiet confidence about her as when I met her. At first I thought it was because she rich and pampered, a trust fund baby, but she didn’t care about money.
She didn’t use it to put herself over others, or to make herself feel superior. She was just a dominant personality, as was Maeve, but Gwen didn’t need to say a word to get her point across. It was just a vibe. The thing that drew a person to them most was that they weren’t perfect. They didn’t have the ideal hour glass figure, or dimples, or classical beauty. Somehow being less than the stereotypical woman in this century made them even more desirable.
Eros had plopped down on the couch, feet on the wooden table in front of him. He was fiddling with the TV remote, which somehow struck me as funny. At least the women has stopped staring daggers at him. Hopefully, I had made the right choice bringing him back with us.
In spite of all the trouble lately, I felt a contentedness I hadn’t felt in a long time. The thought of friends so close that I could call family was a blessing. One that I was willing to fight to keep. Gwen and Maeve felt the same way, I knew they protected family ferociously. According to them I was part of that family now. I hadn’t had anybody but my sister for a long time, then over a year ago she had been ripped from me as well. Now there was a new threat headed toward me— toward us. It felt strange to call them that, and a bit needy but I told myself I just wasn’t used to it. Whatever it was, it felt good to have someone in my life again.
Later that day Gwen cooked for everybody, declining my offer to help. Maeve poured over the spell book that she brought with us. Eros sat with her, peering over her shoulder at the book. I peeked over her other shoulder but couldn’t make out most of the language it was written in.
“Do you two mind?” Maeve said shooing us away with a wave of her hand.
We ate dinner in relative silence, afterward I gave the women some peace by going outside and dusting off one of the chairs, that hadn’t been used in awhile. I listened to the coyotes call in the valley beyond.
It wasn’t long before the screen door creaked as Gwen came out holding three wooden rods, Maeve right behind her holding 3 beers. I dusted off a few more chairs and the duo flanked me on either side.
“Marianna was a hard ass and not the warmest person. But I’ve knew her for hundreds of years. I’ll miss her,” Maeve said, raising her drink.
“Aye,” Gwen said with a small smile, “She was a tough old bird and she taught us many things. She never was the strongest of us magically but she had a great head for business. She stopped learning the craft long ago…” she said to me, “I think she was giving it up in her way.”
“Why would somebody give up using magic?” Eros asked from inside the screen door. Apparently they didn’t have the same etiquette rules about eavesdropping where he came from.
“She was very old, she’s watched families born and put to rest, many times. I suppose she was just tired,” Gwen said.
“And what about you,” Eros said, “Are you saddened with life?”
A tear rolled down her cheek but she showed no emotion as she stared back at Eros. She wiped at it absently. “Sad? Yes. Tired of living? No,” she looked at me, “As a matter of fact, I’m more excited than I’ve been in a long time.”
She turned her attention back to the wooden rods she had set on the table along with a necklace made of beads with small runes carved in them. A gemstone was in the center of the beaded necklace. She draped the necklace over a staff, putting her hand on it until it audibly crackled and hummed with built up power. That completed, she handed me the necklace.
“Okay Gordo, pay attention. We need to stop Vivian from getting into your head again. Right now you’re a liability. She can’t get into Gwen or my head because we can mentally block her but you’ll need some help with that. I’ll also show you how to put up a mental shield, which should keep out all but the most powerful telepaths.”
Turning to face Eros, she said “I’m not sure about you. I don’t know what your assets and liabilities are. As far as that goes, I don’t know what your motivation is for even being here.”
“I’ve met a few wizards skilled in psych-magic and have learned to deflect their efforts,” Eros said ignoring her last comment.
Maeve looked skeptical but didn’t pursue it any further.
“And what about your motivation?” Gwen said. “Why are you really here?”
Eros took a moment to consider his words before speaking. “Maleos is not just a powerful wizard, he has conquered worlds, true most wizards could on a world where there are no other wizards, but he is different. My brothers and I had decided to rise against him when he invaded our world. Other wizards had come to our world before him, most were peaceful, and those that came for war were— suffice to say we fought back. We were arrogant and underestimated Maleos. He killed our entire government.”
“He doesn’t sound bad so far…” Maeve muttered.
“We found out later, that was only part of the plan. When I with twelve of my brothers showed up to fight him, he released a spell that encompassed all of us at the same time. The amount of magical energy that must have taken is beyond my ability to fathom. After the spell was in place, all he had to do was run away and let the spell do it’s work.”
“You said he put you on that world, where I found you,” I said.
“Yes, we tried for days to remove the magic on us. None of us were successful. He came back for us when we were weakened too much to fight. Those that would not join him were sent off to die. I was one of them.”
“You still didn’t tell me what your motive is for being here,” Gwen said drumming her fingers on the table.
“Gordon is the only wizard I’ve seen that holds enough magic to possibly defeat him. Although, I think that you too are more powerful than many wizards from my world, as is she. But Gordon has more potential. However, he is far too stupid about magic at this time, he needs university.”
“University?” I said.
“Yes, university… school. Sorry, learning languages through magic sometimes mixes up similar words. You are stupid with magic,” Eros said.
“Well, he does seem to know you,” Maeve said smirking.
“I don’t think we’re willing to let Gordon run off and fight your battles just yet, we just got him ourselves and we’re rather protectiv
e,” Gwen said in a tone that didn’t allow any room for argument.
“And I would not think of asking him to do anything he hasn’t already done. But sometimes the war comes to the soldier instead of the other way round,” he said.
“I think what he’s saying is the road to Hell is paved with dumb-asses and their good intentions,” Maeve said.
Ignoring Maeve’s quip, Gwen said, “So, I think we’re agreed, Gordon isn’t going to be fighting any wizards on other worlds any time soon.”
“I would say that is most likely so,” Eros said.
