Chapter 4

The following new character appears in the next two chapters:

Macha

Margie K as her Were-self, a Siberian Tiger, body length 74 inches, plus a 36 inch long tail, 42 inches tall at the shoulder, 380 pounds

Macha K.

Margie K as her Were-self in the third or Warrior state, 8'-0'' tall, 700 pound, four inch claws on both her hands and feet, three inch incisors, lightning fast reflexes

Margie K takes up the story again:

I returned to the house to find Celeste missing. The house and the Defensive Shell and its wards were as I had left them earlier. They had not been assaulted, and no one had passed through them by force, yet Celeste was missing. What could have happened to her? Could she have left on some errand or to help someone? Surely she would have left a note if that were the case.

On searching the entire interior of the house, I found the now cold tea that she had been drinking, and the book of Magic that she had been studying still open, but no note of any kind. A search of the grounds inside the Defensive Shell was likewise uninformative. It wasn't until I passed through the Defensive Shell that I discovered the faint presence of the use of Black Magic and the note left by a large rock.

"If you wish to see your Apprentice alive again, present yourself at the Headquarters of the North American Wizards Council at 8:00 PM tonight," the note read.

"So the Wizard's Council would challenge me," I said out loud, "and in such an underhanded way."

"Even the politicians and the Military were more straight-forward," I thought to myself and laughed. "We would see what the Council was made of," I thought.

"But is this a trap to make me cooperate with the Council just as the politicians and the Military had wanted, or was this a trap to imprison or kill me?" I wondered out loud.

On checking my internal clock, I noted that it was 3:00 in the afternoon. Five hours! before meeting with the Council. I would not waste that time and made preparations to leave for their location immediately.

The Headquarters of the North American Wizards Council was located in the city of Philadelphia, in the old town section, much of which dated back to colonial times. It occupied the entire city block between Race Street and Archer Street in a North – South direction, and between North 4th Street and North 5th streets in an East-- West direction.

It had been built atop the remains of several previous buildings which had been built on top of the remains of the previous Fourth U.S. Mint building, which itself had been built upon several earlier buildings on that site. There was no way to tell how much of the previous foundations remained or how deep they went, especially those of the Mint.

The above-ground building where the Council met only occupied a portion of that area and it was surrounded by lawns and gardens with a small plaza in the center of the green space in front of the building.

I cast the transfer spell so that I appeared not at the Wizard's Council Headquarters building, but in a small open space a short distance away across 5th Street and a bit North of Arch Street. From there I scanned the area with my Magic senses and soon detected Celeste's unique Talent.

She wasn't an O'Connell and had come late to the study of Magic. If she had been an O'Connell, she would have been a Senior Master a number of years ago. As it was, she was over 14 before she started her studies and had acquired the habits, amusements, and distractions of the normal people of this age. She was a very bright girl, but didn't like to study hard and knew little of gardening and growing things. It would require considerable time for her to make Senior Master even though she had the Talent for it.

I checked her location again to confirm it, and cast the transfer spell. I would slip in, rescue her, and be away in a matter of a minute or so. Confident of that, I added the Magic in my left hand to the glyph in the fingers of my right hand and disappeared.

I instantly reappeared in the middle of a large underground chamber, but to my surprise Celeste wasn't there. She had been here only moments ago for I could still detect her Talent here, but before I could do anything a spell snapped into existence around me, and I felt most of my Magic disappear!

'TRAPPED'

I was trapped and it was my own fault. I had been too confident of my own abilities and hadn't checked sufficiently. So now I was trapped in an inverted hedge of thorns which I could tell had been created by using Witch Magic and Blood Magic. My now limited Magic Senses told me that it was surrounded by an outer ward that was cylindrical and as smooth as glass which extended from the floor to the ceiling as did the hedge of thorns.

Shortly a Wizard appeared, a tall gaunt old man with white hair and sunken eyes. He was dressed in a very fashionable business suit that was all of the rage presently, and he was laughing. I recognized him as William Rittenhouse one of the senior members of the Wizards Council.

"You won't get out of there, O'Connell. Neither human nor demon is able to pass through those thorns and wards. They have been crafted specifically to trap beings like you. They are the workings of a number of powerful Witches," he finished before vanishing.

A number of men had appeared while he was talking, and they now moved to cover the area that I was in from all sides.

"If she attempts to escape, shoot her," their leader told the others and the men grinned, as they raised their powerful looking weapons.

"You'll never escape," he shouted at me with a grin.

I wasn't particularly worried after hearing what the Wizard had said previously and sat down in the clear space inside the hedge of thorns, which was a bit tricky due to the small size of the available space, and the fact that the thorns projected into the space. Still I managed it without being stuck by the thorns which were probably poisonous. I sat there and meditated for a time just waiting for the guards to be lulled into a sense of complacency. It only required a few hours.