Chapter 12

I was awakened from a sound sleep some time later that night by the sound of someone attempting to get through my wards which rang like a bell from the attack. Robert sat up beside me at the noise, and the lights had come on when we moved.

"What was that?" he demanded sleepily.

"That was probably the owner wanting access to his hideaway," I told him. "We've been discovered."

"Can he get in here?" he asked in a worried voice.

"Not if that's the best that he can do," I assured him with a smile. "It will require a lot more Magic than that to crash my wards."

"Should we leave now?" he asked next.

"In the middle of the night, I should think not," I told him. "Besides he has probably gone off to gather more of his forces before challenging us further. Go back to sleep, I'll check my wards and join you in a few minutes." My wards checked out at full strength, and I soon cuddled back up to Robert and dropped off to sleep. There were no further incidents that night.

We were up early the next morning, our fourth here together. Breakfast was consumed at a leisurely pace. There was no need or acute desire this morning, but I could feel Robert's presence in the place in my mind where he stayed now, and I could almost tell what he was thinking.

By my time senses, it was 8:30 by the time we had finished eating and dressed. I had sent all of our extra things to the Tennessee house before informing him of our next move.

"It would be prudent to check the local news before leaving here to see if there is anything occurring as a result of last night's visitor," I told him before sitting down at the computer screen and activating it. It came up on the local news feed, as that was where I had left it before turning it off yesterday. The news presenter, a young woman with large aftermarket breasts and green colored hair, was very animated as she switched to a reporter at the scene of what was occurring.

"What's new at your location, Chet?" she asked as the screen split to show her on one side and a man with a portable microphone on the other side. It was apparent from her words that whatever was happening had been going on for some time.

"Here at the Council's Headquarters, the Wizards are gathering, Pat," he informed her. "There are now some thirty to thirty-five who have answered the call of the Wizard's Council to help them rid the city of these two rogue Wizards. In the last few minutes, I've spoken to several of them and learned from one of them that those present are mostly Third Level or Master Level Wizards.

"Another who I spoke to was upset that not all of those on the Council itself were present for this, but a third Wizard told me that several members of the Council had been injured in confrontations with the rogue Wizards and weren't well enough to participate." He was interrupted then by the sounds of heavy equipment arriving on the scene.

The woman reappeared on the screen and announced, "We now switch to Ron with the arriving Army units. Take it away, Ron." The image of a man immediately appeared on the screen standing in front of several large military tanks, and there were a number of soldiers visible in the background.

"The Army units have just arrived her, Pat. There are four of the new heavy-duty tanks and a contingent of twenty-five assault troops came with them. Their Commander is presently consulting with those on the Wizard's Council. All of the tanks are reported to have their own Wizard on board, and all of the assault troops are also trained in Magic, but levels of their ability haven't been revealed for security reasons.

"I have been told that they will move out behind the members of the Council in a support role, but haven't been informed just when that will be. Back to you for now, Pat," he finished and the cameras cut away to the young woman with the green hair.

"We'll be keeping you updated on things as they progress with this deadly showdown with those rogue Wizards as it happens. Meanwhile, the rest of Philadelphia..." I turned off the computer then and turned to look at Robert beside me.

"What shall we do?" I asked.

"We will face them of course, would you run from a challenge?' he demanded in contempt.

"Of course we shall meet their challenge. The question is 'what is our strategy'? If we remain in here, they will surely destroy the building to get to us, and of course blame us for it. Therefore, we must meet them outside, and I will ward the building to protect it from damage. How then shall we face them?" I finished.

"I will face them as Crendenor from the air, while you maintain our security from the ground," he informed me.

"All right," I agreed. "There are several exits from the basements of the three building, but they are all on the south side, which faces the large open square. Which shall we choose to exit the building?"

"I would say the one on the east side of this, the Hall's basement. It will place us more centrally, and I will then be able to judge the wind's direction for takeoff," he told me.

"That sounds good. The Wizards will be some time yet before they will be here; that will give me time to ward the buildings and for you to judge the wind. I'll also leave my strongest wards around this apartment so the Wizard who had it constructed won't be able to use it even after I remove my wards from the remainder of the building," I told him as we made ready to leave, and I returned the backpack and the canteen to my house.

We transferred into the second room on the east side of the Hall's basement, as the wooden steps to the exit were in that room. The horizontal doors at the top of the steps were of course and locked, but a quick spell removed all of the security measures which had included more than locks, and we were free to exit.

It was a bright sunny day in Philadelphia with temperatures already in the low 50's by 9:00 AM. The area surrounding Independence Hall and the square south of it were totally deserted with no one in sight but some policemen and their vehicles that were blocking the intersections of 5th and 6th Streets where they crossed Walnut Street south of the square. I was sure that there were others blocking the remaining streets around the Hall.

I quickly cast strong O'Connell wards around the Hall and its outlying buildings as well as Congress Hall, the Old City Hall, and the Museum building, while Robert walked out into the square to better judge the wind's direction. Before long we heard an echoing as the tanks began to move again down the empty street. Robert had returned by then from checking on the wind.

"The wind is from the southwest what little there is of it. I'll take off in that direction," he informed me before changing into Crendenor, but only the eight foot tall version. The flash of light when he changed wasn't as bright outside as it had been in the basement.

"Until we are reunited, my love," he said with a hiss in his Dragon voice, as he spread his wings started a short run and flapped his wings. He was soon airborne and gaining altitude.

At first, I thought it was an illusion or a freak of sight, but he appeared to remain the same size as he gained altitude and then began to circle high above me. I soon came to realize that while he appeared to remain the same size, he had actually increased in size as he drew further away, and that was the reason that he appeared to be the same size even far away from me. I could see him swooping and cavorting in the air on his now long wings, and I could feel his joy in that place in my mind where his essence now resided.

The sounds of the tanks and now the sound of voices from the people on the way here had grown louder, as I watched him, and now drew me back to the present situation. I also sensed that Crendenor was circling back in this direction.

Stepping into and then through the arcade that ran from the Hall to its east wing, I could see the mob of Wizards coming down 5th Street from their Headquarters and hear the tanks following them. I could also sense the many minor wards that had been cast by those in the mob, along with a few much stronger ones. They were just passing Market Street, and even as I watched, began to spread out in the smaller open area across from Independence Hall to its north. There were many more than thirty-five of them now. The tanks and their assault troops remained on the paved street.

As Crendenor drew closer, I felt a strange influence come over me. Firstly, I could see through his eyes as he approached the Hall from the east and used his huge wings to break his speed for a landing on the fifteen foot or so wide balustrade roof walk of the Hall. He cleared the brick end-walls easily to touchdown on the relatively flat roof walk, folded his wings against his body, and then moved to the center of the building.

Additionally, there appeared in my mind what looked like the screen of a tablet. There were icons on it, and as I studied each one, it revealed its various components. I wondered where this had come from, before realizing that this could be how Dragons performed their Magic. Their voices weren't like ours since they had a different larynx and mouth than humans, and they had no hands or fingers to draw glyphs and signs with.

Several of the icons that I saw worried me. On touching the one shaped like a bird with my mind, it showed two divisions, one in red and the other in blue. The red icon split into three smaller icons. A quick search of the sky with Crendenor's sharp vision revealed a number of objects flying there. A quick touch with my Magic senses revealed that these were assault craft similar to the ones that I had removed several days ago at my house in Tennessee.

On checking the blue dots, I discovered that they were news media craft. Ignoring them, I returned my attention to the Military assault craft. Touching their symbols with my mind and thinking vanish, the craft disappeared not just from the screen but from the sky also.

By this time Robert as Crendenor had reached the center of the building and turned to face those approaching. I could feel it in my mind as he turned his body and wrapped part of his long tail around the side of the bell tower to keep it out of the way, and then spread his massive wings again. Looking up from my position beside the building, I could see the end of his right wing extending well out over the end of the building which was easily over a hundred feet long. Surely his wing span was close to a hundred and twenty feet.

His head was now also extended on his long neck out over the edge of the roof and the building as he regarded those approaching with his large red eyes.

"DEPART," he hissed in a bellowing voice.

The reaction of the mob across the street in the open space to his arrival had been one of panic. I noticed a number of minor Wizards who had simply vanished, while others drew back in fright at the apparition confronting them. His loud demand that they depart had done nothing for their confidence, except for the Senior Wizards who merely drew their strongest wards around themselves.

The tanks and their assault troops had also taken notice of this new threat. The tanks turned their guns in Robert's direction and their troops also raised their various weapons. While I was sure that Crendenor's wards would be sufficient to defeat whatever they fired at him, I noticed another icon on the screen in my mind that resembled a turtle and tapped it with my mind. It turned into four large dots surrounded by a large number of smaller dots. Crendenor had also noticed this threat.