Chapter 14: Dark and Grim

So, here I am. Sitting on my couch in a very nice apartment/Condo/Penthouse in a upper scale building in a moderate town in Georgia, drinking great bourbon because I like the taste of it, and whining to myself.

It’s the beginning of March, and my world has turned upside down. I guess this is what dad was talking about when he said he went to Boot Camp when he was seventeen. We never talked much about it, but I knew he had a lot of stuff hit him when he went through his transition from kid to adult. I just never knew what all that was. Until now.

Five of the most important people in my universe were gone. Thanks to the actions of someone. And for some reason I didn’t know. From somewhere I didn’t know. I knew some of the pieces, and they made me sick, but it was a giant jig saw puzzle that I didn’t have all the pieces of. Not yet.

I made a promise to myself that I would find out the Why. Dad always said that “Why” was the first and last question you always asked yourself when looking at any Strategic Problem. He had a whole list of questions that you answered in sequence for any problem that he had tacked on the wall of his study. It was what he called a “Fish Bone” diagram. The questions were “Why? Who? What? Where? When? How? Why?” in that order. You had to fill in each one before you moved all of your focus to the next. We knew some answers, but you never knew all of it. That was where he got his “We Know, We Believe, We Think” tricks to evaluate problems. “What we believe is based on knowledge and thinking about that knowledge.” he used to say. I never thought about it until I had to start to apply it to what was going on.

I didn’t have dad to talk this over with. Grandpa Lambert had died several years ago, complications of wounds from some place called Iwo Jima. And there weren’t any relatives I could really talk to that I knew. And how would I explain what I had gone through to any of them?

My closest friends were all Mages and Wizards. All of them older (Some Much Older) then me. Their main reason for any kind of connection to me was the fact that I was an outlandish exception to their “rules” of what I was supposed to be able to do. My age said to them how I was supposed to behave and feel and act.

My affinity with Power broke their rule book. Pat being very lazy let me grow in my own direction based on the rules and behaviors that I got from a loving family of Father, Mother and older sister. I didn’t really have a “Mentor”.

“You have us” a small calm voice uttered in my head.

“Yes, Brim. I have you.” I said aloud, reaching down on the couch and petting my dragonet’s head. “And you are a blessing”

“You have others too. Ogres and Dwarves, and elves, and freed slaves, and Goblins, and all of the Fae. All who want to help you. You have Wizards and Mages also. And Warlocks who would fight for you. Craftsmen who build for you based on what you think is best. You Lead us. You tell us what your Vision is. You define a Charter for what we need to do or have, and you guide us. You are a master who does not command, but who explains and provides. You are like what the that movie explained. We ate, and then you did. We slept soundly and safely and then you did. We awoke and found you were already there with suggestions and ideas for us to follow. And we are Glad to follow.”

I had never had anyone attach themselves to me like that. I had a cat once, but he was independent as heck. My friends had a dog that was almost as attached to him as Brimstone was to me. I guess he was the Lad I never had. (Dog story here.)

Brim was a Dragon. A very, very small dragon. He had grown a bit to the size of a medium dog, but he was no canine. Slightly more than two feet at his shoulders and about five feet long with tail, he was a great footwarmer in bed. And with his collar and its’ pieces that Paula and the Dwarves and Elves crafted, he was probably more powerful than any dragon in history, Real or from the imagination of any author. And he was my friend.

His sister, Brynstan, was as attached to Paula and Jeffery as Brim was to me. After a week of lying against the Fumeral in the lounge watching Paula work with stones and artifacts, she began to follow Paula around. She got her collar in the third week of February and went through the same physical growth that Brin had gone through. She was a real kid. And Paula’s pregnancy impressed her even stronger than Brim had with me. Paula didn’t mind and enjoyed sharing with the youngster.

Both were from neglected homes as kids. Smarter than any domestic animal, more loyal then the same, and a total child’s openness and amazement at all the things we showed them. The biggest problem was that they needed to get outside. Exercise. And how do you walk a dragon in downtown Augusta? Even at night with a Geas on. You can’t let them off the leash and fly.

I looked at the cover of the magazine that was on the table. Maggie had our subscription to “Southern Living” sent here in December. We decided that we wanted all of the stuff at our address here or in Athens. (Where the girls went to college.) And on the cover was a photo of a Gazebo, with swings, and a set of steps going down to a flagstone walkway with an arch over the end of it.

I already had the land. I already had a thorn filled set of brush to surround it. I already had a series of aversion spells cast around it to discourage entry. And no one had set foot on it since last summer.

“I wonder if?” I thought to myself.

The Arch to the Park

Never open your mouth with an idea to a group of magic loving shut-ins.

Over the next week, I was besieged with detail requests. Not so much from the Warlocks or Mages (once Peter and Jeffery felt they had their security questions answered) but from Elves, Dwarves, and even an Ogre who wanted to know “What would you like it to look like and can we go there too?”

So, first the Arch to the Park was built. The gateway was in the hallway in front of the warehouse storage on the first floor. It was put there so everyone could use it. (I had the biggest argument over that. At first, I thought that I wanted it to be private. Until everyone realized that I wanted everyone to be able to get outside too. So, I couldn’t just put the arch in my condo. And Gargoyles and Ogre’s are too big or too heavy to build a door for that would be on upper floors. And Ogrenaut wanted to be able to show his brothers and sisters where he lived, so we needed to keep the spaces accessible. That meant a double wide doorway arch ten feet tall. This took about two days. (Funny how fast things can be built when everyone wants in on it.)

Next question was “Who can use it?” Simple. Everyone I knew. Friends and family. Heck we can even have ball games. It’s five acres totally enclosed with aversion spells and thorns, and I could even put-up shields of one sort or another. I suggested that we build a set of Wrist bands or rings to let visitors go as well. And so the Elves and Dwarves put everything aside and went into mass production. Three days later, there were bands both normal and guests for everyone.

The next question was “What facilities would we put there?”

Oh boy. The Arch at the end of the Flagstone path. Just like the photograph. Then both Arches were tuned to each other only. You walked right up, got recognized by your wristband and then you walked on through. The flagstones led to the Gazebo. But then we had to add the “fire Pit” for those cool nights. And the Restroom for use while you were there. Then we needed to enlarge the beach next to the pool. Then the refrigerator. Then we needed to mark out the ball fields. For games. The whole thing took on a life of its own.

I put my foot down when the suggestion of stocking the pool with fish was proposed. “Swimming, not fishing.” I finally relented to allowing Goldfish. A Fae version.

All of this kept my mind occupied in addition to the stuff I was doing with my power implementations for friends and family. And I had a lot of friends.

One of the first I gave (forced) an augmented power artifact on was Peter Gill. He liked the idea of it but didn’t like that I forced him to have it. “Peter, you are my first line of defense. Defense needs power.”

Jeffery and Paula were easier. She understood that if she wasn’t next to a fumeral, she needed to be able to have something to help. And Jeffery was so besotted with her that he would have carried the whole fumeral around on his back to make sure he had the power to protect her. And his unborn.

Jeffery was the one who matured very fast. He soaked up offensive spells and magic like a sponge. And he liked to play with it. He and Pae’le got into “Freezing” contests to see who was fastest on the draw. And he came close. He took on the “Protect all” role. He took every responsibility seriously.

Ogrenaut, always the childlike but the very mature person he was, patiently let Paula and the elves and Dwarves fiddle with his wristlet. Paula did rune carvings on it that let him project the freeze spells that the Gargoyles used as well as the six simultaneous shields that were with him all the time.

A late-night cry for Help

I had been playing around with all of these things for the first two weeks of March, when I got a sudden panic message from Sylvia Groton. “Hank, I need your help here. Michael is fighting them, but I’m worried. And they damn near broke my Monocle.”

I had been to Sylvia and Michael’s house in Athens, Ga, several times. So, jumping to there was to a known address. I touched my wrist band and when I entered the house, I saw what Sylvia was worried about.

Michael was an earth mage. The most powerful one around that I knew of. His power over earth was a legend. But you can only throw so many dirt bombs against a Warlocks for so long before you get out of energy. Not really my problem though.

I wrapped the first two in shields and started to drain them and was turning toward the third when I saw he was frozen in place. I looked down and saw Brimstone standing next to me, focused on the third, who was beginning to panic.

“Can I eat him?” He asked me mentally with a hint of a smile.

“Not yet. You cannot eat them yet. Later maybe. But you have to take some back to Brynstand.” I said aloud. “And how did you get here?”

“I never forget my sister.” He replied. “And I followed you. Can’t you teleport?”

Sheesh. Everyone can do that but me. I guess I must focus more on learning. But that’s for later

“Ok. Michael, we can stop with the mud bombs for a moment. What’s going on?”

“The first one came here asking about Sylvia’s Monocular power viewers. He was a Warlock from Poland. After he looked at them, he tried to grab her to force her to come with him to somewhere. Those shield bracelets you gave her resisted that, and she yelled for me. I came up and started to try to get him off her, when these other two showed up.”

“Ok. So, what do you want to do with them? Brimstone wants to cook them and eat them, If you don’t have any plans for them.”

“I ought to call Nathan. He’s, our Warlock.” Michael said with an evil grin.

“Naw. Nathan is a Fire Mage. As close as he is with you and Sylvia, he would just cook them for the hell of it. We need to find out what these guys wanted and how they got Sylvia’s name” I replied.

We said all of this within the hearing of the three stooges we had captured in Michael and Sylvia’s house.

Suddenly, a portal opened, and Paula and Jeffery arrived. Looking at the three miscreants, frozen in place and unable to move, Paula said “Oh, Goody. Hank, can I please play with the toys? Please? I have some new spells I want to try on them.”

“Ask Sylvia and Michael. It’s their house and these are their toys.” I said. God, I was feeling nasty. “They deserve to have fun too.”

“SO, what do you want to do first? Hank.” Sylvia asked with a snarky grin.

“Ok. First, we place a shield around them at the skin level. And then we push it out. That strips all the artifacts off of them. But before we do that, anyone got a memory stone?”

“What for?” Sylvia asked.

“So you and Michael can provide a record for the actions that these three were doing before we came in here and assaulted them. Just like we did with the Over Mage Council.”

“I don’t leave home without one.” Jeffery replied and handed it to Sylvia and Michael. “I can do this for you if you want.”

While that was being done, Paula started her new trick. Slowly the clothing expanded on the three mages, along with their hair on their face and heads. After a moment, it came apart at the seams, and fell to the ground, along with a few different articles as well as one of the Gemstones that we had charged and given to the Over Council for one of their Wizards. Paula saw that on the ground and looked at the Over Council Warlock that had been given it and floated it to her hands.

“I think we need to have a talk with Mr. Henrard about his background checks process.” Jeffery said. “Isn’t this the third time these fellows have tried to kidnap a person from here?”

“Yea, so far. Sylvia, if you don’t have any plans for these three, would you object to me having Peter Gill and Maurice Chandler take custody of them now that they are sufficiently disarmed and rendered harmless. And how about you and Michael moving into the apartment you have at 1030 for a while. Just until we are satisfied it’s safe.”

While we were wrapping the three miscreants Brimstone asked if he could talk with Paula. “You can always talk with Paula. So long as you are as polite with her as you are with me, she will never take offense.”

“Paula, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure Brim. What do you want to know?

“Why did you leave Brynstan at home?”

“I told her that until we had more outside experience with her in training, I wanted to have her stay at home. I know she is unhappy with me, but it’s not about her ability. It’s her enthusiasm I worry about. I don’t think she’s as disciplined as you are yet, and she might break things. Or people. It’s our fault we have not spent enough time in exercise training. But that’s Hank’s fault. He must get the playground opened so we can exercise.”

See? It’s all my fault. Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Paula.

So that’s what we did. After wrapping the three of them into mummy cloth wrappers, Paula and Jeffery shipped them to the warehouse, along with their clothes (in shreds). From there, Peter and Maurice were given the three fools, the basket of rags, all of the items that they brought with them. Including a Sap that was similar to the one that was used on Lynn and Bernie and Cindy. If I had known that was with them, I would have let Brim cook the three of them. Maurice told me what it was later.

I went back to my Park Planning. I heard that the meeting with Cecile, Reggie and Sir David was rather spirited and interesting.

An unwelcome wake up call.

Half an hour later, Cecile appeared in the main drawing room of Reggie’s retreat, and saw three mummified wrapped people, totally covered except for their heads. Despite the lack of beard and hair on the three heads, he recognized three of his Warlocks from Eastern Europe: Poland, Belarus and the Ukraine. Also, present (as usual) were Maurice, Peter Gill, and of course Sir David and Reggie.

“Well, this is a nice collection. All that is missing is the Russian Warlock. Peter, I assume you have a memory stone regarding this”

“Right here. I collected the memories myself from willing and non-biassed participants.”

“If I could see that please.” Cecile asked.

After the presentation of the stone, Cecile took the memories out of it and viewed them.

Cecile’s expression changed to one of disgust. “Gentlemen, the worst thing about this recording method is that it captures everything. And evidently these Americans have a surplus of quartz, and an overabundance of people capable of capturing and recording these images. I don’t really care for your excuses. What I do care about is who you were working for when you attempted this, and where that person is today”.

“We haven’t questioned them yet, Cecile, I thought you would prefer to do that in house and provide us with the details.” Sir David said.

“Sir David. Given that you have stolen my best interrogator and investigator and linked him with Reggie’s’ man of the same caliber, why don’t you take over the interrogation, information validation and final disposal of these three individuals. I ask that because I don’t know yet how deep this treachery runs in my European organization.”

“Do you know if there are any social or personal relationships that will be affected by the disappearance of these three?

“No. I would prefer that you not kill them but anything besides that is permissible.”

“I am a Senior of the Over Council of Mages. You cannot allow this to continue, Cecile. We were only doing what was best for the council.” One of the three screamed in Polish.