Chapter 5

“These Wizards aren’t that smart after all,” Gunther said with a smile, as he lowered the rifle he had used to knock Greg out with a tranquilizer dart.

“Go get the van,” he told Joey, as he moved toward the figure slumped on the concrete of his own driveway. Gunther had a gag, duct tape, and plastic ties to secure their victim with, and Joey arrived with the van just after he finished.

“This old fart sure is heavy,” Joey complained, as he and Gunther moved the unconscious Greg into the van before they left.

I awoke with a splitting headache to find myself tied to a metal chair with my arms secured to the arms of the chair and my legs secured to its legs. There was a gag in my mouth, and some kind of tape over it to prevent me from spitting it out. The lights in the room also appeared overly bright, but I thought that could be an effect of whatever had been used to knock me out. My last memory was of two men in my neighbor’s yard.

I used a medical spell to reduce the headache by sub-vocalizing it and tracing its glyph on the metal arm of the chair with a finger. Shortly, I felt better and the lights weren’t as bright either.

At least my head wasn’t restrained, and I was able to look around at the room that I was in. It appeared to be an empty store room, or a nearly empty one anyway, there being only a few cartons visible to me. The Sheetrock walls were dirty and there were gouges and holes in them where careless or angry workers had knocked things into the walls. The floor was plain concrete and the ceiling was the exposed metal trusses that supported the roof. It still being April, and apparently still night time, the room wasn’t overly warm presently. I was also currently alone in the room, but that didn’t last long, as the door opened as I finished looking around.

“Yeah, he’s awake,” someone who I couldn’t see called and shortly two men were standing in front of me. One was a tall, heavily built man at about 6’-2’’ tall and maybe 230 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. The second man was shorter at about 5’-10’’ tall and maybe 170 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. Both appeared to be in their early thirties. The larger man appeared to be very confident and the one in charge, while the smaller man appeared to be more indecisive.

“You ain’t as smart as you thought, Wizard,” the larger man said with a huge grin.

“You had us chasing that fucking rat all night, but we caught up with it the next morning when it was light out and easier to see. Joey and me blew that sucker away then, but the cops took the damn body to check it for rabies. The Boss was real unhappy about that,” he finished with a frown.

“Yeah, he was so unhappy, that he had Gunther, here, Chip, and me searching that damn rundown abandoned business park for two days to find where you had hidden that broad. Chip eventually figured out how you had put her in some kind metal cage to prevent the signal from the tracking chip getting out after we had searched half the building there,” the smaller man told me in a very frustrated voice.

“There wasn’t anything in the building, but the Boss made us stay out there looking for clues, and it took another day to find that fancy paper plate that the rat must have eaten off. We found it some distance from the building and had to chase a couple of smaller rats off to get it, but it had big bite marks in the edge from that big rat,” the one, who I had determined must be Gunther, told me in an exasperated voice.

“You rich bastards think your so much better than the rest of us, but that plate was your undoing. We found out that those plates are only sold in a couple of stores in the Charleston area, and the style you used is only sold in one store. The guy there was happy to give us a list of who bought them when we leaned on him, and you were the only Wizard on the list. It wasn’t hard to find your address once we had your name,” the one, who I had determined must be Joey, crowed in triumph.

“Yeah, and then you come ditty bopping down the street tonight like king shit of the hill and without even a car. That was too stupid to believe, but it was lucky for us,” the one named Gunther said with a big grin.

“When the Boss gets here, we’re going to get the location of where you got that broad stashed,” Joey added with glee in his voice.

While they had been bragging about how they managed to track me down, I had been checking myself over and found the tracking chip that they had injected in me by the pain that it had created. I could deactivate it easily, but it would require the help of another Senior Master to remove it, so I didn’t worry about it presently, and concentrated on casting my strongest wards around me instead.

I also castigated myself for not being more careful and having my wards around me all of the time when I was out of my house, but I had believed that we had escaped without detection. If I’d had the wards around me, I wouldn’t be in the predicament that I was in now, but hindsight is always 20/20.

This last remark that their boss was on his way here with some means of getting Amelia’s location out of me definitely got my attention as the other things hadn’t, so I decided that it was time to stop playing with these people and leave. I cast a freeze spell, and with a flick of my finger threw it at Gunther and Joey, freezing them in place instantly.

I then cast a spell to free myself of all of the bonds holding me to the chair. It was a good spell, but had an unintended consequence, as I wound up on my butt on the floor, as not only had the plastic ties and the rope holding me to the chair fallen apart, but so did the chair itself.

“Greg, my boy, you need more practice with those kinds of spells,” I reminded myself, as I picked myself up off the floor and the remains of the chair. While the freeze spell that I had used would hold the pair in here for some time, I felt the need to leave a small gift for those who were coming. It required several minutes of consideration, but I eventually thought of what to leave them and cast the spells for it on the room. It would be too bad that I wouldn’t be here to see the results, but there was no reason not to enjoy the thought of what would occur when the others arrived.

Next, I checked my person and discovered that all of my possessions had been removed while I was unconscious. This wasn’t a real problem as each item had a marker spell on it, and I called each of them to me from another room where they were being kept. I was somewhat worried as all of my contacts were listed on my cell phone, and if they had been able to get into it, I worried that they could have been able to trace the payment that I had made to Sylvia for her help.

I would need to check on her and alert her to the danger that these people represented. My thoughts were interrupted then by the sounds of others arriving, and I quickly cast the transfer spell and left for my house and Amelia.

Arriving in my living room, I called her but received no answer. There was also no presence of her now familiar Talent. A quick search of the house revealed that she was in fact not here, but my wards were still in effect and hadn’t been attacked or altered. Additionally dinner was on the table ready to be served, but it was quite cold now. WHAT could have happened to her, I worried?

I had finished preparing dinner a short time ago and had it on the table for when Greg returned. I wasn’t worried about it getting cold, having seen him heat other food that we had eaten.

For the past few minutes, I had been checking out the front window for him and felt the now familiar touch of his Talent as he neared the house. I had moved over near the door to welcome him home when the inexplicable happened, and I lost contact with his Talent. Rushing to the window to see what could have happened, I saw Gunther lower a rifle and send Joey off before tying Greg up, and then Joey reappeared with a van which they loaded Greg into and drove off.

I was in shock and panicked. I needed to do something but WHAT? My knowledge of Magic was still rather limited, and I realized that I would need help but from who? I didn’t really know any of Greg’s friends or other Wizards. I couldn’t transport like he could, and besides I only had the sketchiest idea of where they might be taking him, plus what would I do once I found them and him?

I had no idea, and it was one of the darkest times of my life. I sat down on the sofa and would have cried, but I was just too frustrated. I had been sitting there for a time in the worst blue funks of my life when I suddenly realized that I did know the name of at least one of his friends – Sylvia!

“Sylvia, Mage!” I said very positively on standing and suddenly a book appeared in front of me. It looked like the same book that Professor O’Connell had called to him during our visit, and as I reached for it, it opened to a page. On looking at the page, it was obvious that it wasn’t written in English, but after a few seconds I realized that it was Gaelic and written in Ogham, the Irish tree alphabet.

“How in the world do I know that?” I asked myself and realized that I could read the spell written there, and that there was a picture of its glyph with arrows showing how it was to be drawn in the air.

“This must certainly be what I need to do,” I said to myself before again saying, “Sylvia, Mage,” and reading the spell from the book while drawing its glyph in the air.

As I finished the glyph and came to the end of the spell, suddenly I wasn’t standing in Greg’s brightly lit living room, but in a strange and much smaller living room that was much less well lit.

“Sylvia!” I called, but there was no answer for a time, and then a woman appeared from the bedroom.

“Who are you, and how did you get past my wards?” she demanded. She was a bit taller than I am and a bit heavier. She appeared to be about 31 or 32 years old with short brown hair and blue eyes. She had a normal figure for someone her age. She was wearing a skirt and a long sleeve blouse.

“I’m Amelia, and I transferred here. Greg has been shot and carried off by some of the men after me, and I didn’t know what else to do after the ‘Book’ appeared,” I told her and shoved the ‘Book’ at her.

She took the ‘Book’, which had snapped closed as I finished the spell and its glyph, and opened it. Her eyes grew bigger, as she looked at the page that the ‘Book’ had opened to.

“Oh ... my ... god, you’ve got the ‘Book of Dreams’! Where did you get this? It belongs to the O’Connells, and they will be very upset if they find it missing,” she told me in a harsh voice.

“It came to me in Greg’s living room when I didn’t know what to do,” I told her in a frustrated voice.

“Didn’t know what to do about WHAT?” she demanded, somewhat angry and also confused. I took a long deep breath to pull myself together. She would need to know what had happened to be of any help. I also noticed how she had watched my breasts move as I inhaled.

“Greg went out to a meeting with some business people today at about noon. I had made dinner this afternoon, and was waiting for him to return. I could feel his Talent when he approached the house. Then suddenly, his Talent disappeared, and I rushed to the window to see what had happened. I saw Gunther, one of the men looking for me, lower a long rifle, and he then send Joey, another of the men looking for me, off to do something.

“Gunther then approached Greg who was lying motionless on his driveway. He took out some long plastic ties and tied Greg’s hands in front of him, and then also tied his feet together. He put a rag of some kind in Greg’s mouth. Joey returned in a van right after he finished, and they loaded Greg in it and then left.

“I was frantic but didn’t know what to do, as I don’t know that much Magic yet ... only what is in some of the First Level books,” I told her.

“And the ‘Book’?” she prompted.

“I don’t know any of Greg’s friends or other Wizards, but I have met some of the O’Connells. They’re down in Georgia, and I had no way to get there.

“Suddenly, I remembered Greg mentioning your name and how you had removed the drugs from my system to save my life. I said ‘Sylvia, Mage’, and the ‘Book’ just appeared. It opened to a page, but it took me a few seconds to realize that it wasn’t written in English, but that I could read it and understand what it said. I said ‘Sylvia, Mage’ again and read the spell out of the ‘Book’ while tracing the glyph in the air. When the spell ended, I was here,” I finished.

“So you didn’t call the ‘Book, it just appeared?” she asked in a skeptical voice.

“No, I didn’t call the book, I wouldn’t know how.”

“Curious, the ‘Book’ doesn’t usually get involved with anyone but the O’Connells,” she continued in a confused voice, before stopping again to think.

“You said that this person, Gunther, was lowering a rifle when you looked out the window. Did you hear a shot?” she asked after a short time.

“A shot ... no. There wasn’t a gunshot if that’s what you mean.”

“Hum-mm ... he could have used a silenced weapon, but then why would he tie Greg up if he wanted him dead?” she asked in a puzzled voice. “And why would they tie up a dead man’s hands and feet in addition to removing the body?” she finished and paused for many seconds.

“So, no sound, and they tied him up before loading him in the van, right?” she demanded suddenly.

“Yes.”

“It sounds like they used some kind of tranquilizer gun to knock him out, and they took him away to question him somewhere,” she said after a few more seconds.

“You don’t think that he’s dead then?” I asked in relief.

“No, it wouldn’t fit the pattern,” she said, and I could sense that she was relieved by this realization also. “Not until after they have what they want anyway,” she added in a chilled voice.

“How can we find him? We need to do something!” I told her in a frantic voice on hearing that.

“There is no need to worry about Greg. He is a Senior Master after all. If you want to worry, worry about those who kidnapped him. When he recovers from whatever drug they used, he will use his Magic to free himself, and he will think of some way to repay those who did this. Senior Masters can play some serious games with those they take to disliking,” she told me with a smile.

“Don’t worry, you’ll have him back in your bed soon enough,” she finished, and with such vehemence that it startled me until I saw the tears appear in her eyes, and all of a sudden the reason came to me out of the blue.

“You love him, don’t you?” I asked in a shocked whisper.

“Why would you think that?” she asked, also somewhat surprised, but her choked-up voice gave her away.

“You’ve always loved him, haven’t you?” I demanded, and could feel how the question tore at her heart.

“Yes, practically from the first day that I met him,” she whispered in tears. “But he has never acted like he noticed,” she continued in the same choked-up voice, as the tears really started to flow.

“No, from what he has told me, he lost interest in nearly everything after his Wife died, and all that he concentrated on was his Magic.

“He has also spoken very highly of you and your abilities, and has described you as one of his best friends,” I told her in an earnest voice.

“Best friend, yes, but he is sleeping with you. I saw how he looked at you and especially those breasts of yours. He has never, in all of the time we have known each other, looked at me like that,” she told me in that choked-up voice and continued to cry.

I could feel her sadness and longing then. It wasn’t jealousy, but a huge disappointment that she could never have the one man who she was so attracted to.

“Sylvia, please don’t cry, something can be worked out,” I told her, but wasn’t sure what.

“That’s easy for you to say, you already have him. He’s infatuated with you,” she sobbed and hiccuped. I knew that what she said was true, as I had felt Greg’s desire for me from the first, still there should be something that could be done – but what?

This was when the ‘Book of Dreams’ rose from the table where we had put it to approach my hands again and it opened to the front where there was a picture of a man and two red haired women who appeared to be several years his junior. The caption under the picture read, “Mark Kent and the O’Connell Sisters, Katie and Margie”.

I remembered then that Greg had told me that many of the O’Connells had more than one Wife. The sons of the two O’Connell Professors each had two Wives, and Greg had told me that both Professors had three Wives each. Why couldn’t Greg have more than one Wife, I wondered and turned to look at Sylvia?

“Many of the O’Connells have multiple Wives,” I said before adding, “Why couldn’t Greg?” Sylvia’s mouth fell open, and she looked at me like I had struck her.

“But he loves you,” she finally said after recovering somewhat.

“And he is very fond of you as a friend. It isn’t that far from friend to love,” I told her.

“You’re serious?” she finally asked. “You would share him?”

“Of course, he is a very loving man, and I’m sure that he has enough love for both of us,” I answered.

“Oh god, the one thing that I’ve fantasized about has been him planting a baby in my belly,” she told me in an earnest voice.

“Yes, I know, I’ve been thinking about that lately also,” I told her with a giggle. Sylvia looked a little better now.

“This will take a bit of planning,” I told her next.

“Yes, but we need to get him back first,” she told me in a serious voice. We spent a lot of time then discussing how we could get Greg to accept Sylvia as his other Wife. Actually, we also needed to spend time to figure out how to convince him that he needed two Wives first. By the time we were finished it was quite late.

“We have another problem,” I told her, as we prepared to return to Greg’s house.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Greg has his strongest wards around the house, and a glamour on it so no one can see inside it. That’s why Gunther wasn’t able to see me at the window,” I told her.

“Oh dear, I thought we could just drive over there. Do you know how to get through his wards, as they are sure to be very strong?” she asked.

“No, he always took us through them, and I haven’t learned enough Magic yet to do that,” I told her, just as the ‘Book’ rose again from the table where I had set it down and opened to another page in Gaelic.

“That’s the transfer spell to pass through Greg’s wards. How can it be in the ‘Book’?” Sylvia asked, as I also looked at the spell, which I found I could read.

“Yes, it is, and I have no idea why it would be in the ‘Book’, but I believe that I can cast it,” I told her.

“You can read that?” she asked.

“Yes, I was quite surprised that I could read the spell that I used to come here,” I told her.

“Hold the ‘Book’ open and stand close to me, so I can read the spell and trace the glyph in the air,” I told her as I started on the spell. We vanished as I finished it.

While Amelia and Sylvia plotted and planned, the Boss, Chip, and a minor Wizard, named Bob Hutton, arrived at the storage room behind the bar where Gunther and Joey had held Greg hostage until just a few minutes ago.

“This guy isn’t very smart. Gunther shot him with a borrowed tranquilizer gun in the driveway of his own house. He just walked into the trap,” the Boss was telling the Wizard, as they reached the door to the room.

“You’re sure that this guy is just a low rank Wizard?” Hutton asked in a worried voice, being only Second Level himself, he didn’t want to go up against anyone with more power than he had.

“Trust us, this guy isn’t very powerful,” Chip told him, as he opened the door to the storage room, and the three of them entered, only to stop a few feet from the door which slammed shut behind them.

What had stopped them was the sight of the broken chair, and Gunther and Joey frozen in place. There was also no evidence of the prisoner.

“What the hell?” the Boss roared in anger, and that triggered the spell that Greg had left for them. They each instantly changed into what appeared to be a salamander standing on its hind feet, and they were each engulfed in a form of Magic Fire. A fire that burned and burned, never going out, as it roasted them and consumed the new flesh that their salamander form continued to create.

Of course as salamanders, they couldn’t talk since salamanders don’t have the ability to speak, but they could and did scream and howl in misery as the pain of the fire burning their flesh continued unabated for hours and hours. They couldn’t move much either, but finally managed to inch away from each other sufficiently that they weren’t burned by the fire of the others.

Gunther and Joey came out of the freeze spell just after the new spell had started, and they too screamed as the fires from the same spell burned them also. The torture went on and on for hours with no relief as they all continued to burn, scream, and moan though they were not consumed by the Magic Fire. In fact the room never ran out of air or heated up, nor did the fires spread to the rest of the room.

The spell finally ran out of power and snapped out of existence after a number of hours, causing all five men to fall to the cool floor in exhaustion and to lay there for many minutes recovering.

Hutton was the first to regain his feet after 20 minutes or so having used his Magic to help him recover, though he was still somewhat dizzy.

“Jeez, do you idiots have any idea of how much power it takes to cast that spell, and to have it remain active for something like six hours?” he demanded of the others in an outraged voice having looked at his watch. “Well, do you?” he screamed at them, but it didn’t come out very loud.

“No, what the Hell was that?” the Boss whispered through his tortured throat.

“Hell is right. That was the Burning Salamander Spell. I’ve heard of it, but never even tried to cast it, as it’s way above my Level. The legends say that a Salamander played a trick on a powerful Wizard or Demon thousands of years ago, and that he cast a fire spell on it in revenge, and those same types of Salamanders are still burned by the spell to this day, even if they are careful.

“WHO the Hell, and I do mean Hell, have you annoyed or pissed off? What demon or Wizard?” he demanded in an angry voice having recovered some more.

“I think his name is Gregory O’Brien. I looked at his driver’s license when he was brought in,” Chip whispered through his dry throat and lips. Hutton blanched in shock on hearing this.

“Greg O’Brien ... you pissed of Greg O’Brien? You people are idiots! You actually picked a fight with one of the primo Wizards in not just the Charleston area, but all of South Carolina? Are you out of your minds?“ Hutton shouted in demand at them in shock.

“What’s so special about him,” the Boss demanded in a somewhat bitter voice.

“What’s so special? I’ll tell you what’s so special about him. He’s a Senior Master, that’s what’s so special, he’s like six or more levels above me. That guy is like the number one or number two most powerful Wizards in the state. Count me out, I’m out of here. Don’t even breathe a word that I was here. I definitely do NOT need to come to his attention,” Hutton told them and paused for a breath.

“I’ll give you this advice for free. Whatever your beef is with him, you had best forget it. The next time, he won’t just use a spell, he’ll roast your asses for sure, like a pig at a barbecue. Now, I am out of here,” he finished, casting a spell and vanishing.

The others eventually got to their feet to go in search of something liquid to ease their parched and ruined throats.