Chapter 6

Over the next couple of weeks, I continued to work on Book 3. Outwardly, it didn’t appear to be any thicker than the first two books had been, but somehow it had more pages, and just when I thought I had reached the end, more pages would appear. It certainly looked, to me at least, that the pages appeared Magically, as if the book was a spell and only revealed more of itself when one approached the end of what was currently revealed. When closed, the book wasn’t any thicker though. This led me to wonder just how long the remaining books were, if they were the same. This certainly didn’t give me any way to estimate how long it would take to finish them.

A few days ago, Al had needed to remind me again, that we needed more groceries. The trip to the store this time had none of the problems or excitement of the previous one. In fact, now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen Josh since the evening of the previous trip. There also hadn’t been any calls for spell or charms either. While that was okay for this month, as I had the extra money from the hoodlums who had attacked me, it would definitely be a problem in the months to come if this dry spell continued. That thought brought my head up in a way.

“Dry Spell!” I said. “Was it just a coincidence that I had that particular thought, or was it a warning or some kind of premonition?” I wondered.

“Could someone have cast a spell to keep others from calling me, or could it have been put on my phone?” the thought continued. I would need to determine a way to call my number and see what I got. Picking up the receiver here only got me the dial tone.

“Who do I know who has a phone and would allow me to use it?” I wondered, and Josh immediately came to mind. Since I hadn’t seen him in a while, I thought that I would just pop over there, see how he was, and use his phone to check if mine was working correctly.

The correct spell instantly came to mind, as I had learned a number of ways to transfer both myself and others or things in my studies.

“Come on Al, we’re going to visit Josh. We haven’t seen him in a while,” I called to my Familiar. This also made me stop and think.

“Why haven’t we heard from Josh?” I asked. He had always been very friendly, and we had visited each other often.

“Could something be wrong with Josh?” I wondered out loud. Al was just getting up and stretching. When he finished, he looked up at me.

“Yes,” was all that he said, as I reached down and picked him up.

“How long have you known that?” I demanded.

“For the last half minute,” he answered.

“Let’s go then,” I told him and cast the spell and drew its glyph in the air. We disappeared from my kitchen.

We instantly appeared in Josh’s living room to find him on the floor and in bad shape. I hadn’t had time to check on what was wrong with him or how he was, when a blast of Magic shook the house, startling Al and me.

“Someone is assaulting Josh’s paltry wards,” Al told me, just before another blast of Magic struck. This was just too much.

“SO, someone wants to play games, do they?” I asked, and reached out for the closest Ley Line. To my surprise, I found one running under Josh’s property. It turned out to be one of the ones that crossed under my house. Drawing a considerable amount of Magic from it, I prepared to cast a blast of my own, but I now knew a spell that would direct it where I wanted it. I sent it in the direction that I had felt the other two arrive from. As an afterthought, I sent a spell to freeze-in-place anyone near Josh’s property in the same direction, until I could find out just what was going on. Al had been watching Josh while I was busy.

“I think he’s coming around,” Al told me after I had finished casting one of my property wards around Josh’s house and property. That should keep anyone from bothering him for a time.

Josh had started to moan, and his body began to shake. I had learned a few medical spells along with other things, and cast a spell to see what was wrong with him. The spell quieted him down, and I was able to check his pulse which was a bit rapid, and his temperature, which seemed to be okay. That was all the spell revealed. He just seemed to be worn out. After canceling the spell, I just let him sleep for a time.

“He was up for a long time, and he used a lot of Magic,” Al told me as I finished.

“I wonder how long he was under attack, as that is surely what it was,” I told Al.

“Perhaps those outside could tell us. The ones that you froze-in-place,” Al reminded me in a cynical voice.

“They aren’t going anywhere for a while. Let’s wait for Josh to wake up and see what he has to say. Meanwhile, I’ll make him a nice meal,” I told Al and went to see what he had on hand to make to eat. I found his pantry rather empty – not a good sign. This led me to wonder just how long he had been under attack.

“You stay here, Al. I’m transferring home to get something for all of us to eat,” I told him, on returning from the pantry, but before vanishing.

I was back a few minutes later with the ingredients for a quick meal in one of my pots, along with several other things. It only required adding two cups of water to the pot and then to start it cooking. It would be ready in less than 15 minutes. I had also brought a can of cat food for Al. Josh was sure to have a bowl to put it in for Al to eat it.

Josh awoke about 15 minutes after the food was finished.

“Wh ... what happened?” he muttered in a dazed voice and tried to sit up but couldn’t make it and sank back down onto the floor. I hurried over to him with an energy tea that I had prepared along with the meal and had kept warm with a spell. I had learned to make many kinds of teas and other drinks while studying Witchcraft in college.

“Here drink this,” I told him holding out the cup with the tea in it. He looked up at me in surprise.

“Maddy! How did you get in here? I thought the last ward I used would keep everyone out,” he said in a mystified voice.

“It certainly didn’t keep me or Al out, and it didn’t keep out the Magic from those attacking you. You were unconscious on the floor when we arrived. Now drink this and you’ll feel better,” I told him, putting the cup in his hands after pulling him up to a sitting position.

“God, what is that?” he asked after drinking part of the contents of the cup. He had a very sour looking expression on his face, as he asked it.

“You don’t want to know, but it will get you back on your feet and able to function for a while. Later, you’ll need to get some sleep, but that will be after we deal with those outside. For now, you need to eat. I’ll join you, and Al can have some cat food, if you have a dish to put it in,” I told him.

“Whose outside? Are those from the Wizard’s Guild still here?” he asked in shock.

“I froze them in place after blasting them. They had sent two blasts of Magic in here after I arrived and that aggravated me, so I blasted them back before freezing then and then casting one of my property wards around your house and property,” I told him. Josh just stared at me in disbelief.

“But how could you do that?” he finally gasped.

“There is a Ley Line that runs under your property, but not your house,” I told him. “It’s one of the lines that cross under my house,” I added.

“Really! I never detected it,” he said in surprise.

“Still, it’s there. Now, you need to eat. I’ll join you. Do you have something that won’t break for Al to eat from?” I asked.

“Not a problem. Most of my dishes are the kind that won’t break if dropped or thrown at something,” he told me with a smile, as he rose from the floor.

We enjoyed our meal following that, even Al. Josh was correct, nearly all of his dishes were made of plastic or other materials that are not easily broken. They didn’t detract from our enjoyment of our meal.

With the meal behind us and the dishes taken care of, we turned our attention to those outside. Josh was a little uneasy about facing them.

“Ho ... how are we going to do this?” he asked in a worried voice.

“We’ll go out there and find out who sent them, before sending them on their way with a stern warning,” I told him. Josh didn’t appear to think this would help much.

“Come on Josh,” I told him. “They won’t be a problem,” I assured him, but he still didn’t seem convinced.

We used his front door to leave the house, rather than transferring out to where those who had attacked him lay on the ground, frozen-in-place. On arriving where they were, we saw a trio of sorry looking Magic users. Apparently my blast of Magic had been a lot stronger then theirs had been, as they lay on the ground with part of their clothing missing and covered in small tree branches and leaves. The freeze spell had made sure that they didn’t get up or leave the area, which the wards around it now would have also prevented.

“What did you do to them?” Josh asked in a surprised whisper.

“I just blasted them back after they sent two blasts of Magic into the house. Of course, I used Ley Line Magic, and I have learned a spell to direct it exactly where I want it to go without wasting any of it,” I told him with a smile.

“I suppose we should wake them up and find out what they know before I send them to a place that I learned about in Book 3,” I told him.

“Learned about?” he asked in a questioning voice. “Where is it?”

“It’s not really a place but a when. I haven’t actually been there myself. It’s a place without time ... sort of a holding area. We can keep them there until we have time to go see their boss, and we won’t need to watch them or feed them,” I told him.

“But Where is it?” Josh asked in a nervous voice.

“It’s near the Demon lands, but not actually in them, according to the Book,” I finally told him a few seconds later, after debating whether or not to tell him.

“Demon lands!” he shouted in shock.

“Easy there Josh, but yes, they have a realm of their own. It’s not very nice there. That’s why they are are always ready to come here, as it’s much nicer here,” I told a very shocked Josh.

“And you can say that so easily?” he asked on recovering, before adding, “What will happen to them there?”

“Nothing, that’s all that ever happens there, as I understand it,” I told him.

“OH!”

“I’ll unfreeze them one at a time so we can interrogate them,” I told him before picking out one to start with. He was a man in his mid-thirties, maybe 5’-10’’ tall with a crew cut, and had on what was left of a blue suit. The left side of his coat was missing as well as the lower half of his left trouser leg. He was certainly not what I was expecting.

After canceling the freeze spell, it required several minutes for him to become aware of where he was, and what had happened to him. He also needed to brush the small branches and the leaves off of himself. During this time, I detected that he had a rather strong Magic Talent. He was not happy when he realized where he was, and what had happened.

“Who are you, and how did you do this?” he demanded while still sitting on the ground.

“I’m Madailein Kavanagh, and I’ll ask the questions. Why were you three attacking my friend Josh?” I demanded.

“Oh! You’re the new Ley Line Witch. That explains it,” he said but failed to answer my question.