Chapter 3

The following characters appear in this chapter and others:

Samuel Barrett

Master Wizard, presided over many of the Wizards meetings, 5’-10’’ tall, 205 pounds, 58 years old, dyed black hair and goatee, dark violet eyes

Bob,

Minor Demon, short at 4’-6’’ tall, red skin and horns on his head, gray beard and hair, Seventeenth century clothing, buckles on his shoes

The meeting of the Executive Council of the Ley Line Wizards started at 8:00 that evening. It was attended by all of the major Wizards and a good number of the minor ones. It was held in the auditorium of the new Ley Line Wizards building in downtown Atlanta.

The presiding Wizard that evening was Samuel Barrett, who was considered the most powerful Wizard in Atlanta. He had presided over many of these meetings.

“Has anyone discovered anything new about the problem of the disappearing Ley Line Magic that occurred some ten days ago?” Barrett asked after opening the meeting. There was silence for a number of seconds following that before someone stood.

“I found a reference in a book that I obtained access to a few days ago. The book was in a rather old form of Gaelic and difficult to read. It required considerable time to translate it. There was one reference to what had happened. As I translated it, the book referred to it as occurring due to the mating of two Dragons that caused the sudden disappearance of the Ley Line Magic, and then the slow return of the Magic once they had finished,” the Wizard told those assembled there.

“Surely, you’re joking,” said one of the brash young Wizards from the back part of the assembly room. The Wizard turned to look at the younger man.

“Do you doubt what I have said?” he demanded in an aggressive voice.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that you read that. What I doubt is that there are still Dragons in the modern world, and that they were here having sex without any of us being aware of them,” the young Wizard told him.

That was when David De Tocqueville exhaled heavily and stood to take the floor and add what he had learned to the meeting.

“I received basically the same information from a reliable source. The source even suggested where it had occurred. Lastly, it confirmed that Dragons still exist,” David told them, but didn’t mention the last part of what he had learned.

He had no more than resumed his seat, and nothing further had been said when there was a huge blast of Magic that ripped apart all of the wards that had been cast around the room to ensure their privacy, and the double doors to the room were flung open with a bang to reveal a solitary figure standing there, outlined by the lights in the hall behind her.

I finally made something to eat, and ate all of it to keep up my strength but hardly tasted any of it. I was still upset that someone would send Demons to kidnap my Familiar. That afternoon, I had rapidly finished Book 4 to learn what else I could about Demons and their land. The picture the book painted wasn’t pretty, but I had learned how to transfer there to find Al.

Just before 8:00 that evening, I had detected a number of Wizards gathering in one location. While it was down in Atlanta, it wouldn’t be hard to transfer there now with all of them gathered together in the same place to use as the destination. I waited until I was sure they would all be there before preparing to join them. Drawing a huge amount of Magic from the Lines under my house, I cast the transfer spell and appeared outside of a building in downtown Atlanta.

Even outside, I could sense the wards cast around the part of the building where the Wizards had assembled. Passing through the paltry ward around the exterior of the building, I made my way through the building to the warded area while drawing even more Magic from the various Lines that pass under Atlanta. I wasn’t worried that the Wizards might sense what I was doing, as it wouldn’t help them.

Standing in the hallway a short distance from the room and its wards, the correct spell came to me, and I cast it, filling it with much of the Magic I had drawn before flinging it at the doors to the room while shouting the trigger word.

“Scrios!” I shouted, instantly wrecking all of the wards that had been cast by the various Wizards present. They all collapsed and the doors to the room were blown open with a bang. The walls of the auditorium all vibrated from the collapse of the wards. I moved up and stood in the open doorway, as those inside recovered.

“Which of you sorry bastards sent Demons to attack me and to kidnap my Familiar?” I demanded in a loud amplified voice, as the sound and the vibrations of the collapsed wards fell silent. My demand was met by a room full of startled Wizards, who stared back at me in absolute shock.

“How ... how could you get in here?” the Wizard behind the podium at the far end of the room asked in a shocked voice.

“It wasn’t difficult. Now fess up, who sent those Demons to attack me this afternoon, and then broke my house ward while I was busy with them and stole my Familiar?” I demanded again in a loud voice. No one answered or even moved for a number of seconds. Finally, David De Tocqueville rose and turned toward me.

“Now Madailein, take it easy and explain what happened. No one here would steal your Familiar. We don’t use them,” he said before adding, “What time did this start?” This threw me for a second.

“It was about 4:30 or so when the two Demons appeared inside my property wards,” I told him.

“You’re sure of that?” he asked.

“Yes, I could see them plainly,” I answered before what he had asked sank in. “Yes, it was this afternoon,” I said in a small voice feeling foolish.

“It was daylight with the sun still up?” he asked.

“Yes, it was, and my Magic fire had no effect on them, or the several spells that I cast,” I told him.

“How were these Demons dressed?” he asked next.

“They were dressed like gangsters from the Prohibition era,” I told him, and many of those in the room drew in a sharp breath.

“They were Major Demons then. What happened to your Familiar?” came next.

“Somehow, they blasted a hole in my house ward, broke into the kitchen, and stole my Familiar,” I told him, before it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen the Ley Line Books on the table until later that afternoon.

“Why hadn’t I realized that previously?” I wondered to myself.

“They blasted a hole in your wards? The same ones that we can’t get through? They didn’t collapse them?” David asked in an expectant voice.

“No, it was a hole big enough for a Demon or a human to get through. It was still there, and the ward was still screaming when I reached the kitchen. It smelled of Witch, Demon, and Black Magic,” I told him. There was another sharp intake of breath at this revelation also.

“I hate to tell you, but I believe you were attacked by Major Demons, and it sounds like three or more of them. None of us have ever called up a Major Demon. It isn’t healthy,” David told me.

“Then who would have sent them?” I asked, a bit bewildered.

“Who else have you aggravated?” David asked with a grin.

“Who else is there?” I asked in return.

“Perhaps a Dragon,” he answered to my shock, and I immediately remembered the Dragon at the Thai restaurant. The other Wizards appeared to be as shocked by his answer as I had been.

“Maybe so,” I said not showing any shock. “I’m still going to the Demon-lands and find my Familiar. If I learn that one of you is responsible for kidnapping him, I’ll deal with you when I get back,” I told them before vanishing.

The Wizards all sat there in shock and amazement for nearly a minute after Maddy had disappeared.

“How the hell could she break all of our wards like that?” Samuel Barrett demanded in a hoarse voice then.

“She is a very powerful Witch and possibly something more,” David said after taking a long breath. “My source indicated that all of the Magic that had disappeared that night had appeared around her house, and that it was as thick as honey, even outside the house, as it rotated around it,” he finished to shocked expressions from all of those present.

“And when were you going to tell us about that?” Barrett asked in a disapproving voice.

“When the time was right, but it appears that it has occurred much sooner than I thought it would,” David told them in a thoughtful voice.

“Maybe so, but she’s nothing but Demon bait now,” one of the brash younger hot-headed Wizards in the back of the room shouted before the meeting broke up. No one had said anything more about the possibility of there being Dragons.

Returning home, I checked all of my wards to ensure that they were at full strength and had not been disturbed. Following that, I wanted to leave for the Demon-lands or Reality, but found that I was so tired, that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I fell into the bed in my room without taking a shower or even undressing and was sound asleep in seconds.

That night, I dreamed about seeing the Guardian again. After passing through the fog, I found her in a room in a house. She was dressed in the same white clothes and red robe that she had worn when I had met the Dragon. The room appeared to be a greeting room, or a parlor in a small house. There were chairs and a primitive sofa, or settee. She was sitting on a chair near an open window. The light accentuated one side of her face, but hid the other in shadows. Her long blond hair was gathered on the shadowed side of her face.

“So little Witch, someone has stolen your Familiar. Recovering him will be a major challenge to your abilities. Those who took him are not minor Demons but are the much more powerful Major Demons. You must be very careful dealing with them. Also do not blame those in Atlanta for your problem. They are not the ones who sent them. Be careful who you seek alliances with there also. I wish you good luck,” she said with a smile, before remembering something.

“Oh yes, you may not take any of the books with you, as the Demons would do anything to have any of them, but you will remember what you have learned if you think about it,” she added with a smile.

I wanted to ask her who had sent the Demons, but wasn’t given the chance, as the fog closed in around me and took me back then, and I knew nothing more until awakening the next morning.

When I awoke in the morning, I was stiff from the position I had slept in overnight. I needed to change clothes and take a shower also. Arriving downstairs later, there was no Al to greet me, just as there had been no Al sleeping in my bedroom when I awoke. I ate breakfast but hardly tasted it.

I had wanted to leave last night, as I thought there would be fewer Demons there at night. Now it was daylight, and they would all be there. I would need to be very careful and try to find someone who would show me where things were and help me find those who had kidnapped Al. The Guardian’s warning from last night had also made me cautious. I would not just charge in there now, like I had planned to do last night.

After reviewing the last part of Book 4 again, I went up to change into what I would be wearing there. Since Demons seemed to like to dress up in fancy clothing, I thought I would wear some of the clothes that remained here from my Grandparents and Great Grandparents. My Parents had never discarded any of their clothing. All of it was packed away in trunks in the attic. I found a really nice light blue dress that came with several petticoats up there. There was a broad brimmed summer hat with it, and they would make me look like a real old-fashioned southern lady. I would wear a pair of my own flats as well as my own underthings. Additionally, I was taking a backpack with a pair of strong jeans, several shirts, and a couple of changes of underthings. I also put a good pair of hiking boots and some socks in there for when I needed to kick ass. By the time I was ready to leave, it was well after 12:00 noon. I knew the correct transfer spell and the destination from Book 4. I cast the spell and vanished from the yard outside my house.

I appeared in a desolate landscape. There was little to see but rocks and some brush plus some stunted trees and others that were dead. The ground was broken and pitted with large holes and areas of burned, melted, and cracked rock. There was light, but it was not all that bright for it being just a bit past noontime. This was partly due to the dense clouds of dust being blown by the hot winds in this place. In addition, the sun, while high above, was a deep red in color and partly obscured by the dust clouds. It was a hot, dry, dusty, desolate place, and it looked as if a war had been fought here at some time in the past. I had to wonder why this was the location specified in the book.

One thought did occur to me. Since the Books had been written from ancient scrolls, perhaps this had been a much nicer and friendlier place long ago when they had been written. I had no idea at the time if this was true or not.