Chapter 9

Later that evening, the property wards were activated again. It was from the area of the driveway.

“Who can that be? Has Josh returned?” I asked.

“It’s David De Tocqueville,” Al told me, and on checking with my Magic senses, that was who I detected, also.

“What in the world does he want? You don’t suppose that he made his apology while we were gone, do you?” I asked. Al didn’t answer.

“Let’s go and see what he wants,” I told him in a bored voice, as I drew my wards up around both of us and picked up Mandara in Its small form. I had carried It at the store today, but no one had said anything, as I had wrapped an obfuscation spell around It. I didn’t bother with that this time before transferring Al and myself out to the ward at the driveway. My suddenly appearing there startled David.

“What are you here for, David? Are you here to tell me that you have made the public apology for besmirching my good name?” I demanded. He just smiled.

“Oh, I’m here for something much more important than that,” he stated and continued to smile.

“And just what would that be?” I asked in an uninterested voice.

“It’s very simple. I have video proof that you are a Dragon, and I will reveal the truth to the world unless you do exactly what I want and all of the time,” he told me in a gloating voice while continuing to smile. Mandara was vibrating in Its scabbard in my hand even as David spoke.

“Well ... well, so you think I am a Dragon, do you?” I said but made it sound as if I hardly believed him to see what he really had.

“I have incontrovertible video proof. I installed a high tech camera system while you were gone and had it watching your property. Yesterday, it recorded you when you returned, and I have video of you as a Dragon before you changed. Now are you going to do what I want or not?” he demanded.

“He has to be kidding me. What kind of idiot is he?” I thought to myself, while Mandara vibrated so hard that It came partway out of the scabbard.

“Danger, Mistress. Allow me to drink this fool down,” It pleaded in my mind.

“No, there is a better way to solve this,” I told it mentally before pulling It the rest of the way from the scabbard. “Forty feet tall,” I told It. The elevator ride this time was very fast and the stop sudden. Mandara had also grown to its twelve foot blade length. We both stepped through the property ward leaving Al behind, much to David’s shocked surprise at what he saw.

“So, you think I’m a Dragon, do you?” I said in my loud Dragon voice at this size. “Well, you are correct, I am a Dragon,” I admitted and stared down into his upturned face and eyes. David was quaking in his expensive shoes.

When I looked into his eyes, my Dragon senses saw a very small insignificant man with a huge desire for unlimited power but few if any scruples. He did have a fairly good Ley Line Talent, but he wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted more, a lot more. I grinned down at him and allowed him to see a little smoke escape from my nostrils.

“This is the Sword Mandara,” I said holding It up in a quieter voice. “It is called ‘the Spirit Eater’. It was and still is very anxious to drain you of your life, your soul, and your Magic. All that would be left of you would be a lifeless puddle of unidentifiable goo. I am the one who controls him. It would take only a word from me, and It would drain you and no one would ever know what happened to you.

“This is what YOU will do to keep ME from giving IT permission to drain you. Don’t think that you could hide from IT either. IT’s a Magic Sword and will find you no matter where you may go or hide. From now on, you will report to me anything that the Ley Line Wizards say about me or Al, no matter how small or insignificant it may appear. Is that clear to you?” I demanded.

“DO NOT even consider crossing me, or you will learn just what I am capable of now. You saw how I crashed all of those wards at the meeting. That is nothing compared to what I am capable of now,” I added before dismissing him.

“You may leave now,”I finished and turned, my tail nearly knocking him down. David vanished several seconds later. I stepped back through the property wards and placed a very disappointed Mandara back in Its scabbard. The elevator ride down was slower than the ride up had been. Al was there waiting for us.

Later that night at a small building that De Tocqueville rented on the west side of Atlanta, David was preparing to summon a Demon, He needed to know what had occurred in the Demon-lands when Maddy was there. Despite his best efforts, Bob did not appear in answer to his summons, even when using his entire summoning name.

A very frustrated David then tried to summon another minor Demon whose summoning name he also knew. Again, he was unsuccessful, and this infuriated him no end. He then proceeded with something that he would have never considered doing when rational. He prepared to summon a Major Demon to him.

On the floor, he created a summoning circle to contain and hold the Demon he was going to call. He then enclosed it in a pentagram with the major point to the north. Candles were set out at all of the points of the pentagram. The one at the north point was black. Those at the other points were red. David then cast the spell for the circle to contain the Demon in Latin finishing with the word “Rhombus” to activate it.

The candles were next, and he used, “Consimilis calefacio” in Latin to light the black candle at the end with the spell that he had cast. He continued with, “Calefacio” at the location of each of the other candles, going widdershin or counterclockwise around the pentagram, and the wicks all began to glow and catch fire.

Once everything was prepared, he sat at the north point of the pentagram and began to chant the spell to summon one of the Major Demons, but not any particular one. On finishing the spell, he shouted, “Apparere” or appear in Latin.

The circle began to glow with a cloudy white light of its own, and shortly a Major Demon appeared inside of it, as the cloudy appearance faded. David immediately shouted, “Laqueus” in Latin to trap the Demon in there while he questioned it. The Demon appeared to be furious at this treatment.

The Demon that appeared was about 4’-10’’ tall with brown hair and long horns on his head. It was dressed like the typical 1920s gangster. There was the dark gray suit, the Fedora, and of course, the ever-present Tommy gun completed the outfit. It raised the Tommy gun in a defiant gesture but didn’t fire it.

“Why have you called upon us?” It demanded in a gravelly voice.

“I need to know what happened when Madailein Kavanagh went to the Demon-lands to retrieve her Familiar. I also need one of you to watch her and report to me what she does,” David told It, without asking Its name.

“Fool!” the Demon snapped in answer. “You expect us to be able to watch the Dragon without being detected, and either being incinerated or having our spirit drained. Wish to change lead into gold. It may be more possible. None of us are stupid enough to do that,” the Demon answered in a hard voice and laughed again.

“But what happened there?” David asked again in shock.

“Her visit was a total disaster for us. She used Power Words in the Dragon language. She stole the Sword Mandara, the Spirit Eater, from the minor Demons. She and It killed the Druj and the three Black Magic Witches that had abducted the Familiar as well as incinerating both Bruiser and his assistant with Dragon Fire leaving the Westside gang leaderless.

“We thought that we were prepared for her appearance, but she eliminated the glamour that we had cast and detected the Illusion that had been set up and canceled it by waking the Illusionist. She did all of that with just a little help from a couple of minor Demons. None of them are answering summons at all. The rest of us aren’t either, and I’m not staying here any longer,” It told David before finishing the spell that It had been casting. “Celero inans,” It shouted, and white hot light exploded into the room like a hurricane wind from the circle and burned away the symbols on the floor and the candles. Other things in the room burst into flames, and David was blown over and singed by the ferocious winds. The Demon disappeared, while David lay there on the floor for a time recovering before rising and looking around at the mess the room had become.

Several hours later in his apartment, a now healed David reviewed what he had been told by both the Dragon and the Demon. While the Dragon could have told him less than the truth, the Demon had no reason to lie about what had happened while she was there. It appeared that he had underestimated the Witch badly ... correction, the Dragon Witch. Just thinking about his experience staring into her eyes was enough to send shudders through him again. She seemed able to look right through him and see all that he had done. On top of that, there was the Sword. He would need to look it up, but the Demon seemed convinced that it had killed a Druj and three Black Magic Witches. How does one kill a Druj, he wondered, but had no idea? He had seen the smoke that came from her nostrils and didn’t doubt that she could breathe Dragon Fire. He shivered again on remembering that. Later, he didn’t sleep well as scenes of Dragons and Magic Swords haunted his dreams.

That night, Maddy also dreamed. Again, she appeared in the mist before it cleared, and she saw the Guardian near the large fireplace in the large dark room once more. She was again dressed in a long white dress with the red robe over it. Her long blond hair was braided on either side of her head this time.

“So little Dragon Witch, you have faced more challenges, acquired a Magic Sword, and retrieved your Familiar. It would seem that death was your traveling companion on this trip. Naturally, you are here to complain about the knowledge from Book 5 that was imparted to you without your knowledge or consent. Would you have agreed to learn it willingly? I seriously doubt that you would have.

“Still, it was imperative that you know it. You will also need to finish Book 5, if you intend to remain a Dragon, as Book 6 is only for those who are, in fact, Dragons. Has your Familiar stolen your tongue?” the Guardian finished with a smile.

She had touched on all of the things that I had intended to demand answers to. What more could I say about them? Still there were other questions that needed to be answered.

“Why me? Why was I chosen or born to be a Witch, or a Dragon for that matter? Also, who is responsible for the creatures, that I eliminated, working together to abduct Al? Why did he or It want to do that?” I asked instead of demanding, as I had intended.

“Little Witch, you are the culmination of a breeding program set in motion several thousand years ago. There were many false starts and unfortunate endings before the correct direction of the program was established. Still, there were a number of failures even then. You are the most promising result of the current program. You, however, were never intended to be a Dragon. That individual wasn’t to occur for at least another generation. Then you were attacked by a Demon, and the Ley Lines themselves chose to restore you for their own ends. That was not foreseen, and they made certain changes in you also. Now you have tasted what it is like to be a Dragon. Will you be able to put that behind you and return to being only a Witch? Or will you continue on to be what the Lines have changed you into and the possibility of being a real Dragon?

“The Books were written specifically to retain the Magic that someone like you would need. None of the others have ever reached Book 6, let alone finished it. You are the first to get as far as Book 5. We will see how you do and what you become.

“I cannot tell you who sent those others to abduct your Familiar. There are still things that you are not ready to know. I will tell you this, it was a test. A test that you managed to pass, but not in the way that the others had foreseen. There is little else that I can tell you at this time. Remain true to your principles and give your helpmate time to come to his own realization,” she finished before the fog enveloped me again.

I awoke in the morning feeling refreshed and remembering all that she had said but unsure of the path forward. Downstairs before breakfast, Al had something to say.

“You saw the Guardian again last night. I could tell,” he said as I entered the kitchen to make breakfast.

“Yes, I saw her. She already knew what I wanted to ask about, but she wouldn’t tell me who arranged to have you kidnapped. She said that there were things that I couldn’t know yet,” I told him. I had been upset by the Guardian’s unwillingness to tell me about who had arranged all of the trouble that we’d had in the past week or so.