Chapter 10

I was out in the middle of nowhere, really. It was a county that had loose building codes for living structures. Since it was not in a city, there was not the many building codes, and unions to go through, to build your home. You put it up, and if it passed a minimal structural integrity code, you could live in it.

So I was looking over land to purchase for my home, and dusk was approaching.

I started hiking back to my car when a shadowy figure stepped out in front of me. I had barely got my shield raised when I felt like it had been hit by something, and I flew backwards! I hit the ground, and my staff dropped away from me.

I sat up, raised my right hand, and yelled, "Ram!"

My will drained all the power from the ring on my right hand. The shadowy guy flew backward, and didn't get up. I picked myself up, while carefully keeping an eye on the figure on the ground a couple dozen feet from me. Wow.

I started walking towards the figure on the ground. I'll be damned. He was wearing an honest to god black cloak, with dark colored clothes.

The guy didn't sound very good, as he was gasping and making choking noises. As I got closer, I could see whom it was. It was John Royce. Shit!

"You're better than I thought you would be," he gasped at me.

I just looked at him, not knowing what to do. I considered the alternatives.

"Would you like me to call an ambulance, or will you be all right?" I asked him.

"You got me good. I doubt I will survive. Damn! It was a good life, too. This is what I get for getting complacent," he gasped out, and died.

Crap. I looked for my staff. I found it, and walked out to my car. Thirty minutes later, I was answering questions from the local county police, and they weren't being nice about it. I was the primary suspect in a murder... again. I sighed.

I finally called a halt. I demanded an attorney, and refused to answer any more questions until I had my attorney present. In all honesty, I felt bad about what had happened, but to automatically make me the murder suspect was insulting.

They arrested me on the spot. They took my clothes from me, as well as my staff, 'to collect evidence.' Well, I had been over twenty feet away when I had blasted him with that spell, and I doubt I had anything on me. I know my staff was clean, and I had not touched him.

A few days later my status changed from suspect, to witness. Go figure. I had my clothes and staff back, and a half-assed apology. I went over what I had originally told them, and they kept asking if I had seen anything strange or out of place or someone else there.

"No, for the umpteenth time. I didn't see anyone else, and the guy just said he had gotten complacent, and then he died. No accusations, no finger pointing at who or anything like that," I told the detective who was at my home.

"And how did you know this man, and how did he get there if you didn't drive him?" I was asked.

"I have no idea. I have told you, I came across him laying on the ground and he said what he said, and you know the rest. Hell, you probably know more of what he died from than I do," I said a bit sourly.

"No one told you? Of course not. Massive chest trauma. He was hit with a great deal of force, something about a foot square in diameter hit him solidly in the chest. I am surprised he lived long enough to even talk to you," the detective said somberly.

We talked a bit longer, and then he took his leave. It always came back to me, and I am sure he thought I knew something I was not telling. They had several mysteries to solve, and no answers.

How had he gotten there? His car was found over ten miles away. The only fingerprints found in it, were the victims. They thought he had to have been carried and dumped there. Yet there was no evidence of that. There were just my prints showing me tramping around. They were understandably confused.

Well, I was not about to admit I had accidentally killed him, when I had responded to his attack. Somehow, I thought they would take a dim view of spells, providing they accepted that explanation. And I was responsible for a man's death, after all. I felt guilty as hell about it. I also had no idea how he had gotten there. Just one minute I was alone, the next there he was. It had to be magic.

Three days later I was walking through the downtown business district. I stopped and looked at a shop that I swear I had never seen before. I had been up and down this street hundreds of times in my life, yet now I noticed this place?

It seemed to draw me, and I only hesitated a moment. Then I thought 'to hell with it', and started towards the building.

The place was sprawling, and I had a hard time believing the downtown developers had never forced it to be sold for some other office building high rise. It had an old brick front, was two stories tall.

An ancient sign hung over the door.

"THE NATURAL WAY" was the name on the sign. The inside of this place was something else.

I felt a shock when I entered. It was sort of like moving through a curtain of electricity. Weird.

The inside was very unusual. Off to the left side of the store were paperback books on several racks, plus there was a huge shelf that contained all manner of hard back books. They looked leather bound. To the right was a counter, which was made of glass and held a lot of interesting looking items. There was something that was like another book case, but this one held canisters and containers of all sorts. There were also items that appeared to be plants.

About ten feet to the back was a doorway that was closed. Off to the side, were steps led to a sort of cafe section with a counter that I could just make out. There were tables with people drinking beverages, eating, or just reading.

I took it all in, when a voice from my left and slightly behind me broke my silence.