Chapter 14

The twins and I transferred to McAlester early on Saturday morning, the 25th. Abner’s business was closed. Either he had caught up on his work, or he wasn’t up yet. We set out in the rental vehicle to check out the RV facilities at Lake McAlester. Initially, the fifteen-hundred-acre lake had been used just as a reservoir for the town’s water supply. Fishing and picnicking had been allowed as well as some camping and boating. Over time the city fathers had looked at Lake Eufaula only some twenty-five miles north of them and seen all of the money being made there. They eventually decided that a number of RV parking sites near the lake could bring in a nice income to the city for little or no outlay from them. There are now two RV parks along the southwestern end of the lake.

We took the McAlester Lake Road out to the lake to check on the availability of RV spaces for the first weekend of July and the week following that. We quickly discovered that this road only took us to the original picnicking and day camping area. We needed to backtrack to Tannehill Road and follow it to Compelube Road, which led directly to the RV parks. We were able to make reservations in the second RV park for three spaces for the first thru the tenth of July. This particular RV park was also near a large area of trees and brush that bordered the area known as the Tannehill Prairie.

Having completed that, we returned to town to purchase meat for tonight and tomorrow night along with plenty of ice to keep it cold. We visited Abner for a time after that, and learned some of the intricacies in the use of Magic to repair normal household items, the most important part being determining the cause of the failure.

By 3:00 PM, we were at the La Quinta Inn to check in. We had already checked the motel where Hans and his Wife would be staying next weekend. They would be arriving on the second of July and remaining through the tenth. Hans would be coordinating the harassment of Walls and his people by the other Weres.

My Wives and I had a good meal after checking in and then went to sleep until 2:00 the next morning. Since this weekend was the new moon, it didn’t matter when we went to harass the people at the ranch, and two-thirty in the morning would definitely aggravate them.

We transferred to the cemetery before transforming into our Were-forms. After eating the raw meat that we had brought with us, we went to bother those at the ranch. We roused those in both houses, and sprayed our scent on the same areas that we had last weekend. We repeated our appearance at 4:30 that morning. In the interim, we had napped in one of the locations that we had marked last weekend.

Following showering back at the hotel, we returned to the truck stop on US 270 for a good breakfast before going to sleep for most of the day. Awakening later that evening, we went for a good dinner at the local steak house before repeating what we had done the previous night to harass the residents of the ranch.

Following a good shower on returning to the hotel, we checked out at 6:30 on Monday morning, and parked the rental vehicle at Abner’s store, before we transferred back to my house in Wichita for a good breakfast.

The last week of June was very busy for my business, as I had predicted. July started on a Friday this year. The 4th of July weekend would officially start on Saturday, the second. There were a huge number of orders for meat for the three-day weekend. Also the regular meeting of the Plains Magic Council would be held on the evening of first.

My Wives and I arrived early at the Council building for the meeting. I had a number of announcements to make and several motions to propose. As early as we arrived, there were already many there to see me before the meeting. Most wanted confirmation of what I was going to talk about, but I managed to put most of them off until the meeting.

The Council meeting started promptly at 8:00 PM when I banged my gavel down twice. There were many more visitors in attendance than we normally have for meetings.

“This meeting of the Plains Magic Council is now in session,” I announced standing at the head of the conference table, but disregarded the normal protocols and continued, “I have a number of items to bring to the Council’s attention before we go any further.

“First: I am proud to inform you that Laura, Lesia, and I were married by two Druids from the Otherworld on top of Kesh Corran on the evening of 10 June.

“Second: On that same day, the three of us took and passed the examination for Master Level. The exam was administered by five Senior Masters from the Otherworld outside the caves of Kesh Corran,” I finished, and Lesia passed the three framed certificates around to those at the conference table for their examination.

While this was going on, I was carefully watching to see how these announcements had been taken and what the mood of the Council was. It was evident that many of the visitors had been quite excited by these announcements. Laura received the framed certificates on my other side, and I stood again when she had all of them.

“I have one other announcement. I have discovered where Kerbie Coffins is hiding. He is the one who had my Wives’ Parents murdered and then kidnapped Lesia and Laura. He is presently living on a ranch that he owns about twenty miles northwest of McAlester, Oklahoma,” I finished in a loud voice.

There was a stunned silence in the Council chamber for twenty seconds or so while this information was digested. Then the noise started. The visitors screamed, shouted, cursed, and some, especially the Wolves, howled to show their displeasure. After a minute or so, this was followed by chanting. It started with just a few people, but the remainder of the crowd quickly picked it up and joined in.

Justice ... justice ... JUSTICE, JUSTICE, JUSTICE...!” the crowd continued to chant, and the sound grew louder and louder as more of the visitors joined in. The Human Council-members looked surprised and then upset by this. The Were Council-members started to join the chant after a short time. I allowed it to continue for a while before I played a recording of my roar when in Were-form. It was played very loudly and there was a short break between the two recorded roars. Silence fell after the second roar.

“I think that pretty well indicates the feelings of the visitors present,” I said following ten seconds or so of silence.

“The question is what is this Council prepared to do in the face of this individual ignoring their orders, and his continued disregard for not only the dictates of the Council but also civilian laws?” I demanded.

“Are you absolutely sure that it was Kerbie Coffins that you saw?” the Vice-Prime asked in a worried voice.

“I saw him with my own eyes while in the Warrior-state. To be absolutely certain, I borrowed my Wife’s binoculars. He is older, a bit heavier, and grayer, but it was him all right. I remember him very well, but no, I didn’t take a DNA sample if that is what you want to know,” I told him.

“The Council was hesitant to impose harsh penalties in the past,” one of the oldest Council members said speaking up, “but it would appear that we erred in this case.”

“The question is what do you and your Wives intend to do?” a third Human Council-member demanded. Before I could answer him, Laura spoke up.

“We intend to extract payment from him for the murder of our Parents, for kidnapping us, and for raping and abusing us for four years,” Laura told the Council in a loud voice.

“Even if the Council forbids it?” the Vice-Prime asked.

“Where was your Council when we were being raped, beaten, and abused?” Lesia demanded loudly. “We weren’t a part of your Council then, and you have no say in how WE take our revenge,” she finished still in a loud voice.

“Justice, justice, justice, justice, justice...!!” the crowd chanted, and it went on for several minutes. A number of the Human Council-members had been holding consultations while this went on. Finally I raised my hands, and the chanting slowly stopped. The Vice-Prime rose to speak then.

“The Council cannot officially sanction the taking of revenge, especially when it may involve death, but we will not stand in the way this time. Kerbie has been given every chance to reform and make a clean start. He has obviously not chosen to do so,” the Vice-Prime finished and retook his seat.

“Are there any other matters to be discussed this month?” I asked. No one said anything.

“I declare this session of the Plains Magic Council closed,” I declared and banged the gavel down twice.

“Justice, justice, justice, justice...!” the crowd chanted, as they filed out of the Council chamber. The other Councilors also left, so that shortly, it was only my Wives and I remaining.

“Well, we didn’t get the Council’s blessing, but they won’t do anything to impede us either,” I told them.

“It wouldn’t matter to us,” Laura said in a very determined voice. “We would do this even if it was only the two of us to do it. We will have our revenge!” Lesia hadn’t said anything, but looked just as determined as her Sister, if not more so. We transferred home following that.

At home, we checked that most of the things that we would be taking with us tomorrow were packed. There are always last minute things to pack. I also had fifty pounds of meat in the freezer that we would be taking with us. Most of it was for those who had volunteered to help us harass the people at the ranch. It would require two coolers to transport it.

We only slept that night, and rose late on Saturday morning. There was no need to rush since our helpers hadn’t been scheduled to leave Wichita until 6:30 this morning. They wouldn’t arrive in McAlester until sometime around 11:30. We had arranged to meet them at the truck stop on US 270. We would lead them out to the RV park from there so they could get settled. Later that afternoon, we would transfer part of them to the ranch to familiarize them with the location.

About 10:30 that morning, we three with our luggage and the coolers transferred to the parking lot of Abner’s store. We placed the luggage and the coolers in the vehicle after canceling the wards and opening its windows, but before going in to see Albert. He was very glad to see us.

“It’s a good thing that you had those wards around your vehicle and had added the stronger wards around the shop,” he told us as soon as we entered.

“What happened?” I asked.

“The hoodlums were out last night, and a number of businesses were broken into or had graffiti painted all over their stores and vehicles. They couldn’t get in here, and none of their paint stuck to the vehicle or the store thanks to the wards. I know a spell for removing paint from parts that I’m working on and used it earlier this morning to get rid of what was on the ground outside of the wards,” he told us with a smile.

“Did the police catch any of them?” Laura asked.

“Yes, they managed to catch three of the bunch at one location and are determining who the rest are,” he told us. We left a happy Abner at about 11:00 and headed for the truck stop out on US 270. We parked there and waited for the others to arrive. Shortly after 11:30, four RVs and five other vehicles pulled into the truck stop. Weres poured out of them, many more than the dozen who had volunteered to help us. Many of the extra people turned out to be spouses and children. Hans and his Wife were in the last vehicle to pull in.

We left our vehicle and went to join them. Hans soon had everyone quieted down and turned toward us with a weak smile on his face.

“Most of them decided to make an actual vacation of it,” he said in defense.

“That will probably make things look better,” I told him before adding, “I don’t know if there are any more open spaces at the RV park though.”

“We need to eat before we do anything else,” one of the Wives informed the rest of us.

“This is as good a place as any,” one of the other Wives added, so we all trooped inside. In addition to the original twelve Weres, there were six Wives, twelve children, Hans and his Wife, and the three of us for a total of thirty-five. We virtually took over the restaurant, but they were setup to take care of buses that stopped here, so everyone had a place to sit. They all got something to eat and a chance to use the rest room, especially the children. Luckily, I only needed to pay for the meals that Hans, his Wife, my Wives, and I ate. The remainder paid for their own meals. Still, it was 1:00 PM before we all pulled out of the truck stop, and I led the way to the RV park.

Fortunately, someone had canceled their reservation at the last minute, so there was an open space for the fourth RV, but it was separate from the other three which were together. There were still some camping spaces available also, so everyone had a place to stay. They had all brought food and other necessities with them, and would be able to purchase more in town if needed.

About 2:30, our Wives, Hans, and I left in our vehicles to check into our hotels. My Wives and I were at the La Quinta again, and Hans and his Wife were at the Motel 6, not far from the La Quinta. We escorted them to their motel and agreed to meet back out at the RV park at 5:00 PM.

Having left most of the meat with those at the RV park, my Wives and I had only a bit of luggage and a small cooler to carry up to our room. We had a room with a king size bed again. It was one of the reasons that we had chosen to stay at this hotel as many others didn’t offer this option.

Just before 5:00 PM, we headed for the trash container area to transfer out to the RV park. The trash area was deserted again, and we quickly used the transfer spell. We appeared in the trees past the last parking space at the park and walked over to the RVs belonging to our people. Hans and his Wife arrived a few minutes later.

We quickly gathered the dozen who had volunteered to help. All eight of the Wolves were males. The two Bears were mates as were the two Honey Badgers. With Hans and the three of us that made sixteen. After explaining what we were going to do that afternoon, we all strolled over to where the trees were out beyond the RV park and its campground. Once hidden from sight by the trees and bushes, we had everyone join hands, and the three of us cast the transfer spell drawing on everyone’s Talent to power it. The others were amazed that we could cast the spell and draw the glyph, but waited until we were ready to add the Magic to it. We all disappeared on adding the accumulated Magic to the glyph in the fingers of our right hands.

We reappeared in the cemetery. The others were excited about the new technique, but were disappointed when the twins pointed out that it required at least a high Third Level Talent to be able to use it. Hans smiled but didn’t say anything. We all transformed into our Were-forms then and set out for the ranch. The Wolves took the flanks of our formation under Hans’s direction. The Bears and the Badgers stayed with my Wives and me. Along the way, we pointed out the various bedding areas that we had found, and then showed them the houses but from a respectful distance.

Although we didn’t do anything to harass the occupants this time some of the dogs at both houses caught the scent of the Wolves who were moving around and checking out everything. The dogs set up a howl, and men came out of the houses to look for the problem, but didn’t detect any of us. After an hour and a-half, or so, we all returned to the cemetery, and transformed back into our Human-forms. The Wolves were all excited and smiling.

“Oh yes!” one of them said. “This is going to be a lot of fun.”

“Remember, those men have guns, and none of you are bulletproof,” I reminded them. “And we don’t want any of you hurt or worse,” I finished.

“There are cattle that we can stampede. The Wolves can herd them, and we can direct them toward the houses,” the male Badger told us.

“They have set some of the dogs loose after us,” Lesia added to the conversation.

“Dogs don’t bother us. None of them are as big as we are,” several of those present said with a laugh. We all joined hands again following that and transferred back to the trees near the RV park. While approaching the RVs, we could smell meat being grilled, and we all increased our pace.

The Wives had prepared quite a bit of the meat that I had given them, and everyone had some, even the children. There were a few things to be discussed yet, and we had another meeting after everyone had eaten and could pay attention to something besides their stomachs.

“Tonight there will be a first quarter moon. It rose a bit after 2:00 this afternoon and will set at around 1:30 tonight. That doesn’t give us a lot of time to do anything after dark which will be at around 8:45,” Hans told the volunteers. He had printed out the moon and sun tables just as we had.

“The moon will rise later each day over the coming week and will consequently be setting later also,” Laura reminded them.

“Usually on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays, some of the guards are off. Since we have been harassing them the last two weekends, this may not be the case this weekend,” Lesia informed them.

“What time should we leave tonight?” Hans asked.

“I would think at 10:30 or 11:00. That should give us an hour and a-half to two hours of moon light to harass the people at the ranch,” I told them.

“They may still be up then, but that can’t be helped,” Laura added.

“Ten-thirty then,” Hans said, and we all went to rest for a time. As 10:30 neared, we all gathered near one RV for a short meeting.

“Since there are so many of us, we could work on both houses at the same time,” Hans suggested.

“All right,” I agreed. “How do you want to split our people up?”

“Half of the Wolves will go with each team. I’ll take the older ranch house with the Bears, if that’s all right?” Hans suggested.

“That sounds good. We’ll take the Badgers and the other half of the Wolves to the big house,” I agreed. We all joined hands in the semi-dark, and my Wives and I again cast the transfer spell. We reappeared at the cemetery.

“Do you want us to wait here, if we are finished first?” Hans asked.

“How will we know if you have returned?” Lesia asked.

“I hadn’t thought of that!” Hans said somewhat chagrined.

“In the future, each group can bring an object with them, a cooler or something to leave their clothes in. When they leave, they take their object with them. That way, the other group will know that they are gone. Tonight, we will need to wait for the others to return,” I told them. Everyone agreed to that, and we quickly removed our clothing again to transform into our Were-forms, and then set out for our destinations.

Our group headed for the main house. All of the outside lights were on there, and we could see two armed men walking guard around the house. Each man also had a large dog with him. The Badgers, my Wives, and I moved downwind of the house while the four Wolves went to distract the guards and the dogs. It didn’t take long for the dogs to catch the scent of the Wolves and set up a real racket.

The foolish guards couldn’t see anything because of the lights being on around the house hadn’t allowed them to develop their night vision. They released the two dogs which were a German Shepard and a pit-bull. The two dogs took off after the Wolves, who led them on a merry chase for a time before turning and attacking the dogs. While Wolves, especially the Gray or Timber Wolf, are normally a bit larger than dogs, these were Weres and were considerably large than their natural cousins. Two on one was not good odds for the dogs either, and both dogs were mauled by the Wolves and sent back toward the house torn and bleeding.