Chapter 22
While Vivian went into town to do some shopping, I called my lawyer from Hank's phone. I told him that I wanted to buy some property, and told him where. It would require at least one more trip, possibly two, before the sale and title transfer was completed.
After I finished with my lawyer, I went in search of Marla, the friendly neighborhood Combat Wizard. I wanted her thoughts on something. I tracked her down in the old machine shed of the farmhouse. She was fascinated by everything.
"Marla? Could you give me your thoughts on something?" I asked her.
"Sure, what's the problem?" she asked curiously.
I let it all pour out. About my seemingly stupid mistakes, and my not being able to think things through. I told her what my job had been, prior to my newfound jump into 'nobility'. I told her how I'd had to collect facts, and solve crimes.
She listened as I outlined the litany of mistakes and thoughtless things I had done in the last few days. She pursed her lips, and said something that didn't make any sense to me.
"Sounds like a psychic slug," she said.
"What the hell is a psychic slug?" I asked.
"Most magic users in our world know to guard against them. If you have not trained in our magic, and just cast powerful spells without taking precautions, you wind up capturing the attention of a creature that is on the spirit plane. But can eat energy from our plane.
"They are usually harmless, but can be annoying. They interfere with thought processes in peculiar ways. They feed off the excess energy you create, when you're doing spells. Most of us guard against them in such a way, as we don't even realize we are doing it.
"If you ask me; what your having trouble with, and what is causing you trouble, is you're being slowly drained by a psychic slug," she finished calmly.
"Is it dangerous?" I gasped fearfully.
"Not really. It would take it forever to drain you. You regenerate power faster than it can suck it off of you. However, it will interfere with your memory a bit. It knows a good thing when it stumbles across one," she said.
"Can we do anything about it?" I asked.
"Yes. I can drive it out of you, or off you, depending on where it is located. It will take only a short time," she said.
So it was. She did a spell, and the cast it at me. I actually felt something being torn out of my skull. While it didn't hurt; it was... well, disgusting! It also caused me to feel ill for a short time.
"How do I keep it from coming back?" I asked her.
"No problem. See the remnants of the spell I cast?" he asked me.
I nodded to her. It was easy to see and detect, now that it was gone. Well, to see where it had been, anyway.
"Now create a pathway of power to the spell, and let it establish a connection," she told me.
I did that.
"Ok, you should be set. You should keep an eye on it for a day or two, but the connection will automatically renew the spell all the time, now," she said with a smile.
I thanked her profusely. I was getting tired of looking like a fool! A psychic slug, of all things. Not a clever spell from an enemy, just a naturally occurring magical phenomenon.
Vivian returned from her first shopping spree. She had purchased several cases of food items that I had not seen on the other side, including sugar. I had her buy all the baking items: such as baking soda, baking powder, and spices of every imaginable sort.
While the meals had been good at Marald's keep, they had been a bit bland. I was going to 'spice things up', so to speak. I had her go back and buy flour in bulk 50-pound bags. Not just regular flour either.
I wanted finely ground flour, and coarse flour, too. She bought syrup by the case. All in all, we had around two thousand dollars worth of spices and other supplies to transport to the other world. I intended to try to introduce several new types of food over there, and I was not sure they had what I needed to prepare them.
Hank and Darla finally returned when it was getting towards dark. They were followed by a police car. I wondered what this was about.
Darla got out of Hank's 'rattle trap', and walked over to me.
"Paul, someone tried to make trouble for us in town. As soon as we got in, we were arrested and told we were being held for our own good. When I asked why we had to be protected for our own good, they responded that there was a report from a federal agency that we were targets of a terrorist plot.
"If I hadn't had friends on the force, we might still be there. When we checked for the agencies supposed warning, there was none on record. There was an order for a warrant of protection, but no authentication.
"We were almost victims of the Patriot Act. As soon as you say 'terrorist', you lose all your rights as a citizen. It's almost as if the government does not want you to be able to object to anything they do," Darla finished with a scowl.
"Someone is really getting desperate to hold us and harass us. The list is very short. Markus, Melissa. That is all I know about from my end. Could that captain of yours be in on this unknown hold order that almost got you?" I asked Darla.
"While you met him under peculiar circumstances, I don't believe he would be a party to something like this. I vote for your baddies," she said with a grin.
"Ok. My baddies it is. Marla? Do you have us covered?" I asked her.
She nodded, and kept looking at the police car that was still at the end of the driveway.
"What's with the guard?" Marla asked.
"Compliments of the force. As long as we are here, a car will be close by. Even though I quit the force, someone tried to harm me, and most of the guys took it personal," Darla said.
We spent several days getting everything done that we could. I had several pallets of foodstuffs, and a few with other things that I intended to find out if they would work in that land. Money talks, and we managed to get the land into escrow fairly quickly.
I received my money from the town of Clinton. That's what I used to buy Hank's land. I also transferred a large sum to my bank, and had them set up an account from which certain specific services would be drawn. Taxes would be paid, a lawn service was retained to keep my lawn cut, an executor would drive by the property occasionally, to see if repairs needed to be made.
Not that I thought there would be repairs needed, with all the spells I had placed on my home. The executor's visits were to be made, so as to avoid looking as though I was being neglectful of my property.
Finally, we were done. Hank fronted Darla enough money to pay off her debts in full. I was grateful that he had done that. As much as I liked Darla, I didn't think she would have accepted anything from me... yet.
I was going to change that. I now felt that I was in love with Darla. Ever hear of love at first sight? Well thats how I was feeling. We decided to get some sleep, and leave first thing in the morning.
We had just finished the last of the coffee (which I had also bought by the case), when we all felt it. Marla leaped to her feet, instantly transforming from a friend, into a Combat Wizard.
Hank had some old protections on the house. These saved us and also protected us. A massive sleep spell had been cast. We all cast protection spells, then Marla launched a few counter spells.
We made it out the door and spread out. I noticed that the two officers in the squad car were unconcious. There were several attackers making their way from two different directions. Hank and Darla faced one way, and Marla and I faced the other group of attackers.
I concentrated and recognized one of the attackers. Melissa! Damn! Would this woman never leave me alone? I cast at her, and she turned my heart attack spell aside. Ok, I didn't think it would have gotten through. For the next several minutes there was a brisk exchange of spells. Time after time my shield flared in defense. I sent spell after spell out, but the enemy had a good defensive capability too.
I looked at Melissa and started pulling in my concentration. I was going to try for an unprecedented, for me anyway, 'power punch' spell. It was going to be a raw power spell. I could feel the power building.
All around me my friends were still casting. Darla was doing pretty well. I could feel a gate starting to open. As I blasted Melissa with my spell, Markus stepped through the gate he had obviously made.
Most of my spell hit Melissa's shield and it collapsed. Good, now to get rid of her, once and for all. Unfortunately, I had not reckoned with Markus.
"Stop! Cease!" Markus yelled.
"Not on your life, Markus! I am going to settle this, now! Your daughter has gone too far!" I yelled, again gathering power.
Markus gestured at his stunned daughter, and a shield formed around her. He then stepped to the side.
"I can't allow you to hurt my daughter," Markus told me.
"So it's ok for her to come at me, but I can't defend myself? Markus, you have an awful lot to answer for. Care to start explaining yourself?" I asked him.
The battle had ground to a halt while Markus and I talked. Darla and Hank flanked me, and Marla walked a little off to once side so as to keep everyone in sight. At that time, another figure stepped out of the gate. Marla hissed.
"So, you are in the pay of the enemy," she said between clinched teeth.
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
"That man who just came through the gate, is an agent of Salvadi Minturi! He is of the enemy camp!" Marla spat out.
I looked at Markus. He sighed. "I can explain, Paul. It's not what you think," he said lamely.
The new-comer looked at us, and sneered. He definitely thought the world of himself.
"Do not lower yourself to explaining anything to these scum. Your daughter had the right idea. Kill them all, and be done with it," the new man said.
I felt a rage building up inside me. Something was happening. The new man also chose that time, to throw some sort of object at our group. When it hit the ground close by us, it exploded in a ball of light. The light sent out tentacles at all of us. I felt agony as a tentacle touched me. I heard others in my group screaming. I felt myself change. I heard clothing rip, and then I was no longer affected by the tentacle. I spat fire at the man who had thrown it at us.
He didn't even have time to scream. He was incinerated instantly. I roared, and ran at the others. They scattered. I wanted Markus though. It was now apparent to me, and to everyone in my group, that he was a traitor.
I inhaled and breathed out fire. He had grabbed his daughter, and vanished through his gate, just before my fire arrived at where he had been standing. In short order, I killed the remaining attackers. It didn't take me long. Though they tried, none of the spells they cast at me worked. They bounced off my hide. The defensive shields they cast were ineffective against my Dragon's fire.
Everyone was looking at me with a shocked expression, as I started to return to my friends. I stopped. I saw fear in some of the looks I was getting. That hurt me. I opened my mouth, and they cringed.
"Come, now," I hissed, "Surely you don't think I would harm you, do you?" I asked, still smarting from the looks.
"You have to admit, you are most fearsome looking. We did not know you could turn into a Dragon," Marla said.
"Speak for yourself. I knew. I was told what happened in the palace, but to see it first hand..." she said, walking towards me.
Finally she got to me, and I lowered my head. She put her hand on my scaled nose and scratched it. I barely felt it.
"Ok, does anyone know how I am supposed to change back?" I asked.
There was a painful silence.
"You don't know? But from what Darla said, you have already done this before," Hank said.
"Uh yeah. About that. I was unconscious the first time I changed. It seemed to happen all by itself. Now I would like to change back on purpose. I also need some clothes!" I hissed.
"I swear boy, you're going to go through more clothes like this. I got some old things in the house you can have. Let me get them. You just concentrate on changing back." Hank said and marched off to the house. I looked at everyone who was looking at me.
"Ok. This ain't no peep show. If I am going to do this, I want some privacy. I will not revert back to human form just to be naked in front of all you people!" I said with a scathing hiss.
There were chuckles, as I wondered up to the house, and waited for Hank to come out. He showed up with some overalls and a flannel shirt. He also brought out a pair of sandles for my feet.
We then went off to the barn together, and I tried to figure out how this was done.
"Do you remember the feeling you had when you first changed?" Hank asked me.
"Yes. Are you saying I should try to duplicate that feeling, only feel the need to change back?" I asked him with my hiss filled voice.
"Got it first time through. If I were you, I would get busy and figure this out. Your Dragon form is too big to go through the gate that you made, here,. He said, grinning.
I grunted, already recalling how I had changed in the first place. I clumsily felt in my mind as for the reverse sequence of what I had done. It was actually easier to do than I had thought it would be.
One instant I was a Dragon; the next, I was a naked and shivering man. I switched back to Dragon, then back to man. It didn't hurtt, but it was a strange sensation, to say the least. But, damn it, I now knew how to do it! I was also hungrier than I had been before!
I put on the clothes and sandles that Hank handed me, and we went off in search of something I could eat. Changing back and forth from Dragon to human, back to dragon and then back to human, was a very hunger intensifying experience.
"Well, it looks like I have solved 'the change' problem. But it sure as hell leaves me feeling like I have not eaten in days!" I told the group, as I returned to them dressed in the old clothes.
Edited by TeNderLoin