Chapter 4
Opening my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that I was still tired. It takes a lot out of a person to use magic, even with a stored power source. I called the office and left a message for Vivian telling her I would be taking the next few days off, but if she needed me for something important, to call me.
I made coffee and started going over in my mind everything I had learned. Something was nagging at the back of my mind, but it would not solidify into something useful. I went down into my basement and opened a door that convinced everyone else it was not there. Spells were handy things, indeed.
I went in and set my staff into the small bracket that was set in the exact center of this little room. I reached out with my mind, and found energy lines. They were glowing, faintly. I tapped into them, forming a connection between them and my staff. I watched as the power slowly entered my staff, recharging it. I estimated it would take a full day at this level of charging. I reached again, found another line, and diverted more power to the task at hand.
Good, my staff would be refilled in just a couple hours, at this rate. I left the room, closing the door behind me, and saw that my spell re-established itself. I went back upstairs and poured some coffee. I sipped it, still trying to remember what I had heard that was driving me crazy. Something Lauder had said to me.
I puttered around the house, doing some cleaning, and a load of laundry. I kept going over what had happened to me during the visit. Finally it hit me! First they had drugged me, and usually I could avoid that type of thing. Second, Lauder had said and even quoted the time I had been in the army back in the 1800's.
I had enlisted in a the army under an assumed name. I had not entered it under my own name. Shit! I went to my safe (which was also spelled against detection), and examined the spell guarding it. There was a very subtle difference to the spell from when I had first laid it. That shouldn't have happened at all.
I opened the safe and knew. When I was learning magic, Markus had pointed out that each person brought a bit of uniqueness to a spell. It was almost like a DNA match, or a finger print. No two people did magic exactly the same. I had become familiar with the style of magic Markus used, as he had became with mine. I knew that subtle use of magic. He had tried to disguise the fact that he had interfered with my spell. But it was definitely his. Once I knew to look, it was like reading a sign saying, "Markus was here."
I never would have noticed it, if hadn't been for Lauder. Damn it! Markus had to be the leak who had informed Lauder and the government of my identities and life. But there before me, was proof positive that Markus had been in my safe. I knew his magic as well as I knew my own. Damn damn damn!
I still had my ring and watch on, which had not been drained of power at all. I started out by canceling the spell on the safe. I then cast a new one. I looked at the items in my safe carefully. The papers were not in the same order I had placed them in. Just one paper out of place, but it was enough for me to know someone had gotten a good look at my papers too. They contained all my past identities and phony birth certificates.
I carefully placed everything back in the safe, and locked it. The new spell flowed over it, concealing it. I then reinforced the security spell on the walls and house in general. I placed several spell traps, carefully disguised, and then started on a new series of major spells.
I was just getting ready to cast the first new major spell when the phone rang. I let the machine answer it. I heard my voice telling whoever it was to leave name, message and number at the tone.
"Paul? Markus. I am going to be in town later today. I will be staying at the Hamilton. Why don't we get together? I think we have a couple things to talk about. Call me back." He left the number for the front desk of the Hamilton and hung up. Well, what a coincidence.
With my new major spells finished and in place I stepped outside and looked around. I circled my house. Ok, no one was close enough to observe anything. I grabbed at a handful of energy lines and placed a serious spell of defense on my house. I also made it impossible for anyone to enter my house unless I let them.
I re-entered my house and tied the last two spells to my easy chair. Now it would be impossible for anyone with any magic abilities to tamper with or change the spell. The key for the spell was inside the house. Of course, a powerful enough wizard could blast his way in. That meant I had to make a few offensive spells.
I had just finished doing a particularly nasty spell when the phone rang again. This time it was Vivian. I went over to the phone and grabbed it.
"Whats up, Viv." I asked her.
"We got the copy of the will for that young man. He was right. His family is withholding his inheritance." Vivian told me.
"Ok, I will swing by and pick it up, and then swing over to his place. How much money are we talking about?" I asked curiously.
"He was supposed to receive two thousand dollars a month and tuition. While he remained in school, he would receive a full ride, plus the two grand a month. When he turns twenty five, he would receive the remaining two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or upon graduation from college, which ever came first." Vivian said with a bit of contempt in her voice.
"Ok, thanks Viv. Looks like he was right to suspect something. I'll be in shortly." I hung up.
Well, well. I got into my car and drove to the office. No one followed me. I went in and Vivian handed me the file we had received from the county court house. I read the terms of the will. Over the years, I had educated myself a bit about the law.
My client had upheld the terms of the will, but the executor had not lived up to the instructions contained in the will. The instructions were most specific. My client had graduated from college last year at the age of twenty three. According to the terms of the will, he should have received the bulk of his inheritance within a month after graduation. Plus he had not received his two thousand a month. I remembered that from my conversations with him. He had told me he'd had to work his butt off to meet some of his bills.
Apparently the executor had not only not informed my client of the terms of the will, but was keeping it totally secret from him. Well, I knew enough about probate law in this state to know my client had a good case if he desired to go to court. Taking family to court was a nasty business. It caused all kinds of hard feelings, but then, so did theft.
I called the young man in question, and we made arrangements to meet. He could not get off work, but said he could take a break in about thirty minutes. I packed up the will and went back out to my car. As I got in I noticed a man across the street who was trying awfully hard to remain inconspicuous.
I started my car and pulled away. Sure enough, he was behind me very quickly. He was not very good at what he was doing, so I doubted he was associated with Lauder. Or Markus for that matter. He was an enigma, but I had no time for him now. I would just keep my eye on him and take appropriate actions when and if it became necessary.
I pulled into the parking lot of the biggest warehousing complex in town. My client, John Peterson, was warehouse manager for three of the nine warehouses located here. It was a very busy place. Tractor trailer trucks were pulling up to the security fence. They handled a very large volume of various items.
Mostly it was storage, but they also handled transshipments, too. It was an impressive operation, really. I got out, locked the door to my car and casually glanced around. Yup, there was my shadow. I kept a firm grip on my folder and entered the office. As I went in I turned and sure enough, my shadow was hurrying in my direction.
I went to the front desk and asked to speak with John. A few minutes later he came in through a door in the back. He saw me, and came towards me. As he did, my shadow, who had entered and was trying to stay out of my sight, came forward. I moved to intercept him.
"Excuse me. But who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Carl Birch. I am with the Law Offices of, Mabry, Harrow, and Williams. I have been instructed to inform you, John Peterson, that if you will sign this document, a sum of fifty thousand dollars will be sent you by the executor of your parents will."
He paused, opened his brief case, and got a paper out of it. Then he tried to give it to John. Well, that explained who he was.
"As you can see, it is pretty straight forward. All you have to do, is sign this this power of attorney, and a quit claim, and your older brother has agreed to waive the terms of the will stating he must wait for your twenty fifth birthday to give you your share."
"Definitely a grab for your share, John. I have the terms of your parents will, and you were right. You were supposed to be paid tuition, and a payment of two thousand dollars a month, while you were in school. Also, upon your graduation (or your twenty fifth birthday, whichever came first) you were to receive the bulk of your inheritance, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. If you sign that, you will be signing away about two hundred thousand dollars. Plus the difference of what you should have been paid while you were in college," I stated.
"Sir, I have no idea what this gentleman is talking about. All I can do is extend the offer to you that my firm has been retained to do," Mr. Birch said.
I opened my folder and handed the will to John. He started to read it. It didn't take him long to come to the same conclusion I had. The wording was all straight forward. There was nothing in it that said the executor could change the monetary amount given to John. I watched as John read it and saw a sick look cross his face. I felt badly for him.
"Tell your bosses I refuse the offer. Come on, Paul," John said, leading me to an office in the back.
We sat down and John held his head with his hands. He finally looked up after a minute, the anger evident on his face.
"I can't believe my brother Jeffery would treat me like this. I am the youngest. He was supposed to take care of me. Well, he sure took care of me," he said bitterly.
"Listen. I know a pretty good lawyer. He won't charge you an arm or a leg to straighten this out for you. He is retired and works pro bono mostly. He likes to sort of 'right wrongs'. He understands that sometimes the legal system is not so fair," I said.
He nodded, and I gave him the name of my friend. Shortly, I was back in my car and headed back to my house. I started thinking about Markus again. Damn. This was the man who had basically raised me, and trained me in magic. Well, trained me until about seventy years ago. He then said I had learned about as much from him as he could teach me. Which was not true, as I had learned much more, and knew he had been capable of teaching me much more.
I never did call him on that because, well, he did raise me. He was like a father to me. But now I might have to seriously re-evaluate our relationship. What did I know about him. I mean, really know. I thought and remembered. I was just twelve years old when mom had told me I had to leave. She had handed me over to Markus. He had been a trusted aid to my father. She had hugged me, kissed me on my cheek and was gone.
There had been some sort of trouble, but try as I might, I couldn't seem to remember what it was. I frowned. I should be able to remember why I had been sent here! A war! Yes. Insurrection. But why had I had that trouble remembering? I shivered. Someone had tampered with my mind, and I never suspected! That was the only answer!
I pulled over. I started shaking.
Markus had been in my house. I had never even guessed, untill now.
Also, for some reason, I was having a real hard time thinking about my mother and what had brought me to this world. I had a very good memory. I remembered the people that lived next door to me while I lived with Markus. Yet I could barely remember my life before age 12.
I snarled and hit the steering wheel. The bastard was playing me, even back then, and I never knew! A cold feeling settled over me. I checked my spells. I had 5 major spells ready and 9 minor ones. I had my ring and my watch, full of energy. My staff should be recharged by now, and if I was going to go toe to toe with a wizard like Markus, I wanted as much help as possible.
I got back on the road and got back to my house just before four. I got out of my car, locked it, and went up the steps. I had already collected my paper this morning, but my mail was waiting for me. I went through it, but it was the normal bills, and ads.
I went downstairs and retrieved my staff, and changed it into a flashy looking walking stick. I picked up my cloak. I did take time to do a couple more spells on it though. If it came to a fight, I wanted some extra protection. I then placed a final obfuscation spell over it to confuse anyones 'second sight'. No one would be able to tell what spells were on it, not even Markus.
The Hamilton was a first class 5 star hotel. So I dressed in good clothes, and went to a meeting I was dreading. It took me almost twenty minutes to get there. As soon as I entered the hotel, I could feel magical probes. I slipped them easily, and tracked them back to their source. I was surprised, as the person doing the probe was none other than the supposed victim I had found for my police friend, and who turned out to be a test for that department of the NSA which was ever on my mind, now.
We made eye contact. She gestured at me, and I saw a rush of something coming at me. It broke on the new spells that were on my cloak. Her eyes widened. I started walking in her direction. She got up from the couch she had been sitting on, and made a beeline for the Ladies Room. I stopped. At that time, the elevator opened, and Markus came out.
"Paul! It's a pleasure to see you again," he said loudly, jovially.
"Markus," I replied, nodding.
"Come on. I am about to go to dinner. I will buy you a first class meal," Markus said, coming over and trying to take my arm.
"Not just yet. I am waiting for a young lady to come out of the ladies room over there," I said, pointing at the ladies room door.
"She won't come out until I call her, Paul," he said quietly.
"So, she is your creature. She cast something at me. Didn't get a make on it before I broke it. Care to tell me what your... thing... was trying to do?" I asked.
"Come to dinner with me. I will try to explain everything to your satisfaction," he said with a sigh.
I looked at him closely. He was a walking spell factory. Two of the three rings on his hands were actually spells. The spell ring on his left hand was a fire spell. The one on his right hand some sort of dark spell I was unfamiliar with. It made me nervous just seeing it. Dark spells always were deadly and were used for killing. I noticed that he had checked me out too. He could see the power ring I wore on my right hand, and the power watch I wore on my left wrist. I didn't have any prepared spell items as he did, unless you counted the watch ring and staff. But those just held power, not specific spells.
Edited by TeNderLoin