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.
"You're gawking," the female voice said to me.
I shook myself and turned to look at the one who spoke, and froze. She was beautiful beyond compare. Small, about five foot tall, blond hair, gray eyes, and a light sprinkling of freckles across her nose. I gaped and looked at her, my tongue frozen to the roof of my mouth.
She frowned prettily at me.
"It's not polite to stare, you know," she said, and then grinned.
"Sorry," I stammered. "You just took me by surprise," I finally got out.
"I have never seen you before. May I help you with something?" she asked me.
"Umm, what is this place? I swear I have never seen it before. At least, today is the first time I have noticed this store," I said.
She stared at me a moment.
"Really? This store has been here ever since I was a child. It has always been here," she replied with a smile.
She smiled nicely. Her smile seemed to light up the place and I loved that it was directed at me.
"You're staring again," she said, blushing slightly.
"I'm so sorry. It's just, well, have we met before? You seem familiar to me," I stuttered at her.
"I don't think so. I'm sure I would remember someone like you," she answered.
I couldn't help myself. I just took in her beauty. She was the very essence of all I admired. She was a sunny day, a ray of sunshine. I caught myself as she was frowning again.
"Will you stop staring at me?" she said and stomped her foot.
Even that was cute. I noticed her breasts bobbed freely when she did that, moving naturally under her shirt, unrestrained in anyway. They were perfect on her and matched her small frame perfectly. Everything about her seemed perfect to me.
"Now then, is there something specific you would like?" she asked me again.
"No thank you. I was drawn here. I guess I will just look around," I told her.
She frowned at me. Then her frown cleared and she smiled again.
"In that case, I will be straightening out the books. If you have questions about the books, just ask me, and I will help you then," she said, then turned and walked into the book racks.
She had a very nice sway to her walk. She was magnificent. I could have looked at her all day long. I seemed to be drawn to her for some reason... and I did not mind one bit. I looked around, but my eyes kept returning to the direction in which she had gone. This explained how I had missed the other person who approached me a few minutes later.
"Excuse me. If you will follow me, everything will be explained to you," a voice told me.
I started jumpily, and turned in the direction of the voice. An elderly lady was standing there. She seemed amused and curious.
"Explained?" I asked her curiously.
"Yes. You have an appointment in the back. That is why you were allowed to see this place," she replied earnestly.
"I do? I didn't know this place existed! Now I have an appointment here?" I responded, confused.
"All will be explained. Please follow me," she said, and led me towards the back of the store, towards that closed door.
Appointment? Allowed to see this place? What was she talking about? Still, I was curious. I played along, to see what this was about. The worst case I could imagine, would be to have a little of my time wasted. If an explanation was forthcoming, so much the better.
She paused at the door, opened it, and waved me though. I looked into the room. It seemed like an ordinary room, to me.
I stepped through the door and gasped. All of a sudden I was in a different place!
I had not seen or felt the gateway, but I had to have stepped through one. All of a sudden I was standing on a well worn path. A tree dotted meadow seemed to be my new reality. Animals grazed in the distance, and I could hear a brook or stream babbling near by.
I turned to ask the lady how I had gotten here, but there was no sign of the doorway I had just stepped though!
I started to feel panicky. There should have been something there for me to see or sense.
"Greetings. I have been waiting for you," said an old sounding voice from behind me.
I turned around and there, standing where no one had been before, was the oldest person I had ever seen. I could not tell if it were man or woman. While the body seemed old and bent, it seemed to radiate a sort of peace and power at the same time.
I looked around wildly. This was impossible! I opened and closed my mouth several times. The one before me just stood, bent slightly and leaning on a cane made from a tree branch of some sort.
I looked into the eyes, and felt myself falling into them. They were old, they were older than the oldest eyes I had ever seen and seemed to contain the wisdom of the world. They were knowing, those eyes, and they weighed me and I had the feeling of something going through me.
"Come. Walk with me. Your road has been long, and it has had some surprising twists in it, recently. It is time to learn who and what you are, and what you will become," the aged voice told me.
The bent figure turned and started walking towards a group of trees, and at a brisker pace than I would have supposed that the apparent age of the body could walk.
I hurriedly caught up, with questions on the tip of my tongue. Yet, for some reason, I withheld them. I simply followed.
A short time later, we came into a small grove of trees. Inside the grove, there was a pool of water. Many fish swam in it.
A gnarled old tree grew beside the pool, and a seat seemed to have been carved into a tree stump. The one in front of me went there, and sat down.
"Make yourself comfortable. We will be here for some time," the old one told me.
I looked around, then sat at his/her feet, waiting.
Edited by TeNderLoin