Inheritanceby Clyde Andrews |
Table of Contents Part 1 appears in this issue. |
| Part 2 of 3 |
“You don’t need to draw me a picture,” L.J.P. smiled. “I need to know how this all happened.”
“Like I said, I don’t know. I must have been hit over the head or something. I mean the room was dark... I remember hearing Hannah scream... and well, here I am.”
“That certainly does not help,” L.J.P. said rubbing his chin. “Has anything... different... happened today?”
“What, you mean besides seeing you try to squeeze into a suit?” Shane quipped.
“Oh, very funny. Always the comedian, aren’t you?”
Shane then hesitated. “Well, come to think of it, Hannah was talking to this man I had never seen before. She said that he knew me — yes, that’s right, she said that he was a friend of mine.”
“Mmm,” L.J.P. said, now scratching his head. “I need more to go on than that. But it is a start.”
“Say, where is Hannah?” Shane said, trying to get up from the bed but finding it difficult. “I think I have had more than a bump to the head. I feel terrible.”
“I thought you knew... Here, let me look at you properly,” L.J.P. said, helping Shane to his feet, then opening the curtains so he could see.
Shane did look terrible, but L.J.P. concluded that the bump, though nasty, would not hamper him in any way. Besides, L.J.P. had acquired a nice new jar of magician’s healing ointment from the local herbalist. What better time to use it than now?
* * *
L.J.P. decided, because really he had nothing else to go on, that he would start looking around the house for any clues; a dropped object, a torn shred of cloth, even a hair. Anything that seemed out of the ordinary for what was usually in Shane’s home.
He knew there had to be some sort of calling card left by the dark magician that had beaten Shane and obviously abducted Hannah. Magicians, especially dark ones, always love to show off their powers. Doing such a thing as this and then leaving no clue was almost unheard of in L.J.P.’s experience.
L.J.P. was right. In the games room, behind the fold-out sofa was a transport circle drawn onto the floor tiles. L.J.P. smiled. “At least we now know how he got away,” L.J.P. said kneeling down to inspect the magician’s handiwork. “Although there is one thing I really don’t understand, S.U.”
“What’s that?” Shane said, joining L.J.P. in his examination.
“You are a powerful magician, that is not in dispute: but tell me, how could you not only be surprised but also controlled by this dark magician?”
Shane hesitated. A look of concern flashed across his face. “I really don’t know, L.J.P.”
L.J.P. took off his spectacles. He then looked directly into Shane’s eyes. “I think there is something you are not telling me.”
Shane flushed red, looking away from his mentor. “Just... Let’s just go. I want to get Hannah back.”
“As you wish. But know this, S.U. To love another when you are a magician is to put that person in danger. And I suspect that is just what has happened here.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s just a friend... That’s all.”
L.J.P. curled up the corner of his lip and frowned. He knew Shane was hiding something. He just hoped it wasn’t to his or anyone else’s detriment. L.J.P. knew one thing; he knew that he would find out sooner or later. He always did.
Letting it be for now, L.J.P. gestured for Shane to follow him into the transport circle.
Before they entered the circle, L.J.P. turned to Shane once more: “Where’s Valerie?”
“Oh, she must still be out shopping with all her friends. I think this retirement party means quite a lot to her,” Shane said, somewhat relieved that L.J.P.’s inquisitive nature did not compel him ask more questions about Hannah.
They stepped into the chalk drawn circle, disappearing in an instant.
* * *
L.J.P.’s eyes took a while to adjust. He hated transporting somewhere by magic; it always set his teeth on edge. Shane also looked disoriented: a knock to his head and transporting, to boot.
They had materialised into a somewhat normal-looking room. It might have beeen anywhere. L.J.P. looked around and caught Hannah sitting comfortably on a peacock chair in the corner by the room’s only window. Afternoon sunlight dappled her feet.
Next to her was a man. A man that Shane instantly recognised as the stranger Hannah was talking to earlier today.
“Welcome, magician. Welcome to my home,” the dark magician chirped with a grin reminiscent of a clown’s.
L.J.P. and Shane looked at each other before L.J.P. uttered: “We’re here to take the girl. Then you can do as you wish. You might do us all a favour by jumping off of something, preferably tall.”
The dark magician nodded. “I see. Sure, you can have her. And just when I was getting to know her, too. Oh, well, Hannah, be a dear and go with this magician.”
“Don’t be silly, Damian. I’m not going anywhere,” she said shifting in the chair. “Besides, why would I leave just when my darling has arrived?”
L.J.P. was perplexed. ‘My, my, this magician was either amazingly powerful or breathtakingly stupid to reveal his name — any name’, L.J.P. thought with raised eyebrows.
Shane had gone over to Hannah and was hugging her. L.J.P. knew there and then that she was more than just a friend, especially by the way she and Shane were kissing.
“You see, magician. I have done nothing wrong here. Certainly nothing to warrant your barging into my home demanding that I release my guest into your custody. Who do you think you are?” he smiled. “I have not taken her unwillingly.”
“Then, my dear fellow, what is your motive? There is always an evil motive when dark magicians like yourself get involved in other people’s business,” L.J.P. scorned.
“There’s also the little matter of using, Shane as a conduit so you could take, Hannah in the first place. Evil deed number one in my book, dear fellow. besides, I know that she is in your possession, DAMIAN!” The last word L.J.P. spoke resonated through the room. Having a power that seemed to take flight and spread, as if it had a life of its own.
Damian just closed his eyes, letting the power of the word wash over him. When he opened them he had an expression on his face that was clearly less cheery. It was like stone; solid, cold, and brutal.
“You see, I have prepared myself,” he grinned evilly. “Do you think I am a rank amateur stumbling along in the world of magic? No, magician, I am Damian the Great, and I have done all of this to smite the world of your kind.”
L.J.P. sighed. “Oh, just great. Here we go again. I knew the insanity would kick in sooner or later.”
* * *
Shane sensed that Hannah did not return his embrace with her usual vigour and the same intent as his own. Something was wrong with her. What L.J.P. and the dark magician had just said to each other confirmed it. He stood up, moving quickly towards the dark magician that called himself Damian the Great.
Damian turned to him, seeing him approach from the corner of his eye. “Before you make a move against me, Shane, I think you should know something.”
When Shane heard his name uttered, he froze, unable to move his feet from the floor.
“Darn,” L.J.P. swore, “I was afraid of this.” ‘Exorcisms are dodgy at the best of times; especially without a priest,’ he thought, scratching his goatee.
“And so you should be, magician. For these two are mine. Make one move against me and I will channel all the power within Shane and obliterate you from the face of the earth. Get me?”
“Tell me, dark magician,” L.J.P. said playing secretly with a stick of chalk in his jacket pocket. “Tell me what you plan to do next.”
* * *
L.J.P. needed to be certain that this magician was all just hot air, and indeed not as powerful as he had made himself out to be.
“I’m glad you asked. I’m going to free, Shane from my grasp-”
“I beg your pardon?” L.J.P.’s eyebrows shot up his forehead like a snapped-back window shade.
“I have something to tell him. And he needs to know it as himself, not as my puppet.”
“Aren’t you the generous one... Damian?”
“Using my name will get you nowhere. I have protected myself from your voice: notice the floor?”
L.J.P. looked down. Written on the jarrah floor boards in black chalk — well-camouflaged — was a line dividing the room. Along the line, complicated algorithms were drawn. This magician knew his stuff. L.J.P. cursed under his breath.
“You see. I am Damian the Great!”
“I do see, dear fellow. I see, too, that you are clutching at straws,” L.J.P. quipped. “The second you release, S.U. from your grasp he will annihilate you. And if he doesn’t, I’m gonna come over there and give you such a spanking!”
“Don’t be so sure, magician.” But Damian had already turned his attention to Shane, leaving L.J.P. to do nothing else other than watch him weave his magic.
Damian, with chalk and smile, scribbled a formula on Shane’s T-shirt. “Shane, as rock becomes sand; you are released from my precious grasp, taken from my safe sanctuary. You are alone.”
L.J.P. just looked up to the heavens, shaking his head at how pompous and self-righteous dark magicians were.
In the next instant, Shane blinked, returning to himself. He screamed something unintelligible and with mental power flung Damian away from himself.
Shane glared with angry, blood-shot eyes at the one who had caged him within himself. “I should wipe you away like bread crumbs from the table. How dare you. How...”
Shane narrowed his eyes and a great bolt of energy discharged into Damian. The dark magician was jolted by the charge, and smoke began to fill the room.
“I will kill you for taking my Hannah away, for taking me.”
L.J.P. smiled. He liked being proved right, although the force with which Shane struck concerned him.
“STOP! Wait — I’m... I’m your brother!” Damian squeaked through dry, parched lips.
* * *
Shane stopped. The smell of burnt flesh rank in the air. “What... what did you say?” Shane said.
“Don’t listen to him, S.U. He’ll do anything to save his sorry hide. Dark magicians are devious. Be careful, dear fellow.”
“Shh, L.J.P. I need to hear him out,” Shane said moving closer to the cowering Damian who shielded his face with his hand as Shane’s shadow fell over him.
“I am your brother — if you don’t believe me, ask your girlfriend. She knows.”
Shane scowled at Damian: “Release her, or you will not survive another heartbeat. I want her to say it as herself. I need her to say it as herself.”
“This is all a ruse, S.U. Can you not see that?”
“I said, be quiet, L.J.P.”
L.J.P. looked hurt. “I am only trying to help you, dear fellow.”
“I can handle this myself.” But as Shane’s attention was focused on L.J.P., Damian took up Hannah from the chair and held her like a human shield; chalk in hand at the ready.
“Release her, I said.”
“Never! She is the only insurance I have,” Damian grinned, “Now, Shane, listen. Listen to me, watch my lips, feel the words I am saying-”
“He’s using his power again, S.U. — he’s gonna try and take you again-”
“Shutup! Shutup all of you. I just want Hannah to be safe,” Shane cried. His face getting redder and redder with each passing moment.
Shane was mad. Not only with the games Damian was playing, but also with L.J.P. He was far more powerful than both of them put together. He was not a teenager any more. He did not need to be babied through every situation in life.
With his mind, and in his anger, he pictured an image of Damian’s house. Then he imagined the very structure of the house disintegrating; bricks and glass and tiles and steel flying about as if they had been blown up.
When he opened his eyes his vision was a reality. In his anger, in a brief moment of madness, he had destroyed the house. An open field with pockets of natural bushland all that could be seen beyond the rubble.
Copyright © 2006 by Clyde Andrews
