Hamilton Swoop, Wizard of Green Ridge (33 page)

Hamilton pushed the body off, jumped up and then spun around to face the others. Tummin stood on the far side of the pit staring at him. “You killed my dragon! You'll pay for that!"

If Tummin had attacked when Melvin had, he knew he would have little chance of stopping the two wizards from igniting their Devil's Blood, and terminating his magical abilities, but talking? That was Hamilton's long suit honed by decades of barter. He knew he had to delay them until Thalia was able to send him the trigger for the orb.

"Why's that?” he shouted back. “If you hadn't put Obsidian's trunk in McDuggins’ home, I wouldn't be here. Blame yourself, not me."

Topaz leveled his wand at Hamilton, but Tummin put out his arm and pushed the wand down. He said something to Topaz who shook his head and stuck his wand back in his belt. Then he ran toward their wagon.

"Besides,” shouted Hamilton. “That was a pretty weak dragon you made."

"Weak? You're crazy. It was strong enough to scare the peasants out of this town. It was strong enough to defeat the best that Central City's Guild could throw at it."

"Very impressive. You beat back some old men and children. You knew that the Guild was powerless. Why did you even waste your time with them?"

"What difference does it make now? They're out of the picture."

"But I'm not. I was ready to chuck this whole thing, but when your flunkies grabbed my assistant, you made a huge mistake."

"And what do you think you can do against two wizards? You haven't practiced magic in half a century. Besides, once I light up this stuff...” Tummin pointed at the barrels lining the excavation, “...your magic will disappear in the smoke. Then what can you do?"

Topaz returned from the wagon with an unlit torch. Tummin took the torch from him and ignited it. He gave it to Duck and gestured toward the barrels of devil's blood.

Then Tummin turned back to Hamilton saying, “Do your worst, you're got nothing to challenge me. You've lost.” He gestured to Duck who headed for the barrels. Both Tummin and Topaz donned the masks they had been carrying.

As Duck put the torch to the first barrel and then went to light the other barrels, Hamilton concentrated and summoned a thunder storm, albeit a small one. He waved Obsidian's wand in the air and dark clouds blotted the sun. Lightning crackled in the sky followed by the rumble of thunder. Within seconds, rain started to fall.

"Fool,” screamed the enraged wizard. “You can't put out these fires with rain."

But Hamilton had no intention of trying to douse the flames. What he was trying to do was to buy time. He knew the rain wouldn't help, but what accompanied the rain would. Wind.

Tummin drew his wand and pointed it at Hamilton. “And now you will pay, old man!” Raw power flashed from the tip of his wand as a violet flame licked out toward Hamilton.

Hamilton countered with a minor shield. The flame skipped harmlessly past him. Then he summoned a concussive. Tummin brushed it off with his own shield spell.

They traded spells for a few moments with no one getting the upper hand. Tummin shouted, “It's only a matter of time. Just now long do you think you can keep your storm spell running and fight me at the same time?” His voice was muffled as it came through his mask and the rain.

Tummin summoned a static charge and hurled it at Hamilton.

A very quick gesture on Hamilton's part managed to deflect and ground the charge which exploded a few feet away sending mud and bits of chipped rock in all directions. A shard caught Hamilton a glancing blow on the right side of his forehead. He felt no pain, but did feel a trickle of blood.

Hamilton's hand shook both from the effort he was exerting and from fear. He knew Tummin was right. He had no idea how long he could keep defending himself and still keep the wind blowing. A blast from Tummin almost disintegrated Hamilton's shield and he fought to reinforce it. A second blast followed the first and Hamilton felt heat on his cheeks. The storm spell was draining him as he fought to maintain his shields. He threw back a blinder spell and, for an instant, the two wizards and Duck were enveloped by a sphere of dazzling white light.

Hamilton followed the blinder with a muffler spell and, for a few seconds, dead silence blanketed the area. He knew that it couldn't harm anyone, but it was disorienting for those who had been blinded by his flash. Blood ran into his right eye. He tried to wipe it away with his sleeve as he had no time to heal the wound.

The effects of the muffler spell wore off. Over the renewed sounds of the storm, Hamilton heard a voice deep in his mind. He wanted to look, but dared not take his eyes off Tummin who loosed another blast in his direction. Hamilton deflected it, but in doing so noticed a growing weakness in his arm.

Having a good time?

That you, cat? Where are you?

Your girlfriend came looking for you at the inn so horse and I decided to give her a lift. We'll be there in a minute or so.

Thalia!
Hamilton called, but there was nothing.

She can't hear you, Her magic still isn't working. Want us to join you?

No. It's far too dangerous.
Hamilton deflected a green bolt of energy that crashed behind him.
Ask her if she found the trigger.

Yes. Here it is.
Whiskers relayed Thalia's words. The trigger was long and complex and Hamilton fought to focus his concentration on it while still defending himself. Topaz had now joined Tummin in the attack and Hamilton could feel his shield spells disintegrating under the onslaught. Worse, he could feel the storm he had created ebbing.

Hamilton intoned the trigger spell. Nothing happened. Panic swept into his mind. The two wizards were now pouring continuous blasts at Hamilton's shield which was weakened to the point of collapse.

We're almost there, Old Man. And don't say no.

Hamilton fought for control. He took a deep breath, abandoned the storm spell, and focused all of his remaining energies into a reflector shield. His darkonium wand flared with blue fire.

Tummin, frustrated, moved to the nearest of the burning barrels and kicked it. It fell over and a stream of fire ran down the embankment heading for the dark pool of liquid death at the bottom of the pit.

And then, in an instant, everything changed. The masks dropped off Tummin and Topaz. Their willow wands disintegrated. And, as their shields buckled, their own blasts, reflected back by Hamilton's shield spell, hit them. The two toppled backwards out of sight.

Hamilton collapsed in a heap, his energy drained far beyond his limits.

Sitting on the ground, he had just enough energy left to look around. Duck was running away. The two wizards had disappeared.

Thalia, atop Bethesda, with Whiskers running along behind arrived at his side. Thalia dismounted and hurried to him.

Beyond that, the pit was surrounded by townspeople drawn by the commotion. Everything seemed fuzzy. Hamilton blinked his eyes trying to focus. He looked at Thalia who seemed to be naked. He blinked again and tried to smile at her. The townspeople were approaching them. They looked naked too. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind and shuddered as bitter cold enveloped him. Then everything went dark.

He awoke in his bed at the inn covered in blankets. Thalia slept in a chair and Whiskers napped at the foot of the bed. When Hamilton stirred, Whiskers opened an eye. A
wake, are we?

A sharp pain shot through Hamilton's forehead and he reached up to touch its source. A damp bandage met his fingers. Fuzzy memories of the incident at the pit crept into his mind.

"Yes. How long was I asleep?"

Asleep? Old Man, you were almost dead. You've been unconscious for three days!

"Three days?” Hamilton sat up in bed.

Thalia stirred. When she saw Hamilton awake, she smiled and her face lit up. The glow faded, but the smile remained. She jumped up from her chair spilling her blanket on the floor and rushed to Hamilton's side. “I was so worried. Don't ever do that again!"

"Almost die? I promise. Oh yes. I'll promise that anytime.” He paused for a moment and then added with more calm in his voice, “You know, I had the strangest dreams while I was asleep. And for some reason, nobody in the dream had any clothes on. Make any sense to you?"

"Quite a bit. That part wasn't a dream."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...” Thalia sat on the bed. “When the orb went off..."

"Then it did go off?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Did it work? Did it eliminate the Devil's Blood?” Hamilton sat up taller and leaned against the headboard.

"Among other things."

"Huh?"

"It seems that ‘post organic material’ includes Devil's Blood. The orb was less specific than you thought."

"What else?"

"Let's see. Leather, wool, linen, and cotton. Anything that was constructed from the remains of living entities. The villagers that were rushing you found themselves naked and cold. Took the fight right out of them. Oh, and several of the buildings near the pit collapsed. Seems that wood is also a post organic material. Fortunately, the buildings had been abandoned for some time."

"So. Does that mean we're done?"

Thalia looked shocked. “Don't you like me anymore?"

"No. I mean yes. I meant that we're done with dragon killing and chasing evil wizards."

"Oh,” Thalia smiled again. “I suppose so. The Wizards Guild has elevated you to Master."

"I'm already a ‘Master'. What's the point in that?"

"Not Central City's Guild. The Planetary Guild. And your new title is Guildmaster."

"But of which Wizards Guild?

"All of them. You should be proud. After all, you saved all the Guilds when you eliminated the Devil's Blood. Eventually, it would have made magic impossible everywhere."

Hamilton frowned and shook his head until his forehead throbbed. “I didn't do this for the Guild. I don't owe them a thing. They were the ones that took away my magic as punishment not for anything that I had done, but rather for the potential for what I might do. No. Pune the Guild. If that's all it was I'd be back in Green Ridge right now."

"But then why did you stay?"

"Two things. The first is what Cobalt told me about what this stuff did to the old world. Just because it poisons magic doesn't matter much to me. I lived almost 40 years without it. But that it poisons the air and is responsible for the deaths of so many. Well. That made doing what I tried to do worth it."

"What was the other thing?"

Hamilton stroked his beard and smiled. He let a dozen seconds pass before he replied, “The other thing? Why you of course."

Thalia smiled as Hamilton realized he'd finally gotten it right.

Whiskers jumped onto Hamilton's lap and Hamilton looked down at her. “You're putting on some weight, cat."

That's what happens when you're going to have kittens.

"But you're a house cat? Where? When?"

In the Guild. While I was waiting for you to show up downstairs in the dark, I ran into Sampson. Oh, Sampson.

Hamilton squinted, confused. He looked at Thalia.

"Sampson's the Guild cat."

"So you're going to have kittens. Well, that should make life interesting."

And I'm not the only one...

Hamilton gazed at Thalia, his eyes wide.

Thalia blushed.

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L. Stewart Hearl

Mr. Hearl has done everything from steering a US Navy submarine to running a mainframe computer room. His writing credits include a monthly column in the Texas Gulf Coast MENSA bulletin (InforMENSA), nationally published freelance articles, and now this, his first full-length novel. His goal in life is to leave the earth (as soon as he is able to defeat his arch-enemy—gravity). Currently, he lives in Houston, Texas.