THE VROL TRILOGY (61 page)

"Ok, that sounds cool. But can you show me a
magic trick, please? I never saw one before and want to-"

"Ok, ok. How about this?"

Adam waved his wand and recited a cantus
while pointing his wand at the leftover stew.

"
Undaincantatio aestus!"

Adam had performed a simple cantus to heat
the stew, and brought it to a rolling boil quite quickly.

"Wow," exclaimed Max, feigning
amazement, and throwing a bit of sarcasm into his voice, "that's
really cool. Wowwwwww. You're better than a stove. How about
instead of taking over the club, you can heat up stuff, like water
and food? You could be
Adam, the Living
Microwave Oven
. We could charge people to watch you
make potatoes explode."

"Are you serious? Do you have any idea what I
could do to you right now? I am finding your insolence to be quite
disturbing, Max."

Max ignored Adam's last statement, and
then dipped a wooden spoon into the steaming hot stew and slurped a
bit, enjoying the flavors of his own creation. It was time to deal
with Adam. Looking up at the faker with a big, innocent smile on
his face he asked, "Hey - do
you
wanna see a trick too?"

"Huh?"

Max threw his arm out towards Adam, causing
the pseudo-mage to violently fly into the wall, pinning him with
his arms and legs spread out, a full meter off the ground. Adam
wore a look of confusion and fear on his face, while Max casually
went back to washing his large pot in which he had cooked the
stew.

"What is this?" coughed Adam. "What is the
meaning of this? Put me down now, lycan, or I'll-"

"Or you'll what, ass-hat?"

"I'll, I'll… you'll be sorry! I'll change you
into a frog! Yes, a frog!"

"Ok, go for it, dude," said Max, calmly
returning to washing the pot, and even whistled a little tune as he
started to dry it off with a rag, not even looking at the fake
mage.

"I can't while I am pinned against the wall.
I won't - no. I'm sorry, I was only kidding. Please release me and
we can discuss this like two grown men."

Without looking, Max pointed his right hand
in the man's direction and twirled his index finger around,
releasing Adam's hand that held the wand. As soon as Adam felt the
release, he shot off a cantus at Max - this one with a bit more
power than his previous heating one, and with the express intent of
injuring the lycan cook.

"
Graveincantatio potentia!"

Without even turning around,
Max easily swatted the moderately powerful cantus away with a
cool backhanded flick, causing it to return and smash into the wall
right next to Adam's immobilized head, as he simultaneously pinned
Adam's wand-bearing hand back against the wall. Adam had used the
same cantus that Max's daughter, Liliana, used to blow open castle
ventilation grates during the Battle of the Blood some months
before, but it didn't provide Adam with the desired results. Max
was too powerful - and experienced.

"What are you? How are you doing this? Let me
down now!"

Max turned around and set the dried pot on a
counter space. He then gazed at Adam's face almost as if he were
studying a lab animal, analyzing him from ear to ear. After a
moment he turned and looked over at a wooden spoon sticking out of
a utensil holder and grew a cool, mischievous grin. Flipping his
hand around for dramatic effect, as it wasn't actually necessary,
he brought the spoon up level with his prisoner's face. Max made it
float in mid-air, as if held by a ghostly, invisible hand, and
started to lightly knock Adam on the forehead in a rhythmic
cadence, making a sound much like the ticking of a clock's second
hand, and continued doing so as he spoke.

"Look, Mr. Wizard - I'm not in a good
mood. I woke up to the shittiest breakfast I've ever had. I'm stuck
in some Godforsaken garbage dump - I have no idea where my wife and
daughter are, some dick-head lycan picks a fight with me, and now a
fake mage tries to threaten me into betraying a man who has
only
helped me
since I got
here. I don't like you, Adam. I really do not like you - at
all."

Max reached his arm out from across the room,
Adam's wand flying into his hand as he did so. He appeared to
carefully study it for a moment, and then gently set it on the
counter.

Adam looked at Max with a forced expression
of rage and power, his face nearly turning beet-purple in the
process.

"Set me down and I'll let you live, lycan. I
don't know how you came up with these tricks, but you'll regret it.
I'm the most powerful mage in all-"

Max stopped the man mid-sentence by thrusting
out his arm, and with his hand opened and fingers splayed out wide,
quickly twisted his wrist, causing Adam to spin 180 degrees
head-down while still pinned against the wall. Checking his meter,
Max saw that he had depleted about 20 percent of his resources on
his stamina line so he needed to finish up quickly. He had long
before learned to never, if at all possible, go into a magic line
timeout. It was dangerous, and could prove fatal, even in the least
threatening of situations.

"Ok buddy, let me tell you how this is
gonna go. You see - you're not really a mage. This little thing is
called a
magic-enhanced
object
, and I'm pretty sure you stole it from someone,
or you at least found it somewhere. Another thing, I
am
a mage, and a pretty powerful one
too. I just happen to also be a lycan, which makes me even cooler.
So here's the deal - I'm going to let you down and give you back
your little boom stick, and you can continue bamboozling everyone
around here into believing that you are oh-so powerful. I don't
give a crap about this place and I just wanna get home.
You
are not going to say a damned
word about what happened in here. Nothing about me being a mage -
got it? Say anything and I'll melt your face."

Max turned and looked at the dried pot on the
counter, causing it to instantly melt into a heap of steaming,
molten slag, consequently making Adam's face contort into one of
absolute panic.

"You're going to regret this, lycan. I swear
if it's the last thing I-"

Adam wouldn't shut his mouth, and that proved
to be his biggest mistake of the day. He had obviously never
encountered a real mage, and Max was done playing - he needed to
drive a message home so thoroughly and decisively that Adam would
never, ever forget it. So the lycan/mage hybrid started swinging
his arm from one end of the room to the other, with the most
unfortunate - and still-connected - Adam involuntarily following
Max's movements, and the walls stopping his flailing body while
damaging his pride in the process. Back and forth Max went with his
arm, and back and forth went Adam, slamming into the walls while
upside-down. Once Max felt that Adam had sufficiently absorbed the
proper message, he lifted the pseudo-mage up and unceremoniously
dumped him on the counter, next to his wand.

Out in the bar area, Dons and Jessica were
still seated at their little dinette, where Dons laughingly
commented, "Ouch, sounds like Adam and Max had a disagreement. Max
is strong, but Adam is a mage, and mages can't be beat. Can't wait
to see the outcome of this one."

Jessica giggled and looked back to the
kitchen door, watching as the two men emerged from the small
cooking space. They approached the dinette, with Max looking
perfectly normal, while Adam was shaking uncontrollably, unable to
keep his hands still and walking in small steps with his thighs
pinched together.

"Hey Adam mate, so you had a bit of a talk
with… oy! Did someone shite their pants?"

Jessica pinched her nose shut and waved a
hand in front of her face, making a very visual commentary of the
obvious, while Adam stammered a bit and excused himself to go to
the bathroom, leaving Max standing next to the dinette. Everyone
watched the Feral Kids' mage try to hide his pants where he had
soiled himself, as he limped off to change.

Max walked over to the bar and ordered
another beer, returning to the dinette with a frosty mug in his
hand. In a voice totally devoid of any malice, he addressed his
friends as if his conversation with Adam had been completely normal
and friendly.

"I think Adam is a nice fellow. He offered to
help me find a way home for free if I stuck around for a bit, and I
think it's a good exchange. What do you guys think?"

At first thinking that Adam had roughed up
Max, but then seeing the lycan sitting at his table so calmly, Dons
wondered what the hell really went on in the kitchen. There was a
lot more to the mellow lycan than appeared.

"Right mate - you know, let's just be honest
with each other. Ok, no one has ever messed up Adam like that. I
know he's a wanker and all, but he has done some decent things for
us in the past."

Max watched with a modest interest as Dons
tried to make excuses for Adam's behavior.

"So we give him some slack, ya know? Now,
what happened between you two?"

Max thought for a moment, not wanting to
reveal his hidden half that he had just exposed to Adam, so he lied
through his teeth.

"Dons - you've been good to me. I'm lost, and
you gave me a place to sleep and a way to earn my way. But we have
differences, like this morning. I was raised to never revel in the
pain and suffering of others. You have your ways and I have mine -
so I helped the neko, even though I hate their scent. Then a lycan,
one of my own kind, picked a fight out of nowhere so I kicked his
ass six ways to Sunday. Now your little magic man gave me a choice
- comply or he would fry me. Well, I don't take kindly to threats,
as I'm sure you've seen. I managed to throttle him before he could
pull out his little magical stick - simple, really. And I'll do it
again if he gets out of line with me - or any of you."

Dons looked at Max with a one-eyed expression
of understanding. He knew Adam had an overly inflated ego and was
prone to doing what was good only for himself, but he had his uses
and that was why the clan kept the fellow around.

"Yeah, mate. He is a bit of a prat. So,
whatever you did, thanks for setting him straight."

"It's all good, man. Hey! Is there a party
tonight in the bar?"

"Every night, mate - every night."

Chapter
7 - Lessons and Memories

Early in the morning, as birds chirped and
the sun rose in the east, Draagh sat at his expansive desk in his
quarters in Krynos' castle. For many long weeks he had been trying
to ascertain how to be more effective in his search for Max, and
after having spent months with Jennie slipping to every location
stored on his staff, he knew that the only place he had not been to
was where he had sent his brother's staff during the Battle of the
Blood. Sadly, the coordinates were lost to him, as the universal
law of ghanlo regeneration required him to send it to an
untraceable location. Draagh knew in his heart that Max was near
Marnn's staff - he just needed to figure out how to find it. Find
the staff and he would find Max.

Waving his hand, he summoned Socrates, whose
face coalesced in the air over the desk.

"Greetings, my friend. I have called upon you
to assist me in-"

"Yes, my Lord, you continue in your efforts
to find young Max. I still feel great responsibility for his
disappearance, as I am sure you are well aware."

"Socrates, please, you know that Max acted in
a brash manner, unbefitting of his position, and so suffered the
consequences of his actions."

"That much is true, my Lord."

"So, I would like to go through all of the
coordinate calculations in my staff, so we yet again see if there
is anything that we can do to find the evacuated coordinates for
where Marnn's staff was displaced."

The old mage, and the floating, cosmic mask
then went about trying to hack Draagh's staff, noting that they
were quickly running out of ideas.

After 4 hours of unfruitful work, Draagh
resigned to doing something useful. He called upon Liliana, as he
needed to teach her some particularly vital skills.

"
Liliana,
would you meet me in the training hall, please? I believe it is
time we continued with your studies,"
he thought out
to his adopted granddaughter. He had created simple wristbands for
his immediate family, enabling him to telepathically communicate
with them at will.

"
Hello
Grandfather! Sure! I am just finishing my lunch. See you in fifteen
minutes?"

"Yes, my dear. And please wear some sturdy
clothing. We shall be working with the elements today."

Liliana arrived on time, as was her nature.
She may have had a comically foul mouth on occasion, but she was
timely.

"Hi, Grandfather! Are we to make things
explode today?"

The young girl had a look of innocent
expectation on her face, and could have asked if they were to melt
goat heads - or make acid-based, poisonous mead, and no one would
have given her the least bit of notice. It would have sounded
perfectly normal - for her. Draagh also knew that the girl
possessed the power of suggestion, which could be used for good, or
for evil. She would need to be cared for and guided quite
meticulously, lest she fall to the darkness like so many
minor-mages before her.

"No, my dear - not exactly. Today we shall
manipulate air pressure and currents. This will enable you to
create weather systems of impressive magnitude, albeit on a local
level."

"That sounds fantastic! But… I have not
seen T
í
o G
today. Is he in training?"