Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (29 page)

Wednesday moved them from the benches and onto the ground for position shooting. They started with prone, as opposed to the bench rest shooting the previous day, and then shot from a variety of positions to take advantage of the available rests, shoot over terrain, and generally be ready for almost any type of shot that might be offered. At the end of the day they spent a couple of hours learning how to shoot at moving targets, an exercise that Randy considered pointless at any extended range. At a thousand yards he could barely see a target let alone guess its relative speed, and with a flight time of almost two seconds, a slightly missed guess at the relative velocity of the target translated into a substantial miss.

Now that they were all deadly accurate, or at least had some idea how to hit a target down range, they put the rifles away and began to learn a bit about camouflage and concealment. They crawled over the hills and into the weeds with their instructors, and were shown where to hide, and how to make themselves all but invisible, yet still be able to see to spot their target. The school had areas that had been modified from the local normal terrain, so they had a variety of vegetation and environments to practice this in. They learned about discomfort. They were encouraged to crawl through and into places Randy would have never considered given his own inclinations. He was allowed to lie in a cool pool of muddy water for almost an hour, and then slither through some of the nastiest sticker bushes he’d ever encountered. Day two of this delightful part of their training turned to the construction and use of the Ghillie suit, which Randy had to admit was a remarkable tool when he and the rest of the class were invited to walk a section of the lot searching for hidden instructors. He came within five feet of one of the concealed men without having a clue the man was there until he stood up after Randy had passed.

That brought them to the weekend. While some of the students either took off for home or took advantage of the two days to drive back to Charleston for some fun, Randy decided he needed additional practice, and spent most of the two days on the range, attempting to improve his long range skills and estimation techniques. By Monday morning he had improved, but the very long range was never going to be his thing.

Monday was spent learning stalking techniques and how to get into position without being seen. This involved a lot of slow movement through the often undesirable weeds and rocks. Each of them had to stalk and then locate an appropriate shooting position, and get to it unobserved for three different targets. By the end of the day he was sore and bruised and unhappy with the whole thing. Tuesday was more of the same, but they also spent a little time on escaping detection or simply exiting the area after the shot had been taken. Often escaping meant staying put and hidden until the enemy had given up on the search. A lot depended on the situation and not simply the terrain.

Wednesday gave them a chance to try and put it all together, with a bit of endurance testing added to the mix. After a long run from the start point, they were directed into a target area where they had to make their way into the underbrush, crawl to their hide, and make three successful shots on targets. The third target was a moving target which also eluded Randy. Thursday was a day of individual instruction, where each of the students was paired with an instructor who worked with him on his weakest abilities.

All of this was in preparation for Friday and Saturday, which were the final exams. Three hours was allocated to each student for the final exam, and there were two different teams of instructors, so it took the full two days to test everyone. Randy was lucky to get a Friday afternoon slot for his test, so he would be able to leave for home on Saturday.

The task was simple enough. The first was a straightforward shooting test, where he had to show he could hit the targets at random unspecified ranges. Randy did better than he had during the learning sessions, but he was never going to be invited into their hall of fame.

The second and more important part of the final test was the stalking and take down of a target. They were given a start position, and told they needed to slip unobserved into the target zone, establish a hide, and wait until the designated target appeared. When the target was on the platform, they could take the shot, in this case a one-foot clanger off to one side of the platform where the target would periodically appear. The other men on the platform were not important, but would be searching for him as he made his way into the area and while he hid. Points were lost for almost everything. If he was spotted as he made his approach, he’d lose points depending on how many observed him and how often. He’d lose points if they detected his hide and, of course, he’d lose points if he blew the shot.

A half hour into his stalk, Randy had to make a decision. The platform was visible, but it was still out of the approved range. This was to be a close in shot. He had to approach to within two hundred yards before making an attempt. He could see two ways to go. The first looked easier, slipping down the hill, through the mud and water and into the trees that he could follow along the bank until he got to the base of the hill off to the left. The second required him to scramble across some hard rocks and then through a bunch of the thorny bushes he hated. Not only were they sharp, but one had to move extremely slowly or the movement of the bushes would reveal one’s position.

Randy started to move toward the river and then paused. The choice was too obvious. There had to be a trick. At the last minute he turned and started to make his way slowly and carefully down the hill the harder way. It took another hour and a half to make his way through the barriers and inside the designated range. The markers were clear once he found them. He made his way over to a depression in the ground where he hoped to set up.

Once he was in position, he realized he had a problem. If he raised his head, he could see the platform and the top half of the targets, but if he lowered his head down to rifle height, the roll of the land hid the targets from view. He couldn’t shoot prone from here. Sitting was not an option either, because the grass was too short to hide him. While he could potentially wait, roll into a sitting position and make the shot, the spotters would see it, costing him too many points. He could see another position where he could sit behind some bushes, but it would require a slow crawl across some open ground. It could be done if one were patient, but his allotted time was running out. He didn’t think he could make it in time. He considered his options, looking around for another possibility. From what he could see, the slope of the land made most of the shots similar to what he had where he was currently located. It was shoot here or try and make it over to the second location. Finally he made his decision. He switched around slowly, pointing his feet toward the platform and his head away. Once he’d switched around, he rolled onto his back. He could now rest his left arm on the side of his chest, support his right against his side, bend slightly at the waist and get a shot at the target. It wasn’t as stable as he liked, but they had given him a short range target, so he thought it might work. Five minutes later he was presented an opportunity and successfully smacked the clanger with his shot.

When it was over, he didn’t quite make the cut. He had missed passing by a few points, his marginal long range shooting costing him dearly, and his squirming around to get into position had been detected by two of the watchers. That had cost a few more critical points. He had apparently misread the terrain, and there had been a slightly different approach that would have taken him to the safe position he’d spotted, but he hadn’t realized his problem until he was committed. Randy didn’t mind at all. He hadn’t passed, but he headed home with a scratched and proven rifle and the certainty he had learned invaluable skills that he could and soon would pass to the team on Gaea via the
pairing-crystals
.

Randy was back in Boulder by mid afternoon on Saturday and found that there had been significant activity on several fronts while he had been gone. Tishe had come a few days earlier with a message from Buris that everything was now in place and waiting for his return to complete the final electrical wiring. While Buris felt comfortable with completing the task on his own, he didn’t really want to make the final connections without Jolan being there. Tishe also left news that she had once again made one of the mental contacts with Shyar, and she was now certain that was who it was. She could sense Shyar’s uncertainty about who Tishe was, and while she had tried to project an explanation, at this time there was no indication that it had been received. She was certain she felt a bit of disquiet in Shyar about not being able to sense Jolan’s presence. Tishe felt the link was stronger, which was encouraging, but thus far she had been unable to pass useful information, only vague feelings.

Upon reading the note Randy was ready to make the transition back immediately, which he needed to do soon in any event if only to set the timer. There were a couple of tasks that he should attend to here first though, and then he could spend a few days back on Gaea.

Janie had made a long list of items that had arrived by mail or delivery service while he had been gone. The largest was the solar array equipment, some of which she noted was in the garage. Apparently Tishe had taken some of the pieces back with her a few days earlier. There was also a note from the archery shop that his special order had arrived and was available for him at his convenience. Gene had called and indicated that ten of the Remington rifles had been returned, fully tuned and set-up for them. The remaining seven would be available in another week.

All of these deliveries reminded Randy that he was getting low on funds. He’d better bring back another supply of gold and have Gene’s father convert it for him just to have it available. He didn’t think there were many major purchases left, but it would be better to have the funds available in the event something came up rather than have to scramble at the last minute.

“
This is probably the most important item,” Janie said as she came back into the kitchen where Randy sat reading through the notes. She handed him a rather formal looking stack of papers.

“
Beyer, Wilson, and Sons, Attorney’s at Law,” he read aloud. He gave her a questioning look. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“
They were Grandfather’s lawyers,” Janie said. “I looked them up after I found this. They are a very old firm in Boulder. I found this document in the files along with some of his other papers that Dad had filed away. I suspected Dad never told you about this, given his feelings about grandfather, but this appears to be something special for you. It reads like he left something for you which is being held by the law firm until you come calling for it.”

Randy was immediately interested. Quickly he paged through the document, scanning the text until he got to the part that Janie wanted him to read. He was of the same opinion. There was something the firm had taken possession of from his grandfather by instructions in his will that would be released to Randy when he appeared and claimed it. That his grandfather had gone to such unusual lengths made him certain it was something related to his abilities, which Grandfather and his dad had fought about. There wasn’t any other reason Randy could think of that whatever it was hadn’t been passed to him through his father. He had only to appear at the firm and show proof of who he was. He wondered immediately how his being declared dead was going to affect things.

“
It appeared to have been signed by Grandfather and Mr. Beyers.”

Randy wanted to go there immediately, but it was a weekend and it had waited all these years so he expected it could wait a bit longer. He needed to get back to Gaea, and perhaps it would be best if he simply waited until his return to follow up on this matter. He wanted to talk with Tishe about Shyar, and that was pulling at him even more urgently.

“
I think you had better go with me on this one. The law firm might be aware of my being officially listed as deceased, and as my legal heir, you would be in line to get whatever they have if they won’t release it to me. I’m going to make a quick trip to Gaea, but as soon as I get back I’m going to want to check this out. I have that itchy feeling again that this might be important.”

Janie nodded in agreement and smiled when Randy added, “Thanks Sis. I never would have found this myself. I had almost given up hope of finding Oscar’s effects. This may not turn out to be them, but I’d be willing to make a bet that it will.”

Randy decided he would make the run into the archery shop first, since it was getting late and the shop would be closed tomorrow which was already Sunday again. He would enjoy taking the special delivery back with him this trip. He climbed into the rental car which he had paid to sit idle at the airport for the past couple of weeks, and headed over toward the university.

“
Ah, yes,” said the store’s owner, when Randy handed over the sales slip he’d been given when he placed the order some weeks earlier. “A very unusual order. I’ll be right back.”

While the man was in the back room, Randy looked around the shop, wondering what he was not thinking about and what he really should be bringing back from here. While he had put a great deal of effort into moving Gaea from the bow and arrow to firearms, there were some advantages of the bow. First, of course, was it was far more silent. That reminded him he needed to ask Gene about the silencers when he saw him tomorrow.

The owner returned with a long and heavy box which he gently laid on the counter. He cut the heavy fiber tape around the bottom so it could be opened and they could look at the contents. Reaching inside, he pulled back some padding material, and grabbed one of the items and handed it to Randy.