Jake's Women (Wizards) (7 page)

12.
      
The Cult

Esmeralda sat up in bed with Morgana noisily suckling against her breast. She was a pretty baby, born with hair so long it might need cutting any day now.

“I have to go to Jenny.”

“Of course.” There was a hint of something in that answer, like the moment before a shark appears in the water.

“I believe that whoever kidnapped Anna wanted to find the way to Wales. The only target there is my family.”

“You do not have to explain your actions to me, Lord Wizard.”

As if that had ever been true.

I sat on the bed and put a hand out to stroke my child’s face. The gurgling sounds became happier.

“She knows you, Jake.” Esmeralda’s voice brimmed over with joy. “And Urda tells me I should be able to have more children despite the mess you made inside me.”

“I was saving your life.”

“I was referring to you getting me pregnant in the first place.”

There was no answer to that, so I kept my mouth firmly closed and used my magic to examine my daughter. I’ve only had the ability to see auras for a short time and the way I acquired the ability was not something I cared to discuss with either of my wives. Morgana’s aura was a lovely shade of blue and her little body was perfectly healthy.

To my surprise she was also glowing with magical forces and tendrils of command searched the room looking for minds to lock onto.
‘Love me, care for me,’
was the underlying message. Not in words, of course, this was an emotional command. I blocked the message to me; then modified elements of my wife’s mind to provide a shield. I was going to have to do this for everybody who was in regular contact with her or she’d end up spoiled rotten.

“Your daughter is using magic to make everybody love her,” I said accusingly.

Esmeralda laughed. “All babies do that. It does not require magic.”

There was something else going on in the magical plane. There was a tendril drifting off from Morgana into hop space.

“How did you know I was in trouble, Jake?”

“Jenny told me.”

“And how did she know?” Esmeralda asked.

I had a deep suspicion. “You and Jenny were together a lot during your pregnancies?”

Esmeralda pouted. “Our husband was never home and we needed the company.”

“I’ve looked stupid in front of you too many times to tell you what I suspect until I’m sure.”

“Is it a bad thing, this thing you suspect?”

“Unexpected, and slightly weird. But it did save your life.”

Esmeralda rearranged Morgana from the port food supply to the starboard one.

“Then I shall assume it is a good thing. You must take Urda with you.”

The change of subject was unexpected and something I disagreed with.

“I want Urda here to make sure you stay well.”

“Anna is her sister, Jake. What you ask of her is impossible. Two of the finest healing wizards in the multiverse have treated me and I feel just fine. Go and find Anna. I miss her.”

There seemed little point in arguing and, after kissing her and Morgana, I left in search of Urda.

There was a policeman guarding the ward when Urda and I arrived. We had walked from an alley alongside the hospital.

“Here to see my wife, Jenny Morrissey. This is a family friend.”

The policeman nodded. From the slight frown on his face I suspected he was trying to remember where he had seen my face. One of the problems of having been a wanted man a few months back.

“You weren’t here last night?” he asked suspiciously.

“No, what happened?”

“Somebody stole a lot of blood.”

“If I see any vampires I’ll let you know.”

After giving me a warning frown, he let us into the ward, muttering something about everybody being a comedian these days. Jenny face lit up as we entered her room.

“Jake, is Esmeralda safe? And the baby?”

“Mother and daughter are doing fine.”

“I thought when you grabbed all that blood…”

“Minor problem, all sorted now.”

Urda had gone around the bed and was cooing at my son in his cot. A quick scan showed he was giving off
love
commands at least as strong as Morgana’s. I created a shield around Jenny’s mind. Urda could look after herself.

I looked deeper and saw the other end of the tendril into hop space. My children were linked to each other. The cry for help Jenny had received had come from Merlin via Morgana.

Jenny was giving me one of the looks she had learnt from Esmeralda.

“Minor?”

Urda looked up from Merlin. “Jake saved her life. Esmeralda hemorrhaged while giving birth and I wasn’t there.”

“Not your fault,” I said quickly. Turning back to Jenny I asked. “What did you tell the hospital?”

“That an ape of a man with huge hairy arms ran in and stole the blood,” Jenny said.

“You gave them my real description?”

Jenny laughed. “You are a fool, Jake Morrissey. And I love you for it.”

We spent some time chatting about Merlin and Morgana. Then some more time talking about Jenny’s parents and how they were over the moon at being grandparents. I promised to take her to see Esmeralda and Morgana as soon as possible. All the while Urda cooed over Merlin, locked in her own little world.

“I think Anna has been taken so someone could get to Earth.” There had been a lull in the conversation and I had to tell Jenny sometime.

Urda turned towards me, mouth open in surprise.

“To attack us?” Jenny asked and I reluctantly nodded.

“No, to get to Bronwyn,” Urda said excitedly. “I tried to tell you about the Cult ages ago, but you were wrapped up in other things. It is the Cult that has Anna and what they want from her is Bronwyn.”

Bronwyn had been my nemesis a year ago. She must be twelve or thirteen now and last year I’d destroyed her ability to use magic and removed her memories, or to be technically correct, broke her mind’s links to those memories.

Born locally, she was nearly as powerful as me and a lot more knowledgeable about magic. The kid had had some rotten things happen to her on Urda’s world and had cracked up. I fixed her at my wedding, or I thought I had.

“Back up and tell me about this cult again? A group in Barren that worships her for some reason?”

Barren was the biggest town on Urda’s world of Tydan. Humanity barely survived on its parched surface, but a surprising number of their population were magic users. When I rescued Urda from Barren, magic users were burnt at the stake by religious nutters, but only after they raped and tortured them. Bronwyn had hopped there by mistake and I didn’t like to remember what the locals had done to her.

Urda shook her head. “I explained it to you last time. When you fought Bronwyn on Tydan she brought a massive geyser of water to the surface to fight you with.”

That was an understatement. Bronwyn had thrown the Atlantic Ocean at me. I had no idea how she did it.

“That water has transformed Tydan. Barren is now a port on an immense fresh water ocean. The weather patterns have changed. It rains a lot there now and food is plentiful.”

“Well they can’t blame their wizards for that.” They had blamed them for the drought in Old Testament style.

Urda nodded. “They don’t. The religious fanatics became devotees of the goddess that saved them and wizards became their high priests.”

“I don’t really see a downside,” I confessed. “Everybody’s happy.”

“Religious fanatic wizards who believe their Goddess was stolen from them by the evil God they know as Jake Morrissey?” Urda queried.

Jenny and I looked at each other, caught in the utterly preposterous nature of that statement. If I looked as surprised as she did then we were very surprised indeed. And yes, we were surprised.

“That could create a bit of a problem,” I said slowly.

“It puts all of Jake’s family in danger from them,” Jenny said.

“They are the Cult of Bronwyn and she would be their first and most important target. To return her to Barren and restore her to be the Goddess they believe her to be,” Urda sounded almost triumphant. I supposed that knowing who had taken Anna must be a great relief to her. Now she could do something to rescue her. However, a thought had occurred to me.

“Bronwyn left books of magic in Barren. They probably can restore her if they want to.”

Jenny gave me a sad look. “You were supposed to bring me chocolates and flowers, Jake. Not this.”

As if on cue, Merlin began to cry.

13.
      
Looking for Bronwyn

We stood outside Bronwyn’s house and I found myself hesitating before pressing the doorbell. Bronwyn’s parents had been through so much. Tortured by their daughter, then worrying about her being missing, then getting her back with over a years’ worth of memories ripped from her head. I had been avoiding them since the wedding, What if we were wrong and Anna’s disappearance had nothing to do with their daughter? Was it fair to worry them all over again?

The door opened with my finger still poised above the button. It was Brian Mathews, Bronwyn’s father and he looked both excited and anxious.

“Jake. Have you found her?”

Urda stepped forward. “Jake has been away and has only just returned. Can we come in?”

Brian’s face fell and then he recovered. “I’m sorry. We knew you were away. Your parents told us you were away at a conference and couldn’t be contacted. Come in.”

Gwyneth Matthews stood up when we entered the room. She looked older than I remembered and her face lit up until her husband shook his head.

“Thank you for coming, Jake. How are your wives?”

I smiled. “As of yesterday I have a son in Wales and a daughter in Salice. Mothers and children are doing fine.”

“Jenny doesn’t know about Bronwyn. Peter and Mary kept it from her with the baby being so close to term,” Brian said as we sat. Brian was a longtime friend of Jenny’s father.

“Neither do we,” Urda said. “If you assume we have been told nothing, can you tell us your story?”

It was good Urda had taken charge because I felt awkward and tongue tied.

“There were these men in white robes, like monks. They never came close, but they scared Bronwyn as they seemed to be waiting everywhere she went. At home, at school, and even when she was out with friends,” Brian paused and Mrs. Mathews broke in.

“She’s been so good since the wedding. A different person. We were getting on so well as a fam…” She stopped speaking and broke down in tears.

“She vanished five days ago. Never came home from school,” Brian’s voice was bleak. “The police wouldn’t give it any publicity. Given what happened to you last time round and how they ended up looking like fools, it wasn’t that surprising. Inspector Thomas told us that she probably wasn’t on this planet anymore. Not that he could tell his Chief Constable that. We contacted your parents and they said you were away.”

“And there’s been no sign of her since then?” Urda continued.

They shook their heads. I decided it was time to join the conversation despite the fact that I still felt very uncomfortable talking to them.

“We think we know who has her and roughly where they are.”

“Can you rescue her?” Brian asked.

“She may not want to be rescued,” Urda put in.

I gave Urda a frown. However true that was, it wasn’t a kind thing to say to Bronwyn’s parents.

“We think Bronwyn was taken by the Cult of Bronwyn. They would most likely want to restore her memories and powers.”

Bronwyn’s parents looked a little confused. “The Cult of Bronwyn?” Brian asked.

“The world where she was… assaulted. She returned there and rescued a lot of other wizards from death.”
Best not to mention the horrific torture and murder she indulged in. Not that the people she killed didn’t have it coming.
“We fought and the fight resulted in some good changes for that world. They want her back.”

“They wouldn’t hurt her?” Mrs. Mathews asked.

“They may have killed my sister.” Urda’s voice was emotionless.

“Anna? Why would they have hurt Anna?” Brian was astonished.

“They needed to find Bronwyn and Anna knew how to get here.” Matter of fact Jake tells it all.

Urda stood. “We have what we needed to know, Jake. We should go to Barren and get my sister back; if she’s still alive. Kill some wizards if she isn’t.”

“Storm straight in without finding out what’s going on first?” I enquired.

“That’s what you usually do.”

She had a point, but she was also wrong this time. “And I’ve learned from it. Let’s sneak into Barren and find out what’s going on. We might be able to rescue Anna and Bronwyn before they figure out we’ve arrived.”

“We will still have to deal with them. Earth and Salice are no longer safe havens from their wizards.”

Urda was a bright person. She was right about that, but she was still wrong.

“Once we have Anna and Bronwyn back we won’t have to pull any punches.”

Urda nodded. We had reached an understanding.

We arrived on the top of a hill some distance from Barren. It had been boulders and sand when I was here last, but now it was grassland and saplings were already dotting the landscape. A hundred years from now this would be dense forest. Barren looked bigger and more prosperous than I remembered and an ocean lapped at its far side. The sky was blue with wisps of white clouds sailing by. On the horizon over the sea, rain clouds were darkening the sky.

“It’s changed a bit,” I said in what must be one of the understatements of the millennium. Urda nodded absentmindedly as she viewed my clothes critically. Moments later I was wearing a loose tie-dyed shirt and white baggy trouser things. Her own clothes changed more subtly, but to me she looked more like a tourist than a local.

“Is this going to be inconspicuous?”

“It will be in the Barren of today. It seems that prosperity encourages colorful clothes.”

I took her hand. “Hop you down to the seaside?”

A moment later we in a bustling port. This had been lower lying land when I’d been here last and also near the middle of the town. I could see the tops of buildings sticking out of the ocean, but not as many as I would have expected. The reason why soon became obvious. Men in white robes stood on a raft like boat in the harbor and in front of them half sunken buildings crumbled and the water churned. Little kids were watching and cheering from vantage points on the top of roofs. The magical clean up squad at work.

“They’d have to be strong in magic to keep doing that all day,” I pointed out. Urda grunted in reply. I don’t think she wanted to know how powerful her countrymen had become. It certainly wasn’t going to make our task any easier.

There was new construction going on everywhere. Most of the buildings were white, but waves of color cut through their lime wash almost at random. It seemed Barren was now a happy place and that was in stark contrast to the world Tydan had been.

Looking at the locals confirmed that we fitted right in, clothing wise. We entered the market square, which was difficult because it was crowded with stalls, produce, and people. It was amazing that so many crops could have been grown since Bronwyn and I had fought in this world’s skies. I was kind of wishing I’d brought my camera.

“Over there,’ Urda said in the local language. Learning languages is easy for a wizard and I’d learnt this one years ago. I looked where she was pointing and saw a massive building under construction. It had the look of a church.

“The religious quarter is behind the cathedral. There’s a wall around the district which is constantly patrolled.”

“That wouldn’t keep a wizard out,” I pointed out.

“It’s not meant to protect them against wizards.”

At least she didn’t add the word
moron
to that statement. I really should think before I open my mouth.

The cathedral was far from finished, but sections of it were. It was deliciously cool as we passed through a portal (door doesn’t cover it) into a series of chapels. Each seemed to be dedicated to a specific class of magic, but the one at the end of the cloister had an image beaten out of solid gold above its entrance. She looked older and wiser than I remembered, but it was definitely Bronwyn.

“The plot thickens,” I whispered to Urda who gave me a look of incomprehension. “Never mind, Earth joke.”

I could hear a priest droning on in the distance. His words were lost in echoes in the cloister, but when we stepped into the chapel they became crystal clear.

“The Goddess Bronwyn has returned – blessed be her name.”

The congregation repeated the last phrase and Urda and I went through the motions. There was couple of statues next to the altar and I walked down the center aisle towards them.

“Jake,” Urda hissed, but I ignored her. These people presented no kind of threat. Two men in white cloaks raised their equally white staffs and pointed them in my direction. I erected an invisible shield that would withstand anything they could throw at me.

As I got closer, I saw the statues showed Bronwyn and me at the midpoint in our fight. The artist hadn’t captured my face right as I looked more like a demon than a man. Bronwyn was dressed in glowing robes rather than the tee-shirt and jeans I remembered, but her face had an innocence that was breath taking. Except for the fact it made me look like a villain, this was a pretty good work of art.

“It is him. The evil one,” one of the white robe guys said. He surely couldn’t have deduced that from the sculpture. I was much more handsome than that.

Bolts of lightning discharged from their staffs and went through my shield as though it wasn’t there.

I imagine it was like being shot by a Taser, but I really wasn’t conscious long enough to form a definite opinion.