The Lost Mage (39 page)

Howard gasped through Darakin’s unrelenting, tight grip on his collar. “We haven’t lost her.”

Darakin loosened his grip. “No?”

“No, after you disappeared and then so did the lizardy thing … I mean krekdapoop –”

“Krekdapop,” Darakin corrected.

“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, we had two guys follow her this time.”

“Well, how are you going to find them?”

“They’ll call and tell us where they are.”

“When?”

“Dunno. Whenever she stops moving, I guess.”

“We’ll wait with you.”

Howard could feel the eyes of his followers on his back. “Um, like, you don’t give me orders.”

“When you mess with magic you don’t understand and open portals to my realm, I do. Now, sit and wait.” Darakin’s tone was authoritative enough to make both Howard and Nora sit. The rest of Howard’s group shuffled uneasily in the distance.

Darakin looked at them. The group was too large for him to keep under control, so he asked Howard, “Those two you sent after the dryad are going to contact you? Or one of them?” he indicated the group with a nod of his head.

“Me.”

“Fine.” Darakin turned to the group. “The rest of you can leave. And know that your summoning days are over.”

The group lingered, looking to Howard for guidance.

“Yeah, just go. I’ll talk to you later,” Howard said in a defeated tone.

Darakin, Nora and Howard watched them leave and then sat without speaking for some time.

Nora finally broke the silence. “So, what are you guys, some kind of Satanists or something?”

Howard tried to look confident as he answered, “Yes, we serve the Dark Master and he won’t be pleased with this interruption.”

“What is a Satanist?” Darakin asked.

“Satan is what the Christians – they’re one of the biggest religious groups here, it’s what they call the leader of the demons.”

“Ah.”

“But I don’t think these bozos are really Satanists.”

“Why not?” Darakin and Howard asked in unison.

“Oh, please. You’re just a bunch of punks. You don’t know what you’re doing because you’re not just summoning demons and you’ve done this thing what – three times so far this month? I mean, I don’t know a lot about this stuff, but whatever happened to full moons and Friday the thirteenth and all that nonsense?”

“Well we started on the full moon and then …” Howard’s shoulders drooped in defeat. “Yeah, all right, fine. We – my family, that is – were going through my grandfather’s things when he died and I found the book. It looked really cool, so I memorized a bunch of the words and told my friends I could speak this demon language. From the pictures it looked like the book was full of spells to summon demons so we tried it a few times.”

“So you can’t really understand the language but you recite the spells anyway?”

“Yeah.”

Darakin couldn’t contain his outrage and interjected, “I can’t believe that you would do the spells without being able to understand any of the other instructions. The timing and tools you use in spell casting are as important as the words, fool.”

“Hey, relax. No harm, no foul, right?”

“No harm? You took me from my realm. Now I’m stuck here in a place where everything is so different that I can barely survive without help from a friend and a cat.”

“A cat? Do you mean, like, a dude or one of the furry, whiskered, meow-y variety?” Howard asked in confusion.

Nora hurried to answer before Darakin could. “What he means is that he has only me and my cat for company. You’ve taken him from all his family and friends.”

“Nora, I don’t have –”

“Any idea about our technology … I know! That’s my point.” She gave the mage a beseeching look, hoping he’d drop the talking cat thing.

“Oh, sorry,” Howard murmured and looked into his lap. The group lapsed back into silence.

At that moment, a peal of maniacal laughter sounded in the dark. Darakin jumped up, drew his dagger and circled Nora in a crouched position, looking for danger.

Nora laughed. “Seriously? That’s your ringtone?” she asked Howard with disdain.

Howard, who had paled at the sight of Darakin’s dagger, turned red. “Yeah,” he leaned back and struggled to pull the phone out of his jeans pocket beneath his long, black robe.

“Dar … I mean, Kwok. You can stand down. It’s just his phone.” Nora jerked her head in Howard’s direction.

Darakin stopped circling and straightened up. “But … but I thought, I mean yours plays some sort of music.”

“Mine does. But you can personalize your ringtone to almost anything. This moron chose evil laughter.”

Howard finally managed to get his cell phone out and held it in his hand as if unsure what to do.

“Go on,” Nora prodded, “answer it.”

Howard did as she asked and held the phone to his ear. After listening for a minute, he said, “A-ha, got it. Wait there for me …” he looked questioningly at Nora and Darakin. When they nodded, he said into the phone, “Yes, wait for me, I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone.

“Well? Where is she?” Darakin asked.

“By the small lake a little north of here.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Darakin and Nora stood and followed Howard into the darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The trio walked for some time in silence. As the brush got denser, they began stumbling over unseen obstacles. Darakin kept a close eye on Howard in case he tried to run and leave them in the middle of nowhere, but Howard, secretly a little frightened of the dark woods, had no intention of taking off by himself.

“I know we’re in a park, but how on earth can it be so dark in the middle of a city?” Nora said in frustration after tripping over yet another tree root.

“I know, right?” Howard agreed. Darakin, accustomed to traveling through unlit forests, said, “It reminds a little of home.”

“Just one more reason to stay in
this
realm,” Nora whispered to him. Darakin made no reply.

She jumped as an owl called out in the darkness. Scurrying rodents, bugs and other unknown creatures added to the night’s chorus. Nora took some quick steps to shorten the distance between herself and Darakin.

A short time later, the sound of small waves hitting a shore could be heard over the calls of the night creatures. They walked further into the brush and then stopped and listened. New unidentified noises were joining the crickets’ song.

“What is that sound?” Nora whispered.

“It sounds like two men fighting,” Darakin answered.

Nora listened again. Some moaning and grunting accompanied the muffled sound of slaps and punches. “You’re right. It does sound like a fight.”

“It’s coming from over there,” Darakin whispered back. The group headed in the direction he’d indicated.

When they’d managed to claw their way through the rest of the thick brush, they found Howard’s followers in a small break in the trees, silhouetted by the moonlight that streamed into the clearing. They were engaged in battle, not with the dryad, but with each other. The group watched fascinated for a minute or two as the young men slapped each other. There was enough squealing and hair pulling to remind Nora of a schoolyard fight between girls. She giggled.

Darakin couldn’t help himself either and burst into laughter. The two men stopped hitting each other and turned toward him.

“Is this how you fight here?”

“Kwok?” The two said in unison. Then they saw the others and said together, “Howard?”

“Hey,” Howard said in a dejected voice.

“What’s Kwok doing here?”

“Never mind that, why are you two fighting?” Howard asked.

As if they suddenly recalled what they’d been doing, they resumed their slapping contest. “Because she’s mine,” one said as he attempted a more manly punch at his opponent, only to hold his wrist and howl in pain after the blow landed. His opponent took the opportunity to get in some undefended slaps and the fight resumed.

“No, she’s not. I saw her first.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Howard demanded.

“The succubus. She’s mine.”

Darakin interjected, “She’s not a succubus. She’s a dryad.”

“A what?” one of the combatants asked between slaps.

“A dryad. A divine creature that lives in the woods.”

“Whatever, dude, she’s still mine.”

Howard tried to get in between them and got slapped in the face for his troubles. “Ow!”

“This is so sad that it’s funny,” Nora whispered to Darakin as they watched Howard join the fray.

“Mage, why have you brought me here?” asked a voice from the brush behind Darakin and Nora.

Neither Darakin nor Nora had heard the dryad approach and both jumped at the sound of her voice.

“I didn’t.”

“She speaks English?” Nora cried in surprise.

“I speak all languages.”

“She’s a divine creature, Nora, as in god-like,” Darakin whispered to her. “She speaks and understands all languages.”