"A Wizard's Companion" -Chapter 10: Law of Connection
CHAPTER 10: LAW OF CONNECTION
“To have power over something is for it to have power over you.”
Tom fell silent with a dazed look. Nita, riveted at the story, wanted to prod him for more, but a motion from Carl stopped her.
Tom will tell it in his own time, he thinks at her.
She changes subjects. “How’d you get hurt, Carl?” She tries instead, turning to him. “Tom said you were bleeding to death?”
Reaching over to rub his partner’s back soothingly, Carl explains calmly, “I’m the reason he almost got killed in the first place, Nita.”
Carl hung his head and wrung his hands, looking thoughtful, “You see, the day I took the Oath was the same day I broke it...”
_______________________________________________________________________
Carl had everything under control.
All that can be said of it was it was a well-planned crapshoot. There were uncertainties of course but all in all, the probability of things going wrong was disproportionate in comparison to things going superbly right.
He was known for his careful tactics. In all his heists he has never shot a person, nor been shot at for that matter. That’s why people stayed with him-he didn’t have to keep a gang in line, the gangs came to him for advice. He was well respected in these parts.
Carl peered around a corner. The steam rising from the grates of the manhole beneath him didn’t deter him the least. It was dark, but he could still tell the street was deserted. The hour for action was almost at hand.
He rechecked his strategy for the nth time. After all, Carl didn’t take chances.
And he needed this to work.
Glass cutters, scissors, an array of lock picks, gloves, spray paint, hooded sweatshirts-and above all street smarts-were all they were armed with. Well, that and their guns. This gang didn’t trust Carl that much.
It wasn’t in case of the police or guards-there was no security where he burgled-it was for fear of rival gangs.
Where they stood was on foreign territory and therein lay the danger.
Each lookout was carefully placed, Carl himself having previously scoped out this area all week. One signaled the all clear, eyes never once turning from where he was keeping watch. The other lookouts, some situated in abandoned buildings, most on rooftops, gave the same signals. .
He strode out onto the street, all together missing the warning shouts.
What the-?
Someone ran into him full force.
And down he went.
Carl looked up at the man pinning him, “Tom!”
Tom had shown up with the worst possible timing. Carl didn’t know how it was Tom had known he was here. He had given Tom no indication of where he’d be tonight. No hint at all that this would be his activity.
“What are you doing here?” He whispered fiercely, getting up and pulling Tom back into the alleyway with him. “Have you been reading my mind again?!”
“It’s a trap Carl, an ambush! They know you’re coming! They know you’re here!” Tom panted, looking up at him pleadingly. “I’m telling you, if you walk into that store it’ll cost you your life!”
His gang had gathered around them at some point and quietly watched from the sidelines. Some had their guns drawn, while others just fingered their hidden weapons.
He looked to Tom again. Tom, who had never lied to him. Tom, who was always looking out for him.
Tom, who he should’ve trusted in the first place...
“Run,” he whispered to his gang and they didn’t need to be told twice. They disbanded.
Carl wondered if this would be it, his first shoot out. He grabbed Tom and threw him behind a dumpster.
“Stay quiet,” he warned, crouching down beside him.
He evaluated his current situation. He hadn’t even thought of running like the others. Two, especially with one so inexperienced, would not make it unless they split up, and if that were the case one of them would most likely be dead.
He glanced over at his partner...
When had he become that?
He banished the thought. He couldn’t just leave Tom there.
He couldn’t.
“How’d you know I’d be here?!” He asked furiously to a cowering Tom.
Tom, who was visibly trembling from nerves, shook his head. “Not now.”
“Yes now!”
Tom looked at him incredulously. “I have a friend who’s a Seer. End of story.”
“You have a friend who’s a what?!”
Tom inhaled then exhaled. “Like I said, I’ll explain it to you later. Now how the hell do we get out of this?”
Carl was confused. “I thought you could teleport us or something?”
Tom shook his head, “That would require more time than we have...”
Carl made to respond but Tom stifles Carl’s next words with a hand covering Carl’s mouth and a finger to his lips.
Soon they heard footfalls.
“They were here somewhere,” Carl starts and tries to speak, the voice was Mike’s! Tom just presses his hand down over Carl’s mouth harder, effectively restraining him.
“They better be Mike, I want my money.”
“Hey, my snitch delivers. And if this doesn’t work we’ll just go to his house. I know where he lives. It’s a little risky, but well worth it...”
More footsteps, sounding like someone was running towards them.
“Well Chase, what do you have for us?”
“The gang disbanded,” said someone who was out of breath. “They knew you were coming.”
“Impossible! Unless you were giving warnings...”
“No-no-no,” they could hear the sound of someone being slammed into the wall, then dropped. “It’s just that Carl’s good, he’s never been caught at anything...”
There was a moment of quiet.
Then...
“Well, he’s about to be caught now.”
They heard two walk away and another scramble off the ground to catch up.
Carl felt Tom shaking at his side.
“Tom,” Carl whispered urgently. “Tom who was that guy?”
Tom had his arms around his knees and head back against the wall, eyes closed.
Suddenly, Tom snapped to attention, straightening himself and jumping to his feet.
“They’re going to your house Carl, is there anybody home?”
“How do you know...?”
“Just answer me!”
Carl shook his head in the negative, they were safe. It was family night-the one night at the end of each month where they pooled their resources together and had an outing...
Then he froze.
“Anthony.” He whispered in fear.
“Your little brother?” Tom asked, concerned.
“He wasn’t feeling very good tonight, had a fever and all, and mom... mom told him to stay home...and...and there’s nobody else there!”
Carl sprung off the floor, scrambling to his feet so fast that Tom had to steady him.
Then they both headed north at a run.
“Who were those people, Carl?” Nita asked after a sip of soda. Tom had gone off and returned with cokes while the story was being told.
“Well Mike, he was the co-leader of our little ‘gang,’ and I use that term loosely because for the most part we were never really involved ourselves in gang activities. We never hurt anyone, and we especially didn’t engage in gang warfare. Mostly we just banded together because there was safety in numbers. Thanks,” he said to Tom when he was handed a soda.
“So why were you there that night Carl? I thought you didn’t do anything that was against the law...”
Carl shook his head, his mood black. “I never said that. I was involved in my share of heists, burglaries, and car-jackings. But we only did it when we were desperate. Families to feed, and so on...”
“Our very own Robin Hood if you will, Nita,” Tom joked, earning him a glare from Carl.
Carl took another breath.
“Mike talked me into it, the bastard. He was in real trouble; I thought I’d help him out, but...”
“I see,” Nita was quiet for a moment, then asked Carl, “and who else?”
“Who else what?”
“Who else was there that night...?”
“Chase, who was just a runner for me, but a dealer for him.”
“And who was ‘he’?”
“A Drug Lord and...” Carl fell silent.
They were too late. Carl knew it from the moment they arrived. That sinking feeling had sunk.
The house and street were both eerily quiet, the wind pushing open the front door ajar of a house that had once been locked tight.
Not only that, instinctively Carl just knew something was very very wrong here, though he didn’t know how he knew. It was in the air. He could feel the badness radiating from his home.
Carl wanted to charge right in but a hand at his wrist stopped him and pulled him back forcibly into the alleyway nearest his home.
“Tom, what?!”
“Shh!”
Tom peaked around the corner.
Carl was vexed. “Tom! Let go of me!”
Tom turned to him, “No! Not until we’ve figured out a plan of action! If we just go storming in there, most likely we’ll all be killed...”
“But...”
“Be quiet! Or at least lower your voice... Now, what do you have that they want?”
“What?” Carl was perplexed, until he remembered that underneath the floorboards was his most precious possession... “Your watch!”
Tom closed his eyes in pain. “I’m sorry Carl, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know...”
But Carl never heard him for at that moment he remembered something else. Underneath that same floorboard was...
“A Wizard’s Companion!” He nearly shouted, before remembering the situation.
He turned to Tom...
“Tom, do you have your copy?!”
And as Carl went on in his revelations, he didn’t even notice Tom’s hesitancy.
“How do I do it again, Tom? How do I call my Manual? Is it like this? Here, Manual, here!”
And sure enough his Manual materialized before his very eyes.
“Carl,” Tom begged. “Please don’t do this; you don’t know what you’re getting into...”
Carl whirls on him. “Tom, I’ve had enough! You don’t know everything! You don’t have a clue about what’s going on here! Yes, they’re using Anthony as leverage against me, but you don’t know what they’ll do to him in the process!”
Tom gulps and looks down.
“You’re right Carl, you’re absolutely right...”
He looks to Carl. “But what are we going to do? You haven’t even taken your Oath yet...”
Carl frowns, and when his face lights up again a knot forms in Tom’s stomach.
“Then I’ll take it now.”
Carl was too absorbed in his planning to see the horrified expression on Tom’s face.
“Carl...” Tom stuttered. “You can’t just... I mean... this isn’t right!”
“Tom what did I just say? You don’t know everything...”
“But I know more about Wizardry than you do and the Oath should never be taken with malicious intent!”
“It’s for Life!” Carl protested. “Anthony’s Life!”
“But what do you intend to do with...”
“Look,” Carl said in a tone that brooked no more arguments. “I will take whatever Punishment those Powers of yours dish out... as long as I get to save Anthony first.”
Tom nodded reluctantly then sighed. “Then say it... say the Oath.”
Carl cleared his throat and grabbed the book that was still suspended in mid-air. Opening to the page in his Manual that had the Oath, he started reading.
Whatever I do,
In everything,
I will persevere
Tom started at the words. The Oath Carl was reading was nothing like the Oath Tom had taken. In fact, Tom had never heard an Oath quite like this one. It was almost...poetic.
No matter how difficult my Fate may be
I will not regret,
Through all the pain
Is he making this up? Tom wondered. He worried about what the words might mean, yet was intrigued in spite of himself.
“Carl!” He wanted to cry out, wanting to tell him that this was the wrong Oath... but was it?
His throat closed up and, consequently, he held his tongue. Tom was worried that this was taking too long but then, looking around him, Time seems to have stopped.
Tom didn’t know what was taking place any more...
Whatever happens
I'll be sure not to give up
Even if I lose everything in exchange...
Tom was speechless. The Oath Carl gave was vague as can be yet understandable in its intent.
Someday, without a doubt,
The day is coming,
When I will protect you...
Carl had closed his eyes for the last part of the Oath. He opened them then and, with fire sparking behind them, he fastened them on Tom.
“It’s time.”
Carl smiled and Tom had to admit he was a little intimidated by it.
“Ok first,” Carl started. “Where’s that teleportation spell that you keep so handy...?”
Tom fumbled for a pen out of thin air along with his Manual then knelt on the alley’s floor.
“I wish we had more time,” he muttered, looking as though he was doodling in his Manual.
“Tom, I said...”
“I know what you said and that’s what I’m doing!” Tom snapped, not looking up.
He kept writing vigorously.
“Tom this is taking too long!” Carl complained.
“Done! But I only wrote the Spell for me... It’s too dangerous for you since we haven’t figured out your Name in the Speech yet and we don’t have the time to do it now. I did, however, manage to write an open ended Spell but it’s only sufficient for one other person. And you said you wanted your brother...”
“Enough,” Carl raises a hand, “That’s good enough.”
“But Carl, what are you going to...?”
Carl shook his head, “My life is of no importance.”
“That’s not true!” Tom protested vehemently, scrambling off the ground he’d been sitting on to do his Work.
Carl shrugged with an ‘I could care less’ attitude. “That’s how it is Tom. Now...”
“But... but Carl...” Tom closed the distance between them enough to grab fistfuls of Carl’s shirt. “At least let me show you some defense symbols!’’
Carl was about to consent when they heard the shots...
...and little Anthony’s screams.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
Before Tom can stop him, Carl pushes him away and is running through the front door, dropping his Manual in the street in the process.
There’re more shots.
Tom tries to calm himself down, to not hyperventilate, and to overall get a grip.
Then he teleports in and he himself wants to die.
Tom feels the second Carl drops. With a quick prayer to the One that he has all the data right, he teleports into the kitchen. He does so in a way that doesn’t displace the air so he didn’t think anyone noticed.
He creeps to the edge of the kitchen and slowly glances around the corner, completely silent.
Until he gasps at what he sees.
It wasn’t for a stupid watch, his mind screams at him. He can barely hear it through the buzzing in his ears.
He knows what he wants to do; his first instinct is to kill: Chase, Mike, and especially the Drug Lord.
But then he knows what he has to do and that’s get Carl and Anthony away from this place.
He readies his transport spell...
But then chokes.
There was only enough for two... and no matter what Carl says, he couldn’t leave him.
The whole place is shot up: holes in walls, broken windows, and three seemingly dead bodies on the ground.
Tom’s heart skips a beat when he realizes two of them are Carl and Anthony.
He arrives just in time to watch the Drug Lord pull the trigger on the last man in the room besides himself: Mike, who was begging on his knees for his life.
“Please...”
Another shot and, shattered, Mike drops to the floor. Lifeless.
Tom huddled back around the corner and prayed that the police would come soon. Surely someone had heard the commotion...?
“Except the parameters around here are soundproof. Even vision is useless. We’re invisible to the world until I say so.”
The Drug Lord was smiling when he finished and turned to Tom, who was so sure he had arrived unheard. Then he got a good look at the Drug Lord.
His eyes were black. His hair a shock of red. Like flames framing darkness.
“Lone One,” Tom whispered and then wished he hadn’t.
“Tom Swale,” the Lone Power stated flatly, as if they’d known each other for ages.
But they hadn’t, he had never encountered the Lone Power-he had never had an Ordeal to do so-but he knew clear as day that’s who he was dealing with.
Suddenly there was a moan in the room. And he knew without looking it was Carl’s.
He had to keep the Lone Power’s attention on him.
“What do you want?” Tom attempted at congeniality, all the while trying to remember every passage from the Manual he’d ever read on the Power and every spell he’d ever completed that would come in useful right about now.
Which weren’t many.
The Lone Power had the gall to shrug. “What I always want: mayhem, death, destruction...”
“But this isn’t right...” Tom shook his head. “You can’t just take corporal form whenever you want. You need...”
“Consent? Well, I had his.” He indicates his body. “Nathanial Maxwell, believed in me, worshiped me, invited me in, how could I say no to such a kind offer?”
“So you stole his soul.” Tom spat, disgusted.
“On the contrary, he offered it to me as collateral. I gave him all he wanted. And when he couldn’t think of anything else, I took what I wanted. Simple as that.”
So he was just in mortal form. But Tom still couldn’t kill another human, even though he had serious doubts as to whether this “Nathanial” was human any more.
An exorcism perhaps? Oh by the Powers, did he even know how to do that?!
He couldn’t remember.
“Why here?” Tom stalled. “Why him? Why Carl?”
“If you have no idea, then why should I tell you?” The Lone One drawled.
Tom was slowly starting to inch his way towards Anthony.
“I wouldn’t bother, he’s already dead. And your Carl will be too. Very soon, I can tell these things.”
“My Carl?”
“Of course! He would be alive if it weren’t for you.”
“You’re the Prince of Lies,” Tom mumbled, making his way more quickly to Carl’s brother’s side.
“Am I? See for yourself...” the Lone Power said in a voice that suggested he was bored.
He was right. The Lone Power was right.
Anthony was dead.
“You’re the one who showed Carl his Manual. You’re the one who talked him into being a Wizard. If it weren’t for you, I would have no quarrel with him.”
It wasn’t true... He hadn’t forced Carl into anything, Carl had taken the Oath of his own volition...
Right?
“Why him?” Tom’s voice was heavy with rage and despair as he was sucked in by the Power’s words.
“Because his is-well, was-a talent too great to leave neglected... just like yours actually, only it never manifested. But all is well now. He will die, as will you...”
A gunshot rang through the air. With wide-eyes Tom watched as the Lone Power’s-or at least Nathanial’s body’s-eyes rolled up into their sockets as he collapsed. And Tom couldn’t help but notice a smirk on his lips too.
“C-Carl?” Tom’s heart leapt to his throat.
Carl stood, using the door frame for support, one hand holding a gun that was shaking with strain.
Carl gasped in pain and dropped the gun. There was no need for it anymore. The Lone Power-having taken Nate’s incarnate form-had died with a bullet wound shot perfectly into the back of his skull.
Tom ran across the room to Carl.
“Anthony,” Carl coughed up blood as he leaned against Tom, “Take me to Anthony.”
“Carl...”
“Please, Tom!”
“To have power over something is for it to have power over you.”
Tom fell silent with a dazed look. Nita, riveted at the story, wanted to prod him for more, but a motion from Carl stopped her.
Tom will tell it in his own time, he thinks at her.
She changes subjects. “How’d you get hurt, Carl?” She tries instead, turning to him. “Tom said you were bleeding to death?”
Reaching over to rub his partner’s back soothingly, Carl explains calmly, “I’m the reason he almost got killed in the first place, Nita.”
Carl hung his head and wrung his hands, looking thoughtful, “You see, the day I took the Oath was the same day I broke it...”
_______________________________________________________________________
Carl had everything under control.
All that can be said of it was it was a well-planned crapshoot. There were uncertainties of course but all in all, the probability of things going wrong was disproportionate in comparison to things going superbly right.
He was known for his careful tactics. In all his heists he has never shot a person, nor been shot at for that matter. That’s why people stayed with him-he didn’t have to keep a gang in line, the gangs came to him for advice. He was well respected in these parts.
Carl peered around a corner. The steam rising from the grates of the manhole beneath him didn’t deter him the least. It was dark, but he could still tell the street was deserted. The hour for action was almost at hand.
He rechecked his strategy for the nth time. After all, Carl didn’t take chances.
And he needed this to work.
Glass cutters, scissors, an array of lock picks, gloves, spray paint, hooded sweatshirts-and above all street smarts-were all they were armed with. Well, that and their guns. This gang didn’t trust Carl that much.
It wasn’t in case of the police or guards-there was no security where he burgled-it was for fear of rival gangs.
Where they stood was on foreign territory and therein lay the danger.
Each lookout was carefully placed, Carl himself having previously scoped out this area all week. One signaled the all clear, eyes never once turning from where he was keeping watch. The other lookouts, some situated in abandoned buildings, most on rooftops, gave the same signals. .
He strode out onto the street, all together missing the warning shouts.
What the-?
Someone ran into him full force.
And down he went.
Carl looked up at the man pinning him, “Tom!”
Tom had shown up with the worst possible timing. Carl didn’t know how it was Tom had known he was here. He had given Tom no indication of where he’d be tonight. No hint at all that this would be his activity.
“What are you doing here?” He whispered fiercely, getting up and pulling Tom back into the alleyway with him. “Have you been reading my mind again?!”
“It’s a trap Carl, an ambush! They know you’re coming! They know you’re here!” Tom panted, looking up at him pleadingly. “I’m telling you, if you walk into that store it’ll cost you your life!”
His gang had gathered around them at some point and quietly watched from the sidelines. Some had their guns drawn, while others just fingered their hidden weapons.
He looked to Tom again. Tom, who had never lied to him. Tom, who was always looking out for him.
Tom, who he should’ve trusted in the first place...
“Run,” he whispered to his gang and they didn’t need to be told twice. They disbanded.
Carl wondered if this would be it, his first shoot out. He grabbed Tom and threw him behind a dumpster.
“Stay quiet,” he warned, crouching down beside him.
He evaluated his current situation. He hadn’t even thought of running like the others. Two, especially with one so inexperienced, would not make it unless they split up, and if that were the case one of them would most likely be dead.
He glanced over at his partner...
When had he become that?
He banished the thought. He couldn’t just leave Tom there.
He couldn’t.
“How’d you know I’d be here?!” He asked furiously to a cowering Tom.
Tom, who was visibly trembling from nerves, shook his head. “Not now.”
“Yes now!”
Tom looked at him incredulously. “I have a friend who’s a Seer. End of story.”
“You have a friend who’s a what?!”
Tom inhaled then exhaled. “Like I said, I’ll explain it to you later. Now how the hell do we get out of this?”
Carl was confused. “I thought you could teleport us or something?”
Tom shook his head, “That would require more time than we have...”
Carl made to respond but Tom stifles Carl’s next words with a hand covering Carl’s mouth and a finger to his lips.
Soon they heard footfalls.
“They were here somewhere,” Carl starts and tries to speak, the voice was Mike’s! Tom just presses his hand down over Carl’s mouth harder, effectively restraining him.
“They better be Mike, I want my money.”
“Hey, my snitch delivers. And if this doesn’t work we’ll just go to his house. I know where he lives. It’s a little risky, but well worth it...”
More footsteps, sounding like someone was running towards them.
“Well Chase, what do you have for us?”
“The gang disbanded,” said someone who was out of breath. “They knew you were coming.”
“Impossible! Unless you were giving warnings...”
“No-no-no,” they could hear the sound of someone being slammed into the wall, then dropped. “It’s just that Carl’s good, he’s never been caught at anything...”
There was a moment of quiet.
Then...
“Well, he’s about to be caught now.”
They heard two walk away and another scramble off the ground to catch up.
Carl felt Tom shaking at his side.
“Tom,” Carl whispered urgently. “Tom who was that guy?”
Tom had his arms around his knees and head back against the wall, eyes closed.
Suddenly, Tom snapped to attention, straightening himself and jumping to his feet.
“They’re going to your house Carl, is there anybody home?”
“How do you know...?”
“Just answer me!”
Carl shook his head in the negative, they were safe. It was family night-the one night at the end of each month where they pooled their resources together and had an outing...
Then he froze.
“Anthony.” He whispered in fear.
“Your little brother?” Tom asked, concerned.
“He wasn’t feeling very good tonight, had a fever and all, and mom... mom told him to stay home...and...and there’s nobody else there!”
Carl sprung off the floor, scrambling to his feet so fast that Tom had to steady him.
Then they both headed north at a run.
“Who were those people, Carl?” Nita asked after a sip of soda. Tom had gone off and returned with cokes while the story was being told.
“Well Mike, he was the co-leader of our little ‘gang,’ and I use that term loosely because for the most part we were never really involved ourselves in gang activities. We never hurt anyone, and we especially didn’t engage in gang warfare. Mostly we just banded together because there was safety in numbers. Thanks,” he said to Tom when he was handed a soda.
“So why were you there that night Carl? I thought you didn’t do anything that was against the law...”
Carl shook his head, his mood black. “I never said that. I was involved in my share of heists, burglaries, and car-jackings. But we only did it when we were desperate. Families to feed, and so on...”
“Our very own Robin Hood if you will, Nita,” Tom joked, earning him a glare from Carl.
Carl took another breath.
“Mike talked me into it, the bastard. He was in real trouble; I thought I’d help him out, but...”
“I see,” Nita was quiet for a moment, then asked Carl, “and who else?”
“Who else what?”
“Who else was there that night...?”
“Chase, who was just a runner for me, but a dealer for him.”
“And who was ‘he’?”
“A Drug Lord and...” Carl fell silent.
They were too late. Carl knew it from the moment they arrived. That sinking feeling had sunk.
The house and street were both eerily quiet, the wind pushing open the front door ajar of a house that had once been locked tight.
Not only that, instinctively Carl just knew something was very very wrong here, though he didn’t know how he knew. It was in the air. He could feel the badness radiating from his home.
Carl wanted to charge right in but a hand at his wrist stopped him and pulled him back forcibly into the alleyway nearest his home.
“Tom, what?!”
“Shh!”
Tom peaked around the corner.
Carl was vexed. “Tom! Let go of me!”
Tom turned to him, “No! Not until we’ve figured out a plan of action! If we just go storming in there, most likely we’ll all be killed...”
“But...”
“Be quiet! Or at least lower your voice... Now, what do you have that they want?”
“What?” Carl was perplexed, until he remembered that underneath the floorboards was his most precious possession... “Your watch!”
Tom closed his eyes in pain. “I’m sorry Carl, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know...”
But Carl never heard him for at that moment he remembered something else. Underneath that same floorboard was...
“A Wizard’s Companion!” He nearly shouted, before remembering the situation.
He turned to Tom...
“Tom, do you have your copy?!”
And as Carl went on in his revelations, he didn’t even notice Tom’s hesitancy.
“How do I do it again, Tom? How do I call my Manual? Is it like this? Here, Manual, here!”
And sure enough his Manual materialized before his very eyes.
“Carl,” Tom begged. “Please don’t do this; you don’t know what you’re getting into...”
Carl whirls on him. “Tom, I’ve had enough! You don’t know everything! You don’t have a clue about what’s going on here! Yes, they’re using Anthony as leverage against me, but you don’t know what they’ll do to him in the process!”
Tom gulps and looks down.
“You’re right Carl, you’re absolutely right...”
He looks to Carl. “But what are we going to do? You haven’t even taken your Oath yet...”
Carl frowns, and when his face lights up again a knot forms in Tom’s stomach.
“Then I’ll take it now.”
Carl was too absorbed in his planning to see the horrified expression on Tom’s face.
“Carl...” Tom stuttered. “You can’t just... I mean... this isn’t right!”
“Tom what did I just say? You don’t know everything...”
“But I know more about Wizardry than you do and the Oath should never be taken with malicious intent!”
“It’s for Life!” Carl protested. “Anthony’s Life!”
“But what do you intend to do with...”
“Look,” Carl said in a tone that brooked no more arguments. “I will take whatever Punishment those Powers of yours dish out... as long as I get to save Anthony first.”
Tom nodded reluctantly then sighed. “Then say it... say the Oath.”
Carl cleared his throat and grabbed the book that was still suspended in mid-air. Opening to the page in his Manual that had the Oath, he started reading.
Whatever I do,
In everything,
I will persevere
Tom started at the words. The Oath Carl was reading was nothing like the Oath Tom had taken. In fact, Tom had never heard an Oath quite like this one. It was almost...poetic.
No matter how difficult my Fate may be
I will not regret,
Through all the pain
Is he making this up? Tom wondered. He worried about what the words might mean, yet was intrigued in spite of himself.
“Carl!” He wanted to cry out, wanting to tell him that this was the wrong Oath... but was it?
His throat closed up and, consequently, he held his tongue. Tom was worried that this was taking too long but then, looking around him, Time seems to have stopped.
Tom didn’t know what was taking place any more...
Whatever happens
I'll be sure not to give up
Even if I lose everything in exchange...
Tom was speechless. The Oath Carl gave was vague as can be yet understandable in its intent.
Someday, without a doubt,
The day is coming,
When I will protect you...
Carl had closed his eyes for the last part of the Oath. He opened them then and, with fire sparking behind them, he fastened them on Tom.
“It’s time.”
Carl smiled and Tom had to admit he was a little intimidated by it.
“Ok first,” Carl started. “Where’s that teleportation spell that you keep so handy...?”
Tom fumbled for a pen out of thin air along with his Manual then knelt on the alley’s floor.
“I wish we had more time,” he muttered, looking as though he was doodling in his Manual.
“Tom, I said...”
“I know what you said and that’s what I’m doing!” Tom snapped, not looking up.
He kept writing vigorously.
“Tom this is taking too long!” Carl complained.
“Done! But I only wrote the Spell for me... It’s too dangerous for you since we haven’t figured out your Name in the Speech yet and we don’t have the time to do it now. I did, however, manage to write an open ended Spell but it’s only sufficient for one other person. And you said you wanted your brother...”
“Enough,” Carl raises a hand, “That’s good enough.”
“But Carl, what are you going to...?”
Carl shook his head, “My life is of no importance.”
“That’s not true!” Tom protested vehemently, scrambling off the ground he’d been sitting on to do his Work.
Carl shrugged with an ‘I could care less’ attitude. “That’s how it is Tom. Now...”
“But... but Carl...” Tom closed the distance between them enough to grab fistfuls of Carl’s shirt. “At least let me show you some defense symbols!’’
Carl was about to consent when they heard the shots...
...and little Anthony’s screams.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
Before Tom can stop him, Carl pushes him away and is running through the front door, dropping his Manual in the street in the process.
There’re more shots.
Tom tries to calm himself down, to not hyperventilate, and to overall get a grip.
Then he teleports in and he himself wants to die.
Tom feels the second Carl drops. With a quick prayer to the One that he has all the data right, he teleports into the kitchen. He does so in a way that doesn’t displace the air so he didn’t think anyone noticed.
He creeps to the edge of the kitchen and slowly glances around the corner, completely silent.
Until he gasps at what he sees.
It wasn’t for a stupid watch, his mind screams at him. He can barely hear it through the buzzing in his ears.
He knows what he wants to do; his first instinct is to kill: Chase, Mike, and especially the Drug Lord.
But then he knows what he has to do and that’s get Carl and Anthony away from this place.
He readies his transport spell...
But then chokes.
There was only enough for two... and no matter what Carl says, he couldn’t leave him.
The whole place is shot up: holes in walls, broken windows, and three seemingly dead bodies on the ground.
Tom’s heart skips a beat when he realizes two of them are Carl and Anthony.
He arrives just in time to watch the Drug Lord pull the trigger on the last man in the room besides himself: Mike, who was begging on his knees for his life.
“Please...”
Another shot and, shattered, Mike drops to the floor. Lifeless.
Tom huddled back around the corner and prayed that the police would come soon. Surely someone had heard the commotion...?
“Except the parameters around here are soundproof. Even vision is useless. We’re invisible to the world until I say so.”
The Drug Lord was smiling when he finished and turned to Tom, who was so sure he had arrived unheard. Then he got a good look at the Drug Lord.
His eyes were black. His hair a shock of red. Like flames framing darkness.
“Lone One,” Tom whispered and then wished he hadn’t.
“Tom Swale,” the Lone Power stated flatly, as if they’d known each other for ages.
But they hadn’t, he had never encountered the Lone Power-he had never had an Ordeal to do so-but he knew clear as day that’s who he was dealing with.
Suddenly there was a moan in the room. And he knew without looking it was Carl’s.
He had to keep the Lone Power’s attention on him.
“What do you want?” Tom attempted at congeniality, all the while trying to remember every passage from the Manual he’d ever read on the Power and every spell he’d ever completed that would come in useful right about now.
Which weren’t many.
The Lone Power had the gall to shrug. “What I always want: mayhem, death, destruction...”
“But this isn’t right...” Tom shook his head. “You can’t just take corporal form whenever you want. You need...”
“Consent? Well, I had his.” He indicates his body. “Nathanial Maxwell, believed in me, worshiped me, invited me in, how could I say no to such a kind offer?”
“So you stole his soul.” Tom spat, disgusted.
“On the contrary, he offered it to me as collateral. I gave him all he wanted. And when he couldn’t think of anything else, I took what I wanted. Simple as that.”
So he was just in mortal form. But Tom still couldn’t kill another human, even though he had serious doubts as to whether this “Nathanial” was human any more.
An exorcism perhaps? Oh by the Powers, did he even know how to do that?!
He couldn’t remember.
“Why here?” Tom stalled. “Why him? Why Carl?”
“If you have no idea, then why should I tell you?” The Lone One drawled.
Tom was slowly starting to inch his way towards Anthony.
“I wouldn’t bother, he’s already dead. And your Carl will be too. Very soon, I can tell these things.”
“My Carl?”
“Of course! He would be alive if it weren’t for you.”
“You’re the Prince of Lies,” Tom mumbled, making his way more quickly to Carl’s brother’s side.
“Am I? See for yourself...” the Lone Power said in a voice that suggested he was bored.
He was right. The Lone Power was right.
Anthony was dead.
“You’re the one who showed Carl his Manual. You’re the one who talked him into being a Wizard. If it weren’t for you, I would have no quarrel with him.”
It wasn’t true... He hadn’t forced Carl into anything, Carl had taken the Oath of his own volition...
Right?
“Why him?” Tom’s voice was heavy with rage and despair as he was sucked in by the Power’s words.
“Because his is-well, was-a talent too great to leave neglected... just like yours actually, only it never manifested. But all is well now. He will die, as will you...”
A gunshot rang through the air. With wide-eyes Tom watched as the Lone Power’s-or at least Nathanial’s body’s-eyes rolled up into their sockets as he collapsed. And Tom couldn’t help but notice a smirk on his lips too.
“C-Carl?” Tom’s heart leapt to his throat.
Carl stood, using the door frame for support, one hand holding a gun that was shaking with strain.
Carl gasped in pain and dropped the gun. There was no need for it anymore. The Lone Power-having taken Nate’s incarnate form-had died with a bullet wound shot perfectly into the back of his skull.
Tom ran across the room to Carl.
“Anthony,” Carl coughed up blood as he leaned against Tom, “Take me to Anthony.”
“Carl...”
“Please, Tom!”