Wizards and Thieves - Chapter Six
Chapter Six: Unexpected surprises.
"So how are we going to return me to my world?" Niall asked after drinks were served.
"At the moment I haven't the slightest," Lord Petros - Peter Burke, apparently - admitted. "This is why I want you to explain everything that happened before you ended up here."
Niall shrugged. "There's not much to say. The high priest found me where I was staying and he insisted that I was the chosen one. There wasn't much I could do to escape it. The high priest can be almost as bad as Lord Petros, so I went with him."
"The high priest," Peter said. "That's who the staff belongs to, right?"
"Right," Niall replied. He took a sip of his drink and continued. "I stole it after we had settled down for the night. I knew that I had to get the hell out of there and I figured why not, you know."
"Why not is never a good reason for theft," Peter said. Mossy opened his mouth, but Peter cut him off with a look. "Never a good reason for theft. So, you stole his staff."
Niall shot him an odd look at his actions and nodded his head. "I was careful not to touch it, since everyone knows that wizards carry nasty spell in their staffs, but I was just about to drop it at one point and I grabbed onto it by mistake. It dropped me here and I assume brought my counterpart to my world."
"Do you have any idea how to get back to your world?" Peter asked. "Some sort of spell that you could use or anything like that?"
"I don't know what spell was used to transport me here in the first place and even if I did have some idea of what spell to use, I would need a magical focus to do it," Niall said.
"A magical focus?" Peter asked. This world really did seem to have no magic, if even the great Wizard was puzzled over the simplest of things.
Niall sighed and pulled out the leather thong that was around his neck. The pendent there was a pure turquoise and even now Niall could feel the faint vibrations from the magic stored in it. "This is my focus, which I can use for small spells. If I want to do a spell like the one that would take to bring me back home, I would need a larger focus."
"So, that's ruled out," Peter said. He frowned. "Is there a chance that this could be solved from your side?"
"You mean someone noticing that your Neal is not me and casting a spell to switch us once more?" Niall asked. He shook his head. "There's a slim possibility, but I don't know. We were in a tricky situation, Mossy might not take the time to notice that I am not myself, and even if he did, there's no way that he will do that great of a magic spell. It's bad enough that I touched the staff in the first place."
"Why, what would that do?" Peter asked, leaning forward as he seized the idea.
"It would have set off a large backlash," Niall saw the looks of confusion in their eyes and sighed. "A large magical wave that would have a large reach, anyone who uses magic would notice."
"Like throwing a stone into a pond? You get ripples?" Peter asked.
"Exactly," Niall said. "I've already got two wizards looking for me; I really didn't need to bring any further attention to myself."
"Well, don't worry, I'm sure that we can figure something out," Elisabet said. She glanced over at Peter. "We don't have magic in this world, but maybe there's something else? Something that is a counterpart to it?"
"Or, there is magic and the government has been hiding it from us," Mossy piped up. "We could have men in black showing up at any moment, having tracked the backlash on Niall."
"There's no way," Peter scoffed. A knock on his door interrupted him and everyone paused and looked towards the door. "There's no way," Peter repeated, sending Mossy a look.
Peter got up from his seat, motioning for the rest of them to stay back. Niall couldn't help but notice that Peter was reaching for something hooked on his belt and there was a nervous feeling in the air. Niall whispered a charm and then put his magical focus back under his shirt while Peter headed over to the door.
Peter opened the door, a smile fixed onto his face. "Hello?" Niall watched as Peter froze at seeing whoever was at the door.
"Do not draw your gun, or I will shoot," a familiar voice said, spilling into the room. "Calmly take it out and put it down on the ground. And then we are going to head inside where the rest of them are waiting."
Peter did what the man had ordered, putting his gun down on the floor and stepping back. The man stepped in view, confirming that he was the High priest. “Adalia, I thought that you were in jail."
"It was such a surprise to have my plans ruined like that," the high priest said. "It's not enough that Lord Petros defies me in the one world, here you are in the other world causing me trouble."
"Other world?" Peter repeated, tilting his head to the side.
The high priest chuckled. "Don't bother pretending, I know that the chosen one is here in this world. He tried to steal my staff and upset my spell, luckily I was able to regain my staff."
"What do you want?" Peter asked. He obeyed the unspoken direction to enter the living room with the rest of them, keeping his eye on the high priest the whole time.
"I was disappointed to find that my chosen one had disappeared before doing his duty, but this is perfect," the high priest said. "If he cannot take care of Lord Petros, than he can take care of Peter Burke."
"You want me to kill Peter Burke?" Niall exclaimed. "That's even crazier than trying to kill Lord Petros."
"Why? This man has no magical powers, the only thing he had was a gun and I took care of that," the high priest said. "I am sure that you can take him out without any trouble."
Niall shook his head; he didn't go in for murdering innocent people. "That's just insane."
"If you take him out, I will return you to your world," the high priest said. He grinned, his teeth all crooked. "I might even consider your duty to be done."
Chapter Seven