Blood Moon, page 32
part #1 of The Wizard's Journal Series
My phone rang. “Daniel, this is Tommy. I have some news.”
Alura and I were with Tommy just yesterday and I had not expected him to contact me so soon. Whenever someone says they have news, in a dreary tone like Tommy used, it was almost certain the news was bad.
“Hey Tommy, what’s up?”
“I heard from another pack upstate at Howe Caverns. They found more bodies, like those at Sunset Park. I’m sending you some pictures now.”
The pictures Tommy sent me showed piles of shriveled up bodies stacked against a natural stone wall. All the bodies had horrific expressions with their eyes and mouths wide open. Some had no clothes, which was also the case at Sunset Park.
“Tommy, do you know why some of these bodies are naked?”
There was a long pause.
“Uh … yea, I do. Their hybrids,” he said. “Daniel, I knew them. They were family. Some are as old as me.”
“Sorry Tommy, but why are they naked?”
“Unlike purebred lycanthropes who can change shape into many things, hybrids can only change into wolfs, you know, the four legged kind. When we hunt, we take our clothes off before turning to avoid ripping everything apart. You can imagine how difficult it would be explaining to law officials why a group of kids are naked, or wearing shredded clothes, when returning to town.”
“Yea, explaining nakedness would be difficult,” I said. “What exactly do hybrids hunt?”
“Not humans, if that’s what you’re thinking. We go out every so often to hunt deer and other wildlife. We’re human Daniel, but still have our primal desire to hunt, not unlike many humans up this way with rifles.”
“Tell me more about where the bodies were found.”
Tommy told me that bodies were in a hidden cave near Howe Caverns located in Howe, New York. Howe Caverns are New York’s largest tourist attraction, second only to Niagara Falls, and is touted as a family adventure park. Located 160 miles from Manhattan and northwest of Albany, Howe has about 1,200 people living on less than 14,000 square miles of land. It’s a small town tucked away in a corner of New England and is sustained mostly by tourist dollars
“There’s more,” Tommy said. “Purebreds from the city have been gathering nearby, mostly in Schenectady. They are VIPs, wealthy business professionals, and state politicians. Senator Kendrisol is hosting an economic summit at the Howe Pike Hill Inn, but it’s a ruse to gather purebreds without raising suspicions.”
Senator Kendrisol is a slippery politician who is always being investigated for ethic violations. Most recently he has been accused of being mixed up with the New York mob and disappearance of a young intern.
“Kendrisol is a lycanthrope?” I asked.
“He has been around almost a long as me Daniel. I first knew of him back in the American Revolution when he was a British General. Since then he has changed identities and professions many times. Kendrisol may appear polished and upright with his expensive uptown lifestyle and Wall Street friends, but he is one of the most vicious of all lycanthropes in New York.”
Silly me, I thought Lupzarro and Moon were the worst.
“Do you want to drive up to Howe with me in the morning and check things out?” I asked.
“I should stay here,” Tommy replied. “No offense, but being seen with a wizard might jeopardize the safety of my own pack.”
Tommy felt that since Twyer’s pack was already under attack, a prolonged meeting with a wizard might not matter much, but his own pack was unknown and he wanted to keep it that way. Fair enough.
“You need to meet a man named Henry Twyer who owns and operates the town general store. Henry is the pack leader of the northwest New York hybrids and will fill you in once you arrive.”
“Okay then, I’ll let you know how it goes once I meet up with Henry. Thanks for calling Tommy.”
“Sure Daniel. Take care of yourself.”
Alura wished me luck and headed out to do some errands and meet up with Thyzil. Meanwhile, I hung around the apartment for the day, had some more pizza, a couple beers, and read some magazines. As relaxing as my day was, I reminded myself that I was getting closer to finding Ah Chuy Kak, the final loose thread.
The next morning a rental car was waiting for me outside my apartment, care of Sarila. Nothing special, a later model compact car, but it had ice cold air conditioning. Since it was mid July with temperatures expected to hit 95 degrees in the shade, air conditioning was second only to having an engine that works.
It take about three hours to reach Howe once getting out of Manhattan’s carmageddon gridlock. Once out of the gridlock, the more scenic and enjoyable the drive became. After one long stretch of road where no living thing was seen, I followed a sign to Howe that pointed left onto a dirt road filled with potholes. The small compact car managed to hold up well, except for a few water filled potholes nearly breaking the rear axle and pushing my head into the roof.
A large sign posted next to a smaller Welcome to Howe sign notified tourist that the caverns were closed due to a West Nile virus outbreak. Nothing like a viral infection scare to keep away picture takers and rock collectors. As I passed the signs, a police car pulled onto the road behind me with its lights flashing.
“Nice welcome,” I muttered and pulled over waiting for the officer to approach.
Chapter 29
The police car door opened and a tall muscular officer stepped out. He was a big man, not Thyzil big, but intimidating just the same. No one would ever give this guy any trouble.
“License and registration,” the officer said.
After the officer looked at my documents he handed them back and smiled.
“Thank you Mr. Zane. Henry is expecting you sir at the general store. It’s the first building you see when pulling into town.”
I thanked the officer and began to drive off toward town. From my rearview mirror, I saw him pull a road block across the dirt road and position his car sideways behind it. Looks like no one would be going in or out of the town on this road, at least not by car.
Being a wizard, I could always transport out of town should any pitch fork and sickle crazed townspeople think I was Frankenstein, but hey, why think about the worst case scenario. Like I say, paranoia is a good ally is one wishes to stay alive.
I arrived at the general store at lunch time and had expected to see people going about their business. Instead, everything was quiet with no one in sight. Several pickup trucks were parked unattended with bales of hay and oats piled in their flat beds. A hound dog sleeping on the porch of the general store was the only sign of life.
I parked my car in front where a wooden sign hanging above a door read: General Store, Henry R. Twyer, proprietor, est. 1883. If this is the same Henry, he’d be well over 100 years old, which is actually not that old for a lycanthrope, or hybrid.
As I reached for the store’s doorknob, someone inside opened it. A tall thin middle aged man with red hair and a beard greeted me. Several people standing behind him were smiling in a curiosity manner, clearly not accustomed to having visitors.
“Welcome Mr. Zane. My name is Henry Twyer and I am the proprietor of this store. Tommy is a friend of ours and told us you would be coming.”
The other people continued smiling and nodded as they introduced themselves. I sensed no danger, didn’t smell any wolfs, and felt very welcomed. A young woman handed me a warm glass of cider and cinnamon stick.
“Stir the stick in the cider sir,” she said. “It makes it taste so wonderful,”
“Thank you for your hospitality, and please, everyone call me Daniel. Henry, can you take me to the area Tommy talked about?”
“Yes sir, I can. Come with me. We’ll use my truck to get there and my two sons can ride in back.”
As we drove to the caverns, I had to ask. “Your store sign says established 1883. Did your grandfather start up the store?”
Henry laughed. “Yes sir, outsiders think of me as Henry Twyer III. Locals know me as the one and only original Henry Twyer.”
“I see. How many hybrids are there in Howe?”
“That would be the whole town, all 1,203 of us,” he said. “Not all of us are shapeshifters. Only a few hundred that are can actually change form. Most of the pack lives out their time as ordinary humans, as is the case with most other hybrid packs. Tommy and I have known each other for hundreds of years. We use to farm together until the electric guitar was invented. That’s when Tommy went all crazy for rock and roll and city life. Damn noisy contraptions, those guitars.”
I smiled and nearly laughed. It was hard to imagine Tommy pulling a plow with Henry, who looked very much the part, but Tommy was clearly born for rock music.
“Have you seen Tommy recently?” I asked.
Henry frowned. “You mean all those tattoos, crazy hair, and metal things stabbed through the face of what use to be my Tommy boy? No, I haven’t seen him for years. Once was enough to scare me right back to the farm in a jiffy. We keep in touch by phone now.”
Henry stopped his truck at a cliff wall covered with brush. His sons hopped out from the back and we followed Henry to the cliff.
Are they expecting me to climb that 100 foot granite wall? Not going to happen.
Henry paused at some brush and pulled it aside revealing a narrow passage.
“This way Daniel. It’s a tight fit, but we only have to go in a few feet.”
When I entered the passage, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I smelt wolf. After a few more steps, we entered a cave about 30 feet square filled with shriveled corpses, all piled up in the middle. Sunlight was shinning down from a large hole 30 feet above onto the corpses.
“Some of these bodies are city folk,” Henry said, pointing to bodies fully dressed. “These three over there without clothes are ours who went missing a few weeks ago.”
“Has anyone gone missing since then?” I asked.
“No, the last full moon hunt was when our townsfolk began disappearing. This sort of thing has never happened before up these parts.”
The bodies Alura and I found at Sunset Park were just like these victims, making me think that Ah Chuy Kak’s new feeding ground was 30 feet above my head. If so, this is where the grand fur ball will probably be during the next full moon.
“Henry, when will the next full moon occur?”
“In two days time.”
“Okay, I’ll be back before then. You and your sons should return to town and stay away from this mountain. I need to return to Manhattan for some help.”
“Don’t you need a ride back to your car?”
“No, I have another way. I’ll see you again in a couple of days.”
After Henry and his sons left the cave, I summoned Kyiel to take a look around up above inside the cavern. It was weird watching him float up and back down again through the hole like a ghost. He only took a minute to complete his inspection and report what he saw, which was conveniently presented in 3-D holographic images.
The area above the hole was a like a mini Roman Coliseum with large monoliths supporting three levels of stone ledges. At the center of the dirt floor were three wooden stocks where heads and hands are placed to imprison someone while standing. At the far end were stairs leading to a raised platform, and to no surprise, there was a throne on top laced with gold and red linen. The throne was exactly like the one in my vision of Tenochtitlan and most definitely belonged to Ah Chuy Kak. This place was his hideout and main feeding ground now that Sunset Park was destroyed.
I dismissed Kyiel and looked around for a good place to make a pentagram. Holding my pocket coin in my hand, I said, “Unclass staff,” causing my staff to appear. I used the end of my staff to draw a pentagram on the dirt floor at the far side of the cave and crushed a blue magic coin under my foot saying, “Transmati domas.” When I opened my eyes, I was back in my Manhattan apartment bedroom and the hairs on my neck relaxed, but the stench of death was still very much present inside my nostrils.
I exited my bedroom and saw Thyzil taking inventory of five large aluminum locker style cases. He had plenty of time to do what he loves doing – getting ready to kick monster butt – and was smiling ear to ear with his arms stretched out over the cases.
“What do you think wizard? Nice weapons, yes?”
I looked inside the cases, each neatly packed with everything a Zeshtune warrior could possibly dream. The first two cases were filled with a hundred silver laced grenades. The third case had two hand Gatling guns with dozens of magazines filled with hollow point silver bullets. A fourth case was filled with wolfsbane, two red crystals, and pouches filled with silver fragments. The last case had something different: two shotguns and a couple hundred shells filled with silver pellets. Oddly, there was also a nicely wrapped package with a ribbon and bow sitting on the coffee table.
Thyzil bought an engagement ring for Alura? Nah, not his style. Thyzil’s more likely to think a new battle sword was an appropriate engagement gift for Alura.
I looked at the cases again and said, “We’re going to need bigger weapons.”
Thyzil narrowed his eyes. “Bigger?” he asked while scratching his head, then began laughing. “Bigger … I like how you think wizard. We make bigger bombs, yes?”
I smiled and nodded in agreement. “Thyzil, where’s Alura?”
“She’s walking your beast. I wanted to go, but my princess told me people get nervous. Why she thinks this?” he asked, looking at himself up and down wearing Zeshtune battle garb. “Perhaps it’s sword, yes?’
Alura returned before I had the chance to explain the dos and don’ts of public attire to Thyzil. Not that explaining would do any good since the big guy was uncomfortable in anything other than metal breast plates.
“I knew you were back,” Alura said. “Sally turned around and dragged me all the way here barking.”
Sally pushed me to the floor and began her slobbering routine.
“Hey old girl, you missed me didn’t you? Good girl.”
Sally rolled over on her back for a belly rub. I complied while Thyzil asked Alura if she would give him a belly rub later, to which she rolled her eyes, but also smiled.
Thyzil laughed. “A warrior never knows unless he asks, yes wizard?”
I winked at Thyzil in agreement.
“So brother, was your trip eventful?”
I summoned Kyiel and had him show Alura and Thyzil the 3-D holographic images of the cave and cavern. Among his many talents, not least was magical knowledge, was Kyiel’s math skills. He provided the exact dimensions of the cavern, throne, and number of seats. Math was never my strong suit, but I could always hold my own when needed. Kyiel was one of those natural gurus who could answer any math question with precision and without pause.
“Kyiel, in my vision of the Mayan city of Tenochtitlan, I cast a spell inside a room that covered everything with silver dust by using only a few pieces of silver. The cavern at Howe is much larger. How much silver do I need to cover it?”
“The half acre cavern will require one hundred pounds of silver to cover the walls, ceiling, and floor. The two tunnels and opening in the ceiling would not be affected except for the most inner edges.”
“What would happen to the fur balls inside the cavern?”
“Silver dust burns a lycanthropes skin, eyes, lungs, and causes disorientation and possible death, just as you saw in your vision. The spell you refer to will not necessarily destroy lycanthropes, but it will hurt them badly. If a lycanthrope breathes in enough of the dust before it adheres to solid surfaces, it will destroy them.”
I can see it now. Dozens of fur balls running around in circles rubbing their eyes as if shot with pepper spray.
“Such a spell may create just the distraction I need to take them out and catch Ah Chuy Kak off guard,” I said.
“We’ll need someway to keep them from escaping through the tunnels and ceiling,” Alura said. “I will ask Sarila to craft titanium nets coated with silver. Not even a tank can break through titanium. Lieutenant Mack’s team can guard the exits just in case a few strays get loose. Once the lycanthropes are destroyed, we’ll use the two red inferno crystals to seal the cave permanently.”
Alura looked at me and grinned, again knowing what I was thinking.
“These crystals don’t explode brother. Instead, they will fuse the entire cavern into solid hot rock.”
I smiled. “Excellent. Looks like we have a plan.”
“Plan good, these better,” Thyzil said while bending down and tapping one of the silver cases.
Assuming things go well, having a pentagram placed above Ah Chuy Kak’s throne still remains a problem. The cavern ceiling is ragged with ancient drip stone making drawings with chalk or bees wax not an option. This meant a pentagram would have to be made at ground level, hoisted up above the throne, and hung from dripstone.
As I thought about the problem, I remembered an old pirate movie where a lantern wheel was raised and lowered from a hook in a castle ceiling. All I needed was a hook embedded in the cavern ceiling, some flexible PVC pipe, and a clamor spell to hide the pentagram.
“Alura, would you be able to shoot a hook and small pulley into the ceiling directly above the throne?”
Alura smirked. “Do fish swim in water?”
Such a smarty pants, but then again, it was a dumb question. Alura could shoot a tick off the nose of a deer a mile away while blindfolded.
“What kind of fish?” I asked, just to be a smarty pants too.
Alura arched her brow. “A shark … what else?”
“That’s what I thought you say.”
Alura snapped her teeth at me a couple of times to imitate a shark, then called Sarila to have a 100 pounds of silver transported. Evidently, precious metals are readily available in the Batcave vaults. They also discussed the details necessary to build titanium silver coated nets using Kyiel’s measurements.
“Hey, ask Sarila is she can spare 50 feet of half inch PVC flex pipe and a 30 foot rope ladder,” I said.
