Blood Moon, page 33
part #1 of The Wizard's Journal Series
Sarila heard this and Alura smiled, then turned to me and said, “She wants to know if you would like your shoes shined too.”
I grinned. “No thanks. I only need the piping and ladder, but will gladly take a rain check for the shoeshine.”
Alura put her phone away and informed Thyzil and me the nets would be ready in a few hours. The silver and piping would be transported after Alura returned to Keob.
To save time, Alura decided to transport to Keob from my bedroom. As she stepped into the pentagram, she told Thyzil and me to play nice while she was gone. Thyzil put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me tight enough to take my breath away.
“Don’t worry princess. We have much work to do,” Thyzil said, laughing while squeezing me tighter, which made Alura also laugh.
After Thyzil released me from his death grip, I broke a blue magic coin in half and tossed it into the pentagram.
“Transmati Keob,” I said and blue-white light filled the room as Alura disappeared and a large stack of silver bars, two rolls of black PVC flex pipe, and a rope ladder appeared where she had stood.
“Wow, Sarila is quite the efficient one, isn’t she? Come on Thyzil, we’ll have to make two trips to Howe with all this and the weapon cases,” I said, then we stepped inside the pentagram. ”Better cover your nose. The smell of death is overwhelming on the other side.”
I broke another blue coin in half and said, “Transmati Howe.”
I had my nosed pinched with my fingers of one hand while changing my pocket coin into a staff that lit up the area. Thyzil looked around and took a deep breath.
“I want to remember this place,” he said and looked up at the hole in the ceiling. “I want to remember when heads of big doggies fall to ground.”
“You’ll get your chance soon enough Thyzil. The full moon tomorrow will bring those fur balls here to feed. This time, however, instead of their feeding on innocents, we’re going to dust every last one of them. And if things go as planned, you can take the first wolf head.”
Thyzil smiled. “You always know what to say wizard.”
We returned to my apartment and transported the five weapon cases to the cave. Once there, I asked Thyzil if he had any idea how we were going to get everything up through the cave hole. He went over to a weapon case and took out a small crossbow, spool of wire, and several darts.
“Watch wizard. Zeshtune warriors can fly.”
Thyzil tied a wire to the end of his dart and shot it up through the hole into the cavern ceiling. He then pushed a button on the crossbow which tightened the wire and pulled him effortlessly up through the hole. Once he reached the top, he swung his feet back and forth until he was able to land on the cavern floor, then snapped a few glow sticks for light and looked over the edge at me.
“Want to fly wizard?”
“No thanks. I’m a wizard, not an acrobat. I’ll use the rope ladder after we get the silver and PVC piping up to you. Can you rig up something to pull all this stuff up?”
Thyzil shot another dart into the ceiling and then dropped the wire spool down to me. The wire was flexible, like string, and didn’t look as though it would hold much weight, however, it did pull Thyzil up as though he was a bag of feathers.
I tied the wire to a handle on a weapon case for Thyzil to haul up. We repeated this until all but one of the weapon cases were hauled up to the cavern above and emptied, then Thyzil lowered one case back to me. I filled the case with the silver bars and he hauled it up too.
“Ready for ladder wizard?”
“Yup, send it down.”
“Maybe you change mind and want to fly.”
“Nope, I haven’t changed my mind. You can send the ladder down.”
Thyzil laughed. “As you wish wizard.”
I grabbed a large bag of wolfsbane from the one weapon case left in the cave and started up the ladder. Wolfsbane would hide our scent and throw off the lycanthropes when they arrived for the full moon fur ball festival. I was counting on the element of surprise which would not happen if they smelled our presence.
Thyzil and I hid 15 silver bars with wolfsbane at each of the cavern corners to provide maximum damage. I looked back and saw Thyzil, always the big showoff, juggling several silver bars. Big deal … well, actually it is a big deal, but I wasn’t going to let him know. If I were to even hint that it was a big deal, he would only brag about his strength and there was too much work to do for that nonsense.
I placed the last three silver bars closer to the tunnel behind the throne to keep the fur balls inside once I cast the dust spell. I also placed wolfsbane on top of the silver bars and covered it with dirt to hide everything. Hopefully, none of the fur balls would sense anything was out of place.
The spell I planned on using was the same one used in my vision of Tenochtitlan. In the vision, I turned a few pieces of silver into a swirling wind that coated the temple walls, ceiling, and floor with silver dust. This magic was a cleansing spell that made the entire area inside the Tenochtitlan temple wolf proof, and I was hoping it would work just as well here.
There was not enough time or silver to practice, so the spell would have to work the first time. If it didn’t, we’d be fighting a lot of angry fur balls without having the advantage of pepper spraying them first with silver dust.
Thyzil zipped back down the hole using his crossbow wire and hid a few weapons near the pentagram. We had plenty in the cavern, but hiding a few down below as extras was a good precaution. I stayed behind to discuss another idea with Kyiel.
“Aptier Kyiel,” I said and my old pal appeared as usual.
“Kyiel, how have you been?”
“I am as you last saw me Azul. How may I help you?”
No small talk with Kyiel. He always gets right to the point.
“I have an idea. Remember how you did all that magic stuff in Las Vegas?”
“Not magic Azul. It was illusion and manipulation of the elements.”
“Yea, that’s what I meant. I was wondering if you would help me out here tomorrow night with another performance.”
I discussed my idea with Kyiel and he told me everything could be done quite easily, and for a second, I thought I saw a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. Maybe he enjoyed performing illusions, but that would mean he could feel emotion. I looked again and his eyes were stone cold. Still, I swear I saw a spark of life in those bright blue eyes.
After dismissing Kyiel, I used the rope ladder to rejoin Thyzil in the cave below. He finished covering the last spare weapons with a few rocks and then stood still staring at the corpses.
“It’s been a busy day Thyzil. Let’s go home, eat pizza, and have a few beers. Tomorrow night is going to be another crazy battle.”
“Good idea wizard. I could eat horse, but pizza and beer much better.”
“Yup, pizza and beer are the best,” I said and slapped Thyzil on his back.
We stepped into the pentagram and transported back to my apartment where Alura was waiting. When Thyzil and I entered the living area, we saw 10 pizza boxes and a tapped beer keg sitting in a barrel of ice. Our mouths dropped and eyes widened.
Did we die and go to heaven?
“Hi boys,” she said, wearing a smile as if she won the lottery. “I thought you might be hungry and thirsty after a long day in those dark dirty caves.”
Thyzil and I stood still looking at all the pizza and keg of beer. We were speechless.
“Are you two going to stand there and look like idiots all night, or are you going to help me eat and drink?”
“Oh man, you are an angel sister, a real angel.”
Thyzil walked slowly toward the beer as though he was in a trance.
“I agree wizard … a warrior princess angel.”
After a few hot slices of pepperoni pizza and a couple mugs of cold draft beer, I noticed the neatly wrapped box was still on the coffee table. It must be a world record having a gift within Alura’s reach and her mustering up the will to not open it.
“Alura, are you ever going to open that box?” I asked.
“It’s not for me you dork. It’s for you from Melony.”
Melony got me a gift? Now that I think about it, Thyzil could never wrap a box so perfectly.
I opened the box up under the watchful eyes of Alura and Thyzil, and then my eyes widened when I saw a silver bracelet with four brilliant runes embedded on the front.
“Wow, look at the craftsmanship,” I said. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s more than beautiful,” Alura said. “It a charm bracelet made by the Sisters of Galbria. Each rune has special powers to protect and heal when needed. This bracelet, dear brother, is one of a kind and the first to be gifted by the white witches to anyone outside their coven.”
“One of a kind you say.”
I looked on the backside of the bracelet which had an engraving. It read: Love always, Melony.
“What does it say?” Alura asked with a coyish grin.
I put the bracelet on my wrist. “Never mind Ms. ‘none of your business’.”
I felt flush and Alura and Thyzil grinned, so my face must have been a little red. If that wasn’t enough, Alura began singing that annoying kids tune: “Daniel and Melony, sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage.”
Give me a break.
Chapter 30
Annoyed by Alura’s silly rhyme, I threw my pizza crust at her and she caught it in her teeth, and then proceeded to eat it. Good reflexes. Thyzil asked what a baby carriage was, which caused Alura to almost choke on the pizza crust. Serves you right smarty pants. She didn’t respond, but I nearly bust my gut laughing.
The remainder of the evening went by in a relaxing way. Empty pizza boxes littered the floor and Sally was sleeping next to the fireplace with a full belly of her own. It was good to be home.
Alura told me that Sarila sent Lieutenant Mack and his team to maintain surveillance at Howe. Good idea, don’t want fur balls sneaking in on us. Sarila also sent the three titanium nets to Howe. Once all the lycanthropes were inside the cavern, Mack would seal it up tight – with us inside. If things went bad, we’d be trapped and thinking what a terrible idea it was to seal the exits. But then again, this was an opportunity to dust some big shot VIP fur balls, and hopefully and banish their boss – totally worth the risk. We reviewed our battle plan and Alura then headed to her apartment with Thyzil to get some rest.
Every muscle in my body was aching. I was aching in places where I didn’t know muscles even existed. Hauling silver bars and climbing rope ladders was not easy work for a couch potato like me. What I need is to learn a levitation spell for the next time lifting more than the weight of my staff was required, and my staff is nearly weightless.
Exhausted, I fell onto my bed and began a nightly routine of trying to clear my mind, which is not the easiest thing to do when considering the upcoming battle. If our plan worked, we might actually survive the day.
It has to work. Ah Chuy Kak must be banished even if it takes my last breathe to send the grand fur ball to the dark void.
None of this second guessing was a recipe for a good night rest, so I tried to stay positive. I finally fell asleep, but it seemed as if it was a short night when my alarm went off. No annoying rooster this time. Instead, the entire wall of my bedroom became a rainforest, complete with a cascading waterfall.
I walked over to the wall and felt a breeze and mist from the waterfall. I knew the image was a hologram, but it seemed real enough to walk into. I touched the wall with my finger and a ring of light formed spreading out like ripples on water, then the rainforest slowly disappeared.
Whoever constructed this alarm system, most likely me, did so with a strange sense or humor, or just screwed up the design entirely. On a positive note, my aches and pains were gone.
Sally looked up with her bright eyes and thumped her tail on the floor when I entered the living area. Alura and Thyzil had already let themselves in, so more eggs and bacon went into my flying pan to ensure Sally and I got our fair share. Actually, a lot more eggs and bacon went into four frying pans in anticipation of the hardy appetites of my breakfast companions.
“Do you two have a food detector hidden in my apartment?” I asked.
Thyzil tapped his nose while taking a deep breath and said, “Here wizard. Good detector, yes?”
“Less talk cook, more food,” Alura said as she sat at the kitchen table. “Don’t forget the coffee dear brother.”
“Sure, why not. It’s not like I have anything better to do, such as banishing an ancient Mayan overlord.”
Alura and Thyzil held up their empty cups.
“Blah, blah, blah … always thinking of yourself,” Alura said. “Alright brother, I’ll help you and get my own coffee.”
After breakfast was over, Alura opened her duffle bag and began loading up with all her usual arsenal. Thyzil took his claymore out of a golf bag that had a golf sock over the sword’s hilt.
I laughed. “A golf bag … really Thyzil?”
“Your baby sister says I need to fit in. Look like other city people.”
Alura frowned and shook her head. “He needs some more work with this image thing.”
Thyzil could try until the cows come home to look normal and fit in, but it’s just not going to happen. I doubt anyone in Manhattan would even notice the claymore strapped on his back, but I bet he got a lot of looks at that golf bag. I mean, who carries a golf bag in Manhattan? I’ll try to help him with the ‘fitting in’ thing later, assuming we live through the night and there is a later.
Alura tossed a small lipstick style container to me and another to Thyzil and said, “Rub some of this under your nose to help with the smell in the cave.”
I opened up the container and held it up to my nose, but smelled nothing. It looked like bees wax. I rubbed some of the ointment under my nose as Alura instructed and hardly notice it was there. If it works, great. Any help would be welcomed to reduce the smell of dead bodies. Alura and Thyzil also rubbed the ointment under their noses.
“Sally, take care of our home,” I said and she woofed and rubbed her head against my leg.
Each of us took turns patting Sally’s head and said goodbye. I frowned thinking this might be the last goodbye I say to Sally and looked back at her hoping it wasn’t. She sensed something wasn’t right and put her head down on her paws and whimpered.
We stepped into my bedroom pentagram. I held my staff above the center of the pentagram and said, “Ready to enter the belly of the beast?”
Thyzil grimaced. “Ready to split beast belly with sword.”
I closed my eyes and crushed a blue magic coin under my foot.
“Transmati Howe,” I said, causing blue-white light to pour up from the pentagram and transport us to the cave.
The ointment Alura gave me worked. I couldn’t smell anything, which helped me to keep my breakfast inside my stomach and focus. Thyzil and Alura wasted no time uncovering the weapon cases and making a final inspection. Sure seemed like a lot of weapons to me, but Alura and Thyzil are the weapons experts and they always preferred more than less.
Alura placed all the grenades on the cave floor in neat rows of five secured to straps. She put a wire through the grenade pins with a leather pull loop to set each strap off simultaneously if needed. She also stuffed silver daggers in her boots, under her wrist sleeves, and under her pants belt.
“Alura, won’t all those grenades put us in jeopardy when they go off?” I asked.
“No, the silver fragments will not penetrate anything but lycanthrope skin. If fragments hit you, it might feel like a hornet nest fell on you, but it won’t break your skin. Placing these belts at different areas of the cavern will allow me to swing out five grenades each time to cause maximum damage.”
“Sure are a lot of grenades.”
Alura grinned. “The more the merrier. Besides, who’s counting, except you?”
“You’re the expert grenade handler, so who am I to question.”
“Darn straight wizard boy, and don’t you forget it,” she said, then winked at me as she started reloading the weapon cases.
Thyzil loaded up on Gatling gun wheel magazines and was smiling ear-to-ear like a cat with a mouse in its mouth. He tucked the two inferno crystals under his belt and went up the rope ladder leading to the cavern while Alura tied the case handles with a rope. Thyzil then pulled up all the cases effortlessly and began emptying their contents.
“Heads up brother,” Alura said, then tossed a couple bags of silver fragments to me. “Hang on to those. They may come in handy if we find ourselves in a jam.”
I stuffed the bags into my coat pockets and followed Alura up the rope ladder. Thyzil had already snapped several glow sticks to light up the cavern so I could begin constructing a pentagram from the PVC pipe. I decided a having a ten foot diameter pentagram would suffice, provided that Ah Chuy Kak is sitting in his throne. After all, there is no need to have a throne unless he plans on putting his furry butt on it.
A larger pentagram would make it difficult for me to touch the wizard star on a dodging Mayan overlord. A smaller pentagram might miss the fur ball altogether and risk having Ah Chuy Kak escape again. This reminded me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears – everything had to be just right. Sure, the bear story was about beds, but the concept is the same. The slightest error in constructing the pentagram could ruin everything, not to mention increasing the likelihood of being torn apart by a bunch of fur balls.
I first made a circle joining the PVC pipe ends together with pipe cement. Then I cut six straight sections of the pipe to form two triangles. I placed the triangles into the circle and tied them off with zip locks to form a pentagram. It wasn’t very sturdy, but it didn’t need to be. Pentagrams only directed magical energy once a spell is cast – it could be made with toothpicks and still work.
Hopefully, Ah Chuy Kak would soon be inside my trap while he watched all his groupie fur balls get dusted. The thought of waiting another 25,000 years to dust the flea bag was disturbing to say the least. We had to trap and banish Ah Chuy Kak tonight, period.
