Wizards, Swords, And Hoverboards by Pete Bertino - HTML preview

PETE BERTINO

THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT PROTECTED 2/24/2022 PETER JAMES BERTINO AUTHOR; AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR.

DEDICATION: TO MOMS EVERYWHERE

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The large back windshield of the Crown Vic he drove exploded from the gun fire showering him in glass. Johnny Boy The Loser held the steering wheel in a death grip. Less than a half hour earlier he was waking up from a dope nap in a house somewhere on Indiana avenue in North Philly.

He’d arrived on a sunny bright afternoon but awoke days later to an early autumn monsoon. It was the torrent of rain and the nearby wails of a baby that brought him out of his sleep. The house was without electricity, the floor of the room he laid in was lit red by a battery operated space heater sitting in a corner. In the sinister looking red light he saw a man laying shirtless and still on the floor just a few feet away.

Johnny Boy sat up and because of his gift knew the man was dead. He stood on jelly like legs and felt as if he’d run a marathon. He looked out passed the horrible red glare of light towards the doorway and saw a white fog rolling in low on the floor. It was dark but Johnny Boy The Loser knew it was an aura, he could see them no matter how high he was.

His hand found his chest and he could feel his heart pounding through his dirty fingers. The aura was almost a pure white and was coming from the baby. The fog pulsated and emitted sparks of bright neon green as the baby cried and wailed.

“The baby’s a wizard.” Johnny Boy whispered to the dead man on the floor.

Without thought he slowly followed the aura with timid steps. In another room he heard voices, one of them sounded agitated. He leaned through the door way and looked down a pitch black hall, at the end of the hall was a room that had lighting, where the large shadows of at least two people moved about.

“The fuck, I can get five easy for him. I just want a fair cut my man.” said someone.

“Yo don’t be commin up on me like we friends.” said the agitated person.

“Fuck we could just take the kid and sell it on our own. The fuck would you do about it, pig?” asked a third voice.

Johnny Boy stood a dozen feet away and saw the aura coming from down the hall but it turned off into a dark room beside the one where the argument was happening. The men were talking loud and not in view of the doorway. All Johnny Boy could see was shadows cast on a brick wall.

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He didn’t think about what he was doing as he crept down the hall, knowing they’d be armed and that even if he did escape he’d never be able to come to this neighborhood again to score. It was easy to get out of the house though, he was on the front stoop with a baby in his arms that was probably a year old already.

The baby, wrapped in a yellow blanket adorned with little pictures of Felix the Cat and his magical bag of tricks, was quiet until they were on the front stoop and rain pattered its soft little head.

“What the fuck!” shouted a voice from back inside.

The street was deserted thanks to the rain, and was void of working street lights. Johnny Boy held the baby close to him as he ran down the steps into the darkened street and was stopped cold at the Crown Vic with its door open and the key in the ignition. In the back seat was a car seat for a baby that appeared to be broken.

Johnny Boy put the baby on the floor of the passenger side and went across the seat to start it up. He felt his heart take a giant leap when he saw the police radio on the dash. Without a second thought and glass raining down on him he drove. His head was filled with noise from the now shrieking baby, the static wailing of the police radio and the roar of rain and wind, all the racket left him disorientated.

He side swiped a trio of cars that had been stripped and abandoned long ago, the dark street lit up with sparks from the grazing of metal on metal. Another bullet whizzed by as Johnny Boy floored it and turned down 3rd street going south. He was unsure for only a second or two before he realized what he was doing.

He would have to take this baby to Gabrielle The Pink. She had attempted to raise Johnny Boy but he could never handle seeing the dead. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her since he’d left years ago, a failed wizard so that day he crowned himself Johnny Boy The Loser. To take this baby to the police was what brought the baby here, and the foster system would destroy this special child.

As Johnny Boy turned off 3rd street another shot rang out which sent the baby into a another shrieking fit. Johnny drove off at seventy through a red light and nearly hit a large van. He cried out as he veered out of its way and went up on the sidewalk almost running over a young couple waiting for the bus on the corner. Miraculously he got the behemoth vehicle between a pair of parked cars and back onto the street without killing anybody.

With a free hand Johnny began pushing buttons on the irritatingly loud police radio and managed to turn off that but turn on the regular radio instead which was broadcasting a live speech from President

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Carter. He turned that off as he heard another pop of gunfire and sirens. He floored it again turning down a tiny side street that was more of an alley.

“I can’t stay in this car.”

That guy was a cop and this was his ride, he had a spotlight on himself. Johnny Boy reached for the glove box and saw laying on a pile of papers was a pistol, he’d spent enough time on the streets to know it was loaded and how to use it. With a deep swallow he took the gun and held it in one hand and scooped the baby up in the other.

He knew this wasn’t the baby’s first ride but Johnny Boy knew this would be his last if he wanted to save this kid. He stepped out onto the street as a tiny red AMC Pacer pulled up to the stop sign. The driver was an older bespectacled man who could see what Johnny Boy held despite the falling rain but remained motionless and wide eyed with fright.

“Get out of the car!”

The man held up his hands but nodded. Johnny Boy moved the gun and and shot at the ground making the driver yelp loudly.

“Get out of the fucking car now!” he said aiming directly at the driver.

He complied and didn’t so much get out of the car but roll out and crawl away for a few feet before running off. The baby was shrieking enough to make Johnny Boy cry himself. As they drove off he rummaged in his pants pocket for the last of his rose pollen, he would use it himself to sleep when the dead wouldn’t leave him alone.

It was a sleeping potion mixture from one of the other worlds, it was harmless to young and old a like and would put the baby in a deep slumber for a good five or six hours with the right dose. He placed the pollen on his finger tip and gave it to the baby who gagged at first but eventually ingested it and was asleep within minutes.

He found in the minuscule back seat a suitcase filled with clothes, Johnny boy grabbed it and made a cozy nest to place the baby in. If the child had been any older it would never have fit, and he was reluctant to close the lid. Once the nest was on the floor he drove down as many side streets as possible, and avoided Broad street altogether.

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He was between 11th and 12th parallel to Germantown avenue and at a red light when he saw a cop car sitting at the corner. He sat looking forward and could see the aura of the cops flowing from the patrol car, it was blue tinged with red looking veins, that meant they were on alert. The light stayed red as he sat with a beating heart while Bad Moon Rising came out of the speakers, Johnny Boy snapped off the radio and glimpsed a look at the cop car.

In it sat one uniformed cop who was looking back at him, the moment they made eye contact he flashed his lights and drove forward blocking his way forward. Johnny Boy put the car in reverse and floored it and as he looked back he saw he was about run over another uniformed cop, the drivers partner he presumed, who was sneaking up from behind. He tried not to run him over, but the car had piss poor alignment.

As well as being in a reversed position and his terror stricken mind still foggy from dope sleep caused him to accidentally drive directly into the unformed officer. Johnny Boy felt his stomach drop as the tire rolled over the cop. With his body bathed in sweat and his stomach doing the twist he continued driving in reverse as the other officer who was out of his car began firing his weapon.

The Pacer came flying out backwards onto 12th street almost fish tailing but Johnny Boy jerked the wheel slamming the car back down to street level. He was gasping for air as he barked out coughs while crying, he was a dead man for sure now. He drove down a few blocks looking for a side street when a patrol car in the opposite direction came speeding towards him with sirens blaring.

He didn’t think and just drove where there was an opening and came to Broad street, he was heading for South Philly where Gabrielle The Pink lived. She was the mother to special children who were lost, she would teach him magic and how to control his gift, hopefully. As he came out on Broad street there was a wall of traffic in the south bound lane.

It was a red light but the patrol car was still close behind and as it turned onto Broad, Johnny Boy went onto the northbound lane careening the tiny car between a Septa bus and a garbage truck. He continued going south on the wrong lane sending the few cars braving the monsoon out of his way, the weather was slick and as he turned away from a slow moving Cadillac he hydroplaned across the street into the southbound lane and side swiped a car hard enough to shatter the widows on the Pacer.

“Fuck!” he cried out.

Cars began to stop with a few people stepping out, a block away red and blue lights and a whaling siren approached. Johnny Boy spit out a few curses and drove off again with a pair of patrol cars still a block away thanks to the traffic but once they left downtown, the lanes of Broad street opened up and

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allowed them to catch up fast. As they closed the distance Johnny Boy got a flash, a vision of a road sign pointing left with a counter below it that you might see on a score board at a sporting event.

It was counting down from five. When the number was zero Johnny turned a hard left at the same moment one of the patrol cars attempted a pit maneuver. The cop car missed the Pacer by only inches and hydroplaned directly into a tall utility pole adorned with a transformer sending it down blocking the street and sending electrical sparks high into the air and knocking out power to random parts of the neighborhood.

Johnny Boy drove away and turned down a street that ran parallel to Broad called Juniper until he reached Snyder avenue and pulled into the parking lot of the high school across the street to collect himself. He lost the cops for the moment and thought about going on foot but carrying that baby looking like he did in this weather would get him caught. He’d have to hold on to the car until he got the baby to Gabrielle then run away from her again.

He found a paper and a tiny nub of pencil in the glove box and wrote a quick note to Gabrielle and put it in with the baby who was snoring peacefully. He kept the gun beside him and left the parking lot, as he did another siren started to blare out so he drove quickly across Broad on a green light but still almost ran over a group of teens.

“Fuckin faggot go back to Jersey!” shouted one as another threw something heavy at the car.

In the rear view he saw the cop car go by but it didn’t turn after him, as he looked forward again another pulled out in front of him from a side street. Johnny Boy pulled left and drove on the side walk that was fortunately not the side people parked on. It was night and no one was on their front stoops, but he knew this neighborhood well enough to know many were at their front doors watching him drive down the sidewalk going almost eighty.

The patrol car followed on the black top but didn’t jump the curb, keeping side by side with him. On the opposite side of them another side street sat open so Johnny Boy hit the brakes. The cop car continued forward for only a half second and reversed but Johnny Boy got behind him and made it up the side street. He was only a few blocks from Bancroft street and turned again before he found himself on a street besides a place called Saint Monica Bowling Lanes.

He turned up a block behind the bowling alley to a gated lot behind a grade school connected to the bowling alley. The gate was open and the corner where the school and the back wall of the bowling alley met was nothing but shadows so he drove into the dark corner. He could see her house a block away, he could see yellow light behind the white curtains of its front window.

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His heart was suddenly filled with a home sickness so deep he thought he was going to puke. He swallowed air instead realizing then how much he must of hurt Gabrielle by leaving, and turning from Johnny Boy The Loser to Johnny Boy The Addict because it was too much responsibility to bare such talents. He’d done horrible things too since he’d left her, using his gift sometimes for dark desires.

He’d seen a weak pitiful aura hover around an old man years back when he was early into the habit. He saw the mans thoughts about the cash in his wallet as he wondered around lost looking for his car.

Johnny Boy was broke and needed a fix, so he found a glass soda bottle near the gutter and smashed it over his head. He got enough stuff for three days from the old timers wallet, he didn’t scream or shout he just kind of whimpered like a dog.

That was when he knew he could never go back to her, he wasn’t sure if he’d killed that old man or that cop tonight but he killed himself long ago. He was Johnny Boy The Murderer regardless. He was a dead man walking, but he understood this was the way to redeem himself and he was ready to give up his life to do that. He put the pistol in the waste band of his pants and grabbed the suitcase.

Gabrielle The Pink sat in the living room of her home on a chocolate brown recliner. On her wall hung a Flat Screen TV that was currently on line showing a how to video via YouTube. Although it was 1977

she knew how to pirate a WiFi signal from the future thanks to her gift. It was dangerous as there could be somebody tracking her, though here in this time and place it was unlikely.

Her hair was long and blond and tied back in a neat braid. She was forty three but had lived for over a century, as she had stopped aging when she came to this world. There were potions to reverse such a thing, but she was of The Pink. A sacred wizard title, reserved for those that guide the lost children, she adored children and was unable to bare her own.

No potions to fix that unfortunately. But she could still be a mother and that filled her heart with immeasurable joy. She had built this house long ago and kept to herself which was necessary though difficult when she were raising a child. The last child she raised had left years ago, poor poor Johnny Boy.

Her heart still hurt from his leaving, she blamed herself for his failures and never him. The true sign of a devoted and loving mother. She sat quietly thinking of Johnny Boy when a loud series of pops too loud to be mistaken for fireworks rang out very close by, possibly on her street.

She got off the recliner and zipped up her pink hoody and looked through the front window but saw no one. She heard shouts and police lights reflecting off the windows of the houses across the street, her front steps and walkway were free from the torrent of rain thanks to a large red awning on her house.

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She went to the door and through the short vestibule between that and the heavy front door leading outside.

She came out onto her steps and saw a police car a block away driving after another car. A few people were out but the rain kept most of them inside. It wasn’t until she was about to go back inside when she looked down and saw the suitcase. It sat on the bottom step partly open, she went down the steps with a hand to her chest when she saw the pure white aura rolling out of the case.

“Oh my goodness.” she said lifting the lid and seeing the baby.

She quickly took the child out after a quick glance to make sure she was unobserved by neighbors who had awnings and were still lingering outside hoping the police chase would swing back around. The child was a year or so and healthy, she saw on the baby’s lips was residue from green rose pollen.

Once inside she unwrapped the baby from its blanket and found a note, she felt her heart leap with joy when she saw Johnny Boy’s signature. But the joy turned to dread when she realized why the cops happened to be chasing somebody on her street. Tears fell from her eyes as she quietly changed the baby’s diaper.

She always had plenty of supplies for baby’s and children both boy and girl. There was always plenty of food and soft pillows in a big bed for them to sleep on. She read the note once the baby, a boy, was powdered and in a clean diaper and placed in a crib she kept in her bedroom. He started the note with her name, but had scribbled that out and wrote mom instead.

‘Mom,

this kid’s got the gift. I killed a cop tonight I think and I could see his aura, it was dirty. He was trying to sell the baby and I... I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t try harder, I love you.

Johnny Boy The Redeemed’

Gabrielle turned off the lights as tears continued to fall like the rain outside. She went to her bed room and checked on the baby who was still snoozing away and feeling the death of her son hit her as she crawled into bed and cried herself to sleep. Her pain was fresh but when she awoke to the hungry cries of the baby boy she felt her heart lift up again with joy.

“Don’t worry little one, you’ll never go without again under this roof.”

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She named him Felix since he came wrapped in a blanket bearing the cartoon feline, it seemed silly but the name rang certain and true to her heart and mind and she named him so. She raised him and home schooled him as she always had with her children. His memory was photographic and he devoured all that he read and absorbed whatever his mother had to teach him.

He had the gift for certain, he was three when he mentioned seeing colors floating around his mother and on the people he’d see when they were out in the neighborhood. That was when they began practicing thought sharing. She’d hold his hand and think of a number and he would guess, correctly.

Each lesson she’d step further and further away but he’d guess the number almost immediately if she were in the same room with him.

Before long they could have whole conversations without ever speaking. When he was seven she showed him something in the basement, which was a room he was already familiar with. It had totes upon totes stacked high with a variety of electronic gadgets such as mp3 players, video games consoles, cell phones of the smart and flip variety and a plethora of tools.

Felix had been given an IPad that was loaded books about history, math and science as well as something called The Techno Cook Book a manual on how to repair electronic devices and even modify them, not just from this world but other worlds too.

“You see that door?” she asked him one afternoon.

It looked to Felix like the door to the bathroom or the linen closet in the hallway, cheap thin and unremarkable.

“What’s so special about it?” Felix asked looking up at his mother.

“It will take you anyplace with a door in the neighborhood.”

Felix walked up to the door and quickly opened it but only the basement wall lay behind it.

“Uh, I think the doors broke.”

“You can’t just open it, you have to think of a place to go. Picture it in your mind.”

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Felix closed the door and shut his eyes tight but after a moment opened them up.

“I don’t know what to think of, mommy.”

“Well where is someplace you like going?”

“Marconi park, but there aren’t any doors at the park. Oh I know where to go! Right across the street from the park, Pops Water Ice. There’s that red door next to the window where they serve the water ice.” he said excitedly.

“OK, if you can get the door to open there the gelato’s are on me.”

He did it on his first try, the door opened easily and they stepped out onto Oregon avenue on the other side. A few people stood in line but saw nothing odd, just a woman and child coming outside. As the door closed behind them it suddenly opened again, a middle age man carrying garbage bags came out.

“Hey lady stay out of there, employees only.” he said gruffly.

“Sorry my son and I were looking for a bathroom.” she said.

The man saw a conspiratorial wink and laugh between the lady and her punk kid and just told them to beat it.

“Can we take the door back?” Felix asked.

“No the door is one way and we don’t won’t to upset that man again.”

“Is the door another secret, like magic and auras.”

“Yes. You remember how I told you about the other worlds? Well some are dangerous, there are worlds where people like wizards and witches are imprisoned or killed for being born that way.”

“Why do they hunts us, mommy?”

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“It’s difficult to explain. Some people are bad and they want to hurt people who are good, or maybe make them bad like they are.”

“But why would somebody want to make somebody else bad?” Felix asked.

Gabrielle thought for moment.

“I’m not sure, so they won’t feel so lonely maybe.”

It was only a guess, but it hit Felix deeply as he suddenly grabbed her in a tight bear hug.

“I’m afraid.”

“Of what, honey?” she said kneeling down so she could hug him back.

“What is something happens and a bad person tries to steal me like when I was a baby.”

“Felix, I’ll never let anyone steal you or hurt you.” she said trying not to think of Johnny Boy.

She would just make sure he’d be prepared, just in case. She seen some glimpses of the worlds future, dark times were coming. The people of this world did not worry or give thoughts to wizards here. Or she hoped.

She taught him the basics of proper wizardry, as his gift grew in strength he learned to track a WiFi signal and indulged in YouTube how to videos. Gabrielle told him a wizard never stops leveling up, something he always remembered since they both enjoyed gaming. He was playing with a PlayStation 2 before the Super Nintendo had even been released which he had as well.

“How did you get all these things, mommy?” he asked her when he was ten years old.

“Well my love there are doors that are magic like the one in our basement, but are more powerful and are a way station, where you can travel far in time and place. Someone brought me these things long ago as much as they could, they are not easy to open.”

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“Can I see the way station?”

“I don’t know where one is.”

“Why don’t you know mommy?”

“Well they can be used by people for the wrong reasons, they are only used as a last resort. Plus you must be strong in your gifts to use a way station and not get lost.”

“Do you think I’ll ever be strong enough to use one?”

“Well someone would have to be strong in all the ways of their gift.”

“All the ways?”

“Yes, not everyones gift is the same. Have you ever seen people that weren’t there?”

“No, wh-why?” he asked looking half afraid and half confused.

She felt like she’d opened a can of worms, but ignoring this didn’t feel wise. She held off on discussing it with Johnny Boy until he was older but perhaps that was a mistake. So she told him.

“Some times people with our gift, they can see...”

“Monsters?” he asked wide eyed.

“No, honey. People that have died, ghosts.”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve seen ghosts mommy. I’d would told you if I saw something weird.” he said.

Gabrielle nodded, usually by his age if he hadn’t seen them he probably never would.

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“Are there monsters?” Felix asked her suddenly.

“Yes, my love. But they are far from here.”

On a morning not long after, with use of The Techno Cook Book and a over abundance of nano micro fiber and other military grade electronics from the 2030’s and 2040’s Felix made a wizards staff. It was five and a half feet long and made of iron wood. At its top the staff ended in a fist sized hollowed out oblong sphere made of black marble with a crystal the size of a dime on its top.

Inlaid on the staff were a trio of buttons that were black and indiscernible from the staff and could be used to do a multitude of things with a certain combination of button presses. The nano micro fiber was wrapped over the staff and was able to manipulate the matter in the wood of his staff which would allow him to shorten or lengthen it or make it as flexible as a whip.

He was proud of his build and only wished he could have had a friend to show it off to, but he knew his mommy told the truth when she said there could be bad people that would hurt him for his gift. Or steal him even, he realized. As he sat on the front steps of his home one summer morning, he felt sad and lonely for the first time ever.

Gabrielle saw her son sitting in the shade of the awning looking glumly at the gum ridden sidewalk.

She could see his aura and felt her heart twitch sadly as she came out and sat beside him. He smiled as her arm went around him but it turned back to a frown after a moment.

“I wish I could have friends.” he said leaning against her.

“I’m sorry honey.”

“I know mommy, I understand.”

It hurt her heart to see he really did understand, that he was too special to be around other kids. She felt her heart ache at how mature he was for someone who wasn’t even eleven yet. She pulled him close to her and held him as she looked over his head towards the corner where Porter street crossed with Bancroft.

There next to the stop sign on the corner was a trio of metal bowls that were surrounded by ten or twelve cats, most still kittens. A majority of them were short haired tuxedo cats, there was also a pair of

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black and orange cats trying to push their way to a bowl filled with food. Gabrielle saw the cats had the signature cut on their ear flaps of having been neutered and received their shots. She had an idea.

“Look over there, Felix.” she said pointing.

Felix looked to where her finger showed and his frown evaporated.

“If you can call one over with you’re mind, you can keep it.”

“Really?” he said with eyes so bright they sparkled.

“Yes, I know it’s not the same as a...”

“It’s OK, mommy.” he said looking sad again for a moment.

“Go ahead before someone scares them away.”

He stood up and looked at the cats who were still docile and not people scared yet. Cats were a disciplined animal and would not definitely respond to calls of this nature, Gabrielle knew from her own experience. Still she hoped and took Felix’s hand to help give him a little psychic boost.

He closed his eyes and in his mind he thought as loud as he could: ‘psst psst here kitty!’ His eyes were closed but he knew the cats didn’t hear him. He took a quick glimpse of them and felt his mommy’s hand squeeze his own as he closed his eyes and focused on the one cat that caught his eye. It had a brown tail that was twitching with each bite it took from the pile of food.

He heard his mommy gasped slightly and he opened his eyes. The brown haired cat head popped its head from the bowl looking right at Felix. He closed his eyes again and thought loud and clear: ‘here kitty kitty, psst psst psst’ When he opened his eyes again the brown cat was walking over and meowing.

When he put his hand out the cat came running over to get petted. The cat was young maybe only a few months out of its kitten-hood, his clean brown fur had tiny white spots through out. He purred as Felix picked him up and sat him on his lap.

“What are you going to call him?”

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“We’ll call him Pretzel. He’s brown like one and his spots are tiny like salt.”

“Well then welcome to the family, Pretzel.”

“Don’t witches usually have cats?” asked Felix.

“Anybody can own a cat, Felix.”

“Oh, well what about a hat? Can a wizard have a hat?”

“You’re a wizard with a staff and a cat, is that not enough for you my love?” she asked humorously.

“I want a hat like the wizards in The Hobbit and Harry Potter.”

“My dear I have many things but a magical hat I don’t have.”

“Oh well what about and ordinary hat? Something cool to wear?”

She went into a closet in her bedroom and found a hat box sitting on a high shelf. She took it out opened the box and inside was a black bowler hat, she took it out and placed on his head where it sunk a little below his eyes.

“You’ll have to grow into it some yet.” she said tipping it back on his head and giving him a kiss on the tip of his nose.

“All I need now is my wizard’s name.”

“Felix The Inquisitor, or how about Felix The Peanut Butter With Pickles Sandwich Eater?” she teased.

“Hey that’s my favorite meal, I guess that is a little strange though.”

“Nothing wrong with being strange my love, we’re wizards.”

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“I’ll be Felix The Strange then!”

“Felix The Strange, the destroyer of evil!”

“And protector of cats.” he said holding up Pretzel who nuzzled Felix’s cheek.

He hugged Pretzel and felt a sudden urge to ask his mother another question.

“Why am I here, mommy?”

“Because this is your home, silly.”

“No, I mean why am I wizard.”

“I don’t know honey. We don’t get to choose who we are born to be, but we must always act with a good heart.”

“But what’s a wizard supposed to do?”

“They’re supposed to help people, to share knowledge and truth with the world. A wizard is gifted and if you have a good heart and a vast education, a proper wizard shares his knowledge. Education is more precious than gold, and a wealth that should always be shared out.”

Time passed, Felix grew older and loneliness was always there despite Pretzel and his mother. When he was a teenager he began taking solitary walks in the neighborhood and felt himself always walking by a doctors office on Broad street that had a bench right in front of the office. Sometimes there were nurses sitting with elderly patients waiting for a ride.

They were usually about his age and were very pretty, making him wish adulthood and maturity would hurry up. Felix felt himself being drawn into the greater world, he knew that he was nearly an adult and that he’d have to leave home and make one of his own. Gabrielle knew her son would be leaving at some point sooner rather than later, she’d done it with others but Felix had been with her the longest.

She would sometimes look for a vision about what that day might be like but her it was always blurry.

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It could be that it would be a sad day and her gift made it hard to dive into a such a sad day for her.

That could be it, but if so why couldn’t she part the fog in her minds eye? The night before she’d tried as hard as she could to look until she exhausted her mind enough to pass out, she dreamed of black fog banks suffocating her all night.

Before sunrise she dreamed of herself building a wall out of Lego’s with Felix though he’s a little boy again in the dream. The walls they were building kept falling over, each time the wall fell the amount of Lego’s seemed to double then triple until the room is over flowing with the multicolored plastic bricks, until they it waist deep on her. But Felix was still a tiny child and they were up to his neck.

“Mommy.” Felix cried as he began to sink.

She awoke and cried for a moment before getting out of bed, she went to the basement boor which was ajar and heard Felix muttering to himself as he worked on some project. She was in the kitchen about to make some coffee when a feeling covered her like a cold wet blanket. She had the sensation she was a little girl again back in the Victorian Age.

She had been swimming in a lake out by her grandfathers farm and had gone too far out and nearly drowned in her panic when she realized her mistake. After her head fell below the still water and she felt nothing below her feet she broke the surface and screamed loud enough to break glass, she was pulled out of the black waters by her eldest brother only a moment later. Her childs body was covered from head to toe in goose bumps and icy cold fear, she was feeling that way again.

In her mind she heard voices and slowly walked over to the window in the living room, with each step the words in her head grew louder. Bancroft street was empty at first glance, as she looked between the parted white curtains and saw a large blue Crown Vic sitting directly across from her house. Behind the car was a house with a window like her own with curtains, between the curtains a pair of red dots flashed across her eyes.

Before she could blink the glass of the window shattered as a black cylinder with white smoke pouring out the top flew over her head. Then what felt like a double punch hit her in the chest as a siren wailed then a team of men in tactical gear approached came to the front door with battering ram in tow.

Gabrielle ignored the fire in her stomach and the growing cloud of tear gas and ran to the basement and pulled on a metal cord bringing down a rolling door of steel siding you might see on a store front after it’s closed.

This was made to cover the basement door and would give them time but minutes only. Felix was at the steps as the door was locked, his mother came down the steps and collapsed into his arms. He carefully laid her down while Pretzel meowed in long sad wails. Her face was white and she was struggling to breathe.

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“Mommy, oh god.” Felix said holding her head in his lap gently.

She reached for his cheek and he took her hand and guided it there. He knew one day he’d have to leave but he was not ready. He feared being alone, he had only his mother and Pretzel.

“The door...use it my dear...”

“I’ll take us both...” he whimpered.

Gabrielle though nodded her head. She told him that there might be a day when this would happen, though she assured him it was very unlikely. She was wrong, and she couldn’t let her son suffer for her short comings again.

“You are what is important, there are other Pink wizards, you are who they want.”

It was Felix’s turn to nod, he didn’t care one god damn about wizards or witches or video game consoles of the future. He’d give up all that, the magic and his gift, all of it just to save his mommy.

“We planned for this….(gasp) go to the door….(gasp) find a way station...escape this world.”

“But how?”

There was a sudden boom from above them, Pretzel was circling Felix and Gabrielle meowing louder than ever. Dust sifted down from the ceiling as there was another explosion above them.

“There is a wizard in this neighborhood, his name is Billy Sorrel some call him Billy The Wise but Sorrel is his last name.

Gabrielle coughed hard painting her lips deep red. She squeezed her son’s cheek before continuing.

“He is a minor wizard but he is one of us none the less. He knows where a way station is, the both of you will be strong enough to get you far from here...I love you...”

“But where do I go…”

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Up the steps to the basement door there was the roar of some kind of cutting tool, he could suddenly make out the tell tale shouting of cops with a hard on.

“Get your to go pack...(cough)...I know you’ve always done as I asked and kept it filled...(cough)...with cash and gold coins, because cash isn’t good everywhere.”

“Please mommy, don’t...”

“Felix, you have to go so I can keep our magic a secret.” she said in one breath so she wouldn’t stutter.

He knew she was right, they might not get him but the things down here must not be taken either, some of the things here were from the future and alternate worlds. He kissed his mothers cold hand and grabbed the leather back pack he kept just as his mother told him. He grabbed Pretzel and put him in the pack, he poked his head out but stayed put.

He kneeled down to his mother, begging her pleading to let him take her. But her thoughts were clear.

This house and its magic must be destroyed, the bad people will use it to hurt others. He kissed her cheek as tears rained down his own.

“Go, now….think of Pop’s and never forget that I love you.”

He got up taking his staff and shouldered his pack filled with a few spare clothes and bottles of water aside from money, went to the door and concentrated. After just a moment it opened to Oregon avenue and he stepped outside. When the door closed Gabrielle pulled out an Android phone that had only one purpose, detonation of C4 bombs put in the basement walls.

She built it herself using The Techno Cook Book long ago when this neighborhood was still mostly farm land, the phone app would ignite an electrical fuse wired to a large brick of C4 that would burn everything down here beyond use or identification. She thought of Felix and closed her eyes as she tapped the phone screen turning everything to fire.

Felix was shivering despite the heat as he stepped out to sunshine. He was quiet and still until he heard the explosion coming from the direction of his home causing him to yelp. Some of the people waiting in line and walking by stopped, a few even shouted in shocked surprise at the sudden blast. There were even a few worried cries among the young children waiting in line.

“Maybe it was a terrorist?” said a woman holding a cup of cherry water ice.

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“Get the fuck outta here!” said a man in a Eagles jersey and jorts walking with her.

Felix ignored them just as they ignored him and his tears. He went to Marconi park and sat at a bench near a statute of Christopher Columbus sitting behind a square of black iron gates. He sat quietly with Pretzel on his lap when he remembered that mom said that they were probably after him.

He had to find Billy The Wise who could lead him to a way station. It was late afternoon and the park was sparsely populated but with children and their parents with hardly a wizard or witch in sight. He knew he couldn’t stay here for very long if they had his description, not likely since there had been no pictures of he or his mom in the house.

The thought reopened the wound of his loss, the pain was so deep in his heart even his cat Pretzel felt his masters pain and began to nuzzle Felix’s chin. Felix smiled and petted his purring companion.

“You’re all I have left, my furry friend. Promise me you won’t defecate in my bag and I promise to find us a new home.” he said giving his fur baby a kiss.

He’d never met Billy or even knew what he looked like, mom had said he was from the neighborhood but that didn’t mean he frequented the park. He looked around his immediate area, the park was huge.

It was four blocks long and wide and divided in the middle by Broad street. He’d been here a few times but that was with his mom, he felt that loneliness punch him in the gut, he wanted to cry but sucked it up and wiped his eyes.

“I must find Billy.”

He closed his eyes and in his mind he blanked out everything except the name Billy The Wise. He sat still and quiet for more then ten minutes. A pair of adolescent old boys walked by noticing Felix with his eyes closed wearing an old timey looking hat, holding a staff with a sleeping cat on his lap making them laugh loudly but they went unnoticed by Felix.

Then in his mind he saw himself walking south on Broad street. It wasn’t helpful but it was a start and the day would become night soon. He put Pretzel in his pack walked slowly down Broad street, hoping he would find Billy. He took each step with slight hesitation, at each cross walk he would wait for a moment listening but kept seeing himself walking south.

He’d gone so slow it was dark when he saw the silhouette of Veterans Stadium and felt a sense of loss that he could not put into words. He felt something turn him in a westerly direction and as night came

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he found himself in a part of Philly he’d never seen before. He walked on an unnamed street that had no houses on either side of the sidewalk but miles and miles of chain link fence.

When he’d first came on this road it was paved and connected to the parking lots of the meat and fish packing plants that connected to Packer avenue on the other sides of the plants. After a half mile the factory's were gone and the paved road was gravelly and broken. After another mile, trees began to appear.

Large ones of the elm and oak variety, similar in size and stature to the ones in Marconi park. In the air was the smell of water, the last street light was a mile back and only star light guided him. He dare not use his staff unless he were in total dark.

Although it was the city the area he walked was very country like and the air cooler, he stopped to put on a hoody he had in his pack. He was walking quietly thinking of his mother as all of a sudden he felt a shadow fall over his mind. He had felt sad but OK as crickets chirped away when he was suddenly filled with unease. His heart became a block of ice when he heard voices behind him, Felix turned and saw two people standing behind him ten feet away.

One was short and a little chubby wearing a grimy yellowing shirt that was once white and a pair of filthy Nikes to match. The other was taller and looked to be in his fifties, he was skinnier and dressed like his friend in clothes from a charity bin.

“Are you Billy The Wise?” Felix asked.

“Huh?” said the chubby one.

“Billy Sorrel? Are...do you know him?” Felix asked before seeing their auras and realizing he was wrong.

“Oh, yeah I know him!” said the taller one nodding at his companion.

“Shut the fuck up,” he said quietly to him. “yeah, he told us to meet you here.”

Felix was silent and made no move.

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“I’m serious man, Billy said you were coming and he wanted us to meet you here. Dude, am I lying?”

the chubby man asked his friend.

“Hey look he’s got a cat in his pack.”

Pretzel had poked his head out growling at these men. Felix could see their auras very clearly which were dark blue and black tinged with red.

“Hey can me and my boy hold your cat?” The chubby one said with glowing eyes slowly walking closer.

The aura of the fat man went a bright fire engine red when he asked for the cat. Felix felt horror when he caught of vision of this fat bastard of a man torturing different cats through out his life.

“Get away from us you rotund coward.” said Felix.

“Yo who the fuck you think you are talkin to me like that?” he asked taking a switch blade from a grimy pants pocket.

“I am Felix The Strange,” he said reversing his hold on his staff and turning it to the whip. “destroyer of evil and protector of cats! Fly away from me you cowering bastards, hikeeba!”

Felix lit up the night as the whip glowed a bright white and shot out sparks as he cracked it over the heads of the two filthy men.

“Fuck man he’s got a fucking light saber!” cried the taller one.

They ran away in fear as Felix swung the whip a few times making loud deafening electric cracks. He stood waiting for a moment listening and watching, but the unease and fear that he’d felt before was gone now. He continued walking down the slowly decaying road into the night.

As he walked as the smell of water grew and the road decayed further into a dirt walking path which veered to the left towards a cluster of trees. As Felix got closer he saw a flicker of flames beyond and below him, he also caught whiff of a pungent odor.

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A feeling that was the opposite of the one from earlier came over him like a hug from his mother. He felt OK for the first time today since his mom died, he stepped under the low hanging branches of some trees and found himself in a clearing by the banks of a river. There was a campfire with a man close to his own age sitting beside it.

He wore a hoody made of hemp, on his head was long unruly black hair with a scruffy van dyke on his skinny face. In his fingers he held a large bulbous joint. He saw Felix and nodded to him.

“Please sit and join me, sir.” Billy said gesturing for him to sit.

“You’re Billy The Wise.” Felix said.

“I am.”

“I am Felix The Strange.”

“Hello Felix. I can see by your aura you are a fellow wizard, please come and break herbage with me friend.”

“Will it hurt me, I’ve never smoked before.”

“No, friend. This one of the very few things in all the worlds that will not harm us.” he said taking a drag and handing it to Felix.

He smiled as he took the joint and with hardly a second thought he breathed in deeply. He began coughing as his mouth burned and the hair in his nose felt crisp.

After a second try he coughed still but not so badly. Billy shared out his water to help Felix with his cough. He offered Felix another drag but he said no, the two hits had made him higher than he though any human could get.

His body was sinking into a cloud and felt a real smile touch his lips for the first time today as he opened his pack to allow Pretzel to stretch his legs.

“So Felix, what brings you here?” Billy asked as he toked his joint and petted Pretzel.

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“You knew Gabrielle The Pink?”

“Yes, she didn’t raise me though. I was in and out of foster care until my teens, all though I didn’t train she made sure I had a fully belly and a warm bed when it got too cold at night. She was the only thing good in my younger years. How is she doing?”

“She died today.”

Billy looked up and into Felix’s eyes. He could feel Billy reading his aura or perhaps looking for a thought to steal in case he was lying. He lowered his head when he caught a vision of Felix holding her body.

“How, what happened?”

“I don’t know. It all happened so fast I could only say for certain they were police. She believed it was me they were after.”

Billy watched him closely as he took another hit and put out the joint.

“I am sorry for your loss Felix.”

“And your loss, Billy.” he said making Billy smile as a tear fell.

He wiped the tear away and took a breath.

“You must be searching for a way station then. Let me put out the fire then and I will lead you.”

They walked along the coast north from Billy’s camp, Pretzel walked beside his master making a chase for the occasional chipmunk or field mouse that crossed their paths. They stayed among the trees out of sight of the river on their one side, and last bit of the city that had never been deforested on the other.

The whole area felt other worldly to Felix, the sound of vehicle traffic some where far off made everything feel unreal.

Felix had been sheltered but saw enough of Philly and his neighborhood cityscape to be blown away by such country looking scenery so close to the city. It was like seeing a fish ride a bicycle, unnecessary

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but a unique thing to see all the same. As they walked Felix turned the light of his staff on to illuminate the way.

“A fine staff Felix. I could never create something like that, however I still learned a lot from The Techno Cook book. I made a good chunk of cash fixing Game Boys and such for neighborhood kids.

Word got around far enough that I got a semi regular job fixing video game consoles professionally at a store on Whitman Plaza called Pixeldelphia. One of the best jobs I ever had.”

“What do you do now?”

“Travel, not between worlds. Just this one, I’ve been nomadic since I was a kid and my feet are always itching. I’ve been as far west as Nevada and all the way south to the Keys of Florida, I’ve vowed to go no further north than New York City, however.”

“Why?”

“Too cold.”

The path veered slightly until they were almost ten yards away from the coast. The ground was a mix of sand, rocky dirt, mud and over grown grass. Just ahead was what looked to be the remnants of a bridge from before the time of automobiles. Two pillars made of stone that might have held the bridge up at one time had sunk into the ground and were almost completely knocked over from years of weather and the ever softening river banks.

Besides one of the pillars was a squat looking building made of cobblestone, its roof was over grown with moss. It had one window from what Felix could see which had no glass. To Felix it looked like a hollow sinister eye watching them.

“What is this place?”

“There is an island near here, Hollander’s Island. It was a summer place for rich folks back in the days of George Washington. This was a bridge that they tried to build during the Civil War in hopes of connecting it to the island, but they never finished.”

“Why?”

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“The old timers in the neighborhood say the island was cursed. Accidents, not just construction either but things like a half a dozen workmen falling into the river and drowning during a lunch break. They didn’t get very far before whoever was building it gave up. The history books say there was problems building on the island itself as well.

“People being murdered, women being kidnapped and raped. Legend says there is the ghost of a man that died just before he was to marry and that he roams the island looking for way off to get home and marry his bride. It’s just empty country now. I only know the stories of that place because this, which was to be named Hollander’s Bridge, is the way station.”

They walked towards the cobblestone shanty, a wind blew through the window making a whistling sound. Felix could feel something come over his entire being, as if he were chilly and hit a pocket of warm air. He felt a relief he hadn’t expected and was grateful for the sensation.

They walked around the structure and saw a door made of some heavy wood attached still to the shanty. The door looked like kind you’d see in a castle, the thing even had iron bands running across its top and bottom. The fist sized knob looked to be made of metal similar to the iron bands.

“Do you know what to do?” asked Billy.

“No I don’t.” Felix said shamefully.

“Take it easy Felix, a wizard rarely knows everything. Even I hardly know how these places work, all you must do is picture the place you wish to call home.”

“But that’s the problem. I don’t know of the any other worlds, and here is no longer safe for me. I am so lost I don’t even have an idea as to where I can go so I can get lost.”

“That is a problem I would say. How do we open the door to someplace you’ve never seen?” Billy said thoughtfully.

Felix sat down on a water logged tree stump holding Pretzel in his lap stroking his fur absently. Billy looked at the cobblestone structure deep in thought.

“Oh, Pretzel. What do we do now?”

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“I think I know how to open the door. I’m not sure it will work but the worst that can happen is that doesn’t work.”

“You do?” asked Felix hugging his kitty tight.

“Yes, possibly. Take my hand and instead of picturing a place, remember how Gabrielle made you feel.

The feeling you had when you were sick and she nursed you, the times you were sad and she loved you.”

Felix nodded and was about to put Pretzel down.

“No. If you have a psychic connection to the cat you should hold on to him as well, it can only help.”

Felix took Billy’s hand as he held Pretzel who was purring like an idling motor. He closed his eyes and thought back to his mother, Gabrielle The Pink. He felt a sadness clutch deep inside his heart, deep enough to make Pretzel meow sadly. He closed his eyes tight and leaving his mind open to only her and her soothing voice.

Tears were burning behind his eyelids, he swallowed them away grimacing at the salty taste in the back of his throat. He focused on her words and her voice and suddenly in the blackness of his mind he saw a door, the door with the iron bands. He saw a bright white slice of light appear at the bottom of the door.

He could see the light coming through his eyelids in the real door. He opened his eyes and saw light coming from space between the door and cobblestone wall.

“It will stay open only for a few moments, good luck finding a new home Felix.”

“Come with me. They might come after all of us soon.”

“Then that’s all the more reason for me to stay. I am the only guide to this place and others may need to use it to escape. My journey ends here, stay safe .”

Pretzel walked beside him as he shouldered his pack and with staff in hand he opened the door. He saw only white light and became afraid. What if he was walking into an empty void, he saw himself falling

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into a white abyss slowly tumbling through nothing for all time. Pretzel however had no such qualms and easily walked into the light.

“Oh you foolish cat.” Felix said following behind envious of his cats nonchalance.

They left a world late in the evening and arrived in another that was at mid morning. The door he came out of was for an out house. He stepped out and saw Pretzel licking a paw a few feet ahead, he was about to call out to his cat when a man wearing what looked like middle age peasants clothing brush him aside and head into the outhouse.

“Sorry, mister I got the shits bad!” he said from behind the door.

Felix stepped away as a considerably loud and wet fart ripped through the air. He found a road just beyond the trees that had people walking along. Some were dressed like the fellow with diarrhea, one man looked like an old west cowboy minus a six shooter. He saw a trio of young boys two wearing t-shirts, jeans and sneakers while the third wore clothes similar to what the Amish might wear.

Everybody was just going about their day oblivious to him. The air smelled fresh and the road, although unpaved and made of dirt, looked very well kept. He walked along the narrow road with Pretzel meowing excitedly at the occasional child that stopped and petted him.

Some even said hello or gave him a nod. Wherever he was Felix felt easy and reciprocated every hello and wave. He walked for twenty minutes and could see a t junction coming, he saw only forest so far.

The road he was approaching looked bigger and had more foot traffic and opened out into wider country.

On his right were miles of long rolling hills that looked to go on to infinity. To his left was miles and miles of flat grassland, the only thing else Felix saw was an apple tree in the middle distance which looked to be surrounded by a group of people. As he walked a pair of old men stood by the road side looking towards the tree and talking excitedly.

“I can see the dragon going around again, Oscar.”

“Yeah I see the ugly thing, Eddy.”

Felix looked at the tree and saw in the air at least twenty feet above the tree something flying in a circles like a hawk. Felix stood just a few feet from the old men watching as the black speck flapped

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wings while the people below they flying animal roared. Felix’s heart jumped when he saw the black speck suddenly dive down at the crowd by the tree, the dragon at the last second pulled back up.

“Goodness that was scary.” Felix said to the old man closest to him.

“That’s nothing, that friggin lizard is just trying to claim the tree for its own. The Marshal’s there can handle it.” said Eddy.

“I dunno Ed, just cause that’s one of them small breeds don’t mean it ain’t a vicious.”

“Bah, if it were a fire breather then you’d be in deep shit. That thing over by the apple tree is no more dangerous than a pit bull with wings.”

“Aw, you’re full of it.” said Oscar.

“Hey I’ve seen them take out the same kind of breed with cross bows and swords easily.”

Felix shrugged and left the old men to their discussion. He reached the t junction and on a whim turned left down the road hoping it would take him to a town or village where he could find a place to stay. He felt a nervous excitement about this place, half caution and half excitement. Everything smelled so fresh and clean unlike the city, he felt high as a kite from the smell of hay.

The people here were certainly more polite then back in South Philly. Felix was at the cross roads when he saw a young woman wearing a flannel shirt and cargo shorts. A reddish brown pony tail hung out from under her slouch hat laying on her shoulder, jostling as she rolled a wheel barrow filled with water.

Although she was young and looked strong, Felix could see by her aura she was exhausted. He was about to walk over to help when a man dressed in blue coveralls approached her holding a pad of paper.

“Hey where’d you get that water?” said the farmer.

“The river of course, where else?”

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“Now now you see here missy, you didn’t pay your well rental.” he said wagging the note pad at her like a finger.

“Which is why I took water from the river.”

“Where the well gets its water, meaning you need to pay before I let you take it Miss Lisa.” he said angrily taking hold of her barrow.

“You can’t do that Mr Bittle. You don’t own the river.” she said defiantly.

“Ah but I don’t need to own it my dear. You can no more collect river water than you can rain water falling from the sky. If The Order can’t tax ya for it, you is stealing. You want me to fetch a Marshal and let him decide?” the farmer asked with a smirk.

“My mother only needs enough to drink for today.”

“Not my problem Miss Lisa. Pay your well rental on date next time.” he said shaking his little note pad With that she gave up and let go of the barrow. The farmer promptly turned it over letting all of its liquid spill out, in an extra bit of theater the farmer patted the bottom of the barrow as if to make sure not even one tiny droplet of water was taken. The sight filled Felix with a rage he never knew existed and he felt sick for a moment.

The womens aura went from exhausted to defeated so quickly it hurt his eyes from the stark change of color. The farmer came down the road Felix was on passing him without a look though Felix glared at him. He looked away from the man back at the woman named Lisa and saw her struggling to turn her wheel barrow upright.

“Do you need a hand?” Felix asked.

She looked startled for a moment, Felix saw her aura turn the color of suspicion. She thought he might try and be untoward with her, so he gave her a proper introduction.”

“Ma’am, I am Felix The Strange.,” he said removing his hat and bowing respectfully to her. “or Felix of South Philadelphia if you prefer, as my kind tends to have many names.”

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“Are you a wizard?” she asked.

“Yes.” he said with a smile.

“Then be silent, wizards are not welcome here.”

She saw alarm fill his face and felt a moment of guilt.

“Not that I have a quarrel with your kind. But if a Marshal found out or anyone loyal to The Order did you’re as good as dead.” she said tensely.

The Order and Marshals, Felix had never heard his mother mention such people or things. Gabrielle had always told her son however that her knowledge of the other worlds was limited. Felix decided he’d worry about The Order and its Marshals later.

“Well as my mother said, a wizard is never meant to cause anyone harm. I only approached you because I over heard your argument with that loud mouthed farmer and well I have something you might need.”

He pulled out a pair of sixteen ounce water bottles and offered them to her, she took them wide eyed.

“I don’t see many bottles of water around here, you really are a wizard. Thank you, I normally don’t take charity but my mother is ill and Mr Bittle put a lock on the well.”

“I’m sorry I don’t have more to give you, ma’am.”

“Please stop calling me ma’am.” she said with an eye roll. “I’m Lisa.”

“A pleasure Lisa, can you tell me where I might find lodging? I am traveling and am new to your world.”

“Yes, but I would stop telling people you’re from another world. Only witches, wizards and the sorcerer type can travel across worlds and as I said they are not highly regarded by some.”

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Felix nodded, remembering what his mother said about some places where wizards and witches were hunted and killed.”

“Yes, ma’am...uh I mean Lisa. Should I wear a different hat maybe?”

Although it was a serious question, Lisa laughed.

“No I don’t think the hat will give you away. Is this your kitty?” she asked picking up Pretzel.

“Yes his name is Pretzel. Say hi you foolish cat.”

Pretzel nuzzled Lisa’s cheeks tickling her lips with his whiskers. He purred happily as she scratched under his chin.

“Hello Pretzel. Well Felix there are places further along this road that may have lodging. I live a mile and a half down the road so I can accompany you for a short while.”

“OK, I can take the wheel barrow for you if you like.”

Lisa had lost any suspicion of Felix and asked him questions, very discreetly, about the other world he came from. He, very discreetly answered. And though it was a short walk, Lisa felt herself walking slower and slower as she spoke to Felix.

She enjoyed talking to him, she always imagined wizards as old men with pinched bookish faces and know it all attitudes. Felix however was unlike anyone she’d ever met, intelligent but not arrogant.

Proud without being prideful and kindly without acting pious, he was strange but in a very intriguing and dare she say it, attractive way. He had the air of a knowledgeable person that was eager and ready to share it all with the world. Her long departed father was the same way, not a wizard of course but a smart, kind, and generous man.

“So where is your final destination, Felix?”

He was reluctant to divulge too much but he felt a greater aversion to being dishonest with Lisa so as they reached the walkway to her cottage he recounted the last twelve hours of his life. Her soft hazel eyes were the only thing keeping him from crying when he recounted his mothers death. She surprised him into silent tears by giving him a hug.

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He pulled away from her gently, and rubbed his tears away. She smiled a smile so beautiful and so sad he felt it deep inside his soul. The cottage was little, built from wood painted white and surrounded by a low fence made of chicken wire. He saw in the far back a pipe sticking out of the ground with a lever attached to it.

“Is that your well pump?”

“Yes.”

He went over to the pump and kneeled beside it looking closely at it.

“How much do you owe the farmer?”

“Why?” she said in a tight neutral voice. “I’m not taking money.”

Felix didn’t want to upset her. So he went into his back pack and pulled out a pair of paper clips and twisted them together into a triangular shape with a pointy end. The pump was locked with a large industrial pad lock, that felt heavy in his hand.

“What are you doing?” asked Lisa.

She knelt beside him and he handed her the lock pick and talked her through each step.

“Now flick the pointy end.” he said.

She did and was greeted with a click and the lock opening. She gasped and laughed loudly and gave Felix a hug that made his heart do triple and quadruple flips. He had her do it a few times over and over again until she could do it with out help.

“Now you can unlock it and use it without that man any the wiser. And now I must leave, before I cause you problems with Bittle or the Marshals. I am on a journey to find a new home and I don’t know where I’m going or how I’ll get there once I do know.”

He was about to leave when Lisa spoke.

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“Felix you can’t travel on the road at night.”

Felix was quiet.

“I mean alone, this world is corrupt and...well if you must go then find an escort or travel in a group.

There are many travelers on the main roads looking for companions.”

“Safety in numbers.” Felix said agreeably.

“And a group of people have a harder time getting lost than a lonely wanderer.”

Felix felt the nightmare of being alone wrap its arms around him in a death hug. He felt a chill do laps on his spine.

“You should go with people, even if you must pay them to go with you.”

“Where do I find such people?”

“Three miles down and a half mile east is a tavern called The Satellite Of Love. It sits at the cross sections of two great roads, the West road and the Valley road. It is frequented by travelers all the time.”

“Even ones from different worlds?”

“I wouldn’t know Felix, I’m sorry. But from what I’ve seen and the tales my father told me I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people from other worlds. The few bottles of water I’ve seen before today had come from there.”

“That sounds like the place for me to go then. Thank you, Lisa.” Felix said feeling sad all over again.

“Uh, Felix...” Lisa said feeling her stomach fill with butterflies.

“Yes.”

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“I hope you find a new home.” Lisa said with cheeks looking slightly pink.

“I will stop back and let you know how it turns out.” Felix said with a tip of his hat.

“I’d like that.”

Lisa gave a little curtsy as Felix walked away.

“Come on foolish cat, before night falls.”

When he reached tavern night was full on, it was just as warm here as the world he came from. The walk was long but when he turned east he could clearly see the light coming from the tavern. As he got closer the drunken singing became clear.

‘baby you and me ain’t nuthin but animals, let’s do it like they do it on Discovery channel’

When he was just a few steps from the bat wing doors the chorus was breaking up into a shouting match over the correct lyrics.

“Shut up bitch, it’s mammals!” someone cried as Felix entered and ducked.

A glass mug filled with either spoiled beer or fresh urine came flying by and shattered on the wall behind him.

“Let’s sing ‘Smack My Bitch Up!’”

An eruption of laughter followed the comment as Felix entered and a fight broke out at the table the mug came from. A large muscular Black man from behind the island bar wearing a leather motorcycle jacket with red and white stripes on the sleeves grabbed the mug thrower and the man he was fighting with by their necks and tossed them out the door.

“Don’t be fuckin fighting in my bar unless you throwin down with me, and if you are throwin down with me you’re gonna be one sorry mother fucker.” said the bartender fixing the collar of his jacket.

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“Fuckin a, Puncher!” said a man drinking a beer giving the bar tender a friendly swat on shoulder.

The bartender, Puncher, scowled at the group who the brawlers had arrived with who were smiling nervously back. He had a chiseled and ruggedly handsome face with a short crop of hair only a shade or two darker than his shadow of a beard.

“Yo, chill the fuck out over there. You hear me?” Puncher said to the group.

A few nods and a few loud yes’ were said so Puncher went back to slinging drinks while the group went back to singing.

“Stupid drunk mother fuckers lucky they didn’t tear my threads.” Puncher said with a head shake.

“Perhaps that man is for higher, I bet nobody would mess with him.” Felix said to himself.

Felix sat on a stool besides the man who called the bar tender Puncher.

“Excuse me sir. Sir!” Felix said trying talk over the roar of the crowd.

“What?” said the guy in sullen drunken slur.

“Why did you call that man, Puncher?”

He squinted at Felix until he pointed at the bartender.

“It’s his name,” he slurred out. “Dragon Puncher! He punched a dragon right in the fuckin mouth, not a lie. Big fucker, a dick the size of an elephants trunk.”

“The dragon or the bartender?” Felix asked confused.

The drunk glared at his question and wandered away. It was then that Puncher came over to get his drink order.

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“What do you want?”

“I’ll have whatever everyone else is having.”

“Good answer.”

Puncher turned and pulled a mug out of a steaming water barrel and dried it off before filling it with ale from another barrel. When he placed the mug down, Felix handed him a ten dollar bill, Puncher took it and eyed him warily.

“Am I supposed to wipe my ass with this?” asked Puncher.

Remembering what his mom told him about cash being useless in some places quickly apologized and proffered a gold coin.

“I don’t have change for this.”

“Well you can keep it if you’ll help me.”

“With what?” said Puncher who was judging the weight of the coin with his hand.

“I’m traveling...”

“Where?” he asked stuffing the coin into his own pocket.

“Home...”

“Where?” Puncher asked sounding annoyed.

“...uh I don’t know where exactly yet but I’ve heard you’ve punched a dragon...”

“It was a youngling and it was trying to eat my dog, though I’ve traveled a lot in my day. Anybody who calls me Puncher is just kissing my ass for free booze. My name is Jack.”

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“Well then Jack, I am Felix and since you’re an experienced traveler, I’d like to hire you as a traveling companion.”

“Sorry. My traveling days are over, I’ve seen enough of the open road.” Jack said walking away.

Felix felt himself sink inside, he thought he was on the right path. He he took the tiniest sip of his drink and grimaced as looked around the dim bar lit by hurricane lanterns on windows sills and tables with occasional electric lamp. On the walls were mostly maps of lands both familiar and unfamiliar to his eyes, sprinkled through out were ads for different beers such as Yuengling, Miller Lite and Budweiser.

He was looking closely at the people here and felt his hope drop, these people were mostly drunks and barbarians. Their eyes filled with either too much alcohol or too much lunacy, then he saw a pair of eyes in the farthest corner of the bar looking in his direction.

Correction, at him. The eyes sat behind a mask that looked like something a hockey goalie would have worn back in the day. A Jason Voorhees type mask that was painted black with a large hole cut out for the mouth to move freely when speaking Felix assumed.

He could see no aura on this person which meant either they were very strong willed or this person might have had the gift as well and knew how to hide it. The masked persons eyes were on him, focused like a laser. He got up from his stool and could see those eyes following him, as he went to the booth.

He was within a few feet of the booth when he realized it was a woman behind the mask though she did not lift it or even speak as Felix stood there. It was something he could sense somehow, as the womans figure was obscured by the black jumpsuit she wore and an armored vest that was quiet possibly made with nano micro fiber.

“Hello, may I sit?”

The woman watched him closely, giving only a nod. It was a booth shaped like the letter U, she sat in the middle so she could observe the whole room. Felix smiled graciously and sat near the end.

A mug of ale sat in front of her, she took a large gulp as she watched Felix. He smiled awkwardly at the woman with eyes as dark as her hair which was tied back into a bun.

“Well ma’am...”

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“Guardian.” she said with a accent that Felix thought might have been Spanish.

“I’m sorry.”

“My name is Guardian.”

“Oh, well Guardian it’s nice to meet you. My name is Felix The Strange, I am...”

“Looking to hire a companion for traveling.”

“Yes how...”

“Because muchacho, you’re in a bar asking a bartender for help. Only drunks and the lost ask bartenders for help and you don’t strike me as the beer drinking type. I am for hire.”

“Great, when do we leave?”

“You don’t know what my rates are, I could rip you off.”

“You don’t know where I’m going, I could rip you off.” Felix countered.

“You won’t, because I have a feeling you don’t know where you’re going yet.”

This woman was a seasoned warrior and traveler. She had a look in her eyes like Jack, the dragon puncher. Felix thought lying to her would not be a wise choice.

“Look, Guardian, you’re right. I don’t know where I am going. My mother was killed recently and I lost my home too. I’ve never been here before and I need a guide I guess you could call it and you look like the only one here besides the bartender that will still be upright in the morning. You can charge me whatever you like as soon as I know where to go, there is only myself and my foolish cat.”

“You wizards trust too easily, since you’ve arrived how many people have you told you are a wizard?”

Guardian said with a head shake.

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“How did you...”

She knew he was a wizard because she had the gift, he’d have to guard his mind more carefully. He thought he caught just a glimmer of her aura and figured she must be catching glimpses of his own.

“I know you’re from a different world,” Guardian said easily. “and I bet you’ve come from one of the moderately advanced ones too. One with just the right amount of technology and not too much white supremacy and Christian extremism. You call your cat foolish but you’re the foolish one, some of the people drinking here would cut off your head if they knew you were a wizard.”

“Please I’ve lost my mother and my home in one afternoon, Guardian. All I have left is trust, and a cat with a foolish wizard for an owner.”

Pretzel had come out of the back pack and hopped up on the table to meet Guardian. Felix was alarmed for a moment but she gave a small smile and scratched behind the felines ear. Pretzel eagerly jumped on her lap to indulge in more petting.

“Hey no fuckin animals in the bar!” shouted Jack.

“Hey you let us in here!” said a random drunk to a chorus of laughs.

Guardian handed Pretzel back watching Felix closely who kissed the cat on the head and carefully put him back in his pack. She took a mini cigar from behind her armor and lit it with a blue tip match. She took a long drag and blew a cloud of smoke away from Felix.

“Come back here at sunrise, there’ll be a few others with us that are paying me as well. Since you don’t know where you’re going yet it’ll be a long trip, so don’t forget your gold.”

The sun touched a sky colored red pink and purple as he returned to the tavern which was still open for business but was quiet. It was a mild night and Puncher allowed drunk customers to sleep it off in the taverns barn out back. Felix had never slept out doors before and was a little scared but had slept peacefully enough in a pile of hay still reeling from the loss of his mother, but he fell asleep thinking of Lisa.

Felix greeted the day with a deep breath and a lungful of cool morning air, a bird in a nearby tree tweet cheerfully. Felix was not alone, a man wearing a denim shirt and acid wash jeans stood on the

40 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

steps of the tavern. The man was skinny and pasty, his hair was slicked back with oil or something that smelled spicy.

He approached Felix with a long finger pointed at him. His teeth were crooked and rotting, when he spoke the breath coming out of his mouth reeked.

“Hey I saw you yesterday walking with Lisa. Man she’s got nice tits, but she’s a cock tease if you ask me. Are you with the walking party?”

“Uh, yes.”

Felix was appalled by the mans clothes, breath, teeth and now his words. He was not anxious to quarrel with a party member so he simply shrugged.

“Yeah that Bittle guy he’s friends with the Chief Marshal around here. He probably knows what a cock tease she is too. Say what’s that?” the man asked pointing at his staff.

“It’s a walking stick.” he said steadily.

“Is it made of wood? I’ve never seen that kind of wood before.”

“It’s just wood that I painted black.” Felix said feeling nervous.

“Oh...can I see it?” he asked licking his lips.

“No.”

“Huh? I just wanna hold it for a minute.” the man whined.

“No.”

“It’s just a stick.” the man said sounding truly indignant.

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Felix felt angry and was about to call him a dickhead when three more people showed up, two men and a woman. The denim dickhead immediately went over to introduce himself to the woman in the trio who already looked sorry to have met him.

“I think you should go away.” said the younger man who was dressed in khaki pants and a flannel shirt.

“Wh, what the fuck Rod what’s your problem?” denim dickhead asked.

“I just don’t like you, Clyde. Why don’t you go fuck off in the land of eternal night?”

“Yeah,” said the other man who wore a blue sombrero. “you talk shit too much. Nobody wants to hear it.”

“Aw, you guys are assholes.” Clyde said walking over to the tavern steps and sitting down with a big pouty frown.

A moment later from behind the tavern Guardian appeared, still masked with a sword on her back and a gauntlet on her right arm that looked familiar to Felix. She was strapping a bigger pack to her side as everyone slowly gathered their things.

“Let’s go, if you don’t keep up with me you’re own your own.” she said eyeing them all.

Guardian led them down a wide dirt road. A rooster cried somewhere as the sound of a hawk high above shrieked. Felix wasn’t sure but he thought he could a hear a motor rumbling far off.

“Guardian, may I ask you a question?”

She nodded.

“Are there cars and vehicles here?”

“Some. The motor you hear now is probably machinery, passed that field there is a darkleberry farm.”

“What’s a darkleberry?”

42 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“A fruit.”

“Is is good?”

“I don’t know I’ve never tried it.”

“May I ask...”

“Do all wizards ask this many questions?” she asked.

“I’m sorry one of the names my mother always teased me with was Felix The Inquisitor.”

Something that sounded like a chuckle came from Guardian's mouth.

“Well then ask me your question, inquisitor.” she said.

“What is the land of eternal night?”

She slowed her pace to look at him.

“How do you know of that place if you’ve never been here?”

“I heard one of them mention back at the tavern. Is there really such a place, where it’s always night.”

“It’s not always night time there but some places never see the sun, not ever. It’s many miles north and west of here.”

“How can such a place be real?”

“I didn’t make the world Felix I only live in it.” she shrugged.

“Oh, right sorry. Can you tell me what is The Order?”

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“It’s like the government around here.”

“Do they have a leader?”

“Yes.”

“Who is it?”

“Don’t ask.” she said quickening her pace as his slowed.

As they day went on they walked on a side road that branched off Valley road. Clyde was walking alone quietly while Felix found himself talking to the woman of the trio that had words with denim dickhead.

“So where are you off to Felix?” asked the woman who’s name was Sara.

“Well I’m...looking for a new house in the village of Midgard.” Felix said watching what he told people.

Guardian had given him a quick glance and nodded at his holding back the wizard part. A little bit after their Q and A she reminded Felix about the risk of telling people he was a wizard.

“The people have killed wizards for The Order to curry favor, some will kill a witch or a wizard as Christian duty.”

He heeded her words and kept his real life details to himself. It was late in the afternoon when they came to the crest of a hill and Guardian held up her hand stopping them all.

“What is it?” asked the man in the blue sombrero.

Felix walked over and stood beside her. Fifty yards or so down the road were a pair of men dressed in medieval looking armor and clothing that was black and charcoal in color. Both of them had swords but they were sheathed still.

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“Who are they?”

“Marshals, well they’re tax collectors mostly. That’s their main job, it’s why they have swords instead of cross bows.”

“If we pay than they have to let us pass right?” asked Felix.

Guardian looked at him then at the others. Dickhead denim approached and saw the Marshals down the road.

“Well of course they’ll let us pass.” he said with a shove and began waving happily to them as he walked.

The others went by leaving Felix and Guardian alone for the moment. He could suddenly hear her voice in his head which said loud and clear: Be cool. He nodded and they followed the others.

It was sunny bright and cheerful, they had only been walking for two hours so the sun was high and the day was young. Despite the glorious weather Felix felt ice cold and saw just the slightest tinge of aura surrounding Guardian, she was on high alert. Clyde reached the pair first and went to the one who was presumably most senior.

“Yes sir, I always support the troops. I am always happy to pay my taxes, sir.”

Clyde wore a large shit eating grin as he introduced himself to the senior Marshal. He was talking a mile a minute about their keeping the roads safe and passable for such lowly folks as them. His endless babble of brown nosing was cut short by the Marshal he’d been praising.

“Shut your God damn mouth, I’ve got a head ache.” he said scratching his long mustache the color of storm clouds matching the salt and pepper hair on his head.

Clyde frowned like he had earlier but his face had gone a red so deep Felix thought the man was changing into a strawberry. The other Marshal was shorter and younger but no less intimidating in their eyes, he laughed curtly at Clyde’s deep hurt.

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The older Marshal nodded agreeably when no one spoke up for denim dickhead. Felix could see a badge signifying rank in a pattern like in the US Army. However the badge above the rank insignia was not an American flag but an infinity symbol, one loop orange the other loop green, on a black flag.

“Well you all seem to know the procedure. Ten percent of what’s on ya or twenty five if I think you’re holding out on me. Come on line up so I can go about my afternoon.”

Felix was the second to last and was going to ask if they happened to take cash when the younger Marshal grabbed his back pack and kicked the staff out of his hand.

“Hey Corporal I think think guy’s holding out.”

“You haven’t told me what to pay.” Felix said.

“I don’t need to, understand? I think you’re lady friend with the mask is holding out too, what do you think sir?”

“Well if she takes off her mask and plays nice she might not have to pay at all, in coin I mean. Take off you’re mask, sugar tits.”

“Fuck you.” said Guardian.

The others gasped loudly, Clyde could audibly be heard whimpering. The Corporal hissed in a long breath as he unsheathed his blade.

“Private, see what this be hatted asshole is carrying in the bag.”

The man opened the pack and stuck his hand inside without looking. He was greeted with a sudden and deep bite courtesy of Pretzel. The private screamed and flailed as Pretzel held on tight with his mouth clamped down between where the man’s thumb and finger met.

Felix tried to jump the private but the Corporal tackled him. The private pulled a short dagger from his belt and brought the blade up aiming for the cats belly when suddenly there was a pop. The older Marshal looked over his shoulder and saw a hole the size of a half dollar coin in his partners forehead.

The back of his head exploded sending blood and brain matter all along the roadside, Pretzel let go and ran beside his master as the Corporal stood up.

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Everyone was frozen, except Guardian who pulled back the hammer of her revolver and aimed it at the Corporal’s head. He looked at her with terror, his face had gone white. His pulse was beating visibly on his neck as he dry swallowed air to keep from passing out.

“What is that?” he asked eyeing the pistol.

“You know what this is.”

“Who are you?” he asked trying to sound under control.

Felix watched and felt afraid of Guardian, he watched her eyes take on a maniacal kind of humor in the question. Flecks of red sparks jumped off her body like popcorn.

“Some call me the Puerto Rican nightmare,” she said stepping closer and pressing the nose of the pistol into his own nose. “others call me the pig butcher, in my mothers tongue I am called El Diablo en el hielo, but if someone asks my name you will tell them I am Guardian.”

She pressed the gun deep enough to draw blood from his nostril. The air around them was icy cold, Felix unknowing shivered during the exchange. The red sparks had been flying off her in a torrent for a moment but then it started to fade much to Felix’s great relief.

“Leave now, or I’ll do something bad to you, in front of these people. Something that will make you wish I had killed you instead.” she said lowering the revolver.

He wiped the blood from his nose and looked around at the faces of the others watching in horror. Felix saw the Corporal’s aura, the man was terrified. Guardian raised her pistol again and the Marshal put up his hands and walked around them to a side road leading somewhere. Everyone was stone quiet until the Marshal was out of sight.

“Oh you dirty mother fuckers!” cried Clyde.

He gripped the hair on the sides of his head, with pouty lips and a frown that would have looked at home on the face of a toddler. Felix patted his chest that could barely contain his erratic heart, Guardian however coolly refilled the empty chamber of her chrome revolver.

“You’ll get us all killed!” shouted Clyde.

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“You’re paying me to protect you from thieves and bandits, that’s what I did.” she said to him in a calm tone.

“They are Marshal’s for The Order, not bandits! You and your friend with the walking stick, you two have been having secret conversations since we left.”

“So what Clyde?” asked the man with the sombrero.

“So they’ll get us all killed. They planned on killing the Marshals and they mean to do the same to us.

She has a gun, gun craft is witchcraft. She’s the real bandit, why else would this bitch wear a mask...”

His diatribe was cut short by the back of Guardians hand, the hit was not full force but Clyde fell to the ground with a overly loud grunt. His eyes shined with tears as his hand rubbed his face.

“You bunch of dirty fuckers!” he said scrambling away when Guardian approached.

He stood a dozen feet away from the group point at her but talking to all of them.

“They’ll come for you, all of you. They’ll say you helped them if you go on with her, she wields a gun she’s a witch!” he said running back the way they’d all come.

The only noise was the buzzing of a cicada and a gentle breeze rustling tall grass on the road side.

“If any of you wish to end our partnership you may, you need not worry about payment.” Guardian said.

“Uh, what do you think Rod?” the man with the flannel shirt asked.

“I’m too old for prison and you and Diana are expecting a child. Lady I’m sorry but we’re heading back.”

The man with sombrero turned around, the woman and her man with flannel said a quick and awkward goodbye before following after the older man.

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“I’m staying.” said Felix.

Guardian shook her head in disdain as she placed her revolver back behind her armored vest.

“You really are a foolish god damn wizard. That spineless man called me a witch.”

“Maybe he meant it in a derogatory way.” Felix suggested with a hollow grin.

“You need to leave me Felix.”

“But you’re not a witch...”

“No, but you’re a wizard and that is one in the same for the Marshals. I can’t have your blood on my hands, your kind are important and I am just a glorified bodyguard.”

“Guardian you saved my life and Pretzel’s life as well, it would be wrong to leave you. Glorified or not I’d be dead without you. We owe you one.”

“Very well, but we’ll have to stay off the roads. That will slow us down but since we have no specific destination we may spend more time hiding than walking.”

“Will we be safe off the road?”

“Pretty much, yes.”

Felix was confused by the answer but he saw what she meant. They were walking in a thicket when he heard a hiss like a cat come from up in a tree. There Felix saw an animal with a lizard like head sitting on a round furry brown scaled body with thick green hind legs that put him in mind of a frog. It looked at Felix with shiny topaz eyes and hissed showing a mouthful of needle shaped teeth before it hopped off deeper into the forest.

“What the hell was that?”

“It’s called a Lerna, they’re a tree serpent.”

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“Are they dangerous?”

“Not usually, they tend to go after children and small animals, keep Pretzel in your pack until we’re farther away.”

They walked passed afternoon and into evening. Guardian found a narrow strip of black top that led them to a long ago abandoned building that still had windows and a roof. It reminded Felix of the little office buildings he’d see in the neighborhood back in South Philly, only one or two stories tall and minuscule compared to the skyscrapers downtown.

This place sat near edge of a cliff lined with bushes, a door hung askew on its brick body like a loose tooth. Guardian pulled on it but it did not break off and held it open for Felix. She closed the door behind her casting everything in darkness.

“Hold on a sec.” said Felix.

There was a click then the room was illuminated by his staff. The floor looked uneven but dry and the air didn’t smell of mold or mildew. Guardian saw a long curtain was fixed across the back wall on a rod, she walked over and took a quick glimpse before opening it wider.

Down below them was a quarry that looked a few hundred feet deep. Strewn through out were big pyramids at least twenty feet high made of steel pipes. Inside the skeletal pyramid was a large stainless steel cylinder pumping up and down into the ground by a hydraulic arm. Through out the pit there were tall wooden poles with arc sodium lamps at their tops casting everything in apricot light.

“Is this an oil field?”

“Something like that, there was probably a castle near here that had electricity. Those lamps down there are being powered by the gas its pumping out right now. None of it can be turned off, it’ll just keep pumping its dick until it breaks or the world dies.”

“Is it natural gas?”

“There’s nothing natural about the gas being pumped out down there.” said Guardian.

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They built a fire since the room was empty and the window could be opened. They sat quietly across from each other with Pretzel splayed out comfortably on his masters lap.

“I always wondered what the other worlds might look like. My mother said some were not much different then our own, but she hadn’t spent much time in the other worlds. She said some places were too dangerous for our kind, I guess this was one of those worlds she was talking about. She always had an answer to my questions, for the longest time I believed she knew everything.”

“She knew a lot about magic?”

“Of course, she was a wizard. I asked her once about where magic came from and why other worlds existed but that was something she knew very little about.”

“What did she know about it?” Guardian asked listening closely.

“Well, she told me that at some point the worlds were all the same and sat parallel to each other. They rotated on the axis of time and space, expanding like the rest of the galaxy since the big bang. Then a great event happened, misaligning all the worlds cursing them all with magic.”

“Magic is a curse?” Guardian asked sounding mildly surprised.

“My mother said even the noblest of people can falter, that magic was the blood from the torn flesh that is time and space. She said magic can be good too, in just depended on who was wielding it but to still be wary of anyone that uses it regardless of their intentions. You know the whole ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ kind of thing.”

“Should I be scared of you, wizard?” she asked in jest.

“No more the I should be of you for wearing a mask. Why do you wear it, Guardian?”

She gave him a look while lighting a mini cigar but did not speak.

“Hmm, well you must wish to keep your identity a secret. Not a bad idea considering the situation, but I must ask you something that I hope you will answer.”

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She only shrugged and smoked her cigar.

“Is that a modified Power Glover?”

She nodded as she took another drag from her cigar. Guardian explained it was originally the Nintendo Power Glove, it had been overlaid with nano micro fiber, making the forearm of the glove longer allowing for a miniature keyboard to share the space with the NES controller part which were all wired together to a short curly cord that was attached to a tiny solar panel.

“Did you build it yourself?”

“No, I found it in a castle a long time ago. It was built to be a shield, I did try and modify it to change its shape but I am a warrior not a wizard.”

“May I see you activate it?”

Guardian stood up and pressed a button on the controller part. She made a fist and there was an electrical whir and out of the gloves forearm a large translucent green shield formed from tiny lenses lined next to the keyboard. It was forty inches give or take in diameter and fluttered just the littlest bit.

“Is it really only power by solar?” asked an amazed Felix.

“No, the solar panels power the micro cooling board housed in the knuckle of the glove where the gas battery is housed. The gas battery is what powers the glove.”

“Gas battery?”

“Yes, the gas that is being pumped in that quarry is what powers the battery. I have to change the battery every five hundred hours or so depending on use.”

“May I?” Felix asked reaching a hand out.

She nodded and he put a finger to it expecting it to go through but it felt as solid as a rock, he made a fist and knocked and stung his knuckles as the shield made an acoustical sound and appeared to ripple like water.

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“An amazing device, Guardian.”

She released her fist and the shield vanished, she made a few key strokes and made another fist. This time a green transparent blade appeared but then disappeared though she still held a fist.

“I mostly use it as a shield, it’s the strongest material in all the worlds I’ve seen. Though I don’t know what it really is, it looks like light but its solid to the touch like steel.”

“It’s definitely a material I’ve never read about. The control scheme is familiar though. I’ve built and rebuilt plenty of electronics, perhaps I could help you fix the mods?” Felix suggested.

She eyed him closely, perhaps reproachfully. He felt bewilderment at her gaze and wondered if that was how he came off to the denim dickhead when he asked to see his staff. He’d honestly meant no offense by the offer and realized this woman wore a mask because she didn’t trust him or anybody.

She was a criminal of some sort here and probably in some other world. Felix was afraid of her again, more so than when she had threatened that Marshal. What if she secretly hated wizards and was trying to lure him into a trap and kill him.

No, he realized that was very unlikely. For one thing she saved his life earlier as well as Pretzel’s, she could have killed them all right then and there back on the road with ease. Felix had vision of Guardian walking by the edge of the cliff outside this office building with a blind fold over her eyes, mask and all. The vision told him she was more afraid of him then he was of her, he had a genuine respect for this warrior and wanted to put her at ease.

“You can trust me, Guardian.”

“Trust is a hard thing to come by.” she said before throwing her cigar into the fire and making her bed.

Felix awoke the next morning to Pretzel slumbering away on his chest with his rear end in Felix’s face.

“Ah, foolish butthole of a cat.” he said lifting Pretzel off as he sat up.

Guardian’s things laid there still but she did not. Felix went to the door, and saw her outside pacing while looking intently at her phone. She looked over at Felix then back to her device without a word.

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“Is everything alright?” asked Felix.

After a moment of her scrolling the screen she put the phone down and looked towards the quarry and the world beyond. She looked back over at Felix and took a deep breath before speaking.

“You still believe you owe me one?”

“Of course.”

“I have to go across worlds and...”

“Well I can help you with that.”

“That’s not what I need help with, I can do that myself.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yes, I’ve been doing it own my own for years.”

“Well then how can I help?”

“The woman you told me about last night, Lisa. You picked the lock to her well you had said, was that hard to do?”

“No, not at all.”

“You can pick different locks, not just pad locks I mean?”

“Yes, absolutely, I’ve watched videos about it on YouTube which is a streaming video service...”

“Felix I just want to know if you can pick a lock like this.”

54 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

On her phone screen was a picture of a double set of glass doors leading to what looked like a store.

Taped to one of the doors was a sign which said interviews every Tuesday 1-5 PM. The storefront door was standard with a built in lock, it would take more than a paper clip to open it but he knew he had the proper tools for the job.

“How fast can you do it?”

“How fast?” Felix asked himself.

“You’d have to be quick, it’ll be night time but it’s in the city on a busy street and there are businesses on either side of this place.”

Felix zoomed in on the picture trying to gauge the possible complexity of this particular lock. If it was standard then that meant at least six barrels in the lock, and if he were unimpeded and conditions were perfect it my take twenty seconds to turn a barrel.

“Two minutes, maybe three to get it open.”

She nodded but her eyes were still distant, as if that was just the tip of an iceberg. She brought her phone back up and showed another picture, this one of a safe that was the color of mud and had a number pad and an oblong handle. Guardian held the phone up looking sweaty, constipated and more on edge than he had ever seen her so far.

“I can pick that safe open.” he said after a quick zoom up on the picture.

“You can pick this? This safe?!” she said looking as if it were a miracle he said yes.

“That’s the safe I have to pick, the one in the picture?” he asked making sure he wasn’t misunderstanding the question.

“No but my contact found a picture of the model it was a standard one, I can find the manual for it if you’re not sure...” she said quickly as if that might be a hindrance.

“No, I can open this thing up. You said it’s a standard model?”

55 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“Yeah, where we’re going it is.”

“Where precisely?”

“A place much more ordinary than here. Philadelphia Summer 2006, there are some pictures I have to retrieve in that safe. I know pictures don’t seem like a big...”

“Guardian you owe me no explanation. This is an easy service that I can render to you.”

Despite the fact she wore a mask, Felix could see joy on her face and in the sudden half second appearance of her aura. She gave him a hard friendly punch on the arm making Felix cry out but in a laugh at seeing Guardian happy.

He felt a sudden excitement fill him as well. Felix wondered if the world they were to visit was the same one from where he left the other day in 1997. He was compelled to ask Guardian where she came from originally but figured she’d just give him the usual stink eye and silence for a few hours. Which always drove him nuts because Felix was a conversationalist at heart.

They left their office building camp with Guardian in the lead. She knew the location of a way station only a day’s journey from there. They circled the quarry which smelled awful hastening their walk and getting them halfway down a mountain road by evening.

Guardian had plenty of jerky strips for both of them and Pretzel to fill their stomachs and found a stream flowing with cold clear water. They found a set of train tracks that were overgrown with vegetation and stopped at an empty rail car slowly rusting itself to the rails it sat upon and made camp inside. Guardian had been silent most of the trip and the following morning Felix could see in her eyes she was anxious.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“Yes, this is important so I’m just nervous. Come on, the way station is only a little further.”

They left the tracks and walked down an embankment to a gravel road that was over grown with weeds like the tracks and they entered a forest. After a quarter mile they came out of the forest to a sea of wheat swaying on a gentle breeze. Many miles beyond was a mountain with a castle sitting on top as if it had been built out of the mountain itself.

56 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“Is the castle where the way station lies?” Felix asked looking at it with frightful wonder.

“No it’s over there.” Guardian said pointing behind him.

Felix turned to look and saw a cottage missing all of its doors and windows at the end of the gravel road they’d been on. The place had long since been abandoned as well as everything else around here.

“This was a toll booth long ago, collecting fees for that castle there. To cross this land you had to pay whatever the king or queen demanded as it was considered a privilege tax to walk upon royal grounds.

It’s part of the reason their royal skulls are still sitting on spikes atop that castles front gates hundreds of years later.”

They walked through the field of wheat and approached the cottage slowly. Guardian was nervous and Felix thought he was starting to hear whispers on the wind. He hoped he wasn’t starting to hear the voices of the dead.

“Hold on, I’ve never been to this place and I want to check for cameras.” said Guardian

“Cameras?”

Guardian didn’t answer, she went through the doorway and was gone from Felix’s view for a few moments. Then he heard a thump followed by the sound of stomping and breaking glass.

“OK, it’s clear.” said Guardian.

Felix came in and saw her standing in hall looking down on the floor.

“Just the one, I don’t know if it was active so we can’t stay here long.”

Felix came to the hall and saw the camera Guardian had found and destroyed. It was a tablet with a built in webcam.

“Huh, it looks like an Ipad. This world is so unusual.”

57 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

At the end of the hall was a wood door that led presumably to a closet. Or perhaps to an indoor bathroom built in this cottage the belonged in the middle ages. It was the way station of course, Guardian’s opening of the door was quick and undramatic.

They left a world in mid morning and entered another at near midnight in late August. They came out through a door on Broad street between a Dunkin Donuts and a Popeyes Chicken, the smell of fried chicken and car exhaust hit Felix’s nostrils like a slap in the face. It was late, very few cars were around and the only person nearby was a homeless man sitting on the pavement with his back against the restaurants trash can with a copy of the Daily News on his lap showing Phillies slugger Ryan Howard on the cover with the caption ‘Long Way, Baby.’

“I’ve traveled a long way, that’s for sure.”

They turned off Broad street and walked to 13th street before coming across Passyunk avenue which cut diagonally across the evenly lines streets. A few more people walked about and vehicle traffic was humming closer by. They passed a store called ‘King Of Jeans’ that had a giant shirtless man kissing a large high heeled woman in a black mini on a tall building which was next door to the storefront from the picture. Guardian was still and didn’t speak, Felix dug out a slim black case from a side pocket of his back pack after a quick look around.

Seeing no one he went to work while Guardian stood watch looking everywhere at once. She counted each second as Felix knelt there, no street lights were near by and the businesses on either side were long closed for the night. However the occasional car would drive up the avenue with headlights shining, each time one passed she knelt behind the line of cars parked next to the sidewalk. After three and half minutes Felix called out to her.

“We’re in.”

She went first and for the first few seconds white noise filled her ears and she didn’t hear the beeping sound. She didn’t hear it until her eyes focused on the faint blue light of a burglar alarm keypad mounted by the door. She stood next to Felix and saw on its digital panel was a countdown and was on twelve seconds.

“Oh, shit! Oh, fuck! I didn’t know there was an alarm. We gotta book it...”

“Here,” said Felix handing her his back pack. “if you have any electronics on you get low to the ground.”

58 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

She didn’t argue and laid flat to the ground with his pack, Pretzel had popped his head out to investigate who disturbed his nap time and began nuzzling Guardian’s chin for pets as reparations. She stroked him absently as Felix raised his staff. The only sound was the monotone beep of the alarm and the blue tint of the alarm as their light.

Then there was a blink and you’d miss it flash of white light. The beeping stopped followed by the sound of a satisfied sigh from Felix.

“It’s OK. I stopped the alarm, we have all the time in the world.”

“What did you do?” she asked looking at the screen on the alarm which said normal.

“My staff has many defenses built into it, one of which is a mini EMP blaster. It delivers a low level electromagnetic impulses that can disrupt the electrical...”

“OK, OK, I get it Felix. Awesome job.”

They entered a long room filled with a dozen tables, each of which had three or four phones. The room was stuffy and smelled like a gym on a hot day. Felix was confused by the set up.

“What’s with all the phones?” asked Felix.

“It’s a telemarketing business, the guy who runs it has ties to the mob so he’s into a lot of sneaky shit.”

They found a set of steps in the back and followed them down into a basement. It was cooler down there and the smell was replaced with thick rich tobacco scent. There were no windows in the basement so Felix turned the light on his staff.

At the end of the basement was a door to a room that was locked as well but he had it opened in less than a minute. The room was an office with a desk and cushioned chair. On the wall to the left was the safe. Felix placed his staff against the wall and got to work.

“How long will it take?” asked Guardian.

“A few minutes. Can I ask what these pictures are?”

59 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“Just somebody trying to fuck around with them and do some Biff Tannen type of shit.”

“Oh you know that movie, you are from my world then?”

He looked at Guardian but she was non responsive.

“Right, trust is a hard thing to come by I forgot. Well then can I ask you something about someone else?” he asked as he removed the panel of the safe’s keypad.

“What is it?”

“I met a woman when first arriving here and well I’ve never uh, you know...”

“Never what?” she asked watching him closely.

“Well talked to a woman...I mean I know how to be polite to a lady, my mother taught me manners I just have never...”

“Been on a date?” she asked looking a little more amused.

“Yes, precisely! How would I broach the subject, what does she like in a man?” he asked as he stuck a barrel shaped key with a long handle into a hole behind the keypad.

“Felix how do I know what this woman wants in a guy.”

“Yes, of course.” Felix said looking sad.

“All I can tell you is that a woman, a good woman will appreciate a good man. Whether he is a wizard or a king or guy making minimum wage to cover his bills it wont matter to her if he has a good heart.”

“That’s it?” asked Felix sounding surprised.

60 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“That and don’t be a fuckin liar. Women are not always as complicated as they make them out to be in the movies. Not that there aren’t exceptions of course.”

“Interesting.” he said shimmying the barrel shaped key into the hole.

He smiled as he removed the key, rotated the handle and opened the door. Guardian looked inside and smiled as she removed a set of pictures and put them into her side pack.

They quickly went back upstairs after replacing the keypad and relocking the safe and door. They were at the front door when Guardian stopped.

“Will the alarm go off again?”

“It is not supposed to but we should make sure the way out front is clear in case I’m wrong.”

She looked and saw no one and with tense hands she pushed open the door but the alarm still said normal. They walked out to an empty sidewalk and into the night.

“So you can go through a way station by yourself? That must be awesome.”

“Not really. It can be a curse too.”

“Do you see the dead?” asked Felix with numb lips.

“Not all the time.” Guardian said before going quiet.

Children's Sunday school was in session in the basement of a church built during the last age of kings, on the front wall was a faux door made of dry cornstalks and yarn created by the church’s first parishioners which was supposed to represent the gates of heaven. The teacher had excused herself moments before to use the bathroom upstairs, leaving the dozen boys and girls to color in their activity books. They quietly wrote and scribbled until a white light beamed out from in between the doors stalks.

61 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

Their faces went from confusion to wonder as two people stepped out. Felix noticed the children first and saw on the far wall behind the children a crucifix and posters on either side of the effigy with The 10 Commandments on the right and The Beatitudes on the left.

Guardian had stepped through and kneeled down to tie a boot lace and was unaware of the audience for a few seconds. When she was double knotted on both boots she stood and finally noticed the kids and gasped herself. Her eyes had gone as wide as theirs had.

“Santa mierda,” cried Guardian. “who the hell are these kids?”

“It’s a miracle.” said a towheaded boy of eight looking euphoric.

“Are you from heaven?” asked a little black girl wearing a gingham dress and a plaid bow in her hair.

“Oh we gotta tell teacher.” cried another student.

“Listen you little shits, Jesus doesn’t like a tattle tale!” Guardian said quickly with a pointed finger silencing them.

“Sheesh, relax Guardian. Uh kids, you can’t tell anyone you saw us. OK? If you do God will get angry and make you ugly, that’s why this woman is wearing a mask.”

“Estupido,” she said.

“She tattled and now she’s messed up looking.” Felix said getting an eye roll from Guardian.

“Aye, so keep your traps shut comprende? Or else Jesus is gonna jack your asses.” Guardian said pulling Felix to a door leading outside.

“And may the Jesus and the Christ be with you, children.” Felix said with a wave.

They found a themselves in a backyard filled with a few people at the far end of the church but they paid them no attention as they made their way back onto a road. It was big but not as big as the great roads.

62 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“Where are we?” asked Felix letting Pretzel out to do his business.

“Ten miles or so south of Bigglesville road. It’s a great road that’ll take us...”

Guardian stopped talking suddenly and walked up a hill. Felix followed behind her and could hear talking. When they reached the crest of the hill they saw another road down below, where a large heavy set woman wearing a house coat stood.

Even at this distance they could see she was crying as a Marshal was walking away from the big woman with something under his arm. Felix didn’t know what the Marshal was carrying until he heard the overweight woman cry out.

“Please, please don’t take my baby!”

Before Felix could register another thought Guardian had dug something out of her side pack, a black square with rounded corners that looked a little smaller than a vinyl floor tile. It was trimmed with a bright yellow on the edges. She tossed it in front of herself and the square became a rectangle and made a whirring noise before it stopped six inches above the ground. A large loop set diagonally on the rectangle appeared from the flat surface.

“Is that a hoverboard?” asked Felix.

Guardian put her foot through the loop and pushed her self off down the hill without answering. He and Pretzel made their way to the wailing woman. He wondered what Guardian was going to do until he saw her remove her sword.

“Uh oh.” said Felix.

It was a blade that gleamed in the light of the sun like a freshly minted coin. It looked as big as her and maybe twice as heavy but Guardian held it easily. The Marshal was heading down the road unaware of Guardian, the little girl he carried was kicking wildly and hard to hold. The senior officer down the end of the road said if the tubby bitch can’t pay coin then she pays in flesh.

But the woman was a moose and as his grandfather used to say, ‘fat chicks need not apply’ and though the girl was only five or six she could probably be sold at a high price to someone. The old family’s that used to have royal blood in them were a rich and perverted group that would definitely fork over a lot of gold for a young kid.

63 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

He was grinning until the little girl bit him just below the rib cage, clamping down on a good bit of his stomach as well. The pain was enough for him to crumple a little and loosen his grip just enough for the girl to squiggle out from his sweaty arms. He was down on one knee from the pain and made an attempt to dive after her but missed.

He stood up filled with rage and a head brimming with white noise so loud be didn’t hear the whir of the hoverboard until it was too late. Guardian knew what the Marshal was up to and took great relish when he turned and saw her with sword in hand charging after him like a vengeful spirit. His face went from rage to pure anguish in just three seconds, which was how long it took for her to reach him and take off his head with a hard swipe.

She did a quick turn and kicked off the board before the Marshal’s head hit the ground. At the far end of the road a pair of black motorcycles came towards her on the road bringing a gray cloud of exhaust behind them. Felix was fifty yards behind Guardian watching them approach.

He got down on one knee hit a quick combo on the keys of his staff then raised it to his shoulder like a sniper about to take a shot. Inside the hollowed out sphere of his staff was a diode with a special lens that would emit a laser through the dime sized crystal on its top. One of the riders wore a helmet with the visor down the other was bare headed without face protection. Felix with a steady and confident hand got the laser right in the riders eye making him fan at his face for a moment before the front wheel wobbled and he spilled his bike.

Guardian looked back and gave Felix a thumbs up as the other rider charged forward. He took out his sword and revved his motorcycle at over seventy miles an hour. Guardian could see by the riders aura the man was angry and full of piss and vinegar. She could see this guy had a fantasy about taking her head off like she had his friend.

Guardian let the Marshals personal feelings deliver the first hit. When the Marshal was just a dozen yards away, she got into her sword fighting pose. That in turn made the rider rise off his seat just a little to focus all his rage on crossing swords with her, he wanted to cut through her blade and head all in one mighty swing.

Though she looked ready to swing herself she ducked at the last moment as he swung his own blade cutting nothing but air. The force of his swing was too great and the forward momentum threw him over the handle bars of the bike and he succeeded in running himself over and breaking his own neck in the process. She shook her head in disdain at the over eager warrior.

“Guardian, behind you!” shouted Felix as he was running his way over to her.

64 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

She was in mid turn when the half blinded rider took a swing and manged to knock the sword from her hand. The Marshal kicked the blade to the road side and made a hasty swing, Guardian raised her gloved hand and shield. The Marshal grunted and took another swing and but was pushed back by the shield. He, like the other rider, was getting angry and took a hard rage filled but desperate swing and succeeded in only braking his sword on her shield.

“Bitch.” he snarled as he removed a dagger from his belt and swung at her unshielded side.

It was a downward swing and she gave him a solid karate chop to his wrist, he screamed through clenched teeth as he dropped the dagger. In just four seconds she then delivered three consecutive right jabs, then a left across his jaw making he hit the ground out cold.

“Puta.” she said with a sneer and a spit.

Felix finally arrived panting heavily and almost collapsing from the run. He leaned heavily on his staff and removed his hat to fan him self.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you faster, Guardian. I don’t know much in the ways of fighting but I know how to kick somebody in the nuts if I have to.”

“You did fine, Felix.” Guardian said with a laugh giving him a smack on the shoulder.

She was quiet for a moment as she retrieved her blade and was suddenly bear hugged by the large woman. The woman told them she and her child were leaving church early to get ahead on their chores when the Marshal took her daughter when she had no coin to give them.

When the woman told them she wanted to go back to church, probably the same one they’d just left and wanted them to join her, Guardian and Felix hastily went back to off road hiking. Although Felix was feeling good they’d helped those two, he knew Guardian was doubly worried about the Marshals now.

“It’s not wise to tango with those hombres too often.”

They were walking with the sun at their backs, the air was warm and tasted like summer. They left the church and the road hours behind them as Guardian looked on her Smart Phone from time to time. Her eyes would look intently on the screen as if reading messages, Felix felt compelled to ask if she was alright but figured he would get more silence.

65 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“I have to leave.” she said when the afternoon grew late.

“For good?”

“No, I’m having trouble reaching my contact. Plus I have to keep these pictures safe and this isn’t the place to do that. I promise I’ll return and...”

“I know you will Guardian,” Felix said catching a glimpse of her aura. “what should I do though in the mean time?”

“Do you have money? And I don’t mean cash I mean gold.”

“Yes. This area looks familiar.”

“We’re near the road to the tavern where we met. A few miles from there is a boarding house, go there.

Get a room for a least two days, I don’t know how long I’ll be gone but it shouldn’t be more than three days.”

“Are you sure it isn’t safer outside?”

“No, the Marshals don’t go to this boarding house.”

“Why not?”

“Whoever owns it pays the Marshals to look the other way, what else would you expect? All of the worlds maybe different from each other, especially this world but certain things never change. It’s where stuff from other worlds usually gets traded and sold too.”

“I’m guessing that kind of stuff is illegal?”

“Right, they consider those kinds of things theirs by divine right. Everything from bottles of magic potion and handheld video games to canned food are considered illicit, and that’s exactly the kind of stuff they sell at the boarding house. Which means the people hanging out there can be kind of rough but it’s the safest place to hide from the Marshal’s. Just don’t talk to anybody or answer your door unless it’s me knocking.”

66 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

She walked Felix most of the way there across more forest land filled with back roads and hidden walking paths, it was an easterly journey that ate up the rest of the day. When the sky was turning violet they reached a side road where a quarter mile down Felix could see a two story cottage with a pair of black Victorian Lamp Posts burning brightly.

“Take a room under the name Brisby. I’ll be as fast as I can.” she said before disappearing into the night.

The walk was dark and quiet, as he approached the cottage he hid Pretzel in his bag.

“Keep your meowing down and I’ll buy you a big fish for dinner.”

The entire front of the building looked like something out of a Tolkien story, inside looked more like a modern hotel or Bed and Breakfast. The lobby walls had cream colored silk wallpaper with gold trim and a very clean looking short haired crimson carpet. A burgundy colored classic Chesterfield love seat sat facing a gas powered fireplace below the head of a sparkling blue dragon mounted above the mantle with a pair of crossed swords under its neck. Behind the seating was a wall made of polished wood that was chest high.

There sat a woman wearing a button down white shirt black tie and slacks with an expensive looking silk jacket. She was playing a Game Boy with deep concentration though she broke away from the game when he approached. Felix expected this place to be like the tavern but there was no sounds of cursing or rough housing, he didn’t see anyone at all.

“Good evening, sir. Would you like a room?” the woman asked pleasantly.

“Yes, please for two nights.”

“OK, I’ll just need you to sign a few things. It’s a standard clause that states you promise not to have guests or animals and that you are aware you will be held liable to damages to the room during your stay. OK?”

“Not a problem. What are you playing?” Felix asked signing the papers and paying.

“Tetris. A drunk guy tipped it to me when he won big in the game room.”

67 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

“Game room?” Felix asked when she gave him his change and room key.

On the way to showing him his room she gestured at a set of swing doors with porthole windows. He looked through the window and saw arcade cabinets lining up the walls with a video poker or slot machine between every third or fourth cabinet. Most of the people were at the cabinets plugging either coins or tokens into the machines. Some cabinets he recognized, there was Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Mortal Kombat one and two.

But there were other games he had never heard of, one was called ‘Mnemonic The Wretchhog’ and besides that was a sit down cabinet called ‘Nuke’em All!’ which had a radiation symbol as the dot for the exclamation point. The seat to the game was a chair inside a replica of a Stealth Bomber with the windshield as the screen.

In the center of the dimly lit room where a pool table and a roulette table. At the roulette table a handsome young man wearing a blue vest with white pin stripes and matching bow tie who was spinning the wheel. A group of people, mostly men played roulette while the only women he could see were a pair of large breasted brunettes wearing little black dresses serving drinks.

“This way to your room, Mr Brisby.”

She also showed him the way to the boarding house’s kitchen/grocery store before leading him up to his room on the second floor. It was a quaint little nook with its own private bathroom that put Felix back in mind of Tolkien and Hobbit holes.

“I think this would have worked for Bilbo, don’t you Pretzel?”

He lifted his cat and saw a look on his fuzzy face that said ‘I was told there would be fish’ and meowed quietly.

“Yes, yes I’ll get you your fish.”

The store was bigger than the game room and was divided in half evenly. On the left was just a counter along the wall with a variety of kitchen appliances you’d see in an ordinary home such as blenders, microwaves, hot plates and something that looked to Felix like a DVD player that was called a Hydrator according to the cashier. At the far end was a double sink with a sign above reminding tenants they were responsible for cleaning up after themselves. The grocery store half of the room was just three aisles but also had a cooler, freezer combo along its wall.

68 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

Felix couldn’t find fresh fish but found cans of salmon and bought six for Pretzel, as well as a few other necessities. The store had a variety of magic potions for sale, and an even bigger variety of marijuana for sale. On the counter where the customer paid was a jar of filled with something that looked like a dark blue gelatin, the hand written label on it said Darkleberry Jam. He remember Guardian saying it was a fruit so he bought a jar of that and crackers to spread it on.

It was the most delicious jam he’d ever ate. It was tart but not so much you were puckering your lips and it didn’t leave a sickeningly sweet aftertaste. He wondered what other strange foods this world had, for now though he ignored his curiosity and stayed in his room.

He fed Pretzel then enjoyed a long hot shower and put on a fresh set of clothes for the first time in a while. He’d planned on reading a book on his tablet while lying in bed which was large and looked as soft as a cloud in a dream. The moment he laid on it he began to sink down and knew he wasn’t getting back up tonight.

Pretzel seeing his master snoring away jumped up on the bed and buried himself beside Felix after a quick circle and stretch. They slept until late the next morning waking up to birds chirping and the sound of people walking and talking down below outside. He looked out the rooms small window fitted with lovely floral curtains and saw the front of the boarding house and the road he had arrived on.

He wondered if Guardian would be back today, as he looked out on the foot traffic which was more than sporadic with most coming and going to the boarding house. He knew he could try to reach out to Guardian telepathically, a read for her mind was what mom had called it but figured it was a waste.

When he first met her he saw for the briefest moments from her mind a wall made of ledge stak stone which was topped off by tall slats of pebbled concrete.

The wall looked familiar to him but all walls were the same in your mind his mother told him, and made blocking your thoughts possible. You could do that or sing a short repetitive song in your head over and over again but doing that made talking to other people or proper thinking in general very difficult. Felix laid back down to read but couldn’t concentrate.

So he found a length of string to play with Pretzel but he had this itch in the back of his head that was slowly building. He felt his heart beat quicken when he heard footsteps outside in the hallway. Too heavy and too many to be Guardian’s footsteps. There was a moment of silence that was suddenly broken by a pounding on his door.

“Uh...who is it?” Felix asked trying to sound like a woman but sounding more like he’d pinched his privates in his zipper.

69 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

The response was another swift pounding.

“Be quiet.” he said to Pretzel before getting up to answer the door.

He put on a big smile and opened his door to a familiar face. It was Jack, aka The Dragon Puncher if you wanted to kiss his ass. He stood cross armed with a smile on his face and a nod, behind him stood a humongous and beefy looking white man wearing mirrored aviators on a chiseled face. He had no expression and was cross armed much like Jack.

“You’re the wizard.” said Jack.

“I’m not a wizard.” Felix said.

He held the door just enough so that he didn’t want to be rude and laughed awkwardly.

“The one with the cat.”

“I don’t have a cat.” Felix said.

Pretzel then walked up beside Felix meowing at Jack and his companion. Jack smiled wider and stepped inside as Felix picked up his cat and walked backwards.

“Watch the door, Zap.” said Jack who closed it behind him.

“Please uh, Mr Puncher sir, I don’t...”

“I’m not in the business of hurting wizards...”

Felix cringed still and held Pretzel closer to his chest.

“...or their cats. Have a seat, wizard.”

70 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

Felix sat down as Jack went to the window and looked outside. The man hid his thoughts and his aura, Jack was definitely strong minded enough to do it. He was looking thoughtfully out the window for a moment before he spoke.

“Can you cast spells?”

“Cast spells?”

“Yeah, spells. Like freezing people or setting them on fire with your staff.”

“Well not all wizards can do that, usually a witch or a sorcerer can do things like that.”

“Where’s your companion, the masked warrior?”

“She’s gone.” Felix said and nothing else.

“And you’re not a spell caster?”

Felix shrugged not sure what to tell this man, he certainly didn’t want to humor him.

“Well that’s fine, I can use you.” he said stepping from the window to look at Felix.

“Use me? For what,” he asked befuddled. “and who told you I was a wizard?”

“I got eyes everywhere, and I’m not allied to The Order or anyone for that matter but me and those working under me.”

“I’m not for hire.”

“Yes you are, and I’ll not take a refusal. You ain’t got a choice in this.”

“And why is that?”

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“Because of you and your friend in the mask killing those Marshals they traced you and her back to my bar. I got shut down because of you and lost a lot of gold.”

“Oh, uh...” Felix stuttered as he swallowed down a mouth full of acidic stomach bile. “we..I mean I what I mean is we my companion and I had no intention...”

Jack put up a hand looking slightly amused.

“The tavern is just one venture I own as well as this boarding house, my bar was small potatoes compared to the game room here. So it’s not the end for a guy like me, however it is a monetary set back none the less that I need you make up for. A task I need you to complete that will help fix this loss.”

Felix wished Guardian was here, but remembered she wouldn’t always be there to help him. If he truly did cause Jack’s bar to be shut down then he as a proper wizard was obligated to repay this man. It wasn’t just a wizards code but an honorable one as well that his mother taught him were one in the same.

“Now I am a business man and though you owe me I will still pay you handsomely for your skills as a lock picker.”

“How did...”

“I know Lisa but she didn’t divulge your secret. As I told you I have eyes everywhere, people that are inconspicuous but keep watch for Marshal’s and people not from around here.”

“You don’t have a pick pocket that can open whatever you need opened?”

“For a small job, I do. This is a big job, and I can’t rely on some drunk or asshole who thinks he’s the best. Where I’m going I need someone with that extra sense to keep me alive, someone who knows they’re the best. You wizards are a confident bunch, and any good business man will tell you confidence sells. I’d like to wait for your masked friend, she looked ready to kick ass but time’s short so we have to leave tonight.”

“Tonight?! I don’t even know where we’re going or what we’re doing,.”

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“We’re doing a jail break, wizard. It’s not a big penitentiary or anything like that, it’s more of an oversized jail. I already know how to get in and find my friend, it’s the lock to his cell that’s stopping me. I’ll pick you up at sunset.” Jack said leaving without another word.

Pretzel jumped on the bed beside Felix and nuzzled his elbow. He scratched his fuzzy chin absently with a frown on his face. A jail break, was something that brought him a happy memory.

When he was a young boy his mother was sleeping when he noticed some kids were on the corner playing jail break. A house across the street with a for sale sign that had a long gated porch at sidewalk level was serving as a jail. He came outside because their auras sparkled with white and gold fire and he simply had to play with them.

He hadn’t been nervous they’d reject him, they took him in right away and assigned him to a team. Two hours later they were talking Game Boys while walking back from a nearby Time Kill gas station with slurpee type drinks the color of nuclear radiation and Felix was telling them about the Play Station Portable which wouldn’t exist for thirteen more years. He felt like the cool kid in the neighborhood telling them that kind of secret info, they even seemed to believe it.

When he returned home his mom was very angry with him which was rare. She even raised her voice at him which had never happened before. He wanted to be angry and shout right back at her about not being allowed friends but his love for his mother made his anger collapse into sadness and he fell to his knees with shame as he cried.

“Shh,” she said lifting him back up and holding him tight. “I just can’t lose you like I did Johnny Boy.”

He never disobeyed his mom again. He remembered it wasn’t very long after his excursion he’d’ gotten Pretzel. He knew mom would want him to do it so waited for sunset. He didn’t think about Guardian at all though Felix secretly hoped she’d return before he left.

But as the sun sank behind the forest there was still no sign of her. As he watched the sun slowly drop, a stage coach being led by a brown and white horse pulled up to the boarding house. The carriage was being driven by Jack. He looked up from his perch and saw Felix who waved at him.

“Pretzel I’m leaving you here.”

The moment the words left his lips he began to meow, irritatingly loud and sad sounding.

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“Shh, foolish cat! It’s too dangerous, I’ll be back.”

He began to leave but then a sudden fear took hold of him stopping him in his tracks, not his fear but fear from Pretzel. It was so great it struck Felix’s heart much worse than his sad annoying meowing. He lifted up his cat and gave him a kiss on the head.

“You must be quiet and continue to not shit in my back pack. Understand?”

Pretzel gave just the faintest of meows and eagerly jumped into his mobile home when Felix opened his pack. He stepped outside into a crisp summer evening, a breeze came from the forest which was cool and refreshing. The coach was something out of a western movie and looked the part to a T, with dust caked wheels and velvet curtains covering the windows on a body made of pine wood and faded black paint.

“You take shotgun, wizard.”

Felix climbed up and sat down placing his pack at his feet. Pretzel’s head then poked out, much to displeasure of Jack.

“Wizard, I over looked the fact you brought an animal into my boarding house but you can’t take him with us.” Jack said.

“If I leave him he’ll just go ape shit in the room tearing things up afraid I’ll die with out him. I give you my word he’ll be silent, he knows to be quiet.”

“Really, you can speak to animals then?” Jack asked furiously.

“This animal, yes. I’ve never tried with others, but I promise you my cat will be quiet. I’m a wizard, when I say I can do something I mean it.” Felix said back without fear.

Jack didn’t have time to argue.

“Fine, but he rides in the coach.”

“I told you he doesn’t like to be alone.”

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“He won’t be.”

Curious, Felix got down and opened the door to the stage coach and was greeted with an unexpected sight. There were five very attractive women with long legs covered in silky nylons wearing tastefully short designer cocktail dresses sitting with warm friendly smiles. Their faces were lightly covered with make up they eyed Felix and his cat closely.

“Ooh look at the kitty.” said one in a sparkling purple gown.

“Girls, you’re cat sitting.” Jack called out.

“Here honey,” said an older blonde woman in a red spaghetti strap dress. “I promise to keep him safe I got fur babies of my own.”

Pretzel easily went to the woman in red as the other woman oohed and awed at his cat who eagerly stretched himself long to receive as many pets as possible.

“Let’s go wizard.” said Jack.

“Lucky dog.” Felix said with a laugh.

They traveled down a great road that was illuminated with sporadic poles lit by a bright greenish yellow flame. A lantern hung on a pole mounted besides the seating perch of the carriage, a pair of moths danced around it with fluttery wings. They only sounds were the clopping of hooves and crickets rubbing their wings together.

“So we are doing a jail break, what’s with the women?”

“What do you think?” Jack asked taking his eyes from the night time road glancing at Felix.

“Distraction.”

“Correct, the Marshal’s working there have shifts that are months long rotations. There’s not many prisoners to watch over because they just use the place to transfer prisoners. Which means lots of down time obviously, but The Order pays overtime and all that so they’re making money regardless.”

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“But if they never leave to spend it...”

“Which is where this stage coach comes in handy. I have a connection who worked at the jail and said the detail on now is real sloppy and isn’t afraid to fuck off when the opportunity presents itself.”

“You don’t think they’ll find us arriving on a coach filled with exotic women suspicious?” asked Felix.

“That’s not my problem.” Jack said looking out on the dark road ahead.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that’s your problem, you’re going to ride up to the entrance and convince the Marshal at the front gate to let us inside. You are going to be their pimp.”

“I can’t do that my mother...” Felix said horrified.

“You really are a gentlemanly mother fucker. Look wizard, don’t be worrying about that shit, worry about getting our asses inside. We’re almost there, just be a pimp and they’ll let us through.”

“What does that mean, be a pimp?”

“It means be confident.”

They came around a bend and ahead on a hill was the jail. It was a low two story building that sat in the center of four stone watchtowers that were connected by tall stone walls topped with razor wire and barbed wire. Only one of the towers appeared to have anyone inside as its spotlight was the only one on and moving. While still out of range of the light Jack stopped the coach.

“This is where you take over.”

“I’ve never driven a horse...”

“Just take the reins, this horse only listens to me so just mime like you’re clicking your tongue in case a Marshal is close by.”

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Jack opened a false door below the drivers box where they sat and manged to squeeze his muscular body inside. Felix held the reins with numb fingers as he heard a click and the steed marched towards the jail. Felix saw the black building draw close and felt OK for a moment, but when the spotlight shined on him he felt frozen with fear. The horse neighed irritably but didn’t stop until a Marshal appeared in front of them on the road.

“Whoa, who’s approaching?” asked a grizzled but young looking Marshal holding up a loaded crossbow.

The crossbow had an LED flashlight mounted to it casting a bright white light on him though he was still in the glare of the tower spotlight.

“Hey Marshal,” said Felix with a big smile.

“Who are you?” the Marshal asked steadily watching Felix with narrow eyes.

“The pimp,” Felix said remembering what Jack told him.

“The who?”

“The pimp,” Felix said trying to make his voice sound deeper.

“The pimp?” asked the Marshal.

“Yeah, the pimp…uh...Long Daddy Smith.”

“Long Daddy Smith?”asked the Marshal.

“Yes, I’m Long Daddy. I’m the biggest bitch magnet in all the kingdoms with too many hoes.

There’s...hoes in my coach...I’m knee deep in the finest hoes. Hey...ho...ladies...let the officer see who you are.”

The Marshal who had a face that looked to be frozen even as he spoke, suddenly smiled warmly and wide eyed like a child at Christmas when the women stepped out.

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“Ooh that light is gonna melt my make up.” cried a buxom blonde shielding herself with her hands.

“Joey turn off the spotlight” the Marshal said to someone up in the tower.

“Huh, what ya say Ed?”

“I said turn the fuckin light off!” he shouted up to the tower.

His face was serene again when the light went off and the blond thanked him.

“Yes, the finest and most polite hoes you could ever want. Yes, yes indeed. Every man needs his ho to be mannerly.”

The Marshal nodded and shined his light on the one holding Pretzel.

“Are, do they fuck the cat?” asked the Marshal.

“Wha...ew no you fuckin weirdo. Fuck the cat no I’m a pimp not a perv, that cat is their guard dog.

He’ll scratch you like a...uh mother fucker. He’s got pimp hand...er...a paw, he needs paid. These are his hoes.”

“The cat’s hoes?” asked the Marshal suspiciously.

“Yes the cat’s hoes, it’s called a tax dodge you insolent fool. Do you know what kind of deductibles you get per ho?”

“What’s a deductible?”

“It means health insurance, not just for my ladies but the cat as well.”

One of them blew a kiss at the grizzled young Marshal. His cheeks turned red as sweat broke out on his forehead.

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“Are they any good? They know how to fuck” he asked crudely.

“Yeah, they know how to...fuck. They fuck like...a fuckin mother fucker. Even the cat would tell you if he could talk.”

“I thought you said they didn’t fuck the cat.” said the Marshal.

“Look man you want laid or not?” Felix asked with a annoyed sigh.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said nodding quickly. “are they all working tonight?”

“If you payin honey, we fuckin.” said one of the women.

That made the Marshal more agreeable, and Felix was shocked they let them inside, carriage and all.

Though it had gone smoothly, the large gate closing them inside made his heart jump with terror as it slammed shut. When they passed the towers a door to the one with the working light opened and out came a skinny Marshal with a helmet that looked like a cooking pot. He was holding up his pants as he ran up to Ed with a look of bewilderment.

“Hey Ed, who are these ladies?” he asked gasping for breath from running.

“Entertainment, Private! Find get some grog, find some ale find anything that’ll fuck us up. This fine man brought us a gaggle of bitches!”

A pair of young looking Marshals had come from the main building to see what was going on. The women mingled freely with the other Marshals as the one named Ed spoke to him again.

“What’s the price?” he asked watching a large breasted blond adjust her dress.

“Oh, standard rates and all. Honestly I mostly need a rest and am gonna crash out in the coach while you guys party.”

“OK...hey wait a minute,” said Ed freezing Felix’s heart in fresh terror. “you fixin to try something?”

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“In a jail, filled with Marshals?” he said trying to sound shocked at such a question. “Sir you can not be dealin in hoes and steppin on the toes of the law, it’s uh...unpimp like. A pimp has to have a strong hand but a smart hand.”

“Alright just put your carriage out of the way and we’ll settle up in the morning.”

Felix was able to get the carriage to the wall of the jail thanks mostly to the unseen Jack. All of the ladies went in together as did a majority of the Marshals. The ones still outside were not close by so Felix quietly spoke to Jack.

“What is the plan precisely?”

“Be patient.” he whispered but would say no more.

For an hour or so Felix sat in the carriage with Pretzel on his lap while Jack remained hidden. During that time three Marshal’s stood by the door leading inside talking animatedly. When one of the women came out with three large glasses filled with amber liquid in hand their talking became even more lively and joyous. They hugged and kissed on the woman forcefully, the sight turned Felix’s stomach.

After a few minutes the woman took one of the Marshal’s by hand as the other two men razzed their coworker. A minute or two later Felix noticed one of the Marshal’s trip a little on his feet, his companion laughed and said something about being a bitch and a light weight. He then began to walk around on wobbly legs like his lightweight coworker.

Then a moment later one of them fell over then a few seconds later the other Marshal fell to the ground, both were motionless. Felix sat up with alarm thinking the Marshal’s were dead.

“Oh shit they fell over, Jack!” Felix said.

The false door opened and Jack came out.

“They’re just sleeping, a heavy dose of green rose magic, let’s go wizard.”

He put Pretzel in his bag and shouldered it as he followed Jack. Felix looked everywhere at once waiting for shouts or some kind of gun fire to break out but all was quiet. The door was a heavy blast

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proof type that was not locked and led to an office like room with yellowing drop ceiling panels, greasy walls and air thick with stale tobacco and body odor.

The woman in the red spaghetti strap dress came out of a room looking back quickly over her shoulder.

The air was rich with awful and tension, she gave Felix a warm smile and a nod to Jack.

“What’s the info, Joan?” asked Jack.

“Nine guards total, all four down here are out.”

“What about our boy?”

“Haven’t looked yet there’s a second floor here with more cells. And the Marshal me and Bonnie flirted with said there’s only two prisoners here.”

“What’s taking so long with the other Marshal’s?”

“One is a little obese and is taking a little longer to feel the potion. He’s the senior officer here.”

“How hard was it to find all that out?” asked Jack.

“Not very, most of these guys are young and have never seen tits before and will tell you anything to get a squeeze.” she said giving Felix a wink.

“Where’s the stairs?” asked Jack.

Joan pointed to another blast proof door at the end of a short hallway behind them. Jack told Joan to watch the front door and keep and eye out. He smacked Felix on the shoulder to follow him down the hall.

At a distance it looked like an ordinary hall in an office building or school, the floors were parkay and on the right hand side were doors made of fine wood with frosted glass windows. When they walked down it though Felix was shocked to see on the left hand side of the hallway four cells. They looked small, dark and smelled of mildew.

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At the end of the hall was a door sized cell gate leading to the stairs up to the second floor. When they reached the gate it slid open freezing them in their steps. They exhaled when one of the ladies came out.

“Wendy, are the others out yet?”

“Everybody but the really fat one and the older guy. The fat guy is still wide awake and the older guy is acting funny like he suspects something.”

“Have you found the brewer yet?”

“No, they don’t like us wondering off on our own. I had to fight just to go downstairs alone saying I had to piss real bad.”

“Shit, go back I’ll be right behind you. You stay here wizard I wanna try and take a quick look around and hopefully I won’t have to bust some heads. I prefer keeping things on the down low, makes for an easier getaway.”

Felix nodded but it was absent as he hadn’t heard what Jack said. He was distracted by a skimpy cloud of white and green flowing out of a cell. It dissipated just a few inches from the bars of the cell, it was so dark in this hallway that Felix missed seeing it right away.

He slowly walked over to the unlit cell. It was narrow though high, with a toilet and sink combo made of steel below a puny broken bulb built into the ceiling. On the bed which was bolted to the wall sat a tall elderly man in jeans and a white T shirt wearing a blue baseball cap bearing a wolf with an eye patch.

On his face was a great white bushy beard on a rugged bespectacled face. His eyes looked worldly and wise, like he’d seen many things and lived many years. Felix felt drawn to the man who looked back at him warmly, he put his pack to floor.

“Are you a wizard?” asked Felix.

“I’ve had some call me that, most call me Chief or Howdy usually. Someone once called me Howdy The Green.” he said as Pretzel went between the bars to rub against the mans legs.

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“Green?! That is a high title of wizard indeed, you must know everything?”

“Oh, only cause I know how to code. I’ve had the free time to do it and I haven’t aged in years. The cancer living inside me hasn’t grown either, guess it’ll be the closest I get to beating it. I’m more of a mechanic than a wizard. Who are you?” he asked scratching under the cat’s chin.

“I am also a wizard, Felix The Strange at your service.”

He reached into the cell and shook the old mans hand, who had a strong grip despite his age and illness.

Howdy looked around his cell with a grin that was hollow, next to him was a long narrow green tank sitting on a pair of tiny rubber wheels. He patted the tank with his long fingers before returning them to Pretzel’s chin.

“Howard Bateman, or Howdy The Green if that makes you happy.”

“I can get you out of here, Howdy.” said Felix.

“I’d only slow you down.”

“I can’t leave a fellow wizard behind.”

“I know you mean well, but I have a bad knee and walking would be too painful after a short while.”

“We have a stage coach, you’d have to walk fifty yards to get to it and the driver will take you where ever you wish afterwards. I have plenty of money.”

“Why are you doing this? We don’t know each other.”

“You don’t know about the wizards code?” asked Felix.

“I guess I’m not a very good wizard.” Howdy said with a chuckle.

“There are many things a wizard is always expected to do, and helping others, especially another wizard, is our duty.”

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“But how do you know I’m not a bad guy?” asked Howdy.

“I have a gift and I would be able tell if you meant me ill will. You don’t have the gift?”

“Dunno,” he said sincerely. “sometimes I get feelings about something or someone and then all of a sudden...”

He stopped and shrugged his shoulders looking too tongue tied to explain. Felix understood though, Howdy The Green may have had just the barest inklings of the gift. He remembered his mother telling him not all wizards had the gift, and that traveling between worlds often can actually bring that extra sense to life.

“Don’t worry I...”

The gate to the stairs opened suddenly and the woman named Wendy came down red face with panic.

She was fanning her face as if about to cry. Her breathing was hurried, her large breasts jiggled with each intake of air.

“Jack’s fighting the fat guy, Jack’s fighting the fat guy!” she said like a petulant child.

Felix passed the woman with staff in hand and up the fifteen steps in just a few seconds. He could hear the shouts of the women and the sounds of men fighting. Felix entered a room that was small but packed with busted wooden folding chairs strewn about and a long table broken in half. In the middle of the room Jack was being bear hugged by the fat Marshal who was squealing much like a pig, the few other Marshall’s here looked to be fast asleep.

The Marshal still awake was easily three hundred pounds with arms that looked as big and as hairy as the arms of a gorilla, Jack was face to face with the Marshal and was gasping as he tried to wiggle out of the fat mans arms. Beside Felix in the corner of the room was large stone pot filled with sand and butts from cigars and cigarettes. He grabbed a handful of sand and nudged the Marshal with his staff.

“Huh?” The Marshal said as he turned around.

The sand went right into his eyes and all over his sweat covered face. He let out another squeal, this one more painful and irritating to hear. He dropped Jack who fell to the floor coughing for air as struggled to stand back up.

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“My fuckin eyes!” said the Marshal

He followed his shout with a very fast but also very badly aimed punch with a fist the size of a ham.

Felix ducked it easily and pressed a button combo on his staff, holding it just a few inches from the Marshal’s rear. There was a pop sound and a minuscule bolt hit the fat Marshal, he let out a scream that sounded less pig like and more angry.

“The electric bolts this staff shoots out is tiny but will fry your ass either way, surrender now.”

The fat Marshal did not hear nor care, he screamed and made a charge in Felix’s direction. One of the women threw a bottle and hit the Marshal right in the head which dropped him to a knee. However he still moved forward and let out another inarticulate war cry and got close enough to grab Felix by the neck.

The fat man had both hands around his neck trying to crush Felix’s throat with his sausage like fingers.

Felix still holding his staff shoved it between the Marshal’s gelatinous arms until the top of his staff touched his many chins and delivered a long shock. The Marshal let go but his large body fell on top of him, Felix still couldn’t breath. He laid on him for only ten seconds, but it was the longest ten seconds Felix had ever experienced.

The Marshal had screamed as the electricity coursed through his lower jaw and into his jowls. The energy began to light up his cheeks like he was a Jack-o-Lantern with a candle in his mouth. The lunacy of the ordeal was made worse by the scent of the man’s fat melting. Then Jack was suddenly there pushing the dead weight of the Marshal to the side.

“What happened?” asked Felix feeling woozy.

“He was crushing you while you fricasseed his ass.”

“Are you OK?” asked one of the lady’s who was helping him off the floor.

“You were so brave.” said the one in the purple gown.

“I didn’t know wizards were so young.” said a curvy brown haired woman in a little black dress.

“Easy, we still got to find the brewer.” said Jack irritably.

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“The brewer?” asked Felix.

“Yeah, my bar had a brewery underneath it. My brewer got killed in the raid so I gotta get a new one.”

“My boyfriend,” said the one in the purple gown. “he makes the best beer and moonshine in any of the old kingdoms.”

“Oh.” Felix said.

“What, you thought it was someone more dangerous?” asked Jack.

“Well, yes I did.”

“Sorry to disappoint you. If it makes you feel any better this will piss off The Order either way.”

It was on this floor they found the brewer, he was a man close to middle age and wore pair of brown coveralls splattered with paint. He laughed excitedly as Felix easily deactivated an electronic lock mechanism that powered all the cells. All the cell doors upstairs and down opened at once which sounded like the worlds biggest ball bearings rolling across a wood floor. The brewer jumped out of his cell excitedly into the waiting arms of his girlfriend.

“Oh, Tiff baby I missed you.” the brewer said nearly swallowing the purple gowned woman with kisses.

Felix looked away feeling awkward as he thought of kissing Lisa that way. He just laughed it off and wanted to worry about living through this. It was when they went down to the first floor that Felix had to explain to Jack about Howdy.

“You’re pushing your luck, wizard. Traveling with cats and old men with oxygen canisters are not my choice of companions. You gonna take them to a Sunday picnic with the grand kids?”

“Jack I’ll pay you...”

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“Nothing is what you’ll pay me, I didn’t say no and if it does become a problem I’ll dock your pay.

Besides I owe you one from giving that fat fuck an electric thrashing, you might have saved my life. I can’t promise they’ll all fit in the coach though.”

They did all fit. The brewer was more than happy to let Tiffany sit on his lap allowing enough room for Howdy and his oxygen tank if they laid it across their laps. On the way back, Felix wondered about Howdy. Who he was and where he came from were just the tip of the iceberg.

Did the man have a place to reside? Felix would get him a room at the boarding house if need be and whatever else Chief might need. When they were three quarters of the way back one of lady’s was able to convince Jack to make stop so she could pee.

“Do you have a place to go after here, Howdy?”

“Mother fucker should work for Jack.” said the brewer.

“What you flapping your gums about, Bruce?” asked Jack.

“For your game room, Jack. Go ahead man, show Jack what you did to my babe’s digital watch he got it to spell out words.”

Jack and Felix looked at the watch on Tiffany’s wrist which looked like a regular Casio digital watch but Felix didn’t recognize the name which was NovaX. He’d seen a similar device in The Techno Cook Book but this watch was bizarre in Felix’s eyes. It looked like a hybrid of a Casio Game-10 watch from the early 1980’s and a miniature Blackberry phone but with an LED screen showing brightly lit red numbers.

It had a stenographers keyboard just below the screen and quartet of buttons on the side. Bruce pushed one of these buttons and the time was replaced with a scrolling left to right message which stated that

‘Tiffany luvs Bruce luvs Tiffany.’

“How’d you do that?” asked Jack.

“Just a soft hack I did with a few key strokes and a paper clip.” said Howdy.

“You work for anybody?” asked Jack.

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“Just myself, I am open to contract work though.”

“Good answer.” said Jack.

When they returned to the boarding house, most of the women left to their homes while Bruce and Tiffany rented a room for themselves. Felix tried to speak with Howdy but Jack had taken him somewhere private, perhaps to discuss employment and told Felix to more or less piss off and that he’d pay him in the morning.

Felix was deflated he wouldn’t get a chance to speak to Howdy The Green but figured he would see him tomorrow. He paid for another nights stay went to the store/kitchen and made a big late night dinner for himself and Pretzel and went to bed after a little while but only tossed and turned. Felix awoke the next morning not long after sun rise to a knocking on his door.

He jumped up from bed hoping it was Howdy or Guardian but saw the woman who first checked him in, smiling pleasantly holding a fist sized sack heavy with something.

“Mr Brisby, the owner wanted to thank you for assisting with the maintenance problem downstairs and wishes to pay you for your time and to remind you you are always welcome to any of his establishments.” she said chirpily handing over the sack.

“Oh, uh...thank you. Do you know what happened to the old man?” asked Felix.

The woman looked him with a smile but her brow furrowed in a question.

“I’m sorry?” she said sounding sympathetic.

“When we got back from my...uh...maintenance job, there was an elderly gentleman with me carrying an oxygen tank.”

The woman smiled but remained silent.

“He was also doing maintenance for the owner, his name is Howdy and I wondered if you knew where I might find him, Howdy I mean.”

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“I’m sorry I don’t recall anyone else besides you returning last night. Anyone staying or visiting this house is not at liberty to answer to anyone other than the owner of this house, I’m sure you understand.

House rules.”

Her tone was sympathetic but professional. He thanked her and accepted the sack of coins wishing he could find out more but figured he’d be better off waiting for Guardian and forgetting the job altogether. He sat on the bed reading a story by Douglas Adams so engrossed with laughter he jumped a little when there was another knock on the door.

It was the woman who had paid him earlier. Gone was her easy pleasant smile, replaced with a white panicky look of fear and alarm. She reached out a little and touched Felix’s arm looking ready to cry.

“There’s a dragon alert for this area, there is a dragon bunker below the game room for house guests, just follow the dragon exit signs.”

She went down the hall to knock on the next door and repeated her message to another guest. Felix looked out the window of his room and didn’t see any foot traffic though he could hear people babbling with excitement very close by. He was trying to hear the talking when a scream like out of a slasher movie cut through the babble.

Felix felt his heart stop when he heard the scream and then do a double jump when the sunny day outside was briefly darkened by a large blot of shadow. As soon as the shadow passed over the boarding house a wind blew over head that stunk a million times worse than the prison he visited last night. This smell was hotter and rancid, a scent like a month old fish roasting over hot coals.

The babble of voices became a chorus of shouts and screams as Felix tried to look up but the ceiling cut off his view. He heard people going passed his room and opened his door to a middle aged couple wearing their night clothes still, the man wore flannel pajamas while his wife was wrapped in terry cloth bath robe.

“Are you guys going to the dragon bunker?” Felix asked.

The man in flannel just nodded his head and waved him off. The robed woman with him however spoke to him, her face was the color of curdled milk.

“Of course, it’s a fire breather.”

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“Won’t the Marshal’s stop it?”

The flannel man was pulling on his wife to come along. She snarled at him and stopped in her tracks.

“God damn it, hold on a sec Brian.” she barked at him be fore speaking to Felix again, her aura was a dark cloud of Navy blue. “Don’t you know anything? That bastard will circle this area for days until its eaten all our crops and burned everything else then it’ll fly away. The Marshal can barely handle the little ones from frigging up the apple trees.”

“Only thing those tin badge fuckers do is harass people for taxes to the cunting Order.” said the husband whose aura was the color of pea soup.

“Brian, hush someone could hear you.” the wife said now scolding him and trying to drag him away as her aura turned a dark puke green.

“This is a serious situation.”

“Yeah, a lot of farmers like us are gonna loose it all. The stores aren’t gonna have anything to sell once it’s harvest time. Go to the bunker, they got enough supplies for everybody to last days.” said the flannel man as they retreated downstairs.

Felix scooped up Pretzel and put him in his pack and left his room though he wasn’t sure if he was going to the bunker or not. When he got to the lobby his heart did another double jump as he saw Guardian walk in with revolver in hand, no doubt from the dragon. She saw Felix and put her gun away.

“You saw the dragon?” asked Felix.

“Yes, it’s a Firedrake. We can use the road now, the Marshal’s will be too worried about the dragon to bother with us.”

“Oh, you...”

“What?” asked Guardian.

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“You don’t think maybe we should help with the dragon?”

Guardian stared at him for a moment, as if waiting to hear Felix say it was a joke. The silence was broken only by the cry’s of people outside.

“The Marshal’s will take care of it.” she said.

“Do you really believe that?”

“What are you saying Felix?” Guardian said with a sigh.

“That we need to help.”

“The Marshal’s?” she asked sarcastically.

“No, the other people here.”

“You’re paying me to guide you around not help others.”

Felix was silent for a moment.

“What, did you think I’d do it out of the kindness of my heart?”

“You helped that woman on the road...”

“No, I stopped a pig from harming a child.”

“I thought...”

“Thought what, that we’re friends?”

“Well no I guess not...what if I paid you...” Felix said feeling hurt.

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“More money? You’ve yet to pay me at all.”

“You didn’t ask for an upfront payment.” he countered.

“That was my mistake, as I’ve said trust is...”

“...a hard thing to come by. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised you’ve never even told me your name.”

said Felix sadly.

“I told you my name is Guardian.”

“Oh, get off it. I might be a little too happy go lucky but I know what an alias is. You’re a criminal wearing a mask to hide your face from The Order or its police force at the very least.

“You can’t help because you’re on the run. I was beginning to consider us friends for a moment and that was my mistake. You can’t have friends or even tell people your real name because trust is hard thing to come by.

“Why you’re on the run is none of my business, Guardian. But you can’t run forever, and I certainly wont. Not from Swat Teams, or Marshal’s or dragons either. I understand you don’t want to compromise your identity. I need your help so I am only asking and give you my word of honor as a wizard that I will tell no one about you if I am caught.”

“You suck at negotiating, wizard.”

“You guide inexperienced people through this befrigged world as you’ve called it. You do it for gold of course but I think you do it mostly to help the less fortunate. I talked to the people who started out with us and they all said your price was more than fair. Helping me fight this beast will help people like that more than escorting them through the woods ever will, we can defeat this monster together.”

Guardian was silent during his speech, watching him while a sulfuric smelling breeze wafted through the opened lobby doors making her grimace. She was silent for a few seconds after Felix finished talking.

“Felix, you make it sound easy killing a dragon.” she said with a head shake.

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“Yes, you’re right I’m sorry. I guess it was presumptuous of me to think you’ve killed a dragon before.”

Felix said realizing that was a foolish thing to assume.

“I have killed a dragon before.”

“You have?” Felix said awestruck.

“Yes, but it wasn’t a Firedrake and I was very young and stupid when I did it so don’t get your hopes too high.”

“OK, but you still know more about them than me. How much do you know this kind of dragon?”

asked Felix.

“The fire breathers are like tanks with wings. Remember what I said about my shield being the strongest material in all the worlds I’ve seen?”

“Yes.”

“Well a dragon’s scales are pretty high on that list. The only thing that can penetrate it is dragon bone.”

“Dragon bone?” asked Felix.

“I need arrow heads made from dragon bones and a crossbow to shoot it with.”

“Is that all?” asked Felix excitedly.

“No, the one out there is a big bastard but quick. They don’t stay low to the ground when there are people around. A crossbow even with a professional shooter is only accurate up to fifty yards, it’s difficult to draw them in unless...” she said in a low voice.

“Unless what?”

“Unless we draw it in to us.” she said with a strained voice.

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“How?”

“Never mind, just worry about finding a cross brow with as many arrows as possible while I’m gone.”

“Not a problem.” he said.

“You’re gonna owe me one Felix. People don’t just kill a big fucking thing like this and disappear into the shadows, a lot of people are gonna want to know who did it. I’ll be back soon.” she said leaving the lobby without saying another word.

Felix went behind the front desk and between the cash drawer and a heavy duty safe he found a crossbow similar in size and shape to the ones the Marshal’s carried. However it had no arrows so Felix rummaged through the drawers of the desk but they were filled with random office stationary and Game Boy game cartridges. He decided to go outside to search for arrows and was hit in the face with a curtain of nasty air.

He hardly noticed the smell as high over head and three miles out he saw the dragon. Its body was more than twenty five feet in length covered in reddish green scales and he could see from this distance it was a muscular creature. Its wingspan was at least twenty feet tip to tip, the wings were a translucent red color that matched the plates lining its entire back and tail. Felix thought it looked like a flying dinosaur and felt his heart drop when it let out a monstrous roar.

Out of its opened mouth followed by the roar was a length of flame that was orange and white. More screams rang out as the dragon banked low to the ground while fire rolled out of its mouth. The horrified screams made him cringe as he thought of all those people being turned out of house and home and having loved ones violently taken away from you, a pain Felix was sure he’d never get over.

Clusters of people were running passed him, he’d hope to maybe see a Marshal and perhaps bum a few arrows from one of them. But he’d seen just ordinary people all running away, a few pushing wheel barrows filled with random household items. The air was thick with panic and awful burning, the wings of the dragon whipped up a fire tornado on a field of wheat a mile away from the road Felix walked on.

The beast banked up and over a hillside gaining altitude at the speed of a jet fighter. The winged abomination flew directly over Felix followed by a wind great enough to knock off his hat but he was able to grab it before it was whisked away by the foul winds. A man ran by holding a regular bow and a quiver over his shoulder filled with arrows.

“I need...” Felix said holding up his crossbow.

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“Sorry, mate. These arrows are too long for crossbows.” he said without slowing down.

Felix went walking the other way as the dragon flew out roughly five miles then looked to be circling.

Felix jogged quickly holding the crossbow tightly looking for a Marshal or somebody with arrows while keeping an eye on the sky. He rubbed his chest and could feel his heart beating against his hand, a sensation that made him shudder.

He let out a gasp of air when he saw laying near the roadside besides a badly burned oak tree was the body of a Marshal. Felix could see the legs, waist and most of the torso where a cluster of arrows sat in a quiver made of black leather. He ran over to the body and stopped for a moment when he saw the head.

Half the Marshal’s face and shoulders had had its flesh melted off, Felix didn’t notice the wisps of acrid black smoke coming off the body. The skull was black from the heat and the Marshal had literally had his eyes cooked out of his skull. The smell was some how more awful than the breath of the dragon and Felix was deciding whether he should cry, vomit or do both.

Instead he held his breath and grabbed the quiver reminding himself these Marshal’s were not all good people. But then he realized this Marshal had probably died trying to fight the Firedrake and felt bad all over again. He shook away the useless thoughts and grabbed a few arrows that had fallen to the ground and were not too badly damaged then went back to the boarding house. He was walking quickly when he heard a voice calling him from behind.

“Felix!”

He remembered the voice right away and felt a funny sort of tickle run through his tummy and into his heart. Though they were both caught up in the panic and terror of the dragon they smiled at each other.

Her Autumn colored hair filled him with a feeling of drunken euphoria, she was the oasis in the strange desert of this world.

She rode a motorized bicycle which had a side mounted car bearing an elderly woman that was probably as old as Howdy The Green, she was a little old woman wrapped in bright white comforter that was as pristine in color as her hair. The elderly woman’s aura, like most everyone else’s on the road today, was the color of fear and surrounded her like a fog. Lisa wore a red hoody and long jeans with bare feet, her cheeks were red as she fixed her pony tail.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing you here.” Lisa said.

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“Me too, is this your mother?” Felix asked stepping closer.

“Yes, it is. Mom this is the man who showed me how to unlock the well.”

“Oh thank you so much,” she said sitting up and extending a her tiny hand which was soft. “that Bittle is such a cock sucker, I tell you.”

“Mom!” Lisa said sounding horrified.

“Oh, honey I’ve survived dozens of dragon raids, the fall of kingdoms and being dirt poor, I’ll call Bittle a no good twat in front of the head of The Order herself if I want.”

“I’m sorry Felix.”

“As long as she means what she says, then I’m not offended by her words. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. Where are you guys headed to?” asked Felix.

“Well I have an Aunt, my moms sister, she has a dragon bunker that can fit the whole family at her cottage…you can join us if you’d like. My family is small and we’d be honored to have to keep a wizard safe.”

“Well that is very nice of you, but I’m actually waiting for my companion to see if we can stop the dragon. Just don’t tell anyone it was us if we succeed.”

Her eyes, which were already soft, went softer still as she gasped in a short breath. Her hand went to her neck as her lips parted slightly.

“You are very noble and brave, Felix. I was afraid I’d imagined that in you, but I didn’t did I? I dreamed the other night I’d meet you again and you were heading off to battle in some war fought by the old kingdoms. I asked you to run away with me because I was in love with you, but you said no, because you had to protect me from something greater than us.”

Felix was silent, he had a feeling running through him he’d never experienced before. It was exciting but scary too, he knew what the word yearn met long before today but finally understood the word more clearly than he liked. Seeing Lisa and wanting to stay with her and protect her but knowing he

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wouldn’t because he had to stop the dragon and possibly die in the process made his heart twist like it had when his mother died.

“I guess my feelings for you are pretty obvious, Felix. If you win today, and I believe you will, I hope we can meet again.”

She looked down as if embarrassed by her declaration, and though he’d never kissed a woman before, he’d seen it enough in movies to understand a little about. He lifted her chin slightly with his hand, a move he’d seen in some really old movie. Then he kissed her gently on the lips, she tilted her head back and opened her eyes as they parted lips.

“That was my first kiss ever, Lisa. If I have your permission, once I finish kicking this dragon’s ass, I like to kiss you again.”

“I’d like that Felix.” she said with a smile.

Once Lisa rode off, Felix returned to the boarding house which was empty and quiet, he took Pretzel out of the bag who then perched himself on the lobby sofa. The dragon was banking down a few miles north of where he stood, the sound of screams grew as the Bahamut rained its fiery breath down once again. The spurts of people going by were few and far between though the screams were constant.

Felix stood on the steps watching the dragon circle back when Guardian walked out from around the side of the boarding house carrying a green duffle bag. She nodded at him then in the direction of the dragon. Felix met her halfway across the road offering to hold the bag but she nodded.

“For now let me hold it, you’ll get your turn.”

She gave him a quick look but said nothing more. Felix could only imagine what was in the bag as they went into a strip of forest, Pretzel followed behind them but would meow fearfully at the dragon as it flew over head. They came out of the tiny forest and saw a farm house a hundred yards down in a bowl shaped canyon of rolling green hills. The home was surrounded by acres of apple trees, many of which were on fire.

They stopped at the top of the hill as the dragon made another pass over their heads followed by a tsunami of stinky air. Guardian dropped the bag and unzipped its heavy zipper that had large teeth. She removed a beige colored four foot long metallic cylinder, as well as a heavy duty tripod that the cylinder sat on. Then she removed what he immediately recognized as a rocket.

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It was narrow and a bright red in color, looking like something you’d see Wile Coyote use in a cartoon.

It had a standard missile shape with four fins at its base and the word Claymore written on the body in black. Felix could see a good many rockets in the duffle bag and felt taken aback for a moment.

“Jesus Christ, Guardian.”

“You want to kill this thing right? Cause this mother fucker will keep coming back if we don’t.”

“Yes.” he said handing her the arrows and crossbow.

Felix found twenty two usable arrows that Guardian switched the heads on from a supply she had in a small sack.

“How’d you get all this stuff?” asked Felix.

“I got my ways.” she said.

Her hands worked with a quick professionalism even as the serpent flew over head letting out another malodorous and deafening roar. Within minutes every arrowhead was switched.

“Will that be enough arrows to kill that thing?” Felix asked thinking there was no way those tiny arrows would stop that flying armored whale.

“I’ll only need one with a real good shot.”

“One?!” he said disbelievingly.

“Yes,” she replied unperturbed by his reaction. “a direct shot in the heart with a dragon bone arrowhead can kill it. There’s a soft spot just under its breast plate, a dragons heart is right behind it. If I can get within twenty yards of its chest the arrows will go deep enough to hit its heart.”

“What about a head shot?”

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“No. Well I mean if I hit it in the ear and the arrow actually goes through the ear drum and hits the brain then maybe but that would be a one in a million shot and they have tiny ears. Shit I don’t think I’ll even be able to jump high enough for a head shot even with the meds.” she said sounding serious on her last comment.

“Meds?”

Guardian removed from a pocket of her jumpsuit what Felix thought was a type of EpiPen used for allergic reactions. It had a bright green cylindrical body with an orange cap and a sticker label that showed a silhouette of what was presumably The Liberty Bell. Felix came to that conclusion because below the bell was the name Liberty Pharmaceuticals.

She gritted her teeth and flicked the orange cap off revealing a tiny needle. Guardian pushed on something causing a shot of clear liquid to come out. Then she stabbed herself in the thigh with the pen grunting loudly as she pressed down on the other end. Although her eyes were brown, Felix saw they turned to a dull green for a few seconds before wavering back to her natural color.

“What did you inject into yourself?”

“You know what steroids are?”

“Yes.”

“It’s like that but more...enhanced I only use it for emergency’s it doesn’t last very long either, let me show you how to operate the rocket launcher. You’ve played FPS game’s right?”

“Yes, but video games aren’t real world physics. And I’ve never held a fire arm in my life before so I highly doubt I’ll be able to hit a moving target.”

“It’s fine I don’t need you hit the dragon, just to shoot low to draw it in. The rockets are super hot and the dragon will think it’s another Firedrake coming to challenge him. He’ll chase after it because they’re a dumb dick swinging fucking animal. It will be too riled up by the flying rockets to worry about me, now pay attention and watch me do this before the meds fully kick in.”

She showed him the weapons cross hair sight, how to reload it and how to pull on the trigger. The dragon was no longer circling and suddenly banked just beyond the farms edge opposite their side. The

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beast bellowed out a great flame scattering a cluster of armed men who had been hiding behind the barn that was slowly catching fire.

“You remember how to do it?” she asked as they both watched the dragon chase down and set a man on fire.

“Yes, but Guardian, what if I hit you by accident?” Felix asked feeling that was a real possibility as he wasn’t very good at FPS games to begin with.

“Felix, you have the gift. You’ll know when not to shoot, I’m gonna run to the other side of the canyon and try to stay in font of it. Make sure to keep your aim low, shoot the rocket opposite where it is, make him chase after it. The rockets detonate after a minute if they don’t hit something so reload right away.

Got it?”

Before Felix could say anything, Guardian ran in the direction of the farm house. Her speed was astronomical, beyond human possibility. Whatever she’d injected into herself it was faster acting and more powerful than steroids. The dragon was circling the farm again as Guardian reached the home which had remained untouched by fire.

She peeked briefly around the corner of the house and saw the beast banking again flying in her general direction. Thirty yards ahead of her was a farmer armed with a rifle of some kind though it looked like a relic from a museum about the American Civil War. The farmer stood behind the remnants of a long dead tree that hardly hid him.

Their eyes met and Guardian pointed over him. He turned and leaned over and saw the dragon coming down on him. He wailed and ran in her direction, tears flew out of his eyes as his knees hit his chest in a full out run. He was going smooth before tripping on a branch and falling face first with a howl.

He was pushing himself up but he slipped as he looked back and saw the gigantic beast. The farmer was reaching out to Guardian bellowing in terror when the dragons breath washed over him. It was brief only a second or two and the flame was gone and a charred black skeleton was all that was left of the farmer who was still reaching out to her. Guardian cringed when she heard the creak of the reaching arm’s bone breaking off.

The dragon was flying away from her going back up. Guardian stayed by the house as a rocket suddenly shot out heading opposite the dragon who was still facing away. It circled again but apparently missed the first shot.

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“Come on, Felix. Make sure it sees the next one.”

The second shot was long in coming, but only because Felix caught some of Guardian’s thoughts and made sure to wait until the dragon was close enough to see. The shot was low but hit a burning tree and exploded sending wooden shrapnel raining everywhere. She lifted her shield as fiery wood, rocks and dirt fell.

The dragon did see it however and quickly made its way over to investigate, but the monster was still too high for her to take a shot. Guardian tried to send out her thoughts to just aim a little further from the trees but the flapping of its wings sent a fire storm her way making her run. She could smell the rubber of her boots melting mixed in with the scent of cooked apples, a horrible combination that roiled her senses making it hard to concentrate her thoughts.

However Felix shoot another low rocket that caught the dragons eye. Guardian was parallel to the dragon and began to narrow the width as she ran still at an inhuman speed. The crossbow was wrist mounted and could shoot up to three arrows at once, reloading took a little longer than she liked but for three shots at once she thought it was an acceptable trade off.

She was fifty yards and closing when the rocket exploded and the dragon made a wider turn drawing him further away. Felix sent out another shot but it was too soon and instead of chasing the red rocket, the monster surprised Guardian with an actual display of intelligence by investigating where the rocket had come from.

“NO!” shouted Guardian as the dragon made sudden turn heading for Felix.

Guardian was seventy five yards away from the dragon which was just a dozen feet off the ground, she removed her revolver while running and shot at its tail. She was less than thirty yards from it when she took the second shot and could clearly see she hit it, making it whip away.

“I got you that time, mother fucker!” she said.

She took three more shots and hit each time filling her with a raw joy when she heard it cry out in anger and do an immediate forty five degree banking turn coming virtually right for her. She stopped running and stood still and waited cautiously, the meds would save her from a lot of bad injuries but couldn’t protect her from the fire of a dragon.

Its eyes were red with black pupils on its long dog like face. Smoke streamed from its snout and behind it like ribbons on a pair of bike handles, Guardian could feel the stink of its breath hurtling towards her.

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It was left than twenty feet off the ground, and was closing the distance between them. Checking to make sure the safety on her crossbow was off she watched as it came rushing towards her like a runaway train.

As its chapped lips began to part she leapt high into the air, high enough to bring her eye level with the serpent. She raised the crossbow and hoped to at most maybe handicap it with a shot in the eye, she felt something in her mind click loudly as she aimed, like a billiard ball was breaking a rack in her skull. It was so sudden and loud she accidentally pulled the trigger.

One arrow deflected off its forehead leaving hardly a mark. The second deflected harmlessly as well off its face, number three however was what killed the dragon. The arrow was stopped by the long hairs in its large flaring nostril which was hot, very hot.

And the hotter a dragon bone arrowhead is, the sharper it is. So even though the arrow was lodged harmlessly in the dragon’s nostril, when it took in a breath it inhaled the arrow head through its furnace like sinuses. The five thousand degree temperature helped the arrowhead quickly cut through its hairs holding it, the nasal cavities ahead of it and slice right into the dragon’s brain beyond that like it was butter.

It let out a cry that was like a banshee being choked to death in hell. The dragon went by under her feet as it crashed. Guardian hit the ground seconds later, thanks to the meds she only lost the air in her lungs from the fall. She rose to her feet in disbelief she had killed a Firedrake, her head was awash with white noise while her stomach reeled as she began her slow come down from the injection.

She looked upon the wreckage of the monsters body just a few dozen yards away, it put her in mind of an oversized Christmas ornament fallen from the tree. Its long neck was bent backwards, Guardian could see one of its eyes was dripping with yellow blood while a slowly dwindling stream of black smoke came from its nostrils. More of blood came from its still open mouth and pointy ears. Before she could look further on she was suddenly engulfed in a hug by Felix. She bore it and actually smiled.

“You did it, Guardian!” he said putting up his hand for a high five.

“We did it.” she said giving him a high five.

“I told you we could, I still can’t believe how easy it was to fire that rocket launcher.” he said.

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They looked on at the dead dragon, even Pretzel looked at it with narrow eyes. From the body there was a sudden loud boom as if an explosion was being muffled by the great beast then there followed a sound like air escaping a balloon.

“Is it farting?” Felix asked.

“Yes.”

Felix turned to look away while covering his face and nose from the odor. There were a few people running around tossing buckets of water on the various trees still burning and barn, next to the miraculously unharmed farm house stood an older man waving at them, behind him was three or four younger men walking towards them shouting excitedly.

“Come on and help me with the rocket launcher and ammo before they get here.” said Guardian.

Felix didn’t check out of the boarding house and they made straight for the back roads and hidden walking paths again. Guardian allowed him to carry the duffle bag until they made an early camp that night.

“Here you are, Guardian.” said Felix holding a small sack filled with gold coins.

“What’s this?”

“That is for the dragon and for the escort, I’ve decided I am going to stay around here.”

“OK. You remember The Order and their views on wizards don’t you?” she said not taking the sack.

“Yes, but there were people back in my home world who felt that way too. I don’t think I’ll ever escape that kind of thing.” Felix said still trying to give her the sack.

“You’re right, you won’t escape that. And I don’t want your money, just remember though you still owe me one.” said Guardian.

“I’ll honor that debt, Guardian.” said Felix.

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They were silent for a moment before Guardian spoke.

“Why were you glowing earlier when I got back?”

“Glowing?” he asked confused.

“Yes, your aura was glowing yellow and rolling off you in waves. I didn’t try and see it, you were shining like a light bulb.”

“Oh well I saw Lisa on the road while I was waiting for you. She kissed me.”

Felix looked so red in the face that Guardian laughed but it was not a mean or spiteful laugh.

“I’m happy for you, Felix. I mean that, I don’t need to see your aura to know you’re a good guy.” she said.

Since Felix no longer needed Guardian’s services, they repacked their items and went back south to the road near the tavern where their journey had begun before going their separate ways. The sky was turning pink as the sun set, in the distance was the sound of music and laughter. The death of the dragon had put everyone in a festive mood, there was even the occasional fire work shooting into the sky.

The sight of the sky turning to night was lovely as stars began to wink into the sky. All around them the crickets began to chirp. Felix couldn’t wait to enjoy a sight like this with Lisa some evening.

“You going to camp outside?” asked Guardian.

“No I think I’ll return to the boarding house one more night and look for something to call my own, maybe Jack The Dragon Puncher has land for sale. What about you?”

“I’m gonna keep low for a while, The Marshal’s are probably still looking for me and they’ll be running thick around here until they get rid of the dragon’s body, and I’m not much for spending the night at a speakeasy.”

“Will you be OK?”

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“Of course, I’ve spent years dodging them.” she said with a smirk.

“Well Guardian, I know I am not your friend, but I will always consider you an ally. Thank you.”

He reached out and they shook hands. She nodded as Felix walked away heading for the road back to the boarding house. As he stepped from the edge of the road she called out to him.

“Felix.”

He turned back and was shocked to see Guardian had lifted her mask revealing her face. What also shocked him was how young she was, she looked to be close to his age. The way she walked, talked, fought and held herself Felix had guessed she was much older, closer to his mother’s age. Her mocha colored face had the look of a young adult, though her eyes had a steely glint to them.

“My friends call me, Rosa.” she said.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Rosa.” Felix said giving a slight bow.

She lowered her mask and walked off into the forest in the direction of the setting sun. Felix wondered how powerful Guardian, or Rosa, was if she could travel worlds so easily. A question for another day perhaps.

He stood on the road looking down towards the boarding house, beside him sat Pretzel who was licking his paw contentedly. He stopped when Felix began to scratch behind his ear.

“You ready?”

Pretzel meowed at him as if to say follow me and began walking. Felix laughed and with his staff alight he followed.

“Lead the way you foolish cat.”