Deadly Wands (20 page)

Richard held up the wands that he gave his
daughter for her eighteenth birthday. It seemed so long ago. “It is
I who am sorry for the suffering that I caused her.”

“Oh, she was pretty happy. Mom recorded a
message for you.” Billy played it, then played it again because
grandpa couldn’t possibly see it through all those tears.

“She was born to rule England.”

“She didn’t want to rule England. Instead,
Mama wanted you to rule England. And grandpa,” Billy said with a
menacing tone that contrasted sharply with his baby face, “as king,
I expect you to make my mother proud.”

Richard looked slack-jawed at the twelve year
old. He could not believe what his eyes plainly told him: the boy
meant it.

“Can the Baron really flame his boot wands?”
the king asked.

To answer, Billy popped in the air and blew
fire from all four wands. Richard clutched his heart and Billy
wondered if he killed his closest relative.

“I’ve seen all your videos!”

Billy laughed. “Not all of them. I have a
longer version of the time I smashed the Khan’s groin.” That made
grandpa sad. “Now what’s wrong?”

The big guy held out Elizabeth’s sticks.
“Genghis Khan himself gave this set to his grandson, my
grandfather, when he first torched a wand at age six. Like you, he
could use boot wands to blast, which was a death sentence if
Genghis found out. Queen Maude married him because she desperately
needed quad descendents, and grandpa was more powerful than any
Englishman then alive. He married the queen for protection, in case
Genghis ever heard rumors of his ability.

“He was three-quarters Romanian nobility and
not even the queen knew he was the Khan’s grandson. I loved the guy
-- they say I look just like him -- but I didn’t believe him until
he blew fire from all four wands. He only showed me to explain what
happened to my brother.”

Richard sighed. “I’m not the oldest. My
brother Henry also had your ability, but not your discretion. He
encouraged the rumors until one of his many Irish lovers recorded
him showing off. She sold it for a fortune and Henry soon died in a
mysterious accident. This not only made mother hate the Irish, but
scared her into making me breed as much as possible. Grandfather
drank himself to death, hating his grandfather with his dying
breath. And passing that hatred down to me.”

“So that’s why you gave mom these wands!”

“It seemed fitting. Are you really gonna make
me king?”

“If you don’t piss yourself when I present
you to the troops in the courtyard. They took the news of your
kingship like gold. Can you walk?”

Grandpa tested his grandfather’s sticks. “Get
me out of here and I can fly.”

In the courtyard, the men seemed more
concerned about staying in formation than in preventing Richard's
escape. Billy sent a loud blast into the sky to announce the king’s
presence. Terrified, they sprung to attention and Richard had never
felt more flattered.

"Queen Margaret and Prince John are dead.
Richard is your new king. Kneel and swear your oath of allegiance
to him."

Richard’s men did so eagerly.

"Send help when you can," Billy told his
grandfather, flying off before waiting for an answer.

CHAPTER 22

Billy had never been to the Matriarch’s home,
so it took him a while to find it. Dogs barked furiously as he
landed in the front yard. A tall girl emerged from the granger
armed with two wands, clearly willing to use force to defend her
home.

“Emily?” he asked, a smile lighting up his
face. It felt so wonderful to see her again. Last he heard, she was
dueling constantly.

“Billy!”

The way he ran to her with so much joy almost
made her forget her badly burned face. If he noticed it, he did not
show it. He lifted her in his arms and twirled her around, laughing
like he had forgotten how.

“It’s so damn good to see you,” he said, nose
to nose, after finally putting her down. The way he held her close
delighted her. No man had ever held her close before. He certainly
had grown up. Literally, he was almost taller than her.

“Why are you here, Billy?”

“Prince John had my father murdered, so I
killed him and the queen, then freed Richard so he could become
king. Now I’m gonna kill John’s family at Edinburgh since they’ll
oppose his succession. Well, mostly because I’m pissed, but also to
protect grandpa.”

Emily stared blankly at him, not believing
what he said, but not doubting that it was true.

“Can I come with you?” she asked as if he was
off to the store.

His face lit up. “You’d risk your life for
me? Again?”

“Of course. I have nothing to lose. I’m
surprised I haven’t died dueling in Europe.”

Billy didn’t like how she said that. “What do
you mean? A young, beautiful, powerful quad like you has everything
to live for.”

Emily smiled down at him. “Guys don’t court
stronger quads. Much less ones whose faces have been burned
off.”

“But you’re gorgeous! You’ve always been
gorgeous.”

Wow! Emily drank that compliment, and the
worm that came with it. “Men look at me like a freak, not as a
woman.”

Billy blinked to clear his eyes. “I can’t see
you as a freak. Freaky, hopefully, but not a freak.”

Emily almost pitied him. She leaned forward
and turned so he could not miss her burned face. “Scars make men
look better and women look worse. Men with scars look like heroes
while women with scars look like victims.”

“But that’s nothing!” he insisted. “It didn’t
even ruin your eye, nose, or mouth, and your other cheek is good as
new. Ha! You call that a scar? Behold!”

Billy took off his shirt and turned around so
Emily could see literally thousands of scars from cuts, burns, and
bruises. Layers of impacts made him look like the surface of the
moon. It was much worse since the last time she saw him.

“How did you survive so many wounds?” she
asked.

Billy laughed, held up his left palm, and cut
it open. Blood flowed out for just a few heartbeats before the skin
began stitching itself together again. He closed his eyes to hurry
it along, his left hand wand practically glowing. By the time his
eyes opened, the cut looked like just another fresh scar.

“No wonder you don’t fear battle.”

“Apparently I heal several times faster than
most quads. I paid librarians to research it, but they couldn’t
find anyone with my recuperative ability. Even my flame length does
not explain it. Dad think it’s because I owned the world’s most
powerful wands while so young. Growing up sucking so much juice
affected my development.”

"You must juice every day.”

Billy could not make eye contact. The hands
tracing his scars felt too good.

"I’m never off the juice. Before I duel all
day, I’ll suck an entire wand dry. Before battle, I’d share a wand
with my parents, then we’d heal our burns afterwards by sucking dry
another wand. I always pick my weakest captured wand, but I never
have wands that are really weak. Transferring ownership keeps the
demons away, but nothing compares to fresh juice. Each wand tastes
different. Some are even too bitter to drink, while others feel
like a hot saltwater bath. I know I wouldn’t have to drink so much
juice if my body didn’t need to heal so frequently, but I can’t
stop now.”

"Your body cannot take this punishment
forever," she pointed out.

"Yeah." He already reached that conclusion.
"So many great wands transfer their power to me that I simply have
too much energy to keep still. I need to duel or fly just to burn
off that excess energy. It's like I over-heat.”

Although his expression didn’t change,
something flashed across his eyes. “What are you afraid to say,
Billy?”

He sighed deeply like an old man who has to
get out of bed again to pee. “Nobody has ever had a wand addiction
half as powerful as mine, yet super-quads die when they stop
juicing. So I must kill or die. But what happens when there’s no
one left to kill?

“The irony is that I honestly believe I can
win this war, but winning means my death because I cannot survive
without dueling. Peace will be the death of me. Everyone else is
afraid of losing; I’m afraid of winning. Sure, I may be able to
reduce the dependency by flying a thousand clicks daily and
blasting craters in bedrock, but otherwise I’ll suffer withdrawal
symptoms so severe I’ll convulse for weeks. I’ll be like a big
newborn, unable to eat food or control my bowels. So if the war
doesn’t kill me, the peace will.

Emily shook her head sadly. “Well, that
explains the risks you take.”

Billy laughed harshly. “I cannot even risk
myself too much because my parents commanded me to reproduce first.
As soon as my dad noticed me looking at girls a few months ago, he
took me to a porn shop and bought everything they had. I’ve never
felt so uncomfortable in my life. I sucked those wands dry without
looking at any of them. He practically begged me to lose my
virginity. Almost as if he knew his time was near.”

“I’d rather die than grow old as a virgin,”
Emily said.

That blew Billy away. “How can you still be a
virgin? With that face and body?

Emily swooned. “It’d be a shame if we died
virgins.”

“Wouldn’t it, though? Two powerful prodigies
like ourselves should beget an even more powerful quad before we
go. I’ll have failed my father if I let our line go extinct.”

Emily couldn’t believe their conversation.
“You should reproduce with the first quad you see, or else fear of
failing will warp your tactical sense.”

“Exactly!”

Now, neither knew what to say, so they
started laughing.

“I guess it’s premature to talk of children
when no man has even kissed me.”

“Me neither!” Billy said with a smile. “We
should get that off the table right away.”

Emily’s smile kept growing. “Absolutely.”

“I’m gonna kiss you just as soon as I stop
smiling,” Billy promised.

“Nervous?”

“Yes, damn it!”

They laughed comfortably together.

They kept looking into each other’s eyes so
much that Emily wondered if he’d ever kiss her. Finally, his face
closed the distance and their lips met. Lightly they brushed, at
first, since neither had ever done this before. Then she pressed
back, her urgency releasing her. They locked lips and he felt her
hands explore his body. When she slipped her tongue in his mouth,
he accidentally shot up in the air, which conveniently put his
erection right in front of her face.

“I swear I didn’t mean to do that!”

She laughed and pulled him down to her.
They’d have plenty of time later to try things in the air.

The Matriarch prepared tea in her home when
one of her many great-grandchildren came in.

"A shirtless boy is kissing Emily outside,
grandma."

Lost in thought, she worried about Prince
Richard, the father of her ten children. Jailed without charges,
everyone assumed he’d never leave his cell alive. The child waited,
then kicked grandma in the shin.

“Emily is kissing a half-naked boy outside.
Just thought you should know.”

The child ran before grandma recovered her
wits, then flew outside with wands drawn.

"Billy?"

He stopped kissing long enough to say, "oh hi
Susan," as if everything was normal.

"What are you doing here, Billy? Besides
kissing Emily.”

He matter-of-factly told the deaths of his
father, John, and the queen. He sounded so old.

"The queen is dead? We have to help Richard
escape!"

"Oh, I freed him. I made the few hundred guys
at his castle swear him fealty as their king. Now I’m gonna kill
John’s family at Edinburgh.”

The Matriarch shocked the boy by hugging him
for saving the man she loved. She hadn’t wept since she failed
Elizabeth.

“I’ve been looking forward to finding the
bastards who ambushed my dad while my mother was giving birth to
me. That attack cost me some little brothers and sisters.”

"Well, you can't fight now, Billy. You're
exhausted. We have plenty of empty beds here. I'll go pass the word
for the family to meet you just south of the castle at dawn. Our
male quads are working far away for the bank, but I can probably
find a few dozen women and teenage quads who can help."

"You're gonna find housewives and kids to
attack Castle Edinburgh?" he asked skeptically.

"I'm gonna recruit some of the best damn
quads in the country. Emily, take care of the kids until your aunts
come home. I won't be back tonight because I have a lot of flying
to do."

Susan left without ever suspecting that she
gave them the opportunity to lose their virginity.

CHAPTER 23

They hid in a nearby dear park while an
unusual amount of fliers entered and exited the castle. Instead of
fearing an attack, the fortress looked busy organizing one.

The two dozen quads who came with Susan
seemed surprised she ceded leadership to the new kid. Few had ever
killed anyone, and only Emily seemed eager. The prospect of
attacking several hundred people in a damn castle unnerved most of
them.

Billy made it simple. "I should be able to
slip in with my baby face. Position yourselves as close as possible
to the guards and kill them when you hear the first blasts so that
they can't leave the ramparts to overwhelm me. Then blast the
biggest threats."

No one paid attention to the twelve year old
as he strolled through the open gates. He crossed the courtyard to
where everyone gathered in the Great Hall. He felt naked with his
face uncovered.

The Great Hall justified its name. The
warriors gathered around several tables in the middle. Billy walked
over, taking in the high ceilings and rows of large windows. A few
dozen followers heed Aidian's call and gathered behind him. Someone
big bumped Billy. He turned to look up at a burly guy who
desperately needed a bath. Well, needed a bath more than most
Englishmen.