Forced Magic (31 page)

One of the dragons, still on Johnathen's side, had attacked.
Before it could move in for the kill, a shining blade, thrown by Pete, landed
between the eyes of the attacking beast. I kept running toward Johnathen. When
I reached the shield, I dove through it. It felt like hands as it grabbed at
me, trying to pull me back. I fought my way through the shield, finally
standing before Johnathen. The man I trusted. The wizard who destroyed
everything.

“How could you kill her? She loved and trusted you and you
killed her.”

There was a fury in my words. In spite of the power
Johnathen seemed to have now, he took a step back from me as I spoke. For a
second I saw a look of confusion followed by sorrow. Johnathen shook his head
slowly. Then the light went out of his eyes and the snarling beast that
Johnathen now was returned.

“There is always a sacrifice to be made in any war,
Jack," he said nonchalantly, as if it was nothing to kill someone you were
supposed to love.

I stepped up to him and he took another step back. He was
still afraid of the power that had kept on building up inside me. I remembered
how I had surprised him in the desert. He seemed to remember that too. I took
another step toward him.

He smiled weakly and said, “You can’t win, Jack. You won’t
join me. I know you will continue to refuse, and I will kill you and Fetch.
Just like I killed Michelle.”

His voice wavered a little at this statement.

“Look, he is already dying.”

He pointed behind me. I wanted to turn around and see if he
was telling the truth. But I didn’t dare turn my back on him. He smiled again,
realizing that it wasn’t going to work. It was a standoff. I didn’t dare move
toward him out of fear that he would unleash an attack, and he didn’t attack
for fear of me unloading my unpredictable magic on him. His new power could
affect me and so my previous ace-in-the-hole was gone. The strange field
surrounding us both was keeping all sound out as the fighting continued around
us. Out of the corner of my eye I could see flashes of fire explode in the air
as the dragons continued to battle over our heads. I smiled at Johnathen.

“Looks like you lost control of the dragons, dude. Sucks to
be you.”

“It doesn’t matter now. By the time I am done, I will be
able to destroy them all.”

He looked happy as he said these words, a manic joy in his
eyes. He stood there staring calmly at me. We could be meeting each other for
coffee instead of facing each other in a struggle for life or death. I felt a
strange pulling at my feet. I looked down and saw the smoke that came from his
robe wrapping around my ankles. Before I could move I was transported back to
that nightmare world I had to fight my way out of in the tunnel.

There was my brother, hanging from the rope around his neck.
He had begun to smell bad and one of his eyes had fallen out of his head. I
felt the pain in my hip and my hand had curled up as if the bone had never been
set those many years ago. With the sound of my mother screaming in my head, my
brother spoke to me again.

“Hello loser, back for another tour? “

"You can’t fool me this time, Johnathen. I know it is
you."

“Is it? Are you sure? I mean, for all you know you are still
in that tunnel. Or you could be in a mental hospital awaiting shock
treatments.”

Black blood was pouring out of his mouth with every word he
spoke. My hip throbbed and for one second the thought that none of this was
real came into my mind. My nightmare brother reached out to grab my arm again.
This time I was ready.

“You always were a disappointment, Jack, always a complete
loser."

The rope broke and my brother landed on his feet. His head
rolled around with no support as he began to walk toward me. I could smell his
breath as he moved in close. I was unable to move. He reached out to grab my
face. That’s when I forced the magic out of me.

It had been building up inside of me all this time. Even
through the haze of pain and sorrow of this vision controlled by Johnathen, I
could feel it pulsating to be released. I took a chance in believing that this
moment, during the vision of my brother, was the right time to release it. It
ripped out of my body causing real pain. I was shaken out of the dream as the full
force of the spell, fueled by my own doubts and fears, my anger and sorrow,
went through Johnathen like a blade.

He gasped in pain and his barrier fell apart. The sound of
the battle raging around was overwhelming.  I fell to the ground completely
exhausted. Pain throbbed in my whole body from head to toe. A blast of green
fire hit me from a passing dragon and I lay there unable to move. I could do
nothing but stare at the sky. I was not happy with the fact that I couldn’t see
Johnathen anywhere. If my blast of magic hadn’t stopped him, then I was a
sitting duck.

Fetch appeared above me. He blasted me with his healing fire
and the green flame was wiped away. I lay there, still throbbing in pain, when
a strange numbness started creeping up the right side of my body. It started at
my hand and quickly spread down to my leg and up the side of my face. I thought
I was having a stroke. The vision in right eye went black and my ear was
buzzing. I still was unable to move. Fetch stood over me, protecting me from the
battle that seemed to rage on. I was just beginning to believe we were going to
die, when a blue ball appeared above me. It got bigger and slowly started to
sink down. I tried to warn Fetch but he was too busy fighting off a group of
goblins trying to spit on me. The ball engulfed me and Fetch, growing brighter.
My last thought was about Samantha. I hoped that Fetch's healing flame had been
enough to save her. And then, I passed out.

I woke up with a start. I sat up too fast and a pain shot
through my body. I was no longer numb on my right side, which I took as a good
sign. I let my eyes adjust and noticed some familiar graffiti. I was back in
the tunnel. Back where it all started. I lay there and my body slowly drained
of pain. I had no idea how I got back to the tunnel. A thought crossed my mind.
What if this had all been a dream? What if I had fallen into this wash and
crawled into this tunnel with some sort of concussion and imagined it all?

The sound of a match being struck shook me from my thoughts.
In the light of the match I could see Booger's face. He was lighting a cigar.

“Hiya boss.”

He took a big hit off the cigar and blew smoke in my face.
It smelled terrible.

I backed myself against the wall of the tunnel ready for
another fight. I felt the magic building in me along with a tingling sensation
down the right side of my body.

“Whoa boss, wait, I’m on your side now. If I wanted you
dead, I wouldn’t have pulled you out of that fight. At the least I would have
already killed you."

In a strange way, that made sense, but, I was nowhere near
trusting this guy. Remembering the ball engulfing me and Fetch, I looked around
to find him.

"Where is Fetch?" I asked.

Letting the magic simmer in my body, I moved my hand and
felt a strange sensation.

I raised it up to my head and felt a bandage across my face.

"Been hurt, boss,” explained Booger, "Face and
your arm. Heck pretty much your whole right side.”

I didn’t care about me. I needed to know if I was the only
one to survive.

“Where is Fetch, Booger?" I repeated.

In answer to my question I heard a strange gagging sound. I
looked over and saw Fetch. He was facing away from me. He sounded sick. I got up
and went over to see if he was ok. When I got to him and touched him he moved
away from me. He kept his head down. I was relieved he was ok, but puzzled at
why he moved away from me.

“Hey. You mad at me?“

Fetch looked back at me with a strange look of guilt on his
face. He coughed and blood came out of his mouth. I rushed over to him. He was
not doing so well after all.

"What happened?"

My throat was dry and sore and it hurt to talk.

“The battle was going badly. You just lay there as Fetch was
fighting to protect you. Whatever you did to Johnathen really knocked the wind
out of his sails. The goblins got smart, and, except for the twenty or so that
was trying to get you, they took off. The dragons split. Some stayed with
Johnathen, others sided with Smith and the others just flew off, not wanting to
get involved. Johnathen was in a rage. He was trying to stand up, and I knew if
he saw you laying there hurt the way you were, he would kill you, so I got a
bubble going and got you and Fetch out of there.”

"What about the others?" I asked as I tried to
check and see how bad Fetch was hurt.

He hung his head down, not wanting to look at me.

“Don’t know,” said Booger lighting a second cigar,
"That elf got Samantha out of there and the other fey were still fighting.
Smith told me to get you to his place, but instead, we ended up here. Funny
thing, huh? This is it though isn’t it? The place where it all started?”

I was confused. Why was Booger helping me? How did he know
Smith? Once again this strange world I lived in was twisting in a way I didn’t
understand.

“Why are you helping us?” I asked.

Booger just puffed on his cigar for a while.

”Got my reasons," he said.

He didn’t say anything else about it. I turned back to Fetch
too tired to question it now.

"Been here a while now, boss. Fetch was blasting you
with that fire of his over and over again. I finally convinced him to stop.
Wrapped your arm and head myself. You're a little messed up right now."

I ignored this last comment. I wasn't concerned about myself
right now. Fetch looked bad and I needed to find a way to help him. I
remembered that Smith had told me about a group of fairy healers.

“Booger, can you get us to the fairy healers?"

“Don’t think so. Been trying to teleport you guys out of
here and haven’t been able to. I think your magic makes mine not work too good.
Besides, I doubt I would be accepted by the fey, boss. They don’t like goblins
much.”

I stood there scratching Fetch's head as best I could with
my bandaged hand. I wondered what kind of damage it had suffered. I wasn’t
feeling any pain from it right now, so I didn’t think I was burned. It just
tingled. I figured it just took longer to heal this time because Fetch was
obviously hurt. I figured that if I could get Fetch some help, he would be able
to help me. I was trying to stay positive. The thought of losing Fetch was too
much, especially after losing Michelle. I had to get some help.

As I stood there, I saw a familiar sight that filled me with
dread. A bobcat was sitting at the mouth of the tunnel staring at us. Fetch
spotted him and sent a small burst of flame in his direction. We had been
discovered which meant that Johnathen, if he was able, was on his way. Sure
enough, blue lights were beginning to glow all around the tunnel.

“Go boss," said Booger, shooting a strange green dart
at one bubble that had a green hand reaching through feeling around for us.

”I'll hold them off. Just get on Fetch. Fly northwest out of
town into the desert. When you get to the desert, the fairy healers will find
you."

I wanted to say something to him. It was very confusing to
me that he was helping.

”Thanks," I said.

He sent another bolt at another ball saying, “Don’t thank me
yet. Get going."

I looked at Fetch and asked, “Can you fly pal?”

He straightened up and shook out his wings. The proud
fierceness in his eyes told me he could. I hoped we wouldn’t half to fly too
long. I didn’t want to hurt him any more than he already was hurt. I jumped on
his back and we took off into the night air.

I could hear the squeals as more goblins poured into the
tunnel. I found myself hoping that Booger was going to be ok. It was hard for
me to believe that he was a friend now. Well, if not a friend, at least he was
on our side for now.

Just being in the sky seemed to make Fetch feel better. He
shot a stream of purple fire into the air. It flew back at me and flowed around
us. My hand went up and touched the bandage on my face. I wondered how bad it
was. I wasn’t feeling any pain in my face or my hand. I decided to take a chance
and see the damage for myself. I reached up and began to unwrap my head. Fetch
looked back at me with concern on his face.

“Relax," I told him, “it can’t be that bad. Your fire
has never failed to heal me yet."

He turned back around and continued to fly. Every once in a
while he would glance back as I continued to unwrap the bandage. When it was
completely removed, I just sat there letting the wind touch my face. It felt
great.

All of a sudden Fetch stiffened. His head began to move from
left to right, then up and down. He smelled something in the air and was very
excited about it. With a roar of joy he began to dive down. I almost fell off
his back as he flew to the right going more north than west now.

“Easy, you stupid lizard," I said as Fetch dipped toward
a building.

I recognized it as a hospital. Fetch was flying right for it
and he was not bothering to cloak himself. He landed at the front entrance
sending people screaming and running. I started to get down, aware that the
police could show up any minute. In fact, they might already be inside. After
all, it was a hospital and there were usually police inside a hospital. Before
I could get completely off of Fetch, he had bounded toward the doors and
knocked me backwards. Healed or not, I was still a little weak and it took me a
second to get up. I ran in calling for Fetch. There were people crouching on
the ground, their hands over their heads. A small boy was standing on a chair,
bouncing up and down, pointing at the doors leading out of the room.

“Dragon, Mommy, dragon!" he was saying over and over,
very excitedly.

I ran in the direction he was pointing, startling people as
I ran past. Some were hidden under chairs they were starting to peek out from
under. Some screamed as I ran past them. Surprisingly, Fetch caused no damage
as he ran through the hospital. I was unable to catch up to him, just catching
a glimpse of his black and silver tail as he would turn a corner.  Listening
for the sound of screams, I finally caught up to him as he was pushing at a
closed door to a room.

I ran up shouting, "Fetch, you stupid lizard! What are
you doing?"

The door slammed open and he ran inside. I ran into the room
unprepared for what I was seeing. It was Michelle. She was alive!