Chapter 9
"What’s wrong with him?" Dechaun asked as they entered the Badger dorm and put Colin on his bed. Jamie immediately bent over him and began to cast a spell that would ascertain his condition.
"He wore himself out."
"It’s nearly dinner time." Dechaun said and
"I’ll take them." Carl said softly from the doorway and
We need Richie. Jamie said mentally. Whatever drug is in him, I don’t know enough to counter it without risking harming him.
I’ll get the satellite phone.
I need to take my campers to dinner too. Jamie said next.
Go.
Once I get them to the dining hall, I’ll go back out and set up a stronger shield over the entire camp. Jamie sent. I don’t think they’ll attack around the campers but it’s better to be safe.
"Yes."
"Could they be jamming the satellite?"
"If they’re government, they probably could do that."
"I’ll try that."
Jamie’s shield going up over the camp was a relief. At least he was at nearly full power despite the magic he’d flung around earlier.
"The landline has been dead all afternoon according to the staffer in the main building."
"Jamie can take care of their interest in Colin’s condition."
"What are they going to do?"
"They’ll have to punch through Jamie’s shield to get through."
"They’re going to tuck tail and run."
"I’d feel much safer in Clairville with a bunch of dwarves around me."
"Okay, I’ll go get the food."
Had he been wrong to not immediately spread the word of the government mages? If they were sending real soldiers against him, to capture or kill mages, that was a threat to all mages everywhere. This was exactly why the Great Secret had been kept all these years, and it gave him some real doubts about the plans of King Odras and his dwarves.
Then again, if mages were known about, it would be hard for the government to secretly kidnap them.
When
All those factors meant he would expend far less energy in contacting them than he would trying to reach anyone else. Despite
"What are we going to do?"
"I’m going to call for help."
"Fuck." He muttered as he felt it rebound against something just outside the boundary of the protective shield Jamie had woven at the camp.
"What was that?"
"You still think they’re going to slink off with their tails between their legs?"
"Shit."
"They can’t get in here, at least."
"Okay."
He had to wonder if the Light had planned this, but he knew better than that. The Light had some intelligence, given it by the expectations of mages over centuries, but it was not an omnipotent being. It was rather a manifestation of magic and when it had required him to go to this camp as payment for its help it could not have known this would happen here.
They could not just hop on their motorcycles and ride away this time. For one thing, their motorcycles were not here. Nor were the buses available that had delivered the campers. They would return on the day the campers were to leave, as would
There was the van and two vehicles used by the camp staff. It would be a minor spell to get the camp staff to loan them the use of the vehicles, and they could run in one of them. If the soldiers attacked them though,
So running was not an option.
There were over 250 innocents here in this campground, and while a Dark mage wouldn’t be concerned about them,
Unless he and the others fled the camp, though, they were definitely caught in any potential crossfire. Bullets had been bouncing off his shield earlier today. What if that had been in the middle of the camp with kids everywhere? The thought of Dechaun or any of his Badgers being wounded by ricocheting bullets was enough to make him sick to his stomach.
While he waited, he decided Colin didn’t need to be lying there in the nude. He’d never really looked at Colin while the guy was asleep, and his eyes scanned over Colin’s body. Colin wasn’t exactly skinny, but neither was he built-up. Soft, his cock was about average, uncircumcised, and nestled in a small bush of carrot-colored hair. He even had a cute little outie belly button that
"I know I’m cute, but you don’t have to stare at me like that." Colin’s voice startled him, and it was slightly slurred, but
"You’re awake."
"Yeah, but I got a massive headache." Colin murmured as he shifted on the bed and lifted one hand to his head. "What happened?"
"What’s the last thing you remember?"
"I was fucking that girl, the Manzanita counselor." Colin murmured. "That was different alright."
"How’d you like it?"
"Not bad, but I’d rather fuck Briggs again." Colin murmured. "Right now, I don’t feel like fucking anything though. What the hell happened?"
"You were abducted."
"By who?" Colin asked with a frown. "Is that why my head hurts and I feel all fuzzy?"
"You were shot with a tranquilizer dart of some kind."
"Thanks, that feels better." Colin murmured. "It’s not quite so bad now. So, obviously they didn’t succeed. Who was after me?"
"The government."
"Thanks for saving me, again." Colin said with a slight chuckle.
"Be sure to thank Jamie too."
"Great." Colin frowned. "So, what happens now? Are they still out there?"
"We assume so."
We’ve got big trouble. Jamie’s voice came into his head and was filled with overtones of concern.
Colin’s awake.
"What’s Jamie saying?" Colin asked. "I can hear he’s talking to you but not what he’s saying."
That’s good news, I think. Jamie replied.
"There’s trouble of some kind."
There are some vehicles at the main gate. Jamie replied. They just pulled up a few minutes ago, and Hall went out to meet them. He came back in, told all the counselors to take the kids back to the dorms and then said we have to go get you and Colin to meet the men at the gates. He won’t say anything more than that, and there are too many people watching to just spell him.
"Hey boss man, carrot’s awake huh?" Dechaune asked as he led the campers from their dorm into the room. Colin had just managed to pull his shorts on and was sitting back down after being slightly dizzy. "Something’s weird going on outside. There’s like all these military Hummers at the gate, and Mr. Hall told us all to go back to our dorms. You know what’s going on, boss man?"
"Dechaun, I want you to listen to me very carefully."
"What’s going on?" Dechaun said with a worried look on his face. "You in some kind of trouble?"
"Remember me telling you that having money can be as bad as having no money?"
"I still don’t believe it." Dechaun snorted.
"For now, let’s just say I managed to collect some powerful enemies and I’m not even out of high school yet."
"For you, yeah." Dechaun nodded and went into the main part of the dorm, shouting at his fellow campers they were all going to shower early. The last of them had just left the room with their shower kits when Mr. Hall stormed into the room with Carl, Brandon, and Jamie in tow.
"You both need to come with me." Mr. Hall said woodenly, not noticing how
"What the hell is going on here?" The man demanded angrily with eyes widening in surprise. "What the hell was that?"
"You didn’t wipe his memory?" Jamie asked with surprise.
"What the hell did you do?" Hall shouted, backing up a few steps. "What the hell are you?"
We are mages, magic is real, and you only wish you were dreaming.
"I don’t believe this." Hall said, but his mind showed he was slowly processing what was happening. "Those agents at the gate, they did something, made me do what I did? How?"
"If I knew this was going to happen, we’d have never come here or risked getting the campers involved in anything."
"That’s not right." Hall said with a frown. "I mean, it doesn’t matter what you are, the government doesn’t have a right to just kidnap you. You can’t go out there. I mean, I don’t know what we can do to stop them coming in here and just taking you, but it’s not right for them to be able to do that."
"Oh, we can stop them from coming into the camp area." Jamie said firmly.
"That won’t be a problem."
"I’m sorry, you can’t do anything that would hurt the campers." Hall said with a frown as he struggled to examine the situation. "I don’t like the government trying to take good kids, and you boys are all good kids, but I won’t see us put the campers in danger either."
"That’s why getting everyone into the dorms and keeping them there is a good idea."
"I can do that." Hall said and he gave them a sharp look. "What are you going to do?"
"We’re going to ask them what they want."
"I see." Hall said. "Uh, why are you telling me all this? You could just do what they did, right? Make me do what you want me to do?"
"We could, but you’ll be better able to keep the campers and everyone else safe if you know exactly what is going on and why you’re doing this."
"If I had any doubts about you boys, that would take care of them." Hall said with a nod of his head. "You at least ask, and care about people’s free wills. Those government goons just make you hop when they say so. I’ll get everyone in here and we’ll do some sing-along or something like that. You be safe, though, and let me know when it’s all clear."
"We will."
"Is that wise?" Jamie asked.
"After this is over, we’ll wipe his memories."
"What’s so funny?" Carl asked him.
"Think about it." Colin smirked. "He’s thinking we’re the good guys because we told him what’s up and let him choose, but
"I was pretty sure he’d help."
"So?" Carl asked turning back to Colin.
"Don’t you get it?" Colin’s voice was just a bit snide, and he got a warning look from
"See what?" Carl asked.
"
"But we are the good guys, right?" Carl asked with a worried frown. "I mean, we’re not the bad guys right? We haven’t done anything wrong."
"It all depends on your point of view." Jamie said with a shake of his head. "Unfortunately, Carl, right now is not the time to be having this discussion."
"No, it’s not."
"Uh, I wasn’t…" Dechaun started to protest, backing away.
"Oh get your butt in here."
"Taking showers." Dechaun said proudly. "I didn’t hear anything, I swear."
"Do you think you can lie to me after what you heard?"
"No." The boy said in a dejected tone as he looked at the ground. "Whatcha goin’ to do to me?"
"I’m going to put you to work."
"What’s that?" Dechaun asked.
"First off you’re going to keep on eye on Mr. Hall."
"I can do that." Dechaun nodded enthusiastically.
"Good."
"I heard it all." Dechaun admitted.
"Good."
"I’m not a snitch." Dechaun said defensively.
"No, you’re my lookout while I show a few government goons that they can’t fuck with me."
"Okay then." Dechaun said.
"Good, and you’ll be making money doing this, too."
"You don’t have to pay me, boss man." Dechaun said softly.
"If I’m your boss, I have to pay you, Dechaun."
"It’s your money." Dechaun shrugged, but he was grinning.
"Good, now get to work and keep an eye on Mr. Hall."
"You going to wipe him too when it’s all done?" Jamie asked with a smirk.
"No, he is a good kid."
"So what are you planning?" Jamie asked. "Have you fully recovered from earlier?"
"No."
"You’ve got more training for shit like this." Jamie countered. "I’ll defer to you unless I think you’re making a big mistake."
"Okay."
"I’m still kind of out of it." Colin admitted. "I won’t be much use to you if it comes to a fight."
"You stay behind us, and if things go bad, put up the strongest shield you can around us."
"I can do that." Colin nodded and proceeded to finish getting dressed. When he was ready, they all nodded at each other and walked out of the dorm. Mr. Hall had people gathering in the common room already and nodded at them briefly. It looked like all the adults and counselors were there, and the kids that weren’t were in their dorms or the showers like the Badgers. That was fine as far as
As soon as they left the dorm building, a spotlight hit them, dazzling all of them with its brightness. Colin, Jamie, and
As the spots of purple faded from his vision, and his eyes adjusted again to the relative darkness of the night,
"They’re just kids." One of the dark-suits said as they reached the main gate, stopping just inside the protective ward Jamie had set up earlier. "I thought you said they were dangerous terrorists."
"They managed to fight off several of my best men earlier today." A soldier who appeared to be an officer said.
"They’re not even armed." The same dark-suit complained.
"They just shot out the light, didn’t they?" The not-soldier in camouflage said. Yes, he was the mage. "Now they’re here, do what you’re here to do."
"I am Special Agent Richard Darlin of the F.B.I." The dark-suit who had not spoken until now said gruffly. "We are here to serve arrest warrants that have been issued for Worthington Michael Sinclair the Fifth, Jameson Bradwell, and any others who might be in their presence."
"I am
"You will have to step outside the gate." Agent Darling frowned.
"If you have a warrant, why don’t you step inside?"
"Stop playing your tricks, Sinclair." The mage in camouflage spat out. "We have enough firepower here to level this camp. Your game is up, and you will surrender. I don’t know how you beat the scrambler, but we’ll find that out and everything we want to know by the time we’re done with you."
"What are you talking about?" The agent still on his feet demanded.
"What are the charges we are facing?"
"Assaulting federal officers to start with." The mage sneered. "Interfering with an ongoing investigation is another charge. Oh, and let’s see, interfering with official business earlier today, assaulting U.S. Army soldiers, and there’s the twelve cases of murder for the soldiers you killed a few weeks ago."
"So it was you who tried to kill me, having a sniper shoot at me while I was on a motorcycle."
"What’s he talking about?" The officer-soldier demanded. "You said he just attacked those troops for no reason."
"Who are you going to believe, this kid or me?" The mage asked. As he spoke,
"Be nice and let the man think for himself."
"What the hell is that?" The soldier demanded, as he looked at the whip of power still in
"It’s magic, the same stuff I threw at your soldiers earlier today when they tried to kidnap one of my people."
"Your people?" The mage scoffed. "You mean the government’s people. We found an untrained mage and was taking him in for training. It’s the law."
"What law?"
"What are you talking about?" The soldier demanded.
"Tsk, tsk, you employ soldiers and agents without them knowing the truth?"
"They know." The mage said and this time his magical move was too quick for
"I do know." The officer said in a tight voice. "Executive Order 09-3250A states that any mage who is not registered and licensed by the government shall surrender to government authority and be restrained until they have been judged to be harmless or law-abiding. You are hereby informed that you have been judged to be dangerous and will surrender to lawful authority or be dealt with summarily."
"I see."
"It is classified." The officer said. "You will submit to the authority of the government before you endanger any more innocent lives."
"No."
"Boy, where you’re going there’s no quibbling about what can and cannot be done under the law." The mage snorted.
"Thank you for taking a great weight off of my mind."
That was good, such as it was. At least it gave him time.
"Now what?" Jamie asked.
"Now we keep this place well shielded, and we wait."
"What do we wait for?" Carl asked in a scared voice.
"The cavalry."
This story brought to you by a lot of hard editing from Emoe, and
beta-reading by Trebs.
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