Soulguard (15 page)

Chapter 33

“It’s all the years he spent being the poor guy at school that did it,” Trent stated as he reached for another roll, “He’s trying to make up for it by destroying everything in the Academy.”

“There’s just no call for that kind of attitude, Colin,” Mattie said, “I hope they don’t have too many things in Knoxville he can break.”

“Hey,” I said, “at least I helped put the targets back after I broke em.”

“True, but Tien said that they’d been there for forty years without any trouble till you came along,” Trent added.

“Did you see the size of that tree behind the Barracks?” Mattie asked innocently, “Colin, have you seen that tree? It’s huge and it’s green, with snow on it.”

The two of them loved to pick on me about anything. Most people avert their eyes when they see me. Mattie and Trent would poke at me for the same things the others were scared of me for.

I hadn’t spoken to Paige since the day under the tree and I still felt the loss. I wasn’t in love with her or anything, but she’d been my closest friend for the last ten months and it hurt when I had scared her away.

“Oh, he’s got that look, again,” Mattie said, “Don’t beat yourself up about it Colin, she made her choice and you’ve got to stop blaming yourself. Those guys deserved everything they got and then some.”

I can always count on Mattie to cut to the chase and she sees things in black and white. There are no greys. They attacked me and failed, they paid the price and now it was over.

Paige saw all kinds of shades of grey, and she’d seen a part of me I’m not proud of that day. But it
is
a part of me and that’s what she can’t deal with. I understand better than most because of the skills I have. I’d seen her memory and felt the emotions. She can also look to the future and see that aligning with me puts her in the crosshairs of the Archmage. And he’s a very big gun.

Mattie would probably slit his throat in his sleep. Black and white. He’s the bad guy. Simple.

“She doesn’t really have a choice, Mattie,” I returned, “The Archmage is here and she’s here for at least another year. She’s already been targeted twice now because she was with me. The smart thing for her to do is stay as far away from me as possible.”

“Doesn’t make it right.”

I couldn’t even argue the point.

“I bet you can’t wait to get to Knoxville so you can eat some real food,” Trent changed the subject. Trent acts like a clown a lot of the time but he is a smart man and he knew that Paige was a touchy subject for me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, “This is great. I eat here every day and I love it.”

“That’s only cause Kyra used battery acid in her food. This is just bulk foods to fill up hungry trainees. You should go to a nice restaurant as soon as you get there, then you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

“This is the only food you’ve had?” Mattie asked incredulously, “This and Kyra’s food?”

“Yep, that’s why I eat here three times a day. If I wasn’t a Guard, I’d be fat as a cow. Morndel’s lunch was this good, too.”

She laughed merrily, “Oh my God.”

***

I stood and looked at the new truck. It was a 2004 Silverado with four doors and Kharl had jacked it up and added the steel on the front and back like my old one. I opened the rear driver door and saw a set of Bose speakers mounted under the seats.

“Didn’t skimp on the stereo system,” I mumbled in appreciation.

I placed my bag in the back seat. Everything I owned fit in a single bag. In the field, we don’t have uniforms, exactly. Mostly we try to blend in with the populous. There are some times when we wear a black uniform of sorts, but they are provided at the outpost.

I’d looked at my check and been astounded. What was I going to do with thirty-five thousand dollars? I guess I could afford to do what Trent said and eat at some restaurants. There is a dormitory at the Knoxville Guard post. It is provided or there is a stipend provided if you want to get something for yourself.

I shut the truck door and heard a cough behind me. I turned to find Paige standing there. I left my Inner eye closed and walked to her.

“I’m sorry, Colin, I’m just not strong enough to be who you deserve. But I want you to know I do care about you and I’ll miss you,” she wrapped her arms around me and I held her for a few minutes.

“I’ll miss you, too. Keep pushing the Mages to learn the new things and I’ll keep in touch. If I come up with some new things I’ll let you know. It’s time for a Mage upgrade, whether they want one or not.”

She nodded as she stepped away and I climbed into my new truck.

“Goodbye, Paige,” I said and started the truck. She waved as I pulled out and headed down the dirt road that led back into the mountains and the Academy from one of the state roads.

It would be a long drive to Tennessee but I’d discovered a new band to break in the new system with, Five Finger Death Punch. With the music pounding in my ears I left the Academy behind.

Section 3

Lord

Chapter 34

              I followed Trent’s advice and the first thing I did when I got to Knoxville was to find a nice restaurant and get a meal. On the way across the country I’d stopped several times at fast food joints. They were awesome. If a regular restaurant was that much better, I knew what my money would probably be spent on.

              I took an exit from I-40 that took me to a road that ran alongside of the interstate. It was called Kingston Pike and there were restaurants all over the place. I decided to try one called Olive Garden. It looked nice and there were a lot of cars in the parking lot.

              Kharl had given me a good bit of cash to last till I got to Tennessee where I could open an account with a local bank with my back pay. I still had three hundred dollars of that money in my pocket.

              As I entered, a pretty girl greeted me, “One in your party?”

              Her eyes strayed to the huge scar that ran down my face. I’d been getting that look since I’d left Montana. It does stand out a bit.

              “Yeah,” I answered.

              Another girl came and led me to a table in the corner, “Someone will be here in a minute.”

              I had gotten a few looks as I followed the girl to the table, but most people didn’t pay attention to me. The few who did averted their eyes when they saw the scar. I wasn’t used to that, everyone at the Academy knew where the scar came from. But it wasn’t a big deal, so I just looked through the menu.

              I had no idea what to try so I asked the waitress when she came to the table and I followed her suggestion of a dinner with steak and chicken cooked on skewers with some potatoes and some kind of squash. She brought breadsticks and a salad out for me to start on and it was awesome.

              That was probably the best thirty dollars I’d ever spent.

              “Come again,” the greeter said as I left.

              “Count on it,” I answered and waved.

              From there, I drove around Knoxville for some time before I found Middlebrook Pike, the road I was looking for. I checked the numbers of the addresses and turned left. Shortly, I came to the one I wanted. It was a two story building off of the road a bit with a lot of cars in the parking lot.

              According to Kharl, most of the Guard post was underground, like at the Academy.

              The name on the building was Spirit Enterprises, and I had to laugh. At least some of the older Mages had to have a sense of humor. It seemed like most of the Mages were too caught up in themselves to have a sense of humor. Gregor, Nora, and Paige were exceptions to the rule. Darrel was better than he was before I got there but he was pretty stuffy.

              Maybe some of the Mages out in the field would be easier to get along with than most of the ones at the Academy. Everyone at the Academy had been running scared of the Archmage.

              I pulled into the parking lot and shut off the truck. The song by Slipknot ended abruptly and my ears were still throbbing. If I wasn’t a Soulguard, I think I would be half deaf by now.

              I stepped out of my truck and walked around to the passenger side to retrieve the envelope from the glove box with my orders. I left my duffel bag in the back until I got settled.

              When I entered the front door a Soulguard who sat behind a desk looked up at me, “Can I help you?”

              “Colin Jaegher, reporting for duty,” I answered, feeling a little off without a uniform on. I’d worn a uniform for the last ten months and regular clothes still felt odd.

              “I’ve also got some orders for the Mage Captain that they sent with me.”

              “We’ve been expecting you,” she said, “The new Guard Captain said you’d be here in the next few days.”

              She was a woman of medium height with brown hair and eyes. She wasn’t beautiful but she was pretty. She stood and extended her hand, “I hear we have you to thank for the new shields, the Captain brought with him.”

              “A few of us put the book together several months ago and I’m glad Rictor brought some. I brought a stack of em with me, just in case.”

              I shook her hand as she said, “I’m Andrea Prada. I got stuck playing receptionist today. Our actual receptionist had an appointment for her kid with a doctor. So let me be the first to say, welcome to Tennessee.”

              I swear, Guards are so much easier to get along with than Mages, “Thanks,” I answered.

              “I’ll call someone to show you to the Mage Captain so you can get the orders settled.”

              “That’d be great.”

              She paged someone named Jacobs and I went to the front windows to look outside. Tennessee is a beautiful state, even in the winter. I had learned to like the whole mountainous look in Montana, and Tennessee had those mountains, except not quite so big. The city was located amidst several ridges and it circled around them. It gave Knoxville an interesting look.

              When Jacobs, a short, stout man with red hair, arrived he looked me over, “You’re the one they say beat the Weapon master with a sword?”

              I nodded, “His brother, Len Yueh, came in later and showed me what a Mageguard can really do though. The man is amazing.”

              For some reason, what I said sparked a sense of approval from the man. Maybe because I admit I’m not the best, I don’t know.

              “Well, follow me,” Jacobs said while giving Prada an evil look.

              She snickered, “I get to be a secretary, you can be a guide.”

              As we walked down a hallway he muttered, “Evil woman, she knew I was in the middle of a poker game.”

Chapter 35

              “Do you know what’s in these orders?” The Mage captain asked as he finished reading them.

              “I know the gist of them, Sir.”

              “You’ve pissed off someone very high up in the Mages, Young Man.”

              Rictor, who had been summoned when I was introduced to Sam Keller, the Mage Captain, snorted.

              Keller looked up at Rictor, “What did I miss?”

              “More like
everyone
high up in the Mages.”

              “Really?” he sat back in his chair and looked a bit closer at me. I saw the instant the realization hit him and I saw a memory flash across his aura, of a man who looked strikingly similar to me.

              He sat up straight, his face pale, “Dear God, are you Kel’s son?”

              All that I had seen of this man’s aura said that he was a good person and I was almost to the point of not caring anymore if everyone knew who I really was.

              “Yes, he was my father,” I answered, “but I was raised by Kharl Jaegher and Kyra Nightwing.”

              “Those are two names I haven’t heard in some time,” he looked at me for a moment and turned his stare to Rictor.

              “So what did he do to piss everyone off?”

              “From what I gathered, it started when they entered Colin in the Academy while the Archmage’s son was considered the top Mage trainee. The arrogant little bastard decided that Colin was the enemy. Then the...”

              As Rictor told the story of my last ten months, I watched Keller’s aura. I watched the full spectrum of emotions flow through the man’s aura by the end of the tale. Somehow Rictor had even heard of the confrontation I had with the Archmage, and it said a great deal about Keller’s character that Rictor told the whole story to the man.

              “I didn’t think it was possible to piss off more people than I have but I stand corrected. You’ve not only done that but done it in less than a year. I’m impressed.”

              He shook his head, “You know the Archmage will try to bury you for what happened to his son. But, he’ll wait a while to do it. He’s a patient, evil son of a bitch but he’s so strong, no one will stand against him.”

              “I know,” I returned, “All I can do is my best. I’ll face what I have to when I have to.”

              “They’ve actually done you a favor, sending the other two Mages with me. They’re arrogant pricks and would be more trouble than they’re worth to keep here anyway. They think you’ll be swamped with running this place but they don’t know about my secret weapon.”

              He smiled broadly, “Recently they blocked a young man from the source and sent him here. He’s a frigging genius when it comes to running the business end of the place and the two Mages they did leave you have been running the Guard base for me for years. You can focus on the Patrol which is what Rictor here says you are well suited for.”

              I felt a great surge of relief when he made these statements because I have no idea how to actually run anything.

              “I’ll let Rictor show you around and you can get settled. Then I’ll introduce you to Warren and the twins. I can postpone leaving for about three days, I’ll try to give you as much information as I can in those three days. You should do fine with the help that’s already in place.”

              “Is that Warren Grimes?”

              “You know him?”

              “They blocked him from the Source the second day I was at the Academy. I didn’t expect he would work for the Guard after that.”

              “That man is as dedicated to the Guard as anyone, he just wasn’t suited to fighting demons. They should have just allowed him to do something like this as a Mage and he wouldn’t have arranged for the block to happen. I talked to him for ten minutes after he got here and I put him in an important position where he’s thrived.”

              “I just wish the block didn’t make someone so weak. A blocked Mage doesn’t live long under much stress. A regular human has a much stronger stream than a blocked Mage or Guard.”

              I definitely needed to talk to Grimes, I might be able to help him out and still not violate any oaths.

***

              “We’ve got more than ten businesses based out of this hub alone,” Warren said, “The Guard has businesses located all around the world. Unlike the government, they can’t tax the populous to provide the money to pay the Guard.”

              I nodded, “And you are the head of this hub’s business ventures?”

              “Yep, I’ve been running this part for the last nine months. I had a pretty hard time after they blocked me from the Source, but I have a purpose again and it helps me deal with the loss.”

              “Listen, I’ve met with you a few times and I see what Keller saw in you. If you could have at least, some of that back, would you take it?”

              He looked at me suspiciously, “I arranged for this to stay away from the front lines. I’m a computer nerd, not a warrior. I can’t do what you and Sam do. If I was a Mage again, that’s what they would want of me. I just can’t do it.”

              “If I give you some of it back, so you can be at least like a normal person, you won’t have to face Demons. Just do what you do now. I think you should be as strong as a regular person, even if you don’t want Mage power again.”

              “That would be great, except you just can’t reverse what was done,” He returned sadly, “It’s called a permanent block from the Source for a reason.”

              “You talk to the Guard Captain about Source blocks. Then if you’re interested, come see me,” I said, “and while I’m here, I need some advice.”

              “What do you need?”

              “It seems I have a good bit of money and I don’t know what to do with it. I have thirty thousand dollars and what I draw from the Guard makes it where I don’t need to use it to live on or anything. I talked with Sandy and Randy about my pay yesterday and I’m making more than twice what a Mage recruit makes because of the Acting Mage Captain rank. I really haven’t got a clue what to do with it.”

              Sandy and Randy Quincy were the twins who ran the base for Keller, or for me now I guess.

              “I can do some investing for you, if you want or possibly start some sort of business for you if you want. It never hurts to have more income than the Guard provides in case you end up blocked from the Source or something,” he laughed bitterly.

              “I don’t know, how bout I make the funds available to you and you do whatever you do with it. I can invest thirty thousand now and probably, as long as I’m getting the higher salary, another five or six thousand a month.”

              “I can definitely do some good for you with that if you want. I’ll have to get some papers together for you to sign but we can set something up.”

              Even with giving him that much each month, I would still draw several thousand for myself. I was amazed at the amount of money I was making. I’d never really had any money before, but I’d never really needed any either. And now I didn’t need much for myself, I had moved into one of the Mage quarters at the base, so the only bill I had was the money it took to feed me.

***

              It hadn’t been a whole day since I talked to Grimes when he entered my office with hope rolling through his aura.

              “Is it true,” he asked in amazement, “Did you unblock a Mage at the Academy?”

              “Yes,” I answered, “I can unblock you, but if I do you’re a Mage again. What I think I can do is loosen the bind so that you have as much stream as a regular person. If you choose to knot it, you have to take the Guard Oath to never use your power against another human. It will be your choice. I’ll tell you now, you can’t hide it behind a privacy screen from me. And I will hold you to your Oath.”

              “Understood.”

              I stood up and approached him. I reached out my hands like I had done when they tried to block me and slowly loosened the knot until it expanded to about three inches. You could see the paleness leave his face as life-force flowed into him again.

              “Oh that feels wonderful. I’ve felt like a shadow for the last eleven months. You won’t regret this, Sir. I won’t let you down.”

              In his aura, I could see that he meant every word he spoke.