No Quest For The Wicked

Owen started to get up, but I put a hand on his shoulder. “No, rest for a moment. They’re leaving us alone for now. I guess all the blood scared them away.”

“There are things that are drawn by blood, and you don’t want to meet them,” he said, his voice shaky even though I could tell he was trying to sound strong and steady.

“Let me guess, they’re power hungry, too.”

“Of course.”

“Look, maybe you should stay here,” I said. “I can go on. Granny can protect me. We shouldn’t have to hold out much longer.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with that thing.”

“What good will you do? You won’t be able to walk much, probably won’t be able to run, and you don’t have magic.”

He shrugged his shoulder out from under my hand and pushed himself to his feet. “I can walk just fine. And I’m not leaving you alone, so don’t waste your breath arguing.”

“I won’t be alone.”

“No, because I’ll be with you.” He took a step toward me, demonstrating that he could walk. He barely limped, but I could see the pain on his face. I was about to argue some more, but his phone rang.

“Hey, Sam,” he said. “What is it?” His eyes widened as he stared past me, and then he slowly said, “Uh, I think they’re already here.”

I turned and saw a whole gang of puritans, including Mimi’s ex-minion, approaching us, and they looked like they meant business.

“Get here as soon as you can,” Owen said into his phone. “It looks like we’ll need backup.”

Chapter Sixteen

I counted at least ten puritans. Granny and Rod moved in to flank Owen and me, but we were still badly outnumbered. With Thor and Earl out of the picture, we were down to a skilled wizard who was one of the world’s greatest illusionists, a crafty old woman well-versed in folk magic and adept with a cane, and two magical immunes, one of them wounded. The only physical weapon among us was Granny’s cane. I wondered if I could get my hands on Thor’s tiny battleaxe.

When Sam reached us, presumably with some allies, that would even the numbers somewhat. I had an army of followers, but I wasn’t sure if they cared who held the Eye. They’d defended me from Thor, but I suspected that if someone got past them to take the brooch, their allegiance would switch in a heartbeat. I glanced over my shoulder and found that we were nearly alone, most of the park denizens having melted into the darkness upon the outsiders’ arrival. So much for my loyal subjects, I thought.

“Okay, now what?” I whispered. “Back into the park?”

“They’d come after us,” Owen replied.

“I could make us invisible,” Rod suggested.

“They’ve already seen us,” Granny pointed out.

Indeed, they were heading straight for us, and Thor’s battleaxe wouldn’t have helped much, even if I’d grabbed it, because these guys were armed with guns.

The lampposts cast a sinister glow on the barrels pointed directly at us. “You’re right, they are hypocrites,” I whispered to Rod. “I thought they were opposed to modern technology. At the very least, shouldn’t they be using crossbows?”

“You’re trying to apply logic to fanatics,” Owen said, sounding strangely calm. I would have worried that he’d gone into shock from blood loss, but he was always like that in a crisis. The worse things were, the calmer he got. His voice was at Minnesota winter levels of “cool.” Our situation was dire, indeed.

“Hand over the brooch,” the ex-minion said, gesturing with his gun.

While Owen got cool under pressure, I got mouthy. It was a failing that had gotten me in trouble more than a few times. “I thought you were trying to stop people from using technology instead of magic,” I said. “Obviously, you don’t practice what you preach.”

“All tools are acceptable for purifying the world,” he said stiffly.

“That’s a very clever justification,” I said. “I bet you can rationalize just about anything.”

“You have no use for the brooch, so there’s no point in you losing your life over it,” another one of the puritans said, sounding perfectly reasonable, almost friendly.

“I have plans for it,” Owen said, sounding equally friendly and reasonable.

“Ah, yes, Mr. Palmer,” the friendly puritan said, nodding. ”I can see why you might desire the Eye. You’ve certainly been persistent in seeking it. But I understand that it would do you no good now. Or do you hope to use it to restore your powers?”