Warlock of Omaha
By Hemaccabe
Chapter 16 You Can Go Your Own Way
A few days later, the axe was done. I'd been working on it harder since the incident with Dark Glass. It was a substantial upgrade. I walked over to my on-site range. I set up a cinder block a hundred yards down range. Then I turned and focused my will through the hatchet. A bolt of air shot down range and cracked the block. I'd come some way.
That morning, when I went down to the infirmary's basement with my new nick nack, Cassie woke up. I had just relieved Jake, who had headed out to pursue his activities for the day. The basement still had my cell and the dentist's chair. However, you can't keep someone on their back in a dentist's chair for weeks on end. Luckily the medical profession has a lot of experience dealing with crazy people that needed to be held down. We had wedged in a reinforced hospital bed. It was more comfortable, but strong enough to hold Jake. We had given Cassie a full bath and she was in a hospital gown. Her fingerprints and DNA didn't register on any database.
I was typing on my notebook when I became aware her eyes were open. I put away the notebook and looked at her.
"Welcome back." I said.
"Where am I?" She asked. Her voice creaky.
"You're a guest in my home." I answered.
"Are you another minion of Shin Midori Ha?" She asked.
"Is that you're former employer's name?" I asked.
"You are the one he is trying to collect." She said looking at me with a dawning recognition in her eyes. "I didn't recognize you without the hat."
"So, this 'Shin Midori Ha,' is the name of the one hunting me?" I asked.
"Yes." She answered.
"So nice to have a name." I said.
"I'm sure it's not his true name. But it's what he's called." She said.
"So, do you wish to go back and serve him further?" I asked. I wasn't sure what she wanted. Maybe she was a slave against her will, maybe a loyal agent.
The look on her face twisted. The she started screaming and crying incoherently for a few seconds and then passed out.
That went well.
I hadn't looked her over with my sight yet, so I did. It was a surprise. Every kind of magical critter I had run into has their own energy pattern. Mostly humans have a look like wizards with a central basin of power. The more natural talent, the bigger the basin. Some look different. Travis has these weird coronas around his head among other things. Jake had no center, but a network running through his body. It's hard to look at one's self, but I would say I had a network similar to Jake, but still with a wizard's gut. Cassie looked more like me. I also noticed how her network was different than Jake's, but more similar to mine.
I didn't think she would wake again that day. I was right.
Her response was pretty weird, but I'd had plenty of time to read up on people who had been through traumatic experiences and injuries. In that context, her behavior was actually fairly normal.
The next morning, I had a thermos of broth ready. She awoke again.
I didn't say anything, I just put the broth in a bowl and fed her. When she was done, she fell asleep again.
We did broth for a few days.
Then on the sixth day she asked, "Where am I?"
"You're a guest in my home." I answered.
"I am loyal Ha." She said and passed out.
Not very promising.
She awoke that afternoon and had more broth.
"Why don't you make me drink blood?" She asked.
"I don't make anyone drink blood." I answered.
"What game are you playing Ha?" She asked, somewhat tense.
"I'm not Ha." I answered.
"Some sort of punishment then? Build me up for greater torture as punishment for failing to take the Warlock?" She asked then continued, "I know my life is forfeit for not bringing back your prizes. I suppose you wish to strengthen me for the torture first."
She said all of this while leaning back into the bed with resignation.
"Well. That's how it is." I thought.
"How about you just feel better and we'll worry about torture another time?" I asked.
"Makes sense." She said.
"Have you ever woken in a bed like this before?" I asked.
"No, you know it's normally a tile floor." She answered.
"Where is my den?" I asked.
"The east side of Denver." She answered.
"Where exactly?" I asked, perhaps a bit too eager.
"You know I don't know. You clouded that in my mind in case I was captured." She answered.
"Do you know what I am?" I asked.
"Some sort of frog demon." She answered.
Great a demon.
"What do I look like normally? I asked.
"Like a giant man frog with a big mouth full of sharp teeth and a crown on your head." She answered.
Sounded like a real charmer.
"Do I have magic?" I asked.
"Yes, powerful magic." She answered.
"What have you seen me do?" I asked.
"You put me naked into the liquid clay that burns worse than fire. It makes me strong. Makes me obey you. I hate you for that." She said.
She then passed out again.
She got more lucid and woke more each day. I forbade Jake to see her. He didn't like it, but he understood. I questioned her more. She didn't know more about his powers than I'd seen in action.
After about a week, she was much improved. She came back together much faster than Travis. She was getting confused.
"Why are you waiting?" She asked a little angry, like she was hiding the fear. "You never wait this long to put me back in clay or torture me?"
"I might have some bad news for you." I said.
"What?" She asked.
"I'm really not Ha. I'm the Warlock." I said, then asked, "If you want. I'll let you go back to him. Do you want to?"
Her face twisted. "How many times have you asked me that pretending to be someone else to test my loyalty? How can I ever believe you?"
What a charmer this guy must be. I could feel the conflict in her head. She wanted desperately to believe she was away from Ha, but he had played this game before, testing her torture enforced loyalty.
I decided I had to do something really stupid.
I unlocked her cuffs and helped her get up from the bed. It's not like she could move very well, but she made it up the stairs leaning on me. I then went to open the doors and said, "Cover your eyes."
She covered them and we walked into a bright sunny early spring day. It was early evening. The light was just beginning to change. Perhaps it was a bit cold, so I took off the hoodie I was wearing and put it on her.
"Welcome to freedom." I said. "You can stay here, or I'll call you a cab."
She did something weird then. She knelt in the grass, like a wild creature. My heart stopped.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I haven't been in the open air or touched the earth without burning clay on me in a very long time." She answered.
"You failed to take me at the cabin. I captured you." I explained then continued, "If you choose to be loyal to this Ha, I won't stop you. However, I'd prefer you stay?" I asked.
"I will stay." She said. "This is as close to free as I have tasted in a long time. It won't make any difference. He's much too powerful for you. For all of us. He'll come and we'll all die or be enslaved. For a little while, I'll get to remember what it was like to be free."
"The hoodie looks good on you." I said. That made her smile.
She pulled the hoodie around herself, doing so while giving her body a good stretch. I'd seen all of her naked for quite some time. I'd done more than my fair share of washing and changing bed pans. Somehow, in that context her body hadn't been sexy, just clinical. Watching her stretch was a whole 'nother game. She still had some bruising and she was painfully thin, but I could see the Cassie I had met in the warehouse. Like that Cassie, this one was no Victoria's Secret model. She wasn't ugly. She looked like she was mid-thirties, maybe stood a slightly tall five foot eight? She seemed basically fit, but not crazy extraordinary. Despite that, I was aware of every square inch of exposed skin.
"Is Cassie your real name?" I asked.
"No." She said. Her voice now had a just a hint of lilt in that one brief word, a lilt I hadn't heard since I'd last spoken with my mother.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Tamar." She answered.
I should not have picked her up then, taken her to the garret and slept with her. That was very stupid. It was also the most intense experience of my life.
How did being with Tamar compare to being with my other girls? It was like the real thing as compared to watching a movie. It was incredibly powerful. At the same time, I knew, as much as I would want to do this again, I'd still also want to go see the movies.
So, the big question was, am I being played? Was she just putting down a seeming on me? Clearly, she has abilities to convince. The simple answer is I don't know. My defenses were unchallenged, the shunt I had into her mind told me she wasn't trying anything, my sight said all was well. But, it's always a game, how good can you see versus how good can they hide? Mr. Guna's driver had just given me a lesson on that very issue. Was she going to get me hopelessly addicted to her and lead me back to this Ha with a leash around my junk? I was gambling. I knew that.
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