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#Post#: 167--------------------------------------------------
Black Ties: Part 5
DIR By: Gallowtree
Date: September 27, 2020, 7:02 pm
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5
“You got something to say Max?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” I said, rubbing my
hands to keep them warm.
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes, you. You were plenty pissed about something back there
after we bagged the cat. I'd rather have things out in the open
– otherwise they turn into a throwdown later, and I don't like
to encourage that,” I said, facing him as we walked.
“Fair enough.”
“So?”
Dante gave me a pretty hard look.
“What I said about you and Gage – the magic – I meant it. You
guys take it for granted in a big way. But there's another
problem too.”
“What would that be?”
“It's like a damned crutch!”
“The hell you say!”
“Oh yeah? You wanna know what pissed me off? That crushing
force thing you pulled off.”
“What's your problem with it?” I asked, feeling something small
and nagging start up in my gut.
“Hell, Max! You could've crushed me as easy with your spell as
you maimed that beast thing.”
“What are you saying?”
“You were hurtin', and fumblin with your balance...did you even
think about how bad that threw you off?”
I stopped, reddening at Dante's words. Did I really bugger it
up that bad? I knew that I could do it though...what went
wrong?
“Ok, I admit that the spell went a little awry, but when you're
channeling that kind of energy and that much of it, it can
sometimes happen. You would rather I had let that thing take
you over?”
“Aww...I was nowhere near losin' control Max,” Dante said, with
some reproach.
“Bull, if you don't mind me saying so. You know that Brom told
me what to look for – he let us all know, which I'll admit is
really rude but pretty necessary. When you were fighting that
thing, I figured that I better do something to help, no matter
the outcome.”
Dante was quiet. We walked along in silence for a few moments,
turning up the path to the area along the hedge where my merry
little chase took place. I could see some headlights
approaching the park from directly ahead in the distance. As we
reached the spot where I got kicked, Dante stopped.
“I'm not sayin' that you're careless Max, and maybe it's my lack
of learnin' about magic that hobbles me, but have you considered
having a little more faith in your crew? It'd be a lot easier
for those of us who walk the line to do it without their friends
holdin' out the nets just in case, y'know?”
I stuck my hands in my pockets. Dante was laying out the truth
pretty thick tonight.
“Well put,” I said.
We resumed walking along until we reached Gage, who was looking
over the beastmen, making notes. A pair of identical black
humvees rolled along the hillside, and pulled up alongside our
little sideshow. An older man dressed in fatigues and a
longcoat, clean-shaven and sporting a black beret stepped out of
the one closest to us and barked a couple of short orders to the
three men inside, each sporting the cloak of the Wardens. He
looked over at us, and frowned a little. Lord, this was going
to be a long night. He strolled over to me, and I felt the
sting of his reprimand already.
“Evening Mister Otten,” he said, taking one of his little funny
black cigars from a pack in his coat and lighting it with an
antique-looking zippo produced from the same.
“Evening sir,” I answered, my voice sounding a little bit more
strained than I had hoped.
“Nasty habit I
Billingsley in the war,” he muttered, “I think he ended up being
sent to London to serve as Churchill's adjutant, lucky bugger.”
“Yeah, I--”
“Are you aware that this was supposed to be a reconnaissance
operation, Mister Otten? I'm only asking because you have a
massive lump welling up on your forehead and there are two
large, subdued beast-looking types lying prostrate in the snow
like sacks of rubbish.”
“Well, we--”
“Just because it is often true that battle plans last no longer
than the first encounter with an enemy does not justify going
off half-cocked and getting in an impromptu pugilistic throw
down. Now, do you have anything to say to this?”
“We did capture these things, sir,” I ventured, “it should make
it easier to study them and find out where they came
from...right?”
“Which is the only reason that my well-polished boot is not
tarnished from kicking each of your arses up and down the green,
or, in this case, the white. However, you must realize in doing
this we may have tipped our hand here.”
I hadn't considered that. Someone may be missing these things
tomorrow.
“Regardless,” Brom said, smiling with his cigar chomped between
his teeth, “one hell of a night, ladies and gents. Let's get
these things loaded and head home.”
The Wardens shackled the wrists and ankles of the beastmen with
strong-looking steel cuffs, and hauled them into the back of one
of the humvees. Dante unwrapped his chain from the Catman and
hung it back on its loop on his belt. Gage obliterated her
circles, and joined us as we got into the humvee with Brom. The
heater inside was going full blast, and Gage and I exhaled in
relief as feeling started to creep back into our hands, feet,
and faces. Dante looked at us both, smiled, and leaned back in
his seat to stretch out. Smug bastard. Brom put the humvee in
gear, and we headed out of the park towards downtown.
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