Restless (15 page)

26. TARGET PRACTICE

IT WAS HALF AN HOUR PAST NOON
when Rave rejoined Leesa, Dominic and Dral in the woods north of the town. His two mile long journey from the river had given his inner heat plenty of time to dry his hair and clothes. Bain was nowhere in sight, and Rave guessed that his friend had decided to remain in Lisbon Falls until nightfall.

Alerted to Rave’s approach by Dral, Leesa rushed forward as soon as he appeared and wrapped him up in a
tight hug.

“When you didn’t make it
back by noon,” she said, “I thought you might be stuck in town.” She smiled and kissed his cheek. “I’d much rather have you here.”

“I would have been
back on time,” Rave replied, “but I found a surprise in the river I thought well worth the extra time—especially since I didn’t learn much else of use in town.”

Dominic raised one eyebrow
, clearly intrigued. “What did you find?”

“Three live zombies—if “live” is the right word
for the walking dead. They were just lying on the river bottom. Apparently, they can neither float nor swim. But it seems they cannot drown, either. I brought one out of town with me.”

Leesa glanc
ed around, but saw no sign of any zombie.

“I left it in the river, outside the cordon,” Rave said in response to her unasked question.

“I think it should keep where it is just fine, then,” Dominic said. “Tell me everything you saw and heard in town. When you are done, we can go take a look at your zombie.”

Rave recounted the details of his visit to Lisbon Falls, describing the security
surrounding the town, repeating the conversations he had overheard, and finishing with his visit to the hospital.

“Whatever is going on in there, it’s all happening on the fourth floor. T
hat is where the answers are, I think, but I could find no way to get up there. I tried asking a few questions of a colonel and a doctor from the CDC who I saw leaving the hospital, pretending I was just a curious citizen, but they wouldn’t say anything. Everyone seems very tight-lipped.” Rave ran his fingers through his thick hair. “I’m sorry, but short of kidnap and torture, I don’t think we’ll get any information from them. And I’m pretty sure we do not want to try that.”

“
No, we do not,” Dominic said. “Kidnapping and torture are tools used by our enemies, not by us. We will not lower ourselves to their level, lest we become no better than them.” He stroked his beard for a few moments. “There might be another way, though.” He turned to Leesa. “Call Jenna. Tell her we need her as soon as she can get here.”

Leesa took out her cell and punched
the witch’s number. The phone rang at least a dozen times before Jenna answered.

“Leesa, hi,”
Jenna said, a bit breathless. “Sorry for the delay, but I was flying.”

Leesa smiled, knowing Jenna’s favorite animal form was an owl.

“That’s okay. I’m glad you had your phone near you.”

When Jenna shape-shifted to an animal, she could not transform anything that would not be analogous to the animal. Clothes were fine, because they equated to feathers or fur, but there was nothing she could do with the cell phone Leesa had purchased for her.

“With everything that’s been going on,” Jenna said, “I always try to keep the phone within hearing distance, just in case you needed me. But I just have to fly at least some every day. Luckily, owls have very keen hearing, so I raced back as soon as I heard your call.”

“We need you up here in Maine,” Leesa told her.
“A town called Lisbon Falls.”

“Where those supposed zombies attacked, right? I’ve overheard lots of people talking about it. I take it the stories are true, then?”

“Yeah, they are—unfortunately. We’ll be near the river, west of the town. How soon can you get here?”

“I’
ll leave immediately. It’s pretty far, though, even as the owl flies. I don’t think I can make it before dark.”

“Okay. Just get here as soon as you can. We’ll be waiting. Bye.”

Leesa shut off her phone and turned toward Dominic. “She’ll be here sometime after dark.”

“Good,” the wizard said, nodding. “Now
, let’s go take a look at Rave’s zombie.”

“Drive about a mile south and west,” Rave told Leesa. “Dral and I will meet you by the side of the road.
I’ll lead you through the woods from there.”

“Okay,” Leesa replied. She and Dominic headed for the SUV while Rave and Dral
trotted off into the trees.

Leesa made a U-turn and drove back down the two-lane road. When she had
covered close to a mile, she kept her eyes fastened on the shoulder, looking for Rave and Dral. It wasn’t long before she spotted them standing just on the edge of the tree line. She pulled the car over to the side of the road and she and Dominic got out.

Rave led them off through the trees
. Dral followed silently behind them, alert as always, but the woods seemed empty at this time of night.

Rav
e halted at the edge of the river.

“
Either Dral or I will have to keep hold of the zombie when I bring it up,” he told them. “It appears to have no appetite for volkaane flesh, but it will surely crave Leesa’s human flesh.” He looked at Dominic and smiled. “I don’t know whether it has a taste for wizard meat or not.”

Dominic smiled
back. “I was a normal human child once, centuries ago,” he replied, “until a kindly wizard rescued me from an abusive orphanage.”

Leesa looked at the wizard. This was the first time he had ever said anything about his background, other than recounting the story of the betrayal by the black waziri. She hoped one day he would tell her the details of how he was chosen to become a waziri. Now was not the time to ask, though.

Rave dove gracefully into the water. Less than a minute later, he broke the surface with a docile zombie in his arms. He lifted it easily upward, and Dral grasped it by its upper arms and hauled it out of the water. Rave hoisted himself up behind it.

As soon as the zombie’s feet hit the ground, it tried to lunge toward Leesa, its horrid mouth wide open. She stepped back reflexively, but Dral held the thing firmly.
The creature continued to struggle, growling and twisting in Dral’s grip, trying to get at Leesa.

Rave grabbed one of the zombie’s arms, taking no chances with Leesa’s safety.

Dominic stepped forward to examine the creature more closely. The zombie thrust its head forward, snapping its jaws at Dominic.

“I guess
that answers our question about wizard flesh,” Dral said, grinning.

Dominic reached his hand forward, keeping it just out of the thing’s reach.
The creature snapped its jaws again and continued growling. Dominic slowly moved his palm up and down over the front of the zombie.

“This one was turned by black magic, not by being bitten,” he told his comrades. “Unfortunately,
short of letting it bite someone, I cannot tell whether it is contagious or not, and that is the thing I most desire to learn—and the thing I most fear.”

“I’m not volunteering,” Leesa
joked, shaking her head and then smiling. “A bite from that thing would just ruin my night.”

Dominic
smiled. “I would never ask that of you, of course, nor of anyone. I will have to hope I can learn what I need with Jenna’s help.” He looked back at the zombie. “As long as we have this creature, there is one more use we can make of it.”

Leesa followed Dominic’s gaze toward the zombie, wondering what was to come next.

“This abomination must be destroyed,” Dominic continued. He turned to Leesa. “This is a good chance to test your magic. Use an energy beam, aimed at its head. Make your beam as narrow as you can.”

Leesa’s eyes widened. She had not been expecting this.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

Dominic nodded. “There may soon come a time where you will have far more than one of these creatures to contend with. I think a trial run will be quite useful.”

Leesa turned back toward the zombie, which was still struggling vainly against Rave and Dral’s grip. Could she really use her magic to destroy it? So far, she had only aimed her magic beams at inanimate objects—rock and trees, mostly. Could she really fire it at a person?

No, not a person, she reminded herself. This creature was not really a living being; it was a corruption, a walking dead thing that broke all the laws of the natural world. She would be doing it a favor by returning it to its
former lifeless state.

She backed up
another ten feet, doubling the distance between her and the zombie. She wanted to make sure she had plenty of time to work her spell.

Sucking in
a deep breath, she raised her palm.

“I’
m ready. Let it go.”

Rave and Dral released the zombie. It immediately lumbered toward Leesa
, growling hungrily.

Her heartbeat began to race. She wasn’t really afraid—she knew Rave would never let anything happen to her. With his volkaane speed, he could stop the thing easily if she failed.
Even so, she couldn’t keep her anxiety from spiking.

“
Magnus irrundi
,” she cried, louder than she meant to. She imagined a yellow beam two inches in diameter streaking from her hand.

The energy beam shot forward
, but her nervousness threw off her aim and caused the beam to be wider than she wanted. Instead of striking the zombie in the head as she intended, the beam struck high on the thing’s chest, burning a hole clean through it. Leesa could actually see the trees behind it through the wound. The strike caused the creature to stagger momentarily, but as soon as it regained its balance it lurched forward once more, oblivious to the hole in its chest.

Leesa steadied her
arm and invoked her spell again. This time, the energy shot from her palm like a laser beam, hitting the zombie squarely in the center of its forehead. Without a sound, the creature collapsed to the ground, where it lay motionless.

Rave nudged
it with his foot, drawing no reaction.

“It’
s dead,” he said. “Again.”

Leesa turned to
Dominic. “I’m sorry it took me two tries,” she said. “I guess I was a bit anxious.”

Dominic crossed over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “
That’s why I had you do this. Real life can be much different than practice. I think this experience will stand you in good stead.”

“I hope so,” Leesa replied.

“There are two more on the bottom of the river where this one came from,” Rave said. “Dral and I could go fetch them.”

Dominic thought for only a moment. “Sure, why not. We’ve got nothing else to do until Jenna
gets here. A little more practice for Leesa can only help.” He looked down at the dead zombie. “And we should put the creatures out of whatever misery they may be feeling in this unnatural state.”

Without a word,
Rave and Dral turned and dove into the river.

27. A GATHERING

LEESA, DOMINIC AND THE THREE VOLKAANES
sat leaning against trees near the river, waiting for Jenna to arrive, although Leesa was leaning more against Rave’s side than she was the tree trunk behind them. Bain had returned soon after dark and reported pretty much the same thing as Rave had—no solid information to be gleaned and an increasingly tightening security presence around the town. He had exited the village through one of the few areas still remaining to be fenced. He told them he expected the fence to be complete by the following night.

Earlier,
Leesa had dispatched the remaining two zombies much more efficiently than the first one, needing just a single short blast to fell each of them. She was very glad for the extra practice and experience, and was now much more confident she could hold her own alone against a small band of the creatures, at least. She had also used her magic to help Rave and Dral dig three holes a short distance back in the woods to bury the bodies in. She felt good about having returned them to their original state—dead and buried—if not to their original burial locations. She didn’t think they would care about the new holes her magic had drilled into their skulls.

“I think Jenna
has arrived,” Rave said, lifting his eyes toward the canopy of branches above. “I hear an owl flying low.”

A moment later, a large brown and white owl fluttered to the ground near the riverbank. Leesa watched as the familiar silver glow appeared around the owl’s taloned feet and slowly worked its way up the bird’s legs and body.
When the glow reached the owl’s head, a silver flash lit up the night for a split second. When the flash disappeared, Jenna stood where the bird had been.

“Greetings, everyone,”
she said, using her fingers to smooth the tangles from her long, wavy silver hair. She plopped down onto the ground, sitting with her back against a tree close to where Dominic sat. “That was a longer flight than I’m used to. Pardon me while I rest for a bit.”

“Take all the time you need,” Dominic said.
“There is no urgency tonight.”

“While I rest, you can fill me in on what’s going on.” Jenna looked around again at the gathered comrades. “And you can tell me why you need a witch when you’ve got three volkaanes, a wizard and a fledgling wizard
already here.” She smiled. “Don’t get me wrong, but it seems to me this group should be able to handle any number of zombies without much problem.”

“Leesa took care of three
all by herself today,” Dral said.

Jenna raised her eyebrows and looked toward Leesa. “Really? I was only kidding. I thought the zombies
here had all been destroyed—for now, at least.”

“Rave found
three lying on the bottom of the river,” Leesa said. “The things can’t swim, but they can’t drown, either. Rave and Dral brought them back so Dominic could study them. When he was done, I practiced using my magic to destroy them.”

“Practice makes perfect,” Jenna replied
approvingly. She turned back to Dominic. “I guess you’re expecting there will be more of the creatures to deal with?”

Dominic nodded. “Many more, unless we can stop the Necromancer.”

“What is it you need from me, then?”

“You have a compulsion spell
in your repertoire, I expect?”

Jenna nodded. “Yes, I do. Quite a good one, I must say.”

“Good. I need you to compel a few people to tell you everything they know. I’m especially interested to learn if any of the zombies were contagious.”

Dominic described what Rave had found in and around the hospital, including the
tight-lipped colonel and doctor he had talked to in the morning.

“I’m hoping they are creatures of habit and will be outside the hospital around the same time tomorrow morning. If you can get them alone,
employ your spell to make them talk. If you do not see those two, use your best judgment about who to interrogate. Be careful, though. Do not endanger yourself.”

Jenna smiled.
“I try always to be careful.”

“Security around the town is tight and getting tighter,” Rave told her. “
You will have no trouble flying over it all, though.”

“I expect not.” Jenna stood up, and the others
rose to their feet as well. “I may as well head into town now and find a nice tree to roost in overnight, in a spot where I can become human in the morning without anyone seeing.”

“There’s a
park inside the town with plenty of trees and bushes,” Rave said. He described the location of the park where he had hidden the previous night.

“
That sounds like a definite possibility,” Jenna said. “I’ll make it one of the first places I check out.”

Dominic
laid his hand on the witch’s arm. “I meant what I said about being careful. Do not risk yourself needlessly.”

“Don’
t worry. I’ll be careful. I may spend a bit of time perched on the roof of the hospital, though. Who knows, maybe someone will open a window and I’ll hear something useful. Perhaps even through a vent. In owl form, I can hear even whispers from quite some distance.”

Jenna stepped away from the others.
“See you tomorrow night,” she said. “Sooner, if I learn anything important.”

“We’ll be here,” Dominic said.

Jenna closed her eyes. The silver glow started at the top of her head and spread slowly down her body. When it reached her feet, the glow flashed brightly, lighting up the night for an instant. A moment later, an owl zoomed upward and disappeared into the darkness.

“While Jenna is gone, there is something I must do,” Dominic said. “I will be back by morning, or soon thereafter.”

“Where are you going?” Leesa asked.

“By using their magic at the cemetery, Viktor or Andre will have left a trail that I can follow. I want to see which direction it
goes.”

“I should come with you. I can drive while you look for the trail.”

Dominic shook his head. “No, you must stay here. I will not be confronting my former comrades—I merely wish to gather some information. I can do that more safely and more stealthily on my own.”

“Are you certain?” L
eesa persisted. “What if they’ve set some kind of trap for you?”

“Because they have used their magic recently, I can detect them from some distance. I do not plan to go anywhere near them.
”

“Take Dral with you,
just in case,” Rave suggested. “The Necromancer may have others doing his bidding besides the black waziri. Dral can be your eyes and ears.”

Dominic thought for a moment. “If
Dral could ride in the car, I would take him. But I may have some distance to cover tonight.”

Rave grinned. “Are you forgetting New Hampshire, wizard? How easily and quickly I carried you up and down the mountain? Dral can do the same
just as easily.”

Dominic smiled. “I guess he can, at that.”

Dral moved
over to the wizard’s side. “It is settled, then?” he asked. “We go together?”

“Yes,” Dominic replied.
“It is settled. I shall be glad for your company.”

“Let’s go, then,” Dral said, lifting the wizard
easily into his arms and jogging off into the trees.

Leesa watched them vanish into the trees. She didn’t like the idea of Dominic going off without her, but he was far wiser than she was and knew what he was doing. She was glad Dral would be with him
, though. The volkaane would provide an extra level of protection.

She turned back to Rave and Bain.

“I guess it’s just the three of us for awhile. I’m not sleepy, so we’ve got some time to kill.”

“Any ideas?” Rave asked.

Leesa glanced up at the three-quarter moon shining above them. “It’s a beautiful evening. Very romantic.” She swung her eyes toward Bain. “How good are you at judging Rave’s heat?”

Bain looked perplexed. “Why?”

He grinned when Leesa told him.

“I think I could fill in for Balin for a bit—if we’re very careful,”
Bain said.

Leesa smiled. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”