Chasing A Spectre (War for Dominance Book 0) (3 page)

The not-elf must have asked for questions, because she was now talking back and forth with people in the audience. After a couple of minutes of this, the audience began slapping their hands together. Dantes thought that it looked like they were doing it in approval, so he joined in. Milos joined in making the slapping noise too, after Dantes elbowed him.

As the slapping noise ended, Dantes watched as many of the people in the audience got up and left the room, pushing past other people that were entering.

“I think he must be the next presenter,” Ghorza said as the Spectre took the spot previously held by the not-elf.

Dantes smiled. “Yes, I believe so,” he agreed. Ghorza had a knack for stating the obvious that rivaled her careless use of magic.

They watched as the Spectre began a demonstration of how to change a person’s appearance. He started by showing the audience how to cut up black sheets to make a cloak that would render the wearer hard to see at night, and then he made masks out of an assortment of materials. He finished by showing the audience how to make themselves appear bigger than normal.

As he began the last topic, Milos whispered to Ghorza, “Aren’t you going to cast a Translate spell so that we can understand him? This is exactly what he does back home. Maybe he will make a mistake and mention our world!”

“I don’t have the manna to cast a Translate spell right now,” Ghorza whispered back. “If I cast it, I will have to use some of my own life force, and I don’t think it’s worth three years of my life to hear what he is saying. It’s obvious enough to me that he is the Spectre.”

After a few more minutes there was another question and answer session, and then the people repeated the hand slapping. When they finished, the Spectre gathered up his materials and walked to the door, stopping to interact with several members of the audience on his way out.

Ghorza, Dantes and Milos got up and followed him out.

“What do you think?” asked Ghorza.

“I agree that he is the Spectre,” Dantes replied. “I think we should follow him until he leads us back to his lair.”

“I hope he goes to get some lunch,” said Milos. “Can you do that trick again with the money?”

“No, I cannot,” Ghorza answered.
“Focus. Have you never missed a meal before?”

“Many times,” replied Milos. “That doesn’t mean that I want to do it again.”

The group followed the Spectre for the remainder of the afternoon, splitting up from time to time so as not to draw his attention. The crowd was large enough that Milos and Ghorza were able to blend in fairly well; unfortunately, nearly everyone seemed to want to touch Dantes’ horns. His mood worsened as the afternoon wore on.

The crowd started thinning as dinner time approached, and people went in search of their evening meals. Dantes sighed in relief as the Spectre
finally left the area that the convention was using for its gathering. The group followed him through the building and into an open space that extended upwards over 100 feet. Looking up, they saw that they were in the largest building any of them had ever seen; there were at least ten floors above them.

“By the seventh level of hell,” mumbled Ghorza. “What
is
this place?”

“It must be some sort of inn,” guessed Dantes. “Look! The people on each level seem to be going into or coming out of rooms. The Spectre must be going to his room.”

“Finally!” breathed Milos. “Maybe we can finally catch him and then get some dinner.”

The group dropped back as the Spectre approached the open area, and they lost the cover and concealment of the crowd. The Spectre crossed the area without looking back, halting in front of a closed door. He pushed a button on the wall next to it that lit up. The group moved closer, so they could see what he was doing.

The door slid open, and several humans and an elf walked out of a small room. The Spectre walked in. “Let’s follow him,” Ghorza urged.

“No,” Dantes disagreed. “We need to catch him with the crown, and it doesn’t look like he has it. Let’s wait and see if he comes back out. Maybe he’s just going into another outhouse.”

The door shut. A light above the door moved from left to right, illuminating various squiggles, some of which corresponded to the numbers they had seen previously. On the fifth squiggle the light paused, and then it went back to the left, pausing again on one of the others. When the light reached the left end, the door opened, and a number of people walked out. The Spectre wasn’t one of them.

“You’ve lost him again!” hissed Milos.

A thought occurred to Dantes, and he ran back out into the open area. Looking up, a smile brightened his face for the first time that day. He motioned for the other two to join him, his face glowing.

“I take it that you had an idea,” Ghorza said as she approached him. “Careful, you are about to catch fire.”

Dantes went through a mental calming ritual, and his face lost its glow. Happily, he hadn’t broken into full flame;
that
would have been difficult to explain.

“That is a magic room,” Dantes said, pointing at the door that had closed again. “It has been enchanted with air magic to take people up to different levels and bring them back down. The button the Spectre pushed must have activated it. I saw him going into a room on the fifth level above us.”

“Should we follow him up?” asked Ghorza. “He may have the crown in the room up there.”

“Can you show me which room?” asked Milos. “I can try to find a bird or squirrel to look into it.”

Dantes pointed to one of the rooms. Milos’ eyes went blank as he searched the area for wildlife to use. Finally he nodded once and then seemed to sway back and forth as if gliding through the air. With a jolt, the swaying stopped. After a couple of seconds he started nodding as if lifting something with his mouth. Without warning, he jumped backward, and the light came back into his eyes.

“I found it!” Milos exclaimed. “He
is
the Spectre. The crown is on some sort of balcony in the back of his room, covered by a rag.”

“Let’s go get it back,” said Dantes, fires raging in his eyes.

“I can probably use an air current to get up to his level,” Ghorza said, gazing up at the Spectre’s level, “but I can’t get you up there, too.”

“We’ll take the magic room,” Dantes said. He walked over to the door and pushed the same button the Spectre had pushed. The lights on top of the door moved from right to left. When the one on the left illuminated, the door opened.

The group walked into the room. After a pause, the door shut.

“Umm...now what?” asked
Ghorza.

“We need to figure out the command words,” said Dantes. “Go up!” Nothing happened.

“Rise!” tried Ghorza.

“Lift!” ordered Dantes.

“Maybe you have to say the command word in their language,” guessed Ghorza.

“Can you use a Translate spell to translate our words into their language?” Dantes asked. “Maybe that would work.”

“Maybe these buttons would work, too,” said Milos, pointing to a row of buttons on the wall to the right of the door. “There are about as many buttons as the number of levels; each probably equates to a level.”

“That actually makes sense,” agreed Dantes with an approving nod. “The bottom one is probably our level. We want to go up five levels, so we need the button that is five above it.” He counted up and said, “This one.” He pushed the button, and the room started vibrating.

“I think we are going up,” Dantes judged; “it feels like we are being pushed down toward the floor.”

Just like on the outside, lights above the door illuminated as the magic room traveled up. With a small bump, the room stopped, and the door opened.

“That was fun,” said Milos as the group exited. “I want to do it again.”

“Focus,” ordered Dantes, “This is where we finally catch him. Follow me.” He led them to the room that he had seen the thief enter.

“Are you going to burn down the door or break it in?” asked Milos.

“Neither,” said Dantes. “I will knock. When he opens the door, I will knock him to the ground, and Ghorza will use air shackles to hold him in place.” Ghorza nodded. Of all of the things they had done and seen, this was the first thing that was familiar. Ghorza and Dantes had used this routine to capture a number of criminals.

“Ready?” asked Dantes. Ghorza nodded.

Dantes knocked on the door. The group could hear movement in the room, and then something passed in front of the peephole in the door. “
Mmm bhsuejsh!” said a voice from the room. The person in the room walked away from the door.

Dantes knocked more insistently. The person came back to the door. “
Mmm bhsuejsh!” said the voice from the room again, louder this time. The person started to leave.

Dantes knocked even harder on the door. This time the door opened a couple of inches to show a chain that ran across from the door to the doorjamb. “
Mjm sdekar,” the voice started to say, but it was interrupted as Dantes slammed open the door, using all of his considerable strength. The chain tore off, and the human was thrown backward to the floor.

“
Vincula!
” commanded Ghorza. Glowing chains of force appeared on the person, locking him to the floor. The group could see it was the Spectre. The door to the balcony was open, and a crown was on the room’s large bed. A medium-sized mirror sat next to it, along with a small purse.

Dantes turned to Ghorza with a smile. “It has been a long time coming, but we’ve finally caught him.
Red-handed, too.” He turned to the Spectre. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

The Spectre stared at them, wild-eyed, and then said something in a foreign language.

“Of course he’s going to pretend he doesn’t speak our language now, too,” said Milos, looking at the figure on the floor. The Spectre was naked, except for a small piece of cloth around his privates. “That’s just pathetic.”

“Well, we can fix that,” answered Dantes. He glanced at his partner. “Ghorza, can you cast a Translate so that we can be done with this foolishness?”

“It will be my last Translate,” replied Ghorza, “and I’m almost out of manna, too.”

Dantes nodded. “That’s fine,” he said. “I think we’re about done here.”

“OK,” she agreed. She pointed at the Spectre and commanded, “
Convertite.
”

“We finally have you,” Dantes said, once the spell had taken effect. He nodded at the bed. “And with the crown still in your possession, too.”

“That’s not mine!” said the Spectre. “I never saw it before.”

Dantes smiled. “I know it’s not yours; it belongs to the queen. You stole it from her. I expect that the escape mirror sitting next to it isn’t yours, either.”

“No, none of that is mine,” the Spectre said. “I just found it. Who are you people?”

“We’re the ones that are here to bring you to justice,” said Ghorza, “regardless of the games you play. First you don’t speak our language. Now you’re probably going to tell us you’re not the Spectre, either, right?”

“Well yes, I go by the name ‘Spectre,’ but I didn’t do anything. I didn’t steal that crown.”

Dantes smiled again. He enjoyed catching criminals. He couldn’t torture them, but it was still a lot of fun to watch them squirm once they were caught. “Ghorza,” he said, “would you please do the honors?”

“My pleasure,” Ghorza said. “
Furta!
” she commanded with a snap. The crown glowed brilliantly, along with the purse that was sitting on the bed. She turned it over and dumped out a pile of gold coins. They glowed as well.

“The crown and the gold were all stolen,” Dantes said, “and they were stolen by the Spectre.”

“But I didn’t do it,” said the Spectre. “I don’t know how those things got here.”

“They never do,” said Ghorza, shaking her head.

Dantes took off one of his boots. “Oops,” he said as he smashed the mirror on the bed with it. “Seven years of bad luck for me; a lifetime of bad luck for you.” He strapped his boot back on.

Milos scooped the coins back into the purse. “I claim these as my reward,” he said. “You can have the crown; these are mine.”

Dantes shrugged and looked at Ghorza. She shrugged back at him. “Fine,” said Dantes, “I’m happy to get the crown back and strand him here.” He turned to Ghorza. “How long will the chains last?”

“About an hour,” Ghorza replied. “Long enough for us to get back and break the mirror, trapping him here forever.”

“Good,” said Dantes. “Let’s go.” He picked up the crown and turned to leave.

“I’m staying,” said Milos, bouncing the purse in his hand so that the coins jingled. “I have money, and I like this world. The women are tall and pretty, and I’m rich. There are magic rooms to ride up and down in. This will be so much fun!”

Ghorza and Dantes looked at each other and shrugged again. “Works for me,” said Dantes. “I’m happy to strand
you
here, too.” The two magicians left, closing the door as they went out.

“Naughty, naughty, naughty,” said Milos as he sat down on the bed. He shook his head. “You’ve been a very bad boy.”