Jake's Quest - Wizards V
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Authors: John Booth
Jake’s Quest
Wizards V
By
John Booth
Since the attack on his parents’ house, when his Auntie May was turned into a living bomb, Jake has had eighteen months of peace and quiet. He and Jenny are well off, and in his other life, the Kingdom of Salice is prosperous and at peace.
Jake’s life is about to get interesting again. It has taken a long time to get permission to go where he believes Dafydd Williams is hiding. Jake is certain that Dafydd is the bomber. But the question ‘why?’ haunts Jake almost as much as the body count his cousin’s attacks have caused.
But before he can get to Dafydd, he has a deal with the Dragons to complete and all hell breaks loose. From that moment on Jake’s troubles begin mounting in all directions. Family is a problem, his mistress is in trouble (And Jake makes it worse), the Diabli appear to have formed an alliance, he is nearly killed by plains Indians, and then his dragon Fluffy disappears.
Jake must go to university to finish his quest, but first he must survive the entrance exams and a couple of determined women.
(
Authors Note
: In Welsh the ‘dd’ in Dafydd is pronounced somewhere between ‘ff’ and ‘th’.)
JAKE’S QUEST
Wizards V
Copyright ©2014 John Booth.
Electronic edition published by John Booth Enterprises
Cover Design by JBE
Cover Background
© SpinningAngel
Dreamstime.com - Aquarius City Skyline Photo
John Booth asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Other books by John Booth on Amazon Kindle
Wizards Series
Wizards
Jake’s War
Jake’s Justice
Jake’s Women
Jake’s Quest
Jalon
Jalia on the Road
Gally Delbar
Jalia in the North
Jalia and the Slavers
Jalia at Bay
Jalia Prevails
Tom & Laura Series
The Spellbinder
Scotland Hard
Revenge of the Brotherhood
Magic Series
House of Silver Magic
Sapphire Magic: Breaking Glass
Gold Magic: Terror in Mind
The Magic Series (Anthology)
Standalone Fantasy
Andrew Hawks
London Gothic
Carlotta and the Krius Scepter
Shaddowdon
Horror
The Lost
The Inspector Monde Mysteries
Visit the author’s web page
Scrawls in the Dust
Contents
Birds sang and butterflies flitted from flower to flower in a surprisingly large remembrance garden. A mere eighteen months ago this had been a typical street of houses. And just across from where I sat was where the house I grew up in used to be. With the houses gone, subtle landscaping and an encircling hedge of leylandii it was unrecognizable, except to a wizard.
Wizards have an overdeveloped sense of place, it comes with the ability to hop anywhere in the multiverse we have already been. I could hop to where my bedroom used to be with unerring accuracy, though I’d then have to cope with the 20 foot drop into a large goldfish pond.
A path cut from local stone looped its way through the garden in a seemingly random fashion, touching far too many small stone circles on its way. I was sitting on the wooden bench bought with money I’d donated. There was even a little brass plate that said
Rest in Peace
on it, if you knew where to look. The garden was empty of other people, which was a shame considering how beautiful it was.
It took me a few moments to realize that I was no longer the only one present, even though I was staring directly into the place where she appeared. Wizards’ hop through space, which is an instant transition, but this vision of loveliness appeared like the world had sighed her into existence. She grew into reality from infinitely far away and though she walked slowly she was beside me in seconds. By then I had recognized her.
“Lady Issus, Representative of Zelphi,” I said, standing and attempting a bow. It’s not something Welsh lads are trained in, so it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. When you encounter a goddess you want everything you do to be perfect.
“Lord Wizard Morrissey.” There was laughter in her voice and I quickly and surreptitiously checked my flies, thankfully they were fully zipped.
“Jake,” I mumbled, the rest of my sentence forgotten. She had me tongue-tied.
Issus looked around her with an expression of surprise on her face. “I thought I was coming to your home. Such a sad place. Whatever happened here?”
I could have told her this was where my neighbors died. That each stone circle commemorated a victim murdered in an attempt to kill me. Instead I said nothing and simply watched her.
She walked to a bed of late flowering plants and cupped a bud in her hands. It came into full bloom in seconds and then reversed itself to become a bud again. The magic she used was unknown to me. It must have been a bubble of time, but everything I knew about magic said such a thing was impossible.
Issus turned to me, a frown forming on perfect lips.
“You are keeping people away with your grief. I shall dispel it and you must not put it back. Who died here?” She made a gesture of dismissal.
The garden felt different, as if a weight had lifted from my shoulders that I had been unaware I’d been carrying.
“Friends, neighbors, acquaintances; I caused their deaths.”
Issus gave me a sharp look. “You killed them?”
“My Auntie May exploded because somebody wanted me dead.”
God, that sounded stupid when said out loud.
“Then you did not kill them. And what of the man who did?”
I shrugged. “I’m still trying to find him.”
She nodded and came over to the bench to sit down, patting the seat beside her in invitation for me to join her.
Issus is not only beautiful, but incredibly sexy. Whenever I’ve seen her she’s wearing clothes that accentuate her curves and draw the eye to places that have a certain effect on a man. As our bodies came into brief contact on the bench I leaned forward to cover the developing bulge in my jeans.
When she placed her hand on my leg, no one looking could have missed the involuntary pulse in my groin. I suppressed a moan of pleasure.
“Why are you here?” Was my voice usually that high? I swallowed and tried to keep my mind on higher things. This was not helped when she turned towards me and my eyes locked onto her swaying breasts. With an effort I raised my eyes to meet her gaze.
“I told you we would meet again when prophesy demanded. Are Lord Retnor’s eyes fully healed?”
How in all the universes had she known about that?
“Yes, better than ever, he tells me.”
She smiled and all thoughts of sex fled my mind. This was a woman a man could worship and ask for nothing in return.
She coughed, “I’m sorry. The glamour is difficult to suppress, though it is always nice to be loved.”
The world grew a little colder and she slightly more human. She kissed my cheek as though I was a little boy she was pleased with.
“Jake Morrissey, you are about to undertake a quest. As we speak the Council of Wizards in Valhalla are sending a messenger to bring you to them. You know what that means?”
I felt a surge of rising excitement. This time I was finally going to get the bastard.
“I see you do, but this I charge you to think upon.”
She paused for a moment to be sure I was listening.
“Justice is better than vengeance.”
I was trembling. I’d been waiting for this call for ages. I wanted her to finish talking to her so I could go.
“Is that it?”
“Think on it, Jake. Before it is too late.”
She faded out of existence in a totally different way to that she’d used to arrive. I had no idea how she did that either. It was as if her body changed into a million tiny flowers and blown away on the wind.
I stood and brushed imaginary bits of Goddess off my tee shirt and jeans.
It was time to go. I hopped to Valhalla.